Of Flame and Shadow

by Garuda IV

Rating: teen
Tags: Comedy, Cutie Mark Crusaders, Tragedy, Random, Adventure, Sex, Main 6, Gore, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Dark, Other, Romance, Original Character
Length: 719303

Dark Flame was a young stallion of the mining village, Stonewall. But after a dragon thought to be of myth attacks, Dark becomes the only survivor and now attempts to remake his life. However, his past isn't willing to let him go so easily.

Dark Flame is a young unicorn stallion who works as the local blacksmith and has protected his home village of Stonewall from constant dragon raids, earning him the title, Dragon Slayer. But when a dragon thought to be a myth attacks, Dark is left the lone survivor and loses consciousness during the fight against the mythical dragon. When he awakens, he finds himself in a hospital with a part of his memory missing, a few bodily changes, and six mares who have questions for him.

Now trying to rebuild his life, Dark will learn about his new body, try to regain his lost memories, and attempt to live a new life of peace apart from his old life of near constant fighting and survival. Though if only it were that easy. New friends will be made, secrets revealed, enemies both new, old, and supposedly dead will rise, a love will blossom, and a ghost from Dark's past will threaten to destroy what little left he holds dear to him.

This is my first fic, and any constructive criticism or advice would be appreciated in helping improve my writing, and in turn, the story itself.

Featured: 6/24/16:pinkiegasp:
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Published 2015-10-04 15:20:02 UTC
Last updated 2017-03-04 16:06:11 UTC

Chapter 1- A Day of Surprises and Questions

After getting Dark back into his hospital bed, the girls and Spike went out of the room to talk about him in private. Considering they've never met a creature like him before, and hearing of where he came from, there were plenty of questions that needed answering.

"Thanks for letting me do most of the talking," Twilight thanked her friends. "Given the condition we found him in, I thought it would have been better if we kept the questions to a minimum, less we overwhelm him." She then turned to Pinkie. "And thanks, Pinkie, for showing such restraint. Knowing you, I'm sure you're anxious to throw him your 'Welcome to Ponyville' party and try to befriend him as soon as you can."

The pink mare just smiled. "Don't worry, Twilight. I've learned a while back that there's a time and place for a party and I doubt that I can fit an entire 'Welcome to Ponyville' party in one hospital room and besides I think the ponies that work here are still a little upset about the last time I tried to throw one so it wouldn't be a very good idea to do it again so I'll just have to throw him one in Sugarcube Corner when he gets better but if I'm going to do that then I better go and get started on the party preparations for when he's finally released from the hospital so see I'll see you all later."

And in a pink blur, she was gone to prepare for her party, leaving the others to talk about what to do next.

"Anyway," Twilight continued. "What do you girls think of him?"

Rarity was the first to answer. "Going by what he said and what we've seen of him, I'd say he's rather brutish in my opinion, between him talking about fighting dragons in the middle of nowhere and seeing that scar on his shoulder. And what was with those mismatched body parts? Is he another draconequus like Discord? Because one is stressful enough, and another would be far too much for me to deal with."

"Now, Rarity!" Fluttershy spoke up in a rather scolding tone. "You remember what Discord said about him being the only one of his kind. And besides that, you know he's calmed down and has been helping us with his chaotic magic. Well, mostly helping anyway."

"Well Ah don't know about y'all, but Ah believe he was tellin' the truth. Besides, you could clearly see it in his eyes that he truly did believe that he lived in this village, and that he lost both his forelegs and tail," Applejack said.

Twilight though about that for a moment. "If he was telling the truth like you said, then that would explain why he was surprised to see them. But that still doesn't explain how he got them, or those wings of his. And why have I not heard of this village before now? As a princess, I'm suppose to know of all of Equestria's cities and towns, despite its size."

Not knowing something always put Twilight in a bad mood, which would have caused her to start pacing if she didn't notice something off. She looked to Rainbow Dash who appeared to be lost in thought, and unusually quiet.

"Rainbow?" Twilight called. "What's up? You've been rather quiet this whole discussion."

Rainbow looked up to Twilight. "I just can't get over his wings." This led to a few groans, knowing that Rainbow's love for flying would lead her to checking out his wings. "What I mean is that his wings looked sorta like a dragon's wings would be. Because, let's face it, pony wings never get that big or even look like that. I mean, they're just as big as Princess Celestia's wings, if not a little bigger. And besides a dragon, her wings are the biggest ones that we've seen."

"How'd you know what dragon wings look like?" Applejack asked. "Besides Spike who has no wings and that one dragon Flutters cleared out that was smokin' up Equestria, when did you actually take the time ta look at a dragon's wings?"

"It was when Twilight, Rarity, and I followed Spike when he joined the Great Dragon Migration," Rainbow answered smugly before turning to one of thought. "Although, none of those dragons had that specific type of wing."

"Well either way, if we want answers, then there's only one pony who can give them," Twilight spoke as she turned to go back towards Dark's hospital room, hopefully to get all of her questions answered this time.

Back in his room, Dark awoke from passing out. Now that the initial shock had passed, he continued to look over his new arms and claws. Trying to get a feel for the new limbs, he stretched his arms and flexed his claws, becoming more familiar with them. But that didn't stop him from wanting to know how it was that when he was sure he was dead, he instead turned up alive with Nocturne's arms, tail, and wings.

Whatever the reason is, it can't be good. Then again, perhaps I shouldn't question it so much and just be glad I'm still alive. Besides, I could get used to these claws, though walking might be a bit tricky. The tail shouldn't be an issue, but the wings are definably sweet. I finally get to see the world like mom and Light did. Those happy thoughts quickly died down with that one realization. I'm the last of my family... of my village. Nopony else survived Nocturne's attack except me.

His sad thoughts were stopped when his guests enter the room, minus one pink pony which he remembered was named Pinkie.

Sure an easy name to remember, he thought, chuckling to himself. "Hello again, ladies, Spike," he greeted as they walked in, which they greeted back.

"We have quite a few questions to ask you, if you're feeling up to answering them?" Twilight asked, getting a small smile and nod in reply. "Great! So, Dark, what did you do in this village of yours? And please try to refrain from lying, because Applejack will know if you do."

Dark looked to the orange mare who smirked at him with a twinkle in her eye.

Guess I better tell them everything then, except for the part about me being a Dragon Slayer. Don't wanna freak them out or anything, he thought before giving his answer. "As I said earlier, I was the village's guardian. While we did have a small militia to defend the village from diamond dogs that would burrow into the mines, bigger threats like dragons would be too much for them, and that's where I came in. That, and I was also the village's blacksmith. When I wasn't forging or repairing their weapons and armor, I would be working on tools like hammers, shovels, pick axes, hoes, etc."

Twilight was writing this down with a parchment and quill she conjured up, taking notes. "And how old are you?"

"I'm twenty-two right now."

Spike, hiding a mischievous grin, spoke up next. "So, he's just a year older then you girls are. So then, what are you exactly? I mean, you look like a pony, have a unicorn horn, and have a cutie mark, but at the same time you have these dragon parts."

That was the big question they all wanted to ask, and looked to him for his answer. Dark however, looked questioningly at the little dragon.

"What do you mean? I never found my cutie mark," he questioned.

"You might wanna look again, because you do have one. Kinda cool looking too," Rainbow replied.

Pulling the covers down and looking at his flank, Dark saw that there was indeed a cutie mark. It was a bright flame of red, orange, and yellow, which was casting a dark shadow on the ground in the shape of the fire. He stared at it for a few more seconds before asking himself out loud, "When the heck did this happen?"

They looked in confusion, not sure by what he meant.

"Excuse me, darling," Rarity spoke. "What do you mean exactly? Surely you would remember when you got you're own cutie mark."

Dark just shook his head. "Before I passed out fighting Nocturne, I didn't have one. Now I wake up and here it is, so I must have been unconscious when I got it." He paused for a moment, not knowing what day it was. "By the way, what day is it today?'

"Friday," Rarity answered simply.

Dark's eyes widened hearing that. "Nocturne attacked the village on Sunday. That means that I've been unconscious for five days?!" he asked in a raised voice, emanating a roar from his throat. He promptly covered his mouth with his claws out of embarrassment of accidentally roaring at them, even if it was for a moment. "Sorry about that. Well then, do you know how I got this far then?"

"I'm sorry, but we have no idea how you got to where Rainbow and I found you," Twilight apologized. "When we found you, though, you did have a cut on your head, and a few more on your coat. My guess is that you either walked here on your own while unconscious, or you have some sort of memory loss, either by that head injury, or something traumatic happened and it's repressing your memories. You did say a dragon attacked your village, right?"

Dark sighed. "Yes. His name was Nocturne, a dragon we thought to have been a myth until he showed up and attacked the village. Though if it's alright with you, I'd rather not go into detail. Long story short, I'm the last of the villagers."

This brought a collection of gasps from everyone present and bringing some eyes to start watering.

"I'm sorry," he apologized, mostly to Fluttershy who was on the verge of crying for the loss of those poor ponies. "I should have warned you before speaking up."

The apology seemed to work in quieting her down, then she looked back up to him. "It's alright. How are you holding up, though?"

A smile graced his muzzle. "I'm coping with it for the most part. Thank you for asking."

Though sad, her caring question did make him feel a bit better. Seeing as how his mood was lifted, Spike broke the silence.

"Wait, were getting off track here. You still haven't told us what you are?"

His attention redirected, Dark taped his chin with a claw while thinking about it for a moment. "I suppose I'm what you would call a kirin," he answered, getting looks for an explanation. "A kirin is the hybrid offspring of a pony and a dragon. However, both of my parents were ponies, so I guess I would be considered an artificial kirin."

While Rainbow, Applejack, Rarity, Fluttershy, and Spike were blushing with now knowing that something like that was possible, Twilight looked gitty as a schoolfilly.

"Oh my gosh!" she exclaimed, a wide smile on her muzzle. "I knew the name sounded familiar, but never though that I would actually get the chance to meet one. Tell me, what's it like?" she asked with anticipation.

I'm starting to fear for my safety a little bit, Dark thought to himself as he slowly inched back in his hospital bed. "I'm not sure really. I mean, I just woke up to find I have these dragon limbs. One night I pass out as a unicorn, and today I wake up as a kirin. Although, now that I think about it, my nose does feel a bit more sensitive to smells, and I feel like I can see better. Though my chest does feel kinda warm in my left side, and a little cold in the other."

"Don't worry about it," Spike began explaining. "Dragons have a great sense of smell, your eyes are draconic, and as for the warmth in you chest, that's just your fire sac, all dragons have one that lets them breath fire. Though you got me on the last one. What kind of dragon was it that attacked you anyway?"

As Spike explained what Dark was feeling, Dark decided to try his fire breath. And after taking in a deep, quiet breath, he breathed out a small steady stream of fire away from the others. Happy of his small accomplishment, he was about to try it again, but then stopped when he saw the girls and dragon looking at him like he were a foal with a new toy.

"Sorry." he blushed before he answered the little dragon. "He was a race of dragon thought to had been myth called the Scaleless Dragons. There are six in all, each representing an element of nature. Also, these eyes of mine, are they a sort of gold color?"

"Yea, they are," Spike answered.

Figures I would have his eyes as well, Dark thought, but was interrupted by Rainbow.

"So, if those dragon parts originally belonged to this Nocturne guy, then how did you get them?" she asked.

"Sorry, but I have no idea. Remember, I passed out in the middle of the fight, so I don't know if I actually defeated him or if he let me go. Or again, how I acquired these new limbs. Though I'm not gonna complain about it, I was always curious of what it was like to fly after watching my brother flying around."

This made Rainbow smile widely. "Flying is the greatest thing ever! There's no greater freedom than the feeling of the wind flowing through your mane and wings while you soar through the open skies." Then a thought hit her. "If you want any help with learning how to fly, I'll help ya out. I'm already helping with Twilight's flying, so another won't be a problem for somepony like me."

He smiled at the offer. "Thanks. More than likely I'll take you up on that. Although, I should do something for you in return."

Rainbow scoffed at that. "No way. I don't take payment for helping somepony who really needs it, especially if it involves flying."

"I have a question, if it's alright with you that is?" Fluttershy quietly asked which Dark nodded to, making her smile a little bit. "What kind of animals lived near your village?"

That was an easy question. "There were a few birds, some fruit bats, and the occasional lizard, but because of the dragons surrounding the village, animals didn't tend to dwell. Except for Sugar and Spice. They were twin bangle cats, and were the family pets. They were easily the sweetest, and cutest pair of cuddly kitties. Although, while Spice was more open with others, Sugar actually preferred me over the rest of the family, and didn't really care for strangers. Except for maybe one or two others, but that's about it."

Rarity was the next to question him, but was interrupted when Pinkie appeared in the window. "Hey, what kind of frosting do you like?"

Not knowing where the pink pony came from, or how she climbed through the window, Dark slowly answered her.

"Chocolate or vanilla. Either is fine with me." And with that she was gone again, leaving Dark confused as he looked back to the others. "How'd she get through that window? Wasn't it locked... and on the second floor?"

Twilight just shook her head. "When it comes to Pinkie Pie, you'll never know how she does what she does. Believe me, I tried."

Dark just nodded, figuring it best to just let it go.

"Anyway," Rarity continued. "What exactly happened to get that scar on your shoulder? I take it that it was from one of those dragon raids you told us about?"

That was a touchy subject he didn't like getting into. "If it's alright with you, I'd rather not talk about it. It's a rather sensitive subject. But no, it's not from a dragon." He raised up his head to see an understanding nod from Rarity.

"Well then, another if you would, though I must ask first as to what limits you want set with what we ask you. We wouldn't want to be rude and accidentally offend you by invading your privacy too much," she asked.

"Don't worry about it," he said, brushing off her worries. "I'm not that easy to offend. Besides the scar, I'm an open book for all your questions, so feel free to ask."

"In that case I'll get straight to it then. Did you have a fillyfriend?" Rarity asked him, gaining her friend's attention.

Dark shook his head. "Never had a fillyfriend."

"But why not? Surely you must have had at least one or two who had an eye for you."

"Sorry," he replied with a shrug. "But it was Light Wing who was the one mares chased after. Besides, with my line of work, lack of a cutie mark, and how shy I am when trying to ask a mare out on a date... it just wasn't for me."

"And what about now? Cutie mark aside, you're no longer at risk of fighting dragons on a regular basis anymore right?"

Dark raised a claw and opened his mouth to protest, but couldn't come up with a proper counter argument. Rarity did have a good point there. With him no longer having to risk life and limb every few days to a week, he could pursue a relationship if he chose to.

"Huh, I suppose your right about that. Though it would still be hard to do, since I tend to get nervous when trying to ask out a mare I like."

He heard a snicker and looked over to Rainbow who was trying to talk while holding back a laugh.

"So let me get this straight. You make a living by fearlessly defending a village from dragons, but you're scared of asking a mare out?"

Dark just nodded, looking a little glum at the reminder of his poor luck... and cowardice.

Rainbow managed to hold back her outburst as Applejack stepped forward. "So this village ya lived in, what was it like before... ya know."

"Actually, it's kinda boring for the most part," he started. "Due to the dragon's fire breath, we had to rebuild the village a few times. Now all the houses are made of stone, and the doors and window shutters are made from metal. You know, since wood is flammable and rock and metal generally aren't. Anyway, we have a lake that we manage to keep clean somehow, a wheat field, some apple trees, and a mine full of untouched gems and some ore which we barely touched, except for when we needed some of it for repairs. We also have the stonewall our village was named after. Thirty feet tall and fifteen feet thick, with a reinforced steel gate one foot thick. A real piece of work, in my opinion anyway."

"So there's an entire mine filled with untouched gems?" Twilight asked. "Now I understand why the dragons raided your village so often."

"I actually believe the gems were just a bonus. My guess is the real reason they tried taking those mines is for the Draconium it held."

Twilight stopped writing and looked over to see Spike tremble slightly, then looked back to Dark. "Isn't that a rare red metal that's suppose to be highly lethal to dragons, and can nullify their fire?"

"Yep, but we only found one small deposit, and could only make one weapon out of it. So instead, we put the ore in my chest at the forge. Then again, we didn't exactly dig that far from the main chamber either."

"So what was your family like?" Applejack asked, family being an important subject to her.

Dark actually smiled when thinking back on this subject. "My dad, Brick Set, was a tan earth pony with a blond mane, and blue eyes, who worked construction. My mom, Swift Wing, was a dark-green pegasus with a dark-brown mane, and emerald eyes, who would help look out for dragons when she wasn't foalsitting. My sister, Lilly, who was twenty, was a tough earth pony with a light-blue coat, blue eyes, and blond mane who, despite her feminine name, would actually help my dad by breaking rocks and boulders with her bare hooves to help shape them for him to use. And lastly is my little brother, Light Wing, who would have been eighteen, was a metallic-blue pegasus, who's feathers were actually white, had a blond mane, and had mom's emerald eyes. And as for him, if he wasn't hanging out with whoever his fillyfriend was at the time, he would be out practicing his flying. Still, though, he was a good guy in the end."

Applejack looked slightly upset. "You said your brother would have been eighteen. Did somethin' happen ta him?"

Dark nodded. "He, his four friends, and our cousin, Big Beard, volunteered to go out on a mission to go outside the village and get help. But that was almost a year ago, and since no help came and none of them returned, they were all proclaimed to be dead. We've had a few groups attempt it before that I remember of, but at least one or two of them would come back alive, unable to sneak past the dragons. And I couldn't do it since I was the village's best defense against the dragons. If I did go, then the village would have been nothing but ruins by the time I got back."

Fluttershy raised her hoof to ask another question. "So, um, what is it you like to do when your not, well, working?"

"You mean like a hobby?" Fluttershy sheepishly nodded in reply. "Well, with a bit of help I actually learned how to cook from mom and dad, and I would study magic in a secluded location by the village. So yeah, my hobbies were cooking and experimenting with magic."

Twilight's ears perked up at the words 'magic' and 'experimenting'. "So what kind of magic do you like to study?" she asked.

"Well, I knew when I was fourteen that my special talent had something to do with fire magic, so I guess that's when I started looking into the other branches of unicorn magic, believing that my cutie mark would have something to do with another element." He looked to his cutie mark. "Though I kinda wish I was wrong now." Seriously, it just had to be the one branch of magic that I was hoping it wouldn't be.

She looked to his cutie mark again and thought for a moment before she realized his other element. Eyes wide, she looked back and locked eyes with Dark.

"It's dark magic isn't it?" she guessed.

Clearly nervous now, he nodded back. "Pleas don't banish or imprison me!" he begged. "I studied and tested all the other branches of magic except dark magic and I know I promised I wouldn't cast it and know it's taboo but the only time I did cast a dark magic spell was when I thought I was completely finished from fighting Nocturne and I didn't think that I would survive so I figured no harm in using one now and-" His blabbering was cut off by a purple aura closing his mouth.

"Take it easy," Twilight said with a slight giggle before releasing her hold on Dark's mouth. "You aren't in any trouble. Although dark magic is seen as taboo in Equestria, you knew about the risks involving it and refused to use it until the very end when you thought you were going to die to defend yourself and your village, right?" Dark silently nodded. "Then nopony can blame you. I myself have both seen and casted dark magic, and for me, it left a bad taste in my mouth after doing so. Beside that, according to your cutie mark, your special talent is both in fire and dark magic, so this should also give you a bit of leeway."

"It's almost exactly like your name when I think about it," Fluttershy spoke up. "By the way. Do you know why your parents gave you that specific name?"

"Yep. From what they told me, apparently shortly after I was born, my mom was holding me in her hooves to let my dad get a look at me when I accidentally shot a black flame out of my horn." Dark chuckled from remembering the story his mom and dad told him. "Poor dad wasn't very happy that I burnt off his moustache, though, and asked the nurses if he could return me." This little story caused everyone in the room to laugh at Dark's dad, and his poor moustache.

The room door opened up, revealing a brown stallion in a doctor's coat. "Ah, good to see you are up and about. Hello, ladies, Spike," he greeted his patient and guests. "I just came to check up on you and tell you that, despite some of the injuries you were brought here with, you are completely healed up and can leave whenever you're ready."

After the doctor left the room, a realization hit Dark like a kick to the crotch. "Ah crud, the hospital bill! I completely forgot about it! Gah, I knew I would regret not bringing my saddlebag with me that night."

Twilight looked over to the wall on the other side of the nightstand. "Actually, you did," she said while levitating Dark's light-brown saddlebag. "You were wearing it when we found you, but we didn't open it. It's actually a little heavy."

She guided it over to Dark who took it in his claws and open the left flap, looking at what it held. To everyone's surprise, his left saddlebag was filled over half way to the top with a mixture of bits and some gems.

"Guess I did some packing before setting out after all," he chuckled as he started opening the right one, revealing some apples, a canteen with water, and a large black waterproof cloak.

Twilight smiled knowing that their new arrival would be relatively secure for a while, and wouldn't be in debt for his stay at the hospital. But she soon lost that smile as she excused herself, levitated Spike onto her back, and walking out of the room. Few minutes later, they returned to see Dark standing up the floor on all fours, adjusting his saddlebag around his new wings.

"Ready to go?" she asked, which Dark nodded to, and followed Twilight and her friends out of the room and towards the lobby to pay for his stay.

After Dark paid his fee and signed a bunch of forms, they left through the front doors which he held open with his claws for the others, showing Celestia's sun setting over the horizon.

"You will be staying with Spike and I tonight," Twilight said looking up at Dark, who was walking alongside her and stood almost a head taller then she did, while continuing their walk into Ponyville.

He looked back down to Twilight with a nervous look. "Thank you for the offer, Twilight, but I don't wanna intrude on you any more than I already have. If you could point me to the Inn, then I'll just use that."

Twilight just shook her head. "Nope. I'm not having a friend of mine stay at an Inn. You're staying with us, even if I have to have Applejack hogtie you."

Dark was a little taken back by this comment of her thinking of him as a friend, and the threat of being hogtied... again.

"Why would you consider me a friend? I mean, we've only known each other for one afternoon."

Granted he did make a point, but Twilight had her own reasons, though simple as they were. "Yes, it's only been a single afternoon that we've spent with you, but it was time well spent. During that time, we all learned a lot about your home, family, life, and hobbies. We also learned that you're an honest stallion since Applejack never called you out on a lie, Fluttershy was actually somewhat comfortable around you, which is more than what could be said of just about every stranger she's met and even most ponies she knows, and your rather polite to others, especially to when it comes to mares I've noticed." That and I wanna try running some tests, considering this is a very rare hybrid that I'm dealing with! she thought to herself with great joy.

Dark looked over to the others who all nodded in agreement with what Twilight said, even Spike who was sitting on her back, agreed. "Alright then," he relented, a warmth filling him with how friendly they were to him. "If you insist, then I'll stay with you for the night. But tomorrow, I should look for a job and-"

"Eenope," Applejack interrupted. "Tomorrow, you're takin' the day off ta relax. Just because you've been released from the hospital, don't mean that you can start lookin' for work right away. Besides, Pinkie will wanna give ya her tour of Ponyville. And if that alone doesn't tire you out, then the 'Welcome to Ponyville' party she'll be throwin' will."

Dark couldn't, or rather, wouldn't try to argue with Applejack, due to his dad's advice on mares, so he just agreed with her and continued to followed them into town.

The sun had set by the time they got to town before they split up, each heading to their respective homes with Dark following Twilight and Spike down the road to her crystal castle. Dark was going to start questioning why it was made of crystal, but quickly put that thought out of his head, figuring it to be very rude of him to ask about his host's choice in architecture.

Though the outside of the castle didn't look all that big, the inside definitely did. It actually did seem a bit bigger on the inside, but he chalked it up to some magical enchantment, not wanting to try and think about that type of magic again. He knew both time, and space magic, were dangerous subjects, and really didn't want to get another migraine from thinking about it like he did when he first tried to study them. He grabbed the door handle and closed the golden door after Twilight and Spike walked in, after which she started to explain some of the layout of the castle.

"Ok, on the first floor here through the left door is the kitchen, the right is the dinning hall. Through the doors straight ahead and third door on the left is the main library, down the same hall on the right is the lounge, and further down the hallway is the throne room. Up the stairs and to the right are the bathrooms, to the left and down the hallway is where the guest rooms are. And finally, the third floor is where our rooms are, so if you have any questions or need us for something, just knock and one of us will be there to help you," Twilight explained.

Dark looked around and nodded. "Thank you, I should be good now that I know where the important stuff is. Though right now, if it's alright with you, I think I'll just head off to bed."

"Sure, I understand," she answered. "So we'll see you in the morning then?"

"Yep, see you two in the morning. Also, what would you two like for breakfast?" he offered his hosts with a honest smile. "So long as I'm here, I'll make breakfast for you two as a part of my thanks for letting me stay."

"You don't have to do that, but if you insist, then could you make some omelets with hash browns and toast?" she asked.

"Sure, and how about you, Spike?"

"I'll have the same as she is, with some gem crumbs sprinkled in the omelet. It's been a while since we've had omelets for breakfast," Spike replied, licking his lips at the thought of having a good breakfast and not being the one to cook it for a change.

"Alrighty then, in that case you two have a good night and I'll see you at breakfast."

"Goodnight," they returned, each heading to their rooms to turn in for the night.

Dark entered his room to see a queen size bed with red bed and pillow sheets up against the right wall with a nightstand and lamp beside it. On the left wall was a single wardrobe closet, a dresser with a mirror on the wall beside the door, and in front of him was a window showing the a beautiful night sky.

I've never seen the night sky look so quiet and peaceful before. This is definitely a site that I can get used to, not to mention the clean air, he though as he stared out, smiling at the night sky while watching the moon glow bright and the stars twinkling. Nor have I ever smiled this much in one day either.

He sighed contently which turned to a yawn, telling him to head off to sleep. Walking beside his bed, he levitated his saddlebag off to the side of the nightstand, pulled back the covers, and crawled into bed, ready for a good night's sleep.

Meanwhile, Twilight was sitting up in her bed, getting in some last minute reading before heading off to sleep herself before she heard what sounded like someone struggling. Perking up her ears, she could hear Dark grumbling to himself, but was soon able to make out one clean sentence.

"How the hay are you suppose to sleep with these things!?"

She knew he was asking himself out of frustration of trying to keep his wings contained while trying to get comfortable, and couldn't help but let out a giggle as she remembered her first night of having to deal with that exact same problem.

A few hours ago in the Canterlot Castle throne room, Princess Celestia was finishing up the last of her paperwork of the day. Between documents that needed signing, dealing with greedy nobles, and Prince Blueblood... again, Celestia was eager to retire for the night. That is, until she saw a trail of green fire flying in through an open window and manifesting a scroll sent by Spike. She smiled, always happy to receive a letter from Twilight or one of her friends, so she happily opened it up. What she read wasn't something she was expecting.

Dear Princess Celestia,

Early this morning, Rainbow was helping me work on my flying when we came across a young stallion who was passed out on in the fields south of Ponyville. Since he had a head wound and multiple cuts across his body, we immediately brought him back to Ponyville General Hospital, and got him treated. His name is Dark Flame, and wouldn't you believe it, but he's an actual kirin! This alone is making me excited, but what's even more so is that after he woke up, he let us question him about basically anything we wanted, despite his memory loss which we believe he got sometime last Sunday night. Overall, the girls and I talked about him when he was paying his hospital bill and agreed that he's a sort of gentlecolt, polite, honest, well mannered, and caring about the safety of others. However, for all of these positive traits and what he's told us, there are a few things he said that I find rather disturbing, and still question.

He claims to be from a place located on Equestria's south-eastern borders called Stonewall Village, which according to him, is deep within the mountains, and has been blockaded and attacked by dragons for the last two hundred years. This alone is concerning me because if the dragons have invaded Equestrian soil and have been trying to occupy a village, then this could very well cause us international problems. He believes they were after the gems and the Draconium that were in the mines the village was built around, and honestly, it's starting to sound more plausible when I think about why they would attack. He also brought up the name of a supposedly mythical dragon that was responsible for destroying Dark's home, leaving him an only survivor. Though he didn't give much for details, he told us that it was a Scaleless Dragon named Nocturne. I've never heard of this dragon before today, nor this race that he belongs to.

But, there's one other thing that has me worried. Dark's cutie mark is representing his mastery over fire magic and unfortunately, dark magic. Though a pony would be happy to get their cutie mark, he was clearly not. He knows of the taboo Equestria holds on such magic and the dangers of practicing it, but I still feel kinda bad for him. Having your special talent be something that isn't allowed in your own country can't be doing him much good, especially with him having to deal with the loss of his fellow villagers and family. So, I have decided to let him stay with Spike and I at the castle. I will have wards placed to track him, and we will be keeping an eye on him until we feel a bit more comfortable with him wander around town. This isn't by any means a matter of mistrust, I would just rather error on the side of caution, just incase.

Anyway, I was hoping that perhaps you could clarify some of these things that Dark brought up, and perhaps offer some guidance on how to handle him. I await for your reply whenever you get the chance.

Always your faithful student,

Princess Twilight Sparkle

P.S. Tell Princess Luna I said hello.

Though Twilight checking in on her younger sister always made Celestia feel happy for Luna, the rest of the news, namely about the village being under siege for the last two hundred years, brought a feeling of shame and anger to her. All that time and she never even heard of so much as a rumor of this happening. She needed to confirm this for herself.

Celestia called out to her guards to go fetch Captain Iron Guard. Within minutes, a gray unicorn stallion with a white flat-top and brown eyes, approached the throne and saluted.

"You sent for me, Your Majesty?"

"Yes, Captain Iron Guard. I have just received a letter from Princess Twilight that she has found a young stallion who says that his village has been blockaded and attacked by dragons for many years at the south-eastern border in the mountains." The captain's brows furrowed, his gaze hardening as the princess continued. "I want you to send a platoon of your best to investigate this claim, and have them immediately report back anything that they find."

"At once, Princess Celestia. However, may I request that I go as well to oversee this mission personally, Your Highness?" the Captain of the Royal Guard asked.

"Request granted. It will bring me some peace of mind knowing that you'll be there running things. Just make sure that everypony will use caution when entering those mountains, and bring anti-dragon equipment with you just incase," she answered, a brief smile gracing her before quickly turning serious as a thought crossed her mind. Standing up, she walked down from her throne to the meet the captain at eye level. "Also, and this is very important," she began in a low voice, just above a whisper. "Besides the troops your bringing, Princess Luna, and myself, nopony else it to know of this, especially Prince Shining Armor." Iron Guard nodded before giving a salute and galloping away to begin his new mission.

Celestia turned to look out the window and let out a tired sigh. Who knows what that stallion would do if he found out his sister was housing a kirin. Perhaps tomorrow I will pay a visit to Ponyville and meet with him myself, Celestia thought to herself as she lowered her sun, signaling the end of the day.

Chapter 2- Welcome to Ponyville

Twilight was sleeping peacefully when Celestia's sun broke the horizon, shining through the window and directly into her face. Annoyed by the bright light, she rolled over to her other side and tried to go back to sleep.

"Five more minutes, Princess," Twilight groaned, not quite ready to get up yet.

But despite her efforts, she couldn't get herself back to sleep and decided to just go with it and get herself ready for the day. She walked over to her makeup desk and levitated her brush to comb the bed hair back down. With herself looking more presentable, she opened her door to catch Spike just leaving his room.

"Good morning, Spike," she greeted him.

"Hey, Twilight, how'd you sleep last night?" he asked.

"I slept well for the most part, but was a little distracted by hearing Dark trying to adjust to his new wings," she replied.

"So he's what was making all that noise? Jeeze, even you weren't that annoying during your whole first week of having wings."

Twilight glared down to Spike like a mother would to her child. "Spike, that's not something you should be saying out loud. Especially since he's going to be staying with us and has offered to make us breakfast on his own."

"Sorry, Twilight," Spike apologized before sniffing the air. "Speaking of which, it actually does smell pretty good from here."

"Then let's stop standing around and go get something to eat," she suggested, her stomach rumbling in agreement.

Twilight and Spike soon walked into the kitchen to see Dark walking on his back legs, finishing setting out their meals. Two plates of omelets with one marked with a gem on top, and some hash browns and toast were already sitting on the small table in the middle of the kitchen, with a glass of milk at each setting. Though it looked and smelled delicious, Twilight just looked Dark, wondering why he was standing on his hind legs and using his claws to cook and carry the food, instead of using his magic.

Dark turned around with his breakfast plate in claw and looked at his hosts. "Good morning," he greeted groggily with bags under his eyes.

"Yikes dude, didn't you get any sleep last night or what?" Spike asked while taking his seat beside Twilight.

"Yeah I did, but it wasn't till a few hours later that I actually fell asleep." He looked to Twilight. "How do you deal with these darn things when you sleep? I feel like I have no control over them and they keep opening up."

Twilight looked up from her meal and swallowed a bite before answering him. "Don't worry, you'll get used to it. It took me a while as well before I was finally able to sleep without my wings waking me up."

Dark set his plate down across from Twilight and Spike, confused by her answer. "What do you mean? Weren't you born an alicorn like the princesses were?" he asked before grabbing his fork and plopping a piece of omelet into his mouth.

She shook her head. "I was born a unicorn and was turned into an alicorn. I'm kinda surprised you didn't know about that."

"Sorry, but it's a little hard to learn about what happens in the outside world when your village is isolated from everypony else," he chuckled, until a thought came to mind. "If you don't mind me asking, could you tell me a little bit about yourself and Spike? It would be nice to know a bit about the pony and dragon who are letting me stay with them, since I know little to nothing about you two."

Twilight though for a moment before coming up with a proposal. "Tell you what. I'll tell you about Spike and I, but first, I have a question for you."

"Okay, shoot."

"Why were you standing on back legs like that, and why aren't you using your magic to levitate everything instead of using your claws to hold them?" Twilight asked.

"It's more out of habit than anything," He answered. "When I was working the forge, I would use my fire magic to stoke the flames and stand on my back legs while I would use my front ones to swing my hammer and hold the metal down on the anvil. Although, the wings and tail make for a great counterbalance, and I can now walk as both a bipedal and quadruped, though I prefer quad. That, and I was a bit self-conscious about using my magic around my family. Being the only unicorn in the family made things complicated at times. Though my parents and sister were supportive and proud of me, Light wasn't. It was painfully obvious that he was jealous of my magic, and so I started using it around them less and less, hoping that he'll lighten up about it. Pun not intentional."

"That's too bad," she replied. "It's actually not very fair that you felt like you had to completely stop using your magic around your brother just to make him feel better."

"Heh, that's exactly what my mom would say. But regardless, he was my brother, and I loved the guy. Besides, I always admired his flying and seeing how his wings would literally shine when he opened them. Actually, part of the reason he wanted to go on that mission for the village was because they could blind the dragons, and while the dragons were blinded, they would fly past." Dark shook his head. "Never could understand why that plan didn't work."

Silence reigned for a few moments until Spike's cheeks puffed out and he let out a mighty belch which manifested a scroll bearing the royal seal.

"A letter from Princess Celestia? What's it say, Spike?" Twilight asked before Spike started to read the letter out loud.

Dear Twilight,

I wanted to write to you and inform you that I will be coming to Ponyville today for a visit. It's been a while since I've last seen you and would also like to meet this stallion that you mentioned in your letter to me. I will be arriving at the train station this afternoon and will be looking forward to seeing you and your new friend. Also, please try not to freak out about this, everything is fine my dear.

Love,

Aunt Sunshine.

Spike just finished reading the letter when it was promptly snatched from his grip by Twilight, who began reading over it to make sure Spike didn't accidentally read it wrong.

Why would the princess do something like this?! Twilight though in worry while hiding her face behind the letter sent by her 'Aunt'. She almost never uses that disguise unless it's something she wants to look into personally and doesn't want anypony knowing about it!

Fortunately, Spike broke her out of her mental worry session before it got out of control.

"Everything alright, Twilight?" he asked.

Snapping out of her thoughts, Twilight put on a calm face and looked back to him. "Yeah, just a bit surprised is all." She then turned to Dark. "Sorry about that. Now, I believe I said that I would tell you a bit about Spike and I?" Dark nodded. "Alright, but you might wanna get comfortable, this could take a while."

"Alright, but first, why would you tell your Aunt about me? Also, why did you think it was from Princess Celestia?" he asked.

Feeling like she was being backed into a corner, Twilight quickly thought of an acceptable excuse. "I like to keep in touch with her regardless of what it may be, and I just assumed it was Princess Celestia since she's usually the one to send letters back through Spike. Now back to that story you wanted."

And so, she began telling him about basically everything. She told Dark about her family, when she was taken in as Celestia's personal student after her entrance exam, raising Spike after she hatched him, how she met her friends, the adventures they shared, her transformation to an alicorn, and all the villains that they've faced. It took a few hours to tell her story, and while most ponies would be board out of their minds by now, Dark wasn't. He sat through it without so much as a yawn while he and Spike finished off their breakfast.

"Wow, and I thought I was a busy pony," Dark joked. "Out of curiosity, though, of these villains, which one would you consider the most dangerous at the time?"

Twilight thought about for a moment while finishing off the rest of her milk. "I'm not sure exactly. Nightmare Moon, Discord, and Tirek were all rather straight forward in their goals, and we would've stopped Tirek immediately if not for an unforeseen hiccup in the plan from our end. Starlight Glimmer was dangerous with her manipulation, but lost it all when she was founded out and fled into the local mountain caves. So, I guess it would have to either be Queen Chrysalis with her deception and her changeling armies, or King Sombra and his intellect, planning, and dark powers."

Spike was about to comment when he was cut short by a forth voice. "What about the time when I found out that I was related to Applejack and the trip we went on, or when Trixie returned to Ponyville and conquered it after beating you in a magic duel?"

There was a collection of surprised yelps as everyone turned to see Pinkie Pie sitting at the head of the table, eating an omelet of her own that she got from who knows where.

"Pinkie," Twilight sighed, resisting the urge to facehoof. "How long have you been there.. and why didn't you knock before coming in? We could have been asleep."

"When you were talking about the time that Discord was sent to capture Tirek and decided to betray us to him instead," Pinkie answered in a chipper tone. "And I did knock on the door a few times, but nopony was answering. Besides, if you were still sleeping and I was about to wake you, then my Pinkie Sense would have told me."

"What's a 'Pinkie Sense'?" Dark asked.

It was Twilight though that explained it to him. "It's a sort of special ability that Pinkie possesses. In short, parts of her body will involuntary twitch, each with it's own indication of something happening, like if somepony is hiding from her, or if something is about to fall." She began massaging her temples. "I spend a whole day trying to figure it out, but in the end I just couldn't come up with anything, so now I just leave it be and go with it."

Dark cocked an eyebrow. "I actually understand in a way. I myself have a special ability called Amplify."

Twilight looked back to Dark, curiosity in her eyes. "Really? What does it do?" she asked.

"Basically, I can increase the magical output of an element I specialize in by drawing in the surrounding element into my body. That's actually the biggest reason why I was able to stand up against those dragons, since I would add their firepower to my own and then essentially overwhelm them with it. Kinda ironic when I think about it, considering dragons are suppose to represent power. Though I haven't had a chance to test it with shadows and darkness yet, it's kinda exciting when I begin to think of the implications."

"So you pretty much just absorb it?" Twilight guessed.

Dark nodded. "I suppose that's one way to put it. And no, it doesn't burn or even emanate any heat when I'm absorbing the fires unless I will it."

Twilight and Spike were surprised to learn of his unique ability while Pinkie just looked at the wall clock and spoke, "As fun as that sounds, we should probably cut the chit-chat and begin your tour of Ponyville before it gets any later."

They looked at the clock as well to see that it was already 11:15 a.m.

"So!" she said while standing up on her hind legs, her front hooves on her hips in a pose while wearing a green tunic and hat with a red quail feather, and white tights that she somehow acquired. "Lets us go! We have much to do and... less time to do it in."

"Welcome to Ponyville!" Pinkie announced, no longer wearing her outfit as she, Dark, Twilight and Spike walked through the town. "Our first stop will be Carousel Boutique, which is also where Rarity lives. Come on!"

While walking to their first destination, Dark was able to get a good look at the town now that it was covered in sunlight. The buildings were all of different colors, the air was fresh and clean with no ash or smoke, and the ponies who were walking past the group would warmly greet them... until they saw Dark. When a pony saw him, they would immediately back away and run in a different direction.

Dark sighed knowing of why they would run like that. "Guess I should have thought of wearing something to cover myself with. Perhaps that cloak in my bag?" he pondered out loud.

"Don't worry," Pinkie told him. "Everypony will warm up to you once they meet you at the party tonight."

"You sure about that?" he questioned. "Because I'm beginning to doubt it a little bit."

Twilight gave him a reassuring smile. "Like Pinkie said, you don't need to worry about it. We had a similar problem with Zecora, the local Zebra and apothecary, but she was quickly welcomed by everypony once we talked to them and they got to know her. So trust me when I say that you will be welcomed here as well."

Her words got to Dark as he released a sigh in knowing that things will get better soon. They quickly came upon the Boutique's door, which Pinkie knocked on and immediately heard a voice telling them to come in. One by one they filed through the door into the main room with a couch, coffee table, and mannequins which were displaying dresses in the windows. Soon after they closed the door behind them, Rarity walked into the room.

"Welcome to Carousel Bout- oh, hello everypony," she greeted them. "What brings you here today?"

"I was just giving Darky here my tour of Ponyville before tonight so he can get familiar with the town," Pinkie explained.

"Well then, allow me to properly welcome you to our little village. As you know, my name is Rarity, and I am Ponyville's fashionista. So, if you need a suit or something made, just give me a call okay?" Rarity welcomed and offered Dark.

"Thank you, Miss Rarity," he thanked. "I'll be sure to come straight to you if I need one."

"Your most welcome, Mr. Dark," she replied.

"Just Dark please. I'm not really one for formalities. That, and it kinda makes me feel old."

"Alright, Dark, but a quick suggestion if you would. Have you thought about dyeing your dragon parts from that black color to one that would match your coat?" she asked.

He looked down at the thin layered coat that covered his arms and claws as he thought about changing it's color.

"I hadn't thought about that, but I'll keep it in mind," he answered. "I'll have to think about it for a little bit, though. I may keep it the way it is and use it as a reminder of home and everypony who lived there." There was a moment of silence before Dark spoke up again. "Is there something on my tail?" he asked, getting the feeling like something was trying to poke it. He lifted up his tail and brought it around in front of him to see a white cat firmly latched onto the end.

"Opal!" Rarity shouted in alarm, quickly engulfing the cat in her magical aura and prying her off Dark's tail. "You should know better than to play with somepony's tail like that!" she scolded the cat, receiving a hiss in return.

Rarity looked back over to Dark with an apologetic frown. "I'm terribly sorry about that, Dark. I don't know why Opal would do something like that. She didn't scratch you did she?"

Dark just laughed at the cat, who was now glaring daggers at him. "Don't worry about it," he said waving a claw off. "Didn't feel a thing. Think being turned into a kirin has also made me more durable."

The girls, Dark, and Spike soon said goodbye to Rarity and started making their way to their next stop with Pinkie hopping ahead of them.

"Next, we'll be heading to Sweet Apple Acres, home of the Apple Family!" she announced.

It took a while, but when they finally arrived at the entrance to the apple orchard, Dark's eyes went wide.

"That's a lot of apple trees," he observed as they walked down the dirt road looking for the owners.

Soon enough they heard the sound of bucking off to their left and turned to track it's source. After a minute of looking they found Applejack hard at work who quickly spotted them.

"Howdy there," she greeted them. "What brings y'all out here today?"

Pinkie went to explain their reason for coming out to visit and the plans for tonight while Applejack listened and continued to buck the trees.

"Well thanks for comin' out here ta see the farm. Big Mac and Ah were just about ta finish up here for the day," Applejack said, and then paused from bucking another tree, looking over to Dark. "Say, Dark, you wanna give a try at applebuckin'?"

Dark shrugged, seeing no harm in trying it at least. "Sure, I'll give it a shot," he answered while taking his position in front of the tree, Applejack guiding his stance a little bit. Since he no longer had any front hooves to hold himself in place, he instead flexed his claws and planted them into the ground to anchor himself. He then brought back his hind legs and with a powerful thrust, kicked out at the tree... only to hit something squishy.

"AAHHH, son of a biscuit!" he shouted while rolling on the ground, holding onto his tail that got caught between the tree and his hooves.

While Dark was rolling on the ground, the others were laughing out loud, Spike on his back holding his sides. It took a few minutes for them to all calmed down until Applejack could ask him.

"You alright there, sugarcube?" Dark nodded while massaging the sore spot on his tail. "Alright then, you feelin' up ta givin' it another go?"

"Okay," he answered.

With a little less enthusiasm, he got back into position, but this time with his long draconic tail tucked between his legs. Drawing his back legs in, he again launched them out, this time hitting the tree. The buck, though while lacking technique, had a lot of power behind them, which emptied out half the apples in the tree.

I wasn't this strong before, Dark thought to himself. Must be another side effect of being a kirin.

The sound of clapping hit his ears and he turned to look at the others who were applauding his success.

"That was some nice apple buckin' for a beginner," said a low voice as a stallion walked over to join the others. He was a red earth pony with green eyes, and a short orange-blond mane.

"Hey there, Big Mac," Applejack greeted him. "Dark, this here is my big brother, Big Macintosh. He and Ah both run things here at Sweet Apple Acres," she said with a hint of pride in her voice.

Dark walked over to the big red stallion and extended a claw for a shake.

"Hello Big Mac, I'm Dark Flame," he greeted before getting a good look at him. Sweet Celestia, he's the biggest stallion I've ever seen! He's even bigger than cousin Big Beard, and he was the biggest stallion in Stonewall.

Big Mac extended his hoof and returned the shake. "Likewise. Nice kick ya got there, good and strong. AJ told me about what happened ta ya, nopony should have ta go through somethin' like that."

Dark just smiled sadly and nodded. "There's nothing that can be done about it now. And besides, it could have been a lot worse."

Big Mac returned the nod. "Suppose that's true. Now, Ah heard that you're lookin' for work, now that you're stayin' here in Ponyville."

Dark looked over to Applejack, her mouth turning to a grin. "You told him?" he asked.

"Eeyup," she answered.

Dark thought about that for a moment before something clicked. "Did you tell me not to go job hunting yesterday because you were thinking about asking me to help you guys on the farm?"

Applejack turned her head away, never losing eye contact or that smirk and answered, "Maybe."

Dark turned back to Big Mac who just nodded and gave them a heartfelt smile.

"Thank you both so much for letting me do this," he thanked. "So, when do you want me to start?"

"Don't worry about that none, sugarcube," Applejack spoke up. "Tomorrow you should just try ta relax and get settled in. Your first day of work won't be till Monday mornin' at sunrise."

"Alright," he said, happiness nearly boiling over. "Thank you again, and I'll make sure to be here on time."

After talking with Dark about some of the things he'll be doing on the farm and learning a little bit about the Apple Family, they said their goodbyes and made their way out of the orchard, leaving the two siblings to finish up their work while the others went back towards town.

"Can we get something to eat yet?" Spike asked. "It's past lunch time and we haven't eaten since this morning."

Pinkie had the perfect place in mind. "Sure, we can go to Sugarcube Corner. It was on the list of stops anyway, and this is the perfect time to go," she said with an extra bounce in her hop.

It was well past 3 p.m. by the time they got to the front doors of the giant gingerbread house that was Sugarcube Corner. "Here we are!" Pinkie announced.

"Finally, I'm so hungry I could eat this place," Dark said as he poked the side of the building. "If it weren't made of wood that is."

Pinkie laughed at his comment. "Silly-willy, if it was made out of candy, then I would have already eaten it!" she proclaimed.

Dark chuckled and went to hold the door open for the others, but stopped when three little fillies bumped into his side. He looked down to see a dark-orange pegasus with purple mane and eyes, a white unicorn with light-green eyes and a curly light-pink and light-purple mane, and an yellow earth pony with orange eyes and a red mane held back with a pink bow. All of whom were looking up at Dark with wide eyes.

"See, Ah told ya he was real," the yellow earth pony told the others.

"Wow, cool!" the pegasus proclaimed.

"Why is his coat two different colors?" the unicorn asked.

Twilight walked up to Dark and the three fillies. "Dark, this is Applebloom, Sweetie Bell, and Scootaloo. They're Applejack's and Rarity's sisters, and Rainbow Dash's surrogate sister respectively. Girls, this is Dark Flame. He's new to Ponyville and will be staying here with us," Twilight explained.

"Yeah, yeah, can we go in and eat now? I'm starving here!" Spike complained, earning him a glance from Twilight.

"Mind if we join y'all?" Applebloom asked.

Before Spike could object, Dark spoke up. "Sure, if it's alright with everyone else," he said while looking to Twilight, Pinkie and Spike who all nodded, though Spike was reluctant to, earning a cheer from the three fillies as they all headed in to eat.

The inside was just like the outside with wall decoration and design, except for the wood floors, tables, and counter. They walked over and took a seat at one of the tables and waited for somepony to take their order. Soon, a short pudgy, light-blue earth pony with a bubblegum-pink mane walked over, smiling at her guests.

"Hello, dearies," she greeted them, then she looked to Dark and her eyes lit up. "I take it that you're the new pony that Pinkie was talking about?"

"Yep," he answered. "My name is Dark Flame, and I'm a Kirin. Nice to meet you ma'am. I just got here yesterday, so Pinkie is giving me a tour of the town right now. And since we haven't had any lunch yet, she suggested we come here to eat."

"Well, thank you for picking Sugarcube Corner as your first choice," she thanked him. "I am Cup Cake, my husband Carrot Cake and I own the store, and Pinkie Pie is our employee and foalsitter."

This got Dark's attention. "There are foals here?" he asked with a growing smile. "How many and how old are they?"

Mrs. Cake smiled and him. "Twins, a pegasus colt and a unicorn filly, both a little over a year old," she answered, causing Dark to coo at the thought of the two little ones. "I take it you like foals?"

Dark nodded. "Yeah, I do. Always had a soft spot for the little ones and would help my mom foalsit whenever I had free time."

"Ever think of having foals of your own?" she asked with a soft smile.

If I had a bit for every time I was asked that question, he thought to himself with a chuckle before turned back to Mrs. Cake. "I'll admit that the thought has crossed my mind quite a few times, but I haven't meet the right mare yet. Though with my luck, I wouldn't hold my breath."

There was a moment of silence before Mrs. Cake spoke up. "Anyway, what can I get you dearies today?" she asked them.

They each placed their order and waited as Mrs. Cake fetched their food. A few minutes later she returned with their orders. While Twilight and Spike got some cupcakes, Pinkie got a large cake slice, the three fillies had a big plate of cookies, and Dark order a few doughnuts. They ate for a moment until Sweetie Bell broke the silence.

"So what kind of things do you look for in a mare?" she asked Dark.

Dark started choking on a piece of doughnut at hearing the question. After getting his coughing fit under control, he looked down to Sweetie Bell who just innocently looked back at him with big eyes.

Okay, that's cute, he thought to himself before trying to answer. "I'm not really sure, actually. I've been so busy with my old jobs that I didn't think too much about it." He pondered her question for a moment before answering, "I suppose it would be somepony who is kind and caring, has a good sense of humor, smart, responsible, understanding, and can handle herself if something happens and I'm not around to help."

"Yeah, good luck finding somepony like that," Spike commented.

Everyone looked to Spike for the comment he made, but Dark didn't look upset. No, instead of a look of being upset, he had a sly grin on is lips.

Alright little guy, two can play this game, he thought to himself before starting on the little dragon. "Alright then, Spike. Since I told everypony my thoughts, why don't we hear yours?"

Spike paused in mid bite. "Say what now?" he asked, not liking where this was going.

Dark just lowered his head to meet Spike at eye level. "Same question she asked me," he said, his grin growing. "What kind of things do you look for in a filly?"

Spike was completely frozen by this question and shifted his gaze away from Dark. Eventually, his sights fell over the three fillies across the table who were looking at him questionably, and quickly turned away. This action didn't go unnoticed by the three adults, though, as Twilight let out a light squee.

"Ooh, Spike! You have a crush on somepony and it's not Rarity? Who is it?" Twilight urged.

Spike, now blushing furiously, turned around and faced away from everyone. "Nope, not saying a word," he declared.

There was a collection of disappointed 'awws' coming from the three fillies which caused Spike to glance back, but quickly returning to his stubborn position.

"So, are we all done eating yet?" he quickly asked, trying to escape the embarrassing conversation.

Everyone looked around to see that their food was indeed finished and began to get ready to leave, but were stopped by the three fillies.

"Excuse me, Mister Dark?" Applebloom called.

"Just Dark is alright," he chuckled back.

"Okay, we just wanted ta ask if we could come and see ya tomorrow?" she asked.

"I suppose you could since I don't work tomorrow, but you'll to ask Twilight if it's okay first," he answered them.

The three little fillies quickly turned to Twilight, put on their biggest puppy dog eyes and asked in unison, "Please?"

Twilight giggled at their attempt to convince her to let them visit Dark. "Sure you can," she answered them, eliciting a chorus of 'yays' as the three ran off to do whatever they were going to do.

After paying for their food, they left the store and headed to their next location with Dark trotting over besides Twilight.

"You know," he began. "I know I said that my cats were cute, but the kind of cuteness those three showed was just ridiculous. I mean, it's so cute it should be illegal." This caused Pinkie and Twilight to start laughing while Spike rolled his eyes.

"Yea, no kiddin-" He slapped his claws over his mouth, but the damage was already done.

Dark, with a triumphant grin on his face again, looked down to Spike and pointed a claw at him.

"I knew it!" he exclaimed as they made their way to Fluttershy's cottage.

"Aww, come on, Spike, I'll even Pinkie Promised to not tell anypony," Twilight tried persuading Spike for the umpteenth time.

"For the last time, Twilight, I'm not telling," Spike answered, crossing his arms while glaring at Dark who had a not so innocent smile.

Twilight sigh in defeat, knowing that when Spike gets stubborn like this that there's no convincing him.

Soon enough, they came upon a small tree cottage with a group of critters running around the yard. They crossed the bridge running over the little creek and saw Rainbow talking to Fluttershy, who was getting ready to feed the animals. Fluttershy was the first to notice and welcomed them.

"Hello everyone," she greeted warmly. "What can I do for you?"

Dark was the one to answer. "Pinkie has been giving me her tour of Ponyville and this was on the list. I must admit that when I heard that you ran the animal shelter, I was looking forward to coming here."

Fluttershy smiled. "Oh yes, I always enjoy taking care of the animals, and they always keep me company," she answered while filling up another bowl of food for her animal friends.

She let out a low whistle and before anyone knew it, a stampede of little critters came running over. While most ate from a bowl, Fluttershy was going around feeding a few of them herself and noticed Dark paying extra attention as she did.

"Would you like to feed them?" she asked Dark who slowly nodded and stepped forwards.

"Seriously?" Rainbow asked. "You're wanting to hoof- I mean, claw-feed a bunch of random animals?"

Dark just shrugged it off. "Like I said yesterday, I have a soft spot for small animals. Doesn't matter if I know them or not," he said while Fluttershy poured some feed into his open claw.

Though it took a bit of coaxing from Fluttershy, she was able to convince two of them to give Dark a chance. Soon, a little brown bunny and a jackalope cautiously hopped over to his claw and took a quick nibble of the food he held. Satisfied, they gradually started to dig in, gaining the attention of some of the others and causing them to stop eating and meet this new creature.

Now sitting on his haunches, Fluttershy filled up Dark's other claw for him to feed, and soon found himself in a position he would only imagine. Bunny rabbits and a jackalope were eating out of his claws, some squirrels and a cat were using him like a jungle gym, and a pair of blue jays perched on top of his head. Even a certain white rabbit was taking a curious interest in him, though he didn't leave Fluttershy's side.

Seeing their new friend covered like that was something they wouldn't have expected, especially given his past life. Then they began to laugh at him when the critters crawling on him started to accidentally tickle him, causing Dark to roll on his side while they attacked him with now deliberate tickle tortures with Angel leading the charge.

Looking at him now, it's hard to believed that he used to live a life of fighting dragons single hoofed and living in a village that was constantly being threatened, Twilight thought as she watched Dark struggle and lose against the furry assault.

Mercifully enough, the army of critters soon ceased their attack, laughing and cheering with their joy of victory while leaving Dark sprawled out on his back panting for air, revealing a mouthful of white draconic fangs. Fluttershy trotted over by Dark and looked to the critters.

"Did you all have fun?" she asked her animal friends, who all answered with a chorus of happy squeaks, chirps, and other noises. She then looked down to Dark. "Are you okay? They didn't hurt you did they?" she asked Dark, who just chuckled and shook his head in return.

"So, how are you liking Ponyville so far?" Fluttershy asked while helping Dark back up.

"So far I'm having a really good time here," he said earning a smile from the yellow pegasus. "Besides a few ponies that we passed earlier, everypony else has been very friendly and accepting with me. Don't think I've ever had so many friends before in my life, let alone ponies that liked or respected me for who I am."

Fluttershy smiled, happy that he was enjoying their village. Then Rainbow hovered over by Dark looking a little nervous, like she wanted to ask something, but didn't know how to go about it.

Dark took notice and asked, "Something on your mind, Rainbow?"

She faintly nodded and finally asked him, "If it's alright with you, could I look at your wings?"

Twilight and Fluttershy immediately went wide eyed, knowing how personal of a question that was to anypony with wings. Dark on the other hoof, didn't know about such things.

"Knock yourself out," he answered with a shrug and fully extended his left wing out for Rainbow to take a look at.

With a blush that she managed to keep hidden from everyone, Rainbow started looking over Dark's furred, draconic wings. She ran a hoof over them, feeling and gauging the strength of his wing muscles while eyeing out anything that might cause problems with his flying.

"So, Rainbow, what do you do here in Ponyville?" Dark asked her as she continued her wing inspection.

"I'm the head of the Ponyville Weather Team. It's my job to make sure that the weather is kept up with the schedule we're given. Plus, I'm also in the Wonderbolts Reserves, so I can be called at any time to help them with a performance if they have a pony down, or if a threat arises and they need extra help kicking their flank," she answered, now shifting her attention to the furred membrane of his wings.

"Okay, that's pretty cool," he replied before a concern came to him. "I just thought of something, am I at risk of catching the Feather Flu now that I have wings?"

This was a legit question that brought everyone's attention over to Rainbow Dash.

"I doubt it," she answered, hovering over to his other wing. "You see, it's a flu that targets only pegasi, and maybe alicorns, but nopony has seen the Princesses or Twilight catching it, so I have no idea there. Beside that, you don't have feathers, and you're part dragon, not pegasus, so I wouldn't worry about it."

Always learning something new it seems, Dark thought to himself, knowing that he won't be at risk of catching that nasty flu. He remembered very clearly how his mom and brother were when they caught the Feather Flu, and it wasn't pretty. Then again, they didn't have the medicine to treat it, so that only made it worse for them to go through.

"Alright, all done," Rainbow announced.

"So how are they? Are they safe to use?" he asked curiously.

"Yeah, your wings are perfectly fine. Though I still don't know why they're so big," she answered.

"Well, even though I am- was a unicorn, I had also inherited my dad's earth pony genes, so my body-build was that of an earth pony," Dark explained.

Rainbow took a moment to think about it then nodded, now understanding why. "If you inherited your dad's earth pony genes, that probably means that your bones aren't hollow like a pegasus' would be. So, to compensate for your dense bone mass and frame, you would need larger wings for taking off from the ground and maintain flight," she concluded.

Impressed with Rainbow's knowledge on the subject, Twilight had to do a double take. "That was rather impressive, Rainbow," she praised. "I didn't know you knew that. I thought that I was going to come up with an explanation for it."

Rainbow smirked back at her. "Well, if it involves flying, then I would know about it. That, and they went over this at the Wonderbolts Academy."

Twilight couldn't resist anymore and facehoofed, knowing that she should have seen something like this coming. She looked back up to the others and noticed the sun starting to set behind them.

"I think it's about time we got going," she suggested, earning a nod from Dark and Spike (not noticing a certain pink pony missing) as they turned around to head back. However, they were stopped by Fluttershy.

"Um, excuse me, Dark?" she called out causing them to stop and look back to her. "What's that on your back?"

Taking a peek, he saw what Fluttershy was referring to as he noticed a piece of paper taped to the middle of his back. Unable to reach it with his claws, Twilight levitated it off of him and began reading it out loud.

Dear Darky,

Be sure you and the others come to Sugarcube Corner when you're done at Fluttershy's place. See you there in a little bit.

Your friend,

Pinkie Pie.

The four just stood in place while Rainbow hovered, quietly looking over the letter until Dark broke the silence.

"When the hay did she put that there!?"

"I swear, I will never understand that pink pony," Dark sighed as he, Twilight, Spike, Fluttershy, and Rainbow made their way through the town with Sugarcube Corner now within his sights. Though it surprised him at first, Dark learned his draconic eyes had night vision that allowed him see perfectly fine in the dark.

"Welcome to the club," Rainbow remarked.

During their walk back, the girls and Spike were telling Dark about the adventures and misadventures involving Pinkie. Most of which were harmless, but some he seriously questioned. For example, when they told him of the day Twilight tried to research and understand Pinkie's Pinkie Sense, or how she used her mane and tail as a drill to dig away under ground during the Flutterbat incident (which Dark took extra interest in), or during the Changeling Invasion at Canterlot when Pinkie used Twilight as a magical gatling gun.

Okay, that actually sounds pretty funny, he thought to himself, trying to picture a battle raging on with Pinkie wielding a weaponized Twilight Sparkle.

They also told him about the dangerous Everfree Forest and the creatures that dwelled within, and about the three fillies that bumped into him earlier and the trouble they used to cause. The Cutie Mark Crusaders, or CMC for short, where constantly doing random activities before they found their cutie marks, from apple selling to zip-lining and everything between. Though he was sure they were exaggerating a little bit, he still shuddered in wondering what he got himself into by agreeing to hang out with them tomorrow.

It's going to be alright, he thought to himself as they started crossing the road to Sugarcube Corner. They're just three little fillies, and I'm good with kids anyway, so I shouldn't have any worries... I hope.

"Anyone feel like we're forgetting something important?" Twilight asked, a sudden nagging eating at her in the back of her mind.

"Sorry, Twilight, but I can't think of anything," Spike answered.

"Yeah, what he said," Dark chimed in.

They made it to the door, but noticed that all the lights were off. Looking back to the others behind him, Twilight waved a hoof, telling him to go ahead as he grabbed the handle and pushed the door open into the pitch black room. After they all followed in, the door suddenly slammed shut behind them, blocking out the moonlight and covering them in total darkness.

"Is this normal for one of Pinkie's parties?" Dark asked, immediately facepalming at answering his own question of referring something involving Pinkie to being normal. This was quickly forgotten when all the lights suddenly flashed on and a chorus of voices all shouted, "SURPRISE!"

After his eyes readjusted to the blinding light, Dark could finally make out his surroundings. The store was covered in decorations, streamers, balloons, colorful table sheets, and a banner with 'Welcome to Ponyville Dark Flame' written across it. There were also a few punch bowls, a row of chocolate and vanilla cupcakes, and other treats. And surrounding him were dozens of ponies and a few crystal ponies who Dark had never seen before, save for a few ponies he could make out. Applejack, Big Mac, Rarity, the CMC, Mr. and Mrs. Cake with a foal sitting on each their backs, and Pinkie, who stood in the middle of them all with the biggest smile Dark had ever seen.

Dark took a moment to take it all in, the feeling of being welcomed on such a large scale becoming overwhelming for him as his eyes began to water.

"Is this really all for me?" he asked, still unable to believe it.

"Yepperoni," Pinkie answered.

"I-I've never had a party like this before," he said, struggling to find his words and keeping his tears held back. "Thank you. Thank you so very much, Pinkie."

Pinkie trotted over and gave Dark one of her signature hugs, though it wasn't bone crushing due to his newfound resilience. Dark nevertheless returned the friendly hug, letting a few tears of happiness flow. After a moment passed, they broke the hug and Pinkie returned to the crowd while Dark wiped his eyes with a claw before looking back upon the ponies that have gathered.

"So, shall we get this party started then?" he asked, loud cheering being his returned answer.

The ponies and dragon standing behind walked up beside Dark, and together they walked further in to start the party. That is, except for Twilight, who stayed back frozen in place upon seeing a pony that she'd completely forgotten about. She was a slender white unicorn mare who stood a little taller than the average mare, with violet eyes, a pink mane, and a Cutie Mark of a sun with two clouds parting. Seeing Twilight standing still, the white mare made her way over to Twilight and stopped a few feet away in front of her.

I knew I forgot something important, Twilight thought to herself, her worry building up.

"Hello, Twilight," she said with a warm motherly tone.

Twilight gulped and returned the greeting. "Hello... Aunt Sunshine."

Chapter 3- The Party, The Princess, and The Draconequus

The party was in full swing. Everypony, dragon, and kirin were out either mingling with each other, dancing, playing Pin The Tail On The Pony, or helping themselves to the pastries and non-alcoholic punch. With loud music playing throughout Sugarcube Corner, everyone was having a wonderful time. All except a lavender alicorn princess, who was anxiously sitting at a table across from her aunt in a corner of the room.

It's going to be okay, Twilight thought in a panic. She'll understand why you forgot to greet her at the station... I hope. Besides, you've told her that you'd be watching over Dark when he was out ahead of time, so there's that. But I've never been late to meet her at anything! How am I-

"Twilight, relax and take a few deep breaths," Sunshine said soothingly.

Twilight heeded her aunt and started on her breathing exercises her sister-in-law, Cadence, had taught her. After a few attempts she was quieted down to where she was no longer panicking, but still very nervous.

Sunshine smiled at seeing Twilight relaxing. "Feeling better?" she asked Twilight, who just nodded. "Good. Now tell me, why do you look so nervous, my dear?"

"It's because you sent me a letter saying that you were going to be coming here and I didn't show up to greet you at the train station. I'm sorry that I didn't come, but I wanted to keep an eye on Dark." Twilight sighed for a moment, the memories of today racing through her. "Although, in the end it looks like I didn't need to look after him."

"It's alright, Twilight, I'm not upset with you. I remembered what you wrote and I didn't wait long anyway. About fifteen minutes I think, but it's really nothing to worry about. Besides, I'm not here as Princess Celestia, I'm here as Aunt Sunshine, and I've actually come to see this stallion for myself, and to talk to you about some questions you had in your letter."

Twilight relaxed in knowing that her aunt wasn't upset with her for not meeting her at the train station, and the mention of her questions in the letter also perked her up a little bit.

"Is it alright if I can get some clarification on what I wrote?" Twilight asked.

"Yes, you may. Although, the answers to your questions in your letter are all yes."

Twilight just sat in silence and took a drink of the punch she fetched for herself and her aunt, contemplating on what she just told her, but still preferred to hear it herself.

"If it's alright with you, could you tell me exactly what he was right about?" she asked.

Sunshine took a small bite of her cupcake before answering. "Stonewall Village was indeed a village located on the south-eastern borders. After we lost contact with them over a hundred years ago, I sent a recon team out to check up on the village, but when they returned, they claimed to not have found it. After that, I just assumed that the village was abandoned and left it at that." She sighed and took a sip of punch. "However, I now see that I was wrong in that assumption and should have been more thorough with the search. And I have also made sure that this time, there will be results."

Twilight looked to her aunt questioningly. "What do you mean by that?"

"I have sent Captain Iron Guard and a platoon of his best to look into it personally. They left last night, so we should be receiving word from them within a few days to a week, depending on what they find," she explained.

"Alright, but what about this dragon that Dark kept bringing up?"

Sunshine's expression grew serious. "I did some research last night and was able to find a few things. But first, what did he tell you?"

Twilight tapped her chin and though for a moment. "He said that there were six of them, that they each represented an element, and that they were thought to be a myth until the attack."

Sunshine nodded in agreement. "That is correct, though it sounds like he felt out a bit of information. However, I can understand why, considering that some of this could be a little unsettling depending on the pony. Especially the one that attacked his village."

"You mean Nocturne?" Twilight guessed.

Again, she nodded. "From what I found out, they each embody a natural element of nature. Fire, water, earth, and air are embodied by the four youngest ones, who also happen to be quadruplets. The other two are the elder twins. The youngest of the two, Aurora, is the Embodiment of Light and Life..." She trailed off, allowing Twilight to figure out the rest of the puzzle.

Twilight took the hint, and it wasn't long before her eyes lit up in revelation and fear of what this meant.

"Does... does this mean that Nocturne is the Embodiment of Darkness and Death?" she guessed with a hint of fear.

"More or less," Sunshine answered. "And it's Shadow and Death actually, although an easy misinterpretation. Shadow and darkness is basically the same thing; a lack of light."

Though that last part was meant to be lighthearted, Twilight was feeling anything but. "So, since Dark has become part dragon due to Nocturne, does that mean that he's become the new Embodiment of Shadow and Death?

Sunshine frowned at that. "In a way, yes, he is." Hearing a cry of laughter, she turned her attention behind Twilight to see Dark and a group of ponies laughing at him, with a foal clamped on his muzzle, and another one sitting on his head happily munching away at his ear. "Although, it looks like we may not need to worry about that, judging by what I'm seeing of him right now."

Twilight sighed with a smile. "That's pretty much what I thought when I saw him earlier today playing with Fluttershy's animal friends. Despite his past and his apparent new roll, he doesn't look or act like somepony who would spread death around." Her smile dropped for a moment. "Unless you count the dragons that he had to fight against to defend his village."

"First, it's just a title and carries no responsibilities with it. As for the dragons, if it was to defend his village and there was no other choice, then I won't hold it against him." Sunshine took on a serious look. "Especially if it's on Equestrian soil, then we're going to have a talk with King Inferno about this. And if it does turn out that way, then I'll send you a letter with the details about what's going to happen."

Twilight nodded in agreement, though one more thing still bothered her. "So then what about Dark's cutie mark?" she asked. "Do we allow him to study and practice dark magic since it's his special talent and he is now the new Embodiment of Shadow and Death, or are we still going to forbid him from touching it?"

Sunshine took a sip of her punch and mulled over the thought. She never had to deal with a pony who's cutie mark specialized in dark magic before. She took another sip and a bite of cupcake before she looked back to Twilight with a thought.

"Why don't you tell me a bit about him, then I'll talk to your friends and make the decision before the party ends."

And so, Twilight began telling her of what she has seen of Dark, and what he told them over the last two days about himself.

Dark made his way into the crowd as the party began. With Rainbow, Fluttershy, and Spike at his sides, he was feeling more sure of himself as he was greeted by one pony after another. Even though a few were a bit intimidated by his looks, such as Carrot Top and the flower sisters, they eventually opened up to him and introduced themselves. Others, such as the crystal ponies, a zebra with gold rings around her neck that he remembered was Zecora, and Lyra and Bon-Bon, were more open to him. The two mares claimed to be 'best friends', but the way they said it and the way they acted towards each other had clearly told another story. Still, he smiled to them for being so welcoming to him, but not as much as Derpy. Despite her unique eyes, her bubbly personality and overall friendliness won Dark over almost instantaneously. She also introduced him to her friend known simply as Doc, who introduced himself as a scientist and was looking over Dark with what he could only explain as a 'mad scientist' look.

After his talk with the possibly mad doctor, Dark made his way away from him to the punch bowl. Grabbing a cup, he leaned on the table and looked at all the ponies who were having fun, and eventually he saw a white unicorn with an electric-blue mane and purple shades who Pinkie and Rainbow introduced as Vinyl Scratch. Dark continued looking over the crowd, noticing that he hasn't seen Twilight since they entered, but soon found her talking to her aunt at a corner table.

I'll just let them be. It's none of my business to get involved with whatever they're talking about, epically if it's family related... and since they haven't seen each other in a while according to that letter, Dark thought to himself while taking a drink from his cup.

After a few more cups of punch, Dark made his way back to the crowd to continue mingling with the occupants, meeting more ponies and successfully getting on good terms with them. But soon enough, he was called over by Pinkie who had some ponies she wanted him to meet.

Walking over to her, he noticed one of them was Mrs. Cake, and another who was a tall, thin, orange stallion with a darker orange mane. But more importantly were the foals they each had sitting on their backs. Smiling at the chance to finally meet the little ones, Dark quickly made his way over to the group.

"Hey, Darky!" Pinkie greeted him. "This is Mr. Cake and Mrs. Cake, though you already know Mrs. Cake since we met her earlier today when we ate."

Dark nodded to Pinkie and looked to the couple, extending a claw. "Hello, Mr. and Mrs. Cake. My name is Dark Flame," he introduced to the married couple, who returned it with a hoofshake.

"Hello, Mr. Dark," Mr. Cake greeted. "I've heard about you from Pinkie Pie and my sugar dumpling here. They said that you like foals now?"

Dark nodded. "Please, just call me Dark. And yeah, I do. Like I told Mrs. Cake and the others, I've always had a soft spot for the little ones and like taking care of them."

Mrs. Cake stepped forward. "Well then, dearie, would you like to say hello to them? Their names are Pound Cake and Pumpkin Cake."

He answered with an enthusiastic nod that could match Pinkie, and was shown the two foals sitting on their mom and dad's backs. They didn't cry or whimper as Dark lowered his head to be at eye level with the little foals. Instead, they just looked at him with wonder in there little eyes as to this new thing that was presented to them.

Taking on a soft smile that didn't show off his fangs, Dark soothingly spoke out to the twins. "Hello, Pound, Pumpkin."

It took a moment, but after a little poking and prodding on his nose from the twins, they began to feel more comfortable and giggled at Dark, which in turn made him chuckle back. Then, with his face so close to the twins, Dark didn't have any time to react as Pound flew up and latched onto his muzzle, while Pumpkin levitated herself onto the top of Dark's head and began nibbling on his left ear.

You clever little foal, Dark thought in surprise at the baby unicorn. Why hadn't I thought about using levitation on myself to make me fly before? It would have come in rather useful before I got these wings. Speaking of which, I should probably talk to Rainbow about her offer of helping me fly pretty soon.

Looking back in front of him, Dark could see a now laughing Pound Cake firmly gripping his muzzle, making Dark and any others who were watching start laughing at the cuteness of the two foals and kirin. Although, the tickling from Pumpkin's munching and drooling on his ear just added onto the laughter. But, as much fun as the three were having, Dark had to return the twins back to their parents.

"Wow, you really are good with foals!" Pinkie exclaimed.

"I know I asked if you had thought about having foals of your own, but I must say, you would make a great father," Mrs. Cake complimented, making Dark blush. It also reminded him of when his own parents would tell him the same thing when he'd help foalsit.

"She's right you know, but we understand that you're wanting to be patient in finding that special somepony, correct?" Mr. Cake asked, which Dark nodded to. "Good answer. While marrying Cup Cake was the best decision I ever made, it won't mean the same if you're too eager when going about it."

"I understand, Mr. Cake." Dark smiled. "That's part of the reason why I'm still being single."

They shared a round of laughs and some more idle talk before Dark excused himself to go find Rainbow. Even through the sea of colorful ponies, her rainbow-colored mane was easy to pick out. As he approached her, he noticed that she was talking to Applejack and Rarity.

"Hello, ladies," Dark greeted the three, to which they returned. "Hey, Rainbow, I wanted to ask you when you were wanting to do that flying practice you were talking about."

"Well, from what I've been told, your mornings will be busy Monday through Friday, so we can do it in the afternoons on Tuesday and Thursday if you want. That, and I would have you start tomorrow, but we heard that you're gonna be busy that day," Rainbow answered grinning.

"Seriously," Applejack chuckled. "Ah tell ya ta take the day off ta rest up, but instead ya go and schedule a play date with the Crusaders. Although, they sure did look excited ta visit you tomorrow."

"In my defense, I didn't know about what they used to do at the time," Dark defended himself. "And besides, how could you say no to those looks they were giving?"

"Easy, darling," Rarity explained. "They're our sisters. We have grown immune to their puppy dog eyes and any other ways of influencing us. Well, for the most part anyway." She sighed. "I still can't get over Sweetie Bell's guilt-tripping at times."

There was a chorus of laughs at that before Fluttershy walked over, looking at Dark with a smile.

"Oh good, I finally found you," she said. "I've been looking for you so that I could introduce you to somepony."

"Okay... so where is this pony?" Dark asked, turning his head to look for the pony in question.

"Well, I'm not exactly a pony per-say," a male voice answered.

"Oh boy, here we go," Rainbow commented while facehoofing.

"What do you mean?" Dark questioned, looking back to Rainbow Dash and the others, only for them to point their hooves in the direction above his head. Turning his head to look up, Dark saw... a fly?

He looked back to Fluttershy in confusion. "You wanted to introduce me to a fly?"

The fly chuckled and flew down besides Fluttershy, only to explode in a pink haze with balloons and streamers. Once the smoke cleared, Dark could make out the creature in its place. It had a pony's face and neck with a single fang sticking out of the side of its mouth, a long slim body, a deer antler, a dragon horn, tail and leg, a lion paw, an eagle claw, a pegasus wing, a bat wing, and a goat leg.

Oh my Celestia, Dark thought to himself. Who let the walking zoo loose?

The creature looked down to Dark while Fluttershy introduced him. "Dark, this is Discord, he's a draconequus. Discord, this is Dark Flame, and he's a kirin."

Dark had to take a second in recognizing the name. "Do you mean the same Discord who tried taking over Equestria over a thousand years ago?"

"Ah, those were good times," Discord reminisced. "Yes, and no. You see, while I still am the Lord of Chaos, I'm no longer evil. After my defeat by the princesses, and again by these girls, I was then reformed by my dear, sweet Fluttershy here. Since then, I have been helping Equestria in my own chaotic way... and answering Fluttershy's calls whenever she needs me."

Dark was staring slack-jawed at the draconequus for a minuet before turning to Rainbow for conformation.

"He's right. Fluttershy pretty much has him tamed," she answered, which caused Dark to snort a small burst of fire from his nose in amusement.

Discord however wasn't amused and crossed his arms. "Now what's so funny here?"

It took Dark a moment to collect himself before he could answer. "I'm sorry, it's just sorta funny that the Lord of Chaos was so easily whipped."

Getting where he was coming from, Rainbow and Applejack started laughing while Rarity held a hoof to cover her mouth from releasing any giggles, and Fluttershy was hiding behind her mane with a blush. Even Discord was blushing furiously at the clever comment.

"I am not whipped! I just answer her whenever she calls for me," Discord argued.

"But isn't that basically what happens when a male is whipped by a female? You willingly listen and obey her when she calls for you, or when she asks you to do something for her?" Dark questioned with a raised eyebrow.

Discord didn't answer, but instead looked away and huffed, knowing that he was essentially correct. Whether he would admit it or not, Discord did indeed do all of those for Fluttershy without a second thought.

Dark walked up to Discord, stood on his back legs to his full height, and patted him on the shoulder. "Don't worry, Discord," he said to the moping draconequus. "You know I'm just teasing you right? Just a little fun between two guys is all."

That seemed to lighten the mood as Discord's casual smile returned to him, though his eyes showed a glint of mischief.

"You know I'm going to get you back for that right?" he clarified.

Dark just shrugged. "Wouldn't be much fun if you didn't."

The two stood looking at each other in silence for a moment before breaking out into a loud laugh, holding onto each other with an arm for support from keeling over in laughter. After they calmed down, Dark looked back over to Fluttershy.

"Sorry about that, Fluttershy," he apologized. "I didn't mean to embarrass you with that little joke."

Fluttershy just shook her head, her blush replaced with a smile. "It's alright. I'm just happy to see that you two are getting along so well."

It was then that Twilight trotted over to them. "Excuse me, but Rainbow, Rarity, Applejack, Fluttershy?" Twilight called out. "Aunt Sunshine would like to ask you girls some questions if you could spare her a moment."

They nodded and made their way over to the table that Sunshine was sitting at while Twilight turned to Discord.

"Having fun, Discord? Not causing any trouble are you?" she asked with a hint of skepticism in her voice.

Discord just waved it off. "Of course not, I'm just hanging with my new pal here." Discord then shrunk himself and started hanging off the ground from the end of Dark's tail.

Twilight just sighed and looked over to Dark who was shifting to all fours. "Well? Has he been causing any trouble?"

Dark shook his head. "Nope. Besides his transforming from a fly into his true form, and him shrinking himself just now, he hasn't used any magic that I'm aware of, let alone cause any problems."

Twilight began to relax upon hearing that Discord wasn't acting up in any way, but she still kept a feeling of weariness from her talk with Sunshine. Then Discord returned to his original size and looked Dark square in the eyes.

"You know," he began. "You never told me how you became a kirin. And I can tell you weren't naturally born one, so who turned you?"

Dark looked to Twilight for approval to talk about it, considering it was Discord. She nodded to him and he answered with one name.

"Nocturne."

The color in Discord's face drained out of him... literally. "Is this another joke?" he asked, receiving a head shake in response. "Well then, how did he turn you from a pony into a kirin?"

Dark sighed. "I have no idea. When we were fighting, I lost both my forelegs, tail, had a pare of gashes on my back, and had passed out from blood loss. Also, I appear to be missing five days worth of memory, including that night, so there's that too I guess."

Discord stroked the tuff of white hair on his chin in thought before he came up with an idea. "If you want, I can try and use my chaotic magic to look into your subconscious and find out what happened?" he offered.

Dark was about to think about before Twilight stepped in. "Thank you for the offer, Discord, but I wouldn't recommend it. We don't know what it would do to him mentally or emotionally if we forced it all upon him at once."

Discord waved his talon. "No, no, no. I don't mean just throw it all at him. What I meant was that I'll take a look in his subconscious and see what's there. He won't know what I see and it won't hurt him one little bit." They looked to each other and then back to Discord with a nod of approval. "Then just hold still, this will only take a second or two."

With that, Discord put his paw on Dark's forehead and began the spell, his eyes glowing white. After a few seconds passed, Discord removed his paw and looked down at Dark, frowning with remorse for him.

"Well, what happened?" Twilight asked.

Discord slowly shook his head and spoke in an unnaturally calm tone. "You're better off not knowing, Twilight. Let's just say that some things are better left unsaid and leave it at that." He paused before looking back to Dark. "However, I will say this. You did defeat Nocturne and absorbed his powers into your body, which in turn replaced your wounds with these new draconic limbs."

"You sure you're not going to tell us?" Dark questioned.

"No, I won't. For something like this, it would be better for you to remember it on your own, and at your own pace."

Twilight and Dark agreed with Discord to not ask him about it anymore and parted ways with him to go see Sunshine, who had just finished up talking with Rainbow Dash, Rarity, Applejack, and Fluttershy. They passed their friends and took their seats across from her.

"So, you are Dark," she stated in a suspicious tone, to which Dark nodded. "I've been very curious about you since Twilight told me about you in the letter she sent." She paused to empty out the rest of her punch. "And I must say, you've made quite an impression from what I've heard."

Dark gulped. "I hope these impressions are good?" he nervously asked.

Sunshine giggled and returned to her motherly tone. "Of course. Though your job of fighting dragons was a little disturbing, I completely understand why you had to do it. I have to ask, though, when you got to the party, why were you so emotional about it?"

Dark sighed and shook his head with a sad smile. "Even though I was the only pony who could defend the village against the dragons, my lack of a cutie mark at the time gained me no respect. My village was big on cutie marks, and if you didn't have one, then the village would pretty much shun you regardless of your achievements. This didn't include my family, of course, because, well, they're family. That's why I was so emotional back there, because I was never welcomed like that before."

"Ah yes, your cutie mark," Sunshine replied. "Twilight mentioned to me about how you woke up with it, and what it means." She looked to Dark who winced at knowing that she knew. "However, going by what I've been told, and seeing your interaction with those foals earlier," she said with her and Twilight giggling, making Dark hide his face behind his wings in embarrassment. "I've decided that you will be allowed to practice dark magic, provided that Twilight or I are present, until we believe you can do it safely on your own."

Dark folded his wings and gave a smile. "Alright, so when should I begin?"

"Tomorrow afternoon, after your three little friends are done playing with you," she answered.

"Alright, but if I may ask ,though, and not to be rude or anything, but why would I need your permission? Shouldn't a decision like that come from Princess Celestia, Princess Luna, or Twilight?" Dark questioned, causing Twilight to go wide-eyed at the bluntness of his question.

Sunshine however, took no offense to it. "A perfectly understandable question. However, that will have to wait until after your magic lesson tomorrow, depending on how it goes."

"And don't worry about it," Twilight reassured. "We'll both be right there during the training, so if something does go wrong, we can contain and dispel it if needed."

Dark looked over to Twilight who gave a reassuring smile. "Alright then. Guess so long as Twilight is okay with it, I'll follow along."

"However, I would like to know of something first," Sunshine began. "What kind of dark magic have you read about, and what spell did you use to defeat Nocturne?"

Dark hesitated, not for studying the magic, but for the spell that he used.

"The first two that I studied were utility-based spells. The first is called Second Sight. It allows the target to basically see without seeing. So, if I was blinded and I casted it, I would be able to see everything as though it were mid-day. Plus it also allows you to see through illusions and gives you night-vision, though that last part would be rather useless to me with my new eyes."

"Have you ever used it before?" Twilight asked.

"No, I haven't. Remember, since it was classified as dark magic, I wouldn't cast it. Even if it doesn't do anything dangerous." Twilight nodded as Dark continued his short list of spells. "The second one is called Soul Eyes. It allows for the caster to see the souls of any living thing within a one hundred yard radius, even through walls. But, depending on how much magic you put into the spell, you will either see a small flame, or an outline of the creature you're looking at."

"And do these spells have any side effects?" asked Sunshine.

Dark nodded. "They both have the same side effect, but it's harmless and lasts only for the duration of the spell. Basically, they make your eyes glow. For example, mine would glow gold, your eyes would glow violet, and Twilight's would be lavender."

They nodded in approval of these spells, seeing as they weren't harmful in any way. But that still left one spell unanswered.

"And the last spell?" Sunshine pressed. "The one that you used to take down a Scaleless Dragon?"

Dark just sat in silence, quivering slightly at having to explain that spell. Twilight noticed it though and gently placed a hoof on his shoulder, both calming him and encouraging him to continue.

"Alright, but are you sure you want to know? It's not exactly a pleasant spell to talk about," he asked, making sure this is what they wanted. After a nod from the two, he continued. "The last one was an offensive-based spell called Dark Hemorrhage," he finally answered.

Even though he didn't get to explaining what it did exactly, the name itself was enough to make the two mares flinch.

"As it sounds, it makes the target bleed out from within by twisting the shaded insides of the target, but the biggest difference is that the target's skin will also rupture from the spot of the blood loss. And though the wound can heal naturally over time, it cannot be healed with magic."

The table went silent after they were told about the last spell. Just the thought of that spell existing sent a cold chill down both of their spines.

"And you used that kind of spell?" Twilight quietly asked, her voice a little shaky.

Dark adverted his gaze from the others and down to the table in shame. "Like I said yesterday in the hospital, I thought that I was going to die, and that there was absolutely no chance of me surviving. Besides, I didn't know it would kill him. I thought because of his toughness, it would only wound him a little at the most. And since he was Death Incarnate, that it wouldn't bother him much."

"Funny how the survivors must live with the choices they've made to survive, isn't it?" Sunshine idly commented, almost like a lecture.

Dark didn't answer this time, but instead, just kept his head hung.

"So, would you willingly cast that spell again?"

He shook his head. "No. Once is enough, and I swear I will never cast that spell ever again."

"That would probably be for the best, wouldn't you agree, Princess Prissy?" asked Twilight's punch cup.

They all let out a yelp and looked to the cup that had a pair of yellow irises with red pupils, and a toothy grin.

"Discord!" Twilight snapped. "How long were you listening in?"

"Oh don't get your mane in a bunch," Discord huffed. "Remember that I already saw what happened, and I agree with the boy. He really did look like he was on his last leg at the end there and would have easily died if he didn't do it."

"But how can we be sure he won't use it again?" questioned Sunshine.

Discord looked to the white mare with a perplexed look as to who this pony was. Taking on his draconequus form, he floated over to her to get a better look, a sly grin forming at the resemblance of a certain Princess of the Sun.

"Well hello, Sunbutt," Discord greeted her, a quick flash of irritation showing in her eyes at the sound of her nickname. "And to answer your question about how we can be sure? Like I said, I saw his memories and also felt his uncertainty and regret in using that spell, so I wouldn't worry about him. Speaking of Dark, I should have known that you would take an interest in someone like him. But what's with the get-up? You don't look nearly as wondrous as you normally do."

Dark leaned over to Twilight and raised a claw beside his mouth to whisper to her. "Is Discord hitting on your aunt?"

Twilight faintly blushed at the thought, but quickly put that out of her mind as she mimicked Dark's motions and answered him back.

"No, that's just how he likes to greet and annoy her." She turned her attention back to the draconequus. "Discord, Aunt Sunshine is here on personal business, and when I say that, I mean that she is here to visit me without ponies, or you, harassing her."

Thankfully, Discord picked up on what she was getting at and backed off with a raised claw and paw.

"Alright, alright, I understand. Sheesh, I was just trying to have a little fun," Discord grumbled. "Besides, it seems like I don't get to hang out with her anymore."

Sunshine sighed. "You know very well why. Besides me being busy, the last time you wanted to 'hang out', you placed a whoopee cushion under the pillow on my thro-chair, during a very important meeting!"

Discord laughed and wiped a tear from the memory of that day. The look on Celestia's and the other nobles' faces when she sat down on her throne was utterly priceless. Dark and Twilight weren't fairing much better as they could barely keep themselves from laughing out loud too. Soon enough though, Sunshine joined in the laughter, knowing that in the end, it was a good and well timed prank that he pulled.

However, everything must come to an end as the night was getting late. It was 10 p.m. and most of the party-goers had left for their homes. That left only Twilight and her five friends, along with Sunshine, Discord, Spike, the Crusaders, and Dark. Though the Crusaders and Spike were nowhere in sight.

After a minute of looking around, Pinkie heard a group of light snoring coming from beneath a table sheet and peeked underneath. When she did, she waved the others over and they beheld a sight that made the all coo. Applebloom, Sweetie Bell, and Scootaloo were all comfortably asleep, curled up against Spike and using him as their pillow. Seeing the cuteness of the four of them, Pinkie reached into her mane, pulled out a camera, and took a picture of them sleeping.

"If you want, I can make copies for you girls," she offered to Twilight, Applejack, Rarity, and Rainbow. All of whom agreed in taking one for themselves, two for Twilight though, so Spike could have one if he wanted.

Dark lit up his horn in a gold aura, engulfed the three sleeping fillies and gently lay them on their respective sister's backs. Then he took hold of Spike and guided him onto his own back before Spike wormed around for a moment to get himself more comfortable.

"Huh, my magical aura changed color," he observed.

"What color was it before?" Sunshine asked.

"It used to be a grayish-blue, like my old eye color was."

"Alright, but why did you put Spike on your back and not mine?" Twilight asked.

"Simple," Dark began to explain. "It's because you look tired and exhausted, and I wasn't about to let you carry him all the way back like that."

"That's ridiculous," Twilight argued. "I'm not tired or any-" She was cut short when a loud yawn escaped her mouth. Dark didn't say anything, but instead raised an eyebrow. "Alright, I suppose you can carry him this time."

After saying goodnight to the others, and Dark making sure that Pinkie didn't want him to return and help clean up the party, Twilight, Sunshine, Dark, and a sleeping Spike, made their way back to the castle. It was a serene walk back with the peaceful quiet of the night and the cool autumn breeze. None spoke, a mutual agreement to just enjoy the silence while heading back to the castle.

Making his way into Spikes room, Dark carefully levitated the sleeping dragon off his back and tucked him into his bed-basket. He then quietly snuck out of Spike's room and gently closed the door, meeting Twilight and Sunshine.

"So then," Dark began. "I'll see you two in the morning?"

"Yep," Twilight answered before turning to Sunshine. "What would you like to eat for breakfast?"

She thought for a second before she came up with what she wanted. "Could we have some pancakes perhaps?"

Dark nodded. "Sure, they should be ready for you by sunrise, or close to it at least. Goodnight, ladies."

"Goodnight," they answered.

After Dark made his way down the stairs and towards his room, Sunshine turned to Twilight. "It still surprises me that he had suggested to you that he cook for you and Spike. It's not often that you see a stallion who's willing to even offer something like that."

"Yeah, it is," Twilight replied. "Although, Shining Armor was like that too."

It was quiet for a moment before Sunshine made a request. "Twilight, I have to ask that you don't tell your brother about Dark."

Twilight thought about it and decided to go along with it. Even though she didn't like to keep secrets from her brother, she understood the reasoning behind it.

"I suppose that would be for the best. If he found out about Dark, he could mistake him as my coltfriend and would come down here to try testing him by fighting him or something."

Sunshine was contemplating on telling Twilight the real reason behind why she didn't want Shining to know, but decided that this was a good enough of an excuse instead. They then parted ways, each heading to their own bedrooms. Soon enough, all of its occupants were peacefully asleep.

Chapter 4- Feelings and Training

Sunshine was standing besides one of the windows overseeing the east as she raised the sun to start the new day. Though it was made a little bit harder with her disguise still up, she didn't mind it much. As she finished raising her sun, her horn's aura diminished, but what caught her attention was that her ethereal mane had returned due to so much of her magic being directed to raising the sun. She quickly fixed her mane and returned it back to it's pink color before anyone would accidentally find her out.

Rarely having the time to just admire the sunrise, Sunshine just continued to stand there and watch while in thought. She was cut short, however, by a set of hooves coming down the stairs from Twilight's room. She turned and saw her approaching.

"Good morning," Twilight greeted her aunt.

Sunshine trotted over to her and gave her a loving nuzzle. "Good morning, Twilight. You sleep well?"

The young princess nodded with a smile. "Yeah, I've actually been sleeping a bit better these last few nights."

Sunshine let a sly grin show on her muzzle. "This wouldn't happen to have anything to do with a certain kirin living under your roof now, would it? After all, you just met him a few days ago. Though I suppose different ponies move at different paces," she commented.

Twilight looked at her, a little confused as to her question and comment at the end. "No, it doesn't. I mean, sure it's nice having him living here, even if it was just for a few nights, but-" She paused as the last part of Sunshine's sentence finally hit her. Twilight was now madly blushing at what her aunt was insinuating. "Princess! Why would you- no, it's nothing like that! What I meant was that I just happen to sleep better with him here... in the castle."

"Care to elaborate on that? Like, what is it about him that makes you feel more comfortable in you own castle?"

"I'm not sure how to put it exactly. Granted he does appear tough and ferocious, but he also... emanates this feeling of safeness and calmness." Twilight sighed. "I can't really explain it. The best way I can compare it to is that he has the combination of Tirek's foreboding power, and Fluttershy's kind and calming nature."

Sunshine was pondering the comparison, trying to find a way of making it easier on Twilight before an example came to mind.

"Tell me, Twilight, aren't we also the same as you just described? Powerful beings, but also kind and calming to our little ponies?"

"Well, I suppose we are," she answered while nervously rubbing her forelegs together. "But that's us, not him."

"Regardless, from what you've described, he does sound similar to us, doesn't he?" Twilight said nothing as she just stood there in thought as Sunshine continued. "Then again, perhaps that's just how he naturally is."

Twilight thought about it for a moment more before looking back to her. "Well, he did say that he was naturally a gentle and kind pony, and I suppose that his ferociousness could come from him being part dragon. Then again, maybe I'm just thinking about this too much."

Sunshine giggled, knowing that Twilight was still the same as always and put a hoof on her back.

"That's very possible," she said as she guided Twilight with her to the kitchen to eat. "Although, perhaps it might be simpler than that, if you would hear me out?" She paused and waited for Twilight's approval, which was given. "I think that you may have a little crush on your new friend," Sunshine guessed, her sly grin from earlier returning.

Twilight turned her face away from her, trying to hide her blush.

No, that can't be it, she thought to herself. I've only known him for less than two days. Besides, doesn't it usually take longer for feelings like that to even start coming up?

"It actually varies between each pony, Twilight. Some will start to feel attracted towards others after months of knowing them, while others will start to feel them after a few days. There are even those who would start feeling attracted to others just after a few hours," Sunshine answered. Twilight turned to her with a shocked expression of how she knew what she was thinking. And although Sunshine was having fun teasing her, she wouldn't keep it up for long. "You said that last part out loud, my dear."

Twilight used her wings to hide her face from Sunshine while they continued to the kitchen, the smell of pancakes growing stronger by the second. Silently, the two walked side-by-side until they entered the kitchen to see Dark standing up bipedal with a slight swing to him. The two silently looked at him, noticing that he was bobbing is head and swing his tail to the tune of a song he was humming to himself. Twilight was then feeling something fluttering in her stomach, and it wasn't her stomach's wanting for food. Now that she had a moment, she was starting to really examine him. The big and well-toned muscles on his legs from his habit of standing on them for so many years, and the way the muscles on his arms and back would flex when he would move them sent a shudder down her spine.

Sunshine looked over to Twilight and immediately noticed her gaze. She didn't say anything to her, instead just looked at her in amusement of her assumption apparently being correct, and a little happy for her. Twilight, forgetting that she didn't come in alone, quickly turned to face her aunt, who's facial expression had remained the same from their earlier talk. Though no words were spoken from Sunshine, Twilight knew what she was thinking.

"Sh-Shut up," Twilight bashfully said, again facing away from her.

Hearing her voice, Dark stopped his humming and bobbing, and slowly turned to the two mares who silently walked in on him.

"Umm, how long have you two been there?" he asked with a blush.

With Twilight still to embarrassed, Sunshine answered instead.

"About a minute, maybe two," she answered while sitting herself at a spot at the little kitchen table, Twilight following right behind her and taking her seat. "So, what's made you look so happy this morning?"

"Just feeling a bit happy from the party last night," Dark answered while setting out their breakfast. "Although, I wasn't expecting anypony to be up so soon."

Sunshine giggled. "Well, we weren't expecting a show, though I don't think Twilight minded too much."

Dark looked at them, clueless as to what she meant. He as about to go into it, but was promptly cut off by Twilight.

"So, how did you sleep last night, Dark? We didn't hear you struggling with your wings again," she asked him.

Dark shrugged. "They weren't that bad actually. Then again, you did say that it took you about a week to adjust to yours, and it's been roughly a week since I got mine." He took a seat at the table with his own plate before looking back up. "By the way, how much do you two know about kirins?"

"Sorry, but I know next to nothing about them," Twilight apologized.

Sunshine however knew a little bit. "I don't know much, but there is some that I know of them. What is it that you wish to know?"

"Well," Dark began. "I'm just curious about my lifespan now. Will I still age like a normal pony, that of a dragon, or is it somewhere in-between since I'm both part dragon and pony?"

Twilight also looked over to Sunshine while she contemplated this. It was a few minutes before she finally gave her answer.

"I'm sorry, Dark, but I don't know that one. We've never had a kirin that was willing to let us test them before," she answered.

Dark just shrugged. "It's no problem, just curious is all."

Twilight however was excited about this, another subject for her to test. "If it's alright with you, could I run some experiments and tests on you?" she asked.

"Sure. Just as long as it's mostly painless, or non-life-threatening for that matter," he answered jokingly.

She agreed with a nod and the three continued their breakfast, Spike showing up five minutes later and joining them. Things were quiet for a while until Sunshine broke the silence.

"So, Twilight, are you going to be in the Running of the Leaves next week?" she asked.

Twilight thought about it for a moment. "Is it okay for an alicorn to even participate in it?"

"As far as I know it is," Sunshine answered. "Then again, I never thought about it before, so perhaps we should check in to make sure."

"Sorry for interrupting, but what is this 'Running of the Leaves'?" Dark asked.

"It's an event here in Ponyville where ponies would run through Whitetail Woods and knock down the leaves for fall. Over time they turned it into a race and Twilight was in it last year. She placed fifth, which is rather good considering that it was her first race ever," Spike answered. "Why don't you join in it too?"

Dark waved a claw. "Thanks for the suggestion, but I don't think I'm quite ready to start running with claws yet. I'll just watch instead, though it does sound like fun, so maybe next time." Dark paused for a moment before starting back on Spike. "By the way, what happened to you last night, Spike?"

"You mean at the party?" he asked. "I was tired and decided to take a nap."

The room was quiet for a moment before Twilight picked up from where Dark left off. "Really? You just fell asleep? Alone?"

Spike looked to Twilight questionably. "What are you talking about? Of course I fell asleep alone. Although, when I was sleeping, I did feel something warm covering me, so thanks for the blanket."

Nopony answered the Spike as they were to busy with trying to keep themselves from giggling and chuckling at the memory of how they found him. Spike however, didn't get what was so funny.

"Hey, what's going on? Did I miss something?"

Sunshine was the first to compose herself. "You'll find out soon enough, Spike."

While they were on the subject of Spike Dark thought now would be a good time to ask a question that's been bugging him since Twilight's story from yesterday morning.

"Um, Twilight?"

"Yes?" she answered, noticing his hesitation.

"Is it okay if I ask you something about you and Spike?"

"Sure, go ahead."

"Well, I was just wondering about what your relationship with Spike is? I mean, from what you told me, you were the one who hatched and raised him, so what are you to Spike exactly? Are you his adopted mother, his sister, or his caretaker?"

All eyes were on Twilight as she pondered the question. She has thought about it multiple times before, but in the end, she didn't call Spike anything more then her 'assistant' or 'best friend'. Now, however, with her being put on the spot, she felt like she had taken enough time to make her long overdue decision. She looked over to Spike who was watching intently and gave him a warm lovingly smile.

"If I had to say how I felt about Spike, it would be that he feels like a little brother to me," she answered while hugging and nuzzling the little dragon.

"Yeah, I can see why you came to that decision. You two do kinda act like how siblings would. Always looking out for each other while also having a bit of fun by messing and teasing one another as well," Dark concluded with a smile.

"That's probably the best choice you could make," Sunshine chimed in. "Although I could see you as his mother after seeing you raise him in Canterlot, I can also see a sibling bond the two of you share." She then turned to Dark. "Speaking of little siblings, when were your little friends coming over?"

Dark was about to answer when the castle doors swung open and three voices filled the castle halls.

I'm starting to get the feeing that my being interrupted is going to happen quite often.

Shortly after hearing them enter, the Crusaders, each wearing their saddlebags, ran into the kitchen and greeted everyone.

"Good morning everypony," they then turned to Spike. "Hey, Spike," they greeted in a extra chipper tone.

They returned the greeting before Dark spoke up. "You three are here rather early. Did you even get anything to eat before coming here?" They didn't even answer as their stomachs did it for them. Dark gave them a light laugh before getting up and walking over to the stove. "Alright, you three take a seat and I'll cook you up some pancakes."

They didn't waste any time in taking their seat at the table, which was right besides Spike. The poor dragon didn't know what to do with having three fillies crowded besides him and just sat there, nervously twiddling his claws. With Dark working the stove again, he didn't see the look on Spike's face as it started turning color from purple to crimson. Twilight and Sunshine, however, did and quietly smiled at him. A few minutes later, Dark finished the girl's breakfast and brought it over to them. It wasn't long before the three plates were cleaned off and were brought to the sink and rinsed out before the Crusaders ran back over to Dark.

"All done," Apple Bloom announced. "So, what do you girls wanna do?"

Sweetie Belle thought about for a moment. "What do you want to do, Dark?"

Dark smiled down to the three. "I'll let you three decide. I'm fine with whatever it is as long as it doesn't break anything."

They cheered before grabbing onto Dark's claw and began leading him out into the lounge. A few minutes later, making sure that they were out of hearing range, Sunshine trotted over besides Spike.

"So, Spike, which one of them do you like?" she asked him.

Spike let out a loud groan. "Like I told Twilight, I'm not telling anypony."

"He's right," Twilight admitted. "We tried to get him to tell us, but he's once again proven to be stubborn about it." She paused for a moment to think about which one of them it could be before a thought hit her and she loudly gasped. "How could I not have guessed it earlier!" she exclaimed. "You don't have a crush an any one of them, you have a crush on all three of them, don't you?!"

Spike just facepalmed himself and let out an irritated groan. "Once again, Twilight, I'm not telling you, or anypony who I like. It may be one of them, or it may be all three of them. Either way, my lips are sealed."

It's been a few hours since the Crusaders came to play with Dark. During that time they played hide and seek, read some books, and a few other things. Some of which made Dark question his masculinity as a stallion. However, it was now 1p.m. and was time for them to eat. Making their way to the kitchen, they bumped into Twilight, Sunshine, and Spike, who were just leaving from having their own lunch. Upon seeing Dark, the three immediately burst into a laughing fit at how Dark looked. Even the three fillies were giggling at him for what they did to him. The Crusaders wanted to try practicing putting on some makeup and decided to try practicing it on Dark. Needless to say that it didn't go very well for him. They put on eyeliner and powered his cheeks, which wasn't that bad actually in terms of messiness, the lipstick on the other hoof was a different matter as it covered his lips and went up past his cheeks. They even braided his mane which he actually didn't mind at all. To the contrary, it reminded him of when his dad would braid his mane for him and actually liked it.

The things that I put up with when it comes to kids, Dark thought to himself with a mental sigh. He looked back to the two mares and dragon who were still trying to control themselves and sighed out an audible sigh while shaking his head. "Go ahead, let it out."

"Sorry," Twilight apologized while still giggling. "So, what happened to you exactly."

"We wanted to practice with putting on makeup and were using Dark to test it on," Sweetie Belle innocently answered.

"Well, most of us anyway," Scootaloo interjected.

"Don't mind Scoots," Apple Bloom spoke up. "She just doesn't wanna admit that she liked it as well."

"Anyway, we were heading over for some lunch. I take it that you already ate?" Dark asked.

"Yes, we did," Sunshine answered. "However, I was wondering. When will you be ready to start your magic training?"

Dark and the Crusaders stopped and turned to face them, Sweetie Belle seeming rather excited about it.

"Ooh, magic training? Can I do some too?" she asked enthusiastically.

Twilight stepped forward. "Sorry, Sweetie, but this is dangerous magic pertaining to Dark's cutie mark."

"All the more reason for us to help him," Scootaloo countered. "After all, isn't our jobs to help others with their cutie marks?"

"True as that may be, my little ponies," Sunshine began. "This kind of magic is dangerous, especially to ones as young as you three." She paused for a moment. "However, you can watch as long as you keep your distance and do nothing to interfere with his training."

They cheered, although they won't be taught any magic, they can at least get to watch and quickly ran into the kitchen. Dark however, was a bit reluctant to let them watch.

"Are you sure this is a good idea? I mean, this is dark magic we're letting them watch," Dark questioned.

"I actually agree with Dark. Should they really be watching?" Twilight sided.

Sunshine shook her head. "You two are right, it wouldn't be a good idea for them to see dark magic being performed. However, we're going to be working on those two spells Dark told us he studied on already. Seeing that should be quite harmless to those fillies."

"Alright, if you say so," Dark relented while making his way to fix the girls something to eat. "By the way, where do you wanna start the training at?"

"The lounge will work," Sunshine answered.

"Okay, I'll meet you there after I get the girls and I something to eat... and after I try to wash off this makeup."

After an hour and a half of eating and trying to remove the makeup, Dark was standing in the middle of the lounge while Spike and the Crusaders were sitting on a couch off to the side, and Sunshine and Twilight were standing in front of Dark. Twilight had already scanned over her library and found the spell book that she locked away behind one of her book shelves, much to Sunshine's knowledge, seeing as how she sent it to her for safe keeping.

"Okay," Twilight began while levitating the book in front of her. "It says here that you need to focus your magic into your eyes and think of the spell you want to use... huh, I didn't think it would sound so simple to cast. Alright, you can start whenever you're ready."

Dark closed his eyes, relaxing his body and started taking slow, deep breaths. Now calm and focused, he lit up his horn and directed his magic into his eyes. A few seconds of channeling the spell, Dark ceased his casting and slowly opened them up. Although nothing seemed different, the others could clearly see that it worked. Dark's eyes were now glowing completely gold, not even the whites of his eyes or his pupils could be seen.

"So, did it work?" Dark asked to which they all nodded. He tapped his chin and came up with an idea. "Can somepony grab a cloth for me to use as a blindfold?"

Sweetie Belle reached into her saddlebag and pulled out a black cloth, which she then levitated over to Dark. After thanking Sweetie Belle, Dark grabbed the cloth and tied it around his head to cover his eyes. This gave him an eerie look as now his golden eyes were glowing through the black eye-band.

"Sweet, I can see everything," Dark said excitingly, seeing through the cloth that covered his eyes.

"I'm surprised," Twilight commented. "I didn't think that you would be able to cast it perfectly so quickly."

"Yeah, me neither," Dark answered excitingly as he surveyed the room. However, once his sights fell upon Sunshine, he froze and slowly turned back to Twilight. "Umm... Twilight? Why does your aunt look like Princess Celestia now?" he asked, his voice wavering slightly.

Twilight looked over to Sunshine and saw that she was still in her illusionary disgui- Twilight's eyes shot open. She quickly looked back to the spell he just casted and facehoofed, forgetting that the spell pierced through illusions.

"Sorry, Princess, but I forgot that the spell can see through illusions, including your disguise," Twilight admitted.

Everyone besides Twilight looked to Sunshine in confusion until she lit her horn and shrouded herself in her golden aura. A quick flash of light later and in the place of Aunt Sunshine stood Princess Celestia. Immediately the Crusaders and Spike bowed while Dark stood there, stuck in place at now knowing who he'd actually been idly talking to since last night.

Princess Celestia turned around to the four young ones and gently told them to rise before looking back to Dark with an explanation. "I'm sorry that I didn't tell you of who I was earlier, but I wanted to see you for myself without anypony knowing of who I really was."

That would actually explain a few things, Dark thought to himself before speaking to the princess. "Alright, I understand why you did that, but I still have to ask, why such secrecy?"

Celestia let out a soft sigh. "We've had an... encounter, with kirins before you. I have ordered the report of the encounter to be marked as confidential, and had any involved be sworn to secrecy by royal decree. But... let's just say that it didn't go over very well for anypony involved." She paused to collect herself before continuing. "So, when Twilight told me about you, I decided to look into you personally as to whether or not you could be trusted. And of course, I couldn't conduct my own investigation without drawing the attention of practically every pony in the castle and in Ponyville unless I wore some kind of disguise. That is where Aunt Sunshine came into play."

Dark nodded, understanding her reasons. "Pretty clever. Alright, I suppose I can understand where your coming from."

"I do hope that your not too upset with Twilight or Spike for them not telling you about this little turn of events."

"Nah, I'm not really upset, if at all. More like trying to get over the shock that her supposed aunt was actually Princess Celestia in disguise. Speaking of which, do I address you as Princess Celestia or Aunt Sunshine?"

Celestia giggled in amusement. "When I'm like this, I am Princess Celestia. In that other form, I would prefer Aunt Sunshine. Although, I try not to use that disguise very much, otherwise ponies start asking questions and begin poking around." She turned to the three fillies. "And I also hope that you three will keep this a little secret as well?" she softly asked them, of which each agreed to enthusiastically.

"Well, now that that's out of the way, should we start on the next spell?" Twilight asked, which Dark nodded to while keeping the makeshift eye-band on. "Alright, the next spell was called Soul Eyes correct?"

"Yep," he answered.

"Okay, according to the book, the instructions are more or less the same as the Second Sight. Only difference is that you'll also have to channel the magic through your body as well as your eyes."

Dark nodded and began preparing the spell, lighting his horn and spreading the magic through his body, most of it in his eyes. After a few seconds passed, Dark ended the casting and looked to see if it worked. To his surprise, it failed.

"Well? Did it work?" Twilight asked.

"Sorry, I think I botched it up somewhere and it didn't work," he replied with a shrug.

"Alright, try it again and we'll find out what went wrong."

Heeding Twilight's words, Dark began to recast the spell. He took a little more time in trying to make sure the spell worked properly this time. About ten seconds later he stopped the spell and noticed that it didn't work again.

"What the hay?" he asked with a little hint of annoyance. "Why isn't the spell working? I thought it was compatible with the Second Sight spell."

"According to the book it is." Twilight tapped her chin trying to figure out what went wrong. "Do you have any ideas, Princess?"

Celestia looked over Dark with a thought. "Perhaps he's not using enough magic to perform the spell."

"But I used the same amount of magic on my eyes as I did for the first spell, and also used some extra magic to cover my body," Dark explained.

"But is that the amount you would use for a pony body, or a kirin body?" she inquired.

Dark's answered with a facepalm and shaking his head. "I can't believe I didn't think of that beforehoof."

For the third time, Dark started up the spell in hopes of making this attempt successful. Waiting five seconds this time, Dark finished casting the spell, this time pouring over twice as much magic into it as before. And with it came positive results. He opened his eyes and saw everypony with what looked like a small gold fire burning in the center of their chests. However, Twilight's and Celestia's 'Soul Flames' were burning twice as bright as the others in the room, though he couldn't see his own.

"Yep, that did it," Dark proudly announced. "Hold on a second, I need to test something out." He then trotted off to one of the doors and closed it behind him. Walking down the hall a few steps, he turned around and could still make out the souls of those still in the room. He returned quickly after. "Sweet. Apparently I can see you all through even the crystal walls."

"So, what's it like?" Apple Bloom asked.

"I can still see everything just fine, but the biggest difference is that I can see a small flame burning in everyone's chest, which I think is suppose to be your soul." Dark answered, causing the fillies and dragon to look at themselves and at each other trying to find what Dark saw.

"Good," Twilight piped. "Now, according to what you said and what the book describes, if you pump more magic into your eyes, then you can expand the outline of the soul to match the body that it belongs to."

Dark began pouring more magic into his eyes, causing their small flames to expand and take shape of everypony, and dragon, around him.

"Yep, it worked."

Celestia took a sigh of relief that nothing dangerous happened, and there were no problems overall.

"Well, I believe that that's all for now, unless you would like to continue?" she asked Twilight and Dark.

Twilight seemed content at ending now, but Dark wasn't quite done yet as he spoke up.

"If it's alright with you two, there's one more I would like to try. However, I don't know if it's in the spell book."

Twilight looked confusingly at Dark. "Why wouldn't it be in the book?"

"Because, it's a spell that Nocturne used while we fought."

Thought the fillies were confused by this, Spike, Twilight, and Celestia weren't. Calmly, Celestia spoke out to Dark.

"What exactly did this spell he used do?"

"Basically, he turned his body into shadows and sorta melded into the shadows that surrounded us. He was also able to phase his claw into the shadows and have it reappear in a completely different location. That last one is the one I would like to try," he answered.

"And why would you think it wouldn't be in the spell book?" Twilight asked.

"Because, he was a dragon and they can't use magic. That, and I think it may have been apart of his Scaleless Dragon powers."

"What's a Scaleless Dragon?" Scootaloo asked.

Not wanting to disturb the fillies with details, Dark decided to give them the short version. "There a very rare race of dragon."

"And you meet one? Wasn't it scary?" Sweetie Belle asked this time.

"A little bit. They're over twice as big as a normal adult dragon and don't have any scales. But they also seem to be more intelligent and less hostile than others are."

"That's awesome! Maybe we'll see one too," Apple Bloom exclaimed.

Dark shook his head. "There are only five of them now, and I doubt that they would have any reason to come around here." He paused as he realized what he had just said. I really hope I didn't just jinx myself by saying that and have it come back to bite me in the flank at some point.

Celestia, done with talking to Twilight during his little Q&A with the Crusaders, approached Dark. "Twilight and I have decided to oversee this new magic of yours, under one condition."

"Of course, what is it that you wish?"

She looked back to Twilight who was over by Spike and the Crusaders with a magical barrier around them before answering him.

"If you even feel as though you may lose control, we want you to stop immediately. We don't want you, or anypony for that matter, to get hurt."

Dark nodded and relaxed himself. "So, what is the first step to doing this?"

Celestia shook her head, then turned around and walked over into Twilight's barrier. "I don't know, so you will have to figure it out on your own. We'll be on standby just incase something happens."

He released a nervous breath before beginning. "Alright, here I go," he announced, more to himself then his audience. Closing his eyes, Dark remembered the night he did battle with Nocturne, and how he used his magic. Okay, now I wish Discord was here to tell me how the hay Nocturne was able to cast his magic, Dark thought to himself.

Even though he could remember everything about that night clearly, he couldn't quite make out how his claw was able to phase through the shadows like they did. Then again, his claws were shrouded in darkness before they... perhaps that's how he did it. Surveying the room, Dark could see that the sun's angle had casted the room partly in shadows and began to test his theory. Dark lit his horn in its magical aura and focused it on his right claw. Soon it started to glow gold with his aura and he tried inserting his claw through the shadows, which did absolutely nothing. Confused he tried it again, but ceased his magic after the second failed attempt and stared at his claw in thought. After a few minutes of silent thinking, he decided to try it another way. If Nocturne could do it with just his claw, then maybe that was the secret behind it.

Instead of focusing his magic through is horn, Dark began to direct his magic into his right arm and down to his claw. It soon became wrapped in a dark shroud with transparent wisps of shadows fluttering about on his arm and claw. Seeing this made Twilight and Celestia nervously twitch, ready to act in a split second. Slowly, Dark lifted his claw before looking towards a spot where he wanted it to reappear. Picking a location near a book on one of the top shelves, he slowly moved his claw forwards into the shadows. To his surprise and everyone else's in the room, Dark's claw started to vanish, leaving slight ripples in the dark shade where his claw was passing through as though he dipped his claw in a pool of water.

Looking back up to his designated spot, he saw his claw reappear and continued through as he delve his arm deeper in. Soon, half of his arm was in the dark ripples while the other half was up above by the bookcase. He grabbed the book with his claw and carefully brought it back towards him. Once he was done, the shadowy ripples dissipated, leaving Dark with his arm and claw still attached, and holding the book he plucked from the shelf. He looked back to the others who were still watching and saw them with looks of amazement of his new magic.

As soon as Twilight dropped her barrier, the three fillies ran over and leaped onto him, knocking him over and putting him on the bottom of the cutest little dogpile he'd ever been in.

"That was so awesome!" they all exclaimed.

Spike ran over and joined them, though he didn't jump on Dark and instead stood by him. Twilight and Celestia both approached him. Twilight with excitement as to witnessing a new method of magic, and Celestia, though impressed, was just happy nothing went horribly wrong.

"That was very impressive, Dark," Twilight praised before taking notice of the book. "So, why did you pick out that book?"

Dark looked to the book he was holding which was titled The Sunset Saga. He looked back to Twilight and shrugged.

"No reason, just wanted to test that spell by grabbing a book off the top shelf. I had no idea which book I was grabbing." He then read the back of the book to get an idea of what it was about before he frowned. "However, I think I now understand why you would put it up there. I mean, since when do vampires shimmer in the sunlight? I thought they were suppose to burn to ashes?"

Twilight took the book in her aura before returning it back to its rightful place on the top shelf. After getting the fillies off of him, Dark got up and turned his attention to Celestia who's gaze he felt on him.

"How are you feeling?" she asked.

Dark took a moment to look over himself and pat his arm and claw down. "Everything feels fine. Seems like there isn't anything wrong with me, physically or magically."

"Good, just making sure that your alright. By the way, how did you figure out how to do that?"

"I thought back to when I fought Nocturne, remembered how he was able to do it, and tried to mimic his actions. I also noticed that his claw was shrouded in darkness, and after seeing that using my horn didn't work, I thought about trying to channel my magic into my arm and claw," Dark explained.

"That seems to be rather risky," Twilight commented.

"Exactly, and that's why I went slow with it. I didn't want to accidently rush it and hurt myself."

Celestia looked out the window and saw that it was time for her to begin lowering the sun. With fall approaching, the sun would have to set sooner than usual. Walking over to the window, she lit up her horn, gripping onto the sun and gently descending it. Though it was nothing new for her, Twilight, or Spike, Dark and the Crusaders have never seen it in person before and just watched in silence. With the sun now tucked away for the night, Celestia turned and walked back to the others.

"Well, I think it's about time we got ourselves some dinner," she suggested.

Everyone in the room agreed with the princess, and together they left the lounge for the kitchen. After they got there, Dark made his way over to the counter to begin preparing them their dinner.

"After were done eating, I'll be walking you three home," Dark told the three little fillies.

"Thanks, Dark, but well be fine on our own. Ponyville's a safe village anyway," Apple Bloom protested.

"Yeah, besides we've done this before," agreed Scootaloo.

Dark looked back to the two. "As nice of a town this may be, I'm not going to let three young fillies walk home alone. Besides, what would your families say or do if you came back alone without somepony escorting you at night?" he countered.

Though they didn't really consider themselves to be little anymore, they agreed with Dark. Scootaloo was more reluctant than the others, but then again, Apple Bloom did live near the Everfree Forest, and Sweetie Belle would have probably been a bit nervous walking home alone at night.

Happy with that being straightened out, Twilight looked to her mentor. "So, will you be staying another night?"

Celestia nodded. "I was able to get today and tomorrow off, so I will." She looked down to herself before re-casting her illusion spell, returning to being Aunt Sunshine just incase somepony decided to barge in.

Fifteen minutes later their food was finished, a good helping of grilled mixed vegetables, courtesy of Dark's fire breath. Even though it wasn't like normal grilled vegies, his fire breath did preserve the flavor rather well. After handing everyone their food, Dark took his plate and sat himself down beside Twilight, Celestia taking up her own quarter of the table, Spike and Apple Bloom taking another, and Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo at the last.

Dark was about to start digging in until Twilight poked him in the arm.

"Umm, are you going to take that off before you start eating?" she asked him.

"Huh? What are you talking bout exactly?" Dark questioned back.

"I mean your eye-band. You're still wearing it, and no offense, but it's kinda creepy looking."

"Oops, sorry about that. Guess I just got so used to it that I forgot it was even there anymore," he apologized, removing the cloth and dispelling the eye enchantments, returning his eyes to normal.

"Thank you, Dark."

Everyone was silent while they ate, the only sound was of kitchen utensils clinking on the plates. That was, until Dark broke the silence with a new question on his mind.

"So, Twilight? Aunt Sunshine?" he called. "I know we set some rules with my... magic training, but what about my draconic magic?"

"If it's alright with you, I would prefer we kept the same rules as before. For now, make sure that Twilight or I are there when you practice it," Sunshine answered.

"Alrighty then," he replied. "Also, after I'm done taking the girls home, I'll be heading to bed early."

"Oh yeah. Ya start workin' the farm tomorrow mornin', don't ya?" Apple Bloom remembered.

"Yep. Applejack wanted me there before sunrise, so I'll need as much sleep as I can get before then." He turned to the others. "Also, I'll need to have everyone's food ready before I leave."

Twilight shook her head. "You don't need to do that. You'll already be getting up early as it is, we don't need you to get up even earlier just to make us breakfast."

"But I said that I would, so long as I am living here. Besides, I know a spell that can keep your food at the desired temperature so it won't go cold on you."

"Nope. Spike and I can cook our own food. You can just worry about yourself during your work days."

"But-"

"Dah!" Twilight exclaimed, raising a hoof up at Dark, which he knew meant "shush up and accept it".

"Alright, but what if I wanted to make myself a nice breakfast and I just happen to make enough for two or three others?" he asked mischievously. He didn't get a verbal answer as Twilight just glared at him, causing Dark to sigh in defeat. "Fine, you win. I won't cook breakfast for you guys during my work days."

Smiling in triumph, Twilight patted Dark on the head. "Good boy."

This caused the other females to giggle while Spike was covering his mouth with both of his claws, trying to hold himself back from laughing out loud. Though Dark was a little embarrassed, that didn't mean that he had to be alone in it as he looked straight at Spike. The little dragon was about to make a clever comment but was promptly interrupted by Dark.

"Say anything about this, Spikey-boy, and we'll be having a repeat of yesterday's lunch at Sugarcube Corner," Dark stated.

This immediately shut him up as the laughing and giggling was now directed towards Spike. After calming back down, they continued on with their dinner, enjoying the company of one another and engaging in idle, non-embarrassing topics.

The sun was starting to make its descent when Captain Iron Guard and his platoon of fifty soldiers came to the mountain range where Stonewall Village was set to be located. They made great timing by having the pegasi pull chariots filled with unicorns and earth ponies, and by tiring themselves out with only four hours of sleep during each night.

"Over there!" Iron Guard called out, pointing to the direction of a flock of vultures circling the sky. "That must be where the village is located."

The closer they got, the more birds they saw. It wasn't just a dozen or so birds like he thought it was, though, but was instead well over a hundred that created the flying ring. Then finally, upon passing over the last mountain between them and Stonewall Village, they could see the remains of the village... or at least try to.

"Dear Celestia on her throne, what happened here?" Iron Guard whispered upon seeing the entire village being caked in crimson with the mangled corpses of hundreds of dead dragons scattered amongst the ruins, and one giant black dragon in the center of the town square.

Landing on a cliff side that could support the platoon of ponies, Iron Guard looked back to his troops who where trying to keep their stomach contents down. Even from this distance, the stench of the dead was rather potent. Never had they ever seen such a bloodbath like this before. All dragon corpses, roughly a week old at first glance perhaps, but no ponies.

Iron Guard cleared his throat and addressed his soldiers. "We will make camp here for the night. Find a place you can pitch a tent and start a fire. I want everypony to get yourselves some rest, you all deserve it. However, I will need one pegasus volunteer." He waited for a moment before one such pegasus stepped forward, to which the captain nodded to in approval. "Tomorrow, after you get rested up and grab something to eat and drink, I'll need for you to return to Canterlot Castle as fast as you possibly can. Princess Celestia needs to know about what has happened here. The rest of us will stay here and sort through this... mess, and see if we can't at least find somepony else who may have survived."

The pegasus saluted before being given a report from Iron Guard and running off to recuperate before his return trip. As the soldiers were pitching their tents and starting fires to cook their food and warm them from the cold wind creeping in, Iron Guard stood out alone on the edge of the cliff. Silently, he removed his helmet and stared out unto the mass graveyard.

"What in Equestria could have been able to do all of this to so many dragons?" he asked himself as the last of the sun's light disappeared from behind the mountain peaks.

Author's Note

I must apologize for the scene with Dark and the CMC. It was originally going to be longer, and have some cutie mark crusading... but a certain episode kinda changed that. Still though, I did enjoy the episode and am looking forward to seeing more in the future.

Chapter 5- First Day of Work

It was still nighttime when Dark had woken up. Looking at the clock, he saw it was 5:15 a.m. and decided to start getting himself ready for the day. Quietly, he made his way down into the kitchen for some breakfast. With the lack of time and not having to cook for the others today, Dark made himself a bowl of cereal and some toast to go with it. A quick, efficient meal for the time being until he could get into a routine with his new job. Looking to the kitchen clock, it was now 5:30 a.m. and time was wasting. It would take him about a half-hour for him to get to Sweet Apple Acres while walking, maybe twenty minutes if he were running. Grabbing one more piece of bread that he would toast on the way there, Dark cleaned his dishes and made for the castle doors.

The run through Ponyville in the early morning was quite relaxing, especially with how brisk it was today. However, with him being a furnace on legs, Dark didn't have any issues with the morning chill and kept up the pace. It wasn't long before he exited the village and was on the dirt road to the farm. Now out of town, he could hear the crickets and frogs out in the night. Though it was new to him, he found it rather pleasing. And with his night vision, Dark could make out some of the nocturnal animals that were running and flying about.

That was, until he heard a loud howl off to his right towards the Everfree Forest. Soon after, it was followed by two more from the same area. Getting a little nervous from this new sound, Dark used his Soul Eyes and took a peek in the general direction. Though he could see in the dark, the trees were blocking his line of sight and prevented him from seeing anything over there. With glowing eyes, he scanned the direction he heard the howling coming from. Still making his way to the farm, Dark finally made out several outlines of what appeared to be a small pack of wolves about seventy-five yards away from him, some of which where now poking out from behind the trees. Stopping and canceling the spell, Dark started to make out the glowing yellow eyes that were tracking him, and the creatures they belonged to. They didn't look like animals, though, but more like pieces of wood that were shaped like a wolf. Letting out a low snarl, these three creatures slowly started prowling towards Dark, along with a horrible stench that they carried with them.

Dark looked down the road and could see the fence that marked the Apple Families' home. I could try and make a break for it, Dark thought to himself. However, I doubt that I could outrun those things.

Looking past the wolves, Dark could see a faint light appearing over the horizon. With little time left, Dark decided to do something about the three that were closing in on him. Taking a low aggressive stance, Dark flared his wings half-mast and bared his fangs, flames licking the side of his lips while emanating a low draconic growl. He wasn't sure if it was his growling, the fire emanating from his maw, or if they thought of him as the greater predator that caused them to halt their progression and back away. Either way, he kept it up for a few minutes until the three wolves had backed up to the tree line and darted away.

Letting out a sigh of relief, Dark took a moment to get his breathing under control. After calming himself down enough, he continued his way down the path to the farm, but was still on high alert incase they came back. It wasn't long before he made it to the barn where Applejack was just finishing on loading up the empty baskets that they would use to load up the apples into. She looked up and waved to Dark as he got close enough.

"Mornin', Dark," she greeted him before looking to the faint light of the sun peeking over the horizon. "You're just on time too. Come on over here and Ah'll get ya strapped up. You're gonna be pullin' the cart."

"Okay. Also, I'm sorry, Applejack," Dark apologized while getting strapped in. "I would've been here sooner, but I got a little held up."

Applejack let loose a light chuckle. "Take too much time cookin' up breakfast for Twilight and Spike?" she joked.

Dark sighed. "No. She made it quite clear that I wouldn't be allowed to cook for her or Spike during my work days. Although I was tempted to do it anyways, I'm not sure if I wanna find out what would happen if I did."

Now strapped in, Applejack led Dark to the field they would be working today.

"Okay, if you weren't held up by Twilight, then what happened?" she asked.

"Meh, some wolves tried to stalk and probably eat me," Dark answered nonchalantly. He looked over to see Applejack with a terrified look on her face. "What? This isn't the first time something's tried to eat me, so I really don't find it that big of a deal."

They got to the first tree before they stopped and got Dark unhitched from the cart.

"This wouldn't by chance happen ta be related with those howls from earlier, would they?" Applejack asked.

"Yeah, they were."

"What did they look like?"

"Best I can describe them is that they look like pieces of animated wood in the shape of a wolf."

Applejack let out a loud sigh. "They're called timberwolves. They're one of the more vicious and aggressive predators in the Everfree Forest. Ah'm surprised ya got away from them."

"There were only three of them, and I didn't run away. I didn't think I could outrun them, so I scarred them off instead," he explained as he mimicked his stance from earlier, giving Applejack a look of what he did.

This, however, didn't make her any less uneasy about it. "That may have been a clever trick, but you got lucky. Timberwolves usually hunt in packs of six ta eight on average, sometimes over ten. What ya ran into was probably some sorta scoutin' party, or a new pack formin'." Applejack paused to think about this for a moment while Dark took it in. "Although, Ah don't understand why they'd be so close ta here. They rarely ever leave the Everfree Forest ta go huntin'."

Dark, now upset with himself, looked down. "I'm sorry that I acted so brashly, Applejack," he apologized.

Applejack's expression softened and gave Dark a playful shoulder nudge. "Don't worry about it, sugarcube. What matters is that you're fine and got her safely. But what are ya gonna do if it happens again?"

"Since I'm not used to running with these claws yet, and seeing as how I can't fly, I'll just have to do it again. And if that doesn't work, then I'll burn them to ashes."

Applejack shook her head. "And what about the trees and everythin' else that'll catch on fire? And what if they start runnin' around while they're still on fire?"

This wasn't what Dark wanted to hear. It was also another reason why he would train away from Stonewall Village, so he wouldn't accidentally burn anything or anypony. Though he had mastery over fire, he couldn't use his Amplify to reabsorb any flames that he himself created. Dark let out a sigh of defeat as he looked back to Applejack with an answer.

"Alright. I won't use my fire-breathing or any of my fire magic against them," Dark answered before beginning to unload the baskets out of the cart.

"So what's the plan then?" Applejack asked him while pointing Dark to where to place the baskets.

"After I'm done with work for today, I'll ask Aunt Sunshine and Twilight if I can get in some practice for my draconic magic this weekend. And if that doesn't work, then I'll just have to be careful when coming over until I can learn to fly from Rainbow."

"Ah remember Apple Bloom sayin' last night that ya weren't allowed ta practice it alone, right?" Applejack asked, receiving a nod in return. "So why not?"

"They just don't want me to practice it and accidentally injure myself is all," he answered. "At least, not until I get a better handle on it."

"Better safe than sorry Ah guess," Applejack commented. "Speakin' of Apple Bloom, thank ya kindly for bringin' her home last night. With the timberwolves so close ta town now, Ah'm gonna have ta have her commin' home either before nighttime, or with somepony walkin' her."

Dark waved a claw off. "It was no problem, Applejack. Besides, I told them that I wouldn't let them go home alone at dark anyway."

Applejack gave a warm smile to him before taking notice of the sun's place in the sky. "We've burnt enough daylight as it is. Why don't you come over by this tree and Ah'll give ya a proper run-through of how ta buck an apple tree."

Dark obliged and got himself placed in front of the tree while Applejack explained in greater detail on how to applebuck. Her explanation was more detailed than the last one, but was easy enough to understand. Besides some techniques that she liked to use, he had to hit the tree roughly between a quarter to a third of the way up the tree's trunk, and near the center. Probably easier said than done since Applejack made it look and sound so easy.

After she was done explaining, Applejack took a step back. "Alright, why don't ya give it a try now?"

Dark took his position and was about to give it a buck before stopping in mid-kick. Landing his hooves down, Dark remembered what happened the first time he tried it and quickly tucked his tail between his legs, covering his underside while protecting his tail from being bucked again. Applejack gave a chuckle, no doubt remembering what happened as well.

Taking a moment to realign himself with the tree, Dark planted his claws into the ground and bucked. He hit the tree with a solid hit, but was off his mark by half a foot low and off to the side. Still though, he did manage to get about a fourth of the apples out of the tree.

"You know what ya did wrong?" Applejack asked.

"Yeah, I hit too low," Dark answered.

"That, and ya hit too far to the right. You'll get it soon, though."

Dark gave an understanding nod and tried it again. This time he hit the tree dead center, but was still low. Applejack was patient, though. She knew it would take him a while to learn how to hit that 'sweet spot' on the tree to make it drop all its apples. After Dark's fourth try, the tree was empty and the baskets were filled with the fallen apples. Those that didn't drop into the baskets were picked up and added to the piles. Shortly after, Big Mac came and took the apples back to the barn to be stored while Applejack lead Dark to the next tree. Thanks to the talk Dark and Applejack had earlier, Big Mac was able to get the next few trees prepped for them.

They got into a steady rhythm where Big Mac would place empty baskets beneath the apple trees and take the filled ones back to the barn, while Dark would buck them. It wasn't until his tenth tree that Applejack felt comfortable to leave Dark to work on his own. Though his technique had gotten better, he still didn't get a full grasp of it yet. But that would be fixed over time with more experience.

Despite Applejack having to take some time off to help Dark, by the time noon came around, they had half of the field cleared out of apples and stored away. Applejack then called out to her brother and Dark that it was time for lunch and made their way to the house. Applejack was the first to enter the house, followed by Big Mac, and finally Dark, who seemed to be walking a little funny.

"Are ya alright there, sugarcube?" Applejack asked as Dark walked to the table.

Dark stretched his back legs before sitting with a groan. "Yeah, my legs are just a bit sore is all."

She chuckled while getting some food from the refrigerator. "What's wrong? Ah thought that ya would be more fit than this, considerin' that old job ya had."

"Normally, yes, but this applebucking has me working muscles that I'm not used to using."

"Fair enough Ah suppose," Applejack shrugged, setting out their lunch for the day.

It wasn't anything too fancy, just a slice of Granny Smith's apple pie with a bowl of apple soup. It was still good though, and Dark was happy to be getting lunch along with work. Although, the soup did feel a little cold to him, so he decided to reheat it with his fire breath. Careful to not accidentally burn the table, Dark breathed out a stream of fire that heated the soup until he could hear it boil. After the flames receded, Dark took a careful sip to see if he heated it up too much or not. Thankfully, it was the prefect temperature for him and began sipping away at his meal. He was too engrossed in his lunch, though, that he didn't notice Applejack and Big Mac looking at him funny until she cleared her throat.

"If ya could, Ah would appreciate it if ya wouldn't breath fire at the table. Even if it's for reheatin' your food," Applejack asked.

Dark's ears drooped at hearing this. "Sorry, Applejack."

"No need ta be sorry, just don't wanna have the table accidentally burnt down is all." She then tested her own soup before she grimaced. "Although, the soup could use a bit more reheatin'."

Big Mac took a sip of his own soup before agreeing. "Eeyup."

"If you want, I can use a spell to reheat it," Dark offered.

Applejack looked up to him with a raised eyebrow. "Then why didn't ya use it instead of your fire-breathin' in the first place?"

Dark meekly rubbed the back of his head. "I wanted to test my fire breath, so I didn't think about the spell at the time."

"Alright then, go ahead," she answered, letting Dark reheat their food.

Satisfied with how warm their soup was, they ate in relative silence with the only noises being the sound of spoons and slurping. They had finished the soup and were about to go to the pie when an elderly shriek was heard. Then, before anyone knew what was going on, Dark felt something metallic hit him upside the head, leaving his ears ringing. He let out a yelp of pain before rubbing the sore spot on the back of his head and turning around to see what, or who, hit him. Standing behind him was a wrinkly old, light-green earth pony, with a faded white mane, and holding a frying pan.

Dang it all, that really hurt, Dark thought to himself while looking at his attacker. Perhaps I'm not as durable as I thought I was. Then again, that was just a cat scratch before.

"Granny! What the hay did ya do that for!?" Applejack demanded.

The old pony only glared at Dark, her frying pan ready for another swing. "Ah saw this here giant bat and needed ta whack it outta the house," Granny answered.

Applejack and Big Mac groaned while Dark kept rubbing his head, feeling the blood starting to leak from where she hit him. He brought his claw out in front of him and looked at the blood that covered it. Seeing the blood, Big Mac stood up from the table.

"Ah'll go get the first aid kit," he stated.

"That won't be necessary," Dark interrupted before channeling his magic into his horn. A moment later a small ball of fire was floating above his head, emanating a soothing glow.

"Uh, Dark? What did ya just do?" Applejack asked.

"It's a spell I developed called Healing Flame," he explained. "Unlike normal fire, it doesn't burn anything. Instead, it emanates a soft glow that will heal anyone within its light over time. Plus, if it's casted on a target, it'll follow it until its duration of five minutes wears off, or it's dispelled. Otherwise, if it's not casted on a target, but in a location, it'll stay there and not move instead. Unfortunately, though, I can only cast one at a time, and it doesn't work on aching muscles, scars, or to replenish your stamina. That also includes restoring a unicorn's magical reserves."

Applejack gave a low whistle. "That's pretty nifty ta have on hoof." She turned her attention back to her grandmother. "And for your information, Granny, this here is Dark. He's the new farmhoof that Ah told ya about. Also, he's somethin' called a kirin, not a bat."

Granny put on her glasses and got a better look at Dark. Now that she could see better, she set the frying pan down off to the side.

"Sorry about that, sonny," she apologized. "My sights not what it used ta be. Thought for a moment you were a giant bat, what with them wings of yours." Granny shuddered. "Only seen one Vampire Fruit Bat of that size before, and let me tell you, it'll forever haunt your memories."

"It's alright I suppose. Just happy that it wasn't any worse, or else I might have been in trouble," Dark replied.

"But aren't ya suppose ta be a lot tougher now that you're part dragon?" Applejack asked.

"That's what I thought, but Granny has apparently proved us otherwise. Yes, I am more durable, but I'm not as tough as what a dragon would naturally be. I'm sorta somewhere between the two I think. We'll know more after Twilight starts her tests on me this weekend."

They finished up the rest of their lunch and made their way back out to finish up the chores. With the way they had set themselves up, the rest of their afternoon went without any problems, except for a loose wheel that needed tightening. Other than that, they were able to get themselves ahead of where Applejack thought they would be. It was about 5 p.m. before they called it quits for the day and took a moment to sit out on the porch with some lemonade. Normally the two siblings would be proud of themselves for putting in a hard day's work, but with their new helper, they got all of today's work, and some of tomorrow's work finished up as well.

"Whoo-wee!" Applejack exclaimed. "That was probably one of the best days of work we've had here in a long time."

"Eeyup," Big Mac agreed before taking a sip of his drink.

"How'd you manage to handle this place with just the two of you?" Dark asked while stretching his legs.

"Ah'm not really sure, sugarcube," Applejack answered. "Ah suppose that we've done it for so long that we just sorta got used ta it."

"Alright, but what about winter? Will we still be harvesting apples then?"

Applejack shook her head. "Sorry, but when winter comes around, things will start ta get slow around here. Granted we will have some chores ta do, but nothin' that we'll need help with." She paused for a moment. "However, it wouldn't feel right ta me if we just let ya go for the winter. Any ideas on how ya could still help?"

Dark took a drink and thought over it for a moment. "What about clearing out the road to your house? I could come over after a snow shower and clear the way for you guys."

"That could work." She looked over to her brother. "What do ya say, Big Mac?"

"Eeyup," he answered with a nod.

Dark let a breath that he didn't know he had held in, happy that he would still have a job of some kind when winter came around.

"You do know, of course, that we won't be able ta pay ya the same amount that ya would normally get, right?" she clarified with Dark, who nodded in return. "Alright. Good ta know."

The sun was beginning its descent when they decided to get up. Dark's legs, however, were starting to get stiff on him from the workout he got from today. Slowly he made his way to the kitchen to wash out the cup he used before saying goodbye to everypony for the afternoon. Walking down the path out of the apple orchard, he bumped into Apple Bloom.

"Hey there, Dark," She greeted him.

"Hello, Apple Bloom," Dark returned. "What were you up to today?"

"Just hangin' out with the girls at the park."

"Did you three have fun?"

"Yep."

"Good." Dark was about to continue his way home before he paused to look back to Apple Bloom. "By the way, your sister wanted to talk to you about what time she wants you home by."

Apple Bloom frowned at him. "Why? Did Ah do somethin' wrong?"

Dark gave a light-hearted chuckle. "No, you're not in any trouble. She just wants to talk to you and make sure you'll be safe is all."

"Alright. Well, Ah guess Ah'll see ya around," she said as she ran off to her home.

Dark smiled and shook his head at her before heading back home himself. Although it seemed peaceful as always, the encounter from this morning had Dark on edge. During his walk back to town, Dark kept glancing over to the forest's edge, keeping an eye out on any signs of movement and smelling for that foul scent from before. Thankfully, there were no signs of them by the time he entered Ponyville, leaving Dark in the clear.

Even with the sun just setting, ponies were still moving about their business. Whether it was heading out to eat or heading home, they still took a second to wave or greet Dark, to which he gratefully returned. Quickly after, the sun had completely set, blanketing the sky in Luna's night. Even though Dark was always awake during the day, he much preferred the night. Slowing his pace, Dark idly strolled while taking in the starry sky.

After entering the castle and closing the door behind him, Dark decided to make his way to the lounge and crash on one of the couches. His legs were aching earlier, but now they were starting to burn.

Dang, I haven't worked out my legs like that for a long time, Dark thought to himself, the lounge doors now in front of him. Perhaps it'll ease up once I get off of my hooves.

He opened the door and saw Twilight and Sunshine sitting on one of the couches talking to each other, while spike was sitting on the floor reading a comic book. Dark greeted them briefly before flopping down on the opposing couch, burying his face in a pillow.

"Well, you look exhausted," Twilight observed, watching Dark lay on the couch.

He turned his head out from the pillow to face her. "Just a little bit tired. I'm not used to using my legs like that, so they're a little sore right now. Just give me a minute or two and I'll get started on dinner."

Twilight shook her head. "No you're not. I told you last night that you wouldn't be cooking during your work days, and that includes dinner."

"I thought that was only for breakfast?" he asked in confusion.

"Again, nope. When I said that you wouldn't cook, I meant for the whole day. Either Spike or I will be cooking dinner."

Dark went silent for a moment before letting out a sigh. "I'm too tired to try and argue with you about it. Go ahead if that's what you really wanna do."

"Good, I will," she answered while smirking at Dark.

It was clear to see, but Dark saw something a little different. Whether it was his mind playing with him from exhaustion or not, he didn't know.

She actually looks kinda cute when she's like that, Dark thought to himself. Soon after he caught himself starring at her and felt a blush coming on. Quickly, Dark turned his head away from her, trying to control the red that he was sure had covered his face by now. No! Bad, Dark! No thinking about her like that. He turned his head to get a peek of Twilight, her smirk still remaining, along with one from Sunshine.

"Is everything alright, Dark?" Sunshine asked. "Your face is looking quite a bit red there."

Dark gulped before thinking of an excuse to remove himself from the room.

"Umm, I think I'm gonna go and get myself cleaned up before dinner starts," Dark sheepishly said as he backed out of the lounge.

After the door closed and Dark could no longer be heard running down the halls, Twilight and Sunshine both let out loud laughs.

"I'm starting to think that he may like you, Twilight," Sunshine commented, making her blush a little.

"Are you sure he wasn't just embarrassed or overheated?" Twilight asked.

"Twilight, I have lived for centuries. I'm pretty sure I would know the signs by now. With that said, I can see them on him just as much as I can on you."

Spike, hearing in on their conversation, looked up from his comic book.

"So does that mean that you're gonna ask him out on a date pretty soon?" he asked with a smug grin. "Because if that's so, then you know I'm gonna have to start teasing you about it."

Twilight didn't say anything to him. Instead, she levitated a picture over to Spike for him to see.

"Huh? What's this?" he asked while grabbing the picture.

"Oh, just something from the party that we thought you would like to see," Twilight happily answered.

Confused, Spike took a look at it and was shocked and horrified by what was on it. It was a picture of him asleep with the Crusaders all cuddled up against him. At that moment, Spike's entire body changed color from purple to crimson. After taking in what he was seeing, he looked back up to Twilight and Sunshine.

"You can thank Pinkie Pie for that," Sunshine said. "Honestly, nopony could stop themselves from cooing over how cute you four were together that night."

Now it was Spikes turn to excuse himself as he made his way to the kitchen to begin dinner, leaving Twilight and Sunshine in an even bigger laughing fit than before. It was a good minute or so before Twilight was able to collect herself enough for her to speak.

"S-So is it always this fun to tease guys like that?" Twilight asked with a laugh.

Sunshine giggled and draped a foreleg over Twilight's shoulders. "Yes, yes it is, Twilight. Just make sure not to go too overboard with it, though, alright?"

Twilight nodded with a giggle before she and Sunshine got up and made their way to the kitchen as well to help start dinner. With the three of them, it didn't take long for it to be ready, and just in time too as Dark just walked in refreshed and looking a bit less achy than before.

After Dark thanked them for the food, they dug right in. It was spaghetti and tofu meatballs with garlic buttered toast. Truly a meal any stallion would love. Even though it was one of Dark's favorite foods, he made sure to not scarf it down like a rabid wolf. Remembering about the events of that morning, Dark was reminded of what he wanted to ask them. Twilight however, beat him to it.

"So, Dark, how did your first day of work go? Did anything interesting happen?" she asked.

Dark looked in surprise for a moment, wondering if she read his mind before answering, "Umm, yeah actually. Though it didn't have anything to do with working the farm."

"Why? What happened?"

Dark hesitated for a moment. "Long story short, some timberwolves tried attacking me on my way to Sweet Apple Acres."

Twilight let a small gasp while Sunshine and Spike looked at Dark, seeing if they could spot any injuries.

"So what happened then?" Spike asked him. "You don't look like you got into a fight."

"I scarred them off," he answered. "There were only three of them, so my guess is that they didn't think I was worth the risk of fighting."

"That was very reckless of you, Dark," Twilight scolded. "What if you weren't so lucky and they came after you? You could've been seriously hurt!"

Dark let out a sigh. "I know. Applejack already gave me a talking to about it."

"Good."

"But I didn't have much of a choice," he tried defending himself. "I'm not used to running on these claws yet, I can't fly, and if I did use my fire breath or any fire magic, then I could have accidentally set something on fire. Which brings me to a question I was hoping to ask you and Aunt Sunshine."

Twilight and Sunshine looked to each other before Sunshine looked back to Dark.

"Yes?" Sunshine inquired.

Dark took a deep breath to calm his nerves before he could answer them. "I was hoping that this weekend, after Twilight's testing, if I would be aloud to train with some more of my draconic magic."

"What spell did you want to train with exactly?" Twilight asked.

"I want to try what Nocturne did during our fight and learn how to meld into the shadows. That way I'll be able to safely escape them without being hurt if they should show up again."

Twilight thought over it for a few minutes before she gave her answer. "Aunt Sunshine and I are going to talk about it, then we'll give you an answer. Probably tomorrow afternoon if that's alright."

"Sure, I'm in no rush. I'll just have to be more careful until then."

"Good." Twilight paused before she thought of something she would need to do. "I suppose I should go tell the mayor about timberwolves being near Ponyville tomorrow morning."

Deep in the Everfree Forest, three timberwolves crossed an old wooden bridge that lead to the old castle ruins. They didn't get far, though, as they stopped dead in their tracks at the sight of a figure in a black cloak. The three wolves gave a whimper while humbly lowering themselves to the ground before him.

"Where is his body?" the cloaked figure asked the wolves. "I sent you three to kill him and bring me his corpse, so why have you returned empty?"

The wolves' only answer was more whimpering, this time accompanied with them shaking in fear. The cloaked figure raised a hoof and rubbed the bride of his nose.

"Apparently I should have sent more of you to go after him. However, it would be pointless to do so now after this failed excursion." The cloaked figure turned away from the wolves, making his way back to the castle. "You three may return back to your pack. We'll have to lay low for a while before we can strike again. But this time, with greater force and numbers."

The timberwolves quickly made themselves scarce in fear of the cloaked figure changing his mind. Entering the castle ruins, he took a moment to think of his next plan.

Perhaps a bit more muscle is required. A few manticores might do it, but perhaps... yes. The cloaked figure broke into a maniacal laughter. I'll use a few of them in the next attack. And this time, he won't escape so easily, if at all.

Meanwhile in Stonewall Village, the solders were settling in for the night while Iron Guard was still up at the Command Tent. It was a long and tedious day of going over the village, sorting through the dead dragons, and trying to find any villagers. None of their bodies could be found which struck him as odd, and the mine entrance was sealed by two dragon corpses that were wedged into it. Thankfully, the stench that plagued the village was starting to ease up, much to everypony's relief. Iron Guard's attention was brought up when one of his soldiers entered the tent.

"Sir!" the solder called with a salute. "I believe that we may have found the villagers."

Iron Guard's mood raised upon hearing some good news. "Good work. Where were they?"

"That's the problem, sir. We didn't find the villagers' bodies. Instead, we found some sort of obelisk with a plaque that read, "Here lies the ponies of Stonewall Village. May they all rest in peace", and roughly two hundred and fifty-four graves surrounding it. Judging by the soil, we have estimated that they're close to a week old, give or take a few days."

The captain let out a groan, his worries confirmed. "Alright, we will stop the search for any possible survivors. I want your team to continue examining the graves and try to figure out an exact date as to when they were buried. The rest of us will sort through the dragon corpses to get a proper body count, and try to gain entry into the mines."

"Yes, sir!" the solder saluted. "One more thing sir," he started before signaling in two earth ponies that were carrying a metal chest. "What do you want us to do with this?"

Iron Guard walked over and opened the chest. After seeing what was inside, he immediately closed the lid and looked back to the soldiers that were present.

"Who all knows about the contents of this chest?" he calmly asked.

"Nopony besides us four, sir," the first soldier answered.

"Good. I want you three to guard that chest here at the Command Tent. I also want it under lock-and-key and for you to keep an eye on it at all times. And for Celestia's sake, do not tell anypony else what's inside. Understood?!"

"Yes, sir!" they answered, bringing the chest to the back corner of the tent and taking their positions around it.

"I will be keeping an eye on it as well while I'm here. I don't want any chances taken with this."

Chapter 7- Watchful Eyes

Dark was steadily making his way to Sweet Apple Acres for another day of work. Everything seemed relatively the same as each morning before, except for the unusually large number of ponies with lamps that were moving about. Walking through town, Dark had counted fifteen lamps and forty-five ponies so far. These ponies, however, were all decked out from head to hoof in golden armor.

These must be the guards that Aunt Sunshine said she'd be sending over, Dark thought to himself. Though I didn't expect them to get here so quickly. Guess she didn't wanna take any chances.

Feeling a little more comfortable with walking out of town, Dark casually continued onward. He would glance over to the guards that he passed by, giving them a respectful nod once they made eye contact. The guards, however, weren't so kind as they gripped their weapons tighter while glaring at Dark, half-expecting him to make any sudden movements and attack them. Dark took notice of this from the first few groups he passed by before greeting them with a "hello" or "good morning", hoping that that'll calm them down a little bit. Unfortunately, though, he was proven wrong as he was stopped by a group of guards just outside of Ponyville, all of which were unicorns.

"Halt!" the older guard ordered, each drawing their spears and pointing them at Dark.

He immediately froze in place, not wanting to entice them in any way. "Yes?"

"What are you and what are you doing here?" the older guard demanded.

"My name is Dark Flame, and I'm a kirin. I was just heading over to Sweet Apple Acres to start my work for the day," he explained.

"Likely story," the older guard snorted while the other two began flanking Dark on both sides. "We've received no conformation about a 'kirin' living in Ponyville. So that must mean that you're lying to us, making you a creature from the Everfree Forest that we were sent here to guard from."

Dark sighed in annoyance. Guess she forgot to tell them about me so that they wouldn't consider me a threat, Dark thought to himself before looking back to the lead guard. "Look, if you don't believe me, then you three can escort me to the farm so that Applejack can confirm it for yourselves. In the meantime, I would prefer that I'm not late for work, so if you would let me-"

"Restrain him!" the older guard ordered.

Swiftly the other two guards each wound up to throw an iron bola at Dark, one at his arms, another at his legs and tail, while the lead guard used his magic to root him in place. Dark knew that any sort of retaliation wouldn't help his cause, and that it would be better for him to be late to work with a legitimate explanation rather than being a wanted fugitive. Deciding it would be best to do nothing, he let the bolas wrap around him, binding his arms, legs, and tail, before toppling over due to his lack of balance. The older guard was apparently taking no chances as he walked over and telekinetically folded Dark's bound legs, arms, and tail against his stomach before taking a long chain from his saddlebag and wrapping it around Dark's entire body, leaving only his neck and head exposed. Lastly, he pulled out an inhibitor ring and clamped it around Dark's horn.

Seriously? Why would they be carrying around so many chains like this? Dark wondered. It's completely unnecessary.

With Dark firmly secured, the three guards grabbed the chains with their magic and began dragging him back to Ponyville.

"So," Dark began. "Where exactly are you taking me?"

The older guard smirked before answering, "We're taking you to Princess Twilight. Once there, we'll let her decide on how to best dispose of you."

"Yeaahhh, that might not be a very good idea," he advised. "Twilight isn't usually up for roughly another hour, and she doesn't like being woken up abruptly.

"You will either properly address Her Royal Highness, or not at all!" the older guard snapped.

"But if you'll just-"

"Muzzle him!" he ordered the other guards, who saluted before firmly chaining Dark's muzzle shut. "Better."

Well, this isn't how I was expecting my morning to start off, Dark mentally sighed to himself while being dragged back to Twilight's Castle. I'd almost prefer those timberwolves at this point, at least with them I can fight back without getting into too much trouble.

Though she had a habit of staying up late researching and reading, Twilight had become more willing to rise with the sun. However, what she didn't like was to be woken up before the sun's rays even broke the horizon. This was one such morning. Hearing the banging on the castle doors, Twilight reluctantly got out of her bed and made her way to see who would come to wake her so early.

"This had better be important for whoever it is to interrupt that dream I was having," she muttered to herself.

Reaching the doors, Twilight took a moment to calm her annoyance before opening them. Her annoyance, however, returned with a vengeance as she saw three guards saluting at her, and Dark laying on the ground behind them covered in dirt and chains. They made eye contact with each other, Twilight gawking at Dark while he just raised an eyebrow in return.

"Princess Twilight," the older guard called. "We found this... thing, walking down the road leading from Ponyville to Sweet Apple Acres." He didn't notice that Twilight was now glaring at him as he continued on. "We immediately apprehended him and brought him directly to you so that you may decide on how to... deal with him."

"Did he tell you what he was doing?" Twilight calmly asked him.

"He said something about working on the Apple farm, Your Highness," he answered.

"And did it ever occur to you to maybe look into it before chaining him up?" she asked with a hint of annoyance her voice.

"No, it didn't. We believed it to be a lie and restrained him instead. Besides, look at him," he said, pointing a hoof at Dark. "A creature like that could only come from either the Everfree Forest, or Tartarus. Regardless of which it came from, it's still a danger to everypony here."

Twilight said nothing as she walked past the guards and laid down in front of Dark so that they were at eye level before gently asking him, "Are you alright? They didn't hurt you did they?"

Unable to speak, Dark shook his head.

"Who's idea was it to muzzle him with these chains, and who put this inhibitor ring on him?" Twilight growled.

"That was me," the older guard proudly answered. "It was to silence him from spouting more lies, and because of how he had inappropriately addressed you, Princess."

"How so?" she questioned him.

"He called you by name instead of your proper title, Your Majesty," he answered.

Twilight groaned before lighting her horn, removing the chains on Dark's muzzle and the ring on his horn. Free from his restraints, Dark started moving his jaw around, trying to relieve himself of the soreness left behind from his tight bindings.

"Feeling better, Dark?" she asked him.

"Yeah, thanks a lot for removing them," he thanked.

Twilight smiled. "You're welcome, but how did they get you like this? I thought that you would have been able to defend yourself against just three of them," she playfully teased.

Dark shrugged as best he could. "I figured it would've be better to let them capture me instead of beating them up and drawing the attention of the rest of the guards."

Hearing Dark's answer left the three guards baffled. If what Princess Twilight was asking was correct, then that meant that this creature could have easily bested all three of them at the same time. This little bit of information felt like a major blow to their honor-bound pride, knowing that he deliberately let them win.

Twilight leaned forward and gave Dark a quick nuzzle. "That was a good call, and I'm sorry that they did this to you. Still, it doesn't excuse them for chaining you up, dragging you across Ponyville, and back to my castle doorstep like that. Especially since they could have easily levitated you over here, or put on cuffs so you could still walk." She then got up to her hooves and turned to face the three guards. "And as for you three," she firmly addressed, causing them to wince. "Dark is a close, personal friend of mine, and he's the one who brought Princess Celestia and I the news about the timberwolves encroaching so close to Ponyville. So from henceforth, I want you, and the rest of the guards, to treat him like you would to my friends and I. Understand?!"

"Umm, Twilight?" Dark tried interjecting.

"Shush, Dark, I got this," Twilight silenced.

"Yes, ma'am," he meekly replied, lowering his head to the ground.

'Yes, ma'am?' Where the heck did that come from? Dark wondered to himself.

Twilight was glaring at the guards now, who were standing in shock and silence. "Well?" she pressed.

The three shook themselves out of their thoughts before saluting and answering in unison, "Yes, Your Highness."

"Good." She turned back to Dark, her face and voice softening. "Can you get yourself free, or do you want some help with that?"

"Nah, I got it," Dark answered.

He took in a deep breath before unleashing a torrent of fire from his maw at the chains that were still binding him together. After a few seconds, Dark ceased his fire-breathing, noticing he'd super-heated the metal chains enough to begin pulling them apart. After feeling them snap, he decided to carefully shake the red-hot metal off his body and onto the ground, rather than get up too quickly and accidentally fling them all around him. Now free from his metallic restraints, Dark got up and started stretching himself out, feeling relieved after being tied up and dragged through the dirt.

"Ahh, much better," he groaned with a few relieving pops from his back and joints.

Satisfied with Dark being free, Twilight turned back to the guards. "Now, what to do with you three?" she mused out loud, but was stopped when she felt a gentle claw on her shoulder.

"Come on now, Twilight," Dark chimed. "You can't really be that upset with them. After all, they were just doing their jobs."

"But why didn't they know who you were from the start? Princess Celestia should have informed everypony about you before she had them deployed," Twilight complained.

"Probably just slipped her mind at the time. It would explain what they said earlier about them not receiving any notice of me."

After taking a moment to calm herself, Twilight readdressed the guards. "If that's true then I'll forget about it. However, that still doesn't give you three the right to drag him through the ground like that. So..." She turned back to Dark. "Instead of me thinking of a punishment, I believe that Dark should do it instead. Considering that it was him that this act was against."

The guards stiffened as Dark thought to himself, wondering on how he was going to punish them. Dark then gave a shrug after coming up with his answer.

"If they could come with me to Sweet Apple Acres and explain to Applejack why I'm late, then I'm good. After that, they can return to what they were doing before this whole fiasco started," he answered.

"That's it?" the older guard asked.

"Yep, pretty much. I'd rather avoid having my hide tanned just because of a misunderstanding."

The guards turned to Twilight, seeking conformation about his decision.

"Well, you heard him. Off you go," she told them. "Oh, I almost forgot. Dark, can you remember to tell Applejack that we'll be having a meeting at the castle today after lunch?"

"Sure, I'll tell her."

"Great. You have a fun day at work," Twilight waved off.

"Thanks, Twilight. You have a fun day too, and I'll see you when I get home," Dark returned.

After seeing Dark and the guards off, Twilight went back inside her castle and straight back to her bed to get the rest of her sleep before her actual day began.

Their walk back through town was rather confusing to the other guards they passed by. First time they saw Dark, they readied their weapons to attack, the second time they watched in amusement as Dark was dragged across the road, and now they're watching him being escorted by the same three who dragged him to Twilight's Castle, heading back towards the direction he was originally headed. Before they got back to where Dark and the guards had first met, the sun had already risen. Though they were quiet during the walk back, one of the guards finally decided to speak up.

"So, you're really not mad at us?" she asked.

Even with his improved eyesight, Dark couldn't tell the difference between their genders with all of that armor on.

"I'll admit, I was a bit annoyed, but not mad. Like I said, you guys were just doing your job, so there's no reason for me to be mad. Besides, I didn't get hurt in the end," Dark answered.

"Excuse me, sir?" the third guard asked. He sounded a bit younger then he appeared, probably a few years younger than Dark.

"Please, just Dark. I don't really care for formalities, and it'll keep things less awkward between the four of us."

"Alright, Dark. May I ask you something?"

"Sure, go right ahead."

"What you said about how you let us capture you... was that true?"

"If I wanted to, yes, I could have taken you three out," Dark answered. "But like I said, that would have been stupid on my part if I did. Besides, the hassle of having to deal with the rest of the guards stationed here would've been unnecessary."

The younger guard gulped. "Alright. But I may I ask another question? It's kinda personal though."

Dark nodded. "As long as it's not about how I got my scar, then yes, ask away."

The younger guard took a moment to choose his words carefully before asking, "So... what's your relationship with Princess Twilight exactly?"

While the older guard looked at him incredulously and the female one with a curious look, Dark didn't think too much of it.

"We're friends," he replied before thinking about his answer. "Actually, to be honest, she's the first real friend that I've ever had."

"Are you sure about that?" the female guard asked with a raised eyebrow. "Because I'm not quite buying it."

Dark looked to her questionably. "What makes you say that?"

She smirked at Dark. "Well, she did nuzzle you after all."

"It was just a friend gesture," he tried countering, though his blushing certainly wasn't helping his case.

"That, and mare's intuition," she added.

Dark groaned. If ever there was to be an answer to which there was no counter for, it would've be that. Turning his attention back in front of him, Dark could see the orchard just ahead. They were silent for a while before the younger guard's curiosity got the better of him.

"So, did you ask her out yet?" he asked, causing Dark to stumble.

Regaining his footing, he continued his way to the farm, now crossing its threshold before he answered them.

"No I haven't. We've only known each other for a little less than a week."

"Really?" the female guard asked in surprise. "Because it seems like you two have known each other for a lot longer than that."

"I won't lie, it does feel like it," he admitted. "When I'm around her, I feel relaxed and comfortable, like any of my worries or problems can be forgotten." Dark paused. "You three aren't gonna tell anypony about any of this right?

"And be the one to face Prince Shining Armor if he found out we knew?" the older guard questioned. "I'd rather face a dragon."

"Meh, been there, done that... a lot," Dark dismissed.

This caused the guards to go silent again, now understanding a little bit of why Dark believed that he could overpower them all at once.

"Sooo," the female guard smugly began, breaking the awkward silence. "Are you gonna ask her out?"

Dark was hesitant to answer. He really didn't want to answer that question, not quite sure how he really felt about Twilight himself. Thankfully he didn't have to answer as he heard the sound of hooves galloping loudly towards them.

"Dark!" they heard somepony shout.

Looking over to his left, Dark saw Applejack running at them.

Thank Celestia for the distraction, he mentally praised. However, his happy expression quickly vanished as he saw how upset Applejack looked. Or not.

"Where they hay have ya been?!" Applejack shouted. "You're over half-an-hour late!"

Dark held his claws out defensively. "Applejack, wait! I can explain!"

She thankfully heard his plea and skidded to a stop mere inches from him, kicking up a cloud of dust while maintaining her glare.

"Speak," she ordered.

"Excuse me, Miss Applejack," the older guard spoke, gaining her attention. "But I believe that this would be our fault."

Raising an eyebrow, Applejack sat against one of her trees while the guards began explaining to her what happened. After getting the full details on why Dark was so late for work, Applejack got back to her hooves and turned around.

"Alright then, Ah suppose it can't be helped if that's the case." She turned to Dark. "Well, come on now. We've lost enough daylight as it is."

"Thanks for that guys," Dark thanked. The guards then saluted to Dark and apologized to him before returning to their post. After catching up to Applejack, he remembered that message Twilight gave to him. "By the way, Applejack, Twilight wanted me to tell you that there's a meeting at her castle after lunch."

"Alright," she answered. "Dependin' on how long it takes, Ah might not be back till sundown."

"Fair enough that you get a few hours off, seeing as how late I am."

"Well, there ain't much ya could've done about it, unless you were thinkin' about fightin' them off."

"Nah, that would've been a bad idea. That, and I didn't wanna have to deal with fighting a bunch of guards."

"Good. Now hop ta it," she told him with a playful punch to the shoulder.

"Yes, boss," he answered with a mocking salute.

It's been a half hour since lunchtime. Everyone was sitting at their thrones, ready to begin their meeting. All except for Applejack.

"What's taking her so long?" Rainbow whined. "She should've been here fifteen minutes ago."

"Well it does take longer for one to make their way clear across Ponyville like she has to," Rarity chimed.

"Yeah," Spike agreed. "Beside, they only have till a few weeks after Nightmare Night before their harvest ends for the year."

"And how would you know that, Spike?" Twilight questioned.

"Because the Crusaders told me when they inviting me to their clubhouse."

"Maybe she ran into trouble with the guards around town like Darky did?" Pinkie guessed.

"How did you know about what happened to Dark?" Twilight asked her.

"Seriously?" she deadpanned. "How can you not sleep with how loud they were dragging those chains down the road like they did. Not to mention their grunting when they were pulling, and the sound of Darky trying to talk to them while muzzled."

"Oh no!" Fluttershy exclaimed. "Is he alright?"

"He's fine, Fluttershy," Twilight assured. "Dark said that he wasn't hurt and he looked like it, minus the dirt covering his coat. That, and I also gave those guards a talking to as well."

"You weren't too hard on them I hope?"

Twilight sighed. "No, I wasn't. It was actually Dark who convinced me to go easy on them."

"Well he definitely seems to be quite forgiving from the sound of things," Rarity observed.

"Perhaps a little too forgivin' if y'all ask me," a voice at the doors commented.

Everyone in the room turned to see Applejack walking from the doors towards her throne and greeted her along the way. Once she took her seat, Twilight levitated a scroll sent by Princess Celestia, and a list of talking points.

"I have a few things to go over today," Twilight began. "As you all have noticed, the princess has sent some of her guards to watch over Ponyville after Darks encounter with the timberwolves."

"Do we really need to have them here?" Rainbow complained. "I almost flew into some of the pegasus guards that were flying around already."

"She doesn't want to take any chances with this," Twilight answered.

"That, and timberwolves don't normally come this close ta town," Applejack added. "It's rare enough ta see them outside the Everfree Forest, but havin' them this close is puttin' me on edge. Ah've already told Apple Bloom that Ah want her back home before sundown, just ta be safe."

"Sweetie Belle told me about Apple Bloom's curfew and has agreed to be home before dark as well," Rarity chimed.

"I'll also ask for some of the guards to be stationed at your place, Fluttershy, since you live so close to the forest," Twilight told her.

Fluttershy sighed in relief. "Thank you, Twilight. I've been worried that some of those timberwolves would come over and try hurting my animal friends."

"Your welcome. I'll get on that after we're done here. Now, onto our next order of business," Twilight began before being interrupted.

"How long are we gonna be here?" Spike interrupted.

"It shouldn't be too long. Why?"

"Just wanted to know if anypony wanted a snack or something," he said, which they all agreed to. "Alright, I'll be back in a bit then."

After he left the room, Twilight continued from where she left off. "Anyway, next is the Running of the Leaves next week."

"Sweet!" Rainbow exclaimed. "I've been meaning to get back into it after what happened with me and AJ."

"We never did finish that Iron Pony competition, did we?" Applejack questioned.

"Nope, you two are still tied," Pinkie answered, looking over a clipboard that she pulled out of her mane. "Ooh! Can Spike and I be the commentators again?"

"Go right ahead. Also, I talked to the mayor about whether or not if I can participate since I'm an alicorn now. Turns out I still can as long as I continue to abide by the rules like everypony else," Twilight told them.

"Awesome. This year, victory will be mine!" Rainbow proclaimed.

"Oh yeah?" Applejack challenged. "Well, we'll just see about that."

"Just remember that this is Princess Celestia's favorite time of year, and that she'll be watching. So make sure that you two don't go overboard again like you did the last time you two did this," Twilight reminded them.

"Don't worry, Twilight," Rainbow reassured. "We'll be sure to not have a repeat. Right, Applejack?"

"Eeyup," Applejack answered.

"Good." Twilight looked back to her list of things to go over. "Next is the main reason why I called us all together."

"Seriously?" Spike questioned, carrying in a platter of crackers and cheese for everyone to much on. "Why would you hold off on the most important part till now?"

"Because it's about Stonewall Village," Twilight solemnly answered, causing the room to go silent.

"Twi? What exactly did they find there?" Applejack cautiously asked.

"Celestia didn't say in her letter. All she wrote is that King Inferno will be coming to Canterlot Castle one week before Nightmare Night to go over his actions, and she wants all of us to be there too, including Dark."

"Does Dark know about this?" Rarity asked.

Twilight let out a sad sigh. "Yes, he knows."

"And?" she pressed. "What happened? It's clearly obvious that you're upset about this."

Twilight's gaze lowered at remembering last night. "He broke down."

"But why?" Fluttershy softly asked. "Whenever we saw him, he would seem so happy."

"It's because Dark's been keeping his emotions hidden from everypony. He's mad at what King Inferno has done to his village over the last two hundred years, and is both sad and frustrated that there's nothing he can do when they finally do meet."

"What do you mean exactly when you say that he 'broke down'?" Rarity wondered.

"That he couldn't hold his emotions back anymore and began crying where he stood... or rather, where he sat," Twilight answered.

"Is he going be alright, though?" Fluttershy worryingly asked.

"I'm sure he'll be fine. We just need to give him time, and be there if he needs us."

"Alright, but Ah have ta ask, though, did he get it all out of his system, or just a little bit of it?" Applejack questioned.

Twilight shook her head. "I have a feeling that there's a lot more pain than what he's shown. After he gets back from work today, I'll see if I can't coax him into telling me what else is bothering him."

"That shouldn't be too hard, considering how he was putty in your hooves yesterday," Spike commented while looking at a picture he held in each of his claws.

The moment those words left Spike's mouth, the mood instantly shifted from somber to interest over what he meant. Everypony's attention was fully directed at Twilight. Smirks now appearing on Applejack, Rainbow Dash, and Rarity, while Fluttershy covered her mouth with a hoof, and Pinkie Pie began smiling widely.

"Sooo, Twilight," Rarity slyly smirked. "What exactly happened between you two last night?"

"N-Nothing!" she embarrassingly answered. "He was sad and I thought it would be appropriate for me to comfort him."

"Sure you did," Rainbow said while wiggling her eyebrows. "I'll bet he felt a lot better after you comforted him."

"Yes he did feel better, but it's not like what you think!" Twilight protested.

"I don't know, Twilight," Spike commented. "From where I was standing, it looked and sounded like you were flirting with him for a moment there."

"Wow, Twilight, I didn't know you could be so devious," Pinkie grinned.

"No kidding, Pinkie," Rainbow added. "To think that our little bookworm would have such a way with the stallions. I'd honestly thought that would've been more of Rarity's shtick."

"Excuse me?!" Rarity objected.

"How long are you going to keep this up?" Twilight begrudgingly asked.

"That's what she said~" Spike sing-songed, causing the room to erupt with laughter. Even Rarity and Fluttershy could be heard laughing.

Twilight didn't find it as amusing and facetabled with a groan. She then turned her head to face Spike, glaring at him as he tried to keep himself from falling out of his seat from laughing so hard.

"This is all your fault you know," Twilight clarified to Spike.

"I'll just tell you the same thing I told Dark; think of this as payback for that picture you guys took of me and the Crusaders. Speaking of which, there's something beneath each of your pillows that I thought you might wanna take a look at," Spike told them.

Curious as to what the little dragon had for them, they each reached under their respective cushions until they touched what felt like two pieces of paper. Pulling them out, they saw that they were pictures of Twilight and Dark. One with Dark wrapped in Twilight's forelegs and wings, while the other was of Twilight being wrapped in Dark's massive wings. Though some were still laughing, Rarity and Fluttershy found it cute. Twilight, however, was stunned and confusion as to how, and when, Spike managed to take this.

"Spike!" Twilight exclaimed. "When the hay did take these pictures?!"

"I took them during you guy's little snugglefest," he smugly answered.

"You are so going to pay for this," Twilight threatened.

"Totally worth it," Spike answered nonchalantly while leaning back in his throne, arms folded behind his head.

"Is this what you meant when you said that you comforted him, Twilight?" Rarity asked.

"Yes, this is what I meant," she eagerly clarified.

"But this second picture looks like he was comforting you though," Fluttershy observed.

Twilight smiled. "Yeah, he did. I was starting to get a little emotional after seeing him break down like that, then he took notice of me and brought me in instead." She paused as she began reminiscing of that moment. "He was really warm and comfortable when he held me. Not to mention how gentle he was."

A few 'awws' could be heard at the table from Twilight's description, but it was cut short by Rainbow.

"I can barely see you in this picture," Rainbow chimed. "Other than the top of your heads, with Dark's wings wrapped around you guys like that, it looks like he's wearing a big... what's the name of that thing that you wear out in the rain again? It's something kinda like a raincoat."

"You mean a poncho?" Rarity guessed.

"Yeah, that's it. A really big poncho."

"Anyway," Twilight continued once things seemed to have settled down. "This is the last part that I wanted to go over with you girls." She waited for all of them to look back to her before she continued. "I was hoping that you girls could keep an extra eye on Dark, just incase. Namely Applejack and Rainbow."

"Sure thin', sugarcube," Applejack answered.

"No problem, Twilight," Rainbow accepted.

"Thank you, girls. Well, I believe we've covered everything on the list," Twilight announced. "By the way, Rainbow, how has Dark's flight practice been going? He told me that you taught him to hover yesterday."

Rainbow proudly grinned. "Yep. He's doing better than I thought he would for a first-time flyer. If he does well enough tomorrow, then I might move up his training next week."

"Well that's good to hear. I'll be looking forward to the good news then."

"Don't get ahead of yourself, Twi," Rainbow told her. "Tomorrow I plan on pushing him to his absolute limits. By the time I'm done with him, his wings will be so sore and tired that he won't even be able to get a wingbo-"

"Okay! Too much information!" Twilight interjected.

Applejack looked to them curiously. "Can Dark even get one of those? You know, considerin' he's a kirin and all."

Everypony blushed at that question while Pinkie and Spike snickered. Granted they were all curious about it as well now, but were reluctant to try answering.

"I think it's best if we didn't know," Fluttershy suggested, a round of silent nods complying with her.

And with that, everypony said goodbye to each other and began making their way out of the throne room. However, none of them had noticed the shadowy outline just outside the window, silently slipping away.

This was easily the hardest day of work for Dark thus far. Between him being late for work and Applejack having to leave, Dark had to work twice as hard as he had been just to keep up. Thankfully, he and Big Mac managed to finish up just before the sun began setting. After putting the cart away for the night and shutting the barn doors, the two heard trotting from behind them.

"Did ya guys just finish up?" Applejack asked them.

"Eeyup," Big Mac simply answered.

"Sorry again about that, Applejack" Dark apologized.

"Not your fault, sugarcube," Applejack said. "Right, Big Mac?"

"Eeyup. Nothin' ya coulda done about it," Big Mac answered.

"Alright," Dark conceded. He looked to the horizon before turning back to Applejack. "Is there anything you want me to do before I head off?"

Applejack shook her head. "Eenope. You've done enough for today. Besides, you're gonna need a good nights sleep for tomorrow."

"Why? Besides Rainbow's training, what's going on tomorrow?"

"Well, from that she's told us at the meetin', Rainbow plans on workin' ya till ya drop. Probably more literally than figuratively, so ya better get some extra rest before then."

"Okay, thanks for the warning," Dark thanked before waving goodbye and heading back home.

The sun was still setting by the time Dark made it back to Ponyville. Though that morning had been a little hectic for Dark, this afternoons walk was quite the opposite. As he walked down the road, the guards would greet him with silent approving nods as he passed, rather than the death-glares they were giving him earlier. It wasn't until he passed Sugarcube Corner that he was stopped.

"Hey, Darky," Pinkie called to him.

Turning around, Dark smiled as Pinkie bounced over to him. "Hello, Pinkie."

"How are ya feeling?" she asked.

"Alright," he answered. "Little tired out from work today though."

"Yeah, I suppose you would with Applejack being gone all afternoon and you being dragged through Ponyville like a giant metal burrito."

"... why a burrito?"

"Because you were wrapped up so tightly in those chains that it reminded me of a burrito, silly."

"... oookayy then," Dark slowly agreed.

"Sooo," Pinkie began. "I forgot to ask you something at the party."

"Alright, shoot."

"When's your birthday?" she asked.

Dark fell silent, not wanting to remember that bittersweet day. He let out a sigh before answering, "September 30th. The last day of this month."

Pinkie gasped. "That's Saturday of next week!" she proclaimed as she turned and bounced back to Sugarcube Corner. "Sorry, Darky, but I better get going if I'm going to get everything planned out before it's too late! See ya!"

Before Dark could stop her, Pinkie was already gone. Shaking his head, Dark turned back around towards the castle. It wasn't long after the sun set that he finally made it inside. Tired and feeling extra dirty from this morning, Dark made his way to the bathroom to take a nice, warm shower. After a half hour of rinsing and drying, he started down to the lounge to relax. Upon entering, he saw Twilight laying on one of the couches with a book. Seeing Dark enter the room, Twilight quickly hid the book before giving him a warm smile and motioning him over with a hoof.

"Hey, Dark," she greeted him.

"Hello, Twilight," he returned.

"Could you take a seat for a moment? I was hoping to talk to you about something?" she asked, patting the spot next to her.

Curious as to what she wanted to talk about, Dark made his way over and sat down beside her. Though not too close as he didn't want to make things awkward between them.

"So, how are you feeling?" Twilight asked, trying to break the ice.

"Alright I guess. Definitely better after washing out that dirt from this morning," Dark answered.

Twilight sat up to be near eye level with Dark.

"Dark," she slowly began. "I wanted to talk about what happened yesterday in the hall."

Dark froze from remembering that afternoon, though he didn't think she would be upset with it. To him, it actually looked like she welcomed it.

"I didn't overstep my boundaries and make you uncomfortable, did I?" he asked. "If so, then I'm sorry I did that."

Twilight looked to Dark in surprise. "No, no. You didn't make me feel uncomfortable," she reassured. "You were perfectly fine. What I wanted to talk to you about was how much you are holding back."

"Huh?" he questioned, raising an eyebrow in confusion.

"What I meant was that I get the feeling that you didn't let it all out yesterday, that there's still a lot of hurt left inside you," she clarified.

Dark didn't answer her, instead he looked away from Twilight in shame. He had hoped that she wouldn't catch on, but had apparently underestimated her. He remained silent like that for a moment before he felt a hoof gently cup his cheek and guide him back to meet Twilight's gaze.

"Please, Dark," she pleaded softly. "Don't push me away. I would like to know what's troubling you and help you if I can. But I can't if you keep it to yourself."

Looking into her eyes, Dark sighed in defeat. How can I say no when she's giving me that look? he thought to himself before speaking up. "My birthday is coming up next week on Saturday next week."

Twilight beamed at this new information. "That's great news, though. Why wouldn't you happy about it?"

This was the part that Dark hated. He gently laid a claw over the hoof cupping his cheek, closed his eyes, and took a breath to steady himself. Exhaling, Dark opened his eyes and looked back to see Twilight giving him a small nod for him to continue.

"Remember how I said that my brother and cousin went on that mission almost a year ago?"

"Yes, I remember."

"Well... guess what day they decided to leave on?"

It didn't even take a second for Twilight to figure it out. When she did, the air caught in her lungs, making her unable to reply right away. After a moment or two of catching up with herself, she was finally spoke up.

"They left on your birthday?" she answered, to which Dark nodded. "But why? Why would they do that on such an important day for you? I understand that your brother didn't get along with you, but what about your cousin?"

Dark visibly winced hearing that question. "Big Beard and I were close, kinda like actual brothers instead of cousins. Light on the other hoof... well..." Dark sighed trying to find how to best explain it to her. It was so much easier with Aunt Sunshine, so why was it so difficult to tell Twilight?

"I understand," Twilight softly said as she guided her forelegs around Dark's neck and shoulders, pulling him in for a hug. "Thank you for telling me, and I'm sorry for what happened."

"Thanks, me too," Dark replied, returning the friendly gesture.

"Do you want to talk about it?" she slowly asked.

"Is it okay with you if we waited till next week?" he requested. "You know, on the anniversary of their... departure?"

"Of course. Whenever you're ready, I'll be there," she replied.

They sat like that for a while, just enjoying each other's company much like yesterday. However, their moment was abruptly cut short.

"Geeze, get a room you two," Spike complained as he walked past the open door.

Remaining as they were, Dark let out a throaty growl. "I swear he's doing this on purpose now."

"At this point, I wouldn't put it past him," Twilight agreed with a scowl before turning to a smirk. "But I know how to get him back."

Without breaking their embrace, Dark leaned back a little bit to look at Twilight. "What do you mean?"

Her mischievous smirk only grew. "One week after the Running of the Leaves, the girls and I have this little day we share together called Prank Wars."

Dark's eyes widened before matching his face with Twilights. "Is this going where I think it is?"

"Ohh, yeah."

Dark let out a chuckle at the thought of what they were going to do to get back at the little dragon.

"I don't envy the poor little guy," he commented.

"Neither do I," Twilight giggled.

Back in the Everfree Forest, the cloaked figure was trotting back to the castle ruins after his reconnaissance mission. To his disgust, a few dozen guards had been sent to guard Ponyville after the three timberwolves failed to carry out their task. Thanks to them, things have become far more difficult.

Things aren't gonna be easy anymore, he thought to himself before he froze in place, a few new plans formulating in his mind. Then again, perhaps they will. A wicked grin began forming. Yes. That'll work just fine, even with the guards and Princess Celestia there.

"Timberwolves, to me!" he shouted into the night sky. Seconds later, howls were heard as several dozen pairs of eyes began glowing out from the forest's edge.

"I want eight of your swiftest and deadliest to step forward," he ordered. Soon enough, eight large timberwolves stepped out of the shadows of the trees and sat in front of the cloaked figure, awaiting their orders. "You will succeed where the last three have failed. Tomorrow afternoon, I want you to track down the target and wait for him to be alone. When he is, you will attack him and kill him." The Timberwolves looked to one another, and then back to their leader in confusion and slight worry. "And don't worry about him. From what I've heard, he'll be too tired to fly and should put up little resistance. Still, though, keep the howling and noise to a minimum. The town is protected with guards that will easily overwhelm you if you take too long or get caught beforehoof. Understand?"

The eight timberwolves nodded with a predatory growl. "Then go get yourselves ready. I don't want any mistakes this time." As the eight ran off, the cloaked figure turned his attention to the rest of the eyes still within the forest. "As for the rest of you! We'll need more numbers to add to our army. Gather as many as timberwolves and manticores as you can, along with the other species I wanted. Also, see what you can do about recruiting the cockatrices. We're gonna need them at this point to help thin out their numbers."

A chorus of howls and growls answered as the number of glowing eyes quickly diminished. Satisfied with how swiftly they acted, the cloaked figure turned and made his way into the castle ruins, slamming the door shut behind him as he gave a low chuckle.

You best hope that this assassination attempt on you works out, he thought before breaking into a sinister grin. Otherwise, I'll just have to target your little fillyfriend instead, during this 'Running of the Leaves'.

Chapter 10- Recovery and Emotions

Dark groaned as he regained consciousness. The last thing he remembered was Twilight holding him close to her before being bathed in a flash of light. As he became more aware, his senses started returning. He felt tired, warm, and... unusually heavy. He was about to try moving, but then he heard an all too familiar sound. It was the beeping of a heart monitor.

Ugh, not this again, Dark mentally groaned for being interrupted from a dream he was having by that infernal machine. When I open my eyes, I better not be back in another hospital room.

But to his displeasure, once he opened his eyes, he saw the ceiling of a hospital room. Giving another annoyed groan, he moved his left arm to look at it, but stopped once he saw the I.V. needle stuck in his arm with red stuff pumping into him. Following the tubing upward, Dark saw that it was connected to a blood packet. Nervous as to why one of those were being supplied to him, Dark slowly returned his arm to where it lay before. He then tried moving his right arm, only to stop when he felt it brush up against something that didn't feel like a blanket. Whatever it is, it was warm, soft, and felt somewhat familiar.

What the heck? he wondered.

Turning his gaze downward, his vision became obscured by a familiar purple mane with a lavender horn. He tilted his head to the side to see that Twilight was sleeping, covered in her own blanket, and partially draped over him. As soon as he saw this, his face lit up as body froze in place, not sure whether this was another dream, or if he'd missed something completely. Deciding to see if this was real or not, Dark took a delicate sniff, taking in the scent of books, ink, and Twilight's favorite lavender-scented shampoo. Now knowing that this was very much real, Dark's eyes widened as his heart took off.

This isn't a dream, Dark mentally concluded. Then... does that mean that what happened in my dream last night wasn't exactly a dream either? And if so, then why don't I remember any of it?

His thoughts were put on hold as he felt Twilight stir, snuggling herself even closer against Dark.

Okay, what to do, what to do?! he panicked. Ugh, I wish somepony were here to help me out. I don't know what I'm suppose to do in this kind of situation.

As if his thoughts were heard, the door to his room opened, revealing Nurse Redheart. As she came closer, she saw Dark was now awake with Twilight still asleep up against him. She looked at Dark, seeing the look of embarrassment on his face, and the furious blush that accompanied it. Seeing this as a perfect opportunity for feeling mischievous, and knowing of what actually happened last night, she decided to mess with him a little bit.

"Well, well, well. What do we have going on here? I'm not interrupting anything, am I?" she mischievously asked.

"I swear, this isn't what it looks like," Dark quietly pleaded, trying to remain as motionless as he could.

"I don't know," Nurse Redheart continued, now tapping her chin. "Anything could have happened here while I was away and I wouldn't of known about it."

"But nothing happened."

"Alright, then why don't you explain to me why you have the Princess of Friendship draped over you and sleeping so peacefully?"

Dark's heart began racing even faster now. Not only had something apparently happened to him that he couldn't remember, but now he was probably going to be imprisoned because he got caught with Twilight sharing the same bed as him. As thoughts of his possible sentence began flooding his mind, Nurse Redheart started to softly laugh. Snapped out of his thoughts, Dark redirected his attention back to the nurse.

"Why are you laughing?" he nervously asked.

"Relax, Dark," Nurse Redheart told him. "I'm just messing with you."

"... what?"

"Twilight didn't leave last night," she began explaining. "The last time I saw her awake was a little past 2 A.M. She was worried about you during the surgery and didn't want to leave you alone after you were out." She paused to see Dark's worried expression fade away, now replaced by one of surprise. "And seeing as how I forgot to supply her with a bed of her own, she apparently decided to share yours."

Dark took a moment to comprehend what she told him. Granted he was happy that Twilight cared about him, but he didn't think that she cared that much. Although a few things of what Nurse Redheart had said stuck out to him, he needed to clarify something first.

"So what you were saying when you first came in..." Dark started.

"I was just pulling your leg there," she giggled. "I'm sorry, but I just couldn't help myself. Especially with the situation that you were in, and the look on your face at the time."

Dark sighed in relief. "Thank goodness. So I won't be sent off to the dungeons after all."

"Not if Twilight has anything to say about it," she commented. "Besides, I think I have a pretty good idea of how you feel about her."

"How do you know- wait, don't tell me. Mare's intuition?" Dark exaggeratedly guessed.

"Good guess, Dark," she complimented. "How'd you know?"

"You're not the first mare to give me that answer this week," he deadpanned.

"Well since I now know, would you like to talk about it? I promise not to tell Twilight or anypony else."

Dark sighed. "I suppose it wouldn't hurt, but I swear, though, how am I suppose to keep my feelings a secret if every mare I talk to involving Twilight are able to see it so clearly?"

"Because we're good at sensing these kind of things," she answered.

Dark nervously looked down to the still sleeping Twilight. "Do you think she knows too?"

Nurse Redheart shrugged. "Don't know. I'm not her, and I can't read her mind. All that I know is that you like her." She cocked an eyebrow. "You do like her, right? And I don't mean as just a friend either."

He didn't answer right away. It was one thing to say that he likes her, but to actually admitting that he likes her as more than just a friend was a whole different story. After feeling Twilight starting to nuzzle him in her sleep, he decided to throw caution into the wind and be open about it.

"I believe I do," he finally answered. "I've never had feelings for another mare like this before, let alone one who actually likes me for who I am. But I'm hesitant about it, though."

"Why?" she questioned. "If you like her, then why don't you go on ahead and ask her out on a date? And if that works out for you two, then eventually ask her to be your fillyfriend?"

"Because," Dark began. "I want to make sure that what I'm feeling for her is true, and to not rush into it until I'm completely sure of myself." He looked from Twilight back up to Nurse Redheart. "Besides, " he continued. "I'd like to spend more time with her and get to know her some more before I ask her. Perhaps in another week or two I will."

"So you actually admit that you like her? Possibly even love her?" she asked Dark, who meekly nodded in reply. "I understand what you mean then. If she really is the first mare you've fallen for, then I can agree with wanting to be patient about asking her to be your special somepony. But just a little piece of advice, though. Don't take too long to tell her, otherwise something might come up and then you'll be too late."

"I won't, and thank you for understanding, Nurse Redheart," Dark gratefully thanked, completely unaware of Twilight's ear subtly twitching and a smile starting to form on her lips.

"By the way, Dark," she began, also unaware that Twilight was now secretly listening in. "Out of curiosity, what is it about Twilight that made you fall for her? It's not because she's a princess is it?"

"No, of course not!" he immediately answered. "When I first saw Twilight, I didn't even know she was royalty. Besides, she asked that I not treat her as one." He stopped as a thought came to mind, causing him to blush. "Although, if we do end up together, then that would probably mean that I would start to spoil her a little bit like one."

This caused Nurse Redheart to start giggling at him, thinking about how romantic, and a little bit cheesy that sounded.

"I'm sure she'll forgive you for it," she said.

Dark nodded with a smile. "As for why I like her so much? Well, from what I've seen and heard about her, she's very smart, kind, caring, assertive, brave, magically talented, organized, always willing to help a friend if she has the time, she can be a little bit crazy which wasn't all that strange in my family anyway, she's been there for me when I needed it, even when I didn't think I would at the moment, she's incredibly cute when she blushes, and I find her to be naturally beau-"

He paused when his mind registered what his mouth was about to say. Though he was alright with what he admitted thus far, he was a bit too nervous to tell what he completely thought of Twilight. But, although he didn't finish his sentence, Nurse Redheart understood what he was about to say... as did Twilight.

Does he really mean it? Twilight wondered, her cheeks beginning to heat up.

Hearing him admit how he felt caused her heart to skip a beat, knowing that he feels the same for her as she does for him, and that he would most likely ask her out within the next few weeks. But, although she was happy, she remembered that she was suppose to be playing possum. As fast as she could, she tried to calm herself, hoping to slowdown her racing heart before Dark could notice. Thankfully for her, she was successful and continued to remain as she was while listening to Dark continue to talk.

"By the way, what time is it?" Dark asked.

"11 P.M." Nurse Redheart answered looking at the wall clock beside his bed.

"And how long was I out for?"

"According to Twilight, just before she brought you in last night."

"Well that's good. I was kinda worried that I would've been out for a few days after that."

"Ah yes, that," she said now glaring at Dark. "Would you mind telling me why you went and picked a fight with a pack of alpha timberwolves?"

"I didn't pick a fight with them, they picked a fight with me," Dark defended himself. "I was just minding my own business, grabbing a drink of water from the stream after my flight training was finished when they attacked me."

"But that doesn't explain why you didn't know sooner."

"Because they were downwind of me and my back was unknowingly turned to them at the time." He paused as a concern came to mind. "By the way, how'd the surgery go? Because I don't feel sore or achy anywhere unlike the last time I had one. Instead I just feel really tired."

"That's because of your regeneration," Nurse Redheart answered.

Dark's eyes widened. "What?! Since when could I regenerate?"

"Probably when you were turned into a kirin," Twilight softly answered, causing the others to jump in surprise. Remaining where she lay, Twilight turned her head to look up at Dark with a smile. "Good morning."

"Uhh... good morning?" he slowly returned in a nervous tone. "Umm, how much did you hear?"

"Enough," she answered. "If I had to say though, it would probably be somewhere around when you began explaining about how you got put in here."

Seeing Dark sigh in relief, Twilight turned her head to face Nurse Redheart, giving her an all-knowing smile and wink before returning her attention back to Dark. Knowing what Twilight meant, Nurse Redheart's face immediately lit up.

That sly filly! Nurse Redheart thought. She's actually been awake this whole time?!

"So, Dark," Twilight began, looking Dark in the eyes while resting her head on his shoulder. "How exactly did you get so beaten-up? I understand not doing anything against the guards, but I though that you would've been able to take them all out, considering you used to do that to dragons."

Hearing Twilight's comment at the end made Nurse Redheart double take. She was now curious as to what she meant, but decided to address that later.

"Well, I was drinking some water after my training session with Rainbow-" he began answering, but was stopped when Twilight held a hoof against his lips.

"Not quite what I meant," she said. "I heard what you said earlier about the conditions leading up to the fight, but what happened during the fight that caused you to be here?"

After Twilight removed her hoof, Dark answered, "It's because I was tired and couldn't do as much as I could have. That, and the first alpha timberwolf that attacked managed to land a good scratch on me before I could retaliate." He tapped his chin in thought. "Come to think of it, even my magical reserves seemed to be awfully low. I couldn't even cast half as many spells as I normally can during that fight."

Twilight nodded. "That's because the amount of magic you have is also based on your physical condition," she explained. "Since you were exhausted from Rainbow's flight training, it also depleted your magical reserves to a minimum amount. I'm surprised you didn't know about this. Unicorns are suppose to be taught these kinds of things when growing up."

"Sorry, but nopony back in Stonewall ever bothered teaching me," Dark answered. "Everything I learned was self-taught either by reading, or through trial and error."

"Well that's disappointing to hear," Twilight commented. "Then again, I shouldn't be too surprised, considering how you described the other villagers would act towards you before. Out of curiosity, though, what kind of spells did you use against them?"

Dark closed his eyes as he began recounting last night's event. "Twenty-five fireballs, five levitation spells, four magical blasts, one wall of fire, one advanced, fire-type trap spell, and Soul Eyes."

"You casted that many spells while in a weakened state?" Twilight surprisingly asked, getting a nod in return. "I'm going to have to run some tests on your magical reserves to see how much you have exactly. But if you still had all that power left, then why didn't you get any of them?"

"Don't get me wrong. They started out with eight of them, but they kept using the nearby pond to douse themselves whenever they caught on fire."

"So you got five of them," she concluded. "Which would have been all of them if the pond wasn't there."

"Correct."

"Then how did you beat the ones that you did?"

"Crushed one's head in my jaws, used my claw to impale another one through the chest, held two up with my claws and burned their heads off, and lifted the last one off the ground, just out of striking range with my magic before torching it," he casually answered before seeing the shocked looks on their faces. "Maybe I should've been a bit more discreet about it?"

"That would've been a good idea. Though I'm more surprised that you resorted to close-quarters combat rather than to try and do what you did to the last one," Twilight answered.

"Yeah. I didn't figure that out till after I called out for help. That, and I didn't know that they could reassemble themselves like they did."

Twilight arched an eyebrow. "Wait a moment, so let me get this straight. You waited until after you were badly injured before you finally called for help?"

Uh-oh, red flags going off. Better play it safe and honest, Dark cautiously thought before answering, "Umm... yes?"

Twilight's brows furrowed as she turned her head to look back at Nurse Redheart. "You said that he's not injured anymore and is just tired at the moment, right?"

"That is correct," she answered.

"Wait, what?" Dark asked confusingly.

"Good," Twilight said before lifting a hoof and slamming it down on Dark's chest, causing him to painfully grunt at the force behind it. "You stupid idiot! Why would you wait so long to call for help?!"

"I thought I could handle it, and-" he tried to explain, but was cut short by another hoof to the chest.

"So you felt like you had to fight them all by yourself?!" she shouted with another pound, accompanied by several others, each weaker than the last. "Did you ever consider how others would feel about you getting yourself nearly killed like that? About how your friends would feel... about how I would feel?"

Dark instantly became remorseful upon seeing the hurt and tears forming in Twilight's eyes. She was right. He didn't stop to think about how everypony else would feel about that boneheaded stunt he pulled, and he knew it. At that moment when he was facing those alpha timberwolves, his old combat instincts kicked in, making nothing else mattered at that moment besides the target before him.

"I'm sorry, Twilight," Dark softly apologized.

"You don't know how worried I was," she sniveled. "After the first few hours of waiting when you were in the operating room, I was beginning to think that you weren't going to make it."

Seeing Twilight starting to cry was tearing away at Dark. Feeling ashamed of himself and wanting to try and fix his mistake, Dark wrapped his right arm around Twilight and gently held her close while she sobbed into his coat.

"I'm sorry. I never meant to worry you so much," he sorrowfully said while tightening his one-armed hug. "You're right, though. It was stupid of me to wait so long before calling for help like that. If I ever find myself in a situation like that again where I might be in trouble, I'll call out for help right away."

"You promise?" she asked, looking back up at him.

"Yes, Twilight. I promise," he answered, moving his claw to wipe the tears from her eyes.

Content with the promise he made to her, Twilight settled herself back down against Dark.

"Thank you," she quietly responded. "Now, if it's okay with you two, I'm tired and am going back to sleep."

"But, Twilight," Nurse Redheart interjected. "You've been asleep for almost nine hours already. Besides, it's almost noon."

"And I was up late worrying about whether or not Dark would survive the surgery," Twilight countered. "And that's made me emotionally tired as well as physically tired. So if it's alright with you, I'm heading back to sleep."

"Alright," Nurse Redheart conceded. "In that case I'll go get you a spare bed."

"No thanks, I'm good here."

"I think that Dark might prefer to have the bed to himself this time," she commented, looking over to Dark.

Being put on the spot, Dark looked over to Nurse Redheart who looked back at him for his answer. He then looked down to Twilight to see her giving him the puppy dog eyes along with a small pout. He found her act to be rather cute, which made it practically impossible for him to deny her. Smiling at Twilight, Dark gave them his answer.

"I'm alright with it," he answered, causing Twilight to return the smile while Nurse Redheart facehoofed, figuring that she should've seen that answer coming. "Besides, I'm starting to feel a bit tired too, so I doubt that I'll be up much longer either."

"Alright then," Nurse Redheart said. "Is there anything you need before I leave you two to rest then?"

"Just a couple of questions, but they can wait till later."

"In that case, you two sleep well, and I'll be back later during my rounds to remove those bandages," she told them as she made her way out, and closed the door behind her.

Now alone together, Dark looked back down to meet Twilight's gaze.

"I'm a little surprised that you're still wanting to stay," Dark said.

"Well, why wouldn't I?" Twilight questioned. "I did tell everypony that I wasn't going to leave you while you were still here. Besides," she continued, returning her head to it's resting spot in the crook of Dark's neck. "I'm too comfortable and tired to leave."

Dark let out a throaty chuckle. "Me too, Twilight," he agreed, holding Twilight close with his one arm. "Me too."

Over in Carousel Boutique, Rarity was busy working on an order for a customer. She was behind by an hour thanks to her visit to the school house. After explaining to Miss Cheerilee about what happened, she was willing to let Sweetie Belle have the day off. Of course, even though she didn't have to come in today, that didn't mean that she could skip out on her homework, which Rarity was more than happy to bring back to her. As Rarity continued to hum to herself while stitching the dress together, she paused to look at the time. Seeing as how it was close to noon, Rarity put her sewing equipment down and made her way to Sweetie Belle's room.

I wonder if Sweetie and Spike are up yet? Rarity pondered. Twilight did tell me how much Spike likes to sleep in, but Sweetie should've be awake by now. Then again, they were up rather late last night.

Cracking the door open to peek inside, she saw that both Sweetie Belle and Spike were asleep, still as they were when they were put to bed last night. With a sigh, Rarity closed the door and began making her way to the kitchen.

"I'll let them sleep until lunch is ready," she said to herself. "After that I'll go and wake them up."

Few minutes later in her room, Sweetie Belle began to stir. She knew she had to get up and get ready for school, but she just felt so warm and cozy in her bed this morning that she didn't want to leave. Reluctantly, she opened her eyes, only to see green in front of her. Moving her eyes around to see what was obscuring her vision, Sweetie Belle soon saw a purple-scaled body, along with two arms wrapped around her. Getting a good idea of who this was, she tilted her head up to see Spike's sleeping face. With the memories of last night coming back to her, a few questions came to mind. Forgetting about school for the moment, Sweetie Belle scooted herself up to be at eye-level with Spike before she started to gently wake him.

"Spike?" she quietly called while lightly poking him with a forehoof. "Spike?"

Hearing his name being called, Spike opened his eyes to see Sweetie Belle's face mere inches from his. Waking to see her so close to him put a nervous smile on Spike's face.

"Good morning, Sweetie," Spike nervously greeted.

"Good morning," she returned. "Um, Spike?"

"Yea?"

"How did we get into my bed?"

"Your bed?" he questioned.

Glancing to look at his surroundings, he could see that he was in fact inside of Sweetie Belle's bedroom... and her bed... with her. Turning back to Sweetie Belle, he could see the nervous look on her face as well, both wondering the same thing.

"I don't know, Sweetie," Spike finally answered. "I fell asleep at the hospital after you did."

"Alright, but when did you start calling me 'Sweetie' instead of using my full name?"

"Just now I suppose. Do you not like it?"

Sweetie Belle shook her head. "No, it's alright. Normally only my sister or the other Crusaders call me that, but I'm okay if you do too."

"Alright. Thanks, Sweetie," Spike smiled.

"You're welcome," she replied before burying her face back into Spike's chest.

Sighing contently, Sweetie Belle continued to lay there, enjoying the soothing warmth emanating from the little dragon's body. Spike too was letting himself relax with the feeling of Sweetie Belle's warm, fluffy coat. They remained like that for a while longer until Sweetie Belle spoke up.

"Um, Spike?" she nervously called, causing him to look down to her as she looked up to him. "Can I ask you something? And I want you to be honest about it."

"Okay," he slowly answered.

"Well... um... do you... like me?"

"Of course I do, Sweetie. You're one of my best friends."

"Not like that," she pouted. "I mean, do you really like me?"

Spike's eyes widened at what she was asking him. "You mean as in... like, like?"

"Uh-huh."

"I... well, you see," he tried to answer, but was having a hard time getting the words out.

Listening to Spike's loss of words, Sweetie Belle frowned dejectedly. She was about to crawl out of bed before she felt Spike's arms tighten around her, holding her against him. Looking back up to him, she saw that he was nervous about it, but his eyes showed confidence.

"There's no other way for me to say it, so I'm just gonna say it as it is," he began, gaining her full attention. "To be perfectly honest with you... yes, I do really like you, Sweetie Belle."

Hearing his answer, Sweetie Belle lunged forward and wrapped Spike in a choking hug. As she held her dragon tightly, she allowed for a few happy tears to escape her.

"Thank you," she whispered.

"You're welcome, Sweetie," Spike quietly returned as he stroked her mane.

After a few minutes of holding each other, Sweetie Belle pulled back to look into Spike's eyes. She then closed her eyes and slowly moved closer to Spike. Knowing what she was wanting to do, Spike nervously closed his own eyes while moving to meet Sweetie Belle. Soon they could feel the soft breathing coming from one another as the gap between them shrank. Their lips were now a half-inch away from each other and closing. And as time seemed to have come to a stop for the two, a voice halted them.

"Sweetie Belle?" Rarity called through the closed door.

Hearing her caused the two to cry out in surprise as they accidentally threw themselves away from each other and off opposing sides of the bed. Hearing the cries and the two thuds that followed soon after, Rarity opened the door to see Sweetie Belle and Spike laying on each side of her sister's bed.

"Oh good, you're both finally awake," she said. "I have lunch ready for us whenever you're ready."

"Don't you mean breakfast?" Spike asked.

"No, I mean lunch. It's a little past noon right now."

Shocked by what her sister said, Sweetie Belle looked over to her clock, her eyes growing wide as she saw what time it was.

"Rarity!" she cried. "Why didn't you wake me?! Miss Cheerilee will think that I'm playing hockey now!"

"I believe the proper word you're looking for is 'hooky', dear. And no, you won't be in any trouble. I went over to the schoolhouse and talked to her about what happened. She's allowed for you to take the day off, provided that you complete the homework she sent with me for you."

"Alright. Thanks, Rarity," she thanked.

"If you want, I can help you with your homework," Spike offered, receiving an enthusiastic nod in reply.

"Well then," Rarity began. "Let's go eat then before it gets cold."

As Rarity left to return to the kitchen, Sweetie Belle and Spike stood side by side looking out at the empty door.

"Sooo, about what we were going to do before we got interrupted," Spike slowly wondered.

"I'd like to, but Rarity kinda ruined the moment," Sweetie Belle replied.

"Yeah, I thought as much, but figured that it wouldn't hurt to ask."

"Hehehe, no, it doesn't," she giggled before giving Spike a peck on the cheek, causing his face to turn from purple to pink. "But hopefully that'll work for now."

Leaving Spike standing frozen in place, Sweetie Belle ran out of her room and downstairs to eat. After seeing his new fillyfriend leave the room, Spike snapped out of his stupor and quickly chased after her.

Later that afternoon, Rarity, Sweetie Belle, and Spike made their way into the hospital to check on Dark. The walk there wasn't very pleasant since the afternoon was scheduled with a rainstorm. Still, though, that didn't stop them from wanting to check up on their friend. After entering the building, they met up with Rainbow and Applejack as they were about to leave the lobby and head on towards Dark's room.

"Hello, Rainbow, Applejack," Rarity greeted. "Here to see Dark too I presume?"

"Eeyup," Applejack answered.

"Yeah," Rainbow replied, rubbing the back of her head. "Although, I'm more here to apologize to him than I am to just check up on him."

"Why would you feel as though you need to apologize to him?" Rarity asked.

Rainbow sighed. "I'll let you know when we go and see Dark, alright?"

"Very well then," Rarity agreed. "I take it that you know which room he's staying at?"

"Turns out it's the same one as last time."

"Then let's go already," Sweetie Belle impatiently said.

"And that's about everything," Nurse Redheart finished explaining as she removed the last of Dark's bandages.

After Dark and Twilight woke up after their six hours of napping, Nurse Redheart walked in to do her rounds. After she was finished, she agreed to fill him in on what happened during his surgery. It was at that point that he was happy to be unconscious during that time. Hearing about how they had to prevent his wounds from closing during most of the procedure kept sending chills up his spine.

"So, long story short," Dark pieced together. "If those alpha timberwolves wouldn't have gotten their sap into my bloodstream, then I wouldn't be here in the hospital right now?"

"More or less," she answered.

"And I'm still here because why again?"

"Because they want to make sure that you've got enough blood back inside you before they release you," Twilight answered.

"That means I'm gonna stuck here for another night, doesn't it?" Dark groaned.

"Sorry, but doctor's orders," replied Nurse Redheart as she turned to look at the clock. "Well, it looks like my break starts in a few minutes, so I'll see you later."

And so Nurse Redheart left the room to enjoy her break, leaving Twilight and Dark alone... again. Although he wasn't allowed to be moving out of bed other than to take care of business, he found himself to be quite bored. The only exceptions were Twilight, who barely left her spot beside him, and the rounds from Nurse Redheart. Although he did enjoy the company, Dark couldn't help but sigh in annoyance at not being allowed to move.

"Everything alright?" Twilight asked.

"I guess," Dark answered. "Just a little bored is all. Don't get me wrong now, I do enjoy your company and all. It's just that I don't like being ordered to lay in a hospital bed like this when I feel perfectly fine."

"I understand, but It's only for one more night. I'm sure you can handle it."

Their talk was then interrupted as their door opened, revealing Rainbow, Applejack, Rarity, Sweetie Belle, and Spike. Upon entering Dark's room, they all froze in place at seeing Twilight laying on the bed beside Dark. The room went silent for a few seconds before Rainbow decided to ask what they were thinking.

"Umm, we're not interrupting anything, are we?" she slowly asked.

"Nope," Twilight answered. "Come on in girls, you too, Spike."

Listening to their friend, the five made their way over by Dark's bed and sat themselves down.

"So, Twilight," Rarity began before clearing her throat. "What are you doing in Dark's bed exactly?"

"Technically she's laying on top of it," Dark corrected. "She's laying on the top blanket with one of her own covering her."

"That's not what I was asking," Rarity coldly said, looking from Dark to Twilight.

"Well, I did say that I wouldn't leave him while he was here," Twilight excused. "That, and there wasn't anywhere else to sleep in here besides the cold floor."

"I can understand not wanting to sleep on the floor like that, but to fall asleep on the same bed as him, and to not even be together no less."

"But Sweetie and I weren't together last night, and you set us both in her bed," Spike chimed.

"Yeah," Sweetie Belle agreed. "So why is it different for them when it was fine with us? Not that it really matters now."

"What was that last part, Sweetie?" Rarity asked.

"Nothing!" she quickly answered.

"Look, Rares," Applejack spoke. "It doesn't matter what they do, as long as it's alright with the both of them."

"Besides," Twilight added. "I did tell you girls how warm and soft he was."

Great, Dark exaggeratingly thought. Mom always used to say that I was like a soft, cuddly teddy bear, and now it appears that I am. Well, in a manner of speaking.

His thoughts were interrupted when Spike jumped up onto the bed, and unknowingly onto Dark's tail.

"Hey, Spike?" Dark began saying. "Could you move a little bit? You're kinda stepping on my tail there."

Looking down to his feet, Spike quickly stepped off to the side. "Sorry. Is that better?" he asked.

"Yeah, thanks."

"So, um, Dark?" Rainbow nervously began. "There's something that I wanna say."

"Okay?" Dark slowly answered.

Rainbow took a deep breath before she started her apology to him. "I'm sorry," she said.

Everyone in the room looked to her questionably. None of them knew about how she felt that she was responsible for putting him in the hospital like this. But even though she was even more nervous with her friends being around, Rainbow knew she needed to confront this.

"For what?" he asked. "You didn't do anything wrong."

"Yes, I did," she argued. "It's my fault that you nearly got killed yesterday."

"No, it's not your fault."

"Alright then, answer me this. For what reason was it that put you in the hospital?!" Rainbow asked in a raised voice.

"It's because of my own stubbornness, that's why!" Dark snapped. Taking a moment to calm himself, Dark began to explain himself. "It's a bad habit I picked up over my years of fighting in Stonewall. My family wasn't that concerned about my safety because they knew I could handle myself, and they knew the risks I was taking by doing it. Over time, I became used to fighting what was threatening me without any help, or without caring about what anypony else was feeling about it at the time. Although most of them didn't think much of it, but that's not the point. The bottom line is that it was my own fault for not calling out for help sooner, rather than waiting until the fight was so far gone to do so."

Hearing his reasoning for why he was at fault put Rainbow a little at ease, though she still felt guilty on her part, she was willing to accept Dark's roll in all of this too.

"Seems like we've both made some mistakes," Rainbow finally spoke.

"I still don't believe that what you did was a mistake, Rainbow," Dark replied.

"Oh really? Alright then, tell me, if I didn't push you as hard as I did, then how much different would the fight have turned out?" she asked. "And don't lie to me."

Dark gave a reluctant sigh, not wanting to tell her, although everyone gathered deserved to know.

"If I wasn't as exhausted as I was after our training," he began. "Then I would've gotten all of them while staying out of their reach with what you've taught me during our training."

"Seems like ya both have somethin' ta be sorry for," Applejack told them.

"Yeah," Rainbow agreed. "I'm sorry I pushed you so hard there, Dark."

"And I'm sorry too. To all of you," he added as Sweetie Belle hopped up and took a seat alongside Spike at the foot of the bed. "It wasn't right of me to fight them all alone without any help like I did."

Accepting his apology, they gathered around to give him a forgiving, friendly hug. Or they tried to anyway. Between him laying on the bed, and with Twilight taking up most of the space, there was little room for the rest of them.

"Hey, Twi? Could ya scoot over a little so the rest of us can get in on the huggin'?" Applejack asked.

"Sorry, Applejack," Twilight apologized. "But if I do, then I'll start sliding off."

Still getting what they could, they continued to hug their friend for another moment before breaking. As the others went back to their prior positions, Rainbow had another thing to say that's been bugging her since she thought about it last night.

"There's another thing I wanted to bring up," she announced, though sounding a bit more serious then before.

"What is it, Rainbow?" Twilight asked.

"It's about those timberwolves that attacked Dark," she told them. "And not just the alphas, I'm also talking about the ones from earlier this week."

"What about them, dear?" Rarity wondered.

"Doesn't it seem a little odd that Dark just happened to be targeted twice in the same week?"

"What makes you say that?" Twilight questioned.

"After my flight with Fluttershy last night, I got to thinking."

"Wow, that's a first," Applejack jokingly commented.

"Ignoring that," Rainbow said with a glare before continuing on. "After some thinking last night, I got to wondering why those timberwolves and alphas acted like they did, so today I did some research at the library in Twilight's Castle." She paused when she saw the shocked faces on the others, minus Dark. "Hey, I can do research too if I felt like it. Anyway, I checked through a few books and found something. Apparently, neither of them like hunting outside the Everfree Forest, too much risk and not enough reward. Which makes me wonder why did those three timberwolves confront Dark like that on his way to Applejack's farm that one morning?"

"I'll admit, it does raise some questions," Twilight admitted. "But they could've been a newly-formed pack, or just some young timberwolves hunting on their own for the first time."

"Alright, but what about the alphas?" Rainbow reminded them. "According to what I read, each pack of timberwolves has one alpha timberwolf in it, not eight."

"What are ya gettin' at, Rainbow?" Applejack asked.

"What I'm trying to say is that I don't think those attacks on Dark were just a mere coincidence."

"You're not saying that they were deliberately targeting Dark, are you?" Twilight questioned.

"Bingo," Rainbow answered with a nod. "It's the only thing that I can think of that makes any sense."

"But why?" Dark asked. "I thought that everypony here in Ponyville liked me?"

"But they do like you," Rarity told him.

"So if that's the case," Twilight concluded. "Then it must be somepony who's not from Ponyville." She looked up to her friends. "Have any of you seen anypony new wandering around town?" She asked, getting a collection of headshakes in reply.

"Alright then, let's think. Besides Fluttershy, who else do we know of who can manipulate a pack of timberwolves and alpha timberwolves, and would want Dark gone?"

"Maybe it's somepony from where Dark used to live?" Spike wondered.

"You forget, Spike," Dark began. "Everypony from Stonewall Village besides me is dead, so it couldn't be any of them."

"Perhaps Trixie?" Rarity guessed.

"I doubt it," Twilight answered. "Last I heard, she was over in Manehattan putting on a performance there. Besides, she wouldn't even know of Dark since she hasn't been here since the Alicorn Amulet incident."

"How about Queen Chrysalis?" Rainbow asked. "She does have that mind control magic that after all. She could've used it to control the timberwolves and the alphas."

"But that's not her normal style," Twilight countered. "She deals in infiltration and deception involving her changelings and herself, not manipulating wild animals into obeying her."

"What about that King Sombra guy?" Dark chimed. "I remember you saying that he likes to work from behind the scenes, and that he specializes in dark magic too."

"But he was blown-up by they Crystal Heart, so it couldn't be him either."

As their options dwindled, Sweetie Belle finally spoke up with a possible candidate.

"What about that one prince that Rarity used to have a crush on?" she asked them.

Everyone froze at her guess. They all knew who she was referring to, and remembered how he had acted towards Applejack and Rarity during their first time at the Grand Galloping Gala. They also started to remember how he's been trying to secretly win over Twilight ever since she became an alicorn princess.

"He would have the resources and power to know of Dark, and Celestia knows that stallion can hold a grudge if he doesn't get his way," Rarity commented. "Not to mention that after considering the Alicorn Amulet, there could very well be an amulet out there that could control wild animals."

"Who are you talking about now?" Dark wondered.

"She's talking about Prince Blueblood," Twilight groaned. "He's the adopted nephew of Princess Celestia and Princess Luna. Ever since I've become a princess, he's been trying to court me, more than likely to increase his influence and his seat of power."

Hearing about the despicable prince caused Dark's body to tense up, as well as letting out a throaty growl while bearing his fangs slightly. The thought of him using Twilight as a tool like that just for his own selfish reasons made Dark hope that for the prince's sake that they'd never meet. Though he was angry at the thought of him, it was quickly extinguished when he felt Twilight's hoof on his cheek.

"Don't worry about it," she softly told him. "He's never going to get a chance to date me."

"You're darn right he won't," Dark muttered to himself, forgetting that Twilight could hear him. He looked back to see a soft smile on her before he tried correcting himself. "Uhh, right, what you said."

Though the others didn't quite hear what he first said, his choice of words made them laugh at him. Seeing as it was starting to get late in the evening, they decided it would be time for them to leave for the night, but Rainbow stopped with one last thing on her mind.

"So, about your flight training," Rainbow began. "We're gonna need a new spot to practice."

"I suppose so," Dark agreed. "Besides, I'm pretty sure that the pond wouldn't be a very good sight after what I did to it."

"You have no idea," she commented. "I flew over it today and almost the entire area was covered in ashes. Apparently the guards had a hard time putting it out last night and could only contain the fires until they burnt themselves out. That's why we had the rain storm today, to try and help regrow the grass around the pond... and also because we missed a scheduled storm last week, but that's another story."

"So, where were you thinking of holding it now?"

Rainbow took a moment to think about it. "Well, seeing as how you probably won't need anything to break your fall anymore, it doesn't really matter to me."

"How about by Twilight's Castle then?" Dark wondered. "It's close by, and I doubt that any timberwolves will attack there."

"Sounds like a good idea to me," Rainbow answered.

"Sweet. And how about you, Twilight? It's your castle after all."

"Sure," Twilight agreed. "Just as long as I get to watch."

"Okay."

"Alright. In that case, I'll see you Tuesday afternoon then," Rainbow waved as she left the room for home.

"Ah suppose Ah better head on home too," Applejack said. "Ah Need ta check in on Apple Bloom. She was havin' a bit of trouble with her homework."

"Is that why she didn't come with you?" Sweetie Belle asked.

"Well that, and we didn't tell her about what happened ta Dark last night. Didn't want her ta get all worried like how you did when ya were here waitin'."

"But shouldn't she and Scootaloo know too?"

"You can tell them tomorrow, Sweetie," Rarity told her. "For now, though, we better head on home as well." She paused before looking back to Twilight. "I take it that you're not going back home tonight either?"

Twilight shook her head. "Sorry, Rarity, but I won't."

Giving a sigh, Rarity turned to Spike. "Well, come along, Spike. It looks like you're staying with us for the night again."

Eager to return back with them, Spike got up and ran up alongside Rarity and Sweetie Belle, the latter blushing at having him over for another night. After saying their goodbyes, the three followed behind Applejack to head back to their homes. With them alone again, Dark looked down to Twilight, seeing her looking back up at him.

"Are you sure you don't want to sleep in your own bed tonight?" se asked. "I'm sure you'd be more comfortable, and you'd definitely have more space than here with me."

"Are you wanting me to leave?" Twilight asked him.

"No, that's not what I meant. I just thought that you would prefer your own bed rather than this crowded hospital one."

"Yes, it would be more spacious," she agreed. "But I'm perfectly comfortable as I am right now."

Dark smiled at her, then looked over to his left side as a small thought coming to mind. "If you want, I can scoot over to give you some more room. That way there's enough space for you to move around."

"If you want," she answered.

Listening to her, Dark began to move himself to the left side of the bed, giving Twilight the right-half to sleep on. But as Dark moved, so did Twilight, not wanting to leave from her spot against him. As soon as he felt like she had enough room, he stopped.

"Better?" he asked.

"Much," she sighed, her eyes starting to become heavy.

"Are you falling asleep again?"

"Maybe," she mumbled before hearing Dark let out a loud yawn. "And so are you from the sound of things."

"I suppose so," se answered, letting his eyes close.

"By the way," Twilight sleepily continued. "After I run a few tests on you on Sunday, I'm going to let you have free reign over your dark magic training, and your Scaleless Dragon magic training."

Hearing what she told him, Dark opened his eyes to look at Twilight. "Are you sure about that? I've only had a few hours worth of practice after all."

Twilight began nuzzling him beneath his chin. "If it helps to keep you from getting hurt like this again, then I have no problems with it. Besides, I'm a little worried about what Rainbow said. Although the odds of that being possible are slim at best, it's the only logical conclusion that I can think of."

"I wouldn't worry about it too much," Dark said as he gently held her closer to him. "After all, I have ponies like you and our friends looking out for me."

Over in Stonewall Village, Captain Iron Guard and his troops had just finished cleaning out the last of the dragon corpses that they found in the mines. After the first few hours of when they started, the stench started getting to everypony. Not wanting his soldiers to suffer the horrible smells any further and get sick from it, he and the other unicorns casted a spell on everypony's helmet to filter out the odors, allowing them to work in relative peace. There were still some, however, that paled at the sight, and after emptying out their stomachs, they started growing accustom to it.

Now, after days of sorting them out and getting a headcount on the number of dead dragons, they were finally done. Soon they could leave this Celestia forsaken place, and return home. Eager to bring this long awaited news to everypony, Iron Guard began his announcement.

"Soldiers!" he called out, gaining the attention of everypony present. "I know you're all tired of being here, and are looking forward to returning home." He paused, more for dramatic affect than anything else. "Well, the wait is over. Return to your tents and get yourselves some rest. For tomorrow morning, we're going home!"

Everypony cheered hearing his announcement. Eager for the day to end, the crowd became a stampede running towards their campsite. Giving a chuckle over their enthusiasm, Iron Guard followed their example and made his way to his tent. Upon entering, he looked over to see the three solders he placed to guard the chest, who saluted at his return.

"Has anypony opened it?" Iron Guard asked them.

"No, sir," the all answered.

Using his magic to scan the chest for any tampering, he knew they weren't lying.

"Good. As soon as we get back to Canterlot, we'll be bringing this straight to Princess Celestia, along with the full report about this hellhole."

Chapter 11- Tests and More Training

Saturday was a rather boring day for Dark to stomach. As Twilight said before, she stayed with him while he as admitted. To him, he still found it to be unusually sweet of her, but decided to not question it. Sweetie Belle and Spike also told Apple Bloom and Scootaloo about what happened to Dark, but decided to keep their newfound relationship a secret from everypony for now. Within an hour of being told about the events of that night, the Crusaders and Spike ran straight from their clubhouse to the hospital.

As Dark was enjoying his one-on-one time with Twilight to get to know each other better, it was interrupted when the door was thrown open by the three fillies, who ran into the room and pouncing on Dark as he laid in his hospital bed. Spike was a bit more casual, though, as he simply walked in and shut the door behind him.

Since Sweetie Belle already knew about all of what happened, she was a bit more calm with seeing him again. Scootaloo, while trying to act tough and hold herself back, was having a hard time keeping her emotions under control from almost losing her newest friend. Apple Bloom on the other hoof, wasn't as reserved as the others as she let herself go, getting a gentle pat on the head from Dark since the staff removed the I.V. and blood packet earlier that day. After a few minutes, Apple Bloom had calmed down enough to where she was no longer sobbing, but would still let out the occasional snivel. After Dark and Twilight sat up in his hospital bed so the Crusaders and Spike could have some room to lay down, Dark began telling them the censored version of what happened that night with the alpha timberwolves, by their request.

Throughout his storytelling, he made sure to be extra careful with picking his words so he wouldn't accidentally disturb them with any graphic details. As his story progressed, Pinkie appeared out of nowhere to listen in with a box of cupcakes that she smuggled into the hospital to share with everyone. When Dark got over half way through the fight scene in his story, Scootaloo and Apple Bloom were on edge about what was happening while Sweetie Belle, who didn't like this part of the story, scooted up against Spike. While he was trying to keep it as foal-friendly as possible, he didn't forget to tell them about how Twilight brought him to the hospital, saving his life. As he told that part, he intentionally looked over to Twilight, causing her to turn away with a blush while Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle awed at how sweet they thought it was. Even Scootaloo thought the story was cool, despite the ending being too mushy in her opinion. Still, though, they were happy with the story, and even more so that everypony was alright in the end.

But, as the evening rolled around, the doctor came in and gave Dark the all-clear for being released from the hospital. The only condition, though, was that Dark would have to take it easy for the rest of the day and tomorrow. That meant no flying, running, strenuous exercises, and of course, no fighting packs of alpha timberwolves the doctor jokingly added, causing Dark to chuckle at his sense of humor. He was allowed to use magic, though, just as long as he didn't go overboard with it, which Twilight assured the doctor that she would make sure he wouldn't. After checking out of the hospital and giving their thanks and goodbyes to the staff, Dark, Twilight, and Spike made their way back to the castle, while the Crusaders headed over to Sweetie Belle's place for a sleepover. Pinkie would've been there too, but she had to leave to work the counter for the afternoon shift, but she did tell them before she left that she would be paying them a visit tomorrow to makeup for not being there before.

As the morning sun peeked over the horizon, its rays began shining in Dark's face, causing him to reluctantly wake up. He still felt somewhat drained from his last few nights at the hospital. Although he wouldn't get used to the food and stiff bed they provided, he did miss the warmth and comfort that he'd grown accustom to sleeping with over those last few nights. Turning his head, Dark saw the empty spot next to him that used to be occupied. Despite not waking up to see her smiling face first thing in the morning, Dark was happy to at least be out of that hospital.

Sliding out of bed, he stretched himself out, each of his joints popping from being still for so long. Feeling loose and ready for the day, Dark began making his way down to the kitchen where Spike would be cooking up breakfast for them. Although he felt fine, Twilight told him that she didn't want him to do anything, including cooking, and to just rest. At least, until this afternoon anyway. But once Dark entered the kitchen, he froze in mid-walk, seeing Twilight cooking instead with Spike sitting at the table. He turned to Spike with a confused look.

"She insisted," Spike shrugged. "By the way, good morning."

Hearing that Dark was there, Twilight turned around to greet him with a warm smile. "Good morning, Dark. Did you sleep well?"

"I suppose," Dark answered as he took his seat at the table.

"'I suppose'?" Twilight questioned. "I thought that you would be happy to be out of that hospital and back in your bed."

"I am happy to be back home. It's just that... well..." he trailed off, not quite sure if he wanted to finish that sentence, but he didn't have to.

"Seems like somepony got a little lonely last night," Spike knowingly commented.

Dark was surprised by Spike's comment, even though it was true. But something in the air caught Dark's attention. After taking a few sniffs, he looked over to Spike.

"Oh, like you're one to talk," Dark retorted, completely unaware of the blush plastered across Twilight's face. "Why don't you tell us why you have Sweetie Belle's scent all over you?"

"I don't know what you're talking about?" Spike nervously denied. "I've been hanging around her and the Crusaders these last few days. It's only natural that her scent would cling onto me."

"If that's true, then why don't I smell Rarity's scent, or the other crusaders on you as well?" Dark questioned. "Admit it, Spike. Because even though I'm still new to the sensitivity of my nose, I do know that you don't get that level of scent on you just by being around another pony. You two would have to be snuggling together to get that much of her scent on you."

"Is this true, Spike?" Twilight asked, receiving a small nod from the little dragon. Then before he knew it, Twilight ran over and gave him a big hug. "I'm so happy for you."

"Really?" Spike asked. "You're alright with it and aren't going to tease me about it?"

"Of course I'm alright with it," she happily answered.

"But that doesn't mean that we won't tease you about it," Dark grinned.

"You know I could send those pictures of you two to the other princesses if I wanted to, right?" Spike told them.

"Did you just threaten to blackmail us if we teased you about it?" Twilight asked in shock.

"I didn't say it would be blackmail," he playfully said. "I just thought that maybe you'd like to think about it before the princesses found out and took a whiff of you two. I mean, the scent of you two on each other is really strong."

"I don't smell like Twilight... do I?" Dark asked before taking a whiff of himself. "Never mind, I very much do."

"Really," Twilight wondered as she walked over to smell Dark's coat. "Oh yeah, you definitely have my scent on you." She then turned to smell her own coat, the scent of burnt firewood hitting her nostrils. "And apparently I have yours as well."

"Not really surprising," Spike commented. "Considering that you've been cuddled up against him for over a full day, not including the time spent sleeping."

"Oh no. What are our friends going to think?" Twilight wondered, her panic starting to rise.

"Easy, Twilight," Dark calmly said. "They're your friends. Besides, they know that you were with me those last few days."

"You're right," Twilight sighed. "But what about Princess Celestia and Princess Luna?"

"I doubt that they would know," Spike chimed. "Besides, Luna's never seen him, and Celestia hasn't been here since Dark's party."

Over in Canterlot Castle, Princess Celestia was sitting at the dinner table with the morning paper and a cup of tea. It looked to be another fine day. What's more is that it was a Sunday, meaning that things would be generally slow today. As she took a sip of her tea, the doors to the dining room flew open with a rather chipper Princess Luna skipping over to her.

"Greetings, sister," Luna cheerfully greeted.

"Good morning, Luna," Celestia returned with a raised eyebrow. "Now what's gotten you in such a good mood this morning?"

"Oh, nothing much," she playfully answered. "Just a little dream that I thought you might like to know of."

"Oh?" Celestia questioned, her interest peaked as she sat down her paper and teacup. "And just who's dream is it that I would want to know about?"

"Your former student's."

"Twilight?"

"Indeed so."

"Alright, but why would this dream be any different from her other ones?" Celestia wondered. "She usually dreams of books doesn't she?"

"Normally, yes," Luna answered, her smile growing wider. "But this time, it was about a stallion." She paused to see Celestia's eyes widen. "Or to be more precise, it was about a certain kirin that I've never seen before, until I looked into her dreams that is."

"Well I'm very happy for her," Celestia said with a beaming smile.

"Oh, but I'm not done yet, sister. She's been dreaming about the two of them for the last few nights."

"Alright, so she's been having continuous dreams about him."

Luna's smile turned into a grin. "Did I forget to mention that they were all shared dream?"

Hearing her sister's words, Celestia dropped the teacup that she just started picking up while her eyes widened fully.

"Luna," she slowly started, a disbelieving look of joy crossing her face. "You're not saying that they..."

"Maybe," Luna slyly replied, causing Celestia to squee in joy for Twilight.

"Alright, that's it," Celestia declared. "I'm going back to Ponyville to congratulate Twilight on her new relationship."

"Wait, Tia," Luna halted. "Shouldn't you hold open court today? You did skip out on last week after all. And while I'm eager to see her too, we do have our duties to attend to."

"You're right, dear sister," Celestia dejectedly sighed. "Though I suppose I will be seeing her at the Running of the Leaves in a few days. Perhaps you would like to join me?"

Luna thought about it for a moment. "I've never been to this event before. I suppose it wouldn't hurt to go."

"Good to hear," Celestia replied before she broke into a sly grin and rested her head on her hooves. "So now. What were these dreams that they shared exactly?"

Luna tapped her chin with a matching grin. "Oh, where to start?"

After their breakfast was done, Twilight and Spike lead Dark down a corridor unfamiliar to him. As they descended a set of stairs, Dark started to become nervous of what they had planned. It wasn't until they opened a door at the bottom of the staircase that he saw that it was an underground laboratory. Looking around, he could see sets of beakers with strange liquids in them, several machines that he had no idea what they did, and many more things, including a plasma ball.

"So then," Twilight began. "Are you ready for those tests we talked about?"

"I suppose," Dark slowly replied. "I just didn't think it would be done in a lab is all."

"Well, where else would I be able to run them?"

"Point taken. So then, what do you want to do first?"

"First, I'm going to need a blood sample," Twilight answered as she lifted up a syringe with a foot long needle.

"Whoa, hold up now!" Dark protested. "What they hay is up with that thing?!"

"What about it? It's just a needle."

"That's not a needle, that's a freaking spearhead!"

Twilight groaned. "Look, I have to use a stronger and bigger needle to pierce your skin, otherwise I wouldn't be using something this big."

"Can't I just bite myself and let the blood drip into a beaker or something?"

"Nope. It has to come straight from the veins, otherwise it won't be as fresh as it could be, and thus become tainted."

Dark gave a defeated sigh as he walked over to Twilight and held out his left arm.

"You've done this before though, right?" he asked.

"Umm, maybe?" Twilight sheepishly answered right before she plunged the needle into Dark's arm.

Thankfully for Dark, she hit the vein and was already drawing blood from it. Ten seconds of drawing blood later, she was done and removed the needle from his arm. Dark could feel slightly nauseated as he lost over pint of blood in such a short amount of time. Thankfully for him, though, his regeneration managed to replace his lost blood, making his sickness dissipate. Seeing that the puncture mark left by the needle was completely healed, Dark made his way over to the desk that Twilight was sitting at. As he walked over, he saw her place a drop of his blood on a glass slide, and slid it beneath a microscope.

Sitting in silence, he observed Twilight as she mumbled to herself while writing down notes. After removing the previous sample, she replaced it with another, but this one she added some purple liquid to it. As she began to observe it, Dark looked over to see Spike sitting a chair with one of his comics.

"So," Dark began. "What are you doing with my blood exactly?"

"The first one was to check and see what your blood simply looked like," she explained. "Since you're a kirin, your blood is slightly different from that of a normal pony's."

"Alright, but what about the second one with the purple stuff?"

"That's from an age potion. I'm using it to see how quickly your blood cells age. Oh, speaking of which," she began as she turned to face Dark. "I'm going to need a tissue sample as well, along with a hair sample."

Though the hair didn't bother him, he wasn't exactly in the mood to flay himself like that. Even if it was just a small piece. Thankfully, he didn't have to as Spike walked over with a scalpel in his claws.

"Alright fine," Dark submitted. Though he didn't like it, he was willing to tolerate it. "Which part do you want? Pony or dragon?"

"One of each if you would," Twilight answered as Dark groaned. "Look, I know you don't like it, but believe me, it'll all be worth it when our questions about you are answered."

"Is there a specific one you're looking to solve?"

"Yes, actually. I want to know how long your lifespan will be. That's part of the reason why I'm taking so many samples."

Now understanding the reasoning behind these tests, Dark was more willing to lend her what she needed. Partially because he too was curious about it as well. After she took what she needed from him, Dark looked to the area where his skin was flayed off. As he kept watching, he saw his skin and coat starting to growing back, emanating a shadowy mist as it healed. Within seconds, the open spot was completely healed with no trace of it left behind.

I wonder what the limit to this regeneration thing is? Dark wondered. "Hey, Twilight?"

"Yes?"

"You think after you're done with all of your experiments, we could try testing my regeneration?"

"You're not thinking of doing something stupid like cutting off your own arm, are you?" Twilight asked in a low voice, making Dark shiver.

"... never mind."

"Good," she replied as she went back to her testing.

Seeing as he had nothing to do, Dark went over and sat down by Spike to join him in his reading. He never heard of Daring Do before and was quite interested in it. But once he told that to Spike, though, he was warned to start reading it before Rainbow found out. He explaining to Dark how it's her favorite series, and that she's a total fangirl. Still, though, Dark was still curious and willing to give it a try. When Dark tried to leave for the library, Twilight stopped him, asking him to say incase she needed him for something. That didn't mean the same for Spike, though, as he was willing to go fetch the first book in the series for Dark to start on. He spent his time reading for the next few hours. Though he'd prefer to read up on some fire spells, Dark was rather enjoying himself with this book. But, as he was about to start on his eighth chapter, Twilight caught his attention.

"Alright, I believe I got it," she announced.

"What did you find?" Dark asked.

Twilight looked over her numerous sheets of paper before she answered him. "Well, which would you like to hear first?"

"What are my options? You know, besides the results for my ageing."

"There's your regeneration rate, ageing, overall health, and your skin's toughness."

"Alright, let's start with health, regeneration, then toughness. We'll save ageing for last since that's been our biggest wonder."

"Okay then, let's see." She paused as she found the right sheet. "Alright, from what this is saying about your health, it appears that you're warm-blooded, and your mineral count is a little low."

"Minerals? Really?" Dark questioned.

"Well, you are part dragon now," Spike chimed. "And you do have those teeth, so maybe you could eat gems now?"

They all sat there as they let that little tidbit sink in. Twilight then looked over to Spike with an idea in mind.

"Spike, would it be alright if we used some of your gems for another test?" she asked.

"I suppose," he slowly answered. "What kind of test are you thinking?"

"I want to see if Dark can eat gems like you can. And could you please bring one of each type?"

"Sure, be back in a little bit," Spike said as he ran off.

"Alright, now for your regeneration," Twilight began. "Now, this was actually from your idea, minus cutting off a limb to get it."

"I watched the area where you and Spike took skin from earlier heal up within a few seconds," Dark told her.

"Then this just confirms these test results. From what I've gathered, you can regenerate roughly one inch every three seconds. This would also further explain why your surgery took so long."

"So if I lost my arm then?"

"It would take a minute or so to completely regenerate it," Twilight finished.

"But would I continue to bleed out?"

"I don't know, and I'd rather not know."

"Alright. Now, what about my skin's durability?"

"Well, it appears to be somewhere between a pony's, and a dragon's, though I can't pinpoint how much so exactly."

Dark thought about it for a moment until he remembered part of the timberwolf attack.

"I don't know how much this will help, but when I was attacked, those alphas were able to claw through me easily, but with my wings, they could barely scratch them," he told her. "I don't know if it's because they're directly from Nocturne or what, but my wings appear to be a lot tougher than the rest of my body."

"That would explain the mutation I saw in your skin cells from the samples we took."

"Mutation? Is it dangerous?" Dark nervously asked.

"No, it's not dangerous at all," Twilight assured him. "When I said mutation, I meant that you skin is changing, becoming stronger. Over time, your pony skin will be as strong as the skin on your wings."

"Then how did they manage to scratch my left dragon arm, and not my wings?" Dark wondered.

"Well, you did say that you had pony legs instead before they were lost. Perhaps they were regenerated from pony tissue instead of dragon tissue. If so, then that would probably explain why you have dragon wings, because they came directly from Nocturne. It would be better if I had some samples from Nocturne himself to help better compare."

"Considering that you'd have to go to Stonewall Village to get it, I wouldn't recommend it."

"Hopefully some of the ponies that were sent there will bring some back."

"I guess. By the way," Dark began. "I believe that you have one more piece of info we're both eager to hear about?"

Twilight beamed at him. "After running several different age tests on your blood, skin, and hair, I've come to the conclusion that your lifespan is actually beyond that of a dragons."

Dark froze in shock. "What? But how?"

"I have no idea!" she answered giddily.

"Maybe it's because his draconic blood isn't from a normal dragon," Spike commented as he returned with a bowl of gems.

"That's possible," Twilight answered, looking over her readings. "After all, you and Princess Celestia did tell me that Nocturne was a very rare and unique dragon."

"Kind of an understatement there, but yeah, I suppose that would explain it," Dark agreed.

"Anyway, I got those gems you wanted," Spike said as he brought Twilight the bowl over to her.

"Thank you, Spike," she thanked before placing it on a table for Dark to eat. "Alright, Dark, take one at a time and explain to me what it's like."

"Alright," he answered.

As he sat at the table, he picked out an amethyst and held it up to his mouth, taking a few licks to determine the flavor. He then placed half of it in his mouth and slowly bit down on it, careful not to go too fast incase his teeth couldn't handle it. Sure enough, though, he bit through the gem with little resistance and started to chew the gem before swallowing it. After thinking about the taste for a moment, he plopped the rest into his mouth and began munching away.

"So?" Twilight began. "How is it?"

Dark gulped it down before happily answering, "It's grape-flavored."

"Good. Now how about this one?" she asked as she levitated over an emerald.

After chewing on it and thinking of it, he came to an answer. "Sour apple."

"And this?" Spike asked, holding a ruby.

"Cherry," he answered before tossing in a topaz. "And this one's orange-flavored."

"Very good," Twilight said, writing down this answers. "And how about the diamond?"

Taking a bite out of it, Dark mulled it over. This one was difficult to place. It had a flavor, but at the same time, he couldn't think of what it reminded him of. He continued to think about it as he took another bite.

"I'm not really sure," he answered, taking another moment to think about it. "I mean, I know I've tasted it before."

"Well to me, it tastes like vanilla frosting," Spike chimed.

"That's it," Dark said with a snap of his claws. "Thanks little buddy."

"No prob."

"Alright," Twilight began as she got up and looked at the clock on the wall. "I believe that's all the testing I can think of for the moment. That, and it's already past lunchtime."

Turning their attention over to the clock as well, Dark and Spike both saw that it was now 1:30 P.M.

"Alrighty then, what would you two like for lunch?" Dark asked them.

"I don't know if you should be cooking anything," Twilight said.

"But I feel perfectly fine, and this time I mean it. Besides, my regeneration replaced the blood you drew from me soon after you took it."

"... alright, fine," she conceded. "But I'm cooking with you."

"Okay."

Coming to an agreement, they left the laboratory with Spike closing the door behind them. As they walked down the hallway and back to the main hall, they could smell the scent of something freshly baked. Running towards the kitchen, they saw Pinkie at the stove with a chef's hat and an apron with "Kiss the Cook" written on the front of it.

"Oh, hi guys," she cheerfully greeted.

"Umm, Pinkie? What are you doing?" Twilight asked.

"Well what does it look like? I'm making lunch, silly."

"I see that. What I'm wondering is why you're making lunch?"

"Because when I got here you were all down in your lab and didn't come out when it was lunch time, so I went on ahead and made lunch for you all. Think of it as apart of my apology to Darky for not coming to see him at the hospital."

"You didn't have to do that, Pinkie," Dark told her.

"Too late~" she sing-songed. "Besides, I wanted to do it."

Accepting it as it was, the three sat down while Pinkie served them their lunches. Their meal was rather entertaining with her there with them as she told Dark about some of the trips she went on, and about how she and Applejack were possibly cousins. Although that was never confirmed to be true or not, it didn't matter to any of them. As Pinkie shared her stories, Dark offered her some of his more mellow ones, something appropriate to talk about during a meal. But, once they were just about finished with their lunch, Pinkie dropped the ball.

"So, Darky," she happily addressed. "What were you thinking about doing for your birthday this Saturday? Because I've got a few different things all ready planned if you'd like to come and pick one out."

But to Pinkie's, and Spike's surprise, Dark's mood turned glum. Even Twilight looked a little down by that question. It wasn't for another moment till Dark answered her.

"Actually, Pinkie," he began. "I don't think that I'll be having one this year."

"WHAT?!" Pinkie shouted in disbelief. "How could you not want your own birthday party?! You only get one a year and you're just going to skip it?!"

"Pinkie," Twilight softly called. "Can we talk for a moment?"

"I guess," she begrudgingly answered. "But don't think this is over, Darky. When I'm done with Twilight, where gonna continue this."

"Sure," Dark half-heartedly answered.

"Dark, can you and Spike can go ahead to the lounge? I'll be there after I'm done talking to Pinkie Pie."

Giving a silent nod, Dark and Spike headed out, leaving Twilight and Pinkie alone.

"Alright, Twilight," Pinkie started. "What's going on here?"

Twilight sighed sadly before turning back to her. "There's something I need to explain to you about Dark's birthday, Pinkie."

After a few minutes of explaining what happened to Dark on that specific day, Pinkie's face turned from upset to sad. Whether it was because of Dark's birthdays now being a bitter reminder of his loss, or of why they picked that day specifically, Pinkie didn't know. All she knew was that she made Dark sad, and now she had to try and fix it.

Before Twilight knew it, Pinkie left in a blur heading towards the lounge. By the time she caught up with her, Pinkie already had Dark in a big hug while apologizing to him in-between sobs. Looking from Pinkie to Dark, Twilight saw only confusion on his face as he tried to calm the pink pony down.

"I told her about what happened to your brother and cousin," Twilight explained.

"Ah. Well, that explains this sudden mood change then," Dark said before turning back to Pinkie. "It's alright, Pinkie. I'm not mad at you."

"But I-" Pinkie tried arguing, but was cut-off by Dark.

"Didn't know at the time, so I can't blame you. Besides, you're not the kind of pony who'd deliberately upset somepony else, are you?"

"No. All I wanted to do was make everypony smile and be happy."

"Then there you go. It was a simple accident and you shouldn't feel so bad about it," Dark concluded as he tightened his comforting hug.

"Okie dokie," Pinkie softly answered as she fell deeper into his hug. As she began to relax, she softly hummed in content. "You were right, Twilight, he really is warm and comfy. Now I understand why you didn't want to leave him during his entire stay at the hospital."

"How did you know I was there the whole time?" Twilight asked.

"Rainbow told me when she came over to Sugarcube Corner yesterday."

"Well, anyway I think it's probably time you let go of him so we can start his magic practice."

"You're just saying that because you aren't getting any hugs from him too," Pinkie smirked, causing Dark and Twilight to blush.

"No I'm not!" Twilight immediately answered. At least, not completely anyway.

"Alright," Pinkie sighed as she broke the hug. "Guess I better stop before Twilight starts to get jealous."

Ignoring Pinkie's last comment, Twilight walked up beside Dark to go over the session for today.

"Alright, you were wanting to try out that other spell that Nocturne used correct?"

"Yeah," Dark replied. "It was like he was able to meld his body into the shadows around him." He paused to think on how to better describe it. "It was kinda like his body evaporated into shadows when he disappeared. But since he was behind me when he emerged from the shadows, I couldn't see how he looked."

"Do you think you can do it?" Twilight asked.

"Maybe. Could I do a quick warm-up with that other spell first?" he asked, getting a nod from Twilight before he made is attempt.

Channeling his magic into his arms, Dark slowly moved his claw forward. However, it didn't disappear like it did before. Looking around, Dark saw that he was standing in the light shining through the window. Moving out of the sunlight and into the shade, Dark resumed moving his claw forward until it disappeared into a shadowy ripple, reappearing behind Spike's head and giving him a playful flick of his claw. As Spike turned to see what it was that hit him, Dark retracted his claw back, leaving him wondering what happened. That was, until Dark started putting on a false, innocent smile.

"Why'd you do that?" Spike asked irritated.

"Because of that little blackmailing you did earlier," Dark answered.

"What blackmailing?" Pinkie asked.

"Remember those pictures Spike showed everypony of Dark and I?" Twilight asked her.

"Yep."

"Well, Spike told us that if we made fun of him having a fillyfriend that he'll send both of them to the princesses."

"Wait. Spike has a fillyfriend?! Ooh! Who is she?!"

"Although these two know, I'd rather not say," Spike told her. "We're wanting it to keep it a secret until we feel more comfortable telling everypony."

"Aww, that's too bad," Pinkie dejectedly said before addressing a recent comment. "But back to Spike sending those pictures. Does he mean Princess Celestia and Princess Luna, or does this include Cadence too?"

"Unfortunately," Spike began. "I can only send letters to Celestia and Luna."

"Well that's good for us," Dark proclaimed. "But right now, though, I think I'm gonna try that move out."

"Do you have an idea of how to do it?" Twilight asked.

"I may have an idea or two," he answered as he sat down.

Closing his eyes, Dark began concentrating. His first idea was to try and do what he did with his claw, but stop himself from re-emerging and stay in the shadows. Focusing his magic, Dark began moving his claw like he did before. As it pierced through the shadows, it reappeared in a different location. With his attempt failed, Dark retracted his claw back to him.

"Well that didn't work," he said to himself.

"Sorry we can't be of any help," Twilight told him.

"Don't be. You're helping enough just by watching over me and making sure nothing happens. Besides, I have another idea in mind."

With that, Dark began on his second attempt. Since his first plan failed, he now moved to test his second. His plan this time was to spread the shadows emanating from his claws and arms, around his entire body. Hoping that by covering himself in a shadowy cloak that he could more easily become one with the shadows. Focusing on the magic in his arms, he spread it until his body was covered in a thin layer of darkness. Seeing the nervous look on Twilight's face, Dark gave her a reassuring smile before continuing.

As Dark closed his eyes and slowly pumped more magic into his spell, he started to feel a slight tingle. It wasn't anything bad, but instead felt welcoming. As he let himself relax and go with the feeling, Dark felt his body overcome with warmth. It wasn't until he heard Pinkie loudly gasp that he opened his eyes. He could still see everything around him, but the colors all had a tint of gray to them. Looking back to his friends, Dark saw that they looked surprised, and a little spooked.

"Where did he go?!" Spike panicked.

"He just vanished," Pinkie observed.

"But don't you do that all the time, Pinkie?"

"This is different, Spike," Twilight explained. "It looks like Dark actually did it. He melded into the shadows."

"But is he still here?" Pinkie asked.

As Dark listened to them, he took notice that their voices were somewhat muffled, almost as though he was trying to listen to them from underwater. Still one with the shadows, Dark decided to try some tests of his own. He instantly knew that he could breathe, otherwise he'd be suffocating by now. First, he wanted to try and get back out and let them know he's alright. Since shrouding his body in shadows seemed to allow him to pass in, perhaps removing it would let him back out. Starting from his head, Dark began to remove the shadows from him, seeing everything turn back to their original color and hearing their voices returning to normal. Upon seeing Dark reappear where he stood, Twilight, Pinkie, and Spike ran up to him.

"What happened? Are you alright?" Twilight asked as she patted him down.

"Twilight, I'm fine," Dark chuckled. "It actually worked."

"What was it like?" Spike excitingly asked.

"Everything had a gray tint to it, and your voices sounded like I was trying to listen to you from underwater. Other than that, it was kinda warm, like I was being wrapped in my old blanket that my great grandma made for me when I was a little colt."

"So you're not hurt or feel anything weird then?" Twilight questioned.

"Nope. I feel perfectly fine. Although, there are a few things that I was hoping to test out while in there. That is, if you're okay with it, Twilight."

"I told you that you had free reign over what you did. All that I ask is that you be careful about it."

"Alright," Dark answered before taking a few steps back. "I'll be right back. If you need me, just call."

After receiving a collection of nods, Dark plunged himself back into the darkness of the shadows.

Alright, let's see what this does, Dark thought as he pumped more magic into the spell.

He started slowly, but after a steady amount of magic was added to it, Dark noticed that time started to slow down. As he pumped more and more magic into it, he saw that the more magic that was added, the slower time out there became. After he counted to ten, Dark reduced the amount of magical output until it was at it's base minimum. At that point, everything was moving in full motion. Time wasn't quickened or slowed, just a steady pace as it should.

This will make traveling at night much faster, he joyfully thought as he let the spell fade and return to his friends.

"So, what did you do this time?" Twilight asked.

"Turns out that the more magic I put into the spell, the slower time becomes around me."

"Which means?" Spike pressed confusingly.

"Basically it means that Dark can speed up time when he's in the shadows by pumping more magic into the spell, which in turn causes everything outside of it to appear to slow down," Twilight answered.

"Yep," Dark happily agreed. "But, although that's nice and all, I don't know how vulnerable I am in there."

"Dark," Twilight slowly began. "What are you thinking this time?"

"When my body is shrouded, I feel as though I can pass in and out of the shadows at will. What I'm wondering is that while I'm at this stage, if a magical blast will hit me, or pass through me?"

"Are you asking me to attack you?!" Twilight incredulously asked.

"Only a little one," Dark quickly added. "Just enough to sting me, but not enough to burn a hole in my chest."

"Are you sure about this?"

"Worse case scenario, I'll get hit and regenerate the burn."

"Fine, just tell me when then," she relented as she lit her horn and took her spot.

"But if it does work, then won't you be hitting the bookcase behind him?" Pinkie asked.

Stopping herself, Twilight took a moment to set up a force field around them. Satisfied with the new precaution, Twilight and Dark resumed their positions. Feeling as though he was ready, Dark gave Twilight the all-clear to fire away. After firing her first blast of magic, Twilight looked up to see it passing through Dark unharmed. But it was a weird sight to them though as the blast passed through his chest, causing everything from the neck down turned to shadows and leaving only Dark's floating head.

"Dude, that's creepy!" Spike proclaimed in a small freak-out.

Looking down, Dark could see that the rest of his body was missing. After canceling his spell, the rest of his body quickly materialized before them. Testing to see how he felt after being blasted, he looked back to Twilight.

"Alright, nice job," he complimented her. "Now let's try for the head."

"Shooting you in the chest was bad enough. I'm not blasting you in the face," Twilight argued.

As much as Dark wanted to push the limits of this new spell, he figured that he was already pushing his luck with that last little request. Deciding to not risk getting Twilight upset with him, Dark decided to go along with her.

"Okay."

"Really?" Twilight questioned. "You're not going to try and push for it?"

"I think I've pushed my limits with you enough as it is."

"Thanks."

"You're welcome. But there are a few things that I'd like to check out first."

"As long as it's safe, then go ahead."

"Alright. Be right back," Dark told them as he vanished back into the shadows.

Alright, let's see here, he thought to himself as he began his testing.

After looking around the room, Dark found a place to try reaching. His theory was that since the rules were different in there, while one with the shadows, he could move to any location within the shade. As he jumped up to test it, he felt gravity fade from him.

This is a lot like how it would be when swimming, except I can breathe and it doesn't look like I don't have to swim to get around, Dark thought as he floated his way up to the top of the tallest bookshelf and reappearing on it.

"Wow, I can't believe that actually worked," he happily said, causing the other to jump at the sudden voice on the behind them.

Turning around, Twilight, Pinkie, and Spike saw Dark sitting on the other of the room, on a bookshelf.

"Dude, how'd you get way up there?" Spike asked. "You can't even fly yet."

"Turns out that when I Shadow Meld, I can travel anywhere within the shadows," Dark explained.

"Shadow Meld?" Twilight asked.

"It's the name I'm giving this spell," he answered. "It's becoming kinda tedious talking about it without calling it something. Besides, I find it to be kinda fitting."

"To blend into the shadows," Twilight thought out loud. "Yeah, I can see how that name could work."

"Anyway," Dark began before vanishing in a shadowy mist and reappearing in front of Twilight. "There's one last thing I wanted to test out. Can you look over to where the light's shining through the window and tell me if you see anything when I get back?"

"Sure, see you in a little bit," Twilight answered for them.

Disappearing into the shadows again, Dark made his way towards the light. As he stepped into it, he felt hot, like how he used to when he would stand near a bonfire. Pushing himself through, Dark was standing fully in the light while Shadow Melded. Though it looked like the plan was working, the light was starting to burn Dark, forcing him to undo the spell. Letting the spell dissipate, Dark took a knee to catch his breath, steam rolling off of his back and wings.

"What happened?" Twilight asked seeing the vapors rising off of him.

"Apparently the light burns me when I Shadow Meld," he answered before looking up to them. "By the way, did you see anything?"

"Yeah," Spike began. "We could see the outline of your shadow on the ground in the middle of the sunlight."

"Alright, good to know," he replied as he caught his breath.

"So," Twilight began as she helped Dark back up. "Were there any other crazy stunts you wanted to try?"

"Now that I think about it, there is one more thing. I'm starting to wish now that I knew some incase I get attacked again."

"Oh? And what would that be?" she skeptically asked.

"Would you be willing to teach me how to cast shield spells?" Dark asked her.

Twilight looked to him in surprise. "You mean that you don't know any defensive magic spells?"

"My fighting style is more offensive than defensive, so I didn't really bother learning any defensive spells," Dark admitted.

Her face softened. "I'd be happy to teach you some of the shield spells that Shining Armor taught me," she offered.

"Thank you, Twilight," Dark gratefully replied, sitting himself down to listen to Twilight's instructions on how to cast defensive shield spells.

In Canterlot Castle, Princess Celestia was sitting on her throne as the last minutes of open court were coming to an end. She had to deal with a few farmers who would request some additional seeds for their crop, which Celestia was happy to give them. There were also a few nobles who wanted more land or wealth added to what they already had. And of course, there was Prince Blueblood, who Celestia only paid half-attention towards.

He too had requested numerous times to be given more land and wealth than what he already possessed, but what really bent Celestia the wrong way was when he would ask about Twilight. She knew full well of what his intentions were, and wasn't pleased with them. But, although she wouldn't condone it, the decision of whether or not Twilight would accept him wasn't her decision, but Twilight's. Though Celestia already had a very good idea on what her answer would be, considering what Luna told her this morning.

Holding onto that bit of joyous news, Celestia managed to keep her spirits high throughout the day until the doors to the throne room finally closed. With open court now ended for the day, she turned her attention towards the sun to help put it to rest for the night before making her way towards the dining hall to meet up with Luna for some dinner, or in Luna's case, breakfast. As she came near the dining hall, she could hear Luna loudly smacking away at her food through the giant oak doors. Opening them, she saw her greedily eating away at a stack of flapjacks with several other plates beside her.

"Looks like somepony's got quite an appetite this evening," Celestia commented towards her sister.

With cheeks puffed out full of flapjacks, Luna turned to the doors and waved her sister over.

"I shall never be tired of these marvelous golden delicacies," Luna told her. "Especially when you pour the syrup on top of it." She took a moment to eat another fork-full, enjoying the flavors and tastes. "I wish I could have been there to meet the pony who invented this."

"Funny story about him actually," Celestia began. "Do you know that he actually died one week after he invented that recipe?"

"Really?" Luna asked with her mouth full. "How?"

"He loved his creation so much that he ate too much at once and choked on it. He died of asphyxiation shortly after."

Luna froze in mid-bite before turning to Celestia.

"Thou art bluffing, sister," Luna accused.

"It's the truth, Luna. And you're starting to speak in Old Equestrian again."

"Sorry. Anyway, how was open court today?"

"Same as usual," Celestia sighed. "Blueblood's becoming more persistent about Twilight."

"Hmph, like he would ever have a chance now," Luna scoffed as she began on another tower of flapjacks.

"I know, but this is still serious, Luna," Celestia urged. "We both know that Blueblood doesn't take kindly to losing, especially with matters like this."

"And what's he going to do about it?" Luna questioned. "He's not the kind of pony who would 'dirty his hooves with such trifling matters', as he would put it."

"That's exactly what I'm worried about. He could very well send somepony else instead to deal with him."

"But does he know of Dark yet?"

Celestia paused to think about it, remembering the look on his face and his reactions earlier that day.

"I don't believe he does," she admitted. Then again, I have made mistakes with judgement calls before.

"Then we have nothing to worry about, sister. Now come and dine with me."

Heeding her sister's words, Celestia ordered her meal for the night and joined Luna. When Celestia's dinner came, Luna was already on her sixth plate, totaling fifty flapjacks that she'd eaten so far. As she was beginning to wonder how Luna could eat so much and not lose her figure, the doors to the dining room opened, revealing Iron Guard who saluted upon entering.

"Welcome home, Captain," Celestia warmly greeted.

"Hello, Captain," Luna welcomed, still chewing on her food.

"Good evening, Your Highnesses," he returned. "I hope I'm not interrupting."

"Not at all. Come, take a seat," Celestia offered.

"As nice as that would be, I must respectfully decline," he replied. "We just got back and haven't bathed since we left."

"I understand, but why wait so long? Wasn't there a nearby lake you and your guards could have used?"

"There was, but it wasn't in use."

Celestia raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean? Was the water tainted?"

"This will explain everything, though I wouldn't recommend reading it while eating," Iron Guard warned.

"What is it?" Luna asked.

"It's the full report of Stonewall Village," he answered.

"Really?" Luna questioned. "Honestly now, how bad can it be?"

She immediately regretted those words as she read what the report said. Pushing her plate away, Luna levitated the parchment over to Celestia.

"I think I'm going to be sick," she commented.

"Just be happy you two weren't at that hellhole," Iron Guard told them. "If there was ever a Tartarus on Equestria, this would be it."

As Celestia read over the report, her eyes began to widen. She read from the preliminary that things were rather messy, but she didn't think that it would be this bad. Tearing her gaze from the report, she looked back to the captain.

"This is far worse than I thought," Celestia spoke. "And the villagers?"

"They're further in the report, Princess. They were all buried in separate graves near a monumental pillar. Our troops placed the graves to have been dug almost four-to-five days before we arrived."

Right after Dark's amnesia started, Celestia mentally concluded with a sad sigh. Discord was right, he's better off knowing of this on his own and at his own pace.

"Also, we've found something I thought you'd might want to have a look at."

Giving his three guards the signal, they walked in, carrying over a big red chest and sat it down before the two princesses. While Luna looked at it questionably, Celestia had a good idea of what it contained.

"Captain, this wouldn't by chance have come from the blacksmith's forge, would it?" she asked.

"How did you know about the chest and the forge?" Iron Guard surprisingly asked.

"Because I've meet the owner of that forge, and in turn, this chest of his." She ran a hoof over it before returning her attention back to her captain. "Does the Draconium still reside within it?"

"Yes, Princess."

"Then have the chest and its contents secured in the vault for now. Luna and I will decide on what to do with it later."

"At once," Iron Guard answered before turning to deliver the chest to the vault.

"And Captain?" Celestia called, stopping him in his tracks and turning to face her. "This Wednesday is the Running of the Leaves in Ponyville. My sister and I will be attending, and would like it if you and the ponies you brought with you on your mission to accompany us. Not as our guards, though, but on a short, paid vacation, for all of your hard work this last week."

"It would be our pleasure, Your Highness. I shall tell the others at once."

"That's good to hear." She paused as a thought came to mind. "Also, how would feel about meeting the stallion that survived 'hellhole' as you called it?"

Chapter 12- To the Skies

As Monday came around, Dark went back into his regular routine. After he made his breakfast and left through the door, he decided to get in some extra practice with his Shadow Meld spell. Since Twilight allowed him to practice it freely, Dark thought of trying to perfect it and improve it if possible. Traveling through the darkness of Luna's night with the spell at full power, Dark safely made it to Sweet Apple Acres. What he forgot, though, was during that time, although it took him his normal twenty-to-thirty minutes by his count, Dark actually got there a few seconds after he left Twilight's Castle. As he materialized behind Applejack, he called out to greet her, but in doing so, he accidentally caused her to buck on instinct and hit him square in the nose. As Applejack turned around, she saw Dark sitting on his rump while holding his bleeding nose with his claws.

"Confound it, Dark!" Applejack scolded. "Why'd ya sneak up on me like that? And how'd ya manage ta be so quiet?"

"New spell," Dark muttered. "It lets me meld into the darkness and move safely and silently."

"Okay, but what are ya doin' here so early?"

"It's another perk of this spell. It lets me speed up time for myself while I'm in there. I briefly forgot about it and accidentally arrived here earlier than I thought I would."

"Alright," she said before walking over to Dark. "Now, let's see that nose of yours. Think Ah might've accidentally broken it."

"It's no problem," Dark told her. "It should be fine any second now."

And like that, his regeneration kicked in, repairing the damaged nose and returning it to as it was, minus the blood staining his snout. Checking over his nose, Applejack saw that it was completely healed and let it be.

"That's from your regeneration thin', right?"

"Yeah. Twilight was having a sort of field day with it, but didn't go overboard with it."

"Good ta hear," she said as she turned back to the barn. "By the way, would ya mind helpin' me set up since you're already here?"

"Sure," Dark happily answered, despite having his nose broken just a minute ago.

After about a half-hour of setting up buckets and some repairs to the wagon, Applejack and Dark were ready to begin the day. As they got started, Big Mac walked over and joined them, pulling the cartful of apples as the other two bucked them out of the trees. Though while Applejack would do things the normal way, Dark would use his Shadow Meld to travel from tree-to-tree. He learned that while he maintained it, he couldn't interact with anything normally. Granted that he could still touch the trees, but any forceful contact he would make before dispelling it wouldn't do anything. The higher the sun rose though, less and less shadows became available for him to travel through, meaning that he would have to walk to every tree now.

As the day progressed, lunch came around. Making their way back to the house to eat, Dark became bombarded with questions. Most came from Granny, a few from Applejack, and some from Big Mac even. They either pertained to his encounter with the alpha timberwolves, or this new spell he was using throughout half the morning. After answering their questions, Dark finally had a moment to speak.

"So, Applejack, are you ready for the race?" Dark asked.

"Ah will be after Ah get in some last minute trainin'," she answered.

"She'll be fine," Granny told them. "Right, Big Mac?"

"Eeyup," he answered.

"That's what Ah thought the first time Rainbow and Ah raced, and y'all remember how that turned out," Applejack reminded. "Speakin' of Rainbow," she continued, turning to Dark. "Did ya two find a new place ta practice? Ah thought Ah heard the two of ya talkin' about it after we were headin' out from visitin' ya that one day."

"Yeah, we did," Dark answered. "We'll be practicing by Twilight's Castle for now on."

"Ah suppose that would be the safest place."

"Exactly. That, and we doubt that anything will attack us so far from the Everfree Forest like that."

"While we're on the subject of Rainbow and the Runnin' of the Leaves, there won't be any work that day, so feel free ta take the day off ta enjoy it."

"Alright then, thanks," Dark gratefully replied. "Twilight told me that this year the mayor's going to have it a little different from the others, and that there's going to be food stalls, games, and a bunch of other things set up."

"Sounds like a good ol' festival ta me," Granny commented.

"Well I'm looking forward to it."

"Ah bet you are," Applejack smirked. "You and Twilight headin' over early ta hang out Ah take it?"

"Yeah," Dark surprisingly answered. "How'd you know that anyway?"

"Just a hunch," she shrugged, causing Dark to facetable. "Now what's that all about?"

"This 'hunch' you called it is your mare's intuition, isn't it?"

"Eeyup," Applejack answered, causing Granny to cackle.

"Ah'm likin' this fellow more-n'-more," Granny told them while patting Dark on the shoulder. "But that's enough lollygaggin'. It's about time y'all headed back out ta finish your chores for the afternoon."

Cleaning off their dishes and thanking Granny for the lunch, the three went back outside to continue their work. As the afternoon continued on, Dark's mind stared to wonder with what kind of new lessons Rainbow would be teaching him tomorrow. With the idea of being able to fly so close to him, Dark couldn't wait for their flight training to continue.

As the workday ended for them, Dark made his way back home. During his walk back, every guard he passed by gave him a respectable nod or salute. After talking to a squad of guard and asking what's going on, they told Dark that a three-pony squad told them of what happened between him and the alpha timberwolves before the other guards made it to the sight. The respect that they showed to him was for his bravery for when he was cornered by the alpha timberwolves, and for the speedy recovery that he made. Apparently to them, facing off against one of them and winning would get their approval, but fighting against a pack of eight all alone and coming out on top was worthy of respect by the guards there. Though a bit shy of the extra attention, the guards told Dark to just accept it as it is. After giving them his thanks, Dark continued back to Twilight's Castle to get in some flight practice of his own before tomorrow came around.

Tuesday was irritatingly slow for Dark. He was so eager to hopefully learn how to fly today that every minute that passed seemed more like an hour to him. Even working on the apple farm didn't help him much as time usually felt like it flew by when he was busy. When Applejack called them for lunch, Dark could only groan as it felt like it was much further into the day than it actually was. Still, though, he did his best to try and be on his best behavior for everypony around him. As a way to help him get through the rest of the day, Dark started humming a tune to himself. The rather upbeat song was doing its job rather well because before he knew it, it was time for Dark to start making his way over to meet up with Rainbow. Finding Applejack and telling her that it was time for him to go, they bid each other goodbye until tomorrow.

When Dark walked out of the apple orchard, he did so with a small skip in his step as the song in that he hummed to himself earlier was now stuck in his head. Though some thought of the song to be considered annoying after a while, he still thought it to be catchy. As he trotted back into Ponyville, he saw a rainbow streak in the sky headed towards Twilight's Castle. Picking up his pace, Dark galloped the rest of the way over to where Rainbow would now be waiting for him. As he got closer to the castle, he could see Rainbow and Twilight talking to each other in front of the door. Hearing the sound of galloping behind them, they turned to greet Dark.

"Well, you're looking a lot better than last I saw you," Rainbow commented. "Twilight was just telling me of some of the things that she found out from the tests she ran."

"Yeah, I was pretty surprised by what she found out too," Dark said.

"Told you that it would be worth it," Twilight smugly told him.

"I know, I know, you were right, and I was being stubborn about it."

"Anyway," Rainbow began. "I believe that we're here to get you flying."

"Right. So, what are we gonna do today?"

"First I want you to get yourself warmed up," Rainbow said. "Let's have you start with some stretches, and then thirty minutes of hovering."

Listening to her instructions, Dark stretched his wings out before lifting off the ground. As time passed, Spike returned from his visit to Carousel Boutique, but this time, Sweetie Belle returned with him. Greeting the two as they approached, Sweetie Belle looked confusingly at Dark.

"What are you doing?" she asked.

"I'm training him on how to fly," Rainbow explained. "We're having him do his warm-ups right now. Speaking of which, you've been doing your wing-ups right?"

"Minus the time that I've been in the hospital, yeah," Dark answered.

"I suppose that there wasn't anything you could've done, considering that you weren't allowed out of bed during your time there."

"Well, it could've been worse."

"I'm just glad that it wasn't," Twilight commented, receiving a chorus of agreements.

"Well, we'll let you do your thing," Spike told them. "Sweetie and I are heading in to hang out and stuff."

"Okay. We'll see you two after Dark's flying session is over with."

"Alright," Spike and Sweetie Belle answered before heading into the castle.

With the two gone, Twilight and Rainbow returned their attention back to Dark. Once his thirty minutes were up, Dark carefully landed himself on the ground. His wings weren't sore like they were the last time, so he was feeling pretty good about himself.

"Alright, so what's next?" he asked.

"Next I want to see how well you can move around while in the air," Rainbow told him.

Giving a nod, he lifted off and began hovering in place. Remembering his lessons from last time, Dark started moving himself in different directions based on where Rainbow wanted him to go towards. She let Dark go on his own for a moment before turning to Twilight.

"So, what do you think of him so far?" Rainbow asked her.

"What do you mean by that?" Twilight asked with a slight blush.

"Not like that, Twilight," Rainbow groaned. "We already know how you feel about him in that regard. What I was talking about was how he's doing with his flight training."

"Oh, right. Well, he seems to have a good handle on things, even despite this only being his third practice session with you."

"Yeah, and that's the thing. He's actually progressing faster than I thought it would take him. I mean, I know he said that he's only had those wings a few days before we met him, but at the rate he's going, it looks like he's had them for longer than that."

"So, what's the plan now?" Twilight asked.

"Considering that the training regiment I had planned out for him is going out the window now, I say it's time to see what he can really do." Rainbow turned her attention from Dark to Twilight. "Would you mind giving me a hoof? Just to watch him and make sure that he doesn't plummet out of the sky."

"Of course I'll help," she happily answered before Dark landed in front of them.

"Alright, all done," he announced.

"Good," Rainbow began. "Now, seeing as how well you've been doing, I think you're ready to take flight."

"Seriously?" Dark questioned. "I mean, I haven't even had that much practice."

"And yet you're already doing more in these few training sessions, than what most first-time flyers could do in several months."

"If you say so."

"Good, because I do say so. Now off the ground with you," Rainbow proclaimed as she and Twilight flew up.

Following her orders, Dark began flapping his wings to hover up to their level, but each time he would match their altitude, Rainbow would fly higher up. After a few more attempts of matching her, Rainbow finally stopped flying upwards and let Dark catch up to her.

"Okay," Dark began. "Why'd you keep doing that?"

"Look around and you'll see," Rainbow smugly answered.

Turning his gaze downward, Dark could see that he was hovering just above the top of Twilight's Castle. As he rotated himself around, he could then see the rest of Ponyville below him. Feeling a bit startled by the new height he was at, Dark briefly lost his balance before Twilight helped steady him.

"Don't worry," she told him. "We're not going to let you fall."

As his racing heart began to slow back down to normal, Dark noticed that Twilight was holding onto his claws with her hooves. Slowly, she guided him with her at a steady pace, helping him get used to the new height he was at. After she felt like he was more used to it, Twilight let go of Dark so that he could do it himself. Now starting to get used to being at this height, Dark went over to Rainbow.

"You alright to continue now?" Rainbow asked him.

"Yeah, I'm good," he answered.

"Good. Now flying is just the same as what I taught you with the hovering, except you'll be higher up, have to keep yourself straight for aerodynamics when moving at higher speeds, and you'll be going a lot faster. But we'll go nice and easy for now, though. In the meantime, just follow me and try to keep up," she said as she started flying away.

Slowly, Dark followed after her with Twilight flying right beside him. Feeling more secure and sure of himself, Dark began to pick up his pace a little bit. As he got more comfortable with the speed he was going, he started to go faster. After a few more speed changes, Dark was flying at a steady, cruising pace.

"So far, so good," Rainbow commented. "Just a little something to know. When you're flying, you can also glide to save yourself some energy, otherwise you'll get tired out a lot quicker than you normally would."

"Alright, but how do I glide exactly?"

Rainbow briefly facehoofed before answering, "Just straighten out your wings toward the sides and let the wind carry you."

"Okay."

"Also, when you want to turn, tilt your body in that direction and flap downward when flapping your wings. Otherwise when you're gliding, you can tilt your wings and your body to turn in that direction as well, but those are just some of the basics. As you get better at it, then you'll start developing your own flying habits. One example of me is how I'll sometimes fly upside down."

"That's neat," Dark complimented.

With them up in the air, Rainbow then decided to take them on a leisurely flight around Ponyville. During their flight, Dark noticed that Ponyville was a lot bigger than he originally thought it was from his tour. As they flew over, Twilight and Rainbow began listing off the places that they passed over. After passing the Ponyville Spa, a persistent thought returned to Dark.

"Hey, where would one go to get their coat dyed?" Dark asked them.

"Why would you wanna do that?" Rainbow questioned.

"It's just something that Rarity brought up last week. When Pinkie gave me her tour of Ponyville, she brought me over to Rarity's place, and she asked me if I thought about dyeing my wings, tail, and arms to match the rest of my coat. I'd have to admit that it would probably make me look more approachable to other ponies if I had the same colored coat, instead of having specific parts of me being a different color. Also, I'm thinking about ditching the goatee. After all, new place, new life, so why not a new look too?"

"I think you look kinda cool with the black wings, arms, and tail, but that's just me," Rainbow offered.

"And what about you, Twilight?" Dark asked.

"I think you should do whatever you want. After all, it is your coat and beard," Twilight answered.

"That's not quite an answer there, Twilight. It's alright, you can be honest about it and I won't be upset at all."

"I know it isn't," she sighed. "If I had to be honest, then I would say yes to both. Dyeing your two-toned coat to a single color would make you look a little more approachable, and the beard was a little itchy."

"Yeah, kinda though it would," Dark agreed. "Alrighty then, in that case, I'll ditch the goatee and dye my black coat to match the rest of me."

"Just like that?" Rainbow questioned. "You're not going to put any more thought into it?"

"I've been thinking about it since Rarity suggested it. That, and I have all the conformation I need to go through with it. Now all I need to know is who would I go see to do the dyeing?"

"I think the Ponyville Spa does coat dyes," Twilight suggested. "And if they don't, then I'm sure Rarity would be alright doing it."

"Okay then. Thanks, Twilight."

"So on a different note," Rainbow began. "How are your wings feeling so far, Dark?"

"So far, so good," he answered. "They don't even feel sore with all the gliding."

"Alright then. How about we pick up the speed a little bit?"

"Sure."

Picking up their speed, the three flew above and past the town below. The faster and longer he flew, the more Dark began to enjoy the new sensations he was feeling. He could feel the cool wind blowing through his mane, against his coat, and under his wings. He was also starting to understand the freedom that Rainbow had explained to him before, though he couldn't put what he was feeling into anything else besides free, almost tranquil even.

Closing his eyes, Dark began to just let himself enjoy his time up in the sky. Spreading his arms, he continued to glide undisturbed and without a care in the world. Since he kept his eyes closed, though, he couldn't see the amused smiles on Twilight and Rainbow. As Dark's confidence continued to grow, with a smile on his lips and his eyes still closed, he gave a powerful flap, launching himself higher up before tucking his wings in and doing a few mid-air spins. Once he felt himself starting to dip, Dark spread his wings and stabilize himself, earning him a sigh of relief from Twilight while Rainbow chuckled.

"Don't get too ahead of yourself now," Rainbow warned Dark. "Remember, this is your first day of actually flying. We don't want you to go plummeting to your doom now."

"But isn't that why you two are here?" Dark asked. "To make sure that I don't do exactly that?"

"It's not the same when you're doing crazy stunts like that on your first day," Twilight scolded.

"She's right," Rainbow agreed. "You shouldn't try anything like that until you're more accustomed to flying around. Especially on your own."

"Alright," Dark conceded, right before a new thought came to mind. "Speaking of 'on your own', are there any spots for me to practice my magic around here?"

"Isn't the castle good enough?" Twilight asked.

"For my new spells it is, but what I'm looking for is a spot where I can practice my fire magic. Someplace that's isolated, and away from anything flammable. Preferably a place with lots of rocks, dirt, or sand."

They thought about for a moment, trying to come up with the best places around.

"Well, the castle is made of crystal and wouldn't get caught on fire," Twilight said.

"Thanks, but I'd rather not scorch the castle because of my magic."

"How about Ghastly Gorge?" Rainbow offered.

"That could work," Twilight agreed. "The rocky walls reach high up, and the trees there are on top of the cliffs. Not to mention the stream running at the bottom of it."

"Alright, so can we go see it?" Dark asked.

"Do you think you can make it that far?" Rainbow questioned.

"Wings still feel fine to me."

"And how about you, Twilight?"

"Sure," she answered. "It's been a while since I've been there anyway."

"Alright then, follow me," Rainbow told them, flying on ahead towards Ghastly Gorge.

It was about a ten minute flight from Ponyville before they could finally see Ghastly Gorge. Even with the sun starting to set, they still had a good view of it. However, there was one problem that they each overlooked as they began their descent.

"Um, Rainbow?" Dark called out. "How do I land at this speed exactly?"

Forgetting to go through it with him earlier, Rainbow quickly explained, "Tilt your body and wings up to increase your drag, and flap your wings forward to halt your forward momentum until you start to hover in place. After that, landing's the same as what you've been doing so far."

"Alright then, here it goes."

Following Rainbow's instructions, Dark began to slow his descent, trying to match the others. But as he tried, he also saw that the ground was approaching much faster than what he thought. Franticly, he started to beat his wings in front of him to slow himself down further yet, but it wasn't working. He was now a few feet above the treetops.

"Dark, watch out! You're coming in to fast!" Twilight warned.

"He's gonna crash!" Rainbow shouted right after.

Even though he could hear their warnings, Dark was too far gone to do anything at this point to alter his trajectory. But, during that moment, he noticed one thing that he didn't before. The sun's light was hidden behind the trees. Casting his Shadow Meld, Dark disappeared into the tree's shadows. Seeing Dark suddenly vanish in front of her, Rainbow started to panic.

"What the hay happened to him?!" she shouted as she landed. "Did he just vaporize himself?! He wasn't even going that fast!"

"Calm down, Rainbow," Twilight calmly told her. "He didn't vaporize himself. It's a new spell that he learned a few days ago that lets him blend into the shadows."

"So... sorta like what Sombra did?"

"Yes, and no. While Sombra could turn into a shadow, he couldn't blend into and become one with the darkness surrounding him like Dark can."

"Huh. So what you're saying is-"

"That I'm completely fine," Dark finished for her as he materialized from the shade in front of them.

"How'd you not crash?" Rainbow asked.

"Things are different inside the shadows," he began to explain. "When I'm in there, I can alter the flow of time so I can move faster while I'm inside it, among other things."

"Sounds cool. Can we see?"

"Sorry, but as of right now, I can only bring non-organic materials in with me. And besides, even if I could bring in other living things besides myself, I don't know how safe it would be for them."

"Well, thank goodness you knew an awesome spell like that."

"That's actually the very reason why I wanted to learn it. You know, just incase something dangerous happened and I'd need a way out."

"Well, that was some quick thinking on your end," Twilight complimented. "But perhaps next time, you could try going a little bit slower?"

"Yeah, sorry about that. I tried to slow down, but I couldn't," Dark explained.

"It's no problem," Rainbow brushed off. "It happens to most flyers on their first attempt at landing. Though you got lucky with your little trick."

"I know," he answered before looking over to where they were at. "So, this is Ghastly Gorge, huh?"

"Yep," Rainbow answered. "This is it."

"Looks like it'll work perfectly. Is there anything that I should know about this place, though?"

"Just to stay away from the Quarry Eels. As long as you stay away from their nests, you shouldn't have any problems down here."

"Very good," Dark said. "Nice high walls, no trees down there, and a river to drink out of when I get thirsty. Yep, this is a perfect place for me to let loose with my fire without running the risk of accidentally burning something or somepony."

"Just out of curiosity," Twilight began. "What kind of fire-type spells were you thinking of exactly?"

"Just a bunch that I already know, and I was also thinking of testing out my fire breath," he answered. "Besides, this place should be far enough to not spook anypony with any rumbling or explosions that I might cause. That, and there were a few fire spells that I was in the process of creating, but couldn't manage to do. Kinda sucks, though. All of those spells were in my old spell book back in Stonewall."

"Were there any specific spells that you were wanting to work on?"

"There're a few spells that I can think of off the top of my head that I've been close to getting down before, but would fall just short of completion. There is one spell in particular, however, that I've been persistent about, but could never seem to get right. It's called the Flare."

"You mean like one of those signal flares that ponies shoot up into the sky?" Rainbow asked.

"Nope. This'll be a completely new spell... I think. I'll have to look into some of the modern spell books to know for sure, though," Dark answered, causing Twilight's eyes to light up.

"A new spell?!" she excitedly exclaimed. "Ooh, can I be there when you try it?"

"Sorry, Twilight, but if what I'm thinking about this spell correct, then it'll be very dangerous. And if so, then I don't want anypony else nearby when I'm trying to perfect it."

"I understand," Twilight dejectedly sighed.

Seeing her disappointment, Dark walked up to Twilight before draping his wings over her and pulling her into a hug.

"You know I only say this because I don't want to accidentally hurt you incase something goes wrong, right?" Dark softly asked.

"I know," she answered, leaning into the hug. "I guess I just got a little too excited over the thought of a new spell is all."

"How about this then," he offered. "When I'm sure that I have the spell completely and safely finished, you can be the first to see it."

"Alright, I can work with that," she smiled as she let herself relax against him.

Though they were enjoying their little moment, it was quickly broken up when they heard somepony clearing their throat. Remembering that Rainbow Dash was still right there with them, the two separated and turned away from each other out of embarrassment.

"So, Dark," Rainbow began. "Why is this spell so dangerous exactly?

"About a year or so ago back in Stonewall Village, I was trying to develop a fire-type spell that I could use to overcome a dragon's fireproof scales. In theory, this spell would be both strong, and concentrated enough, to burn straight through a dragon. And when I say that, I mean through the front of their chest, to the back of their... well, back."

"But to reach those kinds of temperatures though..." Twilight wondered out loud.

"Would have to be ridiculously high, I know," Dark finished for her. "But I'm also trying to compress and focus it all too, which should make it even stronger yet."

"But what if it would miss its target?"

"That's part of the reason why I wanted a safe place like this to work on it. Down here, the only thing that I would have to worry about is hitting and melting some rocks."

"This spell can melt rocks?" Rainbow questioned with a raised eyebrow.

"Just in theory," Dark explained. "But we're getting way ahead of ourselves here. After all, I was never able to come close to completing the spell in the first place."

"So what makes you think that you can finish it now?" Twilight asked. "I mean, you don't even have your spell book, or any of the research notes from before."

"You're right about that," Dark admitted. "But as a kirin, though, I can feel as though my magical output has been increased. What I'm hoping is that with this magical power boost, I'll be able to complete the spell, along with the others... if I could remember any of them that is."

"Well as entertaining and interesting as all of this is," Rainbow began. "We should probably head on back to Ponyville before it gets dark."

"How can Ponyville get me exactly?" Dark smirked.

"Hahaha, very funny," she sarcastically replied. "But seriously, though, I'd rather not stay out here any longer than I have too. Especially with your track record with those timberwolves lately."

"Though I wouldn't exactly word it like Rainbow did," Twilight began. "I too would prefer to be back in Ponyville before nightfall. Or at least off the ground and on our way back there."

"Alright, after you then," Dark said.

"Oh no," Rainbow objected. "After what happened, you're going first. We're gonna be keeping an eye on you to make sure that you don't pull another near dive-bomb like that again."

"But if it does happen again, then I can just do what I did last time."

"Just go with it, Dark," Twilight told him. "It'll make us feel better to have you in our sights incase something goes wrong again."

"Alright," Dark tiredly sighed before taking off.

As Dark began to fly away, Rainbow trotted up beside Twilight with a sly look on her face.

"I see it didn't take you too long to get him whipped into shape like Fluttershy did with Discord," she commented.

"I wouldn't call it that exactly," Twilight said, rubbing her hooves together.

"Seriously? Whenever he would object to something, you would come in and he'd listen to you. Face it, Twilight, he's got it bad for you."

"Now that I already know," she smirked.

"Uhh, what do you mean?"

"During his stay at the hospital, Dark confessed his feelings for me to Nurse Redheart. Mostly because he seemed like he wanted to get it off his chest, and he couldn't rightfully tell me now could he?"

"But weren't you with him like the whole time?"

"Yep. And the best part is that he thought I was still sleeping when he said it."

Rainbow met Twilight with a matching smirk. "Wow, you can really be sly and devious when you want to."

"Only when it comes to matters like this it seems," Twilight shrugged. "Otherwise, I've never done something like this before. At least, nothing that I can think of right now anyway."

"Hey!" Dark called out to them from above the treetops. "Are you two coming?"

"Coming," they called back in unison before taking off to catch up with him.

The flight back took them a little bit longer due to the sun completely setting a few minutes after they left Ghastly Gorge. Thankfully, though, the were able to see Dark just a few feet ahead of them, who could see in the darkness. Following him, they finally got to Ponyville, though this time as Dark landed, Twilight and Rainbow flanked him, guiding him back down towards the ground. This time he managed to land, even though he was skidding a bit and left a nice groove in his wake. Once they stopped in front of the castle stairs, Rainbow waved the two goodbye before setting off to her own home.

After Twilight and Dark walked up the stairs and through the doors, they could have sworn that they heard a violin echoing down the halls. Perking their ears up, they followed the sound of where the instrument was coming from. They eventually found themselves at the doors to the dining room, which they could smell something delicious coming from. Slowly and gently, Twilight cracked open the door for her and Dark to look through. As they peeked inside, they could see Sweetie Belle sitting at a candlelit table with a fancy dinner sitting out, and Spike playing a romantic song on the violin.

"Did you know he could play the violin so well?" Dark quietly asked Twilight.

"I had no idea he could play it at all," she answered as silently closed the door.

"Well one thing's for sure, he doesn't hold back, does he?"

"That's Spike for you. When he does something that he's got his mind set on, he won't settle for anything less than his best."

"Well, good for him," Dark smiled. "I hope this dinner of his works out for them."

"Feeling a little envious of him?" Twilight teased with a nudge.

"Perhaps a little bit, but in a good way. Though he's definitely got me beat in terms of being romantic with that violin playing of his."

"I'm sure you can think of something just as romantic as he did."

"I might have a few ideas," Dark answered as he tapped his chin. "But they would be more simple, and probably less fancy than what he's got going on."

"Fanciness isn't necessarily what's important. What really matters is that both parties are enjoying it, and their time with each other."

"It almost sounds like you've done this before."

"Nope, just some advice that my mom and Cadence gave me if I should ever decide to date anypony."

"Yeah," Dark slowly replied, trying to think of something to say without sounding weird or awkward. "So, what are you wanting to do for dinner tonight?"

"What did you have in mind?" Twilight asked with a slight waver to her voice.

"Well, I really don't want to accidentally disturb those two by eating here, so perhaps we should go out tonight?"

"You want to go out to eat?"

"Sure," he replied. "I haven't been out to any of the restaurants here to eat before, minus Sugarcube Corner. So I thought would be a nice change of pace, if it's okay with you that is."

"You know what? I would like that," she answered with a smile. "It's been a while since I've gone out to a restaurant to eat anyway."

"Okay, give me a moment go grab some bits and I'll be right back," he told her, disappearing in the shadows before returning ten seconds later. "Alrighty then, I'm all set to go. Speaking of which, where would you like to go eat at?"

"I might have a place in mind, if you're okay with it."

"Since I don't know any restaurants here, I'll be perfectly fine with whatever you decide on," Dark said as he followed Twilight out of the castle to grab themselves some dinner.

Back in the Everfree Forest, the cloaked figure stood at the head of his assembled army. Before him stood a mixture of cockatrices, timberwolves, alpha timberwolves, manticores, and eight hydras. As he looked over his army, pacing back and forth in front of them, he noticed the two alphas that failed him before walking up to him with a wounded guard in their jaws.

"A scout?" the cloaked figure asked the two, receiving a nod from them. "You did good to bring him to me." He turned his attention to the wounded guard thrown at his hooves. "How many of you are in these woods?"

"Go to Tartarus," the guard answered before spitting a lob of blood at the cloaked figure's face.

He glared at the guard, his eyes giving off a slight glow. "You first," he said before giving the two alpha timberwolves permission to feast on him.

Turning his attention away from the screaming guard and back to his army, the cloaked figure waited for the bloody cries and gurgles to die out. Once the pony was permanently silenced, the cloaked figure addressed his army while the two alphas continued eating away at the now dead guard.

"Tomorrow you will split into three groups. The first group will attack the village of Ponyville. The second group will attack the crowd of ponies. Your primary target will be the one from before, but be warned. Princess Celestia and her guards will be there, so expect heavy resistance. The last group will head into Whitetail Woods and capture Princess Twilight Sparkle. Now, for this to work, all three attacks will have to happen simultaneously to help cause panic and spread their forces. Cockatrices will be in groups two and three, and will be at the front lines petrifying everypony in front of them. If anypony should get past them for some reason, kill them. Also, I want Princess Twilight brought to me as alive as possible so that I can kill her in front of Dark, just to see the look of despair on his face as he helplessly watches her die before him," he ordered with a nefarious grin.

A chorus of roars, howls, and other predatorily calls cheered. As he looked over his army with pride, one question still remained.

"By the way, were any of you able to recruit what I wanted?" he asked them.

A manticore stepped forward from the army and stopped a few feet away from the cloaked figure. Turning its head to the side and giving out a high-pitched roar, the ground began to shake. After a few seconds of feeling the rhythmic tremors and listening to the sound of trees falling, something appeared that blotted out the moon's light, causing the cloaked figure to gleefully chuckle.

"Very good," he told the manticore before pointing to the figure looming above him. "You will lead team two in attacking the ponies. While the others are busy with the guards, civilians, and the princess, you will be primarily responsible for crippling Dark, and bringing him before me. From the information that I've gathered in Ponyville, he's suppose to be a kirin, which is something of a dragon and a pony mix, so he shouldn't be hard for you to miss."

Turning back to his army he then shouted out, "Now go and finish any remaining preparations you might have! For tomorrow, WE INVADE PONYVILLE!!"

Author's Note

I know it's a day early, but happy Thanksgiving everyone.

Chapter 13- Day of the Running of the Leaves

Twilight didn't sleep as well as what she thought she would have. Between going out to dinner with Dark, and the excitement of participating in the Running of the Leaves the next day, she just couldn't get herself to sleep. As she got up with the help of Celestia's sun, Twilight tended to her bed hair, brushed down her coat, and headed off to make herself something to eat. Approaching the kitchen, Twilight could smell something delicious being cooked already.

At least Spike got a good night's sleep, Twilight thought as she continued down the hall.

But when she got close enough, she could hear humming. Thinking nothing about it, considering his romantic dinner date with Sweetie Belle last night, Twilight continued in, only to see Dark being the one cooking instead of Spike.

"Dark?" she asked.

"Yep?" he answered, turning away from his cooking.

"What are you doing here? Aren't you suppose to be at Sweet Apple Acres helping Applejack?"

"Nope. Since the Running of the Leaves is today, she called off work so that we could enjoy it."

"Well that was very nice of her," Twilight said as she took a seat at the table. "By the way, have you seen Spike yet?"

"Not yet," Dark replied. "Though I'm kinda surprised that he isn't up by now. I mean, all he did last night was have dinner with Sweetie Belle, right?"

"As far as I know he did." Twilight paused to think. "I'm going to go check up on him and see if he wants to come down to eat."

"Alright."

With that, Twilight left the kitchen while Dark continued to cook for them and Spike. After a few minutes passed, Dark had finished their breakfast and began setting it out. He was hoping that with a hearty breakfast that Twilight would have some kind of edge in the race today. As he finished setting out their places, Twilight walked back in with a strange, almost neutral look on her face.

"Something wrong, Twilight?" Dark asked.

"Apparently we have an unexpected guest with us," she deadpanned.

"'An unexpected guest'? Who?"

"Take a guess. Who was the only other pony who was here besides you, me, and Spike?"

"Just Sweetie Belle, but that was... last... night." Suddenly, a lightbulb went off in Dark's head. "Twilight," he slowly addressed. "Where is she exactly?"

"In Spike's bed."

"You don't think that they... you know?"

"No, I don't believe they did," Twilight said with a sigh of relief.

"Thank goodness," Dark said, sighing as well. "I don't think I would want to face an enraged Rarity. Nor would I want Spike to."

"I know. Poor Spike would crumble before Rarity even began scolding him."

"But what gave them the idea to start sharing the same bed in the first place?"

"I spoke to Rarity on Monday," Twilight began explaining. "Apparently, the night you were taken into surgery, those two fell asleep together on one of the benches in the waiting room. When Rarity got them back to her place, she tried to separate them in their sleep, but they wouldn't let go of each other. So in the end, she decided to let them be and put them to bed together."

"Huh. Didn't think she would allow for that. Especially considering how she acted when she saw us."

"I'm kinda surprised by it too, but it happened."

"Do you think she knows that Sweetie Belle was staying the night here?"

"I have no idea."

"Alright then," Dark sighed. "After breakfast, I'll go talk to Rarity and see if she knows. In the meantime, could you go get them up before breakfast gets cold on them?"

"Sure," Twilight answered. "Also, I'm coming with you to Rarity's place. She'll be coming with us to greet Princess Celestia."

"Okay."

Leaving Dark to make something for Sweetie Belle to eat, Twilight went back up to Spike's room. After quietly opening the door, she walked over to Spike's bed. Taking a moment to actually look at them, instead of freaking out for seeing Sweetie Belle in the bed with him, Twilight began to see how peaceful and happy they were in each other's embrace.

They do look really cute together, Twilight thought to herself, smiling down at the sleeping pair before nudging Spike.

"Too tired, let me sleep," Spike grumbled.

Seeing as how he was being stubborn about waking up, Twilight tried her luck with Sweetie Belle.

"Not now, too comfy," she mumbled.

Shaking her head with an amused smile on her face, Twilight leaned down towards the two to whisper to them.

"Spike, Sweetie Belle, breakfast is ready," Twilight softly spoke to them.

Hearing that food was ready for them, they started shifting around. Once they opened their eyes, the only thing they saw was each other. Completely oblivious of Twilight standing right at the foot of Spike's bed, Sweetie Belle started nuzzling Spike's scaly chest.

"Good morning, Spike," she greeted him.

"Morning, Sweetie," Spike returned as their lips moved closer to each other's.

"Good morning you two," Twilight said, causing the two to freeze in place and look up to her. "Oh, don't mind me. I'm just here to get you two up before your breakfast got cold."

After finally finding his voice, Spike nervously asked, "Umm, how long have you been there?"

"About a minute, maybe two. Though I don't think that would include when I first came in and saw that Sweetie Belle was here."

"Sorry," they both apologized.

"As long as nothing happened, it's alright."

"Like what?" Spike asked confusingly.

Oh thank Celestia they don't know, Twilight mentally praised. "Never mind. Just, next time, please tell me when we're having company over for the night before I find out like this."

"Yes, Twilight," they answered in unison.

"Good. Now, why don't you two go get yourselves ready for the day. After we're done eating, we'll be going to pick up Rarity before heading over to welcome Celestia."

Leaving them on their own, Twilight left the room and made her way back into the kitchen to see if Dark was finished with the extra helping.

"So, how'd it go?" he asked.

"Turns out we were right," Twilight told him. "Apparently they don't know about... that."

"Good... I think?"

"Why do you think? Isn't it good that they don't know?"

"Twilight, can I ask you something before they show up? And I'm going to be as straight as I can," Dark asked, taking on a serious tone.

"Umm, alright?" Twilight slowly answered as she sat down at the table.

Dark took in a deep breath before slowly letting it out, trying to steady himself for what he was about to ask.

"Has Spike ever had... 'The Talk'?"

Twilight's eyes shot open at hearing that question, but as she looked back at Dark, she could see that he was serious about it. Thinking it over, Twilight realized that Spike may indeed have never of had it.

"I don't believe so," she finally answered. "I mean, I've never told him about it, mostly because I was so busy with my studies that I didn't think about it. That, and I never really felt comfortable talking about it. Besides, I doubt that he would want to talk about it with me too, you know, since I'm a mare."

"What about your dad, or your brother?"

"It never crossed their minds to talk to him about it."

Dark groaned as he massaged his temples. "Alright, so we have a baby male dragon, who's roughly a teenager by pony years, that's never had the birds and the bees talk, and his fillyfriend is upstairs in his bed with him. Does that about sum it up?"

"Yes, it does," Twilight cringed. "And when you word it like that, I can now see why you're so concerned."

"I mean, I'm all fine with them being together, even like this, but those two should be made aware of the risks that being in a relationship could bring."

"I completely agree with you," Twilight said before a thought came to mind, causing her to break into a mischievous grin. "Which is why you're going to have 'The Talk' with Spike."

Dark's face started to pale as his face drooped into a frown. "Your kidding, right?"

"Nope," Twilight cheerfully answered. "Besides, you and Spike are on good terms, right?"

"Yes."

"And you two are friends, right?"

"I suppose, but what does-"

"And you're both males, right?"

"I would hope so. But, Twilight, why should I be the one to talk to him about that kind of thing? Shouldn't somepony else that he knows better tell him?"

"With my dad in Canterlot, and Shining Armor in the Crystal Empire, you're the best option for this sort of job. And although he's hung around with Big Macintosh... well, you know how quiet he can be."

Dark facetabled with a groan. "I'm not going to be able to talk myself out of this one, aren't I?"

"Sorry, Dark, but somepony needs to tell him, and besides." Twilight got up and started nuzzling Dark's cheek. "I trust you, and I believe that you'll do a great job at it. Even if it does make you feel nervous and uncomfortable."

Giving a defeated, yet content sigh, Dark began nuzzling Twilight back. "Seems like I can't deny you, can I?"

"You could if you wanted to."

"But you know that I would have a hard time doing that. Alright, I'll talk to him about it, but not yet. I'll need some time to think it through. Perhaps next Monday or so if it's alright with you?"

"Of course it is, and thank you for doing this, Dark. It means a lot to me," Twilight thanked before pulling back and giving him a quick kiss on the cheek.

Unable to comprehend that he had just been kissed for the first time, Dark's mind started going blank. Seeing his shocked, yet goofy expression, Twilight giggled before poking at him to see if he was still conscious. After giving him a few nudges, Dark tipped over and collapsed on the floor, completely out cold. Right as he was falling over, Spike and Sweetie Belle walked in.

"Is he alright?" Spike asked.

"He looks like he fainted," Sweetie Belle observed.

"Yeah, that's what it looks like," Twilight giggled.

"Did something happen to him?"

Twilight silenced herself, trying to look away and hide her blush. "Something like that," she answered, getting herself under control and turning back to the two.

"Wait a minute... I know that look." Spike said, looking from Dark over to Twilight. "Twilight, did you kiss him?"

"What makes you think that?" she nervously asked.

"Because that's the same face that I made when-" He covered his mouth to stop from finishing that sentence as he looked over to Sweetie Belle.

"It's okay, I already know," she told him.

"What? But, how did you find out?"

"Because Rarity wouldn't stop talking about that fire ruby that you gave her. And besides, that was the old you, not the current you. So I'm not mad or anything."

"That's rather mature of you, Sweetie Belle," Twilight complimented.

"Well somepony has to be in this relationship," she playfully teased. "But what about Dark?"

"Let me handle it," Twilight told her as she tried to nudge Dark awake.

"Wow. He's out colder than even I was," Spike commented. "And mine only lasted a second or two."

It took her some effort, but after a moment, Dark started groaning, not wanting to wake up. Knowing that he was almost up, Twilight gave him a few more nudges before he slowly opened his eyes, seeing Twilight standing just above him.

"Am I dreaming again?" Dark asked, his mind still a little fuzzy after he passed out.

"Sorry, Dark, but this is very much real," Twilight answered with a blush, causing Spike to chuckle and Sweetie Belle to giggle at them.

Bolting himself upright, Dark looked over to Twilight. As he did, he tried to, and failed, to keep down his own matching blush. He tried to open his mouth to speak, but nothing came out. A few more times he repeated this, but each time his words failed him. Deciding to give up on trying to speak, Dark cleared his throat before turning his attention towards his meal at the table. It was a good thing, though, since Twilight was having a similar problem as the thought of what she did to him finally sunk in.

After a moment of eating in silence, Dark finally found his voice again and began enjoying short conversations with everyone at the table. After a few minutes passed, Dark went to address Spike about the talk that they would be having.

"Hey, Spike?" Dark called.

"Yeah, what's up?" Spike asked.

"Next week, there's something that I'll need to talk to you about."

"Okay, what is it?"

"You'll just have to wait until Monday to find out," Dark said, shaking his head with a sigh. "All that you need to know for now is that it's important that I discuss this with you."

"Am I in trouble?" Spike wondered.

"No, you're completely fine," Dark reassured. "It's just... I'll tell you then."

The sky was cleared of all clouds as the four made their way over to Rarity's home. As they walked, Twilight carried Spike on her back while Dark had Sweetie Belle on his. Knocking on the door, they waited for her to answer. The wait wasn't long, though, as after five seconds of waiting, Rarity opened the door wearing an oversized pink sunhat.

"Good morning everypony," she greeted them before noticing Spike and Sweetie Belle on their backs. "Did you have fun last night, Sweetie?"

"Uh-huh," Sweetie Belle enthusiastically nodded. "We played games, read some books, and had a nice dinner."

"Well it sounds like you had a joyous evening last night, but we mustn't dawdle any longer," Rarity proclaimed as she trotted out and locked the door behind her. "After all, aren't we suppose to greet Princess Celestia at the train station soon?"

"You're right," Twilight answered. "We should head on over there before the train arrives."

"She's coming by train?" Dark questioned. "But I thought she would be coming by carriage."

"Normally she does," she answered. "But it turns out that she's not coming alone this time. Though she didn't tell me who she was bringing."

"Guess we'll find out once we get there," Spike chimed in, getting a round of nods.

Leaving the boutique, the five made their way over to the train station. Standing on the arrival platform, they could see the train approaching in the distance. This was Dark's first time seeing a train, so he had no idea what to expect. As the train got closer, Dark could feel the ground starting to rumble. Remembering how similar it felt to when the dragons would attack his village, and seeing the trail of smoke fast approaching them, Dark took an aggressive stance while emanating a low growl. Hearing Dark's growling, Twilight looked worryingly at him.

"What's wrong?" Twilight asked him.

"It's that dragon heading this way," Dark growled.

"That's the train that we were talking about," Twilight explained, placing a gentle hoof on his shoulder.

"So that's a train?" he questioned. "But it looks nothing like what your books showed."

"Well not that far away it doesn't," she giggled. "And don't worry about the rumbling and smoke. It's suppose to do that."

"Alright," he said as he relaxing himself.

Taking a few steps back, the five patiently waited for the train to pull in. Though Dark still was slightly on edge from the sounds it was making, he managed to remain calm. After the brightly colored train stopped before them, it blow out a cloud of steam from beneath it, causing them to lose sight. As the steam dissipated, the doors opened, allowing the passengers to leave. After a few minutes of waiting, Celestia finally made her way out, followed closely by Luna, and a gray unicorn with a white flattop.

"Princess Celestia! Princess Luna!" Twilight called out, running over and giving them a welcoming hug.

"Hello, Twilight," Celestia warmly greeted her. "And hello to all of you as well."

"Hello," they replied.

"I'm happy to see you again, Princess. And although I'm happy to see you too, Princess Luna, I'm curious as to why you decided to come this year."

"It's because Tia asked me," Luna answered. "Plus, this also provided me a chance to meet this new friend of yours."

"Oh, right," Twilight replied as she waved Dark over beside her. "Princess Luna, this is Dark Flame. Dark, this is Luna, Princess of the Night, and Overseer of Dreams."

"'Overseer of Dreams'?" Dark questioned. "What does that mean?"

"It means that I'm responsible for making sure that our little ponies are free of nightmares when they sleep," she answered before breaking into a sly grin. "It also means that I'm allowed to view the dreams of others. Every. Little. Dream."

Hearing those words deliberately punctuated, along with Luna looking directly at him, Dark's eyes widened in fear as his ears flattened against his head. Slowly, he began to retreat back behind Twilight to hide himself. But as he did, Luna and Celestia began laughing at him.

"I'm sorry," Luna apologized. "But I couldn't pass up the chance to see your reaction to that. And don't worry, you're not in any trouble. Your dreams are your own."

Dark let out a breath he didn't know he was holding in. "So nopony else will know about... what I've been dreaming of?"

"That is correct. Well, minus the ones that I told Tia about of course," she told him before she and Celestia began laughing.

"Oh, really?" Spike mischievously asked. "So what happened in these dreams of his?"

"Nothing that you need to know about, Spike."

"And what about me?" Twilight questioned.

"You should know already, Twilight. After all, you've had the same dreams as he did," Luna teased, causing the two to look away from one another out of embarrassment.

"Luna," Celestia intervened while trying to control her laughter. "I believe that you've embarrassed them enough."

"Aww, but it's so much fun, Tia," Luna playfully whined.

"I know it is, but we really should let them be."

"Fine."

"So he is the reason for that mess back in Stonewall Village?" the gray stallion behind them asked.

"Sorry about that, Captain," Celestia apologized. "Everypony, allow me to introduce to you Captain Iron Guard."

"Hello," Iron Guard greeted them, his eyes narrowed onto Dark.

"Hello, Captain," Twilight greeted him. "I didn't recognize you without your armor on. So, what brings you here to Ponyville?"

"My troops and I got back a few days ago from Stonewall Village, and were granted a short vacation after that ordeal. So, we came here, by suggestion of Princess Celestia and Princess Luna."

"So you've been to Stonewall?" Dark asked, stepping up to Iron Guard. "What happened to it?"

"What are you talking about, boy?" he questioned. "Weren't you the one responsible for caking that village in blood?"

"What are you talking about? The last thing I remember of that village was losing consciousness in the middle of fighting Nocturne. You know, that ridiculously big black dragon that should be laying dead in the village square?"

"I forgot to mention to you, Captain," Celestia began. "Dark has amnesia. Anything that happened between his fight, to when he was found five days later, are a complete blank to him."

"Are you serious?" Iron Guard asked.

"Yes, she is," Dark told him. "Now, what is this about the village being caked in blood?"

With the new information, Iron Guard was hesitant to answer Dark. Looking to Celestia for permission, she shook her head, silently telling him to not say a word about it.

"Sorry," he apologized. "But I'm not allowed to talk about it at the moment."

"But why? And how did that happen?" Dark wondered. "Everypony there were nothing but bare bones when Nocturne attacked, so where did all of this supposed blood come from?"

"That, I'm afraid, would be better off for you to find out on your own. Preferably through your forgotten memories returning to you," Celestia told him.

"Alright," Dark grumbled, but then a question came to mind. "But if you can't tell that, then can you answer something else?"

"Depends," Iron Guard said.

"The big black dragon. Did he have any wings, arms, or a tail?"

"Yes, he did," he answered before pausing. "At least, part of his arms and tail were still there. His wings, however, looked like they'd been removed. My troops looked all around the village, but couldn't find them."

"Sounds like your theory was correct after all, Twilight," Dark said as he looked over to Twilight. "Apparently my wings did come from Nocturne himself."

"Wait, what?"

"I ran some tests on Dark a few days ago," Twilight began explaining. "For some reason unknown to us at the time, Dark's wings were far tougher than what the rest of him was. Our guess was that his wings came directly from the dragon he fought, and wouldn't you know, we appear to be right."

"Perhaps we should move this conversation elsewhere," Celestia suggested, leading them into town and towards Sugarcube Corner.

After they made their way to Sugarcube Corner and got themselves seated down with a mid-morning snack, Dark began telling Iron Guard about his village leading up to Nocturne's attack. Getting the full story of what happened in the village, he gave Dark a nod. Now understanding Dark's past, Iron Guard saw him as less of a threat, and more of a possible ally. It was further considered after they crossed paths with Steel Hoof's squad, who told the princesses and Iron Guard about Dark's fight against a pack of alpha timberwolves.

"Well, Dark," Iron Guard began. "I must admit that I'm surprised. When I first heard that you were responsible for all the dragons in the village, I began to wonder what kind of a monster you would have to be to accomplish something like that, and then again after seeing you for the first time. But, hearing what other ponies are saying about you, and from what I've seen so far, I'm starting to have a hard time believing it."

"In a way, I am a monster," Dark admitted. "At least, to those who would threaten me, my friends, or my family. Otherwise, I'm probably one of the more easygoing ponies, or kirin in this case, that you'll meet."

"You're not a monster, Dark," Twilight argued. "You may look different, and you may have done things that ponies would deem as brutal and barbaric, but you only did those things to survive and to protect those important to you."

"And I would gladly do it again," he stated. "Though, to be honest, I would much rather prefer to try and my live in peace."

"I can understand why you would want to retire like that," Iron Guard agreed. "Especially with what you've gone through, now that I have the full story."

"Thanks, Capt.," Dark thanked.

"Welcome, but I would prefer to be called either by my full rank, or my name if you please. I don't care much for having nicknames."

"Okay," he shrugged. Dark then turned his attention towards the clock, seeing that they talked almost until noon. "Well, Twilight, shall we be off?"

"Alright," she happily agreed.

"Wait," Celestia said, stopping them. "Where are you two going?"

"Just out to see the festival," Twilight answered.

"Yeah. We agreed last night that we would go have a look around today before Twilight had to leave for the race," Dark added.

"So you two are going to the festival... together?" Luna questioned, receiving a nod from both of them. "Well then, I hope that your date goes well for you two."

"It's not a date," they both objected in unison.

"If you say so," she smugly told them.

"Before you go though, Dark. During the race, would you join the elements, Captain Iron Guard, my sister, and I in watching it?"

"Sure. Thank you for the offer, Princess."

"Your welcome. Now you two go and have fun," Celestia told them.

After Twilight and Dark left Sugarcube Corner, Spike was the first to speak up, saying the one thing that was on most of their minds.

"I don't know whether they're aware of it or not, but they're totally going on a date," he commented.

"Oh, most definitely," Luna nodded in agreement before and idea came to mind. "Should we follow them?"

"Now, Luna," Celestia began. "We shouldn't be spying on them."

"But I know that you want to too."

"True, but if we tried, we would be spotted almost immediately by them. So, with that said, we should leave them be." Celestia broke into a sly grin. "At least, for this one anyway."

On the outskirts of Ponyville, Dark and Twilight made it to the festival grounds. The place was packed full of ponies, most of whom Twilight and Dark didn't recognize. All around there were rides set up, tents pitched, and games with prizes everywhere they looked. With giddy expressions on their faces, they ran in to see what there was to offer.

"So, Twilight," Dark began saying. "Where would you like to go first?"

Twilight thought about it while she looked over the stalls. "How about there?" she asked, pointing at a house of mirrors.

"After you then," he said, letting Twilight take the lead.

Following her in, Dark noticed that all the mirrors were of unusual shapes and sizes. As they walked through, they saw that each mirror was unique. One would make them look tall and skinny, while another one would make them look short and round. For something so simple, they were having the time of their lives in that place. But, the fun came to an end as they came to the end of the line. They did consider going back in, but figured that they should probably go see the rest of the festival first.

"That was pretty fun," Twilight said.

"If you want, we can come back after your race," Dark offered.

"Thanks, Dark. I would like that."

Meanwhile, in the Everfree Forest, Zecora just returned back to her hut with the ingredients for mixing another potion. She had been getting low on materials and needed to resupply her stock. She was happy with her travels. The forest was quiet for her, and not even a rustle was to be heard of. Freezing in place, Zecora began running what happened during her trip... or rather, what didn't happen, through her head. There weren't any sounds in the forest at all. None of the birds could be heard chirping, or any of the other native creatures of the forest. It was dead silent, similar to the calm before the storm.

"This cannot be good, the forest is quieter than what it should," Zecora told herself.

Putting her bag of ingredients down, she made her way out to the front of her hut, listening to the silence that surrounded her. As she stood there, she could feel something in the air. The forest naturally felt dangerous, but right now, something was causing those dangers to remain silent. Closing her eyes to further focus, Zecora could now sense three large groups of creatures, and one source of power reaching out to them. Snapping her eyes open, she knew what was going on. The denizens of the Everfree Forest were on a war march.

"They're being commanded by an evil blight, I must go quickly and warn Princess Twilight."

With that, Zecora made a mad dash for Ponyville, hoping to warn everypony there about the dangers approaching them.

Twilight and Dark were enjoying their time together at the festival. They played a few games, went on some of the rides there, had a bite to eat, and were now making their way from the center of the festival towards the exit to get Twilight to the starting line for the race. But before they got out, Twilight stopped in front of a game stall and gazed at a stuffed ursa minor doll. After staring at it for a while, she felt Dark nudge her out of her thoughts.

"Sorry about that," she apologized.

"Do you want it?" Dark asked.

"I was mostly thinking back on when Ponyville was attacked by one."

"You mean when Trixie first came to Ponyville, right?"

"Yeah, that's the one. Although, this does look nice too."

"Alright then," Dark said, walking up to the stall. "Where's the pony who's suppose to be running this thing?"

"Right here, little stallion," answered a masculine voice.

Looking over to their right, Twilight and Dark saw a very large white pegasus with a blond flattop, red eyes, tiny wings, and most noticeably, ridiculously bulky muscles.

Holy hay, what is this guy on!? Dark thought in amazement over the sheer muscle mass on this stallion. He must be taking some kind of steroids to have this kind of muscle build... and to have such tiny wings.

"Hello, Bulk," Twilight greeted him. "I should've known that you'd be working the Strength Tester Game."

"Yeah!" he answered as he flexed his biceps. "By the way, who's your friend?"

"Oh, sorry about that. You weren't at his welcome party were you? This is Dark Flame. Dark, this is Bulk Biceps."

"Hey, nice to meet you," Dark said, extending a claw out.

"Nice to meet you too," Bulk returned with a shake. "So, you wanting to try your luck? Because you don't look all that strong for a stallion. By the way, what are you exactly."

"I'm what's called a kirin, which is a pony-dragon hybrid. Also, ouch dude."

"Well, that's interesting."

"Thanks, but that's not why I'm here. What do I need to do to get that ursa minor?" Dark asked while pointing at the doll.

"Simple," Bulk said. "Just use this mallet and hit the lever. Doing that will launch a weighted puck up. But to win a prize, you need it to hit the bell. But I got to warn you, besides Big Mac and myself, nopony else has managed to hit it. Also, no magic allowed."

"Sounds easy enough," Dark replied with a shrug.

"But the bells twenty feet up," Twilight observed.

"Yep, not a problem."

"Heh, here you go then," Bulk said, handing Dark the wooden mallet.

Dark tested its weight by holding it with one claw with the head still on the ground. Getting a feel for it, Dark figured that it didn't feel that much heaver than when he would wield his forge hammer back in the forge. Standing bipedal, Dark lifted the mallet up with one claw off the ground, figuring it to weigh roughly fifteen pounds. Deciding to get it on his first try, he took the mallet with his both of his claws before raising it above his head. Then, with a throaty growl, Dark swung the mallet down as hard as he could onto the lever, launching the weighted puck up the tower, and striking the bell so hard that it left a small crack.

Seeing and hearing what just happened, Bulk looked quietly at the now damaged bell. Turning back around, he saw Dark relax himself as he breathed out a short, steady stream of fire from his nostrils while Twilight happily clapped for his success. With a smug look on his face, Dark handed back the mallet to Bulk.

"How did you do that?" Bulk asked Dark. "You don't even look as strong as Big Mac, let alone me."

"About eight years worth of working the forge," Dark replied. "That's how."

"You mean you were a blacksmith?"

"Yep. Also, the forge hammer that I used weighed about as much as that mallet did."

"Heh, not bad. Now, about the prize you wanted..."

"It was the ursa minor right, Twilight?" Dark asked, receiving a happy nod from her. "Yep, the ursa minor please."

Flying up to the hook that held it, Bulk got Dark his prize. After giving it to him, Dark levitated it over to Twilight for her to take. Holding it up in her aura, she saw that it was over half as big as she was. Taking the stuffed ursa minor doll in her forelegs, Twilight gave it a hug, feeling the soft fabric and cotton stuffing inside it. Levitating it onto her back, Twilight waked up to Dark.

"Thank you, Dark," Twilight thanked before planting a kiss on his cheek.

"You're welcome," Dark said with a goofy smile on his face.

"Well, I suppose we better get going, huh?"

"Yeah, I suppose so. Do you want me to carry that for you?"

"Thanks, but I got it," she answered, turning towards the direction of where the race was being held at.

After Twilight took a few steps away, Bulk wrapped a foreleg around Dark. "You lucky dog," Bulk whispered to him. "You and Twilight, huh?"

"Yeah," Dark dreamily answered before realizing what he just admitted to. "Uhh, I mean, no, I mean... ah screw it. I give up on trying to argue with it."

"Hehe, well good luck to you, buddy. Hope everything works out for you two."

"Just don't tell anypony alright?"

"No problem," Bulk answered, giving Dark a playful slap on the back.

Grunting at the force behind it, Dark regained his balance before waving goodbye to Bulk and running to catch up with Twilight. Walking up beside her, Dark could see the happy look on her face. When they came there, Dark wanted to make sure that Twilight had a good time, and was pleased to see that he was successful in doing so. As they left the festival grounds, Twilight walked closer alongside Dark until their coats were almost brushing up against each other. Looking down to Twilight, Dark saw that her happy smile was replaced with slight worry.

"Something wrong, Twilight?" he asked.

"Just a little nervous about the race is all," she replied.

"I suppose I understand. Is there something specific that you're nervous about?"

"Just that Princess Celestia will be watching. I don't want to make a fool of myself and make her disappointed."

"Twilight," Dark began, stopping and placing a claw on her shoulder. "She's not going to be disappointed with you. From what you've told me about you two, it almost seems like you think of her as a second mother."

Twilight sighed. "You're right, I sometimes do think of her as my second mother. I mean, she practically raised me after she took me in as her personal student."

"If that's the case, then I'm sure that she'll be proud of you, no matter how you place."

"How can you be sure, though? After all, I'm going against Rainbow and Applejack, and the only reason why I did better than them last time is because they let their competitiveness get in the way of them racing."

"But that was last time. This time you're more experienced and better than you were before."

"I'm sorry," Twilight frowned. "Guess I just got worked up over wondering what others would think of my performance."

"Don't worry about it, Twilight. When you're out there, just worry about the race, and nothing else. Your friends will still cheer for you, despite how you do. And besides," Dark paused to kissed Twilight on the cheek. "I believe that you're going to do just fine."

With a furious blush, Twilight turned to look at Dark. Seeing the sincerity in his eyes and the soft smile on his lips, Twilight allowed for herself to relax, letting her worries go. She didn't feel completely relieved of the anxiety she built up, but she felt as though most of it was gone. Letting out a sigh of relief, Twilight leaned up against Dark's side and wrapped her tail around his as they resumed their walk to the race track.

"Thank you, Dark," Twilight softly said, smiling up to him. "I needed that."

"I'm happy that it help you," Dark smiled back.

It took them a little longer to get to where the race was held at than they thought. When they got there, they saw some tall sets of bleachers linked together along the starting line, almost completely filled with different ponies. As they neared, they saw their friends, along with Spike, the Crusaders, Princesses Celestia and Luna, and Iron Guard. Upon seeing the two walking over to them, Celestia allowed herself to smile at them.

"Looks like you two had a good time," she concluded, seeing how close they were as they walked towards them.

"Definitely," Twilight happily answered.

"Good for you," Celestia smiled.

"Yeah, that's nice and all, but we better get over to the starting line," Rainbow proclaimed.

"She's right," Applejack agreed. "The race should be startin' in about five minutes. Come on, Rainbow, let's get goin'."

"And we better get going too if we're going to be commentating on the race," Pinkie chimed.

"Right, see ya," Spike said as he and Pinkie turned to make their way to the hot-air balloon.

But before any of them could leave, Pinkie's whole body started violently shaking. Worried about what's happening to her, Dark and the princesses ran over to her, but were held back by Twilight and the others.

"What's going on here?" Celestia asked.

"I've seen this only once before," Twilight worryingly began. "It's her Pinkie Sense."

"What the heck would cause her to act like this, though?" Dark wondered.

"It's called the Doozy. The only time it happened was when something that nopony saw coming happened," Twilight explained as Pinkie's Pinkie Sense stopped. "What is it this time, Pinkie?"

"I don't know for sure," she began answering. "But whatever it is, it'll happen during the race."

"Maybe I'll finally win," Rainbow guessed.

"Or maybe Ah'll win," Applejack argued.

"Maybe Twilight will win," Spike chimed. "After all, do you two think that she'll win if you're both focused on the race?"

There was silence in the group with that explanation of his. He did have a point, neither of them thought that Twilight would beat them again if they were focused. With a nervous look, Rainbow and Applejack slowly backed away.

"We're off," Applejack said as she and Rainbow quickly ran away from the group.

"Guess we should be too. I'll call out when the Doozy happens," Pinkie said as she and Spike walked off to the balloon.

"Dark, can you hold this for me?" Twilight asked as she levitated up her stuffed ursa.

"Sure. We'll see you after you finish the race," Dark answered as he took it from her and set it on his back.

"Thanks." Twilight then gave Dark a quick kiss on the cheek before running off to the starting line. "Wish me luck!" she called back to them.

With his attention solely on Twilight, Dark waved her off. After losing her in the crowd, Dark turned to see the sly smirks on the princesses and his friends, though Iron Guard was wearing an expression more of shock than anything else. Now embarrassed by that show of affection in front of them, Dark turned his head away to hid his blush.

"Apparently their date went better than what we had originally thought, sister," Luna said while trying to hold in a laugh.

"Indeed so, Luna," Celestia responded before turning back to Dark. "So, what exactly happened on your date, Dark?"

"You know what?" Dark sighed. "I give up on trying to argue about this not being a date. But if you want to know what happened, you'll have to wait for Twilight gets back."

"Well, that aside," Celestia began. "Now that we're all here, why don't we go take our seats."

Turning around, Celestia lead the group over to the seats that have been saved for them. But before Dark could join up with them, he was stopped by a hoof on his shoulder. Turning around, Dark saw that it was Iron Guard, who wore a uneasy look on his face.

"So, am I to believe that you and Princess Twilight are together now?" he inquired.

"Not yet," Dark replied. "But at the rate that things are going between us, I believe that I'll officially ask her out pretty soon."

"Does her brother, Prince Shining Armor, know about this?"

"No. At least, not that we know of."

"Be careful," Iron Guard warned. "This is for your own safety, but be sure to tread lightly. While it's nice to see her with somepony that she and the others trust, he won't be so forgiving."

"You seem to be well informed about how he would feel about this."

"He's my predecessor, and we've been friends since before we first entered the royal guard. But it goes deeper than that." Iron Guard lowered his voice to a whisper. "We're not allowed to talk about the details, but Shining Armor has a certain vendetta against kirins. And while I admit that I'm starting to take a liking to you, he won't care for whether or not you're good or evil. If he hears about you and his sister being together in any way, he'll come for you and your head."

Dark's face turned serious at those words. "There are other kirins out there?"

"There were other kirins out there, but thanks to Shining Armor, you're now the last known kirin in existence."

"Sounds unnatural for a former Captain of the Royal Guard to me," Dark commented. "But this won't be the first time something's tried to kill me. However, I understand that I need to be careful. Thanks for telling me about this ahead of time, and I take it we're not to tell anypony about this talk?"

"Discretion would be preferred. Also, you're welcome," Iron Guard replied as they both made their way to catch up with the others.

"Welcome everypony, to the annual Running of the Leaves!" Pinkie shouted over the speakers in the hot-air balloon, eliciting a cheer from everyone gathered in the stands. "My name is Pinkie Pie, and I'll be your commentator for the race."

"And I'm Spike," he introduced alongside Pinkie. "And I'll be your co-commentator alongside Pinkie."

"And today, we'll be giving you the play-by-play action for today's race. For those of you who don't know, the Running of the Leaves was a tradition for the changing of the seasons. Ponies would run through Whitetail Woods, and their running would knock down the leaves. But, two years ago, that changed when two ponies who were having an Iron Pony competition decided to end it during this event. Since then, the Running of the Leaves has been doubled as a annual race. And now, after two years of butting heads, Applejack and Rainbow Dash will once again race against each other to see who'll carry the title of The Iron Pony!"

Another chorus of cheers greeted them as the two named mares waved to the audience.

"But they'll have to work hard for it, though," Spike added. "Because they're not only racing each other, but over a dozen other ponies as well."

"That's right, Spike," Pinkie agreed. "But I think we've talked enough. Now, let's turn to Mayor Mare at the starting line, and our competitors who are taking their positions."

"Alright, everypony," Mayor Mare announced. "I want a clean race this time, so, that means no pushing, punching, kicking, biting, tripping, launching, tail or mane grabbing, dropping bee hives on other racers, and for Celestia's sake, please, no hitchhiking on the commentator's balloon." She paused when she remembered how was in the audience. "No offence, Princess!"

"None taken, Mayor!" Celestia called, causing everyone else to laugh.

"Well then, if everypony is ready," Mayor Mare began as she raised the starting flag. "On your marks... get set... GO!"

Swinging the flag down, the racers broke off in a gallop, trying to get a lead start on everypony else. While Applejack and Rainbow where neck and neck, Twilight resorted to keeping a steady pace.

"And they're off!" Pinkie proclaimed.

"Looks like Applejack and Rainbow Dash are taking the early lead," Spike announced. "But it doesn't look like either of them will let the other get ahead anytime soon."

"And behind our leaders are Lyra Heartstrings in third place, followed by Bon Bon in fourth, and Twilight trailing in fifth."

"But it's still early in the race, so anything can happen."

As the group of ponies disappeared into the forest, Pinkie and Spike followed them in the balloon. And thanks to a little gift from the Crystal Empire, they installed a crystal on the bottom of the balloon basket that fed a visual feed of the race back to a second crystal that projected it for the audience watching from the stands. But the view of the projection was best for those sitting at the top row, who were the princesses, Iron Guard, Dark, Rarity, Fluttershy, and the Crusaders. Although, the princesses were up there partially because they didn't want to obscure anypony behind them with their height, and their flowing manes."

"So," Rarity began. "Who do you think will win this year?"

"Ah'm bettin' it'll be my sister," Apple Bloom predicted.

"No way," Scootaloo argued. "I say it's gonna be Rainbow for sure."

"I just hope that it doesn't end up like last time," Sweetie Belle said.

"Well, how about you?" Rarity asked, turning towards the others. "Who do you think will win?"

"I agree with what Sweetie Belle said," Fluttershy told them.

"A princess doesn't take sides," Celestia said before turning to a mischievous smirk. "But since you're asking, I would have to say Twilight."

"Princess Twilight," Iron Guard announced. "Though I'm beginning to have second thoughts with how well Miss Applejack's doing."

"Well, I'm sorry to say this, sister," Luna began as she looked down to a piece of paper she was holding. "But I'm going with Rainbow Dash. Besides, I've got twenty bits riding on her that she'll win."

"Luna, what is that you're holding?" Celestia asked with a cocked eyebrow.

"My ticket," she proudly answered. "They were holding bets on who would win the race back behind the stands."

"Luna," Celestia scolded. "We don't make bets on races."

"But we used to do it all the time back when we were younger," Luna pouted. "And besides, according to the poles, Rainbow is at the bottom of the three participating elements."

"Really?" Dark questioned. "I thought that she was supposed to be Ponyville's top athlete. So if she's at the bottom of the three, then who's the top?"

"Twilight," Luna answered. "Most of the ponies that came with us on the train believe that since she's an alicorn that she'll have an advantage over the others."

"But she doesn't do events like this, and she's not as conditioned as Rainbow or Applejack. I can't believe that they didn't take that into consideration."

"Then who do you think will win?" Celestia asked.

"Twilight of course," he casually shrugged.

"But what about what you just said?" Rarity wondered.

"I actually believe that she can do it," Dark answered. "Well that, and I also feel obligated to cheer for her, despite how the odds against her are. But I have no regrets on that."

"Glad to see that you're willingly devoted to her like that," Celestia smiled before turning back to the projection of the race.

The racers were now a quarter through the race. Below the live feed was a map of the track with the faces of the ponies who were racing. Since each face was that of a racer, everyone could easily see who was where, and how far into the race they were. But once a pony was out, their face would have a red X across it. The race was already down two ponies while the others appeared to be going strong. But, as they continued to watch, the frantic voice of a familiar zebra caught their attention. Looking down, they could see Zecora running up stairs towards the princesses.

"Your Highness, I must speak with you," Zecora said in-between breaths. "What I have to say is dire news."

"What's wrong, Zecora?" Celestia asked. "And why do you look so frightened?"

Everypony looked closer at Zecora. The only time she fled the Everfree Forest was when the Plunder Vines infected the Everfree Forest, and encroached into Ponyville.

"The creatures of the Everfree, I fear that they now come for thee."

Inside the border of the Everfree Forest and Whitetail Woods, the cloaked figure stood at the head of his second group of his army.

"The time is now," he said to himself.

Pulling out a war horn from beneath his cloak, the cloaked figure took in a deep breath before blowing into it. The low sound it emanated could be heard for miles away, enough to where his other two groups could hear it. Within seconds, he could feel the tremors from his marching army. Turning around, he walked over to a manticore with a saddle attached to it's back and jumped on top of it. As it took off, the cloaked figure grabbed the reigns on it and began steering it in mid-air. With a firm hold on the reigns, the cloaked figure looked below to see his army move to their targeted destinations. But mostly, he was looking at the giant mass of indigo fur below him.

Your move, Dark, he thought, his anticipating grin widening. What are you going to do now? Will you help Celestia defend the ponies and let the village fall, abandon the ponies to save their village, or will you forsake them all and instead save Twilight?

As the sound of a war horn was heard across the sky, Pinkie's body began to violently shake on its own. Doing so also shook the basket, causing the picture to become unsteady. After a few seconds, the shaking stopped with Pinkie shouting, "DOOZY!"

Everyone stopped cheering and went silent at hearing the sound of the war horn blowing, and the announcement of Pinkie's Pinkie Sense. Everyone in the stands could now feel the ground starting to shake. Every royal guard knew both of those sounds very well, and knew that trouble was approaching.

"It appears as though I'm too late," Zecora dreaded. "They come to show you to death's gate."

"Who?" Luna pressed. "Who comes for us?"

"The creatures of the Everfree, they're controlled by a single pony. Three groups I can feel, they come here, to the racers, and to Ponyville."

"A three-pronged attack," Iron Guard grimaced. "And most of the guards here are off duty and unarmed."

"But what are we dealing with exactly?" Celestia asked.

"I wish that I knew," Zecora began. "But I guess we'll find out soon."

"What's that over there?!" Spike asked in a panic over the speakers.

Looking up to the projection, they could see it was turned from the race, to the treetops of the forest. To everypony's fear, they saw the heads of several hydras walking in their direction, and to Ponyville, along with a fleet of manticores flying overhead. But what really frightened them was the mass of indigo that towered behind, walking straight towards them.

Nopony wanted to name it, but they didn't have to as Pinkie shouted over the speakers.

"IT'S AN URSA MAJOR!"

Author's Note

I never thought that trying to write in rhyme for Zecora would be this tough. Hopefully I didn't botch it up too badly.

Chapter 14- Invasion: Part I

The sight of the approaching hydras, ursa major, and the fleet of manticores on the projection caused the ponies in the stands to go into a panic. That is, all except for the princesses, Iron Guard, Dark, Zecora, and both the on, and off duty guards, who stood their ground. Even Fluttershy was trying to not panic while Rarity was looking after the Crusaders. But their bravery was beginning to waver as the tremors of their steps drew closer, and became more violent.

"Your orders, Your Highnesses," Iron Guard requested.

Celestia turned to Zecora. "Zecora, can you help evacuate the ponies to Twilight's Castle? That'll be the safest place in Ponyville right now."

"I will see to their safety," she answered. "But to do it alone would be quite hefty."

"You can take the off duty earth pony guards that came with us," Iron Guard told her.

"Thank you for the added help, good luck to you against those whelps."

As Zecora ran off with a few dozen of the off duty guards, Celestia continued her orders.

"With the civilians being evacuated, we can now turn our full attention towards the creatures approaching. How many guards do we have here?"

"Forty patrolling Ponyville, and another thirty here. This does not include the fifty off duty guards that we have left," Iron Guard answered.

"Have the off duty pegasus guards bring us some storm clouds," Luna ordered. "We can use their lightning to swat the manticores out of the sky. In the meantime, I'll fly over to Ponyville to help defend it."

"Alright. Then I'll stay here to fight off the main force," Celestia said.

"But what about Twilight?" Dark asked. "There's a third group heading towards her and the rest of the racers."

"We do have about twenty-five off duty unicorn guards," Iron Guard spoke. "It might be dangerous, but I could send them over for a rescue mission."

"No, Captain," Celestia objected. "I won't risk them going against them unarmed like that. If they are to fight, then they'll have to stay behind those that are armored. Have them stand behind the front line casting shield spells and provide artillery and anti-air fire."

"In that case, I'll go," Dark offered.

"You'll stay here, Dark," Celestia told him. "While you and Twilight were away, Rainbow Dash brought up her theory that you were being deliberately targeted. And with this attack, that possibility has just been further cemented."

"Fine, but that doesn't help our problem with Twilight and the others still being on their own."

"I might have an idea," Fluttershy offered.

"What is it, Fluttershy?" Luna asked.

"I can call Discord to help, and he can-."

"That won't be possible I'm afraid," Celestia interrupted. "Before we left Canterlot, I sent Discord to the Dragon Kingdom to check up on King Inferno to make sure that he got the message to arrive on the day we set for him."

"Oh," Fluttershy dejectedly sighed.

"You best come along with us, Fluttershy," Rarity told her. "We'll get these three to Twilight's Castle and help the other ponies get settled in."

"Could you take this with you then?" Dark asked, levitating Twilight's ursa minor doll to them. "I don't think that she'd want it to get ruined."

"Priorities, Dark," Iron Guard chastised.

Happily nodding, Fluttershy took the stuffed doll and followed the Crusaders and Rarity out of the stands and towards Twilight's Castle.

"I best be off as well," Luna chimed. "I'll need to assemble the guards around Ponyville if they haven't done so already."

"Be safe, Luna!" Celestia called as Luna flew off. She then turned back to Dark and Iron Guard. "Alright, now we have to-"

Celestia was cut-off by a large group of howls and strange roars echoing from the forest's edge. Looking over, they could see roughly one hundred timberwolves, both normal and alphas, and a few dozen cockatrices slowly marching out of the forest, and towards the stands.

"They must be the forward units," Iron Guard concluded. "A sort of light infantry if you would, while the hydras are their heavy infantry. Not to mention that ursa major of theirs."

"Can't you just blast them all away, Princess?" Dark asked.

"I cannot," Celestia replied. "If I were alone I could, but with so many ponies around, I can't use too much power in my spells. If I did, I could melt everything around me."

Right as she finished her explanation, the timberwolves and cockatrices all sprinted towards them. With there still being civilian ponies around, and the guards not yet fully assembled, they had to think fast. With an idea in mind, Dark quickly took to the skies. He flew low to the ground, but high enough that he was well out of their reach even if they jumped up at him. As Dark flew towards their right side, he turned himself to fly parallel with their front lines. Drawing in a deep breath, Dark unleashed a stream of flame towards the ground in front of them. As he continued to breath fire, he kept flying, leaving a fiery trail below him. His wall of fire halted their advances, not wanting to burn themselves away before even beginning to engage. When he finished his trail, Dark flew back and landed in front of Celestia and Iron Guard, panting for breath.

"Well," Iron Guard began. "At least you've bought us time to get more organized."

"Exactly," Dark panted.

"You don't sound so well," Celestia said.

"Just not used to flying and fire-breathing at the same time is all," Dark answered. "Give me a few seconds and I'll be good to go."

"I'll head down to the troops and coordinate them," Iron Guard said, giving Celestia a salute before running down.

"So what do you want me to do then? I can stay up here and bombard them with spells, or I can join the front and slash my way through them."

"Could you provide cover fire while Iron Guard and I get everypony situated?" Celestia asked.

"No problem, but I'm still worried about Twilight not getting any support."

"I know, I'm worried about her too. But she's a smart pony, and can take care of the others. Now if you'll excuse me, I have to go see to the guards." Celestia opened her wings to glide down, but stopped with one last thing for Dark. "By the way. Twilight told me about how you prefer to restrict yourself unless you're told otherwise. So with that said, feel free to go all out on them. The more you take out before we're ready, the less likely we'll have any losses."

Giving Celestia a joyous smile over being limitless, Dark began charging his horn while looking over the Everfree Army.

Alright, let's see now. They're about one hundred yards away, and I'm standing at roughly thirty feet high on this thing, Dark thought to himself. And with the arch of the spell... okay, I think I got it.

After a few more seconds of charging his horn, Dark shot out a ten foot firebomb. He watched as the spell soared above the gathered guards, and towards the enemy. Then, right after it fell behind the wall of flames, the firebomb impacted the ground, exploding outwards in a ball of fire twice its original size, and caused fire to rain down near the impact zone. Everything that was caught within the blast was instantly charred while the rest scrambled to get away from the raining fire.

Seeing as his first shot was a little off, Dark charged up for another shot. This time, though, he was aiming closer towards the sides of the army to try to help box them in. As soon as he fired off another round, Dark instantly began charging his next shot. Not wanting to waste any time, he tried to get in as many shots in as he could before the others would have to take over. Each shot took about ten seconds for him to channel, then cast. Because of his plan, he was able to fire three shots on the enemies left flank, blocking that side off of escape, before doing the same of their right. With them now having nowhere to run besides back into the forest, Dark began firing in the center of their forces. Now that they were bunched up together, he was easily taking out over a dozen enemy units per shot. After he fired his eleventh shot, Celestia flew back up to Dark.

"You've done very well," Celestia commented. "That should make things much easier on our troops here."

"Until the manticores and hydras get here anyway," Dark said.

"Still, though, it looks like you've cleared out most of them."

"Only because you gave me permission to go ham on them like that. If you hadn't, then I would be more reserved about what kind of fire magic I used."

"Regardless, you've done enough for now and can take a moment to gather your strength."

"Thanks, Princess," Dark smiled before thinking back to Twilight. "But should both of us really be here?"

"What do you mean?" Celestia asked, only to get a raised eyebrow from Dark. Knowing what he meant, Celestia sighed. "I know what you're wanting, but I still believe that with the ursa coming here, I'll need some extra help with it."

"Fine," Dark grumbled, looking over to the treetops at the ursa major coming towards them. "Then I'll just have to finish this as quick as I can so I can get over to help Twilight."

Over on the outskirts of Ponyville, some of the guards were already engaged with the timberwolves and cockatrices. After losing almost half of them to the cockatrice's petrifying gaze, they began erecting magical bubbles to neutralize them. Though they couldn't reverse the petrification, they still fought onward. As the earth ponies took the front lines with their spears and shields, the unicorns stood behind, launching spells over them. While they were busy on the ground, the pegasi would fly overhead, some dropping rocks on the timberwolves and cockatrices, while others would dive-bomb them with their spears at the ready. As the main group of guards stood their ground, one squad of three pushed their way deep into the enemy's ranks.

"That's seventeen," announced Aura Spear.

"You'll need to pick up your pace there kid," Steel Hoof answered. "Because I'm at twenty-one."

"Wish I could join you two," complained Kite Shield.

"Put it like this, Kite," Aura began as she launched another magical spear through another two timberwolves. "Thanks to you, we get to stay alive. By the way, that's nineteen now."

"She's right you know," Steel agreed. "Not only are you shielding us from the timberwolves, but your magic is also blocking out the cockatrices' petrifying gazes."

"Alright, but who's idea was it to charge into the middle of the enemy forces again?"

"... I forgot. How about you, Aura?"

"Sorry, what was that? I can't hear you over the sound of me killing off these timberwolves," Aura said as she sent several magical spears flying, impaling another eight timberwolves. "And that puts me in the lead at twenty-five."

Shaking his head with a smile, Steel continued blasting away at the surrounding timberwolves and cockatrices. Between him, Aura's magic spears, and Kite's shield spells, he was sure that they would put quite a dent in the enemy forces. As they continued blasting and impaling everything around them, a beam of indigo magic flew straight past them, taking out a dozen timberwolves and cockatrices. Looking behind them, they saw Princess Luna standing right behind them.

"What are you doing so far in the enemy's ranks?" Luna questioned.

"Taking them out at the heart, Princess," Steel answered while giving her a salute. "They've been unable to get past us to reinforce their front."

"And what of the cockatrices' gaze?"

"Neutralized, due to Kite Shield's magical barrier."

"How are you able to launch attacks through this barrier?" Luna asked as she looked over the barrier.

"It's a spell that Prince Shining Armor taught me, Your Highness," Kite answered. "It allows those inside to fire magic through it while keeping those outside... well, outside."

"So, you three aren't in any trouble then?"

"The only ones in trouble are those poor guys," Aura answered while pointing a hoof at the enemy.

"Well then," Luna chuckled. "I guess I'll just leave you three to it then. But, if you do end up needing help, call out for me and I'll be there as soon as I can."

"Yes, Your Highness," they answered in unison before Luna flew back towards the main group.

"Well," Kite began. "That was nice of her to check in on us."

"That's the princesses for you. They always have our safety in mind," Steel said.

"That's nice and all, but can we start moving up a little bit?" Aura asked. "The timberwolves are starting to pile up, and some of them are starting to back away."

"Alright then, let's get going!" he ordered as the three made their way deeper into the heart of the enemy forces.

Deep in Whitetail Woods, Twilight, Applejack, and Rainbow were leading the other competitors away from the timberwolves that were tailing them. They had been startled by the sound of the horn blowing, but thanks to Pinkie and Spike watching over them in the balloon, they were able to navigate through most of the forest, and away from danger. Any that ran ahead of the pack and got close enough to them were either blasted by Twilight and Lyra, or bucked to pieces by Applejack, Rainbow, or Bon Bon. As they continued to run to safety, Rainbow would fly up to Pinkie and Spike to get the details on what's been going on, then return to inform Twilight and the others.

"Twilight," Rainbow slowly began. "We've got a serious problem."

"You mean besides the ursa major, hydras, and timberwolves?" Twilight questioned.

"Yeah. Apparently, there's a fleet of manticores heading this way."

"How long before they get to us?"

"Five minutes, maybe ten if we pick up the pace."

"And is there anypony coming to help us?"

"Doesn't look like they can spare any," Rainbow began explaining. "It looks like the stands where everypony was watching the race has a group of timberwolves there. There's also another group that's currently attacking Ponyville as well."

"So we're on our own then," Applejack concluded.

"It appears so," Twilight agreed before looking back to Rainbow. "How do things look on their end?"

"Give me a sec," Rainbow said before flying up to take a better look around. After a few seconds, she flew back down beside Twilight and Applejack. "It's kinda hard to see all the way to Ponyville, but I thought I saw Princess Luna's magic, and some guards were laying it to them."

"And what about the others?"

"I saw Zecora, Fluttershy, Rarity, and some other ponies moving everypony else towards your castle."

"Makes sense. The castle is the most sturdy building in Ponyville." Twilight paused as two ponies came to mind. "But what about Dark and Princess Celestia? How are they doing?"

"I saw Princess Celestia at the head of a group of guards over by the stands trying to organize them. Your coltfriend, though, was standing on the top of the stands. And from the looks of all of the fire, and the pieces of timberwolves flying around, I'd say he's been pretty busy."

"How much fire are ya talkin' about there, Rainbow?" Applejack asked.

"A lot," she answered. "I could hardly see any of the timberwolves through all the fire around them."

"That idiot. He's gonna burn down the entire area if he's not careful. Did he really think it necessary ta go all out like that?"

"Not unless Princess Celestia said it was okay for him to," Twilight said to them. "I told her about how Dark has these restrictions that he's put on himself, unless he's given permission from an authoritative figure, or if he feels his life is threatened."

"So Princess Celestia gave him permission to do all of that?" Rainbow wondered. "Dang, I'm starting to feel kinda bad for those timberwolves."

"Watch out!" Spike called from the balloon above them. "You've got six approaching from your right!"

As they three turned to look where Spike was warning to, they could see the six timberwolves running through the trees. Lighting her horn, Twilight fired a beam that cut through the first timberwolf before she dragged it through the other five. As she did, she also cut down the trees that were in the way, causing them to fall over and make a wall of fallen trees and branches. Without losing a step in their pace, they continued escorting the other racers towards the edge of the forest. With things looking clear, Rainbow flew up to the balloon.

"Alright," she began as she landed in the basket. "How's it looking so far?"

"Those manticores are catching up pretty fast," Pinkie pointed out. "Also, there's like A LOT more of those timberwolves chasing after everypony."

"And what about the ursa major and those hydras?"

"Looks like none of them are following you guys, but the ursa is heading towards Princess Celestia," Spike told Rainbow.

Rainbow turned to look at the fleet of manticores getting close to them, and the dozens of timberwolves running on the ground.

"We need to get those ponies off the ground," Rainbow said. "How many can you fit in here?"

"About six, maybe seven," Pinkie answered.

"But what about the others that will still be down there?" Spike asked. "You and Twilight are the only ones with wings."

"I'll go see what Twilight wants. You two just keep us informed if anything comes too close to us," Rainbow told them before flying back down.

"So, how is it?" Applejack asked as Rainbow flew back alongside them.

"Not very good. There's like a hundred or so more timberwolves following us, and the manticores are almost on top of us."

"And with most of the leaves knocked off, we can't hid ourselves from their view," Twilight added.

"What do you want me to do, Twilight?" Rainbow asked her. "Just give me the word and I'll go try to get some help."

"Can you do that and get back before they catch up to us?"

"If I leave now, I can."

"Alright then, go ahead."

"Can't you just teleport everypony ta safety, Twilight?" Applejack wondered.

"I can't go that far with this many ponies. If I did, I would probably only be able to get us ten yards, twenty at best. I could do maybe take two or three with me per teleport, but I would be tired out by my third attempt."

"Pinkie said that she can carry about five more in the balloon's basked," Rainbow Began. "If we can stuff seven instead of five more in there, I can carry three on my back, and we can all get out of here before the timberwolves show up."

"What do you think, Twilight?" Applejack asked.

After thinking it over for a few seconds Twilight answered, "Let's try it."

"Alright everypony," Rainbow announced as she turned to address the ponies following behind them. "We're gonna get you all out of here. Twilight will teleport three of you to safety while I'll fly some of you to escape in the balloon. After the balloon is full, I'll fly some of you back to where Princess Celestia is. But to do this, we'll have to keep moving."

Heeding Rainbow's words, the group of ponies started running faster to catch up to her and Twilight. Taking one in her hooves, Rainbow began flying them up to the balloon one at a time, explaining to Pinkie and Spike the new plan. Meanwhile, Twilight took three ponies in her magical grasp before teleporting them to safety.

Over on the stands, Dark and Celestia looked over the burning field that was once the army of timberwolves and cockatrices. Those that weren't burnt away by Darks bombardment retreated back into the forest. As Dark surveyed the area and the treetops, he could see the balloon floating in the distance, and the manticores closing in. Seeing this, he began to get restless, shifting from one side to the other.

"Nervous?" Celestia inquired.

"Just about my friends' safety," Dark answered. "If that balloon is any indication, then those manticores will be all over them within a few minutes."

"I know, Dark," she began. "But we can't-"

Celestia was cut-off when Twilight and three other ponies appeared in a flash of purple light in front of the stands. Seeing her back safely, Dark and Celestia flew down to greet her. But right before they could get to her, she was gone again. Curious as to what was going on, they walked over to the three, who they could make two out to be Lyra and Bon Bon.

"What's going on here?" Celestia asked them.

"A plan made by Princess Twilight, Rainbow Dash, and Applejack, Princess," answered Bon Bon, who somehow acquired a pair of black sunglasses.

"Since we couldn't outrun them, they came up with an idea to get everypony in the race back to safety," Lyra added right before Twilight came back with another three ponies.

"Twilight!" Dark called out before she could leave again.

Turning around to see Dark running towards her, she ran over to meet him halfway. After sharing a quick hug, happy that neither one of them got hurt, they pulled back.

"What's going on over there?"

"There's a lot more timberwolves than we originally thought," Twilight began answering. "And with them catching up to us, we decided to get everypony away from there as fast as possible."

"So you're teleporting them all here?"

"I'm trying to. Rainbow will carry as many as she can after she gets the balloon basket full of the other competitors."

"But are you alright, though? You're looking a bit tired there."

"Even though I have a lot of magic, teleporting myself and three others this far is draining on me."

Dark tried to think of some ideas to try and help her, but only one seemed to come to mind. "If you're running low on magic, then you can take some of mine to replenish yourself."

"But don't you need it for the fight here?" Twilight questioned.

"The remains of the first wave left a few minutes ago. Since then, I've been standing here bored and anxious about you and the others. So no, I don't need it right now."

"Alright," Twilight answered as she leaned her horn against his. "Now, are you sure about this?"

"Yes.

"Then try to relax while I draw in your magic. It may feel a little weird, and you might feel a little tired, but it'll only be for a moment."

Closing his eyes to relax, Dark lit his horn to allow Twilight to syphon his magic over to her. It was a strange feeling having his magic being drawn out of him like this, but she managed to not make it feel uncomfortable. Feeling the magical pressure, Celestia turned from her talk with Lyra and the now Agent Sweetie Drops, to see what the two were doing. Upon seeing them, she briefly allowed herself to smile before letting them be with what they were doing. After a full minute of syphoning magic from Dark, Twilight brought her horn away from him, breaking the connection. As she did, Twilight began to feel the effects of Dark's magic. To her, it felt as though fire was now running through her body instead of blood. She also felt a surge of adrenaline as she felt his magic mixing in with hers. Though it would only last for a short amount of time, Twilight felt like she was almost as powerful as when she fought Tirek.

"Wow," Twilight panted, feeling hotter then usual. "Is this what you feel every day? This hot, almost burning combination of magic and adrenaline running through you?"

"Yeah," Dark groaned, rubbing his head. "At least, it used to burn. But ever since I've become a kirin, the burning sensation went away due to my newfound fire and heat resistance. And as for the adrenaline, to me, it actually feels like it's weakened a bit."

"Are you alright? I didn't take too much did I?"

"No, it's alright, I'll be fine after I rest for a minute or two. But you should probably get going. The rest are probably wondering what's taking you so long to get back."

"Oh, right!" she replied before disappearing in a flash of purple light.

After she was gone, Dark groaned, "Now I wish that I had something for this headache."

High above the treetops, riding the back of a manticore, the cloaked figure looked through a spyglass at the sight of Twilight teleporting away from Dark. With a sneer of disgust, he turned his attention towards Ponyville. There he saw most of the guards were petrified, but most of his forces there had been eliminated. Now looking over to where the racers where, he saw Twilight appear in front of them.

Celestia bucking damn it, she can teleport?! he gratingly thought. And now she's teleporting them away to safety!

"Well, that was a complete waste of time," he said out loud to himself. But right before he closed up his spyglass, something caught his vision. Looking through the spyglass towards the castle, he saw a group of ponies rounding them up inside.

"Or perhaps not," he said, a new plan forming.

Looking around at his fleet of manticores, then down at the rest of his mostly hidden army, he began thinking. After a moment of pondering the outcome, he decided to try going with it. If his new plan works out as it should, then every villager would die within the castle. Bringing a hoof beneath his cloak, he began to coordinate his army.

"There's been a change in plans," he spoke, his voice being heard by only those in his army. "All manticores are to attack the castle. Group three will now split into two groups. The first group will continue through the forest and flank Celestia's group, while the second one will sweep around their forces entirely and directly attack the castle. With the number of petrified guards, group one will continue on as planned. In the meantime, I want the second wave of timberwolves to attack. Also, before leaving the safety of the forest, I want group two to spread out. I don't want to see you all burn to ashes before you even get close to the enemy again."

With his announcement finished, he brought his hoof out from under his cloak and firmly grabbed the reigns. While the other manticores went on ahead, the cloaked figure's manticore stayed where it was. If he were to coordinate this attack, he would need to stay back and have a overall view of the battlefields. So with that, he stayed behind, eager to see how they would handle themselves now.

Up in the balloon, Pinkie and Spike continued to keep an eye out on the approaching enemies. They began getting antsy when Twilight didn't get back right away, but once she did, she appeared to be moving faster and carry with her more ponies when she would teleport. At the rate she was going, they wouldn't need to carry anypony extra in the basket. Looking back up, Spike noticed something in the manticore's flying pattern.

"Hey, Rainbow!" Spike shouted. "What's going on with the manticores?"

Flying up to see what he meant, Rainbow took a look for herself. Seeing as they were no longer following after them, she turned to the direction they were heading towards. After a moment, she say that they were heading in the direction of where Princess Celestia's group was at.

"Looks like they're heading over to attack Celestia and her group," she answered.

"Does that mean we're safe?"

"Nope," Pinkie answered, pointing a hoof down below. "There are still timberwolves following us."

"Yeah, but at the rate that Twilight is going, it won't be long before everypony is safe," Rainbow told them. "I don't know what she did over there, but when I saw her, it was almost as though a fire was lit beneath her. I mean, even her eyes looked like they literally had a fire burning in them."

"You mean like that one time when she combusted and her coat turned white, her eyes turned red, and her mane and tail burst into flame?"

"That's called a Rage Shift," Spike explained. "It happens only when a powerful unicorn completely loses their temper."

"Can Darky do that too?"

"Think it's better that we never find out," Rainbow nervously answered. "You can see what he's done without this Rage Shift already. If he can, then who knows what he could do."

"Did you forget what I said already?" Spike reminded. "It's a thing specific to unicorns only."

"Yeah, but Dark was a unicorn before becoming a kirin, right?"

"But that's just it. He's a kirin now, not a unicorn."

"Maybe we should put this discussion on hold before it gets out of hoof?" Pinkie suggested, causing the two others to calm down.

Heading back to the ground with the other ponies, Rainbow flew up to Applejack, who was running alongside the last six racers.

"Whoo-whee," Applejack proclaimed. "Twilight's really movin'."

"No kidding," Rainbow agreed.

"So, how's it lookin' up there?"

"The manticores have changed course towards Celestia's group, but it looks like the timberwolves that were chasing us are keeping at it."

"What? Do ya mean ta tell me that all of them just changed direction all at once?"

"Yeah," Rainbow answered with a hoof to her chin in thought. "It's almost as though..."

"Something is ordering them?" a third voice finished for her.

Looking over to the side, they could see Twilight flying between Rainbow and Applejack.

"Yeah, exactly like that," Rainbow replied. "I mean, how else do you explain them changing direction at the same time like that?"

"You can't," Twilight answered. "Something must be coordinating these attacks."

"Guess that theory ya had about Dark bein' targeted wasn't so farfetched after all," Applejack said. "By the way, is he still over by the princess?"

"Yes, he is."

"Then that would probably explain why the manticores are headin' over there."

"In that case, I better hurry up and get the rest of these ponies over there before the manticores do. Also, the magic that Dark lent me is almost gone, so this will be my last trip for a while. I'm sorry I don't have enough to come back for the rest of you," Twilight frowned.

"Don't worry about it," Rainbow reassured. "We'll just hitch a ride with Pinkie and Spike."

"Yeah. You just go on ahead and help those ponies. We'll be alright," agreed Applejack.

Feeling less guilty about it, Twilight gave them both a quick hug before she took the remaining six racers in her magic, and teleporting them away, leaving Applejack and Rainbow the only ones left.

"Let's head up to the balloon and get away from these timberwolves," Rainbow suggested.

"Sounds good," agreed Applejack. "Ah'm startin' ta get a little tired after runnin' for so long."

"Alright, climb on and hold on tight."

After letting Applejack hop on her back and get a good hold on her, Rainbow flew up towards the balloon. When they got up there, Rainbow gently landed inside the basket and let Applejack hop off of her. Once they got themselves situated inside the basket, they were both instantly tackled by Pinkie in a tight hug.

"Ooh! I'm so happy that everypony's safe!" she happily exclaimed.

"Me too," agreed Spike.

"Well, now that we're all here, let's get going," Pinkie proclaimed as she steered the balloon directly towards the stands.

"But what about the manticores?" Applejack asked. "What if they decide ta attack?"

"Oh, don't worry about them," Pinkie blew off with a smile. "Remember, I never leave home without my party cannon."

"Uh, Pinkie," Rainbow began. "I don't see it here."

"Well of course not, silly," she laughed. "It's hidden in the balloon."

"Now where in tarnation would ya hide a cannon inside a hot-air balloon? Ah mean, the balloon is a balloon, and the basket is too small ta have one," Applejack wondered.

"Oh, you'll see."

"And what's up with this button?" Spike asked."

"Again, you'll see," Pinkie answered again with an unsettling grin while rubbing her front hooves together.

Over on the outskirts of Ponyville, Steel Hoof and his two comrades just finished up the last of the enemy units that attacked them. With the help of Princess Luna, any further losses had been prevented. However, they still had two dozen petrified guards who needed attending towards. With things calming down for the moment, Luna and a few others helped bring them over to Twilight's Castle. Luna knew from Celestia and Twilight that Zecora was a great apothecarist, and could make a potion to cure them. That is, unless they could get another cockatrice to willingly undo the petrification.

After Luna and the others tending to the petrified left, Steel Hoof was set in charge of the guards there. Looking over what he had left to work with made him slightly uneasy. He also felt uneasy that so many had been neutralized during that first wave, and the hydras weren't even there yet. Despite those negatives, though, he was confident that so long as Kite Shield could hold out, they could survive this and protect the town from destruction until they returned. Feeling the ground tremble beneath his hooves, Steel turned around to the forest's edge to see a wave of over several hundred timberwolves rushing out at them. He also saw the hydras marching right behind them, and the manticores flying overhead. Taking a moment to calm himself, Steel took in a deep breath before addressing his remaining forces.

"This won't be easy," Steel Hoof began. "But if we can hold out until Princess Luna and the others return, then we might have a chance. Until then, all unicorns who specialize in defensive spells will shield us from the enemy, while the rest of us will take them out."

Obeying his orders, they gathered in a circle while the unicorns gathered in the center to combine their magic to form the barrier around them. Once it was erected, they allowed slots to be made in them so that the others would be able to thrust their spears out at their attackers, or so the other unicorns could shoot them with blasts of magic. But they didn't wait that long as they were already blasting away at the charging army, hoping to thin out as many as they could before they got within range for their melee weapons. While they managed to take out several dozen timberwolves, there were just too many of them. Soon, before they knew it, the swarm of timberwolves were almost literally on top of them while the manticores just flew on by.

"Hey, guys," Aura called to Steel and Kite. "Doesn't this kinda remind you of that one strategy game that we used to play with that one race of ugly, fleshy creatures?"

"You're talking about Suncraft and the grez, right?" Steel clarified.

"Yep, that's the one. Reminds me of when we would get grez rushed early in the game."

"Only this time, the grezlings are the timberwolves, and this is for real," Kite added, just before the timberwolves crashed against the barrier.

As they struck, the unicorns holding it grunted from the force behind it, but the barrier held together. While the timberwolves were scratching and clawing away, trying to get past the barrier, the ponies were stabbing and blasting them. But, for each timberwolf slain, another quickly took its place. After a few minutes passed, the dead timberwolves were starting to pile up, making it harder for the others to replace them. This was both refreshing as the guards could take a quick breather, but dangerous, for if the timberwolves got too bored with them, the could leave them in exchange for going after the village instead. As one, the unicorns holding the barrier together decided to move it out of the pile of fallen timberwolves, and into open ground. Now back in a position to resume drawing their attention and thin out their numbers, the guards continued fighting off the timberwolves. Although they didn't know how many there were exactly, or how long they would need to fight, they did know that if they failed, Ponyville and its citizens would fall.

Meanwhile, over by the stands, Dark just finished setting up his forth fire trap for the hydras and ursa major. He wasn't sure how much it would do to the ursa, but if he activated one while a hydra was standing over it, he figured that it would burn a good chunk off of them. Wiping the sweat off his brow from tiring himself by casting such strong spells, Dark went back over to Celestia's side.

"Have you finished the preparations you wanted?" she asked.

"Yeah," Dark answered. "If we can get a hydra to stand over one of them when I activate it, it should finish it off right away."

"Is this one of those spells you would use when you used to defend your village?"

"No, it wasn't. Granted that I did try it once, but since dragons are pretty much fireproof, I stopped after the first time it failed."

"Ah, I see."

"To be honest, I've never used this much fire magic in one battle before. It's kinda refreshing to be able to use it freely for once."

"We'll you better get used to it," Iron Guard said, walking up to the two before pointing to the forest's edge. "Because here they come."

On cue, hundreds of timberwolves charged out of the forest, followed by four hydras with the ursa still trailing further behind through the forest. As they drew closer, they made sure to spread out and avoid the fires burning on the ground from the previous assault.

"Positions!" Celestia called out.

Obeying her orders, the now organized group of guards formed a line in front of the princess. While the earth ponies and some unicorns were at the front with shields and spears of both metal and magic, the off duty unicorns were standing back up in the stands, launching spells at the charging timberwolves. While those two groups were busy, the pegasi were flying overhead with some rocks that they gathered earlier and began dropping them on the enemy's heads. During this time of assault, Princess Celestia looked to the sky to see the fleet of manticores almost literally right over them. Lighting her horn, she fired a beam of magic and dragged it through several manticores, cutting each of them in half. She was soon joined by Captain Iron Guard as he too was shooting down manticores, causing them to fall and land on the charging timberwolves. While they were doing that, Dark continued casting fire spells at the timberwolves. Though he used a lot of magic and couldn't cast as many firebombs as before, he was now shooting off normal fireballs. Although they were smaller than their big brothers, they could be fired at a faster rate.

As the timberwolves began falling and continuing to run out of the forest, the hydras soon followed, each head giving out a roaring cry for something to eat. But, while things seemed to be going well, something seemed off. None of the manticores were diving after them. Stopping their attack for a moment, Celestia and Iron Guard looked to see them flying over them without making any kind of move. As they watched, Iron Guard noticed another group of timberwolves charging their right flank from a section further down the forest. Calling the attention of his troops, they redeployed some of them to protect that side. But, while they were doing that, Celestia noticed a second group behind the first that, instead of turning to charge them, kept running forward. Looking in the direction that the manticores and this new group timberwolves were heading, she could see that they were heading for Twilight's Castle.

"We have a problem," Celestia told Dark and Iron Guard, getting their attention. "It seems as though those timberwolves and manticores are heading straight for the castle, and the civilians."

"But we don't have any armored guards over there," Dark said. "If we don't do something to protect the ponies, then it won't matter if the town is saved or not."

"And those pegasi I sent to get those storm clouds aren't back yet," grumbled Iron Guard.

"Alright then, who's going to help them?"

"Dark," Celestia began. "We can't-"

"Spare anypony to go help, I know," Dark interrupted. "But this isn't like last time where it's only a dozen or so ponies. This time, it's the entire population of Ponyville in there. Even if it's only one of us that goes and helps them, it'll at least be better than letting Twilight and the others fight them all alone."

"I know that," Celestia sighed. "But I also can't leave everypony here to die."

"With all due respect, Princess, it's our job to fight, and possibly die, to protect the ponies of Equestria," Iron Guard told her. "And we will fight as much as we can to see that that job is done right."

"Besides," Dark added. "How else are we suppose to have any fun? Because idly standing by isn't exactly the most exciting thing to do."

Giving them a small smile, Celestia shook her head amusingly at them. She then turned and spread her wings, pointing towards the caste.

"In that case, I have one order for both of you," she began, turning her head to look at them. "Don't die."

"No promises," Dark laughed, causing Celestia to chuckle before flying off to help support Twilight's Castle.

After Celestia flew off, Dark and Iron Guard turned back around to the two forces closing in on them. As they neared, they looked to each other.

"The way you said that makes it sound like you've done this before," Iron Guard observed.

"Well I did spend a good chunk of my life defending my old village from invading dragons. Does that count?" Dark asked.

"I suppose it would. So, what do you think?"

"That if we were to keep count that I would win," he quipped.

"I meant about the enemy forces. There are two of us, and they're attacking us on two sides."

"Well, if you're asking which group I want, then I'll take the big one with the hydras. Besides, I need to pay attention to where they are and try to guide them over my traps."

"Then I will help defend our right flank. After we're done there, we'll come help reinforce the front."

Giving each other an understanding shake, they bid one another good luck before running to their designated sections of the battlefield. Taking his position behind the line of shields and spears, Dark began assisting them by shooting fireballs into the army of timberwolves. By this point, the timberwolves were clawing away at the shields, causing Dark to avoid firing at their front and instead aim farther back. But as he continued to fire off one fireball after another, a mass of indigo fur burst through forest's edge.

Looking around, the ursa major let out a beastly roar, causing every pony and timberwolf within earshot to cover their ears. As it looked around the battlefield, taking in all that were involved, its gaze fell upon Dark. Seeing his target, the ursa let out a growl as it stared at him. Seeing it looking directly at him, Dark ran to one side, seeing if it was looking at him directly, or somepony in his direction. As it turned its head to follow Dark, he ran back the other way, its gaze still locked on to him. Deciding to no longer run around, he flew up to be at eye level with it. Seeing it continue to stair at him, now bearing its fangs, Dark gave out a chuckle.

"You're big," he told it, before breaking into a joyful and exciting grin. "Fought bigger."

Inside of the castle, Twilight was busy getting everypony there situated with a comforting blanket, and some food. She probably would've been overwhelmed by it all if it wasn't for Zecora, Rarity, Fluttershy, the Crusaders, and the off duty guards helping her out. While they were getting everypony situated, Princess Luna and some of the guards she brought were carrying the bodies of petrified ponies. Seeing them, Zecora went to the basement to whip up some cures along with Apple Bloom. Though it wasn't apart of her cutie mark, she was still well adapt at making and assisting with potions, thanks to Twilight teaching her. And of course, Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle followed after to assist however they could. After they got everypony situated, they went out on one of the balconies with a telescope to look out at how the battle was going so far. Twilight looked into the lens to get a better look at what was going on. As she did, she could see the guards outside Ponyville completely surrounded, but holding strong. Relaying what she saw to the others, she turned her scope towards the stands. As she did, she saw Princess Celestia flying her way. Removing her eye from the scope, she looked up just in time to see her starting to land.

"How is everypony doing?" Celestia asked them.

"About half of the guards that were in Ponyville were petrified by the cockatrices when I got there," Luna explained. "Some of the other guards and I brought them here to be cured."

"Other than that," Twilight began. "From what I've seen through my telescope, the remaining guards in Ponyville are holding up well, despite them being surrounded. As for how things are here, we've got most of the ponies settled down, thanks to the guards you sent to help us."

"So there aren't any casualties yet?"

"Thankfully no," Luna answered.

"That's good to hear, but this is far from over."

"Are you talking about the ursa?" Twilight asked.

"Not only that, but it looks like the timberwolves that were following you and the other racers are now heading directly here. Plus, the manticores are heading over here as well."

"Are you saying that the castle will soon be under attack?" Rarity nervously inquired.

"Unfortunately, yes."

"In that case, Rarity, Fluttershy, and I will make sure everypony is moved further into the castle, and reinforce the windows and doors," Twilight said before she and the others ran off, leaving Celestia and Luna alone.

Looking up to see the two fleets of manticores and the group of timberwolves converging on the castle, Luna and Celestia turned to look at each other.

"It's been a while since we've fought together side-by-side on a battlefield, hasn't it, sister?" Luna spoke.

"Yes, it has," Celestia agreed. "If I had to say, it would have been when we first fought King Sombra."

"I suppose so." She paused before her face turned to a grin. "So, which do you want?"

"Sorry?"

"Do you want to take the manticores while I fight the timberwolves, or vise versa, go down there and fight them head on, or should we both stay up here and rain our glorious magic down upon them?"

"It would probably be safer to stay up here," Celestia answered. "Besides, we'll have a better vantage point from up here for targeting both groups."

"Then let us waste no more time, sister," Luna said before firing off blasts of magic into the groups of manticores flying off in the distance towards them.

Following her younger sister's example, Celestia lit up her horn and began firing away at the manticores and at the timberwolves charging them. Together, and without words, they decided that so long as they were there, they wouldn't let the castle, or the ponies within, fall.

Flying back on his manticore, the cloaked figure looked through his spyglass to see how the battle was progressing. His forces in Ponyville had the guards surrounded, and was sure that they would fall in a matter of time. Turning in front of him, he saw the ursa major and Dark had locked gazes at each other, ready to attack at a moments notice. He then turned towards the castle when he saw indigo and gold beams of magic shooting out from it. Taking a closer look, he saw Princess Celestia and Princess Luna standing on the balcony, sniping away at his forces.

So the Princess of the Night is here as well, he thought to himself. This'll be much harder than what I expected. But if we should succeed, then I could eliminate all three princesses and take over Equestria. Ooh, what a bonus that would be.

He stopped as another plan came to mind. While he was confident about his forces at the front, if he were to coordinate his fleet of manticores, then they could allow for the timberwolves to break into the castle. Making his decision, he took the reigns and steered his mount forward towards Twilight's Castle.

"I've sat back long enough, and this is far too important to risk leaving to them alone," he told himself. "Besides, if you want something done right, then do it yourself."

Author's Note

There are a few hidden references in this chapter. Can you find them?

Chapter 15- Invasion: Part II

The stands were turned into a full blown battlefield now. While the few dozen ponies were holding off the hundreds of timberwolves on the front lines, the unarmored unicorns were up in the stands, raining fire down upon the two groups. While they were busy with that, Iron Guard was fighting to defend their right flank from being overrun. Conjuring a pair of magical longswords, he ran into the enemy army, his blades leaving a glowing trail with each swing. Spinning his swords around him, Iron Guard continued charging forth, cutting down every timberwolf within their reach. But not all of his swings were precise, though, as he would need to sidestep or jump to dodge when one would leap at him from above, or duck below his spinning swords. Despite his lack or armor, he managed to create a thin magical shell around his legs and body. While it was weaker than what normal metallic or magic armor would be, it could take a few hits before it would shatter. That, and due to it practically weighting nothing on him, Iron Guard was far more agile than what he was used to fighting with.

While he was busy on that end, Dark was still staring down with the ursa major, both waiting for the other to make the first move. Dark didn't know why it didn't just charge straight for him, and instead choose to wait for him to attack first. As they continued their standoff, Dark noticed one of the hydras moving closer to one of his traps. Lighting his horn and pointing it in the direction of the trap, Dark waited for the hydra to take its last few steps. Once it was over the magical seal on the ground, he activated it, causing it to erupt in a massive pillar of flame that engulfed any timberwolves inside, and the hydra, leaving only its tail visible.

Seeing the new spectacle, the ursa, most of the timberwolves, and some of the guards, stopped to look at it. Seeing the massive fire pillar and hearing the cries of pain from the hydra's heads, they wondered what was going on in there. Their curiosity was soon sated as the pillar died down, showing a completely charred hydra standing in the center of it. Losing its balance, the dead hydra started falling over, and though the timberwolves tried running out of the way, many weren't so lucky as the giant corpse landed and crushed sever dozen timberwolves. Taking advantage, the ponies used this as momentum to fight harder back, gaining some ground on them.

Hearing the infuriated roars of the other three hydras, Dark turned to face them. As he watched them, he saw that while one was heading near another trap, if the other two kept on their path, they would miss theirs completely. Taking in a deep breath, Dark breathed out a stream of flame at the ground. While he was burning away multiple timberwolves and causing the fire to spread to any nearby timberwolves, what he was trying to do was create another wall of fire. This one, though, would force the hydras to walk over the other traps. That is, if they chose to avoid the flames and not just run through it. Regardless, he continued through with it, burning a trail beneath him as he flew. Once he made a trail of fire that would funnel them into his traps, he flew back and hovered to catch his breath.

As he held back, Dark saw his plan working when another hydra stepped over his trap. Activating it, he caused another fire pillar to erupt, taking out the second hydra that was sent there. But, as he began looking towards another one approaching its trap, he forgot about the ursa. Before he knew it, Dark was looking at the ursa major as it swiped its claw at him.

"Ahh, crap," Dark muttered, right before the massive claw knocked him out of mid-air and back behind the line of ponies.

From the initial impact, Dark could feel some of his ribs cracking. After he hit the ground and tumbled to a stop, he could feel a great amount of pain coming from his left leg. Looking back, he saw that it was broken at the shin, causing his hoof to wobble when he tried moving it. His injuries didn't hurt for long, though, as his regeneration was already dulling the pain and repairing the damages, leaving its signature shadowy mist in the damaged areas. Laying still for a few seconds, Dark could feel that the pain was completely gone. Standing up, he gently put pressure on his left hoof to test it. It was unnecessary, though, as it felt just like it was before he got hit, which included his ribs that he was prodding at.

Turning his attention strictly at the ursa, seeing that it was now charging him and the ponies in front of him. Not wanting to get them involved with this beast, Dark flew up to confront the ursa head-on. As they got closer, he put a few strong flaps into his wings, launching him up above the ursa's head. Lighting his horn, Dark began casting another one of his spells.

Haven't used this one in a while, Dark thought to himself. Let's see how it does.

A few seconds later, he conjured three flaming spheres that orbited his body. Wanting to test them first, Dark turned his attention towards the sea of timberwolves blow him. As he focused on several spots, each orb began firing out fire needles. A few seconds after they impacted and impaled themselves into their targets, each needle exploded. While each needle was six inches in length, the explosion each caused was easily ten feet wide, taking out even more timberwolves from the area of effect, rather than the initial attack.

Explosive Fire Needles, Dark smirked. Last time I used it was during the stupid gorgon incident. Now, if only I could increase the fire capacity for each orb.

Each of the orbs could fire up to twenty needles per orb. And while they were useful for ranged attacks, he could also manipulate each of them individually. If he wanted, he could use his magic to fling them around like a flaming wrecking ball. But instead of crushing everything it hit, it would generally burn straight through, almost to the point of melting through, depending on how much power he put into the swing.

Looking back up, Dark began unloading the rest of the needles he had left in the orbs at the ursa's face. Although it was a lot of area to cover, he made sure to spread out his shots and let the explosions do most of the damage. As he fired, he tried to keep his shots somewhat scattered, but also put some focus on the ursa's eyes, trying to blind it. But as he fired, the ursa lifted up a claw to block the needles, causing them to impact and explode on the back of its claw instead.

Roaring out in pain, the ursa brought back its claw, looking at the deep-red second degree burns, and a few trickles of blood leaving it. Giving it a few licks, the ursa turned back to see Dark preparing another round for him. But before he could finish the spell, the ursa leaped up and swatted at Dark, interrupting him and forcing him to fly back.

As Dark continued to keep his distance from the enraged ursa major, he looked up. As he did, he spotted a rogue manticore flying towards Twilight's Castle. He also saw Rainbow flying towards their right flank with Spike riding on her back, leaving Applejack and Pinkie approaching them overhead in the balloon. But as he looked up at the balloon, he stopped, seeing that something was different with it, or rather, that a few things were different about it than before.

A few minutes earlier, Pinkie, Spike, Rainbow, and Applejack continued floating in the balloon towards where Celestia's guards were stationed at the stands. As they traveled over the trees, the could start to see the smoke rising from the battle ahead of them. Continuing onward, none of them continued to question what Pinkie had said about her party cannon, or where it could be. They all sat quietly as Pinkie steered them towards the battle until Applejack spoke up.

"So, how are we suppose ta help them anyway?" she asked. "Because none of us can do anythin' ta them up here."

"Not to mention that if I flew down to get in a few punches that those timberwolves would drag me down," Rainbow added.

"And I can't breath fire onto them while we're so high up," Spike told them.

"Oh, that's easy," Pinkie told them. "While Applejack is helping me in the balloon, Rainbow can fly Spike around on her back while he breaths out fire onto those nasty timberwolves."

Thinking over her plan for a moment, they decided to go with it. With them now assigned with their jobs, Spike jumped onto Rainbow's back and got himself comfortably seated. Slowly, they began moving closer and closer to the battlefield. Once they finally got there, they could see that the pack of timberwolves that chassed them were now attacking the guards on their right side. As they looked out unto the swarm of timberwolves that was still coming out of the forest's edge, Rainbow and Spike turned to Pinkie.

"Okay," Rainbow slowly began. "So, where exactly do you want us to start?"

"Yeah," agreed Spike. "I mean, look at them. There must be several hundred to a thousand timberwolves down there. Not to mention-"

Spike was cutoff when a massive pillar of fire engulfed a hydra. Looking over to it, they could only see the end of its tail sticking out of it. Once the flames died out, they saw a completely charred hydra falling down onto the nearby timberwolves.

"Woah Nelly!" Applejack proclaimed. "What in Equestria happened ta it?!"

"I think he's what happened to it," Spike answered, pointing over to a figure flying above the army.

Taking a second look, they could see that it was Dark hovering there. As they continued to watch him, they saw him turn his head towards another hydra, right before it too became engulfed in fire. With just by looking at it, they could practically feel the heat radiating off of it. And once the spell ended and the fires dissipated, just like last time, it left the hydra toasted. Leaning over the edge of the balloon basket, they didn't notice Pinkie behind them before she spoke up.

"TOASTYYYY!" she exclaimed, now wearing a gray-blue shirt with a picture of toast, and a slice of butter on it.

Turning around Applejack asked, "Pinkie, was that really necessary? Ah mean, he just burnt that hydra like..."

"Toast?" Spike guessed, causing Applejack to reluctantly nod.

"I don't see what the problem is," Rainbow said with a snicker. "I mean, it's actually kinda funny. Especially with how Pinkie said it."

"Ahh, come on, Applejack," Pinkie said as she put a foreleg around her shoulders. "You gotta admit that it was at least a little bit funny."

Giving a slight chuckle, Applejack nodded. "Alright, Ah suppose it was sorta funny. But how are we gonna help them out from up here exactly?"

"What do you mean?" Rainbow asked. "We just went over what we would be doing to help them."

"Ah know that. What Ah meant was who's takin' what group? Ya know, since they're attackin' from two sides."

"That's easy," Pinkie began. "Rainbow and Spike can go help the smaller group while we help with the bigger one. Besides, I don't wanna accidentally hit them."

"What do you mean by that exactly?" Spike asked, getting a smile and raised eyebrow from Pinkie. "Let me guess... you'll see?"

"Nope," she replied, her grin widening. "You'll see soon."

"Well, we better get going then," Rainbow said, spreading her wing. "Ready, Spike?"

"Ready," he replied, clinging onto her.

"Alright, just don't dig your claws into me too much... or light me on fire."

As soon as Rainbow and Spike left the balloon, Applejack waved them off before she turned to Pinkie.

"Alright, what now?" she asked.

"You see that big, red button?" Pinkie pointed out, getting a nod in return. "Press it."

Listening to her order, Applejack pressed the button. Once she did, she could feel the basket beneath her hooves begin to shift. Looking around, she could see the weavings that held the basket together flip over, replaced instead by metal plating. Looking over the edge of the basket, she could see the same thing happening on the outside of it, the only exception being Pinkie Pie's smiling face that was plastered on the sides. As she gazed in amazement at it, she then noticed a hatch on the bottom of the basket open up. Once it was fully open, a large party cannon slowly descended from it until it was completely exposed before turning upward and aiming straight in front of them. Turning back into the basket, Applejack saw a control panel with buttons and a wooden helm popping out of the front of the now metallic basket. As she looked in confusion, she turned to see Pinkie Pie taking the wheel, forgoing the toast shirt for a pirate hat, coat, and her favorite moustache.

"Uhh, Pinkie?" Applejack slowly addressed. "How in the hay did ya get all of this ta fit in this here balloon basket?"

"Sorry, Applejack," Pinkie apologized. "But that's a secret."

"Okay, but what am Ah suppose ta do ta help ya exactly?"

Reaching into her mane, Pinkie pulled out a large sack before giving it to Applejack.

"You can throw those over the edge of the basket at those timberwolves while I use the party cannon."

Opening the bag, Applejack took a look inside of it. Once she did, she snapped it shut, turning her head back up to Pinkie.

"Are those what Ah think they are?" she nervously asked.

"Yepperoni," Pinkie smiled. "They're my party bombs! Oh, and don't worry about lighting them. All you do is pull the string on the end, and after five seconds, they go off."

"How did ya even- ya know what? Never mind," Applejack relented as she took the first party bomb in her hoof and got ready to light and toss it.

"Oh, before you start, can you do something real quick like?" Pinkie began. "Could you go over to that panel and turn the music to track five?"

"... Ah guess," she slowly answered as she walked over to it.

Looking around the panel, she saw a bunch on buttons and numbers. Finding the right button, Applejack pressed it, causing it to start playing music loudly over the speakers. After a few seconds of listening to the song start up, she turned questioningly at Pinkie.

"So, why did ya want me ta play this music exactly?" Applejack asked.

"Because it fits the theme for us!" Pinkie answered.

"But Ah still don't get why we need it when-"

"Irrelevant!" she exclaimed as she slammed her hoof down on a red button with the word 'FIRE' printed on it.

Hitting it caused the party cannon on the bottom of the balloon to fire, causing the basket to rock back from the recoil on it, and watched as their payload flew away. When it hit the ground, the impact caused it to explode in shower of confetti and streamers. All the while, it had launched the timberwolves up into the air. Some were still fully assembled while others were nothing but bits and pieces, before they began raining down on those below them. Adjusting the angle of the cannon slightly, Pinkie fired the next shot. Starting to get into the feel of things, Pinkie began pounding away at the fire button. Although she was hitting away at it several times a second, the cannon could only fire one shot ever five seconds or so, making her attempts to fire it at a faster rate ineffective. Though she didn't seem to mind it as she continued to joyfully wail away at the button.

"Weeee!" Pinkie exclaimed as she continued hitting the fire button without a care in the world. "Hey, Applejack! You should really try this! It's easily the funnest thing ever!"

"Thanks, Pinkie," Applejack began. "But Ah think that Ah'll just stick with these here bombs.

With that said, Applejack decided that now would be a good time to toss over those party bombs that Pinkie gave for her to use. Pulling the ignition string, Applejack threw it down into the sea of timberwolves. And like Pinkie said, after the five seconds passed, the bomb blew up. Much like the party cannon, it too exploded with confetti and streamers while also blowing the surrounding timberwolves to pieces from the force of the blast alone, but on a smaller scale. With a triumphant smile on her face, Applejack reached for the next one before throwing it overboard. She didn't know what Pinkie put into these bombs exactly, but whatever it was kept the timberwolves from reassembling themselves after being blown apart. Even the party cannon seemed to neutralize it. As the two kept bombing and bombarding the army of timberwolves, Pinkie made sure to keep them well above the reach of both the hydras, and the ursa major.

During that time, Dark stopped flying away from the ursa to look at what Pinkie was doing. Seeing the modified balloon with Pinkie's smiling face on the sides, and the party cannon attached on the bottom, Dark threw his arms up.

"Nope, that's it! I'm done!" Dark exclaimed to himself. "Screw trying to figure that pony out, because I don't care anymore!"

His little rant was cut short by the ursa swiping at him.

"Craaaaaaap!" he yelled while being flung over the army of timberwolves, and into the trees.

Landing on a branch, Dark looked to his side to see three long gashes covering him from his right side, and straight across his chest. He could feel something wrong, though, as he coughed into his claw, seeing a good portion of blood splattered on it. A second later, he could feel his regeneration kicking in as the pain was dulled, and the wounds began sealing themselves up within the black mist. After ten seconds of waiting, Dark saw that the would was mostly healed, and that he could get back into the fight just before it was completely healed up.

While Pinkie and Applejack were busy with the main group, Rainbow and Spike were having their way with the other one. As Rainbow flew above the heads of the timberwolves, Spike would breath out fire behind her. Though he was breathing fire, he made sure to aim behind her wings and away from her legs and tail. He was also careful to not accidentally use his magical fire and send them to the princesses by accident. As they continued to make another pass, Rainbow's attention was turned to the balloon.

"What happened to the balloon?" she asked. "And why are they playing this music?"

"If I had to guess, I'd say that it was that big, red button that Pinkie told us not to press on our way here," Spike guessed before releasing another stream of fire.

"Ugh, I swear, I don't think that I'll ever fully understand her."

"Yeah, no kidding." Spike then paused for a moment. "How long are we suppose to do this anyway?"

"Beats me. Why?"

"Wasn't there another group of timberwolves and hydras attacking the guards over by Ponyville?"

Rainbow stopped herself from making another pass, instead hovering in place to think it over. As she did, a unicorn began waving her down. Seeing him, they descended back behind the shield wall to talk to him. Once she and Spike landed, they saw that it was Iron Guard.

"Hey, you're that Captain of the Royal Guard, right?" Rainbow asked.

"That is correct," Iron Guard answered. "What were you two doing out there?"

"Just helping you guys out by torching those timberwolves."

"Alright, but what about the main group?"

"You mean them?" Spike asked, pointing a claw in the direction of the explosions and flying timberwolves.

"... never mind."

"Anyway," Rainbow began. "How much longer do you need us here? Because the guards defending Ponyville could probably use our help right about now."

"Go ahead," Iron Guard told them with a nod. "You've helped clear out a lot of them already by what you've done."

"Sweet. Well then, we'll see ya around," Rainbow said before flying her and Spike off to help defend Ponyville.

Over at the front of the battlefield, Dark was flying around, trying to keep the ursa major from biting down on him, and keeping that music from getting stuck in his head. As he flew, he would fire spells off at it, trying to slow it down. But, although he was flying away, he made sure to lead it through the army of timberwolves around it, stomping over them as it charged. He was also making sure to try leading it over one of his traps. As he neared one of them, though, he saw that he was also flying straight for a hydra that had spotted him. Taking a quick dive, Dark flew down to dodge some of the heads that tried snapping at him, and flew around. Doing this caused the ursa to trample over the hydra, causing it to get up and continue marching with a slight limp to its walk. Still, it slowed the ursa down enough for Dark to take a quick breath before flying over his trap.

Hovering in place, Dark waited for the ursa to close in on him. As it was getting closer, he began readying the spell by putting a little more magic into it. Then, once the ursa was finally standing over it, Dark activated the trap, causing another pillar of flame to sprout up from the ground. But with the extra added magic, the spell was greater than the others, increasing both its size and intensity. Not wanting to try taking any chances, Dark continued pumping his magic into the spell, causing it to last longer than what it normally would. All the while, the ursa was roaring out from being burnt and trying to run out of it. When it got out of the flames, Dark canceled the spell to look at the ursa. It wasn't as charred as what the hydras were, but it was still badly burnt all over the front of its body, its coat now covered in black burns.

Though it was severely burnt, it now seemed more enraged than it did before. Locking back at Dark, the ursa continued charging him, but this time at a much faster pace. Dark was starting to get tired from all of the flying and spell casting, causing him to slow down a little bit. Turning his head to look back, Dark saw that the ursa was gaining on him now. He then took a moment to conjure up another three Fire Orbs before flying off with them orbiting his body. As he flew, the orbs would automatically fire at the ursa whenever it got too close to him, causing it to recoil from the pain and lose some ground. With the distance he put between them, Dark flew back to safety behind their shield wall to take a breather. Panting for breath, Dark looked around to see how the others were doing. The guards appeared to be holding them off rather well, but he could see them starting to get tired.

"Dark!" a voice called to him.

Turning, Dark could see that it was Iron Guard who called to him as he approached him.

"Nice job in taking out those hydras," he complimented. "And for doing such a number on that ursa."

"Thanks, but we're far from done here," Dark replied. "Besides, that ursa got a few hits on me earlier. If it weren't for my regeneration, I doubt that I would still be alive."

"You're right about that. I actually saw you get swatted by it like a fly into the trees. Still, it looks like its in pretty rough shape."

"Yes, but every time I hit it, it just gets more enraged. Speaking of which, I shouldn't stay here for too long. Not unless you want it to trample over the guards and come straight to us?"

"Thanks, but I'll pass."

"But, I do have a question for you. How are we suppose to win against so many?"

Iron Guard thought about it for a moment. They were severely outnumbered, and everypony was starting to get tired. As he looked out over the battlefield, an idea came to mind.

"Have you heard of the phrase 'cut-off the head of the snake'-"

"'And the body dies'," Dark finished, getting a nod from Iron Guard.

"Well, if I'm correct about this, that ursa major is the supposed head. If we can kill it, the rest of the army might crumble."

"To me, it sounds more like what two armies used to do in olden times. You know, how each would send out their champion and the winner would determine the entire battle."

Iron Guard looked to Dark in surprise. "That's actually a fairly good analogy. I'm surprised that for living in a secluded village that you would know that."

"Well, we did have old history books there. Just thought that I'd take a page from one of them. Eh, no pun intended."

Shaking his head in slight amusement, Iron Guard looked up to see the ursa looking around for Dark.

"So," he began. "Do you have any ideas on how to beat it?"

"I'm not sure right now," Dark admitted. "I'm beginning to get tired, and I can feel my magic starting to get low. If I had a bit more-"

Dark cut himself off when he felt something that he didn't feel before. Turning to his right, he could see fire rising from Iron Guard's area of the battlefield. Confused, Dark looked to address Iron Guard.

"Where did those fires come from?" he asked. "I don't remember setting your area on fire, unless it was a rogue shot from a spell that I casted."

"That actually came from Princess Twilight's Assistant, Spike. He was riding on top of Miss Rainbow Dash, breathing fire down on the timberwolves for us," Iron Guard answered.

"So," Dark slowly began. "That's from Spike then?"

"Correct."

With a joyous grin, and a twinkle in his eyes, Dark now had his key to beating the ursa major. And possibly, the rest of the timberwolf army.

"Captain Iron Guard," Dark addressed, putting a claw on his shoulder. "I believe that we might've just won this battle."

Over at Twilight's Castle, Celestia and Luna were busy with shooting down the manticores and timberwolves that were quickly approaching them. As time passed, they began using more advanced spells to try and fend off the attackers. While Celestia turned to firing off several magical beams simultaneously at the timberwolves, Luna resorted to launching lightning at the manticores. But as they continued to fall, they didn't relent in their goal to overrun the castle. During their fight, they became distracted by two different things. One was a set of fires over by the stands, where another was the cries of falling ponies over where Luna left the guards defending Ponyville. Turning to her sister, Luna looked apologetically to her.

"I'm sorry, sister," she began. "But I need to go and help them."

"I understand, Luna," Celestia said with a small smile. "Go and save what you can."

With her sister's blessing, Luna flew off from the balcony and towards Ponyville. She didn't go quietly, though, as she continued launching lightning bolts all around her as she flew through the fleet of manticores. With each second she was in there, and for each bolt of lightning that struck, it would jump over to the next closest manticore. Each bolt would chain up to six others before it stopped jumping. Happy with the amount that she cleared out on her way, Luna picked up the pace towards Ponyville, leaving Celestia alone on the balcony to defend the castle.

Looking out upon the large number that she would have to deal with, Celestia looked up to here sun. Closing her eyes, she focused on it, taking in the warmth radiating off of it. After a few seconds of bathing in the sun's light, she felt her magic partially restored. Turning her attention back to the oncoming army, Celestia lit her horn. With time, the aura around it became brighter and brighter before the gathered energy within it burst out. It created a massive wave of light and heat rushing out towards the timberwolves and manticores. As the wall reached them, every timberwolf and manticore that touched it was instantly incinerated. Taking a moment, Celestia allowed herself to catch her breath from casting a spell of that magnitude again after such a long time. But as she did, she failed to notice a lone manticore flying up behind and above the others.

It was then that things started becoming strange. The manticores split-off into two different groups, one heading straight for her while the others turned towards the others side of the castle. With her breath caught up, Celestia continued firing several beams from her horn. But, although she was cutting them down like a scythe to a stalk of wheat, she couldn't get all of them as they were now within a hundred yards of the castle. With little other choice, Celestia forwent the counterattack for a massive magical barrier that covered all of Twilight's Castle. Looking down, she could see the timberwolves crashing into the barrier, while up above, the diving manticores hit the side of it and slid down it unconscious. With the barrier as large as it was, and it being under siege, Celestia guessed that she could hold it up for about fifteen minutes. Hopefully enough time for somepony to come and help them.

Hidden up above the fleet of manticores, the cloaked figure rode upon his manticore, watching his army pummel away at the barrier that Celestia had just erected. Looking over it, he figured that it would hold out for a while, but didn't want to wait. Thinking fast, he brought a hoof into his cloak to speak to his army assaulting the castle.

"Timberwolves," he addressed. "Split off away from Princess Celestia's sight. Once you're in her blind spot, I want you to try burrowing under the barrier. If we can't get through it, then we'll just have to dig under it."

Heeding his command, the timberwolves ran back behind the castle before digging into the ground just in front of the barrier. With great anticipation, they dug, the dirt on their wooden claws feeling almost like nothing to them. Faster and faster down they dug until they finally hit the bottom of the barrier ten feet down. After digging another five feet for the extra room, they began burrowing straight ahead, then upwards to the other side. It took them a few minutes of digging, but they eventually made their way to the inside of Celestia's barrier.

"Very good," the cloaked figure complimented them. "Now, while you're in there, I want you to stay silent and sneak past Celestia, and towards the front door. It's the only door into the castle, so they'll have nowhere to run. Once you're all positioned in front of the door, feel free to charge it. And don't worry about Celestia. So long as she's keeping the manticores out with her barrier, she won't be able to come after you. As for the ponies inside, feel free to kill them all, but make sure that you bring me Twilight alive or else you will all die by my hoof."

Listening to him and fearing his threat, the timberwolves began prowling, hugging the side of the castle as they snuck below the balcony that Celestia was standing on. Sneaking alongside the castle, they made their way around from the back of the castle to the side. However, in their discretion against the princess, they failed to notice a butter-yellow pegasus looking out at them through a window, before she began running away.

Inside the castle, Twilight, Rarity, and Fluttershy, managed to get everypony situated deeper into the castle. Twilight noticed the magical barrier round her castle, so she knew that they were very close now. After she got the civilian ponies to safety, she and the guards began gathering the tables and couches, setting some of them up to barricade the door, and the rest to form a blockade behind it. It was made easier thanks to Zecora's remedy for the petrified guards that were brought in. Feeling satisfied with the job they've done, Twilight allowed herself to walk back up to see how Celestia was doing. That was, until Fluttershy ran frantically towards her.

"Twilight!" she shouted, her quiet voice gone for that brief moment before she got up to her. "We have a problem."

"What's wrong, Fluttershy?" Twilight wondered.

"I just saw a bunch of timberwolves outside the window. And they're all alpha timberwolves!"

"It's alright. It's nothing to be worried about."

"Not like that!" Fluttershy panicked. "I mean that they were right outside the window, as in on the inside of the barrier, just a few feet away from the windows!"

Twilight's eyes widened. "Go to the blockade and tell the guards there what you just told me. I need to tell Princess Celestia about this."

And in a flash, she was gone. Listening to Twilight, Fluttershy quickly ran over to the guards and began explaining the situation to them. Taking her warning to heart, the guards moved to the blockade, spears at the ready while the unicorns were ready to fire. During that time, Twilight teleported herself up beside Celestia, who was looking slightly tired.

"Are you alright, Princess?" Twilight worryingly asked.

"I'll be fine, Twilight. Just a little tired is all," Celestia answered with a reassuring smile.

"Alright, but we have a problem. It's the alpha timberwolves."

"I noticed that they ran off behind the castle, but I don't know where they went beyond that."

"That's the thing. Fluttershy saw them walking right past one of the windows!"

Surprised by what Twilight said, Celestia walked over to the ledge of the balcony and looked down. To her shock and confusion, she saw that the last hundred and fifty alpha timberwolves were walking alongside of the castle.

"But how?" was all Celestia could ask.

"I'll take a look," Twilight answered, spreading her wings before flying off.

As she flew back behind her castle, she was distracted by the manticores clawing away the barrier above them with their claws, and trying to puncture it with their tails. Shaking her head to clear her mind of them, Twilight looked back down to see the timberwolves below her. Flying a little farther ahead, she finally came to where they entered. Seeing all that she needed to see, she flew back and landed beside Celestia.

"I know how they got in," Twilight began explaining. "After they ran out of your line of sight, they dug down below your barrier and up through the other side of it."

"But where could they get an idea like that?" Celestia questioned.

Twilight brought a hoof to her chin to think about it. She had a few ideas, but with how things have been going so far, she had a good idea of why. Snapping herself out of her thoughts, Twilight looked back up to Celestia.

"If I had to guess, I'd say that the one leading this attack is somewhere among them," Twilight concluded, electing an approving nod from Celestia. "Have you seen anything unusual about anything?"

"Nothing much," Celestia began. "Although, I thought that I did see a single manticore that was flying a bit higher than the rest of them.

Moving to her telescope, Twilight looked through it to try and peek past the wall of manticores above them. While she continued looking, she could feel a source of power emanating from a specific area. Turning her scope in the direction of the magical pressure, Twilight was able to get a look at what it was. As she was taking in the look of the supposed enemy commander, she began relaying it over to Celestia.

"I found him!" she said. "Thought I don't know for sure what it is, what I did see is some kind of cloaked figure riding on top of a manticore with reigns on it."

"Very good, Twilight," Celestia complimented. "Now if only we could get to him."

"The guards will be needing me to help defend the castle from the alpha timberwolves, and you can't move because you're keeping the manticores out."

"Then we'll just have to-"

"THEY'RE BREAKING THROUGH!" a shout from within the castle interrupted.

Giving another look at each other, Twilight gave Celestia a loving hug before she teleported herself down to help hold the alpha timberwolves back. Letting out a sigh, Celestia looked up towards the direction of the enemy commander.

"Just who are you, and what is your goal exactly?" Celestia softly wondered out loud.

Over on the outskirts of Ponyville, the guards that were protecting it were starting to fall. They had managed to hold off the timberwolves well enough, but once the hydras got there, things took a bad turn. While their barrier could hold against the timberwolves, the stomps from the hydra were far worse. They managed to take out one of the hydras during its assault on them, but the second one was the one that forced them to release the spell. As soon as the barrier was down, the unicorns tried to quickly cast another one. It was harder for them with the hydra trying to crush them underfoot. So, all they could do was keep the barrier up just enough to prevent them from being squashed while everypony else used their shields to protect themselves from the timberwolves. Eventually, they had to move away.

Backing away from the hydra, those with any ranged weapons, be it magical or metal, were firing away at it. This also included the unicorns that casted the shield spell to protect them from the hydra's stomps. But, with them being temporarily out if its range, they began shooting at its legs, trying to cripple its movement. After a few minutes of group evasion, they succeeded in taking out one of its legs, causing it to fall onto the timberwolves nearby and unable to get back up. Taking this brief opportunity of relief, they continued to backpedal closer towards Ponyville.

They were eventually rejoined by Princess Luna, but things were too far gone by then. They were forced back near the first set of houses within Ponyville. And while they were able to gain a firm hold with Luna fighting back the last two hydras, the timberwolves were too many as they charged at the remaining nine guards, and the village itself. Not wanting to suffer anymore losses, the unicorns resorted back to their original plan of shielding everypony. Although, with the smaller number of guards left, the barrier didn't need to be as big, allowing them to use less magic than before. But, due to how tired everypony was from the constant fighting and spell casting, the barrier wasn't as strong as before. Within a few minutes of it being assaulted, a part of the barrier cracked. Seeing this, one of the timberwolves lunged forward, shattering a hole in it before grabbing onto an unexpecting guard, and dragging him away. Seeing the gap in the barrier, another guard moved to fill the gap with his shield.

Turning from hearing the scream of a fallen guard, Luna saw that their barrier was starting to fail them. Giving one last blast to finish off the last hydra, she then flew down near the surviving guards and casted her own shield spell. After expanding it outward, she flew inside to inspect the guards.

"How's everypony holding up," Luna asked.

"There are only eight of us left, Your Highness," Steel Hoof answered.

"I'm sorry that you've lost so many."

"We knew what we were getting into by signing up to join the guard."

"Regardless, I shouldn't have left you all alone like that, but how did you start losing so many? Before I left, it looked like you had everything under control."

"We did. That was, until the hydras came and started stomping on our barrier."

"So now we only have to deal with these last few hundred timberwolves, correct?"

"Thanks to you taking out those hydras, yes," Steel Hoof confirmed. "But we're all almost at our limits. We won't be able to continue fighting much longer."

Luna sighed. "So then that means that I'm the only real one who can fight them. It would be possible if I flew above their heads, but I can't do that while also keeping you all safe within this barrier." Her face turned to a scowl. "I just wish that those pegasi were here with those storm clouds by now. We could really use their help."

"Either that, or some kind of miracle," Aura added.

It was then that they heard a what sounded like a pegasus flying at high speeds towards them accompanied by a whine. Turing to see what it was, they could see a light-blue pegasus with a purple dragon riding on its back, leaving a rainbow-colored trail behind them. Immediately, they knew they were Rainbow and Spike. But what they didn't expect was for Rainbow to fly down just above their heads while spike bathed the timberwolves in his fire-breath. The guards began cheering for their new backup. Although it was only the two of them, it was more than welcomed.

After finishing up their first run, Rainbow flew back up before turning around to make another pass. The second time, Spike's flames forced the timberwolves back away from the remaining guards and Luna. With the wall of fire in front of them, Luna dropped her barrier and began focusing on shooting down the surrounding timberwolves. Seeing her, the guards followed her example by joining her, firing off beams of magic one after another with a second wind. Between the magical blasts and the flames from Spike, the timberwolves decided to abandon trying to finish them off, and instead headed into the village. Seeing them running away, Rainbow flew to get ahead of them

"Oh no you don't!" she said. "Spike, once I get ahead of them, try to block them off from Ponyville with your fire."

"Got it," Spike answered.

Picking up her speed, they were able to get ahead of them before entering Ponyville. And after taking in a deep breath, Spike let out the longest stream of fire that's ever left his maw. Between the range of his flames and the speed at which Rainbow was flying, they managed to make a wall of fire right in front of the first house in Ponyville, blocking the timberwolves off.

"Nice job there, Spike," Rainbow complimented, reaching back to give him a high hoof.

"You too, Rainbow," he returned, meeting her hoof with his fist.

Looking back down below them, they could see Luna leading the rest of the guards in an attempt to fall back closer to Ponyville. As they ran, Luna took the lead while she continuously launched multiple bolts of lightning from her horn, each one jumping to several nearby timberwolves as she charged. While she was taking point, the rest of the guards defended their sides and rear with metallic and magical shields. Once they got close enough, they took position in front of a small gap within the wall of flame that safely led into Ponyville.

"Thank you for your well timed assist," Luna thanked Rainbow and Spike.

"It's no prob," Rainbow said. "You can actually thank that captain of yours for letting us come to help you."

"So then, how fares the fight over there?"

"They're holding off."

"But they were starting to look tired before we left," Spike added.

"Very well," Luna began. "Once we're done, all of you will head over to Twilight's Castle to rest. The barrier my sister has set up will only allow ponies inside. After you're all in, I'll head on over to-"

Luna was cutoff by a loud roar. Hearing it, everypony turned to the direction of the noise.

"What was that?" Kite wondered.

"It was the ursa," Luna answered before it roared out again.

"What was going on before you two left?" Aura asked Rainbow and Spike.

"Last I saw as we were flying away," Spike began. "Dark had the ursa major incased if a pillar of fire."

Following his answer came a third roar, but this one was different. This one was higher pitched, almost more of a screech. But what was most eerie about it was that it had an echo effect, making it sound as though several others were screeching with it in unison. Seconds after hearing it, there was a loud bang accompanied by a equally loud crunching sound. But things didn't stop there as the ground beneath their hooves began to quake, knocking most of them off balance before falling to the ground, including the timberwolves. After it was all over, there was a deathly quiet sound as every pony, dragon, and timberwolf looked in the direction the noises came from. The only sound that they could hear at that point were Spike's fires near them, and their own breathing.

"That wasn't an ursa," Luna slowly spoke.

"Then what was it?" Aura wondered.

"A dragon."

"But I'm the only dragon here," Spike reminded them.

"I know who that is," Rainbow began answering, everyone's attention turning towards her. "It's Dark."

Chapter 16- Invasion: Part III

"What in the hay is that kid thinking?" Iron Guard muttered to himself as he charged forward into the main group of timberwolves.

After the two talked, Dark had an idea for how to defeat the ursa major and the army of timberwolves, but wouldn't tell him what it was. All that Dark asked was for Iron Guard to switch with him for a few minutes so he could get ready. Since then, Iron Guard tried to figure out Dark's plan, only to come up with nothing. Turning his attention back towards the few hundred timberwolves that he was now dumped with, Iron Guard began swinging away at them.

As he continued to cut any nearby timberwolves in half, the ursa spotted him. Not caring about who he attacked with how enraged he was, the ursa charged towards Iron Guard. Feeling and seeing it approaching him, he began charging a short-range teleportation spell. Once the ursa got close enough, Iron Guard teleported himself onto the ursa's head. Getting his footing on it, he began swinging his two blades at the base of the ursa's neck, trying to do whatever damage he could to it. He just broke the tough hide of the ursa before it felt him on the back of its neck and tried to shake him off, but he wouldn't be so easy to get rid of as Iron Guard casted a spell that held his hooves in place.

With him firmly secured now, Iron Guard continued slashing away, digging inch by inch deeper into the ursa's neck. Becoming irritated with the pest on his back, the ursa moved his claw up to swipe away at it. Seeing it coming from his peripheral vision, Iron Guard deactivated the spell and ran down its neck and onto its back. With the ursa barely missing him, he looked irritatingly towards the area of the battlefield that Spike had lit on fire.

By Celestia's mane boy, Iron Guard irritatingly thought. What is it that your planning?

Over in the other section of the battlefield, Dark was using the three orbs to create a ring of fire as he ran through the timberwolves, and towards the flames. Every timberwolf that got hit by one of the orbs were met with a burning hole in their head. As he continued to run towards the flames, he began to smile upon being able to use his Amplify again after what felt like ages for him. The longest he'd gone without using it while back in Stonewall Village was five days at the most. Now, it's been over two weeks since the last time that he used it. With that in thought, he picked up his pace.

Now, while it would've been a better idea to just fly overhead and straight into the flames, that would've left him with a slight problem. When Dark draws in the flames around him, he's immobile during that time and unable to move, but can still cast spells. He has tried to fix that problem, but that would require a partner to train with, and seeing as how everypony in his old village didn't care to help him, he was left to abandon any chances he had with it. Besides that, though, Dark also didn't want to just leave all of those timberwolves for the guards to deal with if he could still do something about it.

Soon enough, he made it to Spike's flames. Firing off the rest of his Explosive Fire Needles, Dark lifted a claw to touch the flames. Seeing as how they didn't burn, or even feel hot against him, Dark casually walked into the fire. As he walked in, though, Applejack saw what he was doing.

"Did he really just walk into those fires?" she asked in disbelief.

"Don't worry about it, Applejack," Pinkie happily told her. "Besides, we know that dragons are fireproof, and Dark is part dragon."

"Ah suppose, but why would he do that?"

Seeing the flames that Dark walked into starting to move, Pinkie stopped firing her cannon to watch.

"I think we're about to find out."

The fires began moving and twisting unnaturally. Those flames closest to Dark began shifting into a vortex with the top if it appearing to be sinking inward, while those farther away were arching through the air and in through the top. As the fires were siphoned into the fiery twister, a low growl sounded from within. Any timberwolves that were still nearby began running away from it as fast as they could, while those who were in the back not fighting had turned to watch, curious as to what was going on in there. Even the hydra and ursa were looking towards it. But, as the twisting fires began to pick up speed, a pair of golden eyes could be seen glowing through it.

Seconds later, the flaming vortex began to recede from the ground and into Dark's flaming mane. While he still had the burning mane like he always had before, you could now see the veins beneath the fur of his claws, arms, wings, and tail glowing orange as though he had fire flowing through his body rather than blood. Another difference that he noticed was that he could practically feel his unicorn magic coursing not through his horn, but also into his arms and claws. Lifting a claw to quickly test it, Dark lit his claw on fire. It didn't burn or hurt, he couldn't even feel any warmth radiating from it. All that it did was encase his claw in a fire that soon began reshaping itself into the shape of a burning claw.

Fire Claws, Dark thought as he chuckled to himself at the timing of it. Guess I just learned a new spell.

Lighting his other claw to match, Dark tuned back to the ursa. Spreading his wings, Dark gave a mighty flap, launching him skyward while also leaving behind burning embers. As he flew towards the ursa major, Dark was also unknowingly causing embers to fall from his wings onto the timberwolves below him. As they landed on the timberwolves, the embers quickly ignited them, causing them to run in a panic, but there was nothing that they could do as Dark continued to shower them in his embers. While he flew, his mane also flickered in the wind, leaving a trail of fire and smoke in his wake.

"Captain! Move!" Dark shouted out to Iron Guard.

Hearing Dark's incoming warning, he looked all around for a way to get off the ursa major he was riding on. As he looked around on top of the ursa he was standing on, he saw that there wasn't any safe place where he could teleport off to. Anywhere that was within distance of his teleportation was covered in timberwolves. It wasn't until he heard a voice above him though that he found his safe zone.

"Hey!" Applejack called from the balloon hovering above him. "Need a lift?"

"Thanks," Iron Guard happily thanked before teleporting up into the basket.

With their new passenger onboard, Pinkie steered the balloon up and way from the ursa. Taking a moment to catch his breath from dodging the ursa on its back, Iron Guard looked around the balloon to see what had happened to it. After taking a look at the modified war balloon, Iron Guard and Applejack made their way over to the basket's rim.

"You wouldn't have by chance known of what his plan was, would you?" he asked.

"You mean besides walkin' into the fire and comin' out lookin' like that? Can't say that Ah did," Applejack answered.

"Me neither," Pinkie shrugged.

"Well, whatever he did, I can feel that it drastically increased his magical output," Iron Guard told them. "And he already had a lot of magic to begin with. The question now is how much of a power boost did he get?"

While they continued talking away up in the safety of the balloon, Dark was closing in on the ursa major. During his flight, he noticed the embers that were coming from his wings, but as they were falling on the timberwolves instead of the guards, Dark didn't pay much mind to it, figuring that it was probably just a temporary thing. Then, before he knew it, he was hovering in front of the ursa's face.

"Ready for round two?" Dark asked. "Though, it probably won't be much of a match."

Angered by his comment at the end there, the ursa roared at Dark before charging him. While it still towered over him like a lion to a mouse, what it didn't know is that he was much stronger now. As the ursa charged, Dark remained where he hovered. Then, at the last second, Dark gave a power flap to his wings, causing the embers falling from his wings to be blown into the ursa's eyes. Immediately the ursa reared on its hind legs, holding its eyes with its front claws as it roared in pain. While it was blinded, Dark flew forward, gaining a burst of speed from the power boost of his Amplify and giving the ursa a full-body tackle in its stomach. The force behind the hit was strong enough to knock it off its feet, and fall onto its back.

Recovering from the impact, Dark made his way down to land on the ground. As he descended, the surrounding timberwolves watched him, believing that he would be their next meal. However, before he landed, Dark's mane came to life as ten fiery tendrils formed, each being the size of when he fought Nocturne, thus giving him plenty of range for his tendrils to strike at.

Lashing them outward, each tendril didn't cleave through their target so much as they burned clean through them. With the area now cleared of timberwolves, Dark landed. Taking a look around, he saw that the rest of the timberwolves began collapsing in on him, along with the two hydras that he'd completely forgot about. Giving a tired sigh with having to dealing with so much fighting in one day, Dark began swinging his fiery tendrils like a buzz saw, cutting down every timberwolf that dared to get too close to him. And with each tendril being over sixty-five feet long, he had plenty of space cleared out for him. After a few moments of them not learning their lesson, the timberwolves finally backed away from Dark, allowing him to have his space and watch him while the two hydras walked over to the edge of the clearing.

As they charged him, Dark used his tendrils like springs and launched himself directly towards the closest one. The hydras didn't expect this, which left Dark free to deal away with the first one. As he got close enough, he lashed out a tendril at the hydra's four necks and pulled himself closer to them. Once he was close enough, Dark began bringing them together before sending another two to wrap around all four necks to hold them together. Then, with his four free tendrils, he sliced through them, lopping off their heads in one swing. With that one out of the way, Dark launched himself towards the second one. This time, though, as he continued rocketing towards it, he brought his ten tendrils together like a spearhead. Impacting the hydra's chest, Dark barely felt any resistance as he pierced through it, leaving a gaping hole as he came out the hydra's back. He turned around just in time to see the hydra's lifeless body crash onto the ground, and to see the ursa now taking its turn as it approached.

Its eyes were bloodshot now, but still functional. However, it didn't change the fact that it was angrier now more than ever, and wanted Dark to pay for it, despite his orders to take him alive. Without wanting to waste another moment, the ursa charged after Dark again.

Shaking his head, Dark stayed his ground, equally ready to end this fight. Bringing his tendrils together, he fused the ten of them together to make one large flaming tendril, easily doubling it's size. Once the ursa was close enough, Dark lashed his massive tendril out. It struck the ursa's left foreleg, slicing and burning it clean off just above the wrist. Giving a loud roar that echoed across the sky, the ursa fell to the ground, creating a small groove as it skid to a stop fifty feet in front of Dark. Angered by having its claw lopped off, it got back up on its three remaining limbs. Letting out a sigh, Dark then took the other claw, causing the ursa to loudly roar again. As it fell back flat on the ground, it lifted its head and began looking murderously at Dark.

"And now it ends," Dark spoke to it.

Pouring more magic into his flaming tendril of a mane, Dark began reforming the end of it into a flaming draconic claw. While he did that, the magic he emanated was causing him to start hovering a few feet off the ground. As he continued, he could feel the immense power flowing through him. Once he was magically hovering ten feet off the ground, Dark had finally formed a claw easily the size of the ursa's head at the end of his tendril. Looking from it back over to the downed ursa major, Dark gave it a nod of respect before deciding to put it down.

After taking in a deep breath, Dark let out an unnatural draconic screech that was heard across the skies. It was eerie with its echo effect, reminding him of a certain black dragon that he fought with who had the same roar. As he continued roaring to the ursa, every timberwolf on the battlefield stopped fighting and looked in fear at him. Still letting out his roaring screech, Dark swung his head around in a circle, causing the tendril to follow around like a whip. After making two full rotations, Dark flung his head forward, manipulating the flaming claw to ball up into a fist and come crashing down on the ursa's head. Upon impact, the flaming fist crushed the ursa's skull, causing it to cave in while the fist continued downward from the power and momentum put behind it. It brought what little left of the skull with it as it continued smashing into the earth, causing an impact crater to form and for the ground to start quaking, though Dark didn't feel it as his overpowering magic kept him suspended in mid-air.

Seeing as how the ursa was dead for good, Dark allowed the flaming tendril to recede back into him, leaving a flaming mane in its place. As he did, his magic also receded with it, causing him to gently be lowered back down to the ground. Looking in pity at the ursa he had to kill, Dark turned to look at the surrounding timberwolves as the last few hundred of them were in full retreat, wanting to get as far away from him as they could. It wasn't until they were out of sight in the forest that Dark allowed himself to fall to his rump with a sigh of relief.

Up in the balloon, Iron Guard, Applejack, and Pinkie Pie were looking slack-jawed at Dark. They were all stunned by the amount of power he showed to everypony, and perhaps a little scared of him. It wasn't until a few moments later that one of them finally spoke up.

"Never in all of my years," Iron Guard muttered beneath his breath.

"Come again?" Applejack asked.

"Never in all of my years in the guard have I seen such a display of power... besides that of the princesses, that is."

"No kiddin'. Just how powerful is Dark right now anyway?"

"Hold on a sec, I'll check," Pinkie said as she lifted her hat off and reached into her mane.

When she pulled out her hoof, she was holding in it what looked like a white metallic device that went over her ear. It also had a black button on the side, and a white metallic arm that curved around in front of your eye. On the end of that arm was a red glass screen with yellow numbers and other symbols on it. Putting it on, Pinkie looked back over to Dark before pressing the button to turn it on, causing the device to start beeping and for the numbers on it to begin shuffling around.

"Uh, Pinkie?" Applejack began asking. "What is that thin' exactly?"

"Oh, you mean this?" she replied, pointing to the device on her ear. "It's a scanner that tells me the magic levels of somepony."

"That's neat," Iron Guard complimented. "Where did you get one of those, and are there more of them?"

"Sorry, but that's a secret that I'm never to reveal."

It went on beeping for only five more second though before it stopped, showing to Pinkie the results of the scan. Hearing it go silent, Iron Guard was the first to speak up.

"So," he began. "What does the scanner say about his magic level."

Taking the scanner into her hoof, Pinkie began to crush it in her hooves while saying, "Its over Nine-" She cut herself off. Letting out a sigh, Pinkie, instead of crushing the scanner like she had originally planned, decided to put it back into her mane before placing her hat back on her head. "You know what? That meme has been overused so much that I'm not even going to bother doing it. Let's just say that his magic levels are very high right now."

Confused by her previous statement about some meme, they instead decided to ignore it and go with the answer she gave at the end. They all knew that whatever Dark did with those flames that Spike left behind did something to him to give him a power boost and left it at that. If they wanted answers, then they'd have to ask Dark directly. However, although their battle was won, there were still two others raging at the outskirts of Ponyville, and over at Twilight's Castle.

With the timberwolves completely cleared out, Pinkie began lowering the balloon to land. Once it was floating a few feet off the ground, the three ran over to Dark, who now had his breathing under control from all the magic and adrenaline pumping through him earlier. As they walked up to him, they glanced over to the fallen ursa major. It wasn't nearly as messy as what they thought it would be. Since the fist that crushed its skull was made of fire, it had cauterized on impact, leaving barely any blood splatter on the grass.

"Where in Tartarus did that come from?!" Iron Guard asked, almost borderline demanded.

"A unique ability that allows me to absorb the fires of others to increase my magic," Dark answered. "And judging by the look of my mane from the amount that I absorbed, I still have a few more minutes left before my magic boost wears off."

"So, this power that you have..." Applejack slowly trailed off.

"Is only temporary," Dark finished. "If I had more fire to absorb, then it would last longer and give me more power."

"So... all you needed to defeat the ursa and hydras, and to cause the timberwolves to run off scared, was some more fire?" Iron Guard guessed.

"As long as it's not my own, then yes. I can't use my Amplify on any flames that I myself created."

"If that's the case, then why didn't you ask us to use fire magic so you could use it and finish this battle sooner?"

Dark didn't answer. The thought was perfectly doable, and he didn't even think of something as simple as that. With the heat of battle, the thought never even crossed his mind. Unable to form words, Dark's only answer to him was a facepalm.

"You didn't bother ta think of it, did ya?" Applejack figured.

"... yea, pretty much," Dark answered before turning towards Twilight's Castle. "So, who's going where? We have two more battlefields left to clear out."

"We can go to Ponyville and help the guards there," Pinkie answered. "Besides." She leaned closer to Dark with a mischievous grin on her face. "You're worried about Twilight, aren't you?"

Ignoring the look that she was giving him, Dark nodded.

"In that case, we better be off," Applejack told them. "Unless you have any disagreements, Captain."

"You two go on ahead without me," he told the two mares. "I need to gather the guards here and check in on their condition. No doubt that there'll be some that will need medical attention."

With that, Iron Guard gave the three a salute before galloping over to his guards. As he left, Dark, Applejack, and Pinkie bid each other a quick goodbye, but Pinkie was a bit hesitant, something of which was quickly picked up upon.

"Something wrong, Pinkie?" Dark wondered.

"It's just that I was wanting to give you a 'good luck and be safe' hug, but I don't want to burn myself on your mane," Pinkie answered.

Turning to look back at his mane, Dark saw what she meant and gave out a light chuckle.

"It's alright, Pinkie," he told her. "I can control the temperature of my mane when it's like this. I promise, it won't burn you if you touch it."

Hesitantly, Pinkie reached a hoof closer to his flaming mane. Not feeling any extreme heat coming off of it, she proceeded to touch it. When she did, it felt warm, like she had dipped her hoof in a bathtub full of warm water. After a few seconds of playing with her hoof in his mane, she then proceeded to give Dark his hug. Once she was done, she turned around and hopped back to the balloon, leaving Applejack behind.

"Are you wanting one too?" Dark half-jokingly asked.

"Thanks, but Ah'm good," Applejack chuckled. "Though Ah do hope that you'll be careful."

"As much as I can."

Taking what she could get, Applejack gave a tip of her hat before walking off to catch up with Pinkie. After seeing them leave, Dark turned around and proceeded to flap his wings. The time on the ground did well to help relax his wings and let them recover from so much use. Once he was airborne, he proceed on making his way towards Twilight's Castle in hopes to help them before things got too bad.

A few minutes earlier, inside her castle, Twilight and the guards were doing what they could to hold off the alpha timberwolves that had broken through her front door. Behind their blockade, they began firing at them the moment they entered the castle. But, although they were holding them back, their magical blasts didn't completely destroy all that were hit. Instead, some of the alpha timberwolves simply fell apart before reassembling themselves. As more and more began filing through the door and into the hallway, Twilight started to wonder just how long they could hold out before it was too late for them.

"Keep firing!" Twilight commanded from her spot at the barricade. "We have to keep them from getting to the villagers."

"Yes, Your Highness!" the guards answered.

Without relenting, they continued to shoot down every alpha timberwolf that came close to them, but no matter how hard they tried, they just kept coming. While Twilight and the guards were busy keeping the alpha timberwolves away, Fluttershy was standing behind them. As she watched, she allowed for a few tears to fall for what was happening to them. Although she knew that they could just reassemble themselves, Fluttershy still felt bad that they were being shot to pieces so repeatedly. The sight of it would have normally made her run so that she couldn't watch anymore, but she also knew that doing that wouldn't change anything. Taking a step forward, Fluttershy began walking over to the barricade. She was up to it and beside Twilight when the roar of an ursa major echoed through the crystal halls.

"What was that?" one of the guards wondered out loud.

"That's an ursa major," Twilight explained before a second roar was heard.

"Twilight," Fluttershy called. "It sounded like it was hurt."

"But what could hurt an ursa major like that?"

Before a guess could be made, a third roar followed. This one, though, was more of a screech, and had a echo effect to it. Upon hearing it, Fluttershy immediately fell to the floor, covering her face with her hooves while everypony and alpha timberwolf went silent. Then the castle began to shake, causing the alpha timberwolves stop the charge and look in the direction of the sound while the ponies stopped firing to do the same.

"What was that then?" another guard asked.

Twilight was quiet, not sure how to answer that. She had a good idea of what, or who, that was, but something wasn't right about it. Focusing, she could feel the power emanating from him all the way from the stands where he was. She could feel Dark's power, but she could also feel a trace of power which was his, but also wasn't his. It confused Twilight, causing her to miss Fluttershy as she walked past her and over to the other side of the barricade. She didn't know until she heard the guards calling out to Fluttershy, telling her "Get back here!" or "It's dangerous!". But as she walked up to the alpha timberwolf that lead the charge, she stopped, looking up to it in its eyes.

Though the Stare was generally used to command animals, and to occasional persuade a pony or two, it also allowed her to see into the animal's mind. Within, she saw what happened to them. She saw how they were tracked down, controlled by a cloaked figure to form an army made of Everfree creatures, and the last assignment that this particular one was sent on. Breaking contact with it, Fluttershy looked to the claw mark on its face from its last fight. Gently lifting a hoof up, she placed it on the alpha timberwolve's forehead, and began petting it.

"You poor thing," she softly spoke, tears forming in her eyes. "Why would somepony force you to do something like this?

With a small whimper, the alpha timberwolf laid down before her as she kept petting it. It then began barking and whimpering to Fluttershy, telling her of what happened to him and the rest of Everfree creatures. As she listened, more and more of the other alpha timberwolves walked up and sat down beside Fluttershy while their story was told. It was quite a sight, seeing her surrounded by one of the most deadliest creatures in the Everfree Forest as though she were their mother. The guards couldn't even react to it as they were too baffled by the sight before them, while Twilight, knowing Fluttershy's way with wild creatures, was a bit more reserved. With a smile of how proud she was of Fluttershy for more-or-less ending the attack and saving everypony there, Twilight walked past the blockade and over beside her. As she took her seat, Fluttershy turned to face her while still petting the alpha timberwolve's head, which was now resting on her lap.

"I know what's been going on with them," Fluttershy began explaining. "Somehow, somepony was able to control them all. He had ordered them to attack Dark last week, and then Ponyville today."

"Do they know what this pony looks like?" Twilight asked.

After some light barking from the alpha timberwolf, Fluttershy answered, "They don't know because he kept his cloak on and hood up whenever they saw him. They don't even know if he's a pony or not."

"Alright," Twilight sighed. "But what was his goal in these attacks?"

Listening to it again, Fluttershy's eyes went wide. She didn't expect something like this, and didn't even want to relay the message. However, she knew that Twilight deserved to know.

"He says that he doesn't know why this cloaked thing wants Dark dead, but as for why they were sent here... well..."

"Fluttershy?" Twilight softly spoke. "What's wrong?"

"He... he said that they were sent to capture you," she finally answered.

"Really? Isn't that a bit risky of them?"

"Apparently he wanted you captured because he knows about you and Dark, and how you two feel for each other." Fluttershy hesitated, not wanting to continue. Feeling a gentle hoof on her shoulder, she allowed herself to calm down before continuing. "By what this alpha timberwolf has told me, he wanted you captured so that he could personally kill you in front of Dark."

Hearing her explanation, Twilight recoiled as she looked over the group of alpha timberwolves in wide-eyed fear. When none of them looked back to her, she addressed Fluttershy.

"And... what about now?" she unsteadily asked.

"Well," Fluttershy began. "Turns out that when I used the Stare to look into this one's mind, it severed the link between all of the alpha timberwolves, and the one controlling them.... wherever he is."

"I was able to detect him riding on top of a manticore up above the castle," Twilight told her. "If you can use your Stare on one of the manticores, then could you free them from his spell too?"

"I might," she slowly answered. "But they would have to be within a few feet for it to take full effect."

Twilight sighed. "Then that probably won't work, judging by how they were acting when I last saw them."

Any further conversation was interrupted by a cry of pain being heard through the castle. Judging by the direction it came from, it sounded like it came from outside. Lighting her horn, Twilight quickly looked back to Fluttershy.

"I'm going to see Celestia about that noise. I trust that you can handle them from here?"

"Of course," Fluttershy nodded.

"The rest of you," Twilight announced, turning to address the guards. "While I'm gone, Fluttershy will be in command. I expect you to listen to her as though it were me saying it."

Receiving a group of salutes, Twilight teleported herself up to the balcony beside Princess Celestia. As the light faded from her teleporting, she took a second to take her in, seeing her more tired than when she had left her as a few beads of sweat dripped from her forehead.

"Are you alright, Princess?"

"I'm fine, Twilight," Celestia answered.

"What was that scream earlier? It almost sounded like a stallion."

"You're right. It was him," she said, pointing up to where the cloaked figure was.

Taking a look into her telescope, Twilight saw that he was fiddling with something beneath his cloak and appeared to be quite frantic. As she continued to watch him, she could have sworn that she saw a strand of smoke coming from within the darkness of his cloak. Removing her eye from the lens, Twilight looked back up to Celestia.

"It almost looks like he's in pain," Twilight began relaying. "Whatever he has hidden beneath his cloak appears to be burning him, judging by the way he's messing with it, and from the smoke I saw coming out from his cloak."

"Then this fight might be over quicker than what I had thought, and with us all coming out safely," Celestia smiled before looking confusingly at Twilight. "By the way, what happened to the alpha timberwolves that broke into the castle?"

"Oh, right! Apparently, after those sets of roars, Fluttershy was able to use her Stare on one of the alpha timberwolves, causing whatever link that cloaked figure has to them to sever."

"And now?"

"They're all huddled around her as though she were their mother," Twilight giggled. "They were also whimpering when I left, probably apologizing to her if I had to guess."

"Well, that must have been quite a sight."

"It was." Twilight paused when their reason fore being here resurfaced in her mind. "Also, she found out why they were all sent here specifically."

With her full attention, Celestia sat down to listen to what Twilight was told about their attack. She told her about the details on the attack against Dark last week, and the conditions on success for the attack on the castle. With the knowledge that Twilight was being deliberately targeted, Celestia's face turned dark.

"That little coward," she growled. "How dare he resort to using this sort of tactic."

"What tactic are you talking about, Princess?"

Celestia sighed. "It's one of the oldest, and most cowardice ways. When somepony is unable to defeat somepony else, they will sometimes instead target a loved one to get to them. In this case, since his plan to kill Dark failed, he thought that going after you and killing you would draw Dark out to him and break him."

"What do you mean by 'break him'?"

"Picture it like this, Twilight. How would you feel if somepony killed Dark right in front of you?"

As Twilight thought about it, her face turned one of fear and sorrow. Shaking her head to put the thought out of her mind, Twilight turned her attention back to Celestia.

"I think I understand. It would be like how I felt after Tirek destroyed the Golden Oaks Library, but much, much worse."

Seeing the unease on her, Celestia walked up beside Twilight before draping a wing over her.

"You don't have anything to worry about, Twilight," she softly spoke. "As long as Luna and I are here, we won't let anything like that happen to you. You also have the guards here to protect you as well. Besides, I don't think that Dark would stand for it either."

Though Twilight was still shaken, she was feeling a little better and began leaning her head against Celestia's neck. It reminded her of the time when she was a filly under Celestia's tutelage, and how she would do this for her when she felt overwhelmed or scared about something. It was an old comfort that she would never be tired of anytime soon. With her unease now manageable, Twilight looked back up to the manticores that were still assaulting the barrier.

"So," she began. "What are we going to do about them?"

Hearing the low rumble of thunder, Celestia and Twilight looked off in the distance to see a large group of storm clouds quickly rolling in. Soon after, they head what sounded like the flapping of wings. Looking ahead over Ponyville, Celestia could make out something flying towards them. Walking over to Twilight's telescope, she looked into the eyepiece to see who it was. Removing her eye from it, Celestia smiled down to Twilight.

"Oh, I wouldn't worry about them," Celestia said.

The cloaked figure was doubled over in pain from the burning on his chest.

Damn it all, did he seriously just kill a freaking ursa major?! he thought as the thing on his chest started burning again. Oh, that's just bucking great! Now those freaking alpha timberwolves are free of me, all of the hydras are dead, and the army that was with the ursa have retreated back into the forest!

"Faster!" he shouted to the manticores. "I want this barrier down NOW!"

Heeding his command, the manticores began pounding away at the barrier harder and faster than they were before. As he continued to watch them work, his gaze fell over Celestia and Twilight. Seeing them, he began to sneer for how difficult they were making this for him. But, while his attention was kept on the two, he heard a low rumble off to his side. Turning to look, he saw that a group of storm clouds were rolling in.

"Oh, great. Now there's a storm coming in," he muttered to himself before noticing something unusual about them.

Pulling out his spyglass, he looked over towards the clouds. As he guessed, they were storm clouds. But what he didn't expect was that they were begin carried not by weather ponies, but by the off duty pegasus guards that came with Celestia and Luna. Seeing them split into two groups, he looked over to where the second group was heading, which was straight for his army of timberwolves attacking Ponyville.

We're going to be so bucked if we continue to stay here, he mentally concluded before looking back down to the barrier, seeing a crack on it. But we're so close to breaking through.

Weighing his two options, he decided to go for broke. They were still far enough away that they should be able to break through before they arrived. With his decision made, the cloaked figure turned his attention back towards the cracking barrier. It was close now to breaking, causing him to anxiously chuckle beneath his breath. As he continued to watch, hearing the sound of thunder coming closer, he also picked up on a second sound. It almost sounded like... wings flapping?

Turning his mount around to see what was behind him to make such a sound, he brought up his spyglass up to his eye. It was then that the cloaked figure's eyes began to widened. Flying straight for them, leaving a trail of fire and smoke behind as he flew, was Dark. And from the look on his face, he wasn't too happy. As he drew closer, the cloaked figure could see flames leaking from Dark's maw. Then, he did something he found unusual. Dark began to start spinning around while flying towards him and his fleet of manticores. Seeing what he was planning, the cloaked figure quickly put away his spyglass before calling to his fleet.

"Get everyone out of her now! We're retreating back into the Everfree Forest!" he shouted out loud, not bothering to address them through his 'other means', as it was still burning against his chest.

Hearing his frantic shouting, the manticores looked up to see what he was talking about. By this point, Dark's spinning caused the fires that came from his maw to start spinning with him, causing him to imitate a flaming drill while the fires danced behind him in the same spiraling pattern.

"Manticores, intercept Dark and stop him!" the cloaked figure ordered as he tried flying away on his mount.

Seeing Dark flying in at a faster pace, the cloaked figure knew that unless the manticores distracted him that he himself would be captured. Unknowing of his true intent behind the order, the manticores abandoned the barrier and went for Dark. They were over a section of Ponyville by the time they encountered him, but none of them could get close enough to him to actually do anything.

While the manticores could get close, the spiraling flames were too hot for them to get any swipes in. With that said, they got out of his way, or at least they tried to. Most of them were able to get out of his flight path, but those that weren't fortunate enough were hit by Dark. What they didn't know, though, was that during his spiraling, Dark moved his claws in front of him. Between the sharpness of his claws, and the speed of his rotations, he might as well have been a drill as he tore straight through any manticore that got in his way. Thankfully, the flames managed to cauterize the wounds, even though they were already dead by that point, falling out of the sky and down onto Ponyville. Dark didn't seem to notice it as he changed his flight path and backed around for another pass.

Catching the manticores off guard by turning back around, Dark was able to get everyone of them in his path. Even some of the nearby manticores that weren't directly hit were still affected by the flames protruding off of him, their wings being caught on fire and losing altitude. While they were keeping him busy, the cloaked figure was able to slip by on his manticore off towards the Everfree Forest. No longer did he care about the fate of the army that he once felt proud for. At this point, his only concern was for his own safety, and to not be captured.

"Don't think that just because you've beaten my armies means that you've won, Dark," he muttered. "I swear, you will see me again." He turned to steer his mount towards his hideout within the forest. "For now, though, I'll have to lay low. And with winter coming soon, I won't be able to make another move until spring at the earliest. That is, unless an opportunity presents itself that could be in my favor."

He thought for a moment, thinking of different places to hide out. Ponyville would be too great of a risk at this point. Especially with him not being in with the rest of the villagers in the castle, which would cause ponies to start asking where he was during the attack. With that option out of the question, he had only one other place in mind for the moment. It could be considered to be risky to some, living right beneath Celestia's and Luna's nose, but they would never think to look for him there. That, and he had some loose ends to tie up.

After they finally landed in front of ruins of the Castle of the Two Sisters, the cloaked figure went inside. After picking up his saddlebag and longsword, and strapping them on, he reached beneath his cloak. With a firm yank, he pulled out a bronze amulet with a cracked emerald bear claw as its center piece.

"The Beast Master's Amulet," the cloaked figured muttered while looking at the cracked gemstone. "Guess I no longer have any use for it now, considering how damaged it is."

With no intent of keeping it, he simply dropped the amulet onto the castle's stone floor before trotting out to his manticore. But his amulet, though damaged as it was, still kept the manticore under his command while he held it. No longer carrying the amulet, the manticore looked to the cloaked figure with vengeful intent. Giving a snort, the cloaked figure emanated a blinding light from within the darkness of his cloak. With the manticore blinded, he unsheathed his sword before quickly flew past the manticore's face. As he landed, the manticore's head slowly slid off its neck and onto the ground. Looking back to the dead beast, the cloaked figure gave out a loud humph before sheathing his sword and flying into the forest, making sure to fly just beneath the tree canopy as to not be spotted by any pegasi that might be searching the skies for him.

Over on the outskirts of Ponyville, Luna, Rainbow, Spike, and the guards were doing what they could to keep the timberwolves from attacking the town, and themselves. Though try as they did, they couldn't keep all of them out, which allowed those that did make it past to start rampaging. Even a few of the timberwolves that Spike had managed to set on fire were running into some of the buildings, setting them on fire before crumbling to the floor.

"This isn't good!" Spike panicked, seeing the timberwolves getting into the village.

"Just keep doing what you can," Steel Hoof told him.

"But at the rate things are going here, Ponyville will be either rundown, or burnt down in no time!" Rainbow started to panic.

Luna was about to comment, but she held her tongue when she heard a familiar rumble nearby. Turning to look behind her, she could see a group of storm clouds that were nearly on top of them, along with a modified balloon with a cannon jutting out from the bottom of it. With a satisfied sigh for the added help, and a shake of her head in amusement for Pinkie's antics, she began to relax herself.

"It appears that our reinforcements have arrived," she announced.

"What do you-" Rainbow was cutoff by the sound of a cannon firing off.

Turning to look up, she and everyone else saw Pinkie's balloon cannon firing into the group of timberwolves. As they continued looking at it in confusion, the could see Applejack dropping bombs off the side of the basket. They were all silent before Spike finally spoke up.

"Okay, just what did we miss exactly for this to happen?" he wondered.

"I have no idea," Rainbow replied, equally as lost.

While they were watching the balloon, the off duty pegasi guards and their storm clouds had moved over them. Once they were situated, they allowed for the rain that the clouds held to start falling and started putting out the flames. As they were doing that, they also started kicking the clouds, assisting Applejack and Pinkie by causing lightning to strike out at the timberwolves beneath them. With the lightning striking near them, Luna and the rest of the unicorns erected another barrier to protect them from the storm around them. Helpless against the pegasi and the balloon, the timberwolves began to retreat out of Ponyville and back into the safety of the Everfree Forest. While most were able to make it out, there were still plenty that got hit by the lightning. Once the timberwolves were completely cleared from Ponyville, the pegasi ceased their attack and let the rain continue putting out the fires.

With the timberwolves gone, everypony, and dragon, began erupting into cheers for their victory in defending most of Ponyville from their attack. As they continued to cheer, Pinkie lowered the balloon for her and Applejack to land. Once they did, they were immediately greeted by Spike and Rainbow.

"What in the hay happened to the balloon?!" Rainbow asked. "It's awesome!"

"Remember that button that Spike wanted ta press?" Applejack reminded them.

"You mean that that button did all of that?" Spike guessed.

"Eeyup."

"And you got to wear a moustache, Pinkie?"

"Sorry, Spike," Pinkie apologized. "I was going to give you your own moustache and let you join me, but things got changed around. So instead, it was Applejack who stayed with me."

"That's okay. After all, I got to fly and breath fire at the same time," Spike happily told her.

"While it's good to see you two safe," Luna began as she walked up to them. "We still have to get to the castle. When I left, it was being attacked by a fleet of manticores, and an army of timberwolves."

"Then let's go," Applejack announced, turning to get back into the basket.

"You have fought long and hard," Luna said addressing the guards. "You may stay to recuperate and tend to any that are injured."

"Yes, Your Highness," they all answered with a salute.

"Let us be off then," she said before taking to the skies, back towards the castle.

She wasn't alone, though, as Pinkie and Applejack were right behind her in the balloon, thanks to Pinkie hitting a button that caused a pair of thrusters to appear from the backside of the balloon basket and giving them their extra speed. She could also see Rainbow flying alongside her with Spike riding on her back, holding onto her mane to keep himself from falling off. As the five made their way towards Twilight's Castle, they noticed the fleet of manticores gathered away from the barrier. But, what really surprised them was a trail of spiraling flames and smoke that was drilling through the manticores. Once it had reached the end of the fleet, it would turn back around and pierce through the group again.

As they flew closer, they could see a second group of off duty pegasi guards with storm clouds of their own, picking off any manticores that were trying to escape. They had surrounded the manticore fleet, blocking them from the outside while also trapping them in.

Inside the fleet, Dark felt his magical boost starting to fade. Noticing that the manticores were all trapped together, he flew into the center of the group. As he hovered in place, he manipulated the rest of his flames around him, creating a ball of fire that encased him at the heart of it. Safe within his fiery orb, he began go gather the power that he had collected together in one spot. Once he felt his power peak, Dark let out a mighty roar, unleashing all of his magic and creating an explosion that consumed every last manticore. With Dark at the epicenter of the fiery explosion, he allowed for the massive ball of flame to last a little longer, watching as the manticores all turn to ash before finally allowing it wear off.

Feeling his Amplified magic and its side effects dissipate, and the fatigue from all the fighting catching up to him, Dark's wings began giving out on him. Soon, he found himself freefalling towards the ground. He didn't get too far, though, as he felt his descent had abruptly ended. Looking up, he saw that he was encased in Princess Luna's magical aura with Luna herself smiling down upon him. With him in her hold, she levitated him onto her back before she and the others continued to make their way to the caste. Seeing no timberwolves or magical barrier, and hearing no screams, they believed that the timberwolves had all been defeated. Soon they saw Celestia and Twilight standing on the balcony, waving them over to land.

First was Rainbow to land, letting Spike jump off before they ran over to Twilight and gave her a happy and thankful hug that she didn't get hurt, which she gladly returned. Next was Pinkie, who parked her balloon on the outside of the balcony railing so that she wouldn't take up any extra room. Once she had the balloon secured, she and Applejack jumped out and went over to join their friends. As they were enjoying the comfort in knowing that everyone made it out safe, Luna then landed beside Celestia with Dark half-asleep on her back. Looking up from her friends towards Luna, Twilight saw Dark draped over her back. Getting up, she went over to Luna's side to look over him.

"Is he okay?" she worryingly asked.

"I'm alright, just tired is all," Dark tiredly answered before sliding himself off of Luna. "Thank you for carrying me back, Princess."

"It wasn't of any trouble," Luna gratefully returned.

Standing on all fours, Dark began making his way towards the castle interior. He didn't get far, though, as his fatigue caused him to stumble a bit. Seeing him struggling, Twilight went up alongside him, offering herself for him to lean on for support while walking. As everyone on the balcony made their way back inside, Twilight looked curiously to Dark.

"So, what happened to you exactly?" she asked.

"Just a lot of fighting and spell casting," Dark replied.

"Would that include the blood that's been dried and burnt onto your coat?" Luna questioned.

Hearing her, Twilight took a closer look at Dark's coat. Though small as it was, she was still able to see a few traces a blood on him. Twilight then drew her attention from his coat to look him in the eyes, nervousness now plastered across his face.

"Dark," she firmly spoke. "What happened?"

"... I might've gotten mauled by the ursa once... or twice," he meekly replied.

Twilight sighed. "So, I guess that that wasn't a big deal to you either?"

Feeling as though he was treading dangerous waters, Dark figured to play it safe, especially after he remembered how she reacted back during his hospital stay.

"I swear, I was trying to be careful and didn't do anything stupid. But even in the middle of battle, I can't dodge everything that's thrown at me."

"He's right," Applejack defended. "Pinkie and Ah were right there watchin' the whole thin'. Dark tried ta keep his distance from it and use his magic against it, but after a while, even Ah could see that his flyin' speed was startin' ta slow down."

Looking from Applejack back to Dark, Twilight saw the still nervous look on his face. She still figured that Dark might have acted reckless at some point during his fight, but decided to trust him and Applejack.

"Alright," she said with a nod, which in turn made Dark sigh in relief.

They continued through the castle halls, making their way to the main entrance hall where Fluttershy and the rest of the guards would be. As they continued, Dark felt some of his strength returning, allowing for him to walk on his own. However, once they turned the corner, they all stopped where they were as they saw dozens of alpha timberwolves laying down in front of them with Fluttershy sitting at the front with one of them resting its head on her lap.

Upon seeing them, Dark flared his wings while emanating a low growl from is burning maw. Hearing him, the alpha timberwolves all shot their heads up to look at him. While they probably would've been somewhat alright with fighting him, seeing the three alicorns right behind him caused them to shake unsteadily. It wasn't until Dark got a good look at the one Fluttershy was caring for though that he charged straight for it. Recognizing the claw marks on its face, he was intending to finish what it had started last week. He didn't get very far as Fluttershy got up abruptly and blocked his path.

"What are you doing, Fluttershy?" Dark growled.

"I'm not going to let you hurt them," she told him, her soft voice replaced by one of firmness and finality.

"But that one-"

"I know," she interrupted. "He's one of the survivors from their failed attack on you from last week." Seeing as how Dark was confused about how she knew, she decided to fill him in on the details. "He told me about what happened. He also told me about how somepony was controlling them to do everything, from attacking you at the pond, to today."

Dark looked into her eyes. When he saw that she had no intention of budging on this matter, he looked behind her to see the alpha timberwolf cowering behind her. Letting out an irritated sigh, Dark turned around to the others.

"And what are their intentions now?" he asked.

"Now that they're free of him, they just want to go back home to the Everfree Forest," Fluttershy answered. "However, they couldn't go out before because of all of the fighting going on. That, and the other guards would probably attack them if they saw them."

"That's true," Luna agreed. "However, if I and a few of our guards were to escort them back into the forest, then they would be safe."

Turning to the alpha timberwolves, Fluttershy got a round of nods and some barks from a few of them before facing Luna.

"They all agree to you helping them," she relayed. "They also promised that they won't attack anypony."

With a nod, Luna gathered a few of the guards watching them to help escort them back into the Everfree Forest. Just as they were about to leave, Fluttershy went back over to them to say her goodbyes.

"You'll all be careful now, won't you?" she asked getting a few happy barks and pants in return. "That's good to hear. Also, would it be alright if I came to visit you once in a while?" Her reply this time was a collection of gentle licks from the alpha timberwolves, which caused her to joyfully giggle.

Once they were done thanking her, they began filing out of the caste and back towards the forest. Once they were all out, Celestia excused herself to go begin lowering the sun for the day.

"Well, I don't know about the rest of you, but if you're alright with it, I'm gonna turn in early," Dark groggily said.

"That's probably a good idea," Twilight agreed. "It's been a very long day, and I'm quite tired myself. You girls are welcome to stay the night here if you want."

"But what about everypony else?" Pinkie asked.

"We've already got them situated for the night. I didn't know how long the fighting would last, so I went on ahead and planed for everypony to stay here. Besides, I'm sure that some of them will need a place to stay with the damage to Ponyville."

"Yeah, not gonna lie there. Some of the timberwolves did destroy some of the houses," Rainbow admitted.

"Cool! So it's going to be like a giant sleepover!" Pinkie exclaimed. "Ooh, I better go tell everypony."

And with that, she was gone. Deciding to head off to their rooms, they made their way towards the stairs. Before they got there, though, a white blur ran past them and tackled Spike to the floor. Confused by what it was, Dark, Twilight, Rainbow, Applejack, and Fluttershy all turned around just in time to see Sweetie Belle tightly hugging Spike as she began kissing him fully on the lips. While surprised by the initial and sudden contact, Spike didn't waste any time and returned the kiss as he wrapped his arms around her. Seeing the two like that caused Fluttershy to let out an "aww" while everyone else silently looked down happily at the two. After a few moments, the two broke their kiss for some much needed air.

"I'm so happy that you're alright!" Sweetie Belle beamed.

"Wha?" Spike replied, still lost from kissing Sweetie Belle for the first time before shaking his head, snapping himself from his daze. "Oh, right! That's because I was riding on top of Rainbow while she was flying above them."

"Really?" she wondered with a cocked brow.

"Yep," Rainbow agreed. "While I was flying around above those timberwolves, Spike here would torch them with his fire breath. That way, both of us would be safe."

Untangling herself from Spike, Sweetie Belle went over and began hugging Rainbow.

"Thank you for keeping him safe, Rainbow," she thanked.

"Heh, no problem, kid," Rainbow replied while patting her on the head.

Releasing her hug, Sweetie Belle went back over to Spike. It was right after that that Rarity, Pinkie, and the rest of the Crusaders came into view.

"Pinkie just told us that you're allowing us to stay the night tonight?" Rarity asked.

"Yep. We were about to go call it a night before Sweetie Belle showed up," Twilight answered.

"I know. I was surprised of how quickly she was moving when Pinkie told us that everyone made it back safely." She then looked down to the young fillies. "And I suppose you three better head off to bed as well."

"Aww, but we're not tired yet," Apple Bloom complained.

"Yeah, we're not-" Scootaloo tired agreeing, but was stopped short as she yawned loudly.

"Are ya sure about that, sugarcube?" Applejack questioned.

"Feel free to pick out a room," Twilight told them. "In the meantime, I'm off to bed." She then turned to Dark. "But as for you, you really should go and clean yourself up. I don't want you getting your bedsheets ruined because you forgot to clean off the blood from your fighting."

Dark didn't say anything, and instead gave her a nod.

"And don't worry about work tomorrow," Applejack chimed. "After the day we had, Ah think that we all deserved a day off."

"You mean a day off to help rebuild the damage to the town, right?" Dark guessed.

"Hehehe, yeah, that too Ah suppose."

"Meh, oh well," he shrugged. "It's nothing new to me anyway."

With that said and done, they said their goodnights before heading to their rooms, while Dark made his way to grab a shower. He was happy with agreeing with Twilight as he felt the warm water cascading down his coat. It took a bit of effort, but after a good fifteen minutes of scrubbing down, he managed to get all of his blood out of his coat. Feeling clean and refreshed from his shower, Dark began drying himself off with his fire breath before heading off towards his room to sleep. As he made his way back to his room, he crossed paths with Celestia.

"Hello, Dark," she greeted him.

"Hello, Princess," he yawned.

"My, my, somepony sounds tired."

"I was just heading off to bed early, actually, same with everypony else. Twilight said that they're free to stay over for the night, and I would venture to guess that would include you and Princess Luna too."

"Yes, you're right. She actually has rooms reserved for Luna and myself, should we ever decide to drop by."

"Well in that case, I'll be heading off to bed then."

"Alright. Goodnight to you. Also, Dark?" she called, gaining his attention with a smile. "Thank you for all that you've done today."

"You're welcome, Princess, and goodnight to you too," he smiled back.

Twilight was both surprised and happy when she came into her room and saw the stuffed ursa minor doll sitting on her bed. After she tucked herself in, she brought it over to her and began cuddling with it. As she did, memories of what Celestia had told her about how and why she was targeted, began resurfacing in her mind. Trying to push those thoughts out of her head, she closed her eyes to try and fall asleep... it didn't work.

For the next few hours, she tossed and turned with her ursa doll, trying to fall asleep, but it wouldn't come so easily. The fear of the intent behind todays attack still lingered. With a huff of frustration, she looked up at the clock to see that it was 11 P.M. Shaking her head, she got out of bed and began making her way to the kitchen for a glass of warm milk. Downing the drink and rising the cup out in the sink, she then returned back up towards her room, just in time to catch Sweetie Belle sneaking up the stairs towards where her and Spike's rooms were.

"Can't sleep either?" Twilight softly asked, causing the filly to jump and squeak in surprise of being caught.

Turning around, Sweetie Belle began nervously rubbing her front hooves together.

"Yeah," she answered.

"Alright, but why are you up here?"

"Well... because..."

"It's alright, Sweetie," Twilight gently spoke, putting a hoof on her shoulder. "You can tell me."

Giving a sigh, Sweetie Belle began to answer. "Well, since I'm having a hard time sleeping, I figured that I could sleep with Spike tonight."

"Any particular reason why? I mean, how would Spike change that?"

"Because I feel safe and more relaxed when I'm with him," she meekly answered with a blush.

Safe and relaxed huh? Twilight thought. "And this works?"

"Well, for me it does."

Twilight smiled. "Alright, go ahead then."

Smiling back, Sweetie Belle gave her a quick hug before continuing towards Spike's room. Once she was out of sight, Twilight made her way down to the hallway where the guests rooms were at. Reaching a specific set of doors, Twilight stopped, her heart pounding away in her chest. Taking a moment to breath and calm herself, she gently knocked on the door. After a few attempts and getting no answer, she gently opened the door. Peeking inside, she saw Dark sleeping peacefully in his bed. Quietly, she made her way over to his bedside before gently nudging him with her hoof, only to get some inaudible mumbles out of him.

"Dark?" she whispered with another nudge.

Hearing his name being called, Dark cracked open an eye to see Twilight looking at him.

"Twilight? Is something wrong?" he tiredly asked.

"Sorta. I can't seem to fall asleep."

"Did you try grabbing a cup of water or some warm milk?"

"I did, but its different than that."

Seeing that this was bothering her, Dark sat up in his bed before patting the spot next to him for her to sit and tell him her problem. Understanding his meaning, Twilight hopped up and sat herself down before she began telling him what was going on.

"I'm having trouble sleeping after what happened today," she told him.

"I suppose that's understandable," he said. "You're not used to combat, so this is something fairly new to you."

"Well, yes... but it's more than that." She paused to take a breath before continuing. "Those alpha timberwolves told Fluttershy why they were sent here." Dark raised an eyebrow to this. "Turns out that whoever was controlling them wanted me captured."

"Makes sense. Considering that you're a princess, he probably wanted to use you for a ransom or something like that."

"I wish," Twilight commented. "But no. The actual reason was because he wanted to... kill me in front of you."

Dark's eyes widened as his attention was now solely on Twilight.

"Celestia explained to me that it was a way to get to you."

"Twilight-"

"And since then I can't get that thought out of my head," she said, her voice beginning to crack while her body slightly trembled. "I can't sleep because I'm scared that he might come and try it again. And this time, I may not-"

She stopped when she felt a familiar warmth engulfing her. Looking up, she saw that Dark had pulled her into his chest and wrapped his arms and wings around her. Burying her face into his coat, she allowed herself to let out a few snivels while Dark gently stroked her mane in an attempt to help calm her. They silently stayed like that for a few minutes before Dark spoke up.

"You know that I'm not going to let anything like that happen to you, right?" he gently asked.

"I know," she softly answered. "But it still worries me."

"In that case, what can I do to help remove this worry of yours?"

"Well... could I stay here?"

"What do you mean? This is your castle, so I'm sure that you can stay."

"Not that," she said, her voice hesitant and quiet. "I mean... is it alright if I... stay with you... tonight?"

Dark was a bit surprised by this request. He understood why Twilight wanted to stay during his hospital stay, and he understood that she was scared, but was this really what she wanted? He brought his head back to look down at her, seeing her looking back up to him with pleading eyes.

"Please?" she whispered.

Not having the heart to deny her, Dark instead gently tightened his embrace on her while lowering his head onto hers.

"Alright," he softly answered.

Hearing him agree, Twilight smiled as she began nuzzling him. Dark then pulled back the sheets and began to lay himself and Twilight down before pulling the bedsheets back over them. After some shifting around to get themselves more comfortable, they were laying on their sides with Twilight still wrapped up in Dark's arms and wings. Beginning to feel relaxed, Twilight let out a content sigh as she snuggled closer against Dark and rested her head up in the crook of his neck.

Sweetie Belle's right, she mentally concluded with a smile. It does feel safe and relaxing.

"Feeling better?" Dark asked.

"Mhmm," Twilight mumbled, sleep finally starting to take hold.

Dark smiled before whispering, "Good to hear. Goodnight, Twilight. Sweet dreams."

"Goodnight, Dark. And sweet dreams to you too."

Feeling safe and content within Dark's embrace, Twilight's fears quickly faded away. It wasn't long afterwards that Twilight was finally asleep, softly snoring in a way that Dark found awfully cute. As he continued listening to Twilight's soft breathing, it wasn't long until he too found himself drifting off to sleep.

Chapter 17- Aftermath

Celestia's sun had risen with the dawn of a new day, one that promised to be very busy for everypony. Most of the guards and some of the townsponies were already out helping clean up the mess from the battle the day before. Some were out helping pick up the wooden pieces of timberwolves to be used as firewood for when winter came around, while others where helping to rebuild and repair the damages to the buildings. The guards, meanwhile, where busy clearing away the dead.

While they were busy with that, Cheerilee had canceled school for the day. It was partially due to some damages to the schoolhouse and the surrounding grounds, but mostly because she didn't want the children to leave the castle and see all of the corpses laying around. Fluttershy and Rarity agreed with her in keeping them inside until they were done clearing Ponyville of them, Pinkie and Applejack were busy in the kitchen making food for everypony, and Rainbow was flying around helping out however she could. Even Celestia and Luna had helped with watching over the children, keeping them entertained with their magic tricks and stories. However, while everypony appeared busy with something, there were two who were still sound asleep.

Up in one the castle's guest bedrooms laid a mass beneath the blankets. It was Dark and Twilight, the latter whom was still wrapped up in his arms and wings. While they would normally be up by this time, the events of yesterday and the emotional stress of last night had taken their toll on them. And although the sun's light was showing through the window onto them, it didn't wake them as Dark was facing away from the light, his body keeping it from shining in Twilight's eyes. As they both continued sleeping in peace, it was Twilight that finally began to stir.

As her senses came to, she could feel the warmth that was blanketing her. She then began recalling the events of last night before cracking an eye open to peek out. When she found her vision obscured by a blaze-orange coat, she closed her eye and smiled, happy that this wasn't just another one of her dreams. Opening her eyes again, she began taking in her surroundings. She now noticed that they were together in the exact position that they had fallen asleep in last night. She could also see the sun's rays shining over Dark's form, shading her from the light. Looking up, Twilight saw Dark's sleeping face, a content smile plastered across it. Though she didn't want to, Twilight knew that they should be getting up, which meant first having to wake him. After taking her sweet time to think of the best possible way to wake him, an idea came to mind. Shifting around slightly, Twilight leaned up and gently kissed him on the cheek. Her gesture didn't go unnoticed as Dark's eyes cracked open. As he looked down, he saw Twilight smiling back up at him.

"Now here's a sight I can get used to," he softly said with a smile.

"And what sight would that be?" Twilight playfully questioned.

"That I get to wake up and see your beautiful smile first thing in the morning. I had actually missed it after I got out of the hospital."

"Beautiful, huh?" she said, trying to hide her blush with a smirk.

"Uh... that wasn't too forward... was it?"

"I wouldn't think so. Besides." She laid her head back in her resting spot against him. "I admit that I was starting to miss this too."

"Really? Which part exactly?"

"All of it I suppose. Mostly just being close like this."

"That wouldn't happen to be because I'm practically a walking furnace with fur now, would it?" Dark quipped.

"That might be part of it. I'll admit that your warm and soft coat does make it a lot more comfortable, but I also feel safe."

"Safe? How so?"

"Celestia told me while we were watching you taking out those manticores how worried and anxious you were to go find and help me when we were running from those timberwolves in the forest. So, with that, and how much of a softy I know you can be, I feel as though I can allow myself to relax when I'm with you, knowing that you'll be there watching out for me. That, and your incredible magic and strength are both a good plus."

"Careful, Twilight," Dark chuckled. "All of this complimenting of yours might make me not want to leave your side."

"Well, consider this payback for that 'beautiful' comment."

"I was just telling you the truth was all."

"So then, you think that I'm beautiful?" Twilight asked with slight blush, tilting her head back to look Dark in the eyes.

Ah crud, Dark mentally thought. I can't believe I let that word slip... twice. Oh well, too late to hide it now, so I might as well go for it.

Letting his feeling take over for a moment, Dark leaned down and kissed Twilight's forehead, just below her horn. He lingered for a few seconds before pulling away, looking back down to see a full blush on Twilight's face.

That didn't feel like the other kiss, Twilight thought as her heart pounded away. This one felt like it was more... heartfelt? Dare I even guess it to be lovingly?

"I don't think that you're beautiful, I know that you are. Although, that's only one of the things that I find myself attracted to you for," he answered.

Ooh yeah, definitely lovingly! she mentally panicked, not out of worry, but of surprise.

"C-Careful there," Twilight wavered, turning her gaze away from him. "The way you're talking makes it sound like you're my... coltfriend."

"Would you prefer that I stop?" Dark slowly asked, worried that me might have just overstepped a boundary.

"Well... I'm not saying that it's bad... or unwelcomed for that matter."

"Are you sure? Because I don't want to make you feel uncomfortable."

Looking back to Dark, Twilight took a deep breath to relax herself before answering, "I'm sure."

Hearing her answer, it was now Dark's turn to take a breath to steady himself. He'd never even attempted something like this before, and was finding it difficult to even begin asking. But, while he knew that he was very nervous about this, he also knew that if he wanted to be with her, then he'd have to ask. Besides, he had the perfect opportunity here. The mood was set for it, they were alone, and he probably wouldn't get a better chance to ask her. Gathering what nerve he had left, Dark looked softly into Twilight's eyes.

"Twilight?" he slowly spoke. "There's something that I've been meaning to ask you, especially after our time together at the festival yesterday..."

Twilight's eyes widened. Is he going to ask what I think he's going to?

"I know that we've only known each other for a little less than a few weeks..."

Oh Celestia he is! He's actually going to do it! she thought as her eyes began twinkling in anticipation.

"But I was wondering if you... would possibly... be my... fillyfr-"

*Knock-Knock-Knock*

His question was interrupted as three loud knocks echoed off his door. With a groan of annoyance, he looked down to see Twilight equally annoyed by the interruption. With a heavy sigh, Dark turned his attention to the door.

"Yes?" he again groaned.

"Dark? It's Princess Celestia," she answered. "May we come in?"

"We wish to speak with you," Luna added.

Hearing Celestia and Luna at the door, Twilight and Dark looked to each other worryingly. They had shared the bed together last night, and now both of the princesses were going to catch them red-hoofed.

"What do we do?!" Twilight frantically whispered.

"I don't know!" Dark answered quietly. "I've never been in a situation like this before. Can't you just teleport back to your room and avoid them that way?"

"I can't. They would know between the lights, sound, and the magical discharge that my teleporting leaves behind."

"Dark?" Celestia called through the door. "Is everything alright?"

"Yes," Dark groggily answered, acting as though he was still waking up. "One moment please."

"Any ideas?" Twilight wondered.

He did actually. If you can't hide something, or in this case, somepony, away, then hide them in plain sight.

"Just stay quiet and don't move," Dark whispered, getting a nod in return before moving his wing over Twilight's head, completely covering her from view before calling out, "Alright, you can come in."

Right after those words left his mouth, the door opened with Celestia and Luna walking in. Closing the door behind them, they walked up alongside Dark's bed with him still laying in it. As they sat down, they both wore a welcoming smile, but otherwise kept their faces neutral.

"Good morning, Dark," Celestia greeted.

"Greetings, Dark," Luna repeated.

"Morning, Your Highnesses," he returned, still feigning tiredness. "What can I do for you two?"

"A few things actually," Celestia began. "First, we were wondering how you were doing today? I noticed that you weren't up as you normally would."

"Why? What time is it?"

"Fifteen past nine," Luna answered.

"Dang, I really did oversleep," he replied, genuinely surprised by how late it was getting for him. "Guess I was more tired than I thought I was."

"Does this normally happen to you often after your battles?" Celestia wondered.

"Only when I use my Amplify for an extended period of time."

"That's good to hear." Celestia's smile then changed into knowing smirk, unbeknownst to Dark. "By the way, we haven't seen Twilight yet this morning." This caused Dark's body to stiffen slightly while Twilight held her breath, trying to be as silent as she could. "We've checked for her in her room, but she wasn't there. We then checked the rest of the castle and asked everypony else if they saw her, but nopony has seen her since last night."

"That is," Luna continued off of Celestia, bearing an equally knowing smirk. "We've checked everywhere except in your room."

Dark tried keeping his posture in an attempt to not give anything away. It wasn't working very well, though, as his eyes darted from one smirking princess to the other.

"Sorry, but I've been asleep, so I wouldn't know. She probably just left the castle to grab some fresh air before anypony else woke up," he tried excusing.

With an amused shake of her head, Luna lowered her head and spoke only two words.

"We know."

"... huh?" he unsteadily asked.

"Allow me to explain to you, Dark," Luna began. "I've looked into the dreams of you and Twilight. And while I don't normally divulge the details of the dreams of somepony to others besides my sister, last night I did notice that the dreams that you two had were shared. Something that only happens when two ponies are sleeping in the company of one another."

At this, Dark's eyes widened, knowing that they've been caught.

"That," Celestia added. "And we can smell her scent in here. Also, some of her mane is sticking out from under your wing."

Looking over his wing, Dark could see that a few strands of Twilight's mane were sticking out from beneath it. Giving a sigh of defeat, Dark flopped his head back onto his pillow. Looking underneath, he saw Twilight looking up at him questionably as to whether they were bluffing or not. With a confirming nod from Dark, Twilight sighed in defeat as well before shifting beneath Dark's wing. Turning her head around, Twilight lifted a hoof up and brought his wing down just low enough for her to peek over.

"Umm... good morning, Princess Celestia, Princess Luna," Twilight nervously greeted.

"Good morning, Twilight," Celestia returned, giving no attempt to hide her amusement over them begin caught like this.

"Good morning to you too, Twilight. Did you have fun last night?" Luna asked, wiggling her eyebrows.

"And here we go," Dark groaned while Twilight hid her face back beneath his wing out of embarrassment.

It was at this that Celestia and Luna were now laughing out loud at the two. As they continued laughing, Dark's embarrassment got the better of him and decided to follow Twilight's example by hiding his face too. The princesses went on like this for a good five minutes before they began to calm down somewhat.

"You- you know that I only jest, right?" Luna snickered, still trying to get her laughing fit under control.

"I know," Dark answered as he peeked over his wing. "But it's still embarrassing as heck."

"Well, it wouldn't be much fun if it wasn't, now would it?" Celestia asked, her laughing mostly contained.

"I suppose not." Dark sighed.

"Anyway, now onto why we've actually came looking for Twilight." Hearing that they stopped teasing them and wanted to talk to her, Twilight pulled Dark's wing back down for her to peek over. "There are a few things to go over. The first is about Miss Cheerilee and the school ponies. With the aftermath of the battle still being cleaned up, she is reluctant to allow the kids to go outside." Twilight nodded for Celestia to continue. "Luna and I agree with her that the children shouldn't see what is out there until it's completely cleared."

"But in doing so," Luna continued. "She has canceled school for the colts and fillies. What we were wondering is if you would allow for her to use one of the rooms in the castle as a temporary school room?"

Hearing their request, Twilight was nodding eagerly. "Of course. She can use the library. That would be the most ideal place for it."

"I'll let her know after we're done here," Celestia said before her mood turned glum. "Next is the... damage report."

"When you say 'damage report'," Dark began. "You mean the casualty and injury list, don't you?"

With a sad sigh, Celestia nodded. Feeling Twilight tremble, Dark looked down to her. Seeing as she wasn't taking it very well, he gently turned her head to look at him.

"Do you want me to handle this?" he softly asked Twilight, getting a small nod in reply.

"So you will be going over this then, Dark?" Luna questioned.

"I'm more used to this sort of thing, so it doesn't bother me as much."

"In that case, I'll leave the list here with you then," Celestia told him. "You do know what needs to be done, right?"

"Body count, identification, and funeral arrangements," he answered. "Not much else to do besides that, but the injured I can help with."

"Normally yes, but this time, you'll be assisting Captain Iron Guard with it. Though I must ask, how can you help the injured? Aren't your spells all fire and shadow based?"

"Yes, they are. But back in Stonewall, I managed to create a fire spell that actually heals instead of hurts."

"Really?" Celestia questioned, more curious and surprised then disbelieving. "Now this I'll need to see."

"In that case, I'll go find you before I head out." He turned to Luna. "And what about you, Princess Luna? Are you wanting to watch too?"

"Perhaps another time," she answered. "I am to lead a search party into the Everfree Forest to look for the mastermind of the attack. Fluttershy will be accompanying us. She says that she'll ask the local wildlife if they'll help us in tracking him down."

"So, what am I suppose to do then?" Twilight asked.

"Ponyville has suffered some damage and will be needing somepony to help organize and coordinate the construction teams," Celestia answered.

Happy with being able to help by organizing and coordinating the repairs, Twilight smiled before nodding to them. With their arrangements all made, Celestia and Luna stood up.

"Then that is all there is for the moment," Celestia spoke before turning towards the door.

"I shall ask Pinkie Pie and Applejack to have something ready for you two to eat," Luna said before her mischievous smirk returned. "That is, unless you two are full already."

"What do you mean by that?" Dark questioned. "Of course we're not full. We skipped out on dinner last night and went straight to bed."

"Hehe, alright then," she answered before catching up to her sister.

"Seems as though they missed your joke," Celestia whispered to her.

"It's a shame, really. Though I'm a little surprising that he didn't catch onto it."

Once they exited the room and closed the door behind them, Dark and Twilight flopped their heads back down. Dark, with his head laying on the pillow, while Twilight laid hers back below Dark's. With the potential disaster avoided, they both let out a sigh of relief. Taking a moment to relax, the two continued to lay as they were.

"That could've been bad," Dark finally spoke.

"No kidding. I thought that we were done there for sure," Twilight agreed before turning sorrowful and looking up to Dark. "Are you sure that you want to handle that list?"

"Yeah, I'm sure. Besides, I can see how much you're bothered by it, so I'll be more than willing to take over it for you."

Hearing his answer, Twilight reached up and began nuzzling him.

"Thank you for doing this for me," she said before kissing his cheek. It was after that moment that her mind returned to what he was saying to her before they were interrupted. "And... about what you going to ask me before Celestia and Luna interrupted you..."

Sighing reluctantly, Dark looked down to Twilight. "I think it's safe to say that they've officially ruined the moment for it."

Twilight nodded and sighed, "Yeah, they definitely did. And it wouldn't quite mean the same now."

"Well then," he began as he started nuzzling Twilight. "That just means that I'll have to try again some other time. In the mean time, we better get up. We both seem to have a busy day ahead of us. Although, I'd much rather prefer staying like this with you for a while longer."

"Perhaps someday we will," Twilight giggled. "But you're right, we really should be getting up."

With that, the two got out of bed and began getting ready for the day. As they got up, Dark allowed Twilight to use his mane brush first while she was there. While Dark waited for his turn to comb his mane down, his mind replayed what Luna had asked him earlier about if they were hungry or not. He found it somewhat strange that she would ask them that, and with that look that she was giving them. It wasn't till after a minute or two of thinking it over that the implication behind that question finally hit him. With a mad blush running across his face, Dark facepalmed, causing Twilight to glance over to him.

"Oh Luna, why?" he groaned.

"Something wrong, Dark?" she asked.

"I just figured out what Princess Luna meant by when she asked us if we were full or not."

"What do you mean?"

"Think about it, Twilight, especially after her embarrassing comment to us earlier."

Taking a moment, Twilight thought it over. It didn't take her long before she too understood what Luna had meant. Her face turning red, she looked back to Dark, who simple nodded.

"But- we- I- she- why?!"

"I don't know. You've known her longer than I have. Do you have any idea?"

"None."

A few awkward seconds passed before Dark spoke up.

"So, just pretend like that part didn't happen?" he questioned.

"Yep, sounds good to me," she quickly answered before returning to her mane brushing.

A few minutes later, Twilight and Dark made their way down to the kitchen where their food was ready and waiting for them, thanks to Luna. It didn't go quite how they had expected it, though, as Applejack and Pinkie began questioning them as to where they were, and why they had slept in so late. They told them the truth, being that they were legitimately tired from yesterday, but kept the part about them sleeping in the same bed together from them. Though they believed most of it, they were still curious as to where Twilight was when she slept, since she wasn't in her room when they checked. Quickly thanking them for the late breakfast, the two made their way out with Twilight heading over to see Cheerilee, and Dark going to look for Celestia before heading off to the hospital. Soon after the two left their sights, Applejack turned to Pinkie.

"Hey, Pinkie?" she addressed. "Is it just me, or did they smell a little strange ta ya?"

"You mean like they fell asleep together last night and now the scent of their coats have blended onto each other?" Pinkie summarized.

Applejack blinked in surprise. "Ah suppose that's one way of puttin' it. And it would also explain why they were so late in wakin' up."

It took a bit of effort, but Dark had finally managed to find Celestia. Who knew it would be so difficult to find an alicorn princess who stood twice as tall as the average pony? Once he finally did, they flew off to the direction of the hospital. During their flight, they made for idle conversation.

"So, Dark," Celestia began. "How were you and the guards able to survive the army that attacked the stands?"

"It was actually Captain Iron Guard's idea," he explained. "He figured that if we killed the ursa major, that the rest of the army would crumble. And wouldn't you know, it actually worked."

"Well, that was very fortunate. If it didn't, then I'm sure that the manticores would've broken through my barrier and gotten into the castle as well."

"But you had a fallback position set up, right?"

"That I'm not sure of. It was Twilight who was in command while I was up on the balcony, focusing on maintaining the barrier."

"Well, knowing how prepared Twilight can be, I'm sure that she did."

"While we're talking about Twilight, what about what happened with you two last night and this morning?"

"Oh great, her we go again," Dark groaned, causing Celestia to giggle.

"Don't worry, I'm not going to tease you about it like Luna did," she clarified. At least, not yet.

"Good, because we figured out that little comment about us being full. Not to mention how awkward it was for us afterwards."

"Ah, so you did get it."

"I mean, we're not even together yet."

This caused Celestia to raise an eyebrow with interest. "Yet?"

"Well, believe it or not, I was asking her to be my fillyfriend."

"And? What did she say?"

Now it was Dark's turn to raise an eyebrow, one that said "are you serious?". Seeing that she didn't get it, Dark decided to spell it out for her.

"She didn't answer because I never got to finish asking due to somepony interrupting us," he answered with a tint of annoyance.

That, Celestia did picked up on. Now knowing what he meant, she took on a look of slight embarrassment.

"You mean that when we knocked on your door-"

"That I was literally a split second away from asking her to be my fillyfriend? Yep, pretty much," he answered with a slight laugh.

"I'm sorry that we interrupted you two," she apologized.

"Meh, it happens. Besides, now I get to try again."

"You don't sound very disappointed about it," Celestia observed.

"Don't get me wrong, we were both disappointed about it. I'm just trying to look on the positive side here, and another chance to ask her is it."

"Well then, I'm glad that you're taking it so well. Do you have any idea on when you'll be asking her again?"

"Not a clue," he answered. "I'll just have to wait and feel it out."

"No need to worry about that. I'm sure that there will be plenty of time for you to feel it out."

"Oh for the love of-"

"Oh look, we're here," Celestia interrupted as she began making her descent to the hospital.

"I swear, you're just as bad as Princess Luna," Dark muttered.

"I heard that," Celestia called back with a smile. "And no, I'm not as bad as Luna. I can be much worse if I wanted to. Besides, who do you think taught her those dirty jokes?"

With a groan, Dark flew down and landed beside Celestia. As he landed, he turned to look up to see her wearing that all-knowing smirk of hers. Doing his best to ignore it, he and Celestia walked into the hospital to see the staff busy at work. Upon arrival, they took notice of Celestia and stopped to briefly bow to her before continuing with what they were doing. As the two continued forward, Dark noticed a familiar pony working the front desk.

"Hey, Nurse Redheart," Dark waved.

Hearing her name called, she looked up to see Dark and Celestia walking straight for her.

"Oh hello, Princess Celestia, Dark," she greeted them. "How can I help you today? Here to get checked into the hospital again, Dark?"

"Nope, not today," Dark chuckled. "We're here to see the injured guards that were brought in."

"'We'?"

"Well, technically it's just me. Princess Celestia is just here to watch."

"As much as I want to, I cannot heal those that are injured here. If I did, then other ponies could claim that I'm showing favoritism, and question why I can heal them and not everypony else," Celestia explained.

"Which is why I'm doing it instead."

"You?" Nurse Redheart questioned. "What are you planning on doing?"

"Heal them of course. That is, if it's alright with the doctor."

"If it's with Princess Celestia's approval, then I don't see why not. I better call him in first, just so that he can be present during the process."

"Fair enough," Celestia agreed.

Taking a seat, they waited for the doctor to show up. After ten minutes of waiting, he finally showed. Once the formalities were out of the way, he and Nurse Redheart proceeded to lead Dark and Celestia to the room where they were keeping the guards. The room was quite big, holding up to a dozen of them. Looking down to his list, Dark saw that this was less than half of the number of injured. Curious, he looked back to the doctor.

"Where are the rest of them?" he asked. "I'm only seeing a dozen on the ponies on this list in this room."

"We couldn't fit them all in here, so we split them up into a few different rooms," the doctor answered.

Dark sighed. "Well then, this is going to take a bit longer than what I originally thought."

"You never did tell me what you were planning on doing."

"Just going to use my magic to heal them all," Dark answered as he lit his horn and walked into the center of the room.

"Are you sure about this, Princess?" the doctor nervously asked Celestia.

"While I'll admit that I've never seen this spell of his before, I trust that he knows what he's doing," she calmly answered.

Once he got to the center of the room, Dark looked around to each of the guards. Some were groaning in pain, some were sleeping, and others were sitting up in their beds curiously watching him. Giving a nod to himself, Dark sat down on the floor, closed his eyes, and began focusing on the spell. With everything perfect, he casted his Healing Flame and gently held it above his head. He then began pumping more magic into it, causing the flame grow bigger and brighter. Once it was a good few feet wide, he stopped, seeing the glow reaching out towards everypony in the room. As the flame flickered on, Dark remained where he was, continuously and steadily pouring his magic into the spell to keep it going. Soon after, he heard somepony walk up beside him.

"This is rather impressive," Celestia complimented, poking a hoof at the flame. "What is it exactly?"

"A spell of my own creation called Healing Flame," Dark answered. "It's a spell that doesn't burn or ignite anything, but instead heals everything that's within its warm light. The catch, though, is that this also includes our enemies, so I can't use it in combat. Other than that, it will only last for five minutes unless I pour more magic into the spell to help maintain it."

"And how long before this spell heals everyone in the room?"

"If I had to guess, I'd say a few hours. While the spell does heal, since the healing is spread so far out, it'll take longer. Those with cuts or gashes will be healed up within about two hours, while those with a missing limb will take about four."

"So you're going to be here for a while then," she concluded.

"Looks like it," he said with a sigh. "Don't worry, though. I'll be sure to get over to see Captain Iron Guard as soon as I'm done here. Where is he by the way?"

"You'll find him over by the stands."

"No doubt watching over the cleanup with the ursa and those hydras," Dark figured.

"You would be correct on that." Celestia then looked over to the clock. "I'm sorry to leave so abruptly, but I should really be getting back to Canterlot. With Luna searching the Everfree Forest, somepony will need to stay behind and watch over the throne." She then began lighting her horn to teleport off, but not without a few last words. "Also, Dark? Sorry again for earlier."

"Like I said, it's alright, so don't worry about it," he said with a smile.

Seeing that all was good, Celestia then teleported out of the room. After the flash of light died down, Nurse Redheart walked up beside Dark.

"What did she mean by she was sorry?" she asked.

Dark sighed. "Remember that advice that you gave me during my stay here?"

Thinking back to it, her face beamed with anticipation of good news. "You did?!"

"Well... not quite. You see, I was just about to finish asking her, but a certain somepony and her sister came in and interrupted us."

"Aww, that's too bad to hear."

"Just means that I'll have to try again."

"Who are you two talking about?" the doctor wondered.

"Nopony!" they said in unison, getting a questioning look from the doctor before shrugging and leaving the room.

Deep in the Everfree Forest, Luna and Fluttershy were leading a group of guards down the forest path. Thanks to Fluttershy's actions yesterday with the alpha timberwolves, once they entered the forest, the scarred one that Fluttershy petted yesterday walked over and greeted her with happy licks. After the guards got over the initial shock of seeing her interacting with him like that, the scarred one lead the search party straight towards where the cloaked figure had made camp at. It took them a good half-hour before they finally came to an all too familiar location. Before them was the old ruins of the Castle of the Royal Pony Sisters.

"How dare he," Luna hissed. "Should I ever find out who this pony is, I shall make sure that he pays dearly for using this place as his base of operations."

"But we don't even know if he's a pony or not," Fluttershy corrected. "And none of the animals know either."

"So what you're saying is that it could be any kind of species?"

"Just about."

"Well, at least he was kind enough to provide a sturdy bridge," she grumbled.

Turning from Fluttershy back towards the ruins, Luna continued forward. The scarred one continued leading them up to the castle ruins before heading inside. Before the others followed in, though, they looked down to the corpse of a beheaded manticore. Upon seeing it, Fluttershy immediately turned her gaze away from it, not wanting to see another dead creature. Quickly, she ran past it, not bothering to look back or think about it. But she didn't have to as the scarred one began barking inside the castle, causing the ponies to run over towards him. Once they got inside, they saw the alpha timberwolf, and laying on the ground before it was a bronze amulet with a cracked emerald bear claw as its center piece.

"That's pretty," Fluttershy said. "What is that?"

"It's The Beast Master's Amulet," Luna answered. "It allows for whoever that wears it to have complete control over any wild animal that he deems."

The scarred one snarled at the amulet as it lay, angry that this was the cause of the suffering of him and his brethren.

"Is it safe to touch?" Fluttershy asked as she walked closer to it.

"It's damaged now, so it shouldn't be of any threat. But at least now we know of how he'd managed to acquire such a vast army as he did." Luna then levitated the amulet up into her saddlebag. "I should get this over to my sister. I'm sure that she'll want this inspected as soon as possible. Perhaps we can trace it back to its previous owner, if not to the one before."

"So, now that we found something, does that mean we can go back?"

"Nonsense," Luna brushed-off. "We've just got here and already found a clue. Now we need to search for more, something that can help tell us as to who or what this thing is, and where it's gone to. Everypony will split up into pairs, and watch out for the trap doors."

Listening to her orders, the guards paired up before splitting into different directions. This left Luna, Fluttershy, and the scarred one together.

"Here we go again," Fluttershy sighed. "Well, at least this time it's daytime outside."

"What do you mean by 'this time'?" Luna asked.

"Oh, right, you don't know about what happened do you? Well, I suppose I can tell you while we're walking."

And with that, the three began walking down one of the halls. Fluttershy telling Luna about the crazy night that she and her friends had while they were exploring the castle one night.

Back over in Ponyville General Hospital, Dark just finished his long and grueling mass healing session. Some of the injuries were worse than what was written on his report, so instead of it taking a few hours for him to finish, to instead took him over six hours, almost seven. While maintaining that spell for so long was exhausting, his having to remain where he was seated was probably worse. As he got up, Dark could feel the numbness in his legs beginning to fade while his joints cracked from remaining still for so long. But, even though it was a pain for him to do, he felt that it was worth it, seeing all of the guards up and about with their injuries healed up. His only regret was that he didn't know any other healing spells that could be used to heal them quicker, and at a less exhausting rate.

After he had finally gotten through the guards who all stopped him to give him their thanks, Dark bid them and Nurse Redheart goodbye, and left the hospital. Standing outside, his stomach started to grumble for something to eat. It would have to wait, though, as he still had one more stop to make before food was optional. So, Dark spread his wings, and with a mighty flap, he flew off into the sky to meet up with Captain Iron Guard over by the stands. As he continued to fly over the town, he looked down to see that most of the town was cleaned up of the dead manticores. He could also see Scootaloo on her scooter, which was hitched to a wagon loaded with wooded planks. He watched her buzz along the road over to deliver them to one of the damaged buildings where he saw Applejack, Big Mac, and Apple Bloom working to help rebuild. As he kept flying, he heard an extra pair of wings flapping beside him.

"Hey there," Rainbow greeted. "Whatcha doing up here and not down there helping with the town?"

"I'm on my way to go see Iron Guard," Dark answered.

"Really? What for?"

Without answering, Dark reached for the list and handed it over for Rainbow to read. She didn't have to read far, though, as the title of the list was all that she needed to know.

"Oh. I guess that's pretty important too," she said, giving back Dark the casualty list. "I'm starting to think that you might have the tougher job here."

"It's nothing that I'm not used to."

"You're talking about your old village, aren't you?" she guessed, getting a nod in reply. "So, why are you doing this job anyway. It seems more like something that one of the princesses should be looking over."

"Well, your right about that," he admitted. "It was actually Twilight who was given this job, but I offered to take over for her after seeing how much it bothered her."

"Why couldn't Celestia or Luna do it?"

"Because Princess Luna's leading a search party in the Everfree Forest for the guy behind the attack, and Princess Celestia had to return to Canterlot to run things there."

"That makes sense then." Her smile turned to a grin. "So, you're doing this for Twilight, huh?"

"Think I said that already."

"Well, I'm sure that this'll score you some points with her, if you know what I mean."

"Oh no, I already got plenty of that from the princesses today thank you very much."

"Really? What happened? Bet it's something good."

"I'm not even going to bother answering that."

"Then I'm just going to hang around till you do, or until you slip up, either way is fine."

"And what about your work?"

"I already did more than my share around Ponyville today," she bragged. "So I think that I've earned myself some time off."

Figuring that she was probably right about that, Dark continued towards the stands with Rainbow following behind. The rest of the trip was filled with her trying to get him to spill the beans, but his silence helped him save himself. Thankfully for him, it didn't take them long to get to where they were heading. Flying over the area, Dark could see that the guards had most of the timberwolves cleared out, but haven't touched the hydras, or the ursa major yet. While he felt a little prideful for defending the area from such creatures, he also felt a pang of guilt for having to do it. His thoughts about it ended when he heard a gasp beside him. Forgetting for a moment that Rainbow hadn't seen this yet, Dark began questioning if letting her tag along was the best idea.

"Whoa," she breathed. "What happened to the ursa and those two hydras?"

"I'm what happened," Dark answered.

"Seriously?"

He didn't answer as he spotted Iron Guard and flew down. Landing a few feet away from him, Dark walked over and greeted him with a claw/hoof shake as Rainbow landed behind him.

"Good to see you up and about, Ursa Slayer," Iron Guard greeted.

"'Ursa Slayer'? Not to be rude, but is this some sort of joke?" Dark questioned.

"It's not my idea. If you have issues with it, you can take it up with the guards. After the battle yesterday, the guards got together and word of your battle with the ursa and hydras quickly spread amongst them."

Dark shook his head and sighed. "First I'm a Dragon Slayer, and now I'm an Ursa Slayer as well." He looked back up to Iron Guard. "Just don't mention this near Fluttershy. She's quite taken with animals, so who knows what she would do if she heard this."

"Probably for the best then," Iron Guard agreed. "But still, you'd better get used to it."

"Sounds like somepony's become popular," Rainbow chimed in while giving Dark a nudge. "By the way, Capt., what did Dark do exactly? I missed what happened after I left you guys to help the others."

"First off, I would prefer that you not call me Capt. And to answer your question, I believe that he should answer that himself."

"Fine," Dark relented. "Long story short, I cut off one of the hydra's heads, pierced through the other's chest, and cut-off the ursa's front claws before I crushed its skull."

Hearing his answer caused Rainbow to turn a few shades whiter. "Suddenly I'm glad that I didn't stay to watch."

"While I'll admit that it wasn't my cleanest work, it still worked in the end." Noticing her slight color change he put a claw on her shoulder. "You going to be alright there?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. It'll take more than a story to make me sick."

"Better that you don't look at them then." Dark turned his attention back towards Iron Guard. "Speaking of the dead, I'm here on behalf of the princesses for the casualty list."

"Ah, well I was wondering when somepony would get here. I Just didn't expect it to be you," Iron Guard said.

"It was either me or Twilight, and I wasn't going to let her do it after seeing how much of a problem she had with it."

"How so?"

"Yeah, Dark," Rainbow added. "How so?"

"She began trembling when Princess Celestia brought it up, so I offered to do it for her, seeing as how I'm more used to this sort of thing."

"I can understand that," Iron Guard nodded.

"Alright then. In that case, let's go get this over with. I just hope that none of them have any relatives living in Ponyville, or else this will be turned into a bad day for me."

"No. Those unfortunate enough to have died have no relatives here."

"I prefer to call them 'The Victorious Dead'."

"Heh, I'll admit that does sound better," Iron Guard said as he lead Dark and Rainbow over to where they were keeping their dead.

"You sure you want to come in?" Dark asked Rainbow as they stood outside one of the tents set up. "You'll more than likely not like what you'll see."

Thinking for a moment, Rainbow shook her head. "Probably a good idea that I don't. Don't want to have any nightmares or anything."

"Alright. I'll see you around then."

And with that, Rainbow turned around to fly back to Ponyville while Dark entered the tent. It took him a few hours before he finally got out, happy to smell the fresh crisp evening air as Celestia's sun began setting over the horizon. As Iron Guard left the tent, he walked up beside Dark to look at the sunset as well. They stood there in mutual silence for a while before Iron Guard spoke up.

"Hey," he began. "Why don't you come and have a drink with me and the boys? We'd be glad to share a few rounds with you."

"Thanks for the offer," Dark thanked. "But I'm not much of a drinker. That, and I'm pretty beat from today."

"Why? What did you do that's made you so tired?"

"That casualty list wasn't the only list I was given. I was also given the injury list and paid a visit to the hospital. Spent all day up until I came to see you healing everypony who got injured during the battle yesterday."

Iron Guard's eyes widened slightly. "What did you do exactly?"

"I healed them all up. They should be discharged from the hospital by tomorrow."

"Heh, a warrior and a part-time healer." Iron Guard shook his head. "Seems that you're full of surprises." He paused for a moment. "Also, I should apologize to you."

"Why? You didn't do anything wrong."

"It's because I thought that what I heard of you was just some exaggerated story. Even after I saw the end results of those dragons back in your old village, and from what Princess Celestia told me, I still wouldn't believe it came from a single pony. But, after watching you in action yesterday for myself, I can safely say that I was wrong in not believing them. And, it is with that, that I apologize."

"It's no problem, Captain," Dark dismissed. "If I was in you position, I probably wouldn't have believed it either. Though, I have to admit that I'm surprised to see another stallion who's willing to admit when they're wrong, instead of trying to ignore or hide it."

"Thanks," he said, offering his hoof for a shake.

Accepting it, Dark shook his hoof before telling him goodbye and heading back to the castle to retire for the night. The cool wind felt great on his coat, almost causing him to take his time getting back. But he knew that the sooner he got back, the sooner he could rest up. It wasn't until a few minutes later that he made it back, the castle door being completely repaired. Walking inside, Dark saw some colts and fillies running around playing with each other. Careful as to not step on them, Dark continued his way over to the kitchen for something to eat. It was there that he saw Twilight, Rarity, Spike, and Sweetie Belle sitting at the table eating, the scent of food making his mouth water.

"Something smells delicious," Dark said as he walked in.

"Welcome back, Dark," Twilight greeted. "How did things go for you today?"

"Tiring," he answered. "Healing those guards took longer than I thought it would. Same with my appointment with Captain Iron Guard, minus the healing part that is."

"So everypony's going to be alright?" Sweetie Belle questioned.

Dark smiled down to her. "Yes, they're going to be just fine. They should actually be released tomorrow."

Happy with her answer, Sweetie Belle jumped off her chair. "Well, I think I'm going to head off to bed."

Hearing this Spike immediately got up. "Yeah, I think that I will too."

Standing in place, Dark watched as the two walked out of the kitchen and turn the corner. He waited a few seconds to make sure that they weren't coming back before addressing Twilight and Rarity.

"Sooo, what's going on here?" he asked.

"Turns out that Rarity's bouquet got damaged during the attack," Twilight answered. "So she and Sweetie Belle will be staying here until it's repaired."

"Alright, but how? I didn't think that it was anywhere near where the timberwolves had attacked Ponyville."

"It wasn't," Rarity dryly said while looking accusingly at Dark. "Apparently somepony decided to drop a manticore with a giant burning hole in its chest, straight onto my home."

"... oh... sorry, Rarity," he apologized. "I promise that I'll help repair the damage tomorrow, if I'm not working on the farm that is."

"Actually," Twilight interjected. "I spoke to Applejack today, and she wanted me to tell you that until the town is repaired, that there isn't any work. Which means that you're free to help Rarity."

"Good," Rarity humphed. "You start tomorrow morning, bright and early."

Dark just groaned, getting the feeling that tomorrow was going to be a long day for him.

Far to the north in the Crystal Empire, a group of stallions were sitting at a circular table with two empty chairs. The room was dimly lit, just barely showing the four, each with a mug of cider that was being sipped away while they were waiting for the remaining two.

"Where are they?" the first one wondered.

"Who knows," the second one commented.

"Something probably came up with the little one," the third one guessed.

"Careful there, boy," the fourth said to the third. "Remember that just because you're one of us now, doesn't mean that you can start talking about them so casually."

"That's not what they said to me," the third countered, his smug grin hidden by the dim lighting.

It looked like things were about to get messy, but before they could, the door to the room swing open. The light from the outside casted a shadowy silhouette of a pony. He took a moment to look around before walking in.

"Why's the room so dark?" he asked before turning on the lights, causing everypony besides him to yelp in surprise as the light briefly blinded them.

"You could've given us a little warning, Your Highness," the first one complained, now revealed to be a emerald-green crystal pony with a light-green mane and purple eyes.

"No kidding," agreed the second one, who was a sky-blue crystal pony with a turquoise mane and yellow eyes.

"Was that really necessary?" questioned the fourth, a gray crystal pony with a white mane and brown eyes.

"Heh, you guys really do like complaining, don't you?" quipped the third pony, an orange pegasus with blue eyes and mane.

"You get used to them," the prince answered, who was a white unicorn with blue eyes, and a mane with three different shades of blue.

"I still can't believe that you let him talk so casually like this, Prince Shining Armor," the fourth one said. "By the way, you never told us why you let him get away with it anyway."

"Because, Captain Gray Diamond, we like him," Shining stated. "Lieutenant Flash Sentry here is hard working, fast, dependable, successful with his missions, loyal, and has a positive attitude when working. And I believe that he'll be a great addition to your two other lieutenants here."

"Thank you, Your Highness," Flash thanked.

"No problem," Shining began. "Now then, since we're here, how about we start?"

"Aren't we forgetting somepony?" Gray asked.

"Don't worry, we'll be fine."

Listening to him, Flash began dealing out the stack of cards while Gray sorted out the chips. Once everypony was squared away, the first round of their weekly Thursday Night Poker began.

"So, Saph," Shining addressed to the sky-blue crystal pony. "Anything new going on?"

"Nothing," Saph answered. "Fold."

"Hmm. And how about you, Emerald Lance?"

"Same here," Emerald answered. "Hit me."

"So, nopony has anything new?" Shining questioned. "Hit me."

"Sorry," Flash apologized as he took a card for himself. "But nothing of any importance has come up."

"Yeah," Gray agreed. "Hit."

Few minutes later of betting, the first round ended with Emerald wining. It was then that the doors to the room flew open, revealing another pony silhouette, one that made Shining freeze in fear.

"And what's going on here?" she wondered as she walked in.

"It was his idea!" the four officers said in unison, each pointing a hoof at Shining.

"Traitors," he muttered before turning around and putting on an innocent face. "Hey, sweetie."

A pink alicorn with pink eyes, and a mane with purple, pink, and cream-yellow streaks, walked up alongside Shining and took a seat at the table.

"I see that you started the game without me... again," she observed.

"Like we said, Princess Cadence," Flash began. "We questioned it, but it was his idea to start ahead without you."

"Yeah, I kinda figured that it was his idea."

"Well it's not my fault that I just happened to marry the Princess of Poker," Shining complained.

"You only say that because you always lose to me," Cadence smirked. "Now, who are the blinds?"

Deciding to leave it at that, the next set of cards were dealt. As expected, Cadence found herself on a winning spree. They were into their fifth round before a messenger came into the room and handed Flash a report. As he read it, his eyes widened, an act that didn't go unnoticed by the others.

"Something wrong, Flash?" Cadence asked.

"It's a report from Ponyville," he answered. "Apparently the town was attacked yesterday."

"What was it this time?" Shining half-heartedly asked. "Probably just another little something that Twilie and her friends took care of."

"That is where you're wrong, sir," Flash said as he looked over the report again. "It wasn't just another attack."

"Really?" Cadence wondered. "What was so different about this one."

"According to this report, Ponyville was attacked by an army of a few thousand timberwolves, two hundred manticores, roughly one hundred and fifty cockatrices, eight hydras, and an ursa major."

Shining and Cadence shot up in their seats.

"Is everypony alright?! Did my sister make it out okay?!" Shining worryingly asked.

"A number of guards were lost, but other than that, nopony else was killed, and the attack was repelled."

"That's Twilight for you," Cadence sighed with relief. "I'll bet that she and her friends were the ones who defeated that ursa and those hydras."

"... actually, they weren't," Flash said in surprise getting curious glances from everypony in the room. "According to the report, the ursa, hydras, and a large number of the timberwolves and manticores were all defeated by... I've never seen this word before. A key-rin? Kai-rin?"

Shining raised an eyebrow in suspicion. "Hey, Flash, mind if I take a look at that?"

Flash gave the report to Shining for him to look over for himself. As he read, his brows furrowed, but it wasn't until he reached the last part of the report that his face turned eerily stoic.

"It's called a kirin," Shining spoke in a low and dangerous tone before looking back up. "You four can continue this if you want, but Flash and I are heading to Ponyville... immediately."

"Is something wrong, Shining?" Cadence worryingly asked.

"There's a kirin in Ponyville, which means that Twilight's in danger. Flash, I need for you to get six of your best and bring them to the train station. And make sure that they're fully armed. I'll meet you guys there after I'm done. If we take the next train, we can get to Ponyville by Saturday afternoon."

"Yes, Your Majesty," Flash answered with a salute. "But if I may ask, where will you be in the meantime?"

With a dark expression and tone, Shining answered, "I need to fetch my red gear."

Chapter 18- Happy Birthday?

Friday was a rather busy day for Dark. He spent all day working on repairing the damage that he'd accidentally done to Rarity's boutique. While he did feel bad about it, he also saw it as a blessing in disguise. During that time, he was able to keep his mind clear of the day that was to follow, though brief as it was. By the end of the day, and with a bit of help from some other ponies who had volunteered to help, most of the damage had been repaired. At the rate they were going, Rarity and Sweetie Belle could go back to living in it by Sunday, much to Spike's and Sweetie Belle's disappointment.

While Dark was busy with fixing Rarity's home, Twilight could be found either directing the repair teams around Ponyville, or acting as Cheerilee's assistant with teaching the colts and fillies in their temporary school room. She was finding it to be a welcomed distraction from her fears that were still nagging at her. Before Luna and Iron Guard returned to Canterlot with The Beast Master's Amulet and the off duty guards that they'd brought, she had reassured her that whoever was behind the attack was long gone now. Knowing that, Twilight decided to try and sleep in her own bed tonight. After she got settled in, though, she was met with the same problem as before. Even after setting up a few wards around her room, her fears still got the better of her, making her feel as though he was watching her from the shadows. Unable to sleep, she went back to Dark's room. She'd been sharing his bed for the last two nights, so with it being her third night now, she didn't even bothering to wake him this time, and instead crawled into bed alongside him. However, despite her moving silently, the extra bed movement didn't go unnoticed as Dark rolled over to look at Twilight.

"Couldn't sleep again?" he asked.

"Yeah," she answered.

Giving an understanding nod, he brought his arms around Twilight and pulled her in close like he did before, an act that was welcomed by Twilight as she began cuddling up against him. After getting herself a little more comfortable, she let out a tired yawn.

"You do know that at this is starting to become a habit, right?" Dark clarified.

"I know. You aren't complaining about it, are you?" Twilight tiredly questioned.

"Not in the least, just merely an observation was all."

Letting out a small laugh, Twilight soon fell asleep. But while she was peacefully snoozing away, Dark's mind was still racing. He was actually still awake when Twilight had snuck in, thinking about tomorrow. For Dark, sleep wouldn't come easily for him tonight, not even with Twilight laying asleep there in his arms.

The next morning, Dark woke up, tired, alone, and glum. For today was both his birthday, and the day his brother and cousin had left on their suicide mission to get help for Stonewall Village. Looking around briefly, he noticed that nopony else was in the room besides himself. Knowing that he probably wouldn't have a chance to be alone like this for a while, Dark allowed himself to silently weep for his lost kin. While he did lose his parents and sister as well, his brother and cousin were those that were closest to him. It took him a good fifteen minutes before his mournful sobs had finally depleted him of his tears. With nothing left to shed, he began wiping his face clean of any tearstains before getting himself ready for the day.

Once Dark felt presentable enough, he made his way down to the kitchen where Spike would be cooking breakfast for them. He took his time getting there, trying to hide his sadness with a fake smile. Turning into the kitchen, he saw Spike working the stove while Twilight, Rarity, and Sweetie Belle were sitting at the table talking to one another. They greeted him as he walked in, though a little curious as to why he was late in getting himself up. It wasn't until Twilight got a good look at this eyes that she had an idea of why. Standing up, she went over to confront Dark before he could sit down.

"Dark?" she softly addressed. "What happened?"

"What do you mean?" he questioned.

Hearing his answer, Twilight began narrowing her eyes at him, knowing that something was up. After a few seconds of going without an answer, Twilight conjured a mirror for him to look into. As he took in his reflection, he noticed that his eyes were still bloodshot from earlier. Turning his gaze from the mirror back to Twilight, Dark sighed in defeat, knowing that he couldn't hide it any longer.

"You know what today is, right?"

"Yeah, it's Saturday, but I don't see how that's-" Twilight paused as her eyes widened, remembering the meaning of that day.

Seeing the expression on Dark's face, Twilight sat down in front of him before wrapping her forelegs around him, and pulling him into a tender hug. Allowing himself to let go, Dark too sat down before burying his face in her shoulder, trying to hold back the occasional snivel that would escape him. As the two remained like that, Rarity and Sweetie Belle looked at them, confused and a little worried, while Spike continued cooking, completely oblivious as to what was happening behind him. It was only a few seconds later before Sweetie Belle got off of her chair and went over to Dark, hugging his arm in hopes of helping him feel better. Feeling the little filly clinging to his arm, Dark looked down to see a worried look on her face. Lifting his arm up out of her hold, he began gently patting her head.

"Thanks, Sweetie Belle," Dark sadly smiled. "I'll be fine." He then turned to face Twilight before nuzzling her. "And thank you too, Twilight."

"Are you going to be alright?" Twilight asked.

"Eventually. I just need some time right now. You know, try and accept it as it is before continuing forward."

Giving a sad, yet understanding nod, Twilight nuzzled Dark back before they got up and made for their seats at the table. All the while, Rarity just looked back between the two, curious as to what was going on. She was about to ask them, but it was at that moment that Spike had finished their breakfast and began setting it out. They sat in silence as they ate, feeling that the mood wasn't one for conversation. It wasn't until Dark had finished his plate first that the silence was broken.

"Are you sure that you should be working today, Dark? Especially with the emotional state you're in right now?"

"Thanks for your concern, Twilight," he thanked, "but I think some work would actually do me good in keeping my mind busy."

"Alright. Just don't push yourself too hard, okay?"

Putting on a smile, Dark gave her a nod before thanking Spike for the meal, and heading out to continue his repairs. As everypony sat in silence again, it wasn't until she heard the castle doors close that Rarity finally spoke up.

"Alright, will somepony please tell me what is going on here?" she asked. "I mean, one moment he comes in here seemingly fine, and the next, he's sad and bury his face in your shoulder, Twilight. Just what happened, exactly?"

Twilight gave a sad sigh. "I don't now if I should say. It's rather personal for him."

"Oh, right, it's Dark's birthday today, isn't it?" Spike blurted out as realization hit him.

Immediately, Twilight looked down incredulously at Spike, surprised and upset that he would blatantly throw something personal like that out there. However, Spike didn't know the details behind Dark's birthday, so she would have to give him a pass on this one.

"But if today is his birthday, then why would he be sad about it?" Sweetie Belle asked.

"It's complicated," Twilight answered, rubbing the back of her head. "And it really isn't something for young fillies to hear." She then turned back to Spike. "Or young drakes for that matter."

Taking the hint, the two quickly finished up the last of their breakfast before running off to do their own thing. Once they were out of the kitchen, Twilight put up a soundproof barrier for her and Rarity, just incase Spike and Sweetie Belle were eavesdropping behind the corner. With their privacy assured, Rarity continued.

"Well, now that we have some privacy to ourselves, would you care to tell me why Dark would act like this on his own birthday?"

Twilight shook her head before answering. "Remember back when we first met Dark in the hospital and he told us about how his cousin and brother went off on a dangerous mission?"

"The one where they didn't return and were presumed to be deceased, right?" Rarity clarified.

"That's the one."

"Yes. What about it?"

"Well, as it turns out, the day they left was today."

Rarity brought a hoof to her mouth as she let out a small gasp. "You mean to tell me that the reason for him being so distraught is because today is the anniversary of their... their deaths?"

"Yes," Twilight sadly nodded. "And what's worse is that his younger brother had intentionally set today as their day for departure."

"But that's horrible! Why would anypony want to deliberately ruin their own sibling's birthday like that?"

"Remember how Dark was the only unicorn in his family?" Twilight asked, getting a confirming nod from Rarity. "Well, it turns out that his brother, despite him having been very popular in their village, had always been jealous of Dark being able to use unicorn magic. And it's because of that jealousy that he decided they should leave on this specific day."

Rarity shook her head in disbelief. "I can't believe him. It would be like if Sweetie Belle did that to me."

"Didn't she try something to undermine you before though?"

"Yes, she did sabotage a headdress that I made for Sapphire Shores once. But she soon found out that the anger behind her reasoning was all a misunderstanding, and she came and fixed it right up."

"Well according to Dark, he did everything he could to diminish his brother's jealousy and resentment towards him. He even went as far as to completely stop using magic around him altogether. The only other thing that he could've done would've been to remove his own horn."

Rarity cringed. "Now that would be overdoing it. Still, it doesn't change the fact that this special day of his is forever ruined now."

"True." Twilight paused to look at the clock and lowered her soundproof barrier. "I better get go and help Cheerilee. She sorta got behind on her grading thanks to the last few days."

"Before you go, dear," Rarity began, "what do you propose we do with Dark?"

"What do you mean?"

"Well we can't just let today go bye for him like this. Should I get Pinkie Pie to bake something for him to help lift his spirits?"

"Pinkie accidentally stumbled onto the topic of Dark's birthday, so she already knows all of this. But I suppose if it's to help him feel better, then it wouldn't hurt to try."

"In that case, I'll go on ahead to Sugarcube Corner and speak with her about it."

"Thanks, Rarity," Twilight thanked before heading over to her library, leaving Rarity alone.

Sitting in her chair, she continued mulling over the information behind Dark's actions this morning. Finishing off the last of her morning tea, Rarity then got up out of her seat and headed out of the kitchen to find Pinkie.

The bell over the door rang as Rarity entered Sugarcube Corner, announcing her arrival. As she walked in, she looked around to see where Pinkie was. When she wasn't anywhere in sight, Rarity figured that she was either upstairs, or back in the kitchen. Not wanting to be rude and intrude, she decided to call out for her.

"Hello?" she called. "Is anypony here?"

"Yes, one moment please," answered a female voice.

A few seconds later, Mrs. Cake walked out from the back room with a fresh tray of muffins.

"Oh, hello, dearie," she warmly welcomed her. "What can I do for you today?"

"Hello, Mrs. Cake," Rarity returned. "I'm actually looking for Pinkie about a... birthday situation."

"Oh. Well she's in the back. Give me a moment to get these muffins placed and I'll go get her for you."

"Thank you."

After patiently waiting for Mrs. Cake to finish, Rarity quickly found her vision obscured with pink.

"Hiya, Rarity," Pinkie greeted. "Mrs. Cake said you were looking for me about a birthday?"

"Yes, Pinkie," She began, "although, I was told that you already knew about it."

"About what?"

Not in the mood for wanting to play games, Rarity decided to get straight to the point. "Dark."

Hearing his name along with a birthday being involved, Pinkie's cheerful demeanor vanished as her ears flattened against her head.

"Oh... right..."

"Are you alright, Pinkie?"

"I guess. It's just sad that he doesn't want a birthday party at all. I mean, I know that he's sad about what happened to his brother and cousin, but I was hoping that perhaps a party would help him to feel better."

"Actually, that's why I'm here," Rarity began explaining. "You see, Twilight and I were wondering if you could bake a birthday cake for him. It wouldn't be a full-blown party, though, just a simple cake with some friends."

Pinkie perked up at this. It may not be one of the birthday parties that she would normally throw, but some party was better than no party at all. With some of her happiness restored, she began smiling again.

"Sure I can. Just tell me where you want the cake. Oh, can we get the girls together too?"

"I don't see why not. And as for the where, it'll be at the castle. Just make sure that Dark doesn't know about it."

"Oohhhhhh. So this is like a surprise birthday party?"

"I suppose it would something like that, minus the decorations, presents, and all of that other stuff."

"Okie-dokie-lokie. I'll have the cake ready and delivered by dinner."

"That long?"

"Well of course, silly. I don't know if you've noticed, but ever since those guards came to Ponyville, business has been booming. Only reason why nopony is here yet is because they're all out working."

And with that, Pinkie bounced her way back into the kitchen with her new order. As she left her view, Rarity, happy with what she just did, turned around to go find Applejack and Rainbow. She remembered seeing Applejack working on a set of houses that got damaged, so she figured to start there first. And if that didn't work, then Sweet Apple Acres would be her next place to look. But first, she needed to pay Dark a quick visit.

Over at Carousel Boutique, Dark was busy lifting planks of wood to the second story of the building. Rainbow had found him, and since they had to cancel his flight training for Thursday, she told him that to make up for it. While he was helping with repairing Ponyville, he was to fly from place-to-place, and whenever he was carrying something. It went alright yesterday, but today his wings were starting to feel sore. Letting out a sigh, he picked up another few pieces of lumber in his claws before flying back up. At the rate they were going, Rarity's boutique might actually be finished by tonight, granted that there weren't any interruptions of complications. He just sat the bundle of wooden planks down when he heard somepony calling for him. Looking down, he saw that it was his 'boss' who had called. Gliding down, Dark landed in front of her to find out what she wanted.

"Hey, Rarity," he greeted.

"Hello," Rarity returned. "Now, Dark, I came to have a quick talk with you."

"You aren't going to scold me for accidentally breaking your house again, are you?"

"Oh no, it's nothing like that." She paused to think of how to best word it without giving anything away. "Listen, Twilight told me about what happened with your brother and cousin." She paused when she saw Dark wince at her words, now picking her words more carefully. "I just wanted to say that I'm sorry for your loss, and that you don't need to work today if you don't want to."

"It's alright. Like I said, the work helps me to keep my mind off of it."

"And that's completely understandable, but you can't just keep avoiding it like this. So, it is with that that I'll allow you to work until noon. After that, you're free to do as you please for the rest of the day, so long as it doesn't involve work. Also, be sure that you're back by dinner."

Dark wanted to argue about it, but his mind was weighing heavily on him again. While he wanted to continue working until dusk and simply forget about it all together, he knew that Rarity was right. Besides, there was one thing that he had wanted to do for today, but had been putting it off. And now, he has a chance to work on it.

"Alright," he sighed, "I'll do it."

"Good to hear. Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to find Applejack and Rainbow Dash."

"Alright, see you later then."

He continued waving goodbye to Rarity before she turned the street corner. Once she was gone, Dark continued with his work, eager to do what he could before his time was up. Not wanting to spend anymore time thinking about today before he actually had to think about it. And so, for the next few hours, Dark continued working feverishly, trying to get done what he could. He managed to help with the last remaining wall, and since he had wings, assisted with setting the roofing and some of the shingles. However, he stopped when he heard the bell from the clock tower ringing. With lunchtime now here, Dark began setting the tools and loose materials aside before flying back to the castle for something to eat.

Over at the castle library, Cheerilee and Twilight were sitting at the table with a few piles of papers in front of them. She hadn't realized just how behind she was with her grading, and was at this moment very happy to have Twilight there to help her.

"Thank you again for helping me with this, Twilight," Cheerilee thanked.

"It's really no problem," Twilight dismissed. "I'm just happy to have something to help with. I mean, I do like helping organize and stuff, but it's also sorta relaxing to just do something like this too."

"I suppose I can see where you're coming from, but I have to ask, though." Miss Cheerilee paused to look over to the strange contraption sitting in the corner of the library. "Just what is that thing, exactly? Besides the mirror, I don't think I've ever seen something like it before."

"Oh, right. That's a makeshift portal that I created. I have some friends who are... very far away, and I use this to get to them."

"Is it safe to have a portal in the same room with a bunch of children?"

"It wouldn't if I didn't place an invisible barrier around it so that they couldn't touch it. Especially when it comes to three certain fillies."

Cheerilee sighed. "Crusaders?"

"Yep. I actually had it set up when they came over to play with Dark the day after his 'Welcome To Ponyville' party."

"That was some clever thinking, but this place that the portal leads to, where is it like exactly? You did say that it was very far away, right?"

"Yes," Twilight slowly answered. "It is far away, but I wouldn't recommend anypony going in over there. It's easily the strangest thing that I've ever seen, and I don't know how other ponies would react to what they'd see if they went through it."

"Alright then, I suppose."

Leaving it at that, the two continued working on the stacks of papers. It wasn't until a few minutes later that a scent caught Twilight's attention. Raising her nose up to get a better idea of what it was, she could smell the mixture of flowers and apples. As she followed the direction of it's origin, she found herself looking back to Cheerilee, who was now looking at her curiously.

"Is something wrong, Twilight?" she asked.

"It's just that you smell like apples today," Twilight said. "But I don't get it, you've always had this sweet scent of flowers."

"Well," she began, her cheeks flushed, "it might have something to do with a big apple."

"Big apple? You don't mean Manehattan do you? Because there's no way you could be there and back in one day... unless..." Twilight looked back to see Cheerilee's face completely red now. It was then that she knew what she had meant. "When you said 'big apple', did you mean it as in Big Macintosh Apple?" Getting a shy nod in reply, Twilight got up and ran round the table to give her a big hug. "I'm so happy for you! How long have you two been dating?"

"About five months now," she answered. "You aren't going to tell anypony are you?"

"Not if you don't want me to."

"Thank you. It would be particularly bad if Apple Bloom found out."

Twilight giggled at that. "I suppose so. She'd probably try and get you to give her and her friends the answers to their test or something."

"Probably," Cheerilee giggled before a scent caught her nose as well.

Taking in a few sniffs, she caught the scent of lavender and burnt firewood. Looking back to Twilight, she allowed a knowing smirk to form.

"And it appears that I'm not the only one here who's hiding their relationship, am I?"

"What are you talking about?" Twilight unsteadily asked.

"You know what I mean, Twilight. Your normal lavender scent now has a blend of burnt firewood. And to be honest, it actually isn't that bad. So, who's the lucky stallion?"

"Well... nopony knows about it yet..."

"I understand," Cheerilee nodded. "Like you, I promise not to tell anypony."

"Alright then." Twilight paused to take in a deep breath. "It's Dark."

"You mean the kirin? The one who came to Ponyville a few weeks ago?"

"The same."

"That was rather fast."

"I know it is, but everything just sorta clicked. Well... mostly anyway."

"What do you mean by that?"

"Well, we aren't actually together yet. He did try asking me once before, but our moment was interrupted."

"So, are you two together then, or not?"

"Considering that we to the festival together, and that he tried asking me to be his fillyfriend Thursday morning, but didn't only because he was interrupted, I'd say that we unofficially are."

"Well then, I wish you both luck," Cheerilee smiled. "By the way, how's he been fitting into Ponyville?"

"Alright for the most part. He's been working at Sweet Apple Acres with Applejack and Big Mac. Other than that, he's been taking flying lessons from Rainbow, and some magic lessons from me."

"What kind of magic lessons?"

"Just some defensive spells. Turns out that almost all of his spells are offensive."

"That's smart of him." She paused for a moment. "By the way, when's he suppose to be back?"

Just like that, they heard the sound of the castle doors opening and closing.

"Right now from the sound of it," Twilight answered as she started getting up and looking at the clock. "And for good reason. It's already past noon, and we haven't had anything to eat yet. Care to join us?"

"If you wouldn't mind," Cheerilee answered, following Twilight out of the library.

As they continued making their way to the kitchen for some lunch, they could hear somepony already in there. Turning the corner into the room, they saw Dark standing bipedal while making himself two daffodil and daisy sandwiches. Seeing this for the first time, Cheerilee turned to Twilight.

"Why's he standing like that?" she asked.

"It's more out of habit than anything," Dark answered as he turned around to sit at the table. "This is how I would work the forge. I would stand on my back legs, while my front hooves worked the hammer and the tongs holding the metal."

"Alright, but why not use your magic?"

"Reasons," he simply answered, his gaze downcast.

"Still thinking about today?" Twilight softly asked as she walked up and sat down beside him.

"Yeah. Rarity came over and told me to take the rest of the day off after lunch." Dark paused for a moment. "You two want me to make you some daffodil and daisy sandwiches as well?"

Twilight placed a hoof on his shoulder before he could get up. "It's alright, I can get it."

"So, Dark," Cheerilee began. "How are you liking Ponyville so far?"

Dark allowed himself to truly smile for the first time today. "To be honest, I'm starting to consider this as my new home now. The ponies in this town are kind and welcoming, and I'm not being discriminated for simply being me." He paused for a moment and turned his head slightly to look at Twilight. "And there are even some ponies who I'm happy to have in my life now. Perhaps one in particular?"

Hearing that last part caused Twilight's body to stiffen while her magic sputtered for a brief second. Seeing her react as he had expected caused Dark to chuckle before turning back to his lunch in front of him. As he began munching away, he noticed a knowing smirk on Cheerilee's face.

Knowing this look, Dark swallowed before letting out a sigh. "I know that look. Go ahead, lay it on me."

"I probably would've, but it's not as much fun if you already know."

"You can thank Princess Celestia and Princess Luna for that then. I got plenty of those kinds of looks from them on Thursday."

"So they know about you too?"

"Who do you think were the ones who interrupted Dark?" Twilight commented as she sat down, setting out her and Cheerilee's lunches.

"You told her?" Dark questioned.

"It's alright, she can be trusted. Besides, she's already promised to not tell anypony."

"Wait, you mean that Princess Celestia and Princess Luna were the ones?" Cheerilee clarified.

"Yep," he nodded. "It was definitely one of the most nerve-racking moments of my life."

"Same with me," Twilight agreed.

"Why? What happened?" Cheerilee wondered.

Dark and Twilight looked to each other with slight blushes crossing their faces. It wasn't until Twilight nodded that Dark finally answered.

"Twilight found out that the guy behind the attack Wednesday was after her, so her fears started getting the better of her. After a few hours of trying to fall asleep in her own bed, she then came to me. And before you start, no, there wasn't anything funny going on between us."

"Don't worry, I believe you."

"Well, that makes you the first who didn't tease us about it. But anyway, since then we've been sharing the same bed together. At least, until her fears calm down enough to where she can sleep on her own."

"Well I can't blame her for worrying. I'd probably be the same if that happened to me."

"Especially since he got away in the end," Twilight added. "Even Luna's tracking team lost his trail, and Fluttershy's new animal friends from the Everfree Forest don't know where he'd disappeared to."

"I understand," Cheerilee nodded.

Looking up at the clock, Dark saw that it was almost 1 P.M. Seeing this, he quickly finished off his second sandwich before rinsing off his plate.

"So, what are you going to do now, Dark?" Twilight asked.

"First, I need to get something from my room. After that, I'm heading off to Ghastly Gorge to work on a project. It'll probably take me a few hours to finish," he answered.

"Is it for... them?"

"... yeah."

"Okay, but if it's alright with you, could I see it when it's done?"

Dark thought about it for a moment. Although it was personal and he much rather be alone, perhaps some company would do him good.

"Alright. I'll come back to find you before I set it up."

With a nod from Twilight, Dark bid goodbye to her and Cheerilee before heading off to Ghastly Gorge. After he left, Cheerilee's curiosity got the better of her.

"What was that all about?" she asked.

"Today's the day that Dark's brother and cousin left to go get help from the dragons that had blockaded his village," Twilight answered with a sigh. "Since they didn't return, they were proclaimed to be deceased on the day of their departure."

"Oh..."

"That's not all, though. This also happens to be Dark's birthday."

Cheerilee didn't say anything, opting to instead just go with an understanding nod. They sat in silence as they ate before she finally found her voice.

"How is he taking it?" Cheerilee asked.

"It's been pretty rough on him. He's been using work as a way to busy his mind from thinking about it, but my friends and I have a plan to make him feel better."

"How so?"

"While Dark doesn't feel like having a party, we thought that perhaps a simple cake and some friends would help cheer him up."

"That could work, but does he know about it?"

Twilight smiled. "Nope. Not a clue."

Dark was now closing in on Ghastly Gorge with his cloak wrapped around his waist. As he continued flying, his mind began to wander towards this project of his. He already knew the shape and size he wanted, so he just needed to find a decent sized rock to carve it out of, and then give it a glassy look by treating it with his fire breath. He continued this train of though until he finally reached his destination. Scanning the area, he found a place to land and began his search.

He knew that it was deep from standing up on the cliff, but to actually be down there was different now that he saw just how high up those cliffs were. Turning away from the rocky wall, Dark began looking around fallen rocks and boulders to find the match he needed. But, this was far easier said than done. While there were plenty of rocks for him to choose from, most had a crack or some other form of damage to them. Either that, or they were too small to use, or the shape wouldn't allow for him to carve what he needed out of it. And so, he continued searching. It took him a good three hours before he finally found what he was looking for.

Laying before him was a granite boulder roughly four feet tall by three feet wide, and two feet thick. It was plenty big enough for what he had in mind, and he had some to spare should he screw up his first few attempts. Only question, though, was how would he cut and shape them without any tools. He could fire a small beam out from his horn and cut it with that, but he'd never used something like that before, and wasn't exactly in the mood to accidentally blast it to pieces instead. If he had some fire to Amplify him, he could use a flaming tendril to cut it. Key word being 'if'. Although, it was with that thought that he had an idea and casted his Fire Claws spell.

Looking down to his claws, he gave one of them an experimental poke at a nearby rock. As he thought, the intense flames cut through it, leaving only a small amount of rough patch that he could go over again to smooth out if he wanted. Walking over to the boulder, he poured more magic into the spell, causing the length of the claw to extend. Once it was long enough, Dark slowly dragged it across the rock, splitting a third of it off. With the thickness closer to what he wanted, he then began shaving it off inch-by-inch until it was only a few inches thick now. Then, with his Fire Claws shortened to their original length, he began carving out the shape, starting by taking off chunks from the top, and working his way down. Coming this far without making any mistakes, he took his time in carving the shape out so he wouldn't take too much and ruin the whole thing. This part took him forty-five minutes to complete.

With that done, he dispelled his Fire Claws and began to carve the face of it with his normal claws. Thankfully for him, his claws were strong enough to create small grooves in the stone without causing him any discomfort. After that was done, Dark began breathing fire on it. As he continued pouring fire onto it, he could see the hard rock face starting to change. Stopping for a moment, he could see that his flames had the desired effect as it gave the stone a shiny surface to it. He then proceeded to work on the other sides and top. After a few minutes spent on each side, his project was now treated. Looking over it one last time for anything that he might have missed, Dark nodded approvingly at it, content with the work that he did for having none of the tools for it.

With his project complete, Dark wrapped it in his cloak, grabbed it firmly in his claws, and flew back to Ponyville. What he didn't count on, though, was for how heavy it was. Granted it wasn't as heavy as a pony would be, but the twenty-five pound rock carving he was carrying was quite noticeable. It took him ten minutes longer to get back to the castle while lugging his project around, but was relieved once he finally landed. Sitting his project to rest on the side of the castle, Dark began opening the door to go inside, but was stopped short when Twilight poked her head out of the door.

"Well," Dark began, a bit surprised by her sudden appearance, "this at least saves me the time to try and find you."

"So you're done with your project then?" Twilight asked.

"Yeah. It's sitting right over there."

Twilight stepped out of the castle and closed the door behind her to look where Dark was pointing at, but all she saw was his cloak.

"Where is it?"

"It's underneath my cloak. I wrapped it up with it so that nopony would see it... at least, not yet anyway."

"Alright. So, you said something about setting it up?"

"Yeah. Do you know a place that's sorta out of the way where nopony would disturb it, but also in a spot where it has a nice view?"

Twilight brought a hoof up to her chin to think about it for a moment. It took her about a minute or two for her to think of a matching location.

"I think I might have a place in mind," she answered, beginning to walk towards the spot in question.

Listening to her, Dark levitated his project onto his back and followed after Twilight. As they left, though, Dark failed to notice a collection of heads peaking through the nearby window at them.

Inside the castle, Rainbow, Applejack, Rarity, Pinkie, Fluttershy, Spike, and Sweetie Belle, were all watching with bated breath as Dark and Twilight left. As the two turned the corner, they released the breath that they were all holding in, their plan almost uncovered.

"That was a close one," Pinkie said.

"No kiddin'," Applejack agreed. "Good thin' that Twilight was here."

"Where do you think they're going?" Sweetie Belle questioned.

"Don't know, but didn't Twilight say something about setting something up?" Spike wondered.

"If you all want, I can go follow them and find out?" Rainbow offered.

"No, Rainbow," Rarity objected. "Nopony, or dragon, is to follow them. Right, Pinkie?"

"Yeah," Pinkie agreed. "It would probably be better if we left them be. Besides, we still have some cake decorating to finish."

"But with Twilight gone, who'll stand watch incase they come back?" Fluttershy asked, all eyes simultaneously turning to Spike.

"Seriously? Why do I have to stand watch?" he complained.

"Because you ate the entire first two batches of cake frosting," Sweetie Belle answered.

"Hey, it's not my fault that Pinkie makes them so irresistible."

Everypony laughed at Spike's excuse, despite the fact that he was correct. Pinkie really was the best when it came to sweets, but there was still a cake that needed decorating. So with that, the six ponies began making their way back to the kitchen while Spike sat staring out the window.

During their walk, Twilight would glance over at the wrapped project that Dark carried on his back, curious as to what exactly it was. It's shape was distorted due to the cloth covering it, so she couldn't say for sure what it was, but already had somewhat of an idea. After a good ten minutes of quietly walking together, they made it to the spot where Twilight had suggested. They were now standing on top of a small hill on the southern outskirts of Ponyville. Turning his gaze towards the sun lowering in the sky, Dark figured that this place would work perfectly. They had a great view of the sunset, and the town was still nearby, so it wouldn't take long to get here.

"Thanks, Twilight," Dark thanked. "This'll do perfectly."

With that said, Dark laid the wrapped project down before digging a small trench into the ground for him to plant it. Curious, Twilight walked up alongside him, watching him dig until his claw was almost a foot deep before squaring out the bottom. Once it was nice and flat, Dark levitated the wrapped cloak up above the hole and unraveled it, revealing the tombstone. Slowly, Dark guided it down into the hole until it was sitting firmly at the bottom before pushing in the dirt he dug up around it back in. As he poured the dirt in, he could compact it down to firmly hold it in place.

While Dark was busy with that, Twilight took a few steps back and sat down, wishing that her guess had been wrong. After a few more rounds of pushing in dirt and compacting it, Dark wiped his claws clean before taking a seat beside Twilight. Neither knew what to say at that moment, and continued staring at it, reading the names and dates of his brother and cousin. They continued sitting in silence, the only sounds being heard were the light breeze of the wind, and the sound of the train coming into the station.

The Friendship Express rolled into the Ponyville Train Station, letting off the passengers it carried. With it, though, came six crystal guard ponies in silver armor, bearing a spear, shield, and sword on their belt, one pegasus with golden armor who bore the same weapons, and one unicorn wearing red, full plated armor, and a custom-made, red longsword. As they exited the train, they began scanning around the town for any signs of their target. With no sign of him, they began making their way into town. Their presence drew a few eyes from the villagers, but the guards still posted there knew who they were, causing them to salute as they passed by. It wasn't until a specific squad of guards approached them did they stop.

"Welcome to Ponyville, Prince Shining Armor," Steel Hoof saluted, along with Aura Lance and Kite Shield.

"Hey, Steel," Shining greeted. "Long time no see. Glad to see that you and your team made it safely through that attack."

"Is that why you've come, sir?" Kite asked.

"Hey, kid. That's part of the reason, but first, how's my favorite student been?"

"Surviving, sir."

"And keeping us alive in the process," Aura added.

"Good to hear. Now, about why I'm here. We've received word about the attack on Ponyville a few days ago..."

"Ah yes," Steel nodded. "Quite the surprise. I doubt that we would've survived if Princess Celestia and Princess Luna weren't there helping us."

"Don't forget about Dark, sir," Aura chimed. "After all, according to Captain Iron Guard and everypony there defending the stands with him, it was he who defeated the hydras and ursa major, which caused their main force to retreat."

"Which in turn allowed him to attack the manticore fleet that was assaulting the castle," Kite added.

"This 'Dark'," Shining slowly began, "he wouldn't by chance be a kirin now, would he?"

"Yes, sir," Steel replied.

"Do you know where he is right now?"

"I believe I saw him and Princess Twilight walking south of Ponyville," Aura answered.

Hearing this, Shining's horn immediately began glowing before he fired a flare into the skies above Ponyville.

"Sir, what's going on?" Steel wondered.

"How long has the kirin been in town?" Shining asked with a hint if urgency.

"From what we've heard, about fifteen days."

"Then you're lucky. I've meet kirins before, and they're deceitful and dangerous. The fact that he's been here that long without causing trouble for anypony is both relieving to hear, and a miracle."

"Are you saying that Dark's a danger to us, sir?" Kite questioned.

"Yes. Now, we are to wait here for the other guards to arrive before we all move out to engage him."

Giving a salute, the three stood in silence. After Shining stepped away to talk to Flash, Aura was the first to speak.

"Sir, is this a good idea?" she wondered. "Dark doesn't seem like a threat to anypony here."

"I don't know at this point, Aura," Steel answered, "but if it's coming from Shining Armor, then something must be up."

"I have to agree with Aura, though," Kite chimed in, "something about this doesn't feel quite right."

"I know, kid, but despite what we think, he's requested our assistance, and as guards, we are bound by honor to comply."

"Even if it means that we may have to fight a friend?"

Steel didn't need to speak, the expression on his face being answer enough. His gut was telling him that something was wrong here, that whatever was coming to Dark wasn't right. And the worse part? Unless they wanted to be court-martialed for insubordination, or possibly even treason, then they may very well have to fight their friend.

Twilight and Dark continued sitting in relative silence as they looked at the tombstone he made. It had been a few minutes since they sat like this, and still nothing was said. Twilight had tried multiple times to try and say something, but every time she would open her mouth to speak, her voice faltered. Looking over to Dark, she could see that while he appeared to be holding up, but his breathing was becoming noticeably ragged. Scooting up against him, she turned to face him, draped her forelegs and wings around him, and pulled him into a hug. Dark, in turn, didn't resist it as he allowed himself to fall into it before wrapping his arms around Twilight.

"What am I even suppose to say for something like this?" he quietly asked, trying to hold his back his choking.

"I'm sorry, Dark, I don't know how to answer that," Twilight apologized.

They remained like that for a few minutes, Dark leaning into Twilight while she continued holding and consoling him. While they remained like that, a thought came to Twilight.

"Hey," she softly began, "how about a story about them? One of when you guys were all happy together?"

Leaning back away from Twilight to look her in the eyes, Dark closed his before thinking of such a time. While it took some remembering, he eventually did think of a few times where they all had fun. Smiling at the memories, Dark opened his eyes and looked back to Twilight.

"It was about ten years ago," he began, "Big Beard and his sister, Fairy Dust, who was the same age as my sister, came over to our place to stay the weekend with us. During that time, we all played an assortment of games together. Tag, baseball, catch, and a few board games. It was fun and all, but it wasn't until nighttime came around that things started getting fun."

"Sounds like you all had a good time together," Twilight commented.

"We did. But I have to ask you first, though, have you ever heard of the game 'Ghost in the Graveyard'?"

"Sorry, I haven't."

"Well, the short version of it is that it's basically a combination of hide and seek, and tag. One pony is 'the ghost', and they have to find a place to hide within a specific area, while the others have to find him or her. And if you do, you shout out 'ghost in the graveyard!', and begin running around towards the designated 'safe zone', which in our case was the front porch. At least, that's how we played it. I'm sure there are other versions of it that other ponies play. And of course, there wasn't any magic or flying allowed. Anyway, Big Beard was the one who was 'the ghost', and while he was finding a place to hide, Fairy, Lilly, Light, and I, were on the porch with our eyes closed, counting down from thirty. Once we were done, we split up and began looking around our house for him. It took us a good ten minutes of searching, and guess what happened?"

"You found him?"

"Nope. Apparently, he hid himself so well that we gave up looking for him and meet up in front of the vines we had running up the side of the house at the time. Once we were all there, I asked, 'have you found Big Beard yet', and Lilly and Light each gave me a 'no'. It was then that Fairy said to us, 'guys, I'm scared', and then, right behind us in the vines, a voice said, 'I'm scared too'."

Dark took a moment from his storytelling to laugh at the memory, and was quickly joined in by Twilight.

"You have no idea how freaked-out we were from that. That whole time we were talking, and he was right there behind us."

"I can only imagine," Twilight giggled. "So, I take it that he got you?"

"Heh, he got all of us." Dark happily sighed. "That's easily one of the scariest, funnest, and most memorable moments of my life there."

"Kinda wishing I could have seen that now. So, do you have any other happy memories of them you want to share?"

"Off the top of my head, there's one other, but it's another Ghost in the Graveyard story."

"Go ahead, I'm here to listen."

"Alright then, where to start?" Dark muttered to himself. "Well, this time Light and I were over staying the night at Big Beard's house. The sun had just set, and he and Fairy wanted to play Ghost in the Graveyard again. So Light went off to hide while the rest of us stood at the front of the house, counting down from thirty again."

"Is there a rule for how long 'the ghost' has to hide?" Twilight wondered.

"Not really. We just agreed before we began playing that thirty seconds was enough time to hide." Getting an understanding nod from Twilight, Dark continued. "So anyway, after we finished counting down, we began looking for my little brother. Now with him, we gave him a black blanket to cover himself with, you know, since he has white wings to his blue coat. Anyway, it was a little harder to find him with the blanket that we gave him, so it took a bit more effort. But once we did, that's when things got fun. Even though he was younger than me by five years, he was already very fast on his hooves, enough to keep up with the rest of us. So, we began running around the back of the house where the moon's light was blocked by the house, and that's where it happened."

"What?"

"I was running at a full gallop when I ran into a wooden barrel that was hidden in the shadows."

Twilight cringed. "That sounds like it hurt a lot."

"It did, especially since I hit it shin-first while galloping at full speed. I'm actually kinda surprised that my leg didn't get scarred from it. After I hit it, Big Beard helped me back in into the house where my aunt tended to my leg. Turns out that I had scrapped my entire front shin pretty well, but it healed up after a few weeks. Although, sleeping that night was a bit of a challenge with how much it stung."

"Well, aside from the part of you getting hurt, it actually sounds like it would be fun to play."

"Yeah, it is pretty fun."

"You think we could play it with our friends someday?"

"If by 'day' you mean 'night', then I don't see why not."

"In that case, I'll be looking forward to it. Also, I'm glad to see you happy again."

"Yeah," he sighed. "I'm sorry for how I acted earlier, Twilight."

"You have no reason to be sorry. Besides, I would probably be the same way if I were in your horseshoes."

Happy with how things turned out, the two just sat there embracing each other. It wasn't until a few moments passed that Dark spoke up.

"You don't know how lucky I am to have you in my life now, Twilight" he softly said.

Pulling back from Dark from surprise, Twilight looked into his eyes. "What do you mean?"

Dark warmly smiled at her. "Whenever I seem to feel sad or down, you're always there to help make me feel better. It happened after you told me about the meeting with King Inferno, when you confronted me about how I was holding back my emotions, today when I came to the kitchen for breakfast and lunch, and now here." He paused to gently cup Twilight's cheek in his claw. "Every time, you're there for me. Even if I may feel like I want to be alone or want to try and hide it, when I'm around you, I don't feel like I need to hold any of it back. That after so many years of constant fighting and putting on a brave and tough face, that I no longer need to hide it. So thank you, Twilight, for simply being there for me."

With his little speech over, Twilight wiped her eyes dry with a hoof, happy and thankful for his kind words. Looking back up to Dark, she locked her gaze onto his eyes. As she looked into them, she could feel her heart beating faster as her cheeks heated up. She then felt something inside her that was urging her to be closer to him. Moving her forehooves, Twilight brought them back from around Dark's midsection and repositioned them around the back of his neck. Then, slowly, she found that she was pulling herself closer to his face, or more specifically, his lips.

Seeing Twilight's intent, Dark's heart began pounding away as he too began lowering himself to meet her halfway. As they neared each other, their eyes began to close. It was then, when their eyes were completely shut and that they could feel the warm breath from each other, that they-

"TWILIGHT!"

Hearing somepony shouting her name, Twilight snapped her eyes opened just in time to see a pink-colored blast of magic hitting Dark in the side of the head. It ripped him out from her hold and sent him flying head-first through the tombstone, breaking almost the whole thing apart. Seeing him sprawled on the ground amongst the crumbled pieces of stone, Twilight tried running over to his side, but found herself encased in a pink magical aura, and floating off the ground. It wasn't until she was set back down that she could turn to see who it was.

"Shining Armor?!" Twilight practically yelled. "What were you thinking?!"

"I'm keeping you safe from HIM!" he answered, pointing a hoof at Dark.

Getting his bearings together, Dark shook his head before noticing the black mist out of his right peripheral vision. Bringing a claw from the side of his head, he felt a trickle of blood that came from it. Standing up, Dark turned around to see who it was that attacked him. What he saw, though, he wasn't expecting.

Before Dark stood an orange pegasus pony in gold armor and six silver-armored crystal ponies who were holding Twilight back. And spread out alongside them were all of the guards that Princess Celestia had sent to defend Ponyville. But what got Dark's attention the most was the white unicorn standing at the front. His eyes immediately locking onto the red armor the stallion was wearing, and the red longsword that he was holding in his magic. While seeing Twilight being held back like this caused Dark's blood to start boiling, the sight of the red gear also made his eyes widen in fear. Although he'd never actually forged it before, he knew the look of that metal. So, it was with some difficulty that he whispered its name.

"Draconium."

Chapter 19- Dark vs Shining I

"Seriously, why is it that I can't just go one full week without something wanting to kill me?" Dark muttered to himself.

As Dark continued looking over the Draconium armor and sword his attacker was bearing, he was also trying to suppress the fear that was growing inside him. He'd been in more dangerous situations than this before, but just the sight of it was making him uneasy.

It's probably my draconic side warning me about the metal, he thought to himself. Besides, I've been in worse situations.

Looking back to Twilight, Dark saw that she was continuing to struggle to get away from them. Deciding to ignore his attacker, Dark made his way towards her. He didn't get far, though, as another magical beam shot at the ground in front of him.

"Where do you think you're going, monster?" he spat.

"Stop this, Shining!" Twilight shouted. "Why are you attacking him?!"

"'Shining'?" Dark questioned, looking back from Twilight to the Draconium-armored stallion. "You mean as in your brother Shining Armor?"

"That's Prince Shining Armor to you," he glared. "Not that you'll live long enough to remember it."

Dark's face turned from confused to serious. "You make it sound as though you're threatening me."

"So what if I am? It's nothing more than a demon like you deserves."

"'Demon' huh? Now that's a first," Dark chuckled.

His chuckling was silenced when he felt the blade of the Draconium sword cut his cheek. It left a light sting as blood trickled out of the cut, but Dark didn't think much of it, he would let his regeneration fix that... only it didn't. As he kept looking at the area where the black mist should be coming from, Dark began wondering why he wasn't regenerating it. Then it hit him. His regeneration was apart of his draconic half, meaning that any wounds from that Draconium sword would cancel his regeneration. With his attention fully on Shining, Dark began taking a low, aggressive stance.

"If you want a chance of surviving this," Shining began, walking over to Dark, "then you'll pay attention."

"Shining Armor!" Twilight shouted. "Will you explain why you're doing this?! Please?!"

Shining turned from Dark to Twilight. "I'm doing this to protect you from him."

"But why?"

"Because I'm your brother and I care about you. How about that?"

"Hold on a second here," Dark intervened. "Look, I know that you're her brother, but is this really necessary?"

"Yes, it is," he answered, glaring back at Dark.

"But this act goes beyond just being a protective brother. Look, I too had a younger sister that I cared for once, but I've never consider going this far."

"Then you never truly cared for your sister!" Shining proclaimed as he fired a barrage of magical blasts at Dark's face.

Seeing this attack coming, Dark raised his wing to block it. As he felt the blasts hitting his wing, Dark began running towards Shining while charging his own horn. Once Dark got close enough, he pulled his wing off to the side to expose his horn before firing his own magical blast at Shining.

Not seeing Dark's horn charging from behind his wing, Shining took a direct blast to his chest, knocking him onto his back. Thanks to the armor, though, it didn't hurt all that much and allowed for him to quickly get back up. Sheathing his sword, Shining's horn began glowing again.

"Not bad, for a Demon," Shining mockingly complimented.

"I have a name you know. It's Dark Flame," he stated.

"As far as I'm concerned, you're nothing more than a demon to me. And until you're dead like the rest of your kind, I'll continue addressing you as such."

Annoyed with how stubborn he was being, Dark began groaning in frustration.

"Why is it that you want me dead so badly?"

"I don't need to answer that to a walking corpse," Shining answered darkly.

Flaring his wings and bearing his fangs, Dark and Shining began circling each other until Dark's back was facing the guards. With his plan completed, Shining allowed for a satisfied smile to form.

"This is where I must bid you farewell," he said as his horn's aura became brighter.

"What are you-"

"Dark, behind you!" Twilight warned.

"Why? What's- Gaaahhhh!"

His question was answered as a spear was thrust through his back. Looking down below him, Dark could see the spear was impaled through his stomach, and the spearhead had buried itself deep into the ground. He looked back up to Shining before repositioning his hooves to stand bipedal, grabbed the spear with his claws, and began pulling it out of the ground. Unfortunately, Shining wasn't willing to give him a chance to free himself. Within seconds, the pain he felt was amplified as he felt six more spears impaling him through his back at different angles. Seeing what had happened, Twilight's eyes widened in fear.

"Shining! Stop this, please!" she begged. "You're going to kill him!"

"This is for your own protection, Twily," Shining answered.

"No it's not! Now you stop this right now, or I will!"

Not wanting to risk Twilight interfering, Shining erected a fifty-five foot wide barrier around him and Dark. With no longer having to worry about her teleporting over, he could peacefully watch Dark die from his wounds. Giving himself a nod in satisfaction, he now patiently waited for the last kirin to die.

While Shining was standing there, Dark continued looking over himself, seeing that he was in deep trouble. The angles of the spears had pined him in place, preventing him from sliding down or try pulling himself up out of them. What's more was that both of his arms had also been impaled, making his claws useless as they remained gripping the first spear. And now, Dark was starting to feel a steady stream of blood flowing from the corner of his mouth and onto the ground as he hung there. Seeing Dark like this, Twilight turned to the surrounding guards.

"Are you all really going to just let this happen to him?!" she incredulously asked. "He fought alongside you during the attack a few days ago! His actions saved many pony's lives, along with my friends and I! And what about those of you who were injured during the attack? The very next morning, Dark came and healed all of you of your wounds! So why would you allow for him to suffer like this?!"

None of the guards answered Twilight. Instead, they all silently looked away from her, lowering their heads in shame. After not receiving an answer, Twilight turned to Flash.

"Flash, please help me!" Twilight pleaded.

"I'm sorry, Princess," he apologized, "but Prince Shining has given us all orders to keep you safe from him, and to keep you from interfering."

"Did he tell you why?"

"Because he's a threat to everypony here."

"But he isn't!" she protested. "Ever since Rainbow and I brought Dark here, he's done nothing but help everypony. The only time that he's actually shown any aggression at all was when he was defending himself from a pack of alpha timberwolves, and during the attack on Ponyville."

"Regardless of what he has or hasn't done, we were given our orders, and we must obey them."

After giving him an angry, yet tearful look, Twilight turned back to see Dark still in the same position as he was before. It was hard for her to watch, though, as his blood started pouring down the spears and began pooling beneath him. Slumping to her haunches, Twilight looked down to the ground in front of her, no longer wanting to watch.

As Dark continued hanging impaled on the seven spears, he turned his gaze up to Shining before coughing up blood.

"It won't be much longer," Shining said. "With those wounds, you'll last probably another minute at best."

Glaring at him, Dark began taking in a deep breath. Seeing this, Shining raised an eyebrow.

"You do know that this armor makes me immune to your fire breath, right?"

Not bothering to answer, Dark instead unleashed a torrent of flame down below him. As he continued breathing fire, Dark could see that the exposed sections of the spears were starting to burn away. Not wanting to stop, Dark continued pouring his flames out onto the spears. After twenty seconds of fire-breathing, Dark finally stopped for a moment. Seeing that the spears were almost completely burnt through, Dark swung his tail around to hit them. It took a few tries, but he managed to smash his tail through the charcoaled spear masts, causing him to fall down into his own pool of blood.

As he turned to his side and laid there, trying to control his breathing, Dark noticed the burnt pieces of wood in his arms. With a steady breath, he brought one of the impaled arms to his mouth before clamping his fangs around the burnt wood, and quickly yanked it out. Muffling his cry of pain with the piece of wood in his mouth, Dark spit it out before going for the next one, turning equal results. Taking a moment to relax himself, Dark looked back up to Shining. However, as he continued looking at him, his vision became distorted.

It wasn't like before against Nocturne when he was losing consciousness, though. This time, the vision of Shining standing before him had started switching to that of another. It was a figure wearing a tattered gray cloak, standing in a grassy field. Shaking his head, the strange vision faded from the cloaked figure back to Shining. Not wanting to die yet, Dark lit his horn and began concentrating. As he felt his magic take hold, he brought one of the pieces of wood that he'd takin from his arms, and put it in his mouth.

This is gonna hurt like a mother, Dark mentally groaned.

Feeling his magic grabbing the seven spear shafts sticking out of his back, Dark closed his eyes before biting down hard onto the wood in his mouth. As he began pulling them out inch by inch, Dark did his best to keep his screams of pain to a minimum. However, the pain was too much and caused him to bite through the wood in his mouth before screaming out loud. Stopping for a moment to recollect himself from the pain, Dark began breathing heavily. Each time he pulled caused more blood to flow from his wounds, and even with his body able to regenerate the blood he was losing, it did nothing to relieve the pain.

"I have to admit that I'm rather impressed," Shining complimented. "Even with those spears running you through, you still try and fight it. However, if you're going to be so persistent about this, then I'll just have to finish you off myself."

Watching Shining unsheathe his sword, Dark's mind began racing. He had to get these out of him if he were to properly defend himself. Turning his gaze away from the approaching Shining Armor, Dark clamped his eyes shut before lighting his horn and grabbing the wooden shafts with his magic again. With a few steady breaths, Dark started counting down from five. Once he reached zero, he pulled as hard as his magic would allow, causing all seven spears to abruptly shoot out of his back with an audible squelching sound.

Witnessing this, the guards all cringed while some began gagging at the sight of it. Feeling himself free of his burden, Dark released the wooden poles from his magic and began focusing on controlling his breathing. As he continued laying there, he turned his head slightly to see his regeneration beginning to work. Laying his head back onto the ground, Dark began resting himself while his wounds closed up. However, that thought was quickly ended as he saw Shining standing only a few feet away with his sword raised. Not wanting to risk moving around yet, Dark quickly thought back to his lessons with Twilight before casting a magical barrier. And just in time too, for right after it was casted, Dark could hear the clang of a sword striking it, accompanied by a round of surprised gasps.

"What?" Shining asked confusingly as he inspected the barrier. "Wait a second... I know that barrier! Where in Tartarus did you learn how to cast my magical barrier?!"

"Like I'm telling you," Dark grumbled as he continued coughing up blood.

"Like it matters. It may look like my barrier, but I can still see the flaws in its design. All I need to do is beat away at it before it shatters!"

With that, Shining began swinging his sword away at Dark's barrier. As he continued assaulting it, Shining began noticing shadowy mists spewing out from Dark's wounds. Taking another look at them, he could see that the wounds were starting to close themselves.

Great. From the stories Princess Celestia told us about King Sombra, this seems similar to what he did when he was injured, Shining mentally compared.

While Shining continued beating away at Dark's barrier, Twilight looked up to see what the commotion was all about. Seeing the barrier that Dark casted, Twilight allowed herself to let out a sigh of relief, knowing that he'd remembered their lessons together. It didn't go unnoticed, though, as a group of guards approached her.

"Princess?" one of them called.

Turning to look to her side, she saw Steel Hoof, Aura Lance, and Kite Shield.

"Is everything alright?" Steel asked.

"Does everything look alright?!" she angrily replied, a few tears still in her eyes. "My brother just came out of nowhere and started to try killing my friend! Your friend! How is that alright?!"

"We know," Aura calmly said, "and to be honest with you, we're not completely with this idea either."

"Then why aren't you doing anything to stop it?"

"Because if we did, then we'd be court-marshaled for insubordination, and maybe even treason," Kite explained.

"But how would that work?"

"It would mean that we would be going against Prince Shining Armor's orders to assist him, and help Dark instead," Steel answered. "If we did that, then we'd probably be fighting him right now, and every other guard here."

"Something of which I would strongly advise you against," Flash chimed.

"I'd rather not think of that at all," Twilight said. "Besides, I wouldn't allow for it to happen. This is bad enough as it is, and we don't need more ponies fighting here."

Back over at the fight, Shining was starting to make progress as a crack had formed on Dark's barrier. It wouldn't be long now before the whole thing came crashing down on him, and after a dozen more swings, Shining had finally broken through. However, during that time, Dark had been recuperating within his barrier. His wounds were almost completely healed by the time it fell.

Once it did, Shining lunged his sword and himself at Dark, landing on top of him while his sword went straight for his head. Shining missed his mark, though, as Dark tilted his head to the side, burying his sword into the dirt beside his head instead. Glaring down, Shining repositioned his hooves and pinned Dark's arms to the ground. With him firmly secured beneath him, Shining began pulling his sword loose from the dirt.

Before he could, though, Dark wrapped his tail around Shining's hind right leg. With a powerful yank, Dark pulled Shining off of him and onto the bloody ground with an audible and wet splat. Getting onto all fours, Dark turned his head and glared angrily at Shining. With the strength he had recovered, Dark used his body to help whip his tail above his body from his right side, before slamming it against the ground on his left, pulling Shining along with it. Dark continued this a few more times before spinning around, dragging Shining along the ground to help paint a bloody circle, before throwing him against his own barrier. As Dark sent Shining flying, he also fired a blast of magic from his horn, hitting Shining right as he bounced off the barrier and sending him right back against it.

Although this would've been the perfect moment for Dark to capitalize on him, he used up too much of his strength, and instead laid back down to rest. While his wounds were mostly healed, they weren't completely healed, causing him to continue losing blood during his counterattack. While Dark was laying down to regenerate his wounds and replenish his blood, Shining laid slump against his barrier. His armor having taken the brunt of the impacts that he'd suffered, but it didn't absorb all of it.

Sitting there, Shining groaned in mild pain and frustration as he slowly began moving around. While he didn't feel anything broken, he was pretty sure that some of his ribs were either bruised or cracked from being thrown around like ball end of a flail like that. Another thing that Shining noticed was that during his time being spun around, his helmet had slipped off of his head. Feeling a sore spot on the back of his head, he brought a hoof around to feel it. Already, there was a goose egg forming, along with something else. Bringing his hoof out in front of him, Shining saw a few spots of his own blood on it. Snorting in anger, he steadily got back onto his hooves.

Dark, meanwhile, had just looked up to see Shining getting back onto his hooves. With him no longer wearing his helmet, Dark got his first good look at the stallion beneath the armor.

Oh you've got to be kidding, Dark mentally chuckled. Just by their looks alone, if I didn't know any better, I'd say that Shining Armor looks more like he could be Vinyl Scratche's brother instead of Twilight's.

Feeling his wounds completely healed and most of his blood restored, Dark too got up. However, almost immediately as he did, Shining started galloping straight for him. Not having any time to counter or block, Dark quickly found Shining's horn impaled into his throat. After getting over the initial shock, Dark grabbed Shining's horn, and pulled it out before delivering a strong punch to his left cheek, sending him sliding across the pool of blood that Dark had left.

Leaning his head forward at a low angle to try and keep any blood from flowing down into his lungs, Dark started coughing as the hole in his windpipe began regenerating. As he stood there feeling the gaping hole seal itself, Shining was trying to stand. The hit he just took had sent him into a daze, causing him to lose his center of balance and stumble as he tried to right himself. It also didn't help that the blood beneath his hooves made the ground slick for him to stand on. After a few seconds of collecting himself, Shining managed to stand back up. As he did, though, Dark's puncture wound had closed itself up as well.

Once the two regained their footing and began staring down each other, they both began noticing how much of a mess they were. Where Dark's entire left half, front, and back, was covered in his own blood, Shining's right half and back were covered in Dark's blood from him being dragged and knocked across it.

"I was right about you," Shining spoke. "With all of this blood on you, you look even more like a demon than before."

"And what does that say about you?" Dark shot back. "After all, it's because of you that we've both taken this near literal bloodbath."

Angered by that comment, Shining looked to his sword that was still planted in the ground behind Dark. Lighting his horn, Shining pulled the blade out of the ground before launching it at Dark like a spinning buzz saw. Getting the sense of deja vu, Dark quickly leaped to his left to avoid whatever it was before turning his head around to look at what was coming at him this time. That, however, was a mistake. One second, Dark saw the spinning sword flying straight towards him, and before he knew it, his vision went black as he felt a searing pain from both of his eyes.

Roaring loudly in pain, Dark fell to the ground and started squirming around as he clutched his eyes with his claws. There was little that registered to him apart from the intense pain from his eyes, other than a liquid running down from where his eyes were. Immediately, Dark threw up a barrier around him so he wouldn't be attacked while like this. It was a good thing too as he heard his barrier become under assault one again. Taking a moment to try and calm himself from the pain, he removed his claws from his eyes and looked up to see what exactly was going on... except that he couldn't. Blinking a few times, he then waved a claw in front of his face to test his vision. Fearing the worst, Dark then brought his claw to feel his eye, only to instead feel a pair of empty eye sockets.

As the realization of what just happened began settling in, Dark remained laying on the ground. Him losing both of his eyes in a split second like that was hitting him hard. Holding out hope for his regeneration to restore his eyes, Dark waited. However, just like before, the damage from the Draconium blade prevented his regeneration. As Shining continued assaulting Dark's barrier, a realization came to him, causing him to smile in triumph.

"Now I understand," Shining said. "You can regenerate yourself, but any wound inflicted on you by this blade will neutralize it."

"That's enough, Shining!"

Turning around, he saw Twilight crying as she pounded her hooves on the barrier.

"You've done enough! Now please, stop!"

"I'll stop once I've saved Equestria of his evil."

"What evil?! He's never committed any evil acts!"

"Every kirin that I've ever met was either murderous, cruel, deceitful, or perverted. At one time, I met a group that was all of the above. So tell me why I should expect any different from him?"

"Because I'm you sister, and you should trust me!" Twilight answered. "Do you remember what happened the last time I tried to convince you of something and you ignored it?"

"This isn't like the wedding, Twily," Shining stated. "That was from a race of shapeshifting changelings. And although they were monsters, they were at least of their own race. He's nothing more than an mixture from two races who shouldn't be."

"And what about Spike?" Dark groaned, causing Shining and Twilight to look at him while he kept his eyes shut and downcast. "You like Spike, don't you?"

"What kind of a question is that?" Shining asked. "Of course I like him. He's apart of our family."

"And what about if he were to start dating a pony?"

"If you're referring to his crush on Rarity that everypony knows about, then not likely."

"I'm not talking about Rarity." This caught Shining's attention. "For your information, Spike's found himself a fillyfriend his own age. Somepony who he loves, and who actually loves him back." Regaining his strength from his built up anger, Dark stood up. "Now, think to five or eight years into the future. If they stay together, what do you think will happen?"

"They'll get married of course," Shining scoffed, "but that doesn't have anything to do with you."

"Yes it does," Dark argued. "If they stay together, then someday they could produce an offspring of their own. And take a guess as to what kind of pony it would be?"

Although Dark lost his eyesight, he didn't need it to feel the hated glare coming from Shining. After a few seconds passed without him receiving an answer, Dark continued.

"Since you're not going to answer, I'll just say it for you. Their child will be a kirin, like myself. So, Prince Shining Armor, if such a time does come, what will you do then? Will you then abandon this hatred that you have for kirins, or will you hunt it down and-"

"SILENCE!" Shining shouted, firing a beam of magic at Dark's barrier. "You know what? Twilight's right, this is enough, and I should stop this. And once your barrier is down, I will end it with my sword in you skull!"

Feeling his barrier starting to crack under the force of Shining's beam, Dark began running plans through his mind. However, all of them were useless without his sight.

Sight, Dark thought to himself, a new idea forming as he grinned. Of course, how could I've forget about it?!

As his horn continued to pump magic into his barrier, Dark also began casting another spell, but casting a second spell while maintaining the barrier also made it weaker. It only took a few seconds more before Shining had broken Dark's barrier and moving to finish him off with his sword. As Shining got closer, he lifted his sword high above his head, ready to bring it down hard and finish Dark off for good. Once he was a foot away from him, Shining swung the sword down at his head... only to be caught in mid-swing by a flaming claw.

"My patience is at its end," Dark growled as he lifted his head up to face Shining. "Now." Dark opened his eyes, showing a golden magical glow from each of his empty eye sockets. "I'm done playing nice!"

Taking in a deep breath, Dark began roaring loudly straight into Shining's face, causing his magic to fizzle out as he stumbled back and fell down, covering his ears with his hooves to drown out the noise. Seeing his opening, Dark quickly casted his Fire Claw on his other claw before charging at Shining. Thanks to his Second Sight spell, he no longer needed his eyes to see anymore as he closed in on Shining. While he was still trying to get the ringing out of his ears, Dark picked him up off the ground with a flaming claw before taking a swipe at his chest.

While the Draconium was immune to dragon fire, it wasn't so much when it came to unicorn magic. the strike allowed for the Fire Claw spell to leave a gash in the armor where Dark's claws landed, but not enough to slice through it completely. Going bipedal, Dark began swinging his claws away at Shining, who was doing his best to dodge them with the distortion effect of him roaring into his face. As he continued to dodge, Shining would also take some potshots at Dark with either his magic, or a swing with his sword to deflect his attacks. But while his sword did make contact with Dark's claws, no damage was done since his claws were covered in magical unicorn fire. He was, however, able to get a cut on Dark's upper right arm, but all that seemed to do was further enrage him, making his attacks becoming quicker and more feral.

Having enough of being backed up, Shining leaped back and set up a barrier to protect himself. Taking a moment to collect himself from his ears still ringing, and from the sudden change in Dark's behavior, Shining began thinking his options. His plan was still to finish Dark off with his sword, seeing as that's the only weapon he had that could permanently hurt him, but this new method of a feral attack wasn't allowing him much of a chance to get in any decent shots. With a decision made, Shining turned to look back up at Dark, only to see three flaming orbs orbiting him.

While Shining was sitting in his barrier, Dark started slashing away at it. After a few swings, he figured that if he couldn't cut it open, he could blast it open. Charging his horn, Dark casted his Fire Orbs. As the orbs orbited his body, Dark then started firing off every Explosive Fire Needle that the orbs held. Seeing the orbs firing little needles of fire like that made Shining flinch for a second, but relaxed as the impact from them was next to nothing. However, when they started exploding against his barrier, that's when Shining started to worry slightly. As he poured more magic into holding up his barrier, Dark continued emptying out each of his three orbs. Once the orbs were empty and had dissipated, everypony waited for the smoke and dust from the explosions to clear to see what damage he'd done. However, Dark didn't need to wait as he casted his Soul Eyes to look through the smoke and dust to see Shining still standing.

Once the area did clear, though, everypony who wasn't Dark could see that Shining's barrier had a few small cracks in it with Shining having looked like he'd ran a marathon. Although his horn was still glowing with magic, his legs were slightly shaky while his breathing was heavy. Seeing that breaking through would be more difficult than he figured, Dark spread his wings before giving them a powerful flap. Launching himself into the air above him, but careful to not hit the top of the barrier they were still in, Dark breathed deeply before bathing the entire area within the barrier in his fire breath.

Feeling the heat, Twilight leaped away from the barrier, and back towards the guards who were watching.

"What is he thinking now?" Twilight asked the guards, each of whom just shrugged in confusion.

Inside the flaming barrier, Dark landed onto the burning ground before lighting his horn. It was a few seconds after starting his spell that he heard Shining's voice again.

"What do you think your doing?" he questioned. "This armor is made of Draconium, that means that I'm immune to dragon fire and any heat that's emanated from it."

"I know," Dark replied. "That's why I'm using this fire to obscure your vision."

"And what could you possibly do that would require me to be blinded? You can't even break through my barrier."

"If you had this spell of mine, then you'd know. In the meantime, you'll just have to wait and see."

Shining snorted. "Yeah, right."

With a hidden smirk, Dark continued pouring his magic in to the spell. It was already completed, but against Shining, Dark didn't want to take anymore chances. He'd already lost his eyes during this fight, and wasn't in the mood for losing anything else. About another minute passed before Shining's patience ran out.

"That's enough!" he stated as his horn created a strong wind that blew away the flames. "Now what is it that your-"

Shining's voice caught in his throat as he looked down to see a massive red seal on the ground that covered the entire area of his barrier. What's worse was that Shining himself was standing right at the center of it. Looking at it curiously as to what it was exactly, he began wondering to himself before he heard the shouts and hollers of some of the guards.

"Everypony get back!"

"It's no longer safe here!"

"Fall back! Fall back!"

As the guards began running farther back from the barrier, Twilight turned around confusingly at them before feeling somepony pick her up, carrying her further back with them, and setting her down.

"Why? What's wrong?" she asked.

"Your Highness," one of the guards began, "this is the same spell that he used against the hydras during the attack!"

"It killed the hydras and left their bodies charred while everything else caught in it was turned to ashes!" another added.

Hearing this, both Twilight's and Shining's eyes widened, along with the ponies that Shining brought with him from the Crystal Empire.

"And that was just with a normal seal," Dark chimed in. "With the amount of extra magic that I poured into this seal, I'd figure that it would be enough to even char that ursa major that I fought."

"So what?" Shining dismissed. "Like I said before, this Draconium armor-"

"Only works against dragon fire, but this isn't dragon fire, it's unicorn magic, and fire from unicorn magic can bypass the special properties of your Draconium armor." Shining started pouring more magic into his horn, reinforcing his barrier and adding a second layer on top of it while weakening his barrier that was sealing them in. "And don't even think that another barrier will save you from this. Your barrier doesn't cover the ground beneath your hooves, and even if it did, the intense heat from these flames would still finish you off."

"But you're still trapped in here with it," Shining smirked. "If you activate this spell, you'll be caught too."

"I know, but I don't care. I'm immune to fire and extreme temperatures, so even if I'm standing at the center of this spell like you are, it wouldn't feel any hotter than standing in a sauna. Face it, Shining Armor, you've trapped yourself within your own barrier. Now, please surrender and stop this nonsense."

"Screw you!" he barked.

"Fine, have it your way then," Dark replied, lighting his horn again to activate the seal.

The guards, meanwhile, were all standing there watching them, and preparing to cast heat resistant spells.

"Did Prince Shining Armor really just say that?" Kite surprisingly asked.

"And when Dark practically has him by the balls right now?" Aura added.

"It would appear so," Steel nodded.

"Heat shields up! He's about to activate the seal!" one of the guards shouted, seeing the seal beginning to glow.

As every unicorn began casting their heat shields, Flash looked around and noticed that somepony was missing.

"Hey, where's Princess Twilight?" he asked.

Looking around, nopony could see Twilight anywhere. It wasn't until they looked back up towards the giant barrier that they saw her standing right at the edge of it.

"Dark!" Twilight called. "Please don't do it! You're better than this!"

Turning his gaze from Shining to Twilight, Dark then saw the worried and sad expression on her face. Upon seeing her tearing and pleading eyes, Dark immediately felt his heart break. During their fight, he'd never once thought about how Twilight would feel watching them. Feeling guilty and remorseful for causing her such worry, Dark opened his mouth to say something to her, but no words would come out. Instead, he just stood there with his mouth agape. Not wanting to continue making Twilight suffer by having her watch them fighting, Dark shook his head before lighting his horn, dispelling his Soul Eyes and the seal.

Seeing the seal gone, Twilight let out a relieved sigh before she began smiling at Dark for the choice he'd just made. Seeing her smiling caused Dark to smile back before taking a breath to relax himself and sitting down on the burnt ground. As he continued sitting, though, Shining lowered the two barriers protecting him.

"What are you thinking?" he asked incredulously. "You had me, right? So why didn't you end the fight?"

"I am," Dark replied, closing his eyeless eyes. "This fight is over."

"So long as one of us is still alive, this fight isn't over."

Dark shook his head. "This fight won't do either of us any good. If we continue this, then we'll both end up losing."

"No I won't!" Shining declared as he fired a blast of magic at Dark, who just brought up a wing to block it. "When I kill you, I will sleep well knowing that my friends and family will once again be safe from your kind!"

Taking his sword in his magical aura, Shining charged straight for Dark, who in turn, simply continued sitting there. As he got closer, Dark casted his Fire Claw on his right claw, ready to block his sword. But as Shining closed in on Dark, he failed to notice the lack of magic that required him to maintain his giant barrier. As his sword began coming down, the barrier shattered, accompanied by the sound of shattering glass. It was in that moment that Dark then found his magical vision obscured, not by a white stallion in red armor, but by a lavender coat. Seeing Twilight standing between him and Dark, Shining halted the blade of his sword inches away from Twilight's horn. Slowly moving his sword back away from her, Shining saw the sad yet angry look that she was giving him.

"Twily, I-"

*Smack*

Nopony made a sound or even breathed as the echo of Twilight slapping Shining hung in the air. Shocked by what just happened to him, his eyes widened in surprise as he brought a hoof to the sore spot on his left cheek. He then turned to look back to Twilight, who was now starting to tear up again.

"Don't you 'Twily' me," she shakily said. "Until you makeup for how you acted today, you don't get to call me that."

"But, Twilight, I-"

*Smack*

"I don't want to hear it! I asked you to stop so many times, and you ignored it! Even Dark, after everything that you did to him, tried to end things peacefully with you, and you ignored that too!"

Hearing the anger and sadness behind her words made Shining cringe. Even Dark, though the words weren't being directed at him, lowered his ears against his head as he lowered himself to the ground.

"Now," Twilight continued, "I want you to go to the castle and get yourself cleaned up. We'll talk about this later." She then turned around to face Dark, her expression of firmness turning to worry. "Are you alright? How bad is it?"

"I lost my eyes," Dark answered, causing Twilight to gasp. "But before Shining leaves, I'd like to do something. And don't worry, Twilight, I'm not going to hurt him."

Hearing this, Shining began glaring at Dark, but another look from Twilight quelled any thoughts of aggression. After she gestured for him to sit, Dark casted his Healing Flame on Shining. While he did flinch as the fiery ball floated just above his head, his ribs and head were starting to feel better.

"What is this?" he asked.

"It's a fire spell that heals injuries," Dark explained.

"But there is no such spell."

"That's because I created it. And besides, your injuries are healing, aren't they?"

Reluctantly, Shining nodded. "The pain is starting to fade."

"Then that means that it's working."

"But what about your injuries?" Twilight asked. "I don't see them being healed by your spell."

"It's probably because they were caused by that Draconium sword," Dark guessed. "I knew that it was dangerous to dragons, but I didn't know that it prevented healing."

"Well, now you know," Shining smirked. "Wounds applied to a dragon from a Draconium weapon can't be healed by normal magic, or anything dragon related."

While Twilight glared at Shining, Dark noticed his cloak laying on the ground not too far away from them. Using his magic, Dark levitated the black cloak over to him to look at.

"How did this survive he fires?" he asked.

Looking curiously at it, Twilight lit up her horn and began scanning it. Once she was done, she gave him a confirming nod.

"That's because somepony had casted a fireproof spell on it," she answered.

"Heh, a rain cloak that's also fireproof. Go figure," Dark chuckled.

Getting an idea, Dark tore a few inches off the bottom of it before wrapping it around the cut on his arm. He then took another strip, folded it, then tied then ends together before he gently guided the makeshift eyeband over his eyeless eyes. As he got it sitting comfortably over his empty eye sockets, Dark opened his eyelids, the golden glow showing through the black cloth.

"This should make me somewhat more presentable, now that nopony can see my eyes," Dark said.

"I still don't really like it," Twilight sighed, "but considering that it's either this or exposing your eyes, I think that this is the better option. In the meantime, we'd better get you to the hospital and get your eyes and arm checked out."

"But if magic can't heal them, and I can't regenerate them, then what could the hospital staff do?"

"I don't know, but I'm willing to try anyway."

Giving her a nod, Dark got up, tossed the cloak over himself, and limped over to Twilight. As they started walking towards the hospital, Shining trotted up to the other side of Twilight.

"And where do you think you're going?" she asked.

"With you to make sure that he doesn't try anything," he answered.

"No you're not. I told you to wait for me at the castle, and I meant it. Now, go get yourself cleaned up and wait for me before I teleport you there myself. As for the rest of you," Twilight called out, turning her attention to the crowd of guards, "you may return to whatever it was you were doing before my brother called you here."

Not wanting to invoke his sister's ire anymore than he already had, Shining picked up his helmet and left for the castle with Flash and the crystal guards, while the rest of the guards went back to their own business. Once they were all gone, Twilight began to sniffle again. Unable to comfort her due to him being covered in his own blood, Dark instead shook his head with a sad sigh.

"I'm sorry about all of this, Twilight," he softly apologized.

"It's not your fault, Dark," she replied as she wiped her eyes. "Shining was the one who attacked you while you tried to reason with him."

Dark just continued to shake his head. "Still, I fought back against him and hurt him, but what's worse is that our actions have caused you to suffer the most out of all of us."

"I'll admit that it was sad to see you two fighting, but that hurt will go away. Your eyes, though... how do they feel?"

"They're starting to hurt a bit with the adrenaline gone, but it's nothing that I can't handle."

"Well, here's hoping that somepony at the hospital can help you."

The Ponyville hospital was quiet tonight as Nurse Redheart was looking at another magazine from behind the front desk. Ever since the guards from the attack a few days ago were healed, things started to slow down again for them. Looking up from her magazine, Nurse Redheart saw that the sun was just starting to set. Just as she returned to her reading, the sound of the door opening caught her attention. Lookin back up, she saw Twilight walking in with Dark limping alongside her. She didn't seem all that worried about them... until she got a better look at his eyes, and the dried blood running down from them.

"Oh, not again!" she exaggeratingly groaned.

"I swear, it's not as bad as it looks," Dark said.

"You sure about that? Because the last time you came here like that, you were nearly dead," Nurse Redheart reminded. "And why are you wearing a rain cloak? It's not even raining outside."

"That's... not really important right now," Dark replied.

"Look, Redheart," Twilight began, "Dark's eyes and arm got cut by a sword made of a rare metal called Draconium, and we can't heal them."

"Alright," she sighed, "I'll go get the doctor. Be back in a little bit."

And so Twilight and Dark waited for the doctor, but it wasn't a long wait. With how slow things were, he was out there to greet them within minutes. Once they got Dark into a room to examine him, the doctor and Nurse Redheart were very surprised by the appearance beneath his cloak, but had calmed down after seeing that it wasn't that bad. After being told the very short version of what happened, the doctor ran a few scans over Dark's injuries before heading off to the lab for the results. Ten minutes later, he came back into the room with the two, shaking his head in disappointment.

"Turns out that you were right once again, Princess," the doctor said. "The special properties from that sword won't allow for any magical healing, or for his regeneration, to heal it."

"Does that mean that Dark won't be able to see again?" Twilight nervously asked.

"I'm sorry, but that is correct. While the cut on his cheek and arm will heal naturally over time, the damage to his eyes is absolute. No zebra medicine, nor unicorn healing magic, can restore his eyes. Besides that, he doesn't even have any eyes to heal anymore."

"So," Dark sighed, "if I want to see, then I'll need to have this spell that I'm currently using stay constantly active."

"It would appear so. I'm sorry that there isn't anything we can to do fix that, but at least we can help clean and patch up those cuts of yours. The one on your arm is actually a little deep, but not quite enough for stitches."

With a nod from Dark, the doctor got out the bandages, gauze, and some disinfectant, before getting to work. Once Dark's cuts were taken care of, the two left the hospital with the doctor's and Nurse Redheart's apologies for not being able to help more. As they continued silently down the road, Twilight was the first to speak up.

"I can write a letter to Princess Celestia about this?" Twilight offered. "Perhaps she might know a spell to restore your eyes?"

"Thanks, Twilight, but I'm not so sure if her magic can help us," Dark said. "Besides, you heard what Shining Armor and the doctor said. And adding onto the fact that my own healing spell didn't work..." He sighed as he shook his head. "I just don't know anymore."

"Well, tomorrow morning I'll go ahead and write a letter to find out. Who knows? Maybe we'll get lucky and she or Princess Luna might know of something."

Seeing how hopeful she was caused Dark to smile at her, which in turn made her smile back. After looking at each other for a few seconds longer, Dark began leaning his head down to hers, but stopped when he remembered his bloodied face. Withdrawing, Twilight looked at him in confusion, and slightly disappointed.

"Sorry," he apologized. "It's probably a bad idea when I'm still covered like this."

"I guess."

Over in Twilight's Castle, Shining, Flash, and the crystal guards had just entered the castle. As they continued in, Shining heard whispers and other hushed sounds coming from the kitchen. As he turned the corner, he was then showered with confetti and a chorus of voices.

"Happy Birth-" everyone stopped when they saw who it actually was standing there.

Upon seeing Shining covered in blood, Rarity moved her hoof to shield Sweetie Belle's eyes while everyone else froze in place.

"Uhh, what's going on here?" Shining questioned.

"The better question is what happened ta ya?" Applejack asked.

"No kidding," Rainbow agreed. "You look like you just got out of a nasty fight or something."

"Well, you wouldn't be wrong," Shining admitted.

"We need to get you to the hospital right now!" Fluttershy said.

"No, I'm alright. In fact, I'm completely healed. Besides, this isn't from me."

"Then where did it all come from?" Applejack asked.

"The kirin."

"Wait," Spike interjected. "You mean all of that came from Dark?!"

"What happened to him?!" Sweetie Belle worryingly asked, her eyes still covered by Rarity.

Without answering, Shining turned to his guards. "You're all relieved for the night. Go on ahead and pick out a spare room in the guest hall." After getting a salute from each of them, Shining turned back to Spike and the girls. "Before I answer that, would you mind telling me what this is all about?"

"Sure," Pinkie happily replied. "Today is Dark's birthday, but he didn't want to celebrate it because it turns out that today is also the day he lost his brother and cousin, so we figured that we'd throw him a small party to help him feel better."

"Seriously?" he scoffed. "Why would a demon like him deserve something like this?"

"You're avoiding Sweetie Belle's question," Rainbow said, her tone turning serious. "What happened to Dark?"

"I fought him, and this mess here was all from him."

Before anypony knew it, Shining was pinned up against the wall with Rainbow glaring angrily at his eyes.

"What. Did. You. Do?" she asked threateningly.

Not wanting to get into this again, Shining pushed her off with his magic before walking away.

"Hey! Where do you think you're going?!" Rainbow snapped.

"To take a shower," Shining called back.

"So, what does this mean about Dark?" Sweetie Belle asked.

"I don't know, Sweetie," Rarity answered.

"And all of that blood," Spike cringed. "We should probably head on over to the hospital to check on him."

Further thoughts on that were halted by the castle doors opening and closing. They then heard the sound of something heavy being tossed onto one of the coat hangers, and hooves walking closer to them.

"Doesn't sound like we'll have ta," Applejack said.

Everypony waited eagerly to see their friends again. The second Twilight turned the corner into the kitchen, she found all of her friends there in her face. As they began bombarding her with questions, she silenced them all before allowing one to speak at a time so she could understand them.

"Rainbow, you go first," Twilight said.

"Okay, just what happened?" she wondered. "I mean, your brother just walked in here covered in blood that he said all came from Dark, and then left without telling us anything else."

"Yeah, that sounds about right," Twilight sighed.

"Is Dark alright," Sweetie Belle asked.

"For the most part," Dark answered from behind the corner, out of their sight.

"Hey, Dark, why don't ya come over and join us?" Applejack offered.

"I would, but I really shouldn't be seen like this right now."

"Aww, it can't be that bad," Pinkie said as she bounced back behind Twilight to get a look at Dark. Once she did, though, she immediately turned around and walked back in with wide eyes. "I take that back, it's pretty bad."

"And that's why I'd rather prefer that nopony else sees me," he sighed. "If it's alright with everypony, I'm just going to grab a shower and call it a night."

"But what about the cake?"

"What cake?"

"Well," Fluttershy began explaining, "we heard that your birthday was today, and that you weren't feeling too good about it. So, we thought that a cake and having your friends with you would help cheer you up."

Curious, Dark peeked from behind the corner to look. Inside he saw his friends wearing party hats, some confetti on the floor, and a cake sitting on the table. Seeing this caused Dark to smile at them for the thought, but this afternoon had worn him out. So, it was with great reluctance that he would have to decline.

"Thank you everypony," he thanked, "but as kind and heartwarming as this is, I'm tired from today, and am ready to turn in."

"Dark," Twilight spoke, "I know that you've had a long day, but are you sure that you don't want to at least try? It might actually help you feel better like Fluttershy said."

Dark contemplated it for a moment. While he just wanted today to be over with, he also didn't want to make everypony feel bad after all the work they put into it. With a decision made, Dark began answering.

"Would it be alright if I got cleaned up first?" he asked.

"Probably a good idea," Twilight agreed.

"Except that your brother is using the shower right now, Twilight" Rarity said.

Dark groaned. "So that means that he'll probably be another ten minutes or so then."

"Perhaps. By the way, would you mind coming out from back there so we can talk to you directly? It's rather rude to not face somepony when you're speaking to them."

"Uh, Rarity," Pinkie chimed, "that might not be a very good idea."

"Well it can't be any worse than what Shining Armor was."

"Fine, I'll come in, but before I do, could you cover Sweetie Belle's eyes? She shouldn't see this," Dark requested.

"Alright, but I still don't think it'll be that bad."

Sighing, Dark turned the corner into the kitchen, causing everyone to gasp at his appearance.

"You were saying?" he deadpanned.

"Dude, what happened to you? And what happened your eyes?" Rainbow asked as she hovered around him.

"Shining's what happened," Twilight answered.

"Is all of that from you too?" Spike asked nervously.

"Yes, it is," Dark nodded.

"What happened to cause so much blood?" Fluttershy squeaked.

Dark cringed. "It's probably best that you don't know."

"And your eyes?" Applejack asked.

"Gone. I lost my eyes and am using one of my spells to see now."

"So that's what that jerk did," Rainbow muttered. "When I see him again, I'll-"

"You'll what?" Shining interrupted as he walked into the kitchen and began glaring at Dark. "You're lucky that Twilight was back there to save you."

Avoiding eye contact, Dark walked passed Shining. "I'm going to get cleaned up."

A half hour later, Dark had cleaned the blood off of himself and had bleached the area. After everything was cleaned, he made his way down to the party. When he entered, he saw everyone was still there. Everyone, except for Shining, who was sent to his room by Twilight for that comment he made earlier. As the party continued, Dark had to admit that Fluttershy was right. Despite today being rather crappy for him, this party did make him feel a little bit better. But the party couldn't last forever, and after a few hours, everyone cleaned up the party and returned home while Spike went to his room, and Rarity and Sweetie Belle went to theirs. As everyone dispersed, Twilight followed Dark back to his room.

"I'm sorry that my brother attacked you like that," she apologized.

"It's not your fault, Twilight," Dark said. "Speaking of him, should we really be staying in the same room tonight? I'm already on his bad side, and I don't wanna give him anymore reason to hate me."

"I understand why you're concerned, but I won't allow for him to do anything more to you."

Leaving it at that, Dark made his way into his bed. As he laid there, he looked up to see Twilight nervously avoiding eye contact. Knowing what was bothering her, Dark decided to try and addressing it.

"Do these eyes really bother you so much?" Dark asked.

"Well..."

"It's alright, you can be honest about it."

"It's just that... they're a little unnerving is all."

"I understand that this look makes me look scary, but it's still me here. Although, if you want, I could just dispel it."

Twilight shook her head. "No, that's alright. You don't need to blind yourself just to make me feel more comfortable."

"Are you sure? Because I'm alright with it."

"Yeah, I'm sure. Also." Twilight laid down beside Dark. "If this is how things are going to be, then I'll just have to get used to them. Besides, although your eyes are now glowing orbs of magic, I can still see the emotion behind them."

With that, Twilight too started getting herself settled down. After scooching herself closer, Twilight found her favorite sleeping spot against Dark as he wrapped his arms around her. As the two laid there for a while, a though crossed Dark's mind.

"So, what's going to happen with you and Shining?" Dark carefully asked. "After all, he's still your BBBFF, right?"

Twilight sighed tiredly as she thought about it. "Yes, he still is."

"Then does this mean that you'll forgive him? Because I saw how much it bothered you to confront him like you did."

Twilight pulled back slightly to look up at Dark. "Overtime I probably will, but until then, he's on a short leash here. But why are you so concerned about him?"

"It's actually you that I'm concerned about. From the stories you've told me, it sounded like you two were very close."

Grateful for his concerns for her, Twilight leaned up and kissed Dark on the cheek.

"Thank you, Dark," she thanked before she found her sleeping spot again. "And you're right about how close we were. I just wish I knew what caused him to act like this."

Once Twilight got settled back in, Dark leaned down and kissed her on the forehead. "In that case, we'll just have to ask him tomorrow."

"Alright. Also, try not worry too much about him," she said with a yawn. "If he tries to start anything with you, I'll turn him into a cactus."

Author's Note

Happy Holiday to everyone, and save travels.

Also, I've seen that a lot of people are in someway upset with how Shining is acting. Let me assure you that I don't hate him at all, and the reason for him acting like this will be revealed in a later chapter.

Chapter 20- Reconciliation

Dark awoke in the middle of the night with a startle. While sleep came quickly for him after that physically and emotionally exhausting day, his dreams were hounded by his battle with Shining, and the vision of him and the cloaked figure. He blinked a few times to get his vision straightened, but it turned out to be just a habit as he remembered that with the loss of his eyes, he would no longer have that problem anymore. Taking a moment to calm himself from his recent dream, he looked down to see Twilight thankfully still sleeping, unawakened by him. Feeling unable to return to sleep, Dark gently untangled himself from her before sliding out of bed. As he got out, he stopped as he heard shuffling in the bed.

"Dark?" Twilight groggily called as she rubbed her eyes. "Is everything alright?"

Turning back to her, Dark leaned over the bed to nuzzle her. "Yeah, just going to grab some water is all."

"Alright."

After getting her tucked back in bed, Dark made his way to the door and quietly left the room. As he turned from the door down the hall, he remembered the guards that were rooming on the same floor. Not wanting to accidentally wake any of them, Dark Shadow Melded and made his way to the kitchen. He'd forgotten how peaceful it was to travel by shadows and made a mental note to try and experiment with it more often. Turning the corner to the hallway with the kitchen, Dark saw that a light was already on inside it. Still hidden within the shadows, Dark went over and peeked inside to see Shining sitting at the table without his armor, with a cup of what smelled like tea.

Dark took a moment to think this situation over. While he was still really thirsty, if he walked in, he could risk the possibility of Shining attacking him... again. However, this time around, if Shining was to attack, Dark could just Shadow Meld and get away. And while caution was appearing to be more favorable, his parched mouth wasn't having it. Deciding to go with it, Dark dropped his Shadow Meld and went inside. Upon his reappearing, though, Dark's eyes shown through the darkness, alerting Shining to his sudden presence.

"Easy there," Dark said holding up a claw defensively. "I'm not here to fight."

"Then why are you here?" Shining questioned with furrowed brows.

"I was thirsty, so I came to get some water."

With a skeptical nod from Shining, Dark walked over to the cupboard and picked out a cup before filling it with water from the kitchen sink. Once it was full, Dark walked over to the other end of the table and sat down in front of Shining. Neither looked at each other as they both sipped their respective drinks.

"So," Dark began, "what brings you here so late at night?"

"None of your business, demon," Shining sharply answered.

Sighing, Dark took a gulp of his water before looking Shining directly in the eye.

"Look, I know that you've made it pretty obvious that you hate me enough to kill me. And to be honest, I don't very much care for you either, especially after what happened yesterday."

"Well, nice to know that we agree on something."

"But we can't continue this."

"And why not exactly?"

"... Twilight."

Hearing his sister's name, Shining's face turned to one of remorse as he instinctively brought a hoof up to the area where Twilight had slapped him. He winced as he touched it, the sting still as fresh as when it was first applied. As his thoughts remained on her, Shining looked back up to Dark.

"She's never hit me before," he finally said. "Out of anger or anything, she'd never went this far."

"Can you blame her?" Dark calmly asked, figuring this a good time to try reasoning with him somewhat. "You ignored her and shut her out. Not to mention that any time she asked you for an explanation, your answer would be rather vague."

"Your opinion on this is irrelevant to me, and why is it for that matter that you're so interested in this?"

"You've seen how hurt Twilight was about us fighting like that, so you should know."

Shining paused to think on it and take a drink before allowing himself to continue. "I know that it made me feel guilty for causing her to look like that."

"I feel guilty about it too, and that's the reason why I wanted to talk to you."

"... fine, what is it you're thinking?"

"Since we're both still on... unfriendly terms for the moment, I propose that for Twilight's sake, we stop this fighting. While you and I are within the castle or around Twilight, we will acknowledge each other, but make no attempts at making any insulting comments, or take aggressive actions."

"I made it my mission to kill every kirin that I met."

"Will you at least do it for Twilight? She feels guilty that she did that to you, and she still wants to view you as her BBBFF, but you'll have to give her something to work with."

Turning his gaze down to his near empty cup of tea, Shining drank the rest of it before addressing Dark.

"If it's for Twilight, then I'll try," he answered, "but I make no promises."

"I suppose that'll have to do for now then," Dark nodded before finishing off his own drink and heading to the sink to rinse it off. "Also, just a quick heads up. Sometime after breakfast, Twilight will be wanting some questions answered."

"Why are you telling me this?"

"Telling you ahead of time will give you time to give her an answer, and to help resolve this situation between you and Twilight faster. As for the one between the two of us though... that'll have to wait for another time."

Drying off the cup he'd just used, Dark placed it back in the cupboard before turning to head back to bed. As he started to limp back, he was stopped by Shining.

"Before you leave, I'm a bit curious about a few things," he spoke, causing Dark to turn to look at him. "How were you able to regenerate like that?"

"Since it's late, I'll give you the short version. It comes from the dragon that turned me into a kirin."

"You weren't born a kirin?"

"No. I was born a unicorn pony, and was turned into a kirin three weeks ago from today."

"Huh. Suppose that explains why you weren't as violent as the others, but that still doesn't change that fact that you're a kirin now."

"So single minded," Dark muttered to himself. "Is there anything else you wanted? If not, then I'm off to bed."

"It appears as though you can still see. How are you doing it?"

"You see these glowing eyes?" Dark asked, getting a confirming nod from Shining. "It's a spell I learned that lets me see without seeing. Although I lost my eyes, with this spell, I can see as though I still had them. But the golden glow it produces makes ponies uncomfortable when looking at them. And although covering them with this eyeband does help somewhat with dimming the glow, it's mostly for hiding the empty eye sockets."

With a final nod from Shining, Dark left the kitchen and Shadow Melded back to his room. Once he got to his room doors, Dark reappeared and quietly opened the doors before closing them just as quietly. He then crept over to the far side of the bed before pulling back the covers, and crawling in. As he resumed his position prior to his leaving, Dark began to relax himself, letting his tiredness take him before Twilight spoke up.

"Took a while just for something to drink," she tiredly said.

"Sorry I took so long," Dark apologized, "your brother was sitting at the kitchen table when I got there, and we started talking."

Twilight tilted her head up to look at Dark. "Did anything happen?"

"No, nothing happened. It looked like he was thinking about when you slapped him earlier, and how much of a wake up call that was to him. He also said that you've never done something like that before."

"Well, he needed it. But he's right, I've never struck him before because I've never felt like I needed to."

"Also, you'll be happy to know that we've made a sort of non-violence agreement with each other."

"That's a relief to hear," she sighed with a smile. "It's definitely a weight off my mind."

"Well, that is the main reason why we agreed to it. We both know how much this was troubling you, and we wanted to help end it."

"So does this mean that Shining's over this thing that he has against kirins?" she asked hopefully.

Dark shook his head. "Sorry, Twilight, but he isn't. He's still bitter against me, but hasn't said why."

"Then how are you two at peace with each other? I mean, it doesn't sound very promising."

"Maybe not, but it's a start right?"

Nodding in agreement, Twilight buried her face back into his chest. "I suppose it is."

Wrapping an arm around her, Dark pulled her close as the two started falling back to sleep. Hopefully, one that wouldn't wake them.

Morning had finally come around as Dark began to stir. Opening his eyes, he was tempted to bring a claw up to them and rub them awake, but stopped when he remembered that he didn't need to anymore.

Guess I'll have to start getting used to this, he mentally sighed. Just sucks that it bothers Twilight so much.

Feeling the need to get up and start breakfast for everyone, Dark began to gently pull away from the sleeping Twilight. He didn't get far, however, as Twilight wrapped her forelegs around him tighter. Looking back down, Dark could see Twilight just barely cracking open an eye.

"Too soon to get up," she groggily complained.

"It's morning, and I need to get up to make us breakfast," Dark explained.

"Do you have to?"

"If you want food ready when you come down, then yes."

"Let Spike take care of it today. Besides." Twilight pulled Dark back down against her as she began snuggling back up against him. "You woke me last night and robbed me of some sleep. Sleep, of which you'll have to help me make up for."

"And how do I do that?"

"Simple. You just stay here with me."

"Alright. How long?"

"Well, I need to sleep for three minutes to every one minute that I was awoken for. And since you kept me awake for ten minutes, that means that I'll need thirty to feel fully rested."

"So basically you're wanting to sleep in," Dark concluded.

"Well, it is a Sunday after all," Twilight countered with a pout.

Giving a throaty chuckle, Dark rested himself back down with Twilight.

"In that case, while we're at it, why don't we just stay in longer then? After all, we were talking about it just a few days ago. And now that I think about it, the events of yesterday are making me feel extra tired too."

Twilight smirked as she knew that he was just using that last part as an excuse for them to stay like this, but was happy to agree with it. Settling themselves back down, the two just laid there, relaxing as they enjoyed the warmth of one another. Though it was mostly Twilight who was enjoying the extra warmth while Dark was simply happy being with her. The two stayed like that in silence for a while before Twilight finally spoke up.

"Hey, Dark?"

"Yeah?"

"You like me... right? And not just as a friend."

"Think it's pretty obvious that I do. Why do you ask?"

"It's just something that you said when we first talked to you at the hospital. You know, about how you're supposedly really shy when it came to asking a mare out. If so, then why is it that you're so calm with me?"

"Well," he began explaining with a chuckle, "waking up with you partially draped over me asleep might've had something to do with it."

"I guess it would," she giggled

"There's also talking to you and getting to know you better. Other than that, there's just something about you that I find comfortable and relaxing."

Twilight pulled away from her snuggle spot to meet Dark at eye level.

"Comfortable and relaxed enough to ask me to be your fillyfriend?" she smirked.

"Says the one who was wanting to kiss me yesterday," Dark playfully said.

"Like you had any objections to that. You wanted to kiss me just as much as I wanted to kiss you."

"And what if I did?" he grinned. "What if I wanted to, but I let you go first because I was trying to be polite and not try and rush you into it?"

"And what if I said that it was something that I wanted?"

"Then I guess that I would have to oblige you, my princess."

"'My princess', huh?" Twilight responded as she inched her muzzle closer to Dark's. "Alright then. If I'm you princess, then that makes you my kirin."

"I suppose it does," Dark agreed as he too moved his muzzle closer to Twilight's.

"So if I gave you an order to kiss me right now..."

"Then I would have to do it whether I wanted to or not... which I do."

"Then what's stopping you?" she whispered as she started closing her eyes.

Dark too began closing his eyes, their lips an inch apart before whispering, "Absolutely noth-"

*Knock-Knock-Knock*

"Oh, for Celestia's sake, what is it now?!" Dark roared at the door.

"Umm, excuse me?" a male voice nervously answered through the door. "I was sent to come get you for breakfast."

With a throaty growl, Dark looked back from the door to Twilight who exaggeratedly sighed in disappointment.

"We could just ignore him?" Dark suggested.

"We could, but that would probably make whoever's out there suspicious," Twilight groaned.

Reluctantly and irritably, Dark got out of bed before walking heavily over to the door. In his annoyance, his arms and wings started protruding shadowy ribbons and mist from them. Throwing open the door, he came face-to-face with the orange pegasus that accompanied Shining, who flinched upon seeing Dark with his shadows, glowing eyes, and flames licking the corners of his lips.

"Who are you?" Dark growled. "You're one of the guards that came with Shining Armor, but you're not a crystal pony."

"That is correct," he answered. "My name is Flash Sentry, and I was transferred to the Crystal Empire by request of Prince Shining."

"Alright then, Flash. Give me a moment and I'll be right down."

"Before you go, Prince Shining's been looking for Princess Twilight. He went to visit with her before breakfast was ready, but she wasn't in her room when he got there."

Sorry, Shining, but the princess is in another bedroom, Dark mentally chuckled before addressing Flash. "I wouldn't worry about her. She probably went out for a morning flight or something. Besides, she can take care of herself."

"... alright," he slowly responded, catching a familiar scent from Dark's coat. "Well, come on down whenever you're ready."

With his message delivered, Flash left Dark's door and made his way back to Shining with an extra boost to his step. As he left, Dark closed his bedroom door before he banged his head on it with a groan. With the coast clear, Twilight came out of hiding from beneath the bedsheets and walked over to Dark.

"Whoever said that the third time's the charm deservers a good smacking," Dark grumbled.

"It does seem like whenever one of us starts, somepony's there to interrupt us," Twilight agreed.

With a dejected sigh, Dark opened the door again. "Well, I suppose we better get going."

"Yeah, I guess so. But first, I need to write that letter to Princess Celestia about your eyes."

"If you'd like, I can wait for you to finish it and walk to breakfast with you."

"If you want."

Heading over to the desk, Twilight began writing her letter while Dark went to the mirror to see if his eyeband was on right. Adjusting it slightly, Dark felt it completely cover his eye sockets and went back to wait by the door. It took her another minute or so, but Twilight had finished her letter and was ready to head on down. Walking down the halls, they could smell the breakfast that Spike had made for them. As they turned the corner into the kitchen, they were met with Sweetie Belle, Rarity, and Flash at the table, Spike on the stove, and Shining standing in front of them.

"Where were you, Twilight?" Shining asked, his tone serious.

"Just writing a letter," she innocently answered.

"That's not what I meant." Shining began slowly walking up to her and Dark. "What I want to know is where you were, Twilight. You weren't in your room when I went to talk to you last night, or this morning."

Not liking where this might lead, Twilight tried to play it safe with the truth, but leave a few details out. "I was in bed, sleeping."

"So Flash was right then!" Shining accused. "You were sleeping with this kirin!"

Rarity's, Sweetie Belle's, and Spike's eyes widened as their heads snapped over to Twilight and Dark in surprise. Dark rolled his eyes, but no one saw it since the magical orbs didn't have any pupils to indicate an eye-roll, and Twilight just stood there while Shining and Flash glared daggers at Dark. Not wanting things to start getting out of hoof, Twilight decided to clarify.

"Look, nothing happened, alright?" she told them. "We just fell asleep together, that's all."

"I'm sure you did," Shining mocked before turning to Flash. "What do you think, Flash?"

"All I know, sir, is that her scent was all over him," he answered.

"That's good enough for me," Shining said before charging his horn. "It's time that I put you-"

Shining was silenced as he was suddenly turned into a potted cactus, much to everyone's surprise. As everyone turned to Twilight, she looked over to Dark and shrugged.

"I told you last night that I would turn him into a cactus if he tried anything, remember?" Twilight reminded.

"Yeah, I remember, but I didn't really think that you would actually do it to your own brother," Dark responded.

"Well, as you can see, I did mean it. That, and I may have accidentally turned my parents into cacti as well."

"Really? When did this happen?"

"Remember when I told you about when I hatched Spike at my entrance exam?" she asked, getting a nod from Dark. "Well, turns out that during that magical surge I had when I hatched him, I also accidentally turned the judges into potted plants, and my parents into cacti."

"So I guess that with Shining, that means that you've turned your whole family into cactuses," Spike laughed.

"I suppose so," Twilight answered before reversing the spell on Shining. "No fighting unless you want to be turned into a cactus again, Shining."

Grumbling, Shining relented as he took his seat by Flash while Twilight and Dark sat together across from them. After waiting for a few minutes in silence, Spike brought them their breakfast which they immediately dug into. A few bites later, Sweetie Belle broke that silence with a few questions.

"Excuse me, Twilight?" she called. "Can you teach me how to turn ponies into cactuses?"

"Sorry, Sweetie Belle," Twilight apologized, "but that's rather advanced magic, something of which you shouldn't try until you're a lot better at it."

"Alright, but can I ask you something else then?" Sweetie Belle paused before getting a confirming nod from Twilight. "Are you and Dark special somepoines?"

Hearing her question made Dark choke on a pancake while Shining and Flash glared at him again. Getting his choking fit under control Dark was the one to reply.

"No, we aren't," he answered.

Twilight was going to add onto Dark's answer, but paused as she remembered her other reason for coming down. "Hey, Spike? Could you send this letter to the princess for me?"

With a nod, Spike took the scroll before breathing fire onto it and sending it off. As Dark watched it happen, he turned confusingly to Twilight.

"What just happened?" he questioned.

"Spike's able to use his fire breath to send letters to Princess Celestia and Princess Luna," Twilight happily answered.

"So, what was in the letter exactly?" Shining asked with a hint of worry.

Twilight glared at Shining. "I asked them if they know of any spells to restore Dark's eyes."

Sitting at the dining table in Canterlot Castle, Celestia and Luna were peacefully having their meals together. Things started out well enough with some idle chatter, but once things were turned to Luna's jobs with dreams, that's when her expression turned serious.

"I'm afraid I have some bad news regarding the Dream Realm, Tia," Luna said.

"What's wrong?" Celestia asked.

"It seems as though our fears have come to pass."

"Could you be a little more specific?"

Luna sighed. "It's Dark and Shining Armor." Celestia's eyes widened as she continued. "It turns out that Dark had a dream about the two of them fighting. And I don't believe that it was just a dream either, seeing as how vivid and detailed the dream was. And besides Shining Armor, I even saw some of the crystal guards, and Lieutenant Flash Sentry in the background. All of whom I doubt he's ever seen before."

"Damn it all," Celestia muttered.

"Such language, Tia."

"Like you're one to talk, Luna." Celestia paused to collect herself. "How bad was his dream?"

"... how much detail do you want?"

"All of it."

"Alright then, let me think. If I remember correctly, Shining suffered some minor injuries while Dark was impaled from behind by seven spears, and had his eyes cut out."

"Is there anything else?"

"Sorry, but that's all that I saw in his dream."

Celestia was about to ask something else, but her eyes caught the sight of a familiar green wisp of smoke. Once it materialized into a sealed letter, Celestia opened it to read it's contents. After reading it, she reread it, making sure that what she read was correct before lookin back up to Luna.

"It seems that according to this letter from Twilight, the dream left out a few details of the fight," Celestia told her, "but otherwise, Shining and Dark did fight."

"So, what do we do about Shining Armor then?" Luna questioned.

"I think that's for somepony else to decide," Celestia replied before lighting her horn.

Few seconds later, a crystal appeared hovering above the table. Celestia then started pouring some of her magic into it while thinking of the pony with a copy of the crystal.

"We really should get Twilight one of these," Luna recommended. "It would make communication with her much easier."

"I agree. Perhaps when she comes to the meeting we will."

Another minute later, the crystal projected a screen above it. The image was all gray with snow, but after a moment, it revealed a crystal throne room with Cadence sitting on the throne.

"Hello, Aunty Celestia, hello, Aunty Luna," she happily greeted them with a wave.

"Good morning, Cadence," the sisters returned.

"How's the little one been?" Celestia asked.

"She's been doing great!" Cadence beamed. "I can't wait for you two to see her again."

"It has been a while," Luna agreed.

"I'll bring her to visit you two and her grandparents during our time meeting with King Inferno. Just make sure to watch out for her magical spurts... and her flying." Cadence paused to giggle at her daughter's antics. "Who would've known that somepony so small would be such a hoofful? The poor maids are having to rotate out with each other just to keep up with her when Shining and I aren't around."

"Speaking of Shining Armor," Celestia began, "I received a letter from Twilight that he's currently in Ponyville."

"Sounds about right, but he brought Lieutenant Flash and some guards with him."

"Did he say why?"

"Something about a kirin. We got a report about the attack on Ponyville Thursday afternoon, but it wasn't until the mention of this kirin that Shining started acting weird. After he left, I read the report myself, and I don't see what the problem with this Dark guy is."

"Have you heard of him?" Luna asked.

"Just what I've read in the report. He sounds really strong if he was able to do all of that."

"Well then," Celestia began, "you should probably know that he and Twilight have a thing going on."

"A thing?"

"As in they like each other... a lot," Luna clarified.

Hearing this caused Cadence to squee in joy. "So my little Twily has finally found herself a special somepony?!"

"Well... not exactly," Celestia said as she rubbed the back of her head in embarrassment. "Turns out that Luna and I accidentally interrupted Dark when he tried asking Twilight."

"Oh. Well that's too bad."

"If it helps, Dark didn't seem too upset with it. He just told me that he'll just have to ask again."

"Sorry to interrupt, but we're getting off track here," Luna interjected.

"Oh, right. Back to Shining." Celestia cleared her throat before continuing. "Anyway, there are a few things for why we called you, Cadence. First, do you know any healing spells?"

"I know quite a few. Any in particular that you were thinking of?" Cadence wondered.

"One for restoring eyes."

"It won't be easy, but I can do it. What kind of eye damage are we talking about though?"

"Complete eye loss."

Cadence shook her head. "I'm sorry, but if somepony lost their eyes completely, then I can't do anything to help restore them. By the way, who is this for and how did this happen?"

"That's the other reason for why we called you. As it turns out, it's Dark who lost his eyes, and the one who took them was Shining Armor." Cadence's mouth dropped as Celestia continued. "He fought with Dark and apparently cut him with his Draconium sword. Normal unicorn healing spells aren't working, and according to the letter from Twilight, their hospital's zebra herbs aren't working either. To restore his eyes, he'll need something more powerful than that."

"I'm sorry to hear about that, and I'm sorry that I can't be of any help. Especially since this was Shining's doing," Cadence solemnly said. "Any idea of why he would do something like this?"

The two sisters stayed quiet before Luna spoke up.

"I think you should answer this, Tia," Luna suggested. "After all, I wasn't here during that incident."

"What happened?" Cadence wondered.

With a sad sigh, Celestia looked back up to the projection image of Cadence. "Do you remember Silica?"

Hearing her name again caused Cadence to turn sorrowful. "Yeah, I remember her. We haven't talked about her for a long time."

"Did Shining Armor ever tell you about what happened to her?"

Cadence shook her head. "He never said anything other than that she was killed by... kirins..."

Celestia nodded. "So you know of why Shining Armor went to Ponyville. Although, it sounds as though he left out the details leading up to her death."

"Yeah. Shining never wanted to talk about it, said that it was too painful to remember."

"I believe that it would. However, what he probably didn't tell you was that I also had the files for that mission deemed classified and sealed away. In addition, since Shining Armor was the only survivor, I had ordered him to never speak of the details of that mission to anypony besides Luna and I."

"Well he's done a great job of it," Cadence muttered before looking back up to the projection of Celestia and Luna in worry. "Shining did say something, though, about how he hunted down all the kirins."

"Yes," Celestia sighed. "It was really more of a purge than anything else."

"If so, then how's Dark doing right now? I doubt that Shining would've gone easy on him if he's a kirin."

"If what I saw in his dreams were true, then Dark would've died several times during their fight. That is, if it wasn't for his regeneration," Luna answered.

"... and all of this is because of Silica?"

"It's hard to say for sure," Celestia began, "but I believe that her death is playing a major roll in it."

"But that still doesn't give him the right to just go off and start trying to kill off Twilight's coltfriend, even if he is a kirin."

"But they're not a couple yet," Luna reminded.

"Maybe not, but it could still happen if Shining doesn't kill him first." Cadence paused to think for a moment before looking back up to Celestia and Luna. "And so, I've decided that Shining will answer for it when he gets back."

"What did you have in mind for his punishment?"

"Well for starters, I'm grounding him from joining his friends for their Thursday Night Poker for the next month."

"... okay?"

"During which, he'll have to change the baby's diapers all by himself."

"That doesn't sound very pleasant," Celestia whispered to Luna.

"Also, he'll be sleeping on the couch. And when I say that, I'm not talking about the nice soft sofa couch that we have in our room, I'm talking about him sleeping in one of the bunks in the barrack."

Both Celestia and Luna grimaced as they remembered the night that they both posed as guards and slept in the barrack's bed. Needless to say that that was a mistake neither of them would repeat.

"And that's just for now. Whether or not I add more onto that depends on what Twily says about it when she comes up for that meeting."

"Seems like he's getting off easy, but considering that Shining Armor has gone through with kirins... I'll trust your judgment on this, Cadence," Celestia said before conjuring a scroll and ink, and writing a letter to Twilight before sending it off.

"What was that?"

"Just a response letter to Twilight telling her that none of us know of any spells to help heal Dark's eyes."

"And how do you know that I don't know of any spells?" Luna questioned.

"Because, Lulu," Celestia smirked, "ever since you returned from your banishment, you've been spending your free time on your Neighstation, playing Fate while eating pizza and drinking Summit Dew."

"Now that I'm taking a closer look at you, Aunty Luna, you do look like you've put on a few pounds," Cadence giggled.

Luna blushed from embarrassment. "It's not my fault! They released 'The Seized Emperor' expansion. Each class now has a new third sub-class, and they gave the heavy weapon slot swords."

"Speaking of things that have been released, didn't they just come out with Aftermath 4?"

"... what?"

"I believe she's right, Luna," Celestia agreed. "If I remember hearing the staff correctly, the game was released a few weeks ago."

"... if you two will excuse me, I have somewhere I need to be," Luna said right before she teleported away.

A few seconds after Luna teleported away to fetch her new game, Celestia and Cadence broke out laughing. They knew that Luna was a gamer, but they didn't think that she'd forget the release date of such an anticipated game. They went on for a while before Cadence gained control over her laughter to speak again.

"So, about Dark," she spoke. "You've met him before right? Tell me, what's he like exactly?"

Later that day in Twilight's Castle, Spike and Sweetie Belle ran off to play with Apple Bloom and Scootaloo, while everypony else was sitting in the lounge. Shining had sent his guards to go help with repairing Ponyville during their stay, a suggestion made by Twilight. While Shining and Flash sat on one couch, Twilight and Dark sat on the one across from them on the other side of the coffee table, and Rarity sat down in a comfortable reading chair. The five of them sat down in silence for a few minutes before Rarity finally spoke up.

"So, Dark," she began, "how are you feeling after yesterday?"

Dark shrugged. "Alright I guess. My eyes and arm still hurt, but it's not that bad."

"Speaking of yesterday," Flash began, "how is it that you're able to see where you're going? I though that you lost your eye sight?"

"I did," Dark nodded, "but I knew a spell that could let me see, even without my eyes. That's why my eyes are glowing like this, because it's coming from my spell."

"So if you can see, then why are you wearing that cloth over your eyes?"

"If I didn't, then ponies could see the empty eye sockets. Besides, this spell also allows me to see through things, so this cloth isn't obscuring my vision in the least."

"But if you can see through things, then would that include walls and such?"

"It would, but I can only see through one thing at a time. Since I'm already looking through this eyeband, I can't look through walls or anything else."

"So that means that for all we know, you could've been watching my sister taking a shower," Shining accused.

"Do you seriously think that I would do something like that?!" Dark snarled angrily.

"Yes," he deadpanned.

"That's enough, Shining," Twilight interjected. "I know Dark, and he would never do something inappropriate like that."

"Thank you," Dark thanked.

"How long have you known him?" Shining questioned.

"A little over two weeks," Twilight answered.

"Then how do you know that he's not just acting nice around you?"

"Because I trust him, and you should trust my judgement."

Shining sighed. "I do trust you, Twilight. It's him that I don't trust."

"And why is that?" Twilight questioned. "You didn't exactly give me a specific reason yesterday when I was asking you."

"Because I don't want to and I'm not suppose to."

"And why not?"

Shining took a moment to think before he answered her. "Because Princess Celestia has ordered me to remain silent on the matter." He paused to think of what he could say for her to understand before one came to mind. "Remember that one time when I returned hospitalized after a mission?"

Twilight nodded. "Yeah, I remember. Celestia gave me the week off to be with you after that."

"Although I can't talk about the events leading up to and during it, what I can say is that it happened because of a group of kirins." Shining turned from Twilight to Dark with a glare. "And the injury was caused by them pinning me to the ground with a spear in my back."

"So," Dark began with a slight growl to his voice, "the reason why you did that to me with the spears was because that's what they did to you?"

"Yes. That's also how I killed most of the kirins that I've met."

"Well, like I told you last night, I wasn't born a kirin, I was turned into one. My parents and siblings were ponies, same with the villagers I lived with. It wasn't until three weeks ago from today that I was turned into a kirin."

"But you're still a kirin."

Dark groaned as he buried his face in his claw. Why does he have to be so stubborn about this? He's worse than my grandpa was, and that's saying something.

Any further thoughts were interrupted as Spike and Fluttershy walked through the doors, the latter carrying a medical kit on her back.

"Hey, Twilight," Spike called as he walked over to her. "I just received this letter from Princess Celestia for to you."

Taking the scroll in her magic, Twilight brought the letter over to her and began reading it. While she was busy reading it, Spike returned back to play with the Crusaders while Fluttershy walked over to Dark.

"Hello, Dark," she warmly greeted.

"Hey, Fluttershy," he returned.

"How are you feeling today?"

"My arm and eyes are still a bit sore, but it's not too bad."

"Fluttershy, dear," Rarity addressed, "what brings you here?"

"Oh, after seeing Dark yesterday, I thought that I would come over and change his bandages. That is, if it's okay with you?"

"If you want," Dark replied, "but aren't you scared of my eyes?"

"Oh no, I'm used to it."

"What do you mean?" Rarity asked. "You've only seen them last night and today."

"Well, Discord's eyes sometimes glow, so seeing Dark's eyes glowing like this just isn't that big of a deal to me."

Finished with her explanation, and with his permission, Fluttershy sat down her medical kit and began unpacking it. As she began unwrapping the bandage of Dark's arm, Twilight let out a dejected sigh.

"Something wrong, Twilight?" Rarity asked.

"Turns out that Princess Celestia and Princess Luna don't know any spells to help restore Dark's eyes. Even Cadence doesn't know," Twilight sighed.

"Wait," Shining quickly spoke up, "Cadence knows? Just what did you put in that letter, Twilight?"

"Just that you fought Dark and he lost his eyes during the fight."

"Um, excuse me," Fluttershy meekly spoke, "but what happened exactly?"

"Oh, right. I guess nopony explained what happened huh?" Twilight said before explaining. "During their fight, Shining cut Dark's eyes with a sword made of a rare metal called Draconium. Turns out that zebra medical herbs, and unicorn healing magic are blocked by the sword's effects since Dark's half-dragon."

"That's horrible. Is there anything that we can do to help?"

"Nothing that I or the princesses can think of. Normal magic won't work in healing him."

"Normal magic? Is that all?

Confused, Twilight raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean 'Is that all'? Dark's eyes are gone, and there's nothing that we can to do help him."

"I wouldn't quite say that," Fluttershy said, finishing wrapping Dark's arm before closing her eyes and tilting her head up.

Curious as to what she was doing, everyone looked to her before Rarity asked her, "Fluttershy, what is it that you're doing? Do you have an idea?"

Without answering, Fluttershy took in a deep breath before shouting out one name.

"Discord!"

As the echoing started dying down, in a flash of light, Discord appeared floating in the middle of the group facing Fluttershy.

"You called, dear?" Discord asked Fluttershy.

"Yes I did. I was wondering if you could help us with a little problem?"

"Of course. Whatever it is that you need, I'll be more than happy to help you with."

"In that case, could you use your magic to fix Dark's eyes?"

Curious, Discord looked over Dark, but stopped once he saw the golden glow beneath his eyeband.

"Mind removing you eyeband?" Discord asked. "I don't know what I'm working with unless I can see it."

With a nod, Dark began removing his eyeband. Once it was off, Dark dispelled his Second Sight for Discord to have a look at. However, this had also caused Dark to lose his vision as everything went black.

"Ooh, that's a nasty one," Discord commented. "What happened to you anyway?"

"Shining Armor cut me with a Draconium sword," Dark answered.

"Really?"

"Yes, really," Shining confirmed, causing Discord to spin around.

"Ah, Shining Armor. It's been a while. When was the last time we met, anyway?"

"When you betrayed us to Tirek."

"Oh, right. Well now, back to your eyes," Discord said as he turned back to Dark, humming to himself as he looked over his empty eye sockets.

"But what could you do to help him?" Twilight questioned. "Normal magic doesn't work with restoring his eyes."

"That's why I called Discord for help," Fluttershy began explaining. "You said that normal magic wouldn't work, so I figured that Discord's chaotic magic could. After all, he's helped me when some of the animals were too injured for me to do anything to help them."

"Yes, but they weren't dragons cut by a Draconium weapon."

"True," Discord interjected, "but I should be able to do it."

Twilight's face lit up. "Really?!"

"Of course. But, while it would normally take me just the snap of a claw to fix, given the circumstances of his injuries, it will take me about an hour to completely restore his eyes, and any other injury he sustained from that weapon."

Hearing the happy news, Twilight flew to give Discord a hug while repeatedly saying "Thank you". Once she was done thanking him, she flew to Dark and wrapped him in a happy hug. However, unlike Discord, Dark was blinded and didn't see Twilight coming, causing her to knock him over on his back while she laid on top of him. It wasn't until Shining cleared his throat that Twilight realized the position that they were in, and with everyone watching. Seeing everyone staring at them, Twilight quickly got off of Dark and turned away, trying to hide her blush.

"Sorry about that," she apologized.

"It's alright, dear," Rarity said.

"Yeah right," Shining and Flash muttered.

"Well then," Discord began as he clapped his paw and claw together, "shall we begin?"

With a nod from Dark, he closed his eyes while Discord began channeling his chaotic magic into him. As Twilight and Fluttershy stayed, Rarity returned home while Shining and Flash stepped out. Like Discord said, it took him a full hour for his work to be complete.

"Alright, all done. You can open your eyes now," he announced.

Heeding Discord's words, Dark slowly opened his eyelids. At first the light caused him to wince and tightly shut his eyes, but after a few more attempts, Dark managed to fully open his eyelids, revealing his restored eyes. Looking around, he could see a satisfied look on Discord, Fluttershy smiling, and finally Twilight, who he quickly found wrapping him up again, happy that his eyes were restored. As Dark returned the embrace, he looked over to Discord.

"Thank you for doing this," Dark happily thanked.

"Oh, it was nothing really," Discord brushed off.

"So, how do my eyes look?"

"Just like they were when we last met."

"So my eyes are golden and draconic?"

"Correct."

"Good." Dark paused as he looked down at Twilight and began patting her on the head. "You alright there?"

Looking back up, Dark could see the tearstains on her cheek, and a smile on her face.

"Yeah, just happy is all," she replied.

Content, the two remained as they were, completely forgetting about the other two in the room watching them. As they continued embracing each other on the couch, Fluttershy flew up to Discord.

"That was a really nice thing of you to do, Discord," Fluttershy smiled.

"Well, I couldn't rightfully disappoint you now could I?" he said. "Besides, I kinda like him."

"Well, I think that you deserve a little something, so why don't you come over to my place for dinner tonight? I mean, it was been a while since we've had a nice dinner together."

"Yes, I suppose it has," Discord nodded.

Fluttershy's face turned red as she flew up to be at eye-level with Discord.

"And... maybe..." Her voice trailed off as she began whispering into his ear.

As Discord listened to Fluttershy, his eyes started growing wider as his jaw dropped. As she finished whispering her idea, an audible 'foomph' could be heard throughout the room. While Dark and Twilight apparently didn't notice it, Discord and Fluttershy looked back to see that his pegasus wing was stiff as a board.

"Umm... I'll just go and... get ready for tonight," Discord stammered before teleporting away.

Taking a moment to gaining control of the blush that was plastered across her face, Fluttershy went over to the two.

"It's good to see you with your normal eyes again," she commented.

Looking up to Fluttershy, Dark and Twilight both gave her a warm smile.

"Thank you, Fluttershy," he thanked.

"Yes, thank you," Twilight mimicked before looking around. "Where's Discord?"

Hearing Discord's name caused Fluttershy's blush to return.

"Oh, he had to go... and so should I!" she quickly added before she picked up her med kit and flew out the door.

Twilight and Dark watched in confusion as she left them. They didn't know why she seemed to be in such a rush, or why her face was so red for that matter, so they decided to leave it be. They weren't alone for long, though, as they heard the castle doors open with a pair of metallic hoofsteps echoing through the halls. Separating themselves, the two made their way over to see Shining and Flash returning, the former wearing his cleaned Draconian gear.

"We came back to tell you that we're returning to the Crystal Empire," Shining explained.

Twilight frowned in disappointment. "Oh... okay."

"Considering the circumstances from yesterday, I believe that we've overstayed our welcome enough as it is." Shining slowly walked up to Twilight. "And also, I came back to try and apologize to you for how I've acted these last two days. I ignored and upset you so much yesterday that you actually slapped me, and again today to the point where you actually turned me into a cactus."

"I told Dark last night that I wouldn't let you hurt him again."

"So I've noticed." Shining sighed. "Look, Twilight, I'm sorry for how I acted since I got here. I never meant to hurt you like that. With my past experiences with kirins, once I heard that one was here in Ponyville, the only thing I was thinking of was to keep you safe from it."

"I understand. Thank you, Shining," Twilight smiled. "But I believe that somepony else deserves an apology too."

Shining glanced over to Dark. "I'm sorry, Twilight, but I still don't trust him, nor am I sorry for what I did."

"Shining," Twilight warned before feeling Dark's claw on her shoulder.

"It's alright, Twilight, I'm used to ponies not liking me. Besides." Dark glanced over to Shining and gave him a subtle wink. "He's trying to mend things here with you, not me."

Taking the hint, Shining added, "Perhaps in time I can come to not hate him. But for now, I'll need time to think over it, get some more opinions on him from others. Please don't take this as a sign of me not trusting you, Twilight. I just want to make sure that everypony agrees with what you told me, and that he's not just playing you."

"Alright," Twilight sighed. "I would prefer that you not hate him at all, but I understand that you'll need time to get over it."

"Thanks, Twilight."

"Twily," she smiled.

"So does that mean you forgive me?" Shining asked hopefully.

"A little, but not completely. While I still don't like what you did to Dark, thanks to Discord, no permanent damage was done. And considering that you're my brother, I suppose that I do partially forgive you, but I won't completely forgive you until you've honestly apologized to Dark."

"That could take a while," Shining began, "but still, thank you, Twily."

Happy with how things turned out, Twilight went over to give Shining a loving hug, which he happily returned. Once they were done, Shining and Flash made their way out of the castle with Twilight and Dark following.

"We can at least see you off at the train station," she offered as she trotted up alongside them.

With a nod, the four made their way to meet up with the crystal guards at the train station. As they continued down the streets of Ponyville, Shining fell back a little bit to have some last words with Dark.

"So, am I to believe that you too are going to forgive me?" Shining presumed.

"Really? After what you did to me yesterday, I don't think that forgiveness will come so quickly," Dark replied.

"Yeah, I figured as much. Then again, I shouldn't be surprised."

"However, while I don't forgive you, I am willing to play nice for Twilight."

"Alright."

With their talk done, they caught up with the others and made their way to the train station. While they began boarding the train, Twilight gave Shining a goodbye hug before he too got on. As the train started moving, Twilight and Dark remained on the platform, waving them goodbye until they were out of sight. Once they finally were, the two made their way back to the castle.

"I'm happy to see that you two are back on good terms," Dark commented as they walked back.

"Me too, but I still wish that you two would get along as well," Twilight returned.

"In time, but for now, he has some issues to deal with, and I don't usually take kindly to those who try to kill me. Perhaps next time we will."

"Well, here's hoping." Twilight remained silent as they continued down the road till she remembered something. "Oh, by the way. Tomorrow we'll be having a meeting to go over the teams and other details for the Prank Wars this Wednesday." Hearing about tomorrow caused Dark to facepalm. "Something wrong?"

"I just remembered," Dark groaned, "I'm suppose to give Spike 'The Talk' tomorrow."

Later that evening back in Canterlot, a storm was brewing as the cloaked figure ran through the streets in the downpour, his destination being a shady store which few ponies would go to visit. Upon finding the store, the cloaked figure opened the door before closing it shut behind him. As he continued through the store, looking over its stock, a voice called out to him.

"Welcome to my shop, traveler," the gray earth pony shopkeeper greeted. "How may I help you today?" The cloaked figure didn't answer, but instead dropped his hood. "Ah, it's you again. Tell me, did The Beast Master's Amulet that I sold you work well for you?"

"It did," the cloaked figure answered. "However, its power couldn't handle what I wanted and broke."

"Oh, well that's a shame to hear. So then, what can I do for you this time? Anything specific you're looking for? Perhaps an Alicorn Amulet that I could have... reacquired?"

"Actually, yes, there is something that I need," the cloaked figure said before swiftly unsheathing his sword and embedding it into the shopkeeper's chest. "You see, I came back to tie up loose ends. Don't take this the wrong way now, it's nothing personal, I just can't risk you talking about me is all."

As the cloaked figure watched the shopkeeper die, he then walked around the front desk and looked down over him.

"Can't have you stinking up the place now can I?" he questioned before finding a waterproof bag, stuffed him inside, and sealed him in an empty crate in the basement storage room. "There. Now that that's taken care of, I can take over this store and live here while posing as his nephew till spring comes back around."

Author's Note

I'm sorry that this chapter took so long to come out. Turns out that when I went to my parent's house for the holidays, I brought my computer with me, but forgot the power cord.:facehoof:

Anyway, hope everyone enjoys this chapter, and Happy New Years.:twilightsmile:

Chapter 21- The Meeting and "The Talk"

Returning back to his regular sleep schedule, Dark found himself awake before the sun's glow had even broken the horizon. Stretching out with a groan, he noticed that he was alone this morning, something of which he was actually happy about. Last night, Twilight had decided to try sleeping in her own bed since a decent amount of time since the attack on Ponyville had passed by, and that her fears felt manageable now. And since Dark wasn't woken up by her last night, or awoke to see her sleeping next to him, Dark smiled knowing that Twilight was over her fear and had herself a goodnight's sleep. Taking a quick glance over to his clock, he saw that he had plenty of time to eat before heading over to the farm. Now that he thought about it, he even had enough time to make a hearty breakfast for not just himself, but for Twilight and Spike too. And so, Dark made his way down to the kitchen and got to cooking. It didn't take him long before his the food was all done and he sat down to eat.

With a satisfied belch, Dark had finished his breakfast and began washing off his plate. He had also set out a serving for Twilight and Spike, making sure to place a heat enchantment over the food so they would stay fresh and warm. Feeling energized and ready for the day, Dark quietly left the castle and began his walk to Sweet Apple Acres. While he did think about flying instead, he didn't feel any reason to rush over there, nor did he want to use his Shadow Meld and risk getting bucked in the face by Applejack again. Besides, he enjoyed the peaceful walk and cool air. As he continued on his walk, he noticed the air was a bit cooler than it normally was, signaling that fall was officially here.

Approaching the sign hanging over the road to the apple farm, Dark smiled as he passed under it and into the orchard. Walking down the road, he noticed that the sun was just starting to show over the horizon, causing him to pick up his pace. Clearing the orchard and moving into the yard, Dark saw Applejack over by the barn as she began loading up the wagon. As Dark made his way over to her, he decided to give her some warning so they wouldn't have a repeat.

"Morning, Applejack," Dark greeted.

Surprised, Applejack spun around to see Dark walking up to her.

"Dark?" she said surprisingly. "What in the hay are ya doin' here? You shouldn't be workin' with them injuries of yours."

"Actually, I'm not hurt anymore."

"But Ah saw the cut on your arm, and you lost your eyes." Applejack paused as she looked Dark over, seeing that he indeed wasn't injured anymore. "How's it that you're all healed up? Ah thought that you and Twilight said at the party that there's nothin' that coulda be done ta fix them?"

"That's what we all thought, but it turns out that Discord's chaos magic doesn't apply to the effects of Draconium weapons."

"Huh. So he's the reason for your eyes and arm bein' all healed up then?"

"In the words of you and your brother, Eeyup," Dark answered with a mocking accent.

Chuckling at his poor attempt to mimic them, Applejack playfully hit him on the shoulder before turning back to the wagon.

"So you're all fit ta work then?"

"That's why I'm here."

"In that case, why don't ya come and help with loadin' the wagon."

Listening to his boss, Dark went over and began assisting Applejack. Dark had actually sorta missed this. With all that happened last week, he didn't get to do much work. With the wagon loaded up, he began pulling it to the section of orchard that they would be working today. Getting themselves situated, Applejack and Dark began unloading the baskets and placing them beneath the trees. Splitting up, Dark went away to start his area while Applejack trotted over to hers. With a happy sigh to start today's work, Applejack got herself positioned to begin.

"Gaaahhhh! Son of a mother!" She heard Dark shout.

Breaking into a gallop, Applejack went over to check on Dark. With his luck, she guessed that he got hurt again... which she was partially right about. Making her way around another tree, she stopped to see Dark tenderly massaging his tail. Figuring what had happened to him, Applejack started snickering."

"Buck your tail again?" she guessed.

Dark looked back to her with a pained groan.

"You'd think that I would've learned after the first time," he grumbled. "I didn't even think that I would be this out of practice after such a short amount of time. I mean, it's only been like five days since I last apple bucked."

"Six actually," Applejack corrected. "Remember, last day we worked was Tuesday, and today's Monday."

With a facepalm, Dark shook his head and groaned.

"Alright, what is it this time?"

Dark paused, wondering if he should tell her. He didn't know how to handle this kind of situation with Spike, or where to even begin with it. After a moment of thinking, Dark decided to go ahead with asking Applejack for help. Next to Twilight and Spike, Applejack was the one who he'd spend most if his time with, so surely she could be trusted. He just hoped that she would be willing to cooperate with him.

"Uh, hey, Applejack?" Dark slowly addressed. "Can I ask you something?"

"Sure, sugarcube, whatever ya want," she happily answered.

"It's rather serious and personal. And when I ask this, I'm doing so as one adult to another."

Applejack arched an eyebrow. "You aren't gonna ask me out, are ya?"

"What? No! Besides, I'm already asking Twi-"

Dark slapped his claw over his mouth before he could say anymore. However, what he said was enough for Applejack to give him a knowing smirk.

"Oh, so Twilight, huh? What? Am Ah not your type ta be askin' out or somethin'?"

Knowing he was now walking into a minefield here, Dark frantically shook his head.

"Ohh no! I am not answering that! Doing so would be like signing my own death certificate."

Hearing his excuse caused Applejack to start laughing. Though she was just asking to tease him, she didn't expect him to react like that.

"Relax, Dark, Ah was just messin' with ya," she chuckled.

Sighing in relief, Dark allowed himself to relax.

"So, what is it that you wanted ta ask me?"

"Well..." Dark started, trying to figure out how best to word it. "I need some advice. Preferably from somepony that I can trust with this type of thing who wouldn't overreact, and who would best understand."

"And you think that Ah'm the one ta ask?"

"Considering that I spend more time with you after Twilight and Spike, I would say so. That, and you've probably already gave this talk to Apple Bloom too."

Curious, Applejack raised an eyebrow. "What talk?"

"You know, The Talk."

",,, sorry, but Ah'm not followin'."

"The birds and the bees talk," Dark groaned.

Now understand what he meant, Applejack's eyes shot wide open.

"Ohh... that talk," she nervously said, her face heating up. "Why do you need my advice for givin' it now?"

With a sigh, Dark answered, "Because last week, Twilight and I agreed that with Spike having a fillyfriend that he should have 'The Talk', and that I should be the one to give it to him. You know, since I'm a guy and all."

"But what about Shinin' Armor? He was just here yesterday, so couldn't he have done it?"

"Do you think that he would with how things went the day before?"

"Ah suppose not."

"Look, Applejack, I know that this topic is... very uncomfortable to say the least, and I'm sorry that I'm dragging you into this, but I could really use some help right now with how to go telling Spike about this, or at least on how to start."

"And you believe that I would know best why?"

"Well, didn't you have this talk with Apple Bloom?"

Applejack nodded, now completely understanding where he was coming from.

"Alright," she sighed, "Ah suppose it would be for the best that Ah help ya out."

"Thank you, Applejack," Dark happily thanked. "I'd like to get this thing over with before something happens between him and Sweetie Belle while we're sleeping."

"Ah doubt that Sweetie Belle could sneak past both you and Twilight before gettin' over ta Spike's room."

Dark rubbed the back of his head. "Actually, as far as I know of, ever since they became a couple, they've been sharing his bed whenever they could."

"... well in that case, the sooner the better." Applejack paused as a thought came to mind. "Shouldn't you be bringin' this up with Rarity?"

"And be on the receiving end of a tongue lashing from her?" Dark questioned. "Thanks, but I've heard a few stories about when she would get mad at somepony and would much rather prefer to avoid that."

Applejack sighed. "Yeah, Ah suppose Ah wouldn't want ta either." She paused as a thought crossed her mind. "Does Rarity even know that those two are together?"

"I have no idea," Dark replied.

"But how could she have not seen them after the attack last week? Ah mean, Sweetie Belle pounced Spike and started makin' out with him in the middle of the hallway."

"Yes, but Rarity didn't show up until after they were done."

Applejack facehoofed. "This ain't gonna be pretty when she finds out."

"Maybe not," Dark agreed, "but for now we should focus one problem at a time."

She turned her head back up to look Dark in the eyes. "Alright then, when Ah was tellin' Apple Bloom about this stuff, the first thin' that Ah did was have myself some cider. Now Ah ain't talkin' about the stuff that we had for lunch that one time, Ah'm talkin' about the hard stuff."

"Is that really such a good idea?" Dark questioned.

"Worked for me," she shrugged. "Besides, it'll help ya calm yourself down enough ta start talkin' ta him."

"But I've never drank alcohol before."

"Hey, you asked for my help and that's what Ah'm givin' ya. A bottle of our hard cider will help ya with talkin' ta him. Besides, you're part dragon, so alcohol should be less potent ta you than it would ta a normal pony. At least, Ah think it will."

Sighing in defeat, Dark gave a shrug and listened to the rest of Applejack's advice.

Back in the Castle, Twilight had just awoken with a satisfying yawn from a peaceful night's sleep on her own. Sitting up in her bed, she looked around her room. While she was used to falling asleep with Dark and came to enjoy it, Twilight had also started to miss sleeping in her own room.

Maybe next time we can sleep together here? Twilight thought to herself with a smile. Now that I think about it, I don't think that he's even been up on this floor before, or in the throne room for that matter.

Getting up out of her bed, Twilight made her way over to her dresser and began combing down her bed head and coat. Feeling presentable, Twilight made her way out of her room and down the stairs to eat. As she continued down the hallway, she began wondering what Spike had made for breakfast today, because what ever she was smelling was making her mouth water in anticipation. Turning into the kitchen, Twilight was surprised to see Spike almost half-way done eating his plateful before he turned to her, his cheeks bulging out with food.

"Morning, Twilight," Spike greeted her as he accidentally sprayed some of the food from his mouth.

"Good morning, Spike," Twilight returned. "And what have I told you about talking with your mouth full?"

With a groan and eye-roll, Spike swallowed his food before speaking again.

"Sorry, mom," he exaggeratedly replied.

Ignoring his comment, Twilight walked over to her seat and sat down, eyeing out the food set before her. It was an omelet with hash browns, buttered golden toast, and some hay sausages. As Twilight licked her lips, she poured herself a cup of orange juice before a question hit her. Why was Spike already eating when he would normally still be working the stove when she got in? Besides, this didn't look like something that Spike would normally make unless it was specifically requested of him. Curious, Twilight turned to question him.

"Hey, Spike?" she addressed. "Did you make this?"

"Nope," he happily answered. "It was here when I got down here." He paused to take another bite of his omelet, relishing in the taste of eggs, gem crumbs, and cheesy goodness. "Mmm, soooo gooood."

Looking curiously back down to her breakfast plate, Twilight lit up her horn to scan it. As she had expected, she found that there was a magical enchantment on both the plate and food. Knowing who was responsible for making their meal, and for making sure to keep it fresh and warm for them, Twilight smiled down to it before digging in herself.

Twilight moaned in satisfaction as she tasted it, wishing that she could cook something like this. Unfortunately for her, the best thing that she could cook was soup and sandwiches. She had considered asking Spike and Applejack to help teach her how to cook, but after this, she was wanting to learn now more than ever.

Maybe Dark would be willing to teach me? Twilight mentally wondered. I don't know what he puts in these, but they're a lot better than what Spike makes when he does.

Twilight continued to devour her omelet and hash browns until she noticed a piece of paper sticking out from beneath the edge of her plate. Swallowing what she had in her mouth, Twilight took the paper in her magic and unfolded it for her to read.

Twilight.

Thought that with the goodnight's sleep you got last night that you should also have a good breakfast to go with it. Happy to know you're sleeping better, and I'll see you when I get home. Also, don't worry, I haven't forgotten about that talk that I'm suppose to have with Spike later on today. If you would, could you remind him about it? Please and thank you.

Love,

Dark.

Though the note was short, it didn't stop Twilight from smiling with a happy sigh. She continued staring at it for a while until Spike spoke up to her.

"Hey, Twilight? You alright there?" Spike asked.

Snapping out of it, Twilight looked back over to Spike.

"Oh, sorry about that. Yes, I'm fine. Just reading this note that Dark left."

"So what did it say? It must've been something good for you to be lost like that."

"Actually, Spike," Twilight began, "Dark asked me to remind you that he's going to have a talk with you today when he gets back."

"Oh, right. I completely forgot about that." He looked curiously to Twilight. "He never did say what it was specifically about, though. He said that it wasn't bad or anything, just something that he needed to talk with me about. You wouldn't by chance know what it's about would you?"

Twilight gave him a knowing smirk. "Yes I do, but I'm not telling~"

"Ahh, no fair, Twilight," Spike complained. "Come on, why won't you tell me?"

"Because I don't feel like I should." That, and I really don't really want to talk about it.

With a grumble, Spike threw his claws in the air in defeat.

"Fine, don't tell me then. But I will guess as to what it is before he gets here."

Yeah, good luck with that, Twilight mentally giggled before continuing with her meal.

"Could ya hurry it up, Dark? We're gonna be late if we don't pick up the pace," Applejack asked as she rode Dark's back.

"Oh come on, it wasn't my fault that we lost track of time," Dark rebuked. "You were the one who said that she'd keep track of the time. Besides, I've never flown with a passenger before, so I can't fly as fast as what I normally can."

It was later in the afternoon when Applejack remembered that they were suppose to be meeting up at the castle to talk about the Prank Wars that was in a few days. However, by the time she remembered, the meeting was going to start in fifteen minutes. Quickly as they could, the two made their way back to Applejack's house for her to fetch Dark his bottle of hard cider before she jumped onto Dark's back. Once she explained why she did, Dark was willing to try and fly them over, despite him never carrying anything heavier than that slab of rock. Despite the extra weight, they were making rather good time as they flew over Ponyville. It didn't take him much longer before he landed and let his passenger off.

"Phew," Applejack said in relief. "We made it just in time."

"We made it to the castle, but we still have to get inside," Dark reminded. "By the way, do you know where the meetings being held?"

"Yeah, it's in the throne room where we normally meet ta talk."

"... I've never been in the throne room before."

"Seriously?" Applejack questioned as she and Dark entered the castle. "You've lived here for over two weeks and haven't explored the place yet?"

"Didn't really bother to between work, magic and flight training, and all of this fighting lately."

"Ah suppose Ah could understand that, but it still surprises me."

"Well I suppose that after today, I can mark one room of my list of places that I haven't seen before."

The two made their way down the hallway until they came across Twilight, who'd just opened a set of doors and was heading towards them.

"Good, you're both here," she said. "You're the last ones to arrive, so as soon as we get inside we can begin."

"Alright, Twi," Applejack replied.

"Okay," Dark shrugged.

They were about to pass by when Twilight placed a hoof on Dark, stopping him in place as she gave him a questioningly look.

"Dark," she slowly began, her tone somewhat firm as she pointed a hoof. "What's that?"

Looking to where she was pointing, Dark saw that she was referring to the bottle of cider in his magical grasp. With an uneasy look, he began explaining.

"I asked Applejack for some help on how to go about talking to Spike today," he started, "and her recommendation was a bottle of hard cider to help me relax enough to talk to him."

"Really?" Twilight questioned, glancing over to Applejack.

"It worked for me, so Ah thought that it might work for him too," she answered with a shrug.

With an understanding nod, Twilight let Applejack pass by as she and Dark stayed back. Once she was through the doors, Twilight turned back to him.

"Before I forget," Twilight began before she gave Dark a peck on the cheek. "Thank you for breakfast today. It was very good."

"You're welcome," Dark returned with a smile as they followed after Applejack.

"You seem to be a consistently good cook, so I was wondering if you could help me with something."

"Yes?"

"Would you be willing to teach me how to cook too? Besides making sandwiches and soups, I'm not really that great when it comes to cooking."

"Is that why Spike's usually the one at the stove?"

"That might have something to do with it. I've actually been wanting to learn for a while now."

Dark gave her an understanding nod. "Sure I can teach you, but my list of recipes isn't all that big."

"It's alright. Just as long as I get to learn how you make those omelets."

"Were they really that good?" Dark chuckled, eliciting a nod from Twilight. "In that case, I guess that that'll be the first one I'll have to teach you. Just come and ask me whenever you want to start."

Happy with getting to learn how to cook, Twilight and Dark continued down the hallway to the throne room, the former with a little extra bounce to her step. Coming through the last set of doors, Dark was met with a circular room with seven thrones, a round table, and a giant tree root chandelier hanging above them. Looking over, he could see that Spike and all of their friends were already sitting in their respective thrones. Following Twilight, she sat down in her throne while he sat down on the floor beside it, placing the cider bottle next to him.

"Fluttershy was right, you do have your eyes back!" Pinkie happily exclaimed.

"Yep," Dark smiled, "all thanks to her and Discord."

"Would you like something soft to sit on other than the floor?" Twilight asked Dark.

"That's alright, I'm good."

With a nod, Twilight brought up a scroll and some ink in her magic.

"Alright," she began, "we'll keep this short and simple. As you all know, our yearly Prank Wars is this Wednesday. Now, before we start, we'll need to split into teams of two. So, who's pairing with whom?"

"I'm with Applejack!" Rainbow announced, getting a curious look from Twilight.

"Really? I thought that you'd want to be paired up with Pinkie."

"Nah, not really," Pinkie chimed in. "Actually, we talked about it and agreed that it wouldn't be as fair to everypony else if both of Ponyville's pranksters were on the same team, so we decided to not team up this year."

Blinking in surprise, Twilight marked Applejack and Rainbow for one team. "Alright, who else?"

"Rarity and I are gonna team up," Pinkie answered mischievously as she rubbed her front hooves together, "and boy do we have a prank for you."

"That we do," Rarity smirked. "Pinkie and I already talked about it, and together we decided to team up this year."

"Okay," Twilight nodded, oblivious to their looks as her eyes never left the parchment. "And what about you, Fluttershy?"

Looking over to her, Dark could see Fluttershy shifting around in her seat. With a second look, though, Dark could see that she wasn't shifting nervously, but judging by the wincing on her face, it almost looked like she was shifting in pain. Curious, Dark decided to ask her about it.

"Hey, Fluttershy," Dark began, "are you alright? It sorta looks like you're in some kind of pain there."

All eyes were now on Fluttershy who was now hiding her face behind her mane.

"Well... I guess maybe just a little bit," she admitted.

"What happened, darling?" Rarity asked.

"Nothing really. I just... pulled a muscle last night. I'm a little sore right now, so it stings a little bit whenever I try to walk... or sit."

Seemingly satisfied with her answer, everyone decided to let it go for now. What they didn't know, though, was that as Fluttershy hid behind her mane, her face had become completely flushed.

"Anyway," Twilight redirected, "who do you want as your partner, Fluttershy?"

"Discord," she answered, still hiding her face.

There was a moment of silence as everyone let that sink in.

"... well we're screwed," Dark said breaking the silence.

"No kiddin'," Applejack agreed.

"Don't worry," Fluttershy assured, "I'll be there to make sure that he doesn't go too overboard with his magic."

"Alright then," Twilight spoke, looking over the pairings before turning to Dark. "Guess that makes Dark and I a team then."

Sweet, Dark thought to himself with a smile.

"Well then, I guess that that's all for-"

"Actually, Twilight," Spike interrupted, "the Crusaders and I were thinking about joining this year as a team."

While everyone was quiet with Fluttershy's choice, with Spike's announcement, the room became more silent than a graveyard after midnight. After a while of everyone looking to one another without anyone saying anything, Spike cocked an eye at them.

"What? Something wrong with that?" he asked.

"No, nothing's wrong," Twilight slowly answered. "It's just that we just didn't expect this is all."

"So can we join you guys this year then?"

Twilight looked around to her friends, gauging the expression on each of them. While their was a mix of nervous and surprised emotions, once she got to Dark, he just gave her a smile and shrugged. Figuring it wouldn't hurt, she turned back to Spike.

"I suppose it's alright."

With a happy cheer from Spike, Twilight smiled as she rolled up the parchment.

"Well then, I believe that that's everything. Oh, and don't forget about the dinner party later that evening. We'll be holding it here at the castle dining room."

With a round of nods, everyone got up out of their seats and made their way to the door. However, as they were walking, everyone would occasionally glance over to see Fluttershy walking with a slight waddle as her face occasionally winced.

"You never actually did say what happened to you, Fluttershy," Rainbow reminded.

"I would like to know too if it wouldn't be of any trouble," Rarity added.

Fluttershy looked back nervously between the two.

"Umm... I have to go!" she said before flying out of the castle with speeds that would've made Rainbow proud... if she wasn't standing there confused by Fluttershy's behavior.

After a moment, Rainbow turned back to the others.

"Alright, does anypony know what's going on with Fluttershy?" she asked.

"She was acting sorta like that yesterday, but she didn't say why," Dark tried answering, causing Rainbow to groan.

"Ah hope that everything's alright with her," Applejack added.

"I'm sure that she's alright," Twilight said.

"Yeah, what Twilight said," Spike agreed before walking on ahead of the group. "Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to find the Crusaders and hang out with them."

Spike didn't get very far, though, as he found himself wrapped in a golden aura and lifted off the ground.

"Sorry, buddy," Dark half-heartedly apologized, "but it's time that we've had that little talk of ours."

Spike turned his head to glare at Dark, half annoyed by being handled like this, and the other half for having to talk about something that he had no idea about.

"Alright, but how long is this going to take?" he impatiently asked.

"I have no idea," Dark admitted. "Depending on how well it goes, it could take a few hours."

"So I might not be able to hang out with the girls today then?"

"Probably not. Besides, you may not want to see them immediately after this."

Placing Spike on his back, Dark turned to Twilight.

"Mind if we use the library?" he asked.

"Sure," Twilight replied with a nod. "I actually had some books set off to the side for you to use incase you needed them. Though I'm a little surprised that you're wanting to do this so quickly. I almost thought that you'd wait until later to start."

Dark gave a tired sigh. "I just want this to be done and over with as soon as possible."

With an understanding nod from Twilight, Dark and Spike made their way to the library. Once they were out of earshot, Rarity was the first to speak up.

"What was that all about?" she asked.

Applejack and Twilight looked to each other, wondering who would answer first before Applejack finally stepped forward.

"Well," she began, "Dark is givin' Spike 'The Talk'."

Thankfully they didn't have to explain further as Rarity's eyes widened in realization.

"... oh. But, should Spike really be having such a grown-up talk so soon?"

"He's at that age now, Rarity," Twilight added, "so it would be best for him to get it now before something unexpected happens."

"Probably a good idea," Rainbow nodded in agreement. "Besides, I doubt that Rarity would be very happy if Sweetie Belle suddenly came home one day and told her that Spike had accidentally knocked her up."

"EXCUSE ME?!" Rarity screeched. "Rainbow Dash! How dare you even think that Spike would do something like that to my sister!"

"Oops. Sorry, Rarity. Bad choice of words."

"Now let's calm down here," Applejack calmly told them.

"Calm down?! She just presumed that Spike and Sweetie would... ugh."

"Well they are a couple," Rainbow reminded.

Upon hearing this, Rarity's body froze as her head slowly turned back to face Rainbow.

"... what?" she asked in with a monotone.

"So you really didn't know?" Applejack questioned.

"You mean about them supposedly being together?"

"Eeyup."

Rarity brought a hoof up to her chin as she thought about this. She wasn't happy that she didn't know about this before, but as she continued thinking about it, the more possible it seemed. Rarity had noticed that Sweetie Belle was acting a little different lately, but didn't pay much mind to it. Wanting answers, Rarity looked back up to her friends.

"When did this happen?" she calmly asked them.

"As it turns out," Twilight began explaining, "it happened during the night Dark was hospitalized by those alpha timberwolves. You know, the night where you put those two to sleep in Sweetie Belle's bed?"

Rarity's jaw dropped as the realization of what this implied hit her.

"Are you trying to tell me that it was because of me that Spike and Sweetie Belle are a couple now?"

"Pretty much," Applejack confirmed.

Rarity dropped to her haunches. "I cant believe that I didn't even know about it. Now that I think back to Sweetie's behavior lately, it's actually rather obvious." She then looked back up to face her friends with an apologetic look. "I'm sorry for my outburst earlier, I shouldn't have snapped so quickly without getting an explanation first."

"It's not completely your fault," Rainbow said. "I'm partially to blame for that."

With an understanding nod, Rarity stood back up.

"So then, Dark is giving Spike that talk now that he's with Sweetie?"

"Yep," Twilight answered.

"Hmmm," Rarity muttered as she thought. "In that case, I better go find Sweetie and give her 'The Talk' as well. I don't know if our parents ever gave it to her, but it doesn't hurt to remind her."

"Probably a good idea," Applejack agreed. "Ah already gave it ta Apple Bloom, so Ah don't have ta worry about her."

"I understand that it's necessary," Rainbow began, "but should we all just go off telling our sisters since Spike and Sweetie Belle are dating now?"

Twilight briefly thought back to a book mentioning dragons that she'd read back in the old Golden Oaks Library.

"Actually, it would probably be a good idea that you all did that," Twilight suggested.

"What're you talking about, Twilight?"

"I remember reading a book that mentioned something about how a dragon would sometimes have multiple mates."

Applejack, Rarity, and Rainbow were now staring intently at Twilight.

"Is Spike in a relationship with just Sweetie Belle?" Rarity asked everypony.

"Ah don't know," Applejack answered, "but what Ah do know that he's been hangin' out with her, Apple Bloom, and Scootaloo a lot more lately."

"So for all we know, Spike could be dating all three of the Crusaders?" Rainbow summarized, getting a group of nods in return. "In that case, you'll have to excuse me while I go find Scootaloo."

In a split second, Rainbow was gone searching for her surrogate sister, leaving Applejack and Rarity with Twilight.

"I believe Rainbow has the right idea," Rarity said. "I best go find Sweetie Belle and talk with her as well."

"Ah suppose it wouldn't hurt ta talk ta Apple Bloom about it again," Applejack agreed.

"Alright, so I'll see you two later then?" Twilight asked, getting a pair of nods as the two made their way out of the castle.

Now alone for the moment, Twilight began wondering on what to do now. She briefly thought about going into the library to read, but then remembered that that's where Dark and Spike were. However, she did have some books in the lounge. Once she got there, she then decided to go on ahead and start up a fire in the fireplace as well, enjoying the thought of reading by the fire again.

Inside the library, Dark sat Spike down on one of the couches as he took the one opposite of him. Setting the bottle of cider down on the table, Dark looked over to Spike.

"So," he began, "did Twilight tell you what I wanted to talk to you about?"

"No," Spike answered with crossed arms.

"Alright then," Dark said before opening the bottle, taking a gulp of it, and looking back to Spike. "We're here so that I can give you 'The Talk'."

"Alright. So what is this talk about?"

"You know, 'The Talk'."

"Yes, I know that this is a talk, but what I want to know is what it's about."

Facepalming, Dark decided to stop beating around the bush. "I'm talking about giving you the birds and the bees talk, or the sex talk if you would prefer."

Spike's eyes snapped open in fear and nervousness. "Umm... is there any way that I don't need to have this talk?"

"No can do, Spike. Now that you're in a relationship with your own special somepony, Twilight and I have agreed that you should have it."

"But why you? Why can't Twilight tell me?"

"Because she asked me to, seeing as I'm a guy like you."

"... and there's no way I can get out of this?"

"Not a chance," Dark replied before taking another gulp of cider. "And that goes for me as well."

With a sigh of defeat, Spike hunkered down in his spot for a very long and awkward talk. With the help of Twilight's books for references, it took Dark four hours before he was finally done. During that time, he drained the bottle of its cider while Spike when through a list of facial expressions, most of which were some form of discomfort and disgust. When Dark was finally done, he closed one of the books before looking back to see a crimson-red Spike.

"So, any questions?" Dark asked, getting a slow head shake from Spike. "In that case I think we're finished here."

With a small nod, Spike slowly got off his couch before leaving the library. Although it had made Dark uncomfortable talking about this, he did feel a little sorry for the poor guy. But, even though it may have appeared as though he might've accidentally mentally scarred Spike, it had to be done. Setting the books back down together, Dark grabbed his bottle to rinse out in the kitchen so that he could return it for Applejack to reuse. Once he was finished, Dark made his way to the lounge to rest. Opening the door, he walked in to see Twilight laying down by the burning fireplace with a book. Seeing him walk in, Twilight gave Dark a warm smile.

"So, how did it go?" she asked as Dark walked over and flopped down onto one of the couches. "That bad huh?"

"Next time, you're giving 'The Talk'," Dark groaned.

"'Next time', huh? You expecting to give another talk?"

"Not expecting, just saying that it's your turn if there is a next time."

Twilight giggled at him for a moment. "So, did Applejack's cider help at all?"

"Not. One. Bit," he answered. "Seriously, even after drinking that whole bottle, I don't feel the least bit tipsy, let alone drunk. And this was my first drink!"

"Probably because you have the stomach of a dragon now."

"That's actually close to what Applejack guessed."

"How's your breath, though?"

Taking a moment, Dark brought a claw to his mouth before breathing into it. While it did smell of apples, it also had the scent of alcohol on it. Unhappy with the new scent on his breath, Dark tilted his head up and started breathing out fire just far enough to reach past his muzzle to cleanse the odor. After breathing fire for a good half-minute, Dark smelled his breath again, the scent of alcohol all gone.

"Breath's all clear now," Dark announced.

"In that case, would you like to read a book with me?" Twilight asked.

"You know what? Yes, yes I would. It'll help me forget about that talk with Spike."

Getting up off the couch, Dark walked over and laid down next to Twilight in front of the fire. As he got himself more situated, Twilight scooted herself over so that she was leaning up against his side. Looking over to her, Dark saw Twilight smiling up to him, which he gladly returned as he draped a wing over her and held her close. The two turned to the book and took turns reading it out loud for what felt like hours. Some time later, they finally found themselves a good stopping point.

"That was nice," Twilight commented as she rested her head against his shoulder.

"Mmhmm," Dark hummed in agreement. "And just think, in a few months we'll be doing this with snow falling outside of the windows, and with a cup of my mom's homemade hot chocolate sitting in front of us."

"Sounds like a great plan to me," she replied with a tired yawn.

Seeing how tired she was, Dark looked to the clock to see that it was already past midnight.

"We should probably head off to bed. It's late enough as it is, and I have to work in the morning."

Despite his suggestion, Dark didn't get any reply from Twilight. Curious, he looked down to see her sound asleep against him. With a small sigh and smile, Dark sat the book off to the side before gently lifting her onto his back. With Twilight secured and sleeping on his back, Dark made his way out of the lounge to Twilight's room. As he ascended to the third level, he began wondering which door led to Twilight's bedroom. After checking the first few rooms, Dark had finally found it.

I hope she doesn't get upset for me coming in here uninvited, Dark thought as he made his way inside.

Quietly crossing the bedroom, Dark came to the edge of Twilight's bed. Using his magic, Dark pulled back the bedsheets before gently lifting the sleeping Twilight off of his back, laying her in bed, and tucking her in. Seeing that she was comfortable and not squirming around, Dark leaned over and tenderly placed a kiss on her forehead before silently leaving to get some sleep himself.

The next day was rather awkward for the Crusaders and Spike as he went to tell them that they could participate for the Prank Wars tomorrow. The night before, the three fillies each were given 'The Talk' by their respective siblings. And while Spike's message did make them excited, they also couldn't look at him for too long. They continued to hangout, though, the awkwardness dissipating over time as they remained in the company of each other. Once everyone felt more relaxed, Spike began filling them in on the rules, which there weren't many of.

Later that day, just after dinner, Twilight too was explaining to the rules to Dark. Probably the main one was the duration which lasted from midnight to 10 P.M. Now with an understanding of the rules and time limit, Dark and Twilight began going through Twilight's Prankster's Guide to Pranks, trying to find some fun and harmless pranks to pull on their friends... but mainly Spike. With a small list of pranks set, the two retired for the night, wanting to get plenty of sleep before tomorrow came around.

Dark rubbed his eyes with his claws as he awoke. With today being the Prank Wars, there wasn't any kind of work on the farm today. He let out a small roar as he stretched out and yawned, noticing that his roar was higher-pitched than usual, but was too tired to worry about it. Crawling out of his bed, Dark groggily made his way over to his dresser and began to comb his mane. However, once he got there, all of his tiredness vanished as he looked at his reflection.

The first thing that he noticed was that his entire coat and horn had changed from a blaze-orange and black, to a lavender-purple. Secondly, his mane was now a shade of purple with a strip of dark-purple, and hot-pink. He immediately recognized them as Twilight's coat and mane colors that he'd somehow woken up with. And finally, the most disturbing thing he'd noticed was that his body was smaller and had noticeably feminine curves. Fearing the worst, Dark slowly reached a claw down beneath his legs, hoping to feel a pair of nuts down there... which he didn't. With eyes widened to their fullest and his panic spiking, Dark let out the loudest and most girlish scream his new female body could muster.

Chapter 22- Prank Wars

Twilight jumped out of bed when she heard the scream. She didn't know who it came from, just that whoever it was is in trouble. The other thing she was wondering was how they got so far into her castle without setting off any of the wards she had placed. Granted that Pinkie was able to do just that, but Twilight considered her to be an exception. Throwing open the doors to her bedroom, she was met with Spike just leaving his. While Twilight was happy to see that it didn't come from Spike, he however, just stood where he was, unable of what to make of Twilight.

"Uhh, Twilight?" he asked questionably. "What happened to you?"

"What do you mean, Spike?" Twilight questioned. "I'm perfectly fine."

"Then what happened to your coat and mane?"

Not knowing what Spike meant, Twilight decided to go over to her mirror to check for herself. Once she did, she saw that her tail, wings, and forelegs were black, her mane blond, and the rest of her coat was turned to a blazing-orange. Although she was initially curious as to who was screaming, Twilight was now wondering how she managed to get Dark's coat and mane colors. With the Prank Wars in mind, and with Spike now participating, Twilight went back over to Spike to confront him.

"Spike," she called suspiciously, "you wouldn't by chance have had anything to do with this, would you?"

Spike cocked an eyebrow at her. "No. I was asleep all night. I just woke up when I heard that screaming. It wasn't you, was it?"

"No, it wasn't," Twilight answered.

Not wanting to waste anymore time, Twilight put Spike on her back as she began searching the castle. After five minutes of checking for the source of the scream, Twilight stopped, noticing that she hadn't seen Dark yet.

"Spike," Twilight addressed as she turned her head to look at him, "where's Dark?"

"Probably up in his room?" Spike guessed.

"Then why would he still be in there if a scream like that could be heard throughout the castle? Wouldn't he have come out to try and help?"

"I guess." Spike looked over to the direction of Dark's room. "You don't think that it came from his room, do you?"

Twilight thought about it as she followed Spike's gaze. "Well, we haven't checked that area of the castle yet, so I don't think that it would hurt to look."

With that, Twilight and Spike made their way up to the guest rooms. Once up there, they began checking the rooms one by one until they finally came to Dark's room. With a gentle knock, Twilight called through the door.

"Dark? Are you in there?" she asked.

Few seconds later, she heard some scrambling before the room went silent.

"Is it alright if I come in?"

After going a few seconds without an answer, Spike hopped down from Twilight's back.

"Alright, I'm heading in," he said as he reached for the doorknob.

"Spike, wait!"

But before she could do anything, Spike had already opened the door and walked inside. With an irritated sigh, Twilight followed Spike into Dark's room. The place was still clean and nothing looked displaced, that is, except for the bed. Beneath the bedsheets was a small mass trying to hold still so no one would notice it. It didn't work, however, as Twilight and Spike walked over to the bedside.

"Dark? Are you alright?" Twilight questionably asked, getting a headshake from under the blanket. "Is something wrong?" The blanket nodded. "Will you at least tell me?" Twilight asked slightly irritated, getting a headshake in response.

"Seriously? Is it so bad that you can't even speak to us?" Spike questioned, getting a silent nod in reply.

With a sigh, Twilight leaned over to the blanket. "Listen, Dark, I get the feeling that you're embarrassed about something, but it's alright. Look at me for example, somehow I've got your coat and mane colors."

Hearing this, Dark pulled the blankets back so that her draconic eyes could peek out from under the blanket. Looking out, she saw that Twilight did in fact have her coat colors. As she looked out, Twilight in turn got to see her golden eyes looking back at her. However, Twilight immediately noticed that there was something off about them, like they were softer than usual. Feeling as though she's starting to get through to her, Twilight decided to try urging her a little bit.

"That's better," she smiled. "Now that you've seen what's happened to me, can you show me what happened to you?"

Dark really didn't want to show her what had happened to herself, but she also didn't want to upset Twilight by hiding away like this, so she needed a way to show her without showing her. Getting an idea, Dark slid a lavender claw out from beneath her blanket to show Twilight and Spike.

"Do you have my coat and mane colors like how I have yours?" Twilight guessed, getting a thumbs up from Dark. "So, is that why you're not wanting to come out?" she asked, getting a so-so wave from Dark's claw.

Getting irritated from this guessing, Spike decided to take action as he walked up and grabbed the corner of the bedsheet.

"Alright, enough games," he said as he started pulling off the covers. "Now, what is it that you're hiding?"

Once Spike pulled the blanket completely off of Dark, he and Twilight were greeted with the sight of a lavender Dark cocooned in her wings.

"Oh, come on!" Spike shouted before sighing and turning to Twilight. "That's it, I'm done. You can handle this from here."

As Spike walked over to the dresser and sat on it with folded arms, Twilight reached over and gently placed a hoof on Dark's wing, causing her to flinch.

"It's alright," Twilight reassured, "having our colors swapped isn't that bad, is it?"

"That's not the problem," a muffled voice answered.

While Twilight would've smiled to finally get a verbal answer, she instead just continued looking confusingly at Dark. She immediately knew that the voice she heard wasn't Dark's natural male one, but that of a female's. Cautiously, Twilight gently brought her hoof to the top of Dark's wing and slowly began pulling it back, only to be met with resistance.

"Dark, can you please let me look at you?" Twilight gently asked.

With a reluctant sigh, Dark allowed for Twilight to continue moving her wing off to the side. Once Twilight had removed Dark's wing, she was met with a sight that made her freeze in place with her jaw hanging wide open. While Twilight had expected to see something strange, what she didn't expect was to see a female version of Dark sitting before her. Nervously shifting around, Dark looked back up to Twilight.

"Well?" Dark meekly asked.

Twilight didn't reply as she was still frozen from the shock. Curious as to what Twilight found out, Spike hopped down from is sitting spot and walked over to Dark. Unlike Twilight, though, once Spike saw Dark's condition, he immediately fell to the floor and began laughing at her. With a look of embarrassment, Dark looked down to the laughing Spike.

"This isn't funny!" she whined, causing Spike to laugh even harder.

Shaking her head free, Twilight brought a hoof to her mouth to hide her amused smile as she looked back to Dark.

"Wow," she giggled. "Now this I didn't expect."

"Me neither," Dark agreed. "Now how do we fix this? I would much rather prefer being a guy."

"Really?" Twilight questioned, "because you look rather cute as a mare."

Dark's face was completely flushed by Twilight's comment. She didn't know whether she should be flattered or... something else that she couldn't think of at the moment. With a small pout, Dark looked back up to Twilight.

"But I'm not suppose to be cute. Can we please change me back?" she asked.

"Alright," Twilight giggled, "just give me a second."

Twilight lit up her horn as she began casting an counter spell on Dark. However, when the spell was cast, nothing happened. Confused, Twilight tried recasting it repeatedly till her fourth failed attempt.

"That's weird," she commented. "My magic isn't working on it."

"So what now then?" Dark asked. "I can't-"

Dark was interrupted and froze as he heard the sound of a camera shutter snapping. Slowly turning, Dark saw Spike with a camera taking photos of him. With a squeak, Dark shielded herself with her wings, trying to hide from having anymore embarrassing photos taken of her.

"Spike!" Twilight scolded. "Why are you taking pictures of Dark like this?"

"Because this is just too good to pass up," he explained as he took another picture. "Besides, when was the last time somepony got gender swapped like this?"

"Never that I'm aware of, now put that camera away. Dark's embarrassed enough without you harassing him- I mean her."

With a dejected sigh, Spike lowered the camera and exited the room. Once the sound of his footsteps were gone, Twilight turned back to Dark.

"It's alright, he's gone now," Twilight said, causing Dark to peek out from her wings.

Seeing that Spike was indeed gone, Dark folded her wings and hopped down from the bed. As she stood up straight, she saw that she was now at perfect eye-level with Twilight.

"So now what?" Dark asked.

"First, I think that we should get something to eat," Twilight suggested as she turned to head to the kitchen.

Following Twilight, Dark groaned. "And what about the Prank Wars? I can't be seen by our friends like this!"

"I'm sure that they'll be fine with it."

"And what about everypony else in town? What will they think when they see that I've been turned to a mare and that we've switched colors?"

Twilight didn't let that little fact bother her. Since weird things would happen in Ponyville, and that the ponies knew what today was for Twilight and her friends, they probably wouldn't question it too much. As they entered the kitchen, a question came to Dark.

"Umm, Twilight?" she called. "When you were explaining the rules, you didn't say anything about team members pranking each other."

Twilight cocked an eyebrow at her. "Are you asking if I did this to you?"

"Well you did say that I looked cute, so I just thought that maybe your curiosity got the better of you?"

As the realization of what Dark had just said caught up to her, she looked to see Twilight giving her a shrug.

"While you do look cute as a mare, I'd personally prefer you as a stallion. And besides, teammates aren't suppose to prank each other during the Prank Wars," Twilight explained.

With a sigh of relief, Dark trotted up alongside Twilight. As they continued towards and into the kitchen, Dark and Twilight sat down to eat while going over their prank plans.

"So, how bad is this going to mess up our plans for pranking our friends?" Dark asked.

Twilight looked over Dark, then down to her list of pranks before looking back to answer her.

"Looks like we'll have to cross out numbers twelve through fifteen," Twilight answered as she conjured a quill and crossed them off.

"And what about the prank for getting back at Spike?"

Twilight smirked as a pink bottle appeared on the table. "Oh, that one's still on."

With a mischievous and eager giggle, the two finished their breakfast before making to the castle door. As they made their way over, Dark's pace slowed down.

"Something wrong?" Twilight wondered.

"Just a little nervous is all," Dark answered.

"Alright, I'll go first," Twilight sighed as she opened the door. "Besides, I doubt that- EEEEKK!!"

Ten minutes earlier, Spike was sitting outside the castle door waiting for his team to meet up with him. As he waited, he looked down to the camera in his claws, eager to get them developed. Chuckling to himself from what he saw earlier, Spike didn't notice a shadow sneaking up behind him until it blew into his ear. With a yelp, Spike leaped forward before turning around to see Sweetie Belle, Apple Bloom, and Scootaloo.

"Hey, Spike," Sweetie Belle greeted. "You ready for today?"

"More than ready," Spike nodded as he lifted his camera, "and boy has this morning been funny."

"What happened?" Apple Bloom asked.

"I can't do it justice," he chuckled. "You'll just have to wait and see it for yourselves, or when I get these pictures developed."

"Okay, so are we gonna get this started yet?" Scootaloo asked, balancing a tin bucket full of water on her back. "This thing's getting kinda heavy, and it's super cold."

"Did you put ice cubes in it?"

"Eeyup," Apple Bloom answered.

"Great, they'll never see it coming." Spike turned to Sweetie Belle. "Hey, Sweetie, could you attach this hanger up above the door and hang that bucket of ice water onto it?"

With a devious smirk, Sweetie Belle did ask Spike asked. With their prank all set up, the four jumped into a nearby bush to wait and watch. They laid huddled up against each other for a while before they could hear voices from the other side of the door. Waiting in anticipation, the door opened, the top of it pushing against the bottom of the bucket and causing it to tilt. With one last push, the bucket spilled all of its ice water down onto its unsuspecting victim. Hearing the sound of water splashing and a surprised scream, the four swiftly and silently ran off to find the next pony to prank.

Twilight stood there frozen in place by the freezing water that was just dumped on her. Seeing Twilight's shocked expression and shivering body, Dark immediately ran up to her.

"You alright?" she asked.

"S-S-So, c-c-c-co-cold," Twilight answered.

"Alright," Dark began as she draped a wing over Twilight to help warm her up, "let's get you into the shower so you can warm up."

With a shivering nod from Twilight, the two made their way to the bathroom. After running the water for Twilight, Dark stepped out and sat by the door, wondering if these sort of pranks were normal for today. While the ice water prank did make a small part of her laugh inwardly, and the color swapping with Twilight wasn't that big of a deal for her, she just couldn't get over who could make her swap genders like this.

Her first suspect was Discord, since he has chaotic magic and all. Next up was Pinkie Pie. While she didn't have magic like Discord, she did have something that nopony could explain, so for all she knew, Pinkie could have something to do with her being female. Dark briefly considered Celestia, but quickly put that thought out of her mind, not thinking that she would actually come down to compete in it. And besides that, she didn't even show up to the meeting to go over it. Going through her head as to who else might be responsible, Dark found himself sitting there for over a half-hour before he heard the door open. Looking over to the door, Dark could see Twilight walking out of the steamed room looking perfectly fine.

"Feeling better?" Dark asked.

"Much," Twilight replied with a refreshed sigh. "Alright, ready to head out?"

"Sure."

After grabbing their bags by the door, the two made their way back to the castle doors, checking them first before passing through them. The walk through Ponyville was rather unnerving for Dark as she tried hiding herself against Twilight. They continued their way to Sugarcube Corner, hoping to grab a bite to eat. As the two opened the door and walked into the shop, their eyes immediately turned to see Pinkie, Rarity, Applejack, and Rainbow sitting at one of the tables. Not expecting to see the four all here, Dark started frantically looking for a place to hide before they saw her. It was too late for her, though, as the bell above the door caused their eyes to turn to her and Twilight, and to start laughing loudly at them.

"Hey, Twilight, hey, Dark," Pinkie laughed as she waved to them. "Come have a seat with us."

As Twilight walked over, Dark stayed where she was. Seeing as Dark wasn't following, Twilight went up behind her and started pushing her to the others. The feeling of embarrassment returning, Dark covered herself with her wings before the other got a good look at her.

"What's up with Dark, Twilight?" Rainbow snickered. "Is he too embarrassed with his new colors?"

"Not exactly," Twilight answered.

"Ah still can't believe that y'all were able ta pull that off," Applejack complimented.

"Wait, Pinkie and Rarity are the ones who did this to us?"

"It wasn't that hard, darling," Rarity said. "After all, I had the coat and mane dye on hoof, and Pinkie Pie has her ways of going unnoticed. Though it still surprises me how she was able to do all of that without waking you two up."

"It actually wasn't hard at all," Pinkie shrugged.

"So who's idea was it to swap our colors?" Twilight asked.

"That would've been mine, actually," Rarity proudly answered. "And don't worry about the dye, it'll wash out in a day or so."

"Any specific reason why you would pick this prank?"

"Well, isn't it obvious? It's because you two are a couple, are you not?"

"Not yet," Dark answered from beneath her wings, causing everypony besides Twilight to look at him curiously.

They each picked up on the tone of her voice, wondering as to what happened to her now. At first they thought that it might've been the Poison Joke which caused her voice to change like it did with Fluttershy, but they weren't completely sure. Standing up, Applejack walked over to Dark and poked at her wing.

"Hey, Dark?" Applejack called. "You alright there?"

"Not really," she mumbled.

Applejack looked over to Twilight who brought a hoof to her mouth to stifle a giggle before turning back to Dark.

"Well would ya mind at least lookin' at me when Ah'm talkin' ta ya?"

Hearing her request, Dark sighed and peeked an eye out from the top of her wing. Almost immediately, Applejack saw something different in her eyes. She'd spent enough time with Dark and looking into those golden eyes when they talked and ate together. But now, she saw something very different in them, a look that could only come from a mare. Peeking through the gap in Dark's wings, Applejack saw that Dark was indeed a female now. A split second later, Applejack burst with laughter as she fell to the floor and began rolling around, holding her sides as she continued to laugh.

"What's so funny?" Rainbow asked, flying over to Applejack who couldn't even answer her.

Desperate, Dark looked over to Twilight who was snickering slightly.

"You might as well show them now and get it over with," Twilight suggested.

With a reluctant sigh, Dark opened her wing to show her friends her new look. Upon seeing Dark's new body, Rarity's jaw dropped in shock while Pinkie and Rainbow joined Applejack on the floor laughing their hearts out. Hearing laughing coming from her side, Dark looked to see Twilight giving her an apologetic look while she tried to contain her own laughter. After a few more minutes of laughing at Dark, Pinkie finally found her voice again.

"Wow, Darky," she began, wiping a tear from her eye, "I can't believe that you got Rule 63'd."

"I got what?" Dark confusingly asked.

"Somepony swapped your genders, silly."

"Yes, I knew that much, Pinkie." Dark froze as Pinkie's words fully caught up with him. "Wait, so this wasn't your doing?"

"Nope. You were still a stallion when I snuck in and dyed you."

"Then if it wasn't you, then that means that-"

"It was me," a disembodied voice answered from behind Dark.

Snapping around, Dark looked around the room for the owner of the voice.

"Where are you Discord?!" she shouted.

"Oh don't get your panties in a bunch, Miss Dark," Discord gleefully laughed.

Annoyed by Discord's antics, Dark flared out her wings as her tail began wildly thrashing about.

"I swear, if you don't show yourself and change me back, I'll-"

"Um, Dark?" Twilight interrupted, her face covered with a deep blush. "You should probably stop moving your tail around so much."

Dark tuned to her and cocked an eyebrow. "Why?"

"Well... you're starting to flash us."

With an "eep", Dark tucked her tail between her legs while her wings wrapped around her body, which in turn caused Discord to laugh even louder. Her embarrassment now overcome by anger, Dark looked back around for Discord.

"Why are you doing this?!" she demanded.

"Why?" Discord returned before breaking into laughter again. "Remember when I told you at your party that I'd be getting you back for that little comment of yours?"

"You mean the one where I said that Fluttershy had you whipped?"

"That's the one."

"You've got to be kidding me! Is making a funny comment like that really worth all of this?"

"Hmm, let me think about that... yep!"

Having enough, Dark began casting his Soul Eyes. Upon completion, Dark looked around and quickly spotted Discord floating just a few feet away from him. With a growl, Dark flared out her wings.

"I'm warning you, Discord, return me to normal so I can have my nuts back, or so help me, I will tear you a new one!"

"You're welcome to try~" he sing-songed.

"Very well then," Dark lowly replied before disappearing in a shadowy mist and reappearing on top of the invisible Discord's back.

Latching onto him, Dark hung on tight while Discord began flailing around, causing him to drop his invisibility. As she held on, Dark bit him began pounding her fist against Discord's head, causing him to change colors with each hit. As the two continued to struggle with one another, Twilight and Rarity were staring slack-jawed at them, Applejack and Rainbow were laughing at them, and Pinkie was happily watching while enjoying some doughnuts she got from the kitchen.

"Wow, did Dark just teleport?" Pinkie asked as she took another bite.

"No, he didn't," Twilight answered. "Remember when he was practicing magic with you watching that one time?"

"Oh yeah. I forgot about that."

"Excuse me, but shouldn't we do something about them?" Rarity asked.

"Probably not a good idea. Remember the saying 'Tartarus hath no fury like a mare scorned'? Well, I think that Dark might be experiencing her first one right now."

"All the more reason why we should stop Dark before he- pardon me, she damages something."

"Probably a good idea," Applejack agreed, her laughing fit now under control. "Besides, Ah don't think that the Cakes would like it very much if they found out that Dark accidentally destroyed everythin'."

"I guess you're right," Pinkie sighed as she swallowed the last of her doughnut.

Before they could do anything, though, Discord tossed Dark off of his back before flying out the door and slamming it shut behind him. With a sigh of relief, he wiped the sweat from his brow and leaned on the door. As he leaned up against it, he started hearing a whistling sound. Looking up, Discord was met with a pie to the face as he was launched into the door, knocking it open and laying sprawled out on the floor.

A few minutes earlier on a hill on the other side of Ponyville, Spike and the Crusaders were standing by a catapult that Apple Bloom had made some time ago, and a cream-flavored pie.

"Are you girls sure that this is safe to use?" Spike questioned.

"Of course it is," Apple Bloom assured, "Ah'm the one who made it. And besides, we've used it before and it worked just fine. Now, let's stop waistin' time and get ourselves ready."

Listening to Apple Bloom, Scootaloo began buzzing her wings and lifted herself into a tree with a pair of binoculars. As she landed in the tree, she took a moment to feel proud of herself for how much her lessons with Rainbow had paid off for her, especially since she didn't even feel tired afterwards.

Seeing Scootaloo settled in her lookout spot, Sweetie Belle levitated the pie onto the catapult arm while Spike grabbed the release lever. The four already knew where the others were going to meet up at and decided to wait go give them a catapult-flung pie to the face. As Scootaloo watched the commotion through the window of Sugarcube Corner, she called out to her team below.

"Get ready!" she told them. "Somepony's going to be coming out very soon."

"Apple Bloom?" Sweetie Belle addressed. "Are you sure that this thing is set right?"

"Of course it is," she answered with a pat on the catapult. "Ah got this thin' all positioned and calibrated yesterday."

Seeing the door open, Scootaloo shouted, "Now! Fire!"

Hearing the signal, Spike give a yank on the lever and launching the pie. As it flew through the sky, Scootaloo watched it through her binoculars. What she didn't know, though, was who it was that would be getting hit. Looking down to the door to Sugarcube Corner, Scootaloo's eyes widened as she saw Discord getting hit in the face by the pie and sent back through the door into the establishment. With a nervous look, she fluttered down to report the news.

"Well?" Apple Bloom asked. "Did we get them?"

"Yeah," she slowly answered. "And that's the thing. It turns out that we hit Discord square in the face."

With the news of their prank victim, the four immediately booked it to their next location.

"Do you think he'll be mad at us?" Sweetie Belle asked as she galloped.

"Don't know, don't want to know," Spike replied as he and the girls picked up the pace and got out of there.

Seeing Discord laying motionless on the floor, everyone ran over to check on him. Once they saw that he was still breathing, Pinkie went over and dipped her hoof in whatever was splattered over his face. After taking a lick, Pinkie's face lit up.

"Mmmmm, cream," she smiled.

"Wait," Dark said, "are you saying that this pie is cream-flavored?"

"Yep."

Seeing Discord starting to stir and open his eyes, Dark looked smugly down at him.

"You know," she snickered, "I'm tempted to make several obviously crude jokes about you right now off the top of my head, but I think that I'll hold my tongue on it this time."

"What happened?" Discord asked disoriented.

"From the looks and taste of it, you got a cream-flavored pie to the face," Pinkie snorted.

"A cream..." Discord glared at Dark. "Was this your doing?"

"I'm sad to say that I honestly had nothing to do with this."

Wiping the pie off his face, Discord stood up to face Dark as she and the other girls were all trying to hold back their laughter. Some did better than others as Rainbow, Applejack, Pinkie, and Dark all laughed at him, while Rarity and Twilight just stood there shaking their heads.

"Oh, is that so?" Discord questioned, a devious smirk forming on his lips. "I should have known that you wouldn't have had a part in it, Dark. Especially when you consider the fact that you don't have the balls to go through something like that."

His comment silenced the room as Dark began glaring angrily at him. Discord, however, just continued giving Dark his smug look, unaffected by her angry face. If nothing else, Discord thought that she looked kinda cute when she was angry... at least, as a mare anyway. A few seconds of silence later, Discord opened his mouth to taunt Dark some more.

"What's the matter?" he taunted. "Is changing your gender like this such a big deal that you-"

Discord froze as he felt an icy chill crawl up his spine, one that was coming from directly behind him. Slowly turning around, Discord was met with the unapprovingly eyes of Fluttershy as she glared at him.

"Oh, well hello, Fluttershy dear," Discord innocently greeted.

"Discord," Fluttershy warningly spoke, "are you really the one who turned Dark into a mare?"

"Of course I am," he laughed. "Besides, it's all fun and games here."

"Changing somepony's gender like that is beyond just 'fun and games'," she scolded. "Now, would you mind undoing the spell?"

"Sorry, but I can't. The spell will only wear off after it's duration is up at sunset."

Fluttershy flew up to be at eye-level with Discord. "If that's the case, then you'll be sleeping on the couch tonight."

"What?!" everyone shouted, Discord out of disapproval while the others were out of shock.

"You can't kick me out," he protested.

"It's just for one night. Besides, it's my house."

"I know that," Discord whined, "but we agreed to continue with our fun time tonight after you had enough time to recover after Sunday night."

"Ooh, what kind of fun were you two having?" Pinkie eagerly wondered.

"Wait," Dark interrupted, starting to piece everything together. "Sunday night... recover?" Dark's eyes widened as he looked back to see Discord proudly smirking at him with crossed arms. "Discord, did you and Fluttershy..."

"Bow chicka bow wow."

While everypony's jaws dropped at the news of Discord and Fluttershy being intimate with each other, most of Fluttershy's body had turned completely red from the intensity of her blush, and her anger.

"That's it!" she snapped. "One week on the couch, and no touching!"

"But-"

"No buts! Next time, you keep that sort of stuff to yourself."

"But aren't guys suppose to talk about that sort of stuff with other guys?" Discord questioned.

"Sorry, Discord," Dark smugly said, "but technically speaking, you're the only guy here."

Discord blinked a few times as his own plan backfiring against him. Turning from Dark to Fluttershy, Discord gave a defeated sigh as he lowered his head.

"I'm sorry."

"You should be," Fluttershy agreed. "Now go back to the cottage and wait for me there. I'll be right over once I'm done here."

With a silent nod, Discord teleported himself over to Fluttershy's cottage. Once she was sure he was gone, Fluttershy looked apologetically to Dark.

"Sorry that he did this to you," she said. "I told you girls... and Dark... that I would keep an eye on him and make sure that he didn't use his powers too much." She paused to sigh. "I should have known that something was up when he got up early last night. He never does that."

"So... you two really are together?" Rainbow asked.

Fluttershy nodded meekly. "For a few months now actually."

"Why didn't you tell us?" Pinkie asked. "I would've thrown you two a party for being together."

"Well... we actually didn't want anypony to know just yet."

"I suppose we can all understand that, right, everypony?" Twilight asked, getting a round of nods in return.

Feeling a bit more calm about it, Fluttershy smiled back at her friends. They went to take a seat at one of the tables before a thought came to Fluttershy.

"Um, excuse me, Rarity?"

"Yes, dear?" Rarity replied.

"You remember that book of yours that you let me borrow last month?" Fluttershy asked, getting a blushing nod from Rarity. "Would you mind if I held onto it for a little longer?"

"Why?" Rarity nervously asked.

"Because I might need it for tonight."

"... oh my. Poor Discord."

"Huh?" Dark questioned. "Why 'poor Discord'?"

Rarity blushed harder as she thought about Discord's fate. "... let's just say that Fluttershy's going to have Discord begging and whimpering by the time she's done with him."

Letting that subject die off, the group of mares decided to stay in Sugarcube Corner for some lunch. While they knew that they were wasting precious time pranking each other, the inside of Sugarcube corner was deemed as their "Save Zone". Sitting around the table, everyone laughed as they shared the pranks that were pulled on them today.

It turned out that when Rarity went to grab herself a morning shower, she found out that the contents of her shampoo bottle had replaced with mayonnaise, courtesy of Sweetie Belle. Applejack too had been pranked by her younger sister when she went down to eat some apple pie for breakfast, only to learn that it was a pear pie instead. While it didn't seem like that big of a deal to the others, Applejack didn't find it as funny as she'd immediately spat the pie out of her mouth with a gag. Apple Bloom didn't take any offense to it, though, as she could be heard laughing away in doorway.

With their meal done, they paid up front before heading over to the door to leave. However, as Twilight opened the door, she found a piece of string attached to the outside door knob. Seeing this as another prank trap, Twilight carefully cut the string. Seeing as nothing happened, she slowly opened the door to see a bucket of possibly freezing water hanging above the door. Feeling safe since she'd cut the string and disarmed the trap, Twilight walked out the door... only the pull on a tripwire that was attached to the water bucket.

Three minutes earlier, Sweetie Belle, Apple Bloom, and Scootaloo were setting up another water bucket prank for the ponies inside. As they were getting everything set, Scootaloo looked around at what they were doing.

"So, why are we having two strings attached this time?" she asked.

"Because," Apple Bloom began explaining, "if they see the one on the door and snap it, they'll think that they're safe, and that's where this here tripwire comes into play."

"Okay, then where's Spike?"

"He said that he had to go get those photos developed," Sweetie Belle answered. "But that was right after we catapulted the pie."

"I'm back!" Spike called as he ran up to the Crusaders panting for breath.

"There you are. What were you doing all this time? It seemed unnaturally long to just have some photos developed."

A wide grin was spread over Spike's face. "Oh, I just thought that the guards patrolling Ponyville would like to see this."

Spike brought out a photo and showed it to the fillies. At first the looked at it confusingly, but eventually turned to Spike.

"Who's that?" Apple Bloom asked.

"Turns out that Dark and Twilight had their colors switched."

"Yeah, we can see that Twilight has Dark's colors," Scootaloo said with an eye-roll. "What we want to know is who that mare with Twilight is.

"That's the funny part," Spike chuckled. "It's Dark."

"What?!" Sweetie Belle said in surprise.

"I'm serious! Dark got turned into a mare!"

"And every guard in Ponyville knows about this?" Scootaloo asked, trying to suppress the urge to loudly laugh.

"Ooh, yeah."

They were about to break into a laughing fit when they heard hoofsteps near the door. Ducking into a nearby bush, the four looked out to see who it was that would get pranked this time. They each held their breath as they saw the door open a little bit before stopping suddenly. After seeing the string on the door knob snap, they saw Twilight walk out and pull the trip wire, splashing yet another bucket of freezing water all over her.

"Not again," Spike groaned, facepalming for it being Twilight who had set it off.

"We should probably get outa here," Apple Bloom suggested.

"But if we do that, then we'll get caught," Sweetie Belle argued.

"Then we'll just stay here and wait for them to leave," Scootaloo said, getting a collection of silent nods in agreement.

"Not again," Dark groaned as she saw Twilight shivering out in the open.

Taking Twilight in her magic, Dark brought her back into Sugarcube Corner. As she sat her back down, Dark turned to see Pinkie appear beside her with a fresh towel in her hooves. Taking it in her claws, Dark removed Twilight's soaked saddlebag before drying her off. As she continued to rub her down, Dark could feel Twilight's shivering continue. Seeing as this wasn't working to warm her up, Dark remembered a small breathing lesson she had with Spike. Taking in a deep breath, Dark began breathing out warm steam onto Twilight, causing her shivers to die down as her coat started drying.

"So, who's prank was that?" Rainbow asked, getting a group of shrugs and headshakes.

"But if none of us did it..." Applejack began.

"... then it must have come from our sisters?" Rarity finished.

"And probably Spike too," Dark added before bathing Twilight in another wave of steam.

"H-He's s-s-so gon-n-nna p-p-pay f-f-for this-s-s," Twilight muttered.

While they were busy with Twilight, Pinkie noticed something leaning out of Twilight's bag. Taking a look, Pinkie saw a bunch of pranking gear completely damp with cold water.

"I'm not so sure about that," she said holding up the soaked contents of the bag.

"Well there goes all of our pranks we had," Dark commented.

"Dang, sorry that that happened to you guys," Rainbow apologized.

"Yeah. Ah'm sure y'all had some pretty good pranks planned out for us," Applejack added.

"We did," Twilight sighed, her speech no longer affected by her shivers. "I guess we better head on back to the castle and plan out our next move."

"I'm sorry that today was ruined for you two," Fluttershy said.

"It's alright," Dark replied. "Besides, we still have time to pull off some kind of prank."

With that, Dark and Twilight left the building and headed back to the castle. As they walked out of earshot, the others looked to each other.

"So, what now?" Rainbow asked.

"Oh, we're not done yet," Pinkie grinned.

"We still have a few pranks to pull on you three," Rarity added.

"In that case, Ah suggest y'all start gettin' on that before we get ta ya first," Applejack countered.

"What about Dark and Twilight?" Fluttershy asked.

"It sounded like they weren't going to give up quite yet," Rarity said. "Don't worry about them, dear. They'll figure something out, and I'm sure that what ever it is will be great."

Dark and Twilight were walking down the road side by side. While Twilight's fur was mostly dried, the freezing water had chilled her to her core. As she continued using Dark to help keep her warm, the two began noticing the guards looking at them with funny expressions. However, upon closer inspection, they saw that they were directed more towards Dark more than Twilight. It wasn't until the came across their three guard friends that they got some answers.

"Hey, Dark," Aura snickered, barely able to contain her laughter.

"Hey, Aura," Dark returned.

"What happened to you, lad... or would you prefer lass?" Steel asked.

With a reluctant sigh, Dark answered, "Discord turned me into a mare in my sleep."

Cheeks puffed out, Aura turned to Steel. "Permission to laugh?"

"Granted."

With permission, Aura fell to her knees and began laughing out loud, quickly followed by Steel and Kite. As the three continued laughing, some of the other guards looked over to see the commotion before they too joined in. Curious about something she'd noticed, Dark looked back to the three.

"Wait, you were laughing about this before we even started talking," Dark observed. "How did you guys find out about this so quickly without even seeing us?"

"With this," Kite answered giving Dark what looked like a picture.

As Dark and Twilight looked over the picture, they then realized who it was that's responsible for spreading the news of what happened to Dark. Peeking up from the photo, Dark saw Kite rejoin his squadmates as they continued laughing at her.

"Spike gave this to you, didn't he?" Dark guessed.

"And just about every other squad in Ponyville," Aura added.

With a groan, Dark returned the photo back to Kite before she and Twilight continued back to the castle.

"Wait," Aura called out as she trotted up alongside them, "I was just curious as to whether this is permanent or not?"

"It'll last till sundown," Dark answered.

"Good, because you look much more attractive as a stallion."

Hearing this caused Twilight to shoot a warning glare at Aura, who immediately shrank back away from them.

"I was just kidding," she said defensively.

"I hope so," Twilight quietly muttered.

Not wanting to risk a potential catfight, Steel Hoof cleared his throat.

"I believe that we've spent enough time here. Besides, I'm sure that Princess Twilight and Miss Dark have somewhere the need to be?"

"Just getting Twilight back to the castle," Dark answered. "One of the pranks involved her getting doused with a bucketful of freezing water."

"In that case, we'll leave you be," Kite said before bowing to Twilight and leaving, followed closely by Aura and Steel.

As the two walked away from the three guards, Dark gave a defeated sigh.

"Think it's safe to say that if this Prank Wars would have a winner, it would easily be Fluttershy and Discord," Dark admitted.

After getting herself another hot shower, Twilight was laying down covered in a heavy blanket by a roaring fire that Dark had made in the lounge. The water had chilled her much more than she thought she did, and the wind that had picked up after talking to Steel's squad didn't help her either. As Twilight continued to lay there against the fire in her cozy blanket, she heard the doors open as Dark walked in with a pair of mugs. Sitting down besides her, Dark levitated over to Twilight her mug of homemade hot chocolate that Dark's mother had taught her. While the smell was strong and welcoming to Twilight, the sight of the steam rising off of it just made it all that much better.

Blowing on the top to cool it off, Twilight took a delicate sip so she wouldn't accidentally burn her tongue. As she sipped it, she could taste the flavors flowing over her taste buds. Continuing to drink it, Twilight then decided that this was by far the best hot chocolate that she'd ever had. She also made a mental note to apologize to Pinkie about that comment some time later on. Finishing off her mug, Twilight relaxed back into her blanket, feeling the warmth of the hot chocolate warming her from the inside.

"That was delicious," Twilight complimented to Dark.

"You want another?" she asked. "I made enough for about five or six mugs.

With an eager nod from her, Dark took Twilight's mug before leaving for the kitchen. It didn't take her long to return with Twilight's second serving, which she eagerly dove into. Settling back down alongside Twilight, Dark heard her cough lightly before looking over to her.

"Are you okay?" she asked.

"I'm alright," Twilight answered. "Just a little cough is all."

"Still, though, a little cough could turn into something worse. Want me to get you some cough medicine?"

"I suppose it wouldn't hurt," Twilight said with a nod.

Shadow Melding to make the trip quick, Dark grabbed the medicine before returning to Twilight. Having accidentally discovered that she could bring non-biological objects into the shadows with her when Shadow Melding a few days ago, Dark was back quicker than ever before. Returning to Twilight, Dark poured her some cough syrup before she began drinking it. Sealing the bottle and setting it down off to the side, Dark sat beside Twilight.

"So," Dark began, "any ideas for another prank that we could do?"

Twilight put her mug down to think about it. However, she couldn't think of anything at the moment with how things have gone so far today.

"Sorry, but I don't think that I can think of anything right now," Twilight apologized.

"In that case, I'll just have to think of something."

Taking a sip of her hot chocolate, Dark began pondering on what to do. They lost almost an entire day's worth of pranking due to them being pranked, and losing the stuff they were going to use to prank the others with. The two laid in front of the fire in a silence only broken by the sipping of their drinks, and the crackling of the fire. It was about ten minutes later when Dark spoke up as an idea came to mind. It wouldn't be very nice, maybe even questionable, but it was all she had.

"I might have an idea," Dark said as she began explaining it to Twilight.

As she continued explaining her plan, Twilight's face turned to horror.

"Dark?" Twilight questioned. "Why would you want to do that? And could it even be done?"

"I'm sorry, but it's the only thing that I can think of. Besides, we already have what we need to pull if off. The only real thing we'll need will be our acting." Dark paused as she saw the uncertain look on Twilight's face before an excuse came to mind. "We'll be getting back at Spike and the Crusaders."

Slowly, Twilight's uncertain look turned into a mischievous grin.

"And you're sure that you can do it?" Twilight asked.

"If we do it right, then I don't see how it can't work."

Sunset had finally come around, and with it, the Prank Wars dinner party. This also meant that the spell placed on Dark had been lifted, turning him back into a male. As soon as he was turned back, he reached down to feel that his boys were also returned to him. With a satisfied sigh, he went to prepare for his and Twilight's last minute prank. Everyone who participated had brought in a dish that they themselves made, including Spike and the Crusaders, while Dark had to make two to cover for Twilight. Dark, however, had set their food out before the others got there so he and Twilight could execute their prank.

Once everyone including Discord showed up at the table, Twilight walked in pushing a food trolley with a white sheet draped over it, and a large silver food tray with a matching lid sitting on top. As she pushed it up against the table, she looked over those who've gathered.

"Alright," Twilight happily began, "I think that we're ready to start eating."

"Umm, Twilight," Fluttershy spoke up, "aren't we forgetting somepony?"

"Like who?"

"I believe that she's talking about Dark, darling," Rarity explained.

"Yeah, where is he anyway?" Rainbow wondered.

"Oh, he said that he had something to do and that we could just go on ahead without him."

With a cautious look, Applejack eyed out Twilight as the others sat down and began digging in, seeing that something was off about her. One thing that Applejack noticed over the years was when Twilight would lie, she would start acting slightly nervous. And while she had managed to hide it, Applejack could still see the signs. Knowing something was up, Applejack cautiously began loading up her plate. Once everypony was situated, Twilight sat herself down with food trolley parked right beside her. Seeing it still covered, Pinkie was the first to speak up about it.

"Hey, Twilight, what's in the fancy food tray?" she asked, causing everyone in the room to redirect their attention to it.

"Oh, this? Just a little something that I put together," Twilight happily answered with a pat on the tray lid.

"Well, what is it?" Spike asked.

Twilight subtly smirked. "Why don't you come and find out?"

Before Spike could get up, Rainbow was already over, curious as to what Twilight had cooked up for them. With possibilities running through her mind, Rainbow began licking her lips as Twilight took the cover in her magic and slowly showed everyone what was under it. What they saw, however, made everyone gasp in horror.

On the silver food tray was a ring of lettuce surrounding the familiar head of Dark, who's mouth was wide open with an apple inside of it. Taking a step back, Rainbow looked from the head to Twilight.

"Is this some kind of joke?!" Rainbow shouted.

"Easy, Rainbow," Twilight calmly said. "He's fine."

Looking back to the head, Rainbow then saw Dark's eyes snap wide open. With a yelp of surprise, Rainbow jumped back away from him. As her mind began to slow down from being spooked so badly, her face turned from shock and horror, to a knowing smirk.

"Nice job you two," Rainbow said as she walked back up to them, the others now closing in too. "I see what you did here. You cut a hole so that only Dark's head would show through the bottom, while the rest of him is sitting on the lower rack beneath the sheets." Rainbow reached down to grab the sheet covering the food trolley. "While I'll admit that that was a pretty clever plan and all, the jig is now up."

Rainbow then lifted the sheet up so they could see the rest of Dark... only to find it empty. Believing that Twilight had added an illusion spell to it, Rainbow began waving a hoof in the empty space. Her eyes began to widen as she was meet with no resistance, her fears from before returning in full force. As a last ditch thought, she crawled into the empty space. Seeing Rainbow like that, everyone slowly turned back to Dark's head just to hear him cry for help, his voice muffled by the apple in his mouth.

With fear and panic gripping them, Spike fainted on the spot while everyone else ran out of the room screaming. All except for Discord, who was now carrying an unconscious Fluttershy in his arms as he teleported the two of them away. When the screaming died down, Twilight burst out laughing which quickly turned into a coughing fit. Seeing Twilight laughing caused Dark to laugh too as he widened his mouth a little bit more before chewing down on the apple. After swallowing it, Dark pulled the rest of his body out of the shadows and stood alongside Twilight.

"I can't believe that actually worked," Twilight said in-between breaths.

"I know," Dark laughed.

"How did you even come up with that?"

"Remember when I asked you to blast me in the chest when I was testing my Shadow Meld?"

"Yeah," Twilight nodded. "Your body dissipated into shadows and all that was left was your head."

"Bingo. I already knew that I could do it with my arms, but not with my head. At least, not until up to that point."

"So, because of your Shadow Meld, you were able to maintain just your head?"

"Since the only light was artificial and slightly dim, it didn't hurt for me to be Shadow Melded, so yes."

While it was their only prank of the day, they were still proud of how much of an impact it had and how perfectly executed it was. Their celebrating was stopped, though, as they heard Spike groan.

"Ugh, what happened?" he groggily asked before his eyes snapped open from remembering. "Dark!"

"I'm fine, little buddy," Dark said standing before him.

"What? But- you-"

Spike didn't finish as his brain shutdown on him again. Seeing him pass out for a second time, Twilight and Dark looked to each other with a look of guilt on their faces.

"You think we might've gone a little too far?" Twilight asked with a cough.

Looking back down to Spike, Dark nodded. "Unfortunately, I think we did."

The following day was filled with Dark going to his friends and apologizing for going overboard with their prank. While Pinkie, Rainbow, and Discord had a nice laugh after Dark explained it to them, Applejack and Fluttershy took a little bit more convincing, and Rarity gave him a scolding. The hardest part was apologizing to the three fillies that they scared. Once Dark found them, he did his best to try and explain the prank to them so that they could understand. Unfortunately for him, the only way they would agree to forgive him was if he would buy each of them some ice cream. Even with the pleading eyes they were giving him, Dark was already intent on following up with getting them their treats. What he didn't know, though, was just how much those three could eat when it came to ice cream. As he watched them eat, he was reminded about Twilight back at the castle. As he figured would happen, the freezing water bucket pranks that she got hit with had caused her to catch a cold. He'd told Twilight that he was willing to stay and help her, but she wanted him to continue like he normally would, and to go out and apologize to everypony that they pranked the night before for both himself, and for her.

By the next day, things had returned back to normal as Dark reluctantly made his way to Sweet Apple Acres to work. Like Rarity had told them, the dye that had been used on him and Twilight had washed out, returning them to their normal colors. What Dark was reluctant about, however, was the fact that Twilight seemed to be getting worse before she went to bed last night. Dark offered Twilight that he'd ask Applejack if he could have the day off to stay and take care of her, but she convinced him that it was just a cold and that he shouldn't worry too much about it. However, while Dark trusted Twilight's judgement, a knot formed in the pit of his stomach as he saw a few of Twilight's feathers laying on her bedside.

And so, Dark made his way to the farm and got to work. As they day rolled on, Dark did his best to use work as a way to keep his worried mind off of Twilight being sick, but his thoughts always came back to it. Seeing his unease, Applejack decided to find out what was bugging him

"Hey, Dark," Applejack called. "Everythin' alright? You seem like somethin's botherin' ya?"

"Just a little worried about Twilight is all," Dark admitted.

"Because of her catchin' a cold? Ah wouldn't worry too much about it."

"I know, but it feels like I have this knot in my stomach, like something's wrong."

With a sigh, Applejack walked over and put a hoof on Dark's shoulder.

"Look, Dark, Ah understand that ya wanna help her, but Twilight-"

"Applejack! Dark!" a voice echoed through the orchard.

Knowing who that voice belonged to, Applejack called back to let Rainbow know where they were. A few seconds later, they saw her flying straight towards them. As she got closer, though, they could start to see the worried look on her face.

"There you are!" Rainbow exclaimed. "You two need to get on over to the castle!"

"Why? What's wrong?" Applejack asked.

"It's Twilight, we were wrong about her cold being just another cold!"

Just hearing that made the knot in Dark's stomach tighten. His mind then began racing with the symptoms of Twilight's cough, cold fever, shivering, and loss of feathers.

Wait, Dark thought to himself as a lightbulb went off in his head. Loss of feathers... oh Celestia no.

Placing the pieces together, a wave of dread washed over Dark. He'd lost a cousin and uncle to this before, and now Twilight's caught it too.

"Applejack," Dark shakily called. "We need to go, now."

Chapter 23- The Feather Flu

Damn it, damn it, damn it! Dark thought as he and Rainbow were flying over Sweet Apple acres with Applejack hanging onto his back.

Just as Dark had feared, Rainbow was finding them to tell them about Twilight catching the Feather Flu. And if they had to venture a guess as to how, it would probably have been from the water bucket pranks that were pulled on her during the Prank Wars. But the blame wasn't important to Dark right now. At the moment, his mind was flooded with memories of when his old village had been hit with it. While his mother and brother had both suffered lung damage from the coughing and lack of medicine, he was able to save them with his Healing Flame spell. Some of the others, like his stubborn uncle, one of his other cousins, and a hoofful of his fellow villagers, weren't as lucky to survive. That, and the violent shivering from their low body temperature didn't help in their recover either. Flying over the farm's border, Dark turned his attention back to Rainbow for some answers.

"I thought you said that Twilight couldn't get the Feather Flu because she's an alicorn?!" Dark asked, more worried than upset.

"I said that I wasn't sure," Rainbow reminded him. "There's never been any record of Princesses Celestia, Luna, or Cadence catching the Feather Flu before, so I could only guess as to whether or not they and Twilight could get it."

"Do they know for sure that Twilight has it?" Applejack asked.

"I don't know. I left to get Nurse Redheart and to find the rest of our friends before I had the chance to ask Spike."

"Is it really that bad that we need Nurse Redheart there?" Dark worryingly questioned.

"Considering how bad Twilight's got it, I would say so."

"Then what can we do ta help?" Applejack wondered. "And should you and Fluttershy really be helpin' her if it puts you two at risk of catchin' it as well?"

"We'll think of someway to help her without risking our health."

Letting it drop for now, the three continued in silence back to the castle. As they continued flying, Dark began pushing himself harder, flying faster than what he was used to. Seeing his increase in speed, Rainbow too began flying faster to catch up. While it was almost effortless for her to match his pace, she did take notice of how much Dark's flying has improved since she first started training him. With the speeds he was going, and with a passenger no less, Rainbow figured that Dark wouldn't need her teachings very soon. While this thought filled her with pride for teaching him so well, part of her was a little sad that their personal time together would soon end, though she wouldn't openly admit it.

With the speeds they were going, they quickly flew over Ponyville and down towards the castle. However, instead of simply landing and walking in, Dark used his magic to throw open the castle doors and fly straight inside. Passing through the doorway, Dark started flying upwards towards the floor that held Twilight's bedroom. After he came upon the third floor, he saw Rarity, Spike, and Nurse Redheart standing outside of Twilight's room. With a last few beats of his wings, Dark landed just outside of the group and let his passenger off while Rainbow landed right beside them. Hearing them land, Nurse Redheart turned to face them.

"Nice to see that I'm not here for you this time, Dark," she greeted in an attempt to lighten the mood.

"Considering the alternative, I'd prefer that it was me," he commented. "How's she doing?"

Nurse Redheart stepped forward. "From what I've seen so far of Twilight, she's got the worst case of the Feather Flue that I've ever seen. While the flu would normally cause a pegasus' body temperature to drop three or four degrees on average, Twilight's has dropped by seven. She's starting to catch hypothermia and we're doing what we can to try and raise her body temperature back up... but it's proving difficult."

"How so?"

"That's the part we're having trouble with," Rarity answered. "We've already given her hot soup, extra blankets, and some medicine that Nurse Redheart had provided for us, but it's not doing her much good."

"And unless I can get her into the hospital to run some tests on her," Nurse Redheart continued, "I can't know for sure what the problem is exactly."

"If you need to run tests on her, then why can't we move her there?" Dark asked.

"Because," Spike began, "Princess Celestia doesn't want everypony knowing about what's happened to Twilight."

"So she knows?"

"Yeah. I sent a letter to her a few hours ago and she's sent back a reply. In it, she told us to do whatever we could, but to not bring her to the hospital."

"Which is why I've sent Pinkie Pie to tell the doctor that I need those instruments here at the castle, so that I can privately run them on Twilight without anypony knowing about what happened to her," Nurse Redheart explained.

"But why the secrecy?" Dark wondered.

"According to the letter Princess Celestia sent," Spike started explaining, "she doesn't want word spreading around that one of the princesses has fallen ill like this, especially with the meeting with King Inferno coming up in less than two weeks. That's why she's sending her personal doctor by chariot to try and help us."

"Does her family know?"

"She didn't say, but knowing how close she is to them and Cadence, I wouldn't be surprised if she did."

If they know, then that means that Shining will know too, Dark grimaced. He better not try pinning this on me.

Dark paused as he looked around, noticing that Fluttershy wasn't among them.

"Hey, where's Fluttershy?" Dark asked.

"She's inside with Twilight," Rarity answered.

"Didn't we just talk about this on the way here?" Applejack questioned.

"I know," Rainbow agreed. "I'm actually surprised that Fluttershy went in there with how bad Twilight's got it. Even more so now after what we've just heard."

"You don't need to worry about Fluttershy in there," Nurse Redheart told them. "Turns out that she has her own hazmat suit for when some of her animals would get very sick." She paused as Dark, Applejack, and Rainbow started giving her questioning looks. "She explained it to us why she had one before you three got here."

"Alright then, what can we do to help?" Dark asked.

"For now, all we can do is wait until Pinkie Pie gets back with those instruments."

"So we just sit around then and do nothing?"

"Just about."

"But there must be something! If she's cold, then we just need to make her warmer."

"Dark," Rarity gently spoke, "we've already given her two bowls of hot soup and five heavy blankets."

"What about the room temperature? Can we start up a fire in her room to help?"

"We can't do that because her bedroom doesn't have a fireplace."

Dark mentally slapped himself for that one. When he tucked Twilight into bed earlier that week, he took a quick glance across her room. When he did, he noticed a lack of a fireplace, which he'd completely forgotten about until Rarity just now reminded him. Now becoming slightly irritated, Dark began rubbing the bridge of his nose.

"So there's no way we can control the room temperature," Dark concluded.

"Not unless we get a unicorn who can cast a spell to do just that," Nurse Redheart answered. "But, from what I understand, the only pony who can do that in Ponyville is Twilight herself. And she can't do that because her constant shivering won't allow her to focus enough to cast it."

Dark let out a tired sigh before his ears picked up on the sound of Twilight having another coughing fit. He knew that she didn't sound too good last night, but he didn't expect it to get so much worse. After her coughing had calmed down, Dark looked to Nurse Redheart.

"Would it be alright if I went in to see her?" he asked.

"Of course," Nurse Redheart answered.

Dark walked over to her as she started opening the door. Once they got in and closed it behind them, Dark could see Fluttershy standing at Twilight's bedside wearing a white suit with a mask and oxygen tank on her back. Hearing the door close, she turned around to see who it was. Seeing Dark and Nurse Redheart, Fluttershy gave them a small smile, though this one was more sad than happy.

"Hello, Dark," she welcomed.

"Hey, Fluttershy," Dark returned, walking up along side her to see Twilight.

As he got closer, he could see Twilight's body shivering beneath the layers of blankets with her head resting exposed on the pillows. However, while hearing her wheeze with each breath made him ache, his eyes became focused on a piece of white cloth with specks of blood on it. Fluttershy followed his gaze to the cloth, frowning as she saw it.

"She's been like this since I got here."

"Her violent coughing is causing damage to her throat," Nurse Redheart observed. "And from the sound of her breathing, it seems like her lungs have been affected too. If this keeps up, then it's very possible that she won't make it."

"I've seen this before," Dark spoke. "My brother and mother caught the Feather Flu once. Even though it wasn't as bad as what Twilight has, I was able to heal them through it. Maybe I can do the same for her?"

"You mean with that one spell you used on the injured soldiers the day after the attack?"

"The same. Even if I can't cure the actual flu, I can at least heal the damage it's done to her."

"If it'll help Twilight, then I say we try it," Fluttershy said.

"Agreed," Nurse Redheart nodded.

With everyone in agreement, Dark lit up his horn and casted his Healing Flame on Twilight. While Nurse Redheart had seen this spell before, she still found it interesting how it was fire, but it also healed. Fluttershy's reaction wasn't much different. Seeing this for the first time, she started feeling at peace, but was also curious about it. She could feel the warmth of the flame, but when she tried touching it with a hoof, it didn't burn her. A few minutes after the spell was cast, Twilight began to stir as she too started feeling the small warmth coming from it. Cracking her eyes open to see what it was, Twilight was met with the sight of Nurse Redheart, Fluttershy, and Dark looking down worryingly at her. After seeing them, she then noticed a new source of light shining just above her. Turning her head slightly, she could see the small ball of fire floating there in place. Knowing who it belonged to, Twilight looked to see Dark's horn lit as he looked back to her.

"Dark?" Twilight called in a raspy voice.

"Shhh," Dark quieted as he gently nuzzled her. "Just try and rest yourself. You have some damage to your throat and lungs, so I'm trying to heal them. In the meantime, you'll have to limit how much you speak so the healing can be done quicker."

With a small smile, Twilight nodded as she continued shivering.

"Still cold? Even with all of these blankets?" Dark asked, to which Twilight nodded.

Putting a claw on Twilight, Dark could easily tell that she was freezing. Sliding his claw under the blankets slightly, he was expecting to feel some kind of warmth from beneath them. To his surprise, though, he barely felt any heat contained within them at all. Reaching further, Dark began feeling the blankets, though it left Nurse Redheart and Fluttershy questioning his actions from their point of view.

"Umm, what are you doing?" Fluttershy asked.

"The blankets aren't warm," Dark replied.

"What do you mean 'they aren't warm'?" Nurse Redheart questioned.

"I mean that there isn't any body heat trapped within these blankets. Here, see for yourself."

Dark pulled the blankets back a little bit for Nurse Redheart to feel. Curious, she went to feel the blanket that covered Twilight. As she felt it, her eyes widened as she saw what exactly Dark had meant.

"But how?" she asked. "How aren't these blankets working to keep her warm? If they can't help keep her warm, then they aren't doing her any good."

"Exactly," Dark nodded in agreement. "This means that this whole time, despite having several heavy blankets on her, they haven't done anything to help her stay warm."

"But how is this possible?" Fluttershy asked.

Before anyone could venture a guess, the door opened up with Pinkie wheeling in some medical equipment, followed by a blue unicorn mare with green eyes, a white mane, and a red cross for a cutie mark.

"Just in time," the blue unicorn said to Pinkie as the two walked in together. "What are the odds that I would meet up with you and the equipment right as I get here?"

"Pretty well actually," Pinkie answered. "And please feel free to call me Pinkie."

"Very well then, Pinkie. In that case, I suppose I might as well introduce myself. I am Doctor Cura, Princess Celestia's personal doctor, but you can call me Cura if you wish." She paused to look over the three who were already gathered. "And who might you three be?"

"Oh, they're Nurse Redheart, Fluttershy, and Dark," Pinkie introduced.

"The kirin, huh?" Cura said as she started eyeing him. "Princess Celestia told me a little about you. I've never seen an actual kirin before."

Feeling her eyes scanning over him like that, Dark started feeling slightly uncomfortable.

"How about we get back to Twilight?" Dark suggested.

"Right, right," Cura nodded as she motioned for Pinkie to bring in the equipment. "So, what's the problem exactly? I was only told that she is sick."

"She's got the Feather Flu," Nurse Redheart began answering. "Her body temperature is very low, and her coughing has started to damage her lungs and throat, causing her start coughing up specks of blood."

"Alright, and what about that thing floating above her?"

"That's from me," Dark explained. "I'm using it to heal the damage that's already been done to her."

"Sound good to me," she shrugged as she walked up alongside Twilight's bed. "Now, let's see what's going on exactly."

Lighting her horn in a green aura, Cura encased Twilight in her magical aura. As she continued, she would mumble to herself while giving a small nod here and there. A few moments later, her horn's magic died down as she looked back to the others.

"Alright. I believe that I've found part of the cause as to why Princess Twilight has such a bad case of the Feather Flu," she announced.

"Well? What is it?" Dark asked.

"First, while I can confirm that she does indeed have the Feather Flu, I must ask as to how she caught it?"

"A few pranks involving some buckets filled with freezing water being dumped onto her head."

"Ah. Well then, that explains a lot actually," she said with an understanding nod. "Turns out that her magic is partially responsible for this. You see, the cold water has affected the magic in her horn, causing it to run cold throughout her body. Now, normally it would've just made her feel extra cold for a few days, but with the added effects of the Feather Flu stacked on top of that... well... this is the result."

"Would that explain why her blankets aren't getting warm from her body heat?" Dark asked.

"Say what now?" Cura asked before following Dark's gesture and feeling out the inner layer of the blankets. "Ah, I see now. Yes, that would explain it."

"So, what do we do then?" Fluttershy asked.

"Thanks to Mr. Dark-"

"Just Dark please."

"-we won't need to worry about her dying from having her own blood flooding her lungs, so we can rest easy there. As for getting her body temperature back up, we'll need a strong heat source."

"You mean like laying her beside a fire?"

"Something like that, but not quite. Now, I know a spell to warm blankets, so that could help. However, it'll be like putting a bandage on an open wound."

"So it'll only be a temporary thing," Nurse Redheart concluded, eliciting a confirming nod from Cura.

"Then how can we help warm Twilight back up?" Fluttershy asked.

"Ooh, ooh, I know!" Pinkie exclaimed as she bounced in place. "We could use Dark."

They all looked to Pinkie confusingly for a while before Nurse Redheart spoke up.

"Umm, what are you talking about exactly?" she asked.

"I mean that we use Dark to warm Twilight back up."

"You mean using his body heat," Cura clarified, getting an enthusiastic nod from Pinkie. "That might actually work."

"... seriously?" Dark asked, more out of why he didn't think of it sooner then of confusion.

"Sine you're a kirin, you have a higher average body temperature, right?"

"Yes," Dark nodded. "That, and I also have a fire sac."

"Good. In that case, you'll be responsible for keeping her warm while she rides this flu out."

"And what about the magic that's making her freeze like this? Would it even matter if I kept her warm if her magic will just keep freezing her?"

"Oh, right. In that case, we'll need to do a magic transfusion on her."

"Guessing that I'm going to be the one for that too then?"

"Depends on what kind of magic you use."

"Fire and dark magic."

"Did you say dark magic?"

Dark sighed. "Princess Celestia already knows about it and is fine with it. Besides, I gave Twilight some of my magic once before and she was alright."

"Did she say if there were any side effects?"

"She said that her body felt a little hot to her."

"In that case, Pinkie, will you bring me the magical transfusion generator? It's the box-looking one with the two wires with cuffs on the ends."

"Okie-dokie-lokie," she said as she brought over the item.

"Good. Now then, Dark, I'll need you to get close to Princess Twilight so that I can hook these onto you two, and for you to start warming her up."

With some hesitation, and a bit of embarrassment, Dark made his way over to the other side of Twilight's bed.

"... not to complain or anything, but this is sorta embarrassing," Dark admitted.

"What's so wrong about it?" Pinkie questioned. "It's not like you two haven't done this before."

"How did you- never mind. My point is that we were alone during those moments and didn't have an audience watching us."

"Then just pretend that we're not here," Cura suggested. "Besides, the more time we waste, the closer to danger Princess Twilight will be."

Grumbling beneath his breath, Dark slid himself beneath the several layers of bedsheets and scooted his way over to Twilight. Once he was close enough, Dark draped an arm and wing over her and pulled her close, shivering upon his contact with her cold body.

"Brrrr, cold," he commented.

"Oh, stallion up you big wuss," Cura half-teased as she prepped her machine. "Now hold still. I'm going to attach these to your horn."

Dark held still as she got everything set. Once Cura had him and Twilight hooked up, she looked back to Dark with one last bit of information.

"Now, just so that you're aware, you will start to feel tired during and after the process," she explained.

"How long will this take?" Dark asked.

"A few hours at the least," Cura answered with a shrug. "Maybe more."

"Alright," he sighed before a thought came to mind. "I know that I'm suppose to be keeping her warm, but what if I were to use my heated breath to help warm her up?"

"How so?"

"While my body will keep her back warm, she still has her front and side left. Not to mention that she's breathing in cool air. What I'm suggesting is that I use my fire sac to heat up my breath, and breath the hot air back down over her."

"And what about the warm air escaping?"

"It'll only escape through the opening by our heads. It can't go up into the blankets or down past her hooves because my wings will contain it."

"I don't see why he can't at least try," Nurse Redheart chimed.

"It's does sound like it might work," Fluttershy agreed.

"Alright then, you may go ahead and try it," Cura said approvingly. "However, if it doesn't work, then I want you to stop. You'll already have enough to deal with between giving her your magic and having to keep her constantly warm."

"Alright," Dark agreed. "Speaking of the transfusion, when are we going to begin?"

"I already started it up when we were talking."

Tilting his gaze to his horn, Dark could see his magical aura floating out of his horn, down the wires into the box, and back out into the wires leading to Twilight's horn. As the magic was slowly draining out of him, he could start to feel a little tingle in his horn. Ignoring it, Dark began his breathing exercises he learned from Spike to increase his body temperature. A technique that he'd developed after an incident with him falling into a lake after Winter Wrap-Up one time. As Dark focused, he could feel the fire sac growing hotter as he continued stoking it. Few minutes later, he felt as though he was warm enough and started breathing the warm air out. Though it wasn't quite as hot as the steam he used to help dry off Twilight after she got pranked, it wasn't that much cooler either.

Seeing Twilight starting to breath in the warm air was starting to make Dark feel like this could work. That is, until she started coughing again. Seeing her going through another coughing fit caused Dark's body to stiffen, thinking that he'd accidentally caused her condition to worsen. However, despite it not lasting as long as her last cough, it didn't help relief Dark of his worries. Seeing Twilight's reaction, Cura walked closer to observe her.

"Don't worry about it," she told Dark as she placed some pads with wires attached to them on base of Twilight's horn. "This is good. It means that the warm air is circulation the cold air out of her lungs."

"What are those for?" Dark asked.

"They're used to help monitor her magic." She pause when she looked over Dark. "Perhaps I should put some on you too, just to make sure that you don't run out of magic on us."

Before Dark could say anything, he quickly found that he had those sticky pads on his head too. Curious as to how they got there since Cura never moved or lit her horn, Dark turned his head to see Pinkie standing behind him with a second monitor.

"Thank you, Pinkie," Cura thanked.

"No problem, ma'am," Pinkie happily replied as she bounced back to join the others.

"So what now?" Dark asked.

"Now we wait," Nurse Redheart answered before turning to Cura. "That is what we're to do now, correct?"

"For the most part, that's right," she agreed. "At this point, all we can do for her is to keep an eye on her and the monitors."

"Sounds easy enough," Dark commented.

"Oh, that's just for us. Your job won't end until she's completely cured of this. Also, I'm going to have to ask that you try staying awake as much as possible during that time."

Dark groaned inwardly, but since this was for Twilight, he would be willing to put up with a night or two without sleep. Besides, it wouldn't be the first time he would have to do something like that. Seeing as they've done all that they could for the moment, Cura began escorting Nurse Redheart, Fluttershy, and Pinkie over to the door before turning back to him.

"Just so you know, I'll be staying here until Princess Twilight has recovered. Also, if you need anything, just give us a call and somepony will come to help you."

"And what if Twilight wakes up and needs to use the bathroom or something?" Dark wondered.

"She won't need to. Along with the scan that I ran on her, I also simultaneously put a sleep spell on her so she wouldn't wake up, or need to use the restroom for that matter."

"And what if I need to go?"

"Call and tell me first so I can enchant her blankets to keep her warm while you're gone. All that I ask though is that you be as quick as you can."

Leaving it at that, Cura and the others left the room and closed the door, leaving Dark alone with a sleeping Twilight. With a tired sigh, he looked down to see her sleeping peacefully. And while her coat still felt cold against him, he could also tell that it wasn't as cold as when he first started. Granted it wasn't much, but at least she wasn't getting any colder now. Continuing with his breathing exercises to keep himself toasty, and to keep his breath nice and warm, Dark soon started to feel tired. The worst part was that along with giving Twilight his magic, he was also having to maintain his Healing Flame to heal her too.

I've might've lost a cousin and uncle to this, but I won't lose her too, he thought to himself before he noticed Twilight shivering again.

Gently holding her tighter against him, Dark looked both worryingly and determined at her.

"Don't worry, Twilight," he whispered, "you're going to be alright, I'll see to that."

Seeing a small smile creep onto her face, Dark smiled back down to her as he continued to try warming her up. However, unknown to him, as he was doing that, his shadows were seeping out of his claws and began wrapping itself around Twilight's body.

Deep within Twilight's mind resided her conscious. She was completely aware that Princess Celestia's doctor had basically sedated her, but she understood that it was for her own good. However, she was a bit reluctant that it had to come to that.

Oh well, Twilight thought to herself, might as well sort through these thoughts of mine. But first...

Within Twilight's mind, she recreated her pony body and a library filled with books of her thoughts and memories. Each section was categorized by year, relevance, and of course, alphabetically. As she began going through them, she started feeling rather cold, which shouldn't happen since she was deep within her subconscious. With a thought, Twilight created a roaring fireplace by where she was working and continued onward. She didn't know how long she'd been doing this for before she heard somepony whispering to her.

While her mind was withdrawn, she could hear some of what was going on in the waking world, and could also make out who was saying it. Hearing Dark's words of assurance brought a comforting smile to Twilight as she continued with what she was doing. Wanting to keep track of time, Twilight then decided to add a clock and some windows to her little world. Feeling like she was set for now, Twilight was about to resume when she felt something off, or to be more precise, another consciousness intruding somewhere in her mind. After snapping around to find out where the intruder was and failing, Twilight decided to try calling it out.

Whoever you are, I know you're there! she shouted.

While Twilight didn't get any kind of answer, what she got instead was a door that wasn't there before. As she looked upon it, she felt something pulling her to it. With caution, Twilight slowly walked over to the door and carefully opened it. Once she did, she was meet with the ruins of a village. As Twilight walked through it, the door closed shut behind her, causing her to spin around and try opening it. Thankfully for her, the door wasn't locked and opened up. With a sigh of relief, Twilight closed it again and looked back to the moon-lit ruins to take in the sights. All around her she could see that most of the buildings were crumbled while a few were on fire. Twilight was about to walk around to take a look when she started seeing the bare skeletal bones of dead ponies. With a look of fear, Twilight shakily took a few steps back.

What happened here? she asked out loud.

That would've been my doing, a booing voice behind her answered.

Now scared, Twilight slowly turned around to see complete darkness. Both scared and confused, Twilight called out to it.

Hello? Is somepony there?

Someone, yes, though, I'm not quite a pony, it answered.

Then what are you? I can't exactly see you through all this darkness.

The booming voice gave an amused chuckle at that. Funny, that's pretty much the same thing that he said to me before we fought.

What are you talking about? Before you fought who? And who are you anyway?

Twilight's question was answered as the darkness was drawn into a single location. As Twilight watched the darkness dissipate, a massive black claw started revealing itself, followed by the arm, chest, and eventually, the dragon's head, which was sucking in all the darkness around them into its maw. With the dragon fully revealed to her, Twilight crouched down in fear. She'd seen plenty of adult dragons before, but this one was well over twice as big, almost three times if she had to guess. As she took in the sight of the monstrous behemoth, she noticed that the dragon had no scales, a great power, and more importantly, a pair of familiar, golden, draconic eyes. It didn't take her much longer to figure out who it is that she was now addressing.

Are you Nocturne? Twilight nervously asked.

The massive dragon gave a chuckle as it lowered its head to get a better look at Twilight.

That I am, he admitted. And if I'm not mistake, you are Princess Twilight Sparke, correct?

Yes, I am, but how is it that you're here?

I am the incarnation of death, he boomed with pride. I cannot be killed so easily by a mere dark magic spell.

But Discord said that Dark killed you, and I heard that your dead body was discovered in the ruins of Dark's village.

Only my body was killed, but like I said before, I cannot be killed like everything else. The only way I can truly die is by my either sister's magic, or my own. Just like how she can only die by her own magic, or by mine.

Then why are you here?

My old body was useless to me. Think about it for a moment. I had a massive hole in my stomach, my blood and guts were spilling out everywhere, and I couldn't die from it or heal it. Nocturne gave a snort of annoyance at the memory. So, in order for me to continue onward without any complications, I had to transfer my soul into the body of this pony, or kirin now I suppose.

And that's how Dark got his new limbs?

That is correct. When he was on the brink of death, he became more attuned to me, allowing me to converge my soul with his. However, it seems as though he got the better end of this deal, seeing as how he's in complete control over everything.

Alright, but how exactly did you manage to move your soul from your body to Dark's?

Nocturne chuckled. There is much about my magic that you and Dark don't know about. My magic goes beyond what you call dark magic. For example, if I wanted to, I could instantly strip a living creature if its life without harming its body.

Then why didn't you use it on Dark and let him beat you up instead, Twilight smirked.

Because I was curious and wanted to have some fun with him, he answered. Besides, I rarely got to have much fun like that.

Wait, so you attacked Dark's home because you were curious?

Partially. Part of it was also because that obnoxious king wouldn't shut up about him.

So then King Inferno did send you.

I could honestly care less about that whelp and his problems. However, the way that he described him is what cause me to look into him personally.

And that's what lead us to here, Twilight summarized, getting an agreeing nod from Nocturne. Speaking of here, how is it that you're in my mind if you're suppose to be apart of Dark?

Nocturne cocked an eyebrow at Twilight. Because you're dying.

Twilight's face paled in fear. What?!

Calm down, you're not dead yet. Your little boyfriend is seeing to that.

What do you mean by that exactly?

Though he's not aware of it, Dark's determination to keep you alive and safe is causing his magic, or rather my magic, to bind itself around you, thus keeping you from dying while he and your friends save you.

But how can death stop death?

Like I said, I'm the incarnation of death. If I wish, I may determine whether something dies or not. And now, Dark has that power too, though he seems completely oblivious to it.

Now knowing what Nocturne meant, Twilight gave him an understanding nod. As she continued looking over him, something came to mind. It wasn't the most important thing, but she was still curious about it.

I have to be honest, when Dark described you to us, I was sorta expecting you to act a bit... differently.

Nocturne sighed and shook his head. You can thank Dark for that. After I merged my soul with his, I started becoming influenced by his personality.

So before you merged with Dark, you were actually more hostile and destructive?

To some extent. I was also a little bit sadistic as well.

With a sigh, Twilight sat herself down and began looking around. Remembering where she was, she cringed when she saw the pony skeletons. Seeing her taking in her surroundings, Nocturne decided to clarify what she was seeing.

Incase you're wondering, this is Stonewall Village right after I attacked it, he explained.

I was afraid of that, she quietly said.

Seeing Twilight starting to get emotional about the dead ponies she was seeing was starting to make Nocturne feel uncomfortable. He made a mental note to curse Dark for giving him these emotions to him, even though it was by complete accident. With a thought, Nocturne changed the location from the ruins of Stonewall Village, to a meadow that he remembered flying across at one point in his life. Seeing the scene change, Twilight's sorrow began to fade as she took the new location in. Now out in the sunlight, she could properly see Nocturne unlike in the nighttime setting from before. Looking up at him, Twilight allowed for herself to smile.

Thanks for changing it like that, she thanked.

You can again thank Dark for that, Nocturne grumbled. It's because of him that I've felt inclined to change it for you.

Still, it was you yourself who changed it. Twilight paused as a thought came to mind. Hey, Nocturne?

Yes? What is it?

Are you an ally to us, or do you intend on finishing what you started with Dark?

No, I'm not your enemy. Besides, I'm starting to take a small liking to Dark, especially after how he crushed that ursa major's skull and destroyed that fleet of manticores. He paused to chuckle at the memory. He may yet make a good successor to me. That fight of his with the ursa was the closest I've been to surfacing. Just being able to use my roar again like that was satisfying.

So that was your roar that Dark used? Twilight asked, getting a confirming nod in return. Well, at least now I know why it sounded so different than the one he used before. In that case, I have a follow-up question. Do you have any friends?

Nocturne cocked an eye at her. I'm the Incarnation of Death and am currently secretly living inside another being. What do you think?

Twilight gave a forced laugh. Sorry, forgot about that. Anyway, I was wondering if we maybe could be friends? That is, if it's alright with you.

Seriously? he asked questionably. You'd want to befriend something like me?

Well you seem nice enough, and despite what you've done, I don't believe that you're all bad. And besides Spike, I've never befriended a dragon before, let alone one with such knowledge of magics that I've even never heard of.

... you're a strange pony to be asking me to be your friend, you know?

Well, I am the Princess of Friendship after all.

Nocturne gave an amused chuckle. That is true. Alright then, I suppose it wouldn't hurt to have a friend. But on one condition, though.

Sure, Twilight happily nodded.

You're not to tell Dark about me. If he's to find out about me, I want him to learn on his own.

I don't like keeping important things like this from him.

Trust me, Princess, it's better for him that he finds out on his own.

Twilight sighed. That sounds a lot like what Discord said.

That's because I told him to be silent about me after he went poking around in Dark's head that one night, and now I'm asking you to do the same. So then, do we have an agreement?

Alright, she agreed, I won't tell Dark about you.

Good. Also... thanks.

Two days have passed since Twilight was put under. Since then, she would talk with her new friend to try and get to know him better, which to some extent, also meant that she'd also get to know Dark better too. During their time together, Nocturne explained to Twilight how Dark was able to do so well with his flight training with Rainbow, and his experimenting with his magic. As it turns out, Dark was subconsciously tapping into Nocturne's memories of how to fly, as well as how to use his magic. Thinking about it, it actually made a lot of sense to Twilight. Especially with how it should've taken Dark months to learn the basics of flying, but was instead able to do it within a few sessions. He went further on to explain to Twilight how since he and Dark are now one that along with Dark having access to Nocturne's memories, that he could tap into Dark's memories as well. He eventually offered to show Twilight some of them, but made sure to keep some of Dark's memories away.

Once Twilight took up the offer, they were brought to his memory of the time when his cousins and siblings played Ghost in the Graveyard together. Twilight did say how she wished she could've seen it, and now she could. One thing that she noticed, though, about his story was how Dark had left out the detail about how he'd screamed like a little filly when his cousin appeared out of the vines behind them, causing Twilight to giggle at him. She was later shown his family and Dark as a pony. Also, thanks to this being apart of Dark's memory, she could tour the village before Nocturne came and destroyed it. She felt perfectly fine until she was half-way through touring the village, noticing that the scenery was starting to fade.

What's happening? Twilight nervously asked.

Our time is up, Nocturne explained. Apparently, you're safe enough that my magic isn't needed anymore to help keep you from death.

So you're leaving then? Twilight asked.

In a sense. I'm still apart of Dark, so I won't truly be gone.

Will we meet again?

I would believe so.

Then perhaps Dark can join us next time?

Perhaps, but that may not happen for some time, though. Seeing as he and the world around him were almost completely faded by now, Nocturne gave Twilight a small piece of advice. Before we part ways, I will leave you with this cautionary warning; Beware of the one who stole my fang.

On the afternoon of the third day, Twilight stirred as she began to awaken, her senses slowly returning to her. The first thing that she noticed was that she wasn't nearly as cold as what she was when she went to sleep. Quite the opposite in fact as she felt warmth all around her. The next thing that she noticed was that her urge to cough was barely noticeable now. And finally, she felt restrained. Curious as to what's going on, Twilight opened her eyes to see a familiar blaze-orange coat, figuring that she must've shifted around in her sleep. As questions began running in her head about what had happened while she was asleep, she felt Dark starting to move. Tilting her head up, she saw Dark letting out a quiet yawn that showed off his fangs. Closing his mouth shut, Dark looked down to check on Twilight, but was surprised to see her looking back up at him with a soft smile on her face.

"Looks like somepony slept well," she commented.

"Twilight! You're awake!" Dark said in surprise before bringing a claw to her forehead and sighing in relief. "And your fever has finally broken."

"Of course I'm awake. Why wouldn't I be?" Twilight then remembered what Nocturne said about her dying. "On second thought, don't answer that."

Dark didn't say anything, instead he wrapped is other arm around Twilight and just held her close, which she returned by wrapping her forelegs around him. After a while had passed with the two laying in silence together, Twilight's ears picked up something that sounded like light sniveling. Pulling back slightly, Twilight saw that a tear was flowing from Dark's eyes.

"Dark? What's wrong?" Twilight asked as she brushed the tear away.

"I'm just relieved is all," he answered. "While you were asleep, there was a good period of time where Doctor Cura thought that you weren't going to make it. That you were going to die from this."

You have no idea just how close I actually was, Twilight though grimly. "It's alright, I'm fine now."

"Yeah," Dark sighed. "Thank Celestia for that."

"Actually, I believe that I should be thanking you. After all, you did say that I would be alright and that you'd see to it."

Dark cocked an eye in confusion. "You heard that? But I thought that you were asleep?"

"I was, but I could still hear you saying that to me."

"...well," Dark began with a blush, "did you hear anything else after that?"

"Nope. I was a bit busy after that to hear anything."

"Really? How could you be busy when you're asleep?"

"My body was asleep, but my mind was still active. Speaking of which," Twilight smirked, "while I was asleep, I had gained access to some of your memories."

"That's probably because of the magic transfusion that we did on- wait. What memories are you talking about exactly?" he nervously asked.

"Your memory of that one story you told me about. You know, that Ghost in the Graveyard game that you, your siblings, and cousins played together." Twilight started to laugh at him. "I didn't know that you used to scream like a little filly."

"There was a reason why I left that part out," Dark said, looking away from Twilight in embarrassment of her finding out.

"Also... I saw some of the memories of your family."

This caught Dark's attention as he looked back to her.

"You did?" he asked.

"Yeah. Your mother was rather beautiful."

"Yeah, she was."

"And I can see why your brother was such a chick magnet," she added, causing Dark to groan in annoyance. "Oh, come on now, I'm just teasing. Besides, you're the one that I fell in love with, not him."

Dark's cheeks and ears burned when he heard that. He looked down to Twilight, seeing that her own cheeks were flushed as what she'd just admitted started registering to her. It took him a moment to find his voice again so that he could confirm what she'd said, hoping that he was just hearing things.

"Did you just admit that you love me?" Dark asked.

Twilight's blush increased as she shyly looked away. "Maybe. Is that bad?"

"Not at all," he smiled. "Actually, I've been meaning to admit my feelings to you for some time now."

"What feelings exactly?"

"... that... I love you, Twilight."

"Really?" she hopefully asked.

"Really, really."

Leaning down, Dark started affectionately nuzzling Twilight's cheek, a gesture which she happily returned. The two remained like that for a while, nuzzling each other while laying in the other's embrace before Twilight pulled back to look Dark in the eyes, her cheeks now completely flushed.

"I haven't actually thanked you for all that you've done for me yet, have I?" she shyly asked.

"It's alright, you really don't need to- Mmph!" Dark was abruptly silenced by his lips suddenly becoming occupied.

With wide eyes, Dark looked down to see that Twilight was actually kissing him on the lips. His mind was spinning at the sudden fact that this was actually happening to him while his heart took-off faster than he'd thought possible. Not wanting to waste this moment, Dark closed his eyes before gently pressing back with a kiss of his own, earning a small squeak from Twilight from the sudden return. They stayed lip-locked for what felt like minutes to them before they finally parted their lips from each other, panting for breath to replenish their air-deprived lungs as they opened their eyes to gaze into the other's.

"That was better... than I'd thought it be," Dark said in between breaths.

"No kidding," Twilight agreed. "Plus, nopony interrupted us this time."

"Yeah," he happily agreed. Then question from before came to mind, one that he'd never gotten around to finishing. "Hey, Twilight?"

"Yes?"

Dark moved a claw from behind Twilight's back and gently held her hoof.

"Would you be my fillyfriend?" he finally asked.

With a sparkle in her eye, Twilight looked back up to Dark with a loving smile on her face. Removing her hoof from Dark's claw, she wrapped it around the back of his neck and pulled herself back up to be at eye level with him, their muzzles nearly touching.

"Does this answer your question?" she asked before kissing him again.

Not being taken by surprise like the last time, Dark immediately returned it with one of his own. As the two continued, they each pulled the other close to deepen their kiss. Soon, their surroundings started to fade away to them, leaving the new couple in their own little world. So focused was their attention on one another that no other sounds registered to them, not even when Twilight's bedroom door opened up as Cura walked in with a clipboard and some medical charts floating in front of her face.

"Hey, Dark," she greeted him without her eyes leaving the charts, making her completely oblivious as to what was going on, "I just came to let you know that according to these readings, Princess Twilight should be recovered enough for her to awaken between now and the next few hours."

After a few seconds of not hearing a reply, Cura looked up from her charts to see that Twilight was already very much awake as she and Dark were making out in her bed. Feeling her face heating up from intruding on such a private moment for them, she slowly and quietly backed away from the pair, made her way back out the door, and quietly closed it behind her. With eyes wide and her heart racing from almost being caught, Cura made her way through the hallway and down the stairs to meet up with Twilight's friends in lounge. When she entered, everyone, including Spike, all saw the look on her face as she walked in.

"Is everything alright?" Fluttershy nervously asked, fearing the worst.

"Yes, everything's fine," Cura answered before looking down to the little dragon. "Spike, would you mind sending this letter to Princess Celestia for me?"

"Sure," he answered before taking the letter and sending it off. "By the way, what was in that letter?"

"Just a quick report that Twilight is awake and is doing... great."

"That's great news!" Pinkie exclaimed.

"We should go up and see her," Rainbow suggested.

"That might not be a good idea just yet," Applejack told them. "Just because she's awake don't mean that we can go chargin' in there like a herd of stampedin' cattle."

"I agree with Applejack," Cura agreed with a nod, "none of us should really be going in there for a while yet."

"Why not?" Rarity questioned.

"Well... let's just say that I wasn't the first one to find out that Twilight was awake."

"You're talkin' about Dark, right," Applejack said, more of a confirmation than a question.

"I am."

"Alright, so what's the problem then?" Spike asked.

Cura's face started lighting up at having to remember what she saw. "Look, just trust me on this one and leave them alone for now. I promise, you'll all get your chance to see her... later."

Chapter 24- The Date

Later that evening, with Twilight's Feather Flu gone, the rest of her friends were allowed to visit with her without the risk of catching and spreading it. Soon as they opened the door to her room, each of them made their way over to their friend for a group hug while Dark quietly sat by Twilight's bedside, happily watching his friends being together again. Although they were happy and excited to see her feeling better, they made sure to not go too overboard with her, given that she'd been very sick for the last few days and was probably rather weak. Cura soon followed in after them and made her way over to the monitors that were still connected to Twilight.

As she made her way over, she noticed Dark starting to nod off. During the time that he spent keeping Twilight warm, he'd managed to stay awake for two full days without sleep. The only time he did doze off was for a few hours before Twilight woke him up. Noticing how sleep-deprived Dark was, Cura told him to go get himself some sleep, which he groggily denied, saying that he'd prefer to stay. Seeing their conversation, Twilight asked them what was going on before Cura and their friends began explaining to her what Dark did for her during her time asleep.

Twilight was a bit more than surprised to hear of what he did for her and agreed that he more than deserved some rest. While Dark was reluctant to leave her, a few words from Twilight was all that he needed to listen. Not wanting to upset his new fillyfriend, Dark bid each of them a goodnight before heading off to bed. Once Dark left the room, everyone besides Cura looked to Twilight, curious as to why they couldn't see her sooner.

"So," Rainbow began, "Doc. told us that we basically weren't allowed to come in and visit you sooner because of Dark."

"Really?" Twilight questionably said, turning to look at Cura. "Why would you tell them that?"

Cura's face was now flushed at now having to admit what she saw. "... well... I may have walked in on you two."

"On us doing-" Twilight's eyes widened as she understood what she was getting at. "Wait. You mean you saw that?

Cura nodded. "I'm actually surprised that neither of you noticed me. When I came in, I was so focused on the charts that I didn't even look up when I called out to Dark, not to mention that I was already over half-way from the door to your bed before I finally noticed that you two were... busy."

Figuring what few things she could mean by them being "busy", Rarity's face started lighting up. As the thoughts ran through her head, she decided to clear this up before somepony accidentally took this the wrong way.

"Twilight, darling," she carefully called "what exactly were you and Dark doing?"

Meekly rubbing her front hooves together, Twilight stayed silent, embarrassed that her friends have probably already found out about her and Dark. Seeing as Twilight was hesitant to answer, Cura rolled her eyes with an annoyed groan, deciding to answer in her place.

"If you want to know, then I'll tell you. When I walked in, Princess Twilight and Dark were busy tongue wrestling with each other in her bed."

With bulging eyes and dropped jaws, they all turned to Twilight for an answer. Seeing no way out of this, she sighed in defeat before answering them.

"It's true," Twilight reluctantly admitted. "Dark asked me to be his fillyfriend, and then I- we, started kissing each other." She sighed dreamily as she thought back to it. "Though it would've been nice if it had happened sooner, I'm just happy that it finally did.

"So you two are really together now?" Spike anxiously asked.

"Yes, Spike, we are," Twilight happily answered.

"Well it's about time if you ask me," Pinkie chimed. "Now I can finally throw that 'Congratulations On Being A Couple' party that I've been holding onto when you're feeling all better."

"I totally agree," Rarity nodded. "I've noticed the way that you two would look at each other, and I must say that I'm glad that you two are finally together."

"No kiddin'," Applejack agreed.

"That's so wonderful, Twilight," Fluttershy beamed. "Maybe after Discord's punishment is over, we could go on a double date?"

"Uhh, thanks for the offer, Fluttershy, but that would be our first official date together," Twilight answered. "And besides it sounding a little awkward to do for me, I think that Dark's still a little sore from Discord pulling that prank on him."

"Speaking of Discord," Rarity wondered, "how's he doing? Did that book help you at all?"

Fluttershy blushed as she hid her face behind her mane. "Yes, it helped me very much and I'll make sure to bring it back to you tomorrow. As for Discord... well... I think that he learned his lesson. Though now that I think about it, I do feel a little bad for making him whimper like that. It almost seemed like it hurt."

"Wait, you made Discord whimper?" Spike surprisingly asked. "Jeeze, Fluttershy, what did you do to him?"

Rarity walked over and put a hoof on Spike's shoulder. "That, my dear Spike, is something that you shouldn't know about until you're older."

"Getting back to Twilight and Dark," Rainbow redirected, "I don't get it with you guys. If you two have been crushing on each other for a while now, then why didn't you two hook up sooner?"

"Because," Twilight began explaining, "every time Dark or I would ask or make a move of some kind, somepony would interrupt us. First it was Princess Celestia and Princess Luna the morning after the attack on Ponyville, then when Shining Armor attacked Dark on the hill, and finally, when Flash interrupted us to call us down to breakfast the following morning."

"... sounds like becoming special someponies was quite problematic for you two," Cura said. "Suddenly I'm glad that I went for that glass of water before coming up to talk to Dark. Probably would've been your fourth interruption."

"Considering the luck we've had with the last three, I was rather surprised that we didn't get interrupted. Still am."

"So, if you two were already making out, then I've got one thing to ask." Rainbow leaned in closer to Twilight with a sly smirk on her face. "How good is he?"

"Ok, that's enough for me!" Spike exclaimed as he made his way over towards the door. "I don't need to be here if you're going to talk about that. If anypony needs me, I'll be in bed."

Once Spike closed the door behind him, Rarity looked over to Rainbow.

"Now, Rainbow Dash," she scolded, "you shouldn't be asking somepony something as personal as that. It's very rude to be delving into such matters."

"Oh, come on, Rarity, you can't say that you're not curious about it as well. Besides, aren't you usually the one who's eager about this sort of gossip and stuff?"

"While I'll admit that I too am curious about it, it's unbecoming of a lady to ask such questions. And so, I won't ask."

"So you're going to have us ask it instead?" Rainbow asked, figuring out Rarity's game.

"I didn't say that."

"You didn't have ta," Applejack chimed in. "It's practically written all over your face."

"I'm not really sure how to describe it," Twilight told them. "All I can really say is that it was a feeling like no other that I've experienced. Like everything else just vanished, leaving only the two of us alone in a feeling of bliss."

"Explains why you two didn't notice me," Cura muttered. "So, how're you feeling health wise?"

"Just fine, actually."

"That's good to hear. However, I suggest that you stay resting in bed for the next few days. We don't want you having a relapse now."

"I suppose not."

"And don't you worry about a thing," Rainbow said. "We'll all be here for you, just like how you guys were all there for me when I broke my wing."

"Well, as much as you girls can anyway. Besides, Rarity has to run her boutique, and Applejack only has a few weeks left before the apple trees stop producing apples."

"Eeyup, but don't ya worry, though, Ah'll be over as much as Ah can after Ah'm done."

"What about Dark? Won't he need to come help you tomorrow?"

"Nah," she waved off. "Like we told ya, he's gone the last few nights without any sleep. Ah doubt that he'll be up for quite a while, so he doesn't need ta come ta work tomorrow."

"That's good news for him."

"So, Twilight," Pinkie asked as she bounced in front of her. "Are you hungry? Because you've been asleep for a few days without anything to eat."

Twilight didn't answer though as her stomach started grumbling, causing Pinkie to smile before bouncing away.

"I don't know about you girls, but all of that worrying and waiting has made me hungry too," Rainbow said. "I'm gonna head on down and grab something to eat. Anypony wanna come with?"

With a round of "yeses", everypony but Twilight and Cura filed out of the room.

"You can go ahead if you want," Twilight told her. "I'm alright, you don't have to stay here."

"I know," Cura replied. "Just doing a few last things before I too head on out to eat."

After some last looks at Twilight's monitors, Cura made her way out of the room. With Twilight all alone, she laid back down on her bed, both tired and hungry from her time recovering. As she waited, her thoughts soon drifted over to her talk with Nocturne, and to his warning.

Who'd want to steal a dragon's fang? Twilight wondered. I mean, sure it might bring up a decent price for a collector of some kind, but would it have any special properties? Gah, now I wish I would've asked him now.

Wanting to put that thought away for a later time, Twilight began thinking about Dark and the special memory that they had shared together. Smiling softly at the thought, Twilight closed her eyes.

I still can't believe that I have a coltfriend now, she giddily thought. And he's not just anypony either. He's strong, brave, perhaps a little bit impulsive at times, but I've dealt with enough of that with Rainbow, and he's... Twilight's thoughts halted as she remembered something that Nocturne had mentioned to her. I know what Princess Celestia said to me, but if added on by what Nocturne said about Dark being his successor, then that means... Her eyes opened as the thought took her. My new coltfriend really is the Incarnation of Death.

As expected, Dark slept in a lot. For a full thirty hours, he slept undisturbed. At least, that's how it seemed to him. After the first twenty-four hours of him sleeping without waking up, the others started to get worried and tried to wake him. Pinkie tried using a noisemaker from one of her parties, Spike tried belching in front of his nose, and after Applejack tried shaking him awake, Rainbow had the brilliant idea of jumping on him. While everyone thought that that last one would've waked him, he instead remained fast asleep. It wasn't until Cura came in and told them to let him sleep in peace that they backed away from him and headed over to visit with Twilight.

When Dark did finally awaken, it was already 2 A.M. Seeing the time, Dark laid himself back down to try and sleep, but found himself to be too awake to do so. So instead, he decided that since he felt so rested and rejuvenated, that he should get in some practice with his magic. Or to be more specific, the magic which he inherited from Nocturne. Throughout the rest of the night, Dark practiced, his magical reserves never depleting. It wasn't until he saw the sun's glow just starting to show over the horizon that he noticed what time it was. With little time to spare, Dark used one of the new spells he learned. In a poof of shadowy mist, he teleported himself to the kitchen for a bite to eat before reappearing in a another shadowy mist. Looking over himself to see nothing missing, Dark took a moment to smile proudly for himself.

With the succession of this new spell, Dark dubbed it "Shadowport". Though it may seem similar to the "Teleport" spell, its reach has its own unique limits. While a normal Teleport spell would require a specific location in mind at the time and would require more magic the farther the location is, the Shadowport spell would only require that the location be connected by some form of shade, regardless of range. And although Dark's Shadow Meld spell could basically be seen as the same thing, for the caster, Shadowporting would require much less magic than slowing time while Shadow Melded.

I better be careful when using this, Dark thought to himself. If my guess about this spell is correct, then I'll have free-range during the nighttime, but will be severely limited during the daytime.

Taking a look over to the clock, Dark saw that the sun was to rise within a few minutes. Stuffing a piece of toast in his mouth, Dark then grabbed some gems that were set aside for him and used a second spell that he learned over the night. This one he created after figuring that he could bring inanimate objects into the shadows with him, which he called "Shadow Storage". A spell specifically designed to hold inanimate objects within the shadows that Dark could easily pull out if he ever required it, much like a bag with infinite space that only he could access. He currently already had his saddlebag, his large bag of bits, and his rain cloak stored in it, but he just added his gems into it to snack on for later. With everything set, Dark Shadowported out of the kitchen and out towards Sweet Apple Acres.

Applejack just loaded the last of the apple baskets into the wagon and was about to start hooking herself up when Dark appeared in front of her in a puff of shadowy mist. With a yelp of surprise, Applejack tumbled backwards over the rim and flipped into the wagon. Seeing Applejack's little tumble, Dark ran up to help her back up.

"You alright, Applejack?" he worryingly asked.

"Confound it, Dark!" Applejack shouted. "What in the hay were ya thinkin'? Ah should hit ya in the face for scarin' me like that."

"Sorry about that. Didn't think that you would already be this far ahead."

"Well Ah wasn't expectin' ya ta show up ta be honest. Thought that you woulda taken another day off ta rest."

"What do you mean 'another'?"

"You don't know? You've been asleep since ya left Twilight's room ta go ta bed. You've been asleep for over a full day."

Dark blinked in surprise. "Wow. Didn't think I was out for that long."

"Well, you were. but now that you're here, you can start helpin' pay me back for scarin' me by hallin' this wagon ta the next section of the orchard."

Listening, Dark strapped himself in before following Applejack. After a while of walking, she turned back to Dark, her scowl turned to a pleasant smile.

"Oh, by the way, congrats on your new relationship," she commended.

Dark froze in mid-stride. "What?"

"Twilight told us about you two bein' together."

"... oh."

"Ya don't sound too happy about it."

"No, it's nothing like that. I'm just a little surprised that you all know already."

"We'll don't ya worry none," Applejack assured. "We're all happy for ya, and none of us will tease ya for it."

"You mean besides Rainbow," Dark corrected.

"Eeyup."

As they continued onward, a thought came to Dark. He'd been thinking about it during his practicing earlier that morning, but wasn't sure how Applejack would react. However, now that she and the others knew about them, it should be easier for him to find out.

"Hey, Applejack?"

"Yeah?"

"If it's alright with you, would you be willing to teach me how to make that apple pie of yours?"

Applejack raised an eye at him. "What for? It is a family recipe after all."

"Sorry, I didn't know. Just forget about it."

"Ah didn't say that Ah wouldn't, Ah'm just curious as ta why you would wanna learn it is all."

"Besides it being delicious, I was thinking about making it for..."

"Go on, Ah'm listenin'."

"... I was thinking about taking Twilight out on a picnic, and that I would make the food for us.

"Are you talkin' about takin' her on a picnic date?" Applejack asked, receiving a small nod from Dark. "Well in that case, Ah'll be happy ta teach ya."

"Are you sure?"

"Of course Ah'm sure. Now, when were ya thinkin' of havin' this date of yours?"

"In a day or two," Dark answered. "I want Twilight to be completely healthy before it happens. And besides that, it'll also give me time to learn how to cook."

"Well, Doctor Cura has ordered Twilight some extra bedrest so that she wouldn't have a relapse, so she shouldn't be up and about till tomorrow."

"In that case, either tomorrow or the next day."

"So, if ya don't mind me askin', what were ya plannin' for this date of yours? Because Ah doubt that just eatin' a good meal was all that ya had planned out."

"I remember her saying something about stargazing, so I thought that we'd have a picnic at sunset, then do some stargazing together."

Applejack gave an approving nod. "Sounds like somethin' that she might like ta do."

"Something who would like ta do?" a deep voice asked.

Turning around, Dark and Applejack could see Big Mac walking up to them. "Nice ta see ya up and about there, Dark."

"Considering how long that I've apparently slept for, I'd say that it's about time that I got back."

"What time did you wake up anyway?" Applejack wondered.

"About 2 A.M. After that, I just couldn't get back to sleep and decided to try some new spells out."

"And that's how ya suddenly popped in front of me like that?"

"Yep." Dark paused to look at Big Mac. "Hey, Big Mac? Could I ask you for some advice?"

Big Mac raised a cautious eyebrow at him. "Depends. What's the subject about?"

"Dating."

Applejack chuckled, causing Dark to turn to look at her. "If you're wonderin' about how ta act, then don't worry none about it. Just be yourself and everythin' will be fine."

"Though a pretty flower always helps," Big Mac added. "Other than that, Applejack's right. Don't try and show off by bein' somepony you're not, because that's not who Twilight's fallin' for now is it?"

"... how did you know it was Twilight I was talking about?" Dark asked.

"Ah might've told him," Applejack admitted.

"And who else have you told?"

"Just Granny and Apple Bloom at the dinner table last night."

"... Apple Bloom knows," he clarified, getting a nod from the siblings. "And today's a school day." Again, another nod. "So then, how much of Ponyville do you think knows about Twilight and I?"

Applejack's and Big Mac's eyes widened, now knowing where Dark was going with this.

"Ah hay," Big Mac muttered.

"Yeah... think Ah mighta goofed up on that one," Applejack admitted.

Dark groaned as he rubbed the bridge of his knows with a claw. "We were hoping to keep it to just ourselves for now and tell our closest friends and family later on. But if Apple Bloom's already told her classmates, or even just Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo, then all of Ponyville might know about it by the end of today. If so, then I'm going to get such a teasing from those three."

"Who? The girls?" Applejack asked.

"No, I mean those three guards that I befriended, remember?"

"You mean the ones who brought ya over here that one monrin' because they chained ya up?"

"Yep. Turns out that they're a lot nicer than what they first appeared to be, and a little more laid back than what I would've figured for a guard. They actually caught me when I was a mare."

"Right, that," Big Mac snickered. "Ah still have a picture of ya talkin' ta Miss Twilight when your colors were switched."

"Huh. Guess Spike sent out pictures to more than just the guards around Ponyville," Dark said. "Now I'm really going to have to get him back for it."

"Oh, no ya don't!" Applejack told him. "Ah think you and Twilight have done enough with that little prank you two pulled on us. Poor little Apple Bloom had nightmares that night because of it."

"Oops. Sorry about that, Applejack," he apologized.

"As ya should be," she nodded. "Now, less talkin' and more workin'."

Obeying, Dark began his work with Applejack and Big Mac. Throughout their work, she explained to Dark how to make one of their pies. Granted that she would show him how to actually make one after they were done for the day. Work went by quickly for him, and before he knew it, it was already mid-afternoon. With the work they've done already, the three called it so that Applejack could teach Dark how to cook their apple pies. With everything tucked away for the night, they began walking over to the house when the set of several racing hooves reached their ears. Turing his head, Dark looked just in time to see him getting tackled by three fillies.

"Hi, Dark," Apple Bloom greeted.

"What's up?" Scootaloo asked.

"Is it really true about you and Twilight?!" Sweetie Belle squeaked.

With a pained groan from unexpectedly being tackled to the ground like that, Dark sat up as the three fillies jumped off of him.

"Hey girls," Dark returned before turning to Sweetie Belle. "And to answer your question, Sweetie Belle. Yes, we are. Though I have to know, Apple Bloom, just who exactly did you tell about Twilight and I?"

"Just these two," she answered, getting a sigh of relief form Dark. "Okay, what's goin' on? Are we not suppose ta know?"

"No, you three are alright. We just didn't want anypony outside of our friends and family knowing is all, so would you three be willing to not tell anypony about us?"

"Sure we can," Scootaloo answered for them.

"Good to hear," he said, getting up off the ground and dusting himself off. "Now, if you three will excuse me, I need to learn how to bake a pie."

"What for?" Apple Bloom asked.

"Just wanted to learn how to make a great apple pie."

With a straight look on her face, Sweetie Belle walked up in front of Dark.

"It's for Twilight isn't it?" she figured.

Dark blinked in surprise at her. "How did you know that?"

"Because I took some lessons on how to cook for Spike."

"... huh. Well then, yes I am."

"Alright now," Applejack piped up. "If you're wantin' ta learn how ta make our family's apple pie, then ya better get on in here."

Leaving it at that, Dark and the Crusaders followed after Applejack. For the rest of his time there, Dark watched Applejack making her own pie before letting him have a turn at it... it didn't go well. The slices of apple that he cut were too thick, and the crust came out as hard as a plank of wood. After another failed attempt, they decided to call it before the sun would set completely. Even though Fluttershy made peace with the timberwolves, they still tried to be back before nightfall.

"Guess I better head back home," Dark said. "Thanks again for helping me learn to bake, Applejack."

"No problem, sugarcube," she returned. "And don't ya worry about it. We'll do this again tomorrow till ya can get it right."

"Okay."

Dark was about to leave the house before he heard a voice pipe up behind him.

"Umm, Applejack?" Sweetie Belle called. "I need to get home to Rarity."

"Oh crud! I need to get back home too!" Scootaloo exclaimed.

Hearing their problem, Dark turned around and walked over to them

"If you want, I can take you two home."

With a pair of happy nods, Dark lowered himself down for Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo to jump up on him. With them sitting comfortably on his back, the three of them waved goodbye to Applejack and Apple Bloom before they made their way out of the orchard. During the walk, the two fillies talked to each other while Dark was busy scanning the surrounding areas. The sun had just set, and while this normally wouldn't have bothered him, he was now in charge of looking after a pair of fillies, causing him to give cautious glances around for any timberwolves.

Once they were in the center of Ponyville, Scootaloo hoped off of Dark, saying that she could take it from here. Dark had suggested to her that he come with her to make sure that her parents weren't worried about her, but she just brushed it off, saying that they wouldn't mind as long as she was home safe. Although it sounded like an excuse, Dark didn't get in a word as Scootaloo was already off. He looked over to Sweetie Belle for an answer, only to get a shrug in return. With one less filly to worry about, Dark made his way over to Rarity's.

"You know," Sweetie Belle began, "I can walk over there on my own. You don't have to escort me there."

"I know," Dark nodded, "but I need to talk to Rarity about something that she may be able to help me with."

"Oh, okay."

They traveled in silence for a few minutes, Dark walking while Sweetie Belle stood on his back, her front hooves propped up on his head to see over him. As the two continued, Dark decided to try making some conversation with her.

"So, Sweetie Belle, how have you and Spike been doing lately?"

Sweetie Belle blushed slightly from being asked that from out of nowhere.

"We're doing pretty good. We've gone out a few times. Although, Spike was pretty glum while Twilight was sick."

"Yeah, I'd bet. So, is he treating you right?"

"Yep. I now understand why Rarity would call him 'a perfect gentlecolt'."

"Good, because if he ever does start mistreating you in any way, I want you to let Twilight and I know about it right away, alright?"

"I doubt that he would deliberately do something like that, but I'll keep it in mind."

"Good," he said as they approached Carousel Boutique.

Gently knocking on the door, Dark waited for Rarity. A few moments after hearing her call out "Coming~" in her sing-song voice, the door finally opened. As she opened the door, Rarity was surprised to see Dark standing there with Sweetie Belle standing on top of him, happily waving to her. Stepping off to the side, Rarity allowed them in. Once he was inside, Dark crouched down to let Sweetie Belle off of his back before turning to Rarity.

"I must say, I wasn't expecting you to be here at this hour," she told him.

"Just got done at Sweet Apple Acres," he explained. "Didn't really have any other time to drop by, and besides needing to ask you about something, I had to see this one back home safely."

"I thank you for looking after Sweetie for me, but what is it that you're wanting to ask me now?"

"That dye that you used on Twilight, do you have any that's permanent?"

"I might. Why would you need it?"

"Remember your suggestion of dyeing my black coat to match the rest of me?"

Rarity's eyes lit up. "Ooh, so you're taking my advice," she happily exclaimed.

"Yeah. Figured that I would look better with a single coat color than being two-toned."

"In that case, I have a bottle of it in the back."

Dark raised a curious eyebrow. "Why would you even have a permanent dye in my coat color?"

"Oh, well, our original prank may have been altered from the permanent dye to a washout."

"In that case, thanks for that."

Sitting by the door, Dark waited for Rarity to return. It didn't taker her long, though, as she was back after a few minutes of searching.

"So, how do I apply this stuff exactly?"

"Oh, that's easy," Rarity said, "just wet down the area you want dyed and scrub this into your coat."

"Sounds easy enough. I'm basically using this in place of soap."

"That's one way of putting it I suppose. And don't worry, it's all natural and doesn't have any harmful chemicals, so your coat will stay as healthy as it should."

"And what about the stuff that doesn't stick and washes onto the floor?"

"That's the thing with this brand. As it turns out, there's magic added to this mixture so that it'll only stick to the coat and nothing else. It'll also make the area of the coat that it's applied to grow out that color."

"So," Dark concluded, "if I applied this to my black coat and then buzzed it off, it would regrow back as the color of the dye?"

"That is correct," Rarity nodded.

"Sweet. It'll be like having my old coat back. By the way," he began, looking from the bottle to Rarity, "how much for the dye?"

"Oh, no need to worry about it."

"Nope. I'm paying for it. Besides, I doubt that this bottle of dye was very cheap."

"While you're right about that, I must insist."

Sighing, Dark shook his head. "I'm sorry, Rarity, but I'm going to stand firm on this. I'm not going to leave with that bottle unless I pay you for it first. Besides, it's only fair that I do so."

Rarity glared at Dark, hoping that he'd concede to her. However, a few moments later of seeing that he wasn't going to give up on this matter so easily, she sighed in defeat.

"I swear, all of that time spending with Applejack has made you as stubborn as she is."

"Hmph, if you think I'm being stubborn, you should've seen my grandpa. That old prick never could let others do things their way without his say-so."

"You don't sound very fond of him," she noticed.

"We might've butted heads a few times, but that's in the past. Now, about that bottle?"

"But you don't even have any bits on you."

With a smirk, Dark reached a claw into the shadow his body was casting and pulled out a bag of bits.

"You were saying?"

"... alright, never mind then. Now, the bottle was forty bits."

"Okay. Also, I'm not entirely sure if I saw one or not, but does Ponyville have a barber?"

"Yes, although I never really paid attention as to where exactly it's located."

"That's good enough. Thank you."

With his business complete, Dark bid Rarity and Sweetie Belle a goodnight before Shadowporting himself back to the castle. When he went inside, he then noticed how hungry he really was, which didn't really surprise him considering all he ate within the last few days was a piece of toast, some gems, and lunch with the Apples. Hearing something cooking, he walked in to see Spike working the stove.

"Hey, Spike."

Turning around, Spike waved to Dark. "Hey."

"Where's Twilight?" he asked, noticing that she wasn't around.

"She's up in her room. Turns out that she's still tired from the Feather Flu."

"In that case, I wanted to ask you a few things."

"Sure, what is it?"

"I remember Twilight telling me that she used to stargaze. Does she still like it?"

"Pretty sure she still does, but she hasn't done that for a while now."

"Alright, then what kind of foods does she like?"

"As long as it's not anything cheesy like quesadillas, then she should be alright with it."

"What about sandwiches?"

"That's an easy one, it's daffodil and daisy."

"Anything else?"

"Nope, just daffodil and daisy... why?"

"Just curious is all."

Spike gave him a look that let him know that he wasn't buying it. "You're not very good at lying you know?"

"I'm not lying," Dark defended. "I really am curious."

"About as curious as Sweetie was when she was asking me those kind of questions."

With an annoyed groan, Dark facepalmed himself. "I swear, you two being in a relationship together is making me unable to get away with stuff like this."

"To her credit, though, Sweetie's cooking has improve a lot since we first started going out."

"Was her cooking really that bad?"

Spike gave him a deadpan look. "She liquefied burnt toast."

"... how do you liquefy burnt toast?"

"I have no idea, but she did it. Ever since she's started taking cooking lessons from Rarity, though, she hasn't burnt anything nearly that bad since."

"That's good to hear."

"Since we're on the subject about food," Spike said, holding a pair of plates loaded with spaghetti that was smothered in sauce, "I hope you're hungry."

"You have no idea, little buddy. And also, please don't tell Twilight about me asking you about her."

"Don't worry, I got your back."

After a good and laughter-filled dinner, Dark made his way to the bathroom and pulled the bottle of dye from is Shadow Storage. Hopping into the shower and applying the dye to his black coat, Dark was surprised of how quickly it was taking effect. He'd originally thought that he'd have to scrub at it pretty thoroughly to get it in before it would stick like this. What was even better though was that as he looked between the dye color and his natural blaze-orange coat color, he couldn't tell the difference between the two. Satisfied, Dark smiled before applying the rest of it to him. By his guess, he would be using up almost all of it if he were to also get his tail and wings.

Now that that's done, Dark thought to himself, I just need to find the barbershop and see them about this beard before they close tomorrow, and learn how to properly cook that darn pie.

Two days later, Cura gave Twilight the all-clear before she got up out of her bed and stretched her joints, each giving an audible pop from going so long without use. After three days of sleeping, and then a few more of recuperating, she felt fully awake and ready. However, by that time it was already noon. After a long, relaxing shower, Twilight decided to get herself something to eat. But before she got to the kitchen, she ran into Spike.

"Hey, Twilight," he happily said as he hugged her. "Feeling better?"

"A lot," she replied.

"That's good. In that case, Dark wanted me to tell you something."

"Oh? Well what is it?"

"He wanted me to ask you to meet him up on the hill a little before sunset. He said that you'd know which one he's talking about."

Twilight did indeed know which hill he was referring to, but despite the area having been replanted with fresh grass, she still didn't like to think of it with what happened the last time they were there.

"Did he say why?"

"Nope."

"Guess I'll just have to find out when I get there then," she sighed before continuing down to the kitchen.

Once she turned the corner, Spike allowed a smirk that he'd been hiding to show. Although Dark didn't tell him what he had planned, he had a very good idea of what it was.

The sun was starting to set as Twilight left her castle to meet up with Dark. She still didn't know what he was up to, but didn't let it bother her too much since she would find out. Soon enough, after a few quiet minutes of walking, she could see Dark's silhouette standing on the hill with the sun behind him. He didn't appear to notice her as his attention was directed towards something on the ground, allowing her to get close. As she did, she took notice of a few things. Twilight saw that Dark had dyed the black coat on his arms, wings, and tail to match the rest of his blaze-orange coat, his goatee was gone, and the picnic that he had set out for them. Even as she eyed everything out, Dark was still busy with setting the last few things out for them.

"Alright," Dark spoke to himself, "I got the food, drinks, desert, and a spell for some light. Great, now I just need to wait for Twilight and-"

He froze as he felt a light taping on his shoulder. Slowly turning his head, Dark was met with the sight of Twilight standing right behind him.

"... okay, never mind."

"What's all of this?" Twilight asked.

"Well... I thought that since we are together now that I would treat you to a picnic date."

"A date? As in a romantic date, date?"

"Yeah. Look, I know that it's nothing fancy or anything, but I just thought-"

Dark was interrupted by a kiss from Twilight, and just as quickly as it started for him, it ended with her smiling at him.

"It doesn't matter if it's fancy or not, just the thought of it is good enough for me." She paused to get a good look at what they were having. "And by the looks of it, it seems like you've put a bit of effort into it."

"I guess," he bashfully admitted. "The hardest part was learning how to cook Applejack's apple pie."

"She taught you?"

"Yep. After I asked her and told her what it was for, she was happy to help. Provided, of course, that I don't tell the recipe to her cooking to anypony besides you and our friends. Speaking of help from the Apples." Dark paused as he brought out a de-thorned pink rose from the picnic basket and tucked it behind Twilight's ear. "I was also told that giving my date a flower usually helps."

"Can't argue with that," Twilight commented before giving Dark a peck on the lips.

Sitting themselves down, Dark started pouring some grape juice as Twilight continued looking at the food. Along with her favorite sandwiches, Dark also had a salad, some fresh apples, the apple pie that Applejack taught him how to make, and some celery sticks with peanut butter. With everything set out, the two started digging in. During their few silent minutes of eating, Twilight continued looking over Dark, seeing the changes that had been done to him.

"So, when did all of this happen?" she asked.

"When what happened?" he wondered.

"This," she said gesturing him with a hoof. "When did you change your coat color and shave off your facial hair?"

"The coat was the night before the last. Thankfully, Rarity had a bottle of it that she wasn't using."

"Why would she have a bottle of that?"

"... let's just say that the temporary dye they used on us wasn't their first choice."

Twilight's mouth made an O in understanding what he meant by it, and also caused her to shiver slightly as the thought of the dye being permanent.

"As for the beard, that was done yesterday. Had to do a bit of searching, but I was finally able to find that barbershop."

"Any particular reason as to why?"

"Well, I figured that I would be more presentable by having one coat color instead of certain limbs being of a different color. Especially if we're going to be in Canterlot next week. Besides it being the capital city, I heard that the ponies up there are rather judgmental of everypony, and I'm sure that my being a kirin will get me enough strange looks as it is."

"I wouldn't doubt it," she sighed. "It would be nice if the Canterlot Elite would be more open to everypony instead of being snobby to them. They've gotten better, but there are still plenty of those who are stubborn. So, what about your beard?"

"That's an easy one actually. I got rid of it because you said that it felt itchy."

"That's it? You got rid of your goatee because I said that it felt itchy to me?"

"I thought that it was a good enough reason. Besides, I could always try growing it back out if I wanted to."

"Just as long as this is something that you want."

"For you to feel comfortable is what I want, and if it means having to ditch the beard, then I'm perfectly fine with it."

Smiling softly, Twilight got up and sat herself down against Dark. "Thank you."

They continued eating in silence again as Twilight's thoughts returned once more to Dark and Nocturne, causing her one pleasant expression to fall. Seeing the unhappy look on Twilight's face, Dark gently went to address it.

"Is everything alright, Twilight?" he asked. "You seem unhappy about something."

Twilight sighed. "It's just... just something that's been bothering me these last few days." Seeing that this seemed serious, Dark pushed his food off to the side, giving Twilight his full attention as she continued. "It's about your new powers. If you're suppose to be the new Incarnation of Death, then what changes would that bring? Would you change into something like Nocturne was, or would-"

"Twilight," Dark interrupted as he draped a reassuring wing over Twilight. "Look at me and tell me who you see."

"I see you."

"See who now?"

"You, Dark."

"Exactly. Even if I am Death Incarnate, and even after these changes that I've already gone through, I'm still me, not Nocturne."

"I know, but it still makes me nervous that the magic that you've inherited is based around shadows and death."

"If you're worried that this magic will corrupt or overtake me, then you can relax. You know me well enough that I wouldn't allow it to happen so easily. And besides that, my special talent deals with shadow magic, and to some extent, I would think it would also include Nocturne's death magic. Plus, I also have you and our friends watching over me if something should happen."

Feeling her tense up and seeing the worried expression on her face, Dark leaned his head down to gave her a reassuring kiss. Although it only lasted a few seconds, it was enough for Twilight to calm down. Once they parted, she looked up to Dark, her worried expression mostly gone.

"Feeling better?" he asked.

"Still a little worried, but better," she smiled before giggling. "Actually, when I think about it, I find it sorta weird that my coltfriend is suppose to be the Embodiment of Death."

Dark raised an eyebrow. "You think that's weird? My fillyfriend is an alicorn princess, has saved Equestria several times, and is a Bearer of Harmony."

"Point taken, but it still surprises me about how the dragons of the Dragon Kingdom have nightmares of you."

"... how do you know that?"

Twilight mentally facehoofed for letting that little bit of conversation she had with Nocturne slip out like that. Although she didn't want to lie to him, she also promised to not tell him about Nocturne. With little left to go with, she went with her best option of telling him without telling him.

"Remember when I said that I had access to some of your memories?" she asked.

"Yes, but I don't remember anything about that."

"I know, and that's why I don't think that I should tell you."

"... is this like what Discord said about how it's something that I should learn on my own?"

Twilight sighed in relief. "Pretty much."

"So you're not going to tell me then."

"Sorry, but I made a promise to not tell you and let you find out for yourself."

"Figures."

"You're not upset, are you?"

Dark smiled. "Not at all. I understand that these are apart of my lost memories, and that I should learn them on my own like you said."

"Good. Thank you."

With a nod, Dark then noticed that the sun was about to set. Lighting his horn, Dark conjured several small flames to give Twilight some light. As she went back to her meal, Dark went over and brought a telescope and book out of his Shadow Storage. Seeing them suddenly set up, Twilight looked curiously to him.

"Where did that telescope come from?" she asked.

"New spell that lets me store items in the shadows," he explained simply.

"Alright, so what's it for then?"

"Well, I heard that you used to like stargazing and thought that perhaps you'd might like to."

"It's been a while since I've done that, probably since the Golden Oaks Library was destroyed."

"So are you alright with it, or would you like to do something else?"

Twilight shook her head and made her way over to adjust the dials on the telescope. "No, this is perfectly fine. I've actually been meaning to do this for a while now, and now I finally get to."

Over the next few hours, Twilight and Dark took turns looking through the telescope at the stars and constellations. Whenever they would switch to a different group of stars, Twilight would begin explaining what it is and the history behind them. While Dark didn't care much for astronomy back in Stonewall, he was actually enjoying his time with her learning about them. However, as much as they were enjoying their time, it had to come to an end as the hour was starting to turn late for them. After packing everything away with his Shadow Storage, Dark and Twilight made the walk back home together side-by-side, neither saying anything until they arrived outside her bedroom doors.

"Thank you for tonight, Dark," Twilight thanked.

"You're welcome," he smiled. "Maybe we could go out again soon?"

"I'd like that. But next time, I get to pick where we're going."

"Alright. So then, I guess I'll let you be and see you tomorrow then," Dark said before giving Twilight a kiss and turning around, only for him to be dragged back across the floor by his tail.

"Where do you think you're going?" Twilight asked him.

"To my room?"

"Nope," she told him as a book titled 'Rules of Being in a Relationship' appeared beside her. "According to this book, as my coltfriend, we're allowed to freely sleep with each other."

"When did you read that?"

"Well I had to do something to keep myself occupied while on bedrest."

Dark raised an unsure eyebrow. " Alright, but just to be clear, you mean 'sleep' as in just sleeping like we've been doing, right?"

With a maddening blush, Twilight turned away from him. "O-Of course I do. I didn't mean for it to sound like... the other thing."

"I completely understand. After all, we did just start dating, so it would be a bit rushed if we started doing that so soon."

"I'm glad we agree on that. So then, ready to call it a night?"

With a silent nod, Dark followed Twilight to bed. Getting themselves comfortable, the two laid in silence before Dark remembered something.

"Just so you're aware, I might be gone to work in the morning before you wake up."

"It's alright. As long as you're here until then, then I'm perfectly fine with it."

Giving her a goodnight kiss, Dark watched as Twilight drifted off to sleep. With a silent yawn, he too started relaxing himself as sleep started taking him, his last thoughts being on how this was, in his opinion, the best night ever.

Chapter 25- Welcome to Canterlot

"Where is it? Where is it? Where is it?" Twilight wondered in a panic.

It was the day before the meeting with King Inferno and they were suppose to leave this morning. Standing by their bags at the castle door, Dark and Spike both watched as Twilight would teleport from in front of them, to a different room in the castle, trying to find the last things on her list. While the two guys were already packed and ready to go, she had forgotten about two things to mark-off on her list.

"Spike! Where're my crown and dress at?!" she asked frantically.

"Aren't they suppose to be in the closet in your bedroom?" he asked.

"I already checked and they're not there!"

"Perhaps one of the dresser drawers?" Dark guessed.

"Checked them too."

"Then where could they be?" Spike wondered. "You're usually so organized when it comes to those kind of things."

"I know. It's just that I've had a lot on my mind with trying to figure out how to tell Shiny that Dark and I are together now. I doubt that he'll take the news well."

Sighing, Dark spoke up. "We'll think of something. For now, you stay here and relax while I go take a look for your dress and crown."

A second later, Dark Shadowported away, leaving Spike and Twilight alone.

"You know, I don't think that I'll ever get used to that teleportation spell of his," Spike commented.

"It's not so bad," Twilight said. "I actually find it rather interesting."

"That's because it's magic. What I don't think I'll get used to is how he disappears and reappears in a cloud of black mist like that. Couldn't you just teach him how to teleport like you do?"

"While he does have a good amount of magic, teleporting is a rather advanced spell that takes years of studying. Besides, I doubt that he'll want to learn it when he already knows a variation of that spell already."

"I guess," Spike grumbled before Dark reappeared in front of them.

"Uh, forgot to ask you what your dress looks like," Dark wondered.

"Remember the picture of me at my coronation? It's that dress," she answered, getting a confirming nod before he disappeared again.

"Alright, so where do you remember seeing your dress and tiara at last?" Spike asked.

Twilight brought a hoof to her chin as she thought about it. "Well, I remember them both sitting in their closet."

"Okay."

"Then a few days ago, Rarity came over and offered to take my measurements and adjust the dress to fit, and to help polish my crown."

"So where did you put them when you got them back?"

Twilight stayed silent with a blank expression. Blinking a few times, she brought up her list, seeing the box with her crown and dress unmarked. Unfurling the scroll a little bit more, she saw that picking them up from Rarity at the train station was at the very, very bottom of her list.

"I can't believe this," she mumbled with a facehoof.

"What?"

"According to the list, I'm suppose to pick them up from Rarity at the train station."

"... you mean that we've been waiting fifteen minutes looking for a dress that isn't even here?!"

Twilight meekly rubbed the back of her head. "I guess so."

"Ugh. Dark! We found it!"

Hearing Spikes voice echo through the crystal hallways, Dark Shadowported back to him and Twilight.

"Really? Where was it?" he asked.

"Turns out that Rarity had it this whole time," Spike grumbled.

Surprised, Dark looked curiously towards Twilight. "Seriously?"

"Turns out that it was on the list, but it was down below at the very bottom where the scroll was still rolled up," she explained.

Rubbing his temples, Dark was about to comment on it, but was interrupted by Twilight teleporting the three of them to the train station. Upon arriving, Twilight and Spike looked around to find their friends who would be meeting them while Dark started wobbling from side-to-side.

"Ugh. I don't think I'll ever get used to that," he complained.

"Teleportation sickness?" Twilight asked.

"Yeah. Only other time I ever was teleported was when Aunt Sunshine came over to visit. Although, that one was far worse than this."

"What's so different from your teleport spell and Twilight's that doesn't make you sick?" Spike asked.

"Besides me casting it, hers is much brighter and disorienting to me."

"Yeah, that's how it was for me too, but you get used to it after a while."

"Speaking of a while," a voice behind them spoke, "we've been waiting for you three.

Turing around, they saw their friends passing through the crowd on the waiting platform which included Big Mac, Apple Bloom, Scootaloo, and Sweetie Belle. Seeing his fillyfriend, Spike walked over and gave each other a warm hug.

"Too bad you can't come with us," he said.

"I know, I wish I could come too," she agreed.

"So do we," agreed Apple Bloom and Scootaloo.

"Sorry, sugarcubes," Applejack apologized, "but we're suppose ta be there for a very important meetin', so none of us would be able ta keep an eye on ya at the time."

"Is it really that important?" Scootaloo asked.

"We'll be meeting with Inferno, the Dragon King," Twilight explained. "And I'm sure that he'll also bring some of his advisors with him."

"Which would more than likely include General Razor Claw," Dark guessed with a chuckle. "Wonder how that cyclops has been doing lately."

"What do you mean by calling him a cyclops?" Rainbow asked. "I thought that he would be a dragon too."

"He is. I just call him that because he lost an eye."

"How did that happen?"

Dark smirked. "I'll give you one guess."

Twilight blinked. "Dark, you didn't..."

"Hey, he started it," he defended himself. "Besides, he had two others with him. If anything, he got lucky with only that one injury. Kinda sucks too, since he's the only dragon who ever attacked me that got away."

"Should we be expecting any trouble from him?" Rarity asked.

"We shouldn't," Twilight answered. "This is suppose to be a peaceful meeting." She turned to Dark. "Which means no fighting."

"Alright," he sighed, "I promise not to fight them."

"Or harass them."

"... or harass them."

Feeling content with this, Twilight looked over to Rarity. "So, do you have the dress and crown?"

"Indeed I do," Rarity said as she levitated a box up in front of her. "I had to lengthen the sleeves and the hem of the dress just a tad, but other than that, everything else was just fine."

Happy to have her dress back, Twilight took it in her magic just as the train started pulling into the station. Gathering their luggage, the group walked over to the train while Spike and Sweetie Belle were still clinging to each other. Seeing the others starting to board, Spike started pulling way.

"Guess I better go," he reluctantly said.

"Before you do," Sweetie Belle began as she levitated a plastic container out of her saddlebag. "Here, these are for you."

Taking it into his claws, Spike opened the lid to see fresh peanut butter cookies with gem sprinkles. Licking his lips, Spike closed the container before giving Sweetie Belle a peck on the cheek.

"Thank you, Sweetie," he thanked.

"You're welcome," she happily smiled.

"Ooh, are those peanut butter cookies I smell?" Dark asked, poking his head over Spike.

"Oh, no you don't! I made these for Spike, not you," Sweetie Belle told him.

With a slight whimper, Dark turned back around and boarded the train, quickly followed by Spike as he ran up behind him and dug into the first cookie. Turning around from hearing the crunching of a cookie, Dark saw Spike giving him a smug look as he slowly and tauntingly chewed the cookie. Taking his seat besides Twilight, she noticed that Dark didn't have any of his luggage.

"Um, Dark?" she began questioning. "Where's your stuff?"

"In storage," he answered.

"You mean with that spell of yours?"

"Yep. Besides, I don't have all that much. Just needed to pack my comb, a toothbrush, and some toothpaste to be ready."

Feeling the train jerk, the group of friends looked out the window to wave goodbye. As the train started pulling away, Applejack popped her head out the window.

"Now you three behave for Big Macintosh while we're gone, ya hear?" she called.

"We will," the three fillies shouted back.

Pulling her head back in, Applejack shut the window before and looked over to Dark. "You don't get motion sickness, do ya?"

"What's motion sickness?" he questioned.

"It's when somepony gets nauseous or sick when traveling by a vehicle of some kind," Twilight explained.

"No idea. I've never been on something like this before." Dark paused as he looked out the window and saw the land speeding past them. "How fast are we going anyway?"

"Pretty fast," Rainbow chimed.

"Doesn't really feel like it," he commented before opening the window and sticking his head out, which he immediately returned back into the train after receiving a surprise blast of wind in his face, his mane thrown straight back. "Ooookayyyy, never mind."

"Told ya so."

"So, what's Canterlot like, Twilight?" Dark asked as he tried getting his mane under control. "I remember you saying that you used to live there."

"Yes, we did," she nodded. "As for how it is, it's the most beautiful city that I've seen, the Crystal Empire being the second. The streets are generally clean, crime is very low, and the city itself looks like it's been made from ivory and gold."

"Sounds like a nice place. Do you think that there might be enough free time for me to have a look around?"

"You don't need to worry about that. I've planned out our schedule for the next few days. After we get ourselves settled down, Spike and I will be showing you around Canterlot."

"Does this include going to Doughnut Joe's?" Spike hopefully asked.

"Yes, Spike, it does."

"Sweet, you'll love it. They've got the best doughnuts in Equestria."

"Ooh, can I come too?" Pinkie asked.

"Of course you can. I was actually planning on asking everypony if you all wanted to come with," Twilight told them.

"Sweet. So then, how long do you think it'll take us to get there by this train?" Dark asked.

"A few hours."

"Alright, then what do we do in the meantime?"

"I know!" Pinkie exclaimed as she brought out a board game out from her mane. "How about a game of Risk?"

"Risk?"

"Yeah! It's a strategy game where your goal is to take over the world. At least, that's how the old rules worked. Lately they've been adding newer ways of winning, but I liked the original one better."

"I'll play if the others will."

"You bet I'll play!" Rainbow proclaimed.

"Me too," Applejack agreed.

"I'll just watch... if it's alright with everypony," Fluttershy declined.

"I believe that I too will pass," Rarity politely refused. "Besides, it's not really my kind of game."

"I suppose it wouldn't hurt to try it again," Twilight said.

"What they said," Spike shrugged as he downed his third cookie.

After explaining the rules, they decided to go for a free-for-all game. As expected for his first time, Dark was out within his first five turns, which just goes to prove that you should never try going for Haysia first. Too many territories and too many directions to be attacked from. It was all good, though, as he sat and watched the others playing, each piece magically enchanted to be held down so that they wouldn't be knocked over by the rattling of the train tracks. After an hour had passed, Spike and Applejack were out, leaving Twilight, Rainbow, and Pinkie left. While it seemed close with each having their specific third of the map, Pinkie had just knocked out Spike from the game, leaving her with two full sets to turn in. Very soon now, her pink legion would sweep across the world. It was with this thought that everyone besides Dark shuddered in fear as memories of Pinkie and the Mirror Pool came flooding back to them.

However, luck wasn't in Pinkie's favor as the dice she rolled were mostly ones and twos, while the others scored fours and higher. Not wanting to relent, she made the mistake of sending everything she had in an attempt to clear the board. By all means, even after losing so may troops, she still had more than enough to do it. All she had to do was beat either Rainbow or Twilight, take their cards, and get another set from them. Pushing forward, Pinkie was able to drive Twilight close to losing, but she had hunkered herself down in Indoneighsia. With Pinkie bottlenecked, she was forced to stop her campaign after Twilight's defenses proved to be too much. And unfortunately for Pinkie, it was Twilight's turn, and she was turning in a set. While Pinkie still had a pair of troops per territory, Twilight was able to mow down most of them with little resistance before deciding to stop her assault. It was then Rainbow's turn, but just before she could finish off Pinkie, the brakes could be heard on the train, signaling them that they were getting close.

Deciding to put the game away and declare it a three-way tie, they packed the game away before looking out the window. Seeing the tall walls and buildings approaching them, Dark watched in amazement by the size and architect. While he thought that Twilight might've played up the city just a tad, he was happy that he was wrong.

"This is amazing," he quietly said.

"This is nothing," Twilight told him. "Just wait until you see the rest of it, and the castle."

Coming closer to the Canterlot Train Station, everyone started grabbing their own luggage while Dark decided to be polite and carry Twilight's for her. With her happy thanks, she looked out the window to the loading platform to see a familiar pony and her guards waiting for her. With a giddy look on her face, Twilight rushed over to the door and stood in front of it to open. As soon as it did, she rushed out and gave her dearest sister-in-law a lovingly hug. Following his friends out of the train, Dark was meet with a sight he didn't know what to make of.

"Sunshine, sunshine, lady bugs awake, clap your hooves and do a little shake," the sisters-in-laws chanted as they did a series of motions that went with what they said.

While their friends were giggling at the sight of them, Dark just stood there confused.

"... what did I just watch?" he slowly asked.

Hearing his voice, Twilight turned to Dark. "It's an old greeting that Cadence and I do."

"Seems kinda weird to me."

"Oh, like you're one to talk. What about that greeting you did with your cousin where all you do is senselessly slap each other's backs until they're beet red? What was it called again? The 'Beardelow Greeting'?"

"Hey now, that greeting was developed by Big Beard's grandpa, Grand Beard, and was enforced by his son, my uncle, Great Beard, which was then passed down to my cousin."

"So it's a family thing then?"

"Yep... how did you know about that?"

"Your memories, remember?"

"... alright, you're going to have to tell me what all you've seen one of these days." Dark paused in worry as one memory came to mind. "You wouldn't by chance have seen how I got my scar, would you?"

"No, I didn't," Twilight said as her face turned to a mischievous smirk. "But there is one memory of yours I know of that you might want to keep in mind."

"And what would that be exactly?"

Twilight's smirk widened. "The peanut butter and toilet paper incident."

Dark's eyes widened in fear. "No."

"Oh, yes."

"Oh, no! Nopony should never ever hear about that!"

"And nopony will, just as long as you continue to behave yourself."

"But why? What did I even do to warrant something like this?"

"Nothing," she answered innocently. "Just something for you to keep in mind should you think of doing something crazy or stupid."

With a reluctant sigh, Dark looked over their friends to see different degrees of mirth. Even some of the guards could be heard snickering lightly.

"Why do I put up with this?" he groaned.

"Because you love me," Twilight playfully answered.

"This conversation sounds a bit like one that I had with Shiny when I used to foalsit you, Twilight," Cadence smirked. "By the way, I believe that introductions are in order."

"Oh, right," Twilight realized. "Cadence, this is Dark Flame, my coltfriend. Dark, this is Cadence, my sister-in-law, Princess of the Crystal Empire, and the Alicorn of Love."

Dark took a few steps closer before bowing down. "It's a pleasure to finally meet you, Your Highness. Twilight's told me quite a bit about you during her time when you foalsat for her, and after the wedding."

"Thank you, Dark, but please rise. There isn't any need for such formalities from Twily's friends," Cadence told him.

"If you say so."

"Besides, I've heard a little bit about you too."

"Really?" he asked, a eyebrow raised questioningly.

"Yes. I was told about you by Aunty Celestia and Aunty Luna. They said that while you appeared to be a good kirin, they also told me about how you fought during the attack on Ponyville, which only reinforced what was written in the report we got from there."

"What report?" Twilight asked.

"We got a report about what happened the day after the attack," Cadence went to explain. "We heard that the town was attacked my a swarm of manticores, timberwolves, cockatrices, some hydras, and even an ursa major. Once we heard that they were defeated, we figured that it was you and your friends that stopped it." She looked sorrowfully towards Dark. "I wish that was the case."

Twilight followed her gaze. "So that's how Shiny knew about Dark."

Cadence nodded. "I had a bad feeling when he went off like that, but I didn't think he'd be so brutal. Speaking of which, I thought that you'd lost your eyes."

"I did," Dark nodded, "but as it turns out, Discord's chaos magic can bypass the special effects of Draconium weapons and heal me."

"Well, that's rather fortunate. But enough of standing around talking. Why don't we start making our way to the castle and get you all settled in?"

With a round of agreements, everyone grabbed their luggage before following behind Cadence and Twilight. That is, except for Rarity, who was having a few of the royal guards carry her luggage for her. Once they were far enough from the train station, Cadence waved Dark up beside her and Twilight as they continued where they left off.

"So, about what happened between you and Shiny," Cadence solemnly began. "I'm sorry that he did that to you."

"It's... fine," he begrudgingly said.

"... you don't sound very convincing."

Dark sighed. "If it was just the eyes, then I'd probably be better about it. But after everything that he did to me, and all the times we tried to convince him to stop but instead decided to ignore us... it's just going to take me a while to forgive him."

"I see. I guess I should've expected that, but what exactly did he do to you? I was told by Aunty Luna that you would've died several times over during your fight."

"It's true," Twilight interjected. "It started when Shiny shot a blast of magic that hit Dark in the side of the head and knocked him through a tombstone. With all honestly, the impact from the two would've been enough to critically injure any normal pony, so that could very well be considered the first. The next was when they circled each other until Dark's back was towards the crystal guards. After that... Shining used his magic on the guards' spears and..."

Seeing Twilight unable to finish her sentence, Dark decided to take over. "In short, he impaled me to the ground with those seven spears."

Cadence froze in mid-stride as she gawked at him. "If that's true, then how did you survive?"

"Regeneration," he simply answered.

Blinking a few times, Cadence continued their walk with a scowl on her face. "He's so going to get another week for this."

"Another week of what?" Twilight asked.

"Once I heard of what Shiny did to Dark's eyes, I punished him for a month. No poker night with his buddies, tending to the baby when she wake's up crying in the middle of the night, changing the baby's diapers, sleeping on the couch, and lastly, is relieved of his duties until his sentence is over. In short, with a few exceptions like this meeting, I've placed him under house arrest."

"Ouch," Dark commented.

"Oh, that's nothing compared to how he reacted when I told him."

"Speaking of Skyla," Twilight began, "when will I get to see her again?"

Cadence smiled. "Tomorrow. Right now she's spending some time with her grandparents."

"That's perfect! I was planning on visiting mom and dad tomorrow after our meeting's done."

"Speaking of which," Spike chimed, "I take it that I'll be coming to this meeting as well?"

"Sorry, Spike, but this meeting's going to be long, and probably boring."

"Not likely," Dark muttered, getting a scowl from Twilight.

"Dark," she warningly said.

"I'm just saying that never once has Inferno's troops seen me without immediately going hostile, even if I'm not doing anything to provoke them."

Sighing, Twilight turned her attention back ahead of her. "I can't really argue there. Besides Spike, every dragon that we've meet has either threatened us, attacked us, or threatened us before attacking us."

"Don't need to worry about that," Cadence assured. "We have magical runes set around the throne room where we'll be meeting with them. If any of them do try anything to us, we'll have them immobilized immediately."

"If they even try anything with us, they'll be dead before their flames even leave their maws," Dark darkly commented.

Cadence blinked in surprise. "Surely you're not serious."

"I am."

Nervously, Cadence looked to Twilight. "Is he usually like this with dragons?"

Twilight shook her head. "Have you been told the details about this meeting?"

"Just that King Inferno has been attacking a village for the last few hundred years."

"Well, as it turns out, that village was Dark's home, and it was destroyed with him being the only survivor."

"... I see. So then, are we going to have to worry about you doing something reckless?"

"No," he sighed. "I already made a promise not to start anything. However, if they make any aggressive movements, then I will retaliate."

Letting that conversation die down, the group looked ahead to see the gates to the castle directly ahead of them. As everyone walked through, Dark just stood in place as he took in the sheer size of Canterlot Castle. Seeing him in a daze from looking at the castle, Rainbow flew back and gave him a nudge, causing his senses to return to him before he and Rainbow followed after the others. The guards on each side of the door saluted as they passed through the massive double-doors of the castle, giving Dark an approving nod as he walked past them. Following Cadence down the carpet-covered floor through several hallways, they finally came to the wing where their guest rooms were. After everyone unloaded their luggage in their respective rooms, they all gathered around in the hallway to talk about the rest of their day.

"So, what do we do now?" Rainbow asked.

"Well," Twilight began, "considering the time of day, and the fact that we haven't eaten anything on the train ride here, I thought that I'd show Dark to Doughnut Joe's and grab something to eat there."

"Sweet!" Spike happily exclaimed as he jumped onto Twilight's back. "I love his doughnuts."

"Would it be alright if we came along with ya?" Applejack asked. "Haven't been there since our first gala."

"Please don't remind me of that night," Fluttershy said. "I still can't believe that I acted like that."

"It was an... unpleasant night for all of us," Rarity spoke. "I mean, who would've thought that somepony like Prince Blueblood could be such a..."

"Plot hole?" Rainbow guessed.

"While I wouldn't quite use that kind of word, I do suppose that would be one way of saying it." Rarity's eyes widened as she remembered Cadence was still there. "No offense, Your Highness."

"None taken," she laughed. "Blueblood may be royalty, but even I don't care much for him. Besides, he isn't the kind of stallion who would represent the aspects of-"

"Of what now?" a haughty voice asked.

"Speak of the devil," Rarity irritatedly muttered before turning to confront the voice's owner.

Approaching them was none other than Prince Blueblood, who was accompanied by a group of nobles. As he got closer to the group, he took an irritated glance at Rarity before turning his attention to Cadence.

"Good afternoon, Princess Cadenza," he greeted.

"Hello, Blueblood," she returned.

"And how are you doing this fine day?"

"Fine. I just finished showing our guests to their rooms to unpack."

"Ah yes," he said, his eyes turning to Twilight. "It's a pleasure to meet you again, Princess Twilight."

"Hello, Prince Blueblood," she politely returned.

"Might I say that you look rather lovely today," he complimented before taking Twilight's hoof and kissing it.

Seeing this caused the others to look on him in partial disgust, and in slight fear for the look on Dark's face. Seeing him doing that to Twilight caused his pupils to shrink as his natural body heat began expelling outward, causing the hallway to heat up. Dark looked over to meet Twilight's gaze. His eyes asking her permission for him to beat Blueblood down, where as she just shook her head. With a fiery snort, Dark stood down and allowed Blueblood to continue, but only by Twilight's good graces. Removing his lips from her hoof, Blueblood looked Twilight in her eyes, a small smirk forming on the corner of his lips.

"Princess Twilight, I'm having dinner tonight at my private suite and would love for you to join me."

"Thank you for the offer," Twilight thanked, starting to pull her hoof back, "but I have plans tonight."

"Surely you can cancel them just for one night?" he suggested, tightening his grip and subtly pulling her hoof back to him.

Feeling the tug and tightened grip, Twilight began glaring at him. "I'm sorry, but I already said 'no'."

"Well, I must insist."

"And I must refuse."

"Why are you being so-"

Blueblood paused as his foreleg was firmly grasped by a claw and started feeling something hot breathing down the back of his neck. Slowly turning his head around, he was met with the sight of Dark glaring angrily at him with glowing golden eyes.

"She said 'no'," Dark growled.

"This is of no concern to an abomination like you," Blueblood scoffed. "Besides, I'll have you know that I'm a prince, and as such, I could have you arrested in a second."

"Says the one who we could have arrested for harassing a Princess of Equestria. Twilight's already told you 'no', now take a hint and leave. Her. Alone."

"Just who in the Tartarus to you think you are?!" he asked in outrage.

"I'm her coltfriend!" Dark roared, his golden glowing eyes briefly turning red as he bore his fangs, flames now licking the corners of his maw." And if you want to keep your hoof, you will leave her alone."

"Did you just threaten me?"

"I'm not threatening you, I'm promising you," he dangerously answered.

A wave of fear washed over him as he gazed into Dark's eyes. Seeing as this wouldn't be an easy win for him, and not wanting to deal with this anymore for now, Blueblood let go of Twilight's hoof, his own in turn being released from Dark's grasp. Taking a few steps back, Blueblood struggled to mask his fear with the same face that he'd shown up with, then turned around and walked away with his group with a little extra speed in his step. When he was out of sight, Dark snorted a small jet of flames from his nostrils, happy to be done with that arrogant excuse of a stallion. But while he was happy, Twilight was slightly nervous as she noticed Nocturne's voice mixed in with Dark's. Twilight then made a mental note to try and speak with Nocturne again and get some more answers out of him.

"Royal prick," Dark muttered before turning to see the surprised expressions of Cadence, his friends, and his fillyfriend. "... umm... sorry?"

Shaking her head of her thoughts, Rarity was the first to speak. "Quite the contrary, darling. I believe that it's about time that somepony finally put that stallion in his place."

"Did you have to be so hard on him?" Fluttershy asked.

"Of course he did!" Rainbow exclaimed. "I mean, let's face it, that guy's been going after Twilight for some time now and couldn't seem to take 'no' for an answer. Honestly, I'd say that his pushiness this last time was the last straw."

"Sorry to interrupt," Cadence began, "but what happened to your eyes that's causing them to glow?"

"Oh, oops," Dark said before dispelling his Soul Eyes. "Side effect of a spell of mine. It's nothing harmful."

"Do you usually use it like that?"

"To intimidate ponies?" he asked, getting an affirming nod. "No. This was the first time that I've used it for that, otherwise I barely use it."

"So, how much trouble is this gonna cause?" Applejack asked the princesses.

Twilight and Cadence looked to each other for a while, silently discussing it. With a shrug, Cadence went to answer.

"To be honest, Blueblood's been trying to be subtle with his advances on Twilight, but as you can see, he's not as subtle as he thinks he is, so I don't think that they'll pay too much mind to his complaints. If anything, Aunty Luna will probably be laughing over it while Aunty Celestia would try to reason with him while attempting to hold back her own amusement."

"So then how much trouble am I in?" Dark asked.

"Probably little to none," Twilight answered. "Although, I have to agree with Fluttershy. Was it really necessary for you to threaten him like that?"

"He should be happy that's all I did. The moment he started getting forceful was when I wanted to make him pay."

"You can't really blame him, Twilight," Cadence said. "After all, Shiny's made worse threats to other stallions who made advances on me than what Dark just did."

"Anyway," Twilight began, "we should head on out before we have to come back for dinner."

Heeding her words, everyone began filing out of the hallway and onward towards Doughnut Joe's. That is, all but Cadence who had herself a quick word with one of the guards guarding the hallway.

"What was that about?" Twilight asked as soon as Cadence got back.

"Just a little room change is all," she answered.

"How so?"

"Well, seeing as how you and Dark are together, I just thought that you two would like to share a room instead of taking separate ones. What do you think, Dark?"

"It's up to Twilight," he shrugged. "I'm fine with it either way."

"I'm alright with it," Twilight answered. "It's not like we haven't been sharing the same room anyway."

"So," Cadence said with a mouthful of doughnut, "how did you two meet?"

Taking a break from eating, Twilight answered, "Rainbow and I found him passed out in the middle of a field."

"Really?"

"Yep," Rainbow agreed before eating the rest of her chocolate sprinkled doughnut. "No idea how he got there, and neither does he."

"How's that possible?"

"From what we've gathered," Dark began explaining, "I've lost my memories from after my fight, to when I woke up in the Ponyville hospital."

"Alright," Cadence nodded before a curious smile formed. "Then how about you two tell me how you got hooked up? I must admit that I was a bit worried that after what happened with Shiny that it wouldn't have happened."

"I'm happy that it didn't," Twilight said. "As for how... well... you know that I got the Feather Flu, right?"

"Yeah," she sighed. "Everypony was worried after we heard about it. I wish that there was something that we could've done to help assist in your recovery, but Aunty Celestia was very clear that any added assistance would cause unwanted attention."

"I know."

"But that doesn't explain how you two are now together."

"Oh, right. Well, it happened after soon after I woke up with Dark."

"Wait. What was Dark doing with you?"

"Her body temperature was very low, so I had to use my own body heat to warm her back up," Dark explained.

"Alright, go on, Twilight."

"Well after that we said some things and we were alone and-" Twilight was silenced when Cadence shoved a doughnut into her mouth.

"Twilight, calm down. You're getting nervous and starting to talk fast."

"Sorry," she apologized before removing the doughnut and taking a calming breath. "Anyways, we admitted our feelings to each other, and then we.. kissed."

"So that's when it happened?" Cadence asked giddily.

"Not quite," Dark said. "It was after that when I finally asked her to be my fillyfriend."

"I'm sorry to have to ask you of this, Cadence," Twilight began, "but could you please not tell Shiny about us?"

"Afraid of how he'll take it?" Cadence guessed, getting a confirming nod from Twilight. "I suppose I could, but you'll have to tell him sooner or later."

"I know," she sighed. "I'm actually thinking of telling him tomorrow. I'll tell Princess Celestia and Princess Luna in private tonight."

"Sounds good to me. So then, is everypony ready to go?"

"Just one second," Pinkie called before downing another six doughnuts. "Alright, good to go."

"Jeeze, Pinkie," Spike said, "how many doughnuts did you eat?"

"About three dozen," she nonchalantly answered, which in turn caused everyone to look incredulously at her. "What? I was hungry."

"Apparently," Rainbow muttered.

Leaving Doughnut Joe's shop, they started their way down one of the roads to their next destination. That is, until Rarity spoke up.

"Sorry to interrupt, but would it be alright if we stopped by the Canterlot Boutique for a moment?" she asked.

"Actually, Rarity," Twilight spoke up, "that's our next stop."

"Wonderful! I've been meaning to return and check in on Sassy."

With an extra spring in her step, Rarity lead the group to her boutique. As they walked, other ponies would stand away from them. Whether it was out of respect for the two princesses, or for how Dark looked, he wasn't sure. Turning away from the onlookers, he looked up above the rooftops to see a rather large, circular building off to the side.

"Hey, what's that building?" he asked, pointing a wing towards the structure.

Looking over to where he was pointing, Twilight answered him first. "It's the Canterlot Coliseum. It's where some of the major performances are held, but is used as a dueling arena most of the time."

Dark's ears perked up. "Really? How does it work?"

"There are a few different ways," Cadence began explaining. "You sign up for a gauntlet match, and if you win the fight, you get to either continue on to the next fight, or you can cash out your prize. It's a high risk/high rewards type of deal. You can also sign up for a one-on-one duel, and team duels."

"Sounds fun. So, what's the reward then if you complete this gauntlet?"

"From what I've heard," Twilight said taking over, "it's a large bag of bits, and the victor's choice of a custom-made set of armor and weapon. Oh, and they'll also be dubbed as the new 'Champion of the Coliseum'. That is, if you can beat the current one, but nopony has beaten him since his reign started three years ago."

The more Dark heard this, the more excited he became. "Okay, now I definitely need to try it someday. So, who's the current champion?"

"Nopony knows. He's a unicorn, but his hooded cloak covers his face and horn. That, and the rest of his armor and gear covers his mane, tail, and coat. Other than him being a unicorn, there's absolutely nothing about him that that reveals who he is."

"Does he have a name?"

"Ultimate Defender."

"... seriously? That must be some kind of stage name, because I doubt that anypony would naturally have a name like that."

"I'm inclined to agree with that, but while this name may sound arrogant, it's rather fitting since nopony has ever broken through his defenses."

"Alright, besides the 'mysterious' champion, anything else to know about, like the rules?"

"Besides no cheap shots and having to wear a damage absorber, there really aren't any rules,"

"Damage absorber?"

"I know it's not the most clever name, but I didn't name it. Anyway, its purpose is to take damage that the wearer would take. So if an attack would be fatal, the damage would be absorbed instead."

"But if it takes damage for the competitors, then how do you know who wins?"

"There's a screen that shows a sort of heath gauge for them. First to deplete their opponent's gauge wins."

"For a contest that's so violent, you sure do seem to know quite a bit about it, dear," Rarity noticed.

"That's because Shiny would go over to compete and would bring me along with him."

"Really?" Cadence questioned. "Because if I remember correctly, you would start pestering him to bring you."

"I just wanted to see him in action," Twilight pouted.

"Hey," Dark chuckled, "maybe we should get him to compete against this champion. You know, since they both are apparently specialized in defenses."

"I wouldn't be so sure about that. Having two combatants who specialize in defensive magic would be like bashing two rocks together. It would take a long time before one of them would win."

"While all of this talking about fighting is interesting and all," Rarity said sarcastically, "we're finally here."

Paying back attention, Dark saw Rarity opening the door to her second shop. Following after the others at the back of the line, he took in the sight of the store. Besides the ponyquins adorning new dresses on display against the walls and windows, the rest of the place actually looked quite a bit bigger than Rarity's shop in Ponyville. He was about to make his way to get a close look at one of them when he heard an unfamiliar voice.

"Welcome to Canterlot Boutique," a pony called out.

Turning to take a look, Dark saw a tall and thin light-blue unicorn with an orange mane walk up to welcome them.

"Hello, Sassy," Rarity greeted before giving each other a brief, friendly hug. "It's been a while, hasn't it?"

"A few months if I had to guess," Sassy said. "And welcome, Princess Twilight, Princess Mia Mora Cadenza."

"Hello, Miss Saddles," Cadence returned.

"So, if I may, what brings all of you here today?"

"We've got some business at the castle tomorrow and thought that we'd give our friend here a quick tour of Canterlot," Rarity answered.

"I take it that it's the orange stallion back behind you?"

"You would be correct. Dark, why don't you come up here for a moment and say hello?" Taking his eyes off the ponyquins, Dark listened and made his way up. "Sassy, this is Dark Flame. Dark, this is Sassy Saddles. She runs the Canterlot Boutique when I'm not around."

"Hello, Miss Saddles," Dark greeted as he held out a claw.

"And a hello to you too, Mr. Dark," Sassy returned, accepting his claw in a welcoming shake.

"Now that we've gotten that out of the way, what do you think, Sassy?" Rarity asked.

"Do you mean in terms of clothing?" she asked, getting a nod from Rarity before circling around Dark. "Well, it would have to be made with some holes for the wings, but other than that, I don't see any problems."

"My thoughts exactly."

"Wait, what-" Dark tried to question, but was cut short when he was suddenly lifted into the back by Sassy, closely followed by Rarity.

"Oh, Twilight," Rarity paused to address, "would you mind if Sassy and I borrowed Dark for a while to take his measurements?"

"It's alright, go ahead," she smiled.

While they were busy with Dark, the other started looking around the boutique at the different dresses on display. Some of them that were being displayed weren't seen in Ponyville. By the time Sassy and Rarity walked out from the back, an hour had passed.

"What took you guys so long?" Rainbow impatiently asked. "I know that you said that you were going to take measurements of him, but it shouldn't have taken so long to do that."

"I'm sorry about the wait, Rainbow," Rarity apologized, "but we might have gotten carried away with ourselves."

"How so?" Applejack asked.

"Well," Sassy began, "We might have started a new outfit after we got his measurements."

"And?" Twilight pushed. "How far has it come along?"

"Not much," Rarity answered. "We've ran into some complications. We currently don't have any fabric with the proper colors to make it. We've tried with a different fabric, but it was too thin and weak."

"Alright, so where's Dark?"

"Here," he tiredly mumbled as he slowly walked out from the back.

"Wow, what happened to you?" Rainbow asked.

"You look like you've been through a marathon with a celebration party afterwards," Pinkie compared.

"Just tired and bored from standing still for so long not doing anything," he said.

"Oh, hush now," Rarity told him. "Besides, you'll be doing a lot more of that back in Ponyville when I start fitting you for your suit."

"Why do I even need a suit?"

"Why shouldn't you have one?"

"Because I've never needed one before."

"That was before and this is now, and I say that you should have at least one suit on hoof."

"Fine," Dark grumbled.

"Besides," Twilight spoke up, "if not you, then who's going to accompany me to the Hearth's Warming Eve Ball?"

This caused Dark to blink. "... ball? As in dancing?"

"Yep." Seeing Dark's nervousness as he looked away from her, Twilight started to form an idea of what it was about. "Dark, do you know how to dance?"

"... not really. I've never had any reason to learn."

"In that case, I can help teach you when we get home," she offered before looking over to a clock on the wall. "But for right now, we should probably be getting back to the castle before we miss dinner."

"In that case, you all have a good night and a safe walk back," Sassy wished them before seeing them out.

"Thank you, Sassy," Rarity thanked, "and thank you again for doing so well on the boutique while I'm in Ponyville."

Happy to see her boss and her friends again, Sassy waved goodbye to them before turning around to begin closing up for the night.

The walk back to the castle and towards its dining hall went by rather quick for them. With the lighter road traffic and the time of hour, there were barely any crowds around them. As they neared the dining hall, Rainbow was the first to speak up.

"So what are we having to eat exactly?"

"I'm not sure," Cadence answered. "I don't usually bother the chefs when they're busy. Mostly because they don't like to be disturbed."

"Ah can understand," Applejack nodded. "Ah find that Ah work better bakin' when Ah don't have nopony ta distract me by talkin' ta me."

"Kinda reminds me of how I used to be when it came to reading," Twilight added.

"Either way," Rainbow began, "I just hope that what ever it is that there's plenty of it, because I'm starving."

"What about those doughnuts we had earlier?" Dark asked.

"That was a light snack," she wined before flying ahead and throwing open the doors herself.

Hearing the doors fly open, Celestia and Luna both looked up to see Rainbow flying over the table to her seat. Before either could say anything, the others started filing in. Upon seeing Twilight, Celestia got out of her chair to meet her half-way.

"I'm so happy to see that you're alright, Twilight," Celestia said as she draped a wing over Twilight, pulling her into a warm hug. "I'm sorry that I couldn't do more to help you without drawing unwanted attention."

"It's alright, Princess," Twilight said smiling. "Besides, everything worked out perfectly in the end."

"Ah yes, Doctor Cura told me about how she, ahem, found you awake."

Both Twilight's and Dark's faces immediately lit up by hearing that the princesses have found out already. While Dark tried to hide his face, Twilight was doing fine using Celestia's wing.

"You know then?" she shyly questioned.

"Yes, we very much do," Luna answered with a smirk before turning to Dark.

"Umm... hello?" he meekly greeted.

"Hello, Dark. I see that you've gone and dyed your coat and shaved your beard. So, how have you been lately?"

"Thanks for noticing, and I'm doing alright I guess?"

"Really?" she questioned as she slowly circled him. "Are you sure that that's all?"

"Yes?"

"Come on, Aunty Luna," Cadence spoke, "stop making him so nervous."

"I just wanted to know how he and Twilight are doing."

"And circling him like a timberwolf isn't going to help get you your answers."

"She's right, Luna," Celestia agreed. "Let's just leave them be for now. We can get the details behind how they got together later."

With her blush died down, Twilight removed herself as she and the others took their seats at the table. Once everyone was seated down, Twilight noticed an empty chair beside Cadence.

"Hey, where's Shiny?" she asked.

"He should be here-" Cadence began answering, but was stopped when she saw Shining walking through the doors. "Right now."

"Hello, everypony," he warmly greeted before making his way alongside the table.

Walking up to his spot, Shining gave his wife a quick kiss before taking his seat. Once settled down, Shining looked across and smiled to see Twilight smiling back at him. But that moment of happiness vanished as he saw Dark sitting beside her, straight across from Shining himself.

"Dark," Shining said with a slight scowl.

"Shining," Dark retuned, though not as bad as Shining.

"Play nice you two," Celestia warned. "We're here to eat in peace, not start a fight."

"Yes, Princess Celestia," Dark calmly replied with his gaze downcast.

"Yes, Your Highness," Shining returned.

With things calmed back down, Celestia clapped her hooves, ordering the food be brought out. Once the food was placed and the ponies left, everyone started to dig in, some more sophisticatedly than others. After a few minutes passed by, Twilight decided that now would be a good time to start up a conversation.

"So, Shiny," she began, "what have you been up to lately?"

"Not much," he shrugged. "But from what I've heard, you've had quite a rough time. I didn't even know that alicorns could even get the Feather Flu."

"Neither did any of us, but it happened."

"Well, I'm glad to see that you're doing so good again. Guess I better go thank Doctor Cura after we're done here."

"Actually, it was Dark who got me through it."

Hearing this new and unsettling piece of information, Shining put his fork down as he glared at him.

"Really now?" he questioned.

"Yes, really. He managed to restore my body temperature back up while also transferring his magic to me."

"A magic transfusion?"

"Yeah," she sighed. "Apparently, when my horn got soaked from the ice water prank, it caused my magic to turn cold on me and act as though I had a river of freezing water flowing through me."

"I see," Shining mused before looking more closely at Dark. "I never did ask how you got your eyes back."

"Discord," Dark plainly answered.

"So he used his chaos magic to heal you? Figures," he muttered. "I'm curious, though, as to how you managed to help Twily get her temperature back up."

Dark didn't answer knowing how bad doing so could turn out. His silence, however, wasn't doing him anything to help him as it just fueled Shining's suspicion. While Celestia and Luna got the full details on how they managed it, they deliberately kept it from Shining. After a minute of not getting an answer, Shining had enough.

"Fine. Don't tell me then. But just remember that I will find out sooner or later."

"Why is it such a big deal with you?" Dark questioned. "Twilight's alive and healthy. Shouldn't that be enough for you?"

"Normally it would, but since you're directly involved, it's not."

"It's alright, Shiny," Twilight assured, unaware that Celestia was peeking over her teacup at them while Luna watched as though it were a dinner show. "They did what they had to because they couldn't find any other way to help."

"Which was?" he pressed.

Getting annoyed with this, Spike blurted out, "He slept with her!"

The entire dining hall fell silent as Spike's words echoed off the stone walls. Everyone now looking to the little dragon who just dropped the ball on them. Slowly turning away from Spike, Shining's eyes began targeting Dark, who's face matched that of the others, including the princesses. Feeling the eyes on him, Dark too looked away from Spike to see Shining glaring at him. As he continued his glare, his eyes started to change. Dark noticed this slight eye change, but couldn't quite place where he's seen it before. It looked similar to the look of anger and hatred, but more intense, almost like...

Now recognizing the look, Dark shrouded himself in a thin layer of shadows just before Shining leaped across the table at him with his horn alight. Shining, instead of tackling into Dark as he planned, phased through him and into the backrest of his chair, toppling over it before rolling across the floor. Looking up with murderous eyes, Shining could see the shadows starting to reform into Dark. But before he could take another charge, he found himself encased in a golden aura not belonging to him. Angrily, he turned his gaze to see that it was Celestia who was holding him in place.

"What are you doing?!" he barked. "You heard what he did to Twilight! He-"

"Did not do what you think," Celestia firmly said. "I've read the report from Doctor Cura. The plan was for him to share his body heat with Twilight. Nothing more happened during or after that."

"But what about when Twilight and Dark started making out which caused us to not see them until later that night?" Pinkie wondered.

"WHAT?!" Shining shouted before firing a blast of magic at Dark's chest.

However, it simply passed harmlessly through him, leaving his head and shadowy wisps where his body was before they started to reform himself again. It was then that a purple bubble had formed around Shining.

"That's enough of this, Shining," Twilight told him with a slight hint of anger in her voice. "Calm down and get ahold of yourself, now!"

"But-"

"No buts! Besides, it was me who initiated that kiss, not him."

Snorting angrily, Shining turned to look away from them. Taking a page from Cadence's book, Shining began doing the breathing exercise that she'd taught Twilight. A few moments later, he was relaxed enough to not kill Dark... for now.

"Alright," he calmly said, "you can release me. I won't do anything more."

Cautiously, Celestia and Twilight released their spells and let Shining go. As he said, he didn't do anything to Dark as he made his way towards the dining hall doors.

"I've suddenly I lost my appetite, so if you'll excuse me, I'm going to get some sleep for tomorrow."

Dark kept himself shrouded incase of another surprise attack until Shining walked out of the dining hall and closed the doors behind him. With a sigh of relief, he receded the shadows back into his arms and wings before straightening his chair and sitting back in it. With things now starting to cool off, a light sniffling could be heard. While Dark had half-expected it to come from Twilight, it instead came from Spike, who was looking sorrowfully back up at him.

"I'm sorry," he choked, "I didn't mean for this to happen. I just wanted for it to end was all."

Not being able to be mad at him, Dark gave Spike a warm smile as he gently patted him on the head.

"It's alright, little buddy," he told him. "It was just an accident. Just remember to pick your words a little more carefully next time, alright?"

"Okay," he answered, wiping a few tears away.

"Well, I believe that that's enough moping for one dinner," Luna piped up before conjuring a photo beside her. "Now, perhaps you could explain to me what's happened in this picture?"

Brining it over to Twilight and Dark to look at, they saw that it was the picture of them on the morning of the Prank Wars. Looking up, they could see the two sister looking in amusement at them.

"Discord's prank," Dark sighed, eliciting a round of giggles from those present.

"How did you get this?" Twilight asked.

"You can thank your faithful assistant for that," Celestia chuckled.

Immediately Twilight turned to face Spike, but before she could say anything to him, he was already out of his seat and booking it for the door.

"I'm heading off to bed too!" he called backed before slipping through the doors.

"Wait," Cadence spoke, "what did Discord do to you?"

Twilight looked over to Dark who gave her a reluctant nod before levitating it over to her sister-in-law. Once she saw it, her eyes widened. Not because of the color swap, but by what happened to Dark. It wasn't long after until she started laughing out loud at it, almost knocking herself off her chair. After a good minute of laughing, she was able to control it enough for her to speak again.

"I... I can't believe that actually happened."

"I still can't believe it either," Luna agreed as she looked over it again with Cadence. "But I have to admit that Dark does look rather cute as a mare."

Feeling his embarrassment overwhelming him now from the room of mares giggling and laughing at him, Dark slowly slid off his chair.

"I think that Spike and Shining have the right idea," he said as he started backing away. "If nopony needs me, I'll be heading to off to bed too."

"It's quite alright," Celestia smiled. "Tomorrow is a rather important day for you after all, isn't it?"

"Yeah, it is. Well then, in that case, you all have a nice night, thank you for dinner, and I'll see you all in the morning," he told everyone before nuzzling Twilight. "See you when you get there."

"Yeah. See you soon," she returned before letting him go off.

Once Dark closed the door after he left, he didn't waste any time in Shadowporting himself over to their room. It didn't take him more than ten seconds for him to get settled down in their bed.

Tomorrow is going to be emotional and stressful enough as it is, but now I have to deal with Shining on top of that, Dark thought with a tired sigh. If that's the case, then I better get as much sleep as I can before then.

Chapter 27- Meet the Parents

After spending some time waiting for Twilight and Cadence to removing their makeup and getting out of their royal regalia, the two mares and stallions were ready to leave... or were just about to. Shining was still wearing his Draconium armor and was being stubborn about leaving it behind, but that changed after a warning from Cadence, caused him to run to their room and remove his armor. Coming out of their room, Shining walked over to the others and made their way out.

Exiting the castle, Twilight took the lead with Dark by her side while Cadence and Shining stayed behind, mostly because Shining wanted to keep an eye on them to make sure they didn't try anything behind his back. Walking down the sidewalk of one of Canterlot's roads, Dark began glancing around nervously. Each step he took meant one more step to being closer to seeing Twilight's parents. And while he was happy to see her looking forward to this, he was having a hard time containing the worry that was building up. As he looked around, he saw ponies either going about their business, or glancing curiously at them. While there was nothing of any significance, there was one pony that had ducked down into an ally upon spotting them. Not paying him much mind since he only caught a brief glimpse, Dark's thoughts returned to the problem at hoof. Seeing as how distracted and silent Dark was being, Twilight decided to try and figure out what was up.

"Hey, Dark," she spoke to him. "Is everything alright? You look a bit distracted."

"Just a little nervous about meeting your parents is all," Dark sighed, causing Twilight to cock an eyebrow at him. "Alright, a bit more than just a little."

"Is it really so bad to meet them?"

"Well, no. It's just that... what if they don't like me? I don't want to mess up my first impression with them, and I'm already having myself a small freak-out over it."

"Dark, everything will be fine," she told him as she placed a reassuring wing on his shoulder. "They're both loving and understanding parents. Besides, I believe that you and my dad will get along just fine."

"Anything that I should know about them ahead of time?"

"Nothing really."

"What about when mom starts asking about foals?" Cadence asked behind them.

"C-Cadence!" Twilight nearly shouted with a maddening blush.

"What? You know she's going to ask."

"That doesn't mean that you should bring it up!"

"Mothers," Dark sighed with a headshake.

"No kidding," Shining agreed. "You wouldn't believe how she was the first time I brought Cadence home as my fillyfriend."

"Shining Armor," Twilight smiled, "are you actually helping Dark with this?"

"Oh, no. I'm just trying to make him even more nervous."

"Well, at least he's being honest about it," Dark grumbled.

"Don't you worry about him," Cadence assured him. "I'm sure that there'll be a nice dirty baby diaper for him to change when we get there."

"That's right, you and Twilight were saying something about a foal yesterday!"

Cadence giggled. "I take it that you like foals?"

"Definitely," Twilight answered for him. "You should've seen him with the Cake Twins. Now I wish that I had taken a picture of it to show to everypony."

"What happened?"

"Pound Cake flew onto Dark's muzzle and latched onto it giggling while Pumpkin Cake levitated herself onto his head and began munching on his ear."

Hearing the two giggling at this story, Dark turned away from them to hide his embarrassed blush while Shining rolled his eyes.

"Sounds like he's got a way with foals. I'll bet that he'll be a great father someday," Cadence commented, causing Twilight to go silent as her blush returned.

"It's quite a bit early to even start thinking about that, isn't it?" Dark questioned.

"You're darn right it is," Shining told him. "The day I let you two do that is the day that you beat me in a duel."

Dark cocked an eye at him. "You might want to reword that statement to something more in your favor."

"What? Do you really think that you can beat me?"

"Considering that it was Twilight who stopped me from barbequing you after you attacked me in Ponyville, I'd say yes."

"Easy you two," Twilight told them. "There'll be no fighting here on the road, sidewalk, or at home."

"Yes, Twilight," the two stallions answered simultaneously.

"Good," she smiled before looking back ahead of her. "It shouldn't be too far from mom and dad's house now. About another five blocks if my memory is correct."

"It's eight actually," Shining corrected.

"Really? Guess I've been away longer than I thought I have."

"When was the last time you saw them?" Cadence asked.

Twilight tapped her chin in thought before shrugging, clearly having no answer to that question.

"In that case, I believe that it's been a long time coming that you've visited them."

"I suppose so," Twilight replied before becoming all giddy again. "Ooh, I can't wait to see them again. They're going to be so surprised."

Dark chuckled at seeing how joyfully excited Twilight was being, making his worries about meeting her parents fade a little. They continued down the path for a while before a question came to Dark's mind.

"I just thought of something," he spoke up, "if that meeting was so important, then why wasn't Prince Blueballs there?"

Hearing what he said caused Shining to snort while the two princesses managed to stifle their giggles.

"When you say 'Blueballs'," Cadence began, "are you talking about Prince Blueblood?"

"Yeah?"

"Well, after how you saw him act yesterday, would you want Blueblood to attend such an important meeting like that?"

"... touché."

Another fifteen minutes passed before Twilight stopped in front of a nicely sized, white, two story house. Taking in a deep breath, Twilight walked up the small flight of stairs and knocked on the door. Patently waiting, they soon heard hoofsteps walking towards the door before it opened, revealing a middle-aged unicorn stallion with a light-blue coat, dark-blue mane, and bronze eyes. Seeing who it was at the door, the elder stallion smile widely before suddenly hugging Twilight.

"My little girl," he smiled. "It's great to see you again."

"Night? Who's at the door?" a voice in the house asked.

Turning around the corner was a middle-aged unicorn mare with a light-gray coat, a two-toned white and pink mane, and light-blue eyes. Seeing who was at the door, she rushed over and started peppering Twilight's face with kisses, causing her to laugh while trying to escape the loving assault.

"Hello, mom, dad," Twilight laughed.

"Oooh, sweetheart, we were so worried about you when we heard you got sick. How are you feeling?" her mother frantically asked.

"Perfectly fine, mom."

"Hello, Shining, Cadence."

"Hello," they both said.

Seeing the fourth party member, she stopped her kissing barrage on Twilight to look at him.

"And who is this?" she asked.

"Oh, right," Twilight said as she nervously shuffled her hooves together. "Mom, dad, this is Dark Flame, my coltfriend. Dark, this is Twilight Velvet and Night Light, my mom and dad."

Hearing that caused the two elder married couple to blink in surprise. As Velvet began looking between her daughter and her coltfriend, Night started eyeing him out. Feeling as though he was being judged, Dark figured this would be a good time to try and make a good impression on them.

"Umm... hello, sir, ma'am," he greeted. Sir and ma'am? What the hay was I thinking?!

His impression, while a little bit awkward, wasn't a total bust as Velvet smiled at him.

"Well, he seems polite enough," she commented. "Now why don't you kids come on in. Spike and Skyla have been playing together all morning and are currently taking a nap upstairs."

Giving his thanks, Dark followed in after the others into the house, seeing a staircase leading upstairs on his right before heading into the open living room to his left. It wasn't anything too special as a fireplace sat against the far wall with a shelf with pictures of their family and a pink crystal sitting on top of it, a window looking out over the streets on his left, and the kitchen to his right. Surrounding the fireplace were a few reclining chairs, a love seat, and a couch. Where Night took the recliner, Shining and Cadence took the love seat, and Twilight sat on the center of the couch, patting on the spot next to her for Dark to sit. Silently and nervously, he made his way over and sat himself down as Twilight started to lean up against him, an act of which caused Night and Shining to give Dark certain warning looks.

"Would anypony like something to drink?" Velvet suddenly asked.

"Some lemonade would be nice," Twilight requested.

"Same with me please," Cadence mimicked.

"Some cider for Shining and I if you would, hon," Night asked with Shining nodding.

"Alright," she said before turning to Dark. "And what about you, Dark?"

"Umm, I'm alright, thank you," he nervously said.

"Alright. If you change your mind, don't hesitate to ask," she told him before heading off into the kitchen to fetch their drinks.

There was an awkward silence for a while before Velvet returned, levitating a pair of ciders, lemonades, and a cup of tea for herself. After distributing the drinks and sitting down on the other side of Twilight, Velvet looked curiously to her daughter.

"So, sweetie," she began, "how is it that you two met?"

"You remember my friend Rainbow Dash?" Twilight asked, getting a nod in return. "Well, she and I were flying over the fields south of Ponyville when we found Dark lying unconscious on the ground."

"What happened that caused him to pass out like that?" Night asked.

"We don't know. His memories leading up to a few days prior to when we found him are lost to him, so nopony knows, not even him."

"That's sad to hear," Velvet said before looking over to Dark. "So then, what do you do for a living?"

"Used to work as a blacksmith," Dark answered.

"Really now?" Night inquired. "What happened?"

"It... got burned down. Now I'm working on the Apple's apple farm in Ponyville as a workhoof."

"From smithing to farming. That's quite a different job, isn't it?"

"Yeah," Dark chuckled. "It took me a while to get it right, and for me to figure out a way for me not to accidentally get my tail caught while bucking the trees."

"Speaking of your tail," Velvet began, "what are you exactly? You look like a pony, but at the same time, you're not."

"I'm a kirin," he explained. "They're the hybrid offspring of a pony and a dragon."

"So one of your parents is a dragon?"

"Not exactly. You see, both of my parents were ponies, no dragons. The reason why I'm a kirin is because I was turned into one."

"But what kind of magic can do that?" Night questioned.

"The type that nopony should be exploring. This was caused by a dying dragon in an attempt to preserve his life."

"How does that work?"

"All that I know is that he used some magic to insert his soul into my body. Good thing too, otherwise I'd be a goner."

"So you have two souls inside you?" Velvet asked.

"That's correct. Apparently he wanted to use my body as his new vessel of sorts, but I was somehow able to make his soul take a back seat while mine remains in control."

"That's quite a story," Night said before looking over to Twilight. "Speaking of dragons, how was the meeting with that king?"

"Oh... that. Well, do you know about the circumstances behind it?" Twilight asked.

"Just that it was about a village that was attacked by dragons."

"Alright then, so about as much as Cadence and Shining knew. In that case, I'll make this quick and simple. Dark was from that village, and he's an only survivor."

"Oh, dear, I'm so sorry to hear about that," Velvet said. "Are you doing alright?"

"Yeah, I'm doing fine," Dark said with a slight nod.

"How did you manage to get away then if the others didn't?" Night asked.

"... let's just say that the dragon who changed me was very powerful, and his magic helped increase my own natural magic."

"Speaking of your magic," Velvet began, "what's your cutie mark? It looks like two different types of fires."

"Sorta. My special talent is fire magic and dark magic."

"Excuse me, I don't think I heard you right," Night said as he rubbed an ear with a hoof, "did you just say that your cutie mark pertains to dark magic? As in forbidden evil magics?"

"A bit harsh, but yes."

With a serious look on his face, Night turned to Twilight. "Sweetie-"

"We all already know about it," Twilight interrupted, "including the princesses. And before you start, Princess Celestia already gave Dark permission to practice dark magic."

"And?"

"And so far he's only mildly studied it. He's learned a few spells, but nothing harmful. There was even a time where Dark had to use one of them to help him see when he lost his eye sight."

"He lost his eyes?" Night questioned, causing Twilight to slap a hoof over her mouth. "How did that happen? And why are they restored now?"

As Shining, Cadence, and Twilight looked nervously to each other, it was Dark who spoke up with the answer. However, while he still didn't trust Shining all that much, he'd told Twilight that he'd not fight him, which would've more than likely happened if he didn't answer this right.

"There was an... accident, and my eyes got cut," Dark told the parents. "As for how they got healed... well... you can thank Discord for that."

"You mean the Lord of Chaos healed you?"

"It was actually Fluttershy who asked him to," Twilight told them.

"Yeah, it was kinda neat. All she did was call out for him and there he was," Dark added.

"It sounds like you tend to get yourself into a bit of trouble," Night observed.

"It's not like I'm trying to. For some reason, trouble seems to find me."

"While we're on the subject of trouble, I heard from a few nobles that Prince Blueblood was threatened yesterday by an orange-colored stranger," he said as he eyed Dark suspiciously. "You wouldn't by chance know anything about that, would you?"

"Little pansy," Dark muttered to himself before answering Night. "I might."

"And why did you threaten a royal prince?"

"Because the prick wouldn't stop bothering Twilight."

Night cocked an eye brow at Dark. "Continue."

"He tried asking Twilight out to his suite for dinner, she said no. He held onto her hoof tighter and asked her again, to which she again denied. It was the third time that I had enough, grabbed his foreleg, and told him that he'd lose it if he didn't let her go and leave her alone."

"And you actually would've done it?" Shining questioned.

"To be honest, I was ready to do it long before it got to that point, but Twilight shook her head telling me not to."

"Well, I think that you just might've earned a few points with me there for protecting my little sister."

"... did you just compliment me?" Dark surprisingly asked.

"Don't get me wrong," he corrected, "I still don't trust you with her, but at least I known that you won't let ponies like Blueblood be like that with her."

"Admit it, Shiny," Cadence smirked, "you're starting to warm up to him."

"Not on his life."

Dark just shrugged. "One small victory at a time I guess."

"I still don't like you, just to be clear."

"Yeah, yeah, I know."

"Something going on between you two?" Velvet asked.

"Shiny's just being a protective big brother for me," Twilight told her.

Seeming to buy it, Night nodded before his attention was drawn towards the creaking of the stairs. Looking over, they saw Spike quietly walking down before seeing everyone present. Upon spotting Twilight, Spike ran around the couch and jumped up to hug is surrogate sister.

"Hey, Twilight," Spike said smiling happily. "How did the meeting go?"

"Umm... well, Spike..." she tried to explain, but didn't want to tell him about what happened with Dark.

Patting the little dragon on the head, Dark took over. "There were a few hiccups, but other than that, it went well."

"Great. So, how did the king look?"

"He has red scales with orange spines and eyes, and he stood almost as tall as the ceiling in the throne room."

"Whoa. But wait, how did they get in then?"

"Magical amulet that shrank them to fit inside," Twilight explained.

"That's neat," he said before plopping down on Twilight's lap and leaning back against her.

"You're looking rather comfortable," Dark said as Spike gave out a satisfied sigh.

"You're just jealous that it's me sitting here like this and not you," Spike smirked.

Feeling embarrassed, Dark covered his face with a wing. "Why didn't I see that coming?"

"Is this what it's usually like for you, sweetie?" Velvet asked Twilight.

"Just about," she sighed. "Spike will tease Dark, and Dark will tease Spike back. But it's all in good fun in the end, and they'll just laugh about it later on."

"Sounds like they get along pretty well."

"Yeah, they do."

"I'll bet that he's good with foals too," Velvet smirked, causing Twilight to blush.

"Well... yes, he is."

"So then, should we be expecting any happy news soon?"

"Mother!" Twilight wined as she too began hiding her face behind her wings, which in turn caused Spike to start laughing at them.

"I told you she'd ask you, Twily," Cadence said.

"I know, but it's still embarrassing," she said, her voice muffled behind her feathery wings. "And he's sitting right here."

"If it helps, I'm just as embarrassed as you are, Twilight," Dark told her while still behind his own wings.

"Oh, come on now, dear," Velvet said, patting Twilight's shoulder. "It's nothing to be so embarrassed about."

"But we've only been officially together for two weeks," Twilight said, peeking an eye over her wing.

"Officially you say? Then how long have you two been together 'unofficially'?"

They looked to each other before Dark replied. "If we had to say, it would be roughly three weeks."

"So what made it official?" Night asked.

"When I finally asked her to be my fillyfriend. I tried asking her before, but I got interrupted."

"And I even tried making an advancement on him, but like with Dark, I was interrupted," Twilight added.

"I wonder how that happened?" Shining mockingly asked.

"Shining," Cadence warningly spoke. "Be nice."

"I am being nice. Besides, what can you say to them about me that's not as embarrassing as mom talking to them about foals?"

Cadence smirked mischievously. "How about the fact that you cried the first time we did it?"

Upon hearing that, Dark and Spike both shot a small stream of flame out of their noses before falling onto the floor laughing loudly, Twilight and Velvet both sat with their mouths agape, Night was holding his sides while laughing as loud as Dark and Spike, and Shining was sitting there frozen in place from her letting that secret out. After a few minutes of this going on, Cadence waved a hoof in front of Shining to try getting his attention... it didn't work.

"I... I think you broke him!" Dark said in-between laughs.

"Um... wow, Shiny..." Twilight tried speaking, but was at a loss of words.

"Shining my boy," Night chuckled, getting his laughing fit under control, "you've just made my week."

They continued their laughing spree for a few more moments until a sound caught their ears. Quieting down their laughter, they could hear the cries of a foal from upstairs.

"Oh, dear," Velvet sighed. "Now we've done it."

"I'll go get her," Cadence said as she got up to go fetch her daughter.

Picking themselves back up, Dark and Spike hopped back on the couch while Shining was finally snapped out of his shock by the sound of his foal crying. A few minutes later, Cadence walked back in with a little alicorn foal in her hold who had her mother's mane colors, her father's blue eyes, and a coat a few shades darker than her mother's. Of course, seeing her caused Dark start smiling at how cute and adorable the little filly was, especially after she cutely yawned from being woken up.

"Look, Skyla," Cadence softly spoke to her little daughter, "Aunty Twilight is here."

Understanding her mother, the little foal turned her head to Twilight and started reaching her little hooves out to her while making baby sounds. Laughing lightly at her eagerness, Cadence brought Skyla over to Twilight and put her in her forelegs while Spike scooted over between her and Dark to make room. Looking down at her little niece, Twilight giggled and started to gently nuzzle Skyla while she tried to wrap her forelegs around Twilight's face.

"Hello there, Skyla," Twilight softly greeted her, causing the baby filly to start making happy gurgling sounds while bearing a toothless smile.

To Dark, seeing Twilight holding her niece like that was one of the most heartwarming sights that he'd seen. Then again, little foals always make things cuter. Noticing the look that Dark was giving them, she brushed his shoulder with a wing to get his attention.

"You want to hold her?" she asked.

Glancing from Twilight and the foal to her parents, Dark saw that while Cadence smiled, Shining appeared to be in protective father mode.

"Thank you, Twilight, but I don't think that's such a good idea," Dark told her. "You know, with me being a complete stranger to her and all."

"Well, would you like to say hi to her at least?"

Seeing Shining relaxing a little bit, Dark figured that it wouldn't hurt. With a nod, Twilight turned to him and presented to him the foal in her forelegs. Skyla, who was looking intently at Twilight, turned her head to see the new face in the house. Cautiously, Dark lowered his head down, but was careful to not get too close incase she didn't like him.

"Hello, little Skyla," Dark softly spoke to her.

Seeing as she wasn't crying, Dark slowly lifted a claw closer to her, but didn't touch. That was, until she lifted her hooves up and started touching his claw. A few moments later, she grabbed it and guided it down closer for her to inspect. She felt the rest of his claws, seemingly already familiar with them thanks to Spike before she started munching on one of them.

"Seems like she likes you," Twilight observed.

"Looks like it," Dark slowly said. "But I'd still rather not take any chances just yet."

Hearing his voice again, Skyla looked up from the claw in her mouth to Dark's face. Looking back down to her, he saw that she removed his claw from her mouth and grip, and was now reaching her little hooves up to him. With a mental shrug, Dark lowered his head down so she could touch it. And like with the Cake Twins, Skyla began poking, prodding, and feeling Dark's face. It wasn't until she started poking his mouth that he playfully munched on her hoof with his lips, causing the little filly to happily squeal. Feeling like she was alright with him, Dark leaned down and softly nuzzled her, causing her to laugh as she tried to hug his face. Retreating his head, Dark saw her looking back up to him, still laughing and holding her forelegs out to him.

"I'd say that she likes you," Cadence smiled. "You can go ahead and hold her if you want."

With a slight look on unease, Dark looked from Cadence to Twilight, who smiled back at him before giving him the foal to hold. Taking Skyla in his arms, Dark got her cradled down in the crook of his arm before looking down to see her squirming around and trying to bury herself into his coat. Hearing a tired yawn from her, Dark also used his wing to help him hold her.

"Looks like somepony's tired," Velvet said looking at the little foal. "And comfortable too."

"It's probably Dark's body temperature," Twilight said. "Since Dark's a kirin, that also means that he has a fire sac like Spike does, which makes him warmer and more snuggly. Kinda like one of those heat blankets."

"Looking at our little granddaughter, I'd guess so," Night nodded before looking over to Dark. "You seem like you know what you're doing."

"I used to help my mom foalsit back... before then," Dark solemnly said before redirecting his attention to the foal in his arms.

"While we're talking about foals," Velvet began, "how about we look at the family album?"

"Mom?" Twilight questioned. "You're not going to start showing Dark embarrassing baby photos of me, are you?"

"Why not?"

"Yeah, Twilight," Dark smirked. "Why not? Besides, you've already poked at my memories and found some embarrassing things about me."

"It's decided then," Velvet smiled before getting up. "Honey, would you mind getting the family album for me while I get us some more drinks?"

"Sure, dear," Night answered before walking towards the stairs.

"And, Dark, would you like something to drink this time?"

Dark sighed in defeat. "A lemonade if it's alright?"

"Of course, dear. Same as before with everypony else?" she asked, getting sounds of confirmation from them.

"You don't drink?" Shining questioned.

"I tired, but alcohol isn't for me. Plus, it leaves a bad taste in my mouth and makes my breath smell bad," Dark answered.

"What's wrong? Can't handle your liquor?"

"Just the opposite actually. Since I'm part dragon, alcohol doesn't affect me. Even a full bottle of Applejack's hard apple cider didn't even get me so much as tipsy."

"... so you can drink without any repercussions, but just don't want to?"

"Pretty much."

"Hey, kids," Night called as he reached the bottom stairs, "I found the album."

"Perfect timing, dear," Velvet said as she walked back in with everyone's drinks.

"Great. Now, everypony gather around on the floor so we can embarrass you kids some more," he chuckled.

Following his words, everyone gathered around Night as he opened to the first page while Velvet passed out the drinks.

"Now, we're going to skip ahead from when your mother and I met, and go straight for the baby photos."

"Daaaad," Twilight and Shining whined in unison.

"Oh come now, Shining," Velvet spoke up, "you should be used to this by now. As for you, Twilight, it's about time that you got your fill like your brother has."

With a small groan, Twilight took Dark's wing and draped it around her to hide herself from them.

"I can't watch," Twilight said under his wing, which to the others looked more like an orange blanket than a wing.

"I just now noticed," Night spoke before starting, "why is it that your wings have fur and not feathers or dragon scales?"

"The dragon who turned me was a Scaleless Dragon," Dark explained, "so when he merged with me, the wings that I sprouted had fur on them."

"So you weren't born with them?"

"Nope. I was born a unicorn and got these wings after we merged."

"Huh, neat," Night said before turning back to the album. "Anyway, let's start with Shining Armor."

"Do we have to?" Shining complained.

"You are up first, so why not?"

Turning to the first of many baby photos, everyone saw a picture of Velvet holding a newly born Shining Armor. Of course, everyone didn't think it was embarrassing, but rather that it was cute, especially with how big his eyes were. Next up were pictures of him covered in baby food, and a few of him taking a bath. Those were the ones that caused them to laugh while he tried to shy away. Next up were baby pictures of Twilight. While she had poked her head out from behind Dark's wing to see the photos of Shining, seeing hers come up caused her to hide again. Like with Shining, Twilight's first photo was with her mom holding her just hours after birth with an anxious Shining Armor looking up at her.

"Aww, she looks so cute," Dark gushed, causing Twilight to squeak.

"That she does," Night chuckled before turning the next page. "Ah, now here we have Shining trying to feed Twilight."

"That was the last time I ever tried to feed her," Shining said as he looked over the photo of him covered in baby food while baby Twilight looked to be laughing at him.

"It was so cute how you would try to feed her, though," Velvet smiled. "Ohh, and here they are playing together in the bathtub."

"Hehehe, you two look so cute together," Dark chuckled.

"Guys don't do cute," Shining pouted.

"Really? Because I was told that I pull it off pretty well."

"What do you mean by that?"

His words catching up to him, Dark slapped his free claw over his mouth, but the damage was done as he looked under his wing to see Twilight giving him a mischievous smirk. Knowing what she was thinking, Dark's eyes widened.

"Nooo. Twilight, don't you dare," Dark warningly told her.

"Oh, I dare," she said back before popping her head out to speak to everypony there. "You remember the Prank Wars our friends and I hold each year?"

"Yes. It's how you caught the Feather Flu, right?" Velvet answered.

"... yeah. Anyway, Dark got pranked pretty hard," Twilight giggled. "Guess what happened to him? And no, Spike, you can't tell them, same with you, Cadence."

"Did he get that classic pie to the face prank?" Velvet wondered.

"Nope."

"Is it the old hoofshake buzzer?" Night asked.

"Nope."

"Did he get castrated?" Shining joked.

"... actually," Dark slowly began, "you're not too far off."

"Wait," Velvet quickly spoke, "does that mean no grandfoals from you and Twilight?"

"Mom! Please!" Twilight whined. "No, that's not it. What happened was that Dark got turned into a mare for the day."

"... say what now?" Night questioned.

Dark sighed. "Discord was apart of the Prank Wars too and decided that it would be funny to turn me into a mare for the day."

Shining was about to burst out laughing when they heard Skyla tiredly coo. Remembering the sleeping foal in the room, Shining instead went for silently laughing at Dark.

"So, Dark," Cadence said while struggling to hold back her own laughter, "how was it being a mare?"

"Super awkward. Not only that, but our friends also decided to dye our coats to match the others. So Twilight got my coat and mane colors, and I got hers."

"So you had to spend all day walking around Ponyville looking like a kirin version of Twily?"

"Pretty much," he sighed.

"Thankfully," Twilight said taking over, "everypony knew what that day was for us and didn't bother to question it."

"Didn't help that Spike went on ahead and gave every guard and the princesses a photo of us like that."

"Totally worth it," Spike happily said.

"Anyway," Dark redirected, "I believe that we were looking at some baby photos?"

"Yes, right," Night said before turning to the next page. "Aww, this ones cute. Twilight's first birthday."

"That's a lot of frosting."

"I still don't know how she got all of that frosting on her face," Velvet chimed. "I didn't even think that there was that much to start with."

"All I remember was that it was banana cream flavored," Twilight spoke, earning her looks from the others.

"How is it that you remember that?" Night questioned. "It was your first birthday."

"I have no idea," she shrugged. "I just do."

"Oh, here's a good one," Velvet said pointing to a photo in the bottom corner. "Here's a picture of when Shining first met Cadence at the playground."

"Wow, Shining. That young and you were chasing fillies around already?" Dark smirked.

"Actually," Night began to correct, "it was Cadence that was chasing around Shining."

"Really?"

Cadence blushed. "I might've had a small schoolfilly crush on Shining when I saw him."

"And I'm glad you did," Shining said before kissing her.

"I think that we're all glad that you did," Twilight smiled before looking down to see her niece still asleep in Dark's arm. "You think we should put her to sleep in her crib?"

"Probably should," Cadence agreed once their kiss finally ended. "Though I don't think that she'll like moving from her current napping spot."

"Well, you're her mom, and if you say that she probably should, then I guess it better be," Dark said before handing the Skyla over to her mother, the sudden shift causing her to whimper. "It's alright, little one. You're going back to mama now."

Taking Skyla into her magic hold, Cadence brought the filly over to her and held her close.

"It's alright, mommy's here," she cooed, causing the baby's whimpering to go silent upon hearing her mother's voice.

With her sleeping peacefully again, Cadence started making her way up to put Skyla down in her crib to sleep. Once she was up the stairs, Velvet was the first to speak up.

"You really are good with foals," she said.

"I actually think I got lucky with her," Dark replied. "I'm usually nervous when meeting foals that young and am afraid that I might scare them."

"Why would they be afraid of you?" Twilight asked. "You're definitely kind and gentle enough with them."

"Yes, but you never know with them. I saw one foal who was afraid of their grandmother just because she wore glasses. Now, if little Skyla saw these," he said before opening his maw and pointing at his fangs, "how do you think she'd react? The poor little thing would probably be scared to dea- actually, never mind that last part."

"I suppose she would be scared of you if she did see them."

"I know it makes me a little uneasy," Night said.

"Now, dear, there's no need to get nervous just because he's got sharp teeth," Velvet told him. "Besides, we've been around Spike enough that we should be used to it by now."

"I am used to sharp teeth. What I'm not used to is them being that big, and on a pony no less."

Dark was about to correct him until he thought it would probably be better for him not to.

"Then again," Night continued, "perhaps I'm just being an old worrywart."

"It's alright, sir," Dark said, "I understand that you're not entirely comfortable with me."

"Well, I'm glad to see that you're reasonable about it," he said with an approving nod.

"Didn't sound very reasonable with that Gunter guy," Shining said.

Hearing that name caused Dark to glare at him.

"Never speak his name around me," he hissed... literally.

"Dark," Twilight softly spoke as she gently rubbed his back with a hoof, "is what you said about him being a traitor true?"

"Yes, plus you guys heard him admit that, right?"

"We did. It's just that I still find it hard to believe that a pony would betray another pony like that."

"Well, it unfortunately did."

"So then that's why you never wanted to talk about how you got that scar of yours?"

"Yeah," he sighed.

"So what happened to him exactly?" Shining questioned. "I heard you say that you attacked him, but why didn't he have a mane or tail, and how is it that he was covered in so much metal plating?"

"After he betrayed me, I used my magic to set his body on fire."

"Come again?" Night questioned. "You set a pony on fire?"

"The guy pretended to be my friend so that he could betray me to the dragons for his own personal gain. And in doing so, he would've handed the village over to them, which he admitted that he was alright with."

"Sounds like a pony who deserves to burn in Tartarus."

"Why do you think I chose to set him on fire?" Dark questioned. "He was already going to, I just helped progress it."

"So those metal plates are covering the damaged skin?" Twilight guessed.

"That would be my guess. I honestly didn't expect him to have survived that. General Razor Claw must've brought him back to the Dragon Kingdom with him. It's the only explanation for how he still became aligned with them and why he's still alive."

"Sounds like this meeting was rather exciting," Spike chimed.

"Like I said, it had a few hiccups."

"Apparently," Night said before Shining started whispering in his hear, causing him to raise an eyebrow. "You know, that's not too bad of an idea there, Shining. Maybe a little bit much, but I don't see the harm in it."

"What are you two talking about?" Velvet asked.

"Shining just gave me the idea of taking Dark out for a little bit, if you two are alright with it."

"How long do you think you'll take?"

"An hour or two," Shining shrugged. "Depends really."

"As long as you three are back before dinner."

"Can I come with you guys?" Spike asked them.

"Sorry, buddy," Shining said rubbing Spike's head, "but it's just the three of us."

"So, what do you think, Dark?" Night asked.

"... well... " Dark was trying to say, but felt Twilight tapping him on his shoulder.

Turning his head towards her and leaning down, Twilight leaned up to whisper to him.

"I say that you should go," she told him.

"Are you sure?" he whispered back. "I mean, this is Shining we're talking about. You know, the guy who's tried to kill me once, twice if you count dinner last night."

"I know, but my dad will be there too. And knowing Shiny, he won't do anything to you while dad's around. Besides, this'll be the perfect time for you to bond with them, and to make Shining warm up to you."

"Alright, if you say so," he said, earning him a small peck on his cheek for trying before turning to Night and Shining. "Alrighty then. So, where are we going?"

"We have an place in mind if you don't mind a little walk," Shining told him.

"In that case, after you two," Dark said before finishing off his cup of lemonade. "Thank you for the drink, ma'am."

"You're welcome, and please, you don't have to call me 'ma'am'," she told him.

"In that case, is it alright if I can call you Velvet then? If it's all the same to you, I'd rather not call you by your first name."

"I wouldn't think that you would with my daughter having the same name," she laughed.

"Yeah. It would get a little confusing," Twilight giggle.

"Well then, we'll be off," Night called back was he lead the two younger stallions to the door. "We should be back in an hour, two tops."

"So," Velvet began as she looked at the clock, "it's 5:30 P.M. right now, so you three will be back by 7:30 at the latest?"

"We should," Shining answered.

"You three have fun," Twilight said as she waved them goodbye.

Few seconds after they left the house, Cadence came back down from tucking Skyla away. Confused as to where the guys were, she looked to Twilight and Velvet.

"Where are the guys?" she asked.

"They went to hang out before dinner," Twilight answered.

"... are you sure that it's a good idea to let Shining be with Dark like this?"

"With dad around, everything will be fine."

"Is something wrong with those two?" Velvet asked. "Because I've seen Shining giving Dark the stink eye."

"Well..." Twilight tried explaining. "Shining might've found out about Dark beforehoof and handled it badly."

Velvet sighed. "I know that he can be protective of you, but honestly, he really should lighten up about it. Dark actually seems like a decent stallion."

"There are very few things that would set Dark off, and most of them are in another kingdom."

"I don't think that we'll have to worry about him," Cadence said before making her way towards the kitchen. "Now, do we have anything that I can munch on? I'm feeling drained and need to replenish myself."

"Why would you feel drained? And what took you so long in putting Skyla to sleep anyway?" Twilight asked.

"Well," she began with a slight blush, "she was hungry, so I had to feed her."

"... oh."

"So, Dark," Night started to say as he, Shining, and Dark made their way down the sidewalk, "I never got to ask you where you've been staying since my daughter found you."

"... oh," Dark nervously spoke. "Well... with Twilight actually."

"... you mean to tell me that she's been letting you live with her?"

"I told her that I would take an inn when we first met, but she said that she wouldn't allow it."

"And now you're living under the same roof as an unmarried couple?"

"... yes?"

"... you know, kid, you're not helping yourself here," Night firmly spoke. "That being said, I admire your honesty."

"Thank you?"

"But that doesn't mean that I approve. If nothing else, you'll just have to prove yourself further to me."

"Say what now?"

"Have you been to the Canterlot Coliseum yet?"

"No, sir, but it's on my list of places to visit. Twilight and Cadence have explained it to me and it sounds like it would be fun."

"Well, you're in luck then," he told Dark as the Coliseum came into view, "because if you want my approval, then you'll have to fight to earn it."

"But I thought that you liked me?"

"Perhaps a little bit. While I'm happy for my little girl, I'm still not so sure about you. From what I understand, you have a rather violent history-"

"I lived in a village that was attacked by dragons on a weekly basis, so of course my history is filled with violence," Dark defended himself.

"-you use dark magic-"

"It's apart of my cutie mark, thus apart of who I am. Surely you can't blame that on me since I was born to it."

"-but the biggest reason is because of Blueblood," he finally finished.

"... I'm not following."

"From what I've heard, that prince is a royal pansy. He won't get his hooves dirty, so he'll just get somepony else to do it for him instead. More than likely somepony bigger, and with a lot of fighting experience. While I am proud of what you did for my daughter, you should expect to face stronger foes now that you've made an enemy of him."

"So you're having me fight as a way to prepare me to defend Twilight if need be, and to prove to you that I can do it?"

"Long story short, yes."

"I suppose I should be thanking you then. In that case, I'll be more than happy to prove myself to you, sir."

"And that's another thing," Night said. "The 'sir' thing, while respectable, is also a little annoying to me, so you can call me Night if you want."

"Yes, si- I mean, yes, Night," Dark corrected himself.

"Good. Now let's hurry up," he ordered the two before they broke into a gallop straight for the Coliseum.

In a shady store located in Downtown Canterlot, a young stallion was pacing around angrily. He'd almost been seen by Dark as he was casually walking down the streets of Canterlot earlier that day.

"Damn that Dark," he said to nopony. "Why is he here in Canterlot? And with the royal couple and that princess no less?"

His ranting was interrupted as two hooded-cloaked ponies entered his store. One wearing a tattered, gray cloak, while the other's was an ivory-white. Not wanting to risk being discovered, he dawned his own cloak, threw the hood up, and went out front to greet his customers that entered the shop that he'd recently "inherited" from his dead "Uncle".

"Welcome," he half-heartedly welcomed them. "Is there something specific that you're looking for?"

"Yes, hello," the ivory one returned with a haughty tone. "I was wondering if you had any special items."

Getting the meaning, he gestured the two to follow him into the back room. Closing the door behind them, the shopkeeper then turned to face them.

"Anything specifically special that you're looking for?"

"Ugh, just tell him already!" the gray one said impatiently. "I want him dead as soon as possible. Plus I have to be back within the hour, less I feel my boss' wrath."

"Be silent you peasant!" the ivory one barked.

"Have you forgotten of whom I serve?"

"I know, but as much as I want Dark gone too, we can't run into this rashly and have the princesses discover us. For this, we must be subtle about it."

Hearing this name got the shopkeeper's attention.

"You wouldn't by chance be talking about Dark Flame now, would you?" he asked, causing his visitors to snap their attentions to him.

"You know him?" the ivory one asked.

The shopkeeper glared beneath his hood. "I've tried to kill that bastard several time now, each of which ending in failure. I now patiently wait here running this shop until I can make my move during the spring... or if an opportune moment should present itself."

"If you want him dead too," the gray one began before lowering his hood, "then perhaps we can come to an agreement."

The shopkeeper's eyes widened at who was standing before him. He had heard that he was dead, thought, by the looks of half of his body being covered in metallic plates, it wouldn't be much of a stretch to say that he was half-dead. It was then that the shopkeeper began to chuckle, which gradually turned to maniacal laughter.

"OH, YES!" he gleefully shouted. "Gunter, the Betrayer, you have found yourself an ally with me."

"How do you know about me?"

"I know things," the shopkeeper smirked before turning to the ivory one. "And who would you be?"

"Like I am about to reveal myself to a lowly leech like you," he huffed. "Besides, I must keep my identity a secret from the nobles and royals."

"If you want my cooperation, then you will tell me. Besides, I have my secrets as well. Why do you think that I'm still wearing this cloak while indoors?"

"... very well then," he relented before revealing himself. "I am Prince Blueblood. Now that I have revealed myself, it's time that you showed who you are."

"... fine," the shopkeeper too relented before dropping his hood, eliciting a loud gasp from Gunter.

"What is it?" Blueblood asked his him.

"You," Gunter whispered, his eyes wide like he'd seen a ghost.

"Yes, me," the shopkeeper smirked. "Me, me, me. Now, if you tell anypony or dragon about me, I'll kill you."

"What happened to your head?"

"None of your business, that's what."

"Enough of this!" Blueblood snapped. "Now tell me who this pony is. You seem to be familiar with each other."

"... all you need to know about this guy is that he's with us and that he wants Dark just as dead as we do, if not more."

"Very well then, but how much more are you talking about?"

"You heard about the attack on Ponyville, right?" the shopkeeper asked.

"Yes, what about it?"

He wickedly grinned. "That was my doing, all to either kill Dark, or make him suffer by losing what was most precious to him."

Blueblood went silent for a moment before speaking back up. "That was you?"

"Yes. Now, I believe that we have business to discuss. Also, it should go without saying that what anypony sees or hears in this room is to never be spoken of again, less we all become executed."

"Agreed," Gunter and Blueblood replied in unison.

"Good. Now that we've agreed to our little... partnership, we can begin. So, what is it that you want?"

Reaching beneath their cloaks, Gunter brought out a golden woven bracelet while Blueblood brought out a piece of glass the size of his hoof, and sat them both on a nearby table. Taking a look at them, the shopkeeper became curious.

"What's up with this piece of-"

"Be careful with that!" Blueblood nearly shouted. "That isn't just a mirror fragment!"

"... seriously? A mirror fragment is your big plan?"

"Be silent and listen. What we have here is a fragment of a mirror portal." This got the two other stallions' attention as Blueblood continued. "It used to be in the Crystal Empire, but during its transfer to Princess Twilight's castle, it became damaged. Something about a gray pegasus mare with a blond mane and weird eyes, but I digress. Anyway, it secretly went into repairs at Canterlot Castle, and this shard came from it. Princess Celestia was so careful to keep it a secret from the common ponies that she didn't even see me come in and snatch the shard away."

"... you said that it came from a mirror portal?" the shopkeeper questioned.

"Not just a portal, but one that leads to an entirely different dimension. A parallel one in fact."

"Interesting. So then, what's the plan?"

"Do you have a magical focusing lens?"

"I might have one or two laying around."

This pleasant news brought a sinister grin to Blueblood. "Then here's the plan; You need to somehow craft these three pieces together to make a magical amulet. Once you do, somepony will have to use it on Dark and send him to that dimension. Here's the tricky part, though. The power in the mirror fragment will have enough magic for only one use, so whoever fires it cannot miss."

"So we're going to banish him to another dimension," Gunter summarized.

"Correct."

The shopkeeper smirked. "You're not thinking big enough."

"Excuse me?" Blueblood questioned dangerously.

"I can make this amulet of yours, but I can also do more to contribute."

"Go on."

"You said that this is a parallel dimension, meaning that there'll be a version of all three of us there. My plan is that after I craft this amulet, I'll make contact with my other self and tell him ahead of time. Once we banish Dark, he'll be there to fight him." His smirk grew more sinister as he began to madly chuckle. "And here's the best part. When they fight, either he'll kill Dark, or Dark will kill him and spend the rest of his life in their dungeons for murder. Regardless of the outcome, Dark will either be dead, or he'll be locked away in the place that we banished him to."

"... I'm starting to like you," Blueblood complimented. "For a peasant that is."

"How long until you can have this amulet ready?" Gunter wondered.

Looking over the materials, the shopkeeper figured out a rough estimate.

"Probably a week at the earliest, but most likely it'll be closer to two," he replied.

"Good to know. Now, if you two will excuse me, I need to get going before King Inferno uses me as a trip snack," Gunter said before throwing his hood back on and turning to the door.

"Before you go," the shopkeeper said as he rummaged through some stuff and brought out a bottle, "take this with you."

"What is it?" he asked as he eyed the bottle filled with a dark-blue liquid.

"It's a potion that'll allow you to communicate with us, seeing as you won't be around to stay in touch with."

"How much?"

"Considering we're partners, and that it's for this operation, it's free. Just be sure to not drink it until you reach your king's castle or whatever he lives in. It only has a two week duration, so that way it'll still be active when we set our plan in motion."

"Great," he said as he tucked the potion away. "In that case, I best be off."

The traitorous stallion then ran out of the shop, leaving the two remaining stallions alone together. Once he was sure he was gone, Blueblood turned back to the shopkeeper.

"That wasn't a potion, was it?" he questioned, his eyes narrowed.

"How'd you know?" the shopkeeper smirked.

"There's no potion of that color."

"True. What I gave him was a bottle of nightshade mixed in with some food coloring to make it not look like a bottle of poison."

"And you just told him to drink it why?"

"Do you not recall how I called him 'the Betrayer'?"

"Yes, I do."

"Then tell me why you think it would be a good idea to trust somepony like that?"

"I see your point, but what's stopping you from doing the same to me?"

"Poisoning a royal would draw too much attention and be far too dangerous. Besides, he knew of my identity, and I did tell him that I would kill him if he told anypony about me. And wouldn't you know it, he told you about me." He paused for a moment to gleefully chuckle at the soon to be ironic death. "It's rather ironic I think, how the betrayer has become the betrayed, and he doesn't even know it."

Dark stood dumbfounded as he stood before the Coliseum gates. He knew that it was big, but this was far bigger than what he'd thought it would be. It didn't help him that the outside of the stadium was lit by hundreds of torches, making it look even more grand to him than before. As he continued to stare at this wonder, Night chuckled at him before poking his side.

"Hey, Dark," he called, snapping him from his stupor. "Come on, the sign-in booth is this way."

Following Night and Shining, the three made their way in. Walking through the monstrous two-foot thick gates, they soon came to a booth ran by a tan pegasus with a black mane and green eyes who was roughly Night's age, being flanked by a pair of security guards. Upon seeing the three, the older stallion's face lit up.

"Night Light, you old dog!" he warmly greeted.

"Good to see you too, First Strike," Night returned with a hoofbump before turning to Dark. "Dark, this is First Strike. He's a retired guard who works here as the match coordinator."

"Ah, so you brought in some fresh meat, eh? Does he know what he's getting into?"

"My daughters have already told him apparently."

"Alright," he nodded before turning to Shining. "Shining Armor, it's been a while since I've seen you here. You know, the crowd and gladiators here were starting to miss you. You'd always give them a good show."

"Hehe, that I did," Shining chuckled.

"Anyways, what can I do for you, Night?"

"Dark Flame here is here to prove his worth to me by competing in a one-on-one duel."

"Alright. Now does he have an opponent, or will we have to provide one for him?"

"We've got somepony in mind."

"Great. Just to let you know, there are a few matches ahead of him, so it's going to be roughly a forty minute waiting cue. So with that, new blood, why don't you follow this guy and he'll show you to the preparation room."

"Yes sir," Dark replied before following one of the guards away to prepare for his match.

"So then," First began once Dark was out of earshot, "who's this challenger of his?"

Forty-five minutes have passed since Dark entered this room. To his surprise, the damage absorber that was required to be worn by the competitors was actually a magical bracelet. Once he slapped that on, he was allowed to pick out from the varying selection of armors and weapons. He was again surprised by the vast number of gear that they had with hundreds of different types to choose from. Not wanting to be slowed down too much, Dark took some black pants, a black jacket, and a black waist cape, which all had hidden chainmail woven in-between the layers of cloth. Not wanting to go into this without a weapon, he went over to the weapons rack, picking out a greatsword before tossing it onto his back, a built-in enchantment on the jacket holding the sword firmly in place. Feeling just about ready, Dark then casted a fireproof spell on his gear so he wouldn't accidentally burn or melt them while fighting.

Hearing the horn blowing, Dark walked up to the metallic gate and walked into the next room. Soon as the first metallic gate slammed shut behind him, the one in front of him opened up, leading him into the arena. Despite the sun almost setting, Dark saw hundreds of ponies cheering in the stands, waiting for another good fight. As he walked towards the center of the arena, he saw Night sitting at the front row on the right side towards the center. Dark gave him a nod, which was returned before looking over to the opposing gate, wondering who his opponent would be. Looking up above him, Dark saw a crystal floating above the center of the arena projecting images of the arena itself with a pair of heath gauges at the top. Turning his attention away from the floating crystal, he began looking to the opposing gate before a voice echoed throughout the Coliseum.

"Welcome to the next battle!" the announcer spoke, causing the crowd to erupt. "Tonight we have a rather special match. A nopony versus a veteran, rather unfair if you ask me." The announces paused for a moment as half of the crowd began to laugh. "Now, without any further ado, I give you our first competitor, the newbie, Dark Flame!"

Hearing him being called a newbie caused the crowd to laugh again. Becoming annoyed by the mocking, Dark began to growl as a few flames left his maw. Resisting the urge to roar out loud and possibly blow out somepony's eardrum, he instead tried to calm himself.

Just calm down, he mentally told himself. Wait until the other guy shows up and silence them by beating him down.

"Alright everypony, that's enough for now," the announcer said. "Now, onto our other challenger. While I generally announce the name of our competitors, this pony I feel doesn't need one as he's already well known by the Coliseum, and throughout Equestria. And so, here he is!"

Seeing the other gates open, Dark patiently waited for his challenger to appear. He didn't care who it was, with Twilight's father's approval for him on the line, he wouldn't-

"What the hay?!" Dark shouted.

Walking through the darkness of the gates was Shining Armor in his Draconium armor, and with his Draconium sword attached to his hip. While the crowd was erupting at seeing Shining back, neither he nor Dark spoke until they were both standing thirty feet away from each other at the center of the arena.

"So, Dark," Shining began as he started drawing his sword, "ready for round two?"

Chapter 28- Dark vs Shining II

Celestia stood on the balcony to her room as she watched the last of her sun's rays disappear behind the horizon. It had been a long and stressful day between meeting the Dragon King and his General, the complaints from the nobles, and Blueblood's complaints about not being invited to this event, along with his complaint about Dark threatening him the day prior. While Celestia had to admit that she did find it somewhat amusing, she also couldn't help but wonder what it was that caused him to threaten Blueblood in the first place. Either way, it didn't matter to her as only one thing was on her mind.

I need a bath, she mused. A long, relaxing bubble bath that may or may not include a rubber ducky... or three.

Smiling at the thought of finally getting to relax, she started making her way to her personal bathroom before she heard knocking on her door. With a small disappointed sigh, she walked over and opened it to see one of Luna's night guards saluting her. Curious as to what he was doing there, Celestia gave him a confused look before he began to speak.

"Sorry for the interruption, Your Highness," he said with a bow, "but Princess Luna has requested your presence in the throne room. She says that it's important."

"A ruler's job is never done it seems," she tiredly sighed. "Alright. Let us make our way there."

"Yes, Princess," he saluted before escorting her to the throne room.

Following the night guard, Celestia couldn't help but wonder what could be so important that her sister would send one of her personal guards to fetch her. Normally she would be just fine on her own during her time as active princess, save for the occasional question or two, but Luna would always visit Celestia in person if it was about that. During the rest of their walk, Celestia continued to ponder what Luna wanted with her until they came to into view of the doors to the throne room. As she got closer, she could hear... cheering?

Opening the doors herself, she saw Iron Guard, a large number of her royal guards, and Luna's night guards all sitting down in front of the image crystal with candy bars, popcorn, a few carrot dogs, and lots and lots of beer. Some were even wearing beer hats in place of their helmets. Seeing her most loyal and disciplined guards acting like this was enough to make Celestia freeze in place, but what really got her attention was seeing Luna wearing her own beer hat of her own while standing over by a chalkboard with a stick of chalk in her magic, and a group of guards surrounding her. Shaking her head clear, Celestia walked over to her sister to find out what was going on here.

"Luna," Celestia called as she neared, "what is the meaning of this?"

"Sister!" Luna eagerly exclaimed. "You're just in time to place you bet before the match starts."

Celestia cocked an eyebrow. "Luna, you know that I don't like to gamble with bits. Speaking of which, we should probably talk about you gambling."

"It's not an addiction if that's what you're worried about. Besides, the only other time that I did place a bet was during the Running of the Leaves, and you remember how well that turned out."

"So other than this time and the Running of the Leaves, when was the last time you made a bet?"

"Hmmmm. About eight months ago if I remember correctly," she shrugged. "There honestly aren't that many things worth betting on, but this one definitely seems like a good one."

"And that brings me to my next question of what it is that has so many of our guards sitting in the throne room eating junk food and drinking beer?"

"That," Luna said, pointing a hoof at the projection screen.

Turning around, Celestia's eyes widened as she saw Dark facing off against Shining, who was currently wearing his Draconium armor.

"So then," she continued, "who should I put you down for?"

"Luna!" Celestia shouted. "Don't you remember what happened last time?!"

"Calm down, sister. They're fighting in the Coliseum, so they won't be able to kill each other. Besides, nopony has ever died there before."

"But nopony ever used Draconium against a dragon-blooded creature in there before!" she panicked. "For all we know, the effects of Shining Armor's Draconium weapon could bypass the protective enchantments!"

"Ooh! In that case, this should be even more interesting!"

"Luna!"

"Relax, Tia," Luna calmly said. "If it gets too intense, we can always just teleport ourselves there and tell the Coliseum Manager to stop it. And if Dark does get badly wounded from Shining's Draconium sword, then we can just summon Discord here to heal him like he did before."

With a reluctant sigh, Celestia walked over and sat down on her throne as she watched. "Why are they just standing there?"

"Since this is Dark's first time there, the announcer is going over the rules. He should be done pretty soon now," Luna explained.

"Alright, in that case- why is Night Light sitting in the front row watching?"

"I was wondering that myself. No idea why he would allow for them to fight after what happened before."

"... do you think that he even knows?" Celestia questioned.

"I wouldn't believe so, judging by how he looks. By the way, Tia, who should I put you down for? My bits are on Dark."

Sighing, Celestia looked to her sister. "Put me down for nopony."

"So you're not going to bet?"

"No. Put me down for neither of them, as in neither of them wins."

"Ohhh, so you're looking for a draw of some kind. Well alright then!" Luna happily said before marking Celestia down in the empty column. "That's it, everypony! The betting is closed!"

Putting the stick of chalk down and making her way to her sister's side, the guards began cheering as the match was close to starting. After she sat herself down, one of the maids came over to them.

"Would Your Highnesses like something to eat or drink during the match?" she humbly asked.

"Popcorn and some more beer if you would," Luna replied.

"Alright. And for you, Princess Celestia?"

Even though she didn't want to, the temptation was just too great before she answered, "Some tea and a slice of banana cream cake please."

"Right away," the maid said before running off.

"The countdown to the match has finally started!" Iron Guard announced, causing everypony including Luna to cheer. "One minute until we begin!"

Seeing the clock counting down above his head, Dark shot Shining a concerned look, only to get an eager one in return. Looking back and forth a few times, Dark decided to try and reason with him... again.

"Shining," Dark called out to, "we can't fight."

"And why not?" he questioned.

"On our way over to your parents' house, we agreed that we wouldn't fight each other."

"If I recall correctly, we agreed to not fight on the street, sidewalk, or at my parents' house. But we're not at any of those places now, are we?"

"The details won't do us any good if Twilight finds out about this!"

"Who says she needs to know?"

"And what if she and the others ask us what we were doing?"

"We'll just say that we were out having a beer at the local pub."

"... you do know that's not going to work, right? After all, mares always find out the truth in the end."

"He's got you there, son!" they heard Night shout out to them. "I can attest to that statement!"

"Regardless," Shining replied as he took his fighting stance, his sword floating just beside his head, "I'm here to fight you, and that's what I'm going to do!"

Sighing in annoyance, Dark stood bipedal before casting his Flame Claws on both of his claws.

"I suppose there's no talking you out of this is there?" he grumbled.

"About as much as last time."

"Fine, but don't you start complaining when I kick your flank!"

The two continued to stair down one another as ten seconds were left and counting down. While Shining's horn glowed with an increased magical charge, shadows began flowing from Dark's arms and wings. As the seconds continued to tick down, their adrenaline caused their senses to spike as time slowed to a crawl for them, causing them to start involuntarily twitch in anticipation. Then, just as they felt the urge to both jump in and start the match themselves, the horn blew.

Upon hearing the sound of the horn, Shining fired a simultaneous barrage of several dozen magical blasts from his horn towards Dark. But to his surprise, all he saw him doing was just standing there looking at the magical projectiles. It was then, just before his first of may missiles made contact, that Dark suddenly vanished from his spot and reappearing mere inches in front of Shining's face. Surprised by the sudden gap-closing, Shining stumbled to try and create a barrier to protect himself, but it was too late for him as Dark's flaming claw was balled up into a fist and launched upward into his jaw, knocking him off his front hooves and causing him to stand on his back ones.

Ungh! Shining mentally groaned. When did he- Oomph!

Shining's thoughts were interrupted by another of Dark's punches, this one directed at his midsection and lifting him up off his hooves. Not allowing himself to relent, Dark continued his assault as he kept throwing one punch after another, the impact of each one sending Shining up higher up off the ground. After getting him up out of his reach, Dark then began to Shadowport after each punch, allowing himself to stay within striking range.

Despite wearing his armor, Shining could feel the impact of each hit that he took. Even though the damage absorbers they were wearing did absorb damage that they took, it didn't take all of it. Not wanting to continue being juggled like this, Shining tried to light his horn to break out, only to have his channeling interrupted by another punch. Feeling like a ragdoll at this point, Shining tried to punch back, but every time Dark would Shadowport, he would reappear in a different spot with no pattern to his reappearance, leaving Shining missing each of his swings. This continued for a good fifteen seconds before they were roughly twenty-five feet up off the ground. Feeling a little exerted, Dark decided to end this assault of his by Shadowporting just above Shining's head before spinning in mid-air and bringing his tail down on the back of Shining's head. The initial impact caused his head to whiplash before rocketing him down onto the ground, causing a pony-shaped imprint of him to form. Dazed and confused about what just happened, Shining shook his head before his eyes widened from seeing a massive firebomb launched straight at him.

"AAHHH!" he cried out as Dark's spell made contact, causing an explosion that kicked up a large cloud of dust while most of the audience gasped in shock and surprise.

Flying up above the cloud, Dark decided to end this quickly and drew the greatsword on his back before dive-bombing in sword-first with a mighty draconic roar. A split second later, a loud chink could be heard before Dark was seen leaping out of the dust cloud with the blade of his greatsword broken-off near the guard. Tossing the broken weapon off to the side, Dark waited to see what it was that he hit. As he was considering using his Soul Eyes to see into the cloud, it started to disperse. Soon after it revealed Shining laying flat on his back with a magical barrier protecting him... and his sword's blade embedded in his barrier, its tip just barely scratching Shining's armored chest piece. Seeing that Shining wasn't getting back up, Dark began flooding his horn with excess magic, charging it for the biggest magical blast he'd ever casted. With the amount of magic he'd poured into his horn, it was only a few seconds charge time before Dark roared again and fired-off a beam of magic the size of three fully-grown stallions. As the spell fired out, Dark watched as it made contact with Shining's barrier before consuming it. It wasn't long after that until the sound of shattering glass could be heard echoing throughout the stadium.

Canceling the spell, Dark looked across the arena to see a groove carved into the ground leading up to Shining. Despite him being slumped up against the arena door that he came from, he'd managed to create a small barrier around him to protect him while steam could be seen rising off of the ground and surrounding walls.

Hopping back down to all fours, Dark took this moment to catch his breath. Panting for air, he looked up to the screen to see that he'd already knocked-off half of Shining's heath gauge while his was reduced by roughly a tenth due to the rapid magical charge. Few seconds later, Dark heard the arena booming with cheers from the crowd. After his display of power and ferocity, the crowd began chanting Dark's name from him giving them a better match than they thought he would.

"Well this is unexpected!" the announcer commentated. "Mares and gentlecolts, I think it's safe to say that this young fighter may not be quite as new as what we'd thought."

"Sweet Celestia," Night muttered to himself, "that boy sure knows how to fight. I just hope Shining's alright after that beating he took. I doubt that those damage absorbers could've taken all of that damage for him."

Back in the Canterlot Castle, the throne room was booming with excitement. Even Princess Luna was standing up off her seat shouting at the screen with the rest of the guards for the match they were watching.

"What happened?!" one of the guards shouted.

"Prince Shining Armor is getting his plot kicked!" another shouted.

"I want to switch my bet!" a third called out.

"No can do," Luna told them. "The betting stopped before the match started."

Looking from the screen to the betting board, Luna grinned as she saw that only she and a few others were betting on Dark to win. While almost everypony was betting on Shining Armor winning, what they didn't know is that those few who were betting on Dark either saw or heard of how he defeated the ursa major during the attack on Ponyville.

I almost feel bad for poor Shining Armor, Luna thought to herself. Almost. I actually think that he sorta deserves this after what he did to him.

"Luna," Celestia spoke, snapping her out of her thoughts. "How is it that Dark is winning after how he ended up last time they fought? What is so different from this fight then the last?"

"Well," she began to explain while thinking back to Dark's dream, "from what I saw in his dream, they were fighting in a grassy hill."

"No, that wouldn't be it."

"Dark is wearing armor now."

"But it doesn't seem to be affecting him right now. Besides, he's not wearing a helmet."

"Alright then. Hmmm. Only other thing I can think of is that it was daytime when they fought last time, where as now it's nighttime."

This caught Celestia's attention. "When I oversaw Dark's magic training, it was during the daytime."

"Where did he practice it?"

"Inside Twilight's castle."

"Was he in the sunlight?"

"... no. I don't believe that he was."

"Then that must be it, sister!" Luna exclaimed. "The reason Dark was so badly beaten last time was because he was in the sun's light, where as now there isn't any sunlight to shine over him."

Celestia raised a curious eyebrow. "Are you saying that he can't use those spells while he's in the sunlight?"

"Indeed I am."

"If that truly is the case, then Shining Armor was fighting Dark at only half-strength before..."

"And is now he's having to face him at his full-power," Luna finished.

"But that sword that he plunged into his barrier and snapped off," Iron Guard chimed in, overhearing their discussion. "I don't believe that magic had anything to do with it. It's my belief that that was raw strength."

"If so, then that would explain why Shining Armor was knocked up into the air with each hit he took," Celestia said with an agreeing nod.

"Why do you think they're fighting in the first place?" Luna wondered.

"I don't know, sister, but from hearing what they were saying before the match, it doesn't sound like Twilight knows about it."

"If I had to guess," Iron Guard began figuring, "I'd say that it was either Prince Shining Armor's idea, or his fathers."

"Either way," Celestia began with a hint of worry in her voice, "the last time they fought, Twilight was there to put an end to it. Without her there with them, those two may very well go at each other until they either collapse from exhaustion, or kill each other."

"Unless Shining Armor can gain some momentum very soon," Luna started, "this fight may be over within the next few minutes."

"Ouch," Shining groaned to himself as he got back up to his hooves. "Where did he learn to teleport like that? And where did all of that power come from?"

Looking across the arena, he saw Dark trying to catch his breath from the assault that he'd just been on the receiving end of. Dispelling his barrier, Shining found his sword laying on the ground and brought it over to him with his magic before charging Dark. While his damage absorber did take the brunt of the assault, he didn't get out unscathed as he was sure that he'd be feeling it in the morning with or without the application of a healing spell. As he approached, Shining casted one of his special barriers with the thought of tackling Dark with it. Closing the gap between them, Shining leaped towards Dark... only for him to vanish in a cloud of black smoke.

Landing on the spot where Dark had been standing a second ago, Shining started looking around for him when he heard sound of something loudly scratching against his barrier behind him. Turning around, he looked just in time to see Dark vanish again and reappear behind his barrier again. With a snort, Shining stomped a hoof in aggravation.

"Knock it off and fight me head-on!" he demanded.

Obliging, Dark Shadowported directly in front of Shining and took a swing with at his barrier, his enflamed claws leaving a trail of sparks as they scratched against the barrier's surface. Having Dark fall for it, Shining fired a blast of magic from his horn, safely passing through his barrier and hitting Dark square in the chest. Surprised by Shining's spell passing through his own barrier, Dark was knocked back away from him and landed on his back. Briefly charging his horn, Shining fired another magical blast at Dark. Seeing it coming this time, Dark Shadowported before the attach hit, reappearing in front of Shining again and continuing to claw at his barrier.

Seeing as this wasn't paying off, Dark spun around and slammed his tail against the barrier, causing its surface to quake while Shining winced under the pressure. Now annoyed, he took his Draconium sword and aimed a thrust towards Dark's chest. He was too slow, though, as Dark's eyes never left the sword and Shadowported away from the lethal weapon.

"Quit teleporting, damn it!" Shining snapped.

"What's wrong, Shining?" Dark mocked. "Mad that things aren't going like they did last time?"

"It's your cowardly fighting style. All you do is teleport and it's becoming annoying."

"Are you calling me a coward?"

"Isn't that what I just said?"

"You're a fine one to talk!" Dark growled. "Have you forgotten already how you used your own guard's spears to impale me when my back was turned to them?!"

"I remember, it just sucks that it didn't finish you off like I thought it would."

Hearing his son just admit that caused Night to blink in surprise before calling out, "Shining Armor!"

"Uh-oh," he muttered to himself, now getting the feeling that he'd just gotten himself into trouble.

Taking this moment of distraction, Dark Shadowported above the center of Shining's barrier before doing another mid-air spin and slamming his tail onto the barrier. Grunting in surprise from the sudden and unexpected force behind the impact, Shining was forced to a knee as he glared angrily up at Dark.

"If you're a real stallion, then you'd stop that teleporting of yours and fight me head-on," he told Dark.

Angrily snorting a stream of fire from his nostrils for having his stallionness questioned, Dark gave him a small nod. Happy that his baiting worked, Shining wasted no time in dropping his barrier and charging Dark again. True to his word, he didn't Shadowport away and began to fight Shining head-on. Soon enough, the two covered in a flurry of sword swings and fiery claws with neither side showing any signs of letting up. While they were busy trying to mince each other, Night was watching them up in the stands having second thoughts about this plan.

"Perhaps this wasn't the best idea after all," he mused out loud. "If I'd known about them earlier, I never would've agreed to allow Shining to fight him." He paused as another thought came to mind, one that made him shiver. "Now I really hope that Twilight doesn't find out about this, for their sakes and my own."

Back in the arena, Dark and Shining were to the point where strategy was tossed out the window. Right now, all they could both think about was trying to land the first solid hit. While Dark left a few scratches against his armor, Shining's sword strikes would only glide against the chainmail hidden in Dark's clothing. Seeing that this wasn't going anywhere, Shining conjured a magical shield and bashed it against the side of Dark's skull. The hit sent him tumbling across the arena, leaving a trail of dust behind him as he rolled before coming to an abrupt halt against the wall.

"Oooouuuch," Dark moaned as he brought a claw up to where he was hit, feeling a familiar warm liquid. "But how? Aren't these things suppose to take any damage that's inflicted?"

"Not quite," Shining answered as he walked closer to him. "They take most of the damage, but not all of it."

Shaking his head, Dark could feel his regeneration healing the head wound, but the blood that ran down his face had gotten into his eye. Seeing this, Shining made a mad dash towards Dark in an attempt to put an end to this fight. With his sword raised, he leaped towards the half-blind stallion as he brought it down on him.

Seeing it coming from his good eye, Dark erected a barrier before the Draconium blade could hit him. Looking up, he watched as the sword dragged down his barrier, leaving a trail of sparks behind it. Now their rolls were reversed as it was Dark in the barrier while Shining was the one swinging at it in an attempt to break through. However, the difference between the two is that Shining's barrier is far stronger than what Dark's are. Half a minute passed before cracks were starting to spread throughout the barrier.

With not much time left, Dark began thinking of spells he could use. He could fire a blast of magic or fireball at him, but Shining still had his magical shield out and could just block it. He considered using his Shadowport to escape, but would never hear the end of it. Besides, everypony there would see that he went back on his word if he did. No. What he needed was a new spell, and fast. Thinking back to their meeting earlier that day, Dark remembered what he did before Nocturne took over, and that gave him an idea. Not only did he already know a spell to use, but he also had an entire arsenal of weaponry at his beck and call.

Gathering power into his right claw, Dark encased it in shadows before slamming it onto the ground, causing darkness to spread out from his claw and cover a quarter of the arena. Seeing the unusual darkness spreading beneath his hooves, Shining immediately recalled what happened the last time this happened. Ceasing his assault on Dark's barrier, he leaped up and jumped off against it to try and get out of the range of the blackness below him. Seeing Dark dispel his barrier, Shining casted one of his own incase he would try firing a magical blast at him, but that wasn't Dark's intent.

Just below Shining, every weapon that Dark had taken into the darkness shot up out of it, creating a black field of weapons with their blades pointing upwards to impale anything that landed on them. Thankfully for Shining, he'd already had his barrier up and ready, but that did little to suppress his fear of what would've happened to him had he not done so. Rolling across the bladed field, he finally came to solid ground and dispelled his barrier to take a few cautious steps back.

Seeing his hesitation, Dark stood bipedal before walking across the blackness, his weapons receding back down to clear a path for him. As he made his way through the field of weapons, he noticed two in particular that caught his attention. Reaching his claws out to either side of him, two of the weapons sticking out of the ground shot out towards him. Catching them, Dark looked to see that they were indeed the twin greatswords that he'd made, but never had a use for. Continuing forward, Dark's shadows began taking up more weapons by his command, plucking out one longsword after another as he walked past them. By the time he'd cleared the field, he had eight longswords hovering alongside him on both sides, while the rest had sunk back down into the darkness and retreated back to Dark. Seeing the weapons hovering without Dark's horn lit, Shining became confused and a little nervous.

"How are you levitating them without using your horn?!" he demanded to know.

"Because I'm not using my unicorn magic right now," Dark calmly said as he continued walking towards Shining.

Unhappy with the answer, Shining fired a blast of magic towards Dark, only for it to be intercepted by some of the swords floating alongside Dark that had moved up in front of him and started spinning around like a fan of blades. Not wanting to relent, he kept firing one blast after another while the spinning blades deflected each blast in another direction. Seeing Dark getting closer, Shining started to cast several layers of magical barriers while trying to get a hit on him. Then, with a mighty flap of his wings, Dark propelled himself forward with all of his swords pointing straight ahead of him. Once close enough, he simultaneously thrusted all eighteen swords forward at the same spot, causing them to shatter through the first barrier and become embedded deep into the second one, leaving the third untouched.

Not allowing himself time to sigh in relief, Shining fired at Dark at point-blank with a magical blast to the face. Stumbling back a few steps, Shining then charged, swinging his sword while his magical shield was held close. By his will, Dark's floating swords began to parry and counterattack Shining, either hitting his own sword, or being blocked and deflected by his magical shield. As Shining started to lose ground, Dark sent the other eight of his floating swords into the fray, forcing him further back as he now had to use his agility to dodge too. While the sixteen longswords were busy with him, Dark began to charge his magic into his horn again. As he felt the magic build up into his horn, a low growl began to emanate from his throat. However, this concentration caused him to be unfocused with the swords attacking Shining as he began to bat them down out from around him.

As a sword was struck down, it turned to shadows before being wisped back to Dark. With the last one falling to Shining, he looked over to see Dark's horn charging again. Having enough of playing defensive, Shining began to hastily fill his own horn with his magic. With his guard training and experience, he was able to gather more magic than what Dark could within that time limit, but it still wasn't more than what he'd already channeled. Feeling his horn charged, Dark roared as he fired another large beam of magic at Shining. A second later, Shining too was charged and wasted no time in returning with an equally large magical beam as well.

Within seconds, the two opposing beams collided, creating a shower of pink and golden magical sparks while the center of it became white from the magical pressure. Feeling as though the end of this fight was near, both stallions gritted their teeth as they tried to overpower the other. Dispelling his magical shield and relieving his magic from his sword by sheathing it, Shining was able to pour some more magic into his attack, allowing him to gain a slight edge as he began to slowly force Dark back. Seeing his attack was being forced back towards him, Dark tried to think of a way to gain more power. Only problem was that he was capping out his unicorn magic right now. As he furrowed his brows under the strain, his eyes caught a glimpse of light reflecting off of his swords. Then he had an idea.

Without breaking their connection, Dark raised his left arm up high above his head before throwing his greatsword towards Shining. But, not everything went as planned, though, as the jerking motion of him throwing his weapon caused the connection to break, and for Shining's magical blast to shoot forward, nicking Dark in his left shoulder and leaving a scorch mark while Shining was cut in his right shoulder by the greatsword thrown at him, the weapon turning to a shadowy wisp upon hitting the ground behind Shining and returning to Dark's shadows. Despite it only being a nick, Dark's shoulder still took a nasty hit.

I could only imagine what it would be like if I took the whole thing, Dark grimaced as he rotated his hurt shoulder. Not to mention that most of the damage was absorbed into this bracelet. If it wasn't for this thing, I'd probably lose my shoulder and arm there.

Recovering from their respective hits and shaking the pain away, they both looked up to see that both of their heath gauges had less than a quarter left remaining, maybe even a fifth. Looking from the screen back to one another, they could see the exhaustion on the other's face, both tired from this fight dragging on for so long, but neither willing to surrender.

While they continued to stare down one another, the crowd was erupting with the match they were witnessing. Even First Strike was relieved from his station to watch the two fight. But while everypony was enjoying the show, Night started to become nervous. Sure he was enjoying it just as much as everypony else was, but a beeping from his watch caused him to glance down to see that it was now 7:30 P.M.

"We're late," he said to himself with a gulp. "We're going to be in so much trouble if those two don't finish this up really, really soon."

It as right after those words left his mouth that he felt a shiver run up his spine, which in his experience was never a good sign if it happened right after he said something. Flattening his ears against his head, he slowly shrunk down into his seat as he prayed to Celestia that this feeling of his was wrong.

Over at the house, Velvet, Cadence, and Spike were busy finishing setting up the table while Twilight was sitting on the floor with Skyla on her lap watching My Little Human on the gem projection. While Skyla was happily giggling at the silly creatures, Twilight was smiling at the episode they'd just finished watching, which in turn made her think about her other friends too.

I should probably write to them and see how they're doing, she though before the little foal began bouncing on her lap.

Smiling down to her nice, she saw her making baby sounds while pointing to the projection.

"So, who's your favorite character, Skyla?" Twilight asked her, getting an answer in baby. "I know. She's a good character too, but I think I like that Tara character. She's really nice, and she kinda sounds like me."

Right after saying that, Twilight felt something soft hit her in the side of her head. Looking down, she saw that it was a pink paper airplane with the words "Read me" written on the top of it. Taking it in her magic and unfolding it, she saw that it was actually a note.

Dear, Twilight.

Quit doing that. That's our thing.

Your friends,

Pinkie Pie and D!$C0rD.

P.S. Change it to channel forty-four.

Confused about what they meant by what the note meant, Twilight was about to question it until she remembered that it was Pinkie Pie and to not question it. Looking over it again, she began wondering what was on channel forty-four that warranted her to watch it. So, she asked the pony who's responsible for this crystal.

"Hey, Cadence?" Twilight called out for.

"Yes, Twily?" she called back.

"What's on channel forty-four of these crystals?"

"That's the EQA Network."

"What's on it?"

"Why do you ask?

"I just got this note from Pinkie and Discord saying that I should change the channel and watch it."

"There isn't much on there that I care for, but Shiny loves it."

"Why?"

"Because it shows the matches going on at the Canterlot Coliseum. And speaking of Shiny, did dad say where he was taking him and Dark out to?"

"No, he didn't."

"That's weird," Velvet chimed, "because it's past 7:00 P.M. and they're not back yet like they said they would."

Twilight hummed to herself before using her magic to switch to channels. Once she got there, Twilight's eyes widened and her jaw dropped as she saw what was happening.

"Cadence! Get in here! I just found out why the guys are so late!"

"Why?!" she asked, making her way over. "What's happened that's making them so-"

"Mares and gentlecolts!" the announcer spoke through the crystal projection. "I've just received word that these two combatants have just set a new Coliseum record for the longest fight!"

Hearing the loud cheering from this, Cadence rushed over beside Twilight to see Shining and Dark standing in a flurry of blades and sparks as they rapidly swung their Draconium sword and greatsword respectively at each other. But while the two mares were watching in horror, little Skyla was clapping her hooves at the sight of her dad and Dark making he pretty colors. To her, they looked like they were playing a game together.

"Dah!"

Snapping out of their stupors, Twilight and Cadence looked surprisingly at the little foal.

"What was that?" Cadence asked with an unbelieving whisper.

"Dah! Dah!" the little filly smiled with her hoof pointed to the projection.

With a slow smile growing on her face, Cadence lifted her foal up and happily began to nuzzle her.

"Her first word!" she joyously squeed. "My little filly just said her first word!"

Hearing this caused Velvet and Spike to run over to the living room to see it for themselves, and sure enough, when Skyla spoke again, everyone surrounded her in a loving group hug... until the sound of clashing swords began registering in their ears again. Looking back up to the projection, they saw that they were still going at it. With a heavy sigh, Velvet shook her head.

"I should've known that they'd be there," she said to her daughters and granddaughter. "Stallions. They always have to show off their toughness to everypony."

Looking to one another, Cadence and Twilight gave each other a nod before turning back to their mother.

"Sorry to ask you of this, mom," Cadence began saying as she held out Skyla to her, "but would it be alright if you watched over her while Twily and I get the guys?"

"Of course, sweetie," she smiled, taking the foal into her hooves. "And feel free to take your time. Turns out that the crockpot isn't quite what it used to be and is working a little bit slower than usual."

"Alright then," Cadence smiled before turning to Twilight. "Ready to go?"

"You bet," Twilight said with a nod. "So then, we teleporting in?"

"Ohh, yeah. Right in the middle of their fight," she smirked. "We're going to give everypony a little show of our own."

Getting her meaning, a small smirk crept up on Twilight as she teleported her sister-in-law and herself to the Coliseum arena.

Tensions were at an all-time high in the Coliseum as Dark and Shining continued their battle, both now down to a tenth of their total heath gauges. Using his wings to propel himself back, Dark got some space between him an Shining before landing and flapping his wings to create a dust cloud. With Shining losing sight inside the dust cloud, Dark casted his Soul Eyes to see him turning around in confusion before Shining created a gust of wind and blew the dust away. Dispelling his Soul Eyes, he and Shining charged and clashed their swords together, pushing hard against the other as their blades caused sparks to fly. At that close of a range, they both got the same idea and fired a blast of magic at the other, their spells colliding and causing a shockwave that sent them both skidding away from each other.

With both of their heath gauges nearly depleted, they knew that the next hit would end it. Snorting, Shining pawed a hoof at the ground while Dark slammed his tail against the ground and grabbed his sword with both claws. A few seconds later, they both charged at each other with the intent of ending this match and leaving as the victor. Running at full speed, the gap between the two started to quickly close until they got within twenty feet from each other and-

"Dark/Shining!"

In a blinding flash of light at the center of the arena appeared Twilight and Cadence, who both turned towards their respective stallions. Seeing them, Shining skidded on all fours, leaving a groove behind him before stopping in front of Cadence, while Dark stumbled and skidded on his body until he stopped a few feet away from Twilight. While Shining was face-to-face with his wife, Dark had to look up to see his fillyfriend's disapproving scowl.

Seeing Twilight's eyes flicker over to the greatsword he was holding, Dark gave a weak and nervous chuckle before sending his shadows from his arm up the blade and sending it back into storage. Getting up to be at eye-level with her, he quietly watched as nopony made a sound. Even the crowd appeared to have gone silent by the abrupt appearance of two of their princesses.

"Twilight/Cadence-" Dark and Shining both began saying before they felt a firm tugging on their ears.

Turning his gaze upward, Dark saw that Twilight had a firm hold of his ear in her magical hold and was pulling him away, while Shining seemed to be getting the same treatment from Cadence.

"Oww! Twilight- Ow!" Dark tried to say, only for Twilight to guide him by the ear towards the arena gates.

"Cadence, sweetheart- Ouch!" Shining tried speaking, but was silenced as Cadence gave him another tug as she lead him to the opposing gate.

Once they got to their respective gates, the two princesses each used their magic to forcefully open them up before leading their stallions inside and simultaneously shutting them loudly. Letting out a sigh of relief, Night looked up to the screen to see that both Shining's and Dark's heath gauges had been completely depleted, leaving no winner for this fight. The silence in the stands was eerily quite as nopony wanted to say anything after what they just witnessed. However, it wasn't out of fear so much as it was whether or not this should be considered outrageous for the fight having ended like that, funny how the two combatants were dragged out of the arena by their ears like a pair of foal who were in trouble, or the thought of what would become of them. Feeling like he was responsible for this, Night got up out of his seat and made his way for one of the preparation rooms. As he made his way up the stairs to head on out, he heard the announcer clear his throat.

"... well now," he slowly began, still somewhat at a loss of words, "that was... um... unexpected. I guess that this means that this match is a draw."

"Oh, come on!" Luna dramatically exclaimed as she threw her popcorn bag into the air. "Why?! Why?! Whyyyyyyyyy?!"

"Oh, come now, Luna," Celestia consoled with a pat on the back. "You know you can't always win."

"But it was so clo-o-o-o-oooosssee," she wined.

"Speaking of which, I believe that I win the bet."

With a room full of disappointed groans, everypony lined up single file to give Celestia her winnings. As she received her reward from one pony after the next, she did her best to hide her victorious smirk... and she was failing miserably.

Down in one of the preparation rooms, Dark was sitting on one of the benches while Twilight paced back and forth in front of him. For the last ten minutes, neither of them said a word, save for Twilight quietly muttering to herself, and every time Dark opened his mouth to say something, Twilight would shoot him a look, causing him to shut his mouth while she continued to talk to herself. This continued for another five minutes until the door began to open, snapping Twilight out of her conversation with herself.

"What did I say about leaving us-"

"Easy there, sweetie," Night calmly said, poking his head through the door, "it's just me."

"... oh... sorry, dad, come on in," she told him with an apologetic look.

Walking in and closing the door behind him, Night walked over and sat down on the bench beside Dark.

"So, what did I'm miss?" he asked.

"Nothing," Dark answered, "and that's the problem."

"... giving you the silent treatment while muttering to herself?"

"How did-"

"Her mother would do the same to me when we were younger," Night chuckled.

"Dad," Twilight began with a small scowl, "this isn't funny. What happened there-"

"I know, sweetie," he interrupted before looking seriously at her. "I also know about what happened the last time they met."

Twilight visibly winced. "You know?"

"Yep."

"I didn't think that anypony would hear us through all of that noise," Dark tried to explain. "I thought that we'd be safe to talk with the cover of everypony's cheering."

"You're partially right, I was just barely able to hear it. However, had I known about this thing between you two sooner, I never would've let you two compete in the first place."

"By the way, why were you two fighting to start with?" Twilight asked.

"I believe that I'm at fault there," Night apologetically answered. "I wasn't sure about Dark dating you, so Shining gave me the idea for him to prove himself to me by fighting for my approval in the Coliseum. Heh. You should've seen the look on his face when we told him. He actually looked a little eager to enter."

"Well, he did say that he wanted to go there, but that still doesn't excuse him for deliberately fighting my brother like that."

"Not deliberately exactly. Dark didn't even know who he was fighting until he was already in the arena waiting for him."

Twilight looked from her father to Dark. "So you had nothing to do with this?"

"While I didn't know that I'd be fighting Shining, I still went on ahead and fought him," Dark solemnly answered. "I have no excuse."

Sighing, Twilight turned around and began her pacing again. As she once again began muttering to herself, Dark leaned over to Night.

"Sorry for not telling you about what really happened before, sir," he whispered.

"What did I tell you about the 'sir' thing?" Night whispered back.

"Sorry, force of habit."

"It's alright, but why didn't you say anything before?"

"I didn't think it would be a good idea to bring it up and ruin the mood, not when everypony seemed so happy to be back together."

"True, it would've spoiled the moment, but you still should've told us."

"I'm sorry."

With a sigh, Night put a hoof on Dark's shoulder and gave him a smile. "But, even though you didn't tell us, you did so with my family in mind. So, thank you, for thinking about my family's happiness."

"Well, it looks like my hopes of you two bonding might've actually came true," Twilight suddenly spoke, snapping their attention back to her. "Does this mean that he passed your little 'test'?"

Night chuckled. "I suppose so. He did manage to put Shining on the ropes for a while there. Knocked off half of his health gauge within the first minute."

"What?!" Twilight asked in disbelief. "How'd he manage that? And what happened for the match to get as close as it did?"

"Well, Dark was using some weird kind of teleportation spell and began to hammer into Shining. Not long after that, Shining talked Dark into proving that he's not a cowardly stallion by telling him to not using his teleporting anymore."

"Seriously?" she questioned, looking to Dark.

"Yeah," he replied. "However, I somehow get the feeling that he was holding back."

"Maybe, but you can't let him talk you into doing stuff like that. What you did isn't cheating, it's just a form of teleportation is all. If you have something special that others don't, then you shouldn't feel as though you're not allowed to use it. That's partially why I gave you permission to practice and experiment with your magic."

"Yes, Twilight," Dark responded, his eyes downcast.

Giving a tired sigh, Twilight walked over and began affectionately nuzzling Dark. Surprised by the sudden show of affection, Dark's eyes darted from Twilight to Night, the latter having turned his head to face away from them.

"I'm not mad at you," she told him, "I'm just a little upset that this happened is all."

Relaxing a little, Dark returned Twilight's affection with a nuzzle of his own. Soon after, they parted and were about to share a kiss when the sound of a throat clearing caught their attention.

"Don't think that just because I approve of you means that you can go ahead and start kissing my daughter right in front of me," Night told Dark.

"Yes, si- Night," Dark answered.

"Also, you're sleeping on the couch tonight. I won't have you and my little girl sharing the same room to sleep in."

"Fair enough."

"But, dad," Twilight began protesting, "we've been sharing the same bed to sleep in for a while now."

"Not in my house."

With a nod from the young couple, Night got up from the bench and began making his way towards the door. But before he got there, there was another knock.

"Yes?" Twilight called through it.

"Princess Twilight? It's First Strike," he answered. "May I come in?"

"Sure."

Taking a spot beside Dark, they waited as First came in and approached them. Giving a nod to Night, he then looked to the two sitting before him as Dark began meekly rubbing the back of his head.

"Umm, sorry for breaking your guy's sword like that," he apologized.

"Don't worry about it, new blood," First waved-off, "it's still repairable, though I'm still surprised that you broke the darn thing just by driving it through Shining Armor's barrier like that."

"Me too, but why do you call me 'new blood'?"

"Because despite the great show that you two put on for everypony, you're still new here. If you want me to stop calling you that, then you'll have to compete for the Coliseum Champion position."

"Speaking of the Champion, who is he?"

"Sorry, new blood, but not even we know that... and he's held his reign for over three years now."

"Is there anything that you do know about him then?"

"Just that he's a unicorn and has a blue magical aura," First shrugged. "That, and he likes to wear a white cloak with gold trimming. Even with the armor that he had commissioned upon becoming Champion, he still wears that cloak. Plus he must have some kind of enchantment on his cloak's hood, because nopony can see his face through it."

"Heh, just think if it's actually that pansy Prince Blueblood," Night mocked.

"I really hope so," Dark smirked. "I wouldn't mind giving that stallion a good smackdown."

"For all we know, he could be," First laughed. "The guy never even spoke during the whole time he's been here."

"Well," Twilight began, "as entertaining as this is, we really should be getting back home. The food's probably cold by now."

"I could reheat it when we get back," Dark told her before looking down to his gear. "But first, I'll have to get out of this and put it away."

"No need, new blood," First told him with a raised hoof.

"Huh? Why?"

"For the fight you and Shining Armor put on for us, and for setting the new record, my boss has allowed for you to keep the gear that you brought with you into the arena... minus the broken sword of course. Rather strange that you would pick a greatsword."

"Thank you, sir," Dark thanked. "Also, I used to forge weapons, and the greatsword was sorta my weapon of choice if I chose to use one."

"Well it definitely shows," he chuckled before giving Twilight a bow. "I hope that you three have a goodnight. Oh, and tell Shining Armor good match and that we look forward to his next appearance. The crowd was really excited to see him again after so long."

"Will do, First," Night said with a hoofshake.

With that, First left the room to the three. After he was gone, Dark spread his shadows across his body and covered his gear. A few seconds later, the shadows receded back into him, his armor now gone. Curious as to where the gear went, Night looked to Dark.

"What happened to your new armor?" he wondered.

"Used a spell to put it in storage incase I need it," Dark answered as he felt air return to his covered fur.

"Ugh!" Twilight exclaimed, holding a hoof up to her nose. "Rarity or I will need to cast an air-breathing spell on those clothes, because you really smell bad right now."

Turning his head, Dark took a whiff of himself, and sure enough, his body odor smelled like sulfur.

"Alright, new plan," Twilight continued. "I'll go get Shiny and Cadence while you go get yourself cleaned up. After that, then we'll go home to eat."

Half an hour later back at the house, Twilight had teleported them back to the doorsteps. As they walked up the stairs, Dark was groaning with dizziness from teleportation sickness, causing him to accidentally stumble into the bushes by the staircase instead of up the stairs. With a sigh and shake of her head, Twilight levitated her dazed coltfriend out of the bushes and into her parents' house.

"Mom! We're back!" she called out.

"Welcome home, sweetie," she said as she walked from the kitchen into the entry way with Skyla on her back. "How'd it go?"

"It went alright," Twilight answered before turning to Cadence. "Right?"

"For the most part," she replied. "Had to give Shiny another talking to and add another week to his punishment, but I think he got the picture this time. We were also able to get somepony to take a look at his injuries and get him healed up."

"Alright, but what happened to Dark?" Velvet wondered. "He looks so out of it."

"Teleportation sickness."

"Ah. Well, why don't you go sit yourselves down while I go get some medicine for him," she told them before pausing in mid-stride. "Oh, by the way, Shining, did they tell you the good news?"

"What news?" he wondered.

Lighting her horn, Velvet levitated Skyla over to Shining, who took her into his own magical hold.

"Hey, there's my little girl," Shining smiled.

"Dah-dah!" she spoke, wrapping her forelegs around Shining's muzzle.

While initially shocked by hearing her speak for the first time, he soon wrapped his little filly up in a loving hug before shedding some liquid pride for his daughter. As they made their way to the table, Shining continued to smother Skyla with fatherly love until he had to sit her down. Seeing Spike all ready to eat, they sat themselves down before quickly being joined by Velvet, who gave Dark some medicine for his sickness. With him feeling a little better, Velvet allowed for him to reheat the food before everyone started to dig in.

After dinner was finished and everyone helped clean up, they moved themselves back to the living room as Spike started a fire in the fireplace for them. Taking their seats as they did earlier, with the exception being Skyla sitting with Shining and Cadence, they began trading stories with everyone. Although, most of those stories came from Dark since the family already knew most of the stories they had to share. And even though he had plenty to share about, he made sure to keep it kid-friendly with Spike and Skyla around. While they were interested in his stories, it was starting to get late.

"Guess we should call it a night," Night suggested. "I'll go get you a pillow and blanket from the closet."

"Thank you, Night," Dark thanked.

"What's going on?" Cadence wondered.

"Dark is sleeping on the couch tonight," Night answered.

"... that might be a problem, because Shiny is sleeping on the couch tonight."

"I could just sleep on the floor," Dark offered. "It's only for one night anyway, and the carpet is rather soft."

"No need for that," Night told him before walking over to the couch they'd been sitting on and pulled the bottom of it out. "We've got a futon."

"What's a futon?"

"... you've never heard of a futon couch?"

"Nope. We never had anything like this back in Stonewall Village."

"Ah, right. Anyway, it's a couch that can be pulled out into a bed."

"Alright, but how does that help?" Shining asked.

"Tonight, you two will have to share it," Night smirked, causing everyone in the room to go wide-eyed at them, especially Dark and Shining. "Now, I don't want to hear you two fighting, or else you'll both be sleeping out in the back yard tonight. Understood?"

"Yes," they both answered.

"Good. Now then, here's your blankets and pillows. You two have a nice night, and I'll see you in the morning."

Giving Shining a goodnight kiss, Velvet followed Night upstairs to bed as well, followed by Cadence with Skyla, Twilight, and Spike. With the two stallions now alone, they both looked down to the futon bed they were expected to share for the night.

A few hours later, Twilight got up out of bed, unable to sleep without the added warmth that she'd grown accustom to. She thought about sneaking down to Dark, but quickly remembered her brother was there and wouldn't be very happy if he caught her. So instead, she decided to go to the next best pony. Quietly making her way down the upstairs hallway, she gently knocked on a door before peaking her head inside.

"Cadence?" Twilight whispered. "Cadence? Are you awake?"

Hearing somepony calling her name, she groggily leaned up in her bed. "Wha? Twilight? What's wrong?"

"I can't go to sleep."

Remembering her days foalsitting Twilight, Cadence patted the empty spot next to her. Seeing that she had her permission, Twilight quickly made her way over and snuggled herself down alongside her old foalsitter.

"Remember the last time?" Cadence asked.

"Last time what?" Twilight wondered.

"The last time we were like this was when I was staying the night after foalsitting you. There was a thunderstorm outside that night and you couldn't sleep then either, so you came over to my room with your Smarty Pants doll and crawled in with me."

"Oh, right."

"So, why can't you sleep tonight?"

Twilight sighed. "The bed just feels empty tonight."

"Because Dark's not there?"

"Mhmm."

"I understand. It was the same with me for a while after giving Shiny his punishment."

"So you'll let me stay here tonight then?"

Cadence smiled. "Of course you can stay, Twily."

Happy with her decision, Twilight hugged her sister-in-law before finally feeling sleep take her with Cadence following soon after. But, while they were sleeping, there were two others who were still awake. In the living room, Shining and Dark were laying on their futon, facing away from each other with a blanket dividing them. During the few hours they'd been laying there, neither said a word.. at least, until now, and surprisingly, it was Shining who initiated it.

"Hey," he quietly called, "you still awake?"

"Yeah," Dark just as quietly returned.

"Some fight, huh?"

"Yeah, but I get the feeling that you weren't going all-out on me. And where did you get your Draconium gear from? I thought that you left it at your room in the castle."

"Heh, your right on both accounts. I had to send one of the pegasi security guards over to fetch it for me if I were to get it in time. And I was holding back against you during that fight, but only because my dad asked me to. Although, it wasn't much after that surprise stunt you pulled. And that brings me to my next question of where you learned those spells from? You didn't use them last time we fought."

"That's because I was in direct sunlight. Those spells that I used, minus the fire-type ones, require that I not be in any bright light."

"And with the sun having already set, you were able to do just that."

"Pretty much."

Feeling movement, Dark turned his head to see Shining laying on his back looking at him.

"I have to be honest with you," Shining began, "I'm... surprised... and impressed."

Rolling onto his own back, Dark looked confusingly at him. "Seriously?"

"Yes. I'm both surprised and impressed that you actually kept your word and didn't use that teleportation spell of yours."

"Well I did agree to it, albeit reluctantly."

"But you still did, and you upheld it. I honestly wouldn't have expected a kirin to hold true to his word... or nod in your case."

"Have you forgotten that I was born a pony and not a kirin?"

"I remember," Shining sighed, "but to me, a kirin is still a kirin... at least, I thought so."

"While I've never met any kirins, I can assure you that I'm not anything like what you've described them to be."

"So it would seem."

"Hey, Shining?" Dark called with a hint of suspicion in his voice.

"Hmm?"

"Are you saying this truthfully, or is it because you were told to?"

"No, it's all me," Shining said with a head shake.

"So does this mean that you'll stop hating me then?"

"Don't get too ahead of yourself now. Let me make it clear that I still don't like you very much, nor do I like the thought of you dating my sister... but..." He sighed as he briefly paused to think this over. "I'm willing to give you a chance."

"Thanks, Shining," Dark smiled as he lifted a fist towards him.

Seeing his gesture caused Shining to grumble to himself. Though part of him was reluctant to trust him, another part was wanting to try. With some hesitation, Shining lifted a hoof to return Dark's gesture with a hoof/fist bump before rolling back on his side away from him. Once he was turned away, Dark laid back on his side in slight confusion of what he just saw. He wasn't sure if his eyes were playing tricks on him, but he could've sworn that just for a brief moment that Shining had smiled at him.

Chapter 29- Birth of a Living Weapon

Dark stirred in his sleep in the futon bed in Twilight's parents' living room. Never would he'd guess that such a thing like a pull-out bed like this could feel so comfortable. Once he rolled over, he subconsciously wrapped an arm around the form sleeping next to him and pulled it close, snuggling against it in his sleep. A few moments later, he started to nuzzle the soft fur in his hold, causing him to hear Twilight giggle. Hearing her voice encouraged him to continue his show of affection for Twilight while his eyes were still closed. This prompted another giggle from Twilight, followed by a second giggle that he thought was Cadence. Hearing that there was another pony in the room with them, Dark groaned before waving a claw in the direction of Cadence's voice.

"Cadence," Dark tiredly called, "can you leave me and Twilight alone please? It's snuggle time for us and it's too early to be getting up yet on a day off."

"Umm, Dark?" Twilight said with a snicker. "I'm over here."

Confused, Dark turned his head towards the foot of his bed before opening his eyes to see Twilight and Cadence holding a hoof over their mouths to stifle their giggles while Skyla sat on her mother's back imitating her mom and aunt. As the three continued to show there amusement, Dark just looked back between the two mares.

"Twilight?" Dark groggily addressed. "How did you get over there?"

"... don't you remember last night?"

"Yeah, your dad told me that I had to sleep on the couch tonight, and then Cadence said that-"

Dark immediately went silent as it clicked. Seeing his eyes widening in realization, Twilight, Cadence, and Skyla were now all laughing out loud at him while Dark slowly turned his head to see a thoroughly annoyed Shining Armor looking straight back at him. Unable to move or speak from the shock of embarrassment, Dark merely blinked while Shining's right eye began to twitch.

"You have five seconds to tell me why you're-"

"GAAHHHHH!!"

In a moment of panic, Dark abruptly pushed Shining off his side of the bed while the force behind the shove knocked Dark off of his own side, causing him to fall onto the floor in a tangled mess of blankets. Of course, this only added fuel to the girls' entertainment as their laughter could be heard all throughout the house now, causing the two house owners to walk downstairs to see what the commotion was all about.

"What's going on here?" Night asked them, seeing Dark's thrashing tail protruding from the ball of blankets.

Still laughing, Twilight levitated a photo that she'd taken while Dark and Shining were still asleep over to Night and Velvet. As soon as they saw the photo of Dark holding Shining in their sleep, they both joined in the laughter.

"Oh, my," Velvet said as she tried to control her laugher. "Now this is going into the family album."

"Mom! No!" Shining desperately told her. "Don't do it!"

"Too late, son," Night chuckled, seeing his wife slip the photo into the album and closing it back up.

"Good call on fetching Spike's camera there, Twilight," Cadence complimented before walking over to her husband. "You alright there, Shiny?"

"Not in the slightest," he said with a shiver before looking over to Twilight. "Is this how it usually is for you, Twily?"

"I don't know about that," Twilight shrugged. "I find being with him like that to be rather nice and comfortable. Besides, you felt how warm he was, right?"

"Don't remind me."

Giggling, Twilight went over to try and help Dark, who was still thrashing about trying to get himself untangled from the mess of blankets he was in. Holding him up in her magic, Twilight then began to free him from his clothy bonds. Once she got him untangled, she put him back down on the ground where he instantly went into the fetal position. Seeing him overreacting, Twilight sighed before laying down beside him and draping a wing over him.

"Come on now," she softly spoke to him, "it wasn't that bad now, was it?"

"You have no idea," Dark quietly replied as he began to shiver, his eyes wide with horror. "Next time, he can have the bed and I'll sleep on the floor... or in the fireplace."

"There's no need for such dramatics, Dark," Night laughed.

"I actually agree with him," Shining spoke from his position by the bed, his eyes peeking over the mattress at Dark. "There's no way that I'm going to share a bed with him ever again if it means having to wake up being hugged like some life-sized plushy."

"Surely you're over-exaggerating," Velvet said.

"It's like Brokeback Mounter," Dark shakily said.

"Yeah, what he said," Shining hastily nodded.

With one last laugh, Velvet turned to make her way out of the living room. "Well then, who's up for some pancakes?"

Receiving a round of nods, she and Night made their way towards the kitchen. With them gone, Dark shuffled himself closer against Twilight, trying his best to use her to hide himself. With a smiling sigh, she turned to Cadence.

"Hey, Cadence?" she called. "Would it be alright if I borrowed Skyla for a moment?"

Walking over, Cadence let Twilight take the little filly from her back and place her down in front of Dark. Confused, she looked up to Twilight to see her nodding over to Dark's huddle form. Looking form her aunt to Dark, Skyla walked over and began poking at him to get his attention. Feeling the little hoof bumping him, Dark shifted his head along the floor in front of him to see the little foal smiling and making baby noises at him, which in turn caused Dark to smile back.

"Good morning to you too, little one," Dark smiled, causing her to happily squeal before she began to try and climb up his face.

While he tried to hold still and not make any sudden movements with the little foal crawling up his face, Dark couldn't help but chuckle at her cute attempt. Sure enough though, with the help of her buzzing wings, she managed to make it up to the top of Dark's head and sit herself down behind his horn. Sitting there, she turned to Twilight and held her forelegs out to her. Seeing her like this caused Twilight to giggle at the two before leaning her head over to nuzzle her little niece, getting a happy baby coo in reply. However, while Twilight was nuzzling Skyla, an unpleasant scent caught her attention. Taking a few extra sniffs, she looked down to her niece before looking over to Cadence.

"Umm, we've got a small problem," Twilight said with a scrunched-up nose. "And it stinks."

"Diaper need changing?" Cadence guessed, earning a nod from Twilight.

Sighing, Shining walked over and picked his foal up off of Dark's head before making his way up to their room.

"How is it that something so cute and adorable can stink so bad?" Twilight questioned.

"I don't know about that," Dark said with a small smirk. "I think that for something so cute and adorable, you smell rather nice."

"You know what I mean," she replied with a teasing punch to his shoulder. "Although, you're compliment is appreciated."

"So, Dark," Cadence began, "how was last night?"

"Are you teasing me, or are you being serious?" he questioned.

"Teasing aside, I really am curious. I was almost half-expecting to hear some kind of ruckus downstairs."

"Actually, I think that we made some progression."

"Really?"

"Yep. He said that while he still doesn't really like me, that he's willing to give me a chance."

"Dark, that's wonderful!" Twilight exclaimed before happily pouncing on him and hugging and nuzzling his cheek.

"Yeah, but I think I might've messed up with this mornings... misunderstanding."

"I'm sure that he'll look past it," Cadence assured him.

"Hey, kids," Night called as he turned the corner into the living room. "The first batch of pancakes are off and- Dark, what did I tell you about making out with my daughter in front of me?"

"I swear it's not what it looks like," Dark quickly said. "Twilight is just happy that Shining and I are starting to get along."

"Speaking of your brother, where did he go?"

"Skyla needed her diaper changed," answered Cadence.

"Ah. Well, whenever you three are ready, come on over and take a seat. Oh, and could one of you go get Shining and Spike and tell them breakfast is ready?"

"Sure," Dark said standing up.

After taking a few steps, he stopped when he didn't feel the extra weight on his back leave. Turning his head, Dark saw that Twilight was still laying on his back with her forelegs wrapped around his neck.

"What?" she innocently asked.

"Not that I don't mind you being there, Twilight, but I don't think that your dad really approves of this, nor would I think that Shining would either if he saw too."

"Are you asking me to hop off?" she pouted.

"I don't know about him, but I am," Night promptly answered.

With a disappointed sigh, Twilight slid off of Dark's back and followed Night and Cadence into the kitchen. Free of his cute burden, Dark made his way upstairs to the room where he heard Shining grumbling to himself. Knocking on the door, he poked his head inside to see him just finishing putting on Skyla's new diaper.

"Your dad says that breakfast is ready," Dark told him.

"Alright," he returned, "we'll be right down. And, Dark?"

"Yeah?"

"About what happened earlier, we're to never speak of it again."

"Speak of what again?"

"Exactly."

With one pony down, Dark closed the door before making his way to Twilight's room where Spike was suppose to be. However, before he grabbed the door handle, it finally hit him that this was his fillyfriend's old bedroom that he was about to enter, and that made him nervous. Although he said that he'd go wake up Spike, he didn't want to go in without permission. So instead, he knocked on the door. After he didn't get any answer, he knocked on it a bit louder.

"Hey, Spike," he called through the door, "you up yet?"

"No, I'm not," Spike grumbled back. "Let me go back to bed. It's too early for me to be up on a day off."

Dark chuckled to himself hearing Spike use the same excuse that he'd made earlier.

"What about breakfast? It's pancakes."

"... did Twilight's mom make them?"

"Yep."

Right after saying that, Dark heard Spike running along the floorboards towards the door. Before he knew it, the door had already opened and closed with Spike running down the halls.

"Race you there!" Spike called.

Shaking his head, Dark Shadowported down to the kitchen. A few seconds later, he could see Spike running in, slightly panting for air before looking annoyingly to Dark.

"Hey! You cheated!"

"I don't know what you're talking about," Dark said as he took a seat.

With a grumble, Spike sat down at the table with the rest of the family. At least, most of the family as Shining was just walking in with Skyla in tow. After sitting her down in her booster seat and strapping her in, Shining took his seat at the table. With everyone now together, they began loading their plates and were soon enjoying Velvet's homemade pancakes.

"So," Velvet began after some time had passed, "what does everypony have planned for today?"

"Not much really," Cadence answered. "Shining and I have the next few days off to be with the family before we have to go back to the Crystal Empire."

"Alright, and what about you, sweetie?"

"Actually, I was wondering if my friends could come over to visit?" Twilight asked.

"Dear, you don't need to ask us permission for that. They're welcome here anytime."

"Great! Thank you, mom."

"You're welcome, sweetie. So, Spike, how about you?"

"Meh. I might head on over to Doughnut Joe's for a little bit and talk with him," he shrugged.

"Alright." Velvet paused and looked over to Dark. "And what about you?"

"Hmm?" Dark questioned with a mouth-full of pancakes.

"Any plans for today?"

Swallowing his pancakes, Dark answered her. "I actually have an appointment down in the forge."

"Oh, I almost forgot about that," Twilight spoke. "You're going to the royal forge to make something with that Draconium ore of yours, aren't you?"

"Yep."

"Wait," Night interrupted, "isn't that stuff suppose to be dangerous to dragons? And didn't you say that you're part dragon now?"

"Yes, and yes. I was actually thinking about that last night, and I believe that I may have an idea of how to make it so that the Draconium can sort of bond with me."

"What did you have in mind?" Twilight curiously asked.

"... you don't wanna know," Dark answered vaguely.

Not liking the sound of his answer, Twilight began glaring at him, causing him to become nervous.

"Tell me."

"... well... let's just say that it involves quelching it in something else than the oils we would naturally be using."

"Is it going to be dangerous?"

"Not for me it shouldn't."

With a sigh, Twilight decided to drop it... for now. "I get the feeling that something about this plan is considered reckless, but I trust that you won't do anything too risky."

"I promise to return to you just as I left."

"Good."

"Does that mean that you'll be leaving soon?" Velvet wondered.

"I'll leave at about noon," Dark answered. "It should take me about twelve hours to complete it if my guess is correct."

"So you won't be done until midnight?"

"Roughly."

"In that case, we'll leave the door unlocked for when you get back."

"Or I could just Shadowport in if you want instead."

"What's a 'Shadowport'?" Night asked.

"It's the name of that teleportation spell I used during the fight last night."

"Ah. Well, as long as you're quiet and don't wake anypony up, then I suppose it's alright."

"Yes, Night."

The rest of the meal went quietly and uneventfully, minus everyone watching Shining trying to feed Skyla her breakfast, which they found to be rather adorable. Once they were done, everyone helped cleaned up after breakfast and helped with the dishes. With everything cleaned and put away, they retreated back to the living room where Dark and Shining folded the futon bed back into the couch and began to enjoy the company of everyone there. While Shining and Night were telling Spike about what happened last night in one area, the ladies were in another spot catching up, leaving Dark to play with Skyla and filling the house with her laughter and squeals of delight.

It started out with them playing peekaboo and gradually turned to her chasing after him. Of course, Dark would purposely let her catch him after a small chase, which eventually lead to her trying to pounce on his tail as he dragged it across the floor. Once he noticed it, Dark sat himself down and slowly wagged it back and forth for her to try and catch. After a while of playing with her, Dark walked back into the living room, his tail dragging on the floor with Skyla sitting on it like a she was on a little sled ride. Walking over to Cadence, Dark lifted his tail up and gave her daughter back to her before looking over to the clock.

"Wow. Didn't think that it was already that late," Dark said noticing that it was already 11:30 A.M.

"Does that mean that you're leaving now?" Velvet asked.

"Yeah. I'll try not to make any noise when I get back tonight."

"Just be sure to come tell me when you get back," Twilight told him. "I'm still nervous about this plan of yours and just want to know that you're back safely."

"Alright, I will."

"What about food?" Velvet wondered. "If you're going to be down in the forge all day, won't you need something to eat?"

"Hmmm. Guess I'll just have to pick something up on my way back. With a city this big, I should be able to find a place to eat that late at night. Maybe a quick hayburger or two?"

"Don't you worry about that. When you get back, there'll be some leftovers waiting for you on the kitchen table."

"Are you sure about that? I just don't want to intrude on you anymore than I already have."

"Nonsense. I'm not going to allow my daughter's coltfriend to go hungry."

"Yes, ma- uh, thank you, Velvet."

"You're welcome. Now you better head on off before you're late."

Taking a brief moment, Dark turned around to see that Night and Shining had their backs turned to them while talking to Spike. With them not being able to see them, Dark quickly gave Twilight a goodbye kiss.

"You have fun with your friends," he smiled.

"Don't worry, I will," Twilight smiled back.

"I need to head on out. See you guys later," Dark said to the guys as he made his way out.

Heading out the door, Dark took a look around the city street before spreading his wings and taking flight. While he'd considered walking, the crowds and traffic would delay him and probably make him late. It only took him a few minutes for him to land in front of the gates to the castle grounds and walk up to one of the guards guarding it.

"Hello," Dark greeted. "I'm here for a scheduled appointment in the royal forge."

"You're Dark, right?" one of the guards asked.

"Yep."

Both of the guards smirked.

"So, how much trouble were you in?"

"Sorry, what?"

"We saw you and Prince Shining Armor fight at the Coliseum last night," the other guard answered.

"Oh, great."

"Yeah," the first one spoke, "what was up with the princesses dragging you two away like that anyway?"

"... they found out that we were fighting when we weren't suppose to."

Now both of the guards were chuckling at him. Looking from one guard to the other, Dark cleared his throat before speaking back up.

"So," he said catching their attention, "may I go in now?"

"Sure, go right in."

With his thanks, Dark walked past the guards and onto the castle grounds. Making his way into the castle, Dark was met with a snicker from almost each guard that he came across. Trying to ignore them, he continued down the halls, having to stop a few times to get directions to the throne room. Soon enough, he finally made it there and was greeted with the sight of Princess Celestia looking bored as she listened to Prince Blueblood talking to her. Instantly recognizing him, Dark slowly made his way over to him, catching Celestia's eye as he approached. As he got closer, memories of that day came back to him, causing his shadows to start emanating off of him again while also casting his Soul Eyes for their glowing effect.

"And that is why- what are you looking at?" Blueblood asked Celestia. "Is there somepony behind me?"

"Not quite a pony," Dark answered as he stood directly behind him.

Recognizing that voice, Blueblood spun himself around to come face-to-face with Dark, who's wide grin showed-off his fangs. Seeing his glowing eyes, sharp fangs, and the shadows flowing off of his body, Blueblood let out a high-pitched scream before he retreated back behind Celestia.

"That's him, Aunty!" he said pointing as he cowered behind her. "That's the beast that dared to assault me!"

"Oh, really?" Celestia replied half-amused, already knowing what had happened. "And what did he do exactly?"

"He grabbed me and said that he'd remove my hoof!"

Shaking her head, Celestia looked from her nephew over to Dark. "Dark, as amusing as this is to watch, would you mind cutting back on the theatrics? I think you've scared Blueblood enough for one week."

"Yes, Princess," Dark said, dispelling his Soul Eyes and retracting the shadows back into him.

"You'll pay for this you demon pony!" Blueblood sneered.

Annoyed with him, Dark Shadowported up in front of the cowardly prince. "If you want to fight me then go schedule an appointment for us at the Coliseum. In the meantime, I have business here to take care of that doesn't include wasting my time with you."

"Just you wait," Blueblood threatened as he slowly backed away towards the throne room doors, "soon you'll find that going against me was a mistake."

"The only mistake I've made was letting you-" Dark stopped when he felt a hoof on his shoulder.

Looking up, he saw Celestia shaking her head. Relaxing himself, he sat down as Celestia looked back to her nephew.

"Blueblood," she began, "I've already heard about what happened between you, Twilight, and Dark from Twilight's friends this morning. And I must say that I'm greatly disappointed with you that you would try and persuade Twilight with force."

"But that-"

"No, Blueblood," Celestia interrupted, hearing Dark lightly growl at him. "I know that you've been pursuing Twilight ever since she became a princess, but now I'm putting an end to it. Just remember that I'm doing this for your safety. Unless of course, you'd prefer that I let Dark have his way with you."

Hearing that last part, Dark went from a low growl to a loud hiss as he barred his fangs and began unfurling his wings. Taking the hint, Blueblood quickly bowed to the princess.

"I understand, I will no longer try to court Princess Twilight," Blueblood loudly stated before quietly muttering to himself, "For now anyway."

"I'm glad that you understand, now off you go."

Without any hesitation, Blueblood quickly ran out of the throne room and slammed the doors shut behind him. Once he as sure that he was gone, Dark began to start chuckling, but stopped when he turned to see the disapproving look Celestia was giving him. Silencing himself, he began looking apologetically to the princess... until a smile started to form on her own face. Soon enough, Celestia was laughing, which in turn caused Dark to laugh as well.

"So," Dark began, trying to get ahold of his laughter, "you're not upset? I thought that you'd be mad at me for doing that to a prince."

"Although he may be my adopted nephew," Celestia started to explain, "he's actually been getting on my nerves lately. I've actually been waiting to hear news of somepony putting him in his place, I just didn't expect it to be you after meeting him only once."

"Considering what he did, I'd say that a verbal warning was him getting off easy."

"I'm actually a little surprised that you didn't do more. I know that dragons are greedy and protective, and that they'll attack anything that threatens them or their treasure."

"Technically I'm only a half-dragon, but I don't get that last part. Besides the chest I have in storage, I don't really have any treasure."

"But you treasure Twilight, right?"

"... I guess when you say it like that," Dark quietly said with a blush, trying to hide his face by looking away.

"There's no need to be shy about it," Celestia giggled. "I already knew how you two felt about each other back after the invasion, so please don't feel as though you need to hide it from me."

Turning his head to see her smiling down to him, Dark allowed himself to smile back up.

"Yes, Princess," he returned before noticing where he was sitting.

With wide eyes, Dark Shadowported back down off of the dais and bowed to Celestia.

"I'm sorry!"

"What for?" Celestia asked confusingly.

"I didn't mean to sit beside your throne like that. I wasn't thinking about it at the time."

"Relax, Dark, I'm not going to get upset over something so small. Besides, you sitting like that reminded me of when I went to visit one of the foreign rulers who actually had a manticore as a pet sitting beside their throne. Now, if only I could remember who it was..."

"You're not going to try and use me like that, are you?" Dark asked with a smirk.

Seeing that he was making a joke of this, Celestia decided to play along. "Sorry, Dark, but I believe that Twilight's the one who has a leash on you, not me."

Seeing him groan from embarrassment like that caused Celestia to give a small laugh before she making her way down from her throne.

"But that's enough of that. I believe that you're here about you working the forge with your Draconium?"

"Yep."

"In that case, I'll show you there," she told him, leading him out of the throne room and towards the forge.

Dark cocked an eyebrow. "Not to sound rude, but don't you have more important stuff to do than to guide somepony to the forge?"

"Perhaps, but it's been a while since I've been down there and I could use the exercise after all the cake from last night. Oh, speaking of which, that was a good fight you two had."

"So you saw it?" Dark sighed.

"Most of the royal guards and night guards saw it, including Luna and I. Although, they weren't very happy with the outcome."

"Because Twilight and Cadence interrupted it?"

"Something like that. It was mostly because they all made bets on you and Shining Armor and lost."

"... I don't get it. If they betted on the two of us and neither of us won, then why did they lose?"

"Because I made the bet that it would end in a draw," she smirked.

"... so you won the bet then?"

"Yes, I did. Speaking of which, I should probably thank those two for doing that. They definitely made it entertaining with how they dragged you both out of the arena by your ears."

"I know," Dark grumbled. "Even with my regeneration, my ear is still a bit tender from that."

"By the way," she began as they descended a set of stairs, "why were you fighting Shining Armor in the first place?"

"Twilight's dad wanted me to prove myself to him," he began to answer, "and to do that, he wanted me to participate in a Coliseum match. However, I didn't know who my opponent was until I saw Shining walking out of that gate."

"Ah. I see."

Noticing the lack of light from before, Dark looked around to see that they were in a torch-lit hallway now aligned with dark-colored stone blocks. A few minutes later, they came upon a set of heavy iron doors which Celestia opened with ease. As the doors opened with a loud groan, Dark saw the massive forge behind it.

The forge was more like a cavern filled with metals, anvils, hammers, forges, racks filled with weapons and armors, and hundreds of other forging tools. But what really caught his attention was the single, massive forge at the far end with rivers of molten metal flowing around it.

"Welcome," Celestia welcomed with a wave of her hoof, "to the Underforge."

"Underforge?" Dark repeated in confusion.

"Aye, lad," a third voice answered, "this here be the great Underforge, named because it's... well... underground. Hahaha!"

Walking over to them was a short and beefy, light-tan, bald earth pony stallion, with a braded orange beard, brown eyes, and a hammer and anvil cutie mark.

"Dark, may I introduce the master smith, Anvil."

"Hello, Anvil," Dark greeted.

"Hey there, lad," Anvil returned. "So, yer the one with the Draconium, aye?"

"Yep."

"And ye used to work a as a smithy?"

"Used to back in my old village."

"Aye, I heard about what happened. My sincerest of apologies, lad."

"Thanks, but that's not why we're here, is it?"

"Hahaha, no it isn't. So then, can I see the little beauty?"

"You mean the Draconium ore?"

"Aye, the ore!"

Nodding, Dark reached into his Shadow Storage and dragged out his chest. Setting it down, he opened the top and took out the ore before sending the rest of the chest back into storage. Giving it to Anvil, he held it like it was the most precious thing he's ever held while looking at it with a small trickle of drool leaking from his mouth. He continued eyeing out the metal until Celestia cleared her throat, snapping out of his trance and back to reality.

"Oh, right," he chuckled. "So, yer gonna be forging this here beauty into a mighty fine weapon, aye?"

"Yep," Dark eagerly nodded.

"Why didn't ye use it before? Seemed like it would be a good idea, considering all the dragons ye had flying around."

"I know, but one weapon wouldn't have done much against an entire race."

"Aye, I suppose it wouldn't."

"So then," Celestia began, "am I'm to believe that you can take it from here, Anvil?"

"No problem, Yer Highness."

"Thank you. Oh, and, Dark. When you're finished, Luna would like for you to show her what you've made. She seemed to be quite curious about it."

"If she's curious about it, should I expect her to make a surprise visit?" Dark wondered.

"I cannot say for certain, but she might."

"Alright. Thank you for everything, Princess," he thanked with a bow.

"You're welcome. Be safe now, and I'll see you later."

Waving goodbye, the two stallions watched as Celestia left the Underforge and closed the iron gates behind her. With her gone, Anvil gave Dark the Draconium back and lead him through the Underforge.

"Ye'll be using my forge for this project," Anvil told Dark as he lead him to the massive forge at the other side of the cavern. "However, while ye'll be making this thing, I'll be here to assist ye."

"Okay, but where is everypony else who's suppose to be working down here?"

"Lunch break, laddy"

"... then why are you here? Aren't you hungry too?"

"I would if I didn't eat an hour ago, hahaha! So then, do ye know what kind of weapon yer gonna be making?"

"A greatsword that's longer than the length of the tip of my nose to the base of my tail," Dark answered. "Its blade will also be double-edged with the width widening the further down to the guard it goes, reaching almost as wide as my shoulders. The front edge will have a slight curve to the blade that will widen out towards the base, and extend beyond the hilt, while the back edge will have a straight blade with a guard."

"Sounds like yer trying to put two different types of swords together. Ye know that this monster of a sword'll be heavy to lift, aye?"

"I can wield two-hoofed weapons with one claw with ease. If it weighs a bit more than a normal greatsword, then it won't be a problem."

"Ye sure about that, lad?"

"Yep."

"Well, don't say that I didn't warn ye."

"Would you feel better if you had a hoof in the design?"

Anvil cocked an eyebrow at him. "Are ye sure? This is yer weapon after all."

"While it is my weapon, and I did used to do smithing, I think that trusting in a master smith like you who's been hired by the princesses would be a good idea."

"Heh, not bad, lad. I might have a few ideas to lighten it up, and it shouldn't affect the overall design."

"In that case, whey don't we get started?"

"Righty then. So, over there is where we'll smelt down the-"

"Actually," Dark interrupted. "There's something that I wanted to check out first."

"Oh?"

"Yeah. You know how Draconium is lethal to dragons?"

"Aye."

"Well, I have an idea on now to fix that so it won't harm me and be compatible with my magic."

"And what did ye have in mind?"

"... you promise not to tell anypony?"

"Lad, what happens in the Underforge, stays in the Underforge... unless of course we have to ship it out."

"Alright then." Dark paused to take a breath before revealing his plan. "Since Draconium has special properties against dragons, and seeing as how I'm part dragon, instead of quelching the metal in oil, I want to use my blood instead."

"... are ye serious?"

"Yes. I'm going to drown this sword in my own blood during its creation."

"... and how do ye plan on doing this without draining yerself dry?"

"I can regenerate, so draining myself of a few gallons of blood should be fine."

"I don't like this idea, lad," Anvil said with a frown before a shimmer was seen in his eye. "Then again, if this idea of yers does work, then this beauty of a weapon will be a masterpiece."

"So you're in?"

"Lad, never in all of my years of working as a smithy have I ever heard of such an crazy plan. So, aye, I'm in. But how are ye gonna collect this blood of yers?"

Walking over to one of the empty quelching station, Dark reached into his Shadow Storage and pulled out one of his swords. Leaning over it, he cut-off his own left arm and let the blood start pouring into it. Although it hurt like a mother, he didn't lose consciousness, nor did he start feel nauseous. He did, however, have to pause a few times to reattach his arm so that the wound wouldn't regenerate itself before cutting it off again. This process was repeated over a dozen more times before enough blood had been gathered, including any blood that would burn away from its quelching.

Taking a breather, Dark reattached his arm for the last time before sitting himself down against a nearby anvil while Anvil walked over and looked at the gathered blood. Seeing how much there was, he gave out a low whistle before turning to Dark, then back to the blood.

"I honestly didn't think that ye had it in ye," he said as he continued to eye it out.

"Well, to tell you the truth, I've never actually done something that before," Dark admitted to him.

"Crazy stallion."

Over at the house, Twilight was sitting in the living room playing with her friends when a chill ran up her spine. Turning from her friends, she looked out the window to Canterlot Castle with a small scowl on her face.

"Twilight? Everythin' alright there, sugarcube?" Applejack asked.

"I just have this feeling that Dark went on ahead and did something really crazy and stupid," she answered before turning back to the game they were playing. "Alright Rainbow, your turn. Now, truth or dare?"

Back down in the Underforge, Dark and Anvil had just finished heating the metal and began the shaping. While normally they would use a stone carving and pour the molten metal directly into it, this one was a custom design and couldn't be treated the same as any standard weapon. And so, they had to create this one by hoof. Together they split the jobs between them with Anvil holding the metal down against the anvil while Dark would take a hammer to it and start the shaping.

For most of the afternoon they focused on the shaping of the weapon, quelching it in Dark's blood after each treatment before it had to be returned back into the forge. By the time they were finally finished with it, it was already 8:00 P.M. and they were starting to get tired. Thankfully, they'd reached a point in their forging that they could take a quick food break. They didn't have to leave the forge, however, as Celestia had some food brought down for them not long ago

Now that the sword was shaped, including the guard for the back of the blade, they could start removing the excess grime and metals from it. Between that, the polishing, and sharpening, another three hours have passed. Setting the sword down against one of the anvils, they looked at their work. The shape of the design had come out just the way that Dark had hoped it would, along with the red color that was suppose to come with it, but they couldn't understand why it was a dark-crimson instead of its normal red color. Though if they had to guess, it would probably be from all of the times it was bathed in Dark's blood during its forging. There as a change, though, that was made to it, being the magical rune carvings on the flat of them blade which Anvil applied to make the weapon lighter, but it was welcomed by Dark. He also went with cloth wrapping on the metal hilt instead of shaping a wooded one to fit, and embedded an enchanted gem into the center of the guard that Dark could channel his magic into.

"So," Anvil spoke after a minute of silence, "is it what ye were hoping it would be?"

"It looks like it," Dark replied, "but the shape wasn't really the big thing I was worried about."

"Ye wanna know whether or not it'll work with yer unique dragon magic that ye told me about, aye?"

"Yep."

"Well then what are ye waiting for? Go on and give it a whirl."

Smiling to his new friend, Dark stood bipedal and walked over to his new weapon. Grabbing the hilt, he lifted it up with ease with the curved blade of the sword pointing away from him. After giving a few practice swings to get a feel for it, he began to light his horn and tap into the gem, causing it to glow red and for its blade to become encased in fire. Next was the big one of whether or not Dark's draconic magic could be applied to the weapon itself. Emanating shadows from his sword arm, he sent the magic from his claw into the sword. It started out as just a little bit, but as he started pouring more into it, the weapon began to hum with power. A few seconds later it reached the gem, turning it black and causing the sword blade to suddenly erupt with his shadows.

Looking at it with wide eyes, Dark gave it a couple of swings and watched as a trail of shadows followed behind it. While this was an unexpected effect, he also felt his shadows moving within the weapon. Pulling the magic back into his arm, the black flames covering the sword faded away. Feeling giddy with excitement for having completed the rather painful weapon, Dark channeled his magic to it again and shrouded the weapon in his shadows again.

"Well I'll be," Anvil muttered. "Never in all my days would I've thought that Draconium could've been adaptable with the use of dragon blood... or kirin blood in your case."

"You don't know how happy this has made me, Anvil," Dark said with a large smile on his face.

"By the look on yer face there, lad, I'd say it's quite a bit."

"Yep. Hey, thanks a lot for all of your help today, and for allowing me to use your forge like this."

"Yer welcome, lad. Also, I thank ye for allowing me to work on such a special metal. It's rare for any smithy to see even a piece of Draconium ore, let alone be able to actually get to work with it."

"You're welco- what the hay?!"

Out of the corner of his eye, Dark saw that his sword was acting up as the shadows began to flail around. Holding it out in front of him, Dark and Anvil watched as shadows turned to black flesh and started to spread outwards from the enchanted gemstone, and across the rest of the blade. Thrusting the sword into the ground, Dark took a few steps back as the black flesh began to cover most of the weapon in it. By the time it was done, the entire hilt and guard were covered in it while strips of it reached up towards the tip, partially covering the deep-crimson sword, but somehow staying clear of the bladed edges. As the two continued to look worryingly at the new weapon, they saw that the gemstone was glowing rhythmically and pulsating, almost like a heartbeat. Noticing it, Anvil's eyes widened in fear and took a few more steps back.

"By the princesses, what have ye done, lad?" he asked Dark.

"What are you talking about?" Dark nervously questioned back.

"Yer a smithy, so ye should know what this is!"

"I'm sorry, but I've never seen or heard of anything like this before."

Facehoofing, Anvil breathed to try and calm his nerves. "What we have here, lad, is a Living Weapon."

"A what now?"

"Living Weapon," he repeated. "Somehow ye've gone on ahead and accidentally created one. Don't ye see how the gem's light is pulsing like a heartbeat would?"

"I see that, but I still don't understand how this had happened."

"Perhaps I can explain," the weapon spoke, causing Dark to jump while Anvil remain as he was.

"And apparently it's one that can talk," he sighed.

"Of course I can talk, little pony."

"Wait," Dark slowly said as he began to recognize that voice. "Is that you again, Nocturne?"

"First you imprison me within your body, and then you split a piece of both your soul and mine into this weapon! Thank a lot!"

"Hey, accidentally imprisoning your soul in my body was your own fault. But how is it that you're in my sword now?"

"Blood is the currency of the soul, and with the amount of it that you'd paid, you've inadvertently bounded part of our souls to this thing."

"Wait a darn minute here," Anvil interrupted, "ye know this thing?"

Dark sighed. "This is Nocturne. He's a dragon who's soul is bound to me."

"Well... that's interesting."

"Anyway," Dark continued, redirecting the conversation back on topic, "from what I understand, you're saying that you're bound to that sword now."

"No. We're bound to it," Nocturne corrected. "Haven't you paying attention to what I've been saying? With the amount of blood that you used, this sword has literally become apart of you. You'll have no use for putting it in your 'Shadow Storage' as you call it, because it'll just absorb straight into your body."

Dark blinked. "That's a little unsettling."

"It doesn't hurt if that's what you're thinking. So long as you have magic, you can summon this weapon into or out of your body at will."

"Alright, but what happened to it? What's up with the black flesh covering it? And why are you able to speak again?"

"While I don't care for being asked so many questions at once, I'm willing to make an exception since this is somewhat interesting to me. The black fleshy tendrils are what my skin used to look like. And don't you be disgusted with it, because it only just made that sword even stronger. Now for your blood. Even though it played a major roll in bonding it to you, it wouldn't have worked if you didn't add my magic into the weapon and have something to bond them together with. And thanks to your blacksmith friend, he provided just the right gem to do that, to which I suppose I should thank him for."

"Umm, yer welcome?" Anvil questionably replied.

"So let me get this straight," Dark began, massaging his temples as he tried sorting this all out, "our souls are now bound to this weapon that is literally apart of me."

"Correct," Nocturne confirmed.

"And it's compatible with my magic."

"If you're referring to the magic that you've inherited from me, then yes."

"Will its Draconium effects still work on me, or am I immune to it since we're bound now?"

"It won't work on you."

"Good. Now, since our souls are bound to it, what would happen to us if the weapon took damage or broke?"

"Nothing."

"... are you sure?"

"You question me?"

"It just seems like for it having so many benefits like this that it should come with some negative side effects as well to balance it."

"The weapon is apart of you, so there aren't any!" Nocturne barked, getting annoyed of this.

"One last question," Dark said as he approached the blade. "Does this mean that I can talk to you freely now?"

"Only when you want to. Remember that you're in control, which includes whether or not you want to speak to me."

"So you won't start speaking up out of nowhere to everypony?"

"Maybe when the sword is out I will, but that depends on the situation and if you want me to talk or not."

"Alright then. Just don't go talking to me during my... loving time," Dark told him, grabbing the fleshy hilt and pulling the sword out of the ground.

"So what should we name it?" Anvil wondered.

"What?"

"In the olden times, great weapons had a special name given to them, so I just thought that a weapon like this deserves a name of its own."

"Honestly, I got nothing. I mean, it's a blood-red sword with black, fleshy tendrils attached to it."

"I know of a name," Nocturne spoke, causing the two to look at him. And though they couldn't see him, they could practically feel his grin.

"So? What is it?"

"Death Reaver."

"Huh. Where'd you come up with that name?"

"It reminds me of the name of my old weapon that was stolen from me long ago. And before you start asking, it was a scythe called Death Reaper."

"How can somepony steal a weapon made for you?"

"Because it shrank down to be compatible to his size, that's why."

"Huh, well that's neat. Okay then, I'll go with it, though I might nickname it Reaver for short. Thanks for the name, Noc."

"Sure," he muttered. "And don't call me that."

Letting the conversation die out, Dark started thinking of the blade sinking into his claw, and sure enough, the weapon turned to shadows and was absorbed into the palm of his claw. Focusing again, he tested the weapon by summoned out of the same claw before returning it back.

"Well," Dark began speaking, "that was... an experience."

"Aye, that it was," Anvil replied with a hard pat on Dark's back that knocked him back down to all fours.

"Thanks," he groaned, rubbing the sore spot on his back before looking over the mess that they made. "Well, I guess that we should probably start cleaning this up."

"Aye. Good luck with that, lad."

"You're not helping me?"

"Oh, I'm helping ye clean up, but that bloody mess is yers to take care of yerself."

"Fair enough I suppose. It is my mess after all."

"Aye, that it is. Now enough chit-chatting. It's late enough as it is and I wanna get me some shut-eye... after I grab me a few pints of ale. After a forging like that, I could really go for some drinks... actually, more like a lot of drinks."

While cleaning up the tools, metal chunks, and shavings took only fifteen minutes with the help of Dark's magic, the blood wasn't quite as easy as it took him over a half-hour before it was scrubbed clean. With a tired sigh, Dark dumped out the bloody water down into a nearby drain before rinsing the bucket out and setting it back where he found it. Looking back to see that the forge was just as clean as it was before they started, Dark and Anvil both exited the Underforge and locked it up behind them. Reaching the top of the staircase leading to the Underforge, they bid each other a goodnight with Anvil heading to the pub while Dark made his way to the throne room to meet up with Luna. After a good fifteen minutes of walking around getting lost... again, Dark finally found the doors to the throne room.

"They should really put up signs on the walls or something," he muttered to himself as he began top open the doors.

Hearing the doors starting to open up, Luna looked up from a scroll she was reading to see Dark walking in and shutting them behind him. Smiling, she waved him over with a hoof.

"It is good to see you again, Dark," she welcomed him.

"It's good to see you too, Your Highness," Dark returned with a bow.

"Tia told me about what happened with you and our bothersome nephew in the throne room earlier today."

"And?"

"And I must say that I wish that I could've been there to watch."

"Perhaps next time," Dark joked, causing him and Luna to giggle.

"So, I take it that you have finished your project?"

"Well... yes, we did," he slowly answered, "but there were some... unexpected outcomes with its completion."

"May I see it?"

With a nervous nod, Dark focused on the sword, causing a shadow to erupt out of his claw and swiftly shape itself into the Death Reaver before grabbing hold of it. He then levitated it over to Luna who took the sword in her own magic and began to inspect it.

"Hmmm. No warps or bends in the blade, feels durable and strong, but it also feels rather light for something of this size," she noticed.

"Anvil engraved some runes onto it to help reduce its weight," Dark explained.

"Ah, I see. And the gemstone?"

"His idea too."

"Well you can't blame him for adding some utility to it."

"Suppose not, especially after I told him that he could help and give me suggestions and stuff."

"So you did let him collaborate with you on this?"

"If you saw how he was literally drooling at the sight of holding it, then you would too," Dark laughed.

"Perhaps," she giggled as she continued to look it over. "All in all, I'd say that this is a rather... unique weapon. Though I am curious as to what this black stuff covering most of it it is."

"Yeeeaahhhh. That's the complicated part."

"So what is it? It almost looks like a-" Luna silenced herself as she looked fearfully from the sword to Dark. "Dark, please tell me this isn't what I think it is."

"... is it really that bad?"

"Of course it's bad! You've created a Living Weapon!"

"I swear it was an accident," he quickly replied, his body now shaking in fear as he shrunk down against the floor. "I didn't even know what a Living Weapon was until after it was created."

"What did you do to it?!"

"I just used my blood to negate the Draconium effects it would have against me. I didn't know that this would happen."

Seeing his shivering and fearful form, Luna closed her eyes and took a few deep breaths to calm herself down. A few moments later, she'd calm herself enough and opened her eyes back to him.

"You really didn't know?"

"I swear I didn't! Like I said before, I never even heard of that kind of weapon until Anvil explained it to me after its creation."

"You can't exactly blame him," Nocturne spoke to Luna, who jumped slightly in surprise.

"You're talking already?" Dark questioned.

"Like I said before, it depends on the situation, and this one seemed to warrant it."

"It can speak?" Luna asked surprisingly.

"Yes, I can speak," he annoyingly answered.

"I think I remember your voice. Aren't you the one they called Nocturne?"

"Yes, again. This brilliant idiot accidentally bound our souls into this weapon, thus allowing me to speak through it."

"So he truly didn't know?"

"I've been in his mind, so I can attest to his claim of stupidity of not knowing," Nocturne agreed, causing Dark to grumble.

"Very well," she sighed. "So then, knowing Anvil, I would assume that he wanted to name it, right?"

"Correct. It's called Death Reaver."

Luna cocked an eyebrow. "And you thought it was a good idea to name it something like that?"

"Well I thought it was fitting," Nocturne defended. "It reminded me of my old weapon."

She turned from the weapon to Dark. "Dark, while I'm surprised that you were able to craft such a weapon, even if by accident, I must ask that you try and refrain from showing this to anypony."

"What about when Twilight ask?" he questioned. "She was curious about it before I left and will surely want to see it now that it's completed."

"Do what you can to try and keep her from seeing it."

Dark sighed. "You know that that's going to be nearly impossible for me to do, right? I mean, if she wanted to, she could have me tell her anything she wanted if she glared at me long enough."

"Just try to do your best."

"You know he's boned, right?" Nocturne whispered to her.

"I know," she sighed before turning back to Dark. "So, your blood did this?"

"I thought that maybe if dragon blood were to be used in its crafting that it could work," Dark explained.

"And it would appear that it did."

"Yeah."

"So, what can you do with it?"

"Besides absorb it directly into my body, talk to Nocturne, and enchant its blade with my magic, nothing else that I know of so far. I'll have to test it out."

"Interesting," she quietly muttered before returning it to Dark and seeing him absorb it. "Just be sure to be careful with it, and for the love of my sister and I, don't practice with it here in Canterlot or anywhere where ponies could see it."

"Yes, Princess," Dark agreed with a bow. "I actually intend to practice with it in Ghastly Gorge. Barely anypony goes there besides maybe the girls to see what I'm up to."

"Good. Now you should probably head on off to bed. I'm sure that today was rather taxing on you with using your blood like that."

"Although my regeneration was able to replenish the blood that I lost, you're right."

"In that case I wish you a goodnight's sleep, Dark."

"Thank you, Princess Luna," Dark returned with one last bow before Shadowporting out of the castle.

With Dark gone and the throne room empty to her again, Luna returned back to her throne and sat down to continue looking over the scrolls provided to her. She was about to continue where she left off, but the thought of a Living Weapon existing in Equestria distracted her.

"He may be a good stallion, but his naivety about this shouldn't be overlooked. Perhaps tomorrow I shall have words with Tia and see what she thinks we should do, though I doubt it would be much."

After a brief and chilly stop at the nearby waterfall to clean off any traces of blood or metal, Dark Shadowported into the entryway of the house. Quietly, he started making his way past the living room towards the kitchen when he heard somepony snoring. At first he just thought that it was Shining, but that was quickly thrown out the window when he heard a few more sets of snoring. Curious as to what the heck was going on, Dark went into the living room to see all of Twilight's friends laying about the place in either their sleeping bags, or in the futon.

Guess I'm not sleeping here tonight, Dark figured as he made out of the living room and back towards the kitchen.

Like Velvet told him, there was a plate of leftovers sitting on the table for him. Making a mental note to thank her again in the morning, Dark used his magic to reheat the food before quickly and silently eating it. Once his meal was done, he quietly rinsed off his plate and placed it in the drying rack before hearing somepony groan. Feeling like he made too much noise, Dark Shadow Melded and went to see if he woke anypony up. Thankfully for him, they were still sound asleep.

Remembering then that he still had to go tell Twilight that he'd returned, Dark made his way up the stair to her room. Dispelling his Shadow Meld, Dark quietly opened the door and walked in. While he would've been apprehensive about entering, she did give him permission to earlier before he left. Quietly closing the door behind him, Dark made his way over to Twilight's sleeping form and gently nudged her while whispering to her.

"Twilight?"

"Mmm? What is it?" she tiredly asked.

"You wanted me to tell you when I got back, remember?"

"Yeah, I do, now come to bed. It's a little chilly tonight."

"But your dad-"

"Don't worry about him, now come on in."

With slight hesitation over her dad, Dark did as he was told and got into bed with her. Once he was settled down, Twilight wasted no time in snuggling up against him as much as she could, sighing as she felt the warmth radiating from him.

"Is it really that chilly to you?" he questioned.

"Mhmm."

Feeling her shiver slightly, Dark wrapped his arms and wings around her, holding her closer to him while also providing her with some extra warmth. Soon after, the events on that day had finally caught up with him, and before he knew it, he was asleep.

Author's Note

For a better picture of what the weapon looks like, think of Soul Edge and the Buster Sword combined into one weapon with the black, fleshy look of the Sha-Touched weapons from the WOW Mist of Pandaria Expansion.

Chapter 30- Last Morning in Canterlot

In the kitchen of Night's and Velvet's house, dishes were being set up for today's large breakfast. While Night, Velvet, Shining, and Cadence were helping with the cooking and setting down eating places, Spike and the girls were busy in the living room playing with Skyla. They all had fun last night playing games together, telling stories, laughing as Velvet showed the girls the family album, and had some snacks while watching a show on the crystal projection. All in all they had a very fun time last night, especially when Twilight casted a soundproof barrier around them so that they wouldn't need to worry about being too loud.

By about 8:00 A.M., breakfast was just about done for them, but no one had seen Twilight yet. Curious as to where she was, Night called out from the kitchen into the living room.

"Hey, girls?"

"Hey!" Spike protested. "What about me?"

"And, Spike," Night chuckled. "Have any of you seen Twilight this morning?"

"Nope," they all answered.

"Even you, Spike?"

"The last time I saw her was when she was still sleeping," he answered.

"So that means that she's probably still asleep then. Would one of you be willing to go wake her up me us?"

"No problem," Rainbow said before flying away up the stairs.

Reaching Twilight's door, Rainbow quietly knocked on it. A few attempts later of not getting any answer, she opened the door and went in. Walking over to the bed, she saw Twilight snuggled up against Dark with his arms and wings wrapped around her, both peacefully asleep. Just before she was about to wake them, she noticed a glint of light out of the corner of her eye. Turning to look, she saw that it was Spike's new instant-photo camera, which gave her a mischievous thought. Walking over to it, she grabbed the camera, walked back alongside the bed, and took a picture of the two sleeping. With a quiet snicker, she tucked the photo beneath her wing and sat the camera back where she found it. As she did, she heard a tired moan coming from the bed. Walking back over, Rainbow could see Twilight beginning to stir before she opened her eyes.

"Morning, sleepyhead," Rainbow greeted her. "Have fun last night?"

Twilight's eyes snapped wide awake as she heard her friend's voice. Turning her head up from her resting spot, she could see Rainbow looking at her with a shit-eating grin.

"R-Rainbow?" Twilight nervously said. "What are you doing in here?"

"Your dad asked for one of us to come up and get you for breakfast... although," her grin widened, "I can understand if you're not feeling hungry at the moment."

"What do you mean by that?"

"Just think about it for a moment, it'll come to you."

Doing just that, Twilight mulled her words over. Of course, granted how her sense of humor could be at times, and how similar it sounded when Luna asked her and Dark that after the invasion, it didn't take her long to figure out what she meant. When she did, Twilight felt as though her face was lit on fire, and probably looked like it was burning like it too.

"Rainbow!" Twilight embarrassingly snapped. "You know full well that we didn't do anything like that! Besides, everypony would have probably heard us if we did."

"Just like how your family heard all of us laughing last night?"

"Ugh! I'm not going to get into this with-" Twilight froze as she heard Dark groan and begin to shift.

The two went silent as they watched him move for a few seconds before he fell motionless again. Waiting a little while longer to make sure that he really did go back to sleep, Twilight and Rainbow looked back to each other. With a nod over to the door, Rainbow made her way out while Twilight kissed Dark on the cheek before teleporting herself out into the hallway. Quietly shutting the door, the two mares began their walk down to eat.

"So," Rainbow began, "what time did he get back at? I remember you telling us last night that he wouldn't be finished until long after sunset."

"It was about half-past midnight before he woke me up and told me that he was home," Twilight answered.

"And your dad's okay with him sleeping with you like that?"

"... well... he actually didn't want us to. But, considering that the futon was taken up, there wasn't exactly anywhere else he could've slept besides with you girls in the living room."

"So if I told your dad about what I saw..."

"Then we would both probably be in trouble," Twilight finished.

Rainbow sighed. "In that case, I suppose that I should probably give you this."

Moving her wing, Rainbow reached over and pulled out the photo that she'd taken of them and gave it to Twilight.

"When did you-"

"Just before I heard you wake up."

"I thought I heard something, I just didn't think that it came from Spike's camera shutters was all."

"Well I was going to show it to everypony during breakfast for a laugh, but if it means that you'll get into trouble for it, then it's probably better that you have it instead."

"Thanks, Rainbow," Twilight smiled before teleporting the photo to her bag.

With that potential disaster adverted, the two soon came into the kitchen where everyone was waiting for them. After taking their seats, Velvet looked around to notice one spot empty.

"Has anypony seen Dark?" she asked.

"He's sleeping right now," Twilight answered her. "He didn't get back till past midnight, so I'm just going to let him sleep in a little bit before waking him."

"Just don't let him sleep in too long now. Besides, I'm sure that he'll want to play with Skyla again before you all have to head back to Ponyville."

"I'm sure he would too."

"Speaking of Dark," Night began, "where did he sleep at last night? Because he wasn't in the living room when I went downstairs earlier to make coffee."

Rainbow then leaned over to whisper to Twilight. "Looks like you're busted."

"Yeah," she sighed before looking up to her dad. "Well... you see, dad... about that."

Over in Canterlot Castle, Celestia was sitting down in the dining hall with Luna. While their meals with each other were usually filled with some form of conversation, Celestia noticed that Luna appeared to have something preoccupying her mind.

"Luna? Is everything alright?" Celestia asked.

"Hmm?" Luna questioned before snapping out of her thoughts. "Oh, yes, everything is fine, sister."

"Are you sure about that? You seem to be a little bit distracted."

"Well... I suppose I do, but I don't know whether it's good or bad."

"What is it?"

"It's the weapon that Dark created last night."

"Ah, yes, I almost forgot about that. How did it go for him and Anvil?"

"From what I was told, and from what I saw of the end result, I'd say that what he made was easily more than what he intended to create."

"How so?"

"Tia," Luna began, her face turning serious, "he created a Living Weapon with a part of his and Nocturne's souls."

Celestia's eyes widened. "He what?!"

"That's what I said."

"How did he accomplish something like that?!"

"By using his blood during the creation of the weapon. He told me that his intention behind that was to make him immune to the effects of the Draconium. However, in doing so, he'd also accidentally created a Living Weapon."

"Did he know what a Living Weapon was at the time?"

"According to Dark and Nocturne, he didn't know until Anvil told him about it after its creation."

"Alright," Celestia sighed. "So then, do you believe that it's a threat to Equestria?"

"Well of course the weapon is dangerous, but considering who its wielder is, and after a lot of thinking last night, I don't believe that we'll have to worry too much about him. But I also wanted to get your opinion on this, Tia."

"While I don't want to jump to anything, I'd rather not have to face another one of those weapons. The last one we faced was enough for me."

"Not to mention who was wielding it."

"Yes, that too."

"So then, what's your plan for approaching this?"

"After we're done eating here, I'll go and have a small talk with Dark about the risks of such a weapon. That, and I would like to see it for myself. In the meantime, why don't you tell me more about last night."

Dark was still laying in Twilight's bed as he let out a loud yawn. While he was tired from playing with Skyla and forging his weapon, the bed that he slept in was unusually comfortable, much more so than the futon he had to sleep in the night before all of that. Still barely awake, he moved his claw to feel the once occupied space emptied. Cracking an eye open, all Dark saw was the empty space on the bed, and the bedroom wall just beyond that. Groaning, Dark rolled himself over with the intent of getting up for the day... only to be met with the sight of Night glaring at him with his hoof tapping the floor. Now noticing the sound, Dark was actually surprised that he didn't hear it before.

"So," Night calmly began, "did you have a nice sleep last night?"

While he appeared to be calm, Dark immediately noticed the tone of voice he was using from when his mother used to use it when he or one of his siblings were in trouble. Worried that he'd just been caught, Dark slowly began to retreat down under the blankets.

"What did I tell you before about the sleeping arrangements?"

"That I was suppose to sleep on the couch?" Dark nervously answered.

"Well, that is partially correct," another voice spoke.

Poking his head out from under the blankets, Dark saw Twilight walking out from behind Night, causing him to smile as she continued.

"If you remember, my dad said, and I quote, 'You're sleeping on the couch tonight'. And that one night had already passed. Besides, you couldn't have slept on the couch last night because it was already being used, and I doubt that you would've wanted to sleep in the living room or the fire place."

"And I'm happy that I didn't," Dark said to her. "Pinkie snores like a broken kazoo, and I think I heard Rainbow whinny in her sleep."

"That they do."

"By the way, what time is it?"

"9:00."

"Huh. Didn't think I slept in that late."

"Not too much by some pony's standards. Although, the time is partially why I came to wake you up."

"If you're here to wake me up, then what's your dad doing in here?"

"He just wanted to mess with you when you woke up," she giggled.

Dark looked over to Night. "Really?"

"Twilight already explained what happened when you got back last night, and I have to admit that I should've seen that coming with her friends all sleeping in the living room like that," Night told him. "Did you intend on sleeping in here when you got back?"

"I actually thought that I'd sleep on that futon again, but after I saw that it was occupied, and with the girls all sleeping in the living room, the back porch was starting to look like the next best thing."

"You're not sleeping on the back porch," Twilight firmly stated. "Not if there's room for you here, understand?"

"Yes, Twilight."

"Good. Now come on down. We might be done with breakfast, but mom saved you a plate. Besides, you'll want to play with Skyla again before we leave for Ponyville, right?"

Dark chuckled. "True. It would be nice to play with her for a little bit before we leave."

Getting out of bed, Dark quickly made it before following after Twilight and Night. While Twilight began to go on ahead, Night fell back with Dark.

"Thanks," Night quietly told Dark.

"Huh? For what?" he questioned.

"Twilight told me about how you were hesitant to sleep in her bed last night, that it would go against my wishes."

"Oh, right. She's not going to be in any trouble for this, is she?""

"No, she's not. Twilight's a grown mare now, so she can make her own decisions. Also, I just wanted to thank you for trying to respect the rules I set for you, even though Twilight didn't like them."

"I'm sorry, Night, but there's something about Twilight that makes me have a hard time refusing her."

"I suppose a mare will do that to you," Night sighed before smiling. "But I must say that I'm glad that she picked somepony like you to be her special somepony."

"I'm glad she did too," Dark smiled back. "After losing everything, she's given me a reason to continue forward."

"Hey," Twilight called back, snapping to two out of their conversation. "Are you two just going to stand there? If you are, then I'm going to eat your food, Dark."

Seeing Twilight run down the stairs, Dark and Night looked back to each other before Night put a hoof on Dark's shoulder.

"You be good to her and look after her, alright?"

"I promise," Dark nodded. "Although, I think that she looks after me more than I do for her."

"Well either way, I wish you luck. Knowing her, you may need it."

"If you're talking about her freak-outs that I've heard about, she hasn't had any since I've met her."

"Then consider yourself lucky that you haven't seen any yet."

Ending it with that, the two made their way down stairs. While Night went towards the living room to interact with his kids and their friends, Dark went straight for the kitchen where Twilight was waiting for him.

"What took you so long?" she wondered.

"Just talking with your dad," Dark shrugged.

"He wasn't giving you any grief for earlier was he?"

"Nope, nothing like that. Just two guys talking is all," he said before he started eating.

"Well, that's good to hear. So, can I see what it is that you made yesterday?"

Dark slowly put the fork-full of food back down to his plate as he tried to think about it. While he had every intention to before all of this started, after seeing what he'd created and with Luna's words, he was now hesitant to do so.

"... I'm not so sure that's a good idea, Twilight."

"Why not? Did it not turn out the way you'd hoped it would?"

"Well, no, it did turn out good. It's just that what I made was a bit more than what I'd bargained for."

"Did something happen?"

"You could say that. Look, I'm sorry that I'm being so vague with my answers right now. It's just that after showing it to Princess Luna, she asked me to try and keep a lid on it."

"So you're under orders to not talk about it to anypony?"

"I wouldn't quite say that she did, but at the same time, she sorta did."

"... you know that I could order you to tell me, right?"

"Would that be as a princess, or as my fillyfriend?"

"Either one works, but I might be more successful asking as your fillyfriend."

Dark sighed. "If you really want to know, then I'll tell you."

"Only if you want to," Twilight replied. "I can see that talking about it is troubling you."

Reaching over, Dark gently held Twilight's hoof in his claw.

"Even if it troubles me, I don't want to keep secrets from you while we're in this relationship. I'd rather tell you sooner, than have you find out later and be upset about it."

"Thank you," she smiled, lightly squeezing his claw back.

"Well, this is a rather sweet sight to walk into."

Turning towards the source of the new voice, Dark and Twilight saw Celestia standing in the kitchen walkway, causing them both to jump in their seats.

How is it that we managed to miss seeing the giant, white alicorn standing just a few feet away from us?! Dark thought.

"Relax, you two," Celestia calmly told them, "it's just me."

"How long were you listening?" Twilight asked.

"Long enough," she said, walking over and taking a seat on the other side of the table. "I spoke to Luna already during breakfast before coming here. And yes, Twilight. While she didn't say that she specifically order Dark to remain silent, it was intended to. Of course, she also knew that trying to hide it from you would be a challenge."

"But why is this so important to keep it hidden from everypony?"

Celestia turned to Dark. "Dark, could you please show us what you created?"

Nodding hesitantly, Dark summoned the sword into his claw before laying it on the table for them to see. While Twilight recoiled from seeing the sword covered in black flesh, Celestia's eyes and horn were already scanning it. After a few moments had passed with Celestia looking over the weapon, and Dark continuing to eat his food, Twilight slowly returned back to her chair to have herself a good look at it before she too began to scan it with her magic. Completing her scan, she looked over to Celestia.

"Princess? What is this thing?" Twilight nervously asked. "I know that it's a weapon, but it also felt as though it is alive."

"It's called a Living Weapon, Twilight," Celestia answered. "And like the name implies, it is alive."

"But how is that possible? I can understand if a Come to Life spell was casted on it, but what I felt instead almost felt like a heartbeat."

"Listen to your princess, Princess," the sword groaned.

"Gah!"

"So Luna wasn't joking after all," Celestia murmured.

"Nocturne? Is that you again?"

"Yes, it is," he sighed.

"How did this happen to you?"

"Long story short, this idiot of a boyfriend of yours accidentally inserted a piece of both of our souls into this weapon," Nocturne complained.

"I don't see why you're so upset about it," Dark chimed. "At least now you get to talk to everypony."

"What I'm more annoyed about is the fact that you actually did this! I haven't even began to start teaching you yet and you've already pulled off a variation of my Soul Transfer spell, though weak it may be."

"Is that what you used to escape from your old dragon body?"

"... maybe."

"So does that mean that we can talk to you whenever?" Twilight asked.

"Almost."

"While he can talk whenever he wants while the sword is out, when it's inside me, he can only talk to me in my mind," Dark continued off of Nocturne. "Although, I've made it clear to him that he isn't allowed to talk or even peek during our personal time together."

"Good, otherwise that would be a bit awkward," Twilight agreed.

"So, you're Nocturne?" Celestia asked.

"Yes, I am," he confirmed. "It's a pleasure to finally have a chance to talk to you, Princess Celestia. That is, without the interference of that hatchling of a king."

"So you've meet King Inferno before."

"Yes, I've meet him a few times before. However, I must warn you that while he may have appeared to have been relatively calm on the surface, he's like a raging volcano of anger just below. I was actually a little surprised that he didn't just go after this kid as soon as he saw him."

"It's a good thing that he didn't then."

"I agree," Twilight said with a nod. "You taking over Dark's body and assaulting General Razor Claw was excitement enough."

"Quite, but we're starting to get off track," Celestia redirected. "I'm here to talk to Dark about the risks of having a weapon like this."

"... I suppose I should add in my input as well, considering that I owned one too," Nocturne spoke.

"Okay," Dark said with a slight nod, "what kind of risks are we talking about?"

"For starters, there're those who would try and take it from you like mine. If you start using its power around ponies, they might be tempted to try and steal it away... or kill you and loot it off of your corpse."

"Nocturne!" Twilight scolded.

"Hey, that's how it goes. Although, I will be teaching you, Dark, how to properly wield this weapon and control its power."

"Can I wield it without invoking its power or channeling my power into it?" Dark wondered.

"Yes you can, but just the look of the weapon alone will attract attention. So in the meantime, I suggest that you use your little armory and only use the Death Reaver when either practicing with me, or if facing a dangerous enemy."

"What's a 'Death Reaver'?" Twilight asked.

"It's the name of the weapon."

"Oh! Like in the olden days when-"

"Yes, like that," Nocturne groaned.

"Okay, so what other risks involving my Living Weapon are there?" Dark asked.

"While being targeted for having one and the power they hold are worth noticing, the last is the possibility of the weapon corrupting you," Celestia answered.

"But how?" Twilight wondered.

"Since a Living Weapon is of course, living, that means that it has somewhat of a will of its own. Now, while I would normally be greatly concerned about this, considering it's soulbound to Dark, the possibility of corruption is non-existent."

"So what if somepony else besides Dark wields it?"

"You see this black flesh covering it?"

"Yes."

"If somepony other than Dark wields this weapon, the flesh will crawl up whatever is holding it and try to possess them."

"So if I were to try and grab hold if it..."

"No, it wouldn't harm you," Nocturne interrupted, causing everyone to look at him.

"Come again?"

"While Princess Celestia is correct about that, this sword is bound to Dark and I. Meaning that if we wanted to, we could allow for somepony other than him to hold it, like with Princess Luna last night. If Dark didn't give her permission, then the weapon would've tried to possess her as a sort of defensive mechanism."

"Alright, so only Dark and anypony who he allows to hold it can wield it?"

"Correct. Why? Are you wanting to?"

"... maybe?"

"In that case," Dark began as he slid the sword over to her, "go on ahead."

"Are you sure?"

"Yep."

With a nervous gulp, Twilight lit up her horn and levitated the sword off the table. Once it was floating a foot above, she bounced it up and down in her magic, trying to get a feel for it.

"It feels a lot lighter than what it looks like," Twilight observed.

"Anvil carved magical runes into the blade to help lighten it up," Dark explained.

"Really? I don't see them."

"That's because they're hidden beneath this fleshy stuff," Dark shuddered. "Even feeling it while holding it makes my skin crawl."

"You'll get used to it," Nocturne told him. "Besides, once we get back to that new village of yours, we're heading to that canyon to train."

"You mean Ghastly Gorge?"

"Yeah, whatever."

"Speaking of training," Dark began, looking over to Celestia, "how much power were you talking about was in this thing?"

"From the scan I ran over it, it has enough power to wipe-out a fifth of Canterlot with just one swing."

Hearing that caused Twilight to drop the sword back onto the table, no longer wanting to hold it, magic or otherwise.

"Hey, don't drop me like that!" Nocturne snapped.

"Sorry," She apologized. "Just a bit nervous hearing what this thing can do."

"In that case," Dark began saying, "was there anything else you wanted with this weapon, Princess?"

"No, thank you, Dark," Celestia replied.

With a nod, Dark reached down to pick up his sword, only to find that it was no longer laying on the table anymore. He began looking around and under the table when he heard a bubbly voice behind him.

"Ooohhh! Creepy~"

"Hey! Put me down!"

Turning around, Dark saw that Pinkie as standing on her back legs while holding the Living Weapon in her front hooves.

"Pinkie!" Twilight nearly shouted. "What are you doing?! Let go of that!"

"Aahhh, but this is so creepy cool that I don't want to just yet."

"But if you keep holding onto it, it'll corrupt and possess you!"

"Huh? What are you talking about, Twilight? It's not doing anything to me, see?"

Holding out the hoof gripping the sword, everyone saw that the flesh wasn't reacting to Pinkie. Looking back from the weapon, to her, and back to it, they all started to become confused, namely Nocturne.

"But... how?" he cluelessly questioned. "Dark didn't even give her permission! This defies everything that we just went over!"

Twilight sighed. "Nocturne, one thing that you need to know is that Pinkie Pie defies all logic in general."

"Yeah, it's a gift," Pinkie happily sighed.

"Regardless, I don't want to be out here anymore and would like to go back now," Nocturne requested.

With a happy giggle, Pinkie gave Nocturne a quick goodbye before returning the sword back to Dark, who absorbed the sword soon after taking it.

"Excuse me, Miss Pie?" Celestia spoke. "Could you bring Cadence down here for a moment?"

"Okie-dokie-lokie," Pinkie happily answered before turning into a blur and returning with Cadence a second later.

"Thank you."

"What just happened?" Cadence confusingly asked. "How'd I get from upstairs to down here?"

"I carried you, silly," Pinkie explained before bouncing back to the living room.

Blinking in confusion a few times, Cadence then turned her gaze away from Pinkie to see who all was gathered.

"Oh, hello, Aunty Celestia. When did you get here?"

"Not too long ago. I was just going over with Dark the risks of having a Living Weapon. And before you ask, no, you don't need to worry about it."

"... if you say so," she slowly answered, taking an empty seat at the table.

"Thank you. Now, as for why you're here, do you have that crystal for Twilight that we talked about?"

"Oh, I almost forgot about that."

Remembering her talk with Celestia and Luna, Cadence lit up her horn and teleported a crystal from her bag onto the table in front of Twilight.

"Here, Twily. This is for you."

"What is it?" Twilight asked them.

"It's a crystal that we use to communicate to each other. Aunty Celestia, Luna, and I already have one, and we thought that you should have one too. Especially with everything that's been going on lately."

"How does it work?"

"Just picture in your mind who you want to talk to and charge the crystal with your magic. After that the crystal will connect to the crystal belonging to whoever you thought about and alert them. Once the pony on the other side answers, an image projection of them will appear that you can talk to."

"That's pretty neat," Dark commented.

"It was made for the purpose of getting in touch with each other during dire times, but lately we use it to just keep in touch, like when Aunty Celestia and Aunty Luna called me for help when Dark lost his eyes to Shiny."

"Thank you, Cadence," Twilight smiled.

"You're welcome, Twily, but it was actually their idea."

"Well then, thank you, Princess."

"You're welcome, Twilight," Celestia returned before looking over to the kitchen clock. "By the way, what time were you heading back to Ponyville?"

"Noon."

"In that case, would you be alright if I stayed and enjoyed your company and that of your friends before you leave?"

"Of course you can. You don't need to ask me permission to hang around us."

"Thank you. Plus, this will also allow me to spend some time with little Skyla."

"Good luck with that," Twilight giggle. "Dark's been trying to hog her as much as he can."

Dark sighed dramatically. "I suppose I could share her. Besides, I'm sure that she'll love the extra attention."

Taking the crystal into her magic, Twilight teleported it up into her bag before the four made their way into the living room to hang out before leaving. While the ponies and Spike were surprised to see Celestia at first, they quickly calmed back down. Once seated down, Skyla wasted no time in scampering over to Celestia for some attention, of which Celestia gave her in full. Time, however, wasn't ao kind to them as the hours quickly rolled by, having them to get ready to leave. Or, so they would if Celestia didn't tell them that she had some of her guards already move their luggage over to the train station. With happy thanks, they began to file out of the house, which also included Shining, Cadence and Skyla, Night, Velvet, and Celestia, who would see them off at the train station.

During their walk, they talked about what plans they would be having. Eventually, this also lead up to plans for the holidays, which the entire family would be spending together after the Hearth's Warming Ball. As they continued down the road, Spike and Dark began having sneezing fits which would have them occasionally sneeze fire. Looking up around them, Spike saw the problem.

"What are those things still doing here?" he asked.

"Sorry, Spike," Celestia apologized. "I know that you don't like them, but they are rather decorative trees, and the ponies all like them."

"What are they?" Dark nasally asked. "They're making my nose all stuffy and causing us to sneeze."

"They're called Dragon Sneeze Trees."

"You can feel their affects on you?" Twilight asked Dark.

"Seems so," he answered before sneezing again.

"Don't worry too much," Celestia told them. "Once winter comes around, they'll lose their leaves and their sneezing effect so you can walk past them peacefully."

"Good to know," Spike grumbled. "Though I'd be much happier if I never had to see them again after what happened last time."

Not long after, they finally made it down to the train station where their luggage was being loaded by the guards. Stopping on the loading dock, Spike and their friends thanked Celestia and Twilight's parents for letting them stay before they began to board. With Twilight and Dark alone with her family and Celestia, she went over and began giving them goodbye hugs, and kisses for her parents and niece, while Dark was just standing there, shifting from one side to the other unsure of how to go about this. Thankfully for him, he didn't have to as Night an Velvet approached him while Twilight was saying goodbye to Celestia.

"So, I take it that we'll be seeing you again during Hearth's Warming?" Velvet asked.

"I guess?" Dark unsurely replied.

"You don't sound very convincing there," Night said to him. "You don't have other plans made, do you?"

"No, I don't."

"Then why do you sound so unsure?"

"Well..." Dark hesitantly began. "It's suppose to be the time of year for family to spend time together and... well, I'm not that."

"Maybe not," Velvet began saying, "but that doesn't mean that you're not welcome to spend it with us. I know that it would mean a lot to our Twilight if you did."

"Probably, but would the rest of you be alright with it? I get the feeling that Cadence would be happy with it, but I'm not so sure about Shining just yet and..."

Getting what he was getting at, Night shook his head and sighed. "While I was cautious about you at first, after getting to know you a little bit, I wouldn't mind it that much. Just remember that while you're in my house, you'll be following my rules, got it?"

"Yes, Night."

"Good," he smiled, holding out a hoof for a shake.

Returning the smile, Dark extended a claw and shook Night's hoof. Letting go, he turned to Velvet to give her one, but was surprised when she shook her head at him. However, what surprised him even more was when Velvet drew him into a hug, causing his body to tense up. Feeling his muscles stiffen, Velvet spoke to him in a motherly voice.

"It's alright," she softly told him.

Looking over to Night, Dark saw him giving him a small nod accompanied with a smile. Letting himself relax, Dark then began to remember how his own mother would hug him like this when he would go out to fight off an attacking dragon or two. While those memories continued to flood him, he found himself returning the hug, much like he did with his mom. Feeling fully relaxed, Dark allowed himself to melt into the motherly embrace he was in. As he began to close his eyes with how relaxed he was feeling, a soft giggle caused him to turn his attention over towards Twilight, which in turn caused him to start breaking the hug.

"T-Thank you," he nervously thanked.

"It's alright, dear," Velvet smiled. "So, we'll be seeing you during Hearth's Warming then?"

"Yes, Miss Velvet."

"'Miss'?"

"Sorry, force of habit."

Giving an understanding nod, Velvet walked over to Night before Dark was approached by Shining, Cadence, and Skyla.

"I guess I'll see you around," Shining spoke.

"Guess so."

Leaving it at that, they gave the other a farewell nod before Cadence took his place.

"You'll be good to my sister-in-law, right?" she asked.

"Of course I will. Why would you even ask that?""

"I know, I know, I'm just pulling your leg," Cadence giggled, causing her daughter on her back to giggle too. "Until then I guess. Oh, and somepony wanted to see you before you left."

Gesturing over to her back, Dark walked over to see Skyla holding out her forelegs to him while making baby noises. Chuckling, Dark lowered his muzzle over to her and began to nuzzle her, which also allowed for her to grab ahold of his muzzle as he did.

"See you later," Dark softly spoke to her, earning him more baby sounds and a laugh.

After getting the foal let go of his face, Dark turned to Celestia. "Thank you for letting us stay at the castle, Princess."

"It was of no trouble, Dark," Celestia smiled. "Besides, we did request for you to attend that meeting, so it would only be fair that we'd accommodate you."

"I still thank you for doing that, though. You could've had me stay at a hotel, but instead allowed me to stay at the castle."

"I know, but I didn't and wouldn't allow for it."

Hearing this caused Dark to chuckle a little bit. "You know, that's almost similar to what Twilight said to me during my first night in Ponyville. You two may not be related, but I can see that she's picked up a few things from you."

"She might as well may be," Velvet chimed. "After all, she did help in raising Twilight into the young mare that she is today."

"You know that I never intended to take your place as her mother, right, Velvet?"

"I know. I'm just happy that she had such a good role model growing up, and somepony else that she could go to when she felt upset or had questions about something."

Dark was about to open his mouth to speak until the sound of the train whistle blew, reminding him and Twilight that they had a train to catch. With his last thanks and a bow to Celestia, Dark and Twilight made their way into the train car and took their seat along the window. Feeling the train starting to pull them away, the two waved her family and Celestia off until they were out of sight. Laying down on the cushion, Dark smiled to himself before he felt Twilight brushing against his side as she settled herself down against him.

"So," Twilight began with a smile, "I'd say that my parents like you."

"Yeah, but I'm still a little unsure of if your dad really likes me or not. Right now he seems to accept me, but not completely."

"Well, he's my dad, so it's his job to be suspicious."

Dark sighed. "I guess. Suppose I would be too if I were in his horseshoes."

"Though my mom seems to approve of you a lot, judging by how she saw you off like that. Speaking of which, why did you act like that? It almost looked like you weren't welcoming it at first, but eventually let yourself relax and go with it."

"Pretty much. At first I was hesitant about it, but it soon began reminding me of how my mom used to do that." He paused as he thought back to it. "I guess I just forgot what it was like to be hugged like that."

"You mean being hugged by a mother?"

"Yeah."

Twilight smiled as she leaned her head over against Dark's. "Well, I'm sure that next time we visit that she'll start to treat you more like one, so you better be ready."

With a slight chuckle, Dark turned his head over to kiss Twilight. It didn't last very long, though, as the sound of somepony clearing their throats caused them to separate.

"As nice as it is to see you two together, I hardly believe that this is an appropriate time or place to be doing that," Rarity chided.

"Fine," Dark sighed, "we'll wait."

Seeming to be content with it, Rarity let it drop while Pinkie jumped up on the seat opposite of Twilight and Dark.

"So, Darky," she began, "me and the girls were talking last night and it got me wondering on what you're going to be wearing for Nightmare Night?"

"Huh?" he questioned.

"You know, your Nightmare Night costume."

Dark blinked. "I didn't plan on wearing one."

Pinkie loudly gasped, catching the attention of their friends.

"WHAT?!" she practically screamed. "Why aren't you planning on wearing a Nightmare Night costume on Nightmare Night?!"

"Because the dragons figured out our holidays and would deliberately target us on them, so I didn't exactly have the luxury of wearing one before. Especially when they would burn all of the decorations and have everypony hiding indoors."

".. oh... right." She frowned briefly before her smile returned. "Well, now you can! Soooooo, what are you going to go as?"

Dark brought a claw up to his chin in thought for a while to think about it, but when he was unable to come up with anything, he shrugged.

"I don't know right now, but I'll think of something."

Seemingly alright with his answer for now, Pinkie happily nodded before bringing out a few games for them to play during the rest of their trip back.

Everyone grabbed their luggage as they waited by the doors to be let off the train. Once they did, Big Mac and the Crusaders were there to greet their family members. Of course, once Sweetie Belle was done welcoming Rarity home, she went straight for Spike and knocked him over. But, as nice as it was to see them like that again, things needed to be taken care of, namely getting everyone unpacked and settled back home. While it would've been quick, Rarity had gone on a small shopping spree and had far more luggage than the others... again. It wasn't until after an hour of helping her unpack that Dark finally returned to the castle. He would've began to unpack himself, but only had enough time for a quick bite before heading down to Ghastly Gorge to train with his new sword.

Their session was fair as Nocturne managed to teach Dark how to properly channel his magic into the sword, but his training with the weapon's abilities were rather difficult for Dark. Although he did manage to get one of the three moves down, it still took him a while learn. Needless to say that Nocturne wasn't very pleased with the progress, but he also knew that it was also partially because Dark wasn't used to the power that the weapon contained yet. While he could wield it perfectly fine, using too much magic from it so soon into his training could be dangerous to him.

Noticing that the sun was setting, Nocturne decided to let their session end for now, allowing Dark to return home with a quick Shadowport. Grabbing himself a shower and cleaning himself up, he then went down and sat down with Spike and Twilight for dinner. With how tired everyone was from today, their meal was quick and simple. Once their meal done, the three went over to the lounge where Twilight was going over Nightmare Night costume suggestions for him while Spike was sitting on one of the couches reading a new comic book.

"So that's four possibilities and ten declined," Twilight spoke up.

"Sorry, Twilight," Dark apologized. "While some of them I might consider like the ninja and maybe a vampony, I just don't think that a mad scientist, teacher, or astronaut are really my thing. Unless of course we're going in matching costumes."

"I know, but the girls and I had already made plans for our costumes. Although, if you want me to, I can-"

"It's alright, I'll think of something. You don't need to change your costume just for my benefit."

"Well, at least you have until next week," Spike chimed as he flipped to the next page. "Maybe you can go as a dragon like me?"

"Thanks, Spike, but I don't think that-" Dark paused as he saw the cover for Spike's comic. "Hey, Spike, what's that?"

"You mean the new comic book I got from Canterlot?"

"Yeah. Who's that on the front there?"

Turning the pages to look at the cover, Spike saw who Dark was referring to and smiled proudly.

"This is the newest series of the World of Marecraft, and the guy on the cover is Killidan, the Traitor. He's this really cool Devil Hunter who was a pony, but later was turned into a half-devil."

"... kinda sounds like me in a way, minus the whole 'traitor' part." Dark paused briefly as a lightbulb went off in his head. "Hey, Twilight? I think I know what my Nightmare Night costume's gonna be."

Chapter 31- Nightmare Night

Nearly a week had passed since the gang returned to Ponyville and Dark had found his costume for Nightmare Night. But, although he knew what he wanted, the tricky part was getting the materials needed for it. While some temporary dye for his coat and mane were provided by Rarity, and the cloth for his wrists and pants were easy to get, the bigger problems were the horns, and the weapons. He didn't worry about the eye color since Twilight had taught him a spell to temporarily change them after she saw what exactly he and Spike were talking about. So then, that left him with the last two.

While Dark did have an armory of weapons, he never heard of or made any warglaives, so he didn't have any. The closest he did have were some curved swords that were never used since everypony liked using spears. With an idea, Dark flew over to Ghastly Gorge, found some rocks and a sturdy stick from a tree branch, created a makeshift hammer, and began reworking the swords. It was a simple enough change when he thought about it. All he had to do was just heat up two of the sword hilts and forge them into one piece, thus making the two curved swords into a makeshift warglaive. Of course, he made sure to keep both blades turned in the same direction, less he make a different type of weapon entirely. It took some time, but with the makeshift forge station, he managed to create his project... mostly. What was unique about this weapon was that each grip was covered by a shield, which again, he didn't have any of, and he couldn't make any because he didn't have the materials to make or even properly shape one. Then again, this was just for show, so it didn't have to be an exact replica. So, instead of making it metal, Dark had a different idea.

With a quick trip to Sweet Apple Acres, he found Big Mac. Dark remembered the Apples saying that he did some carpentry, so perhaps he would be able to help Dark out this time. Thankfully for him, Big Mac seemed up to it and said that he would try and have it done in a few days. Now, while he did say that it would take a few days, he wasn't specific about how many, so it wasn't until the day before Nightmare Night that he was done and had them painted. In return for Big Mac doing this for him, Dark agreed to help with the family's corn maze. And he had to admit that even though he helped work on it, it did seem like fun, especially with all of the decorations and other stuff that they put in it. Although, they did kick him out a few times so that he wouldn't see everything that the maze would have in it.

With that done, all Dark needed left was his horns. While Twilight had taught him a spell to change the color of his eyes temporarily, what she didn't teach him was the spell that could change his horn. Or in this case, change it to the two curved horns that his character had, which she told him that she would do before they went out on Nightmare Night.

It was now the evening of Nightmare Night as Dark stood in his old bedroom in the castle, finishing up getting his costume set. He'd already gotten his coat and mane dyed, including the green runes on his chest and arms, which he had to do by claw, styled his mane back like Killidan's, wrapped his forearms in the cloth and put on his pants, had Twilight change his horn into two horns that jutted out from the sides of his forehead out ahead of him before curving back, and finally, changed his eyes to an eerie green. Everything with his costume was just right... that is, except for the eyeband that he also wore over his eyes. Reaching into his Shadow Storage, Dark pulled out a familiar black strip of cloth.

"Didn't think that I'd ever use this again," he said to himself, remembering when he first put it on after his first fight with Shining.

Shaking his head free from those memories, Dark put on the eyeband, causing his green eyes go start glowing through the black cloth. Looking into a mirror, Dark was pleased to see that he looked rather close to what his character did, minus his draconic tail. With a satisfied nod, he looked over to the desk that he laid his twinblades on and levitated them over beside his. With another look in the mirror, he saw that his magical aura also changed green as well. Feeling as though his costume was complete, Dark strapped the twinblades onto his back and made his way out of the room to meet up with Twilight and Spike.

Down in the lounge, Twilight and Spike were waiting for Dark. They had made plans to head on out at 5:45 P.M., and it was currently 5:30 P.M. As he said that he would, Spike was dressed as a dragon with purple scales and green spines, but what has different this time were the two dummy heads sitting on either side of Spike's own head. While he was sitting on the couch with his costume, Twilight was pacing around in a Sailor Luna costume that she'd made herself. Which, besides the white clothes, included the wand and tiara.

"What's taking him so long?" Twilight wondered out loud.

"Calm down, Twilight," Spike told her, "we still have another fifteen minutes before we need to head on out."

"I know, but we're both done already."

"Yeah, but Dark had all of that dyeing to do, which is why he started early on it so he wouldn't accidentally make us late."

"I know," she sighed. "Guess that I'm just a bit anxious to get tonight started."

"Yeah, me too," Spike agreed before Twilight resumed her pacing, unaware that Dark was just on the other side of the door listening in.

Smiling at their eagerness, Dark was about to push open the door and join them when a different idea came to mind. He remembered reading Spike's comic to understand his character a little bit better, and with a grin, he Shadow Melded. Thanks to his training sessions with Nocturne, Dark was now able to sneak through any cracks no matter how small, just as long as they were in the shadows, allowing him to sneak into the lounge without being detected.

"Relax," Spike told Twilight, "if you keep this up, you'll start to wear out the carpet even more than you already have."

Looking down to her hooves, Twilight saw that the carpet was indeed being worn down where she'd been walking.

"Oops, sorry about that," she meekly apologized.

"So, how do you think his costume will turn out?"

"Well, he seemed to have everything that he needed for it, so it should be alright."

"Well I don't know about you, but I can't wait to see it."

Smiling, Twilight gave him a nod before noticing a black fog coming out of the middle of the lounge and spreading across the floor. Jumping up on the couch, Twilight and Spike began looking around at it until eventually the entire room became engulfed in a veil of dark mist, leaving little light to see.

"What is that?!" Spike shouted.

"Looks like the same black mist that Dark uses," Twilight observed.

"Not that," he said before grabbing Twilight's head and pointing it in front of him. "That!"

Squinting her eyes to see better, Twilight was just barely able to make out a pair of glowing green eyes staring back at them. Jumping back against the backrest of the couch out of surprise, she and Spike continued to look worryingly at it. A few seconds later, green runes on its chest and the weapons in it's claws began to glow through the black mist. As the mist began to clear away, showing the outline of the bipedal creature concealed in it, it spread its wings out and shot off the ground up into the air and hovered.

"You are not prepared!"

When the black fog faded enough, Twilight and Spike could see that it was Dark in his Killidan costume. While Spike was looking at him with eyes wide in surprise of how well it turned out, Twilight gave him an amused smile with an eye-roll.

"Dude! You look great!" Spike cheered.

"Thanks," Dark returned, landing down on all fours and holding his warglaives in his magic and rubbing Spike's head. "Don't forget, though, that you're the one who gave me this idea with that comic book."

"Yeah."

"So... you're really going out to Nightmare Night as a dragon?"

"Not just a dragon, but a three-headed dragon."

"So I see," he chuckled before looking over to Twilight. "And you're looking rather cute tonight, Twilight. Who are you going as?"

"T-Thank you," Twilight said with a blush. "I'm going out to Nightmare Night as Sailor Luna."

"Who now?"

"She's the main character of this story of a school filly who's fighting evil while also trying to go out with this cute colt who attends her school."

"So," Dark began saying as he slowly made his way over to her, "you're a heroine who fights bad guys?"

"Yep."

"So then, since my character is suppose to be a bad guy, and yours is good, then what are you going to do to me?"

A sly smirk formed on Twilight's lips. "I will punish you."

"Oh, really?" he questioned with a throaty growl, their muzzles nearly touching each other. "You would challenge me, Sailor Luna?"

"You're evil, and I must stop you."

"You, my dear, are not prepared."

"Oh for the love of Celestia, can you two stop with the flirting?" Spike groaned, causing the two to turn to him. "If you two keep this up, we'll be late with meeting up with the others at Sugarcube Corner."

With a slight groan of annoyance, Dark and Twilight separated and began to follow Spike out of the castle. It wasn't until a few minutes had passed in silence that it was broken.

"Hey, Dark," Spike began, closing the castle door behind them as the full moon shined down upon them, "how are you making those swords glow green like that?"

"I used some of that glow-in-the-dark dye Rarity gave me on them," he answered. "It's actually working better than I thought it would."

"That's cool."

"By the way, Twilight, why did you teach me a spell to change my eye color, but not my horn?"

"Because," she began to explain, "you would probably use it to scare Blueblood or something like that."

"... meh, I suppose you're right," he shrugged. "So anyway, you said that you and the other girls had already made plans for costumes for Nightmare Night, right?"

"Yep," she answered.

"Then does this mean that the rest of them are wearing costumes like yours?"

"Sorta. The others are going to be wearing the costumes of the other Sailor Lookouts."

Dark cocked an eyebrow. "If so, then why did Rainbow agree to this? I'd thought that she wouldn't want anything to do with something like this."

"You're right about that, but it was a group decision and she was the only one who voted against it."

"Wait, you mean Applejack voted for it too?"

"Yep. It was either this, or she'd go as the Tin Mare from the Witch of Oz."

"Huh. I never would've guessed. But what about her family's corn maze?"

"That's easy, Granny Smith and Big Mac are running it. Though, there isn't much to running it from what they told us. Mostly it's just welcoming ponies to it while Big Mac tries to scare everypony inside the maze."

"Heh, sounds like fun."

With an agreeing nod from Twilight, the three made their way through town to Sugarcube Corner. During their walk, they would pass up young fillies and colts running around with candy-filled bags, while others and some adults were playing games that had been set out to play. It didn't take them too much longer for them to finally reach their destination and open the door to see their friends there. This also included Sweetie Belle as a ballerina, Apple Bloom as a pirate, and Scootaloo as a werewolf. And while they were all there, Dark noticed that Fluttershy wasn't among them. But before he could ask where she was, Rainbow was already on him.

"Whoa, dude!" Rainbow exclaimed. "That's an awesome costume you got!"

"Thanks, Rainbow," Dark returned.

"That wouldn't by chance be Killidan, the Traitor, would it?"

Everyone looked to her in surprise.

"You know who he's dressed up as?" Twilight disbelievingly asked.

"Of course I do," she proudly said.

"But I thought that you liked Daring Do?"

"Don't get me wrong here. I still love Daring Do, but after reading each book like nine times over, I tried exploring new stories, and this one was one of the good ones that I found."

"But it's a comic."

"A minor detail," she dismissed.

"Well, I must say that you look rather... how do I say this exactly?" Rarity wondered.

"Ooh, ooh, let me guess," Pinkie suddenly spoke up. "Let's see here. How about spooky? Scary? Bad guy-ish? Oh, I know! How about a total bada-"

"Pinkie!" Applejack exclaimed, covering her mouth with a hoof. "Watch what you're sayin' around our sisters."

"What was she gonna say?" Apple Bloom wondered.

"Nothin' y'all need ta hear until you're grown up."

"Hey, can I hold one of those swords?" Scootaloo asked.

"No way," Dark told her, "these things aren't to be played with."

"You mean those things are real?" Twilight questioned.

"They were the only things I had. I don't have any fakes with me."

Twilight gave him a scolding look. "Dark, it's dangerous to bring real weapons out on Nightmare Night."

"Sorry," he apologized. "I'll put them away if you want."

"Yes, please."

Listening to her, Dark dropped the two warglaives into the shadows below him and back in with the rest of his weapons.

"Better."

"So, back to your costume," Rainbow redirected. "Why'd you pick him?"

"Saw him on the cover of one of Spike's comics and decided to go with it," Dark explained.

"And a good pick too. If you ask me, when it comes to cool characters in general, Killidan takes the cake."

"He took a cake?!" Pinkie exclaimed. "Why would he take somepony else's cake? That's not very nice of him."

"It's an expression, Pinkie."

"Oh, right. Well, never mind then."

"Speaking of costumes..." Dark smirked, looking directly at Rainbow.

"Tell anypony about this and you'll regret it," she warned.

"Considering that you're going outside in that, I don't think that I'll have to."

"Speakin' of which," Applejack began, "we should probably go on ahead and start the party huh, Pinkie?"

"You bet!" she agreed.

Looking around, Dark was reminded of a question that he never got to ask. "Hey, where's Fluttershy?"

"The poor dear doesn't really care for Nightmare Night," Rarity began to explain, "so she stays inside her cottage with her animal friends until the night is over."

"That's too bad. So then, what about Discord?"

"Last I heard, he was going to be staying with her to keep her company," Pinkie piped up.

"Suppose she would feel better if he was there with her."

"Yeah, but enough talking," Rainbow said. "Let's get this party started already."

"But what about us?" Scootaloo asked.

"Yeah," Apple Bloom agreed. "Remember, y'all said that ya would take us out ta get candy."

"And you won't let us go alone because of those timberwolves," Sweetie Belle reminded.

"You're still worried about them?" Dark questioned.

"Not to sound rude, Dark," Rarity began, "but despite us going on dangerous journeys, we're not as used to such dangers as what you are."

"So we didn't want the girls ta go off on their own tonight," Applejack added with a sigh. "But Ah guess that we forgot about it with the party and everythin' else."

"So you need somepony to watch over them," Dark summarized.

"If they're ta go out, then yeah."

"Okay, let's go then."

"Are you sure about that?" Rarity asked.

"It's no problem. Besides, it'll give me a chance to see all of the Nightmare Night decorations."

"In that case, lets get going," Scootaloo eagerly said. "As Pinkie said; time is candy. And we've lost plenty of both."

"Okay," Dark chuckled.

"Hey, wait for me!" Spike told them. "I'm not gonna miss out on free candy."

With the three fillies and Spike gathered around him, Dark began to lead them out into the streets to begin their candy hunting. With all of the young ones running about, he made sure to set some rules for them so that they wouldn't get split up, namely to stick together as a group. He would let them decide where to go, but were to not get far away from him. So, the four of them decided to start at the end of Ponyville and make their way down from there, which meant that their first stop would be the house of Ponyville's musicians.

It was an odd house Dark had to admit, with how the house appeared to be split in half. Walking up the dirt path with them to the front door, Dark stood behind while the four kids knocked on the door. A few moments later, the door opened to Vinyl Scratch.

"Nightmare Night, what a fright, give me something sweet to bite!" the four chanted

"Hey, kids," Vinyl chuckled. "Nice costumes."

She then used her magic and deposited a piece of candy into each of their bags.

"So, where are your sisters at? I thought that they'd be here with you."

"They're havin' a party with the rest of their friends," Apple Bloom answered.

"Heh, bet it's gonna be sweet with Pinkie there," she said before looking up to Dark. "Whoa now, who's this?"

"Hello, Miss Vinyl," Dark greeted. "My name is Dark Flame."

"Oh, yeah, I remember now. You're the half-dragon, half-pony guy. Sweet costume by the way. Also, you can drop the miss."

"Alright, and thanks."

"So, you looking out for these kids tonight?"

"Yep."

"Well, I wish you luck then. From what I've heard, they can be quite a hoofful."

"So I've heard," he chuckled.

"Well, happy Nightmare Night, and see ya around."

"Yep, latters, and happy Nightmare Night to you too."

With a wave goodbye, they made their way over to the next house and continued down from there. After hitting a few dozen houses, they all looked down to see their bags already almost half-full. Jumping with excitement for their current haul, they were about to make their way to the next house when a voice called out to them

"Hey, Crusaders!"

Turning around, Dark saw a pink filly with a light-purple and white mane wearing a tiara, and a gray filly with a light-gray mane, wearing costumes of Princess Celestia and Luna respectively.

"Hey!" Apple Bloom waved. "Y'all havin' a good night?"

"Shaw, of course we are," the pink one haughtily answered before noticing Dark and cringing back. "What is that thing?!"

"Hey, that's not very nice," Sweetie Belle chided.

"And to answer your question, that's Dark," Scootaloo answered them.

"W-What is h-he?" the gray one nervously asked.

"Relax," Dark told them, "it's just my costume. By the way, who are you two?"

"Oh, right," Apple Bloom began. "Dark, this is Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon. They used ta be the school bullies, but we helped them turn themselves around."

"'Use to'?"

"Eeyup."

"I'm still sorry about that," Diamond said.

"You were being pressured by your mom," Sweetie Belle understandingly said. "so it couldn't have been all from you."

"Well, maybe a little, but that still didn't give me the right."

"Oh, just drop it already," Spike impatiently said. "Look, it happened, and now it's over. So let's just forget about it and continue getting ourselves some more candy."

With a round of agreements, Dark followed the six to the next house and knocked on the door. When it opened, Dark saw a magenta earth pony with green eyes and a two-toned pink mane in a flower costume.

"Hello, girls," she warmly said to them.

"Hello, Miss Cheerilee," they all returned.

"Hello again, Cheerilee," Dark greeted.

"Hello," she happily returned to him. "And who might you be? It's rather hard to tell with your costume."

"It's me, Dark."

"Oh. Well, it's nice to see you again. I don't believe that I've seen or spoken to you since that one day after the attack on Ponyville."

"Yeah, it's been a while."

Cheerilee proceeded to give the kids their candy. "So, I take it that you're watching over the children tonight?"

"Yep. The others are having a party of their own, so I decided to go on ahead and supervise them."

"Well, that's very nice of you," she said as she finished giving out the candy. "You all have a wonderful Nightmare Night, and I'll see you kids at school next week."

"Goodnight, Miss Cheerilee," the young ponies said in unison, "and thank you for the candy."

With their business done, they moved onto the next house. About an hour and a half had passed before they cleared every house in Ponyville and were now heading over to the town square where Mayor Mare stood. Once enough ponies were gathered, she asked that those who'd collected candy to follow her and Zecora into the forest. Feeling slightly uneasy about letting a bunch of kids and two mares go into the forest alone like that, Dark decided to tag along, a gesture that the two adults willingly accepted.

"It's good to have a little muscle," Zecora said to Dark as they lead the group of kids into the forest, "I can hear the forest's occupants bustle."

"They're nothing to worry about," Dark told her. "I can see them, and right now they appear to just be curious as to what's going on is all. They don't seem to intend us any harm."

"Probably from your eye's green glow, I'm sure that they would strike fear unto any foe."

"Their only green for the costume. Other than that, they generally glow gold when I want them to."

After another five minutes of walking, they finally came to a clearing in the forest with a lone statue in the center of it. Looking up to it, Dark saw that it was a statue of an alicorn, probably Nightmare Moon if his guess was correct. After all, she did have the armor. As Dark continued to stare at the statue, Zecora began speaking to the children there, telling them in rhyme about the history behind Nightmare Night and why they would give some of their candy to her. Of course, Dark had already heard this story, so he already knew about it and ignored it as he continued looking at the statue. A few moments later after a nice pile of sweets were laying at the base of the statues, he began to notice the statue was beginning to crack.

"Citizens of Ponyville!" an ominous voice echoed throughout the clearing, causing Dark to start looking around for its source, "you were wise to bring this candy to me. I am pleased with this offering. So pleased that I may just eat it, instead of eating you!"

Seeing something out from the corner of his eye, Dark turned around to see Nightmare Moon herself looking down upon them, eye glowing and teeth shimmering in the moonlight. Remembering the tales he heard from Twilight, Dark wondered how it was that she was here if she really was defeated. He was snapped out of his musing by the sound of the young ponies screaming, reminding him that they were in danger with her around. So, it was with that train of thought that Dark gave his wings a mighty flap, and tackled Nightmare Moon off the pedestal and into the forest.

Once he felt like there was enough distance between them and the group of kids, he threw her off of him and reached his claws into his armory for his new warglaives. Pulling them out, Dark charged Nightmare Moon, swinging wildly to not give her a chance to retaliate.

"Wait! Stop!" she cried, but was ignored by Dark. "I'm not who you think I am!"

"You sure about that?" Dark questioned. "Because last I looked, you were Nightmare Moon. I thought that the stories behind Nightmare Night were a fake, but I see now that I was mistaken."

Raising his warglaives, Dark was ready to charge Nightmare Moon again, but something caught his attention from his side. Giving a quick glance, he saw that it was Zecora running over to them and stopping herself between Dark and Nightmare Moon.

"Enough of this madness!" Zecora exclaimed to Dark. "Don't you know that you're attacking Luna, Her Royal Highness?!"

"Of course I know that Nightmare Moon is Princess Luna. She's like the evil half of her that was cleansed from her."

"It is true," Nightmare Moon calmly said before she changed back into Luna and spit out a pair of fake fangs out of her mouth, "the Nightmare was cleansed from me by the elements."

Dark blinked in confusion. "... wait... what? What's going on here?"

"The year that I was freed by the elements, I came to Ponyville for Nightmare Night as a way to help integrate myself into modern times," Luna began to explain. "Needless to say that the ponies weren't very welcoming to me at first, as they all believed that I was still Nightmare Moon. I was having a hard time fitting in, but then Twilight Sparkle came and helped me try to fit in. Even that had proven difficult for me, but I eventually found a way to help the ponies by scaring them. It wasn't out of fear that I would scare them, but for the spirited fun of Nightmare Night. Ever since then, I would be there playing the part of Nightmare Moon."

"... huh. So that stone statue was actually you all along playing possum?"

"In a manner of speaking."

"... oh, crap."

"Excuse me?"

Dark immediately dropped his weapons and bowed to the ground. "I'm sorry!"

"Sorry for what?" Luna confusingly asked.

"I'm sorry that I just up and attacked you like that."

"Oh, that. While I admit that I wasn't expecting that, there was no harm done." Luna paused as a question came to mind. "Weren't you told about my involvement with this?"

"Not until just now."

Luna sighed. "Well then, that explains a lot."

"Twilight and her friend will have some explaining to do, next time that they see you," Zecora rhymed with a smirk.

"I guess," Dark said. "You think that they would remember to say something about that."

"Anyway," Luna began, "now that we have rectified this misunderstanding, perhaps we should return to the children. I'm sure that they're confused and a little scared of what just happened."

Returning his warglaives back to storage, the three made their way back to the clearing where they met up with the young ponies, Mayor Mare, and Spike. Upon arrival, the colts and fillies all ran up to them, asking about what was going on. With a quick explanation of some miscommunication, they quieted down and left the clearing to return back to Ponyville. Once they got back into town, Dark, Luna, Spike, and the Crusaders split from the others and made their way over to Sugarcube Corner to meet up with the others. It didn't take them long for them to arrive and see them playing Nightmare Night themed games. Hearing the bell over the door ring, Twilight turned to see them walking in.

"Hello, Princess Luna," Twilight welcomed. "It's good to have you back. How's Nightmare Night been for you so far?"

"Evening, Twilight Sparkle," Luna returned. "It has been rather entertaining and exciting."

"Well, that's good to hear."

"Because somepony didn't know that I was playing the roll of Nightmare Moon out in the clearing and attacked me."

Twilight's eyes widened in shock. "What?! Who would do that?!"

"Twilight?" Dark spoke with a raised eyebrow. "You should already know who."

Twilight's jaw dropped in disbelief. "... you didn't."

"He did," Luna answered. "I'm actually quite surprised that he attacked so quickly."

"I'm sorry again, Princess," Dark apologized. "It's just-"

"Combat reflexes, I know. I've had my fair share of those in the past before my banishment... and perhaps a few afterwards."

Closing her mouth and shaking her head, Twilight walked up to Dark and gave him a bop on the head.

"Oww! Twilight, what was that for?" he complained as he rubbed the sore spot.

"For attacking Princess Luna, of course," she told him before turning to see Luna deadpan at her. "What?" Before she knew it, Twilight was bopped on the head too. "Oww! Princess, what was that for?"

"He's not entirely at fault here," Luna told her. "Remember that nopony told him that it was actually me and not the real Nightmare Moon."

"... I suppose so," Twilight sighed before turning to Dark. "I'm sorry that I didn't tell you, and that I hit you on the head for it."

"It's fine," Dark grumbled. "Though you could've been a bit more gentle. That really hurt."

"You're a big colt, you can handle it. Besides, your regeneration will heal it."

"Doesn't mean that it doesn't still hurt."

"Alright, that's enough," Applejack intervened. "We better start headin' on over ta the maze before it gets too late."

Following Applejack's lead, the others and Luna made their way over to her family's farm. Along the way, she looked down and noticed her sister's haul.

"Looks like y'all had quite a successful night."

"Sure did," Apple Bloom smiled. "Even met Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon along the way, and they joined us."

Applejack remained silent as Rarity took over for her.

"Those fillies," she began, "have they been nice to you three?"

"Yep," Sweetie Belle answered. "Or, they're trying to at least. They're still trying to get used to acting nicer to ponies, and sometimes their old habits will pop back up, but it's nothing to worry about."

"If you say so."

"Trust us," Scootaloo said to them. "We've been helping them and we know what we're doing... for sure this time."

"You know that that doesn't usually work, right?" Rainbow questioned.

"I know, but it's the truth this time. Also, I still can't believe that you are wearing that for Nightmare Night."

"It was a group vote and I got outvoted," she grumbled.

"That's because the other costume choices that you wanted were the Mighty Morphin Pony Rangers, and the characters from the Demon May Cry series," Rarity said. "And while the first one might've been alright with, I will not allow myself to be associated with such a violent and brutal genre as the latter option. Although, I must say that I do like how sophisticated and suave that Dergil character can be. Even if he is a bit evil."

"Pfft, you would. Personally, I like Vante much better with his twin crossbows and his sword. Not to mention his moves."

"Of course you'd like him," Applejack chuckled, "he's almost as flashy and of a show-off as you are."

"She's got you there, Rainbow," Pinkie said with a laugh.

"... I'm sorry, but I have no idea who you girls are talking about," Dark chimed in.

Pinkie sighed before wrapping a hoof around his shoulders. "Darky, Darky, Darky. You have so much yet to learn."

"How about you, Princess Luna?" Spike wondered.

"What about me?" Luna asked.

"What costume would you want to wear if you could?"

Luna thought about it as they continued down towards the maze. And after a few minutes of thinking, she found her answer.

"If I had to choose, I would say Liana from Fellowship of Fables."

"Hey," Rainbow spoke up, "doesn't she have a sister named, Deona?"

"Yes, she does. And as it turns out, Liana worships the moon while Deona worships the sun."

"That sounds rather similar to you and Princess Celestia," Sweetie Belle observed.

Luna giggled slightly. "That they do, and I wouldn't be surprised if they somehow were based around my sister and I."

They were about to start up on another topic when they came upon the maze entrance where Granny Smith was welcoming ponies in. Seeing the group coming closer, she waved them over.

"Well, howdy there," she welcomed them, receiving a greeting of her own. "So, y'all ready for the maze?"

"That we are, Mrs. Smith," Luna answered for them.

"Ahh, Princess Luna. You'll have ta forgive me for not bowin' ta ya, due ta my old achy joints."

"It's quite alright, Mrs. Smith."

"Thank ya kindly, and feel free ta call me Granny Smith, or just Granny."

"Very well, Granny Smith."

"So then, everypony ready ta go in?"

With a round of confirming sounds, Granny stood aside and let them in, but not before telling them that she had hidden bag of candy somewhere in the maze for anypony who could find it. As they continued walking through it and explore what it had to offer, they noticed some of the props from last year, being the dried, white painted sticks imitating bones, and the fake eyeballs dangling by strings inside a dark tunnel. Continuing through the maze, they eventually came across Big Mac in a zombie costume, trying to scare anypony passing by him. But while Spike and the Crusaders screamed at him, the others began to laugh at him in good fun, which soon led to him joining in too.

They'd cleared most of the maze by this point, and by now, Dark was starting to dart his head from side-to-side, almost like he was expecting something. After continuing this after a few more minutes, Twilight became curious as to what was going on with him.

"Something wrong, Dark?"

"Hmm? Oh, it's nothing, just... looking around," he replied.

"Uh-huh," she deadpanned.

"Look, I'm not exactly allowed to talk about it."

"Talk about what?"

"He's talkin' about a little somethin' that he added ta the maze is all," Applejack answered. "And we asked him not ta tell anypony about it. Though I must agree with him, we haven't seen it yet."

"Well, what is it exactly?"

Seeing a shadow looming over them, they all turned around to see what it was.

"That," Applejack calmly answered, pointing at shadow in the shape of a dragon standing almost as tall as the maze.

"What is that?!" Twilight asked.

"Just a new spell Nocturne taught me during my training sessions with him in Ghastly Gorge," Dark answered. "Apparently, I'm able to make clones of myself using my shadows."

"Ohh, you mean like a Shadow Clone?" Pinkie asked.

"... yeah, I guess so."

"Is it gonna hurt us?" Sweetie Belle nervously asked, hiding behind Rarity.

"Nah, it'll be fine, isn't that right?" Dark asked the shadow dragon, getting an affirming nod from it.

"Whoa, that's sweet," Rainbow said.

"So it's sentient?" Twilight questioned.

"Yes it is, but it's also bound to me," he explained. "If I wanted to, I could order it to do something, like patrol the maze and scare the ponies inside it for example?"

"How many can you make?"

"Just one dragon right now. As for a kirin and pony version, I'd say about two, maybe three if I try and push for it."

"Not bad," Luna commented as she looked it over. "A bit rough, but not too bad."

"Thanks, Princess."

"You're- what are those?"

Looking in the direction of where Luna was pointing her hoof, everyone turned up to the sky to see a bunch of bats flying across Sweet Apple Acres. Instantly recognizing them, Applejack stomped a hoof with a snort.

"Confound them bats!"

"What's so wrong with them?" Luna questioned. "They seem like ordinary fruit bats to me."

"Them varmins ain't just some fruit bats, they're vampire fruit bats."

"... so what's the difference?"

"The difference is that these ones suck the juices dry from any apple that they see, that's what!"

"Alright, then why are they flying over your apple trees and ignoring them?"

Applejack was about to retort, but as she continued to look up at the bats, she did indeed notice that none of them were flying down to eat her apples. Instead, they all seemed to be moving towards a single location.

"Hey, Rainbow," Applejack addressed, "could ya fly on up there and see where they're headin'?"

"One sec," she said before flying up and taking a look.

After getting up high enough, and with a bit of squinting to see into the distance with only the moonlight, she was finally able to see where it was. Noticing the familiar cottage over by the Everfree Forest, Rainbow immediately flew back down with slight panic on her face.

"Well?" Applejack pressed. "Where are they headin'?"

"You're not going to believe this," Rainbow began, "but they're all heading straight for Fluttershy's cottage!"

"In that case, we need ta get there right away! Princess Luna, could ya watch over the girls while we go help Fluttershy?"

"I would be happy to help, Applejack," Luna answered.

"But Ah wanna come with," Apple Bloom protested.

"Nah-uh. You're stayin' with the princess and will follow her like you would me," Applejack firmly stated. "That goes for you two as well."

"Same with you, Spike," Twilight added.

"What? But why me too?" he complained.

"Because we don't know if this will be dangerous or not, and if it is, then I'd rather that you stay here with Princess Luna where it's safe."

Spike began to grumble as smoke began rising from his nostrils. "Fine."

"Good. Now, those who are coming gather around so I can teleport us there."

"If it's all the same to you, Twilight, I think I'll just Shadowport myself over there," Dark suggested, getting an understanding nod from Twilight. "As for you," he began, turning towards his shadow dragon, "you're to stay here and help look after them. You're also to follow Princess Luna's words as though they were my own."

Then, before anypony else could speak up, Twilight teleported herself and her four friends over to Fluttershy's cottage while Dark used his Shadowport. Arriving at nearly the same time by the bridge leading up to her home, they saw that the bats were flooding into her cottage through all of the opened windows. As they watched the bats flying in, they noticed Discord standing out front, stroking his beard as he stared at it.

"Discord!" Twilight shouted as they ran up to him. "What's going on here?"

"I have no idea," he answered, sounding completely perplexed. "I've never seen anything like this before."

"Well, do you know what happened before all of this started?"

"Hmmm. Well, last thing I did was get my sweet, dear Fluttershy some apples for her to eat. It's rather curious, though, when I think about it."

"What's curious?" Applejack wondered.

"Well, when I gave it to her, instead of eating it like she normally would, she began to... I suppose 'suck on it' would be the proper wording."

Twilight felt a weight in her stomach as she recalled a similar incident. "If you think that something is wrong, then why haven't you done anything to help her?"

"I would if I could, Twilight, but when we became a couple, Fluttershy and I made a sort of magical pact where I couldn't use my chaotic magic on her, or any of the animals, without her permission. If it wasn't for that pact, then I would've fixed this up long before you all got here."

"But what about that time when you turned her into an orange?"

"That was before we made our agreement."

Twilight sighed. "So, you can't do anything to help her?"

"I'm truly sorry, but I cannot. Not without her approval."

"In that case, we'll go on in and find out what's wrong for ourselves."

Turning from worried to determined, Twilight led them up to Fluttershy's door while Discord opting to remain back behind. Knocking on the door, they waited for an answer, but instead heard the screeching of the bats. After the third time knocking, Twilight opened the door and she and the others walked inside the dark cottage, their only source of light being the moonlight through the windows and open door. Just as the last of them entered, the door slammed shut behind them, but while they could barely see anything, Dark on the other hoof could see everything. And what he saw brought him unease and worry as he saw Fluttershy sitting with her eyes closed on the far side of the room, out of the moonlight and with a swarm of vampire fruit bats flying around her in a vortex, while others were perched on ledges near where she sat.

"What are you doing here?" Fluttershy asked them, her normally soft and smooth voice now coming out as a hiss with a slight hint of malice

"Fluttershy?" Rainbow called as she walked up in front of the group.

"Don't come any closer."

"But why? And can you please come out into the moonlight so we can see you?"

"There's no need for that. After all," she opened her crimson-red eyes that glowed in the blackness, "you won't be here for much longer."

Chapter 32- Return of Flutterbat

Everyone stood inside the living room of Fluttershy's cottage, looking at their friend in fear, concern, and sadness. Each wondering how is was that this happened to her. The girls were sure that Twilight had cured Fluttershy from what happened to her on that night, but now, with their sweetest friend sitting there before them with her piercing red eyes, they knew that they were very wrong. Then, as though the moon wanted to confirm their fears even more, its light shown through the window at her, showing everyone her darkened coat, untamed and ragged mane, pointed ears, a pair of fangs, and wings with membranes instead of the feathers that should've been there.

"Umm, didn't you girls say that Fluttershy didn't like to participate in Nightmare Night?" Dark wondered.

"She doesn't," Twilight quietly told Dark before turning to her friend "Fluttershy, what happened to you?"

"... what do you mean?" she questioned. "Nothing happened. Or rather, nothing that's changed anyway."

"But, Fluttershy-"

"Don't call me that!" she hissed. "If I recall correctly, during my first time like this, Rarity called me 'Flutterbat'. And so long as I'm like this, you will address me as so."

"But-"

"Twilight," Rainbow whispered to her, "we don't want to upset her anymore than we already have."

Twilight gave a nervous nod. "Alright." She then turned to Flutterbat. "Very well, Flutterbat. So tell us, what do you mean by 'nothing happened'?"

"After the night that you turned me back and you girls left my cottage to call it a night, I went to brush my teeth before heading off to bed when I noticed that my fangs still remained." Flutterbat paused to take a breath as she remembered. "At first I thought that it was just a side effect from the transformation, but as you can all see, it's not."

"So then this isn't a Nightmare Night costume?" Dark questioned.

"Not even close, and no speaking until I'm done. Now, where was I... oh, right. Anyway, like I was saying, I saw my fangs and thought that it was just a side effect of my time as Flutterbat, but over time, I found that I still had a small craving for apples and kept it hidden. It wasn't until on the night of a full moon that I found out that I wasn't completely cured of this curse, but only mostly. Thankfully, I was too tired from an extra long day to do anything more and quickly fell asleep. Ever since then, I've been extra careful with my apple cravings, and I've made sure to try and keep away from eating apples or even having them near my mouth."

"Sugarcube," Applejack slowly spoke as a thought dawned on her, "is that the real reason why ya didn't wanna play 'bobbin' for apples' last year with us?"

"Yes, it is. And speaking of which, I'm surprised that none of you noticed my eyes that night after I pranked you."

"You mean how they were this creepy red color like they are now?" Pinkie asked.

"Yes."

"But I thought that those were just contacts," Rarity questioned.

"No, they weren't. Those were my actual eyes. If they were fake like the wings, ears, and fake fangs that I put on to cover the real ones, then I would've taken them off like I did them."

"Wait," Twilight spoke up, "if those were fake and your eyes weren't, then what about the color of your coat and mane?"

"Without an apple to provoke me into transforming, I found that I can control it if I want to. Just like how I was able to turn from Fluttershy into Flutterbat during the Tantibus incident. I didn't just use the dreamscape to turn into her, I did that all on my own."

Twilight's legs became shaky and sat down on her rump, looking shockingly and guiltily at her friend.

"But why didn't you tell anypony? Why didn't you tell me so that I could help you? If it's about you wanting to keep it a secret, then I could've kept it for you."

"Just like how you kept Spike's secret that he had a crush on Rarity after you tried to help me sabotage my modeling career?" Flutterbat spat, getting surprised looks from Twilight and Pinkie. "Don't look so surprised. I heard you blurt it out loud after I left my room with Rarity after my modeling for Photo Finish was done."

"That long ago?" Rarity questioned. "Wait, if you heard it, then why didn't I hear it too?"

"Because you were too busy running your mouth to hear it."

"Now see here," she firmly said, "that's not a way to treat a friend. To be honest, this is starting to remind me of how you were after that seminar you took from that Iron Will guy on assertiveness."

"Oh, no," Flutterbat grinned, her fangs glistening in the moonlight, "this isn't like last time because I know what I'm saying."

"No you don't, Shy," Rainbow interjected. "You're a good pony who's always nice to everypony and every animal that she meets. This right here? This isn't who you are."

"And what if it is?" she countered, making Rainbow recoil in surprise. "What if this is just apart of me that I just never allowed anypony else to see before?"

"What about Discord?" Dark questioned as his eyes began scanning over her. "You two have been together for a few months now. Does he know about this?"

"..."

"He doesn't, does he?"

"It's none of his business."

"Yes it is. A good relationship is dependent on both members being truthful and honest to each other without hiding anything important from them. And this," he said gesturing to her with a claw, "is something that I would consider to be important. Hay! I'll bet that if you told him about it that he would've cured you and none of us would've even known about it!"

"Be quiet," she lowly hissed.

"Flutter-"

"I said be quiet!"

Surprised by her outburst, the each took a few steps back from her while the bats flying around her began to screech as they flew faster. Getting up on her hooves, Flutterbat moved closer to her friends, her eyes glowing brighter along with each of the bats surrounding her.

"I believe that you've overstayed your welcome," she dangerously told them. "I suggest that you all leave now before I try something different. Say... something like pony blood, or maybe even kirin blood?"

"But you don't drink pony blood," Twilight told her.

Flutterbat maliciously giggled. "Well then, I guess that I just feel like trying it tonight."

"I was right!" Pinkie exclaimed. "Vampire ponies do eat other ponies! Run for you lives!"

Before the others could blink, Pinkie had somehow grabbed them all up in her forelegs and ran out of the cottage. Bursting through the door, they quickly came across Discord, who was still in the same spot as before. But before he could ask what was going on, he too found himself being carried off by Pinkie as she ran down the path, kicking up a trail of dust behind her until the cottage was finally out of sight. Feeling like she'd put enough distance between them and Flutterbat, she dropped the four ponies, kirin, and draconequus onto the ground.

"Okay," Discord grumbled, "would somepony mind telling me what was going on in there?"

"It's my fault," Twilight quietly answered. "It's my fault that she's like this."

"No, Twilight," Applejack said as she laid a comforting hoof on her shoulder. "If anythin', it's my fault that this even started. Ah was the one who wanted them varmins ta be gotten rid of, which lead up ta her gettin' turned into that."

"Would somepony explain to me what you're talking about?" Dark asked.

"I agree," Discord nodded. "This is news to me too, and I still don't see how this is relevant to our problem with Fluttershy."

"Flutterbat," Twilight corrected.

"Say what?"

She sighed before beginning to explain. "One day, Applejack gathered us because a swarm of vampire fruit bats came and began destroying the apples in her apple trees. They would use their fangs and prick holes into the apples before sucking them dry and spit their wilted husks out onto the ground."

"Accordin' ta Granny," Applejack said taking over, "the last time they came and paid the orchard a visit, they nearly drained every apple we had. We had ta ration out the rest of them durrin' the winter, and even had ta skip Cider Season."

"Really?" Discord questioned before looking over to see Rainbow shivering in place.

"What cruel creature would do something like that?" she shakily asked, already knowing the answer, but still finding the thought disconcerting.

"Anyway," Applejack continued, "durrin' this time around, Ah gathered everypony together ta help me get rid of them. Fluttershy wasn't onboard with the idea, so she argued that they woulda been better off bein' given a section of the orchard. She said that the seeds that they would spit out would later produce us better apple trees, but Ah wasn't havin' any of it. So, after a song in which she was outvoted, she used her Stare on them while Twilight used a spell ta make them stop eatin' the apples." She looked over her friends briefly with remorse. "The spell worked of course, and the bats stopped eatin' the apples... but at a cost. Somehow, while the bats lost the urge ta drain the apples of their juices, the spell rebounded onto Fluttershy, givin' her their diet and urges ta eat apples like they did."

"Wait," Discord spoke up, "the spell rebounded on Fluttershy?"

"It did," Twilight sorrowfully said. "While I'm still not sure exactly how since I've never looked into it afterwards, the spell did affect her. And while it didn't happen right away, she slowly turned into what we saw in her cottage tonight."

"But there must be more to this?"

"There is," Applejack agreed. "After Twilight finished her spell, they helped me clean up the mess that the bats left so that Ah could start again the next day. Unfortunately, the next monrin' had the same result. Once the girls were there with me, we found out that the bats weren't responsible for it this time. It was then that a stakeout was suggested, so on that night, we six patrolled through the orchards for a while until Ah saw somethin'. As it turned out, it was Fluttershy who was suckin' my apples dry. The spell somehow turned her into a vampire pony, which gave Rarity the idea of callin' her Flutterbat."

"And that's because the spell that was used on the bats rebounded onto Fluttershy?"

"Eeyup. Well, accordin' ta Twilight it did. Anyway, after tryin' ta catch her, we decided ta try the spell that was used on the bats on her instead ta remove it. After some plannin', we were able ta get her ta hold still long enough for Twilight ta cast it on her and turn her back ta normal... at least, that's what we thought... until tonight."

"So let me get this straight," Discord said as he began to summarize, "Fluttershy used her Stare on the bats when Twilight used her spell on them, making the spell bounce off to Fluttershy and turning her into this 'Flutterbat' as you called her?"

"Pretty much."

Discord pinched the bridge of his nose with his paw before sighing, "Why didn't she tell me about this?"

"She didn't say," Dark answered. "I tried to ask her myself, but she wouldn't have it."

"And I can't do anything to fix it without her permission."

"So, what do we do now?" Rainbow asked.

"I don't know if my spell will work on her," Twilight dejectedly said. "If it didn't work the first time, then I doubt that it'll work a second. And besides that, she seems less like a wild animal and more in control."

"If by 'in control' you mean like an intelligent creature of dark, then yeah." Hearing a throat clearing beside her, Rainbow turned her head to see Dark looking at her with a raised eyebrow. "You know what I meant."

"But if Twilight can't help our poor Fluttershy, then who can?" Rarity questioned.

"Ooh, I know!" Pinkie exclaimed. "How about Princess Luna? You know, because she's the Princess of the Night and has those cool looking bat ponies with her when she first came to visit us for Nightmare Night."

Twilight's mood perked up a little bit hearing the idea. "Sounds like a good idea, Pinkie. I just hope that it works... for Fluttershy's sake."

"But where is she?" Rarity asked.

"She and the kids are at Applejack's house," Dark answered, getting weird looks from the others. "That Shadow Dragon I sent with them is still connected to me, so I can see what it sees."

"In that case, everypony hold on," Discord said as he wrapped his arms around them. "I'll have us there before you can say 'Chocolate Rain'."

"Wait, Discord, I get tele-"

Inside the house of Sweet Appel Acres, Luna sat in front of the fireplace with Spike and the Crusaders huddled around her, wondering how things went and when they'd be back. Thankfully for them, they kept their minds mostly occupied by the amount of candy that they'd collected earlier that night. As they traded candy with each other the ones they didn't like, while eating the ones that they did, a flash of light appeared behind them, briefly lighting up the room. Turning around to look, they saw Discord and their family and friends who'd left to go check on Fluttershy. Jumping up, Spike and the Crusaders ran to their respective sisters, welcoming them back. But before they could ask what happened, they heard Dark groaning as he laid sprawled out on his back with his eyes closed.

"What happened to him?" Scootaloo asked.

"Dark gets sick when he's teleported," Twilight answered before turning to Dark. "You doing alright?"

"That's the worst teleportation ever," he groaned. "Too many colors."

"You want some help?"

"Thanks, but I'll be alright. Just need to lay here for a while before everything stops spinning."

"If you say so, though I could just use a spell to cure you of it."

"... never mind. Go ahead if you want."

Giving him an amused headshake, Twilight lit up her horn and leaned down so that it touched his head. A few seconds later of feeling her magic flow through his head, Dark felt his nausea was gone. With the world no longer spinning around him, Dark got back up and joined the others. When he did, he gave Twilight a thankful kiss.

"Have I ever told you how much I love you?" he asked.

"You have, but it doesn't hurt to remind me how much," Twilight smiled.

"Well then, perhaps later I could-"

"For the love of everythin' apple, can you two save that kinda talk for later? We've got a friend ta save!" Applejack reminded them, which also caused the two to turn away from each other blushing.

"Oh, yeah!" Apple Bloom remembered. "What happened?"

"Well, remember when Ah told ya about the time when the vampire fruit bats returned?"

"Eeyup. But what does that have ta do with anythin'?"

"As it turns out, Fluttershy wasn't completely cured of it and has now changed back."

"But how?" Sweetie Belle questioned.

"I believe I can answer that one," Discord spoke up. "During her time hidden in her home, I made her a fruit salad with some apples in it. What I didn't know, though, was that her eating one would cause her to start to turn. After she was finished with it, she asked me to bring her some uncut apples. And after that... well, that's when she started to change."

"Is there something that we can do for her?" Scootaloo worryingly asked.

"We're not sure, but we think we might know somepony who can," Twilight answered. "Princess Luna, can you help us?"

"How so?" Luna wondered.

"You have bat ponies in your night guard, right?"

"That is correct."

"Then is there something that you can do to help Fluttershy?"

Luna thought for a moment. "I'm not sure. I'll have to see her for myself to know more about her condition. If it's as what you make it sound, then I might be able to help. If not, then I'm not so sure."

"So you'll help us then?" Rainbow hopefully asked.

"Indeed."

"Then let's go!" Pinkie exclaimed. "The longer we stand here talking about her, the more time Flutterbat has to eat somepony!"

"Beg your pardon, but what do you mean?"

"Before Pinkie dragged us all out," Applejack began explaining, "Fluttershy, or Flutterbat as she prefers ta be called while like this, was thinkin' about drinkin' our blood."

"In that case, we mustn't waste anymore time."

"But what about Spike and our sisters?" Rarity asked. "They can't stay here all alone with something like this happening."

After a brief moment of silence, Dark was the one to speak up.

"Guess I'm foalsitting them again," he said with a small sigh.

"Are you sure about that? You've already looked after them once already tonight."

"Yes, but I don't think that I'll be of much help over there. Besides, I tend to do better when it comes to fighting to resolving problems, instead of trying to talk to them. That, and I currently don't have a very good record with trying to use talking to peacefully settle things. And between you girls, Discord, and Princess Luna, I think that you'll all be protected enough."

"Very well then," Luna spoke. "You stay here and we'll go help Fluttershy."

"Alright, but before you go, I think there's something that I better tell you about."

"What is it?"

"You know that I have my Second Sight and Soul Eyes both active, right?"

"Yes, you told me about it already," Twilight said.

"Well, while we were talking to Flutterbat, I could see her spirit, but it looked like it was somewhat distorted."

"Distorted?" Luna echoed. "How so?"

"While I could see her natural spirit, I could also see that it was... I suppose 'shrouded' would be a good word to use. It was like she was standing in an aura of some kind that wasn't her own."

"In that case, I believe I may know what it is, but I'll need to see it for myself."

"I was thinking the same thing," Discord agreed before his mood turned dark. "And if it is, then may you your sister have mercy upon it, Luna, for I will not."

Not wanting to speak after hearing Discord's words and tone, those who were leaving gathered around Luna as Twilight took a look back at Dark.

"Keep an eye on them. And please, Dark, be careful," she worryingly told him.

"I will, Twilight, and you be safe too," he returned with a wary smile. "And if you need anything, I'm just a quick teleport away."

With a small nod, Twilight and the others left in a flash of light, leaving Dark, Spike, and the Crusaders alone in the house. Taking their seats on the floor in front the fireplace, Dark went to go make them some of his mother's homemade hot chocolate to help calm their nerves. Few minutes later, he returned with a mug for each of them before they began sipping away at their drinks.

"Is Fluttershy going to be alright?" Sweetie Belle wondered.

"I'm sure she will," Spike encouragingly said. "Besides, Princess Luna, Discord, and the others are all there to help her."

"I know, but I'm still worried. She was the best foalsitter we've ever had."

"Yeah," Apple Bloom and Scootaloo agreed.

"She's in good hooves," Dark spoke up. "I'm sure that they'll help get her back to normal in no time."

Still feeling uneasy, Apple Bloom looked up over to Dark. "Ya sure about that?"

"I am," he smiled.

Returning the smile, Apple Bloom scooted over and hunkered down on Dark's lap. Feeling the warmth radiate off of him and the fireplace, Apple Bloom let herself relax. Seeing how comfortable she was, Sweetie Belle, Scootaloo, and Spike all got up and packed themselves down alongside Apple Bloom.

Looking down between his arms to see the three fillies and baby dragon all settled down like that, Dark gave an amused smile before he began draped his wings around them, angling them so that they all could have an opening to see the fireplace in front of them.

"This is kinda cool," Scootaloo chimed. "It's kinda like we're all wrapped in a giant, warm blanket."

"One that's super tough," Spike added.

"Yep," Dark chuckled. "Besides me adding a magical barrier, I'd say that you four can't get much safer than what you already are at the moment. Just try not to spill your hot chocolate on the carpet."

"We won't," they answered together.

"Good."

Sitting in silence, the five of them continued to drain their cups of their chocolatey goodness. Dark would give an occasional glance around the house to see if anything would come around, while the kids enjoyed the warmth and security of their spot. A few minutes later, they'd all finished their drinks before Dark used his magic and placed the empty mugs down on a nearby coffee table. With their stomachs filled with their warm drinks, and the warmth surrounding them, each of the kids let out a loud yawn.

"Tired already?" Dark asked them.

"Yeah. I think this is what they call a sugar crash," Spike tiredly said.

"In that case, let's get you four to bed."

"Can we say here?" Sweetie Belle asked with a yawn.

"Please?" Apple Bloom asked.

"It's comfy here," Scootaloo added.

Dark sighed at them with a smile. "If you're sure that you're all comfortable enough like that, then I suppose it's alright."

With his confirmation, the four began to settle down. As Spike leaned back against Dark, he found Sweetie Belle snuggling up against his chest. Feeling her leaning on caused him to wrap her up in his arms while Scootaloo and Apple Bloom each leaned on one of Spike's sides, using him as their pillow.

Looking down to see them like that, Dark cocked an eyebrow at Spike, only to see him closing his eyes with a content smile. Shaking his head and giving him a good-natured eye-roll, Dark brought his attention back to scanning his surroundings. It didn't take too long for them to fall asleep as Dark started to hear light snoring coming from under his wings. With a soft smile, he let them be, all the while trying to keep himself from nodding off until the girls and Discord got back with Fluttershy.

Luna, Discord, Twilight, and her friends teleported back by the creek running past the front of Fluttershy's cottage. Taking a moment to adjust to their surroundings, they saw that the vampire fruit bats were in far vast numbers and were now circling around the cottage itself.

"This is ridiculous!" Applejack exclaimed. "There weren't nearly as many of them in the orchard last Ah saw. Not ta mention that we weren't even gone for that long."

"If so, then perhaps not all of them did come from your orchard, Applejack," Luna figured. "Instead, they're being drawn here from all over Equestria."

"We can't let this happen! If them bats continue ta gather like this, then my whole farm will be drained of their apples within an hour!"

"And once they're done there, then they'll most likely head south to Appleloosa, seeing as they're one of the larger apple orchards in Equestria after yours," Twilight added. "And if that happens, then it'll be the beginning of an economic crisis."

"Surely you're over-exaggerating, Twilight," Rarity said.

"I wish I was, but apples are a major product of Equestria. Not to mention that it's one of our greatest exports when trading to the other nations."

"Alright, so it's more important than we thought," Rainbow chimed. "But how are we going to get into Fluttershy's house with those bats flying around it like a tornado?"

"Leave that to me," Luna calmly said as she walked ahead of them and towards the bats.

When she was close enough, Luna lit her horn and spread the magic outwards to touch the bats. Once it did, they began to hover in place, each of them blankly staring at her. With a motion of her hoof to land and stand aside, they bats obliged her and cleared the way. Smiling at how easy it was, Luna turned back to the others.

"As Princess of the Night, I also command the loyalty of nocturnal creatures."

"And what about Fluttershy?" Discord questioned.

"No. She seems to be resisting me, even though she's considered a thestral now."

"A what now?" Rainbow wondered.

"A thestral, or as they're more commonly called these days, 'bat ponies'."

"Either way, it's time that we saved Fluttershy!" Pinkie exclaimed.

"Uhh, Pinkie, what is all of that?" Twilight asked.

"Oh, this?" she asked as she gestured to her new outfit consisting of a black trench coat, shirt, pants, boots, and hat. "This is the costume that Van Horsesing wore. And look! I even have a bottle of holy water, some rings of garlic, a silver stake, and a really cool semi-automatic crossbow that I can switch to full-auto."

"Pinkie! We're trying to save Fluttershy, not slay her like a monster from some horror story! Now put those away and let's go!"

With an dejected "Aww" from Pinkie, she put her suit and gear back into her mane before following after the others. Upon reaching the door, they didn't bother to knock and instead opened it and walked in until they were all inside to see Flutterbat sitting in the exact spot as before.

"Why have you come back?" she questioned.

"We're here to help you, kind Fluttershy," Luna answered.

"It's Flutterbat! Also, I suppose you're the one who's going to do that?"

"Yes, I am. Now obey your princess!" Lighting her horn, Luna encased Flutterbat in her magic. But after a few moments had passed, she canceled her spell. "What is happening?"

"Awww, what's wrong?" Flutterbat cackled. "Can't control me like you had planned?"

"But you're a child of the night!"

"I am in a way, but at the same time, I'm not."

Twilight stepped forward. "Fluttershy-"

"Flutterbat!"

"Flutterbat, why are you doing this?"

"Because I want to, that's why."

"But this isn't like you. You would never command animals like this."

"I know, but I don't care."

"That's it!" Discord shouted. "Who are you and what have you don't to my Fluttershy?!"

"Oh, hello, Discord, my love," Flutterbat cooed. "I've missed you."

"You haven't answered my question."

"Here's a question for you," she said, standing up and giving him a half-lidded gaze. "Why don't you come over here and follow me? I'll make sure to make it worth your while."

"While I would normally be tempted by such an offer, you're not the Fluttershy that I know and love."

Flutterbat scoffed. "Such a pain. And here I am offering myself to you."

"Enough!" Discord roared. "You may look like my dear, sweet Fluttershy, but you're definitely not her!"

Flexing his claw, Discord tore open a dimensional rift and peered into the other side.

"Hey! Hey! Watch out!" a high-pitched voice on the other side warned.

"Oh, shut up! Nopony likes you, you annoying blue fairy," Discord told it. "I'm just going to borrow this for a moment and then I'll give it right back."

Reaching in, Discord grabbed and pulled out an item that appeared to be a purple magnifying glass with three spikes, and a pink lenses with a eye-shaped center piece. Holding it up to his eye, Discord looked through it at Flutterbat to see her surrounded by a shadowy figure with glowing yellow eyes. With a low, menacing growl, Discord tossed the item back into the rift and sealed it up.

"I know."

"Excuse me?" Flutterbat questioned.

Discord's voice turned low and dangerous. "Let me make this very, very clear to you. Either you release Fluttershy right now, or I will remove you from existence."

"Discord, what are you thinking?!" Twilight demanded. "You can't just do that to her! And what about that magical contract that you made with Fluttershy?!"

"It would be valid if I was actually using my chaotic magic on her, but this isn't exactly our Fluttershy. Oh, no. What we have here is a ghost who's possessed her!"

A collection of gasps were heard from everypony gathered while Flutterbat gave Discord a slow clap.

"Took you long enough. So, besides using that lens to show you the truth, how did you know?" she wondered.

"I had my suspicions when Dark told me that he saw that your soul appeared to be distorted, but I didn't want to say for sure until I saw it for myself."

"So what? You can't do anything to me. Not unless you're willing to risk hurting your precious mare."

"We can use this!" Pinkie suggested, pulling the bottle of holy water from her mane.

"You know what? That might actually work," Discord said. "So, are you going to surrender Fluttershy to us and leave peacefully, or are we going to have ourselves a little exorcism?"

"Wait," Twilight spoke up, "how can a ghost possess Fluttershy? I thought that they weren't real, like zombies and curses.. and where did a ghost even come from anyway?"

"Oh, I'll tell you that," Flutterbat hissed. "You know that ruined castle in the forest?"

"You mean the Castle of the Royal Pony Sisters?"

"Yes, that's it. While I was slumbering there, I was first awoken by you six mares, seven if you include when Luna was still Nightmare moon. The second time was when you were all running around the castle in the middle of the night. I must admit that I was planning to start scaring you all, but you did plenty of that to each other. A pity, though, that that pillar didn't actually land on any of you in that hall."

"Wait," Pinkie interrupted, "so you mean that you were a ghost in the castle?"

"I'm pretty sure that I just said that."

"Ah-ha! I knew I saw something in there!"

"What ever are you talking about, Pinkie?" Rarity asked.

"When we were leaving the castle library after Twilight was done reading the princesses' diary in that secret reading room, I thought that I saw a black, shadowy figure with glowing yellow eyes out of the corner of my eye."

"Wait," Luna said surprisingly, "you found our old diary?"

"It was by complete accident," Twilight answered her. "Spike got scarred when Angel jumped up onto the table and sent him leaning back into his chair, which then opened up a door to a hidden room."

Luna facehoofed. "I told Tia that using a chair as the switch was a bad idea. Honestly, my idea of using a sconce was a much better idea than that."

"So, was that why you decide to come out of there and possess Fluttershy? Because we disturbed you?"

"Oh, no," Flutterbat replied. "It wasn't until last month that I had enough."

"... because?" Twilight pressed.

"Because somepony had decided to use those ruins as their hideout while he built up his army of Everfree creatures."

"Wait, are you saying that the same cloaked figure that attacked Ponyville was also the one who'd awoken you?"

"That, and these two," she said, gesturing to herself and Luna, "had stormed in soon after and started going through everything. That was the last straw for me. Of course, I could feel the blood flowing through this one, so I figured that I could try and take her over, but I couldn't do it until the perfect time came along. And tonight when she transformed, just happened to be the perfect time to do it."

"It doesn't matter anymore," Discord growled. "You will get out of Fluttershy and return her safely to us, right now."

With a furrowed brow, Flutterbat backed away from them to the wall with a hiss.

"Well, here's my response to that," she said before she pointed a hoof at them, her eyes glowing brighter and causing the vampire fruit bats' eyes to start glowing the same color. "Minions of the night, protect me and attack them!"

Chapter 33- To Save a Friend

All around them they could hear the screeching of the vampire fruit bats as they began to charge them. Without wasting any time, Luna and Twilight threw up a magical barrier right before they became swarmed by the bats and their fangs. Not wanting to waste time with this, Discord teleported himself out of the barrier and stood before Flutterbat, angrily glaring at her.

"Aww, what's the matter?" Flutterbat mockingly asked with a smug grin.

Giving an angry snort, Discord reached a paw towards her to grab ahold of her, just to find himself quickly covered in bats as they began to sink their fangs into his hide. Letting out a furious and pained roar that sounded like a mixture of a dragon's and lion's roar, and an eagle's screech, Discord snapped his claw and turned them all into bat-shaped chocolate bars. But, as soon as they landed on the floorboards, another swarm was all over him, biting away at whatever open areas they could. Annoyed with them, Discord teleported himself back into the safety of the barrier.

"Whoa!" Rainbow exclaimed as she saw him. "Dude, look at yourself!"

"You're bleeding everywhere!" Rarity cringed.

Looking over himself, Discord saw that his entire body was indeed covered in bite marks. With a small grumble, Discord snapped a claw and began healing his injuries.

"They're imbued with magic," he told them. "I don't know how, but that thing that's possessing Fluttershy has given all of those bats some form of magic."

"Can't you remove it like you did with our horns and wings when we first met you?" Twilight asked.

"Give me a moment," Discord said before snapping his claw. Feeling like nothing happened, he snapped it again before switching to his paw. After a few more attempts, he gave an infuriating growl. "Why isn't my chaos magic working?! I can't remove their magic!"

"Would you like to know why?" Flutterbat giggled as she asked.

"It would be rather helpful if you would tell us, dear," Rarity nodded.

"Well, I suppose it wouldn't hurt, considering that you can't do anything to them. The reason why that such a high level of chaos magic isn't working on them, Discord, is because it doesn't work on the dead."

"But they're all alive!" Discord argued.

"I was talking about my magic," she deadpanned. "I'm a ghost possessing this pegasus, and thus my magic is death magic. And besides life and death, nothing can stop death. Not even your chaos."

"Please tell me she's bluffing," Rarity said.

"Unfortunately, she's telling the truth. While my chaos does affect nearly everything, death is something that I cannot touch. Even if it's a spirit that's possessing ponies."

"What about Dark?" Twilight asked. "Why is it that your chaos magic was able to work on him and not her?"

"Because he's alive and is susceptible to my magic. And despite what, or rather who he is now, he's still alive while this ghost is purely dead."

"Then why don't we go get him for help? Shouldn't he be able to do something about this ghost?"

"He could, but we don't need him," Discord dismissed. "We can handle this on our own, right? After all, you've all been in worse situations than this."

"Yes, but none of them involved directly fighting a friend who's trying to harm us with an army of theirs."

"Doesn't matter!" he snapped before turning to Pinkie. "Pinkie, can I borrow that holy water?"

"Sure," she said in a chipper tone before placing it in his paw. "Just be sure to get her with it. It's my last bottle until I get another crate shipment of it next week."

"'Another shipment'?" Rainbow questioned. "What the hay do you need a whole crate of holy water for?"

"... reasons."

Ignoring the rest of their talking, Discord teleported himself back out with the holy water in his claw. Reappearing in front of Flutterbat, Discord immediately opened the bottle with his paw before flinging the water out of the bottle in an arc towards her. Even though he was standing just six feet away from her, time seemed to slow down for him as he watched the water fly over towards Flutterbat before he then saw that a swarm of bats had used themselves as a shield against the holy water. But, what really surprised him was that as soon as the water touched the bats, they each gave out a shriek as they fell to the floor and began to dissolve into individual piles of ash.

"What?!" Discord shouted in surprise. "How is that possible?!"

"Oh, my," Flutterbat said as she kicked a ash pile away. "Well, that was unexpected."

"What did you do to them?!"

"Oh, nothing much. All I did was give them some of my power. It's strange, though. I guess that they got a large enough dose that they've somehow become vulnerable to holy water, but quite not enough to make them immune to your chaos magic like I am. Oh well, they're replaceable."

As Discord's continued to stare at Flutterbat, he noticed something shimmering from the corner of her eye. With a second look, he could see that it was a tear. Noticing his gaze, Flutterbat brought a hoof up to the area and wiped it up. Looking down to the teardrop on her hoof, she lowly hissed before flicking it off to the side.

"Apparently that pegasus mare isn't as controlled as I thought she was," Flutterbat spoke. "Perhaps I should try a bit harder-"

"You will not!" Discord bellowed as he continued to fling the holy water out of the bottle, each one blocked by another wall of bats that would dissolve after being hit. "I won't let you hurt a single hair on her-"

"Discord, stop!"

Hearing Fluttershy's actual voice pleading to him, Discord stopped and looked down to see that her normal eye-color had returned. But what really got to him were the tears and sadness in her eyes.

"Why would you do that to those poor creatures?"

"Fluttershy," Discord slowly and sorrowfully said, "I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to. They were just flying in the way."

"But you still kept doing it."

"To try and save you!"

Closing her eyes, Fluttershy sniffled and wiped her tears. Once she opened them, though, they'd returned to their blood-red color, accompanied by a devious grin.

"You're so easy to fool," Flutterbat malevolently giggled.

Realizing that he'd been fooled, Discord was about to spray another round at her when he felt several pairs of fangs biting down on his claw, forcing him to release the bottle of holy water. With it out of his reach, the rest of his body once again became swarmed by bats while a few others grabbed the bottle and flew away with it. Seeing them flying away, Discord reached out to it with his magic, but couldn't grab ahold of it.

Guess my chaos doesn't work on holy water either, he thought before wincing in pain from being bitten. Darn these little buggers anyway.

Taking a moment, Discord used his chaos magic to turn the bats that were biting him into balloons with a picture of a black bat before teleporting himself back into the barrier and healing himself.

"Did ya get her?" Applejack asked.

"Sorry, but the bats blocked the water and flew-off with the rest of it," Discord apologized.

"Awww, bummer," Pinkie said before sighing. "And that was my favorite bottle too."

"But we're not finished yet. When I hit the bats with the water, they turned to ash."

"They did what?!" Rarity shrieked.

"I'll explain another time, but when I did, I saw that Fluttershy-"

"Flutterbat."

"Whatever! Point being, I saw that she was starting to tear-up about them. While Fluttershy may be possessed, she's still in there somewhere."

"So all we need to do is to try and draw her out?" Twilight asked, listening in on them while helping Luna hold the barrier.

"Yes, but every time I go out there, those darn bats swarm me like an all-you-can-eat buffet."

"What about turnin' them varmin's inta an apple or somethin'?" Applejack suggested.

"I could, but do you want Fluttershy to witness them all be turned into that and then be eaten by the others or herself?" Discord questioned.

"... Ah suppose not."

"Princess Luna," Twilight spoke up, "could you control the bats like you did earlier?"

"Normally I could," she began to answer, "but considering their vast numbers, I could control over half of then and send them off. However, once they're out of my range, they'll either just come straight back here, or go to Applejacks' farm."

"Ooh! Ooh! I have an idea!" Pinkie exclaimed. "Discord could teleport him and me-"

"Him and I, dear," Rarity corrected.

"Yeah, yeah. Anyway, he could teleport us over to my place so that I can grab my sleeping powder."

"Why would you have sleeping powder?" Rainbow questioned. "And don't say, 'reasons'."

"Actually, I was going to say because I might've been planning to use it for a prank... or six."

"Okay, but why not do them tonight on Nightmare Night?"

Pinkie smirked. "Because reasons."

With an irritated groan, Rainbow facehoofed. "Just go get your stupid powder already."

With a nod from Pinkie, she looked up over to Discord before he teleported the two of them away to pickup her sleeping powder. A few seconds later after hearing the bats screeching and trying to bite through the barrier, Twilight let out a low sigh.

"I'm starting to wish we would've gotten Dark now," she said. "He probably could've taken care of this by now."

"You seem rather confident in him," Luna observed.

"He's been training with Nocturne since we've gotten back from Canterlot, so either one of them should know how to deal with this kind of situation."

"Let us first try it their way. If it's all the same to you, I'd rather not use his powers to solve this. And besides," Luna furrowed her brow, "if this ghost has indeed seen the cloaked figure that attacked us, then he might know what this pony looks like. Like his coat color, eye color, main color, or even his cutie mark if possible."

"In that case, Pinkie's sleeping powder would be perfect for capture."

A few minutes later of waiting and watching the bats trying to bite through, Discord and Pinkie returned.

"We're back!" she happily announced wearing a saddlebag.

"Did ya get it?" Applejack asked.

"Yepperoni," Pinkie answered before pulling it out. "Oh, did I forgot to mention that it's actually a sleep powder bomb?"

"Figures," Rainbow sighed. "Seriously, Pinkie, what's up with you and your bombs and cannons?"

"What?" she wined. "They're fun and make a loud bang! And you know how much I love a good bang."

"... that sounded so wrong that I'm not even going to start."

"Rainbow!" Rarity chastised while cringing at the crude comment.

"What? She practically set herself up for that one."

Pinkie on the other hoof, just laughed it off. "Hehehe, so true."

"Later, girls," Twilight told them. "Pinkie, can you use your sleep powder bomb now?"

"Already did," she smiled, watching the timer on the bomb tick down from five.

Hearing their talking, Flutterbat looked down to see that the bomb had somehow ended up inches away from her front hooves. With eyes wide, she immediately spread her leathery wings and flew out of the house a split second before the bomb went off, covering the entire interior and exterior of the cottage in pink powder. After a minute had passed to make sure that the powder had taken effect, Twilight casted a quick wind spell and blew the remaining powder away to reveal the cottage now littered with a few hundred vampire fruit bats laying asleep all over the place.

"Sweet, it worked!" Pinkie bounced.

Waiting a few more seconds to make sure that the powder and been cleared out completely, Luna removed the barrier and allowed the others to walk out. But, as they scanned the room, they saw that Flutterbat wasn't among them.

"Darn it!" Twilight irritatedly said. "She got away!"

"I guess we should've closed and locked all of the doors and windows," Discord grumbled.

"If I head out now, I can still catch her," Rainbow offered.

"Alright, go ahead, and be careful," Twilight told her before she gave a salute and zipped off into the night sky to look for Flutterbat.

"So what now?" Applejack asked. "Thanks ta Pinkie and Discord, them bats are all knocked out."

"Now we go and help look for Flutterbat," Luna said.

With a round of nods, they began to make their way out of Fluttershy's cottage. Before she walked through the door, though, Rarity noticed that they were one draconequus short. Seeing Discord standing in place staring at the empty spot that Flutterbat had previously occupied, she walked over to him and put a tender hoof on him.

"Discord?" Rarity softly spoke. "Are you alright?"

"I failed her," he muttered.

"Pardon?"

"I would always tell Fluttershy that I would look out for her and keep her safe, but instead, I failed her. I was the one who turned her into that thing."

"You didn't know at the time. It's not your fault."

"Yes it is!" he snapped. "Regardless of whether I knew about it or not, it doesn't change the fact that I was the one who gave her those apples that turned her! And besides, I still should've known about it. Even if she didn't tell me, I should've still been able to pick up on it, but I didn't! And now I can't do anything to help her."

"What do you mean? Of course you can."

"Like what? I can't use my magic on Fluttershy or the spirit possessing her, and I can't harm the bats without her crying over them."

"We'll find a way, we always do. But until we free her, you can't give up on her. Not when she needs you the most."

Discord let out a tired sigh. "I know. I just feel so useless right now. It feels like no matter what I've done so far tonight, I can't seem to get any closer to helping her."

"Well, standing here moping like this isn't going to help her either," Rarity told him as she began to guide him towards the door. "Just remember that the rest of us want her back safely too, and that we'll be right here until we do."

Feeling a little better about the situation, Discord smiled down to Rarity, which she gratefully returned. Walking out of the cottage, they saw that Luna and their friends were standing there waiting for them.

"You right there?" Applejack asked.

"I'll be fine," Discord answered. "Just feeling a little useless right now."

"Now is not the time to mope about it," Luna told him. "Right now, we need to find Flutterbat and return her to normal."

"Do you know which way she was last seen heading?" Rarity asked.

"I saw Rainbow's trail heading over towards Ponyville," Twilight answered, "but she's not the only one. I've been seeing more vampire fruit bats heading over there too."

"Then let us waste no more time," Luna said. "The longer we allow for this to continue, the more danger that Ponyville and the orchard will be in."

Over Ponyville, Flutterbat was hiding amongst the buildings to hide from Rainbow while a group of bats were gathering out of sight above the town. She caught a brief glimpse of her from when she turned to see if she was being followed and dived down into the town. As she hid herself within the shadows of the alleyway, Flutterbat hissed.

"They may have delayed me," she seethed, "but they won't stop me."

Why are you doing this? Fluttershy tearfully asked inside her head.

"What? How is it that you're still able to speak?" Flutterbat wondered. "You shouldn't even be able to make me tear up like you did before."

You had those poor bats sacrifice themselves like that, and yet you act like they weren't worth anything to you.

"Of course they weren't. They're just bats, nothing more than rodents with wings."

They're more then that, Fluttershy protested. They all have a family of some kind, just like I'm sure you once did.

Flutterbat sighed. "That was a long time ago, in a different life."

Is that why your ghost is still here?

Shaking her head, Flutterbat bore her fangs. "I don't need to answer to you! You're just a voice in my head at this point."

But this is still my body.

"Not for much longer it's not. And once my fleet of vampire fruit bats are reassembled, then there'll be no way they can-"

"There you are!"

Looking up above her, Flutterbat saw Rainbow had found her and was closing in on her. Flying away, she called upon some of the bats that had gathered and ordered them to intercept Rainbow. But, while it would take a little while for them to catch up to them, Rainbow was closing the gap between them. And soon enough, she'd gotten ahold of Flutterbat and pinned her to the ground.

"What the hay, Flutters!" Rainbow shouted. "Why are you- OUCH!"

Rainbow's questioning was cut short when Flutterbat bit her foreleg before kicking her off of her. Now free, Flutterbat took-off again, this time covered by her bats that had managed to catch up to them. While a dozen of them were flying away with her, another dozen were swarming Rainbow, biting her as she struggled against them just to stand up. After enough swatting, she was able to get back up to her hooves and into the air after Flutterbat.

Continuing the chase, Rainbow once again closed in on her. But as she drew closer, she failed to notice that the bats that had just attacked her were trailing after her, along with another group from above. Noticing the ones from up top, Rainbow picked up the pace, finding herself within a few feet of Flutterbat... and the bats surrounding her.

Seeing her catch up to them, the bats began to break-off from Flutterbat and started to attack Rainbow. But, even though she managed to avoid most of them, she found that a few of the had latched onto her with their fangs, one of which was firmly biting down on one of her wings. And despite wanting to catch her, Rainbow knew that if she continued this alone that she would probably find herself in more trouble than she already was.

Diving down, Rainbow began to spiral and try to shake off the bats that were still attached to her. After a few spins, she managed to get them off of her. With her now free of her unwanted passengers, she leveled out and began making her way back towards where her friends would be coming from. Making her way over to the other side of Ponyville, she soon saw her friends flying towards her with Discord carrying Pinkie and Rarity on his back.

"Rainbow," Twilight called out, "where is she?"

"She got away," Rainbow sighed in disappointment. "I had her, but then she bit me and had those darn bats come and attack me whenever I tried to get close."

"Wait, she bit you?!" Luna asked in alarm.

"Uuh, yeah? Why? Is that bad?"

"Being bitten by a thestral like her may cause you to also turn into one yourself."

"Does that mean that Rainbow is going to be turned into a bat pony too?" Pinkie wondered.

"That depends. She may or may not be turned, but just incase she does, I'm going to briefly head on back to Canterlot so that I can get you the remedy."

"Can't Discord just use his chaos magic to remove it?" Rainbow nervously asked.

"Sorry, but I cannot," Discord answered. "Since the bite came directly from Fluttershy while she's being possessed, my magic won't work on it."

"Okay, okay. So we just need for Princess Luna to get over to Canterlot and get this remedy, right?"

"That is correct," Luna nodded.

"Just out of curiosity," Twilight began, "how long will it take for her to transform?"

"It could be anywhere from within a few minutes to a few hours. Nopony can say for sure."

"In that case, can you go get it and be back before Rainbow transforms?"

"I can try. I'll also make sure to bring a few extra just incase she bites somepony else."

"What about my rings of garlic?" Pinkie asked, wearing a ring of garlic around her neck.

"... that might actually work," Luna slowly admitted. "But just incase, I'll still bring extras."

"Alright, I'll just give everypony one of these then," she said before reaching into her mane and tossing a ring of garlic around the others, including Discord.

Nodding to them, Luna teleported herself back to Canterlot Castle to get the remedies. While she was gone, the rest of them landed before Twilight told Rainbow to try to rest and relax.

"Shouldn't we be out there trying to get Flutterbat?" Rainbow asked, pointing a hoof over towards Ponyville.

"After we give you that remedy," Twilight told her. "For now, I want you to try and relax yourself. If we keep your heart rate low, we might be able to buy you some more time before you start to change."

"Ooh! What do we call her if she does change?" Pinkie eagerly asked. "How does, Rainbow Bat sound? You know, leave out the Dash for Bat."

"I'm not going to turn into a bat pony, Pinkie," Rainbow argued.

"But you miiiiight~"

"That's enough for now, you two," Twilight told them before turning to Discord. "How're you doing?"

"Considering that things could've turned out worse back there, fine I guess," Discord half-heartedly answered.

"Look, I know that you want to get that ghost out of her and to turn Flutterbat back to being Fluttershy, but this may take some time with the rate things are going."

Discord shook his head. "We need more help. Twilight, could you go get Dark to come and help us?"

"But what about Spike and our sisters?" Applejack asked. "They'll all be unprotected."

"Actually, I don't think that they'll be in any actual danger. From the sounds of it, I don't believe that Flutterbat actually wants to hurt anypony."

"But we don't know that for sure," Rainbow rebuked. "After all, she didn't exactly tell us what it was that she wanted to gain from all of this."

Twilight sighed. "Look, if it'll make you feel girls feel better, when I go get him, I'll set up a barrier around the house so nothing can sneak in. Is that alright?" Twilight waited until she got an agreeing nod from the three elder sisters. "In that case, I'll be back in a little bit with Dark."

With their approval, Twilight teleported herself back to Sweet Apple Acres to fetch Dark to assist them.

Dark was sitting up straight in his sleep with the fillies and Spike asleep beneath the cover of his wings. He'd tried to keep himself awake, but was too tired to do so. And besides, he still had his Shadow Dragon patrolling around the house, so he felt like it wasn't exactly necessary for him to be awake too. This, however, lead him to being unable to see the flash of light just behind him. Teleporting into the Apple house's living room, Twilight saw Dark sitting up facing towards the fireplace.

"Hey, Dark? Can you come give us a hoof with this?" Twilight asked him, only to go unanswered. "Dark? Are you even listening to me?"

Slightly annoyed by him ignoring her, Twilight walked around to his front to see that he was actually asleep. Smiling slightly knowing that he wasn't in fact ignoring her, Twilight was about to nudge him awake when she noticed a lack of Crusaders and Spike. Seconds later, she started to hear snoring coming from Dark, who as far as Twilight could tell, didn't snore in his sleep. But after listening to it again, she followed the sound over to his wings that he had wrapped around his front. Taking a peek inside, Twilight's smile grew as she saw the three fillies snuggling up against Spike again. Letting them be for now, Twilight turned her attention back up to Dark.

"Dark," she quietly called while gently nuzzling his cheek. "Dark, can you get up?"

"Hmm?" he grumbled.

"Can you wake up for a while?"

Cracking an eye open, Dark could see Twilight's eyes looking back at him.

"Twilight?" he yawned. "Hey, how'd it go with Flutterbat?"

Twilight's mood dampened slightly. "Not very well I'm afraid. Turns out that a ghost is possessing her, and Rainbow has been bitten by her. Princess Luna has returned to Canterlot to get a remedy that'll prevent her from being turned into a thestral."

"A what now?"

"Bat pony."

"Ah."

"Anyway, we've decided that we need some extra help if we're going to get Fluttershy back to normal."

"Alright, but what about them?" Dark asked, nodding down to the sleeping kids beneath his wings. "We can't exactly leave them alone, can we?"

"I'll set up a barrier before we leave."

"Okay, but we should probably get these four tucked away first then if we're going to be leaving them. I doubt that sleeping on the floor would feel very comfortable for them."

With an agreeing nod from Twilight, Dark slowly and carefully retracted his wings back to his sides, exposing the fillies and baby dragon to the cooler air that they were kept from. Feeling the sudden change in temperature, the three fillies shivered before snuggling closer to Spike, using him as their source of warmth. With a quiet giggle, Twilight took the four of them into her magic, levitated them up off the floor, and brought them up behind her as she made her way upstairs with Dark following closely behind. Remembering which room was Apple Blooms, Twilight entered it, brought back the bed sheets, laid the four sleeping kids onto the bed, and tucked them in.

"You sure we should be putting all of them to sleep together in the same bed like this?" Dark questioned as he walked in to see her tucking them away for the night. "I mean, you remember what happened when Rarity did it for Spike and Sweetie Belle."

"I do," Twilight said turning around to face him, "but Spike's already with Sweetie Belle, so I doubt that he'll end up with Scootaloo and Apple Bloom too."

"But what about that one thing where a relationship can be made up of more then just two ponies?"

"You're talking about a herd, right?"

"Yeah, that's it."

Twilight paused and tapped her chin in thought. "I suppose it's possible... but I haven't seen any signs that those two would be interested in Spike."

"But that's the key thing. We both haven't seen any signs, So as far as we know, they very well could have feelings for him, but we just haven't been around them to notice it."

"I suppose that's true," she relented briefly, "but that's something that we'll have to think about another time. Right now, we've got to get back to the others."

With a nod, Dark followed Twilight out of Apple Bloom's bedroom and out of the house before Twilight casted a barrier around it. While she was busy with that, Dark called his Shadow Dragon over and ordered it to continue guarding the house until they or one of their friends returned, and to also alert him if it was to be attacked. With their business out of the way, Twilight told Dark where they were meeting up with their friends before she teleported away, followed by Dark who Shadowported right behind her.

Back on the outskirts of Ponyville, Twilight reappeared before her friends, followed closely by Dark. As he looked over his friends, he could see Discord looking glum while Rainbow was sitting down, holding her injured leg up off the ground.

"Does it hurt, Rainbow?" Dark asked as he walked over to her.

"Kinda," she answered. "It just stings a little bit is all."

Sitting down in front of her, Dark tenderly took the hoof of her injured leg into his claw and took a look at it, seeing the pair of puncture marks left behind from the bite.

"I know it's just a bite, but are you gonna be alright?"

"Accordin' ta Princess Luna," Applejack began answering, "Rainbow's gonna be turned into a bat pony if she doesn't get the cure for it."

"And where is this cure?"

"The princess teleported herself back ta Canterlot ta fetch it. She should be here pretty soon by now."

"Alright. In the meantime, I'll go ahead and heal it up for you," Dark told Rainbow before he casted his Healing Flame on her.

"Thanks, Dark," she thanked.

Taking a few steps off to the side, Dark sat himself down by Rainbow, followed by Twilight who sat herself down alongside him with an approving nod.

"Not to sound rude, Twilight," Rainbow began, "but don't you know some healing magic?"

"I know of a few spells," she answered. "Why?"

"Just curious is all."

"Is my healing not enough?" Dark asked. "Because I understand if you want Twilight to heal it."

"It's okay, I just-"

Blinded by a flash of light, Luna appeared before the group with a saddlebag over her back.

"I apologize for taking so long," she apologized., "I forgot which shelf I put it under. I thought it was under the 'Remedy' section, but was for some reason under 'Supernatural' instead."

"Kinda can go either way with deciding where to place it, considering the type of disease that we're dealing with," Dark commented.

"True, but now I have it, so here," she said, levitating a bottle over for Rainbow to drink.

Uncorking the bottle, Rainbow took a few sniffs before recoiling from the scent. Looking over to Luna who gave her an assuring nod, Rainbow scrunched up her nose before chugging the potion. She continued to drink it until there was nothing left, making sounds of disgust once she was finished.

"Good," Luna spoke. "That should prevent you from turning, along with making you immune if you're to be bitten again."

"Shouldn't the rest of us have some then just incase?" Rarity asked.

"While I do have enough for everyone here, I would much rather not use them unless you're bitten. This kind of remedy is rather difficult to make, and I have only a few bottles left back at the castle."

"Then we'll just have to be extra careful," Twilight said.

"No, you won't," Discord told her, his eyes seeming to glow slightly. "This night started because I gave her those apples, causing her to transform and become vulnerable to that ghost. So, with that said, I will be the one to face him."

"Well then," Dark began, "if you're going to face him all alone, then why am I here? Because I was told that my help was needed."

"Weren't you told about what happened?"

"Fluttershy, or rather Flutterbat, is being possessed by a ghost, and Rainbow was bitten by her."

"While those are both true, what you probably don't know then is that my chaos magic doesn't work on undead creatures like the ghost."

"So you can't just remove it with your magic?"

"Pretty much," he huffed.

"Okay. So then, how can I help?"

"You're the Lord of Death, which means that the ghost and any other undead are susceptible to your death magic."

Dark hummed to himself in thought.

"Well?" Rainbow spoke up. "Are you going to help or not?"

"That depends," he slowly said before looking back up to Discord. "Tell me, if given the chance, would you want to finish-off the ghost yourself, or would you be alright if it was by one of us?"

"While it would be quite joyous for me to deal with it myself, I'll be happy if I can just get Fluttershy back to her old self."

"In that case, you're on your own."

Discord looked upon Dark in shock while the others gaped at him.

"You're not gonna help?!" Applejack shouted.

Feeling like he picked a poor choice of words, Dark began to clarify. "I didn't mean it like that. What I meant to say was that Discord is on his own in fighting that ghost. If he wants to fight it and beat if on his own, then I'll provide him the means, but he'll have to take it from there."

"Oh. Okay."

"What did you have in mind?" Luna questioned.

With a small smirk, Dark got up and walked over to Discord. Standing a few feet away from him, Dark reached a claw out to his side and summoned his Soul Reaver before planting the blade into the ground.

"What in the world?!" Discord yipped as he jumped back away from it.

"This is my Living Weapon, Death Reaver," Dark told him, "and you, Discord, have my permission to use it against the ghost possessing Fluttershy."

"Flutterbat," Rainbow corrected.

"Whatever."

"Wait," Discord interrupted, "you want me to take a Living Weapon? How is it that you even have one?"

"I made it by accident," Dark said with a shrug. "And besides, you have my permission to use it, so you should be fine."

"I know that, but what I'm curious about is how would it work?"

"Simple," Nocturne answered through the sword, "because we're both apart of this weapon, which includes our death magic."

"Oh?" Discord questioned, cocking an eyebrow as he looked over the sword. "So we meet again, Nocturne. So, how is it that you ended up in there exactly?"

Nocturne grumbled. "Save your curiosity for another time, Discord. Right now, we have a job to do, right?"

"Right, of course," he said before reaching over to it, only to stop short. "Now, are you sure that I'll be safe using this?"

"This boy has already given you his blessing, so you'll be fine. Now take it already!"

Taking the sword in his claw, Discord plucked the weapon up out of the ground.

"Out of curiosity," Discord began questioning, "why are you letting me use such a powerful weapon?"

"Because, Discord," Dark began, "you would do the same if I was in your place... right?"

"... I suppose I would. So, what now?"

"Now you go and find your girlfriend," Nocturne told him. "As we make our way over to her, I'll start to share some of my death magic with you so that you can use it to remove that ghost from her."

"As for the rest of us," Luna began, "we'll make sure that the vampire fruit bats don't leave the town and get near the orchard."

"I also left my Shadow Dragon the guard the Apple house and orchards," Dark said. "If they get too close to it, it'll let me know and attack them if necessary."

"Seems like we have a plan then," Twilight spoke before turning to face Ponyville. "Alright, everyone, let's go save our friend!"

Chapter 34- To Banish a Ghost

Flutterbat was laying down on a stray cloud up above Ponyville, hidden within her ever-growing swarm of vampire fruit bats. It started out as just a few dozen, but had quickly become a few hundred. Soon enough, she would have over a thousand bats under her command.

"Very soon, little one," she said as one of the bats landed on her hoof, "you'll all feed to your heart's content. And while you're all doing that, perhaps I'll go and have myself a midnight snack. I think that I'd earned it after tonight."

You still haven't told me why you're doing this, Fluttershy begrudgingly said within Flutterbat's mind.

"That's because I haven't told you... and why are you talking to me like that? I thought that you were suppose to be very shy."

Normally I would be, but I've learned that there's a time to put your hoof down and stand up, and this is one of those times.

"Whatever, it's of little importance to me how you act."

Fluttershy mentally sighed to mask her worry. Will you at least tell me what you plan on doing with my friends?

Flutterbat hissed angrily. "If they continue to interrupt me, then I'll bite them and turn them like I did with that rainbow-colored one earlier."

Rainbow Dash is the toughest pony I know. She's not going to be turned so easily.

"We'll see about that," Flutterbat returned as her gaze fell upon the unsuspecting town below her. "Speaking of which, I wonder what your boyfriend tastes like. Judging my his looks alone, I'd say that his blood would be a rather exotic cocktail."

On the outskirts of Ponyville, Luna, Discord, Twilight, Dark, Rarity, Pinkie, Applejack, and Rainbow were all running over towards the town. As they started to get closer, they noticed another group of bats flying past them. Following their flightpath, they saw that they were heading towards something hovering up above the town, partially hidden by the night sky. While they continued down the path, Twilight went over the plan one more time with them.

"So then, everyone know what they're doing?" she asked.

"Keep the bats in Ponyville and try and help Discord get ta Flutterbat ta remove that ghost from her," Applejack summarized.

"Pretty much."

"It doesn't sound nearly as much fun when you put it like that," Pinkie commented.

"But that's pretty much what we're doing," Dark said before a thought came to mind. "By the way, I haven't noticed any guards around tonight. Anypony know where they're all at?"

"They have tonight off, so they're all back home with their families," Luna answered.

"Well, good for them then."

"Don't worry, they'll be back on duty next week."

"Sound good."

At that moment, Pinkie skidded to a halt, causing everyone to stop and look at her, but before they could ask her what was wrong, she started having on of her Pinkie Sense Combos. And while her friends knew most of them, this one was a mystery to them as it included her left ear twitching, her right foreleg cramping, and her tail spinning around in a full circle seven times. Once she felt like it was over, Pinkie looked over herself.

"Huh. Well, that was weird," she calmly said.

"Pinkie, what was that?" Rarity asked. "I don't believe that we've seen one of those before."

"I'm not entirely sure," Pinkie admitted. "All that I do know is that in seven days, somepony will come here and then something will happen."

"Can you be a little more specific?" Twilight asked.

"Sorry, but that's all I can give for you."

"Is it because the guards are coming back?" Rainbow wondered.

"I doubt it, because if that would be the case, then I would've had one like that before they got her the first time, or when Dark first showed up."

"So it's somepony else then?"

"Yep."

"Sorry to interrupt," Luna spoke, "but I believe that we have somepony who needs our help at the moment."

Their attention redirected back to the task at hoof, they continued their way back towards the town.

"Hey, Rarity," Twilight called, running up alongside her as they neared Ponyville, "do you remember that paralysis spell that I taught you?"

"Of course I do," Rarity returned. "It actually came in handy a few times already."

"Good, because you'll need to use it against the bats when they try to attack us."

"Speakin' of them bats," Applejack cut in, "what about the ones that are still zonked out by Pinkie's sleepin' powder?"

"What do you mean?"

"What Ah mean is what are we gonna do when they wake up?"

"That powder is rather strong," Pinkie said, having heard their conversation. "It should keep them asleep until at least tomorrow... evening... ish."

"So we don't have to worry about them waking up and rejoining the rest of them?"

"We shouldn't," she happily answered before her face contorted into a questionable look. "Then again, this stuff has never been tested on vampire fruit bats before, so as far as I know they might, but I highly doubt it."

"Is this another one of your Pinkie Senses?" Rainbow asked.

"Nope, this is just a hunch... then again, I've been wrong before. Like how Flutterbat really would eat ponies if she wanted to."

"Don't remind me," Rarity said with a shudder.

"Eyes and ears up, everypony, because we're almost to Ponyville," Discord told them before looking to the weapon that Dark had lent him. "Nocturne, how's it going with the magical transfer?"

"Be patient," Nocturne snapped. "I don't do stuff like this very often, and besides that, your chaos magic is making this job of mine more difficult. Just wait for me and I'll tell you when you're good to go."

Leaving him to his work, Discord withheld anymore talking with Nocturne as they continued forward. But while they had hoped to get a bit closer, Flutterbat had taken notice of them and began her attack. While she didn't send any of them into the town, she instead split them up into two different groups. One went to attack the group of friends who came to stop her and save the pony who she was possessing, while the other group made their way over towards the direction of Sweet Apple Acres. Seeing them split-off and noticing the direction they were heading, Applejack's eyes widened in horror.

"They're goin' after my farm! Ah have ta go stop them!" she panicked.

"Don't you worry about it," Dark told her. "You stay here and help them get Fluttershy back to normal, and I'll go and stop them."

"Are ya sure that you can handle it?"

"I should. Besides, for a while now tonight, I've been getting the same feeling that I would normally get when I use my Amplify ability, so I think I can do it."

"... for the record, Ah'm not entirely sure about this."

"If I feel like I can't handle it, then I'll come for help. Does that sound alright with you?"

"Yes, it does."

"In that case, I'll leave you ladies and Discord to it then. Good luck to ya."

"You too. Just... please remember to try and not kill them all," Twilight reminded him.

"I'll do what I can, but I can't make any promises."

With a quick wave, Dark Shadowported back to Sweet Apple Acres to get ready for the bats that would soon be arriving. Stopping in place, they waited for Flutterbat and her bats to come to them. While they waited, they noticed that all of the bats that were flocking towards Flutterbat were not converging onto the rest of them.

"So, how are we going to do this exactly?" Pinkie wondered. "I mean, I know that we have a plan on how Discord's going to return Flutterbat back into Fluttershy, but what are we suppose to do until then?"

"Do you have your party cannon?" Twilight asked.

"Twilight, you know that I never leave home without it."

"Good. In that case, listen up, everypony, I'm going to use one of Shining's barriers while Princess Luna, Pinkie, and Rarity will stay within the barrier and shoot through it. Try to use stun spells or other spells to knock them out. Pinkie, no live ammunition or explosive rounds. That goes for concussive rounds since Rainbow and Applejack will be fighting them off by hoof."

"How am Ah suppose ta fight them when they're flyin' around out of my reach?" Applejack questioned.

"I believe I can help you with that," Luna said before she enveloped Applejack in her magical aura.

"What did ya do ta me?"

"I've briefly granted you a form of flight, Applejack. You may now run on air as though it were land."

Unsure about it, Applejack took an experimental step as though she were walking uphill, but when her hoof came half-way down, it stopped in mid-air. Taking a few more steps, she soon saw that she was off the ground. As she looked down, though, a worried thought came to mind.

"How am Ah suppose ta get back down... or stop myself from fallin' for that matter?" she asked.

"Worry not," Luna told her reassuringly. "You cannot fall down unless you somehow fall unconscious. As for going back down, just think as though you're going either downhill, or walking down a set of stairs."

Testing it out, Applejack thought about walking on a downward slope and quickly found herself back on solid ground again.

"Well, shoot. That's some useful magic there. A spell like this could make some of the chores a whole lot easier. Not ta mention how much easier barn raisin' would be."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah. As much fun as that sounds, Applejack," Rainbow began, "we have something more important to do at the moment. Like taking care of these bats for example."

"Before you go," Twilight interjected before casting a spell on Rainbow and Applejack. "There. I just casted a spell on you two that'll increase your toughness so that the bats won't be able to bite you so easily. It should also help against Flutterbat if she tries to bite you too. Just remember to not go too far away and to come back into my barrier if you need to take a break."

"How can we do that?"

"It's one of Shining's special barriers that'll allow for allies to pass and fire through it, while it keeps the enemies and their magic and weapons out."

"Huh. Sounds pretty sweet. Anyways, let's get going, Applejack."

Giving Rainbow a nod, Applejack galloped up into the air alongside Rainbow as she flew at a matching pace directly towards the second group of bats. As the two mares closed in on the bat swarm, Rainbow had an idea.

"Hey, Applejack, can you give me a toss?"

Getting her meaning, Applejack grabbed Rainbow by her front hooves and spun around a few times before using her earth pony strength to slingshotting her directly towards the center of the bats. As Rainbow flew closer, she could already feel that familiar feeling from the speeds she was going. Pushing herself a to go a little bit faster, Rainbow was able to create another Sonic Rainboom, which made her pierce through their center. While the initial shockwave took out almost half of the group, Rainbow's speed caused a vacuum as she flew past, disrupting their flying and caused them to start tumbling towards the ground. However, since it didn't knock them out like her Rainboom's shockwave, most had managed to regain their flight before hitting the ground while those that did where knocked out from the impact of hitting the dirt.

With most of them taken care of for the moment, Rainbow began turning herself around for another pass while Applejack continued running towards the bats that didn't get knocked down. Once she felt she was close enough, she quickly spun around and began to buck at the bats, nailing two of them before using her tail to smack a few more away. Repositioning herself, Applejack struck at them again until she found herself surrounded. Looking around, down, and above her, she figured that she would be in trouble until Rainbow shot through them and hovered right behind her, backs to one another.

"You know," Rainbow began saying, "we never did finish that Iron Pony competition."

"What are ya suggestin', Rainbow?" Applejack wondered.

"How about a friendly little competition? Whoever downs the most of these bats wins."

"Sure, Ah'm up for it."

"Good, because here they come."

While the two were busy fighting the second group of bats up in the sky, Discord, Twilight, Rarity, and Pinkie were all standing inside Twilight's barrier shooting projectiles at the incoming bats. While Luna and Rarity both used stun spells, Pinkie fired her party cannon, and Discord began using his chaos magic to put them to sleep. However, as the fight continued, Discord noticed that his spells were becoming less effective against them as the possessing ghost within Flutterbat was feeding them more death magic.

"They're starting to become more resistant to my chaos magic," he warned the others.

"Discord," Twilight called, "can you stop the ghost that's possessing her yet?"

"Nocturne hasn't given me the all-clear to do that yet."

"But it's already been five minutes," Rarity protested.

"And it'll take longer of you try to rush me," Nocturne shot back. "Besides, the spell that Discord will use won't be all that difficult or elaborate."

"What is this spell that you're planning on using, Nocturne?" Luna questioned.

"To put it simply, it's a spell that'll let Discord rip out the soul of his victim. Which, in this case, will be the ghost that's possessing your friend."

"That's rather barbaric," Rarity said.

"It's what I would do."

"While it's not exactly what I would do myself, I have to agree that it does sound rather appealing at the moment," Discord agreed.

"Are you serious?" Twilight asked, slightly nervous.

"Anything that harms Fluttershy in anyway will not escape me and the pain that I will bring upon them."

"As disturbingly sweet as that is," Pinkie began saying, "you all should start getting back to these bats, because you're starting to fall behind on the count. Oh, and Twilight's barrier is starting to crack."

"What?!" Twilight shrieked, looking up to see that the barrier was indeed damaged. "But how?"

"It must be the increased magic that they're receiving," Discord guessed. "The longer this drags on, the more in danger we'll be."

"Then let us waste no more time and thin out their numbers," Luna told them before firing another stun spell at a random bat.

"How do you think Dark is doing?" Twilight asked as she began to reinforce and repair the barrier, just to get what sounded like a chuckle from Nocturne. "And what is so funny?"

"Naïve, young princess," Nocturne chuckled. "If anything, it should be those bats that you should be worried about, not him."

As if on cue, a loud yet quiet boom sounded from Sweet Apple Acres. Looking over in the direction of the farm, they saw that the lights coming from there, along with the stars in the sky above, it were starting to be blacked-out.

"Heh. Speak of the devil."

A few minutes earlier at Sweet Apple Acres, Dark and his Shadow Dragon where doing what they could to keep the vampire fruit bats away from the orchard. While they managed to keep the first few dozen out, they saw a cloud of several hundred more heading straight towards them.

"So, what do you think?" Dark asked his Shadow Dragon, just to get a blank look in return. "Oh... right. Forgot that you can't talk or anything. Might have to fix that at some point."

Forgetting that one-sided talk, Dark charged towards the oncoming bat swarm with his Shadow Dragon flying at his side. Closing in on them, Dark charged-up his magic again. This time, he noticed that unlike the magical aura that would surround his unicorn horn, since he currently had two, his magic had instead gathered between them. And along with their new placement, he also noticed that his magic's color was now a green that matched his eyes and the fake tattoos on his chest.

Just like in Spike's comic, Dark thought with a satisfactory smile. When this is all over with, I better make sure that I remember to thank Twilight for this again.

Feeling that his magic was charged enough, Dark began to release a chain of green fireballs out from the magical orb between his horns into the oncoming bats. Most of them managed to hit a few dozen of them, causing them to crash into others and catch them on fire too, while those that missed soon fizzled out. But, despite the amount he actually got, there were still a lot more of them that had to be stopped. Charging his magic again, Dark unleashed it and threw-out a wave of green fire towards the bats while also making sure to aim high enough so that he wouldn't accidentally set the apple trees on fire as well. And while this spell had hit more than his fireballs did, it still didn't deter them from their current path.

Getting the feeling of worry from him possibly not being up to this, Dark began to frantically think to his magic lessons with Nocturne. Then, after a little while of Dark's Shadow Dragon buying him time to think it over, he came up with an idea. Recalling his Shadow Dragon back to him, Dark absorbed his minion back into his body before setting his plan into motion. Soon enough, his already black mane had turned into a black shadow that flowed in an invisible wind.

With a loud, and yet quiet booming sound, a blackness darker than even the darkest night exploded outwards from Dark, eclipsing even the night sky and light form the Apple house in his own darkness. Unlike normal darkness, though, this one was much thicker for the bats, making them feel like a fish trying to swim through mud. Mud, of which, Dark had no problems making his way through as he charged towards the bats, spreading his wall of darkness behind him as he flew. Not long after, he flew through the swarm of bats, catching them in his darkness and trapping them in place. They tried to struggle free, but soon found that they couldn't get out. Seeing that they weren't going anywhere anytime soon, Dark landed and looked out over towards the direction that his friends were.

"Wonder how they're doing over there?" he asked himself out loud before shrugging. "Meh. If they need me, then they'll come and get me. Until then, I guess that I'll just wait here and keep an eye on these guys."

Seeing that the wall of darkness stopped, Luna looked puzzling down to the Living Weapon that was Nocturne.

"What happened," she said, more of a demand then a question.

Nocturne chuckled. "Just a little something that we tried testing one afternoon."

"And that would be?" Twilight pressed.

"He told you about his Amplify already, right?"

"Yes, he said that he can absorb an element that he specializes in to increase his magic."

"And what magic does he specialize in?"

"Fire and dark magic."

"Correct. And what kind of magics does dark magic involve? Or rather, what kind of dark magic has Dark himself been using?"

"Usually it's shadows, but I don't see how that's of any importance at the moment. I mean, it's night right now. There isn't a shadow anywhere in all of this darkness."

"That's where your wrong, Twilight." Nocturne corrected, causing Twilight to give him her full attention.

"What do you mean? I don't see any shadows around here."

"You fail to see what is plainly in front of you, but I will not say anymore on this subject and spoil it... not yet anyways."

"As interesting as this sounds," Discord interrupted, "how much longer must I wait until you're finished?!"

"Oh, right. I'm done actually."

"And you're just now telling me this?!"

"I was busy talking with them," Nocturne defended.

"Alright, fine. If you're finished, then let's go."

"Probably a good idea," Pinkie said. "Because I'm starting to run low on my non-lethal ammo here."

"And I'm starting to get tired from casting so many spells," Rarity added.

"Alight then, girls," Twilight began. "One last push. We'll cover Discord and help clear a path so he can do his thing to Flutterbat."

"Where is she anyway?" Luna asked. "I can't see her with all of these bats flying around up there."

Before any of them could answer, a thunderous boom echoed throughout the night sky as a rainbow shockwave appeared almost directly above them. Seeing a rainbow-colored trail flying out from the center of it, they immediately knew that it was Rainbow and her Sonic Rainboom. What they didn't know at the moment, though, was that the Rainboom's shockwave had knocked out most of the bats flying up above them. That is, until they stated raining down upon the barrier and on the ground. Looking from the fallen bats back upward, they saw Rainbow hovering in front of Applejack with a smug look on her face.

"That still only counts as one!" Applejack shouted.

"What do you think those two are talking about?" Rarity wondered.

"If I had to guess," Pinkie began, "I'd say that they're having a contest to see who could beat-up the most bats as a tie breaker for their Iron Pony competition."

"Are they still going on about that?"

"Well, neither one of them have won yet."

"Another time," Discord spoke. "I'm heading up to get my Fluttershy back. You ponies cover me."

With a nod from the four mares, Discord flew out of Twilight's barrier and towards Flutterbat. As he made his way up with Dark's sword in his claw, Pinkie fired her party cannon at any bats that were trying to get close to him, along with Rarity, Luna, and Twilight, who dropped her barrier to help focus on covering Discord. Seeing the magical blasts and confetti exploding upon contact on the bats around him, Discord was allowed to keep his focus on his target. It didn't take much longer for him to catch up to her and float in front of her.

"So," Flutterbat began, "what are you going to do now? After all, your chaos magic doesn't work on me."

"Perhaps not, but mine does," Nocturne spoke for Discord.

"Wait, you sound like... Lord Nocturne?"

"In the flesh. Well, more or less. Now, be a good little ghost and return this body to its owner."

Flutterbat hissed. "No."

"I won't say it again."

"Neither will I."

"In that case, Discord, do it."

Feeling Nocturne's magic flowing through him, Discord channeled it into his paw, causing a black, shadowy claw to form around it. Looking from it to Flutterbat, he hesitated in fear of accidentally hurting her.

"What are you waiting for?" Nocturne impatiently asked. "Do it already."

"What if I hurt her?" Discord worryingly questioned.

"You wont. You'll just get the ghost's spirit, hers will be fine."

"But I-"

Discord was cut-off when Flutterbat charged at him and bit his claw, causing him to accidentally drop Dark's weapon. Feeling her fangs continue to sink into him, he started to wave his arm in an attempt to shake her off, but she was firmly latched onto him. Starting to get a little dizzy, Flutterbat released Discord's claw and hovered in front of him while he looked over the bite mark. And, much like before with her, he couldn't do anything to heal the wound.

Looking back from his claw over to her, Discord saw her lips covered in his blood. Bringing a hoof up to her mouth, Flutterbat wiped the leftover blood off of her lips and looked down at them. It was then that something in her snapped, causing her eyes to revert back to normal while she began to tear up. Looking from her blood-stained hooves over to Discord, she could see that his claw was bleeding from two fresh puncture marks. With eyes fully widened in shock and horror at what she'd done, her tears began to flow as she started sniffling.

Seeing her like this caused a pang of sadness to course through Discord, but kept his distance as he remembered what happened last time. Even though he was cautious about it, it didn't stop him from slowly floating closer to her. As he got closer, he slowly began to realize that this wasn't the ghost, but Fluttershy herself who was in control, though brief as it was.

"D-Discord?" Flutterbat whimpered with Fluttershy's voice.

"Fluttershy? Is that really you this time?" Discord asked, getting an unsteady nod from her.

"P-Please... before I hurt you any more... p-please... stop me."

Seeing that she was being sincere about it, Discord sighed. "Very well. I'll set you free."

With a hint of fear and reluctance, Discord lifted his paw-turned-Shadow Claw and lunged towards Flutterbat. She didn't even have a chance to blink before she found that Discord's Shadow Claw was embedded in her stomach. The strange thing to her, though, was that it didn't hurt at all, but she did start to feel tired for some reason. Bringing his injured claw around, Discord gently held Flutterbat in his arm before grabbing onto something with his Shadow Claw and pulling it out of her. Once it was out of her, Discord saw that he had a firm hold on the ghost that had possessed her. With it completely removed from her, Flutterbat quickly fell unconscious and was now asleep.

Seeing her passed out like that, Discord lowered himself back to the others on the ground before turning her over to them to look after. With her back safely with her friends, Discord turned to take care of the ghost, but was stopped.

"Discord, are you alright?" Twilight asked.

"I'll be fine," he answered before glaring at the ghost still in his hold. "I just need to take care of this thing before I start to feel better."

"Before you go," Luna began, holding up a bottle to him, "you should drink this first. It'll prevent you from turning."

"Can Discord be turned into a bat pony?" Rainbow questioned. "I mean, he's not even a pony."

"Perhaps not, but he is part pony, and that alone is enough for him to change. Now drink."

With a small grumble, Discord took the bottle and downed its contents. Licking his lips from the taste, he tossed the bottle back over to Luna before looking back at the ghost.

"Now, I believe that I said something before about removing you from existence?" Discord threating asked the ghost.

"Wait, you weren't kidding about that?" the ghost asked.

"Not in the slightest," he hissed. "You threatened to take Fluttershy away from me by means of possession. And nothing, living or otherwise, is going to get away with that." Flexing his free claw, Discord tore a rift leading back into his dimension before turning around to the mares. "You mind getting her back home for me? I'll be back after I'm finished with this thing."

Not waiting for an answer, Discord and the ghost went through the rift and into Discord's dimension before he closed the rift behind them. With the two of them alone together, Discord let go of the ghost and dispelled the Shadow Claw that Nocturne granted him. Seeing this as a chance to flee, the ghost tried to fly away, but didn't get very far as he quickly found himself chained down to an invisible floor.

"What's the rush?" Discord asked with a small smile.

"I'm getting out of here and getting back to that other world, that's what," the ghost answered him.

Discord shook his head with a tsk. "That's not going to happen. You see, you're in my realm now, ghost."

"So what? You can't do anything to me anyways."

"Normally you'd be right, but I still have some of Nocturne's magic flowing through me. So, for the time being, I can."

Discord's smile turned to a malicious grin as he slowly neared the chained-up ghost.

"If you have that sort of power, then why are we here?" the ghost asked with a hint of nervousness in its voice.

Snapping his paw, Discord conjured several dozen bipedal, stringless puppets, each one looking old and worn while holding a pair of rusty knives. While they looked just like normal puppets with the way they were bent over and how their heads and arms were hanging limp, with another snap of Discord's paw, the puppets each twitched. One by one, they each jerked as they stood up straight, their doll-like eyes all staring at the ghost. With a jerk of their leg, they each took a step towards it, raising their rusted knives as they got closer.

"You see, ghost," Discord began, "the reason why we're here away from everypony else is because I didn't want them to see what was about to happen to you next. Luna knows of the nightmares that those poor mares would have if they saw this."

"But they're just puppets. Just a bunch of marionettes with rusty knives. They can't do anything to me."

"Oh, but that's where you're wrong. Since I created them, that means that those knives are all imbued with Nocturne's magic, so it will very much hurt," he told it before his expression turn sadistically dark. "But don't you worry about it, I'll make sure that they make your second death slow and painful. Just. For. You."

Everyone was gathered in Fluttershy's living room. While Twilight went to get Dark from Sweet Apple Acres, Rainbow helped tuck the reverted Fluttershy back into her bed while the rest of them helped clean up the still-sleeping vampire fruit bats that were scattered all around the house. And while it normally would've taken an hour or so to clear them away, with everyone pitching in, they'd managed to take care if them after only half that time. Once they were finished and made themselves comfortable, they began to wonder what was keeping Discord. Their curiosity was soon sated when he appeared in the middle of the living room.

"What too ya so long?" Rainbow impatiently asked.

"Sorry, just had to make sure that that ghost would never be coming back," Discord told them before turning his attention up towards the upstairs. "How's Fluttershy doing?"

"She's returned to normal, but she's very tired and is asleep up in her bed," Twilight answered him as she began healing and wrapping his injured arm.

Sighing in relief that Fluttershy's fine now, he turned to his friends. "Thank you all for your help tonight," he thanked, getting a round of "your welcomes" from them. "Also, Dark, sorry about dropping your sword like that."

"It's no problem. I went back and picked it back up," he dismissed. "Although, while I'm not bothered by it, Nocturne seemed rather pissed that you just dropped him like that. Heh. The guy wouldn't shut up about it until I absorbed Death Reaver back into me."

"Well then, I suppose I better apologize to him one of these days," he said before letting out a loud yaw. "But until then, I think that I'm going to bed."

"That sounds like a rather pleasant idea," Rarity agreed before giving a small yawn of her own. "But first, I need to go over to Applejack's place to get Sweetie Belle."

"Actually, why don't ya leave her there?" Applejack offered. "Ah'm sure that they'll be happy ta sleep over for tonight."

"That would be nice."

"Just so you should know, Spike is sleeping there too," Twilight spoke up.

"Aww, shucks. Don't ya worry none about him. After what's happened tonight, he's welcome ta sleep over too. Ah just hope he doesn't mind sleepin' over in a house with a bunch of fillies."

"Didn't look like he minded," Dark said under his breath.

His words didn't go unheard however as Twilight nudged him in the ribs with an elbow. Rubbing the sore spot, Dark looked over beside him to see Twilight acting like nothing had happened.

"By the way, Princess Luna," Twilight began, "if you want, you can stay at the castle for tonight."

"Sorry, Twilight," Luna replied, "but I have work to do tonight. So no, I won't be staying over, but I do thank you for the offer."

"Alright. Just remember that you're welcome to stay anytime you want."

"I'll keep that in mind."

With the night finally winding down, Twilight offered to teleport Applejack back to her farm while Luna offered to take Pinkie and Rarity back to their respective homes. With the two guys left alone, Dark gave Discord a quick farewell before Shadowporting himself back to the castle.

Now alone in Fluttershy's living room, Discord stretched himself out before locking the doors and windows, and turning off the lights. With the cottage hunkered down for the remaining of the night, he then teleported himself up into Fluttershy's bedroom. Seeing that she had indeed returned to normal and was asleep, he slid himself under the covers before wrapping himself around her. Settling himself down, he felt Fluttershy starting to stir. Looking down, he saw that she turned herself around in her sleep, burying her muzzle into his coat with a small smile on her face. With her snuggled up against his chest, Discord wrapped his arms around her, holding her close while slowly drifting off to sleep. But, before he did, he leaned his head down and lightly placed a kiss on Fluttershy's head.

"Sweet dreams, my dear Fluttershy."

At the Apple farm, Granny Smith and Big Mac had already made their way home and to bed by the time Twilight teleported Applejack and herself there. With a few quick words of gratitude, Applejack waved to Twilight as she teleported herself back home, leaving Applejack by herself.

Remembering that Spike was sleeping over tonight, she walked over to the couch to see that it was empty. Wondering where in the hay that little dragon was, Applejack's mind began to wonder. She didn't dwell on it too long, though, and just figured that he was rooming with Big Mac for tonight.

Walking over and up the stairs, she walked past her sister's bedroom and heard several sets of snoring coming through the crack of the open door. Peeking her head in, she saw the heads of the three fillies sticking up from under the covers, each of them asleep. Smiling to them, she closed the door to head to bed herself, completely unaware that hidden somewhere within that pile of fur, that Spike too was asleep with them.

Over in Twilight's castle, Dark removed his eyeband and the spells on his eyes, and was now in the shower scrubbing away the coat and mane dye from his costume... and some of the bat ashes that got on his coat after incinerating them. While the ashes and mane dye washed out quick enough, the coat dye required a bit more effort on his part, but the worst part was trying to get his back and neck, seeing as he couldn't see those areas in the shower.

"Stupid coat dye," Dark grumbled. "This is the last time that I go out in a Nightmare Night costume that involves dye of any kind."

After twenty minutes of him failing to scrub the dye out of his coat had passed, a knock echoed off of the door.

"Hello?" Twilight called through it. "Dark, are you alright in there?"

"I'm fine," he called back with a grunt. "Just having a hard time getting this dye off is all."

"You need some help?"

Dark blinked a few times to process that before his magic sputtered out on him and dropping the brush. While he did need help, he wasn't sure if he wanted Twilight to actually help him. Granted that they were together, but he'd never shared a shower before. At least, not since he was a foal and had to share bubble baths with his sister. As he became lost in his thoughts about it, he was unaware that Twilight had made the decision for him. Standing right behind him, Twilight took the brush in her magic and tapped Dark on the shoulder, causing him to spin around in surprise.

"T-Twilight?!" he stammered.

"What?" she innocently asked. "You need a hoof with getting that dye out, right?"

"Well, yeah, but I didn't think that you would come in on your own like that."

"Do you want me to leave?"

"... well, you're already here, so might as well now. That is, if you want to."

"Well, I wouldn't be here if I didn't now would I? Now turn around and sit down while I work on your back. Also, I think that you've had enough fun with those horns, so I'll be returning them back to normal now."

Following her instructions, Dark sat down. As he faced away from the shower nozzle so that the water would pour down his back, Twilight reversed the spell she casted on his horns, causing the two curved horns to revert back into one unicorn horn. With him settled down, she walked into the shower with him, applied some soap to the brush, and began scrubbing the center of his back. As she began her work though, she noticed that his back muscles began to tense up.

"Easy there," she cooed. "Just try and relax, alright?"

Turning his head to look back at her, Dark gave Twilight an understanding nod. While this experience was new and somewhat strange to him, he soon began to relax himself. As he continued to think about it, he dipped his head down slightly to hide any chances of her seeing him blushing over the fact that they were both in the shower together now. Wanting to not make it awkward for himself, he began to strike up a conversation with her.

"So, are all of your Nightmare Nights like this?" he asked.

"More or less," she answered. "While our Nightmare Nights are eventful to say the least, they've never quite gotten this exciting before."

"So this is a first then?"

"Yep. By the way, how was your first Nightmare Night here? Well, minus the whole incident with Flutterbat and the vampire fruit bats."

"It was actually enjoyable for me," he happily said. "Although, I think that next time I'll pick a costume that doesn't require so much dye. By the way, thank you again for your part in helping me with my costume."

"You're welcome," she replied, scrubbing off the last of the dye. "Alright, done with that."

"Thanks Twi-"

"Now, onto the next part."

"Wait, what?"

"Now hold still. I don't want to get any of this into your eyes."

While initially confused, Dark quickly understood what she meant when he felt Twilight's hooves running through his mane with what he felt was like shampoo.

"My mane now?" he questioned.

"Well, you haven't actually showered yourself yet, have you?" she returned.

"How'd you know that?"

"Because I couldn't smell any soap or shampoo on you when I came in."

"... well, you wouldn't be wrong."

"Good, because you're doing me next," Twilight told him, causing Dark to snort with laughter while she playfully roll her eyes in return. "Yes, I know what that sounded like, but I'm serious. After all, you scratch my back, I scratch yours. Or in this case, scrubbing."

"Hehe, fair enough I suppose."

"Alright, all done," she announced. "Now, it's your turn to wash me."

Getting up, Dark moved around behind Twilight while she sat down in front of him. Once they were both seated, Dark reached for the soap and brush and began to work on cleaning Twilight. While scrubbing her back down, he made sure to be gentle with the brush and us light strokes so he wouldn't be too rough on her. When he was done with her back, Twilight took the brush from him and began working on her front while Dark got to work on shampooing her mane. As he continued to focus on cleaning her, he failed to notice Twilight's face completely flushed.

"So, um, Dark?" she nervously said.

"Yeah?"

"I was thinking about something..."

"Oh boy," he playfully chuckled while rinsing out her mane.

"It's about us."

Hearing what the topic was about, Dark put all playfulness aside and began to take her words seriously.

"Should I be worried?" he slowly asked, causing Twilight to turn completely around until she was facing him.

"No, it's nothing to worry about," she said, allowing Dark to sigh in relief. "It's just that... well... I'm not sure how to say it exactly."

"It's alright, you know that you talk to me about anything that's bothering you. Especially if it involves our relationship together."

"I know, but it still makes me nervous just to talk about it."

"Sometimes when I'm nervous about talking about something, the best thing that I find that works is just saying it as it is. Besides, it can't be that bad."

Twilight sighed before taking in a deep breath. "I was thinking about... maybe... taking our relationship up a little bit?"

Dark's mind shut down for a brief moment. After blinking his eyes a few times, his brain managed to reboot itself to the point where he could talk again.

"Well... didn't see that coming."

"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have said anything."

"No, it's alright. It's not that it's bad or anything, I just didn't expect that is all."

"So, you're not mad or upset then?" she asked hopefully.

"Of course I'm not mad. But are you sure that this is what you really want?"

Twilight nodded. "I've actually been thinking about it for a little while now, and I may have asked Cadence for some advice on it a few days ago over the crystal she gave me."

"Alright, but isn't it a little early in our relationship for us to be doing... that?"

"Actually, most ponies start being... intimate... after the first week or so."

"... so you're saying that we're actually lagging behind?"

"In a way, yes. But it's alright though, because I wanted to take this slower than what most ponies do anyway."

"Now that I think about it, that would explain why little brother would be making those noises when he'd bring a new fillyfriend home. But as for the part of us taking it slow, I actually agree with you there. However, are you sure that you want to-"

Dark's question was silenced as he found that his lips were occupied by Twilight as she kissed him and wrapping her forelegs around the back of his neck. Even more surprising was that the force behind it was almost enough to knock him down on his back. That was, until Twilight pressed a little harder and actually caused him to fall over backwards. Landing with a muffled "Oomph", Dark looked up to see that Twilight was laying on top of him while still making out with him.

Deciding to just go with it, Dark wrapped his arms around Twilight and pressed back with a kiss of his own. While it started out simple and sweet enough, she surprised him even more when Twilight started kissing him more passionately. It wasn't often that Twilight would be so forward like this, but it wasn't by any means unwelcomed by Dark. After losing track of how much time had been lost from them making out, Twilight pulled herself away, allowing them to catch some much needed air.

"Wow, Twilight," Dark panted, "I don't think that I've seen you so wound up before."

Twilight didn't say anything and instead looked down upon him with a half-lidded look before nibbling on his left ear. Feeling this new sensation, Dark squeaked while his eyes fully widened and his entire body shuddered before going rigid. Pulling back away from her playful nibbling, Twilight giggled from seeing his reaction.

"Looks like somepony enjoyed that," she said with a coy smile.

Dark gave her a small nod. "That was... different."

"Different bad or different good?"

"I'd have to say good... very good."

"Then I'll just have to keep it in mind. In the meantime, I believe that you said at Applejack's place that you were going to show me how much you love me, right?"

"Heh, that I did, even though I didn't get to finish saying it."

"Well then, now you can."

"Alright, but just so that we're clear and I don't accidentally overstep my boundaries, just how far were you wanting to go?"

Although the blush on Twilight's face increased out of embarrassment from being asked, she also found it to be rather thoughtful of him that he would ask her first instead of just jumping straight to it.

"Well... I wasn't thinking about going all they way. At least, not yet anyway."

"In that case, why don't you tell me how far you want to go, and I'll follow your lead."

"Alright then. But before we start, I have something that I want to ask you."

"Yes?"

Twilight pulled herself closer against Dark until the tips of their muzzles were touching.

"How good are you with your tongue?"

Chapter 35- Pleasant Morning, Displaced Night

Daybreak rose over the horizon, casting the sun's light over the sleeping town of Ponyville. Over on the outskirts at Fluttershy's cottage, Discord slept with the pegasus still wrapped in his arms. After the events of last night, he'd been reluctant to get up and leave her, even after he'd woken up from a few nightmares of him losing Fluttershy instead of saving her. So, it was no surprise that he remained asleep when the sunlight shown through the window and into his face. But, while he continued sleeping through the light, Fluttershy wasn't having such luck.

Stirring, she tried to bury her face deeper into Discord's coat as a means to hide from the sunlight and fall back asleep. That is, until the memories of what happened last night caught up to her. Snapping her eyes wide open, she quickly sat-up in her bed before looking herself over. After a few moments of seeing that she'd returned to normal, she brought a hoof to her mouth and felt around her teeth. And, much like she'd expected, she found that she still had her fangs, albeit smaller than what they were when she was Flutterbat.

The thought of her fangs though caused her to remember how she bit Discord when she was possessed. Turning her attention to the sleeping draconequus by her side, she looked at his arm to see that somepony had already wrapped it up. Laying back down, she took his injured claw in her hooves and started to gently stroke it. As she continued to hold and caress his claw, she began to start tearing-up at the thought that this was all her fault. That if she'd just told Discord about her other side instead of hiding it like she did, then the events of last night could've been prevented.

"I'm so sorry," Fluttershy whispered. "This happened all because of me. It's my fault that you're hurt like this."

While Discord was tired, hearing Fluttershy's voice, though as soft as it was, was enough for him to slowly start to awaken. Opening his eyes and letting them readjust to the light in the room, Discord saw Fluttershy awake as she held his claw with wet eyes. Seeing how sad she was and noticing that one of her tears had escaped her, he brought up his paw and wiped the tear away. The act had caught her attention, causing her head to snap up and meet his concerned gaze.

"Fluttershy, what's wrong?" Discord gently asked, causing her to immediately bury her face back into his chest.

"I'm sorry-y-yyy!" she sobbed.

"Sorry? What for?"

"F-For what I did to y-you."

"What, this?" he asked, gesturing to his injured arm. "This isn't anything to worry about. Besides, Twilight already healed most of it last night. The bandage cloth is just an extra precaution."

"B-But, couldn't you just heal it on your own?"

"I couldn't. The ghost that had possessed you had magic that interfered with my own. After it bit me, I couldn't use my chaos magic to heal it."

"You mean when I bit you," Fluttershy solemnly corrected.

"No," Discord firmly said. "That wasn't you who did this, it was that ghost. You weren't in control at the time."

"But it was still me that hurt you. It was still me that... drank your blood."

"Again, that was the ghost's actions, not yours." Discord took a moment to breath and cool himself off. "Tell me, Fluttershy, would you have done anything like that on your own?"

Fluttershy looked up at him in surprise. "Of course I wouldn't! I would never intentionally hurt somepony like that, especially you."

"Then there you go. It wasn't your doing and you would never want to do it, so please don't berate yourself over it."

Fluttershy sighed. "But I'm still responsible for last night."

"How so?"

"Because... if I had told you about this, then you might've been able to do something to stop it before things got out of hoof."

Discord nodded. "Yes, your right about that. If I had known, then I would've been able to take care of it."

"It doesn't matter anymore though."

"Hmm?"

"Everypony knows about my... my other half now. I can't keep it a secret any longer."

"Fluttershy, are you worried about what they'll think of you now that they know?"

"... yes."

Discord shook his head for a moment before holding her closer against him. "I don't think that they'll worry too much about it."

Fluttershy looked up to him. "How can you be so sure?"

"Last night when they saw you, and even after they got you back home safely, the only thing that they were worried about was the ghost possessing you, not the fact that you had changed like that. And knowing your friends, they'll be open to accepting this side of yours that we've discovered."

"Even you? I mean, aren't you at least a little bit worried about me possibly... well... turning and biting you again?"

Discord gently placed his claw on her cheek. "Change."

"What?"

"I want you to change into Flutterbat for me."

Fluttershy's eyes widened at his request. "But why?"

"I want to see it for myself that you can change and still be in control of yourself."

"But... what if I-"

"You won't. Trust me, Fluttershy."

Though a bit nervous about his request, Fluttershy closed her eyes, and in a brief shining light, she transformed herself back into Flutterbat. Once she felt the change was complete, she opened her blood-red eyes and looked back to see Discord smiling down at her.

"You see? Besides a few mild physical changes, you're still the same Fluttershy that I fell in love with."

"But what about my fangs and red eyes?" she questioned, causing Discord to start laughing.

"Hahaha! Have you even looked at me? I too have red eyes and a fang, so it's no big deal to me."

"But what about if I bite you? You said before that you couldn't heal it last time."

"That's because the ghost's magic was flowing through you before. Now that magic is gone, so I can heal myself if you did bite me." He paused briefly and gave her a sly smirk. "Whether it be out of hunger, or out of playfulness."

"So... you don't mind me being like this?" she meekly asked.

"The way I see it, it's just another part of you that I find to be beautiful, my sweet Fluttershy."

Hearing his answer caused her to giggle happily by him not being upset with her. A few moments later, that giggling turned into relieving laughter which Discord joined in on. After a good minute of relieving their tension through laughing, they calmed themselves down enough to begin speaking again.

"So, feeling better?" Discord asked.

"Yes, much better," Fluttershy happily answered as she reverted to her pegasus form.

"Good. Although, I have to ask; Is there anything else that I should know about?"

Bringing a hoof up to her chin, Fluttershy took a moment to ponder if there was in fact something that she'd either forgot to tell him about herself, or that she's been hiding. Coming up with nothing, she gave him a shrug.

"I'm sorry, but I can't think of anything right now that you don't already know of."

"Oh, okay."

"But if I do, I'll be sure to tell you... if you want that is."

"I would."

"Alright," she smiled. "So, is there anything about you that I should know about?"

"Nope."

Fluttershy blinked. "You didn't even hesitate to answer that."

"That's because besides you knowing of my taking over Equestria and the thing with Tirek, I honestly have no demons to hide."

"What about the one in the basement of your house in your dimension?"

"That one doesn't count."

"If you say so," she giggled.

They were about to settle themselves back down to get some more rest to compensate for the previous night when a loud grumbling came from Fluttershy's stomach. Embarrassed by her stomach's antics, Fluttershy dipped her face behind her mane while Discord chuckled at her.

"Sounds like somepony's hungry," he said, getting a small squeak from her. "So, what would you like for breakfast today?"

Fluttershy peeked an eye out from behind her mane. "Umm, would pancakes and some eggs be alright?"

"Of course my dear."

"Also... could I maybe have a few apples too?"

Discord froze in place before he had a chance to move. "I'm sorry, I thought that you said that you wanted some apples."

"I did."

"But I thought that you didn't want to eat any?"

"That's because I wanted to avoid showing that other side of me. But since you and our friends know now, there isn't much point in restraining myself from eating them again."

"Huh. I suppose so."

"So... is it alright then?"

"Of course," he said before making his way out of the bed out towards the door. "You just wait right there and I'll go cook it and bring it to you."

"Aren't you going to use you chaos magic to just conjure up the food?" Fluttershy questioned.

"I thought about it, but I figured that you'd appreciate it more if I made your breakfast-in-bed by paw and claw. You know, make them the old-fashioned way."

"Alright," she said before a thought came to mind. "Oh, wait."

"Yes?"

"About what that ghost said about calling me Flutterbat."

"Yes? What about it?"

"Well... you don't have to call me that... if you don't want to that is."

Discord smiled back to her. "My dear, it doesn't matter to me what I call you. Either way, you're still Fluttershy to me."

Satisfied with how this had turned out, Fluttershy watched as Discord left to make her breakfast. As she sat in her bed waiting, she looked out the window, curious as to how her friends were doing after the events of last night.

Over in her castle, Twilight laid blissfully asleep in her bed with Dark sleeping up against her back, his arm and wing draped over her and hugging her close to him. While their activities from last night were new to the both of them, they easily agreed that it was an experience both worth remembering and repeating... several more times that night. And while Twilight tried to catch some much-needed rest, she found herself robbed of it when Celestia's sun shown through her window and into her eyes. With a dissatisfied groan, Twilight rolled herself over from her right side to her left and buried her face in Dark's coat. And just for good measure, she used her magic to pull the blankets up over her head. With the light no longer shining in her face to keep her awake, Twilight let herself go to try and sleep again... if only it actually worked.

Despite the lack of sleep and exhaustion from the previous night, the sun's light did its job in waking Twilight up. After a few minutes of being unable to go back to sleep, Twilight let out a huff before looking up at Dark's face to see a soft smile plastered across it. While she didn't want to get up and accidentally disturb him, she knew that he would wake up anyway if she were to leave. So, Twilight thought of a way to wake him, one that would be subtle enough for him, but amusing for her. Having an idea in mind, Twilight smirked before leaning up and nibbling on his left ear again, causing Dark to flinch and moan. Noticing that her actions had the desired affect, she pulled he head back away from Dark and watched as he started opening his eyes.

"Good morning," Twilight greeted him with a peck on the lips.

"Gooh morninh," Dark tiredly returned.

Twilight cocked an eye at him. "Are you alright?"

"Ah can'h feel mah tongh."

"Oh, sorry about that," she embarrassingly said. "Here, let me fix that."

Lighting her horn, Twilight casted a healing spell on Dark's tongue. After a few seconds of channeling the spell, Twilight stopped and let Dark test it out by rolling his tongue around.

"Feel better?" she asked.

"Much," he said. "Dang, I can't believe that could actually happen to it."

"Well, nopony said that you had to do it for that long."

"True, but I didn't hear you complaining about it last night," Dark shot back with a smirk. "And besides, if I remember correctly, you were crying out, and I quote-"

Twilight interrupted Dark by covering his mouth with her hoof. "I can remember just fine what was said last night thank you very much. And speaking of what was said, I'm really glad that Spike wasn't around to hear all of that."

"If he was here, you could've just casted a soundproofing spell of some kind, right?"

"Yes, I could've. And as tempting as that sounds for future... interactions, I'd rather not. If we did, then we'd have a hard time stopping ourselves."

"Yeah, I suppose you're right. Oh well, that just means that we'll have to be either more cautious, or just quieter then."

"I guess so," she giggled.

Smiling at her, Dark leaned down and softly kissed Twilight on her lips, which she eagerly returned. It wasn't anything special like last night, just a simple kiss that told them how much they both loved each other. As the two continued showing their affection to one another, the sound of their kissing was accompanied by a low grumble. Parting their lips, they both looked down towards Twilight's noisy stomach.

"I take it that you're hungry then?" Dark asked.

"Now what gave you that impression?" Twilight teasingly asked with a bop on his muzzle.

Giving a chuckle, Dark gave her a nuzzle before he started to pull away. Before he completely left the comfort of Twilight's grasp, he looked back to her, remembering a slight problem from last night.

"So, are your legs feeling any better?" he asked. "Because if I remember correctly, by the time we had enough, you were so exhausted that your legs were like wet noodles and I had to carry you to bed."

Shifting her hooves beneath her, Twilight began to unsteadily stand up. Once she did, she looked at Dark with triumph on her face... until her legs gave out and she face-planted into the pillows, causing Dark to lightly laugh at her.

"Heheheh. Guess that means that I'll be bringing your breakfast to you in bed."

"You're going to bring me breakfast-in-bed?" she asked in surprise.

"Yep."

"Well then, if it means getting this kind of treatment, perhaps we should do that more often."

"If you ever wanted breakfast-in-bed, all you had to do was ask and I would've done it for you."

"I know you would, and that's one of the things that I love about you."

Dark smiled and made his way out of the bed. "So then, what'll it be?"

"How about chocolate chip pancakes with whipped cream and a strawberry on top."

"... is this a pancake or a sundae?" he joked. "Alright, I'll be back as soon as it's done."

Shadowporting, Dark went to go make Twilight her breakfast while she got herself situated back in her bed. Taking a quick catnap, Twilight tried to gain some lost sleep before Dark returned. Thankfully for her, her exhaustion caught up with her and she was out quickly, allowing her a good half-hour of sleep before Dark returned with her food. Waking up and sitting up in her bed, Dark brought the food tray over to the bed and sat it down on her lap for her. Sitting himself down alongside her, Dark watched as Twilight began eating her breakfast. After her third bite, she looked over to him confusingly.

"Aren't you going to eat too?" she asked.

"Nah, I'm good," he said. "You go on ahead. I'll eat later."

"You sure?"

"Yes, I'm sure," he chuckled.

Seeing that he was, Twilight continued to eat her pancakes in peace while eliciting an occasional moan from how good the chocolate chip pancakes with whipped cream were. A few minutes later, Twilight had downed the stack of five pancakes, leaving only the strawberry left. Before she could eat it, Dark reached down and took it in his mouth. But instead of simply eating it, he gently held it between his lips and grinned at Twilight. Giving him a playful scowl, she leaned over to him and kissed Dark full on the mouth. When she pulled away though, it was Twilight who had the strawberry. But, unlike Dark who just taunted her with it, she quickly ate it before blowing a raspberry at him. Chuckling at her behavior, Dark moved the tray off to the side and laid himself back down alongside Twilight for some cuddle time.

"So, Dark," Twilight spoke up, "do you have any plans for today?"

"There is one thing actually," he answered her, "and I was hoping to get your opinion on it."

"What is it?"

"Well, with winter just around the corner, and with the orchard being baron during that time of year, I'll be more-or-less out of a job until the spring harvest comes around. So, I was thinking about using the bits that I'd earned from working the forge in Stonewall to buy a small plot of land and have my own forge built here in Ponyville. One where I would be self-employed and make my own hours. Sorta like what Rarity has going on with her boutique."

"Then you should do it."

Dark blinked a few times. "Just like that?"

"Well, yeah. I mean, you did enjoy working as a blacksmith before, right?"

"Yeah. I'll admit that it was peaceful, probably will be even more so now that I won't have to worry about accidentally burning myself."

"Then you should do it. And besides, I'm sure that ponies around town could use a good blacksmith to help with repairs and stuff."

"You mean like repairing the bent axle on Applejack's wagon?"

"That's one example. I'm willing to bet that other ponies will be needing some new tools like hammers, nails, wood-cutting axes, and so on."

"So you really think that I should do it."

"Of course," she said with a smile. "Not only do you get to enjoy what you're good at, but it's also something the town could use."

"And I suppose the guards could come to me for armor and weapon maintenance."

"That too I suppose. So, when were you planning on starting this?"

"I was going to head over and speak to the mayor about it a little after lunchtime."

"And what are you going to do until then?"

Dark smiled at her and held her closer. "Until then, my plan is to just stay like this with you. That is, if you're alright with that."

"I was actually hoping you would say that," Twilight said, nuzzling his neck. "I just thought of something. How do you think Spike is doing?"

"Considering how we left him, I'd say that he's going to be pretty surprised when he wakes up."

Over at Sweet Apple Acres, Applejack and Big Mac were down in the kitchen helping Granny Smith with making breakfast. Once she woke up, Applejack asked her brother if he'd seen Spike, to which he denied. Not quite believing it, she went up to his room and saw that Spike wasn't there like he said. After giving him an explanation of why she questioned it, he decided to let it go, understanding why she would think that. Figuring that Spike just made his way back home last night, she pushed the thought away.

However, up in Apple Bloom's bedroom, Spike was just starting to wake up. While his senses were returning to him, he could feel an all too familiar warmth. Paying extra attention with his ears, Spike could hear Sweetie Belle's slight snoring coming from on top of him.

Heh, guess that weird dream I had last night about the Crusaders falling asleep wasn't quite a dream after all, Spike thought. Or, at least Sweetie anyway.

Smiling at having his fillyfriend there with him when he woke up, he was about to move his arms up and hold her closer to him, but found that each of his arms felt extra heavy this morning. Opening his eyes just a crack to see what was going on, he saw that Sweetie Belle was indeed sleeping on top of him with her forelegs wrapped around his neck and her head tucked beneath his chin. Even though he found this to be a cute sight for him, this wasn't what he was looking for. Turning his gaze to his left, he was surprised to see Scootaloo sleeping with her head on his shoulder and her forelegs wrapping his left arm, but was even more so when he turned to his right and saw that Apple Bloom was doing practically the same thing to him on his right side.

Oh man! Oh man! Oh man! Spike mentally panicked. So it wasn't a dream after all! Wait a second, how did we even get up here in Apple Bloom's room? The last thing I remember was us falling asleep under Dark's- Spike's panicked eyes narrowed and were replaced by irritation. Dark. Oh, he's so gonna pay for this when I get back.

The more Spike thought about how Dark had supposedly put them to bed like this, the more tense his muscles became. As they did, Sweetie Belle began feeling his muscles move beneath her, causing her to stir from her slumber. Lifting her head and wiping her tired eyes with a hoof, she looked down at the little dragon that she'd fallen asleep on with a giggle.

"Good morning, Spike," she greeted him before giving him a small peck on the lips. "Did you sleep well?"

Spike was hesitant to answer as his eyes darted to the sleeping fillies on each of his arms. Noticing his worried gaze, Sweetie Belle shook her head and smiled.

"It's alright, you don't need to worry about it."

"B-But why?"

Sweetie Belle began nervously shuffle her front hooves together. "Well... I think it would be better to explain it when they wake up too."

"What're y'all talkin' about?" Apple Bloom tiredly asked. "If it's nothin', could you two head on back ta sleep? It's too early ta be up on a non-school day."

"I was about to tell Spike what we talked about while he was gone on his trip to Canterlot," Sweetie Belle explained, causing Apple Bloom's eyes to snap awake while a blush formed on her cheeks.

"You're gonna tell him?"

"Well, not until Scootaloo wakes up. She should be awake for this as well."

"Awake for what?" Scootaloo grumbled while wiping an eye with a hoof.

"Sweetie Belle's gonna tell Spike," Apple Bloom answered her.

"Tell him what?"

"Ya know, what we talked about durrin' his trip ta Canterlot?"

"... oh... right."

"Would somepony please explain to me what you're all talking about?" Spike unsurely asked. "And why are you all cuddled up with me? I mean, I know why Sweetie would, but why would you two as well?"

"You see, Spike," Sweetie Belle began to explain, "while you were in Canterlot with our sisters and their friends, we sorta... talked."

"About what?"

"We talked about you, Spike," Scootaloo spoke up with a "no-duh" tone.

"And how we all feel about ya," Apple Bloom added. "Ya know, about how we all like ya?"

"Well I would hope that you would like me. We're friends, right?" Spike said.

Scootaloo gave an irritated huff as she looked over to her Crusader friends. "Tell me again what we see in him exactly?"

"Well," Apple Boom began, "he's hard workin'."

"He's sweet and kind," Sweetie Belle added.

"Strong."

"Brave."

"Always there ta help anypony who needs it."

"Warm and snuggly."

"You forgot that he has a good sense of humor too."

"Oh, yeah."

"And he also-"

"Okay, okay, I get it," Scootaloo interrupted. "But you girls also forgot to mention how awesome of a guy he is."

"Not ta mention that he's also around our age."

"Umm, girls?" Spike spoke, blushing from all of the compliments they were giving him. "While this is flattering and all, Sweetie and I are together."

"That's what we were talking about, Spike," Sweetie Belle told him. "While you were gone, Apple Bloom, Scootaloo and I were in the clubhouse talking about us. And after they both admitted to me how they feel about you-"

"Wait, what?!"

"It's true," Scootaloo said surprisingly. "Now don't tell anypony this, especially Rainbow Dash, but I... wasn't having a very good day. I was sitting in the clubhouse thinking about how you and Sweetie Belle looked so happy together, and I just..."

She didn't finish her sentence and instead buried her face against Spike's side to hide the sight of her tears starting to form. Seeing that this was going to be hard for her, Apple Bloom took over.

"What Scoots is tryin' ta say is that she has feelin's for ya, Spike... just like me."

Spike's heart skipped a beat and his pupils shrunk to pinpricks at the sound of this confession. "W-W-What?"

"Ah'll admit it, Spike. We all have feelin's for ya, but we thought that only one of us could be your fillyfriend."

"And that's when I came in," Sweetie Belle spoke as she took over for Apple Bloom "When I came to the clubhouse to meet up with the others, I saw them sitting in the middle of the room hugging each other and crying. When I asked them what was wrong, they were rather hesitant to tell me."

"But they did," Spike figured, seeing a confirming nod from Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom while feeling one from Scootaloo as her face was still buried against his side.

"We didn't tell her before because we thought that she would be upset with us," Scootaloo explained with her muffled voice.

"That, and you two looked so happy together that we thought that if we did, that y'all wouldn't be friends with us no more," Apple Bloom added, her face turning to a mixture of embarrassment and sadness.

"After they opened up to me and told me their feelings," Sweetie Belle continued, "and after some more talking about you and some other things, we've decided that we'll all be your fillyfriends."

"But... how?" Spike nervously questioned.

"It's something that Rarity told me about. It's something called a 'herd'."

"You mean like a herd of cattle?" Apple Bloom wondered.

"In a way, but with ponies instead."

"Or a dragon in this case," Scootaloo said, looking up from hiding her face.

"Wait a minute," Spike spoke up, halting them while his mind tried to process this. "Are you actually okay with this, Sweetie?"

"Well, I was the one to suggest it, so of course I'm okay with it," she answered him. "Besides, we've spent the rest of your time away talking about it and going over it to make sure that everypony was onboard with it. All we need now are your thoughts on this. After all, this is a group decision, which includes you too."

"But if you don't want ta, we'll understand," Apple Bloom said with a hint of sadness in her voice.

"Yeah," Scootaloo solemnly agreed. "We won't hold it against you if you say 'no'. All that we ask, though, is that we still remain friends if you don't want to be more."

Taking a few deep breaths, Spike closed his eyes and began to focus on putting together the jumbled mess that was his mind. Once he finally got himself to relax enough to think straight, he began to think of each possible outcome for this situation, both good and bad.

Oh, great. Now I'm starting to think like Twilight, he mentally sighed. Well, I suppose that's what I get for living with her since she hatched me. Now, back to my current problem. How should I go about this?

As the three fillies waited for an answer, they each looked from one to the other. Once five minutes had passed without Spike saying anything, they began to get worried about what answer his silence had meant. But, right before they were going to ask him what his answer was, he opened his eyes. And while the look in his eyes told them that he had an answer, there was also a hint of unease behind them as well.

"I think I've decided," Spike said, causing the three fillies to lean in closer to him.

"Well?" Apple Bloom questioned.

"Spill it out already!" Scootaloo urged.

"Alright, here it goes." Spike paused and inhaled deeply before shouting, "I'LL DO IT!"

The three fillies each backed away from him, not from the volume of his voice, but by the answer he gave them. Slowly and tentatively, Apple Bloom inched closer.

"A-Are ya sure?" she nervously asked.

Breathing in through his nose, Spike gave her a confirming nod. "I've made up my mind. Besides, if it really was Sweetie's idea and she's alright with it, then it can't hurt to at least give it a try, right?"

Overjoyed with his answer, the three fillies each cheered for their newfound relationship.

"CUTIE MARK CRUSADER FILLYFRIENDS, YAY!!!"

While Spike would usually find their cheers to be somewhat annoying, he couldn't help but chuckle at their happiness. But while he was happy that the were all happy, his joy was quickly turned to panic when his three fillyfriends pounced him and stated peppering his face with kisses. Unable to do much of anything against the onslaught of affection from them, Spike just laid there and held the three fillies close to him. After some time had passed, he was beginning to wonder if it would ever end. Unfortunately, it ended when they all froze in place at the sound of the floorboards creaking.

Looking up from their coltfriend, the Crusaders each saw Applejack standing in Apple Bloom's doorway gawking at them. None of them moved or said anything for what felt like minutes until Apple Bloom meekly waved a hoof at her.

"Umm.. good monrin', sis," she greeted her elder sibling.

Shaking her head and setting her mind back straight, Applejack looked down at them.

"Just what in tarnation are y'all doin'?! And what's all this shoutin' about 'Cutie Mark Crusader Fillyfriends'?!"

As the three fillies hunkered down against Spike in worry for being busted, they each said the one thing that was on their minds.

"Uh-oh."

Six days have passed since that morning. Right now, the six friends were sitting at a one of the tables in Sugarcube Corner. With the temperatures dropping as winter was just around the corner, they were each wearing something warm on them, namely a scarf or hat. As they sat at the table with a warm cup of hot chocolate, they began to idly chat with one another.

"I'm rather surprised of you, Fluttershy," Rarity said. "I never would've thought that you'd be so open to showing this side of you so soon after Nightmare Night."

Sitting across from Rarity was Fluttershy in her Flutterbat form, happily sipping away at her drink.

"You can thank Discord for that," she said with a smile. "He'd convinced me that no matter what I look like on the outside, that I'll still be me on the inside."

"So, does this mean that you're going to be like that all the time now?" Rainbow asked.

"Oh, no. I'm just out like this so that everypony will know and accept it quicker is all. Once they all get more comfortable with it, I'll start going back as my normal self."

"Well, I'm very proud of you, Fluttershy," Twilight said. "I'm sure that doing this isn't easy for you."

"You're right," she sighed. "It was rather difficult at first with how everypony kept staring at me in fear, but thankfully it didn't last long." Fluttershy paused when she saw Spike in a winter coat walking down the road with a cartful of groceries. "Umm, what's Spike doing outside? I thought that he didn't really like the cold?"

"Oh, he's just picking up some food is all."

"Speaking of Spike, how has he and his three fillyfriends been doing?" Pinkie eagerly asked. "And by the way, I still don't get why you girls didn't want me to throw a party for them."

"Sorry, darling," Rarity apologized. "We're still trying to wrap our minds around the fact that Spike is dating our sisters now is all."

"Ah still can't believe that Ah walked in on them while they were all kissin' him," Applejack said with slowly massaging her temples.

"I say that we should consider ourselves lucky," Rainbow told them.

"How so?" Rarity questioned.

"How about the fact that we all know and trust Spike for starters? And besides, he and Sweetie Belle were doing just fine together, so why can't this work too?"

"But aren't ya just a little worried about Scootaloo?" Applejack asked.

"Not really," Rainbow shrugged. "After all, she's tough, just like her big sister."

"But you're not really her sister."

"I might as well be with how she looks up to me. Besides, I'd be lying if I said that I didn't feel the same for her."

"Rainbow Dash, are you being sappy on us?" Twilight playfully teased.

"Hey, it's only because of Scoots that I'll allow myself to be like this for somepony. Other than that, you'd better not get used to it."

"Don't you worry about it," Rarity said. "As an older sibling, I completely understand what you mean and none of us will tease you about it... well, except for Applejack perhaps."

Applejack gave Rainbow a smug grin. "Eeyup."

"Hey, I just had a thought!" Pinkie exclaimed.

"Oh boy," Rainbow muttered.

"If Spike and the Crusaders get married when they get old enough, won't that mean that Rainbow, Applejack, Rarity, and Twilight will all be sisters too?"

The table went silent as they each thought that over. While Fluttershy seemed happy at the thought, the four elder siblings had varying facial expressions. While Applejack and Rainbow seemed only slightly disturbed, Rarity cringed slightly while Twilight on the other hoof just shrugged.

"I don't see what the problem with that would be," she said. "After all, you're my closest friends. And besides, I already love you girls as though you really were my sisters."

"Personally, I'd rather not think about that," Rarity said. "Besides, it's too early in their young lives to even be considering such a thing."

"Speakin' of thinkin' of stuff, has Dark told you girls about the news?" Applejack asked.

"About what, Applejack?"

Twilight's face beamed. "Dark was approved of his forge yesterday!"

"Really?" Rainbow asked.

"Yep. He's already gotten the paperwork done and paid the fee, so now we just need to wait for the forge to be built and for the materials to get there."

"And the best part is that he's gonna give my family a discount on any business we do there," Applejack happily said. "And that doesn't include the free maintenance on our wagons."

"About time!" Pinkie exclaimed with a bounce. "That means that I can finally throw a blacksmith-themed party!"

Fluttershy gave Pinkie a curious look. "You actually have one of those?"

"Silly, Fluttershy," she said patting her on the head, "I have a party for everything. Including for when Dark defeats-" Pinkie slapped a hoof over her mouth to stop herself from spilling the beans, but the can was already tipped over.

"When Dark defeats what?" Twilight asked.

"Nopony! Nopony at all!"

"So it's a somepony and not a something?"

"Not telling!"

"Does this have anything to do with your Pinkie Sense last week?"

"Are you still worried about that?" Rainbow asked with an eye-roll.

"Of course I am," Twilight nervously said. "It's been exactly seven days since her Pinkie Sense went off, and nothing's happened yet. And knowing Dark's track record, it'll probably somehow involve him."

"But besides me, he hasn't had any problems for a while now," Fluttershy observed.

"I know, but I'm still worried."

"We understand your concern, Twilight," Rarity said, placing a reassuring hoof on her shoulder. "But we all know that Dark can handle himself if he were to get in a jam."

Twilight gave her a deadpan look. "Timberwolves."

"That doesn't count," Rainbow argued. "Besides, we all know that he was already exhausted before he fought them, and he didn't exactly have a choice either."

"Shining Armor."

"The guy jumped him and had gear that was specifically designed against him, or rather, his dragon-half."

Twilight's face remained as it was while she continued to stare-down Rainbow, slowly wearing her down before she sighed in knowing defeat.

"... okay, so maybe he might need some help, but I still wouldn't worry too much about him."

"Hey, where is Darky anyway?" Pinkie wondered.

"He's over at the farm," Applejack answered her. "Said that he wanted ta get in some extra work before winter came rollin' around and took over for me today."

"Speaking of winter," Rainbow began, "I almost forgot to tell you girls that the winter clouds will be arriving today at sunset."

"Then I guess we better get ourselves ready for winter," Twilight said. "Fluttershy, will you be needing any help with your animal friends?"

"Thank you, Twilight," Fluttershy thanked, "but they're already taken care of. Didn't you notice how my cottage was empty of them during Nightmare Night?"

"We weren't really paying attention to that at the time."

"Speaking of Fluttershy's place," Rainbow began, "did you get that shipment of holy water, Pinkie?"

"Yeah, I did," she sadly sighed.

"Something wrong, dear?" Rarity concerningly asked.

"Turns out that this shipment was the last."

"Well, that's nothin' ta be sad about, is it?" Applejack questioned.

"It's not that, Applejack. I mean that it's literally the last one I can get because the one who makes it is gone."

"I'm sure that they'll make more when they get back from wherever they went," Fluttershy said.

"No they won't. The one who supplies the holy water is gone, as in they passed away."

"We're sorry to hear that, Pinkie," Twilight said, giving her friend a supportive hug. "Do you know how long ago?"

"From the letter that I got with my shipment, it's been almost six months now."

"Can't somepony else make the holy water?" Rainbow wondered.

"Nope. No one else can make it because she was the only one who could make it... literally. The holy water was synthesized from her tears."

Everypony at the table looked at Pinkie in surprise that somepony would be able to do that.

"What? But how?" Twilight asked bewildered. "What kind of a pony could produce something like that?"

"I never said that it was a pony, Twilight," Pinkie solemnly said. "And please, don't ask me to tell you girls what or who she is. I've already given her my Pinkie Promise that I wouldn't."

"It's okay, we understand, right, girls?"

Each gave an agreeing nod before joining together for a group hug to help Pinkie feel better. A few minutes later and feeling a little bit better, Pinkie broke the group hug and made her way towards the kitchen.

"I'm going to get some doughnuts and some more hot chocolate, does anypony else want some more?" Pinkie asked, her friends.

"I'll pass, darling," Rarity said. "I actually should really be heading back to my boutique. Besides, my break is almost over and I'm sure I'll be busy with ponies coming in to buy winter clothing."

"Ah'll have another," Applejack said.

"Same here," Rainbow agreed.

"I'll have some more hot chocolate please," Fluttershy said.

"I'll pass," Twilight told them.

Pinkie stopped bouncing in mid-bounce and turned to face her. "Really?"

"Uh-huh," she smiled. "I should actually get going back to the castle. I'm planning on making Dark and I some dinner for us tonight."

"Wait... you can cook?" Rainbow questioned.

"I can now. Ever since we got back from Canterlot, Dark has been teaching me how to cook. And since I was able to cook all by myself a few days ago, I thought that I'd do the cooking for us tonight."

"Well, that's very sweet of you," Rarity said approvingly. "So, what did you have in mind?"

"Well, since Spike will be having that sleepover at Applejack's tonight-"

"Which Ah'm still unsure about," Applejack muttered.

"-I was thinking about a candle-lit dinner with some pasta and wine."

"My, that sounds rather romantic."

"Hehe. What, are you hoping to get lucky tonight?" Rainbow jokingly asked as Pinkie returned to the table and began drinking her hot chocolate.

"Well, we might. Then again, I don't want him to wear his tongue out to the point of numbness again," Twilight answered, causing everypony's heads to snap towards her while Pinkie did a spit take.

"Uhh,.. Twilight, you know I was just kidding about that, right?"

"I know, but I wasn't."

Nopony spoke as they were all too busy gawking at what their friend just admitted. Seeing this as a good time, Twilight got up and began heading out.

"Oh, by the way, Applejack," Twilight called back before leaving, "when you see Dark, could you tell him to come straight home when he's done and to not tell him about what I have planned for dinner? I want it to be a surprise."

"Uhh, sure," she slowly answered, waving her friend goodbye.

Happy, Twilight left Sugarcube Corner and made her way back to her castle to prepare for tonight's dinner. After the door to the shop closed, Fluttershy continued drinking her hot chocolate while the others at the table were all blushing and trying to collect their thoughts. Shaking her head to clear her mind, Rainbow was the first of them to speak up.

"So, is it just me, or does anypony else think that we really didn't need to know that?" she asked, getting a raised hoof from Pinkie, Rarity, and Applejack, while Fluttershy just shrugged.

Later that afternoon, just before sunset, Dark was out working at Sweet Apple Acres with Big Mac, doing what they could to get the last of the orchard clear before the snow began to fall. Despite it being almost sunset and wishing that Applejack would've been there to help, they were still glad that she got to go out and spend some girl time with her friends. That, and the two guys were happy to have it just them there with no girls around.

"We should really start hanging out more," Dark suggested.

"Eeyup," Big Mac agreed.

"And maybe even Spike?"

"Eenope."

"... still upset that he's dating Apple Bloom?"

"Eeyup. And Ah'm still unsure about him attendin' the sleepover with the girls tonight."

"You could just make him sleep in your room if you're that unsure about him, though I doubt that it'll be necessary. He is a nice guy after all."

"Ah know," Big Mac sighed. "Ah'm just not used ta the thought of him bein' special someponies with Apple Boom is all."

"That's probably just your big brother instincts kicking in."

"Probably," he said, bucking the last of the apple trees. "And that's the last of them. Now let's get them into the barn and call this season over."

"Too bad. I'm gonna miss working here," Dark said as he began pulling the apple cart back to the barn.

"Ah know that you'll have your own workplace, but will ya gonna come back and help in the spring?"

"If you guys want me to. My hours might change, but I can still work here with you guys. Especially during the cider season, considering how big of an event that is for your family."

"Thank ya kindly, Dark."

Walking in relative silence, the two made their way over to the barn and began unloading the last of the harvest. Once the apples were unloaded, they parked the wagon away and closed the barn doors. Just after they locked it up, they turned around to see Applejack walking into the yard.

"Howdy, boys," she waved to them.

"Hey, Applejack," Dark returned. "How's it going?"

"Pretty good actually. The girls and Ah went ta Sugarcube Corner and just hanged out there." She paused when she remembered what Twilight asked of her, causing her to blush slightly. "Oh, and Twilight asked me ta tell ya ta head on straight home after y'all were done here."

"Alright. Thanks, Applejack," he thanked before looking over to Big Mac. "And as for us hanging out, how about next Sunday night?"

"Sure, Ah can do that," Big Mac answered.

"Sweet. In that case, I'm off to see what Twilight wants. Did she specifically say how fast to be there?"

"Eenope," Applejack said. "She just wanted ya ta come on home after y'all were done here is all... why?"

"Just thought that I'd walk there and enjoy the first snowfall is all."

"Alright then, you two have yourselves a goodnight now," she said, waving him off.

"Thanks, we will," he nodded before trotting towards the path leading through the orchard.

As Dark made his way down the dirt path into Ponyville, he hummed a tune to himself. While he was rather bummed that he wouldn't be working there again until spring, he was happy that the harvest had ended on a good note for them. While he walked through the town, he saw a familiar trio of guards waving to him before returning to their duties. Waving back to them, Dark smiled and continued towards the castle. Waving to some more ponies who'd pass by him, he froze in place as he saw a snowflake floating down in front of him.

Looking up to the sky, he saw the first snow shower of the new winter season. Letting out a small laugh at the joy of winter being here again, Dark suddenly found an extra spring in his step as he closed in on the castle. Upon reaching the castle doors, Dark paused and took in a deep breath of cool air before reaching for the door handle and-

"You're a real bastard to kill, you know that?"

Hearing the unknown and hostile voice behind him, Dark spun around to see a cloaked pony standing not thirty feet away from him.

"Who are you, and what are you doing here?" Dark cautiously asked.

"Aww, you don't remember me?" he mockingly said. "Then again, I suppose you wouldn't, considering you were rather preoccupied with my army of Everfree creatures that were attacking Ponyville."

Dark's eyes widened in realization.

"YOU!" he shouted, standing bipedal and summoning his Death Reaver and the armor he'd gotten from the Coliseum. "You're the cloaked guy that everypony is after!"

The cloaked figure gave Dark a slow, golf clap. "Bravo, took you long enough."

"I'm going to make you pay for- GAAHHH!"

From under the cloaked figure's cloak, a bright light shown through the night, blinding Dark. In an attempt to shield his eyes, he thrusted his sword into the ground and ducked his head behind it. But in doing so, Dark failed to see what the cloaked figure was doing as he reached a hoof from under his cloak and pulled out an amulet with a reflective mirror surface before pointing it at Dark. Still hiding behind his sword, Dark didn't see it when the cloaked figure shot a small beam of light out of it until it pierced through his sword and himself. Feeling around his chest, Dark didn't feel any pain or evidence of a wound. Soon after the beam was fired, the light died down, allowing Dark to peek out from behind his sword and taking an aggressive stance with it. Seeing him getting ready to fight, the cloaked figure laughed.

"I'm not here to fight you," he told him.

"What?" Dark confusingly asked, before feeling a tugging from behind.

Looking back towards the tugging, Dark saw what appeared to be a pink, swirling portal directly behind him. Feeling the portal's pull becoming stronger and causing him to skid against the ground, he planted his sword back into the ground and used it as an anchor.

Meanwhile, inside the castle, Twilight was happily singing to herself while she worked on boiling the pasta and sauce. She was so focused and excited on doing a good job at cooking food for her and Dark, though, that she was completely unaware of the sounds coming from just outside the castle.

"You idiot, you can't fight it," the cloaked figure chuckled. "Just give up and let go already."

His anger starting to rise, Dark began channeling his horn with magic, but before he could begin casting a spell, he felt his magic sputter out.

"Oh, I suppose I should've mentioned that the portal that I created with this amulet of mine also causes a small null-magic zone around it, rendering you unable to use magic at this current location."

Giving an angry snort, Dark stopped using his unicorn magic and began focusing on his death magic. Just like with his unicorn magic, his arms didn't react to it. Seeing as he had no magical support at all, he decided to go with a different approach.

"Fine. If I can't use my magic, then I'll just burn you alive!" Dark shouted.

Taking a deep breath, Dark unleashed a torrent of fire from his burning maw towards the cloaked figure. However, instead of the flames rushing forward, they were being sucked into the portal behind him, which was starting to grow bigger and pulling on him harder. Starting to feel light on his hooves, Dark crouched down and planted his free-claw into the ground for extra support. Seeing him vulnerable, the cloaked figure unsheathed a sword from beneath his cloak and walked towards him.

"You know," he began saying, "I would say that I'd miss trying to kill you, but I'd be lying. Now, why don't you let go and die!"

Seeing him swinging his sword down upon his head, Dark removed his claw from the ground and blocked it with his forearm. Stopping the blade from making contact with his head, Dark pushed the sword off while also taking a swipe at the cloaked figure, making contact and sending the now confirmed pony stumbling backwards into the ground. Standing up from being knocked down, the cloaked pony stood with his back to Dark. Looking upon his attacker, he could only see that the pony had a short blond mane with a strange, curved, white horn with a blue tip sticking out of it. But just before Dark began to question him again, he felt his sword shake.

Looking down, he could see that the blade was being pulled out of the ground. Seconds later, he felt the sword free itself from its anchored spot, sending Dark flying back into the portal with sword in claw. As soon as Dark was through, the portal closed itself up behind him. Looking back, the pony began to madly chuckle to himself before lighting his horn in a green aura and bringing out a crystal. Pouring some of his magic into it, an image projection appeared above it, showing another pony on the other side of it.

"Is it done?" he asked.

"It is," the cloaked pony answered. "Our plan was a success, Dark Flame is now out of our mane."

"Good. It's about time too. Now, what about if he were to come back? After all, there is the original portal to worry about."

"That won't be a problem. While making this amulet, I made sure to put a block on it. So long as this amulet isn't damaged or destroyed, its magic will interfere with the original portal and cut-off the passage from that world to Equestria."

"Clever thinking. Now, if you don't mind, I'll let you take care of that thing. Besides, being caught with it would be rather problematic for me."

"I suppose it would."

"And for now on, communication between us will be limited to only emergencies."

"Very well then. Enjoy your night, Prince Blueblood."

"Oh, I very much will," he smirked. "And a peasant night to you too, partner."

Breaking the connection, the cloaked pony began laughing out loud before making his way out of Ponyville under the cover of the night and snow.

Dark laid sprawled out on his back as he fought to stay conscious from his trip through the portal. Slowly regaining his senses, he first felt the hard yet smooth stone-like surface of the ground below him. Next he felt unusually cold for some reason, despite him feeling that he was still wearing his armor. He then felt something cold covering his entire body and used what strength he had left to bring an arm up in front of his face. Cracking open an eye, Dark could see a faint glow around him of what he guessed was some of the fire that made its way through the portal when he was fire-breathing. With the assistance of the fire's light, he could barely see the layer of white covering his arm through his foggy vision.

This must be snow, he mentally concluded. Even so, why am I so cold?

"Hey! Are you okay?!"

Turning his head up slightly towards the direction of what he made out to be a female's voice, he could barely see the dark outline of something running towards him from the darkness beyond the fires. It was then that he began to notice another thing. For some reason, he'd lost his night-vision. Before he knew it, he saw that whoever it was that was running towards him had stopped and was now kneeling down beside him.

"Don't worry, you're going to be alright."

Feeling overcome with nausea and fatigue, Dark felt his consciousness slip from him. But before he passed out, he was able to catch a glimpse of the girl, and her long red and yellow hair.

Chapter 36- Not in Equestria Anymore

"Alright, it's almost done," Twilight eagerly said to herself. "Now I just need to fetch the wine and everything will be set."

Down in the dining hall, Twilight had just finished setting up the candle-lit dinner for her and Dark. While the pasta turned out almost perfect, the sauce was slightly burned, but was easily fixed by scraping it away from the unburnt pasta. Happy with the setting for them, she turned and made her way back into the kitchen. Looking into one of the cabinets, she pulled out an old wine bottle that Celestia had given her as a housewarming gift for when she got her new castle, but never had a reason to use it. That is, until now.

Levitating the bottle alongside her, Twilight turned around and started making her way back to the dining hall. But before she crossed the entrance hall, there was a loud knocking on her castle doors. Walking over, Twilight opened the door to see three guards saluting her. Upon taking a second look, she noticed that they were the three guards that Dark befriended.

"Steel Hoof, Aura Lance, Kite Shield, what brings you three here tonight?" Twilight asked them.

"Your Highness," Steel began, "we're here because of the loud noises and bright lights that were coming from in front of your castle."

"Really? When did this happen?"

"Just a few minutes ago," Aura answered her. "Didn't you hear or see it too?"

"No, I didn't."

"Are you sure? Because we were in the middle of Ponyville when we saw it happen."

"I am. I didn't see or hear anything because I was inside making some dinner. By the way, have you three seen Dark on your way over here by any chance?"

"We did actually," Aura said. "We passed by him in town just a few minutes before the lightshow started."

"That's strange."

"What's strange, Your Highness?" Steel enquired.

"If you three saw Dark on his way over here at that time, then he should've been back at the castle a few minutes ago. Which, according to you, is the same time that..."

Twilight's eyes widened in fear and worry as her memory of Pinkie's Pinkie Sense returned, leaving only one question for her.

"Is something wrong, Princess?" Kite asked.

"Guys," Twilight slowly began, "where is Dark?"

"Sorry?" Aura said.

"By the time Dark should've been here, you three saw that flash of light. But... if he's not out here... and he's not inside the castle... then where is he?"

Understanding what she was getting at, the three guards worryingly looked at their young princess. As the silence continued, they noticed Twilight's eyes starting to water up. Not knowing any other answer, Steel let out a heavy sigh before bowing his head lower.

"I'm sorry, Princess," he apologized, "but if he isn't here with you, then we don't know where he could be."

Following their squad leader's actions, Aura and Kite both bowed their heads to Twilight out of shame, but what came next made them all flinch. It wasn't the sound of a scolding, a lecture, or even screaming and shouting, but the sound of Twilight's magic failing, and a wine bottle shattering on the ground.

Dark didn't know exactly what had happened to him. Sure he remembered facing the cloaked pony that was responsible for the attack on Ponyville almost two months ago and waking in an unfamiliar and rather cold place, but now he felt like he was relocated again. While his body was still tired and his head was still trying to recover from that nauseating headache that the portal gave him, he also felt warm. He tried to open his eyes, but quickly noticed that they were rather heavy and wouldn't move.

I need to find out where I am, he thought to himself. Whoever that pony was didn't seem normal. Not only that, but if he's in Ponyville, then he might go after Twilight like last time.

Forcing his will upon his body, Dark managed to regain his senses again. While his eyes were still shut, he didn't need them to feel the somewhat familiar cushions of the couch he was laying on, and the blanked draped over him.

Alright, so apparently whoever found me took me in and laid me down on their couch, Dark mentally figured.

"So, what do you girls think?"

Isn't that the same voice from before? he pondered.

"Ah don't know about this."

Wait, was that Applejack?

"Yeah, I'm with AJ on this one. I mean, bringing a guy who you just happen to find passed out like that back to your place isn't a very smart move."

And Rainbow? If so, then that must mean that I'm still in Ponyville.

"But you all saw how freezing and hurt he was. Besides, would any of you just leave him like that?"

Dark smiled as he recognized that sweet, soothing voice again. Hearing her voice, Dark found the strength to speak.

"T-Twilight?" he tiredly called out.

The voices in the room went silent as they heard him speak. But, despite him still having his eyes closed, Dark didn't need to see them as he could practically feel their gazes locked upon him. Turning his head to his right, Dark felt something wet slide off of his forehead. A few seconds later, he felt someone put it back on.

"Shhh, it's alright."

Okay, that had to be Fluttershy.

"I don't know about you girls, but I have to question why in the wide world he would wear so much black like this. And look at this jacket. It may look normal, but it feels far too heavy."

... Rarity. Wait, if they're all here, then where's Pink-

"Wake up already!"

Hearing a noisemaker blowing directly in his ear, Dark snapped his eyes open before sitting up on the couch and flinging the wet cloth off. Unfortunately, he immediately shut his eyes when they were subjected to the sudden change of bright light.

"Dang it, Pinkie! Was it really necessary for you to do that?!" Dark half-shouted as he massaged his eyes.

"Sorry, but you looked like you needed an extra boost to wake up."

"Yeah, but did it have to be that loud?" he groaned.

"What? I wasn't being that loud."

"I beg to differ," Rarity objected.

"Uh-huh," Rainbow and Applejack agreed.

"I think it could've been a bit quieter," Fluttershy meekly said.

"While I have to agree with them, Pinkie," Twilight began, "I don't believe that that's what we should be concerned about here. What I want to know is how he knew who I was just by the sound of my voice?"

"Why shouldn't I memorize your voice?" Dark asked. "After all, it's usually the first thing I hear when I wake up in the morning."

"What?!" Twilight shrieked. "How is that possible?! We haven't even met each other until a few hours ago!"

"What are you talking about, Twilight? Of course we have-"

Dark found his words caught in his throat as he opened his eyes and began looking at Twilight. While he expected to see his alicorn fillyfriend, what he saw instead was anything but a pony. Before Dark stood a girl with lavender skin and eyes, purple hair with a dark-purple and a hot-pink strip done up in a bun, who was wearing what he'd guess to be a uniform of some kind, and black glasses. Blinking in surprise, Dark began looking around to see that the others were just like Twilight, but instead of looking like ponies, they were all fleshy, bipedal creatures who were wearing clothes. Namely skirts, socks, and a shirt or blouse of some kind. Thankfully, as he took another look at them, Dark noticed that they each vaguely resembled his friends from Ponyville. That is, all but the girl who he saw before he passed out, who was wearing blue pants and a light-blue blouse. Shaking his head, Dark looked back to Twilight.

"Umm, Twilight? Is that really you?" he asked.

"Yes, my name is Twilight, but I have no idea who you are!" she exclaimed. "Are you a stalker of some kind?!"

"What?! Twilight, why would you call me that?"

"How about the fact that you know me, but I don't seem to know you?"

"But you do know me. We've known each other for over a few months now."

"No we don't!" she snapped, causing Dark to wince at her words.

"Easy there, sugarcube," Applejack said as she walked over beside the couch that Dark was sitting on. "Look, clearly there's somethin' wrong here."

"Yeah," Pinkie chimed. "Besides, he also knew who I was too."

"It's not just you, though," Dark carefully said, "but I also know the rest of you too."

"Oh yeah? Prove it," Rainbow told him.

"Rarity's a dressmaker, Rainbow Dash is an athlete, Pinkie Pie likes to bake and throw parties, Fluttershy tends to animals, and Applejack works on her family's apple farm. Although I don't know who she is," he said, gesturing towards the seventh one.

"Guess I should introduce myself then," she said before clearing her throat. "My name is Sunset Shimmer."

"Hello, Sunset. I'm Dark Flame. Also, thanks for helping me like you did... that was you, right?"

"Yes it was, and you're welcome. But how is it that you know all of their names, but they didn't know who you were?"

"I have no idea," he sighed. "I'm still trying to figure why in the hay we all look like this."

"Wait, what did you say?"

Dark cocked an eyebrow at her. "I said, 'I'm still trying to figure out why in the hay we all look like this'."

"You said 'hay'."

"Yeah, so?"

"Didn't you mean to say 'hell'?"

"No."

Having an idea of who Dark was, Sunset began to ask him a few questions. "Do you know what you are?"

Dark looked over himself briefly. "Not a clue."

"Who runs the country that you live in?"

"Princess Celestia and Princess Luna."

Sighing, Sunset looked back to the others gathered around. "Girls, I think I know what's going on here."

"That was fast," Rainbow commented.

"I know because his confusion is the same as when I first arrived here. That, and he seems to already know us, but we clearly don't know him. And besides, he did refer to Celestia and Luna as 'Princess', not 'Principle'."

"Wait a moment, Sunset," Rarity began, "are you saying that this young man here is actually-"

"From Equestria? Yeah, I do."

"Wait, what do you mean by that? We're still in Equestria, right?" Dark asked.

"... you better sit down for this."

"I'm already sitting down."

"Oh... right. Anyways, no, you're not in Equestria anymore."

"Ah! Ah! She said it! She said it!" Pinkie exclaimed while pointing at Sunset.

"Like I was saying, this isn't Equestria."

"Then where am I?" Dark asked.

"You're in another world."

"... aaaand you lost me."

Sunset sighed. "Alright, tell me, did you happen to stumble through a mirror portal?"

"A portal, yes, but it wasn't a mirror."

"Seriously?"

"Yes, seriously, but how do you know all of this?"

"Well, as it turns out, I'm actually a unicorn from Equestria."

"... okay, now I believe it's my turn to say 'seriously'?"

"Yes, seriously," she giggled.

"... you're enjoying this, aren't you?"

"Maybe just a little bit. It's not often that I get to talk to somepony from Equestria."

"What about Twilight?" Rainbow asked.

"But she's standing right here," Dark pointed out.

"No, she's talking about Princess Twilight," Sunset corrected. "And while we're talking about her, why don't you tell us what your connection to her is. After all, you seem to know her."

"Alright, but first, what are these things?" Dark asked, wiggling his dulled claws. "I mean, they look like claws, but they aren't."

"They're called fingers."

"Oh, okay."

"Now, about you and Twilight?"

"Oh, right. Well, she and I have kinda been dating for over a month now."

"What?!" the seven girls shouted in unison.

"It's true."

"No way!" Rainbow said. "You're pulling our leg. There's no way you're going out with Princess Twilight."

"You know that she doesn't really like to be called by her title, right?"

"We know," Sunset nodded, "but it help keeps the Twilight from our world separated from yours."

"I guess it would help differentiate them. But yes, we've been a couple for over a month."

"Well that explains a lot," Twilight said with a huff.

"... yyyeaaaaahhhh. Sorry about the confusion before. I didn't know that you weren't my Twilight."

"It's fine," she sighed. "Just... please don't do it again."

"Now that I know, I'll be sure to be careful when talking about you... her... gah! This is gonna be annoying, I can tell!"

"You get used to it," Sunset said with a shrug.

"Speaking of 'get used to it', what am I exactly?"

"You're a human. Basically a bipedal mammal who're omnivores."

"Really? Because we look like a bunch of hairless monkeys."

Sunset giggled. "That's exactly what I said when I first saw them."

"Okay, so we're humans now. But how is it that we changed?"

"The portal's magic turned us into humans. From what we know, when a pony crosses over, they're turned into a human and vise versa. Also, whenever a dragon goes through the portal, they come out on this end as a dog."

"Really? A dragon came through the portal?"

"Since you know of Princess Twilight, I'm sure that you've met Spike, right?"

"Aahhhhh. Say no more, now I get it."

"How's the little guy doing by the way?" Fluttershy asked.

"Heh, the little stud's doing just great. He's currently in a relationship with three fillyfriends now."

"Has three what now?" Applejack questioned.

"He means that Spike has himself three girlfriends," Sunset explained.

"But how does that work? He's not cheatin' on them, is he?"

"Nope. They all know and have agreed to it," Dark told them.

"This is kinda weird hearing that Spike has three girlfriends," Twilight spoke. "Especially when he's just a puppy."

"Well in Equestria, he's pretty much their age."

"So, who're the lucky girls?" Rainbow asked.

Dark rubbed he back of his head. "Uhhhh... yeah, about that. You probably don't wanna know."

"Why? It's not any of us, is it?"

"No, it's not. I'm sorry, I just don't know how you'll react if I told you. Your pony counterparts are still trying to get over it, and it's been about a week since then."

"What about me?" Pinkie asked. "I can keep a secret and I promise I won't freak-out about it."

Thinking it over for a moment, Dark agreed and waved Pinkie over. Once she was close enough, he whispered the three names of who Spike was dating. When he was finished, Pinkie slowly turned around and made her way back to her friends.

"Yep. You girls don't wanna know," she told them.

"Aww, come on, Pinks," Rainbow urged.

"Nope."

"Look," Dark began with a sigh, "all you need to know is that the four of them are happy with the decision they've made. If you want to know more about them, then I'd suggest you talk to either him or Twi- I mean, Princess Twilight, the next time you see her."

"Alright," Sunset replied before looking up at the clock. "We better be heading off to bed. It's almost 11:00 P.M. and we have school in the morning."

"Wait, school? Why are you going to school?"

"To get a good education and make friends," Twilight plainly answered.

"No, I mean why are you going to school at your age? We're the same age, aren't we?"

"That depends," Sunset said. "How old are you?"

"I'm twenty-three."

"Well, as it turns out, the portal also changes our age when we go through it, so we're younger than what we are in Equestria. Just don't ask me to explain why. I don't have any clue as to why or have the proper equipment to test it."

"Really? Then how ol-"

Dark slapped a hand over his mouth to prevent him from asking one of questions that no stallion should ask a mare.

"How what?"

"Nothing! Never mind what I said!"

Sunset blinked a few times before shrugging and letting it drop. "Anyways, it's getting late, so I'll see you girls tomorrow."

"Oh, no," Rainbow said with crossed arms. "Even if he is Princess Twilight's boyfriend, he's still a stranger to us, and we're not going to leave you here alone with him."

"Does that mean that we're having a sleepover?!" Pinkie excitingly asked.

"Alright, fine," Sunset agreed. "You girls can stay, but just to sleep over. We can't stay up late or else we'll be tired when we get to school tomorrow."

"Meh, fair enough."

"Good. You girls can use the spare bedrooms."

Watching as his humanized friends began filing out of the room, Dark began to take in his surroundings for the first time since he'd woken up. Aside from the couch he'd slept on, he noticed a coffee table, some couches, and a wide, black contraption of some kind. Over to his left, he saw what looked to be a kitchen, and to his right was the entry way with a set of stairs leading up to the second floor.

"Pretty interesting, isn't it?"

Looking over to his side, Dark saw Sunset taking a seat in one of the nearby couches.

"It is, but that's not what I'm thinking about. Please don't take this the wrong way, but I'm more surprised that you live here, actually. You know, since you're originally from Equestria and not here. How is it that you were able to snag a house like this?"

"Equestrian gold is worth quite a bit here. If I wanted too, I could've bought a house three times bigger than this one and still be loaded," Sunset said with a small laugh. "So, how are you doing? I'm willing to bet that this is quite a shock to you."

"I guess it is," Dark said while scratching the back of his head. "I mean, yeah it's kinda strange how we all look, but it could've be worse."

"I suppose it could. So, do you have any questions that you'd like to ask about this world?"

"Yeah, namely what happened to their horns, wings, and tails are for that mater."

"Oh, right. That's another thing about the portal. You see, humans don't have those things, so when you came through the portal to this world, you lose them."

"... so I lost my tail, wings, and horn?"

"Yeah, but- wait, you had both wings and a horn?"

"Yeah?"

"Just what are you? Are you an alicorn like the princesses?"

"Oh, no, no, no. I'm not an alicorn, I'm a kirin. Or, at least I was."

"What's a 'kirin'?"

"A kirin is a hybrid of a dragon and a horse."

Surprised by the extra voice, Dark and Sunset turned to see Rainbow walking into the living room with her pajamas on.

"What?" she asked them, noticing the surprised looks they were giving her.

"How did you know that?" Sunset asked.

"Oh, come on, Sunset! From what we heard from your stories, you came from a world with pegasi, unicorns, dragons, minotaurs, and sirens. So why wouldn't I look into seeing what other awesome mythical creatures might be there?"

"Did she tell you about the hydras?" Dark asked her.

"What?! You have hydras there too?!"

"Yes, Rainbow, we do," Sunset sighed before turning back to Dark. "So, you're a kirin then?"

"Yep," he nodded. "Only one of my kind from what I've been told."

"So that means that one of your parents was a dragon?" Rainbow asked, taking a set on the other couch.

"Not really. Both of my parents were ponies, and I was turned into a kirin by a dragon... and now I'm starting to get a sense of deja vu."

"That's because you already had this talk with our pony selves, didn't you?" Pinkie asked, popping up from the other side of the couch and sitting on that end.

"... how'd you know that?"

"Just a hunch."

"Of course," Dark said with a facepalm before feeling the lack of horn. "By the way, Sunset, is there a mirror that I can use? I'd like to get a look at what I look like exactly."

"Sure. You can use the mirror in the bathroom," she said to him. "It's up the stairs, first door on the left."

"Thanks."

Getting up from his spot on the couch, Dark made his way up the stairs and followed Sunset's directions to the bathroom. It was thankfully unoccupied, so he let himself in, noticing the white tile floors and walls, the large bathtub, a towel rack, and the bathroom cupboard and sink with a large mirror just above it. Walking up in front of the mirror, Dark was able to get a good look at himself. Minus the jacket that Rarity had been inspecting earlier, he was still wearing his pants and waist cloak, but the newest piece of clothing that he was wearing now that he wasn't before was a blaze-orange T-shirt with his cutie mark printed on the front of it.

As he continued to look himself over, he took off his shirt, revealing his broad chest and muscles before he turned to see that his back was bare of any wings, and that his head without a horn. He also saw that his ears that would normally be on top of his head were now on the sides of his head. Turning back to face the mirror, Dark noticed that his skin was just a shade darker than what he would compare it to the Applejack of this world. And besides the plainly visible scar on his right shoulder, the thing that got his attention the most were his eyes. For some reason, he no longer had the golden eyes of Nocturne, but his old blue ones from before he became a kirin. Not believing it, Dark leaned in closer to the mirror and used his fingers to pull away the skin near his eye, allowing himself a better view of it.

Smiling at seeing that his old eyes had returned, Dark ran his hands through his long hair and sighed in relief. As he was letting out his breath, Dark then noticed a lack of extra warmth. Bringing a hand up, he placed it on his chest and focused his attention on it. Taking a few steady breaths, Dark felt a lack of a fire burning in his chest.

Well this sucks, he mentally sighed. I've also lost my fire sac.

"Oh my goodness!"

Turning his head to his right, Dark saw Rarity standing in the bathroom doorway with a heated blush on her face.

"Do you need to use the bathroom?" Dark asked. "Sorry about that, I'll just head on out."

"Umm... before you do," Rarity weakly said. "Would you mind putting your shirt back on please?"

"Sure, but why? I don't normally wear clothes anyway."

Rarity's face turned beet red as she looked away and pointed for Dark to leave. Shrugging, Dark picked up his shirt and put it back on before heading on back downstairs. Walking back into the living room, he saw Sunset and the others were watching something on the black thing from before.

"What's that?" Dark asked.

"That's the television, or 'TV' for short," Sunset answered him.

"Huh. It actually kinda reminds me of those projection crystals back in Equestria. Twilight's parents had one of them in their living room."

"Sounds Equestria's got some new technology since I've last been there."

"Actually, it's a magical gem from the Crystal Empire, not a piece of technology like this."

"By the way," Applejack began, "what's with Rarity? We heard her shoutin' something from upstairs."

"Oh, that. She saw me without my shirt on is all. That reminds me, why are we wearing clothes anyway?"

"Oops," Sunset muttered to herself in embarrassment for forgetting to tell him. "Yeah, that's my bad. I should've told you about that sooner."

"Told me what?"

"Well, here in this world, everyone wears clothes."

"You mean like all the time?"

"Exactly. That is, except for when bathing of course or when your... never mind."

"What? What is it?"

Sunset blushed as she began to carefully choose her words. "Or when you're with your special somepony."

Noticing her hesitation and reactions, Dark understood what she'd meant and gave her a simple nod before noticing something missing.

"Hey, when you found me, did you find anything else?" he asked them.

"Well, besides a bunch of fire around where we found you, there was also this really weird sword," Pinkie answered.

"It's here?! Where?!"

"Right here," Rainbow answered him, holding the Death Reaver in her hands. "It's really freaky-cool looking."

"Don't touch it!" Dark said in a panic.

Surprised, Rainbow dropped the sword on the ground in front of her feet.

"Is something wrong?" Sunset asked.

Ignoring her, Dark walked up to Rainbow. "Show me your hooves."

Rainbow arched an eyebrow at him. "What?"

"Ugh, I meant hands! Show me your hands!"

Hastily, Rainbow held out her hands for Dark to see. Holding them in his own, he turned her hands over to look over the palm of them. Seeing that they were perfectly fine, Dark let them go with a long sigh of relief.

"Sooo, what was that all about?" Rainbow asked.

Dark picked up his sword and began looking it over.

"This is a Living Weapon," he began explaining, "and it's rather picky with who can wield it."

"How so?" Sunset questioned.

"You mean that you haven't heard of it before during your time in Equestria?"

"Not that I can remember."

"Alright then, in that case, I'll give you girls the short version. Basically, this sword is alive, hence the 'Living Weapon'." The girls gasped before he continued. "That said, this sword doesn't like to be held by anypony but me, and knows who is holding it."

"Don't you mean to say 'anybody'?" Twilight corrected.

"Force of habit. Anyway, if anyone else besides me holds it, then they'll be cursed by it."

"What do you mean by 'cursed'?" Rainbow nervously asked.

"From what I was told, if someone other than me tried to wield it, the sword's magical defenses would activate and the sword would start to possess the wielder. The only two ways that it won't curse its wielder is if that person is either me, or someone who I've given my permission to use."

"Y-You said that it's a-a-alive?" Fluttershy asked.

"Yes, you can tell by the pulsing red crystal in the center of-" Dark paused when he saw that the red gemstone wasn't glowing. "What the hay?"

"What is it?" Sunset asked, getting up and looking at it over his shoulder.

"The gem is suppose to be glowing red like a heartbeat, but it's not. It just looks like an ordinary gemstone"

"Was it magical?"

"Yes, but its magic was connect to mine."

"Then that would probably explain it. Remember, you lost your magic when you crossed through the portal."

Eyes widening in worry, Dark tried casting dark magic from his arms like he did in Equestria, but like before he was sent through the portal, he didn't feel any magic flowing through them. It was then that a worried thought came to his mind. Looking back to his sword, Dark took his free hand and began knocking against the flat of the blade.

"Hey, Nocturne, you there?!" he asked in a mild panic before knocking on it again. "Hey! Wake up, damn it!"

"What are you doing?"

It was now that Dark was starting to hyperventilate. Not only was he thrown into a foreign world without his wings and magic, but he also couldn't talk to Nocturne either. Sitting down on the floor, Dark tried to calm himself down with a breathing exercise that he'd seen Twilight do before. After a minute of repeating this motion, Dark had calmed himself enough to where he as only slightly panicking. Seeing that he'd calmed down, Sunset kneeled down and placed a hand on his shoulder.

"Dark, what's going on? Who's Nocturne?" she asked.

"You remember how I said that this sword was alive?" he recalled, getting a nod from Sunset. "Well, the one who more or less lives in this sword is Nocturne."

"So you're worried for your friend who's in this sword of yours?" Applejack asked.

"Ehhh, he's not exactly my friend, more like a frenemy." Dark paused when he saw that they were giving him curious looks and sighed, "Look, it's going to be a long explanation, so I'll just save it for another time. Besides, I believe that you said that you and the others were going to sleep?"

Looking up at the clock, Sunset's eyes widened when she saw that it was almost midnight.

"Oh boy it's getting late. Come on girls, we'd better head to bed."

Turning the TV off, they began making their way upstairs. That is, except for Sunset, who stayed behind.

"Before I go, I take it that you'll wanna get back to Equestria as soon as you can?"

"Yeah. I'm pretty sure that Twilight's wondering where I'm at... oh crap! Twilight!"

"Don't worry about it," Sunset told him. "Look, tomorrow morning, we'll take you to the portal so that you can go home."

Dark sighed in relief and laid sprawled out on the carpet. "I just hope she isn't too worried."

"Like I said, don't worry about it. Tomorrow, you can return home and explain to her what happened to you. Knowing her, I'm sure that she'll forgive you."

"Alright, and thank you for all that you and the girls have done for me."

"It's no problem," she said before turning around and walking towards the stairs. "Before I forget, you can go ahead and sleep on the couch tonight. Just don't forget to turn off the lights before you fall asleep."

"Will do, and thank you again."

Giving a wave, Sunset walked up the stairs to her room while Dark laid his sword against the wall beside the couch. Looking around, he found the light switch on the wall and turned the lights off. Unfortunately though, he forgot that he didn't have night-vison anymore and wacked his shin against the corner of the coffee table.

"GAH! Celestia dang it that hurt!"

Rubbing the sore spot on his leg, Dark sat back down on the couch. But while the lights were off, not all was silent as he could hear snickering coming from upstairs. Rolling his eyes, Dark laid down on the couch with his head resting on a pillow on the armrest, pulled the blanket back over him, and fell asleep.

Over in Equestria, every guard in Ponyville was out searching for Dark. It had been hours since Twilight had ordered Steel Hoof and his two companions to alert the other guards and search for him. But even after that time, they still couldn't find any trace of him in Ponyville. Even the unicorn guard trackers that they had all came up with nothing. Not wanting to give up and fail their mission, they continued searching through Ponyville and the surrounding areas to look for him, but made sure to stay clear of the Everfree Forest until dawn. While they were busy doing that, a certain group of friends were gathered outside one of the castle doors.

"Has anypony heard anything?" Rarity asked.

"I got nothing," Pinkie said.

"Eenope," Applejack answered.

"I've flown around town and couldn't find any trace of him," Rainbow told them.

"Discord?" Fluttershy softly spoke. "Were you able to tack him with your chaos magic?"

Discord sighed and shook his head. "I'm sorry, everypony, but I couldn't."

"What do you mean you couldn't?!" Rainbow snapped. "Twilight told us how you were able to show her visions of the past when you gave us that riddle about our elements after you broke from your stone prison, so why couldn't you do it now?!"

"Because I literally can't!" he irritatingly said. "I don't know why, but for some reason, whenever I follow Dark towards the castle doors, that's when I'd get some kind of interference."

"How so?" Rarity inquired.

"I'm not entirely sure. If I had to guess, I'd say that it kinda felt like when I tried to use my chaos magic on Pinkie's bottle of holy water."

"Didn't ya say that ya couldn't use your chaos magic on dark magic and some other type of magic?" Applejack asked.

"Yes, dark and light magic, or as others call it, 'holy' magic."

"So, are you saying then that the reason why you can't see what happened to Darky is because there's holy magic involved?" Pinkie wondered.

Discord paused as he thought it over. Surprisingly enough for him, Pinkie actually made a good point. With a wide grin, he patted the party pony on the head.

"Pinkie, you're a genius."

"Yeah, I get that a lot," she smiled.

"But while we know what it is, that still doesn't help us in finding Dark," Rarity reminded them.

"Maybe not, but it's a start at least," Fluttershy spoke before looking to the closed door and sadly sighing. "Now if only we knew how to make Twilight feel better. I wish we could go in there and give her our support."

"Well, it doesn't help much that she's locked the door on us."

"She's even put up a barrier around her room, so I can't teleport any of us inside," Discord said.

"Maybe one of the princess can help us?" Rainbow suggested.

"Maybe. If you want, I can teleport to Canterlot and ask Lulu for her help."

"What about Princess Celestia?" Fluttershy wondered.

"Ohhh no! I made the mistake of waking her up once already and will not be doing that again anytime soon. Now, I'll be back in a little bit."

Before any of the others could say anything else, Discord was gone to Canterlot. As the silence lingered on, they began feeling their tiredness beginning to take them.

"Do you think Twilight will be alright?"

"Well, Ah can't hear her cryin' any more, so Ah'm guessin' that she's asleep," Applejack guessed, leaning an ear against the door.

"Well if she's sleeping, then there's nothing much more that we can do for her at the moment," Rainbow said with a loud yawn. "Besides, I'm wiped from searching all over Ponyville, so I'm heading off to bed. I'll see you girls in the morning."

But before she could fly to one of the guest rooms, Discord returned in a flash of light with Luna and Celestia.

"I thought that you said that you weren't going to risk waking Princess Celestia?" Fluttershy questioned Discord.

"I did," he admitted, "but that didn't mean that Lulu couldn't."

"How many times do I have to tell you to not call me that?" she annoyingly asked.

"Later, Luna," Celestia said before looking to the group of friends with a sad look. "Discord explained to us that Dark has disappeared."

"Yeah," Applejack sighed. "Every guard in Ponyville has been out searchin' for him since a little after sunset, but nopony has seen hide nor hair of him. Even Discord couldn't find out what happened ta him."

Celestia looked up from Applejack towards the locked doors. "And what about Twilight?"

"She's not doing too well, I'm afraid," Rarity answered her. "She's locked herself away in her room ever since the search started."

"But this isn't like her," Luna observed. "The Twilight Sparkle I've come to know would be out there helping in the search, not wallowing in sadness in her room like that."

"While that would normally be true, Luna," Celestia softly began, "this time is different. And with that said, I must admit that I know what she's going through, so I don't blame her for needing some alone time."

"Sister?"

Celestia shook her head from those old thoughts. "Never mind that. Right now, all we can do for her is to give her some time and help search for Dark. I'll go call-off the search party for the night and have them resume it in the morning. In the meantime, you should head to sleep yourselves. You all look rather tired."

With tired nods, the girls and Discord made for their guest rooms while Celestia and Luna waited for them to leave. Once they were out of sight and earshot, Luna turned to her sister.

"We need to find him as fast as possible, Tia."

"I know, Luna. I know that Twilight would want-"

"I'm not just talking about Twilight, sister."

"Oh?"

Luna sighed. "I'm not sure how to say this, but I have a feeling like if he remains absent for too long that something bad might happen."

"Are you suggesting that Twilight might do something reckless like tear open a magical rift or something like that?"

Luna shuddered at the thought. "No I wasn't, but thank you for putting that thought in my head."

"Sorry about that."

"It's fine. Now, you head on back to sleep, sister."

"But the guards-"

"I'll take care of it. You just head on back to sleep. You'll need it to deal with Twilight in the morning. And besides, I'm going to do some magical sweeps over the village and surrounding areas while I'm awake and try to help find him."

"Very well then. Thank you for doing this, Luna."

"You're welcome, now off you go."

Giving her sister a warm smile, Celestia teleported herself to her guest room while Luna teleported away to speak with the guards. As silence reigned over the castle hallway, a quiet sniffling could be heard. On the other side of the doors, Twilight had heard the others talking. Laying in bed with the stuffed ursa minor that Dark got for her on their trip to the Running of the Leaves fair, Twilight hugged the stuffed doll tighter against her as she used it for a cry pillow. Feeling emotionally drained from what happened tonight, it didn't take her long before she cried herself to sleep again.

The next morning, Dark found himself awoken from his sleep with a startle. He'd dreamt of a tall figure in a tattered, black cloak that completely shaded the owner's face and left not part of him revealed. While most of the dream was a foggy haze, what he did remember clearly was that whoever it was would just stand there, silently observing and judging him. It started out as little unnerving at first, but the feeling he got from being in such close proximity of it over a period of time began to create a sense of fear in him, which led him to his rude awaking.

Now fully awake and unable to go back to sleep, Dark took a moment to collect himself before rising from his couch, folding the blanket, and making his way into the kitchen. As he began looking around it, he peeked out the window to see the sun's light just barely glowing. So, feeling like he had some time before the others would get up, Dark began gathering some cooking materials for a large breakfast for him and his hosts.

A half-hour later, Dark had a place setting out at the dining table for each of them with a plateful of pancakes, and just in time too as he heard footsteps up above him. Using these last few minutes, Dark reached into the refrigerator and grabbed some orange juice and milk out of it before placing them on the table. With the added few sticks of butter and a bottle of syrup, he looked at the setting before hearing the footsteps walk down the stairs.

"Something smells good," Sunset said before walking in and seeing what it was. "Wow. Did you make this?"

"Sorry that I didn't ask for your permission beforehoof," Dark apologized, "but I wanted to cook you and the girls a nice breakfast as a way of thanking you for finding me and taking me in."

"It's alright, but you really didn't have to do this. Although, this does look really good."

"And it tastes even better!"

Looking back at the table, they saw Pinkie sitting and wolfing down her stack of pancakes.

"Pinkie, when did you... you know what, never mind," Sunset relented.

As they took their seats, the other started to walk in and began taking a seat of their own. After a half-hour of eating, chatting, and laughing, they cleaned their dishes and tossed then into a dishwasher before putting on their winter clothes. While the girls were busy with that, Dark grabbed his jacket, put it back on, and left it unzipped before grabbing his Death Reaver and placing it on his back. Turning around and making his way over to the door, Dark froze in place as he noticed something off.

"Hey, Sunset?"

"Yeah?"

"You said that magic is lost when I go through the portal, right?"

"Yes? Why?"

"Then why is my sword sticking to my back?"

Walking over, Sunset saw that Dark's sword was indeed sticking to the back of his jacket.

"Huh. Well, that's strange. Tell me, is there anything magical about them?"

"The sword and my clothes all have magical enchantments on them."

"I think I might know then, but just to be certain, what enchantments are you talking about here?"

"Fireproof enchantments for my clothes, an enchantment on the weapon itself to make it lighter to carry-"

"I told you there was a reason why it was so light!" Rainbow shouted.

"-and an enchantment on my jacket that holds my sword against it. Think of it as an invisible sheath."

"In that case, I know what's going on here."

"Okay... soooo?" Dark urged with a hand motion.

"While the magic that we ourselves had was lost when crossing the portal, anything that has a magical enchantment on it gets to keep it. There are some exceptions of course, but I'll tell you about that sometime later."

"So, what you're saying is that my clothes and sword still have their enchantments on them?"

"Pretty much."

"Huh... well alright then."

Leaving it with that, Dark made his way over to the opened door and was about to walk out when he felt a hand on his shoulder.

"Aren't you going to wear your boots?" Twilight asked.

"What boots?"

"When we found you, you were wearing those," she said, pointing to a pair of black buckled boots.

Shrugging, Dark went over and, with a bit of help, was able to get his boots strapped on.

"Oh, and before you go," Sunset began, grabbing a thin, white blanket from a nearby closet, "you should really wrap your sword up in this. We don't want you to get into trouble for being caught with carrying something like that around.

Following her suggestion, Dark wrapped his sword in the blanket before placing it back against his back. Getting an approving nod from Sunset, Dark stepped out of the house while Sunset locked the door behind them. With everyone ready, they led Dark to their school and the portal. While it was snowing outside, it wasn't as cold as it was last night. Enjoying the cool air, Dark closed his eyes for a moment and enjoyed the feel of the unusual coolness against his skin.

"If you don't mind my asking, darling," Rarity spoke up, "I was wondering why it is that your clothes were so heavy?"

"Heh, that's an easy one. It's because there's a layer of chainmail in-between the fabrics," Dark answered for her.

"Did you say chainmail? As in chainmail armor?" Rainbow questioned.

"Yep. I got it from fighting in the Canterlot Coliseum."

"Alright, that's it, Sunset. Now you gotta let us go to Equestria one of these days."

"We'll have to let Princess Celestia and Princess Twilight decide that," Sunset said. "Or at least give them a warning ahead of time."

"Besides, it could make things confusing if there were two of all of us there," Twilight added.

"Like you're one to talk, Twilight," Rainbow retorted. "After all, you got to met your other self already, and that was almost immediately after you transferred to our school!"

"Speaking of Equestria, where's this portal anyways?" Dark asked.

"It's actually located in the base of a statue at our school," Sunset answered him before pointing in front of them. "Actually, you can see it now."

Following the direction of her finger, Dark saw a violet-pink, two story building with a green lawn, some bushes planted along the base of the building, and a square, white marble column with a statue of a horse on top of it.

"Welcome to Canterlot High," Sunset said.

"Is that the portal that you were talking about?" Dark wondered.

"Yep. Just follow us and we'll show you the side that it's on."

Silently nodding, Dark followed the group of girls as they led him to the side facing the school. Looking between the smooth surface and back to the girls, he gave them a wave of his hand.

"Well, as short as it was, I'm happy to have meet you girls."

"Same here," Sunset said. "Be sure to tell Princess Twilight that we all said 'hi' will ya?"

"Sure, no problem," he chuckled.

Turning around to face the portal, Dark took a deep breath to prepare for another ride through the nauseating portal and took a step forward. However, instead of going through the portal like he and the others had expected, he smashed his nose against the stone surface. Reeling back in pain, Dark doubled over as he held his sore nose in his hands.

"What?" Sunset said confusingly as she walked up past Dark. "What's going on here?"

"I don't know," Dark nasally said.

Raising a hand up, Sunset placed it on the smooth surface of what should've been the portal. Her eyes widening in a panic, she placed her other hand on the smooth surface and began feeling around it.

"Oh no, not again!"

"Sunset, what's wrong?" Twilight asked.

"It's the portal! It's closed again!"

"Wait," Dark slowly said, "are you telling me that I'm stranded here?"

Turning around Sunset gave him an apologetic look. "I'm sorry, Dark, but it would appear so."

Chapter 37- Stranded

Dark was motionless as he looked at the supposed portal back to Equestria. He wasn't sure what to feel exactly at the moment. All at once he felt lonely, angry, worried, but mostly sad that he couldn't go home and see his Twilight again. As his thoughts continued to linger on her, he soon felt a few stray tears flow from him.

I'm stranded here, he dishearteningly thought. I may never see her again.

With those sad thoughts, he began thinking of the things that they've done together. From the time when he met her in the hospital, to when he woke up yesterday morning with her peacefully sleeping in his arms. Letting his mind drift, he then began to think about what could have been. His first Hearth's Warming with her, laying by the warm fireplace wrapped in a warm blanket, helping her with Winter Wrap Up, Hearts and Hooves Day, and perhaps even...

He wiped a stray tear away as his eyes narrowed and became focused. No. I won't let that slip away from me.

Sparking his determination to get home to Twilight, Dark let out an angry snort and reached back for his sword. Grabbing it, he unwrapped it and held level to thrust it into the stone column. Noticing his sudden mood change and the intent of his actions, Sunset quickly placed herself between Dark and the closed portal, causing the others to watch in worry.

"What do you think your doing?!" she demanded.

"I won't let a closed portal stand between me and getting back to Equestria," Dark snarled. "I'm going back home to Twilight, even if I have to destroy this statue and force it open!"

"But you can't! If you damage the face of the statue where the portal is, then you'll permanently seal it off!"

"What other choice do I have then?!" he shouted. "Listen, Sunset, the biggest reason why I've been so laid-back with my being here so far is because of this portal allowing me to go back. But now that the only gateway back home is denying me access, I'm feel like I'll need to force my way through it."

"The portal doesn't work like that!" Sunset shouted back before letting out an annoyed huff and running her fingers through her hair. "Look, just hear me out on this, will you?"

Taking a deep breath, Dark lowered his sword and let his body go lax before nodding to Sunset. "Alright, I'm listening."

"This isn't the first time that the portal shutdown on us like this. Last time was because the magic in it was accidentally drained from it."

"I thought that you said that magic doesn't exist in this world?"

Sunset sighed. "Like I said yesterday, there are a few exceptions, like this portal. I'll explain things to you in better detail later, but let me finish what I was saying right now. Anyway, the last time this happened, the portal was sealed because its magic was taken. Now, considering that nothings happened to it on this end, I'm willing to guess that it must be something on the other end in Equestria."

"So what you're saying is that this side of the portal is just fine, but something's wrong with the other one?"

"Pretty much."

"Okay, but that still doesn't help us. I mean, what can we even do when we're talking about a portal in a different world?"

"We can use this," Sunset said as she reached into her backpack and brought out a brown book with a picture of a red and yellow sun on the cover. "This is a book that Princess Celestia gave to me when I was still her pupil back in Equestria-"

"What?"

"-what did I say already about letting me finish?" she annoyingly asked. "Like I was saying, this book is special. Anything that I write in this book will show up in the pages of a similar book over there."

"Okay, I get that, but what are the chances that Princess Celestia will even read it?"

"Actually, Twilight has the other book. She and I will sometimes write to each other, and I also use the book to call her incase of an emergency, or if I need advice on something."

"So you can contact Twilight with this book?"

"Yep," Sunset happily said before taking out a pen and began writing. "I'll tell her that you're here and that the portal is closed."

Dark let out a sigh of relief and began rewrapping his sword. "Thank you, Sunset... and I'm sorry that I shouted at you."

"It's alright, and I'm sorry that I shouted at you too."

"If it's alright, while you're at it, I need for you to tell her something important."

Twilight was slow to wake up this morning as the emotional exhaustion from last night lingered. Lifting her head from the ursa doll, she felt the dampness beneath her eyes and looked down to see a large soaked spot on the stuffed ursa minor where she rested her head. As her emotions began returning to her, she heard a gentle knock on her bedroom door.

"Twilight? Are you awake?" a gentle voice asked.

Even though she knew the voice's owner as Celestia, Twilight didn't feel like answering and laid herself back down. But while she was quiet, it was just loud enough for Celestia to hear through the door.

"Is it alright if I come in?"

Remaining where she was, Celestia waited by the door for Twilight's answer. After a minute of silence had passed, she gave a sad sigh before she began turning around to leave her be. But before she took her first step away, she felt the magic barrier dissipate and heard the door unlock. With a small smile, she turned back around and slowly peeked her head in the poorly-lit room to see a lump in the bed. Walking in, she heard the door close and lock behind her as another barrier was erected. Making her way over to the bed, Celestia looked over the young alicorn, barely able to see the red and puffy eyes, and the soaked fur beneath them. Gently climbing up onto the bed, she laid herself down alongside Twilight and draped a comforting wing over her.

"How are you holding up?" she softly asked her.

"I've been better," Twilight answered with a small snivel. "H-Has anypony heard anything?"

Celestia shook her head. "I'm sorry, Twilight, but nopony's heard or seen anything yet."

Saddened further by the lack of good news, Twilight buried her face in Celestia's side.

"I want him back, Princess. I want him home."

"I know, Twilight. Don't worry, we'll find him."

Celestia remained there to support and reassure Twilight as she let herself go in the comfort of her old mentor. But, while the lack of news was disheartening to them, had they been in the castle library, things would've been different.

"Okay," Sunset said, putting the book away, "now all we can do is wait for Twilight to reply."

"How long does it usually take?" Dark asked.

"It varies from time-to-time, so I can't say for sure. It could be anywhere from within a few seconds to a few days."

"So we just wait then?"

"Pretty much."

Sighing, Dark rubbed the bridge of his nose. "Alright, fine. So, what do I do in the meantime?"

"Ooh! Maybe he can come to school with us?" Pinkie suggested. "You know, like Sunset, Twilight, and the Dazzlings did."

"Go to this school, huh?" he pondered out loud, looking over the school in front of him. "Would they even allow me here?"

"Probably not if you're carrying that sword around," Rainbow said, pointing to the sword attached to his back.

"Well he can't exactly just leave it out here either," Applejack pointed out. "With or without it bein' cursed."

"Maybe Principal Celestia and Vice-Principal Luna could look after it?" Fluttershy chimed.

"What are your thoughts on this, you two?" Rarity asked.

"Will it be safe?" Dark questioned.

"If she wanted to, Principal Celestia could have her office locked-down rather tight," Sunset answered with a small chuckle. "Heh, I should know. I've tried to break-in there a few times and failed each attempt."

"When was this?"

"A while ago. I'll tell you more about it during lunch. In the meantime, we better go see them."

Following her lead, Dark walked behind Sunset and her friends through the glass doors and into the school lobby. Looking around, Dark was surprised at how much bigger it looked on the inside, and by how clean it was. Taking a quick look around, he saw a hallway leading off in both directions and a large stairway just ahead of him. Turning to the left hallway, Dark followed the girls, and after making a few turns, they came to a closed door with a pair of familiar voices talking behind it. He watched in silence as Sunset walked up to the door and gave it a few knocks. When the talking on the other side ceased, they were given permission to enter.

Filing in one-by-one, they made their way into the office with Sunset bringing up the rear behind Dark. As he walked in, Dark saw two tall females. And while they weren't ponies, it didn't take him more than a few seconds to know that they were this world's Celestia and Luna. Besides the fact that they're the ones who they came to see, despite their human appearance and the lack of fur and ethereal mane, they still had the same skin and hair color that the princesses' coat and mane were. Other than that, the only real difference were the clothes that they wore. Where Celestia wore purple pants, a white and purple striped shirt, and a yellow coat of some kind, Luna seemed more lax with her dark-blue pants and pink shirt with a white collar.

"Good morning, students," Celestia welcomed them. "What can I do for you girls today?"

"Actually, Principal Celestia," Sunset began explaining, "we kinda ran into a little bit of a situation."

"Are we to assume this has something to do with this young man here?" Luna guessed, gesturing to Dark.

"You would be correct, Vice-Principal Luna. This here is Dark Flame, and he's from Equestria."

Celestia groaned and rubbed her temples. "Another one?"

"Sorry, but I didn't mean to come here on purpose," Dark defend. "To be honest, I didn't even know of this world until I was dragged through the portal by that one guy who jumped me."

"Alright, why don't you all take a seat and explain what's happened."

Doing as she asked, Dark and the girls each found a place to sit before he began explaining to everyone what happened before he wound up in their world. Keeping his story short with what happened before and after being pulled into the portal, Dark was able to finish after only ten minutes had passed by. During that time he kept his eyes on the two adults and watched their reactions. To his mild surprise, they both didn't seem all that surprised by it, almost as though they'd heard or seen worse.

"So, let me see if I have this straight," Celestia began to clarify, "you were attacked by a wanted pony and were sent here into our world."

"Correct," Dark nodded.

"Then, due to this 'teleportation sickness', your trip through the portal caused you lose consciousness soon after arrival."

"Yep."

"Then these girls found you."

"Right after we were done with our band practice, yes," Sunset added.

"Then they took you in for the night."

"I swear nothing happened," Dark defended himself.

"It's alright, I believe you. Back on track now. Then this morning, these girls brought you back here and led you to the portal, but it's not working for some reason?"

"That is correct," Sunset spoke again. "I've already written to Princess Twilight about our current situation, but she hasn't replied back yet."

"And what is it that you would like for my sister and I to do?" Luna asked.

"We were wondering if you'll allow Dark to attend Canterlot High until he returns back to Equestria."

"That depends," Celestia said, leaning back into her chair. "How long do you think it'll be until the portal is working again?"

"I can't say for sure. We'll know more about it when Princess Twilight answers."

"What do you think, Luna?"

Luna thought about it as she looked out the window to the school grounds before giving them her answer.

"I'm a little uneasy about this, considering what tends to happen whenever we let someone from that world attend this school."

"But whenever something happened, there's always some sort of school event going on," Rainbow reminded them.

"Yes, that is true. Which is also why, since there aren't any such events taking place until next month, I'm willing to allow him to attend Canterlot High. However, I expect him to be on his best behavior and to not cause any trouble."

"Yes, Princess Luna," Dark said with a bow.

Luna blinked. "Excuse me?"

Dark snapped his head back up, realizing his slip-up. "Sorry! I mean to say Principal- er, Vice-Principal... you know what, screw it. Is it alright if I call you 'Miss' instead of 'Vice-Principal?"

"I suppose it wouldn't hurt," she said with a small laugh, causing the others to join in.

"So then, is there anything else we can do for you?" Celestia asked with a snicker.

"There is, actually," Dark said, pulling the wrapped sword from his back. "Since I originally came here with the intent of going home instead of coming here, I brought this with me too and was wondering if you would keep an eye on it until the school day was over? I'd rather not carry it around and accidentally scare everypon- I mean, everybody, here."

After Dark handed it over to Celestia, she began to look over the wrapped item. Despite it being covered, though, she had an idea of what it was due to its shape.

"I can watch over it," she told him, "but, I do hope that you won't be bringing it back to my school again."

"Yes, Miss Celestia. Like I said before, I didn't expect to attend this school when I came here."

"Very well then. You may come back for it after school's over for the day. Now, as for your classes, you can join Miss Shimmer in the classes that she's in. If that's alright with her that is."

"I guess it would be for the best," Sunset agreed. "At the very least, he would be around someone he knows, and I can help him get around the school."

"In that case," Celestia began as she began writing a note, "I'll give you this to give to your teachers so they know about our new... temporary student."

Taking the note, they each gave their Principal and Vice-Principal their thanks before Sunset led Dark to her first class of the day. While it did feel a little bit weird meeting so many humans at first, by the time fourth period came around, he'd started getting used to the sight of them. And while Dark was having an enjoyable time despite it being school, their lunch period quickly came around.

Sticking close to Sunset, Dark followed her through a pair of double doors labeled "The Cafeteria", and into a large and open room. Joining the line, they made their way over to the counter where Dark saw a familiar, sweet, elderly green lady with white hair serving them. With their trays filled with their lunch, Dark followed Sunset over to the table where the other girls were sitting and waiting for them.

"So, Dark, how was your first morning in a human school?" Rarity asked.

"Not bad actually," he answered her. "Besides getting lost in the history class, everything else so far was easy."

"You seemed like you were having a good time during gym class," Rainbow noticed.

"So that's what it was called. But yeah, it was easy enough throwing those balls at the other team while avoiding getting hit."

He was about to take a bite from his mashed potatoes when he saw three sets of eyes lock onto him from across the cafeteria.

"Hey, who're those three over there?" he asked, motioning towards the three girls.

Turning towards their direction, they each immediately recognized who Dark was referring to.

"You might wanna be careful around them," Sunset warned him.

"Why?"

"Those three are the Dazzlings. The one with the poofy orange hair is their leader, Adagio, the moody one with the purple hair with the green stripe is Aria, and the ditsy blue one is Sonata. They're sirens from Equestria who were banished here by Starswirl the Bearded over a thousand years ago."

"So they're dangerous then?"

"Not quite, exactly." Sunset sighed and figured now was a good time to tell him. "Hey, I said before that I had some explaining to do, right?"

"Yeah?"

"Well, they kinda tie-in with my story, so I'll just tell you now while we have some free time."

Eating his lunch, Dark quietly listened as Sunset told him about what's happened there, along with some of the others who would fill-in a detail here or there. She told him the short version of how she came from Equestria to this world, about how she returned to Equestria and stole Twilight's crown for the Fall Formal, the Dazzlings' plot to rule the world with the help of the Battle of the Bands, and the events of the Friendship Games. And just to prove that what they said to him was true, the girls shared with him a few pictures that were sent to them on their phones. But while he did believe them for the most part, it was the part of Twilight's transformation that he didn't quite believe, but that changed when he saw the picture of her as Midnight Sparkle.

"Well, you girls have been rather busy," Dark commented. "So, you girls gained your powers from the Element of Magic and can now transform, or 'Pony-Up', as you call it?"

"Yep," Sunset said with a nod. "It happens when we show the truest part of ourselves."

"Can Twilight here do it too? Not including the events of the Friendship Games, of course."

"We haven't tried it yet," Twilight answered.

"Do you think it'll work for me too?"

"It's hard to say," Sunset shrugged. "You're the first kirin to make their way through the portal. As far as I know, the same rules may still apply to you, they might be different, or you might not need to abide by them at all."

"Considering that I still can't use my magic, that last one can't be it. I just hope that it's not the first one."

"Don't worry about it, you'll find out how it works eventually," Rainbow said as she popped the last of her fries in her mouth. "So, now that you know of us, how about you start telling us about you?"

"I would like to know too," Sunset agreed. "Where were you raised? What did you do? What does your cutie mark mean? You know, the usual."

"... you do know that talking about everything would take a few hours, right?" Dark clarified.

"Alright, then you can tell us when we get back to my place."

"Are we having another sleepover?" Pinkie asked.

"If it means that we get ta wake up ta another good breakfast like this monrin', then Ah'm up for it," Applejack said.

"I suppose it wouldn't hurt," Sunset slowly said.

"Well then, looks like I'll have myself a small audience for story time," Dark chuckled before noticing about Sunset's bag that caught his eye. "Hey, Sunset?"

"Yeah?"

"Why's your bag glowing and vibrating?"

Fifteen minutes earlier in Equestria, Rainbow and Applejack walked back into the castle after a long morning of searching for Dark.

"So, you and the other pegasi didn't find him?" Applejack asked.

"No," Rainbow sighed. "What about you and your group?"

"Nothin'."

Their mood dampened, the two made their way into the kitchen where they saw Fluttershy and Rarity sitting at the small table. Upon seeing the two walk in, she gave them a look, hoping that they came with some good news. But when she saw their faces, she knew that they didn't have any luck.

"No such luck?" Rarity asked them, getting a headshake from them both.

"How about you, Fluttershy?" Applejack questioned. "Did your search party in the Everfree find anythin'?"

"I'm sorry, Applejack, but none of the Everfree creatures have seen or heard him," Fluttershy apologized. "They're still looking out for him though."

"And how's Twilight doin'? Is she feelin' any better?"

"Sad to say that she isn't doing much better than before," Rarity solemnly said. "Even though Princess Celestia being there with her is of comfort for Twilight, her emotional condition hasn't improved."

"This would be a lot easier if Discord could actually see what happened ta Dark."

"He did try another approach," Fluttershy began. "Instead of trying to follow Dark and watch what happened to him, he instead decided to try and see if anything approached him."

"And? Did he find anything?" Rainbow pressed.

Fluttershy shook her head. "He was able to pick up that same interference from before, but that's about it. He can't track it back to its source."

Giving dejected sighs, Applejack and Rainbow went around the kitchen and began making themselves some sandwiches for their lunch.

"By the way, where's Pinkie?"

"She's over at Sugarcube Corner," Rarity answered. "Ever since the search started, she's been busier than ever in that place, so she can't be here with us right now."

"Makes sense Ah suppose," Applejack said as she and Rainbow finished making their food.

"If it's alright with you girls, I'm going to go to the library and read some Daring Do. You know, to try and get my mind out of this funk," Rainbow told them.

Taking her plate of sandwiches in her hooves, Rainbow flew over to the library and sat her food down before finding a good book for her to read. As she skimmed over the different Daring Do stories, her hoof stopped at a certain one.

"When the hay did Twilight get this one?!" she asked out-loud as she picked the book from the shelf. "This one isn't even out yet!"

Feeling happy and excited for her new find, Rainbow swiftly flew back down to the couch near where her food sat and began reading. Her worries began to dissipate as she ate her sandwich and read the new book, but as she continued her reading, she heard a faint buzzing sound. Deciding to ignore it, she went back to her book, but the sound kept persisting. After a few minutes of having to hear that annoying buzzing, she snapped her head up and looked around to see what was doing that.

"Applejack, if this is a prank of yours, then could you knock it off?!" Rainbow snapped. "I'm trying to read!"

Scanning the room, she didn't see any trace of Applejack anywhere in there, but what she did find was a book glowing and vibrating on top of the device that Twilight had constructed for the mirror portal. Curious, Rainbow closed the Daring Do book she was reading and flew up to the other one. Grabbing ahold of it, she brought it back down to where she was sitting and flipped through the pages.

What would Sunset Shimmer want with Twilight? Rainbow wondered. Probably some magic problem or another threat in their world... again. Celestia did she pick a bad time to call though.

Eventually she got to the last entry and began to read over it.

"Okay, let's see what she's got for us.... hmmm... what? But how?!"

After finishing reading over what Sunset had written to them, Rainbow reread the whole thing over three times. Upon reading it for the last time, she shot her head up in surprise, relief, and worry.

"TWILIGHT!!!"

Grabbing hold of the book tightly in her forelegs, Rainbow launched herself through the library doors and headed straight for the third floor. Flying up above the guard rail, she flew down the hall towards Twilight's room. Not wanting to waste any time with opening the doors, Rainbow decided to crash through them. Unfortunately for her, she forgot that Twilight has locked the doors and placed a magical barrier around her room, so when she hit the door, it was like hitting a brick wall. Peeling herself off the door and standing back up, Rainbow began frantically banging on the door.

"Twilight! Open up now! It's important!" she shouted through the door.

A few seconds later, the lock clicked and the door creaked open to show an emotionally tired and rather annoyed Twilight Sparkle glaring at her.

"What is it?" she tiredly asked.

"It's this," Rainbow said, showing Twilight the book.

"What about it?" Twilight asked, taking the book from Rainbow.

"There's a message in there from Sunset Shimmer that you should really see."

"Unless it's something about Dark, which I highly doubt, then I don't know how much use I can be to her."

"You'd be surprised, Twilight. I know that I still am."

Now curious, Twilight flipped through the pages to the most recent entry. After reading the first few sentences, Twilight felt thoroughly relieved in hearing that Dark was there with them. That relief was short-lived, though, as she continued reading on. When she got to the part of how it was exactly that Dark was sent there, she felt her worries return. Not for Dark, since she knew that he was safe and where he was, but because whoever this pony was that attacked him was able to get as close as they did and do this without anypony else knowing until it was too late.

"Twilight?" Celestia called from behind her. "Is everything alright?"

Tearing her gaze from the book, Twilight looked back to her with relief and worry.

"We know where Dark is," she told her.

"Where is he?"

"In the human world with Sunset Shimmer. According to what Dark told her, he was attacked by the cloaked pony who coordinated the attack on Ponyville. Last night, he used some kind of amulet on Dark and sent him through a portal to the other world."

"But how?"

"We don't know. Dark was apparently blinded by a flash of light when it happened. He did, however, get a glimpse of who this pony is. Apparently this pony is male with a blond mane, but the strange part is that his horn is white with a blue tip, and it's curved."

"Well, at least we know where Dark is and some idea of what this pony looks like. I'll have a BOLO sent out for him immediately. Now all we have to do is get him back through the portal."

"That's the other problem. They tried sending him back through it, but they're saying that the portal is closed. They believe that it's a magical problem on this end since there isn't anything magical going on over there at Canterlot High."

"In that case, I'll send a team of my best magical engineers here to assist you with finding out what's wrong with the portal."

"Thank you, Princess," Twilight thanked before turning back to Rainbow. "Rainbow, thank you for bringing this to me... and I'm sorry that I snapped at you like I did. It was uncalled for."

"Hey, you've been having an emotional time, it's alright" she said understandably. "Besides, at least we know where he is now and that he's safe."

"Yeah. Oh, speaking of which, could you head on out and tell the others that the search is over? If you or the girls need me, I'll be down to the library finding out what's wrong with the portal."

"Hehehe, now there's the Twilight we all know. Sure, I'll go tell the others... though you may wanna do something about your look before you head down stairs. I may not be as prissy as Rarity when it comes to looks, but even I have to admit that you're a bit of a mess."

Moving to the dresser mirror, Twilight looked at her reflection to see her disheveled mane, bloodshot and puffy eyes, matted fur, and dark stains running down the sides of her face.

"That would probably be a good idea," she said smiling back at her friend.

Seeing that her friend was feeling better, Rainbow nodded and flew off to spread the news. After she left, Twilight turned to Celestia.

"I'm sorry for how I was acting, Princess."

"It's perfectly fine, Twilight," she softly reassured. "I understand what you were going through and was happy to be here to help you."

"Thank you."

"You're welcome. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have a magical engineering team to send, and a wanted fugitive to find. In the meantime, I'll be back in Canterlot. But if you ever need anything more, or just want somepony to talk to, I'm always available for you."

"What if you're in the middle of talking to a noble, or somepony else important?"

"I'm sure they'll forgive me if there's an 'urgent call' from another princess that I need to take," Celestia said with a wink, causing Twilight to giggle for the first time since this all started.

"Alright. Oh, I should probably write them back first."

Reading what was written from Twilight, Sunset closed the book before putting it back into her backpack with a soft blush on her face.

"Is everything alright?" Dark asked. "How's Twilight doing?"

"Yeah, everything's just fine," Sunset said with a warm smile.

"Are you sure, darling?" Rarity questioned. "Because you look a little flustered."

"Yeah, I'm fine."

"So then, what was written in it?"

"According to what Princess Twilight wrote, they've had the town guards and some volunteers form a search party to go looking for Dark when he didn't get home last night."

"I'm gonna have a lot of apologizing to do when I get back home," he sighed. "Did she say anything about the portal?"

"She said that Princess Celestia is sending a team of her best magical engineers to assist her in finding out what's wrong with the portal."

"Did she say when they'll be done?"

"She didn't. So, until they do find out what's wrong and you can return home, I guess that you'll be staying at my place."

"Alright."

"And to answer your other question," she began, giving him a warm yet sad smile, "she was worried sick that something awful had happened to you and that you wouldn't return. She misses you, and is anxious to see you safe again."

There was a collection of "Awwws" at how sweet the girls thought it was. But while they found it to be sweet, Dark wasn't feeling it. Running a hand through his hair, Dark breathed a heavy sigh before looking back to Sunset.

"Hey, would it be alright if I wrote something to Twilight?" he asked. "You know, to tell her myself that I'm alright... and that I'm sorry for making her worry so much."

"Sure."

With what little time they had left for their lunch period, Dark made quick work of his message to Princess Twilight. Soon as he returned the book back to Sunset, the bell rang, signaling the end of lunch. Dumping their garbage and leaving their trays on a stack, Dark followed Sunset to her next class. The rest of the day went by rather quickly and uneventful as the other classes weren't all that exciting. That is, all but the science class where Dark had accidentally mixed the correct chemicals to create a vial of napalm.

With the last bell of the day rung, Dark made his way back to Celestia's office to pickup his Death Reaver. After he got there, he explained to her what was going on in Equestria and how they were working on fixing the portal. Understanding and thanking him for sharing this information with her, after Dark put his sword back on, Celestia saw him out of her office, wishing him luck that everything would work out. Giving her his thanks again, Dark bid her farewell until tomorrow and made his way to the portal where the girls were waiting for him.

"So, you all ready to go?" Sunset asked him.

"Yeah," Dark answered, placing a hand on the smooth stone surface. "I hope she doesn't work herself too hard."

"If she's anything like me... well... it might go either way," Twilight said.

"I just wish there was something I could do to help on this end. I feel really useless just standing here not doing anything to contribute while they're all worried and working hard to get me back."

"I know, but just give it time," Sunset said, placing a hand on his shoulder. "All you have to do is be patient and you'll find yourself back home in no time."

"Awww, does he have to go so soon? I was hoping that we could have some fun with him."

Recognizing that voice, the girls turned to see the Dazzlings walking towards them.

"What do you want, Adagio?" Rainbow rudely asked.

"Now, is that any way to treat a friend?"

"Well, we're not exactly friends," Sunset said.

"But what about me?" Sonata questioned. "We're friends, right, Pinkie?"

"You bet we are," she happily nodded.

"So, who's the new guy?" Aria asked.

"Dark Flame," he answered them.

"Dark Flame, Dark Flame... hmmm. Now where have I heard that name before?" Sonata asked herself while tapping her chin in thought.

"Well, hello then, Dark," Adagio said with half-lidded eyes. "So, what brings you here?"

"An unfortunate turn of events."

Adagio began to slowly circle Dark. "Aww, that's too bad for you."

"Yes, it is. Now, is there something that you need of me?"

"We just wanted to see if you would join us so that we can... get to know you better."

"Not a chance," Sunset said as she and the others stepped between the two. "We're not letting you have your way with him."

"Besides, I'm happily called for," Dark added.

"Oh? By who?" Adagios asked.

"That's none of your business."

"Aww, don't be like that now," she said as she ran a finger up his arm. "I just want to know- AAHHH!"

Without warning, Adagio let out a scream as reeled back away from Dark and falling down on her back. Sitting back up, she scooted herself away a few more feet while looking at him with terrified eyes.

"Just who or what in the seven seas are you?!"

"What's wrong, Dagi?" Sonata asked as she and Aria ran to their elder sibling's side.

"Did you see something?" Aria guessed.

"What do you mean by 'see something'?" Sunset asked them.

"While we did get blasted by your stupid rainbow magic that destroyed our pendants, what you didn't get was all of our natural magic. If we want to, we sirens can see into another's memories through physical contact. That's how we knew about what Sunset Shimmer did here at the school before we talked to her in that hallway. What? Did you really think that we would run our hands and fingers over the other students just help seduce them?"

"Wait, we weren't?" Sonata questioned, causing Aria to facepalm.

"Alright then," Sunset nodded, "but still though, what was it that you saw to get you so freaked-out, Adagio?"

"Him!" she said while pointing to Dark. "He's not a normal guy!"

"Well, I am a kirin," he half-bragged.

"Not that you idiot!"

Dark sighed and looked down to the sirens. "Look, we're heading on back to Sunset's place so that I can tell them about myself. With Sunset's permission, and that of the others, you three can come with and listen if you're so curious."

"Just as long as they stay out of trouble, I'll be fine with it," Sunset said.

"Then can we please get on over there?" Applejack asked. "It's startin' ta get a little chilly out here."

Back at Sunset's home, Dark was sitting on the floor while the girls each took a seat on one of the couches or recliner chairs, eating the pizza that they had ordered. As they continued to eat, Dark began to tell them his story, making sure to avoid some of the more graphic details, the fact that he and Nocturne are the Incarnations of Death, or the part where Discord swapped his gender. Telling his tale, he told them about his old village and the history with dragons, how it was destroyed, his life in Ponyville and the attack against it, the trip to Canterlot, the events of Nightmare Night, and finally, the events of the day leading up to his being "banished", as the girls decided to put it, to this world. As he finished his story, he swallowed the last of his pizza slice and looked back to the girls.

"So, any questions?" Dark asked, licking his fingers.

"So, you really fought dragons?" Rainbow asked.

"Yep. A lot."

"Dude, that's awesome!"

"While I'll admit that it was quite an adrenaline rush every time, it does suck though since it happened every few days on average."

"And you said that you were a pony before that Nocturne guy changed you, right?" Adagio clarified.

"Yep."

"Well, that's a first. But..."

"But what?"

"That name, Nocturne. I know I heard it somewhere before, but I can't seem to remember where."

"Hey, you said that you lived in a place called Stonewall, right?" Aria asked.

"Yes, why?"

"I remember hearing something like that on the news for a while."

"Oh yeah, that's right," Pinkie remembered. "That's the town that got burnt down after a raid by that one biker gang."

"You're talking about the Dragons, right?" Sunset asked.

"Yeppers."

"That's right!" Sonata exclaimed. "Now I know why your name sounded so familiar!"

"Okay, how did it sound familiar to you?" Dark wondered.

"I read it in the papers. Apparently, of all of the dead bodies that were lying around in that town, yours and one other's were the only ones that could be identified."

"WHAT?!"

"Now that I think about it, I remember reading about it too," Twilight said. "According to the story, after the village was burnt down and most of it's townspeople were killed, one survivor stood against the Dragons. He fought against a few dozen of them before he fought one of their leaders who they brought out of retirement named Noc, the Angel of Death."

"Okay, but did they say what happened to me- er, him?"

"They didn't show any photos of the two of you, but from what was reported, Dark had a big sword in his hand when he died to a stab wound through his back into his heart, while Nocturne died with his gun from a massive gash on his chest."

"But that doesn't make any sense," Sunset said.

"What doesn't?" Dark asked.

"How can our Dark die to a stab wound if Nocturne was using guns?"

"I know, it doesn't make any sense," Twilight admitted, "but that's what the coroner said."

"Ah'm sorry ta hear that," Applejack said. "At least now we know what's happened ta him."

"There is a bright side to this story, though."

"Oh, yeah?"

Twilight nodded. "Like I said before, most of the townspeople were killed, meaning that there was another survivor other than our world's Dark. But, other than knowing that his gender is male, nobody knows who he is because his name and description hasn't been released to the public."

"I remember hearing that too," Sonata added. "I also heard a rumor that he was in cahoots with the Dragons, and that's why he managed to leave Stonewall alive and unharmed like he did."

"Guess we'll never find out then," Dark said with a sigh.

"Can we talk about something else, please?" Fluttershy asked. "I don't really like this topic very much."

"Of course we can, dear," Rarity agreed.

"Well," Adagio began, "while that story was definitely entertaining and all, you still didn't answer my question as to what I saw."

"But I don't know what you saw," Dark defended himself. "Unless you tell me what it was that you saw, I can't answer you."

"All I can say is that I saw death."

"... that's probably because of Nocturne if I had to guess," he answered her half-truthfully.

"Because you two share the same body?" Applejack figured.

"Pretty much. Since his spirit is rooming with mine in my body, he and I are more-or-less the same. The big thing though is that I'm in control of everything while he's taking a back seat. That, and we can tap into one-another's memories, though I tend to do it by accident when it comes to spells."

"Can you talk to him?" Sunset asked.

"In my head, sometimes, but other than that, we usually speak through my sword. And since I don't have any magic in this world, I'm not connected to my Death Reaver anymore and I can't hear or talk to him inside my head. At least, not until I return to Equestria."

"Very well then, I suppose I can accept that answer... for now at least," Adagio said before looking up to see the time. "Well, as nice as this evening has been, we should really be getting back home."

"I guess," Aria grumbled.

"Thanks for inviting us and for the pizza," Sonata happily thanked and waved to them. "See you girls tomorrow. Oh, and you too, Dark."

Before Adagio and her sisters left the house, she turned around to see that none of them moved from their spots. "Aren't you girls going home too?"

"Nope," Rainbow told her. "We're all staying here tonight."

"And what about Dark?"

"Him too."

"Really? Well then, I'm sure that he'll have himself quite a fun time tonight here with you girls. Hope that you've got plenty of energy drinks for him," she said, causing the seven girls and Dark to blush at what she was insinuating.

"Adagio, would you please refrain yourself from making such indecent remarks?" Rarity requested.

"Aww, now what fun would there be for me if I did that? Besides, I only said that to see the looks on your faces. Anyways, we'll be seeing you all tomorrow."

Waving them off, they watched as the Dazzlings left Sunset's house and made their way to their home.

"Alright," Sunset began as she stood up and stretch, "we should all start getting ready for bed. Dark, since you didn't shower last night, you can go first."

"Are you sure?" he asked. "I don't mind if I go last."

"I'm sure. And besides, you stink."

Bringing an arm up, Dark leaned his head down and took a few sniffs of his armpit. Sure enough, the body odor emanating from him was enough for him to cringe.

"I never stank this badly back in Equestria," he complained.

"I know, but you'll just have to get used to it for now."

Following her instructions, Dark made his way up to the bathroom and locked the door behind him. Turning the showerhead on, he ran the water and stripped the clothes off of him like Sunset said yesterday. Unclothed and feeling that the water was just the right temperature for him, Dark stepped in and felt the water washing his grime away, feeling completely relaxed for the first time since he'd arrived there.

It was morning as Dark was standing in the middle of the main foyer in Canterlot High. Taking a look around though, he noticed that there weren't any signs of any students around him, not even a sound echoing from down the hallways. Paying close attention to his hearing, he strained his ears to hear something, only to pickup the sound of nothing. As he began to wonder why it was it was so eerily quiet, he noticed that a fog had started to form around him. A few moments later after the fog became almost too thick for him to see anything beyond his hands, something from behind him had casted its shadow upon him. Turning around, Dark saw the tall, black, cloaked figure from his dream last night. Taking a step back, he watched as it raised an arm, pointing a bony finger at him, and spoke with a quiet and haunting voice.

"You don't belong here."

"GAHH!"

"EEP!"

Startled from his sleep, Dark shot-up from his sleeping spot on the couch, which in turn also caused Fluttershy to become startled as well. Panting for breath, Dark tried to calm himself back down before noticing a small outline peeking from the corner of the room. With the help from the moonlight shining through the living room window, he was able to see that it was Fluttershy who he'd accidentally startled.

"Fluttershy, sorry for scaring you like that. I didn't wake you up, did I?" he asked.

"Oh, no. I was just up to grab some water is all," she said, coming out from hiding and walking over to him. "Are you alright though? You look like you were having a nightmare."

"Yeah. Had one similar to it last night too."

Fluttershy was now sitting at the edge of the couch Dark was on. "Would you like to talk about it? That is, if you want to."

Sighing, he looked over to her. "Are you sure? I don't want to accidentally give you nightmares too."

"It's alright, I'll be fine."

"If you say so. The dream itself isn't much, really. While the first one I can barely remember, there are two things from both of them that I do. In both of them, I was surrounded in a fog, and the second is the person who was in it."

"Do you know who it was?"

"I don't. The only noticeable things about him were that he was taller than me, wore a black, tattered cloak that covered his entire body, he hid his face beneath a hood, and had a bony finger."

"I'm sorry, but I don't know anybody like you've just described. Maybe this thing that you're dreaming of is a recreation of some kind of that pony who attacked you?"

"I guess it could," he slowly said. "I mean, it's the only good answer, and it sounds pretty reasonable. By the way, do you know what time it is?"

"The clock on the microwave said that it was 1:35 A.M,"

Sighing, Dark laid back down and stared up at the ceiling. "Great. Another five hours till sunrise and I can't go back to sleep."

"If you want, I can sing you a lullaby to help you fall asleep."

"Thanks, Fluttershy, but you don't need to do that. I'll just try to fall asleep on my own."

"It's alright, I really don't mind. And besides, you look like you could use the help."

"... well, I suppose I could."

Smiling down at him, Fluttershy placed a hand upon his head and began gently stroking it while softly singing him a lullaby. While it didn't have any words to it like the ones his mother would sing when he was a young colt, it didn't make it any less soothing, especially with Fluttershy's voice. After a few moments of listening to her and feeling the gentle motions of her hand, Dark felt sleep quickly approaching.

I know what she said about how this guy is probably a recreation of that pony, but I still can't help but feel like that isn't the case, he tiredly thought before feeling his body completely relaxed. But I can worry about that another time. For now, I'm going to sleep.

After a few minutes of singing and petting, Fluttershy stopped to hear a light, steady breathing coming from Dark. Smiling at seeing how he was peacefully sleeping, she got back up to head to bed, but was stopped when she saw Sunset watching from the staircase, leaning on the railing.

"You never cease to amaze me with your singing voice, Fluttershy," Sunset complimented.

"Oh, it was nothing, really," she humbly dismissed.

Sunset looked from her waking friend to the one sleeping on her couch. "So, nightmares huh?"

"You heard?"

"Some of it. You know, Fluttershy, as bad as this may sound, I don't think that he's being all that honest to us with who he is."

"How so?"

"What I mean is that I do believe what he's told us so far, but I also get the feeling that he isn't telling us everything. Especially after what Adagio said."

"Can you blame him though? After all, he's known us for barely over a day. Just give him some space and time to adjust and trust us. Then, if he feels more comfortable with us, he'll tell us what he's left out."

Letting that topic end for the night, Fluttershy bid Sunset a goodnight before making her way past her and back to her room. Turning around to head back to bed herself, Sunset paused and took one last look at Dark.

I should probably keep track of his nightmares, she thought. If this does happen again and turns out to be a recurring nightmare, then I may have to ask for some help with him.

Somewhere several miles away, a young man was sitting at his basement workbench. Laying before him were a collection of hunting knives, a shortsword, and a pair of freshly-cleaned pistols. A few weeks ago, he received a strange message some someone claiming to be him from another world. While he did call bull on him, a few choice words were all that was needed to convince him otherwise, especially after his other self told him about what was to come. Now, in the middle of the night, he received another message from him that a certain someone was somewhere nearby in his world. Taking the sword into his hand, the young man looked at it, reminiscing the last time he used it to kill someone who'd trusted him.

"I've killed you once before," he mused out loud before looking up to the clock on the wall with a sadistic grin, "and soon, I'll get to do it again."

Chapter 38- Unforeseen Consequences

It has been two days since the night Dark had told his story to his friends and the Dazzlings. Since then, he's continued attending Canterlot High and learning more about this world he was currently still stuck in. As promised to Principal Celestia and Vice-Principal Luna, Dark did his best to behave himself during school. Although, his accidentally creating napalm did cause the teachers to rethink the chemicals that they were provided. But while things at school were going fine, back at Sunset's house, things weren't so peaceful.

Like his first few nights of sleeping there, Dark's dreams were plagued by the thing in the black cloak. Every night it would come to Dark in a fog, each location being different and causing him to awaken, startled and panting for breath. And while most nights he would awaken with a startled gasp, this one was different. Waking up with a pained yell, Dark shot-up in his guest bed and clutched his left shoulder. Eyes widen in shock, Dark turned his head and saw that his left arm was still attached to him. Letting out a breath of relief, he was about to lay back down before Sunset burst through the door in her pajamas.

"Dark, I heard you shouting, what's happening?!" she worryingly asked.

Putting a hand to his forehead, Dark shook his head with a sigh. "Sorry about that, Sunset. It was just a bad dream."

Sighing herself in relief, Sunset took a seat at the foot of his bed. "Same one as before?"

"Yeah. It's been the same ever since I arrived here, but the locations are always different."

"Have you talked to anybody about it besides Fluttershy?"

"No. She thinks that it's my mind recreating the guy who sent me here, or something like that."

"While it does make sense, I think that it maybe something else." She paused as she noticed Dark's breathing had gotten under control again. "So, what happened."

"Huh?"

"Your nightmare tonight. Would you mind telling me what happened to cause you to be like that?"

"Sorry."

"Don't worry about it, just tell me what happened. You might start feeling better about it once you get it off your chest."

While Dark hesitated for a moment, he nodded to her. "Alright. Well, this place that I was in I've never seen before. But that didn't really matter much since soon after I started dreaming it, the fog formed around me and quickly became thick, signaling that that thing would be there soon. And like those other times, when I saw the shadow forming from behind me, I turned around to see him standing there. Only this time though, he was armed with a scythe made of bones."

"Wait," Sunset stopped him, "did you say that he had a scythe?"

"Yeah."

She slowly nodded. "Okay, what happened next?"

"He told me that I didn't belong here and raised his scythe before slicing off my left arm at the shoulder. And even though it was just a dream, it also felt real too, if that makes any sense."

"Yeah, it does," she slowly said. "So, do you know who this guy is?"

"No, I don't."

Sighing, Sunset looked at Dark straight in the eyes. "Alright then, tell me, with his scythe, what did this guy look like?"

"Not much really," he said with a small shrug. "He wears a tattered black cloak with a hood that leaves nothing of him to be seen."

"Anything else?"

"Besides that his hands are all bones, nothing."

"Are you saying that his hands are all thin and skinny, or are they skeletal bones?"

"Skeletal."

Understanding, Sunset gave a nod. "In that case, the one who you've been having these reoccurring dreams of is the Grim Reaper."

"The who now?"

"It's a name that I've spotted here and there. Basically, he's this world's Incarnation of Death."

So he's like me and Nocturne, Dark mentally concluded. "So then, that's his name?"

"The Grim Reaper is one of his names actually. He also goes by 'The Angel of Death', 'Death', and a few others."

"Alright, I understand that, but what is he exactly? Is he a human like us?"

"Nah. From what I understand, he's some kind of spirit."

"Oh. Okay then."

Sunset paused as she looked at him, noticing how calm about this he was. When she'd first found out about it, she didn't take it quite as well. As she continued to think about it, she remembered her talk with Fluttershy about Dark possibly holding some of the truth about himself back.

"Hey, Dark?"

"Hmm?"

"... can I ask you something?"

"Sure, go ahead."

Sitting herself more comfortably on the bed, Sunset turned and squared herself with Dark.

"Have... well... have you been holding back?"

Confused, Dark cocked an eyebrow. "About what?"

"About what you've told us about yourself. Don't take this the wrong way, but I just feel like you've been keeping secrets about yourself is all."

Knowing she was right, Dark nodded in agreement. "Yes, I suppose that I am."

"Alright. So, would you mind telling me what it is that you've been hiding from us?"

"That depends."

"On what?"

"On whether or not you'll see me differently if I do."

"... is it really that bad?"

"Well... no, not really. At least, not to me it isn't. Look, the reason why I haven told you or the girls is because I don't want you to all fear me."

"Why would we fear you?" she inquisitively asked. "You seem like a nice enough guy. Heck, ever since you've been here, you've been offering to help around the house in whatever way you could."

"I know, but it still worries me."

"Well, considering that I was once a raging she-demon, I doubt that it can be that bad."

Dark sighed. "Very well then. Since you seem to be insistent on this, I'll tell you. In short and in comparison, I'm Equestria's version of the Grim Reaper."

Now it was Sunset's turn to be confused. "Equestria's Grim Reaper? What does that mean."

"Have you heard of the Scaleless Dragons?"

"No, I haven't."

"Okay, short story is that they're each one of six living incarnations of nature. They represent Earth, Water, Fire, Air, Light and Life, Shadow and Death, and guess which one I am."

"Wait," Sunset said, beginning to realize where he was going with this, "are you saying that you're Death?"

"In a sense. Remember the dragon that I told you about?"

"You mean the one that attacked your village and is now living within you, yes."

"He was the Incarnation of Death. When he turned me from a pony into a kirin, he also inadvertently made me his successor."

Sunset got off the bed and took a step back. "Are you serious about this?"

"And this is exactly why I didn't want to tell you," he said dishearteningly.

"I'll admit, this is a bit to take in. But if this is really the case, then why didn't I die when I touched you?"

"Come again?"

"It's rumored that those touched by Death will die on the spot. So if that's the case, then why am I still alive?"

"Besides it being a rumor, I'm also from Equestria, so I doubt that it applies to me."

"Okay, but what does this mean for you? Like, what's your job with being Equestria's Death?"

"As far as I know, it's just a name and nothing more."

"So, you don't go around reaping the souls of the dead?"

"What? No! I've been working on Applejack's farm and will soon be working at my own forge. There isn't anything more that I do as the Incarnation of Death. At least, not that I've been told of anyway. Although, I have gained some new powers."

"... and now?"

"Now nothing. Here in this world, I'm trying to be patient and live like you do until I can go home. As for Equestria, I'm just trying to live a peaceful life away from the fighting that I've grown to know so well."

"So you're not going to hurt us?"

Dark visibly flinched, a little hurt by her words. "Of course I wouldn't. Besides having no reason to, you and the others are my friends. That, and I haven't given you or them a reason to suspect that I would, have I?"

"Well... no." Sunset sighed as she rubbed her tired eyes. "I'm sorry, I just wasn't expecting this sort of answer is all."

"It's alright. Things considered, you're handling this a little better than I'd hoped for."

"Probably because I'm originally from Equestria too."

"I guess."

"Well, thanks for being honest and telling me," she thanked.

"You're welcome. Just, please don't tell the others," Dark requested.

"Sure. But while I won't tell them, you probably should."

"Do you think they'll take it well?"

"It's hard to say for some, but I'm sure they'll understand. Now then, even though it's a Friday night, it's late and we should be getting back to sleep. Is there anything that I can do while I'm still awake?"

"Thank you, Sunset, but you've done plenty by checking in on me and just talking to me."

"Alright then. Hope you have a good rest of the night."

Morning came around all too soon for Dark as he got up. While he didn't have anymore dreams that night, the effect of the one he did have still lingered. Throwing his shirt and waist cape back on, he made his way into the bathroom to freshen up before heading on down to the kitchen to make him and Sunset something to eat. When he got down there though, he was surprised to see that Sunset was already at the stove cooking breakfast. Hearing him walking in, she turned around to greet him.

"Good morning. Did you sleep well after our talk?"

"Yeah, and thank you again for doing that," he thanked. "By the way, why are you up so early?"

"I just thought that I'd make some breakfast for a change instead of letting you do it. Don't get me wrong now, the food that you make is delicious, but I also like to cook every once and a while. That, and I figured that you could use a small break after last night's dream."

Sighing, Dark took a seat at the table. "Well, you wouldn't be wrong there."

"Good, because breakfast is ready."

Filling up a plate, Sunset brought it over and placed it in front of Dark. Looking at it, he saw that it was a delicious meal of two over easy eggs, hash browns, and three pieces of strange food that he'd never seen before. Pouring himself a glass of milk, Dark waited for Sunset to join him before the two dug-in. Quickly, Dark practically inhaled the eggs and hash browns, leaving only the three unknown foods left. Curious, he plucked one with his fork and took an experimental bite of it. Chewing, he found that it tasted rather well. That was, until he tried it with some syrup. Deciding that this was easily one of the best things he'd ever eaten, he quickly started on his second one, unaware of Sunset watching him.

"Wow, I didn't know you like sausage so much," she commented.

"What's a sausage?" Dark questioned.

Realizing that Dark probably didn't know what it was that he was eating, Sunset gave him a nervous look.

"... do you really wanna know?"

"Sure. Whatever it is, it's delicious," he said, about to start on his last piece.

"Well, if your sure. Sausage is basically a piece of meat. Usually pork, beef, or even poultry at times."

Hearing this, Dark froze in mid-bite with wide eyes. "You're saying that I'm eating a pig?"

Sunset meekly rubbed the back of her head. "Umm... yes?"

Surprised by her answer, Dark didn't move as he was wondering how something that tasted so good could come from a living animal. Granted that pigs in Equestria weren't exactly sapient like the cows were, but that didn't change the fact that he was eating meat. As he continued to think on this, his jaw absentmindedly and slowly resumed chewing the piece of meaty goodness before swallowing it.

"How can something like a pig taste so good?" he quietly asked. "And how can you eat it? You were a pony once!"

"Well, I did say that humans are omnivores. And besides, after living in this world with them for a while, you start to pick-up on things. Also, you said that you were part dragon, right?"

"Yeah?"

"Well, you know that dragons do eat meat, right?"

"Yeah, I knew that. But what does that have to do with how I find this sausage meat so good? And why am I so calm about it?"

"This is just a guess, but perhaps it's from your dragon side. Being part dragon, maybe the thought of eating meat isn't that big of a deal to you. Even if this is your first time eating it." Sunset raised an eyebrow. "This is the first time you've eaten meat, right? You've never eaten chicken, cows, pork, or even a pony before?"

"Define eaten pony," Dark absentmindedly said before slapping a hand over his mouth, realizing what he'd just said as he saw Sunset looking at him with bulging eyes and her mouth gaping. "I can't believe I said that out loud."

"... Dark," she slowly began with a maddening blush, "do I even want to know what you meant by that?"

"I'd say 'probably not', but by the look of your face, I'd say that you already seem to have an idea."

"... yeah."

"Just... could you do me a favor and please not mention what I said to anybody?"

"Sure. And besides, just think of what the girls would do if they heard it, especially our world's Twilight."

Dark cringed at the thought. "If I had to guess, Fluttershy would faint, Rarity would scold me, Pinkie would probably be grinning like a madmare, Applejack would hogtie me, Rainbow would probably either give me a shit-eating grin and tease me, or kick me in the nuts, and Twilight... well, knowing this version of her, it's hard to say."

"If I had to guess, she'd either pass out from the thought playing through her head, book it out of there, or smack you in the face."

"Okay, so we'll just not talk about it to them then?"

"Yep. I'll never tell the girls about what was said here this morning." Sunset paused as a wicked smirk formed. "But, as for Princess Twilight, I may or may not have a little fun with her with this information."

Dark's eyes widened in worry. "You wouldn't. You promised that you wouldn't tell."

"Maybe, maybe not. It's rather hard to say. And besides, I promised not to tell anybody, not anypony."

"But I though you said that you didn't do stuff like that anymore?"

"What can I say? Old habits die hard."

"That's a poor excuse and you know it."

Sunset just shrugged. "I know, but it's still fun. But enough of that, we're heading on out in a bit to meet up with the girls at Sugarcube Corner."

This caught Dark's attention. "You mean there's a Sugarcube Corner here in this world?"

"Yep. I thought that you would've figured that since this world is similar to Equestria, minus the obvious of course."

"I did, but not everything here is the same as Equestria. For example, Celestia and Luna aren't princesses, but principal and vice-principal of a high school. That, and this world's version of me died in Stonewall, where as I didn't in mine."

"I can see your point, but still, we'll be off to Sugarcube corner in a bit. After that, then we're off to the mall."

It was a little after 11:00A.M. when Sunset and Dark walked into Sugarcube corner. While the building itself looked more tame than what Dark noticed it was back in Equestria, the smells coming from within weren't much different. Even seeing the humanized Mr. and Mrs. Cake working the counter brought a sense of familiarity to him. As they made their way further into the establishment, they could see their friends sitting at a couch by one of the walls.

"Hey, you two," Pinkie waved. "Go on ahead and get something. It's already taken care of."

"Thanks, Pinkie," Sunset and Dark thanked, making their way to the counter to place their order.

"Oh, hello, Sunset," Mrs. Cake warmly welcomed. "What can I get for you today?"

"Hello, Mrs. Cake. Could I get a strawberry milkshake please?"

"Of course, dearie," she said before looking at Dark. "And who might this young man be?"

"His name is Dark, and he's sorta new in town."

"Well then, welcome to Sugarcube Corner."

"Thank you, Mrs. Cake," Dark thanked.

"So, what can I get for you today?"

"Hmm. While I'm good for a doughnut or cupcake, I'm curious as to what a milkshake is like."

"What!" Pinkie shouted before popping up behind him. "Are you saying that you've never had a milkshake before?!"

"Umm... yes?"

Gasping, Pinkie grabbed the collar of Dark's jacket and pulled his face dangerously close to hers.

"Why haven't you had a milkshake before?!"

"Because I've never even heard of it back in my hometown."

"No, no, no, no, no! This will not do! Not at all! Mrs. Cake, get Darky here a large- what kind of flavor do you want?"

"What is there?"

"Oh, there's vanilla, banana, strawberry, raspberry, blueberry, chocolate-"

"Chocolate please."

"Alrighty then. Mrs. Cake? Can we get Darky here a large chocolate milkshake please?"

"Of course, Pinkie," Mrs. Cake giggled before turning around to go make it.

While she was away, Sunset began explaining to Dark what a milkshake was exactly, to which he started looking forward to drinking. A few minutes later, Mrs. Cake had the two milkshakes setting out for Sunset and Dark. Taking their respective cups, they both made their way over to some nearby seats alongside their friends.

"I still can't believe that you've never had a milkshake before," Pinkie complained crossed arms.

"Can you blame me though?" Dark questioned. "After all, how would we even be able to make these when the heat from the dragon's fire would've melted the ice-cream? I mean, seriously, not even a heat-resistant spell or cooling spell would've been able to save it."

"Yeah, I guess that would make it kinda hard to make."

Looking down to the large glass cup in his hands, Dark took a sip of it through the straw provided with it. Tasting the cold drink, Dark's eyes widened as his taste buds danced joyfully. Closing his eyes, he moaned with how good it tasted as he began to hastily slurp at it, which soon caused the girls to look at him, knowing what would happened if he continued.

"Uhh, hey, Dark?" Rainbow spoke. "I know that it's good and all, but you might wanna slow down there."

Looking up to her, Dark gave her a questioning look as he continued to consume his chocolaty goodness. But before he could ask her what she meant, he then felt it. Snapping his eyes wide open, Dark clutched the side of his head as he felt as though someone had driven a frozen spike into his skull.

"GAHH! What is this?! What's happening to me?!" he shouted.

Sighing, Rainbow returned to her snack as she and the others watched Dark in pity as he reeled in pain.

"Oh, that's what's called a brain freeze," Pinkie explained. "It's what happens when you eat too much ice-cream too quickly."

"Why didn't you tell me this sooner?!"

"... oops?" she shrugged with a nervous chuckle.

Almost a minute later, the pain had subsided enough for Dark to think straight. "Why is it that something so good can hurt so much?"

"Just think of it as a way for you to not overindulge yourself," Sunset told him.

Groaning, Dark looked back down to his chocolate milkshake, hesitant to take another drink from it. But after a little encouragement from the girls, he took another sip of it, though was careful with now knowing what would happened if he drank too much that quickly again. Keeping to himself for now, he listened as the girls talked with each other until Fluttershy turned her attention towards him.

"Um, Dark?"

"Yeah?"

"I was wondering, how have you been sleeping lately? You know, since your nightmare from that one night."

Sighing, Dark shook his head. "Turns out that I haven't had a goodnight's sleep since I got here."

"Why ever not?" Rarity asked, getting into this conversation.

"Ever since I got here, I've been having nightmares."

"What of?"

"From what I've described to Sunset, she says that it's someone called Death."

Hearing that name, the others ceased their talking and redirected their attention towards him.

"Hold up for a sec," Rainbow spoke up, "are you talking about the 'Grim Reaper' Death?"

"He is," Sunset nodded.

"But why would he be dreaming of someone fictional like that?" Twilight asked.

"Twilight, you go to a school that's housing mythical creatures-turned-human and have yourself had a taste of powerful magic. Magic, of which, that you used to tear several dimensional rifts to Equestria with. So, why is it that you would believe all of that, but dismiss that Death is an actual being?"

"... okay, you make a valid point there."

"But why would Dark be dreamin' of him if he's never heard of him before?" Applejack asked.

"I don't really know, but every time I see him, he would tell me that I don't belong here, or something close to that," Dark explained.

"Does he know about what you are?" Sunset wondered.

"If he does, then he hasn't said anything about it. From what I've seen so far, it would seem like he just knows that I don't belong in this world and is wanting me to return home."

"So what? Just tell him that you can't until the portal gets fixed," Rainbow told him.

"Or unless we let Twilight go mad with magical power again and we let her go at it like last time," Pinkie joked, getting an annoyed glare from Twilight.

"If I remember, then I'll tell him," Dark said. "But the last time that I saw him, he seemed like he was wanting to get rid of me personally by cutting-off my arm with his scythe." Letting a tired sigh escape him, Dark shook his head. "If ever there was a time where I would wish for Princess Luna's help with my dreams, it would be now. Even if I would have to deal with her teasing me and my relationship."

"Well, while I may not be able to help you with your dreams," Rarity began, "perhaps I could help you with some tea to ease your nerves before you head on off to bed tonight?"

"Thanks, Rarity, but you don't have to do that."

"Nonsense. After all, I myself would have troubles going to sleep if I knew that I'd be looking forward to dreaming of something like that each night."

"Alright, if you say so. Also, when this is all over with, I'll be sure to pay you back for the tea. Same to you, Sunset. When I get home, I'll make sure to pay you back for the food and other stuff."

"Oh, you don't need to do that."

"Yeah, Dark," Sunset agreed. "It's really not that big of a deal."

"Still though, I don't want you girls to think that I'm just mooching off of you while I'm here. So, like I said, I'll pay both of you back what you feel like I owe you. Speaking of which, Sunset, what's the exchange rate from Equestrian bits to this world's money?"

Looking slightly nervous, Sunset leaned in close to Dark and whispered to him what it was for her when she first arrived in this world. Surprised by the number, Dark jerked his head back.

"Are you sure you're right about that? That number seems rather ridiculous to me."

"Not really when you consider how pure Equestrian gold is compared to that of this world's. Also, now that I think about it, I think that the price for gold has actually increased, so if you wanted, you could get a really good price for just one bit."

"How much are you talking about exactly?" Rainbow asked.

"That, I don't think I should be telling you girls."

"What?! Why not?!"

"Because, if I did, you'd be tempted to go through the portal after it's fixed to get yourself some easy money. So no, I won't tell you. This is more for your own sake than anything else."

"Yeah, I'm gonna have to agree with Sunset on this one," Dark said. "Besides, that would leave less bits in Equestria. And even though it would only be a little here and there and wouldn't be noticed, if we did allow it and it continued, then those little bits of missing bits would quickly start to show."

"Not only that, but we would also have to answer to the princesses why their world's currency was starting to end up here in this world."

"Which would only make it worse since there would be no currency returning back to Equestria," Twilight chimed.

"That too," Dark nodded before downing the last of his milkshake.

"Well, while all this talk about economics is interesting and all, I believe that we have a date at the mall," Rarity reminded them.

"Oh, right. I'm actually excited to see this mall."

"Wait a moment, have you never been to a mall before?"

"... no?"

"In that case, let us not waste anymore time," she said as she grabbed Dark and nearly dragged him out of the establishment. "Ohh, there's so much for you to see! The stores, the crowds, the lights, the stores!"

"You said stores twice."

"I know! That's because their are so many of them! Now, less talking and more driving."

Being dragged behind her, Dark followed Rarity to a vehicle that Sunset had told him was called a car. Taking his seat and following Rarity's instructions, Dark managed to put on his seatbelt as Rainbow, Sunset, and Twilight sat in the back. Once they were all seated in, Dark looked over to see Rarity fiddling with a strange key before sliding it into a slot and turning it, causing the car to rumble and for Dark to jump slightly in surprise.

"Are you sure that this is safe?" Dark nervously questioned.

"Oh, don't you worry about it, darling," Rarity dismissed. "I'll be safe and take it nice and slow. Now, if it were Rainbow Dash who was driving, then we might be in a bit of trouble."

"For the tenth time, Rarity, it was just one time!" Rainbow retorted. "Besides, I wasn't going that fast."

"You were going ninety miles per hour in a fifty-five speed limit zone!"

A half-hour drive later, Dark and the girls were standing in front of the front doors to the Canterlot Mall. But while this wasn't anything new to the girls, Dark just stood there, taking in the sheer size of the building.

"This is ridiculously stupid!" he exclaimed, throwing his arms in the air in exaggeration.

"What is?" Sunset asked.

"Just the size of this thing! I swear, this thing is easily big enough to fit all of Ponyville in it, and probably even most of Sweet Apple Acres!"

"I don't know about that. I mean, from what I've heard, this isn't even the biggest mall."

"... what?"

"It's true," Twilight agreed. "There are at least three bigger malls in this country alone, and about twelve others world-wide."

"... you and your technological advancements, I swear. And this is all just for shopping?"

"Well, there are some that have a built-in hotel. Actually, this one has a hotel that's connected to it via skywalk."

"A sky what now?"

"It's basically an enclosed bridge for humans to cross with windows on the sides that you can look through."

"Why doesn't Equestria have these things?" Dark pouted to Sunset, causing her to giggle before leading them inside.

Following her and the girls in, Dark saw the busy insides of the mall. As far as he could see, there were easily hundreds if not thousands of people walking around, weird stairs that moved on their own that were carrying people, three floors filled with all different kinds of shops, and from what he could smell, food. As he began to figure out where they would be going to first in this chaotic mess, he felt someone pulling on his arm. Regaining his balance, he looked expecting to see Sunset, but instead found that it was Rarity instead.

"Come along, darling. We wouldn't want for you to get lost in here now would we?"

"Heh, I suppose not."

Walking together, their first stop was a clothing store as requested by Rarity and Fluttershy, much to Rainbow's annoyance as she didn't want to be anywhere near there. Their stay there wasn't for long though as they were finished after only an hour of trying on different clothes. Clothes, of which were bagged that Dark would be hauling around for them by him offering to do so. Next up was the sporting goods store where Rainbow bought a new soccer ball and some new shorts for her gym class.

Noticing the time, the eight made their way to the food court where they ordered a pair of large pizzas to share. Upon its arrival, they all began devouring it. Even Rarity seemed to eat it with extra haste. After his second piece though, Dark asked what was in them that tasted so good and somewhat familiar with his answer being pizza dough, tomato sauce, cheese, and much like his breakfast, meat. But while the girls were all looking at Dark in worry for the meat that they'd just fed him, he just shrugged and started on another slice, not really caring anymore at this point seeing as how far deep he was into it and dispelling any more worry and guilt the girls might've felt.

Their lunch finished, they continued onto their next destination. Following Sunset and Twilight, they entered a store for astronomy and other science stuff that Dark didn't know much about. Much like Rainbow though, the two girls were quick about their business, knowing exactly what books they came for. Finally, it was Pinkie's turn to lead them. After a good twenty minute walk, they came to the party store where she was in and out in less than a minute with six bags filled to the brim with her party supplies. Thankfully for Dark, the bags weren't all that heavy. But despite their lack of weight, they still added onto the already heavy load he was carrying around for the girls with some strain.

Just keep it together, you can do this, he encouragingly thought. Besides, it's a good workout for you.

"So, Dark, anywhere you would like to go?" Sunset asked.

"Thanks, but I'm good," he said with a slight strain to his voice.

"Oh, don't be silly now," Rarity said, "we're at the mall after all. Surely there's something that you need or would like. Perhaps a new pair of clothes or two?"

"Thank you for the offer, but I'm good. Besides, I don't think that I'll be in this world for much longer, so new clothes wouldn't be of much use, and I doubt that I can just bring them back to Equestria with me and wear them as a kirin."

"I suppose it would be problematic, but my offer still stands." she paused as a thought came to mind. "Idea! I did say something about some tea to help you sleep, yes?"

"Yes, you did."

"Well then, I know of this little tea store that'll have the perfect tea for you. Now come along."

Seeing how arguing with her would be pointless with her already skipping away, Dark dragged on behind. The store Rarity sought was thankfully near the entrance that they came from though, making their trip back to the parking lot that much easier. With the last of their stops for the day finished, and with the time it was getting, the girls decided that to head on over to Sunset's place after dropping off their purchases, much to Dark's enjoyment.

Walking into the parking lot, Dark returned Applejack's, Fluttershy's, and Pinkie's items before placing the others in the trunk of Rarity's car, making sure to be careful to not accidentally squish anything. Finally free of his burden, Dark lazily flopped himself down in the passenger seat with a relieved sigh.

"So, Dark," Rainbow began as she got herself seated, "how was your first time at the mall?"

"Well, it was definitely an experience. Though I'm sure that there's still plenty of that mall that I haven't seen yet."

"You're right about that. Maybe next time we can all go to the amusement park and ride the rollercoaster."

Dark shook his head in disbelief. "Of course it would have something like that."

"While I'm not really one for such rides, I wouldn't mind going shopping there again," Rarity said as she buckled herself in. "Oh, and speaking of which, thank you, Dark, for carrying our bags for us."

"You're welcome."

"While we're happy that you did, I am sorry that you had to do that for all of us," Twilight apologized.

"Don't worry about it. After all, I did offer it to you girls in the end."

Happy with how things turned out, Rarity drove out of the parking lot with Pinkie's car right behind her, and made their way to take care of their things. However, unknown to them was a set of eyes that had been watching them.

Sitting on his motorcycle, a middle-aged man watched as the two cars drove out of the mall's parking lot. While he would seem like a normal biker with his helmet in his hand and the leather clothes he wore, what made him different was the fact that on the back of his leather jacket was a dragon. Reaching into his pocket, he dialed in a number and held the phone up to his ear, waiting a few rings until the person on the other end answered.

"What is it?" the other guy impatiently asked.

"I found them," the biker told him. "Should I go on ahead and finish him off?"

"NO! He's mine to deal with! For now, you are to follow them and find out where he's staying. Remember, be silent and patient. Once we know where he lives and figure out his schedule, I'll need a day to prepare before we engage him. That, and I'd also like to sharpen my blades before I begin."

"... I still don't know why the boss allowed you to join us, even if it's just as an honorary member."

"Because I did what Inferno and the rest of you guys could not, that's why!" he snapped. "Now shut up and follow him! As patient as I am, I want to personally kill him before the end of this coming week."

In Equestria, Celestia was sitting on her throne as the last few minutes of open court dwindled away. As things began to quiet down, she levitated a familiar crystal and began pouring her magic into it, causing a projection screen to appear above it. Though it was gray with snow at first, she didn't have to wait long before the screen was showing Twilight in her castle.

"Hello, Princess," she warmly greeted. "Anything that I can help you with?"

"Hello, Twilight," Celestia warmly returned. "You're looking much better than when I left you."

"I guess. I'm still a little worried, but at lest I know where Dark is now, and the support that the girls have been showing me have been a big help too. Oh, speaking of help, thank you again for sending those engineers over here to assist me."

"You're welcome. I was actually wondering about that. How are things there coming along?"

"Well..." she slowly said, nervously rubbing her front hooves together. "You see, there's good news, and there's bad news."

"Okay, I'm listening."

"Alright, so the good news is that the portal isn't damaged or anything. As far as we know, it's functioning just fine."

"And the bad news?"

"See, that's the thing. Even though the portal is functioning properly, something is interfering with it. We found out the day after the team was sent here and have since then been trying to track the magical signal of whatever is that's doing this."

"This sounds almost like an act of sabotage."

"But I don't get it though," Twilight said confused. "Besides my friends, Spike, the magical engineers, and us princesses, nopony else knows about the portal."

"Well, there was one group of ponies who were repairing it when it got damaged during it's transfer to your castle, but that was done mostly by the same team that you have with you."

"So we've got no leads then."

"I'm sorry, Twilight, but it would appear so. Do you at least know what it is that's causing the interference with the portal?"

"What we were able to get was that it's some kind of jammer that's both blocking the portal, and masking its magic. But judging by the magic that was scanned from where Dark was transported from, it's a weaker version of it. So, unless I can get within a few feet of it, we can't even begin to start searching for its location. Besides that, we don't even know what it looks like. As far as I know, it could be anything as small as a pocket watch, to something as big as an airship."

"This is unfortunate to hear, but I do hope that you won't give up on this, Twilight."

"Of course I'm not! It may not be much, but at lest we know somewhat of what it is that we're looking for."

"Good to know. And while you're busy over there, I'll continue to do what I can over here to help. Just... please don't do anything too rash now. I don't want you to go on ahead and accidentally tear open a dimensional rift."

"... you know, that doesn't sound like that bad of an-"

"Don't even think about it," Celestia firmly interrupted her. "I know that you want him back, Twilight, but you can't just go and tear open the fabrics of time and space like that. And besides the damage you would be causing, you wouldn't even know if you'd get the correct one. As far as I know, you could accidentally enter into another dimension where Luna and I are evil dictators, and King Sombra is actually a charming gentlecolt."

Twilight cringed at the possibility of seeing her mentor and Luna like that. That, and the thought of Sombra being a good guy just didn't seem right to her, or even possible. She was about to say something to Celestia when she heard the doors to Celestia's throne room open.

Turning her attention from the image of Twilight, Celestia peeked over to the massive doors to see Iron Guard running towards her with a look of panic on his face and with a scroll held in his aura. Once he got to the foot of the dais, he bowed briefly before looking back up to her.

"Captain, is something wrong?" Celestia asked.

"Sorry to say that there is, Princess," he said before noticing who was on the screen. "Good afternoon, Princess Twilight."

"Hello again, Captain," she returned with a wave.

"While I'm sorry to hear about what happened to Dark, this new news is vitally important."

"What is it?" Celestia wondered.

"It's- well- just look!"

Curious as to what could make her captain so nervous, Celestia took the scroll from Iron Guard and began reading it over. As she continued reading it however, her eyes slowly began to widen. After reading it a few more times, she looked back to Iron Guard.

"Is this some kind of joke?"

"I wish that it was, Your Highness, but I saw it for myself," he answered her, shaking his head. "Even now I'm having a hard time believing it."

"Princess? What's going on?" Twilight asked.

"Guards!" Celestia shouted. "Go fetch my sister and tell her that I need her to meet us in the throne room, now!"

Her urgency being clear, the two guards by the doors promptly made their way out towards Luna's bedroom. Once they left, Celestia focused her magic back onto the crystal, trying to get ahold of another.

"Come on, pick up, pick up, pick up," she muttered under her breath before an image of Cadence showed up alongside the one of Twilight. "Cadence, good, you're there."

"Is something wrong, Aunty Celestia?" Cadence asked. "You've never pinged for me like that before."

"There is, but we need to wait for-" Celestia was cut-off by a flash of light from Luna teleporting up alongside her. "Good, now everypony is here."

"What's the meaning of this, sister?" Luna groggily demanded. "You know that I don't like to be awoken early from my sleep."

"Considering that you did it to me not long ago, I'd think that this is a rather fair trade."

"But that was important."

"As is this," Celestia returned, levitating the report in front of her. "According to Captain Iron Guard here, we're getting reports of a lack of deaths lately."

"But isn't that a good thing?" Twilight questioned.

"It would, but this is different. Captain, perhaps you should take over from here?"

"Yes, Princess," he said, stepping up, present himself better to the two princesses on the screen. "According to the report, nopony has died these last few days. But this news isn't just from here in Canterlot, but I've been getting reports from Manehatten, Las Pegasus, Dodge Junction, and even Baltimare. All over Equestria, nopony has died. At least, not in the way that they should."

"What are you talking about, Captain?" Cadence wondered.

"Basically, nopony had died because they can't die."

"How is this possible?" Luna asked as she began reading over the report herself.

"From what I've seen, ponies that should be dead from either age, disease, or some form of injury, are up walking around without a heartbeat. The doctors have checked and rechecked their works, but those that have no heartbeat are still moving."

"Captain, the way you're saying this makes it sound like they're zombies," Cadence observed.

"Yes, I suppose that would be one way of putting it. Or, at least the living dead."

If Spike ever catches wind about this, then I'll never hear the end of it, Twilight mentally groaned. "Okay, so we have ponies who should be dead up and about. What do you propose we should do?"

"Quarantine them," Iron Guard said bluntly. "We'll keep those that should be dead away from those that are still living while also keeping the news of this from spreading anymore than it already has. The last thing we want is for the ponies of Equestria to think that it's the beginning of a zombie apocalypse."

"Do you know of when this first started?"

"According to this report," Luna spoke, "the first sighting was documented four days ago, just after sunset."

Twilight's eyes widened. "You mean right after Dark was sent away, right?"

"Twilight, where are you going with this?" Celestia asked.

"Dark is the Lord of Death, right? So, what does that imply exactly? I know that you said to me at his party, Princess, that it was just a title, but if what I'm hearing is true, then it can't be just that anymore."

"Wait," Luna interrupted, now starting to realize what Twilight is getting at, "you're not saying what I think you are, are you?"

"I am," Twilight nodded. "This is just too coincidental to not notice. As soon as Dark went missing from our world, everypony just stopped dying."

"So, unless we get Dark back here to Equestria, nopony will die."

"And over time, undead ponies will start freely roaming," Cadence added.

"That's not all though," Iron Guard said. "It turns out that there's been activity in the local graveyards. Some of the spirits that haven't passed onto the afterlife are rising from their graves. I've already sent a team of unicorns to suppress them, but I don't know how long they'll last."

"So, we've got ghosts rising from their graves and dead ponies who are still walking amongst the living," Celestia summarized, her face turning stoic before turning to Twilight. "Twilight, I'm sending you every magical expert I have to assist you in finding that jammer. If we're to avoid Equestria from being overrun by the undead, then we're going to need to get Dark back here as soon as possible. In the meantime, I'm ordering every available guard to do a sweep through Canterlot to search of this jammer and the one responsible."

"I'll go to the hospital up here and warn them after we're done then," Cadence said.

"Me too," Twilight agreed. "And don't forget about the retirement homes too."

"A good reminder, Twilight," Celestia complimented. "Now, besides us five and those others who'll be involved, nopony else is to know about what's going on. Like Captain Iron Guard said before, the last thing that we want is for the general public to find out about this."

Chapter 39- Progress and Problems

It was early Tuesday morning as Dark laid asleep in his guest bed. Ever since Rarity bought that tea for him during their trip to the mall, Dark's felt more relaxed before heading to bed, along with his dreams being clear of Death's presence. At the moment, Dark was dreaming of him and Twilight laying on one of the grassy hills as they watched the sunset together with a wing draped over her. Holding her close, Dark lovingly nuzzled her as she leaned her head up against his side. Feeling at peace, Dark didn't want for this moment to end, but someone else had other plans for him.

Opening his eyes, Dark saw that Twilight had suddenly vanished from his side and was now alone on top of the hill. As he began getting back up, he started to notice that he wasn't a kirin like he was a moment ago, but was back to being a human. Turning around to see where Twilight had disappeared to, he began looking out for her. That was, until he saw a familiar form overshadowing him. Giving an annoyed snort, Dark turned to face the unwelcomed visitor.

"What do you want now, Death?"

"You know of me." he said, his voice just as haunting as ever.

"I had some help figuring out who and what you are."

"Even though you know this, you still remain in this world that you don't belong."

"Hey, it's not my fault that I'm here. And besides that, I can't return to my home world until the portal back there is fixed."

"So, you're stuck here then?"

"Yes."

"Regardless, your presence here is displeasing to me."

"Why? Is it because this world's version of me is dead?"

"That would be the case, yes." Death answered before summoning his scythe.

"Are you going to try killing me again?"

"If that's what it takes for you to leave, then yes."

"Will you quit being stubborn about this? Seriously, I want to go home just as much as you want me gone from this world, but like I said, until whatever is wrong with the portal is fixed, I'm stuck here."

"Not my problem."

Gliding over to Dark, Death raised his scythe above his head, ready to swing it down upon him again. But as he got closer, Dark had had enough of this. With this being his dream, he conjured his Death Reaver in his right hand and raised it to block Death's scythe that he'd started swinging.

"Oh? So you would challenge Death?"

"It wouldn't be the first time," Dark returned as he pushed the scythe off of his sword and followed it up with a swing, forcing Death to glide back away from him. "But if it's all the same, I'd rather not have to fight you, so I'd like to make a request of you."

"That being?"

"All I want is for you to stop bothering me when I'm dreaming until I can return home, so I can have a goodnight's sleep without having to dream or worry about dreaming of you. Besides, I'm a little pissed right now that you interrupted that dream I was just having, especially since I haven't seen her in a week from today."

"And why would I do that?"

"Because I asked nicely?"

"Do you honestly believe that I, Death, would just say 'yes' because you asked me nicely?"

"Well, it worked for my world's version of you, and still does."

"And if I chose to not leave you alone?"

"Then I'll fight you here and now. And right now, since you're in my dream and I'm fully aware of you now, I can manipulate this dream to benefit me in any way I see fit to defeat you."

"You're bluffing."

Using his dream, Dark empowered his sword with what would've been his magic, causing its blade to be shrouded by a blade made of shadows.

"Care to test that?"

Silently, Death lowered his scythe and floated back farther away from Dark.

"It would appear that my attempts at scaring you off have now become fruitless."

"So you'll stop bothering me while I sleep?"

"If you're to use your dreams against me, then I can't do much more to you." A pair of pale-blue eyes began to glow brightly beneath his hood. "With that said, if I can't send you away through your dreams, then I'll just have to come and find you in person."

"I'll be sure to have the tea and biscuits ready when you get here," Dark joked.

"You may mock me now, but when we meet again, you will die."

With those last words, Death faded from Dark's dream, returning it to the way it was before he came in. Seeing that he was a kirin again and that Twilight was there with him, Dark put his thoughts of Death's threat off to the side and decided to try and enjoy his time with Twilight, even if this was just a dream.

Waking up with the rising sun, Dark was happy that Death had decided to leave him be, even though it ended with a threat. Still though, the thought of him being able to sleep peacefully again was enough in itself to give Dark an extra spring in his step as he made his way down to Sunset's kitchen and quickly made the two of them something to eat before school started. Happily humming to himself, he moved quickly and fluently as he went about the kitchen. Not long later, he sat the two plates down just as Sunset walked in.

"Good morning~" Dark sang, causing Sunset to pause for a moment.

"Well, someone's in a good mood today," she noticed.

"Yep. Saw Death in my dream last night and talked to him like Rainbow said."

"And it worked just like that?" she questioned as she and Dark too their seats at the table.

"Well, not quite. It took some pushing back and some... chosen words, to make him leave me be."

"From the way you're saying it, I'm doubting that he took it very well."

"He threatened to kill me in person," Dark nonchalantly said with a shrug.

"He what?!"

"What? I've done it before with Nocturne."

"But you were back in Equestria and had your magic! Here, you don't!"

"... okay, so maybe mistakes were made."

"Yeah, you just pissed-off the freaking Grim Reaper, and now he's personally coming for you." Sunset paused and took a gulp of her milk. "Does he at least know that you're Equestria's version of him?"

"If he does, then he hasn't shown any signs of it."

"Is it even possible for two Incarnations of Death to kill each other?"

"It is," Dark nodded. "From my understanding, only death and holy, or light magic if you prefer to call it, can truly kill us. Of course, since I don't have any magic here like you said, I'm willing to bet that I'm more vulnerable than he is."

"No duh, Sherlock."

The two ate in relative silence for a few minutes before Dark spoke back up.

"So, any news from Twilight?"

"As it turns out, there is," Sunset answered. "They found out that the portal itself is working just fine. The problem that they're dealing with is that somewhere in Equestria, somepony has a jammer that's interfering with the portal."

"If I had to guess, I'd say that the pony who has this jammer is the same one that attacked me. You know, since that amulet he had was what sent me here in the first place."

"Yeah, I was thinking that too."

"Just sucks that I saw him from behind and could only get a glimpse of his mane and horn."

"Well, you did say that his horn was curved and was white with a blue tip. How many unicorns are there that could have a horn as unique as that?"

"The only pony who would have a horn similar to that would be King Sombra, but his was black with a red tip."

"Still though, I'm sure that he'd stick out like a sore thumb, so it shouldn't be long before they find him."

"I hope so," he sighed. "But that remains up in the air at the moment. The last time we tried tracking him, he disappeared into the Everfree Forest and just resurfaced when he confronted me."

"Trust me, they'll find him," she softly said before looking up towards the clock. "We'd better get this cleaned up. School will be starting soon."

Quickly cleaning their dishes, the two put on their boots and jackets before heading out the door and towards school. After a fifteen minute walk, they finally came into view of Canterlot High where they could see their friends gathered by the statute. Giving them a wave, the two made their way over and joined them.

"Good morning, girls," Dark happily greeted them.

"My, someone seems to be in a good mood," Rarity said, causing Dark to chuckle.

"Heh, that's exactly what Sunset said."

"So, what is it that has you in such spirits today? Did you get a message from Princess Twilight that the portal was fixed?"

"Sunset did get a message, yes. Turns out that the portal is just fine, but it's there's a jammer that's blocking it from working properly."

"Oh, okay."

"So, what's gotten ya actin' so chipper then?" Applejack asked.

"I took Rainbow's advice and talked to Death last night," he answered her.

"And how well did that go?" Rainbow eagerly questioned. "I mean, you got to talk to the Death. What's he like?"

"Same as in the pictures I've seen of him, but his voice is soft and smooth, and yet eerie and haunting. Oh, and his eyes glow with a pale-blue color."

"Sorry to interrupt," Twilight chimed in, "but if we stay out here any longer, we'll miss the bell."

Hearing her words, the seven of them followed her into the building and towards their first class of the day. But, unknown to them yet again, they were being watched by someone from across the street.

Standing on the sidewalk, a young man in navy-blue jeans wearing a white and black hooded jacket, watched as Dark and the seven girls disappeared into the building. With a scowl on his hooded face, he reached up into his pants pocket for his phone and dialed a number. Soon afterwards, the other person picked up.

"Yes, what do you want?"

"I know enough of his schedule now," he said. "I want your men to strike tonight."

"Who do you think you're talking to, boy? Remember who it was that spared you from suffering the same fate as your town."

"Shove it, Inferno!" he barked. "You'd best remember who it was that killed him in the first place, especially since you and your so-called 'gang' failed so miserably to do so yourselves how many times?"

"... remind me exactly why it is that I'm allowing you to live again?"

"Because you owe me big for what I did for you. And besides, I've done plenty of work for you and your, heh, gang, over these last few months. And on top of that, I've done it without being caught by the police."

"... fair enough I suppose, but don't get too used to it. Now, what is it that you want to do exactly?"

"Tonight, I want thirty of your men to follow me to where Dark is currently staying at."

"Thirty? Is this some kind of joke? Why in the hell would I allow that many of my men to go off with you just for one guy?"

"Because, if he's anything like what the other Dark was, then we'll need them, and of this, I'm not exaggerating. Now, back to what I was saying. After I get my thirty men, I want them to capture him so that I can have some fun with him."

"Did you have a place in mind for your 'fun'? Because the last place you used is still literally a bloody mess from last time, and that was over a week ago."

The young man gleefully smirked. "Oh, I have a spot in mind, and I'm looking right at it. Not only will it make an impact on them, but it'll also prove to them to never get involved against us, knowingly or not."

The morning classes went by quickly and uneventfully today as the eight friends were sitting at their lunch table. While Fluttershy opted for the fruit salad, everyone else went with today's lunch of sloppy joes. While Dark did question whether to eat it or not, being as it was all meat pretty much meat, the sweet smells of it were too tempting for him to pass. but it was well worth it, for as soon as he started, he found his meal already gone.

"Wow, you're more messy eating that than I am eating cake," Pinkie giggled, looking at the food covering Dark's mouth as he tried to lick it off.

"I can't help it," he defended. "It's so good that I can't stop myself from eating it. By the way, do you think they'll serve seconds?"

"Sorry, sugarcube, but it's one servin' per person," Applejack chuckled. "Heh, even if ya do have as big of an appetite as my brother."

"I'm more surprised that you're so open to eating meat," Rarity said. "After all, you were a pony once."

"I'll admit that it was a little disturbing at first, especially with how good it smells and how delicious it tastes," Dark admitted, "but I'm starting to get used to it. After all, I didn't even now I was eating meat at first until it was too late."

"I'm still sorry about that," Sunset apologized.

"Hey, it was an accident, nothing harmful. Besides, you eat meat too, and you were a pony as well once."

"I know, but I still should've said something to you sooner."

"Just something to remember for next time I guess," he said before looking over Sunset's shoulder to see Adagio giving him the stink eye. "Hey, any of you girls know why Adagio is giving me that look? She's been doing it since our talk at Sunset's place."

"Probably because you still haven't actually told her who or what you are."

"I have to agree with Adagio on that one," Twilight said. "You didn't really give us an answer."

"And Ah'm agreein' with Twilight," Applejack nodded. "Besides, it was pretty obvious that you were tryin' ta avoid tellin' us."

Dark shook his head. "Believe me, I thought about telling you girls, but I'm not sure how you would all react. Sunset handled it rather well, but since she's from Equestria, stuff like this isn't that big of a deal as it would be to you girls... I think."

"Don't worry about it," Rainbow waved off. "After all the weird and crazy stuff that's happened here to us, I doubt that it'll be that bad."

"That's what I thought too, Rainbow," Sunset said, "but as it turns out, it kinda is."

"I think that we should let him tell us when he feels ready," Fluttershy voiced. "After all, pressuring him into telling us isn't very nice of us."

"Thanks, Fluttershy, but it's alright," Dark said to her with a smile before looking to the others. "If you want to know that badly, then I'll tell you, but not today. I'll need some time to get myself ready to tell you all. Maybe in a day or two?"

"Of course, darling. Just take your time and you can tell us whenever you're ready," Rarity told him.

"And what about us?"

Looking over towards where the voice came from, they saw that the Dazzlings had walked up to them.

"What are you talking about?" Rainbow asked.

"Don't play dumb with me now. Incase you girls didn't know, my sisters and I have learned how to read lips over our thousand plus years of living here."

"... oh."

"So," she continued, now looking over at Dark, "you're going to tell them what you really are?"

"Yes," he sighed.

"Good. Because after what I saw, I want to know everything that there is that you're hiding about it."

"Okay, okay. Look, when I decide when I'll tell everyone, I'll make sure to come to you three too."

"Good." Adagio then paused when she looked at the mess on Dark's face. "Umm, is that sloppy joe on your face?"

"Yep."

"... you do know that that's made of meat, right?"

"I know."

"Okay, just making sure that you knew is all."

"What a weird guy," Aria muttered. "Seriously, a pony who likes eating meat?"

"Kirin," Dark corrected.

"Oh, right, because that makes it sooo much better. Heck, since you like eating meat, I'd bet that you've already gone and eaten pony."

Dark was about to answer her, but memories of last Saturday morning came flowing back to him, causing him to slap his hand over his mouth. Glancing over to Sunset, Dark could see that she was biting her bottom lip while trying to keep her blush down. Deciding to not go with a verbal answer this time, Dark instead shook his head.

"Oh, really? Well then, what was the first piece of meat that you had?"

Thinking of this as having a double-meaning like her previous question, Dark kept silent and looked away from them, unwilling to answer. After going a moment without an answer, Aria gave an irritated huff.

"Fine, don't tell us then," she said before storming off, followed by her sisters.

A few seconds after they left, Rainbow looked back to Dark.

"Hey, what was up with that? Why didn't you answer her?"

"Because that last time I answered a question like that, I let something slip that I shouldn't have," Dark answered her.

"Really? Like what? Is it good?"

"Okay, that, I'm not telling any of you about. I already let that slide when Sunset asked me, but I won't do it again."

Later that night, Dark and Sunset were sitting in the living room working on their homework. While math wasn't that big of a problem, history was a different matter. Thankfully though, Sunset was willing to help him as he needed it. At the moment, they were going over World War II.

"Some of these battles are just stupid," Dark commented as he looked over a certain page. "Like this 'D-Day'. I swear, if I was there and turned into a Scaleless Dragon, I would've taken out those guys on the beach and saved thousands of soldiers."

Sunset looked at him in surprise. "Can you actually do that?"

"Well... not yet. Nocturne's been training me in various spells of his, and transforming into his original dragon form is one of them. Actually, last time we practiced it, I had just about had it."

"Just how big are we talking about, anyway?"

Dark scratched his chin as he thought about a good comparison to what he remembered. Then again, it was nighttime when they fought, so his judgment of his height might've been a little off.

"Well, when I fought him, it was dark outside, so it kinda hid part of him when looking up. But if I had to say off the top of my head, I'd say that he could stand over Canterlot High."

Sunset's eyes went wide. "You mean like he can stand on his back legs with his arms on top of it?"

"Nope. I'm talking about him standing over it completely. As in that while standing on all fours, the bottom of his barrel would clear the top of Canterlot High's rooftop. Though the glass dome on top of it might be a bit too tall."

"What?! Just how big was he?!"

"According to the book, he and the other Scaleless Dragons all stood at over a hundred and some feet tall. But then again, the book's information has been proven wrong before, so they could very well be bigger than that."

Sunset shook her head in disbelief. "If that's the case, then I'd have no doubt that you could've cleared that coast. Heck, if they saw you marching with the army, you might've ended the war just by your presence alone."

"And I'm just talking about using my fire breath. I haven't even begun thinking of what it would be like if I also used my magic too."

"I suppose so," she said before letting out a yawn. "Well, I don't know about you, but I think that I've had enough studying for one night."

"Yeah. Don't know why Mr. Cranky gave us a test for tomorrow. You'd think that something like that would be saved for a Friday."

"Only for his class it seems like this is the case. But enough about that. I'm tired and am heading off to bed."

"Alright. Goodnight, Sunset," Dark waved.

"Goodnight to you too, Dark," she returned as she headed up the stairs. "Oh, and don't forget to turn off the lights when you're done."

"Don't worry, I won't."

Walking over to the nearby wall, Dark flipped the light switch and turned off the lights to the living room before doing the same to the kitchen. With the ground floor plunged into the dark of the night, Dark went up to his own room. Closing the bedroom door behind him, Dark put his shirt, socks and waist cape on a nearby chair, and sat his boots by the bed before looking at his sword leaning up on the bedside wall.

Hopefully we'll be back home soon, Dark thought as he looked at the blade with a chuckle. And to think, I'm actually beginning to miss talking to you now.

Turning off the lamp on his nightstand, Dark crawled into bed and started to drift off to a sleep, looking forward to having a night of dreams without the Grim Reaper's interference.

A few hours later at midnight, thirty men in matching leather jackets surrounded Sunset's house as the one leading them followed up from behind them.

"Now remember," he quietly told them through an earpiece, "I want you all to be quiet when entering. Dark is the target, so if you see that girl there, just ignore her."

"And what if she starts getting in our way?" one of them asked.

"Just knock her out. Now, quit talking and get started on picking those locks."

Bringing a lock picking kit out of their pockets, one of them began picking the lock of the front door while another went to the back. After a few minutes of figuring out the locks later, both doors opened, allowing for the gang to make their way in. However, with the heaviness of their boots and their growing numbers walking on the ground floor, their footsteps were felt and heard.

Sunset was peacefully asleep, dreaming of her sitting on the beach with a lavender skinned girl with glasses. In silence, they watched as the sun began to set over the horizon. As Sunset closed her eyes, feeling the sun's rays shining over her, she unexpectedly felt a hand laying over her own. Looking over, she saw her world's Twilight smiling at her as she gently squeezed Sunset's hand and began to lean in towards her. Feeling her heart soaring, Sunset closed her eyes and began leaning in to meet her half-way... before she was abruptly awoken.

Snapping her eyes wide open, Sunset found herself unable to speak due to someone's hand being placed over her mouth. Darting her eyes around in a panic, she quickly saw Dark standing over her with a finger to his lips, telling her to keep quiet. With a silent nod from Sunset, Dark removed his hand.

"Dark, what do you think you're doing in my room?!" Sunset hissed. "And why are you fully clothed and carrying your sword?"

"We have some unexpected company," he whispered, pointing down to the floor.

Listening carefully, Sunset soon heard several sets of footsteps coming from downstairs. Getting slightly scared that a group of people had broken into her house, Sunset shrank back into her bed.

"Do you know who they are?"

"Sorry, Sunset, but I just woke-up to them before coming in here, so I don't know who they are or why they're here."

"We should call the police."

"And what if they start coming up here?"

"Well, you're geared for fighting them. If they come up here, could you fight them off without killing them?"

"I'll try my best to not kill them, but they won't be leaving here without some kind of injury."

"Just as long as you don't kill any of them and stay safe. Princess Twilight would be pissed if she heard that you got hurt under my watch."

"I think that she'd be more mad at me than-" Dark paused when he heard footsteps climbing up the stairs. "Looks like I'll have to fight them after all."

"Okay. You do that and I'll call for help. Just be careful."

"Sure. I'll try to lead them out the back door and into the woods. Also, when I leave your room, make sure that you lock the door behind me."

With a nod from Sunset, Dark made his way out of her room and stood on the other side of the door until he heard the door lock. Steeling himself, Dark walked over to the top of the stairs to see the first of several intruders making their way up towards them. Unfortunately for them though, they didn't notice Dark until the guy up in the lead was met with a boot to his face, throwing him back down the stairs and into the others. But before any of them could get back up, Dark jumped from the top of the stairs and landed on the pile of bodies, causing each of them to either howl or groan in pain.

Taking a brief moment to take-in his surroundings, Dark saw that the front door was heavily guarded, some guys who were in the living room, and a few down the hallway and in the kitchen. Seeing as the back door was least guarded, Dark made his way over, swinging his sword and non-lethally cutting any who got too close to him, while punching or kicking the others. Once he got outside, he waited for a moment to hear them charging after him. Then, with the light of the full moon reflecting off of the layer of snow on the ground to light his way, Dark led them into the forest.

Running in, Dark kept quiet as he hid in the shadows behind one of the trees, waiting for them to get close enough. However, while he was expecting them to be thorough in their search for him in the dark forest, they instead kept their pace and started running past him, thinking that he'd just continued to run farther into the forest to escape them. After hearing the sound of footsteps dying down, Dark surprised the next guy by swinging his arm out and clotheslined him, then kicking him in the head to make sure that he was out cold.

Looking up from his downed foe, Dark saw that there was about six more coming towards him shouting, while he began to hear those that had passed him getting closer. Charging forward, Dark began swinging his sword and blocking the baseball bats that they were wielding. Dark, however, had the edge in reach as his greatsword was twice the length of their weapons. Using his superior range of attack to his advantage, Dark swung to parry their strikes, or to get a hit off on them. As he continued to fight them and take them out one at a time, he made sure that the wounds that they sustained were light and would heal over time in a week or two instead of them dying from it.

Hearing a crowd of war cries from the forest behind him, Dark barely had any time to turn around to block the first strike that came at him before having to leap back to avoid a swing from another guy. Trying to stay light on his feet, Dark kept moving as to not be surrounded while striking at any who got too close for his liking. Soon enough, most of them were lying on the ground in pain while the remainder had begun to spread out and started corralling Dark into a corner. Backing up to the side of the house, Dark held his sword out in front of him to help ward them off. However, what he didn't know was the window above him that had silently been opened.

Leaping down through the window, the leader of the group came down upon Dark with a strike to the back of his head. Stumbling to a knee, Dark tried to figure out what had happened to him and how someone could've gotten behind him with his back to the wall. Trying to shake his head clear, Dark began to get back up on his feet, only to find another strike to the back of his head, causing him to collapse on the ground before blacking-out.

Looking out upon the injured gang members, their leader gave a disgruntled snort.

"I can't believe that he didn't kill you all," he unhappily told them. "I don't know what he was thinking, but you should all consider yourselves lucky that he went easy on you."

"And how would you know that, sir?" one of them questioned.

"Like I already told you, you dumbass, those that did get hit are all alive and not dead. I'm sure that if he were to go all-out that none of you would be alive right now. Now, go help the injured back to the vans and take them back to the hideout. After that, I want you guys to meetup with me."

"What about you?" another one of them asked.

"I'm taking him to the boiler room of Canterlot High, along with a few dozen feet of chains, and my collection of knives."

Over in Equestria, Luna was sitting on the throne as Celestia came to talk to her before going to sleep.

"Now, Luna," Celestia spoke, "I know that you can handle yourself, but are you sure that you don't need my assistance for tonight? You know that the ghosts of the dead have been more aggressive during the night than they are during the day."

"I know, sister," Luna said, "but my guards and I are perfectly fine in handling such pests, thanks to a few spells that I found in the Canterlot Archives pertaining to these beings."

"Alright. If you're sure about this, then I shall leave you to it. Goodnight, Luna."

"Goodnight, Tia. Oh, wait, I almost forgot to ask you something."

"Yes?"

"Did you or Twilight find anything out on the whereabouts of this culprit?"

"Sorry to say that we haven't."

"That is rather unfortunate. We've been able to hold back the news of the risen dead for now, but I don't know how much longer we'll be able to keep this up."

"I know," Celestia tiredly sighed.

"I suppose I shouldn't keep you any longer then, less you become grumpy when you awaken."

With an agreeable nod, Celestia teleported herself from the throne room, leaving Luna by herself. As time went by, she became progressively bored waiting for any ponies to come to her night court.

Seems like it'll be another quiet night at court, she thought to herself. Well then, I may as well keep myself busy and see what ponies are dreaming of these nights... and perhaps quell a few nightmares if there are any.

Focusing her magic, Luna soon found herself within the Dreamscape lined with long rows of doors on either side of her, each leading into a pony's dream. Making her way down the row of doors, Luna would glance at each that she passed by. Even from outside the doors to their dreams, she could feel whether or not if they were having a nightmare. She eventually did come across a few lighter ones which she cleared them of, but they were mostly harmless. It wasn't until she came across a familiar door that she'd been having problems with this last week that she stopped. Letting out a sad sigh, Luna opened the door and walked inside the blinding light.

Once the light died down, Luna found herself standing in a crowd of ponies wearing black clothing. Instantly, she knew what this dream was about, seeing as the dreamer had been having this dream several times already. Making her way up to the front, Luna stopped at the familiar sight of an open coffin with a picture of Dark laying in it. Shaking her head free of any stray thoughts that might pop up from seeing this, Luna turned around to find the dreamer. Immediately she saw Twilight and her friends, then her gaze fell upon Spike, Scootaloo, Apple Bloom, and finally, Sweetie Belle, who was huddled up crying with Spike and the two other fillies. Walking over, Luna gently laid a hoof on Sweetie Belle's shoulder, causing the young filly to glance up at her.

"P-P-Princess Luna?"

"Everything is alright, young Sweetie Belle," Luna softly said as she cleared the nightmare, replacing it with a luscious meadow with a sole tree to provide shade.

"Is-Is this a dream again?" Sweetie Belle unsteadily asked.

"It is, though I don't understand why you continue to have that same nightmare. Didn't your sister and her friends tell you what happened to him?"

"They did, but I'm still worried about him. Maybe not as much as Twilight is, but I still am."

"Why is that?" Luna asked as she laid herself down alongside Sweetie Belle.

"Because," she began, her eyes starting to tear up again, "that bad pony sent him to a whole different world with nopony there with him, a-and no way for him to get home."

"I understand, Sweetie Belle, but rest assured that we are doing what we can to get him back. Besides, even though he's off in a different world, Twilight was able to get a message from him saying that he's just fine and was able to find himself some friends who are helping to support him."

"O-Okay."

"Good. Now, before I leave to check on everypony else, what kind of dream would you like to have?"

With barely a moment of thinking, Sweetie Belle mad her request of just having Spike and the other Crusaders with her. Happy to oblige, Luna connected the other three to Sweetie Belle's dream and after explaining to the new arrivals why they were here, they were more than happy to stay. Of course, they would've stayed anyway. Seeing how happy she was, Luna left the four to their devices and left Sweetie Belle's dream. Closing the door to her dream behind her, Luna continued down past the doors.

A few hours later of going through different dreams and helping those that needed it, Luna soon came upon another familiar door, one that she made a habit of keeping away from. Giving a snort to Blueblood's door, Luna was about to pass by it before she came to a dead stop in front of it.

"What is the meaning of this strange feeling?" Luna asked herself. "Whatever it is, it isn't like all his other dreams about wealth and mares."

Taking a cautious step forward, Luna opened the door into Blueblood's dream. Once the light died down, she looked around in an unfamiliar room full of different magical items. Getting a sense of unease by being in Blueblood's dream, Luna casted a spell to make herself invisible to him and began looking around. As she continued through the isles, she began to hear somepony talking. Following the direction of where the voices were coming from, Luna soon found herself in a back room where she saw three hooded ponies.

Just as she was about to question who they were though, the first removed his hood to reveal Blueblood, while the second stallion was the one that she remembered accompanied King Inferno to their meeting named Gunter. The third one however, still kept his hood up. Despite her seeing them though, Luna couldn't quite hear them. Sneaking closer behind Blueblood, Luna began eavesdropping on them.

"You heard about the attack on Ponyville, right?" the shopkeeper asked the two stallions.

"Yes, what about it?" Blueblood questioned.

The shopkeeper grinned wickedly. "That was my doing, all to either kill Dark, or make him suffer by losing what was precious to him."

Wait, so this is the pony who Dark described to Twilight? Luna wondered. Then again, he does have that curved horn. Strange how it's white, but the tip is blue. Also, this mystery stallion's blue coat will help us with narrowing down our list of suspects.

Luna ceased her pondering as she noticed Blueblood and Gunter reaching for something beneath their respective cloaks and placing them on a nearby table. Once the two backed away, the shopkeeper walked over and took a look at the items.

"What's up with this piece of-"

"Careful with that!" Blueblood nearly shouted. "That isn't just a mirror fragment!"

Wait, did he say it was a mirror fragment? Luna mentally asked herself.

"Be silent and listen. What we have here is a fragment of a mirror portal."

Wanting to get better details about their plan, Luna remained silent as she watched Blueblood's dream betray him. A few minutes later, she had everything that she needed to know. All, that is, but where this conspirator was located at, but she knew just the prince to interrogate.

Alright, I've heard enough of this! she heatedly thought as she casted herself out of the dream and back into the waking world.

"Guards!"

"Yes, Princess?" the two guards asked, saluting.

"I want two dozen of my guards sent here immediately. Also, I want for you and them to move silently so that nopony can hear you."

Giving Luna a parting salute, the two left to fetch her guards. After they left, Luna teleported her armor to her and donned it. Finishing placing her helmet upon her head, Luna looked up to the sound of the doors opening to see two dozen of her lunar guards filing in before standing at attention.

"Mares and gentlecolts," Luna began addressing, "I require your assistance for bringing in a known conspirator of the one that we've been hunting lately. However, due to who this pony that we'll be arresting is, I cannot give any of you their name yet." Luna began walking past them and towards the door. "That being said, let us waste no more time in bringing this pony in so that I may begin to interrogate him."

Throwing open the double-doors, Luna casted a silencing spell to mask their hoofsteps as she and her guards marched down the hallways. Knowing where to go, she led them swiftly and silently to their target. A few minutes later, she stopped in front of a white, double-door with Blueblood's cutie mark on it. Using her magic, Luna picked the lock and carefully opened the doors so she wouldn't make any loud sounds and wake him.

Walking through the doorway, Luna made her way past his living room and towards the door to his bedroom. Silently opening the door, she led her guards in and surrounded the king-sized bed that Blueblood was sleeping on. Just as Luna was about to give the order for them to arrest him, she heard him sleep talking.

"Soon, Twilight, you'll be mine," Blueblood muttered in his sleep.

Having heard enough, Luna kicked the bed, causing Blueblood to wake-up and sit-up in his bed with startled eyes. Taking in his surroundings, he saw that he was surrounded by lunar guards with Luna herself standing at the foot of his bed glaring at him.

"What is the meaning of this?!" he demanded.

"Prince Blueblood," Luna seethed. "By my right as a Princess of Equestria, I hereby place you under arrest for knowingly conspiring with a known fugitive against the crown, as a start."

"What?!" Blueblood shouted as two the guards began slapping him with cuffs and a magical inhibitor ring. "These charges are false! There is no way that I would-"

"Be silent! I have looked into your dreams and have seen what you and your partners have done, or should I say partner, seeing as the other one should be dead by now. You, Blueblood, knew that we've been after that pony for some time now, and yet you go and align yourself with him!"

"W-W-What are you talking about?"

"This isn't the proper place to have this discussion," Luna told him before addressing the guards. "We will be taking him to the interrogation room in the dungeons where I will personally question him."

"NO! Please, don't do it!"

"I am. And besides, this has been a long time coming, considering all of the shady deals that you've made behind our backs before this. Everything from bribery, blackmailing, and many more that I'm sure that I'm forgetting at the moment. Now, I want you to remain silent until we get you to the dungeons. If you so much as squeak out of that foul mouth of yours, I'll have you muzzled either by the guards here, or by myself."

A half-hour later, Blueblood was sitting alone in a dank room beneath Canterlot Castle. He was shoved in there by Luna herself before she left him to go fetch Celestia, considering that she should probably want to see and hear this for herself. About another twenty minutes after Luna left, Blueblood was blinded by a flash of light. Taking a moment to blink away the blindness in his eyes, Blueblood found himself face-to-face with a furious Celestia, while Luna stood beside her silently glaring at him.

"You have a lot of explaining to do, Blueblood," Celestia told him, her usual motherly tone now cold and demanding.

"T-There's nothing that you can do now," he shakily said.

"Doth thou hath no clue as to what's going on?! What thou hath done to Equestria?!" Luna demanded, falling back into her old speech.

"Excuse me?"

"Let me make this clear to you, Blueblood," Celestia firmly spoke. "Thanks to you and your rather stupid plan, the dead are walking Equestria."

"What?! But we didn't do anything like that!"

"Maybe not directly, but you still did. You see, Dark is the Lord of Death, meaning that his presence in our world keeps the dead in check. Without him here, anypony who dies shall remain in this world as a walking corpse."

"Are you saying that they're z-zombies?"

"Living dead would be a better term, but yes."

"And all of this happened because of you giving that stallion the mirror fragment!" Luna added.

"By the way, how did you come upon that fragment?"

"I swiped it when the mirror was here for repairs when it was being transported from the Crystal Empire to Ponyville," Blueblood hastily explained.

"Ah."

"Well now," Luna began, "since you seem to be in a telling mood, why don't you tell us where this device that you've conspired to create is so that we can destroy it and save Dark."

"It doesn't matter now, seeing as how it's a pointless pursuit at this point," Blueblood told her.

"Excuse me?"

"My partner managed to get ahold of somepony in the other world where we sent Dark to. And if all went as planned, he should've hunted down Dark by now and dealt with him for us."

No sooner had those words left his mouth did Blueblood find himself thrown off his chair and pinned against the wall by Luna's hooves.

"If Dark dies, then you will suffer the same fate! Now tell us where your partner is!"

Dark's head was throbbing as he came to. The first thing that he noticed was that his jacket and shirt were missing, though everything else that he had on was still there. Second was that he was kneeling on something very hard and uncomfortable. And third was that something cold and metallic was holding his arms up by his wrists. Slowly opening his eyes, Dark looked around to see that he was in some sort of a poorly-lit, underground room with pipes running along the ceiling. Looking up, he then saw that his right arm was being held up with thick chains, along with his left arm. Turning his head around as much as he could, he saw what looked like a large furnace of some kind behind him.

Shaking his head to try and relief himself any remaining dizziness, Dark moved his foot to try standing up with, but didn't get very far as he felt something restraining his feet too. Looking behind him and down at his feet, he saw that his ankles were chained to the floor, completely immobilizing him. Getting a little worried with the memories of what happened before flooding back into him, Dark began to pull on the chains to free himself, but he wasn't getting anywhere.

"That's not going to work, you know," a voice in the shadows told him.

Looking across the room, Dark saw a male figure in a white and black hooded jacket walking through the doorway and towards a covered table off to the side.

"What do you want with me?" Dark asked, trying to remain calm.

"Oh, nothing much," he answered Dark, removing the cloth to reveal a table covered with an assortment of different knives and other sharp objects, including Dark's Death Reaver. "I just wanted to have a bit of fun with you."

Noticing they way he said the word "fun", along with the blades on the table, Dark's heart started beating much faster.

"Alright, let me reword that. Why did you send those guys after me? That was your doing, right?"

"Yes, it was. And I did it because my... associates and I, have a mutual goal."

"And that would be?" Dark asked, though pretty much having a good idea of what it was already.

"Your death."

Figures, Dark mentally sighed.

"However." He paused, walking over to Dark with a bowie knife in his hand. "Unlike them, I would fine no greater pleasure than seeing you writhing in pain before me. But, seeing as how it's so late in the night, that'll have to wait until tomorrow."

Without warning, Dark let out a cry as he felt a searing pain in his left arm. Lifting his head up, Dark saw that whoever this guy was had just embedded his knife through his right forearm.

"That's just a little preview of what to look forward to tomorrow. And don't worry, I'll be leaving the knife in there. Wouldn't want you to go bleeding out on me yet, would we?"

Joyfully laughing, he walking out the room and locked the door behind him, leaving Dark alone with nothing but the light of the furnace, the knife in his forearm, and a sense of dread of what's to come.

Chapter 40- Through the Portal

Author's Note

To prevent any confusion, while in the same world, pony Twilight will remain being called "Twilight", while human Twilight will be called "Twi".

Chapter 40- Through the Portal

Twilight stirred in her sleep after another long day of trying to track where the portal jammer was located at. With her frustrations of coming up with nothing, and the fatigue from long hours taking their toll on her, Twilight was told by the others to call it a night, less she pull another all-nighter. Her sleep didn't help her much either as the events of that day were carried over to her dreams too. Waking up with an irritated groan, she quickly teleported herself down to the kitchen for a quick glass of water. Feeling refreshed, she then teleported herself back to her room and hopped back into bed. But, just as she was about to go back to sleep, her book linking her to Sunset began to glow and vibrate. Annoyed and curious as to why she'd be messaging her at such a late hour, Twilight opened it and began to read.

What she read though wasn't anything that she'd expected. In it, Sunset told her about how there were a group of trespassers in her house, and then about Dark's plan to lead them off while she hid and called for the police. She also wrote about how she watched Dark through her bedroom window as he managed to beat almost all of them. That was, until he got attacked from behind from the guy who acted like their leader, who later dragged Dark away while the rest helped their injured back to their vehicles before the police came to question her. Towards the end, Sunset began to apologize to Twilight about how she felt responsible for Dark being taken away, since she didn't jump in to help him, even though he told her not too. But while Twilight did feel upset that Sunset didn't help, she also couldn't blame her for following Dark's instructions, for if she did, as far as Twilight knew, Sunset could've been kidnapped too.

Though sad, worried, and angry, Twilight managed to keep her cool as she wrote back to Sunset, telling her to not blame herself and that they'll find a way to fix this. Closing the book and setting it aside, Twilight levitated over to her the communication crystal Cadence gave to her and activated it. As she waited for the other line to pick up, Twilight began fidgeting around until somepony finally was shown on the projection image. However, unlike Luna, who Twilight had expected to answer her call, it was instead a very upset Celestia.

"Oh, I'm sorry to disturb you, Princess," Twilight apologized. "I was actually expecting Princess Luna to answer and figured that you would be asleep."

"It's alright, Twilight," Celestia replied with an irritated sigh. "While that would normally be the case, something has come up. But never mind that, what is that that has you calling us at such an hour?"

Remembering why she called in the first place, Twilight's curiosity returned to worry.

"I just got a message from Sunset Shimmer that her house was broken into, and that whoever they were took Dark away."

Celestia's eyes narrowed. "Did she say who they were?"

"She didn't. All she knew is that they appeared to be after Dark, since they followed him when he led them out of the house, instead of searching it for her."

"This can't be a coincidence," Celestia mumbled.

"What?"

"This might actually be connected to why I'm up at this hour, Twilight," she began explaining. "You see, earlier tonight while she was in the Dreamscape, Luna paid a visit to Blueblood's dream."

"What did she see? And why didn't you call him 'Prince' like you usually do?"

"Because after tonight, he'll no longer be carrying that title."

"What? But why?"

"Because he's connected to the pony who sent Dark to that other world."

"... what?" Twilight repeated, her tone low and dangerous.

"You remember when the mirror had to stay in Canterlot during its transport for repairs?"

"Yes?"

"Well, as it turns out, Blueblood somehow managed to steal a fragment of the mirror portal without anypony knowing. As for what Luna found out when she visited his dream, apparently he and the pony who accompanied King Inferno had plotted with the pony who orchestrated the attack on Ponyville with the Everfree creatures."

"So he's behind this?"

"In a way, he is. From what we've gathered, their plan was to banish Dark to the other world and have somepony over there 'take care' of Dark for them."

"Where is Blueblood?!"

"Right now, he's in the interrogation room in the dungeons of Canterlot Castle. Luna and I have been trying to make him tell us who and where this pony that he's conspired with is, but hasn't told us anything... um, Twilight?"

As Celestia began filling her in on what Blueblood did, she failed to notice that Twilight was starting to tremble in place. Now though, as she finally finished, Celestia looked up to the projection image of Twilight just in time to see her burst into flames, her lavender coat turning a hot-white, while her eyes turned red, and her mane set on fire.

"Oh, he's going to tell us!" the rageshifted Twilight told her.

Before Celestia could say anything though, Twilight teleported herself away from sight before the image faded out. Setting the crystal aside, Celestia turned to see Luna, who'd been watching from out of view.

"So, sister," Luna began, "where do you think she went-"

"AAAHHHHH!!!"

Celestia was about to answer Luna when they both heard a loud, high-pitched, filly-like scream echoing through the corridors leading from the dungeons. Worried that something had happened down there, the two sisters both teleported themselves back down to investigate. As soon as they appeared in front of the door leading to the interrogation room holding Blueblood, Twilight opened the door with a pleased smile on her face, her rageshift having ended. As she hummed to herself and closed the door behind her, she looked up to the two older princesses.

"Told you he'd tell us," Twilight said.

"Umm, Twilight?" Celestia slowly spoke. "What did you do to him?"

"Oh, nothing really," she innocently answered as she walked past them.

"You didn't hurt him, did you?" Luna questioned.

"Nope, didn't have too. I mean, honestly, he's not that hard to get answers from if you know what to say... or do... or both."

"... will he be alright, at least?"

"More or less. Now, I believe that we have a fugitive to arrest."

"Of course," Luna nodded. "I take it that he gave you an address?"

"He did. The pony we're looking for runs a store called The Ebony Bazaar over in downtown Canterlot on Blackhoof Street."

"In that case, I shall gather the guards and we'll arrest him immediately."

"Would it be alright if I came too, Princess Luna?" Twilight requested.

"I don't see why not, just as long as you don't do anything too dangerous... or destructive."

"All I want is to rescue Dark from those guys who took him away, and this pony that we're after has the key to allow us to do just that."

Less than an hour later, Luna and Twilight were standing in front of the store where they were told their target was, while the few dozen night guards that Luna brought began surrounding the building from the ground and from up above. Celestia even awoken some of her own guards and sent them with Luna and Twilight to provide to them magical support on the rooftops. With everypony in place, Twilight took one last scan of the building and saw only one pony in it, sleeping. With a nod to Luna, she signaled for them to converge onto the building.

While the earth ponies busted through the front door and ground level windows, the pegasi and thestrals flew into the second floor windows, leaving only a few left on the rooftops and skies to watch incase he somehow escaped. As soon as the first window shattered, the stallion they were after shot-up from his bed and quickly strapped on his belt with a sword and sheath, his saddlebag, and tossed on his cloak and hood. He was then about to reach over to his dresser where the amulet laid before two of the guards stepped in front of him with spears at the ready.

"Stop right there criminal scum!" one of the guards ordered.

"By orders of Princess Celestia, Princess Luna, and Princess Twilight Sparkle, you are hereby under arrest!" another told him.

Sneering beneath his hood, the cloaked stallion looked between the two guards standing between him and his amulet, and the other four that flew in through the window. A few seconds later, his room became much fuller as six more guards came in through his door, blocking it off. With an annoyed snort, he emanated a bright flash of light from beneath his cloak, blinding all of the guards. Taking this moment of them being blinded, he made a quick dash towards his amulet, but couldn't get close enough to it as one of the guards managed to block his path with one eye opened and unblinded. Anymore thoughts about retrieving it were thrown out the window as a new group of guards came in through the door while more pegasi and thestrals flew in from the window.

How the bucking Tartarus did they know where I was? he briefly pondered, until he could think of only one other pony who would know. Blueblood. They must've caught him and gotten the information from him, which also means that he'll be either executed or spending the rest of his life in a dungeon cell. Either way, I'm fine with it, but I won't allow myself to be caught too!

Blinding them again, the cloaked stallion knocked some of the guards by the window out of the way and took to the night sky. However, the moment he left through the window, he was met with a barrage of magical projectiles from Celestia's unicorn guards, who were posted on top of the rooftops. Doing his best, the cloaked stallion spun and dove to avoid being hit, but knew that he would get tired if this was kept up for too long, not to mention the airborne ponies that would soon be catching up with him. Leveling out and aiming towards those below him, he created another blinding light that briefly illuminated the downtown area, buying himself a few seconds to escape.

Just as felt like he had everypony blinded, he turned around to fly away, but was met instead with the angered faces of Luna and Twilight, the latter of which having caught the cloaked stallion with her magic and slammed him down into the stone roads below them. With a groan of pain, he got back up onto his hooves just as the two princess landed in front of him.

"No more running!" Twilight told him. "Now, where is the device that you made for Blueblood?"

"Wouldn't you like to know, Princess," he smirked before blinding the two in another flash of light.

Taking this moment, he took to the skies again to get away. Flying, he looked over to his sides to see both pegasi and thestral guards chasing after him. However, even though he was slightly injured from the slam he'd endured, he could still outfly them in terms of speed. After a minute of flying, he flew out of the guards' sight into the night sky. With pursuit no longer an option due to the cloaked stallion's speed, the pursuing pegasi and thestrals returned to report to the princesses.

Making their way back, they talked to each other on how they would explain this to them, but couldn't come up with any good excuses. Reaching the princesses, they landed in front of them with worried and shamed looks on their faces. Figuring why they looked like that, Twilight gave a disheartened sigh.

"You didn't get him, did you?"

"Our most humble and sincere apologies, Princess," one of them said with a bow, which the others followed. "We tried to apprehend him, but he was just too fast for us to catch."

"If he was too fast for you to catch, then I can't blame you. Besides, he surprised us all with that blinding spell of his. I've actually never seen or heard of a spell like that before. I mean, I know of a few spells like that, but none of that scale."

"While it is strange, I'm more concerned about why it is that he has wings," Luna spoke. "According to Blueblood's dream, and what Dark wrote to you describing this pony, he already had a horn to begin with. So, does this mean that this is a different pony, or are we dealing with an alicorn?"

"But we five princesses are the only alicorns there are, right?" Twilight asked.

"Five?"

"I'm also including my niece."

"Ah. Well then, I suppose so."

"Then this is bad. If we're dealing with an alicorn, then who knows what we're actually up against."

"Umm, excuse me, Princess?" one of Celestia's unicorn guards spoke.

"Yes?"

"I'm not sure about anypony else, but when we had him cornered in his room, he didn't use his horn."

"Care to further explain?" Luna requested.

"Well, best as I can describe it is that when he blinded us, his horn wasn't lit with a magical aura."

"Now that I think about it," Twilight began, "his horn didn't light up either when he blinded us, Luna."

"So then, are you saying that he didn't use unicorn magic?" Luna questioned.

"If his horn wasn't lit, then I don't think so."

"So we may be dealing with an alicorn imposter then."

"Perhaps he is, perhaps he's not. We may never know unless we catch him and run some tests on him. But if he didn't use his horn to create those flashes of blinding lights, then how did he manage it?"

"It is a mystery for another time," Luna said with a head shake before looking back up to the guards who'd rallied to them during their talk. "While we're here, we'll be searching this entire establishment for any clues as to the amulet that we're looking for. It'll be about the size of a hoof with a mirror as its centerpiece. Also, while you're searching the store itself, make sure to keep an inventory on what's there. This store is apart of the black market, and I want to know everything that's being sold."

With an understanding salute, the guards returned into the building and began their search. While they were busy with that, Luna and Twilight made their way inside to oversee things. When they walked in, they were greeted with the sight of exotic artifacts and other magical objects that made Twilight stare open-mouthed with a thin strand of drool dripping from the corner of her mouth. And while Luna found the sight of Twilight to be amusing to her, she wouldn't let her remain like that as she gave her a nudge, snapping her out of it and returning her to her senses.

"Sorry about that, Princess," Twilight apologized, wiping off some of the drool that had stuck to the side of her chin.

"Worry not, Twilight," Luna dismissed. "I myself have done just that a few times before. Although, now that I'm getting a good look at what's here, I can agree with your reaction. Like this for example."

Following the direction of where her hoof was pointed, Twilight saw a bronze amulet with what appeared to be an emerald in the shape of a bear paw.

"What is that?"

"It's called the Beast Master's Amulet," Luna explained. "I know this because Fluttershy and I found a damaged one within my old castle in the Everfree Forest. If nothing else, seeing another one here would prove that he's been here before, and this is where he got the one he used during the attack on Ponyville."

"I see," Twilight muttered before looking over the shelves. "Do you think that there are other amulets like that here?"

"It's hard to say for sure. However, if he got one here, and a second is here, then I would keep an open mind to the possibility of there being more."

"Now that I think about it, I remember Trixie saying that she got the Alicorn Amulet from a shop similar to this one."

"With the kind of things that black market stores like this sell, I wouldn't be surprised. I just hope that there aren't any other amulets like them wandering about Equestria, or anywhere for that matter."

"Me too, but-"

"Your Highness."

Twilight and Luna looked over to one of the night guards who'd returned to them with something covered in hoof.

"Yes?" Luna said.

"The description of the item you gave us, did it look something like this?"

Taking it in her magic, Luna unwrapped the item and saw the custom-made amulet that Blueblood wanted created.

"Yes, this is what we're looking for. Where by chance did you find it?"

"I was apart of the team that encountered the fugitive within his bedroom, Princess. When he blinded us, I managed to shield one of my eyes so it wouldn't be completely blinded and moved to block him from reaching this on his dresser."

"You've done very well to do that," Luna complimented, causing the stallion to beam with pride for a job well done.

"Great, now we need to get this back to the castle and run some tests on it," Twilight said.

"But this is what's blocking the portal from letting us travel through it. Shouldn't we just destroy it right now?"

"As tempting as that sounds, we have no idea what that pony did when he created it. This is a part of the original portal, and for all we know, damaging it could permanently close the portal. And I'm sure that that's one of the last things that we need right now."

"... very well then. Since you've invested so much into finding this already, and know much more about this than I do, I'll concede to your judgment on this."

Surprised by this statement, Twilight took a step back before giving Luna a thankful bow. "Thank you for trusting me so much on this matter."

"Think nothing of it, it's simply how it is."

"In this case, would you be alright if I teleported myself and this amulet back up to the castle to begin?"

"Of course. You go on ahead and I'll stay here and continue to oversee this. Besides, I'm curious as to all of the stuff in here."

Giggling at Luna's curiosity, Twilight gave her a quick hug and thanked her before teleporting back to Canterlot Castle to inform Celestia and begin inspecting the amulet.

Sitting on her throne, Celestia waited for word from anypony on the raid that Luna and Twilight had led. As much as she wanted to go with them though, somepony had to stay behind and attend the night court, even if it wasn't very busy tonight. And seeing as how Luna was the one to uncover it and with how personal this was to Twilight, Celestia didn't mind sitting this one out. Tapping her hoof, Celestia started to become slightly worried as to why this was taking them so long, since it should've only taken them a half-hour instead of over a full one. Thankfully for her, she didn't need to wait any longer as Twilight teleported herself into the throne room with something levitating in her magic.

"Twilight, did you and Luna succeed?" Celestia asked her.

"Well, yes and no."

"Oh?"

"You see, we succeeded in getting what's been jamming the portal, but the pony who created it blinded us and out-flew the guards."

"So he escaped then."

"I'm sorry, Princess, but yes."

Celestia shook her head. "No need to apologize, Twilight. Though I'm curious as to how he managed to out-fly the guards. I thought that he had a horn?"

"He does, but it appears that he also has wings."

"Are you trying to say that this pony is an alicorn?" Celestia carefully asked.

"We're not sure. While he was able to fly, he never once used his horn to cast the spells that blinded us."

"So, this pony may be a pegasus with a fake horn?"

"It would explain why his horn looked so strange, but I can't say for sure unless I run some tests on him, which I doubt will happen since he got away."

"Did you see which direction he was heading?"

"North."

"In that case, I'll contact Cadence and Shining Armor and inform them about what's happened. But before I do, what is that that you have there in your magic?"

"This is the jammer that we were searching for," Twilight explained.

"Aren't we suppose to destroy it for the portal to work?"

"Yes, but I want to run some tests on it first. I just want to make sure that by destroying this that we won't also be damaging the portal itself, since this amulet was made by using a fragment from the portal's mirror."

"It would be unfortunate if we were to make such a mistake after coming so far."

"Exactly. So, if you'll excuse me, Princess, I'll be returning back to Ponyville and have the team and I work on figuring this out. If all goes well, we should be done within a few hours."

"Very well. Just remember that if you need any help from me in figuring it out to just give me a call."

With her thanks, Twilight bowed before teleporting herself and the amulet back to her castle. As soon as she got there, she flew up into the guest hall where her team leader slept. Knocking on her door, Twilight waited a few moments before the door finally opened up to a cream-coated mare with a three-toned red, light-purple, and purple mane, purple eyes with black glasses, and a cutie mark consisting of a moon with three stars. But, while Twilight looked happy to see her up, she on the other hoof just gave her an annoyed look.

"What is it, Twilight?" she tiredly grumbled. "Do you know how late it is?"

"Sorry for waking you, Moondancer," Twilight apologized, "but we just found the jammer that we've been searching for."

At this, Moondancer's mood seemed to improve slightly. "You did? How?"

"Princess Luna found out when she went into somepony's dream."

"Okay, but why are you waking me up for this?"

"I want us to run some tests on it to make sure that destroying it won't have any negative effects on the portal."

"Any reason to suspect why it would in the first place?"

"Because, the mirror surface on this amulet is actually a mirror fragment from the portal downstairs from when it was being repaired in Canterlot during it's transfer from the Crystal Empire."

Giving an annoyed huff, Moondancer walked out of her room and made her way down the hallway.

"So, does that mean that you'll help?" Twilight asked hopefully.

"Yes, but only after I get myself some coffee," Moondancer replied. "Celestia knows that I need the extra boost if I'm to continue working throughout the night."

"It should only take a few hours between the two of us, maybe even sooner."

"I hope so, because once this is all over with, I'm heading straight back to bed."

"If this works, you can sleep-in undisturbed all day if you want too."

"Please don't tempt me."

A half-hour later, Moondancer had her coffee and she and Twilight were busy running scans and other magical tests on the amulet. While it did hold a connection to the mirror portal, there was also a few magical spells built into it. As Twilight had feared, the jamming spell that was placed upon the amulet also had a backup spell on it that would disable the portal if it were to be destroyed or even damaged.

"Wow, good call, Twilight," Moondancer complimented. "That would've been bad if we went on ahead and destroyed it."

"Yeah, it would. Also, before I forget, thank you for leading the team, Moondancer."

"You're welcome. And besides, who else do you know of who's studied magic like me?"

"Besides myself, I can only think of one other, but she's off helping spread friendship back in the village that she used to run."

"This wouldn't by chance be that same mare that you wrote to me about would it? You know, the one who used Starswirl's spell to go back in time?"

"Yep, that's her."

"I still can't believe that you would trust her after what she did, not to mention her reason for the events leading up to that. Even if she was just a filly when it happened."

"Well, in the end, no harm was done. And besides, just think of how it must've felt to her when her only friend left her at such a young age."

"Well..."

"And not only that, but after talking to her some more, it turns out that she actually was going to ask him out on a date that day he got his cutie mark and was sent off to Canterlot."

Hearing this caused Moondancer's ears to fold as her face became one of pity.

"Wow. No wonder she was so driven to ridding Equestria of cutie marks." Her mood shifted back to one of scientific curiosity. "But enough about her and her past, what are we going to do to the enchantment that's been placed on this thing?"

"Well," Twilight began, "now that we know what kind of enchantment we're dealing with, we should be able to safely remove it."

"After you then."

With a nod, Twilight lit-up her horn and began to remove the enchantment. However, while she originally thought that it would be difficult to do, she found that the amulet's enchantment linking it to the mirror portal was rather weak. Within a few seconds, Twilight managed to remove the enchantment, leaving the amulet as nothing more than a fancy mirror. Giving it one last scan, Twilight made sure that it was completely safe before she dropped it onto the floor and shattered it beneath her hooves. Lifting her hooves up, she looked beneath and gave a relieved sigh at the sight of the shattered amulet.

"There, that should do it," she said out loud.

"Good. Now that that's over with, can I head on back to bed please?" Moondancer asked with a yawn.

"Sure, go on ahead, and thank you again, Moondancer."

Giving her a tired wave, Moondancer turned around and returned to her room. As she watched her friend go, Twilight too gave a loud yawn. Looking back down to the broken amulet, she decided to go and try to get herself some rest for the remainder of the night. While she wanted to go into the portal and find Dark as soon as she could, she also knew that she wouldn't be of much help while half-asleep.

Dark stirred slightly as he slept on his knees, his ankles chained down to the ground while his wrists where still chained to the ceiling. After some time, the pain from the knife in his forearm dulled down enough for him to finally fall asleep... for a while anyway. As he continued to sleep in somewhat relative peace, he quickly found the air forced from his lungs as he was awoken to someone kicking him in the chest. Gasping for breath, Dark looked up to see a guy with bright-orange hair wearing black boots, pants, a red shirt, and red leather jacket with a picture of a dragon on the back of it.

"So, I finally get to see you in person," he told Dark. "You know, you've caused me a lot of trouble."

"Sorry that I'm such an inconvenience to you," Dark wheezed mockingly.

"Why you-"

"That's enough, Inferno!"

Turning around, Inferno saw a male in a white and black hooded jacket walking over to them. However, unlike last time he visited Dark, he was now wearing a belt with a handgun holster attached to both of his sides, while a sword and its sheath were strapped to the back of his waist.

"Wait, so you're Inferno?" Dark questioned before breaking into a laughing fit.

Annoyed with Dark's laughing, Inferno balled-up his hand up into a fist before punching Dark in the face, which did little to impede his laughter.

"What's so damn funny?!"

"Dude," Dark began saying, trying to catch his breath from laughing so much, "this is just too amusing to me."

"What?!"

"Believe it or not, I've actually met you before. And I must say that I'm rather underwhelmed by how you are compared to the Inferno of my world."

Backhanding Dark, Inferno sharply turned to the hooded guy. "Give me a knife so that I can end him now!"

"Not a chance," he denied. "He is mine to deal with as I want, not you. And besides, it's morning and you shouldn't be here for much longer. That is, unless you're wanting to be caught by the students and faculty members who attend this school. Just remember to leave the fifty new men you gave me here."

Giving an annoyed grumble, Inferno made his way towards the door, but stopped before closing it behind him.

"When you're done here, I want for you and them to return to the hideout."

"Are you talking about the abandoned building in the downtown area, or the old junkyard out of town?"

"Junkyard. The one downtown has been compromised."

Not wanting to waste anymore time, Inferno left Dark and the hooded guy alone. Making sure that the door was closed and locked, he walked over to his table and picked-up another knife.

"Now then, Dark," he began, making his way over to him, "where were we?"

Dawn came around as Twilight got up from her bed. Today was finally the day that she would go through the portal and get Dark back. However, this time she wouldn't be going through alone. Grabbing herself a quick breakfast, Twilight headed on out into Ponyville to search for a certain group of guards. Thankfully, she didn't have to look very far as there was more than likely one place where they would be to eat at. Making her way into Sugarcube Corner, Twilight immediately spotted the table where Steel Hoof, Aura Lance, and Kite Shield were seated at, and walked over to them.

"Good morning," she greeted them.

"Good morning, Princess," they said in unison, bowing.

"Please, there's no need for that," she dismissed, allowing them to rise and return to their seats.

"How goes trying to get Dark back?" Steel wondered.

"That's actually why I'm here. You see, last night we found where the jammer to the portal was, and after some magical scans and the removal of an enchantment, we destroyed the amulet. So the portal should be working now."

"Alright, then what do you need us for, Princess," Aura asked.

"Last night, before we found out about the amulet, I received a message from a reliable source that Dark had been ponynapped."

"Is he alright?"

"I don't know, and that's why I came to you three. I was hoping that you could gather some of the guards together and assemble at the library in my castle, where we will enter through the portal and rescue Dark."

"It shall be done, Your Highness," Steel said with a bow.

"Thank you. Oh, and before I forget, make sure that each of you bring a shield with you. This world we're going to doesn't have any magic, so be prepared for that, and try not to freak-out when you transform into what the creatures over there look like. I'll explain that further once you have everypony assembled."

"Just to be clear, how many of the guards do you want us to bring?" Kite asked.

"A few dozen. From what I read, we might have to fight an armed group who're holding Dark prisoner."

"Yes, Your Highness."

A few hours later on the other side of the portal, Sunset was walking down the sidewalk towards Canterlot High with her friends in the mid-morning, her mind still on the events of last night. Once the police had arrived, she explained to them what had happened and about her friend who'd led them away from her and her house, to which the police confirmed when they followed the blood and the boot prints in the snow. After the police left, she messaged Twilight about what had happened before calling her human friends, to which they immediately came over to help support her. As they continued down the sidewalk, they soon saw something different with the school. While the students would normally be inside by now, instead, the students and teachers were all gathered in front of the Wondercolt statue while a group of several dozen armed men in matching leather jackets, stood blocking the door.

"What's going on here?" Rainbow asked.

"If Ah had ta guess, Ah'd say that it involved what happened last night," Applejack guessed.

"I wouldn't doubt it," Sunset muttered, "but why are they here at our school?"

Walking into the crowd, they quickly spotted Principal Celestia and Vice-Principal Luna.

"Principal Celestia, what's going on here?"

"Sunset, girls, thank goodness you're all safe," Celestia sighed in relief. "I was starting to worry since none of you were here when school was suppose to start two hours ago."

"Huh? What do you mean?" Rainbow questioned.

"Those guys aren't letting anybody into the school," Luna answered. "They said something about them holding a student in there by their boss' orders."

"Speaking of students, where is Dark?" Celestia asked, causing the girls to look downcast.

"You see, Principal Celestia," Sunset began, "last night, Dark was kidnapped and taken away by a group of people who'd broken into my house. Nobody knows where they took him or who they were."

"I'm sorry to hear that. Are you alright?"

"Yes, I am. Dark managed to lead them away from me and my house, but they took him away and nobody knows where he is."

"He's in there."

Turning their attention to their side, Celestia and Luna, along with Sunset and her friends, all saw the Dazzlings walking over to them.

"Care to clarify, Miss Dazzle?" Celestia asked them.

"Of course I can," Adagio said before turning to face Sunset. "Remember when I told you about what I saw from him?"

"You mean when you touched him and saw that vision?" she asked, getting a nod. "Yes, but what does that have to do with anything here?"

"Ever since I touched him, I've been able to sense his presence wherever he may be, up to a limit of a two hundred yard radius."

"So you believe that Dark is somewhere on the school grounds?" Twi questioned.

"I do. And not only that, but I also feel something else coming from him. Something darker and more dangerous and imposing than what even my sisters and I were."

"If this is coming from a magic-sucking siren, then it must be bad," Rainbow commented.

"Forgive me for interrupting," Rarity spoke, "but has anybody called the police on those brutes?"

"We have, but we haven't seen any signs of them yet," Celestia answered her. "I don't know that's taking them so long, but-"

Celestia was cut-off by a light shining from the face of the Wondercolt statue. Clearing away from it, they watched as Twilight, wearing her crown in addition to her normal clothes, stepped through it and walked over towards them.

"Twilight!" they all shouted before running over to her and welcoming her back with a hug.

"Hey girls," Twilight said through the group hug.

Releasing her, they each stepped back to give her some room before Sunset addressed her.

"Well, it looks like you've got the portal working again."

"Yeah. As it turns out, the jammer was created in collaboration with a noblepony."

"You know who it was?"

"Yes, but I'm not going to talk about him."

"Twilight," Celestia called, approaching her, "while it is nice to see you again, I must ask as to what brings you here?"

"I'm here for Dark."

"Well, that may be a problem," Adagio said as she and her sisters walked over to her. "Dark is being held somewhere inside the school, and those guys won't let us in."

"Not only that," Luna added, "but they're all armed."

Twilight furrowed her brows. "I've worked too long and hard to be stopped now. And to prove that I'm not fooling around, I've brought some help."

"Help?" they all echoed before noticing the portal glowing again.

However, while they were at first expecting some of her friends to accompany her, what they saw instead was completely unexpected. Marching through the portal were men and women wearing golden armor from head to toe, carrying shields and spears in their hands with either a crossbow strapped to their backs, or a sword on their belts. As they continued to file out of the portal, the other students backed away to give them as much space as they needed. Once the last of them came through the portal, they formed ranks in front of Twilight and the others, putting themselves between them and the school.

"You see," Twilight began explaining, "while Dark is my coltfriend, he's also very important to Equestria."

"How so?" Celestia enquired.

"I believe I can answer that," Sunset spoke up, getting Twilight's approval. "You see, over in Equestria, Dark is essentially their world's version of Death."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa. Hold on for a sec. there," Rainbow said with raised hands. "Are you saying that Dark, the same Dark that we've been hanging out with this last week, is like the Grim Reaper?"

"Pretty much."

"That's not all, though," Twilight added. "Since Dark is the Lord of Death, that also means that his presence in Equestria also keeps the balance there. However, ever since he was sent here, ghosts have been appearing all over the place, and anypony in Equestria who's died doesn't actually die, but instead is roaming around as a walking corpse."

This elicited a gasp from everyone present, even the Dazzlings.

"Ah knew this was big, bit Ah didn't think that it was this big," Applejack said surprised.

"So, what's the plan then?" Sunset asked. "I mean, I understand that he's really important, but what's with all of the guards?"

"I don't want to take any chances with him. Right now, the guards are just going to standby while I demand to talk to their leader."

Leaving it at that, Twilight passed through her guards and walked up in front of them.

"I am Princess Twilight Sparkle, and I wish to speak to whoever is in charge here!"

Hearing her, one of the guys at the doors walked down to her.

"What do you want, little girl?" he questioned.

"Are you the one in charge?"

"No, he's busy right now inside. What is it that you want."

"I'm here to talk with your boss about Dark."

Hearing that name caused him to flinch. Signaling two of the others over, he whispered to them before seeing them run into the building.

"They're going to get the boss for you. Just wait here a few minutes and you'll have your answer of if he'll see you or not."

Down inside the boiler room, the hooded guy looked upsettingly at Dark. Since he started where they left off from last night, Dark had only made a few grunts of pain, despite the punishment inflicted upon him.

"What the hell's up with you?!" he demanded. "Last night you cried in pain, and now you're barely doing anything!"

"That cry last night was more out of surprise than pain," Dark told him. "And incase you haven't noticed it yet, I have a rather high pain tolerance. That, and a simple breathing exercise can help with easing the pain."

"But this is just absurd! You've got cuts along your chest and back while your arms and legs look like pincushions for knives!"

"Hey, it's not my problem that you're not satisfied with this," he smirked at his captor.

Giving Dark an irritated growl, he was about to go back to his table before someone was knocking on the door.

"Sir, we've got some girl here who wants to talk to you," one of them said through the door.

Walking over, he opened the door and let them in before closing it behind them.

"Really? And who might she be?"

"She called herself 'Princess Twilight Sparkle'," one of the said, causing the other to snicker while Dark's eyes widened and his body flinched, rattling his chains.

This action didn't go unnoticed by the hooded guy as he looked back to Dark, his white teeth showing off his grin from beneath his hood.

"So you know her," he grinned, causing Dark to show some worry. "Well then, perhaps I'll pay her a visit then."

Immediately angered, Dark tried to lurch forward and attack him, but his restraints held him back.

"Oh, ho, ho. Look at this boys! I think that we've found his soft spot."

"I swear, if you so much as harm a hair on her head, you and the rest of your gang will die," Dark threatened.

"You know, that would probably actually work on me if you weren't chained down and looking like such a mess. Speaking of which," he continued as he picked-up Dark's Death Reaver and walked over in front of him, " due to you're lack of pain-filled cries, I've started to grow bored of you."

"Oh, boo-hoo for your failed-"

Dark didn't finish his sentence as the hooded guy impaled Dark's sword through his stomach and out the back. Trying to get over the shock, Dark tried to control his breathing, but was finding it extremely difficult.

"You see, since you've bored me, I no longer have any reason to keep you alive." He then turned to the two gang members. "Torch the place. I don't want any trace of what's happened here."

Grabbing Dark's torn cutie mark-embroidered shirt, and his jacket, the hooded guy left the room. After he left, the two gang members each pulled out a lighter from their pockets and began setting fire to anything flammable. They even found a jug of oil laying in a corner that they used to help accelerate the fire. Once most of the room around Dark was covered in fire, they left and locked the door behind them. However, what they didn't know was that there was another presence there. From a dark corner of the room, a familiar figure glided over in front of Dark.

"A pity. It would seem that someone's beaten me to you, Dark," he said with his haunting voice, causing Dark to struggle as he lifted his head up to gaze upon the dark figure.

"Hey, Death. So, we finally meet in the real world," Dark weekly rasped, blood leaking from the corner of his mouth.

"Yes, though it's a shame that it's for this reason."

While Dark wanted to make some witty remark, he was feeling too tired to do so and instead opted to go to sleep. Seeing the familiar sign of someone dying, Death reached a bony hand over to him.

"It truly is a shame that this had to end so quickly before I had my own chance," Death said to himself as he placed his hand on Dark's chest, preparing to extract his soul. "Perhaps in the afterlife, then we could-"

Death quickly retracted his hand from Dark and looked at it in surprise. Never would he had thought that he'd feel such a presence from any human.

"Well, this is rather interesting," he said. "Actually, that would explain a few questions that I had about you."

Turning around, Death glided away from Dark and through the door, unaware that the gem within the sword had begun pulsing with a red light, that the fires that were being drawn into Dark's hair, or that a black mist was emanating from Dark's body.

It was starting to snow as Twilight paced in front of her guards, waiting for whoever was in charge to show up. She didn't like the thought of Dark being in the school, if the looks of the guys guarding it were any indication of what to look forward to. Just as she was about to lose her cool and lead a charge inside, the doors to the school opened to an armed, young man in a white and black hooded jacket, who was carrying something balled-up in one of his hands. Standing tall and steady, she waited for him to approach her before he stopped ten feet away from her.

"Well, this is quite a sight," he causally said to Twilight as he glanced over the guards. "So, are you the one who called for me?"

"I am," Twilight stated.

"And as I understand it, you're here about Dark?"

"Yes. I'm here to bring him home."

Listening to her intent caused him to chuckle. "Well now, that's going to be a bit of a problem."

"And why is that?"

Giving her a gleefully sadistic grin, he tossed the bundle in his hand over at Twilight's feet. Reaching down, she unfolded the heavy material until it was shown to be Dark's jacket, and inside it, a torn, blaze-orange shirt with Dark's cutie mark. With a sharp gasp, she shakily and fearfully looked from the clothes in her hands up to the one who gave them to her.

"Wh-Where is Dark? What did you do to him?!"

"Nothing much," he shrugged. "Right now he's currently in this school's boiler room. And as for what I did to him, well, last I saw him, he was on his knees with his own sword impaled through his gut, courtesy of yours truly."

"No... you're lying!"

The hooded guy laughed at her as she began to tear up.

"Oh come on now," he told her after he managed to control his laughter, "there's no reason to be sad about it. Besides, I'm sure that he was dead before the fires that were set in the room got to him... I think."

Twilight couldn't hold it in any longer as she fell to her knees and began sobbing as she held Dark's jacket and shirt tightly against her chest. Seeing her like that, Sunset and the others slowly made their way past the guards to try and comfort their grieving friend, but before they could get close enough, the hooded guy walked over to Twilight and forcefully grabbed her by the wrist.

Seeing this act of hostility, the guards all raised their shields and pointed their spears towards him and his men, who retaliated in turn by raising their guns at them. Seeing the tension, Sunset tried to make a dash to help save her friend, but before she could, Twilight had swiftly freed her from the hooded guy's grip and knocked him back. Surprised by the sudden act, he smirked before walking back up to her, unknowing that that was exactly what she wanted.

Snapping her head up, Twilight looked at him with tearful eyes that were filled with rage. Dropping the clothing in her arms, she closed the gap between her and the supposed leader and began assaulting him with swift and precise strikes that targeted his pressure points and joints. While Twilight never thought that she'd need to use this, she was now glad that she'd taken those self-defense and hoof-to-hoof combat lessons from Shining during their younger days. Although, despite what she learned being meant for ponies, she quickly learned to adapt them to her human figure as she continued to push her opponent back inch by inch.

Furious, focused, and unaware of the black mist that had began to creep out from the gaps between the school doors, Twilight continued to strike at him while dodging or deflecting any swing that he would try and land on her. As she continued to win the fight, her friends, the guards, and the students and faculty members in the back, all began to cheer her on. With the thought of fighting to avenge Dark, and the support of everyone behind her, Twilight felt herself quicken as her strikes became swifter and had more force behind them.

Getting angered by him being beaten by a girl, the hooded guy spun around with the intent of hitting her in the head with a spinning back kick, but doing so was a great mistake. While he was in mid-spin, Twilight did something unexpected as she quickly turned around and got to all fours before bringing her legs in and bucking at him. Unfortunately for the hooded guy though, Twilight had misjudged her size and angle, and with his leg swinging over her and missing, Twilight's buck had hit him square in the balls.

Falling to his knees and grabbing his crotch, he gave a high-pitched cry while everyone watching winced, and for every male who was watching immediately grabbed their own nuts in response. Taking a moment, Twilight backed away from the downed man as she tried to collect her breath. Hunched over, she panted for breath and began to notice that a dark mist had began to form around them. Squinting her eyes through the darkening mist, she managed to keep an eye on the hooded guy, who unsteadily got up out of the snow and back onto his wobbly legs. Seeing him back up and feeling herself ready to fight again, Twilight charged him for a second time, but it didn't work out well for her.

Once Twilight got close enough, the hooded guy, now pissed at what she did to him, tackled her into the snow. With an grunt from Twilight, she then noticed as her opponent had straddled her and began balling up his fists. Knowing what was going to come next, Twilight raised her arms to block his punches. While she managed to block most of them, some of them found their mark on her cheeks. Feeling like she was in a losing situation like this, Twilight deflected the next punch and sent his fist into the snow-covered concrete next to her head. With a yelp of pain, he retracted his hurt hand and cradled it against his chest, giving Twilight enough time to land a few blows of her own before managing to escape from under him. But before she could get away, she felt a boot connect to her back, knocking the air out of her lungs and sending her sliding forward across the snow. Propping herself up on her hands and knees, Twilight turned around to barely see the hooded guy reaching for one of the guns on his side through the mist.

"You bitch!" he shouted, unholstering his gun and pointing it at Twilight. "I was going to let you live and serve me as my personal slave, but if you're so eager to join Dark, then I'll just kill you instead!"

Everything seemed to move in slow motion as the hooded guy flipped the safety off of his gun. Snarling angrily, he could just barely see Twilight as she looked up to him with wide and fearful eyes. Then, just before he completely lost sight of her, he fired his gun.

Hearing the shot being fired, Sunset and the others ducked down behind the guards as they each held their breath, waiting for the mist to disperse and hoping that he'd missed Twilight. However, the dark mist wasn't letting up. If anything else, it seemed to be getting darker and looked thicker.

Huddled down against the snowy ground, Twilight waited for something to happen to her after hearing the gunshot. However, no pain nor coldness of death was felt, but instead a comforting warmth. Risking a peek, Twilight looked up to see that she was covered in what appeared to be complete darkness, save for the faint glow of a fire, just above her. But, while she couldn't see, she did feel that whatever it was that felt warm had begun to shift. That was, until the mist began to clear around her, causing her to gasp in surprise as a fresh wave of tears began to form.

Holding her close to him, Twilight could make out the humanized face of Dark. Taking a moment, she looked him over, noticing that his hands had turned to draconic claws, his human ears were replaced by pony ears on top of his head, his blond hair was on fire as though he used his Amplify, his eyes were draconic and golden, that he'd grown a pair of massive, draconic wings, a long tail, and arms, all a dark black, and finally, that he was bare-chested, which caused her to blush slightly. Shaking her head of the thoughts that came with that last observation, Twilight quickly threw her arms around Dark and held herself tight against him as she began to sob. Surprised by the sudden change of her mood, Dark tenderly brought his arms and wings around her in a hug.

"Hey, what's this all about?" he softly asked. "Is it because I was gone?"

"H-He said that you were d-de-dead," Twilight whimpered, causing Dark to stroke her head.

"He almost did, but somehow I managed to recover my lost powers and was able to regenerate through-"

Dark paused as he noticed the condition of Twilight's face. Bringing a claw over her cheek, Dark could see a bruise beginning to form, and that a small trickle of blood was leaking from her lips. Calmly as to not show his quickly building rage, Dark spoke to Twilight.

"What happened to you?"

Pulling back, Twilight began to explain while Dark wiped her tears away.

"After he said that he killed you, I sorta lost it and attacked him," she said, causing Dark to slightly smile at her. "I had the upper hoof during most of the fight, but towards the end, he managed to tackle me and get in a few hits."

Dark's eyes could no longer hide his rage as his golden eyes turned to a blood-red.

"So, he did this to you?" he asked, getting a slow nod from Twilight, who noticed the change to his eyes and voice.

Standing up and helping Twilight back on her feet, Dark closed his eyes and focused on the shadows surrounding them. A few seconds later, Twilight could see the shadows retreating back into Dark's arms, wings, and tail. Not long after, she could see everything around her clearly again, which included the guards, her friends, and the gang of men who had taken a step back away from the sight of Dark.

"What the hell are you?!" the hooded guy shouted, causing Dark to guide Twilight safely behind him. "You should've died back there! Are you a demon of some kind?!"

"Why don't you come here and find out for yourself!" Dark answered before letting out a bellowing roar up into the sky, accompanied by him breathing out a pillar of fire.

While the display caused the hooded guy to take a few fearful steps back, along with most of his men, one didn't follow suit. Raising his gun, he began to shoot at Dark, who brought up a wing and easily blocked it with its draconic durability. Upon running out of bullets, the gang member discarded his gun and brought out a crowbar before charging Dark. However, as he charged him, Dark summoned his Death Reaver in his right claw and imbued its blade with his dark magic.

Once he was a few steps away, the gang member swung his crowbar down while Dark swiftly swung his sword through the crowbar and its wielder. However, unlike the broken weapon that clanged on the snow-covered floor in two separate pieces, the human who held it, while also split in half by Dark's strike, instead dissolved into shadows before hitting the ground. Ignoring the surprised gasps from those gathered behind him, Dark looked over to the hooded guy and pointed his sword at him.

"My blade calls. YOU! WILL! ANSWER!"

Chapter 41- Fall of the Dragon Gang

Something has gone wrong. We don't seem to have an archived copy of that chapter.

Chapter 42- Repercussions

Dark was unsure of the time of day it was when he finally began to awaken. Last thing he remembered, he was laying on the cool crystal floor of Twilight's castle when Twilight prodded him with a hoof and asked him a question. After giving her a groaned response, his consciousness slipped from him.

Stupid teleportation sickness, he annoyingly thought. Perhaps there's a way to cure it, or at least reduce its effects to a mild-headache.

Feeling the rest of his body starting-up after his brain, Dark felt something warm covering him as he laid on his side, along with something soft supporting his head.

Did somepony put me to bed? Hehe, haven't had anypony do that to me since mom from when I was a small colt. Must've been Twilight, seeing as how she was the last one who I heard before falling unconscious... again.

Mentally smiling at the thought of her looking out for him, Dark tried to move his claws that were folded against his chest, but immediately felt them brush up against something. Regaining his senses even more, he then noticed that what he felt covering his body and back didn't feel exactly like a blanket, but instead the feathers of a wing. Cracking open an eye, Dark's vision was met with a familiar lavender coat. Smiling at her, he shifted his gaze up as much as he could without moving his head to see that Twilight had cuddled with him, her head resting on his while her wing and foreleg had pulled him tight against her.

Huh. So, is this how it usually is for Twilight? To wake-up while being held close somepony else like this? Dark wondered, a small smile creeping back onto his muzzle before he closed his eyes shut again. Well, I suppose that I could get used to this. Especially with how warm, soft, and overall snuggly she is.

Putting any other thoughts out of his mind for now, Dark was relaxing himself to go back to sleep when he heard a soft, yet rather cute yawn from above him. Looking back up to Twilight's face again, Dark saw her as she began rubbing her tired eyes with a hoof. Feeling that he had some wiggle room with her hoof preoccupied, Dark slowly lifted himself up the bed.

Feeling the sudden movement, Twilight looked down to Dark just in time to see him give her a surprised kiss. Falling into it, Twilight gave a satisfied moan as she returned it, letting it last much longer than the one they'd shared yesterday as humans. Only when they needed to breathe again did they part lips from each other.

"Good morning, beautiful," Dark whispered with a quick peck.

"And a good morning to you too," Twilight giggled, pulling him close against her again. "I know that it's only been a week, but I really missed this."

"Me too. Even with the heavy blankets that Sunset provided for me, I could still feel the chill of the lack of body heat next to me when I slept."

"I know exactly what you mean. Once you've shared your bed with somepony you love, it just isn't the same when they're gone."

"Yes, but thanks to you, I'm home again."

"And I'm very happy that you are," she told him with a kiss. "How are you feeling though?"

"Alright... why?"

"Well, you've been asleep for quite a while. I was actually starting to get a little worried about you that something had happened."

"Really? How long was I out for?"

"About eighteen to nineteen hours, give or take. I didn't exactly have the time when I got you to bed."

"Wow, that is a long time. Stupid teleportation sickness."

"Yeah, I kinda figured that that was part of the reason for you sleeping like this. Especially after Sunset told me about how they found you."

"Speaking of them, are they alright?"

"They're doing just fine," Twilight said with a smile. "The police arrived there a few hours after we left."

"It took them that long to get there?"

"Well, as it turns out, that gang had some sort of transmission device in the school that intercepted any phone calls they made to the police, and redirected them towards one of them."

"So they didn't know about what was happening at Canterlot High until it was too late."

"Yes. Although, according to Sunset, your little raid on their base made it to the news. Of course though, there isn't any sign of what had happened there to have caused it."

"Okay, but how are the girls?"

"Again, they're all fine. Though the students and teachers were a bit scared from the school being controlled by a gang like them, things have started to settle down and are now going back about their business as usual."

"That's good to hear. I hope none of them got into any trouble with those police guys."

"Besides some statements from them about what happened, they've been released. None of them are in any trouble and they also managed to tell their story without mentioning you, me, or the guards."

"Smart. But, now that I think about it, how come the guards were so calm about them being a human? I mean, I have the excuse of being turned into a kirin, and then a mare before I became a human, but what about them?"

"Simple, I told them what to expect and made a magical projection image of what I looked like as a human to give them an idea of what they'll look like."

"Ah."

Letting the conversation die down for a while, the two began to simply lay there in bed, enjoying the company of one another as Twilight held him against her chest again. After some time had passed, a worried thought came to Dark.

"Hey, Twilight."

"Hmm?"

"Did anypony by chance find the guy who sent me there?"

Feeling Twilight giving an angry snort, Dark looked up to see her upset face. Noticing his slightly concerned look, Twilight released a stressful sigh.

"We did."

"Good-"

"But he go away."

"Oh. Wait, how did he get away?"

"He used some kind of spell to blind everypony and made his escape."

"Ah. Well then, I guess I could see that."

"That's not all though," she quickly added. "Dark, we managed to get a look at this pony."

"Really?! Who is he?!"

"That's just it, nopony knows who he is. But..."

"But?"

Twilight sighed as she looked worryingly at Dark. "We believe that he may be an alicorn."

Dark's eyes snapped wide at this new information. "What? But how?"

"We don't know. All we know is that this pony has wings and a horn. However, nopony saw him ever use his horn when he casted his blinding spell on us."

"Huh, you know, I don't think that he ever used his horn once when he confronted me."

Twilight nodded. "We think that his horn might be a fake, but we're not completely sure yet."

"Well, at least we know what he looks like now. It'll be much harder for him to hide. Speaking of which, where did you guys find him?"

"In Canterlot, right under the princesses' noses."

"Bet they're not happy about that."

"Not in the least. Princess Luna is rather mad about it and has sent her night guard up north to track him while she tries to get more information out of his known accomplice."

"Somepony else was in on this?! Who?!"

Twilight's brows furrowed. "Blueblood."

Hearing that name immediately caused Dark to emanate a low, threatening growl from his throat while baring his fangs slightly.

"When I get my claws on his scrawny neck, I'll-"

"Better not," she interrupted. "As much as I would like to personally see to his interrogation, he's our only source of information on who this pony is. Besides, you'll see him during his trial in a few days."

"While he deserves to be put on trial, if you want information from him, then just give me a few minutes alone with him and I'll get him talking... without hurting him of course," he quickly added.

"I understand. Besides, how do you think I got him to tell us about where that pony was?"

Dark looked at Twilight surprised. "Twilight, what did you do to him?"

Twilight smirked and innocently answered, "Oh, nothing much."

While the thought of what she'd probably had done was slightly off-putting, Dark also found himself allured by it. Reaching back up, Dark passionately kissed Twilight. Feeling a figurative fire burning in his chest, Dark rolled on top of her, their lips never parting. A few moments later, they separated, both panting for breath while Dark smirked at her.

"You're a dangerous little pony, aren't you?" he asked before giving a yelp of surprise as Twilight rolled them over with her now on top.

"Only when I want to," she smirked back. "Now, I need your help with something."

"Oh? And what would that be?" he playfully asked, though having a good idea with the bedroom eyes she was giving him.

"This last week has been rather stressful for me, and I need a way to... relieve that stress. So," Twilight lowered herself, their muzzles barely touching, "care to help me out? And I don't mean with your longue like the last few times, I mean all the way."

"Are you sure about this? I mean absolutely sure?"

"I am."

Dark gave her a hungry, throaty growl. "Well then, who am I to refuse such a request, My Princess."

Spike snored loudly as he slept in the basket bed in his bedroom. During this past week, he'd been busy between helping Twilight and Moondancer with first trying to fix the portal, then helping them in trying to locate the jammer that was blocking it. And what time he did have left he spent with his three fillyfriends, but mostly with Sweetie Belle, seeing as how she had taken Dark's disappearance the hardest between the four of them. That was, until Twilight had brought him back yesterday.

After hearing about his return, the four tried to make their way up to see him, but were stopped by Twilight when she blocked their paths and told them that he was sleeping. While Spike and the fillies were a little bummed that they couldn't see him, she did say that she would tell them when he woke up.

As Spike continued to snore in blissful sleep, he was soon awoken, not by the sun's rays in his eyes, but by something else entirely. Groggily sitting up, he wiped his eyes with his claws when he heard the sound again.

"What the heck is that noise?" he mumbled to himself as he continued to listen. "Is somepony nailing something into the wall."

Passing it off as Twilight working on a project of some kind, Spike tossed the blankets back over him and tried to tune-out the noise so he could go back to sleep... it wasn't working. Not only was the thumping getting louder, but it seemed that the speed of it was picking up as well. It wasn't until another ten minutes of listening to this had passed that Spike gave an irritated huff as he sat-up in his bed.

"Alright, that's it! What the heck is going on-"

"RAAAAAAWWWRRRR!!!"

"GAAHHH!"

Shouting in fear, Spike dove back under the safety of his blankets, his green draconic eyes fearfully peeking out from beneath them.

"What the name of Celestia was that?! A dragon?!" he worryingly asked himself.

Shaking in his bed, Spike waited for anymore sounds to be heard. Either that, or for Twilight to come running or teleporting into his room to checkup on him.

Wait, if Twilight isn't here yet, then where could she...

Spike's eyes widened in fear at the thought of whatever that was getting to her. With the safety of his sister overcoming his sense of fear, Spike threw off the covers and jumped to his feet.

"Don't worry, Twilight, I'm coming to save you!"

Dark and Twilight were laying side-by-side on their backs, both covered in sweat and panting for breath from the exertion of their... stress relief.

"That... was... wow," Twilight said between breaths.

"I take it... that you liked it?" Dark panted.

"Definitely. I thought that what... we did before was great... but that doesn't even... compare to this."

"Well then... I'm glad that... you liked it so much."

Twilight rolled over and began nuzzling beneath Dark's chin while Dark draped an arm and wing over her.

"All thanks to you. Although, I still can't believe that I finished twice before you did."

"I know, though just barely," Dark agreed. "I thought that your alicorn stamina would've caused you to outlast me."

"Must be because you're part dragon. By the way, what was up with you roaring like that?"

"I... have no idea actually," he answered confusingly. "I didn't intend on it, but when the time came, I just had this... urge to roar."

"Huh."

"You think it might be because I'm part dragon again?"

"Maybe. I'll have to look into a book that tells about the mating habits of dragons."

"Well, if you do somehow manage to find one, you should probably read it away from Spike," Dark chuckled. "Speaking of him, it's a good thing that we had a soundproof barrier up so he couldn't hear us."

Twilight's eyes snapped wide open in realization.

"Umm, yeaahhh, about that..."

"... yes?" he asked with a cocked eyebrow.

"I may have forgotten to cast one before we started."

"Wait, so does that mean that Spike-"

Dark was interrupted when the doors to the bedroom were thrown open and slammed against the wall. And there, standing in the doorway was Spike, wearing a pot on his head with a pillow tied to his body for armor and wielding a frying pan in each of his claws.

"Don't worry, Twilight! I'm here to save..."

Spike's little warcry drifted off when he saw Dark and Twilight laying in bed, both looking at him with heavy blushes and nervous looks. Taking a quick look around, Spike saw that everything in their bedroom was perfectly fine. Seeing that everything seemed to be alright, Spike lowered his frying pans and walked over to them.

"Uh, hey, guys," he awkwardly greeted them. "You two wouldn't have by chance heard something banging against the walls and a loud roar, would you?"

Dark and Twilight looked to each other with the same embarrassed looks of Spike essentially catching them.

"What should we say?!" Twilight quietly shouted in worry.

"I don't know!" Dark quietly returned. "Should we lie to him and tell him some story?"

"I don't think that he'll buy one at this point."

"Well, if we can't lie or makeup some story, then what are we suppose to tell him? The truth about what we were doing?"

"You know, just because you two are whispering right in front of me doesn't mean that I can't hear everything that you two are saying," Spike impatiently told them.

Turning their attention back to each other, Dark and Twilight looked into the other's eyes, silently wondering if they should. With a nod from Twilight, Dark gave a small sigh before turning back to spike.

"So... you really wanna know?" he nervously asked.

"I do," Spike assured.

"Alright, fine. Well, you see... um... hey, remember when you and I had 'the talk'?"

"Ugh! Please don't remind me about that. And why are you bringing that up anyway?"

"Well, remember what I told you about what two ponies do when they love each other very much?"

"Unfortunately, I do. They get together and-"

Spike stopped himself when he realized where Dark was going with this. Eyes wide and jaw dropped, Spike looked disbelievingly over to Twilight, who gave him a shy nod, confirming his suspicions.

"Umm.... well then..." he slowly said, his face turning red from learning what happened. "If you two will excuse me, I'll leave you two alone while I try to forget what just happened."

Dark and Twilight stayed silent as they watched the little dragon quickly run out of the room and slam the door shut behind him. Once the sounds of his claws echoing down the crystal halls fell silent, the two let out a breath of relief.

"Well..." Twilight slowly began as she tried to find the words. "That was..."

"Unfortunate for him?" Dark finished with a guess.

"Yeah, let's go with that," she confirmed before sighing. "I can't believe that we forgot to create a soundproof barrier around the room. Or, at least I forgot to create one."

"You can't blame all of this on yourself."

"Why? Are you able to cast a soundproof barrier?"

"I can't, though I can dampen the sounds with my shadows."

"Okay, so we both messed up then. What were we thinking?"

"Well, we weren't," he chuckled, causing Twilight to join.

"Should we checkup on Spike?"

"I think that it might be best to just give him some room for now. I'll go talk to him about later it. Besides, he already knows about this sort of stuff. I'm just happy that he didn't catch us in the act."

"Yeah, that would've been really awkward and embarrassing if he did."

"Yeah. So, what now?"

"Well, Pinkie has a 'Welcome back to Equestria' party ready for you for when you woke-up."

"Of course she does," Dark happily chuckled. "Do you know when it'll be?"

"Since you're awake, it'll probably be today somewhere around noon, if not sooner. That way we can have the party before leaving for Blueblood's trial in Canterlot."

"Oh... right... him. When is his trial anyway?"

"In three days, but they would like for us to be up in Canterlot the day before. Besides, it'll give us a chance to see my parents again."

It was a few hours before sunset when the train carrying everyone finally arrived at Canterlot. While the party that Pinky had thrown was fun, especially with how happy their friends and the Crusaders were to see him back, and how hungry he was, Dark had to excuse himself so that he and Spike could talk about earlier. To his surprise though, Spike seemed to have gotten over most of it and was handling it rather well. Spike later explained that it was mostly out of shock from hearing what they told him... and what he heard through the walls that he was acting like that. Although the talk did go well, Spike did tell Dark that he was still a little bit unnerved by it, but a promise from Dark that they wouldn't do it again without some kind of soundproofing spell seemed to put Spike a little more at ease.

Now though, as the train slowed down into the snow-covered Canterlot Station, those thoughts returned as Dark looked out the window to see Cadence, Shining, and a half-dozen of their crystal guards waiting for them at the platform. As he continued to worry, his thought became interrupted when he felt a hoof on his shoulder.

"Hey, you alright?" Twilight asked.

"I'm... not sure," Dark unsurely answered her.

"What's wrong?"

"Well, it's just that I'm a little worried of them finding out about what we did is all."

"You're talking about this morning, right?" she clarified, getting a nod from Dark. "I understand what you mean, but I wouldn't worry too much about it. Besides, the soreness is gone now and I can walk just fine again."

Dark turned his head to hide his embarrassed face away from Twilight.

"Yeahhh, sorry about that... again."

"It's alright, it was well worth it to me."

"Heheh. Alright, if you say so."

"Hurry up, you two," Spike told them, causing both of them to turn around to see their friends and Spike heading towards the doors. "You'll be left behind if you say on any longer."

Grabbing their bags, Dark and Twilight made their way out of the train and over with their friends who were already being greeted by Cadence and Shining. Upon making eye contact with them, Dark took Twilight's bags from her before she ran over and gave them both a big hug. Once they let each other go, Shining and Cadence led Twilight, Dark, Spike, and their friends towards the castle.

"Ooh! I missed you two!" Twilight happily told them.

"Us too, Twily," Shining smiled before seeing Dark walk over to them.

"Shining," Dark said with a nod.

"Dark," Shining returned with an acknowledging nod of his own. "So, according to the princesses, you're suppose to be the Lord of Death?"

"Yeah."

"And you didn't tell my parents or Cadence and I this why?"

"Because I didn't know what you guys would do if I did. I mean, I would have a good idea of what you'd do, but not your parents. Especially since Twilight and I are together... they don't know, do they?"

"No, they don't," Shining sighed before looking seriously at Dark. "However, if you want to keep their trust, or what would remain after they learn of what you are, you should tell them yourself before they hear it from somepony else."

"Yeah, I know," Dark said in agreement, "but how should I go about it? Last I saw, your dad seemed alright with me, though still unsure, while your mom welcomed me. Also, and don't get me wrong here, but why do you seem so willing to help me with this?"

"I'm doing this more for my parents because if they do learn about you from somepony who's not you, then they'll be hurt by it."

"So then, you're doing this as a way of looking out for them?"

"Yes, but I'm also doing it because I did tell you that I'd give you a chance, right?"

"Yeah, I guess you did," Dark smiled. "Oh, by the way, Shining, you wouldn't by chance know of where I could find a jeweler in Canterlot who does custom-made orders, would you?"

Shining's eyes snapped wide in surprise and anger.

"You're not going to do what I think you're going to do, are you?" he threateningly asked.

Dark, in turn, just looked back confusingly at him.

"Uhh, I don't think so. I just thought that I'd do some early window-shopping before Hearth's Warming next month. You know, get ahead of the pack before the rush is on."

"Oh... sorry about that. Well then, I might know of a place or two."

While the two guys were busy talking, Twilight and Cadence were having a conversation of their own.

"So, Twilight," Cadence began, "I see that you managed to get Dark back and return Equestria back to normal."

"Yeah," she tiredly sighed, thinking back on what she had to do. "I won't lie, it was very stressful trying to track where that portal jammer was. Even more so than I'm usually used to."

"That's another thing that I noticed. You seem to be very relaxed and stress-free for what stress you've been through, even if it was just a day ago. That, and you seem to have this glow about you."

"What do you mean by 'glow'? I didn't cast any spells to make me do that."

"That's not what I meant, Twilight," Cadence smirked as she leaned in closer. "I mean the sort of glow that one emanates after having been intimate with somepony."

Twilight's face immediately lit-up before quickly looking away from Cadence, which caused her to giggle and drape a wing over her.

"I'm not making fun of you, Twilight. If anything, I'm happy that you found somepony who you love so much, and who loves you in return. Even if that somepony does happen to be Death Incarnate."

"B-But, how did you know that we... did it?" Twilight stuttered. "I still don't get it."

"There are several subtle hints that caught my eye, but it was mostly after you two stepped off of that train that I noticed. When you did, I could feel that the love between you two was much stronger than what it was the last time we met."

"Really? I mean, yeah, I love him, but I didn't think that it would be that big."

"Let me give you some advice, Twilight. Not as the Princess of Love, but as your sister-in-law. Keep doing what you can to show him that you love him, and he'll do the same for you in return, if not more."

"I will," Twilight smiled before looking at Cadence with a hint of worry. "Just please don't tell mom, dad, or my brother about this?"

"I promise that I won't tell our parents or Shiny about what you two do behind closed doors," Cadence smirked.

"Thank you."

"Although, you did forget to mention Aunty Celestia and Luna in that promise."

Twilight looked to her in horror. "You wouldn't."

Cadence didn't give a return answer. Instead, she remained quiet as they continued along to the castle with a mischievous smile on her muzzle.

By the time they all arrived inside the castle, everyone had a thin layer of snow covering their coats. That is, everyone except for Dark and Spike, thanks to their fire sacs keeping them too warm for the snow to settle on. Taking a quick moment to clear the snow off of them, they followed Cadence and Shining to their guest rooms to unpack. Of course, Cadence smirked at Twilight and Dark when she lead them to their shared room, much to Shining's discomfort. While he was willing to give Dark a chance, he didn't like the thought of his sister sharing a bedroom with him.

With everypony unpacked, they all split-up to head on their own until they would gather for dinner. Until then, Twilight, Dark, and Spike made their way back through the light-snow shower to see their parents. As they made their way down the home stretch, Dark began to act nervous, to which Twilight noticed.

"Nervous about the same thing as before?"

"No, not this time," Dark replied.

"Okay, so what's troubling you then?"

"Well, Shining and I talked-"

"What did he say to you this time?" Twilight asked accusingly.

"Nothing really, just a good point that me made."

"Which would be?"

"About your parents learning about what I am. You know, about me being the Lord of Death."

"Are you worried about how they'll react?"

"Yeah," he sighed. "I've been trying to make a good impression on them, and I'm worried that all of that will go down the drain once they hear about it."

"Alright, but why did Shining tell you to tell them?"

"He thought that it would be better for them if I told them myself, instead of them finding out from another source."

"Well, I guess we're about to find out," Spike chimed as he stopped up in front of them, "because we're here."

Paying attention, Dark saw that they actually were standing in front of their house. Walking with them up to the door, he took deep breaths to try and calm his nerves. A moment after Twilight knocked, the door was opened by Night, who didn't waste any time in hugging his daughter and Spike.

"Ahh, my kids! How have you two been?"

"Just fine, dad," Twilight answered with a hug.

"Me too," Spike nodded.

"Good. And how about you, lad?" Night asked Dark, giving him a hoof/clawshake.

"Alright, sir."

"Again with the 'sir'?"

"Sorry, but I can't help it since that's how I was raised to treat others."

"Heh, I know. It's fine."

"Honey? Is somepony here?" Velvet asked.

"Twilight, Spike, and Dark are here."

"Well what are you waiting for? Let them in already."

Chuckling, Night motioned for the three to come on in. Brushing the snow off their hooves and claws, the three followed Night into the living room where they were about to sit down at until Velvet came into the room.

"Welcome back, sweetie," she greeted Twilight with a hug and kiss.

"Hello, mom," Twilight returned.

Letting go of her, Velvet went for Spike next.

"And how's my young dragon doing?"

"Just great," Spike happily answered.

"Oh? And why's that?"

"Because he's got himself three fillyfriends," Dark smirked, causing Spike to glare at him.

"Oh my goodness! Three?!"

"Umm.... yeah," Spike meekly replied.

"Hah! That's my boy!" Night exclaimed. "Even if we're not related by blood, you're just like I was when I was your age."

"Well then, you'll have to bring them over someday for us to see. And don't think that I forgot about you, mister," Velvet said to Dark before walking over and giving him a motherly hug.

Though surprised by it initially, he quickly recovered to return it with a hug of his own, once again remembering what it felt like to be held by a caring mother. With their greetings all finished, everyone took a seat and got themselves comfortable.

"So, I take it that you three are here for the trial tomorrow?" Night figured.

"We are, and so are our friends," Twilight confirmed. "How did you know about that?"

"Besides it being in the papers, Shining and Cadence came over earlier today with Skyla and told us a little bit about it," Velvet told them.

"Oh. Okay."

"So, could you tell us about why Blueblood is being put on trial? It wouldn't by chance have anything to do with that 'living dead' thing a few days ago, would it?"

Dark and Twilight looked back to each other. While he was still nervous and unsure, a warm smile and nod from Twilight was all that he needed. Taking in a deep breath, Dark began to tell them.

"In a way, it does," he began. "And there's a reason that I wanted to see you two, other than the sake of just see you."

"Oh?"

"I... have something to tell you two."

"Ooh! Is it grandfoals?! Is Twilight-"

"No, mom," Twilight quickly interrupted, "I'm not pregnant."

"Could've fooled me from how things sounded this morning," Spike muttered, earning him a bop on the head from Twilight.

"Wait! What?!" Night asked in alarm.

"Nothing!" Twilight and Dark answered in unison, causing Night to glare at Dark while Velvet had a shimmer of anticipation in her eyes.

"Dark," Night called in a semi-threatening tone, "are you doing the dirty with my daughter?"

"Umm..." Dark nervously spoke as he tried to shrink himself down into the couch.

"Oh, Night, leave the young stallion be," Velvet scolded. "Twilight is a grown mare, and what she does with Dark is none of our business."

"Thank you, mom," Twilight thanked.

"Fine," Night begrudgingly conceded while continuing to glare at Dark. "But just so you know, I keep a castrating knife hidden in my room."

Hearing this caused Dark to snort, which in turn earned him some looks from everyone else.

"I'm sorry," he apologized with a chuckle. "It's just that that's the exact same thing that my dad told my sister's coltfriend, but only so that he would scare them. Although, he never actually had any."

"Umm, Dark?" Twilight whispered. "My dad actual has a castrating knife hidden in his room."

Looking from Twilight to Night, Dark saw a small smirk creep its way up on his lips.

"... okay, never mind then." Why the hay does he even have on of those?!

"Anyway," Velvet redirected, "what was it that you wanted to talk to us about, Dark?"

"Oh... right..."

"Yes, you did say that what you wanted to tell us involved Blueblood and the living dead thing," Night added.

"Well... alright, I don't know any other way to say this, so I'll just be straight with it." Dark briefly paused to steady himself before dropping it on them. "I'm the reason for why the dead were walking Equestria."

"How so?"

"Because I'm the Lord of Death."

"I don't get it," Night said confusingly.

"I am Death, Lord of Death, Death Incarnate, take your pick."

"Dark, what are you saying?" Velvet asked.

"Exactly what I said. Much like how Princess Celestia and Princess Luna represent the sun and moon respectively, I represent death. And as such, my presence here in Equestria keeps the balance of the dead in check."

Slowly, Night got out of his chair and walked over to look Dark in the eyes.

"And any reason why you've never bothered to tell us before?"

"Because, sir..."

"Well?"

Dark sighed. "I was afraid of how you two would take it."

"And what about you?" Night asked Twilight. "Did you know about what he is?"

"Yes," she answered. "I found out about the same time as Dark did."

"So, you weren't born into it?"

"No, sir, I wasn't," Dark replied. "Remember when I told you about the dragon that attacked my village?"

"Yes, what about it?"

"He was the Lord of Death before I was. It's like I told you before, I was just a unicorn before he turned me into what I am."

"And are you alright with this, Twilight? About your coltfriend being what he is?"

"I am," she nodded.

Sighing, Night turned around and sat back in his chair.

"You've left me with quite a predicament, Dark. On the one hoof, I find myself feeling uncomfortable knowing what you are and am not sure if I can trust you now. Especially with my daughter."

"Dad-"

"On the other hoof, though, from what I've seen and read from the occasional letter that Twilight would send us, you also seem to make her happy. I'm sorry, but while I want to like you, lad, I'm just going to need time to think about this." Night paused to look over to Velvet. "What about your thoughts, honey? You've been rather quiet lately."

"I don't really see a problem with it," she answered, getting looks of relief from Dark and Twilight while Night looked confused. "Again, Twilight is a grown mare. And besides, even if Dark is this 'Lord of Death', that doesn't mean that anything about him has changed, right? He's still the same young stallion that Twilight introduced us to last month."

"Thank you, Miss Velvet," Dark thanked.

"You're welcome. Now, back to Blueblood and his trial. What did he do exactly?"

"Long story short," Twilight began, "Blueblood made a partnership with a known fugitive which resulted in Dark being sent to another world."

"Okay, but that can't be all of it, can it?"

"Remember the pony who orchestrated the attack on Ponyville?"

"Wait, you mean Blueblood allied himself with him?"

"Yes. Not only that, but them sending Dark to that other world was the cause of that undead dilemma we had. Since Dark was no longer in our world, the dead became unchecked as they weren't actually dead, and the spirits rose from their graves. It wasn't until Dark returned back to Equestria that everything was set right again."

"Well, we're glad to have you back," Velvet said to Dark.

"There's more though," Twilight continued. "From what I was able to get out of Blueblood when I paid him a visit, it turns out that the wanted stallion had contacted that world's version of him and ordered him to kill Dark."

"He almost did too," Dark said, shuddering briefly as he remembered his time chained in that room.

"Well, as much as I would like to see him finally brought in," Night began, "I'm willing to bet that he'll just get away with-"

"No he won't!" Twilight fiercely interrupted. "Princess Celestia and Princess Luna have both had enough of Blueblood. With the crimes that he's committed, along with Celestia knows how many other crimes that he's been stacking up on, he won't get away with it. Not this time."

"Are you sure, sweetie?" Velvet asked.

"Oh, I'm sure. It hasn't been made public yet, but they've already revoked his title as prince, and is currently awaiting in the Canterlot Dungeons for his trial."

"What do you think his sentence will be?"

"That, we'll have to wait and find out tomorrow."

"Well, I don't know about you all, but I wouldn't mind him getting the me sentence," Dark said, earning him confused looks from everyone.

... they didn't get it? Well, I thought that joke was clever.

The next day rolled around as everyone was gathered in the massive, circular courtroom. While the circular room had seats set like a stadium as each row was slightly taller than the one in front of it, on one side of the room was the double doors, across from it were the four thrones where the princesses would be presiding, and in the center, a raised platform for the defendant.

While the trial was set to start in ten minutes still, the room was still being filled with both nobles and commoners with many others waiting in the hallways to get a peek at what would be happening. Fortunately, thanks to Celestia's warning of how packed the room would probably be, everyone found their seats before the rush was on. They each managed to get a front row seat with the girls sitting by each other, followed by Spike, Dark, Shining, Velvet, and Night on the end. Noticing that somepony was missing, Dark looked over to Shining.

"Hey, Shining?"

"Hmm?"

"Where's Skyla?"

"Some of the castle staff are looking after her," Shining replied. "After all, I don't think that a courtroom is a place for young foals."

"I guess not," Dark said before catching a glimpse of Night and letting out a small sigh, one that didn't go unnoticed.

"Something wrong, Dark?" Velvet asked before noticing who Dark was glancing at. "Ahh, I see. Still thinking about yesterday?"

"Yeah. I knew that you two might not of liked what I had to admit to you, but I guess that I wasn't actually prepared for it. Although, I suppose I should consider myself fortunate that I didn't get kicked-out of the house after I told you two."

"There's no need to worry about that. Besides Twilight, I wouldn't have allowed it. And as for Night, he'll get over it. He just needs some time is all."

"So, you told them?" Shining spoke.

"Yeah, I did," Dark said with a solemn nod. "Is there anything that I can do to get back on Night's good side?"

"Like I said, just give him some time and he'll come around," Velvet assured.

"Speaking of coming around," Shining began, pointing towards the other side of the courtroom, "look at what decided to join us."

Following the direction of his hoof, they saw that Shining was pointing at four dragons that had walked in and taken a seat, each of them standing a few heads taller than the average pony.

"Why are they here?" Dark wondered.

"If I had to guess, I'd say that your disappearance had also impacted the Dragon Kingdom."

"If that's so, then why didn't King Inferno come here?"

"He probably didn't want to. Last I remember, you two were on unfriendly terms and you chokeslammed General Razor Claw."

"Technically that was Nocturne's doing."

"Either way, we now have four unknown dragons attending this trial."

As soon as he looked back to the dragons to get a better look at them, Dark quickly adverted his gaze when he saw the four sets of draconic eyes locked directly onto him. As he began to wonder how much longer it was going to be before this thing would start, Celestia, Luna, Cadence, and Twilight walked into the room and took their seats. Striking her gavel, Celestia quieted the room so that they could begin the trial.

"Guards, bring him in."

Seconds later, four guards lead Blueblood by his chains through the doors and towards the stand where they then chained him down to it. With him secured, the guards then stood down and off to the sides.

"Blueblood," Celestia spoke, "you are being charged with twenty counts of embezzlement, fifty counts of blackmail, forty-five counts of bribery, ten counts of fraud and forgery, one count of knowingly assisting a wanted fugitive, and one count of harassing a Princess of Equestria."

"We would also add 'Dooming Equestria' to your list of crimes, seeing as how you were key in nearly bringing about the zombie apocalypse, but it was decided as a group to leave that out," Luna added. "Unfortunately."

"How do you plead, Blueblood?" Cadence asked.

"Wow," Dark whispered, leaning over towards Shining, "how does one stallion manage to do all of that? And how the hay did they even find out about all of that?"

"Trust me," Shining whispered back, "when they really want to find something, they'll find it."

"This is highly unnecessary, Aunties and cousin," Blueblood spoke. "After all, aren't we-"

"Silence your rambling and answer the question!" Luna barked.

"I won't say anything. And besides, even if I did do all that I was accused of, you have nothing connecting me to them."

That foolish idiot, Dark mentally groaned.

"Blueblood," Twilight finally spoke. "Incase you've forgotten, it was I who you've been harassing."

"I remember no such thing," he smugly said.

While Blueblood's calm demeanor was shown as Twilight's face turned to anger, a low growl quickly caught his attention. Turning his head towards the source on his right, Blueblood saw that it was coming from Dark, who was barring his fangs at him. Not wanting to press his luck with Dark, Blueblood looked back to the princesses, albeit with slightly shaky knees.

"Then again, I may have been wrong before."

"So, do you admit to it, or not?" Twilight questioned.

"Alright, so maybe I did."

"I'll take that as you admitting it. Now, about the other charges."

"I stand by what I said before on those."

"Blueblood," Celestia spoke up, "Luna has seen into your dream knows about how you helped supply the materials and plotted with the wanted fugitive. That alone is enough to incriminate you. As for the other charges," Celestia conjured several tall stacks of papers and dropped them onto the floor with a loud thud that echoed off the walls of the courtroom, "here we have records of every illegal act that you've ever committed."

"Really?" Blueblood mocked. "If so, then why didn't you use them on me before?"

"If we did, you would have used your royal status to dismiss the charges," Luna answered. "No. We held onto these so that when we finally did charge you with them, there would be so many of them that even you wouldn't be able to squirm your way out of it!"

"Blueblood," Cadence firmly called. "If you have any dignity left, you will admit to these crimes. You have nowhere left to run."

Feeling like his wall were closing in around him, Blueblood glanced over towards Twilight.

"It's over, Blueblood," she told him. "We have witnesses and physical evidence."

Now knowing that he was indeed trapped, Blueblood hung his head in defeat... or so everyone thought. Seconds later, they could hear a light-chuckle that gradually became louder and more maniacal. Seeing that Blueblood had snapped, the guards each pointed their spears at him. Controlling his laughter, Blueblood looked back with crazed, wide-eyed at the four princesses, namely Twilight.

"You're right, it is over," he said, his voice now having taken a disturbingly higher tone.

"Dark," Shining whispered, "I'm getting a bad feeling about this."

"Like what?"

"Like something's going to happen soon. Be ready to act fast, just incase."

With a silent nod, Dark began channeling his dark magic into his claws while Shining subtly charged his horn.

"Then will you admit to these charges and resign yourself peacefully?" Twilight asked hopefully.

"Oh, no. I didn't say that."

"Then what do you mean?" Celestia questioned.

"What does it matter?" he countered, his eyes now bloodshot and his mane becoming untamed. "Yes, I admit that I wanted to court Princess Twilight, but I couldn't do that while she was already being courted by that demon, Dark!"

"Don't!" Shining hissed at Dark, holding him back with a hoof.

"That's why I did what I did. It was to get rid of him so that I could have you all to myself." Blueblood sighed sadly. "Unfortunately, he's returned and I've come to a realization."

"And that would be?" Twilight pressed.

Blueblood gave her a sinister grin and raised his hoof. "That if I can't have you, then nopony can!"

As soon as he dropped his hoof, several magical blasts from unicorns around the courtroom were all fired at Twilight. Since they'd never expected this of Blueblood, the four alicorns watched in slow motion as the blasts of magic converged on Twilight. But, before anyone could see what had happened to the youngest princess, there was a flash of pink light which was instantaneously accompanied by the room being flooded in darkness.

Even though it was just a thick, black fog, no one could see or hear anything during the few moments it was up for. A few seconds later, the darkness receded, revealing Shining standing protectively in front of Twilight with his barrier protecting all four princesses, while Dark stood outside of it, pinning the unchained Blueblood and eight other unicorn stallions down to the floor by the shadowy tendrils protruding from his shadow-covered wings. With shadowy mists flooding off of his wings, arms, and tail, Dark turned to face the princesses, his eyes blood-red with fury.

"Your Highnesses," Dark spoke, his voice taking on that of Nocturne's. "Permission to execute them all on the spot?"

"While I would like for nothing more then that at this point," Luna spoke, "somepony had unfortunately decided to ban the death sentence some hundred years ago."

His eye-color now turning red, Dark slowly began circling around Blueblood.

"Then... what should we do with them?"

"Considering that we can now add 'attempted royal assassination' to the list of crimes," Celestia said taking over, "I can now pass this without any regrets. Blueblood. Your crimes are great and many, and now you must face them. As of now, you are hereby officially stripped of your royal title-"

"What?!" Blueblood shouted, disbelievingly.

"-your estates and assets will be seized and donated to the orphanages of Equestria-"

"No!"

"-you and your assassins will all spend life in the Canterlot Dungeons-"

"You cannot do this!"

"-and lastly, you shall all be dehorned."

That final part of his sentencing was what silenced him. Looking fearfully between the four, Blueblood looked for any sign from them that they were bluffing. When he saw how serious they were, though, he began to panic.

"No! Please! Please don't do that!" he begged. "Please! I'd rather die then lose my horn!"

"It has been decided, Blueblood," Luna coldly said.

Becoming desperate, Blueblood turned to Dark.

"Please! You have every right to do it! So please! Kill me!"

After what you did to us? Yeah right, Dark thought before looking down to him and shrugging nonchalantly.

"Sorry, but you heard the princesses. No death penalty allowed. Besides, they already gave you your sentence."

With a flick of his shadowy tendrils, Dark threw Blueblood and his assassins over to the door. Once they stopped rolling around, they were immediately seized by the four that escorted Blueblood, and guards guarding the door.

"And with that, court is adjourned," Celestia announced, striking her gavel to signify the end of the trial.

"If I may," Dark spoke, "could I have Your Highnesses' permission to help escort them to the dungeons?"

"Granted," Luna said with a nod.

With a bow, Dark turned to catch-up with the guards. While he walked over towards them, he looked over to the four dragons who had attended. Now getting a better look at them, Dark saw they were red, blue, white, and brown, but also that they were somehow different from normal dragons. While the red and brown one looked a little more bulky than the average dragon, the white and blue ones were more serpentine and lacked wings.

Realizing that he'd been staring, Dark shook his head clear and saw that they were each looking back to him. Before he could do or say anything though, they each gave him a small smile and a nod. What happened then confused Dark as the red one burst into flames, the blue one dispersed into water, the white one vanished in a slight breeze, and the brown one sank into the stone. A few seconds later of staring in the spot where the four had just been, Dark remembered that he had an escort to overlook. As he returned to normal and walked with them down the hall though, one question continued to bother him.

Who were those four?

Dark was having dinner with Celestia and Luna by their request after they caught him wandering the halls. After they sat down, they asked why he was still here when the others had all gone over to Twilight's parents' house to eat. Once he told them about how he told her parents that he was the Lord of Death and thought that some time apart would give Night time to think about it, they understood.

"I do hope that Night Light will come around soon," Celestia spoke. "How did Twilight take your decision to stay behind?"

"She understood where I was coming from, but she wasn't completely for it at first," Dark told them. "Thanks to Shining, though, she agreed and went with them."

"Sounds like Shining Armor has been better to you," Luna noticed.

"He has. We talked a little bit after our match at the Coliseum, and he's decided to give me a chance."

"Well, I'm glad to hear that," Celestia said.

"Thanks, but now I have to try and get Twilight's dad to like me again."

"What about Twilight Velvet?"

"She seemed alright with it."

"She is an understanding mare. Now if only that could rub-off on Night Light."

"He's a stallion, and we all know how stubborn we can be."

"... you do know that you just made fun of yourself, right?" Luna asked.

"Yep."

"Very well then. At least it's good to see that your talk with Night Light hasn't dampened your humor."

"Yeah," Dark sighed. "I just hope that he'll come around by the time Hearth's Warming gets here."

"Does that mean that you'll be staying with Twilight and her family during the holidays?" Celestia wondered.

"I will. It'll be... different from what I'm normally used to, but I'll be okay."

"I'm sure you will, and I'm also sure that Night Light will come around by then," Celestia smiled.

"So, Dark," Luna began, "what happened with you at court?"

"Huh?"

"Your eyes turned red and your voice changed."

"Oh, that. Well, I know that Nocturne said that it happens when I get mad, but I'm surprised that he hasn't been trying to take over my right-half again like he did the first time during that meeting with King Inferno."

"If we could return to the subject of the trial," Celestia redirected. "I'm sorry about Blueblood, Dark."

"Why? He's in the dungeons now, so what can he do to me?"

"More than you know," Luna told him before Celestia continued.

"You see, Luna and I have been trying to keep your relationship with Twilight a secret from the masses, but thanks to Blueblood, the news is now out."

"Okay, but what's wrong then?" Dark wondered.

"Now that the nobles and the Canterlot Elite know about you two courting, it's possible that most of them will try to slander your name and try digging into your background to find dirt on you. However, there are some, like Fancy Pants, who may not mind and might be more accepting of it."

"I've heard about him from Rarity, he sounds like a nice stallion. As for those who don't approve, they're welcome to try, but I'll just ignore their slander until they get bored of it."

"Well then, I wish you the best of luck with them. Luna and I know of how much of a pain they can be, so feel free to come to us for advice if you feel the need," Celestia smiled before leaning her head on her hooves, her warm smile now a knowing smirk. "On a different note, something has come to my attention, Dark."

"Okay?"

"Well, I heard from a certain pink somepony that you and Twilight have... taken your relationship to the next level," she told him, causing Dark to facetable and cover his face to hide his blush.

This is going to be a long dinner, Dark mentally groaned. And if Princess Luna doesn't start teasing me soon, then it'll probably be an even longer night.

Chapter 43- Week of Hearth's Warming

It's been nearly a month since Blueblood's trial had passed, and with it, the news about what he said about Dark and Twilight being a couple had spread throughout Equestria like wildfire. After all, news about a Princess of Equestria being courted doesn't come around often. Also, like Celestia had predicted, Dark quickly fell into the crosshairs of the Canterlot Elite and nobles. A few days after their arrival back in Ponyville, he'd since been receiving letters of complaint and threats of blackmail directed towards him. As he told Celestia and Luna before though, he ignored and burned them away, knowing that their threats were all hollow since they had nothing to use against him, seeing as how nopony even knew about his village before he told them.

There were, however, a few ponies that didn't mind it and even showed their support, such as Fancy Pants and his fillyfriend, Fleur De Lis, Rara, and Coco Pommel. Confused about who the last two were, Dark went to Twilight and was told that Rara was an old friend of Applejack's who turned into a famous pop star, and that Coco was a friend of Rarity's from Manehattan. Thankful for Twilight's explanation of who they were, Dark wrote back to each of them, thanking them for their support and hoping that he'd be able to meet them all someday. Besides them, he did receive one other letter that he was happy to get, but that was of a different matter. One that involved him being back in Canterlot.

Now though, it was the week of Hearth's Warming, and Dark was returning from Sweet Apple Acres from helping clearing the snow from the road and the roof of the barn and house, due to his being able to fly. What he didn't count on though was the sheer amount of snow that they got the previous night, even though Rainbow did warn them ahead of time. With his arms tired from all of the shoveling that he'd done throughout the entire morning, he flew back to the castle. As he was flying over Ponyville, he saw the Crusaders and their sisters playing out in the snow with a bunch of other kids over by the schoolyard. Flying closer to his destination, Dark soon saw his forge that had been completed just a little over two weeks ago.

While it was a single-story building, it was big enough to easily fit a hundred ponies inside of it without it being too crowded, much to Pinkie's enjoyment when she threw a party for its opening. Through the heavy wooden doors would bring you into the waiting room where premade items were on display, and where you could also place your order. With a few benches and desk with a magazine or two off to the side, towards the back was a counter, and behind it, the entryway into the forge itself with a large set of wooden doors to allow wagons, chariots, carts, and other large vehicles or items in for him to work on. While Dark was happy with how the building had turned out, he also made sure that it was made out of thick stone with heat, fire, and sound proofing spells placed on them, so he would be able to work on his projects and orders as far into the night as he would want without waking anypony up. However, in his excitement of forging again, he lost track of time during his first few nights and caused Twilight to lecture him from experience that he shouldn't work too late at night and try to close-up at sunset.

As promised, Dark saw to repairs on the Apple Family's carts for free, and also offered them a discount when they would do business together. He was also surprised by the number of orders that he'd already been given. Besides a few tools and decorative pieces, he mostly kept himself busy with the orders from the guards still patrolling around town by repairing their armor and weapons, or supplying them with new ones.

For now though, Dark had closed it for the holidays. With magical and metallic locks in place, Dark was sure that nopony would be able to break-in very easily. And if somepony somehow did, then they would set-off the traps and alarms that Twilight had added. Smiling, Dark looked away from his relatively new workplace before beginning to land in front of the castle. Heating himself up to melt away any snow that might've latched onto his claws or hooves, Dark made his way through the castle and up to their bedroom where Twilight was just finishing packing for their trip to her parent's for Hearth's Warming.

"Hey, Dark," she warmly greeted him with a kiss on the cheek. "How was the snow clearing at Applejack's?"

"Tiring," Dark simply answered.

"Why? Didn't you use your magic or fire breath to remove the snow?"

"Nope. Besides risking melting the snow just for it to freeze over a few minutes later, I've been lacking with my workouts."

"How so?"

"Before I would workout when helping at Sweet Apple Acres, but ever since the season ended, I've gone without any actual physical labor and have started to go soft. That was, until the forge was built. But even so, I wanted to work on my physical strength, since my magic is already much stronger."

"I can understand that. Speaking of which, how have your training sessions with Nocturne been going?"

"They've been going alright for the most part. I've learned how to create creatures made of shadow that'll follow my command like the royal guards do for you, your brother, and the princesses, but I still can't transform into Nocturne's dragon-form. At least, not completely."

"Haven't you been having trouble with that one for a while now?"

"Yeah, but according to him, it's just something that'll take more time. After all, I'm turning into another creature entirely."

"Well, I would say that I know what you're trying to do, since I was able to turn my friends and I into breezies, but they're nothing compared to a dragon."

"A dragon that towers over other dragons," Dark added, looking over his own bag for the trip. "I still can't believe that Rarity went on ahead and made me a suit to wear for the Ball."

"I still can't wait to see you in it," Twilight said from beside him. "I'm sure that you'll look really handsome."

"Just like how you'll look beautiful in that dress of yours," he replied before draping an arm over her and kissing her cheek.

"You two are so lucky," Spike complained from behind, causing them to both look back as he walked in. "You two get to go to the Hearth's Warming Ball together while the girls have to stay here."

"I know that you've been hoping to take them to the Ball too, Spike, but they each have their own things going on here in Ponyville," Twilight said. "Applebloom and her family are hosting Hearth's Warming this year at their place with Pinkie's family, Sweetie Belle and Rarity are with their parents, and Scootaloo is in Cloudsdale with Rainbow Dash and her parents."

"Yeah, yeah, I know. I just don't want to feel like the odd one out is all."

"I understand what you mean, bud," Dark told him, placing a claw on his head, "but it's only for a week. Besides, you've given them their Hearth's Warming presents, right?"

"Got them right here," Spike answered, patting his bag. "Our fiends are going to see us off at the train station, so I'll give them their gifts there."

"Speaking of which, we better get going before it gets too late," Twilight told them. "Now, does everypony have everything they need?"

"Yep," the two guys answered.

"Alright then, let's go."

Grabbing their bags, the three made their way down for Twilight and Spike to get their coats before heading on out of the castle and locked it up behind them. With a quick spell, Dark created a dozen of his Shadow Wraiths. Faceless, bulky, ghost-like creatures made of shadows that wore metallic-gray armor and bladed gauntlets that extended beyond their shadowy claws. With these guards, he sent them to patrol the castle to keep it safe from any unwanted visitors who would want to break into or steal from it. With their home secured and guarded, they made their way over to the train station where their friends were gathering to see them off. As they were walking and enjoying the festive lights and decorations on every house, Dark looked over to Spike with mild confusion.

"Hey, Spike?" Dark called while they walked.

"Yeah?"

"How come you're wearing a jacket now, but you didn't last time we went to Canterlot?"

"Because Spike's cold-blooded, so he needs to stay warm," Twilight answered for him. "And the reason why he didn't wear a jacket last time is because it wasn't cold enough to affect him."

"Okay, but shouldn't I wear one then since I'm half-dragon?"

"While that's true, you're also half-pony, so you're still warm-blooded and aren't in danger like Spike would be. And you don't need to wear a jacket because the heat from your fire sac alone keeps you warm enough."

"I should've figured that one out. Well, at least I'll be saving bits on winter clothes."

Their talking caused them to lose track of how long they've been walking for, and before they knew it, they found themselves at the train station where their friends and the Crusaders were waiting for them. While Dark and Twilight were giving their friends hugs and wishing each other a Happy Hearth's Warming, Spike and the Crusaders were off to the side. Telling them how much he wished that they could all spend the holiday together, Spike gave each of the three fillies their gift before also giving them each a kiss on the lips and hopping onto the train. Once Dark and Twilight got on too, the three waved goodbye to their friends as the train started to bring them to Canterlot.

Over in Canterlot, Night and Velvet were waiting at the train station for their children, granddaughter, and Dark to arrive. As they waited, Night began shifting from one hoof onto the other.

"Relax, Night," Velvet told him, "they'll be here soon. No need to get antsy about it."

"It's not the kids that I'm worked-up about," he replied.

"What then? Is it Dark? Please tell me that you're still not upset about him being the Lord of Death."

"Not as much as when he told us, but I'm still going to be keeping a closer eye on him."

"Oh lighten up already. It's almost Hearth's Warming, and I won't allow for it to be ruined because you're being stubborn about him. Also, remember that this will be his first Hearth's Warming without his own family, so he'll already have enough to deal with."

"Not to mention what the papers have said about him before."

Velvet sighed as she remembered the slander on Dark that she and Night had read about, but before she could think of that any further, she heard the train pulling into the station. Another minute later after the train had stopped, the doors opened with Twilight, Dark, and Spike leaving the train and walking over to them.

"Happy almost Hearth's Warming, kids," Velvet said to Twilight and Spike, giving them both a hug.

"Happy almost Hearth's Warming to you too, mom," Twilight returned.

Letting go of the two to go greet Night, Velvet went up to Dark next.

"And how have you been doing?" she asked with a hug.

"Just fine, Mrs. Velvet," Dark happily returned, with a hug of his own.

"Still with the 'Mrs.'? You know that you can just call me Velvet, right?"

"I know, but like I said before, it's how I was raised to address others, especially since you're Twilight's parents. Just calling you by your names alone doesn't quite sound appropriate to me."

"I know, I'm just teasing is all," she said with a smile that soon turned to a sad frown. "So, how are you doing? You know, with this being your first Hearth's Warming..."

"I know what you mean," Dark said with a sad smile. "It'll be different, and I'm already missing them, but I'll try to not let that get myself or anypony else down."

"I'm glad to hear that."

"So, mom," Twilight called, her greeting with her dad over with, "is Shining, Cadence, and Skyla already here?"

"Not yet, sweetie. Their train should be arriving in about ten minutes."

Taking a seat on the benches, they waited for the others to arrive. After a few minutes had passed, Dark noticed that Night had been trying to subtly glance over at him. The next time that Night glanced over to him though, he was met with Dark looking directly at him from the corner of his eye. Giving him a gesture to follow, Dark got up and followed after him around the corner. Once they were out of sight of the others, they stopped to talk.

"Is something wrong, sir?" Dark asked.

Night sighed before answering him. "It's about what you are."

"Still?" he scoffed. "It's been like a month now."

"I know, and I'm still unsure about you."

"But why? Besides you now knowing of what I am, what's so different about me?"

"... nothing."

"Exactly. I'm still the same as before you knew, so there shouldn't be anything different going on. Princesses Celestia and Luna, Twilight, Spike, Cadence, Shining, Mrs. Velvet, and our friends all know and are alright with it, so why can't you?"

"Watch your tone, Dark," Night warned. "While they might be alright with it, I'm still unsure about you and am doing this to keep an eye out on my kids and grandfoal."

"If you're worried that I'll somehow harm them, then you don't need to worry about that, because have no intention to. And besides, Twilight and Spike are the only family that I have now."

"I know that," Night sighed, shaking his head, "but I'm still going to be keeping an eye on you for my daughter's sake."

Now I know where Shining gets his stubbornness from, Dark mentally sighed. "Yes, sir."

"Good. Now, let's go back and join the others."

Before they could turn around to head on back though, they both covered their ears at the sound of a crystal train pulling into the station. Only when it finally stopped did they uncover their ears and run over to the others. Soon as they reached them, the doors to the crystal train opened, revealing Shining and Cadence with Skyla tucked away in Shining's saddlebag.

"There's my son!" Night happily exclaimed as Shining walked up to embrace him.

"Hey, dad."

"Hello, Cadence," Velvet welcomed with a hug.

"Hello, mom," she returned before going after Twilight.

"It's great to see you again, Cadence," Twilight said with a hug.

"It's good to see you too, Twilight."

While they were busy, Shining went over to Spike and Dark.

"Hey, Spike. How have you been doing?" Shining asked him.

"Alright I guess," he half-heartedly answered with a smile.

Knowing what was bothering him, Dark patted him on the shoulder.

"Spike's just a bit bummed that he couldn't spend Hearth's Warming with his fillyfriends," Dark told Shining.

"Ah. Well, I can understand that part, bud," he sympathized before turning his attention towards Dark, but avoided eye contact. "Hey, Dark."

Noticing this, Dark mentally sighed, thinking that Shining was thinking the same thing as Night was.

"Hey, Shining. Umm, you're not upset about me being the Lord of Death, are you? You kinda look like you're avoiding me."

"Well... no, it's no that."

"Mind telling me then?"

"Not right now. Perhaps another time."

Seeing shifting from Shining's saddlebag, Dark craned his head just in time to see his vision become obstructed by something pink clinging to his head. Hearing it giggle cutely, Dark chuckled as he enwrapped the foal in his magic and brought it off of his face to look at.

"And hello to you too, Skyla," Dark softly welcomed, causing the filly to giggle again and reach its little hooves out for him.

Letting her do what she wanted, Dark put the foal on top of his head, allowing herself to get settled down before he walked over to the mares. Noticing them coming towards them and seeing the foal riding on Dark's head, they each giggled at the cuteness.

"Awww, looks like somepony missed you, Dark," Cadence smiled.

"Looks like," he replied before noticing Skyla reaching out for Twilight and asked her. "Do you want to see Aunty Twilight?"

With happy giggles and baby talk, Dark levitated the little foal off of his head and over to Twilight, who took her in her own magic and began nuzzling her.

"Hello there, Skyla," Twilight softly greeted her, causing her coo and nuzzle back.

Returning her to the warmth of Shining's saddlebag, the seven of them made their way out of the train station and over towards Night and Velvet's house. While they walked, they took their time while looking at the numerous lights and other decorations adorning the streets of Canterlot, not to mention all of the smells that were mixed in with the cool air. At the slow rate that they were walking, they were able to enjoy the festive feel of the city. As they did though, a few nobles had spotted them and glared at them, or more precisely, at Dark, but a quick look from Twilight was all that she needed to send them away.

"I'm starting to get tired of them acting like this," she huffed.

"You're talking about the nobles and Canterlot Elite, right?" Cadence half-guessed, getting a confused look from Twilight. "We get the newspaper from Canterlot up in the Crystal Empire, so I know."

"I just wish that they would all just get over it already."

"Well, if there's ever a time for that to happen, it would be at the Hearth's Warming Ball. Speaking of." Cadence paused to get Dark's attention. "Are you ready for it?"

"For the Ball?" Dark questioned, getting a nod from Cadence. "Well... mostly. Rarity was insistent on making me a suit for it, and I've taken some dance lessons, but I'm not sure. I've never been much of a dancer, let alone dance with a partner in front of Celestia knows how many ponies."

"Which she probably does," Spike added with a chuckle.

"You'll do fine," Twilight said reassuringly. "Besides, I was there to help you with your lessons."

"I know, but I'm still nervous. How am I suppose to dance properly with everypony watching?"

"Simple," Shining shrugged, "just do what I did during my first time dancing with Cadence and keep your eyes on your dance partner. After that, everything else around you two will simply disappear."

"Umm... thanks, Shining."

"Sure, welcome," he replied looking away.

Dark was about to question why he was acting like this again until his attention was drawn to a familiar house. Stopping with the group, they waited for Night to unlock the door and wave them in. As soon as Dark stepped into the house, he was immediately greeted with the scent of pine, mints, and cookies. But before he could take a look around, he, Twilight, and Spike went up to her old bedroom to unpack and settle down.

"Hey, Twilight?" Dark called.

"Hmm?"

"Do you know how long the stores are open till today?"

"They usually close up early, but I'm not sure what time exactly. Why?"

"Oh, just an order that I need to pickup."

"Really? What is it?"

"Sorry, but I'm not telling~" Dark sang as he walked out of the room and downstairs.

Heading down to the living room, Dark saw Velvet and Night playing with a laughing Skyla, but that wasn't what caught his attention. All around the room were Hearth's Warming decorations, which included several holiday family photos, quilts, pillows, and the Hearth's Warming tree, which had yet to be decorated.

"We thought that we would wait for the entire family to be here," Velvet spoke, noticing Dark looking at the bare tree.

"Ah. Umm, you wouldn't know what time the stores all close at, would you?"

"In a few hours. Why do you ask?"

"There's a gift that I had ordered last month that's ready for pickup."

"Well then, you better go and get it before it gets too late. You remember the way there?"

"Pretty much."

"What's the name of the store?" Night asked.

"... if it's alright, I'd rather not say and have it be a surprise."

"Well, as long as you're back in time to help with decorating the tree," Velvet told him. "I'm sure that Twilight would love for you to be apart of it."

"In that case, I better get going. See you in a bit."

Turning around, Dark went over to the door to open it when he felt a hoof tapping him on the shoulder. Looking back, he was met with a curious Twilight.

"Where are you off to?" she wondered.

"Oh, just out," Dark smirked.

"Mind if I come with?"

Chuckling, Dark playfully bopped Twilight's muzzle. "Sorry, but I can't risk you seeing your Hearth's Warming present before Hearth's Warming morning comes."

"Fine," she pouted. "How long do you think you'll be then?"

"If I fly there, I should be back in a half-hour or so."

Heading back out, Dark closed the door behind him and flew into the skies of Canterlot. It took him a while to find the right store with all of the festive lights and decorations that weren't there before, but after fifteen minutes of searching, Dark finally found the store he was searching for. With a slippery landing on the snow-covered sidewalk, Dark slid to a stop a few feet past the door to the store.

"You think they would have something for the slippery sidewalk," he muttered to himself before entering the establishment.

Inside, Dark was met with the sight of rows of shelves and showcases of gems, jewelry, fancy boxes, and other gem-encrusted items. But, while they all looked shiny, and to an extent, tasty-looking, Dark came here for one thing. Walking through the store, he soon saw the storeowner in the back as she was just finishing with a customer. Getting in line, Dark waited his turn, which was barely any time at all.

"Hello, sir," the storeowner greeted. "How may I help- oh! Mr. Dark, right?"

"Yep, and a hello to you too, Miss Gem Cutter," Dark greeted. "I got your letter saying that my order was finished."

"Yes, it is. Just give me a minute and I'll go get it from the back."

Standing in place, Dark waited for his order to be brought up. As he did so, he began to look at the different gems lining the walls. He'd already read about them due to the mine that he used to live over for most of his life, such as the fire ruby, ocean sapphire, forest emerald, prism diamond, sunlight topaz, and the twilight amethyst. Noticing that his mouth had started to water, Dark quickly gulped before Gem Cutter returned with a red, gold-rimmed, wooden box, and placed it on the counter in front of him.

"I hope that this is what you were hoping for," she said as Dark opened the box.

With a satisfied smile and nod, Dark closed it back up and looked back to Gem.

"It's just how I hoped it would've turned out. I'll have to thank Shining for sending me your way," Dark said, reaching out a claw. "And thank you so much for doing such a great job on it."

"You're welcome," Gem said with a return shake and a smirk. "Also, I hope that your princess will like it."

"How did you-" Dark paused and groaned in annoyance. "Don't tell me, it was from the newspaper, wasn't it?"

"... you don't sound very happy about it. I thought that being Princess Twilight's coltfriend would be a wonderful thing for you?"

"It is, it most definitely is. It's just that the nobles and most of the Canterlot Elite have been giving me a lot of grief ever since Blueblood told the world during his trial." He paused for a moment to sigh in annoyance at the memory. "I don't know if he meant to or not, but even behind bars he's still causing me problems."

"It'll get better in time, I'm sure," she reassured. "Now, as enjoyable it is to chat with a customer, we must talk about the cost."

"Oh, right. How much do I owe you for my order?"

"Actually, you don't. The fire ruby that you traded in was nearly flawless, so it covered both the gemstones and the metal for your order."

"... really? Sweet!"

"By the way, you wouldn't by chance be willing to tell me where you found it, would you?"

"... you sure about that? It's rather dangerous."

"I'm just curious is all."

"In that case, I found it on the outskirts of a ruined village in the mountains down in south-east Equestria. However, it's right on the border of the Dragon Kingdom, and the dragons have been encroaching onto that specific area."

"Eesh."

"Yeah. But, back to the price. I know you said that the fire ruby I brought in covered my order, but what about this box?"

"Thirty bits if you want it."

"Might as well," he shrugged before handing her the money.

With their business transaction done, Dark took the box and put it into his Shadow Storage for safe keeping. Once the box was safely tucked away, he looked back to see Gem giving him a curious look.

"Twilight found out that I was leaving to pickup her present, so I'm just putting it away so that she can't find or attempt to find it," Dark explained to her.

"Clever."

"Yeah. No doubt that she'll try to look for it when I get back. And if Spike catches the scent of it, then Twilight will probably figure out what it is, or close to anyway."

"In that case, you better get going before the scent of these gems clings to you."

"No kidding. Just being in here is making my mouth water."

"Can you even eat gems?"

"Yep. Since I'm half-dragon, gems could be apart of my diet, but I prefer not to eat them."

"Well, that's good to hear. For the safety of my stock that is," she laughed. "Anyway, have a wonderful day, and Happy Hearth's Warming."

"Thank you, and a Happy Hearth's Warming to you too," Dark waved back as he made his way out.

Walking out of the store, Dark gave a satisfied sigh and launching himself back into the air. Knowing where to go this time, it didn't take Dark long for him to return to Night and Velvet's house. Being extra careful as to not slip again, Dark steadied himself before landing on all fours. Seeing how he wasn't sliding again, he knocked on the door and waited for permission to enter, which was granted when Velvet came to see who it was.

"Dark, you don't need to knock on the door like that while you're staying here," she said while standing motioning for him to enter.

"Sorry," he apologized. "Force of habit."

"I should've figured. So, where's that gift that you went to go get?"

"I've got it hidden away where nopony can find or reach it."

"You put it in your Shadow Storage, didn't you," Twilight said walking over to him.

"Was it that easy to figure out?"

"Considering that you left without a saddlebag and have returned empty-clawed while looking like you succeeded, yes, I'd say that it was that easy."

"Of course you'd notice something like that," Dark chuckled before giving her a quick peck.

"So, you going to give me a hint as to what it is?"

"Sorry, but you'll have to wait till Hearth's Warming morning to find out."

"In the meantime," Velvet spoke, "we were just about to bake some cookies and other goodies before decorating the tree."

"Can I help with the baking?" Dark asked.

"Sure, if you want to."

Wiping his claws and hooves on the welcome mat to clear off any snow that he might've tracked in, Dark followed Velvet and Twilight into the kitchen to help with the baking. Walking in, Dark saw that Spike was already busy at the counter with a tray of peanut butter cookie dough.

"So, Dark," Velvet began, "what kind of cookies would you like to bake? We have enough for whatever anypony wants."

"Are you sure?" he questioned.

"She is," Twilight smiled. "Go ahead."

"In that case, I'll go with chocolate chip cookies, if that's alright."

"Of course," Velvet said. "I've got a few bags that need to be used up anyway. Go on ahead and help yourself."

Gathering the ingredients, Dark began working on his cookies while Twilight and Velvet both went over to make their own gingerbread cookies. As they were busy baking, Night, Shining, and Cadence were in the living room playing with Skyla and talking amongst each other.

"I noticed that you've been much nicer to Dark since the last time we were gathered like this," Cadence spoke.

"Well, I did say that I would give him a chance," Shining returned.

"Yes, but I've also noticed that whenever you two are talking that you would be looking away from him. Any reason why?"

"Is it because of him being the Lord of Death?" Night guessed. "Also, are you alright with it?"

"To be honest, I'm not really bothered by it. And, no, it's no that."

"Would you tell us what it is then?" Cadence asked.

Taking a quick glance over to the kitchen to make sure that none of them would hear, Shining sighed and looked back to them.

"It's about Blueblood's trial."

"What about it?"

"It's just... that could've been me."

"What do you mean, Shining?" Night questioned.

"When I first heard about Dark, my only thought was to kill him on the spot. And if I did succeed, then I would be responsible for turning Equestria into a land of the dead. Hay, I could've entire world for all we know."

"But you didn't," Cadence said, placing an assuring hoof on his back. "He survived."

"Only because of Twily stepping in and stopping me. Looking back on what I did to him now, and comparing it to what Blueblood did, I feel like... I got off easy, considering."

"Nopony knew what his role as Lord of Death implied at the time. Even Aunty Celestia thought at one time that it was just a title with nothing attached to it."

"I know, but still, I still feel guilty about it."

"Why don't you talk to him about it then?"

"I plan to, just not yet. Not with everypony around."

"Perhaps tonight then when everypony is getting ready for bed?"

"I guess that could work."

"So, am I the only one who has a problem with who Dark is?" Night wondered, getting a hesitant nod from Shining while Cadence's was almost instant. "Huh."

"If you don't mind, why is it that you seem so against him now that you know?" Cadence questioned. "We all know and are alright with it since he's still the same guy that we first met."

"Yes, I know. I'm just worried for my Twilight is all. I just don't want for her to get hurt by him."

"Actually, from what I've heard from Twilight, it's anypony who would hurt her that we should be worried about."

"Hmm?"

"Before Blueblood's trial, Twilight told me about how Dark saved her from a heavily armed group who threatened her and her friends."

"Really? When did this happen?"

"When she went into the portal to rescue Dark from the world that he was sent to," Cadence answered. "According to her, Dark defeated over fifty of them before flying off to their hideout to takeout the remaining few hundred, including their leader. The scary part though was that there was barely anything left of them besides ashes."

"And he did all of that because they threatened Twily?" Shining asked, getting a confirming nod from Cadence.

"It seems like he's rather protective of her and won't tolerate anypony harming her unless he's told otherwise. And I'm sure that if we would've allowed it, he would've executed Blueblood and his assassins on the spot when they failed to go after Twilight."

"Sorry, Cadence," Night spoke, "but is there a point to all of this? I'm starting to get lost in the meaning here."

"Overall, even though Dark is the Lord of Death, we have no reason to fear him. Take Skyla for example. When we first brought her to Canterlot for a visit, she immediately welcomed you, mom, Twilight, and my aunts, while she would cry when Blueblood or some of those other snobby nobles came close to her. Even though she's just a foal, she already has a sense of who to trust, and if her actions towards him is any indication, Dark is one who can be trusted."

Massaging his temples, Night looked down to see Skyla looking up at him with a small giggle, almost as though she was agreeing with what her mom had just said.

"I guess that this thing has gotten to me more than I thought it did," Night sighed. "But, can you really blame me? I mean, how would you feel if you found out that your daughter was dating Death Incarnate?"

"I would keep an eye on her," Shining admitted.

"So would I," Cadence agreed. "However, Dark has proved himself enough to earn our trust, hasn't he?"

"... I suppose," Night begrudgingly admitted. "But my point still stands."

Cadence sighed and shook her head. "Seems like you two should just get together with him and talk about all of this... without it ending in a fight."

Shining's face brightened a little bit. "You know what? I think I might have an idea in mind, but I'll need your permission first, honey."

Later on that evening, Night and Shining were leading Dark over to their favorite bar in Canterlot. Of course, they had to get permission from Velvet and Twilight first. But, a quick explanation from Cadence as to why was all that they needed to allow it, provided that they didn't return home too drunk.

Walking into the bar, Dark and Shining took a seat at one of the tables while Night went off to place their orders. While they waited, Shining would move his mouth as though to speak, but his words would keep failing him. After his fourth attempt, Dark decided to engage the conversation.

"Something you want to say?"

"Yeah," Shining sighed with a small nod. "Just having a hard time finding the words to say it. It's actually part of the reason why we're here."

"What?"

"What Shining's trying to say," Night began saying as he walked back with three mugs of beer in his magic, "is that we both wanted to talk to you. And in order for us to do that, we need some... extra help."

"And this 'extra help' is beer?" Dark questioned, looking at the mug that was placed before him.

"You'd be surprised of how much beer helps with trying to get something off your chest."

"... not really actually."

"Huh?"

"I had to give Spike 'the talk', and I thought that a bottle of hard apple cider would help me tell him."

"And did it?" Shining pressed.

"Not in the least. Turns out that when I was turned into a kirin, I became highly resilient to alcohol and didn't even get so much as tipsy after downing a full bottle."

"Well then, it's a good thing that you're not the one who has something to say then, is it?" Night said.

Pausing, Shining and Night both took a moment to down their mugs before calling over another round for them. Starting into their second mugs, Shining was the first to speak between them.

"So, about what I wanted to say to you, Dark," he began.

"Yeah?" Dark unsurely returned.

"I just wanted to say that... well... I'm sorry."

At that time, Dark regretted taking a sip of his beer as hearing those words caused him to snort it through his nose simultaneously snorting fire, causing it to turn it into steamed beer. Taking a moment for the burning sensation in his nose to die down, Dark looked surprisingly back at Shining.

"I'm sorry, I must've misheard that. Did you say that you're sorry?"

Shining sighed. "Yes, I did."

"... why?"

"What?"

"Why would you feel like you need to apologize to me?"

"It actually started after the trial last month. Here, let me explain."

And so he did. Shining explained to Dark about how he felt guilty for what he did to him and how he felt like he got off easy. Especially since if he did manage to kill Dark like he intended to, that would've essentially meant that he'd be the one responsible for dooming Equestria to becoming a land of the living dead. While he continued to speak, Dark kept quiet and listened, figuring that that would be the best thing for him to do at this time. By the time he was finished, a half-hour and another three rounds of beer had passed.

"Umm... well... I didn't see that coming," Dark slowly said. "So, was that why you weren't looking at me whenever we would talk?"

"Yeah. It was mostly the guilt eating away at me," Shining admitted. "Look. I know that you really have no reason to other than to please Twily, but I would like it if we could try to be friends."

"Okay."

"... really? Just like that?"

"Hey, at least you have your reasons, though as vague as they may be. Those guys tried to kill me just because they wanted me gone, and from my understanding, you did it because you had some bad past experience with kirins and were thinking of Twilight's sake."

"Bad is an... understatement."

"Well, now," Night spoke up. "Now that Shining is done, I suppose that it's my turn."

"Sir?" Dark questioned.

"Look, Dark. I know that I've been a bit hard on you since you told us what you are, but you understand that I'm just looking out for my daughter, right?"

"I know," he sighed. "And to be honest, I can't really blame you, considering what I did in that other world."

"Yes. Cadence told us what Twilight said you did to those guys, and I have to say that I'm surprised that you would go to such lengths to defend her as to incinerate them."

"Heh, you should see what I did to their hideout. By the time I was done with it, that monstrous, metallic building was nothing more than superheated, warped metal."

"From your death magic no doubt."

"Actually, no, it wasn't. That deal with the building was all from my fire magic."

"Huh. So, are we good then?"

"I suppose we are."

"Good. But, just so you know, I still intend on keeping an eye on you. While I'm a bit more at ease with you being the Lord of Death, I'm still going to be looking out for Twilight."

"Yes, sir."

"Hey, Dad," Shining spoke, "isn't there a rule how that a dad isn't suppose to like his daughter's coltfriend?"

"Exactly," Night proudly said with a nod, looking a the empty mugs littering the table. "Well then, I suppose that's everything that needed to be said, unless I'm forgetting something."

"Nothing that I can think of."

"Same," Dark agreed.

"In that case, let's get our bill paid for and head on back home before it gets too late. And Dark?"

"Yes, sir?"

"Don't worry about your bill, I'll get it for you. Think of it as my way of making it up to you."

"If you're sure."

"I am," Night said with a nod, "but don't get used to it."

"Yes, sir," Dark chuckled.

With their drinks paid for and their moods brightened, the three headed back for Night's home laughing and joking. As they walked back through the flurries of snow though, they failed to notice a bodiless pair of ice-blue eyes hovering just above them. However, these weren't the eyes of something malicious, but rather of curiosity and eagerness. And they were directed at Dark.

Author's Note

Sorry that this chapter came out so late. My cousin and friend both got "The Division" and got me into it too. So, now I'm trying to balance writing and playing with them. Also, I was having a tough time deciding on how this scene with Dark, Shining, and Night would go. Originally I planned for some nobles to come into the bar with some thugs looking for Dark, and he, Shining, and Night would start a bar fight with them and bond over that, but figured that in the end this would work better.

Chapter 44- Hearth's Warming Eve

Dark let out a silent yawn as he awoke in Twilight's bed with the morning sun. After a bit of talking from Night, and coming to a few agreements, he was allowed to sleep in Twilight's room, provided that they wouldn't do anything funny while everypony was asleep. Of course, they weren't planning on it anyways as Spike had a bed basket of his own in Twilight's room too.

Looking down to see the sleeping mare snuggled up against him, Dark softly kissed her forehead, which in turn caused her to stir with a smile. Instead of it waking her up though, Twilight buried her face into coat, determined to stay asleep. Glancing over at the clock though, Dark figured that if they didn't get up soon that somepony would come and get them. But, although things between him, Shining, and Night seemed better, he didn't want to push his luck with them yet and began nuzzling Twilight awake.

"Ten more minutes," she complained, her voice muffled by Dark's coat. "I missed my old bed."

"Twilight, it's already 8:30," Dark told her. "If we don't get up soon, they'll send somepony to come get us."

With a small grumble, Twilight reluctantly opened her tired eyes and looked up at Dark.

"Fine, but the day after Hearth's Warming, we're sleeping in late."

"How late are we talking? Not that I have anything against it, it's just that your family is here and I figured that you would want to spend as much time with them as you could."

"That's true," she said before thinking to herself. "Alright then, after we get home then."

"Okay."

"Oh! What about your forge though?"

"Since I didn't know how long we would be staying up here for, I closed it down for this week and next week."

"So, that means that there's nothing to get in our way of us spending some time together then?"

"None at all," Dark chuckled. "Well, except for Spike maybe."

"Oh, I'm sure that he'll be busy spending time with his fillyfriends when we get back. Speaking of which."

Before he could blink, Dark found himself on his back with Twilight laying on top of him.

"Umm, you sure this is a good idea?"

"What? Don't you want to make out too?"

"You know that I'm all for it, but between Spike sleeping just a few feet away from us, and everypony else-"

*Knock, Knock, Knock*

"Twilight? Dark? Spike? Are you three up yet?"

"Go figure," Twilight sighed before giving Dark a quick peck and rolling off of him. "Yes, mom, Dark and I are awake."

"Well then, is it safe for me to come in?"

"Yes, Mrs. Velvet," Dark answered with an eye roll.

Opening the door, Velvet peeked her head in to see them still in their beds.

"Did I wake you with my knocking?"

"No, mom, you didn't," Twilight replied as she hopped out of bed and stretched. "I just missed sleeping in my old bed and overslept."

"Oh. Well, there'll be plenty of time for that later. Breakfast is done, and I just wanted to get you two and Spike before it started to get cold."

"Thanks, mom. We'll be right down."

"Alright, sweetie. Though, you might want to do something about that bedhead of yours before you come down. You too, Dark. You both look like me when I let my little Twilight try to cast a spell to style my mane."

"It was one time, mom," Twilight whined. "And I was five at the time."

"I know, but it was still cute how you wanted to make me pretty. Oh, and Dark, remind me later on to tell you the story about Twilight and the entire tub of ice cream she ate when she was only three."

Before Twilight could say anything, Velvet left them and headed back downstairs. With her awake and her family expecting them, she walked over to her dresser to brush her mane down while Dark got up and began stretching out, causing his wing joints to give an audible popping sound. Feeling more awake and loose, he walked over to Spike's bed and nudged him.

"Too early, let me sleep," Spike muttered.

"Okay, I'll just eat your portion of breakfast then," Dark told him, causing the little dragon to snap awake.

"You wouldn't."

"I don't know, Spike. He could if he wanted to," Twilight said as she finished combing her mane. "Your turn, Dark."

With a nod, Dark went over to the dresser and began combing his mane with his brush. A few seconds later, his mane was tamed and then walked over to join Twilight and Spike as they began to join the rest of the family. Walking in, they were greeted with the sight of everypony already sitting at the table waiting for them. Apologizing for them keeping them waiting, the three took their seats at the table before everyone began.

While they made for some talk, most of their attention was on Skyla as Cadence tried to feed her some of her baby food. After some time passed though, Dark offered to take over feeding Skyla for her so that she could get something warm to eat, which she was grateful for. While he was able to get the young filly to eat the rest of her food, her actions said that she wasn't full yet, but Cadence didn't want her eating too much, seeing as how she already had eaten more than what most foals her age would have.

With a unhappy grunt, Skyla began pouting, which in turn caused Dark to nuzzle her to make her feel better. Unfortunately for him though, it worked as before he knew it, Skyla had gotten herself out of her high chair, flew onto Dark's head, and began munching on his ear. Although he seemed alright with it, what he didn't know was that she had started teething.

"Ouch!"

"You alright?" Cadence asked.

"Yeah," Dark replied, trying to flick his ear out of the foal's mouth. "She just bit my ear is all."

"Oops. Sorry about that. I forgot to warn you that Skyla started teething a few weeks ago."

"Great, so now she's trying to eat my ea- aaahh! You know, dragons are considered predators to ponies, and as a half-dragon, I could very well add ponies to my diet. So, why is it that I'm having my ear being eaten by a baby pony?"

"Because it looks cute," Twilight answered while stifling a giggle.

"It may look like it, but it definitely doesn't feel like-" Dark silenced himself as he winced in pain from teeth biting down on his ear. "Could somepony please take her from me?"

"Oh, alright, you big baby," Twilight playfully teased, taking Skyla into her magic and holding her in front of her to nuzzle. "Aww, who's a cute wittle filly who wikes to chew on Darky's ear?" she asked, causing Skyla to joyfully laugh at her.

Looking away in embarrassment, Dark downed the last of his food before going to wash his dishes in the sink. With breakfast done and taken care of, Dark and Night went out back for some firewood before joining the others in the living room. Taking over, Shining set the logs in the fireplace while Spike lit it with this fire breath. With a nice fire warming the room, they each laid down as Velvet pulled out a board game for them to play together. After ten minutes into it, Night was the first to speak.

"So, you kids excited for tonight?"

"Definitely," Twilight answered with an eager nod. "Besides the Hearth's Warming Ball, I'm also looking forward to the play too. Too bad that my friends and I won't be participating in it this year."

"What play?" Dark questioned.

"... the Hearth's Warming Play. You've seen one before, right?"

"Never even heard of it."

"What?!" everyone yelped in surprise.

"Why not?" Twilight asked him. "You do know what Hearth's Warming is about, right?"

"Yes, I know what the day is about, but I've never seen the play before because we didn't exactly have the luxury having one."

"Oh... right. Sorry about that."

"Don't be, it's all good. But, I'm curious though. If we're going to this play, are we going to have to wear something fancy, or will we be going as we are now?"

"Probably as is," Night answered. "However, once it's over, we'll have less than an hour for us to get back here, get dressed, and return back to the castle."

"Which shouldn't be a problem since I could just teleport everyone from the play, back home, then up to the castle," Twilight told them.

"What about Dark's teleportation sickness?" Spike reminded.

"Right. I forgot about that."

"What's the runtime of the play?" Dark asked.

"We'll have to leave early to avoid the crowd, but it starts at 5:30 P.M. and lasts for about an hour and a half. Why?"

"In that case, we'll be fine. It'll be nighttime outside, so I'll just Shadowport."

"Before we do that though," Spike began, "could we open presents, Twilight?"

"Why don't we wait until after the Ball," she answered him. "That way, you can have something to look forward to later tonight."

"Wait," Dark interrupted, "you two open your presents the day before Hearth's Warming?"

"It's a sort of tradition of ours. When Spike was younger, he was so excited that couldn't wait until morning to open them, so we decided to open our presents the day before."

"Huh. So, do you open all of them or just the ones between you two?"

"Just ours. As for ones from anypony else, we wait until Hearth's Warming morning to open them."

"Good, then I'm in no rush to wrap yours and place it under the tree," Dark smiled teasingly.

I should've thought about that before saying it, she though to herself while mentally facehoofing. "Okay then. That just means that you won't get yours until tomorrow too then."

"I can wait," he smirked. "But can yo- YAHH! Skyla!"

Yelping in pain, Dark looked over to his tail to see the baby filly giggling at him with his tail in her forehooves.

How did she even do that?! he wondered surprisingly. My hide is tough enough to block a sword in mid-swing and not leave a scratch or even make me flinch, so why is a baby filly able to make me fell pain just by biting my tail?!

"I swear, she's doing this on purpose now," Spike spoke, saying basically what Dark was thinking.

"Skyla," Cadence called with a strict, motherly tone, "stop biting Dark. It's not nice and it hurts him when you do that to him."

Looking sad for being scolded, she dropped Dark's tail, walked over to his head, and began to nuzzle him apologetically. Feeling his annoyance melt away at the sight of her, Dark sighed and nuzzled the little filly back, letting her know that she was forgiven. With a soft coo that turned into a yawn, Skyla walked over and hunkering herself down between Dark's arm and neck, trying to bury herself as close against his heated coat as she could. Comfortable with how warm she was, she closed her eyes and quickly drifted off to sleep, leaving Dark slightly confused as he watched her.

"How can she be tired so soon?" he wondered. "It's not even noon yet."

"She was up and bouncing around early this morning," Shining explained. "I'm actually a little surprised that she didn't fall asleep right after she was done eating."

"Should we get her back to her crib then?"

"Why would you want to?" Twilight questioned. "Seeing her sleeping against you like that is really cute."

"Are you saying that you like seeing Dark with a sleeping foal?" Velvet asked.

"Yes, I- wait, no- I mean..."

"Oh, calm down, sweetie. I'm just joking with you."

"If that was suppose to be a joke, then I'm not laughing," Night said with folded forelegs.

"Yeaaahhhh," Shining slowly said. "Sorry, Dark, but I'm with dad on this one. While I'm alright with Skyla taking a nap like this, the thought of a foal from you and Twilight is just... no."

"You guys," Cadence sighed before looking over to see Dark burying his face behind one of his wings. "Just ignore them, Dark. I for one wouldn't mind."

"Isn't it a bit early for us to even be discussing this?" Dark asked, his voice muffled by his wing.

"I'd rather not think about it," Spike chimed. "If you two did have a foal, then that would mean that I would have to change its diapers."

Hearing a groan from his side, Dark peeked an eye out from beneath his wing to see Twilight burying her reddened face into his side while using her magic to drape his other wing over her.

"You know what?" Velvet began. "Now I'm a little curious."

Oh, great. What now? Dark mentally groaned.

"What would the birthing process be like?"

WHAT?!

"Would Twilight be giving birth to the foal, or since Dark is half-dragon, would she have to lay an egg?"

"Oookaaayyyy! That's a conversation!" Dark piped before quickly and gently giving Cadence the somehow still-sleeping Skyla back. "If you'll excuse me, I'm going out to the back yard to cool down for a bit."

"And I'll be in my room if anypony needs me," Twilight immediately said before teleporting herself out of the room.

The room was silent once Dark and Twilight left, minus the light snoring from Skyla. Taking a moment to get over what was just said, everyone turned their shocked faces over towards Velvet.

"Okay, maybe I went a little overboard with that one," she said before sighing.

A few silent seconds later, Cadence got up and began walking over towards the stairs.

"I'll go talk to Twilight."

Closing the door behind him, Dark went out into the fluffy snowfall, walked over to a nearby snow pile, and buried his head in it ostrich-style. As he kept his head plunged in the snow, he hoped that it would help cool down his face, which he could swear was a deep crimson before he left.

Twilight's probably just as embarrassed by that as I am, he thought, the coolness of the snow starting to become knowing to him. I should probably go try and talk her down after I'm finished here.

"Well, that was quite a discussion topic if I've ever heard one."

Snapping his head out of the snow, Dark looked over to the direction of where the voice came from. As he looked, he saw who he remembered to be the white dragon from blueblood's trial last month, floating just a few feet off from the ground. Now that he got a closer look though and wasn't in any rush, Dark could see the ice-blue eyes, feminine curves, and that its sleek and slender fur coat was as white as the snow falling around them.

Wait, a dragon with a fur coat instead of scales?

Eyes wide and jaw hanging slightly open, Dark looked at one of the Scaleless Dragons. Quickly going through the list of the other five, it didn't take him long to figure out who this one was.

"Excuse me," he nervously spoke, causing the dragoness to giggle, "but you wouldn't happen to be Aero, would you?"

"Maybe," she playfully teased. "And you are Dark, the new Lord of Death, if I'm not mistaken."

"Umm..."

"Oh, relax. You're not in any trouble," she told him, seeing his nervous shifting and darting eyes.

"Really?" he unsurely asked as Aero landed on all fours just a few feet away from him, now noticing that she was just as tall as he is.

"Really. I was curious as to what happened to our eldest brother, and even more so as to who his successor was."

"Umm, if you don't mind me asking-"

"Dark, let me interrupt you for a second. I don't have any intention to harm you, so you don't need to be so nervous around me. Besides, you're more or less our brother now."

"What?!"

"Since Nocturne is dead and you've taken over his position as Lord of Death, you're now our youngest sibling. And please don't ask me how or why mother and father placed that rule. I honestly don't know myself."

"Well, Nocturne isn't exactly dead. You see... wait. Mother and father?"

"Oh. So, you don't know about them then?"

"No?"

"Well then, I'm not telling~" Aero sang teasingly before looking curiously back at Dark. "Now, what was that about Nocturne not being dead?"

"Well, you see, when we fought, I managed to severally damage his body, which forced him to transfer his soul into my body to try and use it as his new vessel."

"Typical," she sighed. "He's always been stubborn when it came to losing, but how is it that you're in control?"

"We have no idea. We've talked about it several times and couldn't think of anything other than he simply didn't succeed."

"Obviously."

"On a different note, are you up for talking some more?"

"Of course I am," she smiled. "It's actually part of the reason why I'm here."

"Well, I was curious as to why you and the other three were gathered at Blueblood's trial."

"Oh, that. Well, once we saw that the balance of death was disrupted, we went to King Inferno to ask him if he knew what was up with Nocturne. Turns out that, to his great displeasure, he told us of a pony-turned-kirin living in Equestria who took our brother's place. So, naturally, we all became curious as to what this new Lord of Death was like. Once I caught wind about a pony prince who was placed on trial that involved you, we had to see it. And, we must say that we weren't disappointed from your performance. Your reaction time and how you handled them showed your power and restraint, though your wanting to end their lives on the spot wasn't much of a surprise."

"Because I'm the Lord of Death and it's implied?"

"That, and because I think that I now understand how you feel for that purple alicorn in there. So, tell me, is she your mate?" she asked, turning Dark's face red again as he look away, which also caused her to squee in joy. "So, she is! Tell me, how did you two first meet?"

"Alright, but first, why were there only four of you there?" Dark wondered. "Last I knew, there were six Scaleless Dragons. And with me sorta being one of them, and you and the other three being there, where was the last?"

"You're talking about Aurora, correct?"

"Yes. Besides Nocturne and I being one, she was the only one who wasn't there. Do you know why? I would've figured that if you four were gathered like that, so would she."

"I... don't know why," she slowly said going into thought. "Come to think of it, none of us have seen or heard from her for almost a half-year now."

"Huh. Weird. Has anyone gone to checkup on her?"

"No, we haven't. We tend to leave each other alone to our own business... mostly. Although," Aero smirked, "you and those two stallions looked like you had a good time when you left that bar yesterday."

"Were you spying on us?"

"Sorta. Mostly you, though."

"Why didn't I, or anypony else for that matter, see you then? I mean, an exotic white dragoness like you would be rather hard to miss."

"Remember, little brother, that I'm the Lady of Air. And, while my sister Aurora can turn invisible by bending the light around her, and you with your shadows, I can become the wind and be seen like it-"

"Which isn't really visible at all," Dark finished with a facepalm. "Figures. You turned into air itself when you followed us."

"You got it. Now, about that mare you're with."

Walking over and taking a seat beneath the overhang on the back porch, Dark began telling Aero the story of how he met Twilight. It started with Nocturne's attack on Stonewall Village, which quickly lead to his meeting Twilight in the hospital, and the events that transpired after that. After an hour and a half of storytelling, Dark had finally ended with what happened today.

"Well then, as happy as I am for you and her, this situation with you and us must be rather awkward," Aero spoke, sure that Dark was finished. "To go from slaying dragons to now being apart of a family of the most powerful dragons that have ever roamed the world."

"... I actually didn't think about it like that," Dark said, scratching the back of his head.

"Are you alright with it, though?"

"I... guess it wouldn't hurt. I mean, I was the eldest sibling in my family, so it would be an... experience, to be the youngest one for a change."

"So, you're okay with it?"

"Sure, I suppose I am."

With joyous laughter, Aero leaped over to Dark and gave him a bone-crushing hug. Once she finally put him down, Dark popped his back.

"Not that I'm complaining, but are the others like that, or is it just you that's normally like that?"

"Just me," she happily answered. "While Aques, Fissure, Pyre, and I were of the same clutch, I was the last of us to hatch, which made me the youngest of us... before you that is."

"Ah. Now I see."

"But, that doesn't mean that I'm not happy that you decided to agree to join our family, because I am."

"So, does this mean that I'll be seeing you more often, and that I'll get to see the others soon?"

"If you would like. As for the others, you'll see them in time. While Aques and Fissure would probably be willing to come see you now if I asked them to, Pyre probably wouldn't because he doesn't like the winter time. You know, because fire and the cold don't mix very well."

"Understandable," Dark nodded in agreement before remembering something. "Hey, as the Lady of Air, how much do you know?"

"Depends on what your asking."

"Well, remember that pony I told you about that sent me to that other world?"

"The one who sent you to that world where you lost your magic and ran into that world's Lord of Death? Yes, what about him?"

"Do you-"

"Dark? Are you out here?"

Looking over to his right, Dark saw Cadence opening the door and looking around for him. Once she spotted him, she was about to walk over to him, but froze in place as she saw what was sitting on the other side of him.

"Dark... what's a dragon doing here?" Cadence slowly asked.

"Oh, right," Dark said, looking from Cadence to Aero, and back to her. "So... umm... Cadence. This is my sister, Aero, the Lady of Air."

"... I'm sorry, you lost me."

"You know how I'm the Lord of Death?"

"Yes?"

"And how there are six dragon siblings who each represented an aspect of nature?"

"Yes, but what does- oh..." Cadence's voice trailed off as she understood what Dark was getting at. "Wait, did you know about this, Dark?"

"Actually," Aero began, "he didn't until I told him just after he came out here and buried his face in the snow."

"That was over an hour ago. Almost two."

"Sorry about that. How's Twilight doing?" Dark asked.

"She's calmed down a bit, but she's still a little bit shaken up by what mom said."

"Yeah, me too," he sighed. "I should've gone to her instead of coming out here. No offense, Aero."

"None taken," she shrugged. "Besides, I agree that that sort of topic would make me a bit uncomfortable if it were directed at me."

"Wait, you heard?" Cadence questioned.

"Sorry. I've been keeping an eye on Dark since yesterday and might've overheard what that older mare said."

"So, you were spying on him?"

"Not 'spying', just looking out for my little brother is all," Aero said while ruffling Dark's mane with a claw, causing him to grumble. "Ooh, I'm so going to enjoy this."

"You mean treating me like a little colt?" Dark questioned, slightly irritated.

"Oh, it's not that bad. Besides, think of all of the things we can teach you. Like magic for example. Speaking of which, what kind of magic do you prefer?"

"I specialize in dark and fire magic."

"While talking out here is nice and all," Cadence interrupted, "could we perhaps bring this inside? It's a little cold out here for me."

"Would that be alright?" Aero wondered. "You know, considering what I am and all."

"We already have Spike inside, and he's a dragon. And if you really are Dark's sister, then I don't think that it would hurt. But, before we head on in, do you eat ponies?"

"Oh, no. The only meat that I eat is fish, crab, some small land animals like squirrels and rabbits, and the occasional bird. Ponies I don't care for."

"Good to know."

Turning back around, Cadence led Dark and Aero back into the house and into the living room where everyone was gathered again. While Cadence and Dark walked into the living room, Aero waited in the kitchen, not use to meeting groups of ponies like this. Seeing Twilight sitting on the couch, Dark walked over to her and began nuzzling her cheek.

"You doing alright now?" he asked.

"I'm... better," she replied, nuzzling him back.

"I'm sorry that I didn't come to see you right after that."

"It's alright. I needed some time to myself anyway to calm down anyway."

"Good, because while I was outside, I met somepony... or rather, somedragon."

"What?"

Looking back to the kitchen Dark called out, "You can come in now."

Tentatively, Aero poked her head out from the corner and looked in. While everyone besides Dark and Cadence gave a surprised gasp at seeing the dragoness in their house, Dark gave her a motion to come over and join them. Slowly as to not spook them, she walked over and sat on the other side of Dark.

"Hello," Aero waved.

"Umm, Dark?" Twilight slowly spoke. "Who's she?"

"This is Aero, the Lady of Air, and as it turn out, my sister," Dark answered.

"WHAT?!" everyone in the room shouted.

"What do you that mean she's your sister?!" Twilight yelped.

"Turns out that since I'm the Lord of Death, that kinda makes me a sibling to the other Scaleless Dragons."

"And please don't ask me how that works," Aero requested, "because I don't understand it myself. All that I know is that it just does."

Twilight was about to question her until they heard a crying from upstairs.

"Sounds like Skyla's awake," Cadence sighed. "I'll go get her."

As she left, everyone sat in silence, partially ashamed that they woke the foal with their shouting. A few minutes later of everyone eyeing Aero, Cadence returned with Skyla sitting on her back. Sitting back down on the couch with Shining, Skyla slid off of her mother's back and immediately locked her eyes onto the white dragoness sitting beside Dark. Curious, she hopped off of the couch and made her way over to them, reaching her hooves for them to bring her up.

Seeing her, Dark took her in his magic and lifted her up onto his lap. Looking from her spot, Skyla peeked her head out from around Dark's arm to look at Aero, who in turn looked curiously back at her. Slowly creeping out from under Dark, she made her way over to Aero and tentatively poked at her. Everyone watched her with slight worry as the foal continued to get a feel of their new guest. Feeling more comfortable with her, Skyla proceeded to climb up her and sit on top of her head.

"I guess that she likes you," Cadence said, seeing how comfortable her daughter was with the dragoness.

"I'm... not sure what to do here," Aero nervously admitted. "I've never had a baby pony sit on top of my head before... or any sort of infant for that matter."

"You get used to it," Dark shrugged. "Just be careful of her munching on your ears."

"So... Miss Aero, right?" Velvet unsurely asked.

"Just Aero is fine," she told her.

"Alright then, Aero. So, what brings you here today?"

"Just looking out for Dark here. Also, I'm sorry for intruding on you all like this."

"Oh, not at all. I'm just surprised that he has siblings after what he told us about his old village. Even if they are dragons."

"Yes, and I'm sorry that my eldest brother did that. But, by his title, Dark is essentially our little brother now."

"Can you please not call me that?" Dark frowned.

"Hey, I had to deal with that for thousands of years, now it's your turn," she smirked, causing Dark to plant his face in the couch while Skyla laughed at him. "Now, I believe that you were asking me something before we were interrupted?"

"Hmm? Oh, yes. I was wondering if you might know where that hooded pony went off to? Last we were told was that he was seen heading north."

"Yes, that would be correct," Aero confirmed, gaining everyone's undivided attention. "However, while he is up north, I can't sense him."

"What does that mean exactly?" Shining questioned. "Is he dead?"

"He's not. If he were, then I would be able to feel him. No. He's either hiding in a cave, an icy crevice, inside a dense forest, or inside a building of some sort. Something that's protecting him from the howling winds of the arctic north."

"That's a lot of ground to cover," Cadence spoke. "Not to mention that it's the middle of winter, so a search right now would be dangerous for us to conduct."

"Do you think that he'll attack again, Dark?" Aero asked him.

"I wouldn't doubt it. He's gone after me three times since I left the ruins of Stonewall Village."

"Now, you said that he came close to being captured right?"

"Yes, though you might wanna talk to Twilight about that, seeing as she was there."

Dark leaned back in the couch so Aero and Twilight could talk face-to-face.

"Yes. Princess Luna and I were there," Twilight began explaining. "We managed to find out where he was living and had the building completely surrounded by several dozen of the royal and lunar guards."

"Alright, but how did he escape with dozens of guards and two princesses there?" Aero wondered.

"He used some kind of magic that blinded everypony. The weird thing though was that he was never once seen using his horn to cast the spell."

"That is weird. Tell me, was there anything unusual about the light that he blinded you with?"

"Actually, there was. While it was a bright white light, it also had an assortment of colors added to it. Come to think about it, it actually reminds me of the-"

"Aurora borealis?" Aero finished.

"Yes. How did you know that?"

"My sister, Aurora, would always implicate those into her spells, and nothing in this world besides my siblings and I know about that detail... unless..."

"Unless what?"

With a look of realization and worry in her eyes, Aero gently plucked Skyla from her head and sat her down on Dark's lap.

"I'm sorry, everyone," she apologized, "but I need to go checkup on something with my eldest sister. It was a pleasure meeting you all. Also, Dark?"

"Yeah?"

"Expect to hear back from either myself or one of my- excuse me, our siblings, before the end of the month. Oh, and Happy Hearth's Warming."

With a quick bow, Aero's body was whisked away in a slight breeze up the chimney and out of the house.

"Sooo," Night slowly began. "What just happened?"

"Looks like she just thought of something and had to go," Twilight answered him.

"Too bad," Spike sighed. "I was hoping to talk to her, seeing as how she's the only other dragon that I've met who seems nice and hasn't tried to hurt anypony."

"She did say that she or one of the others will come to visit us."

"I suppose."

"Well now," Velvet said, clapping her hooves together, "why don't we move away from that last part and return to our Hearth's Warming Eve fun? After all, it's a time where we're suppose to spend time together and be happy. Also, I'm sorry about what I said earlier, Twilight, Dark. I shouldn't have talked about such a topic so openly like that, and I definitely didn't mean to make you two feel so uncomfortable."

"It's okay, mom," Twilight said, getting up and giving her a hug.

"And what about you, Dark?"

"Now that some time has passed, I've gotten over most of the embarrassment from it, so yeah, all's good," he replied. Although, she did make a good point. Oh, great! Now I'm starting to wonder if- no! No! No! No! I shouldn't be thinking about stuff like that. Especially with Night and Shining right here.

With a motion from Velvet, Dark was removed from his thoughts and walked over and joined her and Twilight in a hug. Once they were done, Velvet looked happily at Dark.

"And speaking of being happy, it makes me happy to know that you still have a family of yours, Dark. Even if they're not directly related to you and that they're dragons."

"Thank you," he thanked. "Although, it is a little weird for me. To go from having lost my entire family to suddenly being welcomed as a sibling to a group of dragons it just a little too much for me to fully grasp."

"Regardless of that," Twilight said, nuzzling his cheek, "we're still happy for you."

Feeling more comfortable after hearing their words, Dark gave a happy sigh before nuzzling Twilight back. It didn't last long though as the sound of Night clearing his throat caused them to separate.

"Well," Night began speaking, "as nice as this is and how glad we are for you, Dark, we should probably get ourselves something to eat before we head on out to watch the Hearth's Warming Play."

Following his lead, everyone followed Night into the kitchen to help make themselves a late lunch. Once they were done, they talked while playing some more games, making sure to avoid anything related to the topic from last time. Soon enough, it was time for them to depart for the play. With it being held in Canterlot Castle, they were able to get in with little struggle, especially when Celestia had a group of guards at the front entrance to escort them to their box seats. Once they were brought to their seats, they were met with Celestia and Luna waiting for them.

"Hello, everypony," Celestia greeted them as they walked in.

"How has everypony's day been?" Luna asked.

"It's been... interesting," Twilight answered for them.

"Oh? How so, Twilight?" Celestia wondered as she took her seat beside her.

"Well, for starters, we had an interesting and unexpected topic that we talked about that I won't bother to go into detail with."

"Alright... anything else?"

"Yes. Turns out we had a surprise visit from Aero, the Lady of Air."

"Isn't that the name of one of the Scaleless Dragons?"

"Yep."

"Why would... Aero is a she, right?"

"Yes. Aero is a female."

"Alright, but why would she come to see you?"

"Turns out that when Dark became the Lord of Death, he also became apart of their family," Twilight smiled. "She came over to see him and told him that they've accepted him into their family as their youngest sibling."

"My, my," Luna spoke. "That must've be quite a surprise for you, Dark."

"Yeah, it was," he agreed. "To be honest though, while it's definitely good news and it does make me happy, this whole thing hasn't quite sunken in for me yet."

"I would imagine so," Celestia said. "After all, this is quite a turn of events for you, isn't it?"

"Yeah."

"So, where is she now?"

"She left in a hurry and didn't tell us where she was going. What we figured though was that it involves her, or rather, our eldest sister, Aurora, somehow. Anyway, she said that either she or one of the others will get in touch with me before the end of the month."

"That's nice of her to let you stay in touch like that," Celestia said before the lights started to go dim. "Oh. The play's about to start."

Once the lights were dimmed down enough, a pony in a weird-looking outfit walked out to center stage and began narrating the story. As he spoke, the curtains behind him drew back, revealing the scene to go with his narration, which would change as the story progressed. After a time, he left the stage for the actors of the play to take over.

As the play continued, Dark became more invested into it. While he already knew about the Six Founders and personally found it somewhat boring, he never thought that it would be so interesting when put into a play like this. So focused on it Dark was that he didn't notice Twilight glancing over at him with an amused smile.

By the time the play was done, Dark had a different view of their history, but not enough to make him want to study it thoroughly. When the curtains finally closed for the final time, everyone in the audience applauded for the performance, including Celestia and Luna. But, while the performance was over with, they still had to stay to announce the performers of the play, more so out of respect and politeness than anything else. When they all gave their final bows, everyone got up out of their seats and stretched their limbs before filing out.

"So then," Celestia began, "should we still be looking forward to all of you attending the Hearth's Warming Ball tonight?"

"We'll be there, Princess," Twilight answered. "We're going to have to teleport back home to get dressed before heading on over though."

"Alright then. In that case, I'll be looking forward to seeing you all very soon."

With a wave and their thanks, Twilight teleported everyone except for Dark back to her parents' house.

"Are you not going with them, Dark?" Luna questioned.

"Since I get teleportation sickness, I'm going to use my Shadowport instead to get back," he replied.

"You still get it?" Celestia wondered.

"Yeah. You wouldn't by chance know of a spell to cure me of it, would you?"

"I'm sorry, but I do not. If anypony would know of a spell like that, it would be Twilight."

"If so, then she probably doesn't know either, otherwise she would've cured me of it by now."

"Well then, I suppose we shouldn't keep you any longer."

"Guess not," he said before bowing to them. "Thank you for inviting us to watch the play, and I'll see you two soon."

"You're welcome, Dark. I'm glad that you enjoyed it."

With one last bow, Dark Shadowported himself back to Twilight's parents' house. Arriving at the inside of the front door, Dark walked upstairs towards Twilight's bedroom where his suit was. Seeing as how the door was closed though, he figured that Twilight was already getting her dress on and decided to wait out in the hallway until she was finished. He didn't have too wait long though, for after only fifteen minutes of waiting, the door opened, causing Dark to stare dumbfounded at Twilight.

The dress she wore was a light-blue with white trimming on the hems with the upper part having a V-neck with a single strap going around the back of her neck, holding it up in place. The back of the dress was open from the center of her back and upward, giving her wings plenty of freedom, but not revealing enough to be considered inappropriate. Noticing the perfume she was wearing, Dark also saw the makeup and pink eyeshadow Twilight had applied. Though she used very little of it, it was enough for it to easily stand out. And although her mane being pulled back into a bun wasn't anything too fancy, it didn't make her look any less beautiful to Dark.

"So, I take it that you like it?" Twilight giggled, noticing the look Dark was giving her... and the thin strand of drool hanging from the corner of his mouth.

Snapping himself out of his stupor, Dark slurped the drool back up and looked to her both embarrassed for how he acted, and how seeing her made him feel.

"S-Sorry about that," he apologized to her. "Yes, I do like it. You look very beautiful with that dress."

"T-Thank you," Twilight blushed. "Sorry if I took so long."

"Don't worry about it. I'd say that it was well worth it, but you really didn't take very long considering all that you did."

"That's because of how I can multitask with my levitation. But enough of that, it's your turn to get ready."

Taking a moment to give her a quick kiss, Dark walked past her and into the bedroom for his suit. Opening one of the dresser drawers, Dark was met with the sight of his folded suit.

Why didn't I just put it into my Shadow Storage beforehoof? he wondered. Would've saved me a lot of time and effort putting it on later... same with my Nightmare Night costume now that I think about it.

Sighing at his shortsightedness, Dark levitated out the suit and began putting it on. It was a little bit difficult, considering that he barely wore clothes like this, but after a struggling ten minutes, he finally had it on. Looking into his bag's side-pocket, he found some mane gel that was recommended to him that would give his mane an extra shine, and applied it on. Taking one last look in the mirror, Dark looked over himself.

His suit was comprised of a black tailcoat tuxedo jacket with a lavender vest and bowtie, and a silk black shirt beneath the vest. While Dark and Rarity went over the design, with his coat being an orange color, Rarity was having some trouble with trying to find the appropriate colors to compliment it other than yellows, oranges, and reds. In the end though, she decided that the black for his tuxedo and shirt would best compliment his coat, and went with lavender for the vest and bowtie because of how they matched Twilight's coat.

With his suit on snug and his mane styled back and shining, Dark left the room and went down to meet up with Twilight and the others who were waiting for him. Night and Spike both wore a black tuxedo and tie with a white shirt, difference being that Spike had a black top hat, Shining wore the same uniform that he wore to his wedding, Velvet went with a dark-blue dress with sparkles, Cadence had on a pink dress with gold hems, and Skyla wore an adorable little red and green dress.

"Wow, Dark," Twilight blushed, "you look rather handsome in that tuxedo."

"Thanks," he thanked, testing out the shoulders. "I've never worn one before. Pretty surprised of how comfortable it feels."

"I know," Night nodded in agreement, "but I'm curious though. Why did you go with a vest and bowtie of that color?"

"Rarity's idea. She thought that it would be appropriate for me to wear colors that matched Twilight's coat."

"Oh."

"Not to sound impatient or anything," Cadence spoke with Skyla on her back, "but we should probably head on over to the castle. The Ball will be starting soon."

With a nod of agreement, Twilight teleported herself and the others to the castle gates with Dark Shadowporting right behind them. Arriving at their destination, they all walked in, noticing the wreath-covered halls that lead the guests to the ball room. Walking down the halls, they gave a polite nod to the few guards that they passed, along with a few nobles who walked by.

After a few more minutes of walking, they finally made it to the open doors of the ball room and looked around the room. All around were pillars of sculpted ice, along with more decorative ice sculptures relating to Hearth's Warming, and several dozen round tables with white cloths draped over them for those who wanted to sit down and relax. Off to the far wall was a long buffet table with punch bowls, light foods, and some pastries and other treats for the guests to snack on if they chose to. On another wall was a stage where the Canterlot Orchestra was playing festive music for the guests. And towards the center near the stage was an open area for those who wanted to dance.

But, most noticeably of all were the floor that looked like it was covered in ice and a thin layer of snow, and the ceiling, which Twilight went to explain that it was enchanted to look like they were outside in the light snow. Of course, the "snow" that fell and "ice" on the floor weren't anything more than just a magical illusion. As they walked farther into the ball room with the other guests, they were approached by Celestia and Luna wearing a green and red dress respectively, to match the holiday.

"Hello again, everypony," Celestia greeted them. "How are you enjoying the Ball so far?"

"We actually just got here, Princess," Twilight answered as she and the others each bowed to her and Luna.

"Please," Luna waved. "There is no need for bowing from any of you. After all, tonight is a night for ponies to enjoy themselves and be merry."

"That is it, Aunty Luna," Cadence smiled.

"Well then, may you all enjoy the Ball," Celestia said to them. "And Happy Hearth's Warming Eve."

Giving their own Happy Hearth's Warming Eve, the group went further in before separating into their own groups. While Night, Velvet, and Spike took Skyla and headed on over to the buffet table, the two couples went over to dance. Upon seeing the royal couple and Twilight, the other guests bowed and gave them room for them to dance. But, while Shining and Cadence were calm, Twilight and Dark became aware of the eyes watching and judging them, but mostly Dark.

Once the orchestra started playing another slow song to dance to, both couples began to dance. Soon after, the others followed, dancing with a partner of their own. For Dark though, while he felt more comfortable dancing with Twilight than before, he was still wary of the gazes that fell upon him from everypony watching.

Keep it together, Dark, he mentally told himself. Just do what Shining told you and keep your eyes on your partner.

Looking away from the surrounding ponies, Dark looked directly at Twilight's as they continued to dance. Seeing her looking lovingly at him with a soft smile, Dark couldn't help but return both with his own.

"You look like you're doing better," she whispered. "Like you've calmed down a bit."

"Well," Dark began whispering back, "being with you does tend to have that affect on me."

"Sweet talker."

"It's true though. How many times have I started getting upset or nervous about something, and then you come and calm me back down?"

"I... I'm not sure, actually."

Giving a soft chuckle, Dark leaned his forehead down against Twilight's and closed his eyes as they continued to dance. And though it surprised her at first, Twilight quickly recovered and closed her eyes too, focusing on the closeness that they were sharing.

"Well, either way, I'm incredibly lucky to have you in my life now."

"And I'm lucky to have you in mine."

As the two continued to dance, Shining and Cadence glanced over to see them dancing with their eyes closed, and leaning their heads against each other. While Cadence looked happily at them, feeling the love they were both emanating, Shining gave a small smile.

"Heh, looks like he took my advice," he said with a small chuckle.

"Oh? And what would that be?" Cadence questioned.

"Remember when you and I had our first dance in front of a group of ponies?"

"I do. I remember you being all nervous about dancing with me because of everypony watching."

"Well, as it turns out, Dark was having the same worries that I did. So, I told him that he should just keep all of my attention on his partner."

"That was very thoughtful of you, Shiny. I'm really proud of you. Especially with how far you've come from how you acted with him before."

"Yeah," he sighed. "Guilt can do that to you."

"You know, you never did tell me what it was exactly that happened that lead you to hating kirins like that."

"I know, and I promise to tell you... and him. Just not right now though. Now isn't the time for such a story."

"I wasn't expecting to hear it right away, silly. Perhaps when we get back to the Crystal Empire?"

"Sure, I can do that."

Feeling happy with finally getting to know about what happened, Cadence gave a content sigh before leaning her head against Shining. While the two couples were simply dancing and enjoying the closeness of each other, the eldest couple, along with Spike and Skyla, were watching from one of the tables, each with a plate of food that they got from the buffet table.

"Hey, Night," Velvet spoke as she leaned up against his side, "don't they remind you of how we were when we were younger?"

"Which one are you talking about?" Night asked.

"Both of them. Twilight and Dark remind me of when we went to our high school dance, and Shining and Cadence of when we danced after our wedding."

"Yeah, I can see that."

"Mhmm. Also, I'm really happy and grateful that they both found somepony special for them."

"Yeah. While Shining and Cadence we both saw coming for some time, I didn't expect Twilight to find somepony like Dark."

"Night," Velvet said, her voice hinted with warning.

"Don't worry, Velvet, I won't do anything to interrupt them," he sighed. "Besides, looking at how happy and at peace they make each other, I'm having difficulty trying to dislike him."

"If you want, I might have a story or two to tell you," Spike said while feeding Skyla some pudding.

Chuckling, Night ruffle his spines. "Thanks, Spike, but I think that I'll let them be for tonight."

Leaving them be, Night and Velvet returned to their meals while Spike continued to feed Skyla. As the song continued on, Dark and Twilight soon lost track of how long they'd been dancing together. With both of their eyes closed and their attention focused on each other, what was actually ten minutes that had passed felt like an hour, and neither of them cared. A few minutes later, Dark opened his eyes and nuzzled Twilight to gain her attention.

"Hey," he softly spoke.

"Hmm?" she muttered, her eyes opening to see Dark look lovingly at her.

"I love you."

With her front legs wrapped around the back of his neck, Twilight pulled herself closer to whisper into his ear.

"I love you too."

Pulling away to look into each other's eyes again, they both soon found themselves leaning in. Getting caught in the moment, and with their surroundings completely forgotten, Dark and Twilight kissed. While soft and sweet with nothing but love behind their kiss, it was still enough to catch the attention of the others around them. Even after the song they were dancing to had ended, neither of them noticed as they were both in their own world at the time. Even when the broke their kiss, their interlocked gazes kept them from remembering where they were exactly. It wasn't until they heard the sound of somepony clapping that they were finally reminded of what was going on around them.

With looks of embarrassment and worry in their faces for their act of public affection in front of everypony, they were expecting ponies to start complaining, but were instead calmed when the number of clapping hooves begin to grow. Soon enough, the entire ball room was filled with clapping, cheers, and even a whistle of approval, which they both saw came from Celestia. Even Night was in on it, albeit with a look of slight reluctance.

Looking back to each other, Dark smiled to Twilight and remembered one of the rules with dancing at a social event that Rarity had taught him. Taking a step back, Dark bowed to her, and she to him in return. Feeling slightly tired from the dancing, Dark and Twilight made their way over to the table her parents, Spike, and Skyla were sitting at. Once they got there and took their seats, the music started back up and the ponies began dancing and talking again, no doubt about the kiss that was just shared.

"Oooh, I wish I brought my camera with me," Velvet gushed. "That was simply adorable."

"Moooommm," Twilight whined embarrassingly.

"What? It really was sweet."

"Personally, I'd say that it was more romantic than anything," Cadence chimed as she and Shining both took their seats at the table. "Although, I'm surprised that you two would be so open about showing your affections for each other like that. You wouldn't by chance have done that to make a statement to the nobles and Canterlot Elite, would you?"

"Wha- no!" Dark answered. "W-We were just caught in the moment and-"

"Relax, Dark, I know. I'm just teasing you two is all."

Sighing, Dark got up from his chair. "I'm heading on over to the buffet table. You want anything, Twilight?"

"Sure. Could you get me some of those crackers and cubed cheese please?"

"Sure," he chuckled. "That was actually what I was going to get." He paused when a scent caught his attention. "Is that salami that I smell?"

"Yep," Spike happy replied. "They've got a plate of it over there, though nopony has touched it, besides me that is."

"Sweet."

"Wait," Shining interrupted, "since when did you start eating that meat?"

"Remember when I was stuck in that other world?" Dark asked.

"Yeah, but what does that have to do with the salami meat?"

"While I was there, I was accidentally introduced to meat, and as it turns out, salami was one of the later ones that I had. It's really good in sandwiches, and better with crackers and cheese, but only with cheddar though. I tried it with Monterey jack and quickly learned of how much of a mistake that was." Seriously, even cardboard is tastier than that cheese.

"Well... okay then."

"Okay. Oh, did you want me to get you anything to drink while I'm at it, Twilight?"

"A cup of the punch please," she replied with a smile.

Nodding, Dark left the table and made for the buffet. Along the way, he was greeted by random ponies that he would pass by, but it was a certain pair at the buffet table that really caught his attention. One was a white unicorn stallion with a blue mane, moustache, and eyes, wearing a white tuxedo with a pink bowtie, and a single monocle over his left eye. And the other was a white unicorn mare beside him with light-purple eyes, and a pink and white mane who wore a white silk dress. Seeing the stallion waving him over, Dark made his way up to them to see what they wanted."

"I must say, that was quite the scene you and Princess Twilight made," he told Dark.

"Sorry about that," Dark apologized. "We got caught up in the moment and forgot about everypony around us."

"It's quite alright."

"It was actually a heartwarming sight to see," the mare said. "Although, I'm not sure that everypony would agree."

"Yeah," Dark sighed before remembering his manners and reaching out a claw. "Oh, sorry about that. I haven't introduced myself to you two yet. My name is Dark Flame."

"Ah, so you're the one that the Canterlot Elite and nobles have been talking about," the stallion said, taking Dark's claw with a hoof and shaking. "Well, it's a pleasure to finally meet you. My name is Fancy Pants, and this lovely mare here is my fillyfriend, Fleur De Lis."

"Charmed," Fleur politely said before shaking Dark's claw.

"So, you two are Fancy Pants and Fleur De Lis," Dark said with some surprise. "Well then, let me say thank you for the letter that you two sent. It was a welcomed change of pace compared to the letters of grief that I've been getting lately."

"I know what you mean," Fancy agreed. "Most of the Canterlot Elite and nobles aren't too fond of the idea of a pony coming from out of nowhere and suddenly courting Princess Twilight like that."

"Don't remind me," Dark groaned. "I've had enough of that from Blueblood."

"True. However, I must say that you're nothing like what everypony has claimed you to be. They say that you're a savage and unsophisticated brute and such. Some have even gone as far as to call you a changeling, believing that you've put Princess Twilight under some kind of mind control spell and getting her to be your fillyfriend."

"I suppose I could see that, but that's not true in the slightest. Besides, from what Twilight has told me, changelings haven't been seen since their failed invasion of Canterlot."

"True, but that doesn't stop ponies from talking."

"No, it doesn't," Dark sighed in agreement before he remembered why he came here in the first place. "I'm sorry about this, but while I am enjoying getting to talk with you two, Twilight is probably wondering what's taking me so long with the food and drinks. So, if it's alright-"

"Say no more," Fancy said with a raised hoof, "we understand that you need to get back to her. It was a pleasure talking to you, Mr. Dark."

"You too, Mr. Fancy Pants, Miss Fleur De Lis. Perhaps next time we can talk longer?"

"That would be nice," Fleur answered for them. "After all, we are curious as to where you came from, considering that nopony seems to know about you before you showed up in Ponyville."

"Sure. Have a nice night you two, and Happy Hearth's Warming Eve."

"And a Happy Hearth's Warming Eve to you too, sir," Fancy said, giving him a friendly smile before he and Fleur walked away.

Quickly glancing over the table, Dark began using his magic to levitate a pair of plates and cups to him before he began filling them. With the food and drinks collected, he made his way back to the table and placed Twilight her snack and drinks in front of her.

"Thank you, Dark," she thanked.

"You're welcome."

"So, what took you so long? You didn't get lost on your way there, did you?" Shining joked.

"Nope, but I did run into Mr. Fancy Pants and Miss Fleur De Lis while at the buffet table."

"Those two are some of the nicest Canterlot ponies that you'll ever meet," Twilight told him. "And even though Fancy Pants and I have butted heads together a few times, he's still a good pony to get along with."

"He definitely seems like it."

As the night progressed, everyone enjoyed their time together. They ate, shared some stories, and danced a few more times. But, even though they were enjoying themselves, they were starting to get tired and were ready to call it a night. Seeking out Celestia and Luna, they each thanked them for the invitation before heading home for the night.

Once they got there, Spike ran directly towards the tree and picked out his present from Twilight.

"Can I open it now, Twilight?! he eagerly asked.

"Sure, go ahead," she giggled.

With much enthusiasm, Spike began tearing open the wrapping paper until he held the box in his claws and opened the lid. With a look of joy, Spike brought the item out of the box.

"It's the newest comic of Power Ponies!" he cheered.

"That's not all, Spike. Take another look."

Curious, Spike looked back into the box to see comics layered on top of each other. Picking through them, he found fifteen different and new copies of them until he hit the bottom. Reaching a claw in, he brought out a brown, leather book.

"What's this? This isn't like any kind of book I've ever seen."

"That's because it's been imported from the Dragon Kingdom," Twilight explained. "That there is a book on everything that there is to know about dragons."

"How did you get this?" Spike asked in awe.

"I may have been keeping in touch with an elderly dragon that I met a few months ago."

"'An elderly dragon'?" Dark questioned. "You wouldn't by chance be talking about Rin from that meeting with King Inferno, would you?"

"That's the one. He's actually a really nice dragon once you get to know him. Even if it's only by letter."

"Thank you, Twilight!" Spike thanked while giving her a hug.

"You're welcome, Spike," she returned.

"Now it's your turn."

Smiling, Twilight walked over and took her present from Spike from under the tree. Sitting down, she unwrapped the paper to reveal a picture of her and Spike just after she hatched him. But, what was most noticeable though was the obsidian picture frame around it. Surprised, Twilight looked over to a smirking Spike.

"How did you get this?"

"I made it."

"You did? How?"

"I actually got the idea from watching Dark working the forge one time. You see, what I did was that I went out, found some rocks, and used my fire breath to melt them down until they were molten. After that, I collected it in a mold of the picture frame and dunked it under some cold water to quickly cool it off, which turned the rock into obsidian."

"Thank you, Spike," she thanked, pulling him into a hug. "I love it. And even more so because this was our first picture taken together."

"You're welcome, Twilight. Happy Hearth's Warming Eve."

"Happy Hearth's Warming Eve to you too, Spike."

With the small gift opening finished, everyone made their way upstairs to get ready for bed. That is, all except for Dark, who made his way to the basement table where the giftwrapping papers and ribbons were. After putting his suit into his Shadow Storage, Dark pulled out the ornate box from it and sat it on the table.

I really hope that Twilight will like this, he thought as he began wrapping it in a purple and gold wrapping paper.

Wanting to get it right, Dark had to try several times before he finally got the box wrapped up nice and tidy. Placing a ribbon and a name card on top of it, Dark cleaned his mess and went up to the living room to place the gift under the tree. Feeling satisfied, Dark let out a loud yawn before deciding to head on up to bed.

Opening the door to their shared room, Dark walked in to see Twilight out of her dress and over by her dresser mirror, finishing up on removing the makeup that she had on while Spike already asleep in his bed basket. Making his way over, Dark walked up alongside her and wrapped an arm around her in a hug.

"You were really beautiful tonight," he told her. "Kinda wishing that somepony had a camera with them now."

"I know what you mean," Twilight agreed. "You really did look handsome in that suit of yours."

Giving her a quick kiss, Dark let Twilight be with removing the last of her makeup and crawled into bed. No sooner did he get himself comfortable did he hear the lights turn off and feel Twilight crawling into bed too. Remaining still, he let her find her favorite spot against him and started snuggling together. With the long and eventful day they had, sleep was quick to take them, but not before a few words were shared.

"Hey, Twilight?"

"Hmm?"

"Happy Hearth's Warming Eve."

"Happy Hearth's Warming Eve to you too."

Chapter 45- Happy Hearth's Warming

Dark and Twilight were both peacefully asleep when first of the sun's rays cracked the horizon. However, while they were still sleeping, Spike shot up from his bed basket and jumped up onto their bed.

"Wake up you two! It's Hearths' Warming! It's Hearth's Warming!" he excitingly exclaimed while trying to shake them awake.

Groaning, Twilight shifted around from under Dark's wing and looked at Spike with tired eyes.

"Already?" she groggily asked.

"Yes, already! It's morning, so there'll be more presents under the tree! And let's not forget about the Hearth's Warming breakfast!"

"Well, I do love the cranberry sauce that mom makes for the flapjacks."

"What are you waiting for then? Let's go!"

Jumping off of their bed, Spike ran over to the door and opened it to head on down. As soon as he opened it though, a small, pink blur zoomed through the open doorway and latched itself onto Dark's face. Knowing what today is, Skyla giggled happily as she tried to poke Dark awake. After a few attempts of poking him, Dark opened his eyes a crack to see the baby filly looking anxiously at him.

"And a good morning to you too, little one," Dark greeted her.

As Dark sat up in their bed, Skyla was still attached to his face, enjoying the small ride. Feeling like she was done with him, Skyla turned her attention to Twilight and flew off to her. With a small laugh, Twilight caught Skyla in her forelegs and held her to her chest while nuzzling her.

"Happy Hearth's Warming, Skyla," Twilight said to her giggling niece.

Leaning over, Dark too began to nuzzle the little foal before turning his attention towards Twilight and giving her a kiss.

"Happy Hearth's Warming, Twilight."

"Happy Hearth's Warming to you too, Dark."

Draping his wings around her, Dark pulled Twilight into a hug with Skyla giggling happily between the two. After a minute of them enjoying the company of each other and the foal, Cadence poked her head through the open doorway, blushing as she thought that she was interrupting something.

"Oh! I'm sorry! I'll leave you two alone," she hastily said.

"Happy Hearth's Warming, Cadence," Twilight greeted. "Did you need something?"

"Yes, actually. Have you two seen Skyla by any chance? She woke Shiny and I up and then flew out of our bedroom."

"Oh, we might have an idea," Dark chuckled, opening his wing to let Skyla out and wave to her mom. "Apparently, she wanted all of us up. And since Twilight was already awake, she decided to latch onto my face and start poking me awake."

"Do you want her to stop it?"

"No, it's fine. I actually find it pretty cute."

"Okay then, but you two should come on down. Once we open our presents, mom will want us to start breakfast, and I can't tell you how much I've been looking forward to it."

"Not as much as me!" Shining said as he ran past Cadence and towards the stairs. "Mom's homemade cranberry sauce is mine!"

"Not if I have anything to say about it, Shiny!" Cadence returned before chasing after him.

Fully awake now and giving a small chuckle, Dark and Twilight got up out of their bed, put Skyla on her back, and made their way down to join her family. Along the way, Dark's mind began to wander. While he was happy to share this Hearth's Warming with Twilight and her family, he was starting to miss his own family. As he continued to think about them, he let a small sigh slip, one that Twilight heard.

"You alright, Dark?"

"Hmm? Oh, yeah I'm fine."

Not buying it, Twilight started to glare at him, which was quick to break his stubbornness.

"I'm just missing my family is all," he admitted. "It's my first Hearth's Warming without them."

Seeing his sorrow, Twilight stopped and pulled him into a comforting hug. Even Skyla could feel his sadness, so she jumped off of Twilight's back onto Dark's and hugged him as best as she could. Feeling the love and comfort of his fillyfriend and the foal, Dark soon melted into their embrace and hugged her back.

"We understand that this might be difficult for you to deal with," Twilight softly spoke as she began stroking his mane, "but we also want to try and make this as enjoyable and comfortable for you as we can so you can feel welcomed with our family."

"I know," Dark quietly spoke, "and I'm sorry for acting like this."

"It's alright."

They remained together like that for a few more minutes for Dark to collect himself. Once he was calmed down enough, he smiled to Twilight and gave her a thankful kiss before turning to Skyla on his back and giving her a small kiss on the top of her head, causing her to coo. With him feeling a little better, the three resumed their way down stairs to meet up with the others. As they walked in, Dark immediately noticed that there were at least twice as many presents under the tree than he remembered from last night. That, and the lights strung around the room, which again, he didn't remember being there before he went to bed last night.

Making their way over, Dark and Twilight took their usual spots on the couch before letting Skyla slide off of Dark's back and sitting herself on Twilight's lap. With Shining and Cadence sharing the love couch, and Spike jumping up on the other side of Twilight, they were now waiting for Night and Velvet to come to join them. Soon enough, the two came out from the kitchen and took their seats with the others. With everyone finally present, they could start opening their presents.

"So," Velvet began saying as she held up a Santa Hooves hat, "who's going to be hoofing out the presents this year?"

"I think we should let the newest member of our family do it," Cadence suggested. "What do you think, Dark?"

"What?" he hastily said. "But, I'm not actually apart of this family."

Maybe not yet, Cadence thought with a smirk, but from the love that I was feeling from you two last night, I'm sure that you will be... eventually.

"Well, you may as well be," Velvet spoke.

"But only as an honorary family member though," Night said strictly. "I'm not ready to marry my daughter off any time soon."

"Okay," Dark replied with a hint of meekness.

"Good. Now then." Night took the hat from Velvet and placed it on Dark's head, "go on ahead."

"What am I doing exactly?"

"It's a long-standing family tradition of ours," Twilight began to explain. "Each year, we have somepony wear that hat, and whoever does has to hoof out the presents from under the tree."

"Oh, okay."

Getting up from his spot, Dark walked over to the tree and picked out a random present from under it. Taking a look at the nametag, he saw that it was a gift for Velvet from Night. With his magic, Dark levitated it over to her, to which she took it in her own magic and sat it down. With a quick thanks to Night, Velvet began to gently open the gift. Once opened, Velvet was greeted with a fine china tea set. Happy, Velvet leaned over and kissed Night.

"It's wonderful, honey," she told him.

"Hehe, I thought that you would like it," Night chuckled before returning her kiss with one of his own.

"UH! Mom! Dad! Please not in front of us!" Twilight complained.

"Oh, you're one to talk, sweetie," Velvet said. "At least it's just in front of our kids and not an entire ball room filled with ponies."

Immediately silenced, Twilight blushed from embarrassment and looked away.

"Okay, Dark, next present please," Cadence said, diverting the attention away from what was just said.

Nodding in agreement, Dark went back over to the tree and picked out another random present, this one for Shining. Giving it to him, Shining saw that it was from both his parents and thanked them before opening it. With the wrapping paper gone, Shining was greeted with the sight of a hoofball.

"What's that?" Dark wondered.

"It's an autographed hoofball from the Broncos!" Shining happily answered. "They were my favorite hoofball team when I was a young colt, and they even won the cup this year for the Equestrian Hoofball League."

"Sweet. So, that makes this much more valuable then."

"Yep. Thank you, mom and dad."

"You're welcome, sport," Night proudly replied.

With this one done, Dark returned to the tree and picked out another, this one from Night and Velvet to Cadence. Once she was finished opening it, she saw that it was an old doll, much like one that she lost one day while foalsitting for Twilight. As memories of her old and most favorite doll came flooding back to her, Cadence let a few happy tears flow before running over and giving both Night and Velvet a thankful hug.

"H-How did you find one?" she shakily asked.

"Hahaha. This old stallion has his own connections. You know the saying of how old ponies know each other?"

Did Night really just call himself old? Dark smirked in thought. Oh-ho-ho, this is gonna be fun.

Noticing the mischievous smirk on Dark, Twilight smiled before giving him a subtle head shake. Listening to her silent request, Dark held his tongue and waited until Cadence was done thanking them. Once she did and returned to her seat with her new-old doll held tightly to her chest, Dark went for the next present. The next one was for Night from Velvet. Hoofing it over to him, Night unwrapped it to reveal a bottle of cologne. Happy for the gift, he thanked Velvet before Dark went back for the next one.

Smiling to himself, Dark took the next present into his magic and brought it over to Skyla, who began happily giggling when he sat it down in front of her. Eagerly, she tried to open it with her hooves, but was finding it rather difficult for her. As she was starting to pout for not being able to open it, Cadence began to help her daughter in opening it, though only did enough to get her started. With the wrapping paper opened enough for Skyla to do it on her own, she quickly tore off the paper and squealed in joy as she received a set of My Little Human dolls, causing everyone to laugh in joy at her expressions. With a little help getting them out of their box, Skyla wasted no time in playing with them.

Once they calmed down a bit from the cuteness that Skyla had shown, Dark went back to the tree and picked out the next one for Spike. Taking it into his claws, he opened the lid of the decorated box and saw that it was full of gems that made his mouth immediately start drooling. Giving a quick word of thanks, Spike began munching away on the box-full of gems until he was reminded of the breakfast that they were to have. With that reminder, he popped the lid back on and put the box of gems on the floor beside the couch.

Giving a small chuckle, Dark turned back around to the tree. Before he picked out the next one though, he went through a mental list of everyone who had gotten a present so far. As he went through it, he realized that Twilight didn't get one yet. So, looking over the gifts and passing over the one from him to her, wanting to save that one for last, he soon found one for her from her parents. Taking it in his claw, Dark walked over and gave it to her. With her thanks, she took it and started to peel off the paper. Once she got it off, her eyes lit-up as she read the cover title.

"A first edition of Starswirl the Bearded's Auto Biography!" Twilight squeed. "How did you find this?!"

"Your father isn't the only one who knows ponies," Velvet bragged.

Overjoyed, Twilight darted straight for her parents and wrapped her forelegs and wings around them.

"Oooh! Thank you, thank you, thank you! I can't wait to start reading it!"

"You'll have to wait until later, sweetie. Right now, there are still more gifts that need unwrapping."

With that reminder, Twilight went back to her spot on the couch and sat back down. As she looked from her new book to those around her, she noticed that Dark hadn't picked out one of his yet.

"Hey, Dark, why don't you open one of yours next?" she suggested.

"Thanks, but I'll wait until everyone's opened theirs," Dark tried to humbly decline.

"Nope. Everyone already opened one of theirs, so it's your turn to open yours."

"Really, Twilight, it's alright-"

"Dark, if you don't pick one, then I will."

Knowing that she meant it, Dark smiled and sighed in defeat before looking under the tree for a present of his own. After a minute of looking through them, he only noticed one, and it was from Twilight.

"Umm, that might be a bit of a problem."

"Why?"

"Because there's only one, and I'd like to save it for later."

"Really? Just one?" she asked questionably. "You mean that my gift to you is the only one there is?"

"It's alright, Twilight. I wasn't even expecting any, anyway."

"Sorry, Dark," Velvet apologized. "We tried shopping for you, but it's hard to shop for somepony when you don't know what they like."

"We thought about getting you a weapon from the Coliseum," Night began explaining, "but after remembering how easily you broke that one sword that you borrowed from them, then after seeing you summon all of those weapons when you and Shining fought, we didn't think that you would want another."

"Again, it's alright. Besides, we've met only a few times, which isn't nearly enough for you to have known what I like."

"We still feel bad though."

"Hey, don't be. I'm just happy to be spending this Hearth's Warming with Twilight and all of you. Especially since I no longer need to worry about any surprise dragon attacks."

"Are you sure?" Cadence asked. "We wouldn't want for you to feel left out."

"I'm sure," Dark said with a reassuring smile. "Besides, I must admit that I didn't exactly know what to get all of you either."

"What about Spike?" Night wondered.

"Eehhh, funny story, actually," Spike chuckled, rubbing the back of his head. "Remember when I said that I saw Dark working at his forge and it gave me the idea to make Twilight's gift?"

"Yes."

"Well, as it turns out, when I went to go see Dark at work, I might've caught a glimpse of his Hearth's Warming present to me."

"Yeah. Kinda hard to hide it when he's already seen it," Dark sighed in agreement. "And here I thought that hiding it in the forge amongst the other weapons was a good idea too."

"So, what did he get you, Spike?" Velvet asked.

"Made, actually," Spike corrected. "And what me made me was retractable staff."

"Why a staff?"

"After hearing about how much danger Spike would get into, especially after his run-in with those teen dragons, I thought that it would be a good idea for him to have some kind of self-defense weapon just incase," Dark explained. "I was thinking of making him something else, but Twilight didn't want him using anything dangerous like what I had planned until he's older."

"Do you have it with you?" Shining asked curiously.

"Sorry, Shining," Spike apologized. "I left it back at home in my room. I didn't think that I would be needing it for the holidays."

"I suppose not, but you'll have to show it to me someday. Right now though, would you mind continuing, Dark? Or would you rather prefer that somepony else take over the gift giving for you?"

"Thanks, Shining," Dark thanked, "but it's alright, I'm good to continue."

Resuming his gift giving, Dark went back and forth from the tree to whoever the present he picked belonged to. During that time, Dark made sure to avoid picking out his gift, or Twilight's, causing her to frown anxiously from not getting to see it yet. After almost an hour later, there were only two left. One being Dark's from Twilight, and the other being Twilight's from Dark. With a smug grin, Dark looked from the last two to Twilight.

"So," he began, his grin growing, "which one should I pick next? Everypony? What do you think? Who's present should be opened first?"

"Dark's," Cadence and Velvet voted simultaneously.

"Twilight's," Night voted.

"Twily's," Shining voted. "I'm curious to see what it is after you told me where you were going for it."

"Where did he go?" Twilight asked.

"Sorry, not telling."

With a grumble, Twilight looked back to Dark. "I was going to say that you should go first, but after what Shiny said, I want to know what mine is now even more."

"Looks like it's your call, Spike."

Tapping his chin with a claw, Spike thought about it for a few moments before looking up, his mind decided.

"I say Dark's first," he finally answered before looking over to Twilight. "No offense, Twilight, but he's only got one, and he hasn't even opened it yet."

"It's alright, Spike," Twilight said before hopping off of the couch.

Walking over to Dark and the tree, Twilight used her magic to take the Santa Hooves hat off of Dark's head and placed it on her own. Taking her gift to him in her magic, Twilight levitated the wrapped box over with her back to the couch and motioned for Dark to follow. Grabbing his present for Twilight, Dark walked over to the couch and took his place on it. Then, with slightly nervous smiles and blushes, the two exchanged their gifts to each other.

With a gesture to go on ahead from Twilight, Dark slowly began to open his gift from her. As he began to tear away the wrapping paper, Dark started wondering what it was that she could've gotten him. Besides having Twilight in his life and having his forge, he couldn't think of anything realistic that he could want. He soon found out though as he unwrapped the paper and opened the lid of the box, revealing a radiant-shaped, topaz. Taking it in his claw, Dark examined it.

"It's... a gem?" he said confusingly.

Stifling a giggle, Twilight smirked knowingly as she watched Dark.

"Not just any gem," she told him. "Take a closer look at the face of it."

Shrugging to himself, Dark held the gem flat in his claw and looked at the flat surface of it. After a few seconds had passed, he started to wonder what she was talking about until he saw it. His breath catching in his throat, Dark continued to look at it as an image of his fifth birthday party was shown on it, a memory of which he himself had no memory of. However, it wasn't just a still image as he originally thought, but it was more like that the entire scene of his birthday was being played all over again.

"But- how is this- when did you- how-" Dark tried speaking, stumbling over his words to make a coherent sentence.

"How was I able to do this?" Twilight figured, getting a slow nod from Dark. "I actually got the idea from the chandelier that my friends made me with the roots of the old Ponyville Library. That gem there holds the memories of a pony in them, and can be viewed whenever anypony wants to see them. However, this model doesn't just hold and show a single image, but can hold and replay the entire memory with sound if you want. And, it doesn't hold just the one memory, but a lot of them."

"How though? How are my memories in here?"

"Did you forget about the time I saw into your memories when I had the Feather Flu? Just from that time, I was able to see much of your past, though Nocturne blocked me from a few that he didn't want me to see. Anyway, what I put in that gem are all of the memories that I thought that you would like to see. So, what do you think?"

While Twilight waited anxiously for her answer, she eyed Dark for his reaction. As he continued to simply stare blankly at the gem, she started to become a little nervous that he didn't like it. That worry became increased when she saw that Dark's eyes were beginning to tear up. Feeling as though she might've done wrong by this gift, Twilight was about to hug him and apologize, but before she could, she found that Dark had instead started hugging her with a slight sniffle.

"Dark?"

"Thank you."

"I'm sorry, I didn't hear that."

"Thank you, Twilight," Dark tearfully thanked. "Thank you for this gift."

"So... you like it?" she hopefully asked.

Pulling back, Dark wiped his eyes clear. "I love it. I don't even have any memory of this birthday. How is it that you can remember it?"

"Well, unlike the nineteen years for you, I recall seeing it just a few months ago. Besides, I have a good memory when it comes to remembering things... usually."

"So, how many memories did you put in here?"

"About a hundred... or so."

"... that's a lot of memories."

"I know, but it was all worth it."

Smiling gratefully, Dark leaned forward and lovingly kissed Twilight on the lips. It didn't last for long though as the sound of Night's throat clearing caused Dark to recoil back and look at him in worry.

"Oops. Sorry about that, sir."

Sighing, Night shook his head. "Considering what day it is and the emotional ties you have to your gift, I'll give you a pass. Just try to refrain from doing that in front of me from now on."

"Yes, sir."

"Good. Now, Twilight, I believe that it's your turn."

With an agreeing nod from Dark, Twilight smiled eagerly and excitingly as she tore apart the wrapping paper. With it gone, she was met with a red and gold-rimmed, wooden box, reminding her of a smaller version of Dark's own chest. Clicking the lock open with her magic, Twilight opened the lid and looked inside before bringing a hoof to her mouth and letting out a short gasp. Now, it was Dark's turn to smirk as Twilight was now the one staring at her gift.

As the moments went by in silence, Dark was starting to worry, thinking that he might've overdone it a little bit. Thinking for sure that he'd overdone it, Dark was about to reach out to her before noticing a smile creeping up on her lips. Taking that as a sign that she liked it, Dark quietly sighed in relief while Cadence walked over towards them.

"Twilight?" Cadence spoke. "What's in the bo- oh my."

"Is it what it think it is?" Night half-nervously, half-threateningly asked.

"No, dad, it's not," Twilight said with a joyous smile.

"So, do you like it?" Dark tentatively asked.

"Like it? I love it! It's the most beautiful gift that anypony has ever given me! Thank you, Dark, thank you!"

"Well, don't leave us hanging in suspense, sweetie," Velvet told her. "Go on and show us."

Lighting her horn, Twilight levitated the object out of the box to show to everyone. In her magic, Twilight held a silver, byzantine-style necklace with six diamond-shaped, purple gems, and a single purple gem in the shape of Twilight's cutie mark hanging from the center. As everyone eyed the necklace, Dark thought that this would be a good time to explain it.

"As you've probably already noticed, the necklace itself is made of silver, but the gems that are embedded in it are all twilight amethysts."

"How did you get this?" Twilight asked.

"I had it ordered after we were done with Blueblood's trial."

"That must've costed you a pretty bit," Night commented.

"Well, we can't say that he isn't cheap," Velvet said to Night.

"Actually, we settled on a trade," Dark told them. "In exchange for the customized order and materials of this necklace, I traded in my fire ruby for it."

"Is that all?" Cadence questioned as she eyed the details of it. "I'm no expert, but judging by the craftsmareship and materials, even if you traded a fire ruby, it should've costed you a few hundred bits at least."

"Well, as it turns out, the fire ruby that I had was considered to be flawless, which increased its value. I honestly didn't know about that part of it until I was told."

"You said 'she'," Shining noticed. "Does that mean that you went to see Miss Gem Cutter?"

"Yep," Dark proudly answered. "By the way, thanks a lot for sending me to her for this."

"No problem."

"Umm... Dark?" Twilight meekly spoke with her necklace held in front of her. "Would you mind?"

Getting what she meant, Dark walked around her and took the necklace with his claws, brought it around her neck, and attached the ends together. Now wearing it, Twilight looked down to see the necklace as it hung from her neck. Smiling again at how beautiful she found it, Twilight turned around and kissed Dark like he did her before. As she held their kiss, Night sighed knowing that he couldn't blame Dark since it was Twilight who initiated the kiss this time, and got up from his seat.

"Well," he began saying, stretching his stiff legs, "now that all of the presents have been opened, who's ready for a Hearth's Warming breakfast?"

Setting their presents aside for now, they each followed after Night into the kitchen. Once everyone took their seats, Night and Velvet opened the oven and pulled out a large plate full of flapjacks, another of hay bacon, and a pot with the cranberry sauce, which Shining was already drooling over at the sight of it. With the food placed on the table, they went to the fridge and brought out some milk and orange juice for everyone to drink, and some maple syrup for those who didn't want the cranberry sauce.

Taking a moment to give thanks, they each then filled their plates with their breakfast feast. Even after each of them had filled their plates with a healthy number of flapjacks and hay bacon, there was still plenty for each of them for seconds. Unfortunately though for the cranberry sauce, it was very popular with the family. Even little Skyla was eating it, with Shining and Cadence monitoring her of course. Fortunately though, Dark was able to get himself some of it before Shining finished it off and licked the pot clean, and he must admit that it was rather good and saw why Twilight's family looked forward to it each year.

Another hour later, everyone's plates were cleared of their Hearth's Warming breakfast and they all began helping cleaning up the mess. Once the dishes where cleaned, dried, and put away, they returned to the living room to watch some Hearth's Warming programs on the gem projection together. While they went through the three shows, the one they agreed that they enjoyed the most was "A Year Without A Santa Hooves".

Once they were finished watching their programs and spending the morning together, they each gathered to join Celestia and Luna for lunch. With their winter clothing on, they exited the house, locked the door, and made their way through the snow-covered sidewalk to the castle. Along the way, they enjoyed the quiet that surrounded them, the company of each other, and the sound of the snow crunching beneath their hooves and claws.

Arriving at the gate, the two guards saluted and allowed them in, but not without receiving a "Happy Hearth's Warming" from the group and their thanks. Crossing the courtyard, they entered through the large doors into the castle where a group of servants took their jackets. Relieved of their winter wear, they walked down the halls towards the dining hall. Along the way, a glint of light from Twilight's neck caught Dark's attention.

"You brought the necklace with you?" he questioned surprisingly, seeing that she was wearing it.

"Of course I am," she happily returned. "I want to show it to Princess Celestia and Princess Luna. You're alright with that, aren't you?"

"Sure, I'm alright with it. After all, it is yours."

"Good, because we're here."

Before them were a familiar pair of doors leading to the dining room. Taking the front, Dark and Shining both took one of the doors and opened them for the others to pass through, showing Celestia and Luna approaching them from hearing them enter.

"Happy Hearth's Warming, everypony," Celestia welcomed them.

"Yes, Happy Hearth's Warming," Luna mimicked.

"Happy Hearths' Warming," they all replied.

Motioning with a hoof, Celestia walked them to their seats. Once everyone was seated, she noticed the jewelry adorning Twilight's neck.

"My goodness, Twilight," Celestia spoke, "where did you get that necklace?"

"It's Dark's Hearth's Warming gift to me," Twilight answered her before affectionately nuzzling Dark.

"Well, that's quite the gift there," Luna said, walking over to take a closer look. "And it has twilight amethysts too. Pray tell, Dark, how did you accumulate the funds for such a piece of jewelry?"

"Turns out that the fire ruby that I found back on the outskirts of Stonewall Village was flawless, and covered it," he explained to them.

"Such a gift could make one curious as to how you'll outdo it when it comes time to buying a ring."

Oh, not again, Dark mentally groaned before speaking, "Isn't it a bit early to be thinking about that?"

"I agree," Night said with a nod. "I'm not in any hurry to be walking my daughter down the isle anytime soon."

"You know, Mr. Night Light," Celestia began with a small smirk, "I remember a time when ponies would be engaged and married after only a month of courting."

"Not with my little filly."

Even though he was being serious, everyone at the table still laughed at him, finding his fatherly protection to be amusing and somewhat funny. Right as their laughing died down, the waiters brought out meals for them to eat. But, before they started though, a somewhat troubling and disturbing thought came to Dark.

"Umm, excuse me, Princess Celestia?" he spoke, gaining her attention. "As nice as this is, what about everypony else?"

"I'm sorry, Dark, could you be a little more specific?" she requested.

"What I meant was what about the other ponies who can't eat like we are?" he clarified. "You know, ponies who are poor and stuff?"

"Ahh, I see now. You do not need to worry about them. Luna and I make sure to have plenty of food delivered to the homeless and orphanages during this time of year in each city. And don't think that I haven't forgotten about our castle staff, or the royal guards."

"We send them enough so that they too could have themselves a grand feast," Luna added proudly.

"So nopony is going to get left out then," Dark sighed in relief.

"Is there a reason why you ask this?"

"Not really. I was just curious was all."

"I understand," Celestia softly spoke. "Just know that I try to watch over all of my little ponies. While I admit that I can't be there to help all of them, I do try and do what I can for them."

"We understand, Princess," Twilight said, placing a reassuring hoof over her mentor's. "You may be a Princess of Equestria and be seen as a goddess to most ponies, but in the end, you're still just a single pony. Same with Princess Luna. Not even she can be in everypony's dreams to help them at once."

"That is true, Twilight. That is so very true," Luna reluctantly nodded. "But enough of this topic. Let us eat and enjoy our time together while we can."

With cheers of agreement, everyone continued to eat and talk about their morning. As they ate, they talked, laughed, joked, and much to Celestia and Luna's entertainment, embarrass Twilight and Dark. And once they were done with them, the two sisters turned their attention towards Cadence and Shining.

After enough time had passed, they finished their lunch, and thanks to Celestia, all of the desert. Feeling a sense of food coma coming about, they got their winter clothes and decided to take a walk around the castle's garden to help wake themselves up, and to work off some off the calories that they'd packed.

As they walked, Twilight found herself leaning up against Dark, who in turn draped a wing over her. Once they started to get comfortable though, Dark felt a snowball hit the back of his head. Stopping to turn his head around to look, he saw Night smirking at him with another snowball levitated in his magic before throwing it at him. Reacting on instinct, Dark took the flying snowball with his own magic and flinged it back at Night... only for him to duck and hit Celestia in the face instead.

Frozen in place, Dark looked fearfully as Celestia looked back at him. Then, unexpectedly and disturbingly, Celestia grinned as she gathered several snowballs with her magic and hurled them at Dark, each hitting him in the face and knocking him onto the snowy ground. While Celestia was laughing at him, she felt another snowball hit her in the face, this one coming from a smirking Twilight. Before anyone knew it, they'd been split into two teams and had built snow walls with piles of snowballs behind them.

For the next hour, they had themselves the funnest snowball fight they could remember. After some time had passed, they even gotten some of the royal guards to join them, turning their snowball fight into a small war. Before too long, each side had over twenty members on their respective teams. Unfortunately though, even though they were all having a lot of fun, exhaustion caught up with them and they had to call it a draw in the end. While the guards thanked them for letting them join, the group left the garden and headed on back in to have some hot chocolate by the fireplace in Celestia's private study.

As they sat on chairs, together on the couches, or laid side-by-side on the floor with their own blankets and cup of hot chocolate, they all remained silent, enjoying the company, the taste of their warm drinks, and the sounds of the crackling fire. And as much as everyone was enjoying their time together, mostly Cadence who was snuggled with Shining, and Twilight with Dark, the sound of Skyla and Spike yawning reminded them that they should probably be going home soon. Giving their thanks to Celestia and Luna for the Hearth's Warming lunch and fun day in the garden, they returned back to Night and Velvet's house.

With how tired everyone already was, the rest of the afternoon went by rather fast. Dinner went by quickly and without much talking, mainly due to everyone still being tired from their fun with the snowball fight. But, before they decided to call it a night, they asked if Dark could show them some of the memories within his memory crystal, mainly to see what his home and family were like, along with how he looked as a pony. Not seeing the harm in it with it since Twilight chose which memories would be in there, Dark held the crystal out for everyone to see.

During his storytelling of the events that were being shown, Shining soon asked what was up with Light's wings, noticing that his feathers were white instead of a metallic-blue like his fur coat. Taking a moment, Dark went over to explain to them that nopony knew how or why he was born with them like that. One theory was that it was because Light was born three months prematurely. Hearing that tidbit though caused everyone to look at him disbelievingly at how a pony who was born so early could end up being one of the heathiest and fittest ponies to live in the village. And, by the request of Twilight, Dark went to explain Light's cutie mark of a golden crown with wings that was being bathed in a ray of light piercing the clouds.

"From what we've gathered, Light's cutie mark shows his usage of light and his flying skills," Dark explained.

"Alright, but what about the crown?" Shining inquired.

"That's another thing," he sighed. "Like my cutie mark, Light's has two different meanings. While the wings show his skill with flying, the crown represents his ability to get ponies to do what he asks. Over time, he began calling it 'The Voice of the King'."

"'The Voice of the King'?" Twilight repeated. "So, what's up with the ray of light illuminating the rest of his cutie mark?"

"If I had to guess, I'd say that it represented his ability to blind others with the light he could emanate from his wings."

"Twilight," Cadence spoke, "didn't you say that the fugitive that got away blinded ponies with a flash of light?"

"Yes, but that pony was of a darker shade of blue than Dark's brother, and his wings were blue like his coat, not white. That, and we can't forget that he also had a curved white horn with a blue tip," Twilight reminded.

"Not to mention that Light's been presumed dead since nopony has heard back or seen him and the others after he and his team left to go get help," Dark added.

"I suppose," Cadence sighed before looking to Skyla sleeping in her forelegs. "I think that I'm going to follow Skyla's example and call it a night."

"I think that's a good idea too," Velvet agreed, along with everyone else besides a sleeping Spike.

Turning off the lights, everyone made their way up to their respective bedrooms for some sleep. Before Twilight and Dark went to bed, they brought the snoring Spike up with them and tucked him in his bed basket. With him hunkered down for the night, the two slid beneath her bed sheets and snuggled with each other, ready to fall asleep.

"So, Dark," Twilight whispered, trying to not wake Spike, "did you enjoy your Hearth's Warming?"

With a soft smile, Dark gave Twilight a small kiss. "Thanks to you I did. Thank you again for the wonderful gift, Twilight, and Happy Hearth's Warming."

"Happy Hearth's Warming, Dark."

A few hours later, Dark awoke with a parched mouth. Tenderly slipping out of Twilight's hold, Dark Shadowported himself down to the kitchen for a glass of water. Once he downed the drink, he was about to return back to bed when he saw a dim light in the living room. Curious, he peeked his head around the corner to see Shining sitting on the couch, looking at the lit fireplace with a red gem similar to Dark's floating by his head.

"Hey," Dark quietly spoke, trying not to spook him, "you alright?"

"Hmm? Oh, hey, Dark," Shining said. "Did I wake you?"

"Nah. Just came down to grab a drink of water is all. What about you?"

"Couldn't sleep."

"Any reason why?"

"Yeah."

"... do you want to talk about it?"

Sighing, Shining patted the spot beside him. Getting his meaning, Dark walked over and took his seat, ready to listen.

"It's about you, actually," Shining finally answered after a few moments of silence.

"Huh?"

"Remember when we first fought you asked me why I was so hostile and distrusting of you because of you being a kirin?"

"Yeah, kinda hard to forget that," Dark chuckled briefly. "Come to think of it, you never really did give me an actual explanation, only vague hints."

"Yes... and I believe that it's about time that I told you."

"Hmm?"

Taking a deep breath, Shining turned to face Dark, his face both serious and almost sorrowful and regretful.

"You deserve to know why I acted like I did to you, and for that, I need to tell you about what happened that week, about why I hate kirins."

With a silent nod, Dark prepared himself for what he suspected was going to be a bloody and sad story.

"Before I tell you though, you can't tell anypony about this. Besides Princesses Celestia and Luna, and Captain Iron Guard, nopony else knows the details about this. Not even my own family. Can you promise me that?"

"I promise," Dark nodded.

"Good. First of all, you should know that at one point in time, Cadence and I had planned to start a herd with another mare."

"What?!" Dark quietly shouted. "When was this?!"

"I'll be getting to that," Shining said slightly irritated. "Anyway, her name was Silica, and while ponies knew that Cadence and I were together, nopony knew about Silica being with us too."

"Why the secrecy though?"

"This was before I was Captain of the Royal Guard, and things were already stressful enough because of Cadence and I dating at the time. Plus, the addition of another pony, one being a soldier under my command no less, would've created even more problems for all of us. At least, until I would've become the Captain of the Royal Guard that is. After that, ponies wouldn't had judged us so harshly."

"Okay, but what does she have to do with you hating kirins?"

With a sigh, Shining rubbing his temples. "For this story, I'll have to start at where it all began. That is, if you don't mind staying up for a while to listen?"

"No, I don't mind."

"Alright then." Shining paused to take a deep breath, preparing himself for what he was about to say and using his magic to show the scene from the gem. "Along with my story, I'll also be using my memory of the event within this memory gem of mine so you can see for yourself what happened. Now, it all started seven years ago when my squad was called to the office of Bastion, the Captain of the Royal Guard at that time..."

Author's Note

You've been wanting to know what Shining's deal is with kirins, and now, in the next chapter, all will be explained. That is, if Dark Souls III doesn't get in the way too much.

Chapter 47- Word from Aero

The rest of Dark's and Twilight's week at her parents' house went by rather quickly after Hearth's Warming night. The following morning, Night, Velvet, and Spike were surprised to see how much more Dark and Shining were getting along with each other. Even Cadence was a little bit surprised by them, and even more so when the two went out to have a beer and play some pool together that night. When they got back though, they were confronted by Cadence and Twilight about how they'd overheard them the night before. So, the four sat down together and talked about it.

A few days after that, Shining went over to Celestia. He told her that he showed Dark his memory gem, and that unknown to them at the time, Cadence and Twilight had overheard him, so they knew now too. While Celestia wasn't very happy that Twilight found out like she did, she did understand Shining's reasoning for telling Dark. As it turned out, Celestia had considered telling Dark about Shining's history with kirins, but she didn't know how to go about starting it.

The following morning was the day that Dark, Twilight, and Spike would be returning back to Ponyville. With Twilight's family there to see them off, they each gave their goodbyes before boarding the train. During their ride, Dark and Twilight snuggled against each other to look at the memories of Dark's memory gem, while Spike was busy eating the gems that he got to snack on and reading his new comic books.

A few hours later around the early-afternoon, their train finally arrived at Ponyville Station. For a moment, Dark and Spike had half-expected that their friends and Spike's fillyfriends would be there to greet them. But, after they unboarded, Twilight explained to them that they would be having a snowball fight later on in the day before heading on to Sugarcube Corner for some hot chocolate. Licking their lips in anticipation, Dark took Spike's luggage before the two guys ran towards the castle, leaving Twilight rolling her eyes in amusement before teleporting herself there ahead of them.

Ten minutes later, the two arrived at the doors to Twilight's Castle before Twilight herself opened the door from the inside with a smug grin. Knowing what she did, Dark chuckled before giving her a peck on her lips and walking inside. Setting their luggage off to the side, Dark was then approached by one of the Shadow Wraiths that he left to guard the castle in their absence. Getting the report from them that nothing tried to enter the castle while they were gone, Dark gave them his thanks before letting them continue their patrols of the castle. While he'd originally created them to guard the castle during the time that they were gone, after some talking with Cadence and Shining, Dark and Twilight agreed that having fulltime guards patrolling the castle would be a good idea, considering how much of a hotspot Ponyville has been lately.

"So, what do you two want to do before we meetup with the others?" Dark asked.

"If it's alright, I was hoping to see the Crusaders," Spike answered him.

"Sure, go on ahead, Spike," Twilight told him, getting a quick hug before watching him run back outside.

"Well, I guess I should've seen that coming," Dark chuckled. "So then, what do you want to- mmph!"

Before Dark could finish, he found himself pressed up against the wall by Twilight with her lips firmly pressed against his. As they continued to make out and playing tongue twister with each other, Dark quickly spun them around and pinned Twilight up against the crystal wall. After some time had passed, they finally separated their lips and gazed at each other with half-lidded eyes.

"You don't know how long I've been waiting to do this again with you," Twilight whispered before kissing him again.

"Oh, I have a pretty good idea," Dark smirked when they broke apart again.

"Really?" she teased seductively. "Well then, why don't we take this somewhere else?"

By this point, Dark was emanating a low, throaty growl. "Bedroom?"

"Five minutes."

In the blink of an eye, Twilight teleported herself away, leaving Dark alone. Before he could Shadowport up to their bedroom though, he noticed that their luggage was still sitting where they left it. Letting out a small sigh, Dark took their luggage into his magic, Shadowported himself and it back to their bedroom, and began unpacking. Just as he finishing putting their luggage and suitcases away, the doors to the room were thrown open.

Snapping his head over towards the doors, Dark's jaw dropped and felt himself heat up upon seeing Twilight wearing dark-blue socks, and a transparent lavender nightgown. Seeing the look he was giving, Twilight giggled inwardly while giving him a sultry look. Pulling the window blinds and closing the door shut, Twilight sashayed her way over to their bed and laid down on it.

"Well? What are you waiting for, big boy?"

Snapping his mind from his daze, Dark began looking hungrily at Twilight.

Sweet Luna, if I'm dreaming, please don't wake me, Dark thought before pouncing onto Twilight.

Out in the streets of Ponyville, Spike sprinted as fast as he could over to Carousel Boutique. Thankfully for him, the streets appeared to have been cleared a few hours before they returned from Canterlot, which allowed for him to arrive quicker than he'd originally thought. Reaching the door to the building, Spike knocked on it and waited for somepony to answer. Few moments later, Spike heard hoofsteps coming closer before Rarity opened the door.

"Oh, hello there, Spike," Rarity warmly greeted him. "How was your Hearth's Warming in Canterlot?"

"It was great!" Spike happily said. "We went to see the Hearth's Warming Play, then the Hearth's Warming Ball, opened presents, had our traditional Hearth's Warming breakfast, ate with Princess Celestia and Princess Luna, played some board games with the family, got to-"

"I'm sorry to interrupt you, Spike, but perhaps we could continue this inside? It's getting a little chilly standing here with the door open."

"Oh, sorry about that."

Making his way inside, Spike removed his winter clothes and hung them on the coat hanger. After wiping his claws off on the welcome mat, he followed Rarity further in.

"Anyway, I'm guessing that you're really here to see Sweetie Belle?"

"Well... yeah, that's mostly the reason. Of course, it's nice to see you again too," Spike quickly added, not wanting to sound rude.

"Thank you, Spike."

"Did you say 'Spike', Rarity?!" Sweetie called from upstairs.

"Yes, Sweetie! Spike's here to see you!" Rarity called up.

As soon as those words left Rarity's mouth, they heard a stampede of hooves coming down the stairs. Starting to fear for himself, Spike slowly began to back away, but before he could take a third step, a blur of white, orange, and yellow collided into Spike, knocking him on his back. Opening his eyes with a small groan, Spike came face-to-face with the three Crusaders before they each began kissing him. As they continued to show their affection towards the little dragon, Rarity looked at them with a mixture of amusement, happiness for the four, and shock for their unladylike behavior.

"Girls! Get off the poor drake!" Rarity scolded, causing them to look back to her and slowly get off of him. "That isn't any way for a lady to act! Honestly, running down here like you're apart of a stampede and bowling into him like that."

"We're sorry, Rarity," the three fillies apologized.

"Thank you, girls, but I don't think that it is I who you should be apologizing to."

With a look of embarrassment, the Crusaders turned around to face Spike.

"We're sorry, Spike," Sweetie Belle said.

"We were just so excited when Rarity said that you were here," Scootaloo added.

"We missed ya, Spike, and we just wanted ta see ya again," Apple Bloom spoke.

"It's alright, girls," Spike told them as he walked up to them and hugged all three of them. "To be honest, while I did have fun up in Canterlot with my family, I missed you girls a lot. I really wished that you could've all come with."

"So did we, Spike," Sweetie Belle agreed. "But we all had plans for Hearth's Warming with our own families."

"I know, and I understand that you all need to spend time with your families during that. I just wish that we could all spend some time together."

"Well, we can now," Apple Bloom happily said. "So, how was Hearth's Warmin' for ya, Spike?"

"It was great!"

"What kind of presents did you get?" Scootaloo asked.

"Well, I got a box of gems to snack on, a book on dragons, a bunch of new comic books-"

"Really?! Can we see them?!"

"Sure."

"Rarity?" Sweetie Belle called. "Can the girls and I go over to Spike's and spend some time with him?"

"I suppose," Rarity said with a hint of unease. "You're still going to join us later this afternoon, right?"

"We'll be there. Right, Spike?"

"Yep," he nodded. "I'm really looking forward to it. By the way, who else is coming?"

"Besides you and the girls," Rarity began, "our friends and I will be there, including Big Macintosh and Discord."

Counting in his head, Spike began thinking of teams.

"Won't the teams be uneven though?"

"Well, I'm sure that Discord could do something about that, like make a clone of himself or something of the sort. I suppose we'll just have to wait and find out."

"Okay. Anyway, you girls ready to go?"

With a round of nods from the three fillies, they and Spike put on their winter clothes and left the Boutique. Walking down the road back to the castle, the Crusaders kept exceptionally close to Spike, both because of how much they missed him, and for the extra warmth he was emanating through his winter clothes. As they got closer, they told Spike about their Hearth's Warming with their families before Spike began telling them about his. By the time he'd finished, they were inside the castle.

Letting the Crusaders go on up to his room, Spike went on over to the kitchen to prepare some snacks for them. A few minutes later when he was just about done, Sweetie Belle came walking into the kitchen.

"Hey, Sweetie, what-" Spike paused when he noticed the look on Sweetie Belle. "Did something happen? Your face is all red."

"Yeahhh, about that," she slowly began. "We might not want to read your comics in your room."

"Huh? Why not?"

Her face turning redder, Sweetie Belle began nervously shuffling a hoof against the floor.

"Trust her, Spike, you don't wanna know."

Looking behind her, Spike saw Scootaloo and Apple Bloom walking in, both having the same look on their faces as Sweetie Belle's.

"Yeah, Spike. Ah don't think we should be readin' in your room right now," Apple Bloom agreed. "Especially with... that noise."

"What noise?" Spike questioned. "There shouldn't be anypony else here beside Twilight and..."

Spike's voice trailed off as he began to piece everything together. Adding onto his guess of what happened, Spike looked at the Crusaders again and noticed that they all had the same blush on their faces, nervous looks, and most noticeably, Scootaloo's stiffened wings. Giving an irritated groan, Spike facepalmed.

"Okay, the snacks are almost done. When they are, just take them to the lounge and wait for me there. I'll go and bring the comics down from my... bedroom."

With another groan, Spike walked past the Crusaders and made his way up the stairs to his room. As he got closer, the sounds that he'd guessed they'd heard became more audible.

I'm gone for almost a half-hour and they're already going at it, Spike thought with a huff. Seriously, you'd think that they would at least wait a little bit before they started doing that again. I just hope that the girls aren't too traumatized by hearing it.

Doing his best to ignore the sounds echoing through the hallway, Spike ran as quick as he could to his room, grabbed the box of comics, and just as hastily ran back down. He didn't stop running until he was at the lounge door, panting for air. Taking a moment to catch his breath, he opened the door and sat his comics on the table.

"Okay. Here you go."

"Wow! That's a lot of comics!" Scootaloo exclaimed as she eyed them. "Hmm, X-Mare, Spider-Mare, Iron Mare, Captain Equestria, The Bulk..."

"Hey, look!" Apple Bloom said, holding up a comic in her hooves. "He's got volume one of The Revengers!"

"Sweet! Hey, AB, open it up already! I wanna see!"

"Hey, Spike?" Sweetie Belle called. "Didn't you say that you also got a book about dragons from Twilight?"

"Yep... did you want to see it?" he slowly asked.

"Yes, please."

"Oh... okay."

"Is something wrong?"

"Well... it's just that the book is back in my bedroom."

"... oh. Never mind then."

"Thanks, Sweetie," Spike said with a sigh of relief. "If it's all the same, I'd rather not have to listen to them... doing that."

"But you sleep just across the hallway from them, so shouldn't you be used to it?" Scootaloo questioned.

"They usually have a soundproofing spell or something up, so I don't know when they're doing it or not."

"Then why don't they have one up now?"

"If Ah had ta guess, Ah'd say that it's because they didn't think that Spike would be back so soon, right?" Apple Bloom guessed.

"Well, I did tell them that I was going over to Sweetie Belle's place to visit, so I guess that they thought that I'd be gone longer."

"So, us overhearing them is our fault then," Sweetie Belle said, looking away in embarrassment.

Seeing no other way, Spike and the others agreed with Sweetie Belle that this one was on them before turning their attention away from Dark and Twilight's activity, and towards the stack of comics. As they read through them, they downed Spike's nachos and cheese before he left to get them another plateful. Forty-five minutes later, Spike looked away from the comic he and the Crusaders were reading together and looked up.

"You wondering if they've finished by now?" Scootaloo asked, noticing his gaze.

"It's been almost an hour, so I would think so," Spike replied before getting up off of the couch. "I'm going to go back to my room and grab that book I was talking about for us to read. I'll be back in a bit."

Exiting the room, Spike made his way back up to his room to grab his book. Deciding to wait for him, the Crusaders put down the comic and began talking to each other. Five minutes later, they heard the door to the lounge close with Spike standing there with a book.

"Wow, Spike, that was pretty- uhh, Spike? Are ya alright?" Apple Bloom asked.

Without answering, Spike walked back over to his spot on the couch and placed the book on the table. As he sat there in silence, the Crusaders looked at him worryingly until they saw one of his eyes twitch irritatedly.

"Spike?" Apple Bloom called again.

"Oh, no," Scootaloo groaned. "Don't tell me that they're-"

"I swear, I'm this close to messaging Princess Celestia and asking her to sent a crew to enchant their room with a permanent soundproofing spell," Spike said with a huff.

"Oh, come on!" Sweetie Belle exclaimed. "Are you serious?!"

"It's been like an hour now!" Scootaloo added. "How are they still going?! Did they decide to take a break and Spike just happened to be there at the wrong time?"

"I don't know, and I don't want to know," Spike told them with a headshake. "Okay. They have ten minutes left. After that, I'm ending it. Besides, we're suppose to meet up with the gang for the snowball fight."

"Y-You're not gonna do what Ah think you are, are ya?" Apple Bloom nervously and embarrassingly asked.

"All I'll do is pound on the door, let them know that we're here, and tell them that it's time to get ready to go."

Leaving it at that, Spike opened his book on dragons and began to read through it with the Crusaders. Once the ten minutes were up, Spike reluctantly got up and made his way to check on Dark and Twilight. Feeling guilty for having him do it alone, the Crusaders all got up from the couch and decided to go with him. And though he told them that they didn't need to, they didn't listen and started walking on ahead of him.

Feeling a little better for not having to suffer through this alone, Spike joined up with them and made their way up to Twilight and Dark's bedroom. As they got closer, they'd expected to hear the sounds that they'd heard before, but instead found the hallway silent. Curious, the four of them went up to the door and pressed an ear up to it.

"Okay, so who's going in first?" Scootaloo quietly asked.

"I say we play Rock-Paper-Scissors to find out," Spike suggested, earning him a half-lidded glare from the fillies. "What?"

"Just for that, Spike, you can be the one to check on them," Sweetie Belle told him.

"What?! Why?!"

"Because whenever we play that game, you always win because Apple Bloom, Scootaloo, and I can only pick rock."

"Oh, fine!" he huffed.

Turning back towards the door, Spike gulped before knocking on it. A few moments of silence later, he knocked again. Getting no reply again, Spike slowly opened the door and called out their names. When he got no answer again, he poked his head inside to see Dark and Twilight in bed, but not like he'd expected.

"I can't believe this," he muttered to himself before pulling his head out from the door and looking at the Crusaders. "They're asleep!"

Hearing him quietly shout in anger and annoyance, the three fillies quietly giggled at him while his eye continued to twitch.

"Wow, Spike," Scootaloo giggled. "I guess that you really do have bad timing when it comes to stuff like this."

"... shut up," Spike embarrassingly told her, causing them to giggle at him a little louder.

"It's alright, Spike," Apple Bloom said, patting him on the head. "You know that we're just teasin' ya, right?"

"Yeah, I know. So, how should we wake them?"

"I have an idea," Sweetie Belle answered.

"Okay. So, what is it?"

"Simple, we just jump up on their bed and wake them."

Walking past, Sweetie Belle led them into the bedroom and over to the side of the bed. Motioning them, they all jumped up onto the foot of the bed to see Dark asleep on his back with Twilight resting her head on his chest while hugging him in her sleep. With a quiet "Aww" from the fillies, Spike groaned and began poking them awake until they began to stir.

"Hey, Twilight, Dark," Spike called. "It's time to wake up or else we'll be late for meeting up with the others."

"Five more minutes, Spike," Twilight groaned as she tried to bury her face into Dark's coat.

"Seriously," Sweetie Belle began adding, "it's time to get going."

"Alright, Sweetie Belle," Dark tiredly groaned before snapping his eyes open. "Wait... Sweetie Belle?!"

Catching the extra voice as well, Twilight too snapped her eyes open before she and Dark looked down at the foot of their bed to see the Crusaders all smirking knowingly at them, while Spike gave them a half-lidded look and shook his head.

"Seriously, you two," Spike began lecturing, "you should start considering a permanent soundproofing spell or something."

"Wait," Twilight nervously spoke, "you heard?"

"We heard you over an hour ago!" Scootaloo complained, throwing her forehooves into the air in exasperation.

"And Spike heard ya again a little over ten minutes ago," Apple Bloom added.

"Didn't you go over to see Sweetie Belle at her place?" Dark asked Spike.

"I did, but then I told the girls about the comics that I got for Hearth's Warming and they wanted to come over here to read them. When we got here, they went up to my room to start reading them while I was down in the kitchen making us a snack to eat. That was when they came back down and told me what they heard."

"T-They did?!" Twilight shockingly asked, looking at the fillies who each meekly nodded to her. "Oh my gosh! I-I'm so sorry! We didn't think that there would be anypony here for a while and thought that we'd have some alone time together until then."

"Yeah, we figured as much," Sweetie Belle sighed.

"Guess this'll teach us not to assume that we're actually alone anymore," Dark said before flopping back onto the bed and sighing. "Well, nothing we can do now. We might as well get ourselves ready to meet up with our friends. Also, girls, sorry that you had to hear... that. Just please don't tell your sisters. They'd probably try to kill me if they found out."

"Oh, Ah don't think that they would go that far," Apple Bloom said before grinning at Dark. "Although, if you were ta get us some ice-cream, that might help keep us from tellin' our sisters about what happened here."

As Spike and the other Crusaders began matching Apple Bloom's grin, Dark sighed in defeat and shook his head.

"I can't believe I just got blackmailed by a bunch of fillies."

Taking a moment to clean themselves up, Dark and Twilight met Spike and the Crusaders down in the lounge before putting on their winter clothes and heading on outside. As they continued their way to Sweet Apple Acres, Dark watched the three fillies as they ran around and laughed with each other. Whether it was because they were simply happy, excited for the upcoming snowball fight, or because he owed them all ice-cream, he didn't know.

While the fillies were busy talking and laughing with each other, Dark and Twilight were apologizing to Spike for them not having placed a soundproofing spell on their room... again. While he was in an unpleasant mood, a Pinkie Promise from Twilight that they would take precautions so that they couldn't be heard lightened his mood a bit where he was no longer glaring at them. That, and Dark also offered Spike some ice-cream, but more so that he wouldn't feel left out then as an apology.

Eventually, they walked into the orchard and made their way down the road, noticing their friends, Big Mac, and Discord already gathered and talking to each other in front of the barn. Once they came to the end of the road leading them to the front lawn, the Crusaders each ran to their respective sisters before Dark, Twilight, and Spike followed up behind them.

"Glad ta see that 'all could make it," Applejack happily welcomed before going up and hugging Twilight.

"So, how was your guys' Hearth's Warming?" Rainbow asked as she hovered above them.

"It was great, Rainbow," Twilight smiled. "I was really happy that the whole family was able to be together for the holidays."

"Sooooo," Pinkie slowly said expectantly.

"'So' what?"

"Did you get any cool presents?"

"I did... but, there was one in particular," she answered as she glanced over at Dark.

"Can we see it?!"

"Sorry, Pinkie, but I left it back at home so I wouldn't accidentally lose it while we played. Don't worry though, you can all see it later today if you want. I think that you'll especially like it, Rarity."

"Well then, I'll be looking forward to it," she said before giving them a knowing smirk. "And speaking of your time in Canterlot." Rarity paused as she levitated a rolled-up newspaper out from her saddlebag and unraveled it for everyone to see. "I believe that you and Dark have some explaining to do regarding this."

Taking it into her own magical hold, Twilight and Dark both looked at the headline to see a picture of them kissing at the Hearth's Warming Ball. Noticing their faces turning red, Rainbow hovered behind them to get herself a look before grinning at them.

"Wow, you two, I wouldn't of thought that you'd be so open with showing everypony how close you two are."

"It's not what you think!" Twilight quickly said.

"Sorry, Twilight, but this picture of you and Dark sucking face is saying otherwise."

"Well... you'd understand if you were there."

"Yeah," Dark nodded. "We started dancing with each other, but between the music, setting, and the mood from the dancing, we just forgot about everypony else."

"I wish I could've been there," Rarity dreamily sighed. "Seeing you two dancing together would've been quite the romantic sight."

"I agree. I would've liked to have seen little brother and Twilight dancing too."

Turning around to look at the direction the female voice came from, Dark, Twilight, and Rainbow saw nothing but snow lightly falling from the clouds.

"Um, did anypony else hear that, or was it just me?" Rainbow asked.

"No, Rainbow, I heard it too," Twilight said.

"Then were did it come from?"

"Right in front of you, silly."

Slowly coming into view just a few feet away from Rainbow, was a sleek and elegant white dragoness. Surprised by seeing a dragon appearing so close to her without warning, Rainbow let out a yipe before flying back away from her to join the others that had also backed away. While they'd gotten some distance and Fluttershy took cover behind Discord, Dark, Twilight, and Spike all looked up to the dragoness with varying levels of surprise.

"You two really do look very cute together in that picture," she told them.

"Hello, Aero," Twilight greeted her. "It's good to see you again."

"Uhh, hey, Twilight?" Applejack somewhat nervously called. "Mind explainin' why in the hay this dragon is here?"

"And why's it flying without any wings?" Rainbow questioned.

"I think that I should explain that," Dark said before gesturing to Aero with a claw. "Everypony, and Discord, this is Aero, the Lady of Air, and she's-"

"Dark's big sister!" Aero interrupted as she scooped Dark up and hugged him to her chest like a stuffed teddy bear, eliciting a groan from him.

"Not that I'm complaining, but is this really necessary?" he asked.

"Let me think about it... yep. Besides, the others all did it to me when we were younger, so now it's your turn."

"Hold on a second," Rainbow intervened. "How can you be Dark's sister? You're a dragon, and he told us that his family was wiped-out by-"

"My eldest brother, Nocturne. I know," Aero sighed.

"Look," Twilight began explaining, "according to Aero, when Dark became the Lord of Death in place of Nocturne, he essentially became their newest and youngest sibling."

"And to answer your question about why I can fly without wings," Aero began answering Rainbow, "it's because of my magic."

"Pfft, figures," Rainbow muttered.

"Wait a second!" Pinkie exclaimed. "So you and Darky are really brother and sister now?!"

"Yep," Aero happily answered.

Before anyone could blink, Aero found Pinkie grinning ecstatically mere inches away from her face as she stood on top of Dark's head.

"This is so super-duper-amazing! I have to throw you two a 'I Have a New Sibling' party!"

"But, what about the others?" Twilight asked, causing Pinkie to slowly turn her head to her.

"What others are you talking about, Twilight?"

"Her three dragon siblings. Aero has two older brothers, and two older sister."

"WHAT?! So, Dark has five new brothers and sisters?! This is the greatest news ever! We need to get them over here so that they can join the party too!"

"I'm sorry," Aero slowly said, lifting Pinkie away with her tail and setting her down on the ground, "but they're not anywhere near here, so they wouldn't be able to attend."

"Awww, that's too bad. Oh, well! I can still throw one for you two."

"Thank you, but I'm not very used to being around large groups of ponies while visible."

"You did alright when you visited with my family," Twilight pointed out. "Besides, I'm sure that Pinkie can make it a private party so that you won't feel overwhelmed."

Unsure, Aero looked down to Dark as she continued to hold him against her chest, seeing him looking back up at her and giving a shrug.

"Well... if it's only us, then I suppose it's alright."

"YIPPIE!" Pinkie exclaimed with a bounce.

"Are you girls alright with going?" Twilight asked them, getting unsure nods while Fluttershy peeked out from behind Discord.

"It's alright, everypony, she won't eat or bite any of you," Dark told them.

"Speaking of them, Dark, who are they?" Aero asked before giving him a toothy grin. "Are you in one of those pony herds with them?"

"W-What?! NO! I'm in a relationship with only Twilight!"

"Oh, okay. So then, who are they all?"

"From right to left we have Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash, her surrogate sister Scootaloo, Rarity and her sister Sweetie Belle, Applejack, her big brother, Big Macintosh, and their little sister Apple Bloom, Discord, the Lord of Chaos, and behind him is Fluttershy."

"A pleasure to meet you all," Aero said with a small bow. "But why is Fluttershy hiding behind Discord like that?"

"Sorry, I didn't get to tell you yet," Twilight began answering. "Please don't take it personal, it's just that Fluttershy has a fear of dragons."

"I see, but I can assure you that I'm not like most other dragons."

"I-I-I'm s-s-sorry," Fluttershy squeaked. "I-I just find d-d-dragons to be s-s-scary."

"You don't need to be sorry. I understand that not everyone likes dragons, but hopefully someday we can overcome that?"

"M-Maybe s-someday."

"Thank you," Aero softly thanked before looking up to Discord. "Nice to see that you're not causing anymore destructive chaos, Discord."

"Ahh, Lady Aero," Discord smiled. "You haven't aged a day. How long has it been since I've last seen you and your siblings in the flesh? One? Two thousand years?"

"Since you've seen us, maybe. When we heard of your escape and release, we've kept an eye out for any of your chaos."

"Pardon me, Miss Aero, but if you've been keeping an eye out for his chaos, then why didn't you know of us already?" Rarity wondered, examining Aero.

"We only looked out for him and his chaos specifically, not those he associated himself with."

"Ah, I see."

"Is there something that I can help you with?" Aero asked, noticing Rarity's gaze upon her and snapping her out of her thoughts.

"Oh, I'm terribly sorry for staring at you like that," Rarity apologized. "I was just admiring how beautiful your white coat is. It's so slick and almost shiny."

"Thank you."

"So, Aero," Twilight spoke, "what brings you here today?"

"Huh? Oh, right... well, that can wait until later," she said, trying to hide the hint of nervousness in her voice. "It's rather poor news and not exactly the thing for everyone to hear. I can tell you later about it."

"Okay."

"Thank you. So then, it looked like you were about to do something before I showed up?"

"You bet we were," Applejack answered. "We were about ta have ourselves a snowball fight, but we had a little problem with evenly dividing up the teams. Now that you're here though, we can have a fair fight."

"A 'snowball fight'?" Aero repeated with a small smile. "Ooh! I used to have those with my sister Aques when we were hatchlings."

"Does that mean that you're in?"

"Yep!"

"Great, but first, could you put me down please?" Dark asked.

Remembering that she was still holding him, Aero let out a giggle before setting Dark back onto the ground. Once his hooves and claws were back on the ground, Dark arched his back with a few audible pops.

"Alright then, here are the rules," Applejack began explaining. "Ta make things fair for everyone, besides castin' spells ta give us some light, there'll be no magic allowed. Everythin' ya build or throw will be done by hoof or claw. Also, no usin' your wings for anythin'. Ah'm lookin' at you, RD."

"What?! Why me?!" Rainbow irritatedly complained.

"Because the last time we did, you created a blizzard over on our side while your team continued ta throw snowballs at us!"

"... fine."

"Okay, we know the rules now," Pinkie said before pulling out a white military jacket and hat out from her mane and slipping it on in a single motion, "so let's get to the snowball fighting already!"

Splitting up into two teams, they began their snowball fight with Rainbow, Scootaloo, Rarity, Sweetie Belle, Applejack, Applebloom, and Spike on one team, while the other team was comprised of Twilight, Dark, Discord, Fluttershy, Aero, Big Mac, and Pinkie. After casting a few spells to give them some light to allow them to see in the early setting sun, both teams began creating their walls of snow. By the time their thirty minutes of preparation had passed by, Rainbow's team looked proudly at their team's six foot tall by twelve foot long wall of snow. Once they turned around to see the other team's wall, each of their mouths dropped as they saw a twelve foot by thirty foot long wall of snow, complete with parapets, towers at each corner, a gate, and even a drawbridge with chains, all made of snow.

"Gosh darn it, Discord!" Applejack snapped. "Ah said no magic!"

"This wasn't my doing!" Discord said defensively.

"Oh, yeah? Then how did y'all make that snow castle in such a short amount of time?"

"I was meeee~" Pinkie sang from the center of the gate with a grin. "And you better get ready, because I hereby declare snowy war on you!"

Pulling a nearby lever, the snowy gate dropped while the drawbridge of snow was pulled up by snowy chains before it sealed the gate. Watching Pinkie take her place upon the wall, she and the rest of her team each armed themselves with a snowball before throwing them at Rainbow's team. Taking shelter behind their wall of snow, they each grabbed a snowball and blindly threw them back.

"Next time, Applejack," Rainbow grunted as she threw another snowball, "we need to add to the rules that Pinkie can't do stuff like that."

"Ah agree," Applejack grunted.

"Take cover!" Spike shouted, ducking for cover.

Curious, Applejack and Rainbow both peeked out from over their wall of snow to see a grinning Pinkie sitting on top of her party cannon that was aimed directly at them. Seeing that it was primed and filled with snow, they looked to each other and sighed.

"And her party cannon too."

After Pinkie had fired her snow-filled party cannon, there wasn't much left of the other team's wall and soon surrendered. After that, they quickly made a rule that Pinkie wasn't allowed to do whatever she just did to create that snow castle again, which also included the usage of her party cannon. Agreeing to switch sides to makeup for it, both teams repaired the damages that their new bases had taken before starting another round.

A few hours later, everyone who'd participated in the snowball fight was lounging around in Sugarcube Corner with a cup of hot chocolate, and a slice of cake. Deciding that it would be efficient and everyone would already be gathered together, Pinkie went on ahead and threw Dark and Aero's party. After the snowball fight though, instead of serving her usual punch, she exchanged it for a few thermoses of hot chocolate. Half way through the party, Dark ordered some ice-cream for the Crusaders and Spike. When he was asked why, he told them that it was because he owed them, which was technical true on his part, but wouldn't go into detail about it.

While they sat and relaxed from the eventful afternoon, they'd gathered around and began talking to Aero. Or, most of them anyway as Fluttershy opted to partially hide behind Discord. As time went by though, she slowly started getting used to Aero, but not quite enough to completely come out from behind her hiding spot.

A few moments after they talked with Aero, Rarity brought back the topic of Twilight's gift. With that reminder, Twilight teleported the item from her bedroom over to her. Smiling happily at it, she laid it gently on the table for everyone to see. While most were in awe at the necklace, Rarity began to closely examine it while Aero looked at it with a hit of shock and hunger. Noticing the look she was giving it, Dark quickly gave her a warning glare, which she saw and ceased anymore thoughts about eating it.

As they continued to admire Twilight's necklace, the sound of Apple Bloom yawning reminded them of how late it was starting to get. After helping Pinkie clean up after the party, they each went their separate ways for the night. However, seeing as Aero still had something to say, Twilight offered for her to stay over for the night, to which she accepted and followed her, Dark, and Spike to the castle.

By the time they got there, Spike had fallen asleep on Dark's back. After bringing him up to his bedroom and tucking him in, Dark made his way back down to meet up with Twilight and Aero in the lounge. Once he was seated down by Twilight on the couch, they both looked over just as Aero got herself comfortable on the couch opposite from them.

"Thank you for allowing me to stay here for the night," Aero thanked Twilight. "This is a really beautiful castle you have."

"Thank you," Twilight thanked.

"Now then, onto why I'm originally here. Remember back when I had to leave you abruptly on Hearth's Warming Eve?"

"Yeah, I remember," Dark nodded.

"Well, as it turned out, I was right."

"About what?" Twilight asked. "You didn't tell us anything about why you had to leave so suddenly."

"I know, and I apologize for that. But first, is there a way to talk to the other princesses? It's important that they all know about this too."

"One moment."

Using her magic, Twilight teleported a crystal over to her and began pouring her magic into it, causing it to project a screen up above it. A few moments later, the screen was split, showing a tired Cadence and a curious Luna.

"Twilight Sparkle," Luna addressed. "This is quite the surprise call you've made."

"What is it, Twilight?" Cadence tiredly asked before noticing Aero in the background. "Oh, hello again... Aero, was it?"

"What?"

"Hello again, Cadence," Aero said with a small bow.

"Wait a moment," Luna told them, "are you saying that this dragoness that we're speaking to is one of the Scaleless Dragons?"

"Yep. I'm Aero, the Lady of Air."

"... please excuse me for a moment while I go get my sister."

In a flash of light, Luna was gone, leaving only the image of the throne on her half of the screen. A few seconds later in another flash, she returned with a slightly-disheveled Celestia standing by her side looking at the screen with wide eyes.

"Well now, this is rather unexpected," Celestia said. "To what do we owe this pleasure, Lady Aero."

"Are you aware that I was in Canterlot last week?" Aero asked.

"Yes, Twilight told me about your visit and how you've adopted Dark as your sibling."

"True, but while I was here, we also talked a bit. One topic was about a certain pony who managed to escape from Twilight and Princess Luna."

Luna furrowed her brows. "You talk about the fugitive that got away from us, correct?"

"Yes. Twilight explained to me how he got away, and I think I might know who this pony is."

"You do?"

"Well, sorta."

"Care to elaborate for us?" Celestia asked.

"Of course. Now, I didn't find anything about this pony unusual at first, but after what Twilight and Dark both told me about the details of them being blinded, I had a suspicion of who, or rather, what this pony could be. After hearing about it, I left Canterlot and made my way towards my sister's sanctuary."

"Are you talking about Aques?" Twilight asked.

"No, Twilight, I mean my eldest sister, Aurora." Aero took a moment to steady herself. "You see, after hearing that this pony casted a blinding spell that had a hidden aurora borealis within it, I went to Aurora's Sanctuary and found evidence that she'd taken an apprentice."

"Wait," Luna interrupted. "Do you mean to tell us that you take on apprentices?"

"It shouldn't be that hard to believe, Luna," Celestia calmly said. "After all, Twilight was my student."

"Well, we used to anyway. At one time, we would scour the world in search of an apprentice to teach. However, throughout our thousands of years of searching, it was only Nocturne who was able to find himself a promising candidate. He was the first and last apprentice that any of us had taken... until now."

"Why's that? Did something happen to the apprentice?" Cadence wondered.

"Kinda. While he was very gifted with Nocturne's type of magic, he was also corrupted and evil. After a few years of training, he became dissatisfied with the rate of progress and demanded more power."

"And Nocturne didn't take too kindly to that," Dark said with an eye-roll.

"Correct. Nocturne told him to remember his place as his apprentice, but instead attacked Nocturne. Nocturne trained him so well in that short amount of time though, that by the time their battle was over, the apprentice managed to escape Nocturne with one of his fangs, and his Death Reaper."

"What's a 'Death Reaper'?" Celestia asked.

"It's the name of Nocturne's Living Weapon," Dark answered.

"So we have an unaccounted Living Weapon somewhere in Equestria?! How long ago did this happen, Aero?!"

"Calm down, Princess. It happened little over a thousand years ago, so you shouldn't have to worry about it anymore," Aero calmly answered Celestia.

"But if he was a student of Nocturne, then shouldn't we be worrying about him returning?"

"No. While Nocturne did teach him his magic, he didn't pass on anything that would allow him to prolong his lifespan, so he should've died a long time ago."

"Okay, but what does this have to do with this apprentice of Aurora's?" Twilight asked.

"After his apprentice fled, Nocturne forbade any of us from taking on any apprentices in fear of having a repeat. I don't know why she did, but Aurora must've found a candidate and took them in. And now, Nocturne's fears have been realized as history has repeated itself."

"You mean that Aurora's apprentice fought her?"

"And somehow won and killed her," Aero said, eliciting a small gasp from everyone but Dark.

"But that can't be! When Dark was sent into the other world, the balance of death was thrown out of balance. If what you say is true, then wouldn't that mean the end of new life?"

"It would, but Aurora isn't exactly dead."

"Could you be a little more specific?" Cadence asked.

"Of course. You see, since Aurora is the Lady of Life, she has a unique ability that'll allow her to be reborn as an egg instead of dying."

"She's alive then?"

"Yes, she is. In a few years, she'll hatch from her egg with all of her memories intact. Until then, my siblings and I are keeping a very close watch on her egg, for if she's killed as an egg, then she's gone for good."

"Okay, but how was she defeated to begin with?" Dark asked. "From what I was told, the only things that could kill her and Nocturne are life and death magic."

"True, but a weapon enchanted with either magic at the time could have the same result."

"So, any weapon could've been used on her?" Cadence questioned.

"Yes. From the wounds that I saw on her body, I could easily tell that it was from a bladed weapon. And that besides the weapon enchantment, no other magic was used on her."

"Twilight, didn't the fugitive have a sword strapped to his belt when he fled?" Luna asked.

"I think he did," she unsurely answered before looking back over to Aero. "Is there anything else that we should know about?"

"There are a few, but..."

"Yes?"

"Well... it's about our fangs. Before I say anything though, none of you can speak of this to anyone else, alright?" Aero asked, getting a nod from everyone present. "In that case, our fangs are rather precious to us."

"Why?" Twilight curiously asked.

"Because each of our fangs has an amount of our power stored within them, but there's a catch. If one of our fangs are removed before we die, then it'll contain our power, but if it's removed after we're dead, then the magic within it will fade."

"Is that why both Nocturne's and Aurora's apprentices took a fang?"

"That would be my guess. It would be even worse if he used that fang in place of a unicorn horn."

"Ponies can't do that though," Celestia told her.

"With one of our fangs, they very well can," Aero corrected. "Even if they're not a unicorn, they can still attach the fang to their forehead and use it in place of a unicorn horn. However, if they're a pegasus or an earth pony, then they'll have a harder time using their new powers at first. But it'll still doable for them once some time passes, like six to eight months."

"Okay. So, is there anything else that we need to know on that subject?" Twilight asked.

"No, that is all."

"Alright. Now, what about the other thing that we should know about?"

"This one specifically involves Dark."

"Hmm?" Dark hummed questionably.

"To put it bluntly, Pyre is very mad about Aurora being reverted back into an egg, and wants to come and see you once winter is over with."

"Okay, but why?"

"He didn't say. All he told me was that he wanted to see you as soon as he could, so he'll be coming over to visit you on the first day of spring."

"He won't be causing my ponies any problems, will he?" Celestia concerningly asked.

"No, he won't. All he wants to do is to meet with Dark and talk with him about a few things. He didn't tell me anything else after that."

"Very well then. However, Luna and/or I might drop in to see him after he arrives."

"I'll let him know when I return home," Aero smiled.

"Thank you. Now then, if none of you would mind, I'm going to get myself some sleep before I have to raise the sun."

"Alright. Goodnight, Princess Celestia."

"And a goodnight to you too, Lady Aero."

Following their lead, everyone else there gave their goodnights to each other before heading off to bed.

In the frozen north, just a few miles south of the Crystal Empire, the cloaked stallion wandered the peaceful, snowy landscape, his surroundings illuminated by the bright lights of the aurora borealis overhead. If anypony saw him, they might think that he'd gotten himself lost, but that was far from the truth as he knew his destination... or, at least the general area. Continuing in a straight line, he came to an area and stopped, took a moment to scan the area around his hooves, then begun to dig through the snow. As time went by, he would dig in one spot before moving to another just a few feet away in search for something.

"Where is it?!" he asked himself in a huff. "I can clearly sense it, so I know it's somewhere around here."

For the next half-hour, he dug around the nearby area. Soon enough, after over an hour of digging, he finally found what he was sensing. As he looked upon it though, he was mildly confused as to what he found.

"What the Tartarus?" he muttered, taking the item into his hoof and examining it. "Is... this a dragon's fang? How did it get all the way up here... and why do I sense life coming from it?"

Examining it closer, he began to notice some of the details about it. While it was unusual for a fang's color to be a dark-gray like this, what made it more curious was that the color changed to red the closer towards the tip it went. Unsure what to make of it and feeling a headache coming on, he began to rub his forehead before bumping his hoof against his horn. Sparing it a glace, he then noticed the similarities between his curved horn, and the fang he was holding in his hoof. Feeling a spark of realization, his eyes darted between the two as a wide grin spread across his face.

"No... it's not a fang... and yet it is." Feeling a sense of excitement, he laughed loudly out into the night sky. "This is unbelievable! I can't believe that somepony else had the same idea of turning a Scaleless Dragon's fang into a unicorn horn! You, my soon-to-be friend, are coming with me. And after I regenerate you in a few months, we'll see if we can't work out a new partnership."

Chapter 48- Winter Wrap Up

Dark was sleeping peacefully after a tiring few weeks. Between his increased magical training lessons in Ghastly Canyon with Nocturne, and a big order that was placed on his forge, Dark's been busier than ever. But, even though he was busy and tired, he would make sure to spend some time with Twilight. With memories of last night coming back to him, Dark reached over and felt that Twilight's spot next to him empty before he felt Twilight herself shaking him awake.

"Wake up, Dark! Wake up!" Twilight gleefully told him.

Groaning, Dark opened an eye to look. "Twilight? What's going on?"

"It's Winter Wrap Up! We need to get ready!"

Noticing that it was still nighttime outside, Dark looked over to the clock.

"At four in the morning? Twilight, I love you, but isn't that a bit early to start? And won't everypony else still be asleep for a few hours for that matter?"

"What? You're not saying that you're not excited about this, are you?"

"It's not that, Twilight. It's just that it seems too early to be up and getting ready for it. Besides, the aftermath of that order that Mayor Mare placed on my forge two weeks ago is still kicking my flanks."

"Didn't you get that order finished though?"

"I did, but it was still a lot of work. Seriously, I had to look over and repair the thirty snowplows that we'll be using today in that short amount of time. Not to mention that some of them needed a new axle, the plow itself, a wheel, or replacements for some of the smaller pieces that'll hold the plow up off the ground so that it doesn't drag along it after the snow gets all cleared up. But worst of all was that I had to make most of those parts freshly new!"

"You didn't have the parts already made for them?"

"I had some axles already made incase a few wagons came in and needed a new one, but the other parts I never expected."

Twilight winced now that she got the picture. "Oh. Well, while I would let you sleep for a while longer, I have some things to prepare for in the meantime. And by the time I'm done with those, everypony will be up and ready to help bringing back spring."

With another tired groan, Dark flopped back down onto the bed.

"If you get up, I'll make you breakfast~" Twilight sang, causing Dark to crack an eye open again.

With his ears perking at the sound of food and his stomach growling at him, Dark dragged himself out of bed and walked over to Twilight.

"Alright, you win," he resigned, causing Twilight to smile and give him a peck on the cheek.

"Good. Now, while I'm busy cooking us something to eat, why don't you go get yourself a shower."

"Why? Do I stink?" Dark asked before sniffing himself.

"No, you're fine. I just suggested it to help wake you up."

"Oh. Yeah, that'll work. You want me to wake Spike up while I'm at it?"

"That's alright, he can sleep for now. Besides, after what happened during our first Winter Wrap Up here in Ponyville, he hasn't liked participating in it very much. Even if it's just helping me with my checklist and organizing."

"So then, just let him sleep until we need him?"

"Yep."

"Okay, but if you're making breakfast now, then what about him?"

"This breakfast will be ours, Spike's will come later."

"If you say so then."

"Good, because I just did."

Smiling, Dark kissed Twilight before heading towards the bathroom to freshen up for the day. After running the water to warm it up, he walked in and stood there, enjoying the warm water running over his coat while thinking about Twilight's cooking. Briefly thinking back, he remembered how bad she was when he first taught her how to cook. And while she still has some troubles with cooking the egg bake with hash browns and hay sausage, she'd all but perfected a variety of breakfast meals like the omelets. He had planned on teaching her how to make pancakes, but it had turned out that she'd already knew how to make them and proved it one morning when he came down to see three stacks of fresh pancakes waiting for them.

Feeling fully awake and fresh after his shower, Dark quickly dried himself off and headed on down to eat. Turning the corner into the kitchen, he saw Twilight over by the stove as she looked to be about done with their food. Getting a mischievous idea, Dark slowly and quietly sneaked up behind Twilight and wrapped his arms around her, causing her to yelp in surprise as she was suddenly brought into a hug.

"Hey," Dark smirked, nuzzling Twilight's cheek.

"Hey," Twilight returned with a nuzzle of her own. "You smell nice."

"You smell nice too. Actually, you smell nice enough to eat."

Getting his meaning after Dark started nibbling and kissing her neck, Twilight smirked before pushing him back and levitating the food onto a pair of plates for them. As she turned around to bring their breakfast over to the table, she teasingly whipped Dark in the muzzle with her tail.

"Sorry, Dark, but with me overseeing everything during Winter Wrap Up, and with you having to work on plowing the snow, fun like that will have to wait until after we're all done."

"Hehehe. Guess the snowy fields won't be the only thing that I'll be plowing this week then."

"Who said anything about you being the one of us who's doing that?"

Seeing the smirk and half-lidded gaze that Twilight was giving him, Dark's eyes widened in dread as he realized what she was suggesting.

"Oohhh, no! No, no, so many noes! If you want to experiment and try new things in bed, then I'm fine with it, but we're not doing that again!"

"But why not?"

"Because it was weird enough for me the first time we did it!"

"What? All I did was switch our roles."

"Twilight, you didn't just switch our roles, you switched both of our genders!"

"Awww, but I like you as Shady Blaze. I know I said it before, but you're really cute as a mare."

Hearing that name and compliment, Dark facetabled. "I can't believe that you gave my female self a name. When did you even come up with that?"

"Just last week. Besides, you've been turned into a mare once before, so why not name your female self incase it happens to you again?"

"... alright, I'll give you a point for that one," Dark reluctantly admitted. "But don't think that I'm going to start calling you Dusk Shine if it happens to you, because I won't."

"Really? Because if I recall correctly, you couldn't stop calling me that when I was-"

Seeing where this was going and feeling his cheeks burning, Dark tuned out Twilight's voice and began stuffing his face with his food. Seeing that he didn't want to continue with this topic, Twilight smiled triumphantly before she too began eating. After her first few bites, she turned towards the kitchen entryway with a look of worry.

"Hey, you don't think that Spike heard us talking just now, do you?" Twilight asked.

Feeling worried himself that he did, Dark strained his ears to hear anything that would indicate that Spike could be hiding on the other side of the wall. A few moments of silence later, Dark casted his Soul Eyes and looked through the wall for Spike. Seeing that the outline of his spirit wasn't there, Dark turned his head towards Spike's bedroom where he saw a weird outline of a soul. Figuring that it was just Spike sleeping in a weird position, he breathing a sigh of relief before dispelling it and looking over to Twilight.

"He's still asleep up in his room."

"Thank Celestia," Twilight sighed. "The last thing that we need is for him to hear about that."

"And for Princess Celestia or Princess Luna to hear about it," Dark added. "If they did, then I would be willing to bet that while Princess Celestia would just tease us a little bit, Princess Luna would be paying us both a visit in our dreams. For all we know, since she has power over our dreams, she could turn us into our gender-swapped selves to sate her curiosity."

"While she probably could, I don't think that she would... I think."

Shrugging, Dark and Twilight began to eat in silence. After some time had passed with idle chatter, they finished their breakfast and cleaned off their dishes before heading on up to Spike's room to wake him. As they opened the door to his room and walked over to his bed basket, Dark's and Twilight's eyes widened as they saw Sweetie Belle, Scootaloo, and Apple Bloom asleep on top of Spike.

"How did they get in here?!" Twilight quietly shouted at Dark.

"I don't know!" Dark quietly returned.

"But your Shadow Wraiths are patrolling the castle, so weren't they suppose to capture them and tell us since they snuck into the castle?"

"..."

"Dark?"

"Well... that would normally be the case, but not when it comes to our friends and family."

"How so?"

"I gave the order that if anypony who trespasses isn't a friend, family member, or is here on business, then the Shadow Wraiths will act on them. If it is one of them, however, then they'll welcome them in."

"Wait, are you saying that they just walked on in here?"

"Yep, and probably in our sleep too." They turned their attention back to the four sleeping kids. "So, what are your thoughts about this?"

"We'll let them be for now," Twilight began. "After they wake up, however, they'll have to face their sisters about this. I'll also be having a word with Spike about sneaking his fillyfriends in like that behind our backs."

"I just hope this isn't the beginning of Spike's rebellious phase. Hey, do you think that Applejack, Rarity, and Rainbow even know that they're here?"

"If they don't, then they're about to find out."

"In that case, you want me to go tell Applejack since I have to report to her anyway?"

"Sure, then I'll go tell Rarity and Rainbow."

"Okay."

After walking with Twilight over to Ponyville Town Hall to see Mayor Mare, Dark left for Sweet Apple Acres to report to Applejack for Winter Wrap Up... and tell her about Apple Bloom. Deciding to enjoy the cold air while it lasted, Dark decided to fly over there instead of Shadowporting. Crossing over the borders to the orchard, Dark saw a line of the snow plows that he'd repaired, along with Applejack looking over them for one last inspection. Flying down, Dark landed a few dozen feet away from her.

"Good morning, Applejack," Dark greeted as he walked up over to her.

"Well, howdy there, Dark," Applejack returned. "What brings ya around here so early in the mornin'?"

"My alarm clock told me that it was time to get up."

"Did ya set the alarm too early or somethin'?"

"No, no. I'm talking about Twilight," he chuckled.

"Oh. Well then, that makes sense. Ever since she's been put in charge of Winter Wrap Up, she's been gettin' up earlier than everypony else."

"Except for you that is, but that's just apart of your normal sleeping habit, right?"

"Eeyup," Applejack proudly answered, motioning for Dark to follow her. "So then, are ya ready ta get today started?"

"Eeyup," Dark mimicked before remembering the other reason why he was here. "Umm, hey, Applejack?"

"Hmm?"

"Is Apple Bloom asleep up in her room?"

"She should be. Why do ya ask?"

"Oh, boy," he sighed.

"What? Did somethin' happen ta Apple Bloom?" she asked with a hint of worry.

"No, no, no. She's perfectly safe."

"Then why don't ya tell me what's goin' on before Ah go chargin' inta her bedroom and create a ruckus?"

"Okay, but you probably won't like it."

"Try me. She and her Crusader friends have gotten into a lot of trouble in the past, so Ah doubt that it could be that bad."

Dark gave her a deadpan stare. "She, Scootaloo, and Sweetie Belle all snuck into the castle last night and slept with Spike."

For the next few minutes, Applejack stared blankly at Dark before her cheeks started turning red with anger.

"They what?!"

Realizing his poor choice of words, Dark waved his claws defensively in front of Applejack.

"I mean that they fell asleep with him!" he hastily corrected himself. "They snuck into the castle last night and fell asleep with Spike in his bed."

"Where are they now?"

"Twilight and I left them asleep when we left. She's going to tell Rarity and Rainbow about what their sisters did while I tell you since I had to come to you anyway."

Giving an angry snort, Applejack began pacing around.

"Ooh! When Ah get my hooves on that filly, she's goin' ta get herself a good groundin'. And if Granny doesn't paint her backside red, then Ah very well might."

"I wouldn't blame you. While them being together like that is fine when we know, it's when they start doing it in secret like that that I start to wonder."

"Yeah, me too."

Getting what he wanted to say out of the way, Dark quickly began thinking of something to steer them away from their current topic. Looking around at all of them snow plows, he came up with his idea.

"Hey, Applejack?"

"Hmm?"

"Since I'm already here, can I go on ahead and start working on clearing away the snow?"

Looking back from the plows over to Dark, Applejack brought a hoof up to her chin to think it over.

"Ah don't know," she said unsurely. "Ah know that Twilight likes ta do things by the schedule."

"True, but wouldn't it help put us all ahead of her schedule if we started early?" Dark countered.

"You have no idea how much Ah've wanted ta do that, but nopony other than me and Big Mac have ever wanted ta start this early."

"And now that I'm here and willing to start early?"

With a smile, Applejack nodded. "You might be only one pony, but one's better than none. Ah'll go get Big Mac and we can get started. Celestia knows that he does."

Standing in place, Dark waited as he watched Applejack disappear into her house. Using his fire breath, he cleared a spot free from snow until it was dry and sat down on it while he waited. A few minuets later, Applejack walked out of the house with Big Mac following, both wearing a green vest and Applejack holding another in her mouth. After Dark and Big Mac greeted each other, Applejack tossed Dark the spare vest for him to wear. With his team vest on, the three made their way over to the snow plows, got themselves settled down in them, and began plowing the snow side-by-side.

"Now don't ya forget, Dark, this here's an old Ponyville tradition," Applejack reminded, "so that means no magic."

"I know," Dark sighed. "Twilight made sure to remind me of that part after what she told me had happened during her first Winter Wrap Up here."

"Good ta hear."

"Will Twilight be alright with us workin' ahead of schedule like this?" Big Mac questioned.

"Ah know that Twilight likes ta do things by her schedule, but Ah don't think that she'll mind the three of us startin' a bit early," Applejack answered. "Besides, it'll just put us that much closer ta wrappin' up winter on time. And after that, you can finally take Cheerilee out on that picnic date you've been talkin' about."

"Wait," Dark suddenly spoke, "you have a special somepony? And it's Miss Cheerilee? As in the school teacher?"

With a barely visible blush, Big Mac nodded. "Eeyup."

"Dude, grats to you."

"Thanks."

"So, how long have you two been together?"

"Almost a year now."

"... dang. Well then, sorry that I didn't congratulate you about it sooner."

"It's all good," Big Mac dismissed. "Besides, only a small hoofful of ponies know about us."

"Would Apple Bloom be one of them?"

"Eenope. She's probably one of the last ones that Ah want hearin' about us."

"Speakin' of you two," Applejack began, "should Ah be expectin' ta see her wearin' a ring sometime soon?"

Hearing what Applejack was suggesting caused Big Mac to stumble over his hooves. Standing back up, Big Mac tried to hide his darkened blush and sped on ahead of the teasing chuckles of Dark and Applejack.

A few hours later after the sun had finally risen, the rest of Applejack's team arrived to help clear away the snow. Once they cleared the hill, they looked in surprise at what the Apple siblings and Dark had completed already. Once they got down to meet up with Applejack, she went on to explain to them how they wanted to get an early start since they were already there and told them to not feel bad about it, seeing as it was their choice.

Parking her snowplow off to the side for a moment, Applejack went on to give everypony their team vest before dividing them into groups to help with the snowplowing, plowing, and planting and the seeds. Standing back to oversee everything for a moment, Applejack continued to watch until she felt confident with their situation. Not wanting to feel lazy, and seeing as the snowplow she was using was taken by somepony else, she made her way over to check on their stock of seeds. It didn't last long though as everything was as she remembered leaving it, minus the few bags that they removed from the piles.

After checking over the seeds, Applejack made her way over to the top of one of the hills to watch over her team. Though she would've preferred to be there working with all of them, as the leader of her team, she was responsible for making sure that things went smoothly for them. A few hours of watching them later, she heard the sound of hoofsteps behind her. Turning around, Applejack saw Twilight as she smiled and walked up alongside her in her specialized vest.

"Hey, Applejack," Twilight happily greeted.

"Howdy, Twilight," Applejack returned. "So, what brings ya here?"

"Just checking up on everypony to see how things are running," she answered, looking out over Applejack's crew. "And from the looks of things, it seems like your team is actually a little ahead of schedule."

"Ah figured we would. After Dark came on over, we decided ta get an early start since Big Mac and us were all awake and ready ta get started."

"Huh. Well then, I guess that just means that we'll hopefully end this early."

"Yeah, Ah hope so. By the way..."

"Yes?"

"What's this Ah hear about Apple Bloom sneakin' in ta see Spike last night and sleepin' with him?"

"Dark told you then?"

"Eeyup. That filly's gonna get one heck of a groundin' when she gets home."

"Same with Spike. I can't allow for him to sneak the girls in like that. Better for us to nip this in the bud before it starts becoming a bad habit."

"Ah agree with ya. By the way, how's Rarity and Rainbow takin' it? Did ya tell them yet?"

Twilight shuffled her hooves. "I did."

"And? How'd it go?"

"Just about how you would expect," she sighed. "Rarity was already having a freak-out by the time I got to her place since Sweetie Belle wasn't there, but Rainbow didn't seem too bothered by it. After I told them where they were though, Rarity went from panicked to infuriated. Whether it's because Sweetie Belle snuck out like that and didn't return, or if it's because of her secretly meeting Spike like that, I not sure."

"Probably both."

"Probably. Anyway, Rainbow handled it a bit better. While she was more laxed about it than Rarity, she still wasn't too happy to learn that Scootaloo did something like sneaking out in the middle of the night to see Spike."

"Where are they now?" Applejack wondered. "Dark told me when he got here that y'all left them asleep."

"You're right, and they still are."

"Really? But it's almost mid-mornin'. Will Spike be makin' them somethin' ta eat before they leave?"

"He won't need to. I had some time to make them something to eat after my meeting with Mayor Mare over the details of this years Winter Wrap Up."

"Alright, but do they know that we know about them sneakin' in ta see Spike?"

One hour ago, back in Twilight's castle, Spike and the Crusaders each walked into the kitchen to see a plate set out for each of them. As they approached the table and sat down to eat though, Spike paused as he saw a note sticking out from beneath his plate. Pulling it out, he quickly read through it before letting out a loud groan.

"Something wrong, Spike?" Sweetie Belle asked, hearing is groan before seeing the piece of paper he was holding.

"What's the note say?" Scootaloo wondered.

"Nothing good," Spike huffed.

Curious, the Crusaders got up off of their seats and walked over to read the note for themselves.

Dear Spike and Crusaders,

When you're all done with breakfast, make sure that you wash and dry your dishes before putting them away. After that, I want for Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo to go meet up with your sisters. I'm sure that they'll each want to have a word with you after last night. As for you, Spike, you're not off the hook either. I want for you to go to Town Hall and wait for me there. Once we're done for the day, we're going to have a talk about you sneaking your fillyfriends in behind our backs like that.

Twilight.

With a dejected sigh, Spike laid the note down off to the side. "Guess we better eat up before we get into anymore trouble."

Back over on the hill, Applejack watched as Twilight looked off to her right with a satisfied smirk.

"Oh, I have a feeling that they know."

Though confused initially, Applejack followed the direction Twilight was looking to see Apple Bloom walking up towards them with her head hung low. Keeping her gaze to the ground to avoid looking at her sister, Apple Bloom made her way over until she was standing just a few feet away from Twilight and Applejack. And though she spared a quick glance up at Applejack, she immediately regretted it when she saw the disapproving look she was giving her.

"You've got some explainin' ta do, Apple Bloom," Applejack firmly spoke, causing Apple Bloom's ears to fold back while her body shook.

"Ah'm sorry, Applejack," Apple Bloom quietly apologized. "We just wanted ta spend some time with Spike before winter ended."

"Well, y'all should've thought of that before y'all ran off like ya did. If ya would've just asked me then this wouldn't have been such a problem." Shaking her head in disappointment, Applejack turned to look over her team. "We'll talk about this more later, Apple Bloom. Until then, Ah want ya ta go back ta the house and wait there. When we're all done for the day, we'll be havin' a talk with ya. That includes Granny and Big Mac."

With a frown and audible gulp, Apple Bloom slowly made her way back to her family's house. Once she was out of earshot, Applejack sighed and turned back to Twilight.

"As much as Ah hate havin' ta do this ta Apple Bloom, Twilight, Ah can't overlook this."

"I know. Well, I suppose I've stayed here long enough. Better go check in on the others and see how they're all coming along."

"What about Spike?"

"I told him in the note that I left for them to wait for me at Town Hall. I'll go get him before lunch. Until then, he can take that time to think about what he did."

With a silent nod and a wave, Twilight left Applejack to oversee her team while she went over to check on the rest of her friends to see how things were going for them.

It was past noon and the ponies had just gotten off of their lunch break. Over on the outskirts of Ponyville, Fluttershy was leading a small team in helping wake the animals that had gone into hibernation for the winter. Eager to see to see her animal friends after so long, Fluttershy and the others had already awoken half of the animals. But, while she was happy to see them again and for how smooth things were progressing for them this year, a tired groan from her side caught her attention. With a smile, she walked over and began affectionately nuzzling Discord.

"This is so boring. Why can't I just use my magic? With a snap of my claw, I could have this entire Winter Wrap Up thing taken care of and over with."

"You know why, Discord," Fluttershy reminded. "This is an old Ponyville tradition, so the use of magic is discouraged. Besides, you've been a really big help to us with your help already."

"I know," he sighed, looking at the small bell in his talon. "I'm just tired of simply ringing a bell in front of these dens is all. Can't I just lite a firecracker in front of them or something?"

"Discord!"

"What? I was only kidding. Besides, fireworks would work a lot better."

Discord's chuckles over the thought of it were short-lived as Fluttershy's disapproving stare quickly silenced him. Even though she knew that he probably wouldn't actually do it, Fluttershy still didn't like the thought of scaring any of the animals like that.

"Fluttershy!"

Turning around to the direction of the voice that called to her, Fluttershy was met with Twilight landing just a few feet away from her with Spike sitting on her back behind a clipboard.

"Hello, Twilight, Spike," Fluttershy happily greeted before noticing the downcast look no Spike's face. "Umm... excuse me for asking, but is there something wrong with Spike? He looks like he's pretty sad today."

"He's just in a little bit of trouble is all," Twilight answered her.

"Oh, dear. I hope that it isn't anything too bad."

"Soooo," Discord began in anticipation. "What did he do?"

Fluttershy looked at him warningly. "Discord."

"What? I'm just curious. To be honest, he barely causes any kind of chaotic trouble these days, and even less ever since he started going out with those Crusaders."

"Actually, Discord," Twilight began, "you're closer than you think."

"Oh, so they did do something! Well then, tell me what they did. Come on, come on."

"Well, all three Crusaders snuck into the castle in the middle of the night last night and slept with Spike."

Upon hearing Twilight's words, Fluttershy brought a hoof to her mouth while her eyes widened and her cheeks blushed. As she was looking at Spike with shock, Discord looked to him with an arched eyebrow and folded his arms.

"It's not what you think," Spike groaned with a facepalm. "Seriously, how many times am I going to have to say this? We didn't do anything like that! All we did was spend the last night of winter together, that's it!"

After a moment, Fluttershy found her voice again. "Still though... to let three fillies sneak into your room in the middle of the night like that isn't good."

"I know, I know. I've been getting the same talk from everypony."

"Even Rarity?" Discord questioned.

"Especially her," Twilight answered. "Between her, Applejack, and Rainbow, she was the most upset with Spike."

"I still say that she should've at least let me see Sweetie," Spike complained. "I swear that I could hear her sniffling and whimpering up in her bedroom from outside of the boutique."

"I know, Spike, but she's grounded like you and the rest of the girls."

"For two weeks though?"

"You should be happy that that's all that you're getting," Discord spoke. "At least it won't fall over Hearts and Hooves Day."

"He's right," Twilight nodded.

With a dejected sigh, Spike lowered his head and relented. "Alright."

"Good. Now then," Twilight continued as she turned back to Fluttershy and Discord, "how's everything coming along here?"

"It's going pretty well," Fluttershy answered. "We should be all done by the end of the day."

"Good to hear. I'll go tell Rainbow the news."

With a flash of light, Twilight teleported herself and Spike away, leaving Fluttershy and Discord alone to work. With a small huff, Discord went on over to the next den and raised his bell. Before he began to ring it, though, a mischievous smirk formed. With a chuckle, he snapped his paw, changing the small bell into a massive gong that overshadowed them, and conjuring an equally massive gong mallet.

Preparing to swing, Discord quietly chuckled to himself. "Oh-ho, ho, this'll wake them up for sure."

"Ahem!"

Freezing in place at the sound, Discord turned his head around to see Fluttershy giving him a disapproving glare. Faltering under her gaze, Discord sighed and returned the gong back into a small bell and dismissed the gong mallet, earning him a smile from Fluttershy before she returned to her work.

Teleporting around Ponyville with Spike on her back, Twilight looked around to find Rainbow. Normally it would be easy to find the pegasus with her rainbow-colored trail when she flew, but she was nowhere to be found in the skies. Getting the idea from Spike to ask other ponies if they've seen her, Twilight soon found out that she was over at Rarity's. With another quick teleportation spell, Twilight and Spike stood by Rarity's boutique, and the work station for making bird nests. With a quick glance, she saw Rarity working on another nest with her team, and for some reason, Rainbow.

"Why do I have to help you make these bird nests again?" Rainbow complained with a huff. "Honestly, an awesome and athletic pegasus like me shouldn't be sitting here making things like these. What I should be doing is something like helping Applejack's team with clearing the snow away, or better yet, clearing the clouds."

"You know that you can't do that until everypony else is ready, Rainbow Dash," Rarity calmly told her. "And have you gotten word to clear them?"

"... no."

"I thought so. Besides, I could always use some help with making these nests for when the birds get back."

"Okay, but I still don't know why I'm helping with them. It's nothing against the birds, it's just that I don't feel like I'd really see myself using this weaving anytime in the future."

"Perhaps, but it never hurts to have an extra skill like this on hoof. You might not have a need for it now, but who knows, perhaps someday you might. Besides, it'll help improve your hoof-eye coordination."

"Pfft. Like I need it."

"It still doesn't hurt, Rainbow," Twilight told her as she walked up to them.

"Oh, hey, Twilight. When did you get here?"

"Right as you were starting to complain about weaving bird nests. And from the looks of things, I'd say that you'll need more practice. Just how many of them have you made so far?"

"I made plenty," Rainbow boasted.

With a deadpan look, Rarity looked from Rainbow to Twilight. "She made one."

"Just one?" Twilight repeated.

"One. And event that was barely any good."

With an annoyed huff, Rainbow stepped back from the table and spread her wings. "Look, I'm sorry that I stink so badly at making them, but you don't need to rub it in. I'm going to go and help Fluttershy wake the animals up from their hibernation until I get the all-clear to clear the clouds. Besides, I'm eager to see Tank again."

"Rainbow, wait!" Rarity called out, stopping her before taking off and glancing back at Rarity. "I'm sorry that I said that about you. It was very rude of me to do and I apologize for that."

With a sigh, Rainbow turned around and walked back to her place alongside Rarity. "It's fine. I guess that I'm sorry too for acting like that."

"It's quite alright, darling, I understand."

"Thanks.

There was a brief pause before Rarity spoke up again. "So... are you going to go help Fluttershy then?"

"Nah," Rainbow answered, shaking her head. "I came here to help you and I'm staying to see it through. Just as long as you don't make anymore comments like that."

"I promise."

"I'm happy to see that you two have worked this out," Twilight commented, "but if you don't mind, I kinda need an update on how well the nests are coming along. We seem to be ahead of schedule with the snowplowing, and Fluttershy says that they should be all done by the end of the day."

"So, in a few hours then?" Rainbow clarified.

"Roughly."

"Sweet. That means that tomorrow we can clear the clouds and bring back spring."

"What about the birds that few south for the winter?"

"I sent Cloudchaser and Thunderlane to go get them. I would've sent Derpy with them, but I didn't want us to be put behind schedule because of my mistake in choosing ponies. Thankfully she's good about it and understands. Besides, from what I was told, she seems to be happy working with Fluttershy's team."

"That's good to hear, Rainbow." Twilight looked from Rainbow to Rarity. "And what about the nests, Rarity?"

"We should be all finished by mid-morning tomorrow," she confidently answered.

"Sounds like we'll be done on time again. I better go tell Mayor Mare about this."

It was nearly sundown by the time Twilight got around to Town Hall, thanks to her grabbing some dinner and dropping Spike off at the castle. Making her way in, Twilight soon came to Mayor Mare's office door and took an extra seat in front of the desk where the mare in question was awaiting her.

"Good evening, Princess," Mayor Mare greeted.

"Good evening to you too, Mayor," she returned.

"So then, how's Winter Wrap Up going this year? I took a look around and everything looked like it was going smoothly."

"Actually, at the rate we're going, we should be all finished sometime around noon."

"That's great to hear," Mayor Mare beamed. "I knew it was a good idea to keep you as our permanent All-Team Organizer."

"That makes two of us."

With a giddy expression, Mayor Mare began shaking in her seat with excitement.

"Ooh! I can't wait to announce the arrival of spring tomorrow!"

"Speaking of announcements, there's something that I wanted to remind you of."

"Oh?"

"Remember when I told you about the dragon that's coming over to Ponyville for a visit?"

"Ah, yes. I remember. You said that he'd be arriving on the first day of spring, right?"

"Yep."

Mayor Mare arched an eyebrow. "Okay, but just so I'm clear, would that be the first full-day of spring, or the day that spring arrives?"

Twilight was about to answer, but found her words catching in her throat. Taking a moment to think back, she wasn't told specifically on which one of those days that Pyre would be arriving. With a forced chuckle, Twilight shrugged.

"I... don't known."

"Well then, I guess that we'll just have to wait and find out. Hopefully after the announcement is given."

The next day finally came around. It was almost noon as Twilight and Dark stood on top of a hill overlooking Ponyville, happy to see that all of the snow was gone. Looking up into the sky, they watched as Rainbow's team of pegasi cleared the last of the snow clouds, allowing the sun to shine brightly again and cause the ice chunks from Pinkie's team to quickly and evenly melt away. Though bright at first, their eyes quickly adjusted to the sunlight.

"I may prefer the darkness of the night, but I do miss the warmth of the sun," Dark sighed contently as he closed his eyes and basked in the sunlight.

Smiling at her coltfriend, Twilight watched as he fell into a sense of peace. As she watched though, she began to notice something. While Dark continued to take in the sun's warmth and light, Twilight noticed that his mane had a subtle glow while a few burning embers escaped from it. Her eyes widening, Twilight tapped a hoof against Dark's shoulder, causing his attention to focus on her while the glow from his mane diminished and the embers died out.

"Something up, Twilight?"

"Well... um... did you notice anything just now?" Twilight questioned, unsure of how to ask him.

"Not really," Dark shrugged. "Just feeling the warmth of the sun is all."

"Oh... okay."

"Why?"

"Well, it's just that your mane sorta glowed there for a moment there."

"Huh. Probably just the sunlight shining off of it," he shrugged.

"There were also embers floating out of it."

This got Dark's attention as he arched an eyebrow at Twilight. "Are you sure?"

"Yes, I'm positive that's what I saw. Why would it do that?"

"I don't know. The only time it would come close to it is if I would use my Amplify."

"But there's no fire around here for you to absorb."

"I know. That's the weird part."

Scratching the back of his head in confusion, Dark was about to add onto his words when the area around them became shaded. Looking up, Dark and Twilight saw the remainder of Rainbow's team return with all of the birds that had flown south for the winter. Happy with how well this Winter Wrap Up turned out, Twilight leaned up against Dark and sighed in relief, causing Dark to wrap an arm around her and hold her close.

As the two stood in silence and watched the fleet of colorful birds flying overhead, they soon noticed that one of the pegasi broke away from the group and was flying directly towards them. Seeing that it was Rainbow, Twilight eagerly waved her over. As she got closer though, they could see the worried look on her face.

"Twilight! Dark! We've got a problem!" Rainbow yelled before landing in front of them.

"What's wrong, Rainbow?" Twilight worryingly asked. "Did something go wrong? Is spring going to be late?!"

"No, nothing like that!" she said, her voice now taking on a tone of panic. "We've got a dragon coming this way! And I don't mean like the adult ones that we saw during the Great Dragon Migration either! This one's at least twice as big as they were!"

"That's probably Pyre," Dark calmly said with a small shrug.

"Who?"

"Remember when Aero came by during our snowball fight?" he asked, getting a confirming nod from Rainbow. "Well, as it turns out, part of the reason why she came here to visit was to tell us that our brother, Pyre, would be coming over to visit once spring came around. I'm actually surprised that he meant today and not tomorrow."

"Okay, hold on a second," Rainbow said, trying to calm herself. "So, what you're telling me is that this dragon is one of those Scaleless Dragons like Aero is?"

"Yep."

"And Aero is your sister, correct?"

"Eeyup."

"So then, would Pyre be considered to be your brother then?"

"An older brother, but yeah, pretty much."

"Do we have to worry about him then?"

"I wouldn't think so. From what Aero said, he's coming here to see me about something."

"Okay, so we're good," Rainbow sighed with relief.

"Yep."

"Umm... Dark?" Twilight meekly spoke.

"Yes?"

"There might be a teeny-tiny problem."

"What is it?"

"Well, Mayor Mare and I were going to announce Pyre's arrival during our speech at the end of Winter Wrap Up."

"Wait, are you saying that nopony besides us three and Mayor Mare know that a Scaleless Dragon is coming to Ponyville?"

"Pretty much."

With a small groan, Dark looked to Rainbow. "Rainbow, how long until Pyre get's here?"

"At the rate he was going, I'd say about five to ten minutes at the latest," she answered before pointing a hoof out to her side. "You can actually see him from here."

Turning his gaze, Dark looked in the direction Rainbow was pointing at. Focusing on the area, he eventually caught sight of a speck flying towards them off in the distance.

"Okay. Twilight, can you go to town and tell everypony about Pyre while Rainbow and I try and stall him?"

"Sure, on it," Twilight nodded before teleporting away.

Spreading their wings, Rainbow and Dark launched themselves into the air and flew off towards Pyre.

"How long do you think that we can stall him for?" Rainbow wondered.

"I have no idea," Dark shrugged. "I'm just hoping that he won't be stubborn and is willing to listen to us."

Chapter 49- Pyre's Arrival

Dark was flying as fast as he could in an attempt to keep up with Rainbow as the two flew to intercept Pyre. At first the plan seemed simple, but after thinking about it after they took off, it dawned on them that Pyre's size would still alert the ponies of Ponyville to his presence.

"Okay, so what do we do now?!" Rainbow asked.

"I'm just slowing you down. You fly on ahead of me and try talking to him," Dark told her.

"And what if that doesn't work?"

"Then we'll just have to improvise."

With a quick salute, Rainbow sped up and created a Sonic Rainboom that sent Dark tumbling backwards until he could level out and follow after her. Not too long after Rainbow flew on ahead, Dark looked back ahead to see that Pyre had slowed down his flying before he let out an angered roar and continued flying towards him with greater speed half a minute later. Within a few seconds after hearing Pyre's roar, he could see Rainbow flying back to him.

"Bad news," she nervously began saying. "Turns out that he's pretty upset."

"What did you say to him?" Dark questioned.

"What makes you think that I had anything to do with it?"

"Was he angry before you got to him?"

"Not really."

"So then, did you say anything that might've set him off?"

"I told him that Ponyville isn't ready for him yet."

"And?"

"... and that he should sit his scaly butt down until we're all ready for him."

"That might've done it," Dark sighed.

"Plus, I might've talked smack to him after he made a comment about me that I found insulting."

"... okay, so he's pissed then."

"Very much. So, what do we do now?" Rainbow wondered. "You said that we would improvise, but how so exactly?"

"Simple," he shrugged. "I'm going to knock some sense into him."

"Dark, I admit that I can be brash and reckless at times, but what you're suggesting is just plain insane. He's a super, ginormous dragon. How in Equestria are you going to do that?"

"Have you seen my training sessions with Nocturne in Ghastly Gorge?"

"No."

"In that case, you're about to see what I've been up to. But first, let me try talking to him."

"You think he'll listen to you?"

"He'll most likely be stubborn like most dragons I met are, but hopefully he'll listen to me."

Nodding to him, Rainbow followed alongside Dark as they flew together to stop Pyre. As they flew closer, Dark got a better look at Pyre. Noticing his thin, ruby-red fur, golden underbelly, spines, and claws, and orange eyes that glowed as though they were on fire. What was unusual about him though besides his noticeably bulkier build, was that the flames leaking out from the corners of his maw were blue.

Putting his unique looks aside, Dark and Rainbow flew up to Pyre and landed on his muzzle to look him directly in the eyes.

"Pyre! Stop!" Dark shouted, trying to get his attention.

It didn't work, however, as Pyre grunted and picked up speed.

"I can see Ponyville! We have to stop him now!" Rainbow shouted.

"Fine," he grumbled to himself before turning to Rainbow. "Rainbow! Get off of him and get away! I'll need some room for this!"

Following him, Rainbow got off of Pyre's muzzle and put some distance between them. Once she was far enough away, Dark gave an annoyed snort and flew ahead of Pyre. Putting more distance between them, he continued to fly until he saw that he was several hundred meters away from him.

Figuring that that would be enough time and space, Dark channeled his magic into his right arm until it was consumed by a shadowy vortex. Looking up above to his right, he was pleased to see that a dark portal had opened up. Remembering back to his training, Dark channeled more power to his arm, causing a massive draconic claw to emerge from the portal, followed by an entire arm that ended at its shoulder. Flexing his shadow-covered claw, Dark was pleased to see that the claw from the portal mimicked his arm's actions exactly. Looking back to see Pyre closing in on him quickly, Dark pulled his arm back to throw a punch, cracking both his knuckles and the copy's as he balled his claw into a fist.

"I thought I told you to STOP!"

As Dark threw his fist in a downward punch, the one from the portal mimicked his movements, flying downward and striking Pyre on the bridge of his muzzle. Even though the fist that struck him was half the size of Pyre's, it was enough to cause him to roar in surprise and instinctively cover his sore muzzle while the force behind it sent him crashing into the ground, causing the earth to tremble as his body came to a skidding halt with a deep groove trail behind him.

Grunting from the strain that the spell put on him, Dark dispersed the shadows swirling around his arm, causing the massive black arm and claw to retract back into the portal before it faded. Recoiling his arm from the soreness in his muscles, Dark flew down and landed in front of Pyre, who was still laying there clenching the spot where he was hit. As Dark calmly walked up to Pyre, Rainbow was off hovering away from them with her mouth agape from what she saw.

"Woah, so that's what he meant," she breathed. "If this is what he's been up to, then I should really start coming to watch his training sessions." Closing her mouth shut, Rainbow turned her gaze back to Ponyville. "I wonder if anypony heard or felt that?"

A few minutes earlier back in Ponyville, Twilight and Mayor Mare were standing in front of Town Hall with most of the ponies who participated in the Winter Wrap Up standing before them. As soon as Twilight found Mayor Mare, she told her the news that Rainbow had relayed to her, causing the older mare to panic for them being unprepared. Thankfully, with most of the citizens of Ponyville already gathering for the speech held at the end, they didn't have to gather everypony together. Now all they had to do was to tell everypony about the dragon that would be coming over to visit. Walking up to the podium, Mayor Mare cleared her throat before beginning to address the crowd.

"Hello, everypony," Mayor Mare greeted them all. "Now, while I would normally take my time with this speech, we have a matter of which needs to be addressed. So, getting to the good part of my speech, I am pleased to say that winter has once again been wrapped up on time!" She paused while the ponies cheered for their success and waited for it to die down before she continued. "And now, I pass you over to the pony responsible for our success, Princess Twilight!"

With another round of cheers and applauses, Mayor Mare stepped off to the side to let Twilight take the podium.

"Hello, everypony," she began. "While it's great to have spring returned to us on time, like Mayor Mare told you, there's something that I need to let everypony know. During the winter, I was informed that Ponyville would be receiving a special visitor. We were told that he would be coming on the first day of spring. However, we weren't told specifically if it was on the day that spring would arrive, or if it would be on the first full day. As it turns out, today is that day, and Rainbow Dash and Dark Flame are on their way to escort him into Ponyville."

"Who's this pony that's coming to visit?" one of the ponies in the crowd asked.

"That's the thing. You see, it isn't a pony, it's a-"

"RAAAAAWWWWRRRRR"

"What in Equestria-"

"TWITCHY TAIL!!!"

Hearing Pinkie announce her Pinkie Sense going off, ponies began to scatter before a thunderous boom echoed throughout the sky and the ground beneath their hooves shook. The tremors lasted only a few seconds before they ended, leaving everypony shaking in fear at what just happened.

"Okay! We're good now!" Pinkie happily announced.

"Thank you, Pinkie," Twilight sighed with a small hint of irritation in her voice.

"You're welcome!"

"As I was saying before, our visitor is a dragon." Seeing the fear in their eyes, Twilight quickly added, "Now before anypony starts screaming and running around in a panic, let me just tell you that Princess Celestia and Princess Luna both already know about his arrival, so you have nothing to worry about."

"That explains the roar, but what about the earthquake?" another pony questioned.

"I'm not sure why that happened, but I'm going to find out why." Twilight stepped away and walked over to Mayor Mare. "Would you be alright if you took over for now?"

"Of course, Princess," Mayor Mare replied with a bow, earning her a thankful smile from Twilight before she teleported away.

Pulling himself out of the dirt, Pyre shook his head to clear away the dizziness before noticing Dark and Rainbow standing before him. His muzzle still throbbing from the hit, Pyre leaned his head down to glare at them.

"Which one of you hit me?" he growled, his eyes narrowing on Rainbow. "Was it you, pegasus?"

"Nope," Rainbow answered with a smug look. "It was him."

"Thanks, Rainbow," Dark said with an eye-roll before looking back up to Pyre. "By the way, why didn't you stop when I told you to? Do you know how much of a panic you would've put Ponyville in if you had showed up like this?!"

"I don't do subtle, Dark," Pyre snorted.

"Then what about when you and the others went to that trial?"

"That was because I was outvoted."

"Well, you're about to be outvoted again. And you haven't answered my question as to why you didn't stop and listen to me?"

"I doubt that you know this, but my temper is short. And when I'm mad like that, I tend to ignore everything else around me other than what made me mad, which happened to be this pegasus."

"Wow," Rainbow snickered. "I didn't know that he had such a fiery attitude."

With a pained groan, Dark facepalmed. "Rainbow, please, leave jokes like that to Pinkie. That was just painful to hear."

"Dark!"

Speaking of painful, I hope I'm not about to be put into a world of it, Dark thought before turning to the source of the voice that called for him and waved. "Hey, Twilight. How's everything in Ponyville?"

"Oh, just great," Twilight sweetly answered before turning serious. "Except for the loud roar and the earthquake that followed it! What in the hay happened here?!"

"Sorry, Twilight, but Pyre wouldn't stop and listen to Rainbow and I, so I had to stop him."

"And how exactly did you do that?"

"It was awesome!" Rainbow said excitingly. "Dark created a massive version of his arm in the air, punched the dragon out of the sky, and sent him crashing into the ground!"

"He punched a dragon... I'm sorry, Rainbow, but could you be a little more specific?"

Tapping a hoof in thought, Rainbow soon thought of a comparable situation. "Okay, remember when we had that meeting with that dragon king and Nocturne possessed Dark and slammed that other dragon?"

"Yes, I remember that. Nocturne recreated a shadow version of his arm from the shade of the room and... wait, is that what Dark did?" Twilight asked, now looking over to him.

"Sorta," Dark answered. "Since it was out in broad daylight, I had to make a portal of sorts so that I could create one."

"Why would you have to do something like that?"

"Remember how I said that I couldn't completely transform into Nocturne's form? Well, since I can't do that, I have to resort to a variation of it until when I can do it completely."

"When did you learn this?"

"During my training over the course of the winter... amongst other things me taught me."

After letting out a small grumble, Twilight began to calm herself before looking up to Pyre. "Alright, Pyre, I want for you to shrink back down to how you were during Blueblood's trial."

"And why should I, Princess?" he questioned.

"Dude, just listen to her and do it," Dark sighed in exasperation.

Begrudgingly, Pyre listened, and in a burst of flame, his body was reduced to a more appropriate size. Standing a few feet away from them, Twilight, Dark, and Rainbow could see that Pyre stood just as high as what Celestia would, minus her horn.

"Thank you," Twilight gratefully thanked. "Ponies were already worried about you coming over to visit, but with this size, they shouldn't be as afraid of you."

"Fine. Were are we going?"

"We'll be meeting with the rest of my friends at the castle."

"Alright, but before we leave..."

Before anyone could blink, Pyre lunged forward and punched Dark in the face, knocking him down to the ground.

"Oww! What was that for?!" Dark snapped, holding a claw up to the sore spot on his cheek while Rainbow tried and failed to hold back her laughter.

"Payback. Also, welcome to the family."

Nearly an hour later, Twilight, Dark, Rainbow, and Pyre were sitting in the throne room with the rest of their friends. While they each sat in their respective thrones, Pyre sat at one of the open spots while Dark sat beside Twilight's throne with a frown on his face. During their entire flight back, Rainbow continued to laugh at Dark for him getting decked like he did. When they got to the castle though, her laughter died down and allowed her to properly ask him how he was doing. That was, until the others arrived and noticed the upset look on Dark's face, which led Rainbow to telling them about what happened from when Dark punched Pyre out of the air, to where they are now.

"My goodness, are you alright?" Rarity asked concerningly.

"Yeah," Dark grumbled. "Just a little sore is all."

"Can't ya regenerate or somethin'?" Applejack questioned.

"Yes, but it still hurt. Probably because he's a Scaleless Dragon too."

"It is, but enough of this. Who exactly are you ponies?" Pyre asked slightly impatiently.

"Sorry, allow me to introduce you to everypony," Twilight began as she stared to point to everyone individually. "You already know who Dark and I are, so next up we have Rainbow Dash."

"Hey," she begrudgingly said, still not completely over what he said to her.

"Next we have Fluttershy."

Turning to look at her, everyone saw that Fluttershy was cowering with just her eyes peeking over the table.

"Don't worry. She's usually like this around unfamiliar dragons."

"Noted," Pyre nodded.

"Next we have Rarity."

"A pleasure to make your acquaintance, Lord Pyre," she said with a small bow.

"Next up is Applejack."

"Howdy."

"And lastly we have-"

"Hey Pyre! Remember me? I'm Pinkie Pie!" Pinkie said bouncing in her seat. "Been a while, huh?"

"Oh, no. Not you again," Pyre said with a hint of dread.

"Wait, you know Pinkie?" Twilight asked confusingly. "When did this happen?"

"Umm, Twilight?" Pinkie uncomfortably called.

"Yes?"

"Do you remember back during Nightmare Night when I mentioned about where I got my supply of holy water from?"

"I do," Rarity chimed. "If I recall, you never told us who it was, but what you did say was that whoever made it had died."

Pinkie solemnly nodded. "Yeah, that's right."

"Alright, but what does that have to do with you knowing Pyre?" Twilight questioned.

"Because the one who made this 'holy water' was none other than my sister, Aurora," Pyre answered, eliciting a surprise gasp from every mare but Pinkie.

"Is this true, Pinkie?"

"Uh-huh," she sadly nodded. "I promised her that I wouldn't tell anypony about who she was, but since Pyre already told you all, that promise no longer matters." Quickly wiping a tear away, Pinkie began to explain. "One day when I went to go pick up my order from Aurora, Pyre came over for a surprise visit, and that's where I met him for the first time. He didn't like me very much, partially because that I knew Aurora personally."

"Is that why you sounded unpleased to see her again, Pyre?" Dark wondered.

"Because of what she did," he grunted.

"What ever happened?" Rarity asked.

"She kept on talking to me and wouldn't stop, so I snapped at her. After that, her poofy mane fell flat, and her colors turned a few shades darker. After that... she..."

Pyre didn't finish as memories of that afternoon caused him to shudder.

"She went Pinkamena on you?" Rainbow guessed.

Pyre nodded. "I've looked Nocturne's directly in the eyes, but what I saw behind them didn't even compare to the fear I felt from witnessing that pink terror."

"It wasn't that bad," Pinkie said while tapping her chin with a hoof. "Then again, I don't exactly remember much of what happened after you insulted me and my parties."

No one spoke for a while after that as everyone was trying to wrap their minds around what Pinkie had just said. A minute of silence later, Twilight cleared her throat to gain everyone's attention.

"Perhaps we should get back to why Pyre came here in the first place?" she suggested, trying to steer the topic away from Pinkamena.

"Fine with me," Pyre agreed before looking directly at Dark. "The reason that I'm here is to get some work done with Dark."

"What kind of work?" Dark questioned.

"From what Aero told me, you specialize in fire and shadow magic, correct?"

"Yes, I do."

"Good. In that case, I'm going to test you. After we're done, I'll have an idea of what I'm working with."

"Wait a second. I thought that Scaleless Dragons weren't allowed to take on any apprentices. Wouldn't this be exactly that?"

"Not quite. You see, sometimes we'll teach each other some form of magic that compliments both of our elements. One example would be how both Aero and Aques can create blizzards. Since a blizzard involves both wind and water magic, they decided to share it with each other."

"But Dark's magic-" Twilight tried to pointed out, but was interrupted by Pyre.

"He may be the Lord of Death and specialize in death magic, but if he's as good with his fire magic as what I'm hoping, then I see no reason as to why I can't teach him what I know about fire magic. Besides, he's technically family, so the whole apprentice thing doesn't count."

"... alright. Now the problem is if you were to train Dark, where would you do it? There's no place that can safely support a battle between the two of you."

"Hold on, Twilight," Dark interjected. "I think that Ghastly Gorge could work just fine for us. Besides, after all of my training there, most of the vegetation around the cliff and down in there has been cleared out. At least, in the area that I've been training at anyway."

"Good. In that case, let's get going," Pyre said, getting up from his spot and walking out.

"Alright. Be back in a bit, Twilight."

Waving behind him, Dark followed after Pyre, leaving the six mares alone. Once the echoes of their walking had died down, they each looked around with uneasy looks.

"Is... is this really a good idea?" Fluttershy questioned.

"I wouldn't think so, darling," Rarity answered. "We know what Dark is capable of, but if he's going to duel the Lord of Fire, then Celestia knows what would happen."

"I say we go and watch!" Rainbow excitingly stated. "After watching Dark punch him out of the sky like he did, I'm itching to watch a good fight."

"Ah'm not so sure about this idea," Applejack unsurely said. "Ta let two Elemental Lords duke it out like that's just askin' for trouble."

"You worry too much, Applejack," Pinkie dismissed with a smile. "All we need to do is have Discord there with us. That way any damage caused can be fixed and so that we can have some snacks to munch on while we watch."

"Ah guess, but Ah still don't like it," Applejack paused to look at Twilight. "What about you, Twi? You've been awfully quiet over there."

"Hmm? Oh, just thinking," she replied. "If we could get Discord to fix any damages they may cause, then it could be alright."

"But, Twilight," Rarity began, "is it really wise to let those two fight it out like this? It'll be bad enough having both of them fighting each other, but with Dark's ability to absorb fire, wouldn't that lead to a massive fire outbreak?"

"Pyre said that he's just going to test Dark, so it should be just a practice match instead of a full-on duel."

"Well..."

"Oh, come on, Rarity!" Rainbow impatiently said. "Everything'll be fine. Besides, what's the worst that can hap-"

Rainbow was interrupted as Pinkie shoved her hoof into her mouth.

"SHHHH!!! Don't say that!" Pinkie quietly shouted. "Don't tempt the universe like that! It'll hear you! Trust me!"

"What are you talking about, Pinkie?" Twilight questioned.

"The universe is watching us," she answered, her eyes darting around the room suspiciously and observantly.

"Oookaayyy. And how do you know this?"

"Oh, I know that those two are watching us. They always are."

"'Those two'? Who are you talking about, Pinkie?"

"Exactly," Pinkie vaguely replied, her mood changing from suspicious and serious to carefree and happy again. "Now, let's go get Discord and watch ourselves a fight!"

Dark and Pyre were flying over Ponyville, the former leading the latter to their soon-to-be battlefield. As they continued to fly, Pyre began questioning Dark about the condition of Nocturne, to which the result caused Pyre to laugh at.

"Hahahah! That's rich!" Pyre bellowed. "So, not only did he get bested by a half-dead pony, but he was turned into a weapon?!"

"Cutting out a bit of the details there, but yes," Dark shrugged, sending Pyre into another laughing fit.

"Alright, now I need to see this! So, where is he?"

"Right her-"

Don't you dare!

Wincing at the sound of Nocturne's voice booming in his head, Dark looked back to Pyre, who was looking half-curiously at his sudden action.

"Uhh... one moment," Dark said to Pyre before turning his attention to Nocturne. What is it?

I don't want you to show me to him like this.

Like what? As a Living Weapon?

Yes!

And why would that be?

Because I told you not to, that's why!

Why? Are you embarrassed that you've been turned into an awesome weapon?

Don't try to butter me up, boy.

With a sigh, Dark turned his attention back to Pyre. "He's not wanting to cooperate."

"Hah. I figured that he wouldn't be willing to come out," Pyre commented. "Unlike him, I am the most powerful of us and fear nothing!"

"BULL!"

Surprised by the familiar voice, Pyre looked to see that the entire right side of Dark had been turned pitch-black, and his right eye had turned red.

"You are not even close to as powerful as what I was!" Nocturne argued.

"What the hay, Nocturne!" Dark complained, trying to glare at him with his left eye. "You're suppose to warn me when you're going to do that!"

"Quit your complaining. While I do have temporary control over your right half, I gave you control over your right wing so we wouldn't crash. Now, back to you, Pyre. You may be powerful, but you aren't the most powerful out of us."

"I am the most powerful of us Elemental Lords!" Pyre boasted.

"No, you're not. If anything, I'd be willing to bet that Dark here is stronger than you are."

"No one is stronger then me! No one!" he snapped, his temper rising. "Not Celestia, not Sephmareroth, not Super Stallion, not even Nuck Chorris."

"No! Don't you even dare joke about that last one!" Nocturne warningly said.

"Why?" Dark wondered. "What's so bad about Nuck Chorris?"

"... I don't want to talk about it."

"Why?"

"Are you serious?" Pyre questioned with a raised eyebrow. "Even now?"

"What? What is it?"

Even with them sharing the same body, Dark couldn't catch what Nocturne was mumbling about.

"Sorry, what was that?"

"Let me tell you the story," Pyre said with a snicker. "It started one day long ago when Nuck Chorris got into a fight with previous Sultan of Saddle Arabia and kicked him in the chin so hard that the Sultan's neck stretched out an extra four feet. After that, the Sultan's children were born with the same neck as his, and that was where giraffes originated from."

"Is he serious?"

"Yes, it's true," Nocturne chuckled.

"Cool. So, what happened next?"

"Well," Pyre continued, "after their fight, the Sultan got so mad at Nuck Chorris that he had his assassins pour a basket of king cobras onto his bed when he was asleep before they started to bite him."

"What happened then? Did he die?"

"That's the thing," Nocturne spoke. "You see, after five days of agonizing pain, the cobras died."

Unsure of what to say to that, Dark silently stared at Pyre, looking for an explanation.

"I know. None of us believed it at first either, but sure enough, it was true," Pyre said. "And don't ask us how it's possible, because none of us know."

"... oookaayyyy. Moving on now," Dark slowly said.

"Right. Back to Nocturne and him. You see, after that, Nocturne decided to keep an eye on him and find out why he's like that. That was, until the day that Nuck Chorris wandered into the Dragon Kingdom and got into a fight with the current Dragon King at the time."

"Ooh, I'm liking this so far."

"Anyway, after the Dragon King dropped him into a volcano, Nuck Chorris jumped out of the lava and killed the Dragon King by roundhouse kicking the volcano he was dropped in into him."

"I don't get it."

"Dark," Nocturne began, his voice dead serious. "He literally roundhouse kicked the volcano into the Dragon King and crushed him."

"... you're kidding, right?"

"Hey, even now we have no idea how he did it," Pyre shrugged. "Honestly, while I don't understand ponies, that earth pony was and still is by far, the strangest pony I know. Although, your pink friend definitely comes as a close second."

"Okay, but again, what does this story have to do with him and Nocturne?"

"You see," Nocturne started, "when Nuck Chorris was dropped into the volcano, he was suppose to die in there, but..."

"But?"

"Nocturne's too afraid to tell him!" Pyre blurted out.

"Why?"

"According to Nocturne, Nuck Chorris apparently broke him just by staring at him with a neutral expression."

"... should I be worried about him?"

"You should be fine."

"Wait, so does that mean that he's an undead?"

"It's complicated," Nocturne said. "He is, but at the same time, he isn't. I can't exactly explain it."

"You wanna know the best part though?" Pyre asked.

"What is it?" Dark wondered.

"That was over a thousand years ago."

"Seriously?"

"Two thousand, seven hundred and eighty-nine years ago, actually," Nocturne grumbled.

Dark sighed, shaking his head in disbelief at the news he was given. Turning his attention back on the direction he was flying, Dark pointed a claw ahead of him as a familiar sight came into view.

"Well, there it is. Welcome to Ghastly Gorge."

Following the direction of his claw, Pyre saw the gorge quickly approaching them. Following Dark, he was led down into the gorge and towards an area filled with scorches and other markings, such as cracked boulders and massive claw marks along the walls. Best of all to Pyre though was the lack of vegetation around the area and up on the surrounding cliffs.

"This'll do nicely," Pyre approved, eyeing the gorge before returning his gaze to Dark. "So, how goods your fire magic?"

"Pretty good. It's been my main element of magic before Nocturne began teaching me his magic," Dark answered him.

"And how about your fire-breathing?"

"Good."

"And your secondary?"

"What secondary?"

Pyre's eyes darted from Dark's left eye to Nocturne's right. "You didn't teach him how to use his shadow breath?"

"What shadow breath?"

"That's my choice of whether or not he can use it," Nocturne argued.

"Umm, I believe that it should be my choice, Nocturne. After all, this is my body. Now then, what's this other breath that I have?"

"Each of us Scaleless Dragons have two sacs-"

"Giggity."

"Stop that! Now, like I was saying, each of us have two... breaths, that we can use. While we each can breathe fire, Aero can breathe lightning, Aques has ice, Aurora had light, and trust me when I say that even though it doesn't sound bad, it hurts. Anyway, Fissure can breathe magma, my flames are magnified and are immune to water, and you and Nocturne breath shadows."

"Seriously? Shadows?" Dark questioned, sounding a little bit disappointed with this news. "What good is breathing shadows besides obscuring everypony's vision when I can cast a spell to do that?"

"Remember when I came to your village and breathed shadows all over it?" Nocturne reminded him.

"Wait, so your shadow breath was what turned everypony into skeletons?"

"Yes, and now you have it."

"... that's a little unsettling."

"Why?" Pyre asked curiously.

"Because I have the same breath that was used to kill everypony in Stonewall."

"You'll get over it," Nocturne bluntly told him. "But we're not here to teach you how to use it now, are we?"

"He's right, so enough talking!" Pyre said with a growl. "I want to see what you can do."

"Alright then," Dark grinned. "So then, what are the rules to this if there are any?"

With a wide grin, Pyre let out a chuckle. "To test you and your fire, you're not to use any of Nocturne's death magic. You can use your unicorn magic for levitation and shields if you want, but you must use mainly fire-type spells."

With a grin of his own to match Pyre's, Dark darted his eye over to Nocturne's side.

"You heard him. It's time for you to go for now, Nocturne."

"Fine, but I'll be watching."

As Nocturne receded back into Dark's body, the darkness that consumed his right half and his red right eye dissipated with him, returning Dark back to normal. But, just as he regained vision into his right eye, Pyre slammed his tail against Dark's side, sending him flying into the rocky wall and down to the ground where a bunch of loose rocks fell on top of him and buried him.

"What? Did you think that I would let you take your time to get ready just because this is a duel?" Pyre mockingly asked.

Pushing himself out of the rocks, Dark groaned and brushed the dirt off.

"Even so, that was a cheap shot."

"Your enemies won't play fair, so neither will I. Consider this a sneak peak of what to expect should you pass."

Consuming himself in a fiery blaze, Pyre returned to his natural form, towering over Dark with the top of the walls reaching below his chin. Not wanting to waste any time, Pyre took a quick breath before breathing his blue fire breath directly at Dark. After a few seconds had passed, Pyre then created a massive wave of fire in front of him and pushed it towards the wall where Dark was standing. Once the wave of fire collided with the stone wall and caused chunks of it to collapse, Pyre looked at the area in the flames where Dark had stood and cocked his head to the side.

"Perhaps I overdid it a little bit," he said out loud to himself with a shrug.

"Not even close."

Raising a brow in confusion, Pyre watched as the roaring flames began converging on a single point. Once enough of the flames were gone, Pyre could see Dark had been absorbing the fire into his now flaming mane, which burnt red and orange instead of blue like the fire he'd absorbed. Giving him a smirk, Pyre slammed his claw down onto the ground, causing cracks to form towards where Dark was standing before fire began erupting from the cracks. They didn't help Pyre though as Dark absorbed those flames too, causing Pyre let out an annoyed snort.

"What's the meaning of this!" he demanded.

Giving a knowing smirk, Dark went to explain. "What I have is a unique ability that let's me absorb any element that I specialize in, and increases my power by however much I absorb."

"And you didn't tell me about this sooner why?"

"You never asked," he smugly answered, causing Pyre to snort blue flames in annoyance.

"Alright then. If that's how it's going to be, then I'll make this easy for us and end it quickly!"

Even though he was ready for an attack, what Pyre didn't expect was for Dark's fiery mane to erupt, reaching almost as high as the gorge's walls, and was even more so when those flames began forming into eight massive tendrils. Using his magic again, Pyre created a massive hammer of fire in his claw and brought it down upon Dark. But, before it struck him, three of Dark's fiery tendrils wrapped around Pyre's arm and held it still while Dark began absorbing the fiery hammer, allowing for him to sprout two more tendrils.

Using his tendrils, Dark launched himself up off the ground before sending three more to block Pyre's other claw as it came in to swipe at him. Holding himself in mid-air with his six tendrils, Dark lifted himself up to look Pyre in the eyes.

"What was that about you ending it quickly?" Dark mocked.

Now pissed, Pyre opened his maw to ready his fire breath on Dark at point-blank range, but quickly found his maw snapped shut by two of Dark's tendrils before he could unleash his flames.

Using his remaining two tendrils, Dark wrapped them around Pyre's head, dropped to the ground, and pulled at all ten of them simultaneously. With a bit of strain and grunting from the weight, Dark managed to flip Pyre over his head and onto his back, causing the dust to kick up while the gorge and surrounding forest trembled from the impact.

Taking this time to go on the offensive, Dark began gathering magic in his horn to power up a spell while keeping Pyre pinned to the ground with his tendrils. Once he'd gathered enough power a few moments later, Dark launched a fireball up into the sky that grew bigger the longer it traveled. Once it traveled a certain distance high above the gorge, it exploded into several dozen, house-sized fireballs that all began raining down upon them and the surrounding area. When the massive fireballs got almost towards the top of the gorge, Dark released Pyre from his tendrils, retracted them, and began flying up and around them.

Once he cleared the last of them, he turned around just in time to watch them impact Pyre and everything else in the surrounding area. Upon hearing Pyre's roar and the sight and sound of the fiery explosions, Dark started laughing as he sprouted his ten tendrils again and used them to supercharge the same spell again before launching it directly down below him. But before the spell hit Pyre, it exploded, sending the slightly smaller fireballs back up into the air for a moment before they began to fall back down again.

"I never thought that I'd miss fighting dragons so much," Dark chuckled to himself. "I almost forgot the feeling from fighting them. The thrill. The excitement. The danger."

"You'll pay for that!"

Looking back down in the sea of fire that covered the top and bottom of Ghastly Gorge, Dark saw Pyre standing back up on his claws while giving Dark an angry glare.

"So, did I pass your test?"

"We're not done yet!"

"Fine then. In that case, come get me!"

With a furious roar, Pyre spread his wings and launched himself up at him while Dark used his tendrils to individually and repeatedly cast the same spell.

Once Discord had finally answered Fluttershy's call, Twilight teleported them over towards the outskirts of Ghastly Gorge. When they got there though, they were all surprised to see that the area surrounding them and the gorge were all on fire while fireballs rained down from above them. After a while of looking in silence at the surrounding destruction, Discord was the first to speak.

"Oh, my. Now what happened here?" he asked.

"If I had to guess, I'd say that we missed one heck of a fight," Rainbow answered.

"See! Ah told ya that this wasn't a good idea!" Applejack barked. "Now look at what they've done! They've gone and torched the whole area!"

"Nothing that a simple snap of my claw can't fix," Discord said.

"Discord, that isn't the point," Fluttershy softly spoke.

"Fluttershy is right," Rarity agreed. "We can't simply let those two go on like this without somepony supervising them."

"They're just having some fun. I say that we let them be," Discord argued.

"Where are they anyway?" Pinkie asked from the branch of a nearby tree. "I can't see anything with all of this fire around us."

"Let me," Twilight sighed, taking a few steps ahead of them and using her magic and created a gust of wind that put the nearby fires out. "There. Now, let's go find them."

Before any of them moved forward, a wide and massive pillar of fire erupted a few hundred feet away in front of them.

"I think it's safe to say that they're that way," Rainbow deadpanned.

Gathering around, Twilight and Discord both created a barrier around them before making their way forward. The closer they walked, the more violent the quaking and roars were until they could see Ghastly Gorge. Once they got over near the edge, they all looked wide-eyed as they saw the sea of fire covering the gorge with Pyre looking like he was searching for something in it.

"Okay," Rainbow slowly began, "I think that they might've gone a bit overboard."

"Ya think?!" Applejack snapped. "They've turned all of Ghastly Gorge and the surroundin' area into a... a... ohhh, Ah don't even know how to say it!"

"Kinda reminds me of the Pits of Tartarus if you ask me," Discord spoke, stroking his chin in thought.

"Why would you know that, Discord?" Fluttershy wondered.

"I got bored one day and did some actual reading from one of Twilight's books. Turned out that one of them had a chapter on it with along with a picture."

"Oh."

"Can we talk about that later?" Twilight nervously asked. "Dark is somewhere down there."

"But he's fireproof, so shouldn't he be alright?" Applejack pointed out.

"Maybe against regular and magical fire, but we don't know if he can handle Pyre's fire."

"Don't worry about him, Twilight," Pinkie happily said. "He's just fine. I'm sure of it."

"How can you be so sure?"

"Because those are his tendrils, aren't they?"

Looking over to where Pinkie was pointing, they all watched as several tendrils shot out of the fire and swiped Pyre's legs out from under him before dragging him down into the fire. Seconds later, the ground began shaking as Pyre began thrashing about.

"Twilight," Rarity began, "didn't you say that this wouldn't turn out to be a duel like this?"

Giving an exasperated sigh, Twilight left the safety of the barrier and flew up above Ghastly Gorge. Looking down to scan the area, she soon found Pyre standing up from the fires as he began to dodge, duck, dip, dive, and dodge boulders that were being thrown at him by Dark's tendrils. Rolling her eyes, Twilight cleared her throat before taking in a deep breath.

"EVERYPONY STOP!!!"

With Twilight not having to use the Royal Canterlot Voice very much, she was unaware of how much force she'd put behind it as the pressure her voice generated snuffed out the fires and left her friends laying on the ground with their hooves over their ears. It wasn't much different for Dark and Pyre down in the gorge as both of them had put their claws over their ringing ears. With the fires gone and the duel over, Twilight motioned for Dark and Pyre to follower her before flying over to her friends and Discord.

"So, Discord, are you still able to fix all of this?" Twilight asked, looking around at the burnt trees and ground.

With a smug grin, Discord snapped his claw, sending out a wave of chaotic magic that returned everything back to how it was before the fires had consumed it all.

"There, all taken care of," he proudly announced. "I also went on ahead and fixed everyone's ears so they can hear again."

"Thank you." Twilight paused as she heard two wing beats behind her and turned to glare at them. "As for you two, mind telling me how this happened?"

Gulping nervously, Dark took a step back. "Uh... okay, so things might've gotten a liiiiittle out of hoof."

"Just a little? You two set all of Ghastly Gorge and the surrounding forest on fire!"

"I know. It was beautiful," Pyre said contently.

"Not helping," Dark hissed.

"You two are lucky that Discord was here to put everything back to normal! If he hadn't, who knows how long it would've taken to put that fire out!" Twilight scolded.

"Sorry, Twilight," Dark regretfully apologized, causing Twilight to let out a sigh.

"Did he at least pass your test, Pyre?"

"He did," he nodded. "And I have to admit that that was one of the better fights that I've had. Also, with that ability of his, I'll have much more to work with in terms of his training."

"Good. Then I won't have any regrets with tonight."

"Uhh, what about tonight?" Dark worryingly wondered. "Does it have something to do with what we talked about yesterday morning?"

"No, it's nothing like that. As punishment for what you did, you'll be getting the doghouse tonight."

"Seriously? Everything turned out alright in the end."

"That may be true, but that still doesn't excuse you for getting carried away like that and setting the whole area on fire."

"How do you know it was me who did it and not Pyre?"

Twilight deadpanned. "Because those fires all had traces of your magic on them."

"... crud."

"And for that, that thing that I said about the doghouse is now going to be literal."

"What?"

"Tonight, you'll be sleeping outside in an actual doghouse."

"But we don't even have a dog for have a doghouse."

"With how much of a leash she has you on, Dark, I wouldn't say that," Pyre smirked.

"Shut up, PyAAAHHHH!"

With her magic, Twilight grabbed hold of Dark's ear and pulled him over to her side.

"We may not have a doghouse right now, but I can easily conjure one up for you," she told him before turning her attention to the others. "Now everyone gather around. I'm teleporting us back to the castle."

"Twilight, wait-"

Over in the castle, Twilight and the others appeared in a flash of light in the middle of the lounge. Annoyed of what happened, Twilight was thinking about relaxing with a warm bubble bath after creating Dark's doghouse for him to sleep in. But, before she went to get started on that, a pained groan from her side caught her attention. Looking down beside her, she saw Dark laying on his side, groaning and holding his head in pain.

"Oops, sorry, Dark. I forgot that you get teleportation sickness," she apologized, eliciting another groan from him before she took him in her magic and placed him over her back. "Make yourselves at home. I'm going to bring Dark up to the bathroom and get him some medicine for him."

With Twilight and Dark out of the room, everyone then turned to Rainbow, who was groaning for an entirely different reason.

"Somethin' wrong, Rainbow?" Applejack asked.

"I was hoping to watch an awesome fight," she groaned. "It sucks that we were too late to see it."

"Not quite, Rainbow Dash," Discord spoke. "If Pyre will allow it, I can use his memories to project an image of their fight."

"Really?" Rainbow asked hopefully before turning to Pyre.

Though she annoyed him a little, Pyre decided to go along with it. "Sure. Besides, it'll give me a chance to watch us beating each other up."

"Sweet! Looks like we'll be having ourselves a movie night."

"I'll go get the food and drinks!" Pinkie announced before rushing out of the room in a pink blur.

"Excuse me, Lord Pyre?" Rarity called. "How long will you be staying with us?"

"Just for a few months or when his training is over," he answered.

"That's cool and all, but can we talk about this later?" Rainbow asked plopping onto one of the seats. "We have a fight to watch!"

Chapter 50- Pyre's Training

The hard wooden floorboards and enclosed walls were what Dark bumped up against as he stirred in his sleep. Like Twilight had told him, she used her magic to create him an actual doghouse for him to crawl into for the night to sleep in. And though he was able to fit into it, he had to curl himself up if he was to have enough room to wiggle around in. The doghouse was nice, however, with its walls painted red and dark-brown shingles layered on top, but it was somewhat embarrassing that Dark's name was hanging above the opening into the doghouse in white wooden letters.

Now somehow sleeping on his back with his lower-half sticking out of the doghouse, Dark continued to sleep, unaware that Rainbow was watching him. Giving a mischievous grin, she lowered her head down towards the opening and took in a deep breath.

"WAKE UP!"

*THUD*

"Ow! Dang it all! What kind of wood did Twilight make this thing?!"

Recovering from smacking his head on the roof of the interior of his doghouse, Dark rubbed the sore spot on the top of his head while Rainbow held her side as she laughing at him.

"What the hay, Rainbow," he grumbled. "Why'd you do that?"

"How could I have not?" she returned with a chuckle. "You were setup perfectly for it."

"But did you really have to do it?"

"Hmmm... yep."'

With a groan, Dark rolled onto his stomach and brought his lower-half in to turn himself around and walk outside. Once clear of it, Dark began stretching himself out, feeling and hearing his joints pop from the stiffness of having to lay on a wooden floor all night long.

"You think she would've given me a pillow at least," he muttered.

"Hey, it's was only for one night," Rainbow reminded him. "Just be happy that Discord was there, or else it would've been a lot worse for you."

"I suppose. By the way, what was with all of the noise last night?"

"Oh, right. Discord used his magic on Pyre to show us his memories of when you two fought yesterday." Rainbow paused and began snickering. "He was bragging to us about how he kicked your flank before it started, but what we saw was a totally different story."

"He didn't even come close to beating me," Dark defended himself. "That whole time, Pyre was on the defensive."

"We know, we saw everything that happened. Speaking of you two, Pyre said that he was going to start your training this morning, and I'm going to watch."

Dark looked at her somewhat worryingly. "Are you sure that's a good idea after what happened yesterday?"

"Pfft. Yeah right. When Pyre told us about that, Twilight told him that she wasn't going to allow it unless she was there to supervise you two, so I'll be right there with her."

"I guess I can understand, but is Pyre really alright with it?"

"The guy's a bit stubborn, but Twilight wasn't going to budge on it. By the way, I'm kinda surprised that you actually slept out here all night. Can't you sneak back into the castle or something?"

"Not when Twilight has a magical barrier preventing me from entering it," he said while arching and popping his back. "Honestly, like I would actually try sneaking back in and risk upsetting her more than she already is. At least it's only for the night so I can go in and get some breakfast."

"You think it's down now?" Rainbow wondered.

"Guess I'm about to find out."

Following along side him, Rainbow looked between Dark and the doghouse he'd slept in.

"So, you gonna keep that for next time?" she asked with a grin, causing Dark to groan in response as he reached the castle doors and pushed them open. "Huh. I guess that the barrier's down."

"Looks like it," Dark said before sniffing the air. "And it smells like something's cooking."

Closing the doors behind them, Dark and Rainbow made their ways down to the kitchen where they started to hear voices.

"Can you teach me too?"

"That sounded like Spike," Rainbow said.

"Depends if you're able to keep up with me."

"And that sounded like Pyre," Dark noticed. "Is he staying here while he's here then?"

"Oh, yeah. I forgot to tell you after waking you up that Pyre will be staying here at the castle with you guys."

"Great," he sighed, shaking his head. "Just great."

"What's wrong? Afraid that he might walk-in on you and Twilight?" Rainbow joked, causing Dark to look away in an attempt to hide his blush. "Seriously? Is that seriously what you're worried about?"

"With our track record, Rainbow, I wouldn't doubt it."

"Just lock the doors and put up a 'Do Not Disturb' sign on the door handle or something. Should take care of your problems."

Not wanting to really go much more into it, Dark nodded his head and just agreed with what Rainbow said before they turned the corner into the kitchen. As they did, they were greeted with Spike and Pyre sitting at the table, each with a stack of gem-sprinkled pancakes while Twilight was flipping several normal pancakes at the stove.

"All I'm saying is that you might want to think twice before you want to have me train you too, kid," Pyre told Spike.

"I know that already, but I want to," Spike argued.

Shaking his head in annoyance, Pyre noticed Dark and Rainbow walking in and looked to him. "Is this what you have to deal with?"

"Deal with what?" Dark questioned.

"This little hatchling wants me to start training him. Doesn't he ever ask you?"

"Not often," he shrugged. "I made him a training dummy back behind the forge for him to do some solo-training, and we'll sometimes have a sparing match if he asks me and I'm available, but that's about it."

"Well, he's wanting me to teach him how to control fire like we do. That, and he wants me to teach him how to better control his fire breath. Why can't you do it?"

"How about because I myself don't know how to fully control my own dragon breaths? Yes, I can use my fire breath, but I haven't even touched my shadow breath."

"Your what?" Twilight asked, turning around with three plates of pancakes in her magical hold. "By the way, good morning, Dark. Sleep well?"

"Not too bad considering that I slept on the hardwood floor," Dark answered with a hint of annoyance. "And what did you make that doghouse out of anyway? I can have pony-sized rocks fall on top of me and maybe get a bruise, but it really hurt when I was startled awake and banged my head in the ceiling without leaving so much as a crack in it."

"Just some ironwood," she shrugged.

"Iron... wood?"

"It's a type of wood that's as hard as iron. It should be pretty self-explanatory."

"Alright."

Making her way over, Twilight began setting the plates of pancakes down for her, Dark, and Rainbow.

"You're not too upset about it, are you?" she asked hopefully.

"Not really I guess," Dark answered with a small sigh.

"Well then, hopefully this'll make you feel better," Twilight said, leaning over and giving Dark a kiss on the cheek. "That, and I also made you some chocolate chip pancakes."

Taking a second look, Dark noticed the melted chocolate chips within his pancakes before giving a joyous smile and started eating them. Giving a small giggle at Dark, Twilight turned to her own breakfast and followed suit. When they were almost half-way done, Twilight looked back to Dark.

"So, ready for your training today?" she asked.

"Yeah, about that," Dark began, "is what Rainbow said about you overseeing us true?"

"After what you two did yesterday?" Twilight leaned in close to whisper into Dark's ear. "You bet your sweet flank I am."

Dark didn't know if it was the wording or the tone of how she said it, but either way, Twilight's words sent a chill up his spine that made his whole body shiver. Although, as subtle as it was, it was still enough for Rainbow and Pyre to notice while Spike was too busy eating away at his withered tower of pancakes.

"It wouldn't work if I tried to argue it, would it?" Dark questioned, getting a headshake from Twilight. "Yeah, I thought so."

"Hahaha! Look at you!" Pyre laughed. "The Lord of Death, supposedly the most feared of us all, is reduced to this!"

"Just you wait, Pyre," Dark said. "One day, you too will find yourself somepony special. And when you do, you'll understand why I'm like this."

"Since when did I say that I would want a pony for a girlfriend?"

"You get what I'm saying. Pony, dragon, griffon, it doesn't matter to me. All that I ask is that you promise me that you won't try dating any gorgons," he requested with a shiver.

"Don't worry about that. I already learned that lesson from watching Fissure's failed relationship with one." Pyre looked around to see everyone looking at him in disbelief. "What?"

"How did he survive the gorgon's stare?" Twilight questioned.

"Have you really forgotten? Fissure is Earth Incarnate. He's immune to petrification of any form since he's more-or-less made up of rocks."

"Really?"

"Yes. You may not notice it at a distance, but up close, you can see that he actually has rocks in place of scales and skin, and that his eyes are actually gems."

"Does he also have rocks for brains?" Rainbow joked.

"Yes, actually. His brain and other internal organs are made of some form of rock. And if I remember correctly, his blood is actually made up of magma."

While they were looking at him in surprise, Twilight's eyes were shimmering.

"He's a being made of living rocks?!" she asked giddily. "Is there any chance that Fissure can come over here for a visit so that I can run some tests and other experiments on him? Oh, and maybe even get a few samples?"

"No can do. He and Aques are guarding Aurora's egg down in Aques' cave."

"That's neat," Rainbow commented. "So, where's this cave at?"

Pyre smirked. "At the bottom of the Mareana Trench. I doubt that anything will be able to get down there and harm Aurora's egg now."

"How'd the they survive the trip down there with the egg still intact?" Twilight questioned. "The water pressure should've crushed anything that's gone down that deep."

"Aques can become water, so she doesn't have to worry about it. For Aurora's egg, Aques manipulated the water surround it so the water pressure wouldn't crush it. As for Fissure, he melded into the earth and entered the cave from there. You know, since the cave is made of rocks."

"Oh."

"Okay, we get that," Rainbow began, "but if they're there, and you're here, then where's Aero? Shouldn't she be with them too?"

"Aurora's egg is safe enough with Aques and Fissure there, so she's probably flying somewhere around the world. Now, back to Dark's training," Pyre redirected, now looking directly at Dark. "Dark, I want to have a word with Nocturne."

"Why?" Dark questioned.

"Because I need to talk to him in private."

Shrugging, Dark summoned his Death Reaver in his claw and held it out for Pyre to take.

"Okay. Knock yourself out."

"Damn it, Dark, I told you that I didn't want him to see me like this!" Nocturne shouted in anger.

"Hey, you had this coming after you hijacked my body yesterday unannounced."

"It was just the half!"

"Calm down, Nocturne," Pyre said as Dark handed the sword over to him. "I needed to talk to you without the others hearing. Besides, you don't look half-bad as a weapon. The black fleshy stuff is really interesting."

"... what is it?" Nocturne begrudgingly asked.

"I'll ask you on our way to Ghastly Gorge. You ready to go, Dark?"

"I suppose so," Dark answered.

"Don't forget about us," Rainbow said.

"You're coming with?" Twilight questioned.

"Well why not? After watching Pyre's memoires of their fight with Dark kicking his flank, I'm more eager to watch them train now more than ever!"

"He caught me by surprise, that's all! And you're not coming," Pyre told her.

"Oh, yeah? And what are you going to do to stop me? Because I'll just outfly you if you do try something."

Muttering something incohesive under his breath, Pyre glanced back to a smirking Rainbow.

"Let me make it clear that I'm in no way responsible if anything should happen to you. Got it?"

"Sure, what ever. Now let's go already!"

After watching Rainbow down the last of her pancakes and zipping out of the kitchen, the others finished their food and followed after her.

Twilight, Dark, and Rainbow were flying towards Ghastly Gorge with Spike riding on top of Twilight as they talked to each other and occasionally glanced back behind them to see Pyre talking to Nocturne in his claw.

"What do you think they've been talking about?" Spike wondered.

"I don't know, Spike," Twilight answered. "They're too far back for me to hear. Although, I could if I casted a spell to increase my hearing."

"Probably a bad idea, Twi," Rainbow said. "If you did that, then nothing would change since the volume of the wind would also increase, right?"

"... I suppose you're right."

"Don't worry about them, Twilight," Dark told her. "Pyre wanted to talk to Nocturne in private, so why not let them? Besides, we don't know when the last time they talked in private even was."

"Sorry. I'm just curious as to what they're talking about is all."

"I know."

Dropping the subject, they continued to fly towards Ghastly Gorge. As they continued flying, Rainbow began asking Dark questions about their fight while bringing up some moments that she'd commented on when they watched. They kept it up for the rest of the flight until they finally arrived at their destination. Landing down at the bottom of the gorge, they waited for Pyre to catch up to them. Once he landed, he returned Dark's Death Reaver to him.

"All done talking?" Dark asked.

"We're finished," Pyre replied. "I got what I wanted to know from him."

"Nothing bad I hope."

"Just a comparison of your magic from the day you woke up in that hospital, to yesterday when you fought me. And if what Nocturne's told me isn't exaggerated, then his training you has improved your overall magic quite a bit."

"I didn't exaggerate it," Nocturne said defensively. "His power has increased a lot thanks to me training him."

"How much exactly? Could you give us a percentage?" Twilight asked.

"Are you talking about from when he went from a unicorn to a kirin, or from when he first awoke in the hospital to now?"

"Umm... both?"

"One hundred percent magical increase when he changed, and another hundred from then until now."

"What?! But how?!"

"Along with my training him, his body is becoming more like that of a Scaleless Dragon, which will naturally give him more of my death magic. After all, didn't that skin sample you took from him last September tell you the same thing?"

"Yes, but then wouldn't this mean that his magic will become stronger even without any training?"

"Yes, it would," Nocturne admitted. "However, he'll need to continue to practice with it, otherwise he'll lose control and become overwhelmed by it."

"Sounds pretty cool to me," Rainbow chimed before turning to Dark.

"Hey, it's not like I asked or wanted for this," he said. "And besides, it's dangerous."

"It is," Nocturne agreed. "Now, if you don't mind, I've done what you brought me out here to do and want to go back."

"You gonna say goodbye first?"

"No."

Not very surprised by Nocturne's bluntness, Dark shrugged and absorbed Death Reaver back into his body.

"Okay. So what are we doing first?"

"When I was talking with Nocturne, he told me about that little ability of yours," Pyre began. "Mainly that you seem to rely on it a little too much, so I'm going to try and wean you off of it."

"I don't rely on it," Dark protested.

"Oh really? Because if I remember correctly, you didn't hesitate to use it yesterday."

"Because your flames were there and I had the chance to use it."

"Exactly. And from what Nocturne told me, you've also been using it every chance that you'd get."

"Why wouldn't I?"

"Look, kid, I'm not telling you not to use it, just that you shouldn't resort to it as soon as you can."

"So you're going to train Dark so that he won't feel like he'll need to use it?" Twilight summarized.

"In short, yes."

"Okay," Dark sighed. "So then, what are you wanting to do first?"

"And is it going to be like yesterday where we'll have to keep our distance?" Rainbow asked.

"No, it won't be anywhere near that," Pyre answered her. "But you should stay back a little bit, just incase."

Heeding his warning, Twilight, Rainbow, and Spike walked off to the side, placing thirty feet between them and Dark and Pyre before Twilight erected a barrier around them.

"That'll do," Pyre said to them, nodding before turning back to Dark. "Now, since you're already comfortable with your fire magic, we'll start with your shadow breath."

"Why?" Dark questioned. "It's not like I'll have to use it, or even want to use it."

"Because you don't know how to use it yet. If you don't familiarize yourself with your shadow breath, then you might use it on accident," he explained, sending a small shiver through Dark as he thought about it. "Now then, I want you to focus on the warmth in your chest."

"You mean my fire-sac?"

"Yes."

Closing his eyes, Dark did as he was told and focused on it. "Alright, now what?"

"Now I want to see your fire breath."

Nodding, Dark took in a deep breath before breathing a long trail of fire from his maw. As he continued to breath his fire, he saw Pyre nodding as he appeared to be observing and judging the fire he'd been breathing. Running out of air after half a minute of continuous fire breathing, Dark ceased and began to refresh his lungs of air.

"Not bad," Pyre commented. "Did Nocturne help you with your fire-breathing?"

"No," Dark answered. "It was self-taught."

"Explains a few of the flaws that I saw with it. Suppose that's another thing that I'll need to help teach you."

"Okay, but what did that have to do with my shadow breath?"

"I wanted to have an idea of how long you can breath fire before you start breathing shadows."

"Alright. So, what now?"

"Nocturne ran me though what it felt like for him to help me with you. First, focus on the other area in your chest."

"You mean the cold one?"

"Yes," he said, rolling his eyes, "the cold one."

Closing his eyes to better focus again, Dark felt the cold chill in his left chest. "Okay, now what?"

"Now, I want you to do the same as you did with your fire breath, but instead of focusing on your fire-sac, focus on your shadow-sac. Also, try to aim it away from us because that stuff is lethal to even us Scaleless Dragons."

Nodding, Dark turned around until his back was towards Pyre and the others before focusing again. Having focused on the shadow-sac residing in his chest, Dark opened his eyes and began taking in a deep breath to prepare himself. However, before he could finish, memories of Stonewall covered in shadows filled his mind, causing him to lose his focus and instead breath out hot air from his maw.

"What going on?" Pyre asked, slightly irritated. "I saw you. You had it, and then you lost it."

"Sorry," Dark apologized. "I could feel it, but before I could use it, I had a flashback of when my old village was covered in it when Nocturne attacked."

"I understand, but you should try to ignore them. That's all in the past now and thinking back on them won't do you any good. Now try it again."

Grumbling under his breath, Dark went through the motions again. Once he felt somewhat alright with it, he took in another deep breath and, while focusing on his shadow-sac, opened his maw and began breathing shadows instead of fire. However, after a few seconds of shadow-breathing, several dozen shrieks pierced his mind, causing Dark to recoil and grab his pounding head with his claws. As he continued to lay there, he began to see forgotten memories.

He remembered walking through a sandy desert, having left Stonewall Village caked in dragon blood and corpses the day before. His coat wasn't fairing much either as the intense heat from the desert had dried the dragon blood that covered most of him. He'd gotten turned around a few times during the day, but thanks to the stars in the night sky and the rising and setting sun, Dark was able to point himself somewhat in the right direction as he continued east.

Later on in that day, just before the sun set over the horizon, Dark walked over yet another of the desert's sand dunes to see a cave nearby. Remembering the desert manticores, sand hellion, twenty foot bluetongue lizards, and a vulture that had tried to attack him, and figuring that the cave would be better than sleeping out in the open, Dark decided to take refuge in the cave for the night.

Walking into the mouth of the cave, Dark stood silent as he listened for anything that could be inside it. After a minute of silence had passed, he walked in a little deeper into the cave before curling up beside a rock to sleep against. However, when the supposed rock began moving, Dark leaped back onto his claws and hooves and began moving away from it.

Getting enough distance between him and it, Dark lit his horn to see a giant desert scorpion crouched down before him. Firing a fireball at its face, Dark turned around and ran out of the cave with the angry scorpion chasing after him. Once he got outside of the cave, he fired off another three at the entrance to try and block it off. However, the giant scorpion, instead of stopping like Dark had thought it would, it ran through the fires, putting them out with the sand it kicked over it.

Now out of the cave, the giant scorpion stood at its full height and curled its tail up and over its body. Standing at fifteen feet tall without including its tail, the giant scorpion glared down at Dark before it tried to grab him in one if its pincers, which Dark dodged before running under it.

With Dark under the scorpion, thinking that he'd be safer there since the scorpion probably wouldn't be able to get him with its pincers or tail, he fired a steady beam of magic out of his horn into the midsection of the scorpion's body. Noticing the scorpion moving around to try and get him, Dark kept himself under it while focusing on the spot his magic was being drilled into. A few moments later, his magic pierced the scorpion's carapace and began work in its innards.

Hearing it screeching in pain and noticing that it was losing its footing, Dark canceled his magic and ran out from underneath the giant scorpion before it collapsed. Putting some distance between him and it, Dark turned around to see it twitching before hearing something echo from the cave. Walking over to it, Dark fired off a flare into it to light the tunnels. When the cave became illuminated in the flares, though, he saw a line of giant desert scorpions running up the cave towards him at fast speeds. Speeds of which that he wouldn't be able to outrun. And that was when they were cramped in a tunnel.

Figuring that fighting was the only option if he couldn't outrun them, Dark began casting fire spells from his horn into the cave, but it only served to enrage them further. He even fired a few spells off at the ceiling, but whatever these scorpions used to reinforce the cave with prevent it from caving in on them.

Feeling like he wouldn't be able to get away from this one, Dark began feeling strangely cold in his chest. Figuring that it was the metaphorical Hands of Death, Dark stood his ground, figuring that if he'd die, then it wouldn't be by him rolling over quietly. Shouting out at them, Dark began lighting his horn to try and cook at least one of them before dying, but when he shouted at them, a black fog spewed out from his mouth and into the cave.

Moments later, when the black fog entered the cave and blocked Dark's view of the scorpions, he began hearing the shrill screeching of what he figured was several dozen of those giant desert scorpions. As the black fog continued spewing from him, so did the number of screeches coming from the cave. Only when Dark had enough and covered his ears did he clamp his mouth shut, ceasing his shadow-breathing. But, while Dark stopped breathing shadows, the screeches from the scorpions in the cave didn't. And with the sounds being amplified by being funneled into the cave entrance, it wasn't until the sound from their screeching knocked him out that the noise finally stopped.

With the new memory recovered, Dark continued to lay down as he tried to get the horrible sounds to stop ringing in his ears. With his eyes shut, though, he was unaware of Twilight standing beside him until he felt her horn touching his forehead, easing the pain before it was completely gone. No longer feeling his head throbbing in pain, Dark cracked an eye open to see a worried Twilight standing above him.

And that's why I didn't want you learning how to use our shadow breath, Nocturne half-scolded with a sigh. Idiot.

Ignoring Nocturne's comment, Dark shook his head clear and stood back up slightly unsteadily, prompting Twilight to position herself against his side to help brace him.

"Thanks, Twilight," Dark thanked with a nuzzle.

"What happened?" she worriedly asked, though she already had an idea.

"What was that all about?" Pyre questioned.

"Apparently," Dark began, "using my shadow breath caused some of my memories to return."

"Are you alright?" Twilight asked. "Besides the headache, you seem to be. Well, compared to the last few times anyway."

"Yeah. It's not like last time where you started crying and stuff," Rainbow commented, prompting Pyre to raise an eyebrow.

"No, it wasn't," Dark admitted. "This time it was about me using my shadow breath on what must've been a den of giant desert scorpions I accidentally stumbled upon."

"Were they the tan ones or the black ones?" Pyre asked.

"Black. Why do you ask?"

"Ah. Now I understand," he said with an understanding nod. "Fissure talked about them one time. You see, there are two types of giant desert scorpions. Though each are dangerous, the tan ones' poison is highly potent while the black ones have a piercing screech that's suppose to suppress and knock out anything that hears it that's not one of their own. Do you remember how many of them that you heard?"

"I'm not sure," Dark said, rubbing his head. "There was the one that I killed, and it hurt, it was really more annoying than anything. What really did it was when I started breathing my shadows into their cave which caused a chorus of them to shriek out in unison. And I think it was only made worse since they all echoed through the cave and into the mouth of it where I stood."

Pyre winced. "Yeah. I can see how you'd lose your memory after that. You should consider yourself lucky that it didn't do anymore damage than that."

"Would it have anything to do with the fact that I was a kirin at the time and not a pony?"

"That would be my best bet."

"Alright." Dark paused and looked around, noticing something missing. "What happened to the shadows that I breathed out before?"

"They evaporated after a few minutes of exposure to the sunlight," Twilight told him. "Until then, though, we couldn't get to you since you were too close to it."

"Sorry to have worried you all."

"Don't sweat it. I wasn't worried," Spike said, though they could see that he was just trying to be brave about it and hide his worries.

"Anyway," Pyre began, trying to steer things back on track, "how are you feeling now? Think that you can continue?"

"Sure," Dark answered, now standing steadily on his own. "I can go for some more."

"Good. In that case." Pyre paused as a smirk began taking hold. "I was told by Nocturne of a little experimental spell of yours that you've been having trouble with. It sounds like it'll be fun, and I want to help with it."

Dark's eyes widened as Pyre finished that last sentence. "Are you talking about the-"

"Flare. Yes, I am. A fire-type spell meant to pierce fireproof dragon scales? If nothing else, I'm a little pissed that I didn't think of it first."

Dark's eyes widened and began to sparkle while his grin began to match that of Pinkie's.

"Isn't that one of the spells listed in your experimental magic book, Dark?" Twilight asked.

"It's at the top of my list," he answered. "Right above Meteor Storm and Rain of Fire."

"Why would you want to create spells like that?" Spike questioned.

Dark deadpanned. "It's fire and explosions, Spike. What kind of guy doesn't love fire and explosions?"

Pyre walked up to Dark and slapped him on the back with a laugh.

"HAHAHA! Perhaps you're more of a brother than I originally thought. As for those other two spells of yours," Pyre smirked, "although I don't know Rain of Fire, I actually do already know Meteor Storm, so I can help teach you that."

Dark's smile widened to the size of Pinkie on a caffeinated sugar rush.

"Is it really necessary to learn how to create a meteor storm?" Twilight asked skeptically. "Seems like a spell like that would be very dangerous."

"It wouldn't hurt for him to at learn it just incase. And besides, other than for some sort of emergency, I hardly ever use the spell."

"Okay, but my question still stands."

"Hey, I'm the Lord of Fire, so it should be of no surprise that I would know of a spell as ridiculous as that," Pyre said, giving her a toothy grin before turning to Dark. "Now, back to what we were doing. I'm curious about this Flare of yours, so I want for you to try it."

"But it'll just blow up in my face again," he protested.

"So what? You're fireproof, so you'll be fine."

"Yeah, but that doesn't mean that I like it."

"Maybe not, but I'll need to see it anyway to know what I'm dealing with."

"And I'll be able to help by gauging the spell," Twilight added.

Although Dark still felt reluctant to do so, he was feeling a little better with Twilight wanting to help with it, so he nodded and went along with it.

"Alright, but you might wanna get back. You don't want to be near when this thing goes off. Also, you'll probably want to create a barrier too."

Heeding Dark's warning, Pyre, Twilight, Rainbow, and Spike all backed away from him, but kept to his side to get a view of what would happened. Right as they thought that they were fine, though, Dark motioned for them to move farther back. Once they were far enough that Dark approved, Twilight threw up a barrier around them.

Figuring that they would be fine there, Dark planted his claws into the ground, lowered his body closer to the ground, and unfurled his wings to help him brace himself against the recoil. Lighting his horn, Dark then began to take in a long, deep breath. As he did, magical energies began gathering in a spiral inside his mouth as a ball of magic began to grow. Continuing this motion, the ball grew bigger before it began hovering in front of his gaping maw, its size still growing.

Feeling as though he'd put enough power into it, Dark breathed out the air he'd gathered with is fire breath. Unfortunately, just like every other attempt before now, the spell blew up in his face, causing an explosion that sent Dark tumbling head over hooves across the ground for several dozen feet away from the crater it created.

While Dark was busy re-enacting a tumbleweed, Rainbow was hovering within the barrier while the others were trying to keep their footing. It was made more difficult for Twilight, though, as she also had try focusing on maintaining the barrier to keep them from being pummeled by the explosion, and the debris it caused. Once the trembles stopped and the last of the rocks bounced off of the barrier, Twilight dispelled it before she teleported them over to see Dark laying on his back, his coat now covered in a heavy layer of dirt and smoke.

"Told you," Dark groaned.

"Are you okay?" Twilight asked. "That looked like it hurt."

"A bit, but I'll be fine," he replied. "That's actually the first time that it's had that big of an impact. Hopefully that means that I'm close to getting it right."

"Without knowing what to look for, it's hard to tell."

"I've been trying to figure out the fire to magic ratio, but I'm not so sure if that's the problem now."

"How so?"

"Because I've tried it with only magic, with only fire, which, by the way, is just fire breath, a quarter to three quarters, half-and-half, three quarters to a third, and so on."

After helping Dark back up, Twilight brought a hoof up to her chin to think about what went wrong. As she continued to think about it, she started to absentmindedly began to flap her wings and pace around in thought before landing in front of Dark.

"How much was the ratio that you put into that one?" she asked him.

"About half-and-half," he answered.

Nodding, Twilight turned to Pyre. "Your thoughts?"

"One viewing isn't enough," Pyre told them. "If I'm to better understand it better, then I'll have to see it a few more times."

"Are you being serious, or are you just saying that so you can see it blow up in my face again?" Dark asked accusingly.

"A little of both to be honest. It was rather amusing to see it explode and send you tumbling like that."

"But only if you want to, Dark," Twilight quickly said. "If you don't, then you don't have to."

"It's fine," he sighed. "I'm already feeling better from my regeneration, so I'll do it again. Before I do, though, just how many more times did you want me to do it?"

"Three more should be good enough," Pyre answered, causing Dark to groan and mutter under his breath something about Pyre being a sadist.

Taking their spots again, they watched as Dark tried casting Flare again, each one blowing up in his face with the same result. Another fifteen minutes later of observing Dark's spell and giving him a break to recover from being blasted in the face, they gathered around again.

"Okay, so what now? Did you figure anything out to help?" Dark asked, his coat now mostly colored black and brown.

"I can't say for sure," Twilight sighed. "It would be much easier if I had some of my equipment from the lab here."

"I might have an idea," Pyre said, earning the attention of everyone present. "You might simply need better training."

"But I have been training," Dark protested.

"With fire magic?"

"... no. It's been with death and some dark magic."

"What?!" Rainbow shouted. "You've been using dark magic?!"

"It's alright, Rainbow," Twilight said to her. "Princess Celestia has already given Dark permission to practice it."

"Yeah. Remember during Nightmare Night when my eyes were glowing?" Dark reminded.

"Yeah. What about it?" Rainbow questioned.

"That was dark magic."

"... oh... cool."

"So, anyway," Pyre began, trying once again to redirect everyone back to the main topic, "from now on, we'll be focusing on your fire magic. We'll save working on your Flare for later when you've gotten better at fire-type spells."

"Alright, but can we get something to eat first?" Dark asked. "Blowing myself up in the face has made me a bit hungry."

Pyre nodded. "Sounds good. Just give me a few minutes and I'll find us something to eat. There's got to be a manticore or dear or something in these woods for us to eat."

Hearing what Pyre was suggesting, Twilight quickly made her way in front to block him.

"Perhaps we can all return to the castle and eat something there?" she suggested before pointing to Dark. "Besides, I'm sure that Dark will be wanting to clean himself off after all of that."

Looking down at his coat, Dark just now noticed that he was almost completely covered in black smoke stains and dirt.

"If it's alright, I'd rather go with Twilight's idea," Dark said, patting down his coat to remove the stains.

"Alright, fine," Pyre relented.

Going with it, Twilight levitated Spike onto her back before they flew off back to the castle.

"By the way, Dark," Pyre began, "from now on, I'll be training you here during the afternoon hours along with Nocturne's lessons. It'll start after we eat lunch and end before the sun sets."

"Alight. It'll give me time to work the forge in the mornings at least," he said before looking over to Twilight. "Is that alright with you, Twilight?"

"Sure, but why are you asking me?" she wondered.

"Because it'll cut into our time together."

Twilight smiled with a small blush. "That's very thoughtful and sweet of you to think of me and our time together, But I'm alright with it."

"Are you sure?"

"I am. And besides, I'm both curious about your training, and worried that you two might accidentally take it a little too far."

Dark sighed. "After what we did yesterday, I suppose that's understandable."

"So we're in agreement then?" Pyre asked.

"Yes, we are," Dark answered before he remembered something important. "However..."

"Yes? What is it?"

Dark blushed and looked away. "Would it be alright to have next Wednesday off?"

"Why?"

As Dark looked back over to face them, they could see the blush showing through his darkened fur.

"Because it's Hearts and Hooves Day."

Chapter 51- Hearts and Hooves Day

It was just after sunrise when Dark awoke from his sleep. Cracking his eyes open, he smiled as he looked down to see Twilight still asleep in his arms. Taking a moment to admire her beauty, he began to notice the soft breaths that she took, some of which sounding like a small hum. But the thing that he noticed the most that made him sigh in content was seeing the peaceful smile on her muzzle. Feeling at peace with Twilight asleep at his side, Dark relaxed and continued to lay in bed with her, simply enjoying the company of the mare who he gave his heart to.

Speaking of hearts, Dark thought as he recalled what day it is.

Remembering that today is Hearts and Hooves Day, Dark, with a bit of hesitation, slowly broke away from Twilight. Once he was out of the bed and saw that he hadn't waken Twilight, Dark tucked her back in and took another look at her. Although he felt tempted to give her a kiss on the forehead, he figured that that would've woken her up, which he didn't want to do quite yet. Quietly covering his hooves and claws in shadows to muffle his movements, Dark silently made his way over to the door, opened it, and carefully and quietly closed it behind him.

Out of their room and standing in the hallway, Dark let out a breath of relief for him not getting caught. Feeling as though the hard part was over with, Dark Shadowported himself down into the kitchen to see Spike already awake and eating at the table.

"Oh, hey, Spike," Dark waved. "Kinda surprised to see you up so soon."

"Morning, Dark," Spike returned. "And, yeah. Normally I'd still be asleep, especially since you or Twilight haven't made any breakfast yet, but I need to get an early start today."

Dark gave him a knowing smirk as he made his way over to the refrigerator.

"Let me guess. Does it by any chance have to do with three certain fillies and the fact that today is Hearts and Hooves Day?"

"Like you even need to ask. Besides, isn't today the exact reason why you're here right now? To make Twilight breakfast or something before she wakes up?"

"And how do you know that I'm not just trying to make myself something to eat before the day begins?"

Spike arched an eyebrow at Dark. "Really? Did you think that I would actually buy that?"

"... maybe?" he weakly answered. Turning his attention back to the fridge, Dark began gathering ingredients for Twilight's breakfast-in-bed before noticing something important missing that caused him to frown. "Spike?"

"Yeah?"

"Did you eat the chocolate-covered strawberries with white-chocolate drizzle that I made for Twilight yesterday?"

"No."

Pausing for a moment to think, Dark snorted a small stream of flames in annoyance.

"Pyre. I should've known it was him. Sucks that the foods I put into my Shadow Storage can't maintain their temperature while in there." Checking one of the bottom racks, Dark moved a few items away and sighed in relief. "Thank Celestia. At least he didn't find the backups that I made."

"You made backups?" Spike questioned. "Why?"

"I made them just incase you saw the originals and decided to eat them as a midnight snack. Although, I suppose I should apologize to you for not trusting you in the first place."

"Actually, Dark, I didn't even know about them until you told me. And to be honest, if I did see them, I might've been tempted to try out one or two of them."

Dark chuckled. "If you did eat one of them, you probably wouldn't be able to help yourself. Not out of greed or gluttony, though, but simply because of how good they are."

"Seriously?"

"Hey, if you don't believe me, then go ahead and try one."

"You sure about that?"

"I doubt that Twilight would mind one missing strawberry. And besides, I made two dozen backups."

Grabbing one of the chocolate-covered strawberries with his magic, Dark brought it over for Spike to eat. With the last of the ingredients for Twilight's breakfast in his magical hold, Dark closed the refrigerator door and brought the ingredients over to the counter. As he sat them down, he watched as Spike looked over the snack and plopped it in his mouth. Moments later, he chuckled as he saw Spike closed his eyes and began humming in bliss of the chocolaty strawberry before swallowing it.

"You're right, that was good," Spike happily said. "You think that I could get another?"

"Eenope," Dark smirk, mixing the ingredients into a bowl and prepping the stove and frying pan. "And you just proved my point too."

Thinking about it for a moment, Spike nodded in agreement. "I suppose I did, but can you blame me? That strawberry was great! You even removed the leaves and core."

"Most ponies don't like the core, so that's why I cut it out. By the way, you know that I'm making breakfast-in-bed for Twilight, so out of curiosity, what are your plans for you and the Crusaders for today?"

"We're going to be meeting up at their clubhouse where I'll be giving them their Hearts and Hooves Day gifts. After that, I was thinking about a walk in the park before breaking for a picnic over by the gazeebo where I'll then give them each a rose that I picked out for them. After that, I was thinking about taking them to Sugarcube Corner for dinner before watching the sun set over Sweet Apple Acres."

"Sounds like a good plan to me."

"And what about you, Dark?" Spike asked. "Like you said, I know that you're making breakfast-in-bed for Twilight, but what about after that?"

"Like you, I was thinking about having a picnic with her for lunch. But, unlike yours at the gazeebo, ours would be on the hill where we had our first date at."

"You mean the hill where you and Shining fought at?"

"Yep."

"Nice. So then, what about after that?"

"... umm... wing it?"

Spike arched an eyebrow. "Really? You didn't plan it all out?"

"Cut me some slack here, buddy. This is the first time that I actually get to celebrate Hearts and Hooves Day with somepony special to me."

"Okay, fair enough," Spike relented. "But you should still try to think of something for after that."

"I know," Dark sighed. "Celestia knows that she deserves it. Now that I think about it, I probably should've tried to reserve a table for us at that one restaurant."

"While it's a good idea, I doubt that you would've been able to get one. The ponies of this town usually get a reservation for that place weeks before Hearts and Hooves Day comes around."

"Alright, in that case, I'll just ask her what she wants to do then. Can't go wrong with that."

"I guess not," Spike slowly agreed.

Turning back to his cooking, Dark stood up and, with his spatula, flipped another pair of pancakes off of the pan before pouring two more from the batter he made.

"So, how are you feeling after yesterday?" he asked Spike.

"A little sore, but I'm good for the most part," Spike answered. "I'm still surprised that I'm getting to learn how to control my fire breath. And by the Lord of Fire no less."

"Yeah. It's good to have another teacher. Don't get me wrong now, Nocturne is a good teacher for my death magic, but it's nice to have Pyre helping with my fire magic."

"Yeah, but you wanna know the best part, though?"

"What is it?"

Spike smirked. "That once you marry Twilight, you and the other Scaleless Dragons will be my siblings-in-law."

Hearing his reason, Dark momentarily felt his legs give out on him, forcing him to plant his claw down to hold himself up."

"Isn't it a bit early to be thinking about that, Spike?" Dark calmly asked, despite his heart being anything but. "And besides, I'm sure that I'll be getting enough questions like that the next time I see Twilight's mom."

"Yeah, I suppose she would," he shrugged, "but that doesn't mean that I won't tease you about it."

Glad to have somewhat ended that topic, Dark stood back up on his hooves and looked over to the frying pan. Unfortunately for him, though, he found that the thing that he placed his claw on wasn't the countertop, but the frying pan, and by extent, the half-baked pancakes. Giving a small headshake, Dark lifted his claw out of the frying pan with the pancakes still attached to him before plopping them into his mouth.

"Guess that'll be my breakfast for today," he said to himself before pouring another batch.

A few minutes later, Dark had a plateful of buttered pancakes and syrup. Leaving them on the table, Dark went on over to get some utensils and the chocolate-covered strawberries while Spike looked over what he made for Twilight.

"Really, Dark?" Spike questioned. "Isn't this thing a little overdone?"

"What's so wrong about what I did with them?" Dark returned.

"You shaped the pancakes into hearts, that's what. I don't know about you, but isn't that a little cliché?"

"On Hearts and Hooves Day, I think that it's almost warranted."

"Meh, if you say so." Spike looked over to the clock on the wall. "Well, guess I better get going. Have a good Hearts and Hooves Day with Twilight. Oh, and good luck."

"Hehehe, you too, buddy."

With a wave, the two split up with Dark finishing preparations for his Hearts and Hooves Day surprise, while Spike went up to his room to get everything he needed for the day.

Back up in their bedroom, Twilight was still sleeping peacefully in their bed, unknowing of Dark's absence. That is, until she moved a forehoof that didn't touch anything and then noticed a lack of body heat from her coltfriend. Half-asleep and wondering where he could be, Twilight was about to get up and look for him before feeling a familiar pair of lips on her forehead. Breathing a sigh of content, Twilight cracked her eyes open to see Dark smiling down at her with a claw caressing her cheek.

"Good morning, sweetheart," Dark whispered.

"Good morning to you too, hon," Twilight returned with a small blush.

His eyes turning softer from her words, Dark leaned down until his lips met Twilights. A few seconds after kissing her, Dark heard Twilight moan before feeling her forelegs wrap around the back of his head and pull him in to deepen their kiss. Deciding to follow her, Dark wrapped his arms around Twilight's back and held her close to him as the two continued to show their affections to one another. A few minutes later, Dark broke their kiss, earning him a dissatisfied pout from Twilight that caused him to chuckle lightly and plant another kiss on her forehead.

"Happy Hearts and Hooves Day," he said once his lips left her forehead.

"Happy Hearts and Hooves Day to you too," Twilight returned with a giggle. "Wow. That sure came around quickly."

"I know what you mean. Took me a moment to remember it was already here too." Sitting himself down beside Twilight, Dark looked over to the nightstand where two sets of plates laid. Feeling Twilight adjust herself and snuggle up against him, Dark used his magic to bring the plate of heart-shaped pancakes around for Twilight. "Here you go, Twilight. A little something to get your day started."

Smiling at the heart-shaped pancakes hovering in front of her, Twilight sat up and leaned up against Dark before giving him a thankful kiss on the cheek and nuzzling him.

"Thank you, Dark," Twilight thanked. "This is really sweet of you."

"You're welcome, Twilight," Dark returned with a nuzzle. "After all, you're the most important mare in my life, so you more than deserve it."

Giving him another kiss, Twilight took the plate of pancakes from Dark's magic and sat them on her lap for her to eat. Cutting into the heart-shaped pancakes, Twilight took a big forkful of it and gave a blissful moan as she tasted it.

Chuckling lightly at how much she was enjoying her breakfast, Dark continued to watch as Twilight began working on her small tower of pancakes. Once she was about half way done, Dark remembered something that he'd almost missed and subtly reached his tail into his Shadow Storage for a few seconds before retracting his tail with it gently curled around a bouquet of purple roses. Turning his attention away from the roses and back to Twilight, Dark tried to suppress a chuckle as he saw her cheeks bulging with stuffed pancakes.

"Easy there, Twilight," he snickered. "Try not to eat them too quickly or else you'll feel too full for desert."

"Hmm?" Twilight said through a mouthful of pancakes. After a moment of chewing them down and swallowing them a bit at a time, Twilight was free to speak clearly again. "What did you have in mind?"

"Oh, nothing much," he smirked before bringing the second plate around for Twilight to see, "just some chocolate-covered strawberries with white-chocolate drizzle that I made."

Snapping her attention away from the last of her pancakes, Twilight looked at the plateful of chocolate-covered strawberries. As she looked over how many of them there were and smelled the combination of chocolates and strawberry, a small dribble of drool escaped from the corner of her open mouth. Feeling it starting to run down the side of her chin, Twilight quickly licked it back up without Dark noticing.

"This looks delicious, Dark," Twilight said with a hint of surprise. "Did you really make this?"

"I had to buy the strawberries and chocolates, but other than that, yeah, I did," he answered with a small blush. "It's actually really easy to do. Oh, and I got these for you too."

Curious as to what else Dark had for her, Twilight watched him bring his tail around, holding a bouquet of purple roses in it. Seeing what he was referring to, Twilight felt the air catch in her throat as he brought the roses around for her. Taking the roses with her magic, Twilight brought them over to her and held them tenderly against her with her forelegs.

"These are beautiful," she whispered, feeling her eyes starting to water up from the gifts of affection she was being given.

"You're welcome, Twili-mmph!"

Dark was interrupted when Twilight pounced him, knocking him onto his back before she started kissing him. Despite it being sudden for him, he quickly collected himself and began to return the gesture in full. A few seconds later, he felt Twilight pull away and saw some of the happy tears that had escaped her eyes.

"Really, Dark, thank you so much for this," she thanked, prompting Dark to use a claw to wipe her face clear of her tears. "Nopony has ever done anything so sweet for me like what you've done here. You don't know how happy this makes me feel."

"Maybe not," he said with his claw cupping her cheek and her leaning into it, "but I might have an idea."

Setting the two plates and roses off to the side, Twilight wrapped her forelegs around Dark's chest and snuggled down against him. Nuzzling her head into the crook of his neck, she felt Dark's arms wrap around her in a hug. Smiling at the happiness that she'd been given within her short time of being awake, and feeling the comfort of Dark stroking her mane and back, Twilight wondered how this day could get any better.

"I take it that you have something else planned for today?" she murmured.

"I was thinking about us having a picnic over on the hill where he had our first date at," Dark answered her. "After that... well... I didn't exactly have many ideas. Guess I'll leave it up to you what you want us to do from there."

Thinking about it for a few moments, Twilight had an idea of what she'd like to do. But, before she asked him, she wanted to know something first.

"So, it's my choice then?"

"Yep."

"And it can be whatever I want?"

Dark chuckled. "Yes. Whatever you want to do, we'll do it."

Shifting around a little bit, Twilight looked up to meet Dark's gaze. "Could we perhaps sit by the fireplace and read a book together like we did during the fall and winter seasons?"

Giving her a soft smile, Dark leaned forward and gave her a peck on her muzzle.

"If that's what you want, then I'll be happy to do it with you."

With a content sigh, Twilight returned to her previous snuggling position and giggled.

"Kinda feels like you're spoiling me."

"That's because you're worth it. And if you think I'm spoiling you now, just wait until tonight after I run you a candlelit bubble bath and give you a hoof massage."

A few hours later at the Crusader's clubhouse, Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo were all waiting for Spike to show up so that they could finally begin their Hearts and Hooves Day together. As they waited for him, they each looked at the Hearts and Hooves Day present that they as a group got for him.

"Do y'all think he'll like it?" Apple Bloom asked.

"He should," Scootaloo replied. "He likes to eat these things after all."

"I hope he does," Sweetie Belle added. "We spent all weekend trying to get these. Not to mention what we had done to them."

"Good thing we found extras to give to her in exchange for her help and silence."

"Exchange for who's help and silence?"

Jumping in surprise from the unexpected voice, the three fillies looked over towards the open door to see Spike standing there looking at them curiously. Not wasting any time, they each ran over to Spike, tackled him to the floorboards, and took turns giving him a welcoming kiss on the lips.

"Happy Hearts and Hooves Day, Spike," they said in unison.

"Hey, Sweetie Belle, Apple Bloom, Scootaloo," Spike returned with a smile. "How are my three favorite girls doing?"

"Better now that you're here," Sweetie Belle answered with a nuzzle.

"We've been lookin' forward ta this day for a while now," Apple Bloom said.

"Yeah, what they said," Scootaloo replied with a blush.

Chuckling, Spike did his best to wrap his three fillyfriends in his arms for a hug. As he laid there with them cuddled against his sides and on top of him, he remembered one of the reasons why he came to the clubhouse to meet them. Motioning for them to let him go for a moment, Spike walked around the corner of the doorway before returning with three wrapped boxes of varying sizes.

"Here, these are for you," Spike said as he handed them over. "Hope you like them."

Taking their gifts into their hooves, they motioned for Spike to follow them and sat down over by the boxed gift they got for him. Motioning for him to sit, the Crusaders watched as they waited for Spike to open his gift, only to see him eyeing it.

"Something wrong, Spike?" Sweetie Belle asked.

"Huh? Oh, no, nothings wrong," he replied. "Just thought that I'd wait until you three opened your gifts. After all, lady's first, right?"

While Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle found it gentlecoltly and voiced it with an "Awww", Scootaloo was a little more reserved as she simply thanked him. With his blessing, they each took turns in opening their respective gifts. After a quick discussion for the order of who would go first, it was decided that it would be Scootaloo, Apple Bloom, and then Sweetie Belle.

With a little hoof pump, Scootaloo wasted no time in opening her gift. Despite the size of the box, though, it was a little lighter than what she'd expected it to be. Peeling off the last of the wrapping paper, she pulled on the string that magically held the cardboard box together and looked in glee as she saw her new orange and purple scooter and matching helmet, both emblazoned with her cutie mark.

"I noticed that your old one was pretty banged up, so I thought that you'd like a new one," Spike began to explain. "The wheels are made for all-terrain, so you can use it in the grass or in light-snow, and it would be like riding it on the dirt road. Everything else on it is reinforced, so it should be more durable. Plus, I also had a hitch installed onto the back, since you'll sometimes pull the rest of us in that red wagon."

Normally, Scootaloo isn't one for showing her feelings and acting affectionate unless it's at the same time as Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle. However, at this moment, she surprised everyone in the clubhouse as she ran over to Spike, and gave him a hug and kiss.

"This is the most awesome give I've ever gotten, Spike!" Scootaloo beamed. "Thank you so much for this!"

"Hehe, you're welcome, Scoots," Spike returned. I wonder if this is going to be the same reaction with Sweetie and Apple Bloom?

Releasing Spike, Scootaloo returned to her spot beside her new scooter and waited for the next gift to be opened.

"Guess it's my turn," Apple Bloom said.

"Just be careful," Spike warned. "Yours is pretty fragile."

Giving him a curious look, Apple Bloom cautiously began unraveling her gift. The wrapping wasn't as complex as Scootaloo's, though, as the entire thing was held together by a string at the top. Pulling on the string, Apple Bloom folded back the wrapping paper to see a complete set of beakers, a mortar, and some plants.

"I remember how during your Twilight Time that you would work on making potions," Spike began. "And after that, you and the girls talked a few times about how you still like to go to Zecora's place to work on experimenting and making them."

"Thanks, Spike," Apple Bloom thanked before walking over and giving him a thankful kiss. "This is great. Ah'll be able ta do my own potion making now and hopefully make a potion ta help with growin' better apple trees."

"Just make sure that you don't accidentally blow anything up," Scootaloo joked, earning a small giggle from Sweetie Belle and chuckle from Spike.

"Don't worry about it. Ah've gotten a lot better with my potions and haven't had any accidents like that for almost over a year now."

"That's good to hear," Spike said before looking over to Sweetie Belle. "Alright, Sweetie, it's your turn."

Giving him a small smile, Sweetie Belle looked down to her gift. While it wasn't as big as the others, she was no less happy for whatever it is that she would receive. Unwrapping the bow holding the lid down, she removed the lid of the colorful box and, to her confusion, saw a microphone in it.

"A microphone?" she questioned. "What for?"

"I've heard your singing, Sweetie," Spike started saying. "And while I find it beautiful, I know that you've been wanting to improve on it, so I've found somepony to help teach you how to sing better. That is, if you're willing to try it."

"That's awful sweet of you to do, Spike. Of course I will, but who did you get?"

Spike gave a proud, triumphant smile. "From what I've heard, you've actually already met her. She should be coming here to visit in a few weeks after her tour ends."

"Her tour?" Scootaloo questioned. "Who are you talking about?"

"You're not talking about Sapphire Shores, are you?!" Sweetie Belle exclaimed.

Spike folded his arms. "And if I am?"

For a moment, Sweetie Belle just stood there, frozen in place as she tried to process this. When she finally snapped out of it, she ran over to Spike and tackled him to the floor in a hug. But, before she gave him a chance to recover from the loving hit, Sweetie Belle planted a kiss on Spike's lips.

And that makes me three for three, Spike thought while mentally smirking in success.

"How did you manage to get Sapphire Shores to do this?!" Sweetie Belle squeaked.

"It wasn't that hard, really," Spike shrugged. "I sent her a letter telling her about a beautiful filly who likes to sing and asked if she would be willing to help her when she came over to Ponyville. Although, I may have added in it that you're Rarity's sister, so that might have something to do with why she agreed to it."

"Still, though, this is so exciting! I can't believe that you were able to do this for me!"

Feeling another wave of joy, Sweetie Belle began to pepper Spike's face with kisses.

"Come on, Sweetie," Scootaloo complained. "We get that you're super excited about this, but Spike still has his own Hearts and Hooves Day gift to open."

Blinking a few times, Sweetie remembered the present that they got for him and gave him one last peck before hopping off of him and returning back to her spot.

"Okay," Spike groaned as he got back up and returned to his spot. "So, what do we have here?"

"You'll just have ta open it and find out," Apple Bloom said with a giggle.

Giving a small shrug, Spike tore off the paper taped to it and opened the lid. One he did, his eyes shimmered and began to drool over the boxful of heart-shaped gems it contained. Shaking his head clear, Spike picked one of the gems up and began to examine it.

After what I said to Dark about heart-shaped things on Hearts and Hooves Day being cliché, if he finds out about these, then I'll never hear the end it of, he mentally sighed.

"Umm, Spike?"

Hearing his name, Spike's attention was brought back to see his three fillyfriends looking at him worryingly.

"Is it alright?" Sweetie Belle asked.

"We thought that you would like it since you like to eat gems," Scootaloo said.

"Is it not what you hoped for?" Apple Bloom asked sadly. "If so, then we're sorry that-"

"What?! No! Of course I like it!" Spike quickly said, frantically waving his claws. "I love it, girls. It's just that I didn't expect a whole box of them is all. That, and this'll easily last me for a few weeks. I am curious, though, as to how you managed to get them all shaped like this."

"That was easy, actually," Sweetie Belle began answering, her mood better knowing that Spike likes his gift. "Rarity was happy to help with it in exchange for the extras we had and leftover shavings. I think she was going to try them out on a new dress of hers."

"Still, though, this is great, girls." Spike slid the box aside and pulled the Crusaders into a hug. "Thank you for this. Happy Hearts and Hooves Day."

"Happy Hearts and Hooves Day to you too, Spike," they returned in unison.

After a few minutes of remaining in their hug, they broke apart and grabbed each of their respective gifts.

"Before we start the rest of the day off," Spike began to suggest, "why don't we get our gifts home? Especially yours, Apple Bloom. Don't want for you to carry it around all day and for it to accidentally get broken."

"Ah suppose so," she nodded.

"In that case, why don't we try this baby out?!" Scootaloo told them. "I parked my old scooter and the wagon beneath the clubhouse. I can give us all a lift and have us back to our Hearts and Hooves Day in ten minutes flat."

"Isn't that suppose to be Rainbow Dash's line?" Sweetie Belle questioned.

"Nah. Hers is ten seconds. I say ten minutes because I can't fly that fast or for that long yet."

"Fair enough," Spike shrugged. "Anyway, let's get going. I was hoping we could all go on a walk through the park before it gets too close to lunch time. Besides, I have a spot picked out and a picnic basket with our names on it."

Watching them cheer and pick up their gifts, Spike chuckled as his fillyfriends ran out of the clubhouse and down the ramp. Letting out a contentful sigh, Spike reached down for his box of gems and held it out in front of him as he followed after them. He would've grabbed the picnic basked that he'd brought with him, but noticed that it was already sitting in the wagon with the fillies. Figuring that one of them had brought it down for him, Spike closed the door behind him and made his way carefully down the ramp. As he did, though, he took another look at the box he was holding in his claws and cocked his head in confusion.

That's weird, he thought, arching an eyebrow, I could've sworn that the box looked a little bigger just a moment ago... meh, must've imagined it or something.

Just as Scootaloo had told them, it took her ten minutes for her to get everyone back to their respective homes to drop their gifts off. This also included her scooter as they agreed that it would be better for them to walk together instead of having Scootaloo do all of the work herself. That, and it would allow for them to take their time and spend more time together.

As they made their way through the park with Spike holding the picnic basket, they walked in mutual silence, simply enjoying the company. Along the way, they saw plenty of couples either cuddling up on the benches, on a picnic blanket, under one of the trees, or over by the picnic tables. Some of the couples that they'd noticed were Lyra and Bon Bon, Derpy Hooves and Time Turner, and Vinyl Scratch and Octavia. They were even able to make out the figures of Dark and Twilight under a tree on one of the hills off in the distance.

However, probably the most surprising couple that they saw were Diamond Tiara and Pipsqueak. The Crusaders knew that they've been getting along well together after the election for Class President since Pipsqueak would go to her for advice, but they never would've guessed that there was something more between them. Deciding to stay clear and let them be, Spike and the Crusaders made their way through the rest of the park before making their way over to their picnic spot.

"So, are you girls hungry?" Spike asked them, the gazeebo just about to come into view.

"You bet I am!" Scootaloo exclaimed.

"Yeah," Sweetie Belle nodded. "I could go for something to eat pretty soon too."

Apple Bloom smiled at the thought of food and walked on ahead.

"Well then, it's a good thing that it's right over- EVERYPONY GET DOWN!"

Without any time to react to her frantic whisper, Spike, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo were dragged down by Apple Bloom into a nearby bush.

"Apple Bloom-"

Apple Bloom silenced Spike with a hoof before pointing with her other hoof and whispering, "Shhh! Look!"

Quietly moving a branch off to the side to get a peek at what she was referring to, they were greeted with a sight that they'd thought would never had happened.

"Is- isn't that your brother, Big Macintosh?" Scootaloo questioned, her eyes darting over to Apple Bloom.

"And who's that with him?" Sweetie Belle wondered.

"Ah can't believe it," Apple Bloom whispered in disbelief.

"Who is it, Apple Bloom?" Spike asked, trying to get a better look at Big Mac's date.

"It's Miss Cheerilee!"

Sweetie Belles' and Scootaloo's eyes snapped wide open. "What?!"

"Shhh! Keep it down!" Apple Bloom harshly whispered. "Ah don't want them ta see us!"

"How did this happen?!" Scootaloo quietly shouted in confusion. "When did this happen?!"

"I don't know for sure, Scootaloo," Sweetie Belle began, "but I guess that they just decided to get together, even despite our failed attempt to help them."

"It happened a few years ago," Spike shrugged. "I'd say that that's plenty of time for them to get over it."

The Crusaders looked at Spike in surprise.

"How'd you know that?" Apple Bloom asked.

"Because after you three gave them the love poison, Twilight hid the book away, and when I went to find it to put it back in its spot, she told me what happened to Big Mac and Miss Cheerilee." Giving him an understanding nod, they turned their attention back to the couple. After a few minutes of watching them and listening to them talk and laugh, Spike nudged them to get their attention. "I think that we've stayed long enough. Let's leave them be and find another spot for our picnic.

Getting a silent round of nods, Spike and the Crusaders quietly left the cover of the bush they were hiding in and snuck away. As they left, they each smiled at how they were able to get together in the end and wished that their Hearts and Hooves Day picnic went well for them. However, had they'd stayed to watch a few minutes later, they would've seen an apple pie floating out of the picnic basket before splattering all over Big Mac's face.

A few minutes later, over near the borders of the Everfree Forest, Fluttershy and Discord were having a Hearts and Hooves Day picnic date of their own. Thanks to Discord's chaotic magic, not only was he able to have everything set for them, but also made a flowery meadow sprout up all around them, causing Fluttershy's eyes to widen as she looked at the field of numerous flowers. Not only that, but he'd also managed to sprout a few cherry blossom tress around them for added beauty, and to provide them with some shade.

"Discord, this is beautiful!" Fluttershy gasped as she marveled at their surroundings that Discord had made for them.

"Not as beautiful as you, my dear," Discord complimented.

"Awww. Thank you, Discord," she said with a thankful kiss on his cheek. "That was really sweet of you."

Giving a light-chuckle, Discord motioned with a claw towards the picnic blanket.

Taking her spot on the blanket, Fluttershy began to relax before feeling Discord sliding up around her and resting down on the blanket too. Familiar with what he was doing for her, Fluttershy gave him a smile before leaning back against Discord's midsection like a backrest.

"All comfy back there?" Discord asked, getting a content sigh and nod from Fluttershy. "Good. Now then, what would you like first?"

Looking over the selection of food before her, Fluttershy hummed to herself as she began thinking over what she wanted to start with.

"There's so many to choose from," she said. "Oh, I wish I could pick all of them. They all look so good." Taking another look at what there was to eat, her eyes settled on a juicy red apple. Licking her lips, Fluttershy transformed into Flutterbat, launched her tongue around the apple, and retracted it back into her mouth for her fangs to sink into it.

"Well, that's one way to do it," Discord chuckled, earning him an embarrassed blush from Fluttershy for her sudden actions.

"S-sorry about that."

"No need to apologize, Fluttershy. I actually found it to be rather amusing how eager you were."

Giving him a small smile, Fluttershy resumed draining her apple of its juices. Once she was done, she held it in a hoof where Discord used his magic to poof it away into the Everfree Forest. Her appetite now kicking in from the apple, Fluttershy reached a hoof over for a daffodil and daisy sandwich sitting off to the side while Discord poured her a cup of apple juice, both of which she made quick work of before turning her attention towards one of several pies sitting out.

"My goodness, Fluttershy, you seem to have quite the appetite today," Discord said surprisingly.

Pausing for a moment, Fluttershy wiped some of the food from her mouth.

"I'm sorry, Discord," she apologized, "but I just seem to be really hungry today. Do you think it could be because I'm in my bat pony form?"

"Can't say," he shrugged. "We've never really tried anything when you're like this."

Giving a small hum in thought, Fluttershy finished off the last of the pie before turning her attention towards the apple pie. Before she could go for it, though, she saw it floating off of the picnic blanket. Figuring that Discord was being thoughtful of her, Fluttershy started to reach out for it before it flew off to the side and hit Discord directly in the face.

"Um, Discord? I know that you don't like to make sense very much at times, but why did you just throw a pie at your own face?" Fluttershy asked curiously.

"This wasn't me," he said bewilderedly. "Somepony else must've done it."

"But it's just us here."

Looking around, Discord indeed saw that they were alone. As he continued to look around, he soon heard the muffled laughter of what sounded like a young colt. Furrowing his brows from being what he considered to be a prank during his and Fluttershy's Hearts and Hooves Day picnic, Discord floated around to look for the little runt. However, even though he looked through the surrounding flowers and trees, he still couldn't find the source of the muffled laughter.

"Okay you little runt," Discord spoke in annoyance, "you show yourself right now, or else when I find you, I'm going to turn you into a doll that's meant for young fillies to play with!" Hearing the sounds suddenly stop, Discord figured that he'd scarred who or whatever that was away. Taking his place back down beside Fluttershy, Discord saw the disapproving look she was giving him. "What?"

"Was that really necessary?" she half-scolded.

"Considering that he was interrupting our special day together, I'd say that he-GAAAHH! He got it in my eyes!"

Despite Discord's eyes stinging from the blueberry pie that was thrown at him, Fluttershy still giggled at him with a fanged smile while Discord's prankster stealthily snuck away. Getting over her giggling, she looked over Discord as he flailed his arms about with his face covered in blueberry pie.

It would be a shame for such a good pie to go to waste, she thought before forming an idea. Well, I suppose it wouldn't hurt. I'll just have to be careful not to bite him on accident while eating it off of him.

Later that evening, Dark was relaxing on one of the couches in the lounge while Twilight was enjoying her relaxing, candlelit bubble bath. As he recalled the mostly-peaceful day that they've had, the lounge doors opened up to reveal Spike with a box in his claws. Remaining as he lay, Dark gave him a smile and wave.

"Hey, Spike," he greeted him. "How'd your Hearts and Hooves Day go?"

"Pretty sweet," Spike answered with a smile. "The girls got me this box of gems. How did things go for you and Twilight? Think of anything to do after your picnic?"

"Yeah. Twilight asked if we could read a book by the fireplace. It was pretty relaxing after what happened to me."

"What happened?"

"Somehow, the pie that I packed for us hovered up out of our picnic basket and hit me square in the face. I managed to get a shower after we got back, but I swear that I feel like I missed some of it. If I had to take a guess as to who is responsible, though, I'd have to say it was Discord."

"Huh. Well, that's interesting, and it sounds like something he might do." Spike paused as he stretched his arms out and gave a loud yawn. "Sorry about that. I'm a bit tired right now, so if you don't mind, I'm just gonna head on off to bed. Goodnight, Dark."

"Goodnight, Spike," Dark returned, watching as Spike left. After he was out of the room, Dark ran a claw through his mane and picked out a few of the pie crumbs that he'd missed. "I'm gonna have to have a talk with Discord tomorrow about that stunt with the pie."

Chapter 52- An Unexpected Surprise

Three days have passed since Hearts and Hooves Day. Since then, those who got pranked during their Hearts and Hooves Day picnic went over to confront Discord, believing that he was the one responsible for it. However, they were surprised to hear from both him and Fluttershy that the exact same thing had happened to them too, leaving them to wonder who it was that did that without the use of a magical aura. Dark briefly thought that it might've been Aero since she could turn invisible, but was told soon after telling Pyre that such pranks weren't really her thing. Especially on a special day like that one.

Today, though, on this Saturday, Dark was closing up his forge early for the afternoon. While it was a slow week for him with Hearts and Hooves Day being that week, he wasn't all that bummed by it as it gave him time to help Spike. However, unlike the usual sparing matches they would normally have, Spike wanted to try out blacksmithing to help him get stronger. Of course, Dark wouldn't allow for him to do it on his own, so he allowed for Spike to assist him as long as he was present.

Allowing for Spike to walk through, Dark closed the doors to the forge behind him and locked it up. Making their way over to the castle for some lunch, Dark began subtly eyeing Spike. While he thought that he'd noticed something different about him when he returned from his Hearts and Hooves Day with the Crusaders and dismissed it, during the time Spike stood by his side helping him, Dark knew that he didn't imagine it.

"So, Spike," Dark began, trying to word it correctly. "How are you feeling?"

"Pretty good, actually," he answered, rotation his shoulders. "I see why you like to work as a blacksmith now. That was one heck of a workout. Hey, do you think that if I get good enough at that blacksmithing and forging that I can make something of my own?"

Dark winced. "I'm not sure, Spike, and I'm sure that we would have to talk about it with Twilight first."

"Aww, really?"

"Yes, really. If we didn't and she found out, it wouldn't be very good for either of us."

"Yeah, I suppose you're right."

"Besides, what if she needed your help for something? I mean, you are her assistant after all, not mine."

"I know, but I like hanging out with you. Incase you haven't noticed, there aren't many guys around Ponyville to hang out with, let alone any of them being a dragon."

"Half-dragon, but I can understand where you're coming from. And I doubt that you'd want to hang around Big Mac since he'd probably give you the protective big brother treatment."

"Ehhh, yeah, pretty much."

"Well, at least you have me and Pyre," he chuckled, giving Spike a pat on the back with a wing. "Now then, back to what I was asking. We kinda got ourselves steered away."

"About how I've been feeling?" Spike asked, getting a nod from Dark. "Like I just said, I'm fine. Why are you asking?"

"Well... how to best say this... well, you've gotten taller."

"... say what now?"

"I'm serious, Spike. I thought that I had imagined it Wednesday when you came back from your Hearts and Hooves Day with the Crusaders, but after watching you today, I think it's safe to say that I was wrong."

"Do you think that I really have grown?" Spike asked hopefully.

"It isn't by very much, but yes."

Jumping and cheering, Spike ran on ahead of Dark down the road and into the castle.

Though initially confused, Dark picked up the pace to try and catch up to him. When he got inside the castle, he followed Spike's voice into the kitchen where Twilight and Pyre both listened to him at the table.

"I thought that I was just imagining it," Twilight said before noticing Dark walking in. "How long did you know, Dark?"

"I had my suspicions on Wednesday," he began answering, "but I just dismissed it as me just seeing things. It wasn't until today when we spent some time together that I knew for sure."

"You're right, the squirt did grow," Pyre confirmed. "Tell me, Spike, did anything happen lately?"

"Not really," Spike shrugged.

"What about that box of gems the Crusaders got for you for Hearts and Hooves Day?" Dark wondered.

"Oh, yeah. That's up in my bedroom."

"It's not your greed again, is it?" Twilight nervously asked.

"I don't think it is. I still feel like myself and don't have any urges to grab everything that I see like last time."

"It's not his greed," Pyre answered. "This growth is natural. I'm actually surprised that this hasn't started sooner from my understanding."

"How so?" Spike asked curiously.

"There are a few ways that a dragon can grow. One is using your greed to help increase your hoard-"

"Which I've already done and overcame," Spike interrupted.

"The next is increasing your hoard naturally without your greed taking control." Pyre paused and waited for Spike to interrupt him. When he saw that he wasn't, he continued. "And the final one is finding yourself a mate."

"Now hold on a second!" Twilight exclaimed. "Spike is too young to be taking on a mate of any kind!"

"Perhaps I should rephrase that," Pyre said, holding a claw up defensively. "What I meant to say was when you take on a girlfriend, or in your case, three of them."

"So you're saying that Spike being in a relationship with them is what's causing him to start growing?"

"That, and the small hoard of gems he has stored away, but the change will be slow and healthy for him. That, I can assure you of."

"So I don't have to worry about growing up too fast and going on another rampage?" Spike asked.

"If you keep going at the rate that you currently are, then no, you won't."

"Thank Celestia," he sighed in relief. A moment later, another question came to mind. "Umm, hey, got a question for you."

"Hmm?"

"If I continue to grow like this, will I get my wings?"

Pyre shook his head. "I'm sorry, but your species doesn't have wings."

Spike's heart sank. "W-What? But why me? Every other dragon that I've ever met has wings of some kind, so why can't I?"

"Although the name for your species of dragon has been lost over time, what I do know is that yours is special. Not because you're the only one without wings besides my sisters, but because you're far more magically adapt than the other species. Why do you think that I agreed to train you with Dark?"

"Wait, do you mean like how I send letters to the princess?"

"That's barely scratching the surface, but yes."

"But he doesn't even have a horn," Twilight pointed out.

"That's because he's a dragon, not a pony," Pyre countered. "Different races have different sets of rules."

"Umm, if I can use magic, then shouldn't I be studying magic books?" Spike questioned.

"... I actually don't know. No dragon has ever tried to study or attempt pony magic before due to us generally advoiding you ponies. However, I suppose it wouldn't hurt for you to give it a try."

"That's great!" Twilight beamed. "Alright, Spike, after you're done with your lunch, we're heading to the library to begin your magic lessons." Stifling a giggle, Twilight watched as Spike groaned and made his way over to make himself something to eat before turning her attention to Dark. "Oh, by the way, Dark, I was hoping that you could help me with something?"

"Sure, Twilight," Dark smiled. "What is it?"

Using her magic, Twilight levitated a piece of paper over to him. "I was hoping that you could make a trip into the Everfree Forest for me. Zecora has some... special herbs, that I need."

"'Special herbs'? What do they do?"

Twilight blushed a little. "They're used in a tea."

"Ah, tea leaves then," he concluded with a nod. "Sure, I can do that for you."

"Thank you. I was going to go there myself, but if Spike really can learn magic, then I'll be busy with him."

"It's okay. Will Zecora be expecting me then?"

"She's actually expecting to see me, but it'll be okay. When was the last time you two talked anyway?"

Bringing a claw to his chin, Dark began to think on it. After a few moments, he looked back to Twilight with only one time in mind.

"If I recall, the last time we met was during Nightmare Night."

Twilight blinked. "Dark, that was about four months ago."

"Yeeaaaaahhhh."

Twilight shook her head and gave a small sigh. "Well then, all the more reason for you to go instead."

"Okay. See you when I get back then," Dark waved.

"See you soon," Twilight returned, waving to Dark as he turned the corner and made his way towards the castle doors. "And try not to get into any trouble with the Everfree creatures!"

Giving a small chuckle, Dark reached into his Shadow Storage for his saddlebag and tossed it on before taking a look at the list of herbs that Twilight wanted him to get from Zecora. As he looked it over, he blinked in confusion as he saw the two items on the list.

"Neem leaves and Nettle leaves? Never heard of a tea that uses them, let alone what those leaves are. Meh, probably some kind of exotic tea leaves or something."

Standing at the edge of the Everfree Forest, Dark looked down the dirt path that lead into it and activating his Soul Eyes to scan the area for any forms of life. Unfortunately, the life forces of the trees were blocking his sight. Thanks to his training from Nocturne, though, Dark adjusted the spell so where it wouldn't pick up on the trees. Seconds after adjusting it, he could see the spirits of some nearby birds, some rabbits, and a few scattered bugs through the trees and underbrush.

Not seeing any kind of Everfree predator, Dark dispelled his Soul Eyes and began his walk into the forest. As he ventured deeper into the forest, he began to notice just how unnaturally dark the forest felt. Seeing it as non-threatening to him, though, Dark ignored the darkness of the forest and continued his way down the dirt path. After about twenty minutes of walking, he came across another path leading off the dirt one that went directly into the forest. Figuring that that's where Zecora's home was at, Dark left the dirt path for the other one.

It didn't take him too long, for after another five minutes had passed, Dark came across what looked like a hollowed-out tree with a door and windows. Figuring that this was Zecora's home, Dark walked up to the door and gave it a few knocks. Hearing something moving inside it, he waited until the door opened up to show that it was actually Zecora's hut.

"Well now, isn't this a surprise," Zecora said with a smile. "Dark Flame, a sight for sore eyes."

"Hello to you too, Zecora," Dark happily returned. "How've you been lately?"

"I have been rather well, thank you. Though usually alone, there's always something for me to do. But this is rude of me. Would you like to come in and have some tea?"

"Thank you, but if it's okay, I'll skip the tea," Dark politely declined as he was allowed into the hut. Once inside, he began looking around at all of the unique decorations scattered in the hut. "Whoa. What are these things?"

"Treasures from my homeland. To me, each is precious and grand."

"I would bet so."

"Now then, I doubt that you came here to see my décor. So tell me, what brings you to my door?"

"Huh? Oh, right." Reaching into his saddlebag, Dark grabbed the piece of paper Twilight gave him and handed it over to Zecora. "Twilight was going to come and ask for these, but something came up and she asked me to get them for her instead. I've never heard of these plants before, but she told me that they're for tea."

Looking up from the list she was given, Zecora blinked a few times as she eyed Dark. As she continued to do so and find that he actually didn't know what he as asked to get, Zecora chuckled for a moment before she burst out laughing.

"I-I'm sorry my friend," she apologized, "I didn't mean to offend. I just didn't think that you would be so blind as to what Twilight as asked you to find."

"I don't get it," Dark said confusingly. "What's so funny about these plants?"

Getting control over her laugher, Zecora shook her head with a chuckle and went over to one of her many shelves.

"I could very well tell you, but it would be funnier if you found out yourself what they do." Zecora smirked as she found the jars of herbs she was looking for. "I must say that as the Lord of Death, your lack of knowledge is amusing to make me short of breath."

Dark's body stiffened as she referred to him by his title. "How'd you know about what I am?" he asked surprisingly. "I don't recall telling you when we last met. Was it Twilight or one of the others?"

"No, it was not them. I knew about you, even before back then," Zecora replied. Seeing the confused look on his face, she went on to explain to him. "I am in tune with the world around me, so it's of no surprise who Death would be."

"But aren't you afraid of what I am?"

Zecora shook her head. "I've been told that you are gentle and kind, to fear you wouldn't be necessary in my mind. During Ponyville's attack, you didn't hesitate to fight them back. You heedlessly protected both friends and strangers alike, like a pony familiar to situations that are warlike."

"Comes from years of fighting dragons I guess," he shrugged.

Giving a nod, Zecora gave Dark the jars of herbs Twilight asked for. "Though it is sad and true, it doesn't change my view of you."

"Thank you, Zecora," Dark gratefully thanked. "And thank you for these leaves too. By the way, how much do I owe you..." Dark blinked a few times, recalling his choice of words before facepalming. "Oh great, now I'm rhyming too."

Zecora chuckled in amusement. "It's not so bad to rhyme. I find it refreshing to see ponies do it from time to time. As for what you owe me, all I ask is that you come by someday to talk over some tea."

Putting the jars into his saddlebag, Dark gave Zecora a claw/hoof shake before thanking her again and heading on out. Walking back down the path away from the hut, Dark looked back and chuckled. He easily enjoyed the short time spent with her, and was already looking forward to their next visit.

I'm sure that Twilight will be happy when she hears about this, Dark thought to himself with a smile. After all, we've barely spoken to each other before. Now, if only I knew what these leaves were actually for. If Twilight isn't wanting to tell me, and Zecora is finding it funny that I don't know, then it's probably a mare thing. Dark shuddered as several implications came to mid. And if that's so, then perhaps I'm better off not-

"AAAHHHHH!!!"

Snapping out of his thoughts, Dark began snapping his head around, trying to find the source of that scream. A few seconds later, he heard it again.

Sounds like a colt, he thought, but why would he be this far in the Everfree Forest?

As Dark continued to look for the colt, a horrific scent caught his nose. Recoiling from the unexpected smell, Dark was about to clamp a claw over his nose when he began to recall smelling it before. After a few more sniffs, his eyes widened as he recognized the scent.

"Timberwolves. Why does it always seem to be timberwolves?" he muttered before realization struck. "Wait. If I can smell timberwolves, and that colt is crying out in fear like that... crap."

Recasting his Soul Eyes, Dark glanced around the area in search of the souls belonging to the colt and timberwolves. It only took him a few seconds of scanning the area to find a colt running away from a small pack of four timberwolves. Deciding to try a new spell Nocturne taught him, Dark used his death magic to turn his body into shadows before gliding over in the direction that the colt was running.

With his new shadowy body, Dark was able to easily slip through the dense underbrush, vines, and tree branches as he closed in on them. Another fifteen seconds later, Dark managed to catch up to the pack of timberwolves just as the young colt ran into a small cave, where he then ducked down into a freshly-made burrow beneath a patch of shrubs that were growing off to one of the sides.

Racing ahead of the timberwolves, Dark's shadowy body landed between them and the burrow, causing his shadows to spread across the ground upon impact while his body returned to normal. With the glow from his eyes from his spell and a thin layer of shadows covering the ground around them, Dark glared at the timberwolves who went from barking and growling to going silent.

Good. So they do remember me, Dark thought with a mental smirk. "This colt is off limits to you. Leave him be and none of you will be harmed."

While three of them whimpered and cowered back, the fourth snarled at Dark and started to prowl around him.

Hmph. Either this one is new around here, or is just plain stupid.

Letting out an audible sigh, Dark waited for the timberwolf to make its move. Turning his head just enough to keep it within his sights, Dark watched until the timberwolf suddenly leapt up into the air to pounce him. When it got in mid-air, Dark sprouted several shadowy tendrils from the surrounding shadows on the ground, each of them impaling the timberwolf before tearing it apart. When the pieces of the timberwolf hit the ground, the tendrils then attacked each piece individually, making sure that it wouldn't be able to reassemble itself afterwards. With no chance of the timberwolf being able to reassemble itself, Dark returned the shadowy tendrils back to the shadows and turned to the remaining three.

"Any others?" he asked, only to hear more whimpering from them. "If not, then you can go. However, should I catch you chasing another pony again, I won't hesitate to tear you apart like I did with this one."

Hastily nodding their heads, the three timberwolves retreated back into the forest, none of them daring to look back.

Once their souls had moved out of his sight's range, Dark scanned around him to make sure that there weren't any other timberwolves or other predators around them. Seeing that the area around him was clear, Dark dispelled his Soul Eyes and turned around to the burrow. Hearing the small whimper coming from inside, Dark sighed and sat down in front of it.

"It's alright, you're safe now. They're all gone so you can come on out," he spoke gently.

Hearing some shifting from within, Dark waited until he saw the young colt that had been running from them. However, upon them making eye contact, the colt quickly retreated back into the safety of his hole. Thinking that something had snuck up on him, Dark turned around to see that they were still alone.

Is he afraid of me? Dark wondered. "Hey, it's okay. I'm not going to hurt you if that's what you're afraid of."

"I'm not suppose to talk to strangers," the colt replied from within the burrow.

"You're not suppose to be this deep in the Everfree Forest either, especially if you're alone, and yet you are," he countered.

"It's not like I have any choice. And besides, if I did come out, how do I know that you won't do something to me when I do?"

"If I wanted to, I would've done it already," Dark sighed. "Look, kid, I just heard you shouting and saw you begin chased down by timberwolves. Do you really think that I would do anything harmful to you after I just saved you?"

Hearing and feeling the sincerity of Dark's words, the colt cautiously peeked his head back out of the hole. Seeing the gentle smile he was giving him, the colt slowly made his way out until his upper-half was just barely visible.

"W-What are you?" he asked Dark nervously.

"I suppose I do look a bit strange, huh?" Dark chuckled. "My name is Dark Flame, and I'm a kirin."

"What's a kirin?"

"A kirin is a hybrid of a pony and a dragon."

"A half-pony, half-dragon? That's kinda weird."

"I know it's rare, but I'm a... guess you could say that I'm a bit of an exception."

"Oh... so he's like me then."

"Sorry, did you say something?"

"Nope! Nothing!"

There was a moment of silence between them before Dark spoke up. "So, I told you my name. Do I get to know yours?"

The colt shifted around nervously in the hole. "Umm... I'm not sure. Do you promise not to hurt me?"

"Of course. Why would I anyway?"

"... because reasons." Seeing Dark give him a nod and not pressing it, the colt crawled out of the burrow and sat down in front of Dark. "My name is Clear Soul."

Now getting a better look at him, Dark could see that even though he was covered in layers of dirt, mud, and leaves, Soul was a silvery-white pegasus with dim-blue eyes, and a spiked, shiny-bronze mane and tail. Another thing that he noticed was that this colt was roughly the same age as the Crusaders.

"Nice to meet you, Clear Soul," Dark said warmly, holding out a claw.

Seeing his intent, he tentatively reached out a hoof and nervously shook Dark's claw. "Thank you. And you can just call me Soul."

"Alright then, Soul. So, would you mind telling me what you're doing out here in the Everfree Forest?"

"I live here."

Dark arched an eyebrow. "... why?"

"Well... I don't really want to talk about it."

"It's dangerous enough for you to be out here, but to live here is just... ugh."

"But that zebra does it."

"She's an adult and has dealt with this for Celestia knows how long. You're a young colt living here in a cave... and where are your parents?"

Wincing, Soul's defensive attitude turned downcast as his gaze fell to the ground. "They're gone."

"Okay, so when are they coming back?"

"They're not gone like that!" Soul half-shouted with tear-filled eyes. "They're dead! That's why I'm here! I've been living on my own here for years now!"

Taken aback slightly by both his answer and outburst, Dark looked wide-eyed at Soul as he began to start sniffling. While he'd heard from some of the ponies and guards around town about orphans, Dark never thought that he'd actually find one living on their own. Just as he was about to start thinking of what to do, he was brought back by the sounds of Soul starting to break down.

Giving a sympathetic sigh, Dark reached out, picked Soul up, and brought him into a hug. And while Soul struggled to free himself from his hug at first, his strength quickly faded and gave in. Feeling him bury his wet face into his coat and starting to bawl, Dark gently patted Soul as he softly spoke words of reassurance to him. After a good ten minutes of letting him let it all out, Dark loosened his hug as Soul shifted around his arms to look up at him with red puffy eyes.

"Feeling better?" Dark softly asked.

"A-A little," Soul said with a hiccup.

"Good. Now, can you tell me why you decided to live out here in the forest?"

Wiping his eyes clear, Soul began to explain himself. "M-My parents were..."

"It's alright. Take your time."

Taking a few moments to steady his breathing, Soul continued. "My parents were hunted."

"By what?"

"Who, actually. Have you ever heard of Queen Chrysalis?"

"Just from a story that I heard."

"W-Well, the queen didn't like my mother, and even more that my parents were together. When she found out, she ordered for them to be hunted and... and..."

Understanding where he was going, Dark gently patted him on the head. "Do you know how it happened?"

"Sorta," he sniffled. "One day, one of Queen Chrysalis' changelings just fell out of nowhere from the sky. Mom found him very hurt and decided to help him, despite the risk."

"That was very kind of her to do, but how'd he lose control and crash like that?"

"He didn't tell us, but it turned out that he talked in his sleep. When he did, me and mom heard him say something about Queen Chrysalis and their failed invasion at an important wedding in Canterlot."

An invasion at an important wedding? Why would the queen... wait. Dark's eyes widened and his body stiffened. If what Soul had told him was correct, then this wedding would be the same as the one Twilight told him about. And if that's the case...

With a sad frown, Dark gently hugged Soul tighter. "I'm so sorry that happened to you, Soul. I understand why you're on your own now. But I am curious, though, as to why are you're still here and not at an orphanage."

"B-Because of h-how different I am," Soul stammered. "You may not be able to tell, but like you, I'm not a normal pony. I did live in an orphanage once before, b-but the other kids kept making fun of me and teasing me. Then one day, one of the other orphans found out what I am on accident and told the Headmistress about me. They were going to call the guards on me because of what I am, not because I did something wrong. That's why I came back here to the Everfree Forest. Mom and dad made this cave our home because of how dangerous it was, believing that the creatures here would keep the queen's minions from finding us."

"But Ponyville is just outside of the forest," Dark pointed out. "Why didn't you guys live there instead? I mean, I get that they thought that the dangers of the forest could help keep the changelings away, but surely the town would've been safe too."

"It's... it's complicated," he said nervously. "While I have made some friends, I doubt that they would welcome me if they knew. Just like when the orphans and Headmistress found out about me."

"If you're worried that the changelings will find you, then don't worry about it, you'll be safe there. Definitely safer than it is here. And I'm sure that they wouldn't mind you. I heard you say that you have some friends, so do you go to Ponyville often?"

"I actually go to school there. Miss Cheerilee is my teacher."

Giving a small sigh, Dark shook his head. "Okay, so let me see if I have all of this right. You're an orphan who's been living on your own in the Everfree Forest, supposedly the most dangerous forest in all of Equestria, for a few years now, and you still manage to attend school. Oh, and you're hunted by Queen Chrysalis and her changelings. Is that about right?"

Soul gave a small nod. "Well, the queen only knew about my parents. I don't know if she does know about me or not. But other than that, yeah, that sounds about right."

With another sigh, Dark put Soul back down on the ground in front of him. "In that case, I want to ask you something, and before you say 'no', I want you to at least consider-"

"I'm not going back to an orphanage!" Soul snapped.

"I never said that," Dark calmly told him. "I was going to ask if you wanted to come and stay with us for a while?"

"... who do you mean when you say 'us'?"

"Myself, my fillyfriend, and both of our brothers."

"Ar-Are you asking me to come live with you?"

"Only if you want to. Look, I understand that you have a connection to this place, but after what just happened, I think that it'll be much safer for you to come with me."

Soul shuffled a hoof nervously. "Are the brothers and your fillyfriend nice?"

Dark smiled. "They are. My fillyfriend is smart, kind, and loving, her brother is the same and actually about your age, and my brother is... different, but in a good way."

Sensing his hesitation, Dark placed a claw on Soul's shoulder and gave him a reassuring smile. Noticing that he was visibly relaxed from the small gesture, Dark removed his claw and continued to sit in silence, patiently awaiting an answer. A few moments of letting him think in silence, Dark was given an answer.

"Umm... if I do decide to go with you," Soul nervously began, "what then?"

"You won't be sent off to an orphanage if that's what you're worried about," Dark assured him. "You'll have your own bedroom and three meals a day like the rest of us. That, and I'm sure that the others will enjoy having you around. Even with us, the place can feel a little empty."

Though Soul was feeling a little unsure, he could feel that Dark was being earnest and sincere with him. That, and if what he saw him do to the timberwolves was any indication, he would be safe with him.

"Can I get my stuff before we go?"

With a warm smile, Dark gently ruffled Soul's spiky mane. "Of course. Take your time. I'll be here whenever you're ready to go."

Giving him a small nod, Soul turned around and made his way back into his burrow to fetch his things.

While Soul was busy gathering his belongings, Dark glanced around the cave, now noticing that it looked like something had actually lived here. From near the back of the cave where a blanket of hay lay, to the large rock with three smaller rocks around it, Dark was beginning to tell the signs of Soul's family having lived here. A few moments later, Dark's attention was brought back to the burrow as he heard shuffling coming from it. Not long after, Soul popped out with a worn-out saddlebag filled with books and papers.

"Is this it?" Dark questioned.

"Yeah," Soul nodded sadly. "Since we were on the run before and later lived here, we didn't really have time for a family photo."

"I see. In that case, are you sure you're ready to go? You're not forgetting anything, are you?"

After taking a moment to think about it, Soul shook his head. "No. All of the really important stuff is my school books and homework."

Giving him an understanding nod, Dark took his saddlebag into his magic and placed it in the empty slot of his own saddlebag. With Soul's belongings secured, Dark walked with him out of the cave until they came to the mouth of it. After letting him have a moment to say goodbye to his home, they began their walk through the forest. Not long after they started, though, Dark heard a soft yawn coming from Soul, and turned around to see him almost half-asleep.

Guess being chased down by timberwolves and the emotional stress of talking about his past has taken a toll on him, Dark figured.

Hearing another yawn, Dark used his magic to lift Soul and sit him down on his back. Then, to Dark's surprise, he felt Soul snuggle down on his back. Turning his head around, he saw that Soul was indeed tired and looked like he was about to take a nap before he looked up with tired, half-lidded eyes.

"How about a story to pass the time?" Dark suggested, getting a small smile and nod from Soul. "Alright, what do you want to hear?"

"Um... if it's alright, could I hear a bit about yourself?" he asked. "I've never heard of a half-pony, half-dragon before, so I'm curious about you."

Giving a small chuckle, Dark began to think about how to best tell him without revealing any of the more disturbing details. Figuring out a decent starting point, Dark began to tell Soul about his foalhood spent in Stonewall Village, which he had to explain to him. And while Dark continued his story, he noticed that Soul was having a hard time staying awake, but was able to keep his interest with stories of how he used to fight dragons.

As the story progressed, they began to lose track of time, and soon enough, they came to the edge of the Everfree Forest. However, about half-way through their walk, they were unaware of the dark clouds forming overhead. That was, until Dark felt a raindrop hit his ear, causing him to look up and actually pay attention.

"Guess the pegasi decided to schedule a surprise rainstorm this evening," Dark commented, feeling another raindrop hit him. "And it looks like it's about to start." Lighting his horn, Dark created a magical dome over the top of them to prevent them from getting doused in the rain and continued forward.

"So, how're you doing back there?" Dark asked, but didn't get an answer. A few moments later of not getting any reply, Dark looked back to see that sometime along the way, Soul had fallen asleep. Giving a soft smile at the sleeping colt, Dark turned his attention back in front of him and made his way through the rain to the castle.

Despite the heavy rain making it a little more difficult to get there, it didn't take him too much longer. After a good fifteen minutes of walking, Dark finally reached the castle doors with Soul still asleep on his back, both of whom were still dry thanks to Dark's barrier. Removing the water and mud from his claws and hooves with his magic, Dark made his way inside and dispelled his barrier. While he tried to walk quietly though the halls so he wouldn't wake Soul up, the closing of the doors were just loud enough to echo through the crystal walls. And soon enough, in a flash of light, Twilight appeared in front of Dark.

"There you are. What took you so long?" she asked half-worried, half-scolding. "You should've been back almost an hour ago. What happened in the Everfree Forest that-"

Dark interrupted Twilight by covering her mouth with a claw. Once she was calm and quiet, he gestured for her to be silent with his claw before motioning towards his back.

Half-annoyed that she was interrupted, Twilight glanced back to see a colt sleeping on his back. With a look of surprise and curiosity, looked from the sleeping colt back to Dark.

"That's why I was so late," Dark explained.

"Who is he?" Twilight asked, looking over him again.

"His name is Clear Soul. I found him being chased by a pack of timberwolves in the Everfree Forest. And from what he's told me, he's been living alone in that forest for a few years now."

Shocked by this bit of news, Twilight walked up along side Soul and began casting a scanning spell to check on him.

"Why would a colt his age be living in the Everfree Forest alone?! And where are his parents?!" she quietly shouted.

"They're both dead, thanks to a wounded changeling his mother found in the forest."

Hearing that race again, Twilight's body stiffened as her fur bristled and the hairs on the back of her neck stood on end.

"Queen Chrysalis' changeling?"

"From what Soul told me, yes," Dark confirmed. "He told me that the queen had some beef with his mother, which led to his mom and dad to being hunted. That's why they lived in the Everfree Forest, because they believed that the changelings wouldn't venture in there due to how dangerous it is."

Dark paused as he braced himself for what needed to be said next, but Twilight noticed his hesitation before he could speak.

"Dark? Is there something else?" she cautiously asked.

Giving a small nod, Dark looked sadly at her. "Twilight... he said that the changeling they found... it was..."

"Was what?"

Steeling himself as best he could, Dark looked her dead in the eyes. "He said the changeling was apart of Queen Chrysalis' failed invasion in Canterlot."

Her eyes slowly widening in realization, Twilight's magic fizzled out as she looked back between Soul and Dark. After almost a full minute of this, Twilight's eyes settled on Dark, who just nodded, answering her unspoken question. Her legs feeling weak, Twilight fell to her rump, the weight of the news crashing down on her.

"Y-You mean that his parent's are dead b-because of... of us?" she quietly asked.

"No," Dark firmly told her. "This isn't your fault."

"Yes it is. It might've been Shiny and Cadence who repelled them, but I had a hoof in it. I'm just as responsible for their deaths."

"No you're not," he repeated, using his magic and gently setting Soul off to the side. With him free of his cargo, Dark wrapped his arms and wings around Twilight in a comforting hug. Feeling her bury her face into his coat and starting to cry, he began to gently stroke her mane. "What happened was an accident. Nopony knew that they were living in the Everfree Forest, or that the explosion would blast one of those changelings over to them. So please, Twilight, don't blame yourself over this."

Remaining in place, Dark sat in silence, doing his best to comfort Twilight as she wept into his chest. Thankfully, with the sounds of her weeping muffled by Dark's coat wings, Soul wasn't woken. A few minutes later, Twilight pulled away and wiped herself free of her tears. Giving a sad sigh, Twilight shook her head and thanked Dark with a quick peck on the cheek. Feeling herself calm down, she left his embrace and went over to Soul to cast another scanning spell on him A few moments later, her magic faded and she turned back to Dark.

"According to the scan, he seems to slightly malnourished, but otherwise healthy. We should probably bring him to the hospital tomorrow, though, just incase."

"Yeah," Dark agreed before a thought came to mind. "If you want, I can go there now and set an appointment for him."

"Okay, but before you go." Twilight used her magic and placed Soul onto her back while relieving Dark of his saddlebag. "There."

"Thanks, Twilight," he thanked with a nuzzle and a kiss. "Also, his own saddlebag is in the left bag, and your jars of leaves are in the right.

"Oh, right. Thank you again for getting them for me."

"You're welcome, though I'm still curious as to what they are. I asked Zecora, but she just said that it would be funnier if I found out on my own."

With a massive blush, Twilight turned Dark around and began pushing him towards the door. "You'll find out eventually, but until then, you have an appointment to make."

With a final push, Dark was back in front of the castle doors again with Twilight walking down the hallway with Soul and the saddlebag. Giving a headshake, Dark left the castle before looking up at the dark sky. Then, with a small smirk, he Shadowported himself over to the Ponyville Hospital, reappearing at the front doors before walking into the main lobby where Nurse Redheart was looking over some medical files.

"It's been a while, huh Nurse Redheart," Dark said with a smile, gaining the mare's attention.

"Hello, Dark," she returned with a small smirk. "So, what are you in for this time?"

"Very funny," he chuckled. "No, this one's not for me. I'm actually here to setup an appointment for somepony else."

"Oh? And who would it be for?" she asked teasingly. "Is it for Twilight? OH! Is she getting a pregnancy test?"

Hearing that, Dark stumbled and fell flat on his face. "What?! No! Why would you think it was?!"

"Because of how long you two have been together, and how close you are. Honestly, I'm actually a little surprised that you two aren't married yet, or at least engaged."

Dark got back up before he facepalmed with a groan. "I swear, you're almost as bad as Twilight's mom and Spike."

"You should take it as a compliment," Nurse Redheart said with a small giggle. "Now then, all joking aside, who's this appointment for?"

"Long story short, I found a young colt living alone in the Everfree Forest today."

Nurse Redheart let out a small gasp. "Is he alright?"

"Yeah, he's fine. He's a little malnourished according to Twilight, and is currently over at the castle. Poor guy fell asleep on our way over here."

"Alright, give me a moment," Nurse Redheart said, looking over the schedule. "Okay, we have two openings for tomorrow. One is mid-morning, and the other is later in the afternoon."

"Let's go with the morning one then," Dark said. "Probably be better to get him checked out sooner than later."

"I agree. Alright, his appointment is all set. I'll see you tomorrow then?"

"Yep. See you tomorrow, Nurse Redheart, and thank you."

"You're welcome. Have a safe trip back. Don't want for you to return with a cold," she joked.

Giving her a smirk, Dark walked out into the darkness of the rainstorm. "Thanks, but that won't be happening."

Casting his Shadowport, Dark vanished from sight, leaving Nurse Redheart sitting in her seat, shaking her head in amusement.

Shadowporting back to the castle, Dark made his way down the hallway to find Twilight and Soul. Hearing voices from the kitchen, he figured that he might as well start there. As he made his way around the corner into it, he was met with the sight of Soul standing close to Twilight while Spike and Pyre sat at the table looking strangely at him.

"Did I miss something?" Dark asked, gaining everyone's attention and causing Soul to race over and take cover beside him. "What's going on?"

"He's just a little nervous of Spike and Pyre," Twilight answered, walking up to Dark and giving him a quick peck. "Is it all set?"

"Yep. His appointment is set for mid-morning tomorrow."

"Good to hear," she said before looking down at Soul. "Well, dinner is just about done. Would you like to join us?"

Nervously peeking around Dark at the two dragons at the table, Soul gulped before feeling a claw on his head. Looking up, Soul saw Dark giving him a warm smile and an encouraging nod. Turning to Twilight, he gave her a small nod, eliciting a smile from her in return. Following Dark to the table, Soul took one of the chairs opposite of Spike and Pyre while Dark went to go help Twilight.

"So who are you?" Spike asked.

"M-My name is Clear Soul," he answered, his shaky and fearful face causing Spike to sigh.

"Look, you don't have to be afraid of me. I'm not like most other dragons who'll try eating you. Actually, I'm probably the nicest dragon that you'll ever come across."

"A little too nice if you ask me," Pyre commented.

"Dude, not helping. We're trying to make him feel better around us, not cause him more panic."

"Fine," he huffed.

"So, you're not going to eat me?" Soul nervously asked.

"No. I don't really like to eat meat much anyway."

"Why not?"

Spike shrugged. "Guess that's what happens when you're raised by ponies."

"You were raised by ponies?"

"Yep. It was actually Twilight who hatched me. Ever since then, I've been living with her as her assistant and little brother."

"So you're her brother?"

"Well, she does have an older brother who's a pony, but yes, I am."

Feeling the assurance and honesty coming from Spike, Soul allowed himself to relax a little. A few moments later, Dark and Twilight came back to the table with several plates in their magical holds. When his plate was placed before him, Soul looked at his food with wide eyes as a little string of drool leaked from the corner of his mouth. Hearing the sound of Twilight giggling, Soul slurped it back into his mouth and looked between her and his food. Almost immediately she understood what he was silent asking for, and with a nod, Soul began digging into his food. Less than a minuet later, almost half of his it was gone.

"Wow, somepony is hungry," Twilight commented.

"Sorry," Soul apologized, his cheeks puffing out with food.

"It's fine, just try not to speak with your mouth full."

Gulping the food down, Soul apologized again for his table manners.

"What did you normally eat?" Dark asked him.

"Mostly grass and any berries that I could find. That, and the occasional apple tree that I would find inside the forest," he answered.

"There are apple trees in the Everfree Forest?" Spike questioned.

"It's not that hard to believe when you think about it, Spike," Twilight said. "After all, the zap apples originated from the Everfree Forest, so it wouldn't be much of a stretch to say that it also could also have a few normal apple trees."

"I suppose."

Returning to their dinner, they all ate in silence with the only sound being that of silverware on plates. Once they were all finished, Dark and Twilight led Soul up to the bathroom for him to get himself cleaned up. And while he was resistant at first, a few words from Twilight convinced him otherwise. Remembering how to work a shower, Soul assured them that he would be fine on his own as he walked into the bathroom and locked the door behind him.

Making his way further in, Soul looked around, seeing how big the bathroom was, the cleanness of the toilet, the sink and towels hanging up beside it, and most importantly, the wide shower just ahead of him. Walking over to it, he took a moment to look over it before remembering how to work it. Soon enough, he had the shower running, and after a few tweaks on the shower nobs, he got the water to a perfect temperature before walking in and letting the warm water run over him.

Relaxing, Soul sat himself down and sighed from the warmth that was being washed over him. After a few moments of simply soaking himself in the shower, he reached over for the soap and shampoo bottles and began cleaning his coat and mane. It took him a while, but he was eventually able to clean all of the dirt and other gunk off of his coat. Letting the water run for a little longer to drain out the dirty water, Soul later turned the water off and began drying himself off with one of the towels hanging from the wall before a knock came from the door.

"You doing alright in there?" Dark asked.

"Yes, I'm fine," Soul returned.

"Okay. We brought your stuff to your room, so when you're done, we'll show you to it."

Hearing this, Soul began to dry himself off faster. A few minutes later, he tossed the towel into the hamper and made for the door. Once he'd unlocked it and opened it up, Soul was met with both Dark and Twilight waiting for him.

"You look refreshed," Twilight commented, getting a better look of his silvery-white coat now that I was clean of all of the dirt.

"Yeah. Thank you for letting me use your shower."

"Not to sound rude, but when was the last time you had one?"

Soul tapped his chin with a hoof. "... I'm not sure. I usually clean myself in the creek."

"Well, not anymore. As long as you're staying here, you can feel free to use it whenever you want."

With a big smile on his face, Soul gave Twilight a thankful hug. And though Twilight was surprised by the sudden act, she returned it with a hug of her own. Letting him go, she and Dark led Soul over to his room. Along the way, Twilight began to explain where everything was. Leading him to the top floor where their bedroom was, they walked past their door and Spike's before coming to the next one and opening it for him.

Walking inside, Soul looked around at how big it was. As he did, he saw a wardrobe closet, a writing desk, a dresser where his saddlebag laid, and a large bed with a nightstand and lamp. Turning back around, Soul faced Dark and Twilight with a look of bewilderment.

"Is this all..."

Twilight smiled at him. "This is your room while you stay here."

Feeling his joy swell, Soul propelled himself up to Dark and Twilight with his wings and tried to give both of them a hug. After returning the hug, they let him flutter back down to the ground.

"If you need anything, just remember that Twilight and I will be right over there," Dark said, pointing to the door to their bedroom.

"Okay."

"Now then," Twilight spoke, "why don't we all get ourselves some sleep? We've got a few things to do tomorrow and we can't have anypony sleeping in too late."

With a small yawn, Soul nodded in agreement before giving them a quick hug and making his way over to the bed.

Seeing that he'd be fine, Dark closed the door before he and Twilight made for their bedroom.

"So," Twilight began as they entered, "what should we do with him?"

Dark sighed. "Well, it's pretty obvious that we can't let him continue to live in the Everfree Forest alone like that."

"Yeah, I now. What about an orphanage?"

"How much of his past did he tell you?"

"Other than introductions, not much, really. He woke up not long before you got back."

"Alright. Well, as it turns out, he did go to an orphanage once before, but from what he told me, the Headmistress of the place called the guards on him."

"Why would she do that?"

"He said that it was because he was different, but wouldn't say how so exactly."

Letting out a sigh of her own, Twilight crawled into her side of the bed. "So that's a no on the orphanage then?"

Dark crawled in on his side. "I already told him that I wouldn't let him go back to another one. It also doesn't help that he doesn't know of any relatives."

"That doesn't leave us with very many options then."

"Well..."

"Hmm?"

"He could stay with us," Dark suggested. "There's plenty of room after all, and he'll be safer here than he would anywhere else."

"That's true," Twilight sadly replied. Sighing, she snuggled up against Dark while he wrapped his arms and wing around her. "If nothing else, I feel like I owe him that much. Plus, it'll give Spike a chance to play with somepony around his own age who's not a filly."

Giving her a soft smile, Dark leaned down and tenderly kissed Twilight's forehead. "Try not to feel guilty, Twilight. Remember that it wasn't your fault, just a freak accident."

"I... I'll try."

"Thank you. Also, perhaps we should wait on telling him until he's older."

"Yeah," she sighed, feeling sleep taking her. "It's probably for the best."

Several hours later, the intensity of the storm increased as it went from a heavy rain shower, to a loud thunderstorm. Startled awake by the thunder and lightning, Soul shivered beneath his blankets while peeking out of the edge. However, as soon as another flash of lightning showed itself, Soul retreated back into the safety of his blanket as the following thunderclap boomed. Scared and unable to sleep, Soul got out of his bed and made for the door. As he opened it, another bolt of lightning struck, causing him to yelp before darting over to one of the nearby doors.

Giving it a few gentle taps, Soul waited for somepony to answer. When he didn't get any reply, he was about to knock again when another thunderous boom echoed through the halls. Not wanting to wait out there any longer, he quietly opened the door and peeked inside to see Twilight and Dark peacefully asleep in their bed. Walking in over to the edge of the bed, Soul propped himself up on his back legs and poked at them.

"Dark? Dark?" he whispered, eliciting a groan from Dark as he looked over to him.

"Soul?" Dark said groggily. "What is it?"

Shuffling his hooves around, Soul was about to answer him when the crack of lightning sounded through the room, causing him to let out another yelp and begin to shake. And even though the sound Soul made wasn't very loud, it was enough to wake Twilight.

"Dark? What's going on?" she tiredly asked.

"Soul's here," he began answering. "Turns out that he's afraid of thunder and lightning."

Leaning herself up, Twilight looked over to see Soul looking up at them. "Are you really afraid of lightning, Soul?"

Soul nodded. "That's kinda why I dug out that burrow inside the cave, since the lightning wouldn't get me there."

"Are you able to go back to sleep?" Instead of getting an answer, Twilight watched as Soul shifted around and blushed in embarrassment. Then, seeing him wince and shake at the sound of another thunderclap, Twilight sighed and used her magic to lift him up onto their bed. "Just for tonight, okay?"

With a small smile, Soul nodded in agreement before burrowing himself underneath the blankets between Twilight and Dark. Turning himself around so that the top of his head was sticking out, Soul snuggled down and began to relax. Hearing the thunder again, he winced and scooted down a little further. When he did, though, Twilight to drape a comforting foreleg over Soul while Dark wrapped an arm and wing over him and Twilight. Feeling the warmth, security, and a hint of love from the both of them, Soul barely reacted when the next sound of thunder hit his hears. As he started to relax and fall back asleep, he became unaware of Dark and Twilight talking.

"Did you know that this would work on him?" Dark quietly asked.

"I had my suspicions," Twilight answered. "Spike used to be afraid of thunderstorms too when he was younger, and letting him fall asleep with me always seemed to help him."

"Probably because he felt safe with you."

"Kinda like how I feel with you," she said with a kiss before a light-snoring caught her ears. Looking down at its source, she smiled as she saw Soul sound asleep with a peaceful smile on his muzzle. "And I guess he does too."

Author's Note

All credit for Clear Soul goes to EmberLight, who I would like to thank for letting me use this OC of his. Also, you can expect some unanswered questions of Soul to be answered in the next chapter.

Chapter 53- A Clear Soul

Dark stirred as the sound of raindrops hitting the window reached his ears. It was a pleasant sound, one that he always found relaxing to listen to, and even better to help him fall asleep. However, in this case, it wasn't very helpful as he needed to wake up and get his day started. It was made even worse though with Twilight still peacefully sleeping right next to him.

Well this sucks, Dark mentally sighed. This would be the perfect morning to be lazy and sleep in with her.

As Dark continued to admire the beautiful mare sleeping next to him, he felt something moving against his chest. Lifting his wing and the blanket, he saw that during some time while they were asleep, Soul had clung to Dark's chest and had buried his smiling muzzle into his warm coat.

And I guess he would like to sleep in too, he thought, placing a claw on his head. As he did, he felt Soul's hug on him tighten slightly. Guess after spending all of that time sleeping in a cold cave, the warmth of my coat and my fire sac must feel like heaven to him.

Laying his head back down, Dark was hoping to get a little more sleep in before he had to get up and take Soul in for his appointment. As he began to relax again, a voice quietly spoke to him.

"Looks like he really likes you."

Opening his eyes, Dark saw Twilight looking tiredly at them. "Probably because of how warm I am."

"Maybe, but you did save him from a pack of timberwolves. Like I said last night, he probably feels safer with you, which would explain why he kept so close to you yesterday."

"I guess." Dark looked back down to see Soul still sound asleep. As he did, a thought came to mind that caused him to smile with a small chuckle.

"What is it?" Twilight asked.

"Heh, it's nothing really," Dark dismissed. "Just a thought."

"Care to tell me?"

Hearing the sincerity in her voice, Dark blushed as he looked into her eyes. "It's... well..."

"Yes?"

Dark looked back down to Soul. "Well, seeing Soul asleep like this... it just made me wonder..."

"Go on."

Taking in a calming breath, Dark looked nervously at Twilight. "Would I be a good father?"

Twilight's face instantly lit up in a heated blush. "A-Are you asking if we... umm..."

"No, I'm not," Dark said with a headshake. "Granted that I've thought about it a few times, but I don't think that I'm quite ready to have foals of my own yet."

"Oh, okay," she said with a small sigh of relief. "Yeah, I don't think that I'm quite ready either. But what brought on your question if you'd be a good father?"

"Seeing Soul sleeping like this just made me wonder about it, and a few other things. Things like 'what would our foals look like?', 'would I be able to give them the love and attention they deserve?', 'can I handle being a father?', 'will I raise them right?', 'can I keep my family safe?'. You know, those kind of things."

Carefully scooting closer as to not squish Soul sleeping between them, Twilight kissed Dark reassuringly before nuzzling into his neck.

"I think that you would be a wonderful father," she told him. "You've told me before that you used to foalsit with your mom, and you've been good when handling Spike and the Crusaders whenever they come over. I know that you'll do whatever you can to keep us safe, just like I've seen you do with me. As for the other things? While that'll come with experience, I'm sure that you'll do great."

"You sure?" Dark asked, not quite sure of himself.

Wrapping her forelegs around him, Twilight hugged Dark as she nuzzled his cheek. "I am." A moment later, a similar thought came to her mind. "Um, Dark?"

"Yeah?"

"You're worried about being a good father, but what do you think of me? Do you think that I would be a good mother?"

Smiling softly, Dark wrapped an arm around Twilight and held her close. "I don't think that that's a question you'll ever have to ask yourself. If how Spike has turned out is of any indication, then I'd say that you'd make a great and loving mother, Twilight."

"Thank you," she smiled before another thought came to mind. "Hey, Dark?"

"Hmm?"

"Hypothetically speaking... if I was pregnant with your foal, what would you do?"

Surprised by the sudden question, Dark had to take a few seconds to collect himself. Once he did, he thought about it before answering Twilight.

"Well, first off, I'd try to convince your dad and brother not to try and kill me," he said with a small chuckle, earning him a small punch and frown from Twilight.

"Dark, I'm trying to be serious."

"Sorry, but that would honestly be one of the things that I would do. Other than that, though, I'd stay by your side during your pregnancy. And after that, we'd raise it together."

Smiling happily, Twilight sighed in relief and nestled her head beneath Dark's chin. "Thank you. You don't know how reassuring it is to hear you say that."

"You're welcome," he softly said, stroking her mane. A few moments later, Dark's eyes widened as a possible thought came to mind. "Umm, you're not actually pregnant, are you?"

"No. Why do you ask?"

"Oh, sorry. It's just that when somepony is speaking hypothetically, it usually means that they aren't."

Twilight nodded. "I can see why you would believe that. I'll admit that it's happened to me a few times too." Twilight looked up at Dark with a teasing look. "You're not disappointed, are you?"

Dark shrugged. "Not really, but if you continue to tease me like that, I might start to think otherwise."

With a giggle, Twilight playfully bopped him on the nose. "Well that's too bad, since both of us just agreed that we aren't ready yet. That, and I don't think that Soul would appreciate us doing it with him in the same room."

"Yeah, I wouldn't."

Hearing his voice, Dark and Twilight both blushed and looked down at Soul. However, for some reason, Soul was still sound asleep.

"You heard that, right?" Dark asked Twilight, getting a small nod in return.

"I'm up here."

Looking up, Dark and Twilight saw Soul floating above them. However, unlike his usual self, Soul's body was translucent, his colors had turned to a pale-blue, and his normally spiky mane was flowing like it was under water. Also, another thing that they found unnatural about all of this was that as Soul floated, he did so without the use of his wings. Just as Dark was about to question him, a certain voice in his head interrupted him

Well, that's something you don't see every day, Nocturne commented.

Do you know what's going on with him? Dark mentally asked him with a hint of worry.

Calm down, he's fine. He just separated his soul from his body. I've seen this before, but only a few times.

And how many times would be a few for you?

If I had to guess, I'd say about three others.

So this is rare then.

Very rare. Plus, it looks like he knows about it. Perhaps you'd better ask him about it instead of me.

Yeah. Thanks.

Sure. Oh, and by the way. Dark could practically feel Nocturne grinning at him. You can expect to be teased by me in the future, daddy Dark.

Dark's brow furrowed in annoyance. I hate you, Nocturne.

I hate you too.

With his mental chat with Nocturne over with, Dark turned his attention back to the Soul floating above him.

"So, how'd you do this, Soul?" he curiously asked.

"How'd he- Dark! He shouldn't be like that! How can he be translucently floating right there when he's still asleep right here?! And why are you so calm about it?!"

"Nocturne told me that Soul detached his soul from his own body. And before you say anything, Soul is fine. This happens to be something that Nocturne has seen before. But I am curious, though, as to how you managed to do this, Soul, and how you learned it."

Floating down, Soul landed his hooves on the bed without a sound. "I don't know how I learned how to do it, I just do. As for how I can use it, it happens when there's a strong emotional source nearby, like how you two were just a few minutes ago."

"So what are you then?" Twilight asked curiously.

Soul shrugged. "I guess you could say that I'm a ghost while I'm like this."

"Neat. Can you turn invisible?" Dark wondered.

"Yeah, I can." After answering, Soul shuffled a hoof around nervously. "Also, I should apologize to you two."

"It's alright, Soul," Twilight said. "Granted that this is a bit of a surprise, but it's not that bad. Although, would it be alright if I could run some tests on you? This ability of yours is rather interesting."

"Umm, I guess? But that's not what I wanted to apologized to you for."

"Oh? What is it then?"

Soul looked up to them with a guilty expression. "I'm sorry for ruining your picnic."

"What do you mean?"

"The pie that was dropped on Dark's head during Hearts and Hooves Day? That was me."

"Wait. You're the one who pied all of those ponies?" Dark questioned, getting a small nod from Soul. "Why?"

Soul shifted around nervously. "I like to play pranks on other ponies, and with all of the love I was feeling from Hearts and Hooves Day, I... couldn't really help myself."

Dark shook his head. A prankster who can turn invisible. Better not tell Pinkie about this or else those two will have a field day.

"Well, while it was a bit of a surprise, you didn't actually ruin our picnic," Twilight spoke, earning a surprised look from Soul. "Yes, it was nice and romantic at first, but thanks to you, it became funny and even more memorable."

"So you're not mad?" Soul asked cautiously.

"Meh, not really," Dark shrugged. "Now that we know it was you who did it, and that it was done as a playful and harmless prank, we'll no longer have to find out who was responsible for it." Dark paused and gave Soul a stern look. "However, even though it was a harmless prank, you should apologize to everypony you pranked, especially Discord. Everypony thought that it was him who did that to us, so he'll be the first you'll apologize to today."

While he was happy that he wasn't in too much trouble, Soul still hung his head down. "Yes, Dark."

"Good. Now then, why don't you return back to your body and go get yourself washed up. We'll have breakfast ready for you when you're done before going off to your appointment."

Giving him a nod, Soul walked over and dove back into his body. A few seconds later, his eyes fluttered open before stretching out with a yawn and getting up. Then, after thanking them for letting him sleep with them during the thunderstorm last night, Soul opened the door and made his way towards the bathroom.

With Soul gone, Dark flopped his head back down on his pillow with a groan. As he did, he heard Twilight giggling at him, causing him to crack an eye open to see her smiling down at him.

"That was kinda cute and funny, you know?" Twilight said, leaning down and snuggling up with him.

"What was?" Dark asked confusingly.

"How you handled scolding him like that. For a moment there, you sounded like an actual father."

Blushing in embarrassment, Dark laid there while Twilight giggled again and gave him a loving kiss. "You know, Soul is technically an orphan."

Twilight sadly sighed. "Yeah."

"So... if we were to let him live here with us, wouldn't that make us his legal guardians?"

With her eyes slowly widening at what Dark was getting at, Twilight leaned up off of him and met his gaze.

"I guess that we would," she slowly said. "Dark?"

"Yeah?"

"Are we even ready for this?"

"My dad told me once that nopony is ever truly ready for parenthood... but," Dark wrapped his arms and wings around Twilight in an assuring embrace, "I'm sure that we'll be fine. And if we need any help or advice, I'm sure that your parents, Princess Celestia, and our friends will be able to help us."

Feeling a little more at ease about it, Twilight sighed and let herself relax in Dark's embrace. "I guess your right."

After laying there and enjoying each other's company for another minute, Dark and Twilight finally decided to get up and get their day started. Getting themselves ready, they both made their way to the kitchen and began making breakfast for them and the others. Not long after they were finished and had everyone's places set, Spike and Pyre walked in with Soul following shortly after. Making quick work of their breakfast, they each helped with the dishes before Dark, Twilight, and Soul made their way to the castle doors. But before they could get to them, the doors burst open with Applejack and Pinkie running towards them.

"Applejack? Pinkie? What's going on?" Twilight asked.

"It's the map," Applejack answered, turning to the side to show her cutie mark glowing.

"Hey!" Pinkie exclaimed, noticing Soul standing between Dark and Twilight and pointing to him. "Who's that? I think I might've seen him before."

"This is Clear Soul," Twilight introduced. "He's going to be staying here with us."

"Ah think Ah remember Apple Bloom sayin' somethin' about him," Applejack mused. "Somethin' about him prankin' one of their classmates in school a year or so ago."

"She deserved it," Soul pouted. "Diamond Tiara wouldn't stop making fun of me, so I pranked her."

Dark looked down at him. "Soul, what did you do to her?"

Soul looked up to Twilight for help, only to get a curious look from her. "I... you know that prank where you crack a door open and put a bucket of water on top it, so that when it opens up it'll spill water all over the pony who opens it?"

Pinkie snorted. "Oh yeah, that's always a good one."

"Well, I didn't exactly use water."

"What did you use then?"

"... green paint."

While Pinkie was laughing at the prank and Applejack snickered, Dark and Twilight remained silent... at least, not on the outside as Dark and Nocturne were laughing on the inside.

"Did you apologize to her after you did it?" Twilight asked in a scolding tone.

"Yes," he sighed. "I did and served detention for it."

"Good. So then, will you be pranking her again?"

"She's gotten better thanks to the Crusaders at school, so if I do, it won't be as payback."

"Works for me," Dark said, earning him a look from Twilight. "What?"

"Are you trying to encourage him to prank his classmates?"

"Not really, but as far as we know, pranks could very well be what his cutie mark will be. He seems to be good at it."

"Oh! That would be so super amazing!" Pinkie said with a bounce, causing Dark to mentally facepalm at what he just said. "Just think of the pranking spree we could go on! Ooh! And we could also invite Discord too!"

"As interestin' as that would be, sugarcube," Applejack began, "we still have a cutie map call ta answer."

"Oh, right. What's going on with your cutie marks now?" Dark wondered.

"Follow me and I'll explain," Twilight said, turning around to lead them to the throne room.

Along the way, Twilight explained to Dark and Soul about the cutie map, and how it would summon her and her friends whenever a friendship problem arose. Of course, the parings would be specific to the problem, but they never knew who would go, or what it would be about until they arrived. Once they arrived at the throne room, they approached the table as it began to show an projection of Equestria on it. And with a quick glance, they saw Applejack's and Pinkie's cutie marks.

"Looks like the map is calling you two to Appleloosa," Twilight observed.

"Isn't this great, Applejack?!" Pinkie excitingly asked. "We get to see your family and Braeburn again. Maybe we'll even get to see Little Strongheart."

"Ah just hope that everypony is alright," Applejack said. "Let's get goin', Pinkie. Ah wanna get our tickets and catch the next train ta Appleloosa."

"Already taken care of," Pinkie said, holding a pair of train tickets in her hooves.

Deciding not to start questioning her, Applejack lead Pinkie towards the throne room doors and waved goodbye as they left.

Once they were gone, Soul looked curiously up to Dark and Twilight. "Is that pink pony always like that?"

"More or less," Twilight said with a shrug. However, upon hearing the clock chime, she looked up to it, causing her expression to turn to one of panic. "Souls appointment! We're going to be late!"

In a act of panic, Twilight lit up her horn to cast a teleportation spell. As she did, she one again forgot about Dark, and before she could be reminded of it, they were gone in a flash for Ponyville Hospital.

Nurse Redheart was sitting behind her desk, reading a magazine and enjoying the slow hours that were Sundays. That was, until a flash of light briefly blinded her. Blinking the blind spots out of her eyes, she looked over to the center of the lobby to see Twilight and a colt looking down at Dark, who was laying on the floor groaning. At first she thought that he was wounded like the last time Twilight teleported him in, but with a second glance, she noticed the lack of blood.

"Alright, Twilight, what happened to him this time?" she sighed, facehoofing and shaking her head in disbelief. Really, I shouldn't be surprised by this anymore.

"Sorry," Twilight apologized. "Dark gets teleportation sickness."

"Then why did you teleport him here with you?"

Twilight meekly rubbed the back of her head. "I saw that we were going to be late for Soul's appointment, so in a moment of panic, I kinda teleported us here without thinking."

Nurse Redheart shook her head again. "Well, at least it isn't like that night you teleported him in here after he was attacked by those alpha timberwolves. You know that it took the janitors all night and part of the morning to clean up all of that blood he left behind?"

Twilight cringed. "Don't remind me."

"Right. Sorry about that," she apologized before looking at Soul with a welcoming smile. "And you must be Clear Soul, right?"

"Yes, ma'am," Soul answered, "but you can just call me Soul if you want."

"Okay, Soul. It's nice to meet you. I am Nurse Redheart." She paused as she walked out from behind the counter. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I'll go and let the doctor know that you're here."

Twilight and Soul watched as Nurse Redheart trotted down one of the hallways. Once she was out of sight, their attention was brought back by the sound of Dark groaning.

"Is he going to be okay?" Soul asked, poking Dark with a hoof.

"He'll be fine," Twilight answered, lighting her horn and placing it against Dark's forehead. A few seconds later, she stepped away and watched as Dark opened his eyes again. "Feeling better?"

"Yeah," Dark groggily answered. "Really wish there was a way I could get over that."

"Sorry about that."

"It's fine," he said, getting back up on all fours with a little help from Twilight.

Just as they got Dark back up and standing steadily, Nurse Redheart came back with an assistant and a gurney. Upon seeing Dark back up, however, she rolled her eyes and dismissed her assistant with the gurney. Once he began making his way back to return the gurney, Nurse Redheart gave Dark a teasing smirk.

"I thought you said that you wouldn't come back sick, Dark?" she playfully teased.

"With a cold," Dark corrected. "Teleportation sickness is completely different."

"You were still sick, though." Nurse Redheart laughed when Dark looked away, muttering to himself. "Anyway, the doctor will see you now. This way please."

Heeding her, Dark, Twilight, and Soul followed behind Nurse Redheart. After a few minutes of traversing through the hallways and a flight of stairs, she stopped in front of a single door and opened it for them to enter. Once inside, Twilight and Dark took a seat on a pair of chairs sitting up against the wall while Soul sat on the clinic table. After about five minutes of waiting, a familiar doctor walked in.

"Well now, it's been a while, hasn't it, Sir Dark?" he asked, causing Dark to give him a small smile.

"If I remember correctly, the last time I saw you was when I came to help heal everypony who got hurt during the invasion last fall," Dark said.

"True, but I was actually referring to when Princess Twilight brought you here half-dead."

Looking back on that, I don't think that I was actually that close to death, considering that I technically am Death, Dark darkly thought with a chuckle.

"If it's alright, could we please not talk about that night?" Twilight asked, cringing as memories of that night came back. "I'd rather not have to think about it."

"Of course, sorry, Princess," the doctor apologized with a small bow. "Now then, you're Clear Soul, correct?"

"Yes, sir," he answered, patiently sitting and waiting.

"Good. Now then, I understand that you're here for a checkup. But before I begin, I have to ask you something."

"Yes?"

"Is what Dark said to Nurse Redheart about you living in the Everfree Forest true?"

Soul's gaze fell. "Yes, sir."

The doctor nodded. "Alright then. In that case, I'll need to take a blood sample from you."

"W-Why?"

"Because I want to check your blood for infections." He paused and turned to Dark and Twilight. "That is, if it's alright with you two."

"It wouldn't hurt to be safe," Twilight voiced.

"Alright then." Heading on over to the cabinets, the doctor opened one of them with his magic before taking out a needle with a syringe and uncapping it. Walking back over to Soul, he took one of his hooves and was about to insert the needle into his foreleg before Soul jerked his hoof away in fear. "Soul, I'm going to have to poke you with this needle and take some of your blood. It won't hurt much, just a little prick."

"But I don't like needles," Soul complained.

Sighing sympathetically, Dark walked over to Soul's other side and held his claw out to him.

"You wanna know a little trick my dad taught me to help me get over being poked by needles?" he asked.

"What?"

"He would hold my hoof and have me look away from where they were sticking it. And if it hurt, I would squeeze his hoof. Do you wanna try it?"

Giving him a nervous nod, Soul held Dark's claw in his hoof.

Taking that as his cue, the doctor retook Soul's free forehoof into his own and began to insert the needle into his foreleg. As he did, Soul winced and, like Dark had suggested, he squeezed Dark's claw with his hoof. After ten seconds had passed, the doctor removed the needle and placed a bandage over the spot.

"There, all done," he announced, eliciting a sigh of relief from Soul.

Setting the blood-filled syringe on a tray, the doctor washed his hooves before reaching into one of his pockets with his magic and levitating Soul a cherry-flavored lollipop. Seeing him happily sucking on it, the doctor chuckled before taking the tray out of the room, leaving the three alone again.

"See, now was that really so bad?" Dark smiled.

"I... guess not," Soul mumbled before going back at his lollipop. "How long will this take?"

"You mean the bloodwork?" Twilight asked, getting a nod from Soul. "Nopony can say for sure. It usually depends on the type of equipment they're using, plus whether or not the blood has contaminates in it."

"So we might be here for a while then?"

"Maybe. We'll just have to wait and find out."

As the minutes rolled by, Soul asked for some stories to help pass the time. And while Dark and Twilight did agree with the thought, they kept silent on what they knew about the failed Canterlot invasion. With several stories gone, they looked back up at the clock to see that almost forty-five minutes have passed, causing Soul to give a bored huff.

"How much longer is this going to take?" he whined.

"These things take time, Soul," Twilight told him. "We'll just have to be patient and wait."

As if on cue, the doorknob turned before the doctor walked in with a clipboard floating in front of him. Once inside, he closed the door shut while still looking at the test results with a confused and uneasy look on his face.

"So, how'd the test results turn out?" Dark wondered.

Looking up from his clipboard, the doctor looked between Dark, Twilight, and Soul. "Well... there's no sign of infection if that's what you're asking. There are a few things, however. Firstly is that he's slightly malnourished, which as I understand it, Princess Twilight has already told you about, which you then told Nurse Redheart."

"Yep."

"Alright. Now comes the real problem." He paused as he tried to figure out how to best say it. However, thinking of no better way to say it, he decided to throw caution out the window and just come out with it. "Something went wrong with the tests. I ran the blood three times over, but each came back with the same result."

"May I see it?" Twilight asked.

"That depends. As I understand it, Soul is an orphan. So, would that mean that you will be his legal guardian?"

Twilight nodded. "Yes. Dark and I talked about it last night and decided to adopt him. We'll go talk to the mayor tomorrow about the paperwork."

"Really?" Soul asked, getting a pat on the head from Dark.

"Yep. That is, if you'll let us," he answered, earning a smile from Soul before he leapt off of the clinic table and clung to Dark.

"I'll take that as a 'yes' then," the doctor said, levitating the clipboard over to Twilight for her to look at. "Now, I don't know what's going on, but from what I could tell, his blood is pony... but..."

Twilight arched an eyebrow. "But?"

"But at the same time, it's not. To be honest, the only kind of blood that I can recall seeing that's remotely similar to Soul's is Sir Dark's."

Returning to the test results, Twilight began looking over them intently. No space on those sheets of paper were safe from her observative gaze. As she continued to read, though, one detail caught her attention and forced her to read it over to make sure she wasn't just seeing things. When she did, her eyes widened slightly as she looked up from the papers and over to Soul.

"Princess?" the doctor spoke up. "Did you find something?"

Twilight slowly nodded. "I did." She returned the test results back to the doctor and walked over to Dark and Soul. "Soul. Is there something that you'd like to tell us?"

Sensing the change in her mood, Soul let go of Dark and hid behind him. "I-I don't know what you're talking-"

"Soul, please don't lie to me," Twilight interrupted with a soft yet firm tone. "I know what you are."

"Twilight?" Dark said confusingly. "What are you talking about?"

Twilight glanced over to Dark. "Like the doctor said, his blood is more closer to yours than anypony else's. As for why," She looked back down to Soul, "it's because he's only half-pony."

"But he looks just fine to me, so he can't be a kirin."

Twilight shook her head. "He's not. Unlike you being half-dragon, Soul is half-changeling. That's why there were problems with the blood tests."

While the doctor's knees began to shake a little at the news that there was even a half-changeling in the room with him, Dark was a bit more relaxed about the situation.

Well... that explains a few things, he thought.

Feeling Soul tug on his wing and use it to hide himself, Dark turned his head to look down at him. "Is it true, Soul?"

"Y-Yes," he shakily answered. "It's because I'm part changeling that the Headmistress of the orphanage called the guards on me."

"Who were your parents then?" Twilight asked, subtly casting mental wards on herself, Dark, and the doctor.

"My mom was a changeling who ran away from the Hive around my age. She didn't like how Queen Chrysalis referred to ponies as being just a food and power source, and didn't want any part in it. That's why the queen had mom hunted. Ten years later, my dad who was a pegasus, found her in her changeling form, but he didn't cower away like most other ponies would. Instead, he approached her and let her stay with him. As time passed, they grew closer and eventually got married without anypony knowing what my mom was. Of course, one of the queen's spies had found out and had started hunting them all over again."

Twilight sighed. "Alright, I understand. Now, about your ability to separate your soul from your body. I take it that it's because of you being half-changeling?"

"I don't know. Maybe?"

"How did you first come across it?"

Soul's gaze fell as he began to whimper. "W-When I saw m-mom and d-dad..."

Using his wing already draped around him, Dark pulled Soul into a comforting and supportive hug.

Feeling guilty for causing him to cry, Twilight walked over and joined them. "I'm sorry, Soul. I didn't mean to make you so sad."

"I-I know," he mumbled.

"If you don't mind me asking, how did you manage to escape the changeling?"

"A m-manticore nearby ate him."

Standing off to the side observing, the doctor went over to the cabinets and took out a notebook. Skimming through a few of the papers, he came found the one he was looking for. Writing a copy of it down with his magic, he brought it with him as he walked over to Dark and Twilight.

"If you are willing, I have a suggestion for you," he told them, getting both of their attention before handing the piece of paper over to them. "Perhaps it would be best to bring him to a psychiatrist. The emotional and psychological damage from Soul witnessing his parents die is bad enough, but we also have to consider how young he was when it happened too. I would offer to do it myself, but this is out of my range of expertise."

"Thank you," Twilight thanked. "I'm sure it'll help him." At least, I hope it will.

"Very well then. In that case, shall I find her and have an appointment set for him?"

"That would be very helpful. Thank you."

"You're welcome, Princess," the doctor said with a small bow. With his examination on Soul done, he watched as they were about to leave. However, before they left, he placed a hoof on Twilight's shoulder. "Excuse me, Princess, but would you mind staying for just a moment?"

"Oh... alright."

"We'll be waiting in the lobby," Dark said. "Take your time."

"Thank you, Sir Dark," the doctor thanked.

"You're welcome, but please just Dark. I really don't get why you keep calling me 'Sir'."

"It's because of you courting Princess-"

Dark raised a claw, cutting him off. "That has nothing to do with who I am. I'm dating Twilight because I love her, not because of her title as Princess."

"It's true," Soul surprisingly spoke. "I can feel that his love for her is just that. There isn't a hint of deceit in it." He sighed a breath of relief. "It feels so nice to talk about that stuff out loud again."

"Just be sure to not do it in public," the doctor told him. "While I'm sure that Princess Twilight and... Dark, wouldn't tell anypony outright, and I'm bound by patient confidentiality, it would still be a good idea to keep you being a half-changeling a secret."

"He's right," Twilight agreed. "The ponies here in Ponyville do tend to overreact at times."

"Okay, Twilight," Soul answered before walking out with Dark.

Once they were gone, Twilight shut the door and looked back to the doctor. "Alright, what was it you wanted to talk about now?"

"It's about Soul," he answered. "Tell me, have you noticed anything unusual in his behavior?"

Twilight tapped her chin in thought. "I can't say. I mean, we just met him yesterday afternoon."

"Fair enough, but still, do you find anything unusual?"

"Not really. He does tend to keep close to Dark, but considering that he save him from a pack of timberwolves yesterday, I shouldn't be surprised."

The doctor hummed with a nod. "Yes, I would think so too. However, there might be another reason."

"Like what?"

"Now this is just a theory, but perhaps it's because he's found a connection with Dark."

"Why? Because they're both half-pony?"

"Exactly. I believe that Soul is clinging to Dark, not because he's half-changeling and is feeding off of his emotions, but because he's found somepony who can relate to him somewhat."

"Again, because they're both half-pony," she said, more of an observation then a question.

"Yes."

Twilight nodded. "Aright. Thank you for bringing that to my attention."

"You're welcome, Princess."

"Was there anything else you wanted to talk about?"

"Thank you, but no."

"Alright then. In that case, thank you for helping us today."

"You are most welcome," he said, opening the door for Twilight with a bow.

Making her way back down the hallway, Twilight came back to the lobby where Dark and Soul waited. Smiling at the sight of Soul munching on a lollipop that he got from Nurse Redheart, Twilight, Dark, and Soul walked out of the hospital and made their way down the road.

"Guess the rain stopped," Twilight observed. "So, where off to now?"

Dark looked back to Soul, who was sitting on his back, enjoying his lollipop. "Maybe some lunch at Sugarcube Corner?" he suggested. "You know, something to help lift our moods a little. That, and I'm starting to get hungry." Soon after he said that, Dark heard a stomach rumble from on top of him. "And so is he, apparently."

Their time at Sugarcube Corner was quiet at the start, but after their order arrived, things were a little better. Though they didn't talk much due to the fact that they were all too busy eating, they still enjoyed their time there as it helped improve their moods. After they were finished, they paid for the food and thanked the Cakes before beginning their walk over to Fluttershy's cottage to see her and Discord.

"Umm... Twilight," Soul softly called.

"Yes?"

"... do you hate me?"

"Of course I don't," she said, a hint of sadness in her voice. "Why would you think that?"

"Because when you found out about me, I could feel that you were angry and scared."

With a sad sigh, Twilight leaned down and nuzzled Soul reassuringly. "I'm sorry, Soul. That was very rude of me. It's not your fault that I feel that way about changelings."

"Why then?"

Twilight hesitated, thinking of a way to tell him but without revealing anything too specific. "Let's just say that I had an unpleasant run-in with Queen Chrysalis that almost ruined my life, and that of my brother and sister-in-law."

"Oh... okay."

Seeing how sour the mood and turned, Dark thought of a topic to try and lighten it. "So, Soul. Since you're part changeling, does that mean that can you shapeshift?"

Walking alongside him, Soul looked up to him sadly. "I can, but I can't seem to control it."

"Why not?" Twilight wondered.

"Mom thought that it was because I'm half-pony, and that it's somehow messing with my changeling side. My eyes seem to be the things that will change the most."

"So you could change at any given moment?"

"Yes."

"Is that how the other orphans at the orphanage found out that you were part changeling?"

Soul frowned in remembrance. "It is. I think that I accidentally shapeshifted when I was asleep, since it was their shouting that woke me up."

"So we have a half-pony, half-changeling, who can't control their transformation," Dark summed up. "Well then, this'll be interesting."

Twilight was about to comment on that when she felt wood beneath her hooves instead of dirt. Looking back in front of her, she saw that they'd already made it to Fluttershy's cottage.

"Well, we're here," she said, causing Soul to nervously fall back behind them. "It's alright. I'm sure they'll forgive you."

"But that ugly creature guy said that he would turn me into doll for fillies if he found me," Soul protested.

"I'm sure he was just exaggerating," Dark dismissed before knocking on the door. A few moments later, Fluttershy opened the door. "Hey, Fluttershy."

"Oh! Hello, Dark, Twilight," she greeted before seeing Soul hiding behind Dark. "Umm, if you don't mind my asking, who's that?"

Using his tail, Dark slid Soul out from behind him and presented him to Fluttershy. "This is Clear Soul, and he has something that he'd like to say to you and Discord."

"Really?" she questioned. "Why?"

"Trust us, Fluttershy," Twilight said with a small smile, "it'll make sense soon enough."

"Alright. One moment please."

Turing around back into her cottage, Fluttershy called out for Discord, who appeared in a flash of light soon after she called for him.

"Yes, Fluttershy?" Discord asked before noticing their guests she was pointing towards. "Ahh, well hello there. So, what brings you two- three? Well now, who do we have here?"

Floating through the door and over to them, Discord circled above them, causing Soul to nervously back up and take shelter beneath Dark. Seeing how scared he was making him, Discord floated away and back over by Fluttershy's side before she could scold him.

"So, who's the kid?" he asked, smirking at Dark. "Don't tell me it's yours, Dark?"

Dark didn't answer him. Instead, he just gave him a deadpan stare that said "Are you serious?".

"Well..." Twilight meekly began, pawing at the ground with a hoof. "Not biologically, but we did decide that we're going to adopt him."

Fluttershy's eyes widened at the news, and before anyone knew it, she'd enveloped Twilight in a hug.

"This is so amazing!" Fluttershy squeed before pulling in Dark and Soul. "You two are going to make such wonderful parents."

"Umm... thank you, Fluttershy," Twilight said with a blush.

Letting Dark and Twilight go, Fluttershy focused her attention on Soul as she continued to hug him. But, despite him feeling apprehensive at first, the love and kindness he was feeling from Fluttershy was enough for him to relax and melt into her embrace.

"So? What made you two decide to adopt him?" Fluttershy asked.

Dark sighed. "I found him yesterday being chased by a pack of timberwolves in the Everfree Forest."

Fluttershy gasped. "Why would they do that? I thought that I talked to them about it?"

"I think that they might've been new around here, since one of them tried to attack me."

"You said 'tried'," Discord noticed. "I take it that they didn't get very far?"

Dark shook his head. "Barely got off the ground before I turned it to splinters. The other three left right after that without any fuss."

"And what about his parents?" Fluttershy asked, getting gloom looks from both Twilight and Dark. Figuring out what happened to them, Fluttershy tightened her hold on Soul. "Ohh, you poor thing. Would you like to come inside and have some milk and fresh cookies?"

Feeling Soul nodding against her coat, Fluttershy led Dark and Twilight in while carrying Soul. Sitting him down on the couch, Fluttershy made her way into the kitchen and returned a minute later with a tray of steaming cooking and a glass of cold milk. Setting them down on the coffee table, Fluttershy took a seat beside Discord on the other couch while Dark and Twilight sat on either side of Soul.

"So anyway, you said that Soul had something that he needed to tell us?" Fluttershy said, returning to the subject that brought them there to see them.

Eating the last bite of his cookie, Soul downed it with some milk before looking nervously at Fluttershy and Discord.

"Y-Yes, Miss Fluttershy," he answered.

"You can just call me Fluttershy if you want," she warmly said.

"Okay."

"So, kid, what is it you wanted to say?" Discord asked, his patience starting to shorten.

Soul gulped nervously. "That I'm sorry."

"Sorry? For what?" Fluttershy asked.

"For splattering him with those two pies," he said, pointing to Discord, who raised an eyebrow at him.

"So, that pie thing was your doing then?" Discord asked, getting a nod from Soul.

"When he told us about it, we decided to bring him around Ponyville so that he could apologize for it," Twilight spoke.

"Well now," Fluttershy began, "as good of an idea as that is for him to do, I wouldn't say that what he did was bad exactly."

"Really?" Soul asked.

"Yes. I'll admit that it was kinda funny, and the pie was still good afterwards."

"Wait, what?" Twilight questioned.

"It's true," Discord said, rubbing the side of his neck as he recalled what happened. "Fluttershy didn't seem to mind the pie covering my face and dripping down my neck, so she went on ahead and ate it. Although, the fangs weren't all that great."

"I said I was sorry," Fluttershy said with a small pout. "I didn't mean to bite your neck. I just couldn't help myself."

"Why would you want to eat pie off of him?" Soul asked curiously.

Fluttershy blushed. "Umm... well, you see..."

"Perhaps when you're older we'll tell you," Twilight suddenly said before looking intently at Dark.

Catching the look she was giving him, Dark's eyes widened as he figured out what Twilight was subtly asking him to do... again.

"Ohhh no! Nope! Nope! Nope! We already agreed that it would be your turn since I already talked to Spike about it!" he protested.

"But wouldn't it make more sense for you to do it since you're a stallion and I'm a mare?" Twilight questioned. "Besides, I'm sure that Soul would feel more comfortable if you did it instead of me."

"But we already agreed on it."

"Please?" she asked, now giving him a small pout with puppy-dog eyes.

Feeling his walls instantly crumbling at the sight of it, Dark sighed in defeat and gave her a nod. "Alright, I'll do it."

With a bright smile, Twilight leaned over and gave Dark a kiss on the cheek. "Thank you. And don't you worry." Twilight leaned up to Dark's ear and lowered her voice. "I'll be sure to make it up to you."

"Oh... my."

Unfortunately, Twilight wasn't as quiet as she thought she was as the others heard. Remembering where they were, Dark and Twilight looked back over to see that Fluttershy's face had turned red while Discord smirked, sitting on a theater chair with a bag of popcorn.

"Oh, don't mind us," he said, tossing another piece of popcorn into his mouth.

Doing their best to keep their growing blushes down, Dark and Twilight both hopped down from the couch.

"S-Sorry about that, Fluttershy," Twilight apologized.

"It's... um... alright I guess," she replied.

"Anyway, we came so that Soul could apologize for his prank. Now that that's done, we can go onto the next pony. Come along, Soul."

"Yes, Twilight," Soul said, hopping down from the couch before looking up over to Fluttershy. "Thank you for the milk and cookies, Fluttershy."

"Y-You're welcome," Fluttershy stammered, trying and failing to keep her face from heating up.

Walking them over to the door, Fluttershy waved goodbye to them as she watched them cross the small bridge to her cottage. When she was sure that they weren't coming back, she slammed the door shut and locked it before flying over to Discord and knocking him over.

"Oof! Fluttershy, what was that-"

Discord was silenced as Fluttershy's lips suddenly occupied his own. Soon after, Discord found Fluttershy's tongue working its way into his mouth and dominating his own tongue. With a small moan, he allowed for her to continue with little resistance.

I may have to thank Dark later for this, Discord thought with a happy hum.

Suddenly feeling Fluttershy breaking their kiss, Discord looked up to see her panting while giving him a seductive, half-lidded gaze. As she did, she spoke in a husky voice, punctuating each word with a poke to his chest.

"You. Me. Bedroom. Now"

Dark, Twilight, and Soul were now on the dirt road leading through Sweet Apple Acres. During their walk, Dark and Twilight remained silent as they were still embarrassed about what they said in front of Fluttershy, Discord, and Soul. However, while they were being quiet, Soul kept asking why they were acting like this. Thankfully for Dark and Twilight, the Apple's house had just come into view, causing them to pick up the pace. Once they were in the yard, they looked around before walking up to the door and giving it a knock. A few seconds later, Granny Smith opened it for them.

"Now what are y'all knockin' on the door for?" she asked them. "Y'all are practically family. There's no need ta be so formal 'bout these kinda things."

"Sorry, Granny," Dark apologized. "It's more force of habit."

"Ah know, ah know. But enough of y'all jabberin', come on in already." Granny stepped aside to let them in. As she did, she noticed Soul walking in with them. "Who's the youngin'?"

"This is Clear Soul, or just Soul as he prefers to be called. And he's going to be living with us."

Humming to herself, Granny circled around the colt, occasionally poking at him. "He's barely got any meat on them bones," she said with a disapproving frown. "Well now, we'll just have ta fix that, won't we?"

"We plan on helping with that, Miss Smith," Twilight said.

"Sugarcube, ya know that y'all can call me Granny, right?" she asked. "No need for all of them proper and fancy names and whatnot. Besides, Ah doubt that Ah'll be around for too much longer anyway."

"I'm sure that with your lifestyle and diet that you'll be living for quite a while yet," Dark said, trying his best to not think about such a day. Especially with his position.

Granny shook her head. "Well, Ah guess we'll just have ta wait and find out. Oh, by the way, Dark." Granny walked up to him and slapped him upside the back of his head. "Why haven't ya come by ta visit your kin lately?" she scolded.

Wincing, Dark rubbed the sore spot with a claw. "I'm sorry, Granny, but I've been busy lately."

"Too busy ta pay us a quick visit?" she questioned, smacking him on the head again. "Even if it's only by adoption, you're still an Apple ta us."

"Yes, Granny," Dark surrendered, causing Granny to give a satisfied nod. That was, until she slapped him upside the head again. "Oww! What did I do to deserve that one?!"

"That, sonny, wasn't the slapping that ya deserved, but the one that ya needed. But, then again, it could also be because I just felt like it," she cackled, causing Dark to grumble beneath his breath. "So, what brings y'all over ta Sweet Apple Acres today?"

"Is Big Mac here?" Twilight asked.

"Eeyup."

Turning around, they saw Big Mac walk into the living room with Cheerilee following beside him.

"Cheerilee? What are you doing here?" Twilight asked.

"Oh, she's just here ta tell us how long they've been together," Apple Bloom said, walking up from behind them with a smug look on her face.

Big Mac sighed. "She's been doin' that ever since she found out."

"How'd they find out?" Dark wondered.

"Turns out that Spike and the girls had planned on having their Hearts and Hooves Day picnic at the gazebo like we did," Cheerilee sighed before noticing Soul with them. "Oh, hello, Soul. What are you doing here? I barely see or hear of you outside of school."

"Umm... well, you see, Miss Cheerilee," Soul nervously began, only for his words to fail him.

Feeling a nudge from Twilight, Dark leaned over to her and raised a wing for them to whisper in private.

"Something up, Twilight?" he asked.

"It just occurred to me that Cheerilee probably doesn't know about Soul's living arrangements," she answered, causing Dark to peek up above his wing at Cheerilee.

"What are you suggesting?"

"I say that since both she and Big Mac are here, we can get two things done at the same time. You go with Soul so that he can apologize to Big Mac, and I'll talk with Cheerilee about Soul and how he's living with us."

"Alright, but what about him being a half-changeling?"

Twilight bit her lip. "While I'd rather not tell anypony outside of those we can trust unconditionally, I believe that Cheerilee would be one of those ponies. Besides, she should probably know about it."

Taking a moment to think about it, Dark gave Twilight an agreeing nod before folding his wing back down. With their plan set, Dark took Soul and Big Mac over back to the kitchen to talk while Twilight and Cheerilee sat down on one of the couches. Asking for a little privacy, Granny and Apple Bloom made their way over to the kitchen to hear what they guys had to talk about.

With them alone, Twilight began to explain to Cheerilee about the recent developments regarding Soul. As she explained it, she didn't leave anything out. Twilight went on to tell her about how Dark found Soul, that he's been an orphan for the last few years, how his parents died and how she was indirectly involved, and finally, their plans to adopt him.

By the time Twilight was finished, Cheerilee was softly weeping. Not just for what Soul's been through, but because of Dark and Twilight taking him in, and also for how she failed to have noticed it before.

"I should have known," she softly said, getting a comforting pat on the back from Twilight. "It makes all too much sense now. From how similar his parents' signature was to his own hoofwriting, to how I've never met his parents at any of the parent-teacher conferences."

"It's alright, Cheerilee," Twilight said, supporting. "You can't blame yourself for not knowing before."

"But I should have. As a teacher, it is my responsibility to see to it that my students are well educated and taken care of, and I failed."

Twilight placed her hooves on Cheerilee's shoulders and turned her to face her. "How are his grades doing?"

"They're good. Mostly A's and a B or two."

Twilight nodded with a smile. "You see? Your a good teacher who's taught her student very well."

"But Soul living alone-"

"Wasn't something that you knew of at the time. And without knowing, you couldn't rightfully do anything to help him, could you?"

Cheerilee reluctantly shook her head. "No. I suppose not."

Seeming satisfied, Twilight moved her hooves around and pulled Cheerilee into a hug, to which she happily accepted. After a moment or two, they broke apart with Cheerilee wiping her eyes.

"So," Twilight unsurely began, "what are your thoughts on him being half-changeling."

Cheerilee just smiled. "I don't care about what he is. Soul is still my student either way, and I am happy to have him attending my class." Cheerilee let out a small giggled. "Even if he does like to prank his classmates once in a while."

"We found out about it and talked to him about it a little bit."

"It's alright. Most of them are playful and harmless, so I don't get too upset with him. Depending on what it is, I'll sometimes find myself laughing along with the students."

"Alright, but if he crosses any line that you don't like, just let Dark or I know, okay?"

"Okay. And, Twilight?"

"Hmm?"

"Thank you for being such a good friend to me."

"You're welcome," she said with a giggle. "Besides, what kind of a Princess of Friendship would I be if I wasn't a good friend?"

Cheerilee gave a small laugh. "I suppose. So then, I'll be coming to you and Dark involving anything school-related with Soul then?"

"That would be correct."

"And if both of you are unavailable?"

"Spike should be there, so you can tell him. But if he's gone too, then Dark's brother, Pyre, will be there."

"Dark has a brother?" Cheerilee asked confusingly. "I thought that he died back in Dark's old village?"

"Yes, but as it turns out, when Dark was turned into a kirin, he became a sibling to five other dragons."

"... one of them wouldn't by chance be that red dragon that I've heard of walking around Ponyville, would it?"

"That's him. I'll admit that he can be a bit blunt, stubborn, and headstrong at times, but he's a nice guy when you get to know him."

They were about to continue their conversation before Dark, Soul, and the Apples came out of the kitchen.

"You girls all done?" Dark asked, watching as Twilight and Cheerilee got off of the couch and walked over to them.

"We are," Twilight answered.

Along side them, Cheerilee leaned down and gave Soul a sympathetic hug. "I'm sorry about what happened to you, Soul."

"Thank you, Miss Cheerilee," Soul said, hugging her back.

"I understand that you'll be staying with Twilight and Dark from now on, but just keep in mind that if there's anything that you ever feel like you need or want to talk about, just come to me, okay?"

"Yes, Miss Cheerilee."

Giving him a quick squeeze, Cheerilee let go of Soul and let him return back to Dark and Twilight. "So then, Twilight, should I be expecting to see him at school tomorrow?"

"Yes you can," she answered. "But until then, we have a few more stops to make."

"In that case, y'all take care now, and be sure ta come back once in a while for a visit," Granny told them.

"Yes, Granny," Dark said with a chuckle. "Oh, by the way, will you be needing my help on the farm while Applejack is gone?"

"If'n we need y'all's help, we'll call for ya."

"Okay, Granny. Just remember that if you ever do need me that I'm there for you."

"Will do, sonny."

Bidding the Apple family farewell, Dark, Twilight, and Soul made their way back down the dirt path through the orchard.

"So, Soul," Dark began, "how many more do we have left?"

"Just three more," he answered.

"And who would they be?" Twilight asked.

Soul briefly hovered alongside them as he tapped a chin in thought. "I don't know their names, but one of them was that one scientist who likes to hang around with that mailmare with the mismatched eyes."

"Time Turner?"

"Yeah. That's him."

"Okay. Who else?"

"That unicorn who likes to sit weird and talks about hands and hoo-mans."

"That's Lyra."

"And lastly is that white unicorn with the purple shades."

"Purple shades?" Dark echoed, going through the names of Ponyville ponies until one came to mind. "Did she also have an electric-blue mane?"

"Yeah."

"You pied Vinyl Scratch?!"

"Who's she?"

"Perhaps you know her as DJ Pon-3?"

Soul's eyes widened. "Uh-oh."

"Uh-oh is right," Twilight said. "Thankfully, she and I are friends, so I'm sure that she'll go easy on you."

The rest of the day went by rather quickly with them traveling around Ponyville and tracking down everypony Soul pied. While Dark and Twilight were thankful that everypony had forgiven Soul, Octavia was still a little upset. Thankfully, she wasn't too upset about it, but did request that he never do it again... at least, if it somehow involved her.

Right now, though, after what felt like a long and exhausting day, everyone retired to their rooms to rest. And upon seeing the bed, Dark unceremoniously flopped on top of it.

"You think every day's going to be like today?" he asked.

"I can't say, Dark," Twilight replied. "But if it is, then we'll just have to accept it."

Dark sighed. "I suppose."

Twilight crawled into the bed. "You're not starting to regret this, are you?"

"No. I guess it's just going to take some getting used to is all." Dark crawled into bed with Twilight. "Guess I wasn't prepared for what was to come."

"Well, you did say that nopony is ready to become a parent, and it looks like we're one such example."

Chuckling, Dark pulled Twilight over to cuddle with. "I suppose so."

"Oh, by the way, we should tell the rest of our friends about Soul when Applejack and Pinkie return. I'm sure that they'll want to know about him being a half-changeling."

"Yeah," he sighed. "I just hope that they won't overreact to it too badly."

"I'm sure that they'll be okay with it. Not so sure how Rarity, Applejack, and Rainbow will take it with Soul being in the same class as their sisters, but I trust them, regardless."

"And what about your family, and Princess Celestia and Princess Luna?"

Twilight sighed, knowing that this would eventually come up. "Shiny and Cadence may not be so welcoming to it, but I'm sure that they'll understand after we explain the circumstances leading up to this. Same with the princesses."

"And your parents?"

"I don't think that we'll have to worry about them too much, if at all."

"That's good," Dark yawned, snuggling down. "In that case, I'm off to sleep."

With a surprise yelp, Dark found himself rolled onto his back with Twilight straddling him. A second later, he watched as her horn glowed and the walls, floor, and ceiling all glowed briefly with her magic.

"Uhh, Twilight?"

She looked down to him with a hungry gaze. "You don't get to sleep just yet, Dark."

"Huh?"

One of her hooves began traveling south on Dark's stomach. "I told you at Fluttershy's place that I was going to make it up to you. So? What do you say?"

Feeling much more awake now, Dark returned Twilight's look with a fanged grin, figuring that he could put-off sleeping for an hour or so.

Chapter 54- A Vision of the Past

Dark didn't know where he was. Last he remembered, he and Twilight fell asleep together in their bed. Now confusion, he blinked as he tried to look around at his surroundings. However, he couldn't move his head, leaving him to see the miles and miles of frozen tundra ahead of him. And beyond that on the horizon, a long string of mountains.

What the- were the hay am I? Dark wondered. Where's Twilight? How'd I get here... and why can't I move my body?!

A few minutes later, his body began to walk ahead on its own. As it did, Dark tried to strain his neck to look around at anything, but still couldn't. Refusing to give in, he continued his struggle, just to find himself tired. Relaxing, he watched as he continued to tread through the snow in his-

Wait. Why are my claws and arms black again?

His head beginning to turn, Dark saw a faint glimmer off in the far distance to his left. Feeling like ignoring it for some reason, he pressed onward towards the mountain range ahead of him.

"Such an eyesore," a familiar voice muttered. "One would think to do something to hide that light. With it shining like that, it'll act like a beacon for anything wanting to attack it."

Nocturne?! But how?! Dark questioned worryingly. What's going on here?! Did he overtake me in my sleep and we switched roles with me trapped inside his body now?!

As it to answer his question, his body deployed its black wings and took-off from the ground, but kept low to the ground as he flew. Ten minutes later, he reached the edge of a snow-covered forest where he then landed. Upon landing, Dark finally noticed just how tall he was as the tops of the pine trees barely came up to the top of his back, leaving his head easily exposed up above the treetops.

Oh, yeah. Something's up here, and I'm now inside Nocturne's body. It has to be it. Getting an idea, Dark tried to shout out at Nocturne to get his attention, but not a sound left his mouth. Confused, he tired to speak again, only to hear silence from him. Great. I can't talk now? What the hay is going on?!

Knowing that this is now Nocturne's body, Dark begrudgingly watched as he lowered his head below the treetops and continue forward down what appeared to be a faded trail. The farther into the forest he went, the darker the forest became, both in light source and the feeling that the forest gave off.

Kinda reminds me of the Everfree Forest, only... darker? Dark mused. How's that possible, though? I thought that the Everfree Forest was the darkest forest in all of Equestria. Suddenly, a lightbulb went off in his head. Wait. Are we even in Equestria right now?

Mentally shaking his head, Dark watched as Nocturne continued deeper into the forest. Almost to the base of the mountain range now, Dark noticed that all of the plants that they'd passed had gradually gone from their natural brown barks and green pine needle, to everything being a pitch-black. Even the wildlife seemed unusually scarce.

Well, I can see why Nocturne would want to come here, Dark thought with a mental huff. It's definitely dark and gloomy enough, but you'd think that as the Lord of Death that he'd want to be somewhere more... cemetery-like. Then again, I'm not like that. On the other claw, though, he was borne into the role where as I just took over for him. That, and the sky is nice and dark with those snow clouds, so that's- hello, what do we have here?

Coming upon the base of the mountain, Dark saw something unusual on the side of the mountain. As they got closer, he could see that the area they were walking to had been artificially carved out of the mountain. Stone pillars aligned both the outside and inside of what appeared to be a monstrous doorway into the mountain.

"Ahh. Home sweet home," Nocturne sighed in relief.

Wait. Home? Dark questioned. He never said anything about having a home... and I still don't know where we even are!

With Nocturne walking inside, Dark looked around as best as he could to take in all of there was, which wasn't much really. Besides the evenly symmetrical stone-carved walls, there wasn't anything interesting about this place. Several minutes later, however, they reached what appeared to be an antechamber adorned with skeletons from all different kinds of creatures embedded within the walls.

Oh, great. His home is a giant crypt, Dark thought with a mental eye-roll. What's next? A throne made of bones?

Walking through the antechamber, Nocturne entered into a domed room several hundred feet big with pillars holding it up. In the center of it lay a dragon-sized fire pit with bones burning inside it, doorways leading into different rooms off to the sides, and a river of fire lighting the room along the edge of the walls. And, as thought to taunt Dark, towards the back of the room sat a throne of bones massive enough to accommodate Nocturne himself.

You've got to be kidding me, Dark groaned with a mental facepalm. He actually has a throne of bones. Well, nothing screams 'Lord of Death' more than a giant throne made of bones I suppose.

However, for all of the death that surrounded them, there was something out of place. Over at the foot of the throne, a heap of fur laid curled up.

Noticing it, Nocturne made his way over before he stood over it. Looking down upon the intruder, he began to notice a few distinct shapes on it, like the mane and tail, hooves, and a horn on its forehead. Upon closer inspection, he saw the colors of the stallion's black mane and gray coat. Giving a snort, Nocturne lowered himself down to speak to it.

"Who are you and how did you find this place?" he asked, his voice echoing off of the walls.

Shifting his head, the stallion opened his green eyes and looked up at Nocturne. "My name is Sombra, and I hail from the Crystal Empire."

Wait. This is King Sombra? Dark questioned. But he's suppose to be dead... and he isn't really acting like what Twilight described him to be.

"Fine, but what are you doing here?"

"I've read about this place in a hidden tome I found, and have come seeking you."

Nocturne chuckled. "Do know of whom you are talking to, pony?"

Sombra nodded. "I do. You are Nocturne, Lord of Death. And this place is your temple."

Nocturne was silent, now eyeing the stallion thoroughly from horn to hoof. "And yet you still came here. Why?"

Standing up on shaky legs, Sombra looked up to Nocturne with a look of determination. "My magic is weak. That is why I have come here." Sombra bowed. "I wish to learn from you. I want to become stronger, so that my magic may one day help the ponies of the Crystal Empire."

Nocturne snorted. "My power isn't one that mortal ponies should be meddling in. My magic is death, plain and simple." He turned around and began walking away towards one of the tunnels. "Go. Leave this place and return to your home."

"No."

Nocturne froze in place, his last clawstep echoing throughout the room. "What?"

"I'm not leaving."

Turning back around, Nocturne vanished from Sombra's sight before reappearing above him, his eyes glaring dangerously at him.

"You are not learning my magic!" Nocturne boomed.

"Yes I am!" Sombra shouted back. When Nocturne didn't respond, he continued. "I came here for one reason, and I am not leaving without it! I only brought enough supplies with me for the journey here. So either I stay and learn from you, or I die!"

Silently, motionlessly, Nocturne stared-down Sombra, who in turn stared straight back into his eyes with determination. After a few minutes of gauging the stallion's reaction, Nocturne gave an amused chuckle before turning serious again.

"If I did teach you my magic, what would you do with it specifically?" he wondered.

"I will use it to help protect the Empire." Sombra paused as a faint blush crossed his muzzle. "And to protect her."

Nocturne arched an eyebrow. "You're a stubborn one, aren't you?"

Sombra nodded. "I don't like to lose. And on the off chance that I do, I find a way to come back and finish it."

Well, if nothing else, this should at least be entertaining. "Very well then." Nocturne stood on his legs with his arms and wings spread wide. "I welcome you, Sombra, to the Shadow Temple!"

'Shadow Temple'? Dark questioned with an arched eyebrow.

"'Shadow Temple'?" Sombra mimicked. "Why'd you call it that?"

"Because 'Death Temple' sounds stupid, and 'Death's Crypt' sounds too cliché to me." Nocturne returned to all fours and furrowed his brows. "But be warned, pony. The kind of magic that I'm about to teach you is very dangerous. I'm not sure what it'll do to you as a pony. For all we know, this power may turn you mad."

"I'll take my chances," Sombra said, his resolve unmoving. "Master Nocturne."

Nocturne nodded. "Very well. First we eat, then, my Apprentice, your lessons will begin."

Apprentice? Dark echoed. But they're not suppose to take on any apprentices, and Nocturne's was over a thousand... no way. It was as though a switch had been flipped in Dark's mind. Is this one of Nocturne's memories? Well, this explains why I can't move and why it's like as if I'm watching it through his eyes.

Two years have passed since Nocturne had taken Sombra on as his apprentice, and during that time, Sombra had taken to this new magic rather well. As time passed, Sombra had to adjust to his new life. With him learning from Nocturne, he wasn't allowed to return to the Crystal Empire until his training was complete, a requirement that he didn't seem to mind much. Another thing that Sombra had to come to terms with was the new diet. Between not being allowed to return to civilization yet, and Nocturne's diet, Sombra had little choice but to eat meat like Nocturne. Thankfully for him, none of the meat was pony. As time passed, his flat teeth had changed into fangs to accommodate his new diet.

"Good," Nocturne said, circling around as he watched Sombra. "Feel the shadows around you, for they are your best friend and greatest weapon."

Sensing the shadows dancing around him, Nocturne continued to watch until the shadows erupted with black crystals.

He's progressed better than I thought, he mused.

"Well?" Sombra asked, glancing to Nocturne expectantly. "Is this good enough, or shall I continue?"

"That's good. You may stop for now."

Nocturne shrunk his body down to being a few heads taller then Sombra while he retracted the crystals back into the shadows.

"So, will I begin the next level of my training yet?" Sombra asked, getting an irritated snort from Nocturne.

"I told you that this kind of magic takes time to master," Nocturne said. "While you've made good progress so far, you cannot rush it."

Sombra stamped in hoof in anger. "I've been studying your magic for years now! You've taught me how to control shadows and how use your magic to raise the dead for the last year, but nothing more beyond that!"

"Because it's dangerous!" Nocturne boomed. "This isn't the sort of magic that one should just use at will. The shadows are fine, but not those beyond that."

Using the silence as a time to calm himself, Nocturne closed his eyes in thought. Then again, he has been patient... perhaps I'm just being overly cautious. However, I'll need to make sure that he's ready. But first...

Nocturne raised his claw, causing several shadowy ribbons to began converging into the palm of his claw. Slowly, it then began to take on a form of what looked like a long, slightly-curved pole. That was, until one of the ends had a curve starting to jut out from it. Once the shape was formed, the shadows faded, revealing Nocturne's scythe. While the pole was as black as his skin, at the top of it was a gray dragon skill with a long, curved blade protruding out from its maw.

"This is my weapon," Nocturne spoke, having Sombra's complete attention. "It's name is Death Reaper, and it's what is called a Living Weapon."

"Is there something special about it?" Sombra asked, getting a nod from Nocturne.

"Living Weapons are very rare and very dangerous. Even making one would most likely kill you as it requires a lot of your own blood to create."

"Anything else?"

"Yes. As the name suggests, this weapon is alive in a way. It'll know who's wielding it, and it it's not its owner, then it'll curse them by taking over their body. However, this is a way to bypass that."

"How?"

"Only if its owner has allowed for another to use it." Nocturne held the weapon out towards Sombra. "Like how I am with you right now."

Sombra looked at the weapon with unease. However, with an irritated grunt and motion from Nocturne, Sombra took the weapon with his magic and held it.

"It feels... strange," Sombra said, looking over the scythe.

"Don't worry about it," Nocturne told him. "Now, since you can now wield it, and after seeing how far you've come in your training, perhaps it's time that I sent you on your first assignment."

Sombra looked at Nocturne in surprise. "Are you being serious?"

"I am. Now, this assignment is more of a test. If you pass, you'll progress onto the next stage of your training. If you fail, however, then it's another year. Do you accept?"

"I do."

"Very well then. In that case, there's a group of gryphons that have been murdering the ponies in a village to the west of the Crystal Empire. There will be a few dozen of them, so I'll be letting you use Death Reaper while you're on this mission."

"Won't using this give me an already bigger advantage over them?" Sombra questioned. "I don't need this weapon to take them all out."

"It would be wise for you to not underestimate your enemy," Nocturne warned. "Ponies have been sent to deal with them, each failing to do so. Keep the weapon with you, just incase you find yourself needing it."

Not wanting to push his luck any further, Sombra gave a quick bow and strapped the scythe onto his back. With a final bow, he then turned his body into shadows and left on his assignment.

Huh. Well, aside from that outburst, Sombra seems like an alright pony, Dark thought with a shrug. Wonder what happened to him that turned him evil.

Okay, now this looks like the Sombra that Twilight told me about.

A few weeks had passed since Sombra was sent off on his assignment. When he returned, he wasn't the same pony as before. His black mane was now like shadows dancing like a flickering flame, his pupils became slitted, his irises turned red and his whites now green with a purple mist flowing out of the corners.

Upon seeing him, Nocturne gave a low, displeased, and threatening growl. "Sombra, what is the meaning of this?"

Sombra laughed, his voice lower and more threatening than it had been before he left.

"Isn't it obvious?" he asked with a fanged grin. "I passed my test, just like you wanted. And I must say that those gryphons weren't what I was expecting, especially when they began to pathetically beg for their lives."

"And what about my Death Reaper?"

"Oh, you mean this?" Sombra asked mockingly, using his shadows to pull the Death Reaper scythe out from his shadows before giving it a spin and sending it back. "Well now, since I can use it because you said that I could, I figured that I'll just keep it for myself."

"You would dare betray me?!"

Sombra frowned. "After all that I've done for you, you never trained me further than you did. I bet that you didn't even have the intent on going through with your end of the deal, even if I did succeed."

Nocturne sneered as his body began growing. "Be careful what you say with me, Apprentice."

"Or what?"

"I'll kill you myself."

"Oh... like this?" Sombra cockily asked, using his magic to pull Death Reaper out from the shadows beside Nocturne's neck before swinging.

Barely having any time to react, Nocturne tried to doge the swing, but it still made contact with him. However, by some stroke of luck or lack thereof, the scythe sliced one of his fangs off, causing Nocturne to roar in pain. While he recoiled from the pain, Sombra quickly grabbed the fang from the ground with his magic and tucked it away in his saddlebag.

"YOU WILL DIE!!!" Nocturne bellowed, growing to his full height and breathing his shadow breath across the ground.

However, unlike the sounds of pained screaming he was expecting, Nocturne instead heard Sombra laughing as his body turned into shadows before fleeing.

"With this fang of yours, I will have what I wanted," Sombra said as he fled. "And just to make sure that you can't follow..."

Once outside of the cave, Sombra used his magic and sealed the entrance tightly with crystals.

It took Nocturne a few minutes of pounding away at it, but the crystals eventually gave out under his strength. Free, Nocturne scanned the horizon for any signs of Sombra. However, with him in his shadow form, and the constant overcast from the storm clouds, Sombra was long gone by now.

Hearing a rumbling behind him, Nocturne turned around to see cracks quickly forming around the entrance to his temple. Due to Sombra's placement with his crystal barricade, the stone had been weakened enough for it to cave-in on itself. It was then, having lost his temple, Apprentice, fang, and Living Weapon, all within minutes of each other, that Nocturne let loose a piercing roar of rage and humiliation.

Dark gave a mental sigh. Alright, so what Aero said about Nocturne's apprentice was correct and all, but what caused it to happen?

"I do not know, but I believe that it is time that we changed the scene."

Before Dark knew it, the entire scene had changed from a snowscape, into a green, grassy field with a tree providing him shade. Feeling the restraints from before gone, Dark looked himself over, seeing that he was no longer looking through Nocturne's eyes, but was back in his own body. Breathing a sigh of relief, Dark sat down and leaned his back up against the tree.

"I must admit that that was a rather interesting dream." Looking up from his spot, Dark saw Luna standing a few feet ahead of him. But before he could scramble up and bow to her, she raised a hoof for him to stop. "There is no need for that, Dark." She walked beside him and sat herself down. "So?"

"So?" Dark echoed, confused at what she was getting to.

"Tell me of your thoughts."

Dark gave an audible sigh. "I can't really say. He seemed to be alright at first, but I don't know what happened that caused him to change when he left on his assignment."

Luna nodded. "Tell me, have you had any dreams like that before?"

"None. This is the first time that this has happened." Dark turned to look at Luna. "Dow did you find me anyway?"

"I sensed something wrong with your dream and came to investigate it. I'm actually surprised that your dream was a memory."

"So I was right," Dark said, getting a nod from Luna. "But, why is it that I just now had a memory of Nocturne's?"

"I cannot say. However," Luna's brow furrowed, "I can assure you that it cannot be good."

"She's right. It isn't good, nor is it a coincidence either."

Through a ripple in the air, Nocturne slowly materialized at his full-height in front of Dark and Luna before laying down to be more at their eye-level.

"So, I finally get to see you in your true form, Nocturne," Luna said.

"Yes, but that's not what's important right now, is it, Princess Luna?" Nocturne questioned.

"No, I suppose not."

"Nocturne," Dark spoke, "what was it that you were saying before?"

Nocturne's face took on a serious expression. "A few hours ago, I felt an uneasy disturbance. And I believe that it's linked to you having this dream."

"Well? What is it?"

Nocturne gave Dark a deadpan look. "Take a guess."

After a moment, Dark's eyes widened in realization. "You don't mean Sombra, do you?" he asked, getting a nod from Nocturne. "Why didn't you tell me sooner?!"

Nocturne gave a coy grin. "Because you and Twilight were too busy making the beast with two backs at the time, if you get my meaning."

Dark's face turned a bright shade of red as he understood Nocturne's meaning. Unfortunately for Dark, Luna did too as her face became flustered. In embarrassment, Dark snapped his attention between the blushing Luna, and the now chuckling Nocturne.

"Dude! Not in front of Princess Luna!" Dark shouted.

Luna cleared her throat before speaking. "Perhaps we should get back on the topic at hoof?" she suggested, getting an eager nod from Dark.

"Very well," Nocturne agreed before turning to Dark. "But don't expect to hear the end of this, Dark."

"I swear, Nocturne, I'm this close to bitch-slapping a dragon," he threatened.

"Alright, alright."

"Good. Now, why do you say that it's Sombra?"

"Because that's who it felt like."

"But the Crystal Heart destroyed Sombra," Luna reminded them.

"I know, I heard Twilight telling Dark the story, but I still feel it."

"Well then, can you tell us where it's coming from?"

Nocturne shook his head. "Not exactly, but I can tell you that it's coming from up north."

Dark tapped his chin in thought. "You think that it could be coming from your temple?"

He snorted. "I doubt it. You saw how the entrance caved-in, and that was the only entrance into it."

"Have you ever gone back there to check?" Luna asked, getting a headshake from Nocturne.

"No. I have never had a reason to return to it... too many bad memories."

Dark sighed sympathetically. "After watching what happened in your memories, I can understand why."

"Still, though, a thousand plus years is a long time," Luna commented. "For all we know, an opening may have revealed itself."

"It is possible," Nocturne said agreeingly. "However, due to my current situation, I can't go and find it."

"If you can tell me, I can visit Cadence and Shining Armor in their dreams and tell them."

"When did you come into my dream, Princess?" Dark asked.

"When Nocturne took Sombra in as his apprentice."

"Okay. In that case, it's located in a dark forest at the very base of the mountain. I'm sorry that I can't be anymore specific."

Luna gave a thankful nod. "That is fine. It may not be much, but it will help in our search. Thank you for your assistance, Dark. I will be sure to visit them and my sister and tell them about this after our business here is concluded. Perhaps even Twilight too?"

Dark shook his head. "If it's alright with you, Princess, I'd rather not disturb Twilight's sleep right now. I'll tell her about it when we wake up. Besides, I doubt that she would like to get up right now."

Nocturne chuckled. "After the way you two went at it, I'd doubt that she'd want to get up at all." Before Nocturne could react, a massive black portal appeared in front of him, followed by a claw and arm identical to his own that slapped him and sent him tumbling several dozen yards before skidding to a halt. "Ouch! Damn it, Dark!"

"I told you that I'd bitch-slap a dragon, Nocturne!" Dark told him, trying and failing to hide his blush.

Despite this being a dream, Nocturne still rubbed the spot on his cheek where Dark had struck him as he glared at him.

"Umm... perhaps we should end our conversation now and call it a night?" Luna suggested, her face now as red as an apple.

"Fine with me," Dark said.

"Fine," Nocturne mumbled.

"Very good then. In that case, I wish you a good night's rest, Dark," Luna said before standing up and lighting her horn. "And don't worry about your dreams. I'll make sure that your next one is a pleasant one before I go and deliver the message."

"Thank you, Princess," Dark thanked, bowing as the scenery around him changed once again.

With Dark content with his new dream, Luna made her way out of it and back into the Dream Realm. Taking a moment to find Shining and Cadence's dreams, she was about to enter when she felt that the heat on her face from hearing about Dark's and Twilight's activities hadn't dissipated yet. And so, she stood outside of the door, filling her mind with clean thoughts to help fight her blush down. Once she felt it was low enough, she opened the door to their dream... which turned out to be a mistake. Upon seeing their dream, Luna immediately slam the door to their dream shut, her blush having returned with a vengeance.

"I can't believe this! Both couples on the same night!" Luna shouted to herself in disbelief, the image of what she saw having been burned into her mind. With a heavy sigh, she left the Dream Realm and returned back in the throne room. "Forget it. I'll just tell them in the morning. Right now, though, I need a drink... or, more like a lot of drinks."

Dark and Twilight were having a peaceful breakfast together with Soul. After they ate, they walked Soul to school and dropped him off. With that done and them being alone, Dark explained to Twilight about the dream that he had, and the talk with Nocturne and Luna afterwards. This was a mistake, however, for as soon as Twilight heard, her pleasant mood turned to panic. And before they knew it, Twilight was running through town with Dark in tow in her magic.

"Twilight, can you wait for a moment?" Dark asked, floating alongside her in her magic.

"We can't!" she said panickly. "If it's about King Sombra, then we need to get the girls together and tell them!"

"But Pinkie and Applejack are-"

"INCOMING!"

Looking off to their right, Dark's and Twilight's eyes bulged as they both saw Pinkie riding on top of a flying boulder, waving Applejack's hat around her head while Applejack herself was holding onto the boulder for dear life. With a yelp, Twilight ran out of the way with Dark and casted a barrier around them. A few seconds later, the boulder crashed into the ground, kicking up the dirt into a dust cloud.

"Whoo! Hey, Applejack, let's to that again!" Pinkie said somewhere inside of the dust cloud.

"Hay no!" Applejack curtly replied. "Ah'm never gonna do that ever again!"

"Awww, but it's so much fun traveling by boulder."

Lowering the barrier, Twilight created a gust of wind that blew the dust away, revealing Pinkie happily sitting on top of the boulder while Applejack had fallen off and was now sprawled out on the ground.

"Pinkie? Applejack?" Twilight called confusingly. "How did you get here? You should still be in Appleloosa... and what did you mean you traveled by boulder?!"

"Oh, heya, Twilight, heya, Dark," Pinkie waved. "Just what I said."

"But how? And what happened in Appleloosa? Did you two solve the friendship problem?"

"Eeyup," Applejack answered, her voice muffled from her spot on the ground.

"It was pretty easy, actually," Pinkie said.

"Alright, how?" Twilight questioned.

Applejack rose up to her hooves, having had enough time on the ground. "It's thanks ta the new Ranger in Appleoosa."

"A Ranger?"

"Yep," Pinkie replied, bouncing off of the boulder and down beside them. "Nice guy too. Hey, Applejack, what was his name again?"

"His name is Trotter, Appleloosa Ranger."

"Trotter?" Twilight repeated.

"Yep again," Pinkie confirmed with a bounce before pointing over to the boulder. "He's also the one who sent me and Applejack back to Ponyville on the boulder."

"But that doesn't make any sense! How can a single pony do something like that?! Is he a new alicorn?!"

"Eenope," Applejack said. "He's an earth pony."

Twilight's legs gave out on her, forcing her to sit on her rump with eyes wide and mouth agape while her magic sputtered out, causing Dark to drop to the ground with an "Oomph".

"A single earth pony stallion did that?" Dark asked, standing up and dusting himself off.

"Eeyup. Y'all shoulda seen him. Not only did he help us solve the friendship problem, but he also roundhouse kicked a tornado into a breeze, killed fifty pony-eating vultures that were flyin' around us with one crossbow bolt without even shootin' it, and he knocked out Braeburn by punchin' him once in the face with his fifth hoof. And that was all in a single afternoon."

"... with his what now?"

"It came out from his beard," Pinkie said, earning her a confused and somewhat disgusted look from Dark. "They say that he is so tough, there's no chin under his beard, there is only another hoof."

"... I don't even know where to start with him. Have either of you seen or heard of him before?"

"Eenope," Applejack answered, shaking her head.

"Me neither," Pinkie happily replied before tapping her chin in thought. "Although, now that I think about it, he does kinda remind me of my great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, greater, great, great, great, great, grandpa who's name I can't seem to remember."

Looking over to his side, Dark saw Twilight still frozen in place. Giving a small chuckle, Dark leaned over and gave her a quick peck on the cheek, snapping her out of her stupor.

"I'm sorry," she apologized, "what were you saying now, Pinkie? The last thing I remember you saying was that this Trotter stallion bucked a boulder that you and Applejack were sitting on all the way from Appleloosa to Ponyville."

Dark placed a claw on Twilight's shoulder. "It's probably for the best that you don't know, Twilight."

With some reluctance, Twilight nodded and decided to drop it. A moment later, though, she bolted back up as she remembered what she and Dark came out to do.

"That's right!" she exclaimed. "Pinkie, Applejack, I need you two to meet me in the castle. There are a few things that Dark and I need to tell you girls."

"Sure thing, Twilight," Applejack said, turning around and going with Pinkie towards the castle. Only that Pinkie didn't go with her. "Pinkie? Somethin' wrong?"

"Nope," she happily answered, hopping over to the boulder. "Just gonna take care of this boulder."

"And how do you plan on doing that?" Twilight asked.

With a small grin, Pinkie pulled out of her mane a pair of scissors with "Property of Trotter, Appleloosa Ranger" printed on the side of it. Once she was up alongside the boulder, she opened it up before pressing the scissors against the boulder and somehow, cut it clean through the center. With it cut in half, the two halves fell apart and crumbled away into dust, leaving Dark, Twilight, and Applejack gawking in disbelief.

"Hey, look! Scissors does beat rock after all."

Twenty minutes later, everyone was gathered in the throne room, including Spike and Dark, who once again opted to sit on the floor alongside Twilight.

"So, Twilight," Rarity began, "what was it that you wanted to tell us?"

While Twilight felt ready before, now that everypony was present, she wasn't feeling as sure as she thought.

"Well... it's a few things actually," she nervously began. "Three to be exact."

"Well? Spill it then," Rainbow told her. "If it's worth calling all of us here, then I'm sure that it's something good."

"Depends on what you mean by 'good'," Dark commented with a shrug. "Depending on which topic we're talking about."

"Umm, if I may ask you, Twilight?" Fluttershy spoke, getting a nod from her. "Does it have something to do with you and Dark adopting Soul?"

The four other mares all looked wide-eyed at the couple. "WHAT?!"

"When did this happen?!" Rainbow shouted in surprise.

"Yesterday, actually," Dark answered.

"This is so awesome!" Pinkie shrieked, literally bouncing off of the walls. "It's not how I thought it would be, but I can finally get to throw a 'Congratulations On Being A Parent' party for my friends!"

"My goodness, Twilight," Rarity said. "What ever made you two decide to adopt somepony?"

"No kiddin'," Applejack said, readjusting her hat on her head. "Ah'm gone for one day and y'all go off and adopt somepony."

Twilight gave a sad sigh. "Dark saved him from a pack of timberwolves out in the Everfree Forest."

"Now what's he doin' livin' out there?"

"He's an orphan, Applejack," Twilight softly answered. "And in a way, we're the reason for that."

Dark placed a claw over Twilight's hoof. "You're not responsible for it, Twilight. It was an unfortunate accident."

"I know," she said, "but it doesn't change the fact that I still had a hoof in it."

Applejack raised an eyebrow. "Ah'm sorry, Twi, but what are y'all talkin' about?"

"You girls remember my brother's wedding?"

"You mean when that ugly bug queen invaded and got blasted away by your brother and Cadence?" Rainbow asked, getting a nod from Twilight. "Yeah. What about it?"

"As it turns, when Queen Chrysalis and her changeling got blasted out of Canterlot, one of the changelings landed near where Soul and his parents lived in the Everfree Forest. His mother found and helped the changeling, but it turned on them, killing both of Soul's parents before a manticore ate it."

While Fluttershy, Pinkie, and Rarity had tears in their eyes, Rainbow sighed.

"What's what they get for trusting a creepy bug," she commented. "And why did they do that anyway?"

"This is the second reason why you were all called here," Dark began, taking over for Twilight. "You see, the reason why they did that is because Soul's mother was a changeling too."

The room turned deathly silent as they let those words sink in, not even the sound of them breathing could be heard. A full minute later, Fluttershy spoke up.

"But if Soul's mother was a c-changeling, then wouldn't that make Soul..."

"A half-changeling, yes," Dark finished. Before he could blink, he found himself face-to-face with Rainbow.

"What in the hay are you thinking?!" she shouted. "You're letting one of those monsters live with you!"

"Have you forgotten that I said that he was only half-changeling?" he reminded her. "That means that Soul is also half-pony, thanks to his dad."

"So what?! He's still a changeling!"

Applejack's eyes shot open. "And he's in the same class as Apple Bloom!"

"And Sweetie Belle!" Rarity exclaimed.

A few seconds later, Rainbow's eyes widened too. "And Scootaloo!"

"We have ta go warn them!" Applejack said, jumping up out of her throne before being held in mid-air by Twilight. "What the hay, Twilight! Ah have ta go save Apple Bloom from him!"

"It's alright, you don't have to," Twilight calmly said. "Look, I already talked to Cheerilee about it, so she knows and is alright with it."

"Is she really?" Rainbow questioned. "Or is she just under his mind control magic?"

"Girls, please, listen. Soul has been living on his own and going to school for years. Do you really think that he would do anything like that and risk exposing himself?"

"But he's a changeling for Celestia's sake!"

"Who's parents were hunted by Queen Chrysalis and her changelings for them being married together," Dark said, now getting a little annoyed by this.

"Are you serious?" Rarity questioned.

"Yes. Turns out that Soul's mom had fled the Hive when she was Soul's age because she didn't like how Queen Chrysalis was treating ponies."

"Please, girls," Twilight pleaded. "I know that none of you care much for changelings, but if I can change my mind about Soul, then why can't you all? Look, he's done nothing bad ever since he's been here, and that was while he was unsupervised. Now that Dark and I are taking care of him, I'm sure that he'll continue to behave himself."

Although she still felt uneasy about it, Rarity retook her seat. "Will he be causing any problems?"

"Besides pulling a prank like the one he did with those pies on Hearts and Hooves Day, I wouldn't think so," Dark answered.

Rarity gave a small nod. "Very well then. While I'm still not sure about this idea, I'm willing to trust you and Twilight with him."

"Wait. So he was the one who pulled those pranks?" Pinkie asked, getting confirming nods from Twilight and Dark. "I like him."

"Just like that?" Rainbow wondered.

"Yep. If he has a fun sense of humor and likes to pull funny pranks like that, then even if he's a changeling, he can't be that bad."

"And what about you, Fluttershy?" Rainbow asked, turning her attention towards her.

Fluttershy nervously shuffled a hoof as all eyes were on her. "Well, when I met him yesterday, he didn't seem like a bad pony to me. He was actually rather polite, well-mannered, and a bit shy when he first met us, but he never once did anything that would suggest that he'd be bad or evil."

I guess with Discord living with her, she would know what's evil and not, but still, Rainbow thought before turning to Applejack. "Hey, you're with me on this, right, AJ?"

Applejack shook her head with a defeated sigh. "As much as Ah would like ta go over ta Apple Bloom ta check on her, seein' as how Soul hasn't done anythin' too bad other than that prank and some smaller harmless ones, Ah'm willin' ta give him the benefit of the doubt for now."

"And how about you, Rainbow?" Dark questioned. "What are you going to do?"

Feeling outnumbered in this, Rainbow returned to her throne in defeat with a huff. "Fine. But I'm still going to keep a close eye on him."

"Thank you, Rainbow," Twilight thanked. "You can trust us with him."

"I know that I can trust you and Dark. It's Soul that I don't trust."

"Hopefully you will over time."

"Maybe. But we'll just have to wait and see if he does anything first." Rainbow sighed and shook her head. "I still can't believe that you two went on and adopted a half-changeling like that."

"I have to agree with Rainbow on that one," Rarity said. "That's quite the bit of news indeed."

"You should wait until we tell you the third thing," Dark commented.

"What do you mean, darling?"

Taking a breath, Twilight answered her. "The last thing that we needed to tell you is about King Sombra."

"Yeah? What about him?" Rainbow asked.

"We're not sure," Dark began answering, "but last night, I had a dream that turned out to be one of Nocturnes memories about his time teaching Sombra."

"So, Nocturne's the one responsible for King Sombra being an evil tyrant?" Rarity asked.

"No. Nocturne was betrayed by Sombra. Now, if we could get back to what I was saying?" he asked, getting an apology for them interrupting. "Thank you. Like I was saying before, I had a dream of one of Nocturne's memories. When Princess Luna came in and ended it, Nocturne appeared and the three of us talked about it. Now, we don't know what exactly is going on with Sombra, but whatever it is, it's enough to get Nocturne rattled."

"Ah take it that somethin's bein' done about that?" Applejack wondered.

"Yes. Princess Luna told me that after she'd leave that she'd tell Shining, Cadence, and Princess Celestia about it. I also gave her the general area of Nocturne's old temple ruins so that Shining's and Cadence's guards can check it out."

"Is everything going to be alright?" Fluttershy asked.

"Don't worry, Fluttershy," Twilight said. "I'm sure that everything will be fine. The princesses wouldn't allow for somepony like King Sombra to return. Speaking of the Princesses." Twilight turned to Dark. "While you were talking to Princess Luna, did you happen to mention to her about us adopting Soul?"

Dark shook his head. "Sorry, Twilight, but my mind was a bit preoccupied with our conversation about Sombra."

"Fair enough," she sighed. "Guess that I'll just have to have Spike send them a letter."

"Or we can tell them when we go to visit Canterlot for the weekend next week," Dark suggested. "Same with your... parents... crap."

"Language, Dark!" Rarity scolded.

"Sorry."

"Why are you heading up to Canterlot?" Rainbow asked.

"Well, as it turns out," Twilight began, "Dark sent an application up to the Canterlot Coliseum for a shot at becoming the Coliseum Champion, and he was accepted!"

"Sweet! Can I come and watch?"

"I don't see why not. Anypony else want to come?" she asked, getting a nod from everypony. "Alright then. In that case, we leave next week on Friday. The match will be on Saturday, so we'll get there a day early and get settled in."

Up in the frozen north, in one of the caves within the mountain range, the cloaked stallion was focusing his magic on the horn that he found laying in the snow. After months of practicing his magic, he became strong enough to cast a regeneration spell. However, while he'd all but mastered it, it was proving to be rather difficult to cast on the horn.

"Celestia bucking damnit," he growled under his breath. "How much longer is this going to take?"

Over a month ago, he finally learned how to properly cast it. Ever since then, he's been pouring all of that power into regenerating the horn he found.

"If you really are who I think you are, then I'll need your assistance."

His horn already glowing blue, the cloaked stallion poured more of his magic into the spell. Moments later, the entire chamber was blinded in a blue light before a magical shockwave knocked the stallion off his hooves. With a groan, he got back up and used his wings to blow the dust away, revealing the horn still laying on the ground where he left it. Letting out a furious roar, he fired a beam of magic into the structure behind him, sending hundreds of bones scattering across the ground.

"Why isn't this working?!" he shouted to nopony in particular.

With another enraged shout, he took the horn in his magic and threw it off into the shadows before hearing it hit the side of the wall. Snorting angrily, he began pacing around the massive bonfire in the center of the cave. However, while he was busy brooding, he didn't notice something happening with the horn.

It started out slowly, but as the minuets rolled by, black flesh began to bubble out of the bottom of the broken-off horn. Slowly yet steadily, it expanded until it was a blob the size of an adult pony. Once it reached that point, it began to sink in and take the shape of an adult stallion. With it's body shaped, it rapidly grew gray fur and a black, flowing mane and tail. Then, with it's eyes and fanged mouth formed, it roared loudly, announcing its return.

Surprised by the sudden roar, the cloaked stallion jumped around and lit his horn to attack. However, upon seeing the slitted red eyes with purple mists glowing from the shadows, he instead began to chuckle before breaking into a maniacal laughter.

"It worked!" he shouted in glee. "The spell finally worked!"

"Cease your shouting, peasant!" the unicorn snapped, causing the other stallion to silently glare at him. "Now, tell me who you are."

The cloaked stallion smirked as he pulled his hood down and spread his wings. "I am the one who regenerated you."

"I know that already. Do not believe that I wasn't unaware of my surroundings just because I was a horn. Now tell me, who are you and why are you an alicorn?"

"Heheheh. I'm no alicorn," he said cockily. "Much like you, this horn of mine is actually a fang of my former Master." Seeing his eyes widen, the cloaked stallion continued. "Yes, I know all about you, Sombra, King of the Crystal Empire and former Apprentice of Nocturne."

Sombra narrowed his eyes and stepped out from the shadows. "You seem to have me at somewhat of a disadvantage. Judging by how you know all of that, I assume that you were an apprentice too then."

"Yes. My Master was Aurora, Lady of Life."

Sombra chuckled. "Amusing how we both had the same idea in achieving power." He paused as he looked around the area, quickly recalling this place. "How did you find this place?"

The cloaked stallion smirked. "I thought that you said that you knew what happened around you?"

"Not when you stuff me into a saddlebag like some common trinket!" Sombra snapped.

"Fine, fine. Anyway, I had to hide from the princesses and found this place. Not exactly my most ideal place to hide, but it's worked perfectly in hiding me these last few months."

This raised some questions for Sombra, along with a curious eyebrow. "How did you get inside? This place was sealed by a cave-in that I created."

"I noticed that it looked like a cave-in, but there was a gap big enough for me to walk through, even with my wings spread."

"Very well. Now, tell me what you did that forced you to flee from the princesses."

He frowned. "I've been trying to kill a certain stallion who just happens to be very close to Princess Twilight Sparkle."

Sombra's mane flared as his eyes began to glow brighter. "Since when did she become a princess?!"

"I don't know, but she and the other princesses have interfered with my plans to kill him."

"So much trouble for a single stallion," Sombra muttered, shaking his head in disappointment. "Does this stallion have a name?"

"Dark Flame. And he's not a unicorn stallion, but a kirin."

Interesting, Sombra thought. "And how powerful is this Dark?"

"He's consistently fought against dragons, and fought off an army that was comprised of timberwolves, manticores, cockatrices, hydras, and an ursa major."

Sombra gave a fanged grin. "So he's powerful then."

"Very. I've tried using numbers against him, and have even sent him to a different dimension with the help of that arrogant prince, but he's still here."

Chuckling darkly, Sombra shrouded his body for a brief second before it retreated back into his own shadow. When it did, it left his body covered with a silver crown, silver armor, and a red cape.

"If he's as powerful as you say, then perhaps we could benefit from one another," Sombra said, causing the cloaked stallion to tap his chin in thought.

Hmm. Perhaps that was my mistake to begin with. I used a prince when I should've been using a king instead, he mused. "What do you suggest?"

"From how I see it, our targets seem to align. I want to retake the Crystal Empire-"

"How does that align with my goals of killing Dark?!"

"You will be silent when I am speaking!" Sombra snapped. "Like I was saying, I want to retake the Crystal Empire, along with my revenge on Princess Twilight Sparkle and her dragon."

"Why them?"

"Because if it wasn't for her dragon, I would be in control of the Crystal Empire right now!" Sombra then gave a malicious grin. "As for Princess Twilight... well, a king needs his queen after all."

Great, another one pegging for her. Still, it should prove as extra motivation. the cloaked stallion thought, facehoofing and shaking his head. "Fine. It doesn't matter to me what your endgame is, just as long as you help me kill Dark."

"If it means that killing him gets me my queen, then so be it," Sombra said. "Now, onto other matters."

"Yeah? What?"

"When you were casting your spell, I noticed that your magic was a bit crude." Sombra smirked. "I can help you with that and more. Consider it your reward for assisting me."

"How so?" he questioned. "From what I understand, you use death magic where as I use life magic."

"While it is true that life and death are polar opposites, they do have a sort of gray area. That is what I'll be teaching you."

"And what would that be exactly?"

Sombra grinned widely. "Resurrection."

The cloaked stallion's eyes widened. "What you're talking about is along the lines of necromancy."

"In a way it is. But either way, as students of life and death, we can still bring life to corpses, no matter how long its been, or how degraded the bodies are. Do you accept?"

"I have no problems with it, but how will that help us, exactly?" the cloaked stallion questioned.

"Simple," Sombra said with a shrug. "We're going to build an army and attack the Crystal Empire. Once I have it under my control again, they'll come to us to try and liberate it. That is when we'll attack Dark. However, my magic is weak now, so I will need time to rest before I can start teaching you."

"Fine, I get it. And that plan sounds great and all, but where are we going to get an army big enough to conquer an empire?"

Sombra chuckled and gestured around him with a hoof. "We already have our army. All we need to do is resurrect them."

Chapter 55- Return to Canterlot

Twilight stood outside of the schoolhouse as she waited for class to end for the day. Once the bell finally rang, she watched as a stampede of young colts and fillies ran out of the door, eager to get their weekend started. But, when she saw the colt that she came for, she smiled and walked over to meet him.

"Hello, Soul," Twilight smiled. "How was school today?"

"It was fun, but not much really happened today," he answered.

"Well, at least you had fun."

"Yeah. It was mostly thanks to the Crusaders. It's weird, though."

"Why's that?"

"Ever since early this week, they've been giving me hugs."

"Why would they do that?"

Soul shuffled a hoof in the dirt. "I might've told them about where I lived before you and Dark adopted me."

"Any reason why you would tell them?" Twilight asked. When she saw that Soul was nervously avoiding her gaze, she gently turned his head to look at her as she gave him a warm smile. "You're not in trouble or anything, Soul. I'm just surprised that you would tell them."

"Well... it's because they know that I'm half-changeling."

Twilight's eyes widened in surprise. "You told them?"

"No. Turns out that their sisters did. When they did, they came to me the next day and began asking me questions."

"Were they mean about it?"

Soul shook his head. "Not at all. From what I felt, they were actually more curious than anything. There was barely any fear coming from them when they asked me." With an understanding nod form Twilight, Soul continued. "Well, after that, I began telling them about different things, and eventually I got so into it that I accidentally told them about how I lived alone in the Everfree Forest for years."

"Ah, I see now," Twilight said understandingly. "So that's when they began giving you hugs?"

"Yep."

"While that's very nice of them, you better tell Spike about it so he doesn't get the wrong idea. After all, they're his fillyfriends."

"Yeah. I still can't believe that he has all three of them for his fillyfirends." Soul's eyes downcasted as he gave a small pout. "Lucky dragon."

Twilight patted Soul on the head. "Don't worry, Soul. You'll find yourself your own special somepony someday."

"Are you sure?"

"I know I am," she smiled, wrapping a foreleg around Soul as he gave her a hug. A few seconds later, she let him go. "Now, I need to talk to Cheerilee for a moment."

"I'm not in trouble, am I?" Soul nervously asked.

"No, you're not. I just needed to talk to her for a moment is all. In the meantime, why don't you go on ahead and play in the playground while you wait for me. When I'm all done, I'll teleport us to the train station."

"Okay, Twilight."

Taking his saddlebag so that he could go and play freely, Twilight made her way to the school and knocked on the door. When the door opened, she smiled and gave Cheerilee a friendly hug.

"Hello, Cheerilee," Twilight said.

"Hello, Twilight," Cheerilee welcomed, stepping aside for Twilight to come in. Once they were both seated down, Cheerilee continued. "So, what brings you to the school today?"

"Just came to check in on how Soul has been doing these last two weeks. I'm a little worried that with Soul's new lifestyle that his grade may be affected."

"That is very mature of you to do, Twilight," she said with a smile. "I wish that some of the other parents would be as diligent with their children as how you are with Soul. Even if he's not your biological kid."

"That doesn't matter to me. Whether or not we're related by blood, he's still apart of our family."

"Good to hear," Cheerilee said with an approving smile. "Now, as for his grades go, they have been affected since you and Dark took him in."

Twilight sighed in disappointment. "I knew I should've been more strict with his free time."

"Oh, no. It's just the opposite, in fact. You see, ever since you two adopted him, the grades on his homework have been improving."

"So the new changes in his life are having a positive outcome on him?"

Cheerilee nodded. "It seems like whatever you guys are doing is helping him. If I may ask, what are you doing to help him?"

"Well, if he's having trouble with his homework with something he isn't understanding, he'll come to either myself, Dark, or Spike for help. And while we do help him, we won't give him the answer directly. We'll help guide him and correct him if he's wrong, but the final answer will always be his own."

"That's good to hear."

"But I am curious, though, as to how his classmates are doing with him."

"He gets along with most of the students. However, lately the Crusaders have been rather affectionate towards him. If this keeps up, I might be worried for Spike's relationship with them."

"Soul told me about that actually," Twilight said. "As it turns out, the Crusaders were told by their sisters about Soul being half-changeling, which brought them to talking to Soul about it. Along the way, he mentioned to them about how he was an orphan living alone in the Everfree Forest, and that's why they've been giving him hugs."

"Oh... well then, that explains that. So they don't have any romantic feelings for Soul then?"

"Nope," Twilight answered, her lips slowly forming into a coy smile. "However, perhaps you might know of somepony who may have her eyes on Soul?"

Cheerilee shook her head. "I'm sorry, Twilight, but I haven't seen any signs like that towards him so far."

"That's okay. I was just curious was all." Twilight looked up to the clock hanging on the wall. "Well, I guess I better get Soul and get going."

"You heading off to somewhere?" Cheerilee asked.

"Dark is fighting in the Canterlot Coliseum tomorrow, so today we're taking Soul with us to see my parents and the princesses."

"Well then, I suppose I shouldn't keep you any longer," Cheerilee said, standing up and walking around the desk to give Twilight a hoofshake. "Good luck to you and Dark presenting Soul to them. I can only imagine what your mother would do."

Twilight giggled at the thought. "If I had to guess, I'd say that she'd start doting on him. Can't say for the princesses, though."

With a goodbye hug, Twilight left Cheerilee and made her way over towards Soul swinging on the swings.

"All done, Twilight?" Soul asked, seeing her approaching him.

"All done," she answered, returning Soul his saddlebag. "So, are you ready to go?"

With a quick nod, Soul fluttered up and landed on Twilight's back. With himself settled down and secured, Twilight lit her horn and teleported the two of them to the train station.

Everyone was already waiting at the train station as Fluttershy, Rarity, Pinkie, Applejack, Rainbow, and Pyre were talking amongst each other while Spike and the Crusaders were off in their own group. As they talked, Dark sat alone on the bench looking over a list he made.

"Okay. Got that, got that, got those... yep. Looks like I've got everything," Dark said to himself.

"Hey. What are you doing?" Pyre asked, walking over to him.

"Hmm? Nothing much. Just looking over my list."

Snatching it out his claw, Pyre looked over Dark's list. As he continued to read it, he began to slowly raise an eyebrow.

"What kind of a list is this?" he questioned.

"Just some things that I may need for this weekend," Dark answered nonchalantly.

"Really? Are you sure that you're not taking inventory for an armory?"

"I am."

"Dark..." Pyre turned the list around and pointed at it. "There are over five hundred weapons on this list!"

"Yeah, so?"

"'So'? Where are you keeping them all?! You have enough weapons to arm an army!" Dark gave Pyre a silent smirk as he walked past him and snatched his list back. With no answer, Pyre huffed. "Will you at least tell me what your plan is for wining this gauntlet thing?"

"Well, I think that for starters, I'll just be using raw strength and weapons. I'd rather not try to use my magic until the end or if I'm forced to."

"... that's stupid. Why would you do something like that instead of just ending it quickly?"

"Because I don't want to show them my power until towards the end the gauntlet. That way the champion won't know what to expect from me if I get far enough to fight him or her," Dark answered.

"Don't you mean when you get that far?"

"I'm trying not to jinx it here, Pyre," he said defensively before walking over to rejoin his friends. As he did, a flash of light off to his side caught his attention. When it faded, Dark smiled and walked over to give Twilight a welcoming kiss. "So, how's he doing?"

"Cheerilee said that he's been doing better in school," Twilight said with a smile.

"Good." Dark walked over along side Twilight and playfully ruffled Soul's mane. "We wouldn't want to have to ground him during our trip now, would we?"

"You're kidding, right?" Soul questioned.

"Hehe, yeah. I'm just teasing you, kid. However, if your grades do decide to take a dive for some reason, then you can expect a grounding from both of us. Understand?"

"Yes, Dark."

"Good."

Letting him free, Soul hopped down off of Twilight's back and ran over to the Crusaders and Spike while Twilight and Dark went over to join their friends.

"I still can't believe that you're letting your sisters come and watch," Twilight said.

"They wouldn't stop pestering us once they found out about it," Rainbow said. "Especially when they heard that Spike is going too."

"And besides, we did sorta dump them on Big Mac last time. Now that Ah know that he's datin' Cheerilee, Ah don't wanna burden him too much by havin' him watchin' over the girls. Besides, when was the last time we brought them ta Canterlot with us?" Applejack asked before quickly turning to Rarity. "Not includin' the time when they came ta fix Sweetie's sabotagin' your headdress-thingy."

"Well then," Rarity began, "if we're not including that, then I would have to say... huh. I can't seem to recall the last time."

"It wasn't during the wedding when they were Cadences flower fillies, was it?" Twilight asked, but before any of them could answer, the train started to pull in.

"Well, looks like it won't matter soon," Rainbow said.

With Soul, Spike, the Crusaders, and Pyre gathered around them, they waited until the train stopped at the station. Once they waited for the passengers to unboard, they began to file into the train cart. But before she went in, Twilight turned around and looked at Spike.

"Hey, Spike?"

"Yeah?" he replied.

"Why don't you try to levitate your luggage with you when you come in?"

Sighing, Spike held out a claw and began to focus. Squinting his eyes in concentration, a green magical aura matching the color of his spines enshrouded his claw. A few seconds later, that same aura was covering his luggage, and, with a strained grunt, the bag lifted off of the ground an half-inch before it dropped back down. Panting from exhaustion, Spike looked back over to Twilight.

"Sorry, Twilight, but I can't do it yet."

"It's alright, Spike," she returned smiling. "I should've known that that bag would be too heavy for you to carry this early into your training. But you did good, though."

"Thanks, Twilight," Spike said, grabbing the bag handle with his claw and walking on in.

"But don't think that just because we're going to Canterlot means that you can neglect your magic pratice," Twilight told Spike, causing him to give a small groan. "Oh, don't complain, Spike. Look, you can practice on the train ride there, okay?"

"Okay."

It was later in the afternoon when the train started pulling into Canterlot, the near-setting sun casting a warm glow across the evening sky. However, despite the beautiful scenery that the sunlight was showing, they were a little pressed for time as Twilight and the others were suppose to meet Celestia and Luna for dinner up at the castle in an hour. The deal was that as soon as they got their luggage and unboarded the train, Twilight would teleport them all to the castle gates while Dark would Shadowport in right after them.

With the train now having stopped, they each stepped out into the station and waited for the rest their luggage to be unloaded. While most had brought a single bag of some sort, Rarity's luggage consisted of over a dozen bags and cases, insistent that they were necessary for her weekend trip.

The wait was rather peaceful for them as the other ponies stayed clear of them upon seeing Pyre. While they waited for the poor ponies to unload Rarity's luggage, though, Soul began to feel weird. It started out as a small headache, but as the seconds rolled by, it became worse until he began to groan and catch Dark's and Twilight's attention.

"Is something wrong, Soul?" Twilight asked, seeing his discomfort.

"I don't feel so good," Soul answered, leading up against Twilight to support him from the dizziness.

"Did you eat something bad?" Dark wondered, getting a headshake from Soul.

"No."

"When did you start to feel sick?" Twilight asked.

"Right after we got off of the train," Soul replied, his eyes now closed from how dizzy he was getting.

Concerned, Twilight placed a hoof over his forehead. "Well, you don't feel like you're running a temperature, so you're not ill like that."

"Can't be motion sickness either, considering that we're no longer on the train," Dark mused out loud.

Twilight nodded. "I know. I just can't think of what-" Twilight suddenly paused and looked up. As she did, her concern turned to worry as she saw the green crystals hanging above them. "I can't believe I forgot about them!"

"What?! What is it, Twilight?!" Dark asked, worried by the tone of panic in Twilight's voice.

"It's the crystals!" she said, pointing up to them.

"Okay, what about them?"

Before Twilight could answer him, green flames appeared beside Twilight. Knowing what, or whom, it was from, Twilight turned her head to see that Soul had been forcefully changed into a changeling. However, unlike his pony body, Soul was almost half as big as he was as a pony, and while his eyes no longer had any pupils, Soul did maintain his dim-blue eye-color.

"That's why," Twilight sighed. "I forgot that after Queen Chrysalis' invasion, Princess Celestia had these gems imbued with magical wards that'll remove a changeling's disguise."

"But Soul is only half-changeling."

"Yes, but apparently the wards also work on him despite that."

"Am I going to be in trouble?" Soul worryingly asked, his voice now having an echo to it.

"Don't worry, Soul," Twilight said, assuringly. "You'll be fine."

"Yeah," Pinkie said as she bounced over beside them. "Besides, you look really small and cute as a changeling."

"I-I-I do not!" he protested.

"Yeah, you do," Scootaloo said, walking up to him. "I mean, look! You're smaller than we are now!"

Seeing him pouting in embarrassment, Twilight giggled before placing a hoof on his head.

"Sorry, Soul," she began with a smile, "but I have to agree with them. You do look kinda-"

"Aaaahhhhhh! A Changeling!!!"

From that one shout, all of the ponies in the train station took a second and looked at where the screaming mare was pointing. And as soon as they saw Soul, they all began to shout and run away in a panic. Seconds later, a swarm of royal guards charged them, pushing the others away from the changeling while Soul ducked down beneath Dark and Twilight, who now stood defensively above him.

"Your Highness," one of the guards said, approaching with his spear drawn, "please move away from the changeling."

Twilight gave a firm headshake. "No. This changeling is with me and will not be harmed."

"I'm sorry, Princess," another guard said, the rest cautiously approaching them from the ground and sky, "but our orders are to capture any changelings that wander into Canterlot."

Dark barred his fangs with a loud hiss. "Did you not hear what she just said?! She told you that Soul is with us!"

"And we have our orders from Princess Celestia and Princess Luna to capture any changeling that enters Canterlot! Now surrender the changeling. You're sorely outnumbered."

"So what? You may have us outnumbered, but Twilight, Pyre, and I alone have more firepower individually than all of you put together."

Another guard approached them, but flinched when Dark's eyes darted over to him. "Forgive us, Princess Twilight, but while we would normally obey your orders, Princess Celestia's and Princess Luna's orders take precedence over yours at the moment. If you wish to make a claim about the changeling, then you must speak to them about it."

Feeling like this could get dangerous for them, Dark unfurled his wings and draped one protectively over Twilight and the other down to block their sight of Soul below him.

"Okay, I admit it, Twilight," Dark quietly began, glancing over to her, "you were right about sending Princess Celestia that letter about Soul last week."

Twilight sighed. "If I had remembered about those wards, then I would have."

"Well, not much we can do about that now. So, how can we-"

"DARK! TWILIGHT! HELP!"

Hearing Soul's cry for help, Dark and Twilight turned around to see Soul being pulled out from beneath them by a unicorn guard who'd snuck up close behind them and grabbed Soul with his magic. Using her own magic, Twilight grabbed Soul away and pulled him against her chest, his smaller changeling body making it easier for her to hold him while he held onto her as best as he could.

While Twilight had Soul secured in her hold, Dark sent a shadowy tendril out from his shadow and wrapped the stallion in it before bringing him to eye-level.

"You dare to assist a changeling?!" the guard shouted at Dark, struggling to break his bonds. "Princess Celestia will hear of this!"

"Good," Dark snarled, his eyes now having turned red and his voice changed. "You can explain to her why you and the other guards ignored Twilight right now!"

"Wait, whaaaaaaaaaaaa..."

Before the guard could finish his question, Dark whipped the shadowy tendril around and threw the stallion up into the air towards Canterlot Castle. Then, using each of the guards' own individual shadows, Dark created a shadowy claw that shot up from under them before grabbing each of them around their barrel, and pulling them back down to the ground. Not even the pegasi guards were safe from their own shadows as they soon found themselves pulled down to the ground by their own shadowy claws. With each guard now being pinned down to the ground and unable to move, Dark began darting his eyes over them expectantly.

"Anypony else wanna try and take Soul from us?"

Princess Celestia was sitting on her throne, looking over the last of the papers of the day before having to lower the sun. With a final wave of her quill, she sighed in relief as the last of the documents had been signed. Putting it off to the side, Celestia stood up from her throne and stretched out her stiff legs and wings. With an audible pop from each joint, Celestia began walking down the dais when Luna teleported into the room.

"Greetings, sister," Luna said with a smile. "How was court today?"

Celestia gave a small sigh. "Same as always, Luna."

"Nobles wanting Blueblood freed?"

"Unfortunately. Apparently his influence was greater than we thought."

Luna scoffed. "I remember a time when the nobles wouldn't question us and come complaining to us about such trivial matters. Why can't we bring back some of the older laws that we used to have?"

"Because times have changed, Luna," Celestia told her, her mind now wandering back to their earlier years of ruling.

Luna gave a small pout. "Could we at least bring back the Death Sentence?"

"No, Luna."

"Are you sure, Tia? Because I've heard about this executioner in Saddle Arabia who lets his victims have a final chance at freedom by running away from him."

"And?"

"None of them made it. Even after giving them a head start, he's killed each of them before they could escape. I also heard that he's gained quite the fame from it, and he loves it that much more."

Celestia blanched. "What kind of a creature would do something like that and enjoy it?"

"From what I've heard, Tia, he's an egotistical earth pony stallion called Craven, the Glorified Executioner."

"After hearing about that, Luna, there will be no way in Tartarus that I'll allow the Death Sentence to return."

"Awww, that's too bad," Luna playfully pouted. "I even had the perfect stallion in mind."

Sighing, Celestia shook her head to clear her mind of this Craven. "Speaking of Dark, how has the information he's provided you with been working out?"

"I do not know, sister. I told Shining Armor and Cadence the following morning after they both woken, but have not heard of any progress from their scouts."

"Hopefully they'll find something soon," Celestia said, beginning to lead Luna towards the doors. "Whatever is going on up there, we can't let it-"

Celestia's words were cut short by the sound of something crashing through the stone floors above. Seconds later, she and Luna saw a unicorn guard in a magical barrier hurtling through the ceiling and down into the floor in front them.

"Well," Luna blinked, "I wonder what happened there?"

Together, they approached the small crater and waited for the unicorn's barrier to dissipate. When it did, the stallion looked up wearily up to the two princesses.

"Guard," Celestia spoke, "what happened to you?"

"Your Highness," he spoke in a slightly-raspy voice, "there's a changeling at the train station."

Celestia looked at him with an intense look. "Are you sure?"

"Yes, Princess."

"I shall go handle it, sister," Luna said before charging her horn.

"Princess Luna! Wait!" But it was too late. Before the guard could warn her, Luna had already teleported herself to the train station, leaving him alone with Celestia.

"Was there something you wanted to add?" Celestia asked.

"Yes, Princess," he answered. "You see, the changeling was with Princess Twilight and company when we found it. Not only that, Princess, but she and Dark were protecting it!"

This caused Celestia to give a curious look. "Twilight Sparkle is protecting a changeling?" she asked, getting a confirming nod as the guard unsteadily rose to his hooves. "Hmm. Now that is curious. Was she under any kind of mind control spell?"

"None that the wards could detect, no."

"Well then, that is curious indeed."

By now, a group of ponies had gathered around, looking at the guards as they continued to struggle to break free of giant shadowy claws gripping them. While they were keeping an eye out on them, Twilight was sitting down, hugging Soul who was still clinging tightly to her chest while Dark stood behind them with a wing draped protectively over them. Even the Crusaders and Spike were at Soul's side to help protect and support him.

"How's he doin?" Applejack asked as she and the others walked up beside them.

"Not very well, but not as bad either," Dark answered. "Soul is sensing the negative emotions being directed towards him from the gathering ponies, but the positive emotions we've been giving him seem to be helping him."

"Alright, let me take care of this," she said, walking past them and ahead to address the growing crowd. But before she could speak, a flash of light directly ahead of her blinded her and sent her stumbling back.

"WHERE IS THE CHANGELING?!" Luna asked, accidentally using the Royal Canterlot Voice. Realizing her mistake, she cleared her throat and was about to ask again when she saw the guards being held down by shadowy claws coming from their own shadows.

"Princess Luna?" Twilight spoke, gaining Luna's attention.

"Twilight, where is the changeling at?"

Hearing the tone in which she asked that, Dark arched his back and placed himself between Luna and Twilight and Soul.

"What do you want with Soul?" he asked with a growl.

Taken aback by Dark's appearance and actions, Luna furrowed her brows. "I would appreciate it if you would mind the tone in which you speak to me with, Dark."

"Sorry if I may seem defensive, Princess," Dark said, not showing any signs of backing down, "but after what these guards tried to pull, you can't blame me for feeling a bit tense right now."

"Princess Luna, if I may?" Twilight spoke, gently pushing Dark off to the side with a wing to look at Luna. "You see, Princess, the situation with Soul is bit more complicated than him simply being a changeling."

Seeing the small changeling clinging to Twilight's chest for dear life, along with Spike and the three fillies around him, Luna turned her gaze to look Twilight in the eyes. After a few seconds of searching her eyes for signs of deceit, she instead only saw conviction and pleading. Slowly, Luna stepped closer towards Twilight and Soul, prompting Dark to inch is way closer to them, a shadowy mist rolling off of his wings and onto the ground around them.

"I take it that you have a good reason for defending this changeling?" Luna asked sternly.

"We do," Twilight answered, her voice firm.

Taking a moment, Luna glanced down at Spike and the Crusaders, who each gave her a nod. She then looked over to their friends and Pyre, who too gave a confirming nod. With a small sigh, Luna looked back to Twilight.

"Very well then," she said. "We shall go to the castle. There you can explain to Tia and I why you are defending a changeling. But first," Luna darted her eyes to Dark, "would you mind releasing our guards, Dark?"

With a slight nod, Dark caused the shadowy claws to release their captives and retreat back into their owners' shadows.

"There," he grunted.

"My thanks. Now then, everypony and dragon prepare yourselves. I shall take us directly to the castle."

Upon hearing those words, Dark's eyes widened. "Princess, wait-"

While Celestia pondered on what would compel Twilight to defend a changeling, she paid the kitchen a visit for a few slices of cake that she brought back with her to the throne room, believing that Luna would want to speak with her there. As she sat on her throne with her plate of cake, she looked up and saw Luna teleport back with Twilight and the others with her, including their luggage. With a smile, Celestia sat her cake off to the side.

"Hello, everypony," she warmly welcomed them, getting a warm reply from each of them. However, when she heard a groan, she looked again to see Dark laying on his side before sighing. "Luna, didn't you know about Dark's teleportation sickness?"

Luna gave a small humph. "It seems fair to me, considering how he treated our guards."

"They started it," Dark groaned, his eyes and voice having returned to normal.

"Started what?" Celestia asked curiously.

With a foreleg still holding onto Soul, Twilight stepped forward. "They refused my orders when I told them to stand down."

"And why would you ask them to do that?" Celestia asked before noticing the small, black changeling clinging to her. "Ah, now I see. So, am I to presume that this is the changeling that Luna and I were told about?"

"He is, Princess. I told the guards that he was with us, but they wouldn't listen. They kept saying that your orders overruled my own. And while I do respect your wishes, Princess, I cannot allow for Soul to be harmed."

Celestia raised an inquisitive eyebrow. "Oh?"

Twilight nodded sheepishly. "Please believe me, Princess. Soul isn't a bad changeling... or pony."

"I'm lost, Twilight. What do you mean by changeling or pony?" As she asked, Celestia saw Soul look over to her and immediately know that something was wrong here, mainly because Soul's eyes didn't match that of a normal changeling. "Is there something special bout him?"

Again, Twilight nodded. "It's a bit of a story, Princess. If it's alright with you and Princess Luna, could my friends be excused to unload their luggage and get settled in?"

"Of course, Twilight," Celestia said.

Taking that as their cue, everyone but Twilight, Soul, and Dark gathered their luggage and made for the doors.

"Don't worry about me," Dark said, laying down in a daze from the teleportation sickness. "I'll catch up with you later."

With an eye-roll, Pyre reached down and began to unceremoniously drag Dark behind him by the tail.

"Come on, Dark," he said with a grunt, "let's go."

Once they were out of the throne room and the doors had closed, Celestia and Luna looked back to Twilight and Soul.

"Now, Twilight," Luna began, "care to explain to us what you are doing with a changeling?"

"Half-changeling, actually," Twilight corrected.

"Half?" Celestia repeated.

"Yes, ma'am," Soul softly spoke, still clinging to Twilight.

"Could you tell us how this happened, young one?"

"O-Okay. Y-You see, my mom was a changeling, and my dad was a pegasus."

"How did they meet?" Luna asked, her gaze still as hard as the moment she saw Soul.

"Mom didn't like how Queen Chrysalis ran the Hive and fled when she was about my age. Years later, she met my dad, who found her as a changeling and accepted her."

"Tell me," Celestia softly began, "did they fall in love, or did either of them force the other?"

"No, ma'am. It took some time, but they got married and later had me."

"And where are they now?"

That question caused both Soul's and Twilight's moods to dampen. Gently prying Soul off of her, Twilight put him down on the floor. When she did, Soul ran over to her side, keeping close to her while also keeping most of him hidden from Celestia and Luna.

Seeing how the question affected both Twilight and Soul, along with how Soul was acting nervous and almost afraid of them, Celestia gave the warmest smile she could and leaned down to the changeling.

"It's alright," she softly spoke, "you don't need to hide from us."

"But what about her?" Soul asked, pointing a hoof at Luna.

Celestia shook her head while maintaining her smile. "She won't do anything to hurt you, and neither will I. I promise."

Though hesitant, Soul looked up to Celestia and subtly began feeling her emotions. While she did hold a small amount of caution and fear towards him, it was almost nothing compared to the assurance and kindness that was flooding off of her. With a little nudge from Twilight, Soul tentatively walked away from Twilight and closer to Celestia. Once he was clear of Twilight, Soul watched as Celestia lit her horn and brought around a plate with a slice of cake on it.

"Would you like some?" Celestia asked. Setting the plate down in front of him, she watched as Soul carefully eyed her, Luna, and Twilight before inching towards the cake. Then, once he was close enough, he took a small nibble of it, followed by a slightly larger bite.

"Now, Soul," Twilight said in a slightly-scolding tone, "what do you say?"

Gulping, Soul looked apologetically up at Celestia. "Sorry. Thank you for the cake."

"You're welcome," Celestia said, her smile growing a little. "Soul? Mind if we talked to Twilight in private for a moment?"

With a small nod from Soul, Celestia took Soul in her magic and sat him on the cushion of her throne with the plate of cake. With him sitting comfortably, she then casted a soundproof barrier around him so that she, Luna, and Twilight could speak in private.

Making sure to have her back turned to Soul so he wouldn't be able to read her lips, Twilight began telling Celestia and Luna everything about Soul. With nothing being left out, and a quick break for Celestia and Luna to lower the sun and raise the moon respectively, Twilight's story lasted for a good hour before she'd caught them up date. By the time she was finished, Celestia's expression had turned to sorrow while Luna's had become one of regret.

"So then," Luna softly began, "that is the reason why you and Dark were resistant in surrendering him."

Twilight gave a silent nod and looked back to see that Soul had fallen asleep. "We don't care if Soul's a pony, a changeling, or something in-between. Either way, we've decided together to adopt him and give him a good home." Twilight turned her gaze towards the floor. "It's the least we can do for him."

Celestia walked up to Twilight and draped a wing over her in a hug.

"Twilight," she said, turning her chin up to look her in the eyes, "I cannot tell you how proud of you I am. Not just for being caring and responsible for taking Soul in and protecting him, but for also putting aside your feelings towards changelings. I know that you harbor ill feelings towards them, and rightly so. But in the end, you decided to put aside those feelings because it was the right thing to do. And please, Twilight, don't let the death of Soul's parents weigh you down. Nopony would want that. Especially Soul."

"Yes, Princess," Twilight said with a small sniffle.

After letting them have their moment together, Luna stepped forward.

"I should apologize to you too, Twilight," she said with a small bow. "It was wrong of me to jump to conclusions before hearing you out. Even if he is a chang- sorry, half-changeling."

"It's alright, Princess Luna," Twilight said.

"Thank you," Luna said before turning around and making her way towards the door. "I shall inform the guards and tell them that they are not to touch Soul. Shall I expect to see you all and the others at dinner still?"

"Yes," Twilight answered.

"Very well then. I shall see you all soon."

With that, Twilight and Celestia watched as Luna left them alone. Once she left the room, Twilight walked up to the throne where Soul was still sleeping and removed Celestia's soundproof barrier. Hearing him lightly snoring, Twilight smiled and leaned down to lightly nuzzle him.

"Soul, time to get up," she quietly told him, causing him to give a small squeak. With him awake, Twilight gently levitated him onto her back. "You feeling awake for something to eat?"

"Uh-huh," he answered, wiping his eyes.

"Before we leave for dinner," Celestia began, walking over to Soul. Once she was by him, she placed her glowing horn on his head and changed him back into his pony form. "There you go."

"How did you do that?" Soul asked, causing Celestia to give a small chuckle.

"I have leaned a lot over my years of ruling, Soul," she answered. "What I did was a transformation spell similar to the ones changelings use. Twilight has told me how you're unable to control your changeling powers of transformation, so this spell I casted on you should keep you as a pony, even with the wards around Canterlot."

"Thank you, ma'am."

"You're welcome, Soul, and please, call me Celestia," Celestia smiled. "Now then, what do you say we get something to eat?"

With dinner finished, Twilight, Dark, and Soul were making their way through the moonlit streets of Canterlot to her parents' house. They did offer for Spike to come along, but he'd asked that he stay with the Crusaders and bring them to visit them tomorrow before Dark's match began. As the three continued, they passed beneath more of the wards placed around the city, but none of them revealed Soul's changeling form. Even some of the guards that they'd passed, though a little uneasy about being told of what Soul truly is, didn't make any fuss about it. Finally, with the house in sight, Twilight smiled as she had an extra spring to her step.

"There it is," she said with a small bounce.

"Do you think they'll like me?" Soul asked.

"Why do you ask, Soul?"

"Is it because you're half-changeling?" Dark guessed, getting a small nod from him.

"Ponies don't like changelings. Even if I'm just half, they still don't like me," Soul said.

"I know, and I'm sorry, Soul," Twilight said. "But we like you, and so do your friends, our friends, and Princess Celestia. Heck, even Princess Luna started to warm up to you during our lunch together."

"I guess."

"Besides, I'm sure that my parents will love you regardless."

Less than a minute later, they walked up to her parents' house and knocked on the door. Despite it being a little late, however, they weren't outside for long as after a few moments of waiting, the door was opened by Velvet.

"Welcome home, sweetie," Velvet said, pulling Twilight into a hug and giving her a kiss on the cheek.

"Hello, mom," Twilight returned.

"Did I hear that Twilight is here?" Night asked from the living room.

"Yes, Night. Twilight and Dark are here!" Velvet called out. When she let go of Twilight, she went over and gave Dark a hug. "And how's my future son-in-law doing?"

"MOM!" Twilight whined with a blush.

"Oh, come now, Twilight. Your father and I know that it's going to happen sooner or later. Now, Dark, how have you been doing?"

Dark smiled with a chuckle. "I'm doing just great, Velvet."

"What's this now? No more Miss or Mrs.?" she teased.

"Not unless you want me to go back to saying it."

"No, it's alright." Velvet let go of Dark when her eyes fell upon the colt hiding behind him. "Hello there, who is this?"

"This is Clear Soul, mom," Twilight answered, "and he's actually part of the reason why we're here."

"Alright. Why don't you three come in make yourselves comfortable in the living room. Would you like something to drink?"

"No thank you, mom. We just got done having dinner with the princesses and our friends."

"Okay, sweetie."

After letting them in and closing the door behind them, Velvet walked them into the living room where Night was reading the newspaper. Upon seeing them, he sat it off to the side and went to give Twilight a welcoming hug.

"How's my little filly doing?" he asked.

"I'm doing good, dad," Twilight answered, hugging him back.

Letting go of her, Night turned to Dark, who was subtly shifting from one hoof and claw to the others with memories of their last meeting.

"Dark," Night said with a nod.

"Hello, Night," Dark returned. "You're not still upset about what I am, are you?"

With a sigh, Night shook his head. "No. I'll admit that I'm still a little uncomfortable with the thought of my daughter dating Death, but I know you and I shouldn't have acted like that."

With a breath of relief, Dark's body relaxed. After exchanging a hoof/claw shake from Night, he motioned for them to sit while he retook his chair and Velvet took the loveseat.

"So, Dark," Night began, "are you ready for tomorrow."

"Pretty much," he answered. "Between working the forge and the training from Nocturne and Pyre, I should be ready to go."

"Who's Pyre?" Velvet asked.

"Oh, he's Dark's other brother," Twilight answered. "Pyre is the Lord of Fire, much like how Dark is the Lord of Death, and Aero is the Lady of Air."

"I see. So he's one of those special dragons, right?"

"Yep," Dark answered with a nod. "He actually came with us. You'll meet him at the Coliseum tomorrow."

"So then," Night began, "you say that you're ready, but do you have a strategy in mind?"

"I'll start off by using physical strength and weapons. I don't want to use my magic until towards the end, or unless I feel like I need to."

"Actually, Dark," Twilight began, "if it's alright with you, could you not use your death magic?"

"Which ones?"

"All of them, including your shadows."

Dark looked to Twilight in surprise. "Why?"

Twilight gave him a deadpan look. "After seeing how easily you neutralized those guards at the train station, if you did go into the fight with that magic, then you'd easily win. I just don't think it would be very fair for them if you were allowed to use it is all."

Dark looked like he was about to object, but the unmoving look Twilight was giving him told him otherwise.

"Only for you," he sighed in defeat.

"Thank you for listening," Twilight thanked, giving him a quick peck and causing his smile to return.

"So," Night began, looking at Soul sitting between them, "who's the kid?"

"Oh, right," Twilight said, returning to back to Soul. "Dad, mom, this is Clear Soul. Soul? These are my parents, Night Light, and Twilight Velvet."

Soul looked up to Twilight. "You and your mom have the same name?"

Velvet giggled. "Everypony calls me Velvet, dear. It makes it so that ponies don't mistake me for my daughter."

"Oh, okay, Mrs. Velvet."

"Now then, Twilight, care to tell your father and I what he's doing here with you?"

Oh, Celestia this is harder then I thought it would be, Twilight thought, nervously rubbed her hooves together. "Well... you see, mom... umm... Dark, care to help me out?"

"Sure," he shrugged, turning to Night and Velvet. "Okay, long story short, Twilight and I have adopted Soul."

There was a long silence that followed. Neither Night or Velvet could find anything to say at the moment as they were too surprised by the sudden news. It wasn't until a few minutes later that Velvet finally spoke.

"So..." she slowly began, looking between the three of them. "Does this mean that Soul is our grandson?"

Twilight nervously rubbed the back of her head. "Well, technically he'd be your adopted grandson, but yes."

Slowly, Velvet's expression turned from one of shock, to pure joy as she squealed and ran over to give Soul a loving and crushing hug.

"I can't believe we have a grandson!" she squealed.

Night blinked a few times before his brain caught up with him. "Well... that's quite the news."

"Yeah, I guess it is," Twilight said.

"So, what made you decide to adopt?" Night's curious look turned to one of mischief. "Is it because Dark's firing blanks?"

Both Dark's and Twilight's faces lit up in embarrassment.

"D-Dad!" Twilight shouted. "W-What would make you say that?!"

"What?" he innocently shrugged. "I'm just curious, seeing as how you two have decided to adopt instead of having a foal of your own. Not that I'm complaining about it or anything."

"That's because we've agreed that we're not ready for a foal of our own yet," Dark said defensively.

"Dark? What's it mean when a pony is firing blanks?" Soul asked.

"... I'll tell you when you're a little older, Soul."

Soul gave a small pout. "Is it related to the sex talk you gave me last week?"

Celestia kill me now, Dark mentally groaned. "Yes."

"So? What does it mean?"

"It means that he can't have foals," Night answered with a small smirk.

"Night, behave yourself," Velvet scolded before turning back to Dark. "I'm sorry about him, Dark."

"It's fine," he sighed.

"But you still haven't told us why you two adopted him."

"It's because I found I'm being chased in the Everfree Forest, which also happened to be where he lived for the last few years... alone."

Hearing the reason, Velvet tightened her hug on Soul and began nuzzling him affectionately.

"Oh, you poor colt," she said to Soul.

Feeling the love and affection being given to him, Soul smiled and began nuzzling Velvet back.

"I take it that you've gotten him checked up?" Velvet questioned.

"We have," Twilight answered. "For the most part, Soul was healthy when we first found him." Twilight paused as the other topic came to mind. "Also, there's something else about Soul that you should probably be aware of."

"Oh? What is it?"

Twilight took a deep breath before answering. "Soul is half-pony."

"Really? And what's the other half?"

"Well... do you promise not to freak-out?"

"Yes, sweetie. I promise."

"Thank you. In that case, Soul's other half is a changeling."

Velvet blinked in surprise. "Are you saying that Soul is a half-pony, half-changeling?"

"I am. Now, before you or dad start, I would just like to point out first that he isn't like the changelings we've seen. His mother left the Hive when she was Soul's age, so she has no connection to Queen Chrysalis or the invasion on Canterlot."

"He wouldn't by chance be the same changeling that I've heard of that was spotted at the train station, would he?" Night questioned.

"Yes, but it wasn't my fault," Soul said. "Those gems forced me to change. It's bad enough that I can't control it, but now I'm being forced to."

"If that's true, then why does he look like a pony now?" Velvet wondered.

"Princess Celestia changed him back into a pony and has placed a spell on him that'll cancel out the wards," Twilight answered.

Dark, meanwhile, cocked his head to the side. "You two seem to be handling this pretty well, considering what Soul is."

"Well, while it is a bit of a surprise, Dark, it isn't that hard to believe," Velvet said. "After all, when you think about it, Twilight's an alicorn, you're a kirin, Spike is Twilight's dragon brother, you have your own dragon siblings who are of a special and rare race of dragons, and now you have a half-changeling as an adopted son."

Running all of those facts through his head, Dark chuckled. "I suppose you're right. We do have a sort of mismatched family." Dark draped a wing around Twilight and pulled her over to him. "And I couldn't ask for a better one."

Smiling from the compliment, Twilight leaned over and began nuzzling Dark. "Neither could I. At least, for now anyway."

"Huh? What do you mean by that?"

"You'll find out eventually," she teased before giving him a kiss.

The next hour they spent catching up with each other, including a few stories from Soul about his travels with his mom and dad, and some of the things that he did at school. Night had himself an especially good laugh when Soul told him and Velvet about his pranking spree during Hearts and Hooves Day. However, as much as a good time they were having, the sound of Soul yawning reminded them that it was getting late for them and that they had to return to the castle. Placing the half-asleep Soul onto her back where he snuggled down into, Twilight and Dark made their way to the door where they said their goodbyes.

"Couldn't you three stay here for the night?" Velvet asked, sounding a little disappointed.

"Thank you, mom," Twilight thanked, "but it wouldn't be right for us to just barge in and stay over without any warning. Would you be okay with it if we did tomorrow?"

"Of course, sweetie," she said, giving Twilight a goodbye hug. "We'll be looking forward to it."

"We'll also be looking forward to seeing you in action tomorrow, Dark," Night grinned. "The Coliseum has been buzzing this last week about it. Apparently, the ponies around here still remember your fight with Shining and are hoping for another good fight from you."

"I'll try my best to not disappoint them," Dark chuckled. "It was nice to see you again, Night."

"You too, Dark. Have a goodnight you two, and see you tomorrow."

"Goodnight," they both replied.

With their visit having gone well, and tired from the events of this afternoon, Twilight, Dark, and Soul returned to the castle for some rest. Both for the emotional stress of that day, and for what's to come tomorrow.

Author's Note

Not Craven, Craaaaaaaaven.

Chapter 56- Road to Coliseum Champion: Part I

Despite waking up to see Twilight sleeping peacefully in his arms, Dark couldn't help but feel completely awake. With his thoughts on the fight at the Coliseum today, it became more difficult for him to remain with her in bed. Shadow Melding, Dark slipped out unnoticed from the bed and made his way into the hallways. From there, he went directly to the dining hall where he reappeared from the shadows. As soon as he did, the sweet smells of food assaulted his senses. Everything ranging from waffles, pancakes, omelets, and even...

"Is that bacon?" Dark asked, alerting everyone to his sudden appearance.

Surprised, Rainbow, Applejack, Spike, Pyre, Celestia, and Luna looked over to see Dark with his nose raised, sniffing the air.

"Umm, yes, it is," Celestia answered, surprised that he recognized the smell. "I'm surprised that you know what bacon is."

Dark gave a nervous chuckle and took a seat. "Remember when I crossed into that other world?"

"Yes, what about it?"

"Well, while I was there, I was introduced to sausage, and later, bacon."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" Rainbow said. "You ate meat?!"

"I didn't know it at the time... but..."

"But?"

Dark's mouth watered. "It was sooooooo goooood."

"Oh. I didn't know that you ate meat, Dark," Luna said in surprise.

"Did. I haven't had any since I came back to Equestria... minus the salami during the Hearth's Warming Ball. "

"Oh?" Pyre smirked. "So you haven't eaten pony?"

Dark glared at Pyre. "Ohhhh no! Don't you think that I don't know that you're asking, Pyre!" Besides, I already made that mistake with Sunset Shimmer once already. Dark paused as another thought came to mind. Hmm. Wonder when she and the other girls are going to come over for that visit?

"Could we not go there please?" Spike asked with a grumble. "I'd rather not think about stuff like that while I'm eating."

"I agree," Celestia spoke. "Though I appreciate some entertainment with my food, this is overdoing it. By the way, Dark, why are you up so soon? I thought that you would want to get as much rest as you could for this evening."

"Me too," he agreed, "but I was too excited when I woke up. That, and the smell of bacon isn't doing me any favors."

"If you want, we have plenty of bacon that you could have."

"Ah'm surprised that y'all even have bacon ta start with, Princess," Applejack commented.

"They're usually for foreign dignitaries who like to eat meat, Applejack," Luna explained. "Mainly griffons."

"And dragons?" Spike questioned.

"While dragons can eat it as you and Pyre have demonstrated, we rarely have any of them visit."

"Their loss," Pyre said, tossing another piece into his maw. As he did, he noticed Dark eyeing his bacon with a small strand of drool and decided to taunt him by slowly eating the next piece, causing Dark to whimper.

Noticing this, Celestia moved the plate of bacon over to Dark. "Go ahead and help yourself, Dark."

Before he began eating it, Dark looked back over to Celestia. When he got a go-ahead nod from her, he looked back to the pile of bacon before diving in maw first. After a few seconds of crunching bacon and crumbs flying around, Dark cleaned the plate of bacon. Giving a content sigh, he leaned back in his chair before letting out a flaming belch. Remembering where he was, Dark opened his eyes and looked around to see everyone looking at him in disbelief. Whether it was because of his manners while eating or his fire-breathing belch, Dark didn't want to guess.

"Oops," Dark muttered. "Sorry."

"You know, Dark," Pyre began with a smirk, "it's times like this when I see you as an actual brother."

"Dude, nice push," Rainbow complimented.

"Eeyup," Applejack agreed with a chuckle. "Glad that Rarity wasn't here ta see or hear that."

"I must agree," Luna said. "However, as good as that was, perhaps you could be a little cleaner while eating?"

"Sorry, Princess," Dark apologized. "I'm not really sure what came over me."

"Probably your dragon instincts," Pyre guessed with a shrug. "Happens to all of us."

"I take it that you liked the bacon then?" Celestia asked with a small smirk. "It's difficult to tell with how quickly you inhaled it."

"Very much, Princess," Dark answered with a smile. "I feel like I have more energy now after eating that meat."

"Don't get too excited now," Rainbow said. "You'll want to save it for this afternoon."

"She's right," Luna spoke. "Nopony has beaten the current champion since he took the title almost four years ago now. Plus, they changed the rules this year."

"How so?" Dark wondered.

"To fight the champion, you'll have to defeat fifty gladiators one at a time."

"Jeeze. Why'd they do that?" Rainbow questioned. "And why so many?"

"Too many ponies were making it to the champion, so they added it to 'thin out the herd', as they put it. So now, only the best can have a chance to fight him. They even added in a five minute break after every ten gladiators you defeat."

"But that still ain't fair!" Applejack protested. "Even with those breaks, by the time Dark is done fightin' all of them, he'll be too tired ta fight him."

"Or her," Spike commented. "Remember that nopony knows who this champion is, including their gender."

"Can't y'all just find out who this champion is? Ah mean, y'all are princesses, y'all can do that, right?"

"I'm sorry, Applejack," Celestia apologized, "but we've made an agreement when the Coliseum first opened that Luna and I wouldn't interfere with their rules in any way. That includes discovering the identity of the champion, should they decide to keep their identity hidden from everypony."

"It's fine," Dark said, grabbing a stack of waffles and drowning them in maple syrup. "All that I need to know is that this champion specializes in defensive spells like Shining does. And after our two fights together, I have a pretty good idea of how to beat him... or her."

"Care to share with us?" Luna asked.

"Depends on if you or Princess Celestia are the champion or not," he smirked. "After all, if nopony knows who this champion is, then it could very well be either of you in disguise."

Celestia and Luna both burst out loud in amusement.

"No, Dark," Celestia chuckled. "Neither Luna nor I are the champion, so it's safe to tell us."

"Okay then. In that case, when I first fought with Shining, I noticed that his barrier didn't cover the ground below his hooves when I had a Fire Seal placed on the ground. When he saw it, he froze like he knew that he was beaten. That's what I'm planning on doing if I face the champion. Well, that and one other thing that Pyre taught me."

"You mean when you face him," Pyre corrected.

"I told you yesterday, Pyre, that I'm not wanting to jinx it."

"Don't you worry your precious little head about it, Darky," Pinkie said, startling him and the others as she suddenly appeared from behind his seat.

"Gah! Pinkie! When did you get here?!" Dark shouted in surprise.

"Oh silly, I've been here the whole time," she smiled.

"Then why- nope, forget it, I'm not even going to start."

"Anyway, like I was saying, you'll do fine today. It's tomorrow that you should be worried about."

Dark raised a curious eyebrow. "Why should I be worried about tomorrow?"

Pinkie's smile turned to a knowing grin. "Oh, you'll see."

After Twilight and the others joined them and finished their breakfasts, she, Dark, Spike, Soul, and the Crusaders went back over to her parents' house to visit. Like yesterday, Velvet showered Soul with love and affection, which also included a fresh tray of homemade cookies that she baked. This was also the first time that Velvet and Night had a chance to meet Sweetie Belle, Apple Bloom, and Scootaloo. While they did see them during and after Shining's and Cadence's wedding, they didn't get to talk to them. But now, with them being Spike's three fillyfirends, they were more than happy to welcome and get to know them. So, it would be understanding that they would be surprised that each of them were the younger sisters of Twilight's friends.

"So, dears," Velvet began, smiling at them and Spike as they all sat on the couch, "how long have you four been together?"

After swallowing her cookie, Sweetie Belle was the first to answer. "Actually, it didn't start out as the four of us right away."

"Oh?"

"It was actually Spike and I who were together first."

"And how did that happen?"

"It's actually thanks to Dark that we got together. It started back in September when Dark was attacked by those timberwolves. After I heard that he was hurt, I went with Rarity to the hospital to support him." Sweetie Belle's mood dampened. "I wasn't prepared for the emotional toil it had. I wanted to be a good friend and be there for him, but it's hard when there's nothing you can do except wait. It was then that Spike came over and sat down with me. We got to talking and before I knew it, I started crying, afraid that Dark wouldn't make it. Spike was sweet, though. He hugged me and letting me cry onto him. I don't know how long that lasted for until I fell asleep. The next morning, I wake-up in my bed with Spike still holding me."

"Yeah," Spike sighed. "I guess that Rarity didn't want to wake us up, so she let us be like that after she brought us back to her place."

"And that's when you two decided to become a couple?" Velvet asked.

"Yep. Turns out that we've both had feelings for each other, but were too nervous to act on them... that was, until I woke-up and saw Sweetie lying there in my arms."

"Awww. So then, how did Apple Bloom and Scootaloo come into the picture?"

"Well," Sweetie Belle began, "as it turned out, both of them kinda felt the same about Spike, but were too afraid of ruining our friendship to pursue him after we got together."

"It wasn't till Spike, Twilight, and Dark went on their trip ta Canterlot least year that we talked about it," Apple Bloom took over. "Sweetie found Scoots and Ah in the clubhouse, and then we began tellin' Sweetie about how we felt about Spike."

"It took a little bit of convincing, though," Sweetie Belle said.

"More like you wouldn't stop bugging us about it," Scootaloo corrected, getting a small frown from Sweetie Belle.

"Girls," Velvet said sternly, trying to stop their bickering before it escalated. "You were saying, Apple Bloom?"

"Right," she began. "Anyway, after talkin' with Sweetie, and subtly askin' some of the grown-ups for advice, we all agreed ta share Spike."

"So you girls are in a herd with Spike?"

"Yes, ma'am," Sweetie Belle answered. "It wasn't until the morning after Nightmare Night that it happened. Of course, we had to ask Spike about his opinion first."

"And I still say that it's the best decision I've ever made," Spike said, pulling the three fillies into a hug.

"I can see that," Velvet smiled. She then noticed that Spike's arms almost reached around all three of them. "Spike? Have you grown?"

"Huh? Oh, yeah!"

"When did this happen?"

"Just a few weeks ago. According to Pyre, this is actually natural for me."

"Well, it's nice to see you growing up. I remember hearing from you how you wished you could be bigger, and now you can."

Spike smiled. "That's not the only thing that Pyre told us." Lifting a claw and focusing on the plate of cookies, Spike used his new-found magic to levitate a single cookie off of the plate and into his waiting claw. "Turns out that my species of dragon is able to use magic. Isn't that great?!"

Thought initially startled, Velvet quickly regained her composure. "You mean that you can use magic like us?" she asked, getting a nod from Spike as he began munching on his cookie.

"Yep. Twilight's been teaching me how to use my magic properly, but it's still difficult for me to do. I can't levitate anything heavy yet. I tried with my luggage, but it was too heavy for me. Now these cookies or gems on the other claw, that I can do. Oh, and of course books too."

Velvet chuckled. "I'll bet that it makes reshelving Twilight's books easier for you."

"You have no idea. But I can't do it for too long, though, or else I'll start to get a headache."

For the next few hours, they caught up on what's been going on since they last saw each other. They were later joined by Twilight, Dark, Soul, and Night, who just came back from grabbing groceries from the market for lunch and tonight's dinner. After they had their lunch and cleaned up after it, they all sat together in the living room and watched some of the shows on Night and Velvet's gem. A few hours later of watching the first of the 'The Lady of the Rings' trilogy, Velvet turned it off.

"Alright everyone," she began, walking over to the door, "it's about time that we got going."

"Awww," the Crusaders whined in unison. "But we wanna see what happens next."

"You three can watch it tomorrow. Right now, though, we need to get ourselves to the Coliseum. Especially you, Dark."

Dark glanced up at the clock. "But it's not for another two hours, and the Coliseum is only a twenty minute walk from here."

"Maybe, but you remember what ponies were saying in the streets, right?" Night reminded him. "If what they all said is true, then the place will be packed."

Seeing that Spike and everypony else were already moving, Dark shrugged. "Might as well then. I could just use that extra time to look over my gear that I'll be using."

"Good," Twilight said. "Because we're also suppose to meet with the girls, Pyre, and the princesses at the Coliseum steps. Now let's go."

Just as Night had said, the Coliseum was already being flooded with ponies of all kinds at the entrance. From nobles to commoners, they came either by hoof, or by their wings. Even a few griffons could be spotted walking in. Standing across the street from it, Dark and the others watched as hundreds of ponies entered through the gates.

"Wow, you weren't kidding," Dark commented.

"Do you see our friends anywhere?" Twilight asked, scanning the crowds for their friends.

After a few moments of looking, Soul, who was on top of Dark's back and had propped himself up on Dark's head, pointed over to their right.

"I think I see them," he said.

Sure enough, as soon as they all turned over to where Soul was pointing, they saw who they were looking for. Of course, with Pyre, Celestia, and Luna with them, ponies were keeping their distance from them.

"Okay, kids," Velvet said, "let's stay close now. I don't want any of you fillies getting away from us. That includes you two too, Spike, Soul."

"Okay," they all responded.

Positioning themselves in a circle so that Spike and the Crusaders were safe in the center of their circle, as a group, they made their way over to where the others were waiting. A minute later of accidentally having ponies bump into them and vice versa, they were able to reunite with their friends and family. With nopony coming close to them, the Crusaders split up and jumped on their respective sister's backs.

"Is everyone ready?" Celestia asked, getting a nod from everyone in their group. "Then let's go."

With her up front, Celestia led them towards the Coliseum entrance. As they went, some ponies stopped to bow to her, Luna, and Twilight, while others backed away from seeing Pyre walking with them, and a few other were watching Dark. When they got to the top of the stairs, they all stopped as they heard loud cheering coming from behind them. Turning around to see what was going on, they all saw four of the Coliseum guards escorting a pony in silver armor covered by a white cloak with a darkened hood.

"Is that..." Dark began.

"The champion," Celestia finished.

"This is a surprise," Luna said. "I've never heard of him coming here to watch a match unless he was apart of it."

"If he's here, then you must have a pretty good chance, Dark," Pyre commented.

Instead of responding, Dark remained silent, trying to use his night vision to look beneath the darkness beneath the champion's hood that hid their face. It proved to be impossible, though, causing him to give a small grunt of frustration.

"Can't see beneath the hood?" Twilight guessed, noticing his gaze and getting a nod from him.

"It would be so much easier to know who this pony is," he grumbled.

"Well, it looks like we're about ta find out," Applejack said, "because here they come."

As the champion and their escort approached, cheering fans parted way for them to walk, allowing them to pass unimpeded. That was, until they stopped briefly to give a silent yet respectful bow to the three princesses. When they finished showing them their respect, they continued past them.

As they did, Dark could practically feel the champion's glare lingering on him before entering the Coliseum. Once they were out of sight, Dark released a breath he didn't know that he'd been holding onto and continued to follow Celestia and Luna into the Coliseum.

"Wow, Dark," Rainbow said, hovering alongside him, "looks like somepony's got your number."

"No doubt that he'll be scouting you," Pyre added.

"Or her," Spike reminded.

"No, Spike. This champion is defiantly male."

"How can you tell?" Twilight wondered. "There were no signs of either gender. Even the armor covering the champion is throwing us off."

"I can tell by the scent. Even though it's diluted by the other smells around here, I could still tell that that pony is male."

"Okay, but how does that help me exactly?" Dark questioned.

"Hey, don't look at me. It's not my problem."

Passing through the Coliseum gates, they went up to the booths where they turned in their prepaid tickets, minus Dark who got in for free due to his participation. Entering the main lobby, they looked around and immediately noticed a familiar stallion approaching them.

"Well, well, well," he said with an eager grin, "haven't seen you ponies in a while. You either, Your Highnesses."

"It has been a while, hasn't it, First Strike?" Luna returned.

First Strike chuckled. "Yes, it has, Princess. I'm glad that you and Princess Celestia could come. Tonight's proving to be quite the outcome."

"So we've noticed," Celestia said with a smile.

Giving another chuckle, First Strike looked over their group and smiled. "So, new blood, are you ready for tonight?"

"About as ready as I'll ever be," Dark answered with a shrug. "And are you always going to call me that?"

"Hey, you've had only one fight here, so you're still new to us. Now, whether or not I continue to call you that will depend on how well you do tonight. By the way, should we be expecting a show like you put on for us last time?"

"Ehh, kinda."

"Huh?"

"While my fire magic has improved significantly, I've been forbidden to use my shadows and other magics."

"What? Why?"

"Because I was told to."

"But who would-" First Strike paused when he remembered how Dark's last fight ended. As he did, he glanced over to Twilight, who innocently looked off to nowhere in particular. "Ahh, I see now. So she's got you on a leash, huh?"

Dark gave a small grunt. "Yeah."

Twilight's ears perked. "What was that, Dark?"

"Nothing!"

"Good boy."

This raised a round of laughter from the others watching, including that of another who was approaching them.

"I must say, laddy, she's really got ye by the kahunas, doesn't she."

Turning to the direction of the voice, they quickly identified its owner.

"Hey, Anvil!" Dark shouted, happy to see the old smith again.

"Dark, how ye been, ye crazy bastar-"

Suddenly, out of nowhere, a red and white striped round shield with a blue center with a white star hit the side of Anvil's head, knocking him down. Regaining his bearings, he watched as the shield somehow returned to its pink owner.

"Language," Pinkie told him.

"What in the blazes was that for, lass?" Anvil asked confusingly with a hint of annoyance.

"There are kids present," she said before pointing a hoof at him, "and language."

"What?! This is the Coliseum ye crazy-" Anvil was interrupted again with another flying shield to the head.

"Language!"

While the others laughed at Pinkie and Anvil, Celestia, while struggling to stifle her laughter, walked over to the downed stallion.

"Perhaps it would be best to listen to her for now," she suggested, helping Anvil back to his hooves.

"Aye, that sounds like a mighty fine idea, Yer Highness," he agreed, looking over at Pinkie. "And where did ye get that shield anyway, lassy?" Instead of being given an verbal answer, Anvil watched as Pinkie instead put the shield in her mane. "What in Equestria?"

"Dude, just don't," Dark sighed, putting a claw on his shoulder. "None of us know how Pinkie does what she does."

"... aye. If ye say so, lad. So, ye gonna use that weapon ye made at me forge?"

"With my magic being limited, the thought did cross my mind, but it would probably be better if I didn't. For their sakes."

"Aye, I suppose that's reason enough. Wouldn't want ye to accidentally kill somepony now, would ye?"

Technically, if I did, I could just regenerate their wounds and stuff their soul back into their body, Dark thought, but wasn't eager to test it.

"Sorry ta interrupt," Applejack said, standing between Dark and Anvil, "but shouldn't we try ta find ourselves some seats before they're all taken?"

"That won't be a problem, Applejack," Luna spoke, gaining their attention.

"Forgive me for questioning you, but are you sure, Princess?" Rarity asked. "After all, with all of these ponies here, it will most certainly be difficult for us to find a place where we can sit as a group."

Luna smirked. "Not if we use the box seats."

"Sounds like you got everything planned," First Strike said before turning to Dark. "Alright, new blood. If you'll follow me, I'll take you to the waiting room. I take it that you remember the one I'm talking about?"

Dark nodded and followed First Strike. "The same one as last time, right?"

"Yep. Speaking of which, could you try to not break anymore of our equipment?" he half-jokingly asked.

"Don't worry about that. I brought my own gear with me this time."

Once Dark and First Strike were out of sight, Celestia turned to Anvil.

"If you want, Anvil, you're more than welcome to join us," she offered.

"Thank ye kindly, Yer Highness," he said with a bow. "It would be an honor ta join ye."

"You're welcome. Now then, let's get going shall we?"

Following Celestia, the others filed in behind her. As they walked down the halls, Anvil glanced over at Pyre.

"So, who's the giant red lizard?"

Down in the waiting room, Dark sat on one of the benches, trying to contain the adrenaline pumping through him. To help pass the time, he summoned his armor and pulled two of his weapons from his Shadow Storage. One was a two-handed battle-axe with an axe head the size of his body, and the other was a two-handed greatsword, which just happened to be one of the two that he used the last time he was here.

With them out, he pulled out a sharpening stone that he brought with him from the forge and began to sharpen their blades. It took him the better part of an hour before they were sharpened to his liking, leaving him with about a half-hour until his fight. With plenty of time to spare, Dark began to enchant his greatsword with an enchantment before enchanting his battle-axe with another. With the enchantments finished, Dark took the greatsword into his right claw, then the battle-axe with his left, and placed them both on his back.

Armed and armored, Dark retook his seat and sat patiently for him to be called. Before that, though, the door to the room opened up to First Strike entering.

"You look ready to go, new blood," he commented.

"I am, but this wait feels like it's taking forever," Dark complained. "How much longer until we can get this thing started?"

"Just a few more minutes. But first, I'm here to go over the rules with you."

"If it's about the new rule change where I have to fight fifty gladiators before facing the champion with a five minute break after every ten rounds, then I already know."

"... okay, that makes what I need to tell you easier. Yes, that was part of it, but there are a few others that you should be aware of."

"Okay."

"For starters, there will be no time limit for these fights. The match will end only when either one of you is knocked out."

"So same rules as when I fought Shining then?"

"... pretty much. The biggest part, though, is that you can stop at any time in-between rounds. If you do, then you're done and will receive a prize depending on how far you got. However, if you lose anytime during the gauntlet, you won't be awarded anything."

"Then I'll just have to make sure that I don't lose."

"Hah, that's what I like to hear."

"Now, what about placing an enchantment or spell on the field?" Dark wondered.

"With this kind of match, anything goes. Just remember that your opponent can do the same thing, be it covering the field in ice, turning it to sand, creating hurricane-like winds, or setting the entire field on fire."

"Wouldn't that be unfair if I did it, though? You know, considering that the next guy would have to walk into it?"

"It would," First Strike began with a smirk, "if the field didn't magically reset itself after each round. The only enchantments that won't be affected would be the ones placed on your equipment."

"Okay, that makes much more sense now. Anything else I should know about?"

"Yes, there is one more, actually," First Strike said, moving in to whisper it to Dark. When he did, Dark's eyes widened as an excited grin crept up on his face.

"Now that sounds like fun," he said giddily. "Anything else besides that?"

"Nope, that's about it. And besides." First Strike paused just before the sound of the horn blowing rang through the building. "It's time. Show them a good time, new blood! And good luck!"

"Thanks," Dark replied, waking over to the gate as it slowly opened for him.

Once it was fully opened, Dark walked into the familiar arena where the shouts and cheers of thousands of ponies echoed across the Coliseum. When he stopped near his half of the arena, he looked around at all of the ponies and few griffins who came to watch. Soon his sights fell over the princesses, his friends, family, and of course, Twilight, all of whom were cheering for him.

"Wow, that's a lot of ponies," Dark said to himself. "And it looks like they've got a new announcer."

"Welcome, everypony, to tonight's Coliseum matchup!" the announcer spoke through the speakers, causing the crowd to erupt even louder. "Tonight, we have a returning fighter who's got his eyes set on the title of Coliseum Champion. You might've seen him during his debut fight last year against Prince Shining Armor, who's match ended in an unexpected draw."

"Are they ever going to forget that?" Twilight asked.

"I doubt it," Luna answered. "You and Cadence did make quite the scene by dragging those two off like that."

"Not that I would complain about it, of course," Celestia said with a small smirk.

"Of course you would, sister. After all, it was Twilight's and Cadence's interference that led you to winning that bet."

"Mare and gentelcolts, I present to you, the kirin without reason, the berserk of hurt, the lord of fire-"

"That's me you stupid pony!" Pyre shouted with a raised fist, but was unheard due to the volume of the cheering.

"Dark Flame!"

Again, the crowd erupted in to cheers while at his announcement while Dark himself remained where he was and gave the crowd a small bow of his head. Of course, there was no denying that the adrenaline he was feeling was even greater now than it had just a moment ago. Doing his best to keep himself from bouncing with excitement like Pinkie would, Dark closed his eyes and tried taking steady breaths. As he did, the announce spoke up.

"Now, let me give a quick recap of the rules," he began. "First and most importantly, there will be no interference from any outside sources. And to assure that wouldn't happen... again, we've increased the power of the magical barrier surrounding the arena. Now that that's out of the way, with this match, the challenger will have to face fifty gladiators in one-on-one combat before he can face the champion. However, after ever ten rounds, there will be a five minute break for the challenger to rest and recuperate. If the challenger wishes it, he can bow-out at any time in-between each round. If he does, he'll receive a price according to his standing. However, if he loses at any point, even during the match with the champion, he won't receive anything. Now then, is the challenger ready?"

Throwing his head back, Dark let loose a loud, draconic roar that echoed throughout the Coliseum.

"I'll take that as a yes. In that case, let the first round... begin!"

Another round of cheers sounded as the gate opposite to Dark began to open. When it did, a gruff looking earth pony stallion wearing nothing but a pair of gauntlets walked out from the gate and approached the center.

"Round one... fight!"

Without hesitation, the gruff stallion charged Dark. But before he could get close enough, Dark took in a quick breath before unleashing a torrent of flame from his burning maw directly at the charging stallion. Seconds later when he'd stopped breathing his fire, Dark looked down at the scorched stallion before looking up to at the projection screen to see his health gauge had been depleted.

"Well... that was fast," the announcer said in surprise. "Okay. Next round I guess. Hey! Can somepony get that guy out of here?"

Seconds later, a group of ponies in white ran out with a stretcher and placed the charred stallion on it before making a quick exit.

"Is that pony going to be okay?" Sweetie Belle worryingly asked.

"Worry not, Sweetie Belle," Luna said reassuringly. "The ponies here will take good care of anypony who gets hurt. Besides, the damage absorbers took most of the damage for him."

"Alrighty, everypony!" the announcer spoke. "That fight was a bit lacklustered, so let's see how the next gladiator will do." Immediately afterwards, the gates opened to a pegasus branding a pair of daggers in her forehooves. "If both combatants are ready, then let us begin round two. Ready... fight!"

Much like the first one, this gladiator charged at Dark. However, as a pegasus, her speed and mobility was far greater than that of the earth pony stallion before her. And the twin daggers she was sporting only complimented her fighting style. Flying in fast and low, she sped directly towards Dark, but before he could ready another fire breath, she darted off to the side of him and dragged the curved blade of one of her daggers along Dark's side. Unfortunately for her, the chainmail lining beneath Dark's clothing glanced the strike off of him with no damage inflicted.

While surprised by her speed and swiftness, Dark readied himself by standing on his hooves and flexing his claws. The next time she came around for another strike, Dark met her dagger by gripping it in his claw. With the super-dragon durability and strength his draconic limbs provided, he held firmly onto the blade without drawing any blood from his claw. Smirking at seeing her trying to free her weapon from him, Dark tightened his grip on the dagger, causing the metal to crack before it finally snapped.

Taking her moment of hesitation over the breaking of her weapon, Dark reached below the hovering pegasus and yanked her down by her tail. With her temporarily stunned by the impact, Dark then began to fling her over him and slam her on the ground on his other side. He continued this several more times before he spun around in a circle, dragging her across the ground before throwing her up into the air. Before she could regain control, though, Dark had flown up to meet her before her body could fall and slammed his tail against her, sending her hurdling down to the ground in a cloud of dust.

Landing back down, Dark flapped his wings again and blew the dust cloud away, revealing the unconscious pegasus. And like the pony before her, the medical team took her away to tend to any injuries that she'd sustained. Once she was cleared, and with Dark's willingness to continue, the next pony walked in. This one, however, was a unicorn wearing what looked like royal guard armor, along with a spear and shield hovering on either side of him in his magic.

"Who's that, Princess?" Twilight asked, seeing the small glare Celestia was giving the stallion.

"Truant, a former member in the royal guard," she dangerously answered.

"'Truant'? But that's another word for-"

"Runaway, or Deserter, if you would prefer. Which is exactly what he is."

Now it was Twilight who's eyes furrowed. Looking back down, she lit her horn and subtly casted a telepathy spell.

Dark, can you hear me?

Dark's eyes widened in surprise as he recognized the voice and looked over to its owner. Twilight? How are you-

Telepathy spell, she quickly explained. Listen, that stallion is a deserter of the royal guard.

Huh. Well that explains the armor and weapons.

Yes, and Princess Celestia isn't too happy to see him here.

Dark grinned. Are you asking me to punish him on behalf of the princess?

... in a matter of speaking.

"Hey! Freak!" Truant shouted, gaining Dark's attention. "You going to fight me, or are you too much of a coward to face me?!"

... I don't like this guy already, Dark mentally told Twilight. If you'll excuse me, hon, I have a flank to kick.

Have fun, she told him, breaking the connection and turning back to Celestia with a smile.

"You think that an abomination like you can beat me?" Truant scoffed. "I'll show you just how worthless you are compared to me!"

"Says the guy who deserted the royal guard," Dark shot back, causing him to give an angry snort.

Raising his shield and spear, Truant charged at Dark before running to his right and thrusting his spear at Dark. However, Dark grabbed the spearhead with his left claw while swiping at the shaft with his right, cleaving the spear in half. With his weapon broken, Truant discarded it and drew his sword. He took a few swipes with it at Dark, but each was met with a parry of Dark's claw. Feeling like he was being mocked, Truant lunged his sword and shield at both of Dark's claws, which he caught... just as Truant planned. With nothing blocking him, Truant fired a beam from his horn at Dark's face, but was too slow with his charging as Dark used his wings to shield himself and block the attack.

Jumping back to put some distance between them, Truant watched as Dark broke the sword with one claw while he threw the shield off to the edge of the arena with the other. With nothing else to fall back on, Truant created a magical barrier around him. When Dark came over and slammed his claw on it without damaging it, Truant began laughing at him.

"Hahaha! You stupid dumbplot!" he laughed, prompting Rainbow, Rarity, and Applejack to immediately cover their younger sister's ears while Twilight did the same for Spike and Soul. "I was trained by Prince Shining Armor while he was still our Captain! You have no chance of breaking my barrier!"

Giving him a throaty growl, Dark reached his left claw back for his battle-axe and brought it out. Taking it with both claws, he positioned his footing and slowly raised his axe. By the time he held it high over his head, Dark gave Truant a fanged grin as he watched his pupils turn to pinpricks. Taking a moment to enjoy seeing him realize that he'd backed himself into a corner with his own barrier, Dark brought the battle-axe down upon his barrier.

The moment the axe blade touched the barrier, a fiery explosion erupted from the point of impact, filling the Coliseum with a thunderous boom, along with the sound of shattered glass. Despite the debris from the explosion, the crowd was still able to see the outline of Truant within the smoke and dust as the impact of the explosion hit him with enough force to cause his body to bounce off of the ground and up a few feet.

Showing no mercy, Dark brought the battle-axe back, and with a one-handed backswing, he struck Truant on his breastplate and cleaved through the armor. Like before, the battle-axe exploded on impact, sending him hurling like a cannonball towards the arena walls and embedding him into it when he crashed into it.

"Arrogant loudmouth," Dark muttered, sheathing his battle-axe on his back.

Returning to his starting place, Dark waited for the medical team to pry Truant out from the stone walls. While he waited, he looked over to his cheer section to see Celestia give him a satisfied and approving nod while the audience cheered.

"HAHAHA!" Pyre laughed. "He actually used it!"

"Used what?" Twilight wondered.

Pyre grinned. "I taught him how cast the Explosion enchantment, which he used on that axe of his. Now whenever it strikes something, it'll create a beautiful explosion. Really effective against some of the more denser obstacles."

"Like Truant's barrier," Twilight said. As she did, he came to a realization. "You taught Dark an enchantment for destroying magical barriers?!"

Pyre shrugged. "Hey, I only taught him the spell. He's the one who figured out its uses and applied it."

"But doesn't the champion specialize in those kind of spells?" Applejack asked, causing each of them to look over to the champion who was sitting in the custom-made box seat for the Coliseum Champion.

"Yes, Applejack, he does," Twilight confirmed, looking intently at the champion. "I wish I could read his facial expressions right now. Stupid enchanted hood."

Back in the arena, Dark was shifting from one hoof to the other while crossing his arms in annoyance and boredom. While that last fight did allow him to vent some frustration, he wasn't feeling like he was getting any sort of challenge.

"That's three down," the announcer said over the speakers. "Sweet Celestia this guy's making our gladiators look like fools out there. Anyway, would the challenger like to continue?"

Dark looked up to where the announcer was seated. "Yes. However, I declare Multus Gladius!"

No sooner did those words leave Dark's mouth did the audience go up in an uproar. Rarely has anypony declared Multus Gladius before, and even rarer has anypony actually succeeded. The crowd, however, seemed to fully support the idea.

"You've heard him, everypony!" the announcer excitingly announced. "With Multus Gladius in effect, the challenger will fight the number of gladiators remaining until his ten round break all at once! You seven gladiators! Get your rumps out here!"

His eyes glistening in anticipation, Dark stood his ground and watched as the gate opened with seven ponies walking out of it.

"Two light-armored, pegasi, three heavy-armored earth ponies, and two robed-unicorns," Dark smirked. "This should be fun."

Reaching back, Dark took both his battle-axe and greatsword into his claws and waited.

"Here we go, everypony!" the announcer shouted. "Multus Gladius round. Ready... fight!"

Immediately, the seven ponies took their positions around and above Dark, surrounding him. With them in place, everypony charged Dark while the two unicorns stayed back and fired spells off at him. While surrounding and charging all at once would normally be a good strategy against most, it wasn't against Dark.

Giving a small chuckle, Dark raised his battle-axe and swung it at the ground at his hooves. Once the explosion went off, it kicked up a dust cloud that blinded everypony... just as Dark wanted.

While the pegasi and earth ponies charged in, both unicorns felt a source of magic coming from within the dust cloud. Unsure of what to expect, they both erected a barrier around them. Their timing was good too, for as soon as they were complete, blades of fire began shooting out from the center of the dust cloud, taking the other ponies by surprise as they were being struck one after the other. After ten seconds of dodging and enduring the barrage, one pegasus and earth pony remained while the two unicorns remained beneath their barriers. But before they could cast one on the other two gladiators, a wall of fire erupted outward, dissipating the dust cloud as it consumed everything in the arena in fire.

When the wall of fire hit the arena walls, all that was left were scorch marks on the ground, and burnt ponies laying scattered with Dark standing in the center, and his greatsword plunged into the ground with its blade on fire. Removing the greatsword from the ground, Dark propelled himself over to the closest unicorn and shattered his barrier with his battle-axe while simultaneously knocking the unicorn out by the explosion and magical backlash from his shattered barrier.

Looking down at the unconscious unicorn, Dark turned around to see the other one cowering in her barrier. But, before Dark could go over and finish her off, she dispelled the barrier and rose her forehooves in surrender. With his victory achieved, Dark listened to the crowd cheering for him before seeing his gate open and walking in to take his break.

Once the gate closed behind Dark, the group of ponies and two dragons began talking amongst each other.

"What in the hay is he thinking?!" Rainbow shouted, both confused and annoyed. "Didn't he tell us at breakfast that he wouldn't be using his magic until the later rounds or unless he was forced to?!"

"He did," Celestia agreed.

"But he didn't look like he was in any kinda trouble," Applejack added. "If nothin' else, it looked like it was too easy for him."

"That wasn't his magic," Pyre spoke, gaining their attention.

"What is it this time?" Twilight asked with a hint of annoyance.

"Simple," he shrugged. "He enchanted that sword of his with fire. That's how he was able to do all of that. It wasn't his magic that was doing it, but his sword's enchantment."

"Another spell of yours I presume?" Luna questioned.

"Nope. He already knew it, I just taught him some of the things that he could do with it was all."

A few minutes later of talking, the crowd cheered again as Dark walked back into the arena. While the five minute break wasn't quite necessary, it still allowed for him to grab some water to refresh himself before the next round. Retaking his position near the center of the arena, Dark looked up expectantly towards the announcer.

"Aaaaand we're back, everypony!" the announcer spoke, prompting the crowd into another cheering fit. "So far, Dark has managed to defeat ten of the fifty required gladiators. However, Multus Gladius is still in effect. Does the challenger with to continue, or stop where you're at?"

"I will fight!" Dark shouted, causing the audience to cheer again.

"You heard him, everypony! The next ten gladiators! Get your tails out here!"

Despite it being a ten on one fight, the end was more-or-less the same as the ones before. While Dark fought them off with his battle-axe and greatsword, he was forced to use his wings to shield himself from a few of their strikes and magical projectiles. With the density and resilience of his draconic limbs, he barely sustained any damage, and his health gauge showed it. As the gladiators' health gauges all dropped and depleted, there was hardly a dent in Dark's.

With that, twenty gladiators were down and was going into the next ten. However, despite them being tougher, Dark didn't seem to be satisfied with the outcome. It was then when he returned from his five minute break that Dark buried both his battle-axe and greatsword into the ground, and looked up as the announcer spoke.

"Twenty gladiators have been defeated so far," he announced. "You're almost half-way there. Do you want to continue, or stop where you're at?"

"Continue," Dark answered. But, when the crowd began cheering, he raised a claw to silence them. "However, this isn't enough for me! So, with that said..." Dark's eyes and fangs glimmered with excitement. "I'm switching from Multus Gladius, to a Viginti Quinque Emissarius Uerius!"

Unlike the booming sounds of cheering that he'd expected, Dark was met with mostly silence. While a few muttered to one another, everyone else was too stunned by the sudden proclamation.

"He can't be serious," Luna mumbled.

"What did he just do?" Rainbow asked confusingly.

"Well now," the announcer slowly began speaking, "this is a surprise. Are you sure that's what you want?"

"Yes," Dark nodded. "I know what I'm getting myself into, and am looking forward to it."

"... this is your final chance to back out. Are you absolutely sure that you want to go through with this?"

"Did I stutter?!" Dark snapped, plucking both his weapons from the ground and pointing his greatsword over towards the announcer. "These gladiator so far haven't provided me the excitement and challenge that I'd been expecting! Now send me the next batch already! All twenty-five of them!"

Author's Note

I hadn't planned on this chapter being so long, but with how long it was turning out, I decided to split it up into two parts.

Chapter 57- Road to Coliseum Champion: Part II

Despite the crowd having gone quiet by his initial proclamation, Dark watched as everyone in the crowd soon rose and began shouting and cheering to the point where Dark had to flatten his ears to dampen the noise. As he looked around, he could see that the champion had stood up from his seat and placed his forehooves on the railing in front of him. Dark could only imagine the look on his face at the moment. Just proving what First Strike had whispered to him about nopony attempting the Viginti Quinque Emissarius Uerius before.

"I can't believe this, everypony!" the announcer said, his voice a little unsteady from the surprise rule change. "For the first time in the history of the Coliseum, somepony is actually challenging twenty-five gladiators all at once! Either this stallion has the biggest pair of balls in Equestria, or he's a complete idiot!"

"What is he thinking?!" Twilight shouted, her voice just loud enough for her friends and family to hear her over the roaring crowd. "He's going to fight twenty-five of them all at once by himself?!"

"Okay," Rainbow spoke, shaking her head, "I know that I've been called reckless and stuff, but what Dark's doing is beyond that! How can he even begin to stand against that many ponies?! I mean, yeah, we fought against an army of changelings, but we fought together and watched each other's backs!"

"Fighting so many all by himself?" Fluttershy worryingly questioned. "I know that Dark is strong, but I don't think that even he can fight that many all alone."

"You forget, my little ponies," Celestia calmly spoke, a small smirk twitching at the corner of her lips.

"And what would that be, Princess?" Applejack wondered.

"Dark hasn't used any of his magic yet," Pyre answered, his eyes fixated on Dark. "He's only used brute strength so far. Not that it hasn't been working for him. Between his fire breath, the explosions from his axe, the flames from his sword, and using the durability and toughness of his wings as shields, he hasn't been forced to resort to using his magic." Pyre turned to look at them. "And believe me, Dark's magic has gotten stronger since I first began training him with Nocturne. But even so, he still has much to learn."

They were silent for a few seconds until Twilight facehoofed with a groan. "I cant believe that I overlooked such an obvious detail."

"Hey! Look!" Pinkie exclaimed, pointing towards the gates before rubbing her forehooves together. "Hehehe. Now the real party begins."

"I don't think that it's a party that I would like very much," Fluttershy spoke.

"Maybe not, Fluttershy," Rainbow said, looking down to see Dark's fanged grin, "but it looks like Dark's looking forward to it."

And he was. As Dark watched the twenty-five gladiators walk and fly through the gates, he couldn't help but chuckle to himself in anticipation.

This is like that one game that Spike's comic was based off of, Dark mentally compared. A group of twenty-five heroes would form a raid group to fight the raid boss. Dark grinned. But in this case, I guess that I'm the raid boss.

As the gladiators formed up in front of Dark, he began to look over them and their equipment. While the pegasi were wearing light armor and weapons, the earth ponies each had on heavy armor and weapons, while the unicorns had a mix of armor with a spear, shield, and sword, or caster robes. Some of which looked like they had healing runes on them.

"Is everypony ready?!" the announcer asked, getting a confirmation signal from Dark and the twenty-five gladiators. "Then let's get this over with and see how our challenger does! Ready... fight!"

"Yes!" Dark shouted in glee, pointing his greatsword at the gladiators as they charged him. "Come! Show me your strength! Give me a fight worth remembering!"

As Dark stood in place, his eyes darted around to the gladiators as they charged him. While most of the unicorns held back and began firing volleys of magical spells at Dark, the more heavily-armored ponies charged him with shields raised, protecting those following close behind as the pegasi flew overhead to flank him.

Once they were close enough, Dark raised his battle-axe and slammed it on the ground in front of him. As he did, the gladiators with shields all stopped in place and raised their shields in a defensive stance, blocking the explosion that followed the strike. However, the explosion also kicked up a dust cloud, practically blinding them. With no visibility and remembering seeing this tactic from his previous match, three of the unicorns that came with the main group casted a barrier around them just in time to block a wave of fire spreading throughout the arena. While the wall of fire was able to get a few of the pegasi who strayed away, the rest had retreated back to the back lines where the unicorns shielded them.

But, while they did manage the save them from the expecting fire wall, what they weren't expecting was for Dark to fly up into the air and dive them. As he dove, he sheathed his greatsword before gripping his battle-axe with both claws and begin to do a mid-air roll. As he continued to spin downward, both his rotation speed and descent increased until his battle-axe made contact with the three unicorns' barrier.

While the barrier would've normally had held together, with the force behind the strike, the barrier collapsed beneath the impact and explosion. When it fell, the three unicorns were instantly knocked-out by the magical backlash while the gladiators beneath it were forced to their knees by the shockwave.

By the time they got back to their hooves and regained their senses, Dark had landed in the center of them and began breathing fire out at them. He managed to get most of them caught in his fire breath before one of the gladiators struck him in the side with an axe. And while it didn't cut through chainmail, the strike from the axe was more blunt then cutting, knocking Dark off balance for a moment before he struck the gladiator with his greatsword. When Dark's enchanted greatsword made contact with the gladiator, however, instead of simply getting a cut, the pony's body was set ablaze.

Figuring him to be finished, Dark turned just in time to see the others converging on him. Unfurling his wings, Dark began using them as shields while he would swing at them with his two weapons, and use his tail to strike any who were behind him. After ten minutes of this had rolled by, Dark started to become annoyed. Not by the fact that unicorns, earth ponies, and pegasi were attacking him from all around him and from above, but by the fact that the ones that he'd struck had returned to fight.

Having enough, Dark gave a mighty flap of his wings and fell back to a safe distance to look up at the scoreboard. When he did, he saw that his health gauge had fallen below half-health. And while he'd defeated four of the twenty-five gladiators, he saw that they were all at full health, and that those who weren't were replenishing their health gauges. Turning his attention from the projection back to the gladiators, Dark could see a few unicorns' magical auras enwrapping some of the injured gladiators.

Of course. How could I be so stupid? Dark mentally berated himself along with a mental facepalm. The healers. I need to either take out the healers first, or distract them if I'm to get anywhere. Dark turned his attention back up to his health gauge. But first...

For the first time during this gauntlet, Dark lit his horn with his magic. Quickly gathering what he needed, he casted his Healing Flame on himself, the orb of fire hovering just a few feet above his head. With the spell casted, Dark looked back up to see that his health gauge was starting to replenish at a slightly faster rate than he figured. Redirecting his attention from his health gauge back towards the gladiators, Dark raised his greatsword and pointed it at them.

"You've exceeded my enrage timer," he grinned, showing off his fangs. "Now let me show you some of what I can really do!"

Foregoing strategy at this point, Dark charged his horn before firing a few fireballs up into the air above them as he charged head-first into the group of gladiators who began charging him. Just before they collided with the top of the barrier, the fireballs reached their peaks and individually exploded into several dozen more fireballs that began raining all over the arena. As over a hundred fireballs began descending onto the arena, Dark leaped into the center of the group of gladiators and began taking them out either one at a time with his greatsword, or in pairs with his battle-axe.

Between his rampage and the now impacting fireballs, the unicorns didn't have much of an opportunity to heal everypony as they were too busy keeping the barrier around them and the others. The ones with the main group weren't faring much better either as they had to help maintain the barrier surrounding them to prevent them from being bombarded by fireballs. However, this also trapped them inside with Dark. Even worse for them was that the Healing Flame floating above Dark's head had been tweaked, now burning everypony near it but Dark.

Once the fireballs had all collided with the ground and left a sea of fire blanketing the arena, Dark flapped his wings and propelled himself forward to the edge of the barrier he was in. When there, he swung his battle-axe at it. But, unlike the other strikes that would've shattered the barrier, this one didn't as it was being powered by several unicorns. However, while it didn't break, it still cracked under the strike. Swinging at it again, the following explosion caused the crack to grow while also knocking any gladiators near him back from the shockwave. A few swings later, the barrier broke, causing the roaring flames being kept outside of it to come rushing in and consume them.

When the gladiators became consumed by the roaring flames, Dark flew up and looked to see all of their health gauges quickly falling before depleting. With them gone, that left only the five unicorns hiding in the safety of their barrier. Smirking, Dark flew over to them and landed on top of the barrier with a thud. When he did, he sheathed his greatsword and once again gripped his battle-axe with both claws.

Too bad they weren't better trained by Shining, he mused slightly disappointed. This would've been so much funner if they'd been able to fire magic through their barriers while also maintaining them.

Raising his battle-axe high above his head, Dark plunged it down into the barrier and cracked it. While the unicorns were nervous seeing as they were the last of twenty-five gladiators, they weren't going to just roll over and take it. This made Dark smile in approval. On his third strike, though, the barrier collapsed, allowing the flame to take the five unicorns, just as they did for the other gladiators before them.

Watching as the flames took them, Dark hovered above the sea of fire and looked back up to the scoreboard. When he did, he saw that the healing from his Healing Flame and restored his health gauge back to full while the last bit of the last gladiators' health gauge had depleted. With the last of the twenty-five gladiators having been defeated, the arena became consumed in a blue light. Once it was gone, the fire bathing the arena had been cleansed, along with his Healing Flame spell. Landing on his hooves, Dark looked around at the unconscious ponies scattered around the arena.

"Dang," he muttered to himself. "I hope they've got enough medical staff for them all."

Any more words were silenced by the roaring of the crowds as they cheered for Dark's seemingly unbelievable win. Looking up at the crowd, Dark raised his battle-axe above his head in victory, further stirring the crowd's cheering frenzy.

Up in the stands, Twilight and the others cheered for Dark. As they did, Twilight spared a glance over to the champion just in time to see him pound a hoof on the railing in frustration.

Looks like somepony isn't too happy about this outcome, Twilight thought with a small smirk.

"That. Was. Awesome!" Rainbow exclaimed in excitement. "It's just like what we saw at Ghastly Gorge!"

"It is," Pyre confirmed, his face having a look of confusion on it, "but I don't get what he was talking about before he fired it off."

"I do," Spike chimed, gaining their attention.

"As do I," Luna spoke, surprising them.

"Wait. You do?"

Luna nodded. "You are not the only gamer in this group, young Spike. I too have played World of Marecraft, and have unfortunately succumbed to the dreaded enrage timer. It's clever that he thought about it in the middle of a fight and applied it."

"But is everypony going to be okay?" Fluttershy asked worryingly. "After all, they must've been burnt pretty badly.

"As long as they wore their damage absorbers, nopony will die," Celestia assured. "While they might end up with some first and second degree burns, they won't die from them and will be healed up in no time."

"While it's nice to hear your words of assurance, Princess," Rarity spoke, "I'm more concerned about what was going on with Dark. Besides casting a few spells, it was almost like he wasn't holding much back much."

"Probably because he wasn't," Twilight said, shaking her head. "Like me and the princesses, Dark has to be careful when using his strength and magic. And his increased training with both Nocturne and Pyre isn't helping him much with that."

"Sorry, Twi," Applejack began, "but what are ya gettin' at exactly?"

"What I mean is that Dark rarely has a chance to let loose like this without any restrictions."

"Ya mean besides the ones ya gave him already."

Twilight gave Applejack a nod before looking over to Pinkie. "Are you alright, Pinkie? You've been awfully quiet lately."

Swallowing a mouthful of buttered popcorn, Pinkie looked over to Twilight. "That's because I've been having too much fun watching to talk, silly. That, and I can't talk with a mouthful of popcorn either."

"Whoa," Soul breathed, his eyes wide from watching the fight. "Is this Dark's power?"

"Half," Twilight said, placing a hoof on his shoulder. "His other half is... different."

"So cool!"

"Was it just me, or did Dark look like he was enjoying that?" Sweetie Belle questioned.

"He most certainly looked like it," Luna answered. "After all, he was born and raised in a village sieged by dragons, so it shouldn't be much of a surprise that he would find some enjoyment out of it. Besides, you know what ponies say about old habits."

"I suppose so," Night agreed, looking back down at Dark, who'd sheathed his battle-axe and was now sitting down. "Sweet Celestia, just imagine if he and Shining were to team up together. One who's a master at defensive spells, and the other with the power and ferocity of a berserk dragon... uh, no offense."

Pyre waved it off with a claw. "None take. In fact, I would actually have to agree with you. He did forewent defense in exchange for total offense."

Rarity shivered in disgust. "Ugh! Imagine the damage that's been done to his clothing! It probably looks like it's been through the shredder by now!"

Focusing his sights on Dark, Pyre could see the underlain chainmail showing through the slices of fabric that had covered it.

"Actually, you're not too far off. Granted that it's still holding together rather well after that, but it will need some repairs after this if he wants to continue to wear it."

Rarity gagged. "I don't know if I could bare to witness it, should he decide to bring it to me for repairs."

"You'll have to think about that later, Rarity," Pinkie said, pointing a hoof at Dark, "because it looks like the next round is about to start."

And indeed it did. While they were talking, the announcer had commented on how Dark was the first challenger to have conquered the Viginti Quinque Emissarius Uerius, thus making Coliseum history. But, there were still five more gladiators for him to go. So, wanting to get this over with as quickly as he could, Dark requested that they all be sent to fight him at once. While it was granted to him, the fiftieth gladiator wasn't among them, annoying Dark and causing him to promptly beat them.

With forty-nine of the fifty gladiators beaten, Dark waited for this last one to show themself. While he would've liked to have fought the last five all at once, he figured that there must've been something special about this last one. So he stood, waiting in his spot for the last gladiator to show themself.

"This is it, everypony!" the announcer spoke. "Forty-nine gladiators have fallen, now only one remains. Will our challenger overcome this last obstacle and face our champion, or will he fall just short of victory? Challenger. Do you wish to continue?"

Dark smirked. "Do I really need to answer that? Of course I'll fight!"

"And there you have it, folks," he said over the cheering of the crowd. "Let's not waste anymore time! Open the gate!"

Slowly, the gate opposite of Dark opened up. Once it was fully opened, Dark was surprised to see who his challenger was. Unlike every gladiator beforehoof, this unicorn mare was noticeably different. While she had a black mane, bronze eyes, and a light-peach coat, it was her outfit that was really different. Her mane was pulled back into a pair of buns with an ornamental headband, she was wearing a Neighpaneese kimono of varying shades of red which looked like it was ready to slide off of her shoulders, block sandals on each of her hooves, and finally was the red paper umbrella that she levitated alongside her by its bamboo handle.

Though confused by her choice in attire, Dark remembered that his own isn't what she appeared to be and watched as she approached the center of the arena. Once she got to her starting position, she gave Dark a small nod.

"Congratulations on making it this far," she complimented, folding her paper umbrella and holding it horizontally at her side, "but I'm afraid this is as far as you'll get."

"Here we are, everypony!" the announcer said. "The final round. Are our two combatants ready?"

"Ready," Dark answered.

"I am ready," the mare replied.

"In that case, final round... fight!"

"Before we begin, how about a proper introduction?" she asked Dark. "It's so rare to find somepony who can make it as far as you have."

Taking his battle-axe and greatsword into his claws, Dark took an aggressive stance.

"Sure," he said with a thoughtful smile. "My name is Dark Flame."

"A pleasure," she returned, kicking the sandals off of her forehooves before standing bipedal while holding her umbrella with her left hoof. "My name is Snow Flower."

With their pleasantries finished, it was Dark who charged first. Once he took his first few steps, though, Snow Flower unleashed a pulse of magic from her horn that covered the entire arena. However, the bronze-colored light passed through Dark seemingly harmless. And while he did bring his wings up to block it, he felt nothing.

"What did you do?" Dark asked, his concern overshadowed by his curiosity.

Snow Flower gave a knowing smile. "Just a little spell of mine that disables all unicorn magic within the area of effect. Why do you think I'm standing with my weapon like this? And besides this being how I normally fight, I can't risk you doing to me what you did to those twenty-five guys."

"Smart. So then, you like to fight as a biped as well," he smiled, finally meeting somepony like him who likes to stand on their back hooves.

"Yes. It's also another reason why I canceled out our magic. While I do enjoy using it, I prefer to use my hooves when wielding my weapon. But that's enough talk. Now, fight me and prove that you're worthy of fighting the champion!"

Charging forward again, Dark brought his greatsword over for a overhead swing. As the weapon came down upon its target, Snow Flower took her umbrella with both hooves and blocked it. When they made contact, Dark looked at it curiously while bringing his battle-axe down upon it too. However, much like the enchantment on his greatsword, his battle-axe didn't explode upon the contact.

"You look troubled," Snow Flower said with a hint of mocking. "Did you think that your weapon enchantments wouldn't be affected by my spell?"

Moving swiftly, Snow Flower side-stepped and allowed the downward-pressure Dark was putting on it to slide off of her umbrella. As he stumbled from the sudden lack of resistance, Snow Flower held tightly onto the end of her umbrella with her right forehoof and pulled. But, what she had pulled on wasn't apart of her umbrella, but the hilt of a hidden sword.

With swift strikes, Snow Flower struck at Dark's head and arm. And while she did manage to land a few cuts on his head, the clothing he wore glanced the blows off of him unharmed. Jumping back to avoid Dark's battle-axe, she sheathed her sword and watched as the cuts on Dark's face began to heal. When she saw this, she looked up and noticed that his health gauge wasn't restoring as well.

"Interesting," she spoke. "So you can regenerate your body, but it doesn't count towards your health meter."

"I don't need for it to," Dark told her.

Giving a flap of his wings, Dark kicked-up a dust cloud to blind her. After he did, he threw his battle-axe at where she was standing. Seconds after he did, he heard her cry out. With another flap, he blew it away to see that the throw had actually hit her left shoulder. However, in doing so, she was also giving Dark a murderous glare with her silk kimono now stained with her blood.

"Reckless fool," she hissed. "Who throw's a giant axe at somepony?!"

Running at Dark, she opened her umbrella to block Dark's view of her. When she could see his sword descending from above it, she used it to parry Dark's strike while also unsheathing her sword again. This time, however, when she went to strike at Dark, she found his claw gripping her blade. After a few failed attempts to pull it free, she jabbed Dark's muzzle with her umbrella. And while it seemed to cause him to flinch, Snow Flower also found that Dark's left wing had unfurled and jabbed into her stomach, knocking the wind out of her and sending her skidding back.

Quickly regaining her breath, she used her agility to fluently dodge Dark's sword swings while also making attempts to strike back at him, each one either glancing off of his underlay of chainmail, or being blocked by Dark's free claw and wings. However, during that time, she forgot about another of Dark's limbs, which she was suddenly reminded of when Dark wrapped his tail around her hind legs and flew up into the air before throwing her back down. Once she landed with a pained grunt, she rolled out of the way before Dark embedded his greatsword where she had previously laid.

Taking this moment, Snow Flower got back up on her back hooves and charged Dark again. When she got close enough, she unsheathed her sword and opened her umbrella to block Dark's face. Taking the bait, she watched as Dark slashed at it with his sword before swiftly lunging forward and plunging her sword through Dark's stomach and out the back.

Frowning, Snow Flower watched as Dark hunched over. "How weak. You're not worthy of my blade after all."

After a moment of not seeing him moving, she looked up to see Dark's health gauge hit half-heath and slowly and steadily dropping. However, she was startled when she suddenly felt Dark's free claw grab onto the hoof she was using to hold her sword.

With a firm grip on her right forehoof, Dark pulled it closer to him, embedding her sword deeper into his stomach. As he did, he rose his head and looked at her with burning red eyes. Giving a low, throaty growl, Dark raised his greatsword high above his head, watching as Snow Flower tried to pry his grip of her. Watching her fail to break his grip on her, he brought his greatsword down upon her, but was once again parried by her umbrella. Having enough of it, Dark discarded his greatsword and grabbed onto the hoof holding the umbrella. Then, with no way for her to escape him, Dark took in a deep breath and coated Snow Flower in his fire breath.

When the flames receded, Snow Flower was released and collapsed. When she fell onto her back, she looked up to see Dark pulling her sword out of his stomach before dropping it beside her. And while she would've liked to have continued fighting him, the pain she was feeling that the damage absorber didn't contain was becoming too much for her. With her vision becoming blurry, she gave him a small smile.

"I was wrong," she whispered hoarsely. "You were worthy after all."

Succumbing to the darkness, Snow Flower fell unconscious. With her unable to fight any longer despite her health gauge not being fully depleted, she was officially announced KO'd, thus ending the match.

"That's it!" the announcer shouted. "The match is over! Dark Flame will be moving on to face the champion!"

With the sound of the horn blowing and the cleansing spell of the arena, Dark gave a sigh of relief before sitting down on the spot. Feeling his magic return to his horn, Dark, after seeing the damage from his fire breath, casted his Healing Flame on Snow Flower to begin healing her. Once he did, he then became aware of the crowd cheering for his victory, and even better, the chance to see a fight against the champion. But none were more excited than his friends and family.

"HE DID IT! HE WON!" Fluttershy shouted, bouncing in her seat along with Pinkie and Soul.

"This. Is. So. Awesome!" Rainbow exclaimed. "Dark's going to fight the champion."

"Oh, heck yeah!" Scootaloo enthusiastically agreed.

"Huzzah!" Luna cheered, holding a piece of paper in her magical hold. "This time, victory shall be mine!"

"Luna," Celestia addressed, cocking an eyebrow, "what is that?"

"My ticket, dear sister."

"A ticket for what?"

Luna chuckled and looked away. "Remember when I said that I had to use the restroom before we took our seats?"

"Yes?"

"Well, I may have also gone to place some bets on Dark afterwards."

Sighing, Celestia facehoofed. "You're gambling on Dark again?"

"Why not? I believe that he has a good chance. That is, unless somepony tries to disrupt his fight again."

"Aye," Anvil nodded. "That I can agree with. By the way, what do ye think the champion's thinking about all of this?"

"From what I'm seeing, it looks like he isn't too happy about it," Twilight answered, pointing towards the champion as he slammed a forehoof down on the railing in frustration. Hiding a smirk at the expense of his frustration, she then watched as he made his exit. Once he left her sight, Twilight stood up from her seat. "I'm going to go see Dark. We'll meet you all at the Coliseum lobby."

And with that, Twilight teleported herself down to Dark's waiting room. When she did, the announcer gave everypony a message.

"And don't for folks, if you keep your ticket for today's match, you can turn them in tomorrow to watch Dark's match against the champion for free."

Just as the group was about to get up, the all froze in place upon hearing it before they all turned to Pinkie who just smiled at them.

"What?" she innocently asked.

"Is this what you meant when you told us about how Dark should worry about tomorrow?" Rainbow asked.

"I have no idea what you're talking about," she smiled knowingly.

When Dark entered into the waiting room, he looked back at the closing gates to the arena. Once they finally closed, he let out a breath of relief, returning his battle-axe, greatsword, and armor back to his Shadow Storage. Relieved of his equipment, Dark walked over to one of the benches and sat himself down on it.

"Congratulations on your win."

Looking over to the door to the Coliseum hallways, Dark saw Twilight standing there with a smile on her face.

"Thank you, Twilight," he thanked.

Walking up to him, Twilight saw the bloodstain on his coat where Snow Flower's sword had been embedded and grimaced. Upon closer inspection, she saw that it had already healed.

"I know that you've regenerated it already, but does it hurt?" Twilight asked with a hint of concern.

"A little sore, but it's alright," Dark answered, affectionately nuzzling Twilight's cheek. "Thank you for asking."

"So it does still hurt."

"More of an ache, really. Now that the adrenaline is dying down, I'm starting to feel the exertion on my muscles."

Twilight sighed and shook her head. "It's too bad that your regeneration doesn't also rejuvenate your tired muscles too." Her concern turned to curiosity. "While we're talking about types of magic, how was it that you were able to cast your Healing Flame without healing the other gladiators?"

Dark chuckled. "Hehehe. So you noticed. You can thank Pyre's training for that one. Thanks to him, it will now only heal those who I chose while others will be burned by it. Of course, I can change who's who at anytime."

"That'll be handy. Also, thank you for not using any of your death magic during that last fight."

"You're welcome. Although, with how quickly she was attacking and dodging me, I might've been a little tempted to do it."

"Still, though, I'm glad that you didn't." Twilight kissed Dark for a few moments before letting him up to go get cleaned. "So, about the champion..."

"Hmm? What about him?" Dark asked as he turned on one of the showers.

"Well, he seemed to be rather upset that you won. That, and I'm curious as to what your plan with him will be."

With the water at the preferred temperature, Dark walked under it and sighed in satisfaction before answering Twilight.

"Just go all out on him. Since he's only seen two of my spells, he won't know what else that I'll have for him."

Twilight nodded. "You're going to use his lack of magical knowledge about you against him. If knowing is half the battle, then you two should be on equal hoofing, if not in your favor."

"You mean since I know of what kind of magic he specializes in, right?"

"Yep."

Understanding her, Dark returned to his showering. As he continued to clean himself off of sweat, dirt, and blood, he noticed that Twilight hadn't moved from her spot just outside of the shower room.

"So," he smirked, "you going to just stand there ogling me while I take my shower, or are you going to do something about it?"

Twilight returned his gaze with bedroom eyes as she neared him. However, to his slight disappointment, she put a hoof on his muzzle.

"As much of a good idea that sounds," she purred, "I don't think that I will."

Dark pouted. "Aww. Why not?"

"Because, what if somepony walks in while we're busy?"

"Twilight, nopony's going to-" Dark cut himself off as memories of some of their previous engagements popped into his head. "On second thought, you're right. With our luck, we probably would get caught."

"I thought so," she said, taunting Dark ask she turned around and continued to watch him from the bench.

"You're not going to make this easy for me, are you?" he groaned, knowing that she was playing hard to get with him.

"Nope," she answered innocently. "But you should probably hurry up. The others are waiting for us and we still need to take Soul and Spike with us to have dinner with mom and dad."

"We're also staying at their place for tonight, right?"

"Yep. My old bedroom is all made for us, and Soul and Spike will be using Shiny's old room."

"Speaking of your brother," Dark began, "how are we going to tell him and Cadence that we've adopted a half-changeling?"

Twilight let out a small sigh. "I've been thinking about that for a while, but I haven't thought of anything very good yet. So far, it might be best to just tell them."

"Blunt and straightforward then?"

"Just about, unless you've got any good ideas?"

Dark shook his head before turning off the shower and using his fire to dry himself off.

"Sorry, Twilight, but I got nothing. And when you consider that they have the biggest reason to hold a grudge against changelings, perhaps being straightforward with them would be the best."

"I guess so," she said, watching as he walked over to her and began nuzzling her in comfort. "So, you all ready to go?"

"All set," he replied.

Leading her over to the door, Dark opened it up for her to walk through, getting a quick peck before he followed after her. Walking down the corridors, Dark and Twilight made their way towards the lobby. However, with the results of Dark's fight, they were having a hard time getting past everypony who wanted to meet him.

Seeing the unease on him with not being so used to this kind of attention, Twilight giggled and stood off to the side while Dark became swarmed by fans. After ten minutes of ponies asking him for an autograph or picture, Twilight pulled Dark back over to her side so that they could continue to meet with the others. Not long after leaving them, the two entered the lobby where their friends and family were waiting for them. As soon as they made eye-contact, Soul darted over and started patting Dark down.

"Are you okay?" he asked worryingly, trying to find where Dark was stabbed.

"It's alright, Soul," Dark told him, picking him up and sitting him on his back, "I'm all healed up."

"But we saw that lady stab you."

"Dark's fine, Soul," Twilight told him with an assuring nuzzle. "He can regenerate, so injuries like that don't last long."

Hearing that, Soul let out a sigh of relief that had turned into a small yawn.

"Hehe, looks like somepony's-" Dark began saying before he too let out a yawn.

"Hahaha! Looks like he's not the only one who's tired, aye?" Anvil said, looking over at Twilight.

"Looks like it," she answered.

"I'm not tired," Dark argued. "Soul's yawning is just contagious."

"Suuuuurreeee," Rainbow mocked.

"Either way, we should be getting back home for dinner," Velvet said. "Come along you four."

Giving their friends and the two princesses a quick goodbye, Dark, Twilight, Spike, and Soul left with Night and Velvet back to their house. By the time they got there, the sun had completely set and Soul had fallen asleep on Dark's back. Once they got inside, Dark nudged Soul awake, reminding him about dinner.

Once Soul hopped off of Dark's back, they all made their way into the kitchen to help set up for dinner, which Velvet had prepared before they left. There wasn't as much talking as the food that Velvet had made for them was keeping them preoccupied for most if the time. When they did talk, though, it was either about the match tomorrow, or questions about either Spike or Soul. When the food was gone and everyone was full, they each helped clean up the mess while Velvet relaxed in the living room.

An hour later of doing dishes and joining Velvet to relax, Soul and Spike started dozing off. Taking that as their cue, Dark and Twilight decided to turn in early for the night and put the two to bed before going to sleep themselves. With Soul laying on Dark's back and Spike on Twilight's, they brought them up to Shining's old bedroom and put them to bed with Spike in the bed basket they kept there for when he visits, and Soul in Shining's old bed.

With the two secured for the night, Dark and Twilight made for her old bedroom. As they walked in, Twilight took in the scent of her old room before turning to Dark.

"I'm going to grab a shower before I call it a night," she told him.

"In that case, I'll stay up until you get back," he returned.

"Thank you, but you don't have to. I bet that you're probably tired after this evening."

Dark was about to answer, but another yawn escaped his maw instead, causing Twilight to give him a triumphant smile.

"Okay, maybe I am a little tired."

Sharing a kiss with her, Dark let Twilight go. Once she was in the hallway, Dark closed the door behind her and made for the bed before crawling into his half of it. Getting himself settled down, Dark let out another yawn as sleep began to take him. However, that changed when he heard the door open sometime later and heard it close again, and the quiet sounds of hoofsteps walked closer towards him. Cracking open an eye, Dark watched as Twilight made her way over.

When Twilight got close enough to pull the bedsheets back with her hoof, she was surprised that Dark was doing it for her. With a smile, she crawled in and felt the sheets and Dark's wing draping over her while she closed the gap between them to snuggle.

"So you are awake," she quietly said.

"Just barely," he mumbled. "Heard you walking in."

"Sorry. I didn't mean to wake you."

"It's fine. I wasn't quite asleep yet anyway." Dark leaned his head down to plant a kiss on Twilight's forehead. "But now that you're here, I can sleep in peace."

Twilight smiled and let out a cute yawn. "Sounds like I won't be very far behind you. Goodnight, Dark."

"Goodnight, Twilight. I Love you."

"I love you too."

It was past mid-day as Dark paced back and forth in the waiting room while Twilight and First Strike sat on the bench watching him. While their company helped him keep his excitement and nerves under control, he was still very anxious for this fight. Another thing they did to help him keep his cool was to go over the rules for this championship match, which wasn't really all that different except for a few details.

"So each of us are allowed to use one outside item?" Dark asked for confirmation.

"That is correct," First Strike answered. "While we always use weapons and armor and such, for this match, you both will be allowed to use an outside item, like potions and such."

"You mean like a bomb with sleeping gas or something?" Twilight wondered, getting a nod from Frist Strike.

"Where'd that thought come from, Twilight?" Dark asked.

"From the thought of how Pinkie sometimes uses party bombs for decorating a party."

"Ah. So then, any advice for fighting the champion?"

"I do," a new voice answered from the doorway.

Turning to look, Dark, Twilight, and First Strike saw Snow Flower walking with a small limp. When she got close enough, she bowed to Twilight before taking a seat on the opposite bench from her.

"Hey, Snow Flower," Dark greeted. "Are you alright?"

"Just Snow," she told him, "and I'm just a little tender in my left shoulder, no thanks to you. Although, that healing spell you used on me after our match did help a bit in my recovery, so I guess that I should thank you for that."

"Sorry."

"Don't worry about it. Like I said, it's just tender right now. The injury itself has healed, along with the burns."

"Okay. Now then, you said something about having information about fighting the champion?"

"Yes. You see, the reason that you had to fight me before him was because I was the last one to have fought him. While I did lose and didn't receive any reward, with how I fought, I was given the offer to be the fiftieth gladiator and accepted. Anyway, when I last fought him, he used an assortment of defensive spells-"

"We know that much," Dark interrupted.

Snow Flower glared at him for interrupting her. "Like I was saying, he used an assortment of defensive spells, but he also conjured magical spears too. Overall, he's a fortress."

"Since his barriers are his main source of defense, I shouldn't have much of a problem getting past them," he said, holding his enchanted battle-axe.

"And what if he dispels your weapon enchantments?" she countered.

Looking over to Twilight, Dark asked her an unspoken question. When she figured out what he was silently asking her permission for, though, she shook her head.

"Sorry, Dark," Twilight apologized, "but you're still not allowed to use that kind of magic."

"But, Twilight," Dark whined, "it's the Championship round. If I hold back against him, I may not beat him."

"I'm sorry, but I'm standing firm on this... however, if something major comes up, then I might change my mind."

"Thank you, Twilight."

"Wait," Snow Flower interrupted, "what are you two talking about?"

"Just a type of magic of Dark's that I've told him not to use," Twilight answered her.

"Is it really so special that you have to put a restriction on him, Princess?"

Twilight looked at Snow Flower with a serious look in her eyes. "Dark used it to neutralize a few dozen royal guards within a matter of seconds. What do you think would've happened to you and the other gladiators if I let him use it?"

Snow Flower scoffed. "It wouldn't have done him any good, considering my spell that neutralizes unicorn magic."

"While that was a good idea to neutralize Dark's unicorn magic, this specific type of magic isn't unicorn magic."

"What? Then what kind is it?"

Dark chuckled and made his way over to the arena gate. "That is something that you'll just have to wait and see... that is, if I'm ever allowed to use it."

"Well now," First Strike began, getting up off of the bench and stretching, "Princess Twilight and I should get going now. You're match should begin within the next minute or so."

"If you want, you're welcome to join us, Miss Snow," Twilight offered.

"Thank you, Your Highness," she said with a bow. "It would be a great honor to join you. And please, call me Snow."

While Snow Flower went over and stood by First Strike, Twilight walked up alongside Dark and began nuzzling him.

"Good luck out there," she whispered, "and please try to be careful."

"I'll do my best," he answered, nuzzling Twilight back. "And, Twilight?"

"Hmm?"

"Thank you for being so supportive. It really means a lot to me."

"You're welcome."

Giving Dark a good luck kiss, Twilight turned around and made her way over to teleport First Strike, Snow Flower, and herself up to their seats. A few seconds after they left, the horn blew and the gate began opening.

"Wow, that was pretty good timing," Dark commented.

With no chance of turning back now, Dark walked through the opened gate and back into the arena. When he did, his ears were bombarded with the sound of the crowd cheering for him. Smiling at the thought of them all cheering for him, Dark made his way over towards his starting area where he waited for the champion.

"Welcome back, everypony, to the Coliseum!" the announcer said over the speakers, further fueling the audience. "I know it's happened, but I still can't believe it. Today, after so long, we finally get to see another Coliseum Championship match! Now, everypony welcome back to the Coliseum the challenger, Dark Flame!" With another roar of cheers from the crowd, Dark waved to them. "And now, everypony welcome back to the Coliseum, the champion, Ultimate Defender!"

With another round of blaring cheers, the gates opposite of Dark began opening up. Once fully opened, the champion in his silver armor and white hooded-cloak, walked into the arena and took his position. With both of them at their starting positions, they stared down one another.

"You better be ready," the champion told Dark, "because if you're not, then there's no point in fighting me."

Okay, he's definitely got some sort of voice altering spell on that hood of his, Dark figured. "I'll fight you with what I have to fight you with."

"For your sake, I would hope so."

"Alright, it looks like they're all set and ready to fight each other," the announcer said. "In that case, here we go! Championship round! Ready... fight!"

Unsheathing both of his weapons, Dark flapped his wings and launched himself into the air. When he reached the maximum height, he dove down at the champion as he erected a light-blue magical barrier around him. Once he got close enough to the barrier, he swung his battle-axe back around him before striking the barrier and setting off the explosion. Unlike the other barriers before it that shattered completely after the first strike, though, this one still held together, albeit cracked.

As Dark raised his battle-axe up to take another strike at it, the champion began firing bolts of magic from his horn that phased through his barrier. However, the charge time was too long and gave Dark enough time for him to bring his wings around to shield himself. That didn't deter him, though, as he continued to barrage Dark with magical bolts. As he did, Dark raised his battle-axe behind his wings and struck the same spot on his barrier as before, causing it to shatter while the champion was sent skidding back several feet back.

Coming to a halt, the champion created a wall of magical shields. Then, behind them he created a dozen magical spears and pointed them at Dark before firing them off one at a time. As he continued to launch them at Dark, he would create another to take their place.

Flying back away from them, Dark flew around and dodged the incoming spears while using his greatsword and battle-axe to deflect any that he couldn't. As he did that, he would return the assault with a barrage of fireballs from his own horn directly at the champion. When those failed to dent his magical shields, Dark fired three of his special fireballs up into the air where they exploded and rained down several dozen fireballs each.

Dispelling his magical shields and spears, the champion casted another barrier around him before the incoming fireballs hit. When they did, they all exploded, covering the arena in another sea of fire. It didn't last for long, though, as the champion lit up his horn and created a gust of wind that snuffed out the flames. However, while he was busy with putting the fires out, he didn't see Dark flying through them directly at him. By the time he did get rid of the fires, Dark was already at his barrier and began striking it with his battle-axe.

Wanting to get a shot in on him, Dark sucked in a breath of air as he brought his battle-axe down. Once it connected with the barrier and shattered it, he immediately unleashed his fire breath at the champion. Dark didn't relent as he saw his flames consuming the champion and kept on breathing fire at him until he ran out of breath to do so. Ceasing fire-breathing, Dark took a moment to regain his breath and watched the spot where the champion once stood. When the fires began to dye down, Dark didn't see the champion anywhere.

Looking around, he searched for where the champion could be... that was, until he suddenly felt a hoof connect with his jaw with enough force to throw Dark off of his hind legs and up into the air.

"Let's see how you like it," the champion muttered, upper cutting Dark's chin again and sending him higher up into the air.

With Dark out of his reach while standing on the ground, the champion teleported up beneath Dark and continued the attack. After each punch, he teleported to keep himself within range to punch Dark, all the while not letting up on his assault.

After being hit a few more times, Dark growled and curled into a ball with his wings wrapped protectively around him. With the toughness of his wings now shielding him, Dark took a moment to light his horn and ready his breath beneath the concealment of his wings. Timing the rate of the strikes, upon the next one, Dark opened up his wings and deflected the punch while grabbing ahold of the champion with his magic and breathing fire at point-blank.

When he was finished fire-breathing, he took a swing at the champion with his greatsword, but was blocked by a conjured magical shield. With his greatsword occupied putting pressure on the magical shield, Dark swung his battle-axe next. And while it was blocked by a magic shield too, it immediately shattered it and continued through to make contact with the champion, setting off another explosion that tore him from Dark's magic and sent him hurdling to the ground.

Landing on the ground, Dark looked up briefly to see that both of their health gauges were about even. It was then that Dark casted his Healing Flame on himself. While he did that, the champion apparently had the same idea as he casted his own healing spell on himself. Several seconds later, both Dark and the champion were back to full health.

"Not bad," the champion complimented. "Just as what I'd expected from you, Dark."

"Glad to see that I haven't disappointed you," Dark returned.

The champion lowered his head as though he were glaring at Dark. "But you have. You may have done well so far, but I know that you're holding out on me."

Dark paused for a moment as he replayed those words. "And how would you know that I'm holding back on you?"

"Because I know. Now stop wasting my time and surrender."

"No."

"Then fight me with all that you have!"

"Sorry, but I agreed that I wouldn't unless told otherwise."

"Then you'll lose."

Snorting in anger, the champion created three barriers around him that took up almost a quarter of the arena with one layering the other. With his three-layer barrier created, the champion began creating another slew of magic spears. However, unknown to him, this is exactly what Dark wanted as he began pouring magic into his horn.

While Dark continued to gather magic, he created a Fire Seal beneath the champion's hooves and increased the area of it. He expanded it slowly at first so he wouldn't alert him to what he was up to, but soon enough, it became too big for the champion to not see anymore as it had expanded to the edge of his barrier and beyond, now taking up half of the arena.

With the seal at the size he wanted, Dark detonated it, turning the area within the seal into a monstrous pillar of fire that reached the top of the arena's barrier. As the seal detonated, he heard the cry of the champion within it. After ten seconds had passed, the spell ended, revealing flames scattered across the area, and the champion laying in a small barrier just big enough to conceal him. He didn't go unscathed, though, as his hood had several brunt holes in it, showing off his blue mane while parts of his armor were scorched.

Taking a moment to collect himself after using that spell, Dark watched as the champion shakily stood back up on his hooves and dispelled his barrier.

"Damn it. That hurt a lot more than I thought it would," he cursed, glancing at his burnt armor and hooded cloak.

Wait a second... I know that voice... and that mane color! Dark thought before giving him a smug grin "If you want, I'm willing to accept your surrender, my possible future brother-in-law."

The champion's concealed eyes widened, realizing that his mane was showing and his voice distortion spell had worn off. Both of which lead Dark to finding out who he is.

"Don't get cocky with me Dark!" he told him. With his cover being blown, the champion figured that there wasn't anymore need to hide himself and discarded his cloak, eliciting a surprised gasp from everyone in the audience. "And while you may still be dating Twilight, you can't call me that yet."

While the two stallions were staring down one another in the arena, Twilight and the others were watching with disbelief.

"Oh no, not again," Twilight said with worry, breaking the silence.

"Well now," Anvil spoke next, "this is quite the surprise."

"Indeed it is," Celestia agreed. "I can't believe that I didn't see it sooner."

"Twilight? Who's that guy Dark's fighting?" Soul wondered.

Shaking her head, Twilight looked over at Soul, the amount of worry clear on her face.

"My brother, Shining Armor."

Chapter 58- Dark vs Shining III

Wincing from the burning that the attack had left on him, Shining casted another healing spell on himself, healing his wounds and restoring his health gauge once again back to full.

"You've picked a hay of a time to challenge me, Dark," Shining told him, using his magic to remove a bracelet attached to his horn. Once he slid it off, his light-blue magical aura returned to its natural pink color. "I should be out there searching the frozen tundra with the others right now, not here fighting you."

"Well how was I suppose to know that you were the champion?" Dark returned. "You didn't show any signs of who the champion really was, and you sure as hay didn't say anything the last time we were here at the Coliseum or afterwards."

"Because I didn't want to. Now, I will tell you one more time. Either you fight me at your full power, or surrender."

Lighting his horn, Dark conjured nine Fire Orbs that began orbiting his body.

"Sorry, but that's not my call to make," Dark told him.

Snorting, Shining created a barrier around himself and began charging Dark. However, after he took a few steps, he teleported himself directly in front of Dark and used his barrier to tackle him.

As he was being pushed back on his hooves, Dark pulled his orbs inward until they began to repeatedly strike Shining's barrier. With each hit of his Fire Orbs, Dark watched as the barrier weakened. When the seventh one struck, the barrier finally cracked. Raising his battle-axe, Dark went to strike the barrier, but found himself blocked by a magical shield, hitting and destroying that instead.

Flying up into the air, Dark used his unicorn magic to cover himself in his own fire. As he flew off to the opposite side of the arena, Dark pointed both of his weapons up in front of him and began rotating his body clockwise until he started to look like a flaming drill. With his rotation down, Dark turned and dove directly at Shining's barrier. Once he made contact with it, he continued to spin, causing the enchantments on his weapons to go off once every rotation.

Almost immediately, Shining's barrier was destroyed with Dark continuing towards him. But before he could get hit, Shining teleported away from his path, causing Dark to begin drilling into the wall before turning away and leaving a scar in the side of the wall. With Dark's direction changed, Shining began creating and throwing magical spears at Dark, only for them to be deflected by the rotation speed. Teleporting again, Shining created several barriers around Dark himself, but once again, his flaming rotation and weapon enchantments were tearing his barriers to pieces.

Waiting for Dark to get close enough, Shining teleported away from him and began to channel his horn. Another seven seconds later of charging, Shining fired a spell directly at Dark. And while the spell didn't seem to do anything to him, the purpose if it was already done.

Creating a five-layered barrier, Shining stood his ground and waited for Dark to attack. When Dark did, Shining watched as his barriers weren't being shredded to pieces and chuckled.

"You'd better not try to rely on those weapon enchantments anymore," he told Dark through his flaming spiral. "That spell I hit you with removed whatever spells you put on your weapons."

Even though Dark heard Shining's words, he didn't bother with them as he instead increased his rotation speed. Another ten seconds of drilling later, Dark began cracking through Shining's first layer on his barrier. Seeing this, Dark sent his nine Fire Orbs outside of his Flame Drill and started to rotate them counterclockwise. Once they picked up enough speed, Dark sent them all down towards where the tip of his Flame Drill was on Shining's barrier, causing the first layer to break from the added pressure and begin working on the second layer.

As Shining stood in the barrier watching Dark breaking through his barriers one at a time, he started throwing more magic spears at Dark. But, like the others before, they all glanced off of the rotating flames. Even his magical beams from his horn were being deflected. Getting an idea in his head, Shining suddenly dispelled his remaining barriers and teleported out, leaving Dark to lurch forward and down into the base of the arena wall where he continued to drill into it. Reappearing a few dozen feet behind him, Shining waited until Dark ceased his rotations. When he did and was standing on his hooves, Shining began creating and firing off magical spears at Dark while making more to replace them.

After the first one hit Dark, he turned around to see more incoming and used his Fire Orbs to intercept them. While the magic spears dissipated upon the contact, his orbs lingered. Arranging them in front of him like a shield and spinning them, Dark began firing his Explosive Fire Needles from each of the spinning orbs, forcing Shining to erect a barrier around him as he continued to fire off his spears. However, the number of Dark's projectiles were far greater than Shining's and quickly overtook him before they began striking and blowing up against his barrier.

Quickly, Shining teleported out of there and reappeared off to the side just in time to see his barrier explode. Getting another idea, Shining quickly created seven magical spears. But, instead of them appearing alongside him, they had instead materialized above Dark. With a flick of his horn, Shining sent all seven downward, each impaling Dark through his stomach at different angles and embedding themselves deep into the ground.

"GAAAAAHHHH!" Dark cried in pain and surprise. "Damn it! Not again!"

Taking advantage of this moment of distraction, Shining created seven barriers across the middle of the arena and tinted them with his magic before teleporting into the center one. Safe and having some time to breathe, Shining took a moment to recuperate after the many spells that he'd casted. The best part, though, was that with the barriers all being tinted, no one could see which barrier Shining had hid while he could see everything from the inside if it.

While Shining was recuperating in one of his barriers, and Dark casted his Healing Flame and tried pulling the spears out of his back with his magic, Twilight had covered Soul's eyes and looked away from the fight while the Crusaders' sisters did the same to them.

"I can't believe that he did that to Dark again," she softly said, her voice sounding like it could break.

"Is this what happened to Dark when he and Shining Armor first fought?" Luna asked.

"Yes, but Shiny used his guards' spears instead of those magic ones."

"But they looked like they were getting along pretty well during Hearth's Warming," Spike commented.

"They were," Twilight answered, "but I don't know why Shiny would resort to this tactic again."

"If I may, Twilight," Celestia spoke, gaining her attention, "I believe that your brother may have been forced to do it."

"She's right," Pyre nodded in agreement. "Dark's put Shining on the defensive during almost the entire fight. And I don't mean that like how Dark and Shining specialize in offensive and defensive spells respectively, but that your brother's attacks haven't done squat to Dark, while he's been almost relentless in his assault."

"Pyre is correct," Celestia agreed. "While Shining Armor does specialize in defensive spells, he hasn't gotten anywhere with Dark until now."

"That still doesn't mean that I like it," Twilight mumbled.

"Is Dark going to be alright?" Soul worryingly asked beneath Twilight's wings.

"Y-Yes, Soul. Dark's going to be okay."

"I'm more surprised that Dark isn't reeling in pain right now," Night said. "I know that I would just with one of those."

"That's because Dark's training with me and Nocturne has increased his pain threshold," Pyre told him. "We didn't only train him with his magic, but also to endure pain. Although, there are still some that he's quite vulnerable to, but most cries of pain are more out of surprise."

Seconds later, their heads snapped up upon hearing a loud, draconic roar. Looking at Dark, they all watched as he adjusted his legs around the seven spears that were still impaled through his stomach. Once he got himself situated, he took his battle-axe and swung down at them, cutting through the first two before taking another swing. By the fifth one, he'd chopped through the magical spears and stood up straight with another roar.

While he continued to roar out loud, his pitch increased as he lit his horn and bathed his body in fire. As the flames danced all over him, they began burning away the magical spears that were still stuck through him. Half a minute later, the flames died down and the spears were gone, leaving the sight of Dark's stomach and back quickly regenerating between his natural regeneration, and the affects of his Healing Flame.

"You got out of that faster than I thought you would," Shining said, his voice echoing from each of the seven barriers. "Too bad for you that you won't be able to beat me that at the rate you're going."

"Hah! Say's the guy who's been teleporting away most of the fight," Dark shot back. "By the way, when did you learn how to teleport anyway?"

"After our last fight in the Coliseum. Even since then, I've been training myself to become stronger. Didn't you ever wonder how I managed to get to Twilight and put up a barrier around her during Blueblood's trial so quickly?"

Dark blinked a few times before he chuckled. "I actually didn't put that much thought into it at the time. But now that you mention it, yes, that does explain it."

Snorting, Shining lit up his horn, causing each of his barriers to begin sprouting spears out from one side of them, which just so happened to be the direction that Dark was standing at. Flicking his horn again, Shining launched all of them at Dark simultaneously. As they neared closer to Dark, Shining watched as Dark lit his own horn and created a wall of fire that destroyed each of his spears with a sizzle. He then watched as Dark sent the wall if fire towards him and his barriers, but wasn't concerned as Dark didn't know which he was hiding in, not to mention that the flames wouldn't penetrate the barriers. Just before the fires began to wash over the barriers, though, Shining was surprised when he saw what looked like a flaming spear flying through the fires and towards one of the barriers off to his right. And while it didn't penetrate the barrier, it did cause it to crack a little bit before the flaming spear extinguishing.

Once the wall of fire washed over Shining's barriers, he saw Dark with six flaming spears floating alongside him. The next second, he watched as Dark threw the rest of them at the six other barriers one at a time. As they each hit their target, Dark closed his eyes as though he were focusing on something. When the last of his spears struck the side of the barrier, Dark opened his eyes and smirked.

"I found you~" he sang eerily.

Gather power in his horn, Dark began to charge it with more and more magic. After ten seconds had passed, Dark unleashed all of the charged magic into a large beam and fired it at the center barrier.

When it hit, Shining grunted from the force of the power put into it, causing him to light his horn to maintain the barrier. After half a minute of this had passed, the attack ended with both Shining and Dark panting a for breath a little. Still safe in his barrier, Shining looked up at the scoreboard to see that while they were both a little winded, both of them were still at full health from healing themselves.

"This is getting ridiculous," Shining muttered to himself. "Over ten minutes of this and neither of us are getting any-"

Shining cut himself off when he saw that Dark had lit his horn and began casting a spell on his battle-axe before moving onto his greatsword. Retaliating, Shining began firing magical spears at Dark, but was too late as he completed the enchantments and flew directly towards the center barrier that he was hiding in. Once Dark was close enough, Shining was curious as to why he was leading with his greatsword first, but quickly found out when his greatsword struck the barrier and exploded, followed-up by his battle-axe with the same result. With another strike from both weapons, the barrier shattered, revealing Shining as he fired another beam of magic at Dark and hit his weapons.

Conjuring a pair of magical longswords, Shining charged at Dark and met his weapons with his own. However, this time, neither of Dark's weapons exploded upon the clash.

"Did you think that I would let you keep those enchantments a second time?" Shining asked in annoyance, disengaging before taking a few swings at Dark.

"No," Dark answered, blocking Shining's two magical swords with his greatsword while swinging his battle-axe, causing Shining to disengage again, "I just wanted you out of that barrier of yours, and that was the quickest way."

Shining engaged Dark again, continuing their banter as they continued to fight.

"And how'd you know which one I was even in?"

"By the sound from my spells hitting your barrier. When they struck, each of your barriers gave off the same sound except for one."

Shining mentally facehoofed. "Thanks for telling me. I'll be sure to fix that right now."

In a flash of light, Shining teleported himself back into one of his barriers and fixed his barriers so they couldn't resonate sound through them when struck.

Getting annoyed by Shining's actions, Dark roared in fury while breathing fire out across the arena. With him concealed within the flames, Dark sheathed his weapons and began to cast another Explosion enchantment. But this time, instead of placing them on his weapons, he casted it on his claws and tail.

Clenching his claws into fists, Dark charged the barrier closest to him and began pummeling it, each rapid strike causing an explosion to accompany it. Within seconds, the first barrier shattered, revealing itself to be empty and causing Dark to move onto the next one.

Hearing the rapid explosions, Shining huffed, figuring that Dark applied that enchantment again, but was still curious as to why they were going off so quickly. However, despite wanting to find out, the flames from Dark's fire breath were obscuring his vision, only allowing for him to see through the top of his barrier.

Moments later, after hearing another of his barriers shatter, Shining felt the barrier that he'd been in starting to shake and crack. After a few seconds, the barrier shattered with Dark walking out of the fires and into the clear area with a look of fury on his face.

"There you are!" Dark shouted, clenching his fists tighter.

Using his wings to propel himself, Dark lunged at Shining. As he closed the gap, Shining created a magical shield and used it to block Dark's punch. But it did little to stop him, though, as Dark's enchanted claws caused an explosion upon punching the shield and shatter it.

Realizing what Dark had done, Shining immediately teleported himself off to Dark's side and fired a blast of magic at his head. When he it him, Dark turned to punch him, but Shining just teleported again to his other side blasted him again. He repeated this process two more times before Dark swung at him with his tail. But this time, when Shining teleported out of the way of Dark's tail, his face was met with a backfist to the face from Dark, sending Shining flying back into the barrier next to him.

When Shining was sent flying towards the barrier, Dark flew straight to him and pinned him up against it with a claw before he could escape. With Shining in his clutch, Dark reeled his fist back and punched Shining in his armored chest. Once the explosion from his enchanted fists went off, Dark followed it up with another from his other fist and continued a barrage of punches to Shining's chest and stomach. Spinning around to slam Shining back against the barrier with his enchanted tail, Dark then breathed a torrent of fire down at Shining. After a few seconds of fire-breathing, Dark looked at the spot to see that Shining had one again teleported away.

Hiding in his barrier again, Shining looked up at his health gauge to see that his health bar was in the red zone. Groaning, he began casting another healing spell on himself as he heard Dark's roar accompanied by the sound of more explosions. By the time he heard the first barrier shatter, Shining saw that his health gauge had gotten up to half. Wanting to get as much out of this time as he could, Shining continued to heal himself until he heard Dark growling as his claws scraped against the barrier, which also happened to be the last of the seven that he'd created.

After the seeing Dark throw his first few punches, Shining fired another beam at Dark, disabling his enchantment again. However, this time, Shining followed it up with another spell to ensure that Dark wouldn't be casting it again. When Dark did try to recast it and failed, Shining breathed a sigh of relief and stood back up. It was tough for him, though, as Dark's barrage of punches and explosions had dented his armor pretty good, hindering his mobility.

Safe in his barrier for the time being, Shining removed his breastplate and began using his magic to push out the dents as much as he could. And while he was able to get most of them, it would still need to be taken in to get a proper repair after this. With his armor somewhat fixed, Shining began to sweat a little. Figuring that this was Dark's doing, he looked outside of his barrier to see Dark's horn was alight with magic and had caused the fires around them to start rotating. As the speed of the fires' rotations continued to increase, so did the temperature inside of the barrier.

If I stay in here, I'm going to be cooked, Shining mused as he looked around. And I doubt that any heat resistant spells will prevent this for too long.

With a huff of annoyance, Shining teleported himself out of the barrier and over to one of the areas where one of his barriers had been. Scanning the area briefly for any signs of Dark and not seeing him, Shining used his magic to create a gust of wind to put out the fires. When he did, he could see Dark standing over by the barrier with a dome of rotating flames covering it. However, it didn't last much longer as the lack of flames around him caused Dark to spin around towards Shining.

Finally finding him, Dark used his magic and redirected the fires towards Shining. When he did, Shining created a magical shockwave, putting out the flames while Dark skidded back, leaving claw trails in the dirt as he tried to anchor himself before coming to a stop.

Together again with a clear arena and no spells in effect, both Dark and Shining began to circle each other on all fours like a pair of predators waiting for the other to make the first move. After a few moments of this had passed, Shining stopped in place, causing Dark to mirror him.

"This has been quite the fight, but I think that it's time that I ended it," Shining said, using his magic and pulling out what looked like a small piece of brown candy from a pouch on his belt.

"What's that?" Dark asked skeptically.

"This is my trump card," he explained, showing off the little orb to Dark. "What I have here is called a 'Rage Pellet'. Courtesy of the Crystal Empire Research Division, this little beauty allows for anypony who eats it to go into a Rage Shift for the next ten minutes."

... oh crap, Dark mentally cursed. "Is that really such a good idea?"

Shining smirked. "What's this? Is Dark Flame afraid to fight me?"

"What about everyone watching?" Dark questioned. "I doubt that the shield protecting them from us will hold."

"You're right," Shining said, nodding before looking up. "Hey guys! Set the barrier to maximum!"

"Uhh, are you sure about that?" the announcer questioned.

"Yes. You'll need it if you want it to remain functional."

"You heard him, boys! Increase the power!"

Seconds later, there was a loud humming sound that echoed across the Coliseum. As the sound became louder, the barrier around the arena shimmered brighter for a few seconds before the shimmering and sounds stopped.

"There we go," Shining said, looking back to Dark. "Now we have nothing to worry about."

Plopping the pellet into his mouth, Shining chewed on it for a few seconds before swallowing it. When he did, his body exploded in a bright flash of light. When the light died down, Dark saw Shining standing there, his main and tail as though it were on fire, his eyes red, and raw power passively flowing off of him in visible waves.

Standing back up on his hooves, Dark reached back for his weapons, but within that brief moment, he found Shining standing right in front of him. With no time to react, Dark was suddenly sent flying back from a beam of magic from Shining and continued until he was embedded into the side of the arena. As he tried to pry himself out, Dark suddenly felt a barrage of magical beams fired at him. And while he did manage to shield himself with his wings, they were starting to hurt after a while.

Finally getting himself unstuck from the wall, Dark drew his weapons and landed on the ground before creating a barrier of his own. It didn't last long, though, as it shattered after only three blasts from Shining. Flying up, Dark tired to evade him from the air and block those that he couldn't. And while he was agile enough to dodge most of them with the distance between him and Shining, those that he did block with his battle-axe and greatsword where strong enough to knock him back and break his guard.

Seeing that Dark was wide open, Shining teleported in front of him in mid-air and conjured a pair of magical longswords before plunging them through Dark's stomach. Sure that both had gone through him, Shining saw Dark raise his weapons and bring them both down upon him. Before they struck, though, he created a pair of magical shields to block them both before bashing them against Dark's face.

Feeling satisfied with that, Shining began to teleport out until he felt something wrapping around his hind legs. Looking down, he saw that it was Dark's tail that had wrapped him. Creating another magical longsword, Shining sliced at the tail, but found the hide too tough to cut through. Another second later, he felt Dark shift around to whip him down to the ground again. Once he was released, though, Shining teleported himself safely to the ground.

Back on solid ground, Shining used the added power from his Rage Shift to create another barrier. However, unlike the others, this on was far stronger and was created with fifteen layers on it.

Heh, I'd like to see him break through this one, Shining thought with a smirk.

Landing on the ground on the other side of the arena, Dark pulled out the two magical swords and recasted his Healing Flame on himself. As he did, he conjured five Fire Orbs that began to orbit around him. Pulling two of them off to float along either side of him, Dark began to fire the Explosive Fire Needles out at Shining's barrier. Upon firing them, however, Dark saw Shining counter by launching magical spears out from within his barrier, meeting with Dark's attack and piercing through them.

Seconds later, Dark found himself dodging magical spears left and right. Even the Fire Orbs didn't do too much to block them as they were extinguished after blocking three magical spears each. Powering his horn, Dark created another wall of fire to try and help protect himself. And while it did work for a while, the spears began to penetrate even that.

Coming up with another idea, Dark fired several fireballs in an arch at the incoming spears. However, when these ones collided, they each exploded into several dozen smaller ones which began to rain down upon the other incoming spears and Shining's barrier while covering that part of the arena in fire. Using those flames, Dark manipulated them towards him and began to rotate them in a sphere around himself. And even though Shining's magical spears were able to pierce it at first, once Dark began to pick up speed, the rotation began to effectively block them, even if only barely.

So, he's able to stop them after all, Shining mused, a grin forming on his lips. In that case, let's see how well it can hold up.

Lighting his horn, Shining channeled a large amount of magic into it and continued until the magical aura around his horn was almost blinding. Moments later, feeling his horn reaching its limit, Shining unleashed it all into a single beam of magic the size of a house.

Seeing the massive beam fired at him through the fires, Dark, with no time to get out of the way, lowered himself to all fours and crouched down to the ground. With him almost laying down now, Dark covered his front half with his wings, overlapping them into a cone shape to try and shield him. Keeping himself small and as low to the ground as he could, Dark poured more magic into his flames to reinforce it and waited for the inevitable.

Within seconds, the massive beam impacted Dark's rotating flames, meeting resistance against it. A few seconds after the two spells collided, Shining's beam began to push into the rotating flames, creating an indent before finally breaking through. With his spell now gone, Dark braced for impact a split second before the beam washed over him. Even with his wings' durability, it still hurt as the powerful spell assaulted him. If it wasn't for the Healing Flame spell that he'd casted earlier, Dark was sure that he'd have succumbed to Shining's beam by now, either from the pain or sheer power. As the spell continued, Dark slowly felt himself skidding back from the force of the blast until he felt himself up against the wall.

After what felt like minutes had passed, the spell finally ended. When it did, Dark found himself panting from exertion while both of his wings began sizzling. Moving them off to his sides, Dark looked around from his spot to see that the area around him had been turned black with a large divot where the beam's path was. Turning his attention up, Dark saw that his health gauge was in the red after that, but was now being restored by his healing spell while Shining's was at full again.

A little shakily, Dark got back up from his laying position and looked over to see Shining looking at him in triumph.

"I can't keep up like this," Dark muttered to himself, knowing that Shining had him beat at this point. "Not that I should be surprised. After all, he was in his Rage Shift when he wiped out all of those-"

Dark?! Are you alright?!

Recognizing the voice in his head, Dark looked over to see it's owner. Twilight? Are you doing the telepathy thing again?

Yes, but that's not important right now. Are you okay?

I'm a bit sore from that last attack, but I'll be alright. I don't think that I can last much longer against Shining if he keeps this up, though. Even if I somehow last until the ten minute timer on that pellet is up.

Then don't wait it out, Twilight told him. Fight him back.

Dark was about to reply when he saw Shining firing beams of magic at him again. Using the small trench in the ground for cover, Dark took cover and began firing fireballs up in an arch at him.

I'm sorry, Twilight, Dark began, but I don't think that I can effectively fight him back right now.

What if you were to use your magic?

I have been using my magic, Twilight.

Not that! The other kind.

Repositioning himself in the trench, Dark arched an eyebrow. You mean my death and shadow magics?

Yes.

But you said-

I know what I said, Dark, Twilight interrupted, her voice unusually soft and caring for a situation like this. While I love you and Shiny, I also don't like seeing you getting hurt like this. I know that you've been holding back because I asked you to, and I'm very grateful and happy that you're trying to honor my wish despite all that's happened so far, but I don't want to see you in any more pain.

Are you sure, Twilight? Dark questioned, being forced to leap out from his cover by a wave of magical spears dropping from above.

I am. Just promise me that you'll end this as quickly as you can, and try not to hurt Shiny too much.

I'll do my best, Twilight.

Thank you. Now fight back with everything that you have!

Seeing Dark standing in place and looking down at the dirt before him, Shining surrounded him with magical spears from every angle. With nowhere for Dark to run, Shining flicked his horn and sent all of them at him simultaneously. However, before any of them got close, shadowy tendrils shot out from within Dark's shadow and deflected each of Shining's spears. Surprised, Shining watched as Dark slowly raised his head and glared at him with glowing red eyes.

"As you wish, My Princess," Dark growled.

Letting out a loud roar, Dark shrouded his claws in shadowy mists and slammed them onto the ground, spreading his shadows across the arena. Reaching his maximum for being in the sunlight, Dark tapped into his Shadow Storage and began emptying it of all of his weapons until he had several hundred weapons floating all around him. Raising a claw above his head, Dark then pointed it forward, launching all of his weapons at Shining's barrier.

Though initially surprised by this, Shining countered by launching and replacing more of his magic spears. Each that was sent flying connected with a weapon of some kind, but there were too many of them for Shining to keep up with. Soon enough, Dark's weapons began slamming into the side of his barrier, causing Shining to wince slightly at the numerous impacts and feeling the first of his fifteen barriers crack and break under the assault.

"I thought you said that you weren't allowed to use that kind of magic?!" Shining shouted at Dark.

"I was," he answered, shrouding his body in shadows, "but I was just told that I could."

"But I didn't hear anything!"

"Telepathy."

Knowing what he meant, Shining snorted and began conjuring magical spears all around Dark again. He didn't fire them all right away, but instead continued to build up the numbers. Once he'd reached over a hundred of them, he launched them all at Dark, figuring that he wouldn't be able to stop all of them.

Seeing himself surrounded, Dark smirked and Shadow Melded into the shadows spread beneath him, avoiding all of the spears and emerging off towards the center of the arena. Having a moment, Dark stood on his hooves, raised his claws, and poured more of his magic into them. Seconds later, a pair of massive black portal appeared above Dark with a monstrous, right draconic claw and arm emerging from the right portal, and a left from the left portal, both of which being big enough to crush a house beneath them. Moving his arms to get a feel for them, Dark looked up and smirked as he saw the two shadowy, draconic limbs mimicking his arms' movements.

Turning his attention back to Shining, Dark brought his claws together and brought them down. As he did, the two massive claws mimicked Dark's and the intertwined fists came crashing down upon Shining's barrier, forcing him to a knee from the impact. Repeating this, Dark continued to pummel Shining's barrier with the two claws, causing two more layers of Shining's barrier to break.

As Dark continued his assault, Shining conjured another seven magical spears behind Dark before launching them at him. Without seeing them coming, Dark quickly felt several spikes of pain shooting through his gut again and looked down to see that he'd once again been impaled. Roaring in pain and fury, the two portals closed, causing the massive limbs to vanish with them.

"That's it!" Dark shouted, his voice full of rage and fury. "This has gone on long enough!"

Infuriated by having this happen to him twice in one fight, Dark manipulated the shadows, causing them to crawl up his body. When every inch of him was covered in shadows, they began to pull him down into the shadows at his hooves, leaving the magical spears behind lying on the ground.

Seeing Dark sinking into the shadows again, Shining began scanning the area for where he might emerge at. After a few silent moments of not seeing anything, Shining sighed, thinking that he'd won. However, when he looked up to see Dark's health gauge, he cocked an eyebrow in confusion at seeing that his health gauge was full again.

What? But how?! Shining mentally asked himself. His health gauge should be much lower than this, even with that healing spell of his. Is it the shadows or-

His thoughts died down as he saw the scattered weapons sinking back into the shadows. Moments later, the shadows that were covering the area began to spin around in a circle like a maelstrom of darkness. As the shadows continued to spin, Shining began to pick up a powerful magic source from within the center of the black maelstrom.

Huh. I guess that Dark isn't done yet, he smirked. Not that it really matters at this point. With my Rage Shift, I have him beat. Not to mention that if he destroys too many of my barriers, I'll just replace them with more and-

"I. AM DEATH. INCARNAAAAAAAATE!!!"

Snapping his attention back to the center of the maelstrom, Shining watched as a monstrous, draconic claw like before shot up out of it and slammed into the ground. Seconds later, it was followed up by another as it too slammed into the ground and anchored itself. Then, to the surprise of Shining and everyone watching, a draconic muzzle began poking out from the maelstrom, followed by a neck, torso, and wings to match.

The dragon continued to rise up out of the shadowy maelstrom until he was up to his waist, his head almost touching the very top of the barrier around the arena near the top of the Coliseum itself. Opening his blood-red eyes, the dragon spread his wings as much as he could within the confined space and let loose a deafening roar that echoed throughout all of Canterlot. After several seconds of roaring, he barred his fangs and growled, the inside of his throat glowing with fire as he glared down at Shining.

I am so bucked, Shining mentally cursed, looking wide-eyed at his opponent.

While the dragon was staring Shining down inside the arena, the audience watched in silence. Some of them had even slowly began to back away towards the exits. That was, until a few ponies began to cheer, believing that it was an illusion spell that they were seeing. Quickly, the crowd began to cheer in excitement for this turn of events. As the crowd was cheering for them, Celestia and Luna watched the two in the arena, while Twilight and the others tried to regain their senses from the overwhelming roar. That was, except for Pyre, who was laughing out loud in joy.

"HAHAHAHA! It's good to hear the sound of Nocturne's roar again!" Pyre boomed mirthfully.

"What was that?" Twilight asked, regaining her hearing. "Did I hear you say that that's Nocturne?"

"Yes! I'd recognize his body anywhere!"

Focusing on the giant dragon before her, Twilight saw that the substance covering him weren't shadows, but flesh and fur.

"But how?! Dark said that he couldn't transform into him!"

"He said that he couldn't transform completely into him," Pyre corrected. "He is able to do this much, though. Even if this transformation does make Nocturne look a bit diminished."

"Hold on a second, lad," Anvil spoke, "are ye saying that this isn't his full size?"

"I am. While Dark's has done alright so far with his transformation, at his full height, Nocturne's body is at least twice the size of what we're all seeing... and this is only his upper-half."

Rarity shivered. "That is a rather fearful thing to consider."

"Yeah," Rainbow agreed. "Geeze. I'm glad that he's on our side."

"How long can Dark maintain that form?" Celestia asked, her voice a mix of curiosity and concern.

"Longest he can maintain it for is about three minutes," Pyre answered.

"So then..." Twilight brought a hoof up to her chin in thought. After a brief moment of doing some calculations, she looked back to Pyre and Celestia. "That means that both Dark and Shining will return to normal at the same time, give or take a few seconds."

Any further talking between them was interrupted when Dark roared again and brought both of his claws down upon Shining's barrier. However, this time, instead of balling his claws into a pair of fists, he dove his claws as deep into the barrier as he could before he began to try prying them apart. Putting his weight behind them, Dark's claws slowly sank deeper into the layers of Shining's barrier and continued to tear them apart.

Feeling the barriers beginning to spread, Dark took in a deep breath, his inhalation acting as a vacuum as it began sucking in loose dirt and debris into his gaping maw. Once he felt enough air gathered in his lungs, Dark unleashed a torrent of fire that not only covered Shining's barrier in fire, but also the entire arena.

Inside the barrier, Shining was sweating profusely from the heat of the raging inferno. While he did feel that Dark's fire breath had broken through a few more of his barriers, he still had eight layers left, but wasn't liking his chances at the moment. Thinking quickly, Shining conjured a dozen magical spears around him and placed a fire resistant spell on them before launching them all up towards where the fires were coming from. Seconds later, Shining watched as the fires ceased their flow. When they cleared for him to see, he noticed that Dark had stopped breathing fire and caught Shining's spears in his fangs.

Giving Shining a fanged smirk, Dark clenched his jaw, snapping the magical spears in half before spitting them back at Shining's barrier. When he did, he watched as Shining conjured another dozen of them. But, instead of blocking them, Dark let them hit him and watched as they harmlessly bounced off of his thick hide. Chuckling and using his powers over the shadows, Dark manipulated Shining's shadow by turning it into a claw and pulling him down to the ground. It didn't last long, though, as Dark's spell ended with Shining covering his body with his magical aura, the light bright enough to ward off any shadows within his barrier.

With a low, rumbly chuckle, Dark began manipulating the shadows whirling around the ground at his waist, causing shadowy tendrils the width of a pony to sprout out from the black maelstrom. Once they'd grew to be a few stories tall, Dark sent them all forward, striking Shining's barrier by trying to either piercing it, or slamming against it, all the while breathing another round of searing flames over the barrier.

Pouring more magic into reinforcing the barrier and creating new layers beneath them, after fifteen seconds of this, Shining winced as one of his layers shattered, followed soon by another. Trying a different tactic, he changed the barriers slightly, changing them from being smooth domes to spiked domes. And even though the tendrils would get stuck on some of them, once they'd wriggled off, the gaping holes that were left behind became filled with more shadows before continuing their assault.

This is ridiculous! Shining mentally shouted. I can't teleport out of here or else I'll be exposed, my spears can't do anything, my barriers are being destroyed one after the other, and worst of all, the time limit on my Rage Shift is almost up!

As Shining continued to try to think of something to do to counter Dark, he began to notice that the rate at which the tendrils were attacking his barrier had drastically decreased. Looking up at them Shining watched as they began to slowly recede back into the shadowy maelstrom that they sprang from. Looking up even higher, he saw that Dark looked tired all of a sudden as his body slowly began to sink back down into the maelstrom too.

Once Dark's body had sank back down with only his head remaining, the shadowy maelstrom disappeared, leaving the head as it began to dissolve. As it faded away, it began to reveal Dark standing wobbly on his hooves and claws, keeping himself upright by using his wings to help brace himself.

With Dark exposed and barely standing, Shining smirked and prepared to finish Dark off and end this match. However, he suddenly stumbled forward, his strength suddenly leaving him. Immediately afterwards, Shining's multi-layered barrier collapsed all around him as his body reverted back to his normal pony form.

What I wouldn't give for some of Cadence's love right now, Shining mused, watching Dark as he too panted heavily for breath. Shaking his head, Shining stood up straight and gained control over his breathing. Okay, both of us are low on magic right now, so this fight won't last much longer. But, even with my low magic, I still have enough to end this... but first, I think that it's time I tried something different.

Looking at the roaring flames all around him from Dark's fire-breathing, Shining got an idea. It wouldn't use much of his magic, but Shining could take control of the fires and use them against Dark. Spreading his magic over the fires, Shining pulled them over above his head into a massive fireball. Not wanting to make any mistakes, once he'd collected all of the fires spread out in the arena, he began to pour his own magic into it, making the fires his own. With everything prepared, Shining hurled the massive fireball at Dark. As it flew across the arena, it began to lose its mass, becoming smaller the farther it traveled. By the time it hit Dark, who was too tired to dodge it, it'd decreased by half, but was still enough to knock Dark down from the force behind it while the fires splashed all around him.

Laying on the ground, Dark groaned as he looked around to see fire surrounding him. While him being half-dragon didn't allow for him to be hurt by them or the attack, the impact from that giant fireball was still enough to knock the wind out of him. As he continued to lay in the flames, he felt incredibly tired. What's worse was that he could feel that his magic was nearly depleted while Shining still had some left in him.

Well this sucks, Dark thought, laying sprawled out on his back. I was so close too. If only I had a little more magic, I could-

Dark cut himself off as he actually felt the flames surrounding him. Reaching his sense out to them, Dark could tell that while these flames were once his, Shining poured enough of his magic into them to make them his own. With this revelation, Dark's tiredness faded as he felt another wave overtake him.

He doesn't know, he thought to himself with a grin. If he did, he wouldn't have thrown fire at me.

"Come on out, Dark!" Shining shouted. "I know that you're in there!"

Slowly, Dark stood up from his spot in the center of the fires. "Yeah, I'm here."

As Shining approached Dark, he conjured a pair of magical longswords, one floating alongside either side of him.

"Glad to see that you're at least going to take it as a stallion," Shining said, raising his twin swords.

"With a pair of swords?" Dark questioned, raising an eyebrow.

"With how low my magic is right now, it's the most efficient spell for me to use. That, and I don't need anything else with how weak and exhausted you are."

"Oh, but that's where you're wrong," Dark told him, the flames surrounding him beginning to dance around.

Taking in a clearing breath, Dark began to draw in the surrounding flames into his mane. Within seconds, Dark's Amplify ability had absorbed all of the nearby fires and set his mane ablaze.

"What did you do?!" Shining demanded, taking a few steps back.

"It's just a unique ability of mine that lets me absorb any nearby fires that aren't mine," Dark explained, flapping his wings until he was hovering in the air. "And thanks to you pouring your magic into that fireball before launching it, I was able to absorb enough the leftover flames for one final attack!"

Channeling his shadow magic, Dark created a ball of darkness in the palm of each of his claws. After that, he brought the two orbs together and merged them before lifting it above his head, sending ribbons of shadows out all around them until the surrounding area and ground were all pitch-black in darkness. With them now both trapped within a shadowy dome several dozen yards wide, Dark used his Amplified unicorn magic to create hundreds of fire spears all around the edge of the inside of the dome, each fire spear pointed directly at Shining, who stood in the very center.

"This is it!" Dark proclaimed. "After this, one of us will fall!"

Floating just outside of the fire spears, Dark brought his arms forward and flicked his horn, sending the fire spears at Shining. It started out with just one every half-second, but as the second ticked by, they started firing off faster and faster. While they were flying at him, Shining began spinning his magical swords around like a pair of bladed fans, deflecting the attacks as they fired off at him from random directions. Before he knew it, there was a fire spear being fired at him every split-second, forcing him to move his twin swords faster until they became a blur.

As the two continued, both Shining and Dark found their noses bleeding. For Shining, it was because he was running on fumes and was pouring more magic into his swords' speed while also trying to maintain a thin layer of magical shielding over his body. As for Dark, it was because of how hard he'd pushed his body with this spell, and like Shining, he too was running on magical fumes. But, while both of them were pushing themselves dangerously over their limits, neither was willing to lose. After thirty seconds of this had passed, the shadowy dome began to crack, letting in light from the outside. A few seconds later, the last of the fire spears fired off and the shadowy dome began to fade from all around them.

With the darkness gone and light showing in on them, Dark and Shining looked blankly at one another, the former having landed back on the ground sometime during that last attack. However, neither could actually see the other with how glazed over both of their eyes were. Both of them were wobbling from side-to-side with blood leaking from their nostrils, eyes, and from the corners of their mouths, staining their faces, necks, and chests red with their own blood.

After a few seconds of deafening silence, the sound of two magical blades shattering on the ground echoed throughout the Coliseum. Seconds later, there was the sound of a solid thud hitting the ground, which was soon followed by second.

"That's it!" the announcer shouted, breaking the silence. "At long last, the match is finally over! Mares and gentecolts! After over forty minutes of nonstop fighting, we have our victor! Now, due to Coliseum regulations, when both competitors are KO'd, the winner is then decided on the last one to remain standing. And with that, mares and gentlecolts, I present to you our new Coliseum Champion, Dark Flame!"

Loud enough to be heard throughout all of Canterlot, everyone in the audience began cheering and stomping their hooves for the fight they'd witnessed. That is, all but a small group of eighteen, who were too shocked by what they'd watched to join them. And while a few of them were doing alright with how badly Dark and Shining had ended up, the rest were shedding tears of worry and fear for their conditions.

With a worried expression on her face, Celestia turned to Luna, who had sat her winning betting ticket down to the side and returned her look.

"We need to get them both to the castle's medical wing," Celestia told her.

"Agreed," Luna nodded in agreement. "No question that they will both be needing a magic transfusion after this."

With the match over and the arena's barrier down, Celestia and Luna teleported down into the arena. With Dark gently placed over Luna's back, and Shining over Celestia's, they left the Coliseum to see to Dark's and Shining's injuries with Twilight and the others following after them.

Chapter 59- Recuperation

Following the end of the fight at the Coliseum, Celestia and Luna brought Dark and Shining to the castle's medical wing where they were immediately taken by the medical staff for preparation. As suspected, both Dark and Shining had exhausted their magic and needed immediate magic transfusions. And while the medical staff there were ready for any kind of medical emergency at any time of day, now was the time for them to prove it.

Lighting her horn, Celestia sealed the doors and casted a barrier around the room. With the room secured, she looked back over to Luna, who had a curious look on her face.

"Was that really necessary, sister?" Luna questioned.

Celestia sighed. "Considering that both Dark and Shining Armor are in this condition, would you want a hysterical Twilight Sparkle to come bursting into the room?"

"... very well. Now then, what next?"

"Next we help the doctors with the transfusions."

"Celestia, using our magic to heal somepony is one thing, but to give our alicorn magic to unicorns, even if it's a transfusion, would put immense strain on them."

Celestia nodded. "True. However, in this case, we're dealing with a powerful unicorn and a kirin, both of whom have almost no magic left. With how depleted their magical reserves are, giving them some of our magic shouldn't cause them any harm, especially for Dark."

"Are you sure about that?" Luna asked hesitantly. "Because I would rather not have both Cadence and Twilight coming after us for accidentally killing those two."

"I know, Luna," Celestia replied, "but we won't be giving those two a lot of our power, just enough to jumpstart them."

Luna huffed. "Fine. Now, what about any internal damage? After all, they were both bleeding rather badly, and from places that they shouldn't be."

"True, but that's what happens when somepony depletes all of their magic like they did."

"Seems like if anypony would do something stupid like that, it would be those two," a third voice added.

Turning their attention to their side, Celestia gave a warm smile to the mare approaching them.

"Thank you for being here to help them, Doctor Cura," she thanked.

"I'm just surprised that I get to work on those two," Cura said, turning to look back at Dark and Shining being hooked up to heart monitors and other machines. "To think that I get to work on both of them in one day. Maybe I can get some tissue samples of Dark while I'm at it?"

"Sorry, but this isn't really the time for that," Luna told her. "Right now, we have two stallions who need a magic transfusion and possibly a few healing spells."

"Alright." Turning around, Cura led the Princesses over to where Dark and Shining were laid up. "By the way, what happened to these two... besides the obvious plot kicking they got?"

"How familiar are you with the Coliseum?"

"I'll go and watch some matches when I can," Cura answered. "I actually heard that the champion had a match tonight, but didn't get the name of who he was fighting."

"In that case, there they are," Luna said, pointing at Dark and Shining.

"There who are?"

Luna facehoofed with a groan. "Dark and Shining Armor. Shining Armor turned out to be the champion and Dark fought him."

"You mean that those two were tonight's main event?"

"Yes."

Surprised, Cura looked back at the two with widened eyes. "Wow. Must've been some fight for them to nearly kill each other."

"If it wasn't for their lives being in possible danger, I would go into greater detail. But, let's just say that it involved Dark transforming into a dragon, and Shining Armor eating a pellet that forced him into a Rage Shift."

Cura gave a low whistle. "Sounds like I missed a lot. Oh! Everypony in the castle heard a dragon roaring earlier tonight."

"That would've been Dark," Celestia told her.

Cura's locked her gaze onto Dark with a glint in her eyes. "Are you sure that I can't get even one tiny little tissue sample from him?"

"Later, Cura," Luna said, slightly impatiently. "And besides, we want to have some good news before Twilight and the others show up."

"Princess Twilight was there?" she asked, getting a nod from Celestia and Luna. "Well then, when do you think she'll be here-"

*BANG... BANG... BANG*

"Does that answer your question?" Luna deadpanned.

"Dang. Any harder and she might break the doors down," Cura commented.

"Luna, you go on ahead and get started on them," Celestia told her as she walked over to a bench with some writing material on it. "I'm going to write Twilight a quick letter telling her to try and wait while we work on those two."

"You know she's not going to like it."

"Don't worry, Luna. After all, she'll have her family and friends with her."

Letting Celestia be for now, Luna walked over to the two beds that held Dark and Shining. As she approached, she watched as the medical staff tried to remove Shining's armor with difficulty.

"Is there a problem?" Luna asked.

"I'm sorry, Princess," one of the other doctors apologized, "but we're having some difficulty removing Prince Shining Armor's armor. It's so damaged that the clasps that are holding it together have been bent, making us unable to safely unfasten them if at all. There are even quite a few areas that appear to have been penetrated by something and are causing the bent metal to pierce his skin."

Stepping closer, Luna looked over Shining's damaged armor. This wasn't like this before Dark's last attack, Luna mused. Just what did you two do in there?

"Excuse me, Princess?" one of the staff spoke, gaining Luna's attention. "Do you have any ideas on how to get it off of him?"

"Perhaps. When Celestia gets here, tell her about this," she told them. "She's better at precise teleportation than I, and should be able to remove the armor safely from him."

"What will you do then, Your Highness?"

"I shall be tending to Dark." Turning around, Luna walked over to see Dark laying on the bed, his own armor having been removed and placed in a basket off to the side. "I see that his armor and damage absorber have already been removed."

"Yes. Even with the chainmail being as damaged as it was, it wasn't any issue to remove."

"Very good. In that case, I shall get started."

"And what about the prince?"

"Leave him to me," Celestia said, walking up from behind them. Getting a better look at Shining, Celestia looked over his damaged armor.

"We've been unable to remove his armor due to how damaged it and the clasps holding it together are," one of the staff told her. "We did manage to remove his damage absorber safely, but Princess Luna said that you might be able to safely remove the damaged armor with a teleportation spell?"

Celestia nodded. "That is correct. Give me a moment and I'll have the armor off of him."

Lighting her horn, Celestia wrapped Shining in her magic. For the first few minutes, the medical staff watched as he simply floated in her magical grasp. Then, one piece at a time, Celestia carefully teleported the armor off of him. Wanting to go slow as to not accidentally get a part of him caught in the teleportation, Celestia carefully went for the next piece, followed by another. After several minutes had passed, she'd freed Shining from his armor and had it set off in a basket provided for it while the medical staff began casting a healing spell on him.

"There," she said, breathing a sigh of relief. "Now that that's done, I can begin the transfusion."

"With all due respect, Princess," Cura spoke, "is it really such a good idea for you and Princess Luna to be giving them your alicorn magic?"

"It will only be a small fraction of it to help them jumpstart their own magic. Don't worry, they'll be fine."

Walking up alongside Shining's head, Celestia lit her horn and leaned her head down until her horn was touching Shining's. Seconds later, she pulled back as she heard Luna yelp and turned around to see her rubbing her horn.

"Something wrong, Luna?" Celestia asked.

"I don't know," Luna replied. "I was giving Dark his magic transfusion, but then if felt like my magic was being drained out of me instead of me giving him it."

"Don't worry, that's just a side effect of the transfusion. It'll feel like he's trying to take what magic he can to replenish his own, but it's really not."

Luna sighed and returned to Dark. "If you insist."

"Oh, I almost forgot," Celestia suddenly spoke, turning her attention to Cura while maintaining Shining's transfusion. "Doctor Cura, could you do something for me?"

"I suppose," she shrugged. "What is it?"

"I need for you to go out there and tell Twilight and anypony else who may be waiting out there that Luna and I are currently working on Dark and Shining."

"Alright. Anything else?"

"Yes. I'll also need for you to tell Cadence that Shining Armor is here, and about what happened to him."

Slowly, Cura turned around and made her way over to the doors, muttering beneath her breath something about not being paid to deal with this.

Almost an hour later, Celestia and Luna were sitting down on a pair of chairs off beside one of the walls, having just finished with Dark and Shining. While the magic transfusion was a success, they had to give it to them slowly so that they wouldn't give them too much too fast. It also turned out that even though Dark and Shining had both bled from their eyes, noses, and mouth, they didn't actually sustain any internal damage. While Shining did have some injuries from their fight, it was the depletion and lack of magic that caused him and Dark to start bleeding out.

"Glad that's over," Celestia commented, laying back in her chair with a sigh of relief.

"You're telling me," Luna said, slouching her shoulders. "I don't know about you, Tia, but I feel drained. What's worse is that my shift over the night is about to begin."

"How much of your magic did you give him?"

"More than I thought that I would have to. I swear, I only meant to give him a small fraction, but it felt like he took more like a quarter or third of my magic." Luna lazily turned her head over to look at Celestia. "Is this another side effect?"

"It's not very common, but yes. This could also be because of what he is."

"I suppose it would make sense then."

"Ah-hem."

Looking over in front of them, Celestia and Luna saw Cura standing before them.

"Yes, Doctor Cura?" Celestia tiredly addressed.

"The other doctors and I ran a scan over them," Cura began to explain. "While we can once again conclude that there hasn't been any life-threatening internal damage, we noticed that Prince Shining Armor did have a number of them over his body. And while most of them have appeared to have been healed by his own healing spells, it was a rushed job and will require us to properly heal him."

"And what about Dark?" Luna asked.

"He appears to be physically fine. He doesn't seem to have a single injury on him from what we could tell."

"No doubt due to his natural regeneration, I'd imagine," Celestia said. "Is there anything else?"

"After we get Prince Shining Armor healed, I would recommend that he and Dark be put on bedrest for a day or two. While their injuries may be healed and their magic restored, their bodies will need time to regain their strength before they can start resuming with whatever those two do... other than trying to kill each other, of course."

"Thank you, Doctor Cura," Celestia thanked, giving her a thankful bow before heading over to the doors. "I'm going to go tell Twilight and the others about Dark and Shining Armor. After that, I'm going to bed."

"Goodnight to you, sister," Luna said, waving Celestia off.

"And a goodnight to you too, Luna."

Opening the doors and walking through, Celestia was met with Twilight and the others sitting on the waiting benches. Quietly closing the doors behind her, Celestia walked over to Twilight, who was being hugged by her parents and Soul.

Hearing the doors close and hoofsteps walking closer to her, Twilight looked up with reddened and puffy eyes to see Celestia looking down at her. Slipping out of their hold, she ran up to hug Celestia and buried her face in her chest.

"P-Princess?" Twilight sniffled, her voice slightly muffled. "Please t-tell me they're not-"

"They're alright, Twilight," Celestia gently told her, hugging her back, "both Dark and Shining Armor are going to be fine and are currently asleep."

There was a collective sigh of relief.

"So they're okay?"

"Yes. They both should be making a full recovery. However, Doctor Cura has placed both of them on bedrest for the next day or two while they recover."

"Can we see them now?"

"Of course, but like I said, they're both asleep right now."

"It's fine. I just want to see them is all."

Standing off to the side, Celestia watched as Twilight and the others walked in to see them. That was, everyone but First Strike, whom Celestia was surprised to see.

"I didn't expect you to be here too," she told him.

"Well, considering the condition that our former and new champions were in, why shouldn't I?" First Strike questioned. "And besides me working for the Coliseum, you and Princess Luna did teleport them off rather abruptly."

"If this is about the rules prohibition Luna and I getting involved-"

"Oh no, no, no. This isn't anything like that. Granted that that rules still stand, but I went on ahead and talked to the head of the Coliseum. Now, considering how badly those two were injured, and not to mention who those two are, we support your decision on this matter and will trust you to look after them."

"Thank you. It's reassuring to hear that," Celestia said, walking past him. "Now, if you'll excuse me, the transfusion has left me tired."

"I understand," First Strike said with a bow. "Have a pleasant night, Your Highness."

"And you as well."

Watching Celestia walk around the corner, First Strike walked into the room to see everyone gathered around Dark and Shining.

"How long until they wake up?" Twilight asked,

"Until mid-morning or noon I'd say," Cura answered, looking over their charts. "With how much magic they lost, their bodies will need time to recover. If you're wanting to talk with them, then you'll have to wait until tomorrow to do it."

"It would probably be for the best, sweetheart," Velvet said, placing a hoof on Twilight's shoulder. "There isn't much more we can do for them until then. Why don't we call it an early night?"

"I would have to agree with you, Mrs. Velvet," Rarity agreed before stifling a yawn. "We've had quite the eventful and stressful evening, and I'm sure that these young ones are tired too."

Instead of them protesting that they weren't tired, the four foals and Spike all agreed with Rarity instead, surprising her and the others. With everyone in agreement, they gave their thanks to Cura and the other medical staff before filing out of the room. All, that is, except for Twilight, who remained in her chair between Dark and Shining.

"I'm going to stay with them."

"Again? Really, Twilight?" Rainbow questioned. "I know that they're important to you and that you're worried, but there's really nothing more that you can do for them."

"What if they wake up and need something, but nopony is there to hear them? What if one of them falls and is too weak to get back up? What if-"

"We'll have somepony nearby if that should happen," Cura interrupted, "but I highly doubt that either of them will wake up tonight."

"Regardless, I'm still staying."

"Twilight, honey," Velvet spoke, walking up to her. "Are you sure that you're not over-exaggerating over this?"

"I just want to be here and look out for them. You understand, right, mom?"

Standing silent for a moment, Velvet sighed and hugged Twilight before giving her a motherly kiss on the cheek.

"Just don't stay up too late now," she told her. "I don't think that either of them would be happy to wake up to see you half-asleep because you stayed up all night watching over them."

"I won't, mom," Twilight said, giving her a return peck on the cheek.

"Good to hear. Have a good night, dear."

"You too, mom."

Turning around, Velvet began ushering the others out of the room for them to get some sleep.

"If you wish, I can have a room prepared for you and Mr. Light, Mrs. Velvet," Luna offered.

"Thank you, Princess," she thanked. "If you wouldn't mind, that would be awfully nice. While our home is an easy walk away, I'd like to be as nearby Shining as I can."

"I understand. I shall have our maids see to it right away."

"In that case, I think that I'll be going now," First Strike said. "It's been a pleasure, Your Highness."

"Actually, before you leave, would you mind staying behind for a moment? I need to have a word with you." Luna asked, waiting for the other to continue onward and leave them alone. As they left, she also sent the medical staff except for Cura off to rest, seeing as the worst was over and she could observe them on her own. "You know that this offer is extended to you as well?"

"Thank you, but I should really be getting back to the Coliseum and tell them about their condition."

"If you insist. Also, before you leave," Lighting her horn with magic, Luna teleported her ticket from earlier to her side, "I know that it's a bit late, but I would like to turn this in."

Taking it into his hoof, First Strike began looking it over. "Ahh, so you won. Congratulations."

"Thank you, but could you perhaps turn it in for me? I would do it myself, but I have guests to see to and the night to rule."

"I could do that for you. I take it that you'll want your prize sent directly to you?"

"That would be most preferable, yes," Luna nodded. "And I must say that I'm pleased that I won this time."

"You betted before?"

"Yes. The guards, Celestia, and myself were watching Dark and Shining Armor fight in the Coliseum last year. Before they fought, we placed wagers on who would win."

"And?"

Luna grimaced. "My sister made the bet that their fight would end in a draw. And as the only pony to have made that call, she won everything."

"Ahh. Well then, I'm glad for you."

"Thank you. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have things that I need to see to." Luna turned to leave, but paused in mid-stride as she turned her head back around. "Before I forget, is there a chance that I can also get a magical recording of tonight's fight?"

"Of course," First Strike chuckled, exiting the room behind Luna to make for the Coliseum.

By herself now with the exception of Cura, Twilight looked over Dark and Shining in silence. After a few moments, Twilight let out a soft yawn that was heard by Cura.

"You look pretty tired, Twilight," she observed.

"I guess," Twilight answered, her shoulders slouching.

"Am I to take it that you'll be heading off to bed soon?"

"In a moment."

"In that case, I'll go get one of the beds ready for you."

Twilight shook her head. "Thank you, but that won't be necessary."

"Well you're not going to fall asleep in the chair. I don't know about you, but I don't want to have Princess Celestia or your mother breathing down my neck."

"Don't worry, I won't."

"Then were will you be sleeping tonight?" Cura questioned, watching as Twilight eyed Dark. After a few silent moments, Cura noticed that Twilight wasn't looking quite at Dark, but the space on his bed. "Ohhhhh no. You're not going to be sleeping with him tonight."

"Why not?" Twilight questioned.

"Because we're in the medical wing of the castle."

"So? I did it once before when Dark was laid up in the hospital in Ponyville."

"And what about Princess Celestia? What if she sees this?"

"She won't mind. Besides, she and Princess Luna already caught us once before."

"And your brother?"

Twilight glanced over to Shining. "He won't bother us. Even if he tired, he wouldn't be able to do anything about it."

Cura sighed in frustration and rubbed her temples. "You're not going to let this go, are you?"

"I really don't see the problem. And besides, these beds are bigger than the ones in Ponyville General Hospital, so there'll be plenty of room."

"Fine," she sighed. "In that case, I'll be heading on out. If you need me for anything, I'll be in the conjoining room."

"Thank you."

Turning around, Cura began walking out when a thought came to mind. "Hey, quick question for you."

"Yes?" Twilight replied, pulling back the bedsheets slightly to get in.

"Would you mind if I took some tissue samples from Dark?"

Twilight shook her head. "Sorry, Cura, but I think that Dark's been through enough for now. You can ask him when he's feeling better."

"Fine," she huffed, turning back around and leaving the room muttering to herself. "Princesses never let me have any fun."

Finally the last waking one in the room, Twilight slid beneath the bedsheets and scooted up against Dark's side. As she snuggled up between his arm and body, and rested her head down in the crook of his neck, Twilight quietly giggled to herself as she felt a sense of Deja vu. Draping a foreleg and wing over Dark, Twilight smiled and gave one last yawn before joining the others in sleep.

It was sometime in the morning when Dark began to awaken. While he felt the softness of the bed and pillow beneath him, he also felt an extra weight. Having an idea of what it could be, Dark took a quick sniff, smelling the scent of Twilight's mane and sighed in content. Cracking an eye open only further confirmed it as he saw Twilight laying half-draped atop of him. With a small smile, Dark leaned his head down and kiss Twilight on top of her head, eliciting a small coo from her. Giving a quiet chuckle, Dark leaned down again, but this time to gently nuzzle her.

"Ah-hem."

His show of affection disrupted, Dark lifted his head up and looked over to his side to see Shining giving him a half-lidded glare.

"What do you think you're doing?" he asked Dark with a disapproving whisper.

"Nuzzling her. Why?" Dark innocently whispered back.

"Is this really the place for you to be doing that with my sister?"

"Oh, come on now. I'm not doing anything wrong."

"Says the guy sleeping with Twilight in the middle of the castle's infirmary."

"Alright, I'll just wait until we get to our rooms. Then we can-"

"Do NOT say it in front of me!"

Shining and Dark both froze and held their breaths as Twilight groaned and began shifting around. A few seconds of silence later, they both watched as Twilight appeared to still be asleep and sighed in relief.

"That was close," Dark whispered.

"Yeah," Shining quietly agreed. "By the way, do you know how long you've been out for?"

Looking around, Dark saw a clock on the wall. "Looks like it's 10:25 A.M., so I'd have to say about fourteen hours or so?"

"Somewhere around there."

"Jeeze. That's quite the nap I took." Dark turned his head and looked back at Shining. "By the way, do you remember how we got here?"

"Sorry, but I don't," Shining answered, rubbing his head. "I don't even remember what happened after that last move you pulled."

"Me too."

"... however." Shining sighed, his mood almost gloomy. "I did hear about how our fight ended."

"How? You just said that you were out too."

"Because I've been awake for a few hours, that's why."

"Oh."

"Anyway, though it's a little hard to say it, I must congratulate you on your win."

"Win?"

"Yes. You see, Princess Celestia came in to visit and according to her, we were both standing unconscious in the arena. And since I was the first one of us to fall to the ground, you were declared the victor and the new champion."

Silently, Dark took a moment to process this. As he did, he felt himself being consumed by joyfulness and regret.

"That's nice."

"'That's nice'?" Shining mimicked confusingly. "You beat me in the Coliseum and that's all that you can say?"

"If what you say is true, then I only beat you because we were both KO'd and your body collapsed first," Dark explained. "I'm sorry, but while that was a heck of a fight we had, I feel like that the victory in the end is rather hollow."

Sighing, Shining leaned back in his reclined hospital bed. "Yeah. I can see what you mean by that." Shining closed his eyes in though as another subject came to mind. "Hey, Dark?"

"Yeah?"

"That thing you called me when you found out who I was... were you being serous or just messing with me?"

Dark bit his tongue as his face became flushed. Darting his eyes away from Shining, he looked down to see Twilight still sleeping.

"... that's... difficult to answer."

"How so? A simple 'yes' or 'no' will do."

"Well..." Taking in a breath, Dark steeled himself and looked back to Shining. "At the rate that our relationship is going, then I would have to say yes."

"Yes what? I want to hear you actually say the words."

"If this relationship of ours keeps up at the rate it's going, then I'll ask Twilight to ma... ma... mar... gah! Celestia damn me."

"Sorry, but I'd rather not."

Turning their attention towards the foot of their beds, Dark and Shining saw Celestia standing in front of them with a smirk on her face."

"P-Princess?!" Dark stammered. "When did you get here? And how didn't we hear or see you coming in?!"

Celestia chuckled. "I've been here for only a minute, and as you've noticed, I can be rather sneaky when I want to." Walking over to Dark, Celestia leaned down and gave him a knowing look. "Now then, what was it you were going to say?"

Oh, great. Now I have to tell her too, Dark mentally groaned. Then again, she is like a second mother to Twilight.

"Well?" Celestia pressed. "I'm waiting."

"I was thinking about asking Twilight to ma... mar... marry... me."

Resisting the urge to squee, Celestia rose and gave Dark a warm smile. "And what would your reason be for bringing it up?"

Taking a moment to see that Twilight was still asleep, Dark looked up to Celestia. "It's actually because of Soul. There have been a few times where I would think about us being married, but I didn't think too much on it. However, with Soul living with us now, that thought has been pressing on my mind."

"And when are you going to ask Twilight?" Celestia inquired.

"Not for a few more months at least. While I do love her and would love to spend the rest of my supposedly immortal life with her, I think that it might be a little too soon to ask her that."

"Good answer," Shining said with a nod. "I also think that it's too early for that."

"That, and that's also the other reason why I entered for a shot at being the Coliseum Champion."

"How so?" Celestia asked.

"While being champion and the new gear are a nice bonus, I was actually after the prize money that came with it."

"Why?" Shining wondered. "Last I heard, your forge was doing pretty good. Especially with the work you've been doing on maintaining and repairing the guards' armor and weapons."

"I do, but I wanted the bits from winning in the Coliseum to get Twilight an engagement ring."

Shining's brow furrowed. "You came to the Coliseum with the intent of wanting to get Twilight an engagement ring, and you still placed a handicap on yourself? You didn't even go all out on me until Twilight telepathically told you that you could, so why would you risk it?"

"Because while getting that ring is important to me, I didn't want to disappoint Twilight by breaking my word to her."

"And I'm glad that you didn't," Celestia said approvingly before turning to Shining. "Shining Armor, what are your thoughts about the possibility of them being engaged? I know that you and Dark have had some... difficulties in the past."

Sighing, Shining shrugged. "We've gotten better, so I don't hate him. And honestly, I think that I could be alright with it."

"Really?" Dark asked hopefully.

"Yeah. You've already done a lot for Twilight, and I've seen how happy she is with you, and vice versa. That, and if I remember correctly, I think that I said something about how I wouldn't approve of it until you beat me in a fight. And seeing as how you did just that last night, I'd say that you've earned my approval."

"Thanks, Shining."

Shining smiled briefly before frowning and pointing a hoof at Dark. "But I'm still pretty upset with you, Dark. I was out with the others scouting the base of the mountains in search of that guy who's been eluding us, and Sombra when I was called down here. Also, on another subject, who's Soul?"

"Right... well, I was hoping that we could tell both you and Cadence at the same time, but since she-"

"Will be here shortly," Celestia interrupted, earning her a look from Shining. "We sent word about what happened to you two last night, so she and Skyla took the next train from the Crystal Empire to Canterlot."

"Skyla's coming too?" Shining questioned.

"Cadence didn't want to leave her alone there while you both are here in Canterlot."

"Yeah. Guess I wouldn't either," he agreed before looking over to see Twilight still sleeping. "And why hasn't Twilight woken up yet? We've been loud enough that we should've waken her up a few times already."

"Because I placed a soundproof spell over her ears when I heard where your conversation was going after I got here," Celestia answered with a shrug.

Dark sighed in relief. "Well, thank you for doing that. Would've ruined the surprise if she found out about it before I could even have a chance to start."

"Indeed it would." Celestia paused as she noticed Twilight stir and her eyes moving beneath her eyelids. "Looks like she's about to wake up."

With the removal the spell on her ears, Twilight's eyes fluttered open and she once again began to hear her surroundings, mainly Dark's beating heart. Rotating herself, she looked up to see Dark looking down at her with a blush while she smiled back.

"Good morning," she warmly said.

"G-Good morning, Twilight," Dark returned.

"Feeling better?"

"Yeah. I feel fine."

"Good."

Twilight leaned up to share a kiss with Dark, completely unaware of Dark's eyes darting between the two ponies watching, one smiling while the other was frowning. Deepening their kiss, Twilight held onto Dark for a few moments before she finally broke apart. When she did, though, her soft and caring smile turned to a frown as she brought a hoof down on Dark's chest and knocked the wind out of him.

"Oof! What was that for?" he wheezed, the strength behind the hit catching him by surprise.

"That was for scarring me half to death," Twilight firmly told him. "What in Celestia's name did you do in there that nearly killed you?!"

At least she's not crying this time, Dark mused before answering her. "I'm sorry, Twilight. I tried to end it as fast as I could, but Shining's Rage Shift mode was really tough and it outlasted my transformation."

"So we've noticed," she grumbled, shaking her head. "You had us really worried last night, especially me and Soul."

Sighing, Dark wrapped his arms around Twilight and held her close, ignoring Celestia's and Shining's looks.

"This is the second time that I've worried you like this," he regretfully whispered. "I'm sorry that I worried you so much, Twilight."

Snuggling down into his coat, Twilight nuzzled his chin and sighed. "You can't take all of the blame. After all, I was the one who was holding you back. If I hadn't, then maybe you would've ended it faster."

"Please don't blame yourself, Twilight. Yes, if I didn't hold back like you asked, I would've ended it sooner. But I'm not complaining. Besides, we're both fine in the end, and best of all, I won."

Twilight pulled her head back to look Dark in the eyes. "How did you know that you won?"

"Because I told him."

Snapping her head to her right, Twilight's face lit up in embarrassment when she saw Shining sitting up in his bed with his forelegs crossed while Celestia stood beside him with a smirk on her face.

"Just ignore us, Twilight," she told her, "I don't mind at all."

"Well I do," Shining said. "And while you're on the subject of our match, Dark, perhaps you could tell me why I get the feeling that you weren't actually going all out on me like I asked?"

"Probably because I wasn't," Dark answered before narrowing his eyes. "But then again, I could say the same about you."

"And how do you figure that?"

"In your memories you showed me, you had more than enough power to crush those kirins in your barriers, yet you didn't to that to me."

"Because I didn't want to accidentally kill you. And what about you? What's your excuse?"

Dark smirked. "Well, you see, Shining, I have two sacs."

Shining recoiled in disgust while Twilight and Celestia stifled an unladylike snort. "Dude, I didn't need to know that!"

"It's not what you think," Dark snickered. "What I really meant was that I have two sacs in my chest for breaths."

"You mean like a fire sac?" Shining guessed.

"That's one of them. The other one is a shadow sac."

"What does that do? Allow you to breath shadows?"

Dark grimaced. "A shadow that instantly kills any living thing that touches it and reduces it to bare bones."

With shock and worry, Shining looked at Twilight. "And you're still with him?!"

"Why shouldn't I?" Twilight questioned.

"Because you're kissing the same mouth that can instantly kill you!"

"Shining, that's how it's been since we shared our first kiss, and don't forget that he also breaths fire from that mouth too. Plus, Dark's been getting some training with that breath from Nocturne, so he has better control over it."

"I still don't like it," Shining said grumpily.

Giving Dark a quick peck, Twilight rolled out of bed and stretched her still limbs. "It can't be helped. It's just the way it is."

She was about to add more when the sound of her stomach rumbling called everyone to her attention.

"Perhaps we should get something to eat?" Celestia suggested, getting an embarrassed nod from Twilight.

"We're coming too," Shining said, about to get up out of bed only to be pushed back into it by Celestia's magic.

"I'm sorry, Shining Armor, but you are on bedrest by Doctor Cura's orders."

"Heh. Sucks to be you," Dark said as he was pulling his covers back and began to sit up, only for him to be pushed back into his bed by Twilight.

"That goes for you too, Dark," she told him.

"What?! But why? I'm just fine."

"Cura told me last night that you and Shiny will both be put on bedrest while your bodies recuperate from the transfusion."

"Awww, come on," he whined.

"Don't worry. You two will be given something to eat soon." Twilight walked up alongside Celestia and the two made their way to the doors. Before they got there, though, Twilight paused and looked back at Dark. "And don't think that you're off the hook yet, Dark. We're going to have a small talk when I get back."

"Somepony's in trouble~" Shining said in a singsong voice, causing Dark to grumble at him.

Ignoring them, Twilight and Celestia continued towards the doors, but before they got there, the doors suddenly flew open.

"Shining Armor! What in Aunty Celestia's name did you do this time?!" Cadence nearly shouted in worry and anger.

Turning away from the upset mare at the doors, Dark looked at Shining with a smug grin on his face.

"Somepony's in trouble~"

Author's Note

Sorry it took so long to get this one out. After the last few chapters before this, I needed a little break to recharge myself.

~~Also, for the past few weeks, I've thinking about doing something drastic in a future chapter that I doubt many of you will like. However, whether I go through with it or not will be up to you guys, so leave a comment and let me know your opinions.~~

Chapter 60- Punishment and Party

Giving a nervous gulp, Shining watched as Twilight and Celestia parted ways for Cadence to walk through before they quickly and quietly made their way out of the room.

"I was tucking Skyla back in her crib for the night after she woke up, when suddenly I recieved a message from Doctor Cura that you and Dark were both admitted to the castle's medical wing," Cadence said with narrowed eyes. "Care to explain why?"

Shining's eyes darted around nervously. "Uhh... wh-where is she?"

"Pinkie is foalsitting her for the moment. Now, what happened?"

"I-It's nothing, sweetie. Nothing that you need to worry yourself about."

"If it involves you being put into the castle's medical wing, then it is something I need to worry about! And why are you even in here with Dark to begin with? When you left, you said that you were called to Canterlot on important business."

"Well, it is important, or it was, at least," he said. "You don't need to worry about it, though, because I won't be doing it anymore."

"You're darn right you won't!" she barked. "And you still haven't told me how you two got beaten up to the point that you both had to stay the night here."

"Because he was the Coliseum Champion and I fought him," Dark blurted out, gaining Cadence's attention while Shining glared at him.

"Thank you, Dark," Shining grumbled.

"You're welcome," Dark smiled with faux innocence, knowing very well what he just did.

Slowly, Cadence turned back to Shining. "Is this true, Shining?"

"... yes?"

"And you never told me why?"

"Uhh..." Shining gulped before looking over to see Dark smirking. "Can we talk about this in private?"

"You're not allowed to move from bed."

"I know, I was just thinking about putting up a soundproof barrier around us and-"

"No can do, Prince Shining Armor."

Looking over to the door, Shining, Cadence, and Dark saw Cura walking in.

"Good morning, Cura," Cadence greeted.

"You too, Princess Cadence," Cura returned with a small bow. "Now, like I was saying, neither you, Prince Shining Armor, nor Dark, are allowed to use magic of any kind until you're cleared."

"So I'm confined to bed and can't use my magic?!" Shining asked in alarm.

"Pretty much," she shrugged.

With a groan, Shining flopped back into his bed. "This sucks."

"Maybe, but you're ignoring my question, Shining," Cadence reminded. "Why didn't you tell me that you are the Coliseum Champion?"

"Was," Shining corrected.

"Was? What do you mean by that?"

"He means that Dark kicked his plot and is the new Coliseum Champion," Cura answered bluntly.

"Really?"

"Apparently," Dark answered her. "From what Shining told me, it was super close."

"How close?"

"Close enough that we were both knocked out and I collapsed first," Shining grumbled, crossing his forelegs with a small pout.

"How were you able to do this without me or anypony else noticing?"

He sighed. "Because I've been going under the stage name Ultimate Defender, and the guys at the Coliseum would contact me through a gem that we would use to send messages between each other."

"And why haven't you told me about this before?"

"... honestly? I don't have an answer for that."

Cadence closed her eyes and steadied her breathing as she rolled the answers through her mind.

At least he's being honest about it, she thought before opening her eyes again and looked directly at Shining. "Couch. One week."

"What?! Why?!" he complained.

"Because you've kept this from me for over three years, Shining," Cadence firmly answered him. "To be honest, I should make it more, but I think the loss of your title as Coliseum Champion is good enough. That is, unless I'm given reason to think otherwise."

"Yeaaahhhhh, about that," Cura said, hoisting up Dark and Shining's armor in her magic "What exactly did you two do to each other? Prince Shining Armor's armor is all dented up and has several gaping holes in it, while Dark's chainmail jacket has a massive hole going through the midsection of it."

"Dark?" Cadence addressed, turning to face him. "Can you tell the doctor and I what you did to my husband?"

"... uhh..."

"I'm not mad at you, I'm just curious is all."

"S-Sure," Dark stuttered, still nervous about redirecting Cadence's ire towards himself. "Umm... well, I actually got the idea from Spike."

Cadence raised a confused eyebrow. "Really? From Spike? How so?"

"I saw him playing a game on his Neighstation called Empire Hearts II."

"Oh, I know that game," Cadence said with a nod and smile. "I've seen Aunty Luna play it a few times. So, which of the Organization members did you get your idea from?"

"... how'd you know I got it from one of them and not some other boss?"

"Just a feeling. So?"

Dark gave her a flat look and gave her one name.

"Sanmex."

Cadence's eyes shot wide-open, now having an idea of what Dark did, but wanted to confirm it first.

"And... which move of his did you inspire from?"

"The last one where he had the hero and his friend trapped in a dark void surrounded by lasers."

"Really?" Cura spoke, looking over Shining's armor. "Well, that explains why the ends of these puncture holes appear to be singed and are dented inward like that."

"I couldn't make the lasers, though, so I had to substitute them with fire spears."

Cadence turned back to Shining. "And you made it through that?"

"Not really," Shining answered half-heartedly. "I tried to deflect as many as I could with some magical swords while maintaining the magical shell I had around myself, but there were too many coming in too fast. I didn't even see the spell end when I lost consciousness."

Nodding in understanding, Cadence glanced over at Dark's chainmail-lined jacket. "And what happened to you, Dark? I can see some blood on the black fabric and chainmail, and I can practically stick my head through the hole in here."

Dark was about to answer her, but his eyes caught the sight of Shining silently asking him not to. Feeling like he'd gotten him into enough trouble, Dark mentally sighed and subtly nodded to Shining.

"It was because-"

"That mean stallion threw a bunch of spears at Dark from behind and impaled him to the ground! And then he did it to him again!"

Turning their heads in surprise by the new voice, Cura, Shining, Cadence, and Dark looked towards the door to see Soul running in. When he got close enough to Dark's bed, he fluttered up on top of it and clung to Dark's chest while giving Shining a nasty glare.

"Umm... hello there," Cadence slowly greeted, blinking a few times in confusion. "Who are you?"

A second later, Twilight came running into the room. "Sorry about that. He came running over when I told him that Dark was awake."

"That's alright, Twilight, but who is he?"

"Oh, right. Cadence, Shiny, this is Soul, our... well... Dark? Would you mind telling them for me?"

"Sure," he shrugged, chuckling to himself as he was reminded of this with her parents. "Well, to be blunt about it, Soul is our adopted son."

Both Cadence's and Shining's eyes shot open and their jaws dropped while Cura dropped a tray of medical equipment onto the floor, her face mimicking their reaction at the news.

"Yeah, that's pretty much it," Twilight confirmed with a nervous chuckle.

Taking a few minutes for her mind to reboot, Cadence shook her head and looked between the three.

"So... does that mean that... you're a..."

Twilight nodded, knowing what she was trying to ask. "It's not quite how I expected it, but yes. I'm his adopted mother and Dark's his adopted father."

"And what caused you two to make such a decision?" Cadence wondered, getting a sad sigh from Twilight.

"That's a bit of a sensitive subject," she answered. "One second."

Twilight casted a soundproof barrier around Soul as she and Dark began telling Shining, Cadence, and Cura about the circumstances leading up to them adopting Soul. As they continued their story, Cura pulled up a chair for her and Cadence to sit in while Twilight sat on the empty space on Dark's bed. During the course of their storytelling, Shining and Cadence both gave looks of worry, relief, and a hint of resentment when they were told about how Soul had been living, how Dark found him and took him in, and about what Soul was. However, when Twilight explained to them the circumstances of how Soul had become an orphan, Cadence's expression turned to regret while Shining's softened slightly.

"So it's our fault then that this happened to him," Cadence said, glancing over to see that Soul had fallen asleep out of boredom.

"Sounds like it," Cura commented. "I'm still surprised that you decided to take him in regardless, Princess Twilight."

"He's a half-changeling foal who has no connections to what Queen Chrysalis and her army did," Twilight defended. "I can't hold anything that they did against him. It wouldn't be reasonable or fair to him if I did. Also, Soul doesn't know about whom the wedding involved, and I would like to keep it that way. At least, until he's older and is more mature to handle it."

"And what about his behavior?" Cadence wondered.

"He can be a bit of a prankster when he wants to be, but other than that, he's a good kid," Dark answered.

"And he's smart too," Twilight added. "He's got some of the better grades in his class, and they've been getting better ever since we've taken him in."

Cadence looked over Soul with a hint of caution. "Does he feed off of the love from you two?"

"He says that while he can sense our emotions, he doesn't feed off of them. Ever since we adopted him, he's told us that he hasn't needed to because of food he's eating now."

"I see. Shining? What are your thoughts?"

Shining sighed and rubbed his forehead. "As much as I want to be mad and disgusted with him, I can't. I don't know if accepting Dark as a kirin has simmered my mind about the changelings, but either way, Soul is Twilight's kid now, and we'll have to accept that."

"I'm surprised of you, Shining," Cadence said. "I thought that you would be more against this."

"Well, I've hated kirins much longer than I've resented changelings, and I've gotten over Dark, so why shouldn't I give Soul a chance?" he shrugged. "But, I'm not quite ready for him to start calling me his Uncle or anything just yet."

"That's alright," Twilight said, moving over to the side of Shining's bed to give him a hug.

"Thank you, Twily."

"You too, Shiny," she returned before letting him go to return to Dark's side and remove the soundproof barrier around Soul.

"So," Cadence began, "speaking of Soul, why is he here on a Monday? Isn't he and those three fillies suppose to be in school today?"

"Their teacher, Cheerilee, had a teacher's conference to attend to today, so school was called off for today."

"Ah." Hearing her stomach rumble, Cadence giggled, got up from her chair, and made her way to the door where she suddenly stopped. "You want to come with me to go get something to eat, Twilight?"

"Thanks, but I need to have a quick word with Dark," she replied, earning a uneasy look from him.

"Okay. And as for you, Shining, don't you think that I've forgotten what Soul told me. For pulling that little stunt on Dark again last night, you won't be getting any sex for a month!"

Leaving the room, Cadence didn't see the flustered looks on Dark's and Twilight's faces, nor did she hear the audible whimpers coming from Shining as a tear rolled down his face.

An hour later, Twilight left Dark and Shining to find Cadence with Soul walking alongside her. While she wanted to talk to Dark, it was less about the trouble he was in since he'd already gotten most of that after he woke up, and more about the 'Victory' party Pinkie was planning for him, which also doubled as his and Shining's 'Get Well' party, making it a 'Get Well Victory' party.

"That's nice of her," Shining said once Twilight and Soul left them.

"That's Pinkie for you," Dark smiled. "She doesn't like to see ponies upset or sad, so a party's usually the answer for her."

"Sounds like she won't be able to throw it until we're both cleared, though."

"I know." Dark groaned and flopped back into his bed. "This is so boring! We both feel just fine, so why can't we just be discharged already?!"

"Because I said so," Cura said as she walked into the room.

"Okay, besides that."

"Because Princess Celestia agrees with me."

"... fine."

"Do you think we can get something to eat soon?" Shining asked. "I don't know about Dark, but I'm starting to get hungry."

"Dude, I haven't eaten since before our fight last night! Of course I'm hungry!"

"And how hungry would you say you are?" he asked before noticing the mischievous smirk on Dark's face. "Do not say what I think you're going to say!"

"What was I going to say?" Dark playfully asked.

"It was going to be about Princess Twilight, wasn't it?" Cura guessed, her eyes remaining on their medical charts.

"... well that took all of the fun out of it."

"With how easy it was to see where you were going with it, how couldn't I? Oh, before I forget, could I perhaps get a tissue sample from you, Dark?"

"Why?"

"Because you're a kirin, and a unique one at that. All I want is to run some tests and find out what secrets that your cells might hold."

A few seconds later, Dark shrugged. "Meh, why not."

"Thank you!" Cura thanked with an excited bounce. "Let me go get a scalpel and I'll-"

Before she could finish, Dark brought his arm up and bit a chunk of his skin off. As the wound began to heal, he held the chunk of skin in his magic for her.

"Here you go."

Hesitantly, Cura took the sample and sat it on a tray. "That was... not quite what I had in mind of acquiring it."

"Well a scalpel would take too long, and if it even did work, the blade would've been dulled by the time you finished."

"Is it really that tough?" she asked, taking the sample and moving it into a container she found.

"Just about," Shining answered. "His draconic limbs are extremely tough, which is why I tried to aim for his pony parts most of the time."

"Makes sense. Oh, and don't you two worry about your food. Some nurses should be by shortly with them for you."

"Thanks," Dark sighed. "I'm so hungry I could eat-"

"Don't say it!" Shining interrupted, getting a glare from Dark.

"A cow."

"... oh. Wait, you eat meat? When did this happen?"

"When I was sent to that other world last fall, I was accidentally introduced to meat. And let me tell you, Shining, it's sooooo goooooood."

"I bet," he said, seeing Dark starting to drool at the thought of bacon again.

"Well, if you two will excuse me," Cura spoke, "I need to get these to the lab and run some tests on them before the nurses get here with your food."

"It's not going to be like that crappy hospital food, is it?" Dark grimaced, remembering the food from his stay at Ponyville's hospital.

"Not here in the castle," Shining answered him. "They look after us pretty well, which also includes good food."

Nodding to confirm it, Cura left them with her sample in tow. A few minutes later after she left, Dark and Shining heard two sets of hoofsteps echoing down the hallway accompanied by the squeaking of small wheels.

"Finally," Dark sighed, smelling the food.

"Yeah," Shining agreed, smelling the food too.

"What do you think it is?"

"Not sure, but... wait... this smells familiar, and I'm not talking about the food either-"

"Oh my, what do we have here, Nurse Twilight?"

Snapping their attention towards the door, both Dark and Shining froze with dropped-jaws and wide-eyes at a sight that made the blood rush to both of the guys' heads. There in the doorway, Twilight and Cadence were both standing there wearing a white nurse's outfit, complete with makeup.

Twilight gave a coy smile and hummed. "Hmm, well, Nurse Cadence, it looks like we have a pair of bedridden stallions who need our immediate attention."

"Shining?" Dark whispered, leaning over to him. "Are we dreaming?"

Shining slowly blinked. "If we are, then I don't want to wake up."

"Well then, Nurse Twilight," Cadence spoke, silencing them, "we better get started with helping to cure them."

As the two princesses sashayed their way over to Dark and Shining, they both pulled a food trolley behind them with a pair of plates with food lids on them, and sealed the doors behind them. When they got over to the beds, Cadence went over to Shining while Twilight went over to Dark, both maintaining their coy smiles.

"So," Cadence purred, her hoof slowly caressing Shining's cheek and trailing down his neck to his chest, "how's my patient today?"

"Uhhhhh."

"Oh dear, you seem to have a problem with speaking today. Well now, maybe I can do something to loosen that tongue of yours?"

His brain starting to freeze on him, Shining watched as Cadence leaned towards him with a half-lidded gaze. Closing his eyes, Shining waited for what he was expecting to come his way. After what felt like forever of nothing happening, Shining was finally met not with the soft lips of his wife, but a spoonful of soup.

"Awww, was that not what you were expecting?" Cadence teased, earning a small whimper from Shining. "Sorry, but I'm not allowed to do that to my patients."

While those two were busy over there, Twilight was having her own fun teasing Dark. Straddling his lap, Twilight slid her forelegs around the back of Dark's neck and leaned in close enough that their muzzles were nearly touching each other.

"And how's my patient doing?" she asked Dark seductively.

Dark tried to say something, but his words failed him as he was too stunned seeing Twilight in a nurse's outfit, save for one.

"Uhhhhh."

"Well that won't do at all," Twilight said with a playful frown. "Guess I'll have to do something to fix that." She levitated a strawberry up from Dark's plate of food and dangled it in front of him. "Is this what you want?"

Dark slowly nodded and opened his mouth... only to see Twilight slowly eating it instead.

"Mmmm. That was gooood. Nice and juicy. I think I'll have another one."

Whimpering slightly, Dark raised a claw up to grab a piece of food off of the plate... only to feel that sometime while he was distracted, Twilight had bound his claws to the bed rails with magical restraints. Glancing down to his restraints, Dark gave another tug before his attention was turned back to Twilight as she gulped down another strawberry and sighed contently.

"Ahh, you have no idea how good that was," she cooed.

"I would like to," Dark meekly said, causing Twilight to give him a half-lidded smirk.

Reaching down, Twilight picked up another strawberry, but this time with her mouth. Holding half of it in her mouth, Twilight leaned over to Dark so that he could take it from her with his mouth. When he did reach for it, though, Twilight quickly sucked in into her mouth before Dark could get it and slowly chewed it. While Twilight closed her eyes and enjoyed the strawberry, she was unable to see the corners of Dark's lips tremble.

This sucks.

Almost a half-hour later, Twilight and Cadence left the room with the empty food trolleys behind them and closed the doors. Letting out a sigh, Cadence began to giggle before being joined in by Twilight. Soon enough, the two were laughing while Celestia walked up to them with a smirk.

"I take it that my advice worked?" she knowingly guessed.

"Like a charm, Aunty Celestia," Cadence answered.

"Yeah," Twilight agreed. "I don't think that those two will be pulling what they did last night again anytime soon."

"By the way, Twilight, that was clever how you put a spell on the food lids to make them smell good like that."

"I do feel a little bad for teasing Dark like that, though."

"Ah, but that's the whole point, Twilight," Celestia spoke. "You're suppose to tease them like that."

"She's right," Cadence agreed with a smirk, "so don't worry about it, you did fine."

Giving a small smile, Twilight and Cadence followed Celestia down the hallway to change out of their borrowed clothing. As they continued down the deserted halls, a thought came to Celestia's mind.

"You know, Twilight," she began, catching her attention, "I might have a book that you'll probably find rather... enlightening for you."

Twilight's ears perked up in interest. "What kind of book is it?"

"One that I doubt that you've ever read or have even heard of before."

Hearing the news of a new book she's never read, Twilight eyes began to sparkle while bearing a Pinkie Pie-sized smile.

"A book I haven't read?! What is it?! What's it about?!"

Celestia smirked. "Cadence actually has a copy of one. Tell me, Twilight, have you ever heard of the Pony Sutra?"

"No, I haven't," she answered before turning towards Cadence. "Hey, Cadence, what's this book about?"

Cadence's face instantly turned red before she looked away from Twilight to hide her embarrassment.

"I-It's... w-well, Twilight... you'll just have to wait and find out."

Meanwhile, back inside the room, Shining and Dark were laying silently in their individual beds staring up at the ceiling.

"Shining?" Dark spoke in a monotone voice.

"Yeah?" he groaned.

"Please tell me that that was just a bad dream."

"I wish it were, Dark." Shining sighed before looking over to Dark and seeing a haziness in his eyes. "I'm probably going to regret asking this, but was that the first time Twilight did that to you?"

"Mhmm."

... wow. Alright, thank Celestia I was wrong about that one. "In that case, since that was your first time, what did you think about it?"

Dark slowly turned his head towards Shining and gave him a blank stare.

"I was thinking to myself 'This could be Heaven or this could be Hell'."

"... yeah, that sounds about right."

Later that day, Twilight and Cadence returned to visit Dark and Shining. While the two stallions weren't all that happy about what they pulled on them, after they were told that that was their punishment for nearly killing themselves and each other, they then felt guilty again. And while Twilight did feel somewhat guilty about putting Dark through that, the new book that Celestia gave her quickly diminished that as it filled her with new ideas that she was eager to try out once she and Dark got back home.

A few hours later, Night and Velvet also came over to check up on them. Despite Velvet knowing that they would be fine, her motherly instincts wouldn't allow for her to properly relax until she saw that they were both safe in person.

"How are my boys doing? Does it hurt anywhere?" Velvet asked, setting herself down in one of the chairs.

"Thanks, mom, but I'm fine," Shining answered. Sitting up in his bed, Shining watched as Cadence sat Skyla onto his lap and took a seat next to him on the bed.

"And you, Dark? How are you doing?"

His attention turned away from him and Twilight cuddling with Soul having plopped himself between them, Dark looked up over to Velvet.

"I'm doing alright," he answered.

"I know it can get boring in here-"

That's an understatement, Dark thought.

"-but at least you both have a beautiful mare here to help look after you. I'm sure that with them around, things haven't been quite as boring for you two."

Dark and Shining shared a knowing look.

"Yeeaaahhhh," Dark slowly spoke. "I suppose you could say that. I'll admit that they've made things... umm..."

"Interesting?" Shining inquired.

"Yes, interesting."

"Well that's good to hear," Velvet said satisfied, oblivious as to what had happened earlier that day.

Night walked up and took a spare chair between the two beds.

"So, did the doctor give you an exact time of when you two will be released?" he asked.

"They shall be released tomorrow evening."

Turning their attention towards the door, they watched as Luna walked in to join them.

"Please excuse me for the interruption," she apologized. "I just wanted to check in on these two and see how they're doing."

"We're doing better, Princess," Dark replied with a bow.

"So I see," she said, hiding her smirk as she saw Dark and Shining with their individual families. "I also came here to inform you, Twilight, that the train to Ponyville will be leaving in an hour."

"Do we have to go, Twilight?" Soul asked, using his puppy dog eyes.

"Yes, Soul," she told him. "You have school tomorrow, so we need to get you back home."

"Aww. But what about the party tomorrow?"

"You and the others will be coming back for it, then we'll all go home after that."

Night raised an eyebrow at Twilight's wording. "You make it sound like you're not going back with them tonight."

"That's because I'm not."

"But what about me?" Soul asked, earning him a nuzzle from Twilight.

"Spike will be there to look after you for tonight and tomorrow morning," she told him.

"But what if somepony breaks into the castle tonight while you and Dark are away?"

"Don't worry, bud," Dark said, gently ruffling Soul's mane with a claw, "the castle's protected by hundreds of my guards. Nopony will be able to set so much as a hoof in there without getting caught."

"Really? Then why haven't I ever seen any of them?"

"Because they hide in the shadows where nopony can see them and lulls them into a false sense of security. That way they'll think that they're all alone and sneaky, but in reality, they're completely surrounded."

"Wow. Cool."

"Yep. Now, run along and get your stuff packed. We'll see you tomorrow. Oh, and make sure to behave for Spike. He's in charge."

"Okay."

Sharing a hug with him, Dark and Twilight watched Soul jump off of the bed and run out towards his guest room.

"You know, Twilight," Dark began, "you don't need to stay here if you don't want to."

"Are you trying to get rid of me?" she playfully asked.

"Nope. Just saying that you don't have to feel like you need to stay here because of me."

"Good, because I want to."

"But aren't you going to see them off at the train station with us, dear?" Velvet wondered as she and Night got up.

"Yes, I will."

"Then we better get going," Night said.

Sharing a quick kiss with Dark, Twilight got up off of his bed and followed her parents out of the room.

Once they were gone and had closed the doors behind them, Dark looked over to see Cadence smirking at him.

"Sooooo, Daaaaark" Cadence slowly began, "now that Twilight and our parents are gone, Aunty Celestia told me about the little talk you two and Shining had about Twilight."

Knowing what she was referring to, Dark darted his eyes away from them, but failed to hide his blush.

"How much did she tell you?" Dark slowly asked.

"Just about everything. Soooo, when can I start expecting to hear wedding bells?"

The next day came and drawled on far too slowly for Dark and Shining. As the two laid bored out of their minds in their beds without Twilight or Cadence there to keep them company, they waited for Cura or one of the other doctors to discharge them. Once noon passed, Twilight and Cadence did come to visit them, but it was only for a brief moment. Even Night and Velvet came over to visit briefly before having to leave.

Now alone together again, Dark and Shining took this time to get to know one another better with a series of questions. Of course, they agreed to avoid any of the more personal questions. It did help them in relieving the boredom that they were in for a while, but after a few hours of asking questions and answering them, the two started to get bored again. Thankfully for them, it was short to last as Cura walked in looking at a pair of clipboards in her magical hold in front of her.

"Okay, I got good news and bad news," she told them. "So, what do you guys want first?"

Dark and Shining looked to each other before nodding in silent agreement.

"Bad news," Shining said.

"Yeah," Dark agreed. "Let's get it out of the way first."

"Okay," Cura shrugged. "In that case, the bad news is that according to this, you two aren't allowed to use any magic until tomorrow morning."

Shining groaned in annoyance. "Then what's the good news?"

"While you're not allowed to use magic yet, you two are cleared to leave."

"Finally!" Dark shouted in joy.

Throwing their blankets off, Dark and Shining rolled out of their beds and began to stretch their stiff limbs, earning a satisfying pop from each of them.

With his body loosened up, Dark sighed in relief before a thought came to mind.

"Umm, Cura?"

"Yes?"

"You said that we couldn't use our magic, right?"

"Yes, I did and I mean it."

"Is that just unicorn magic, or my Scaleless Dragon magic too?"

"In your case, Dark, both." Cura bopped Dark on the head when he began to grimace. "Now don't give me that face. While your magic is still unique and unknown to me, I'd prefer that you play it safe and not use any of your magic instead of having Princess Twilight mad at me."

"Fine," he grumbled.

"It's only for one night. I don't see why you'd be so upset about it."

"Because I have a special pocket of shadows that's holding the majority of my bits, and I was hoping to get something done in Canterlot today before the stores closed and we leave for Ponyville."

"I'm sorry, but you'll just have to wait for another day."

"Dark," Shining spoke, gaining his attention, "are you going to do what I think you're going to do?"

"Depends. Are we thinking the same thing?"

"About what you told me and Princess Celestia yesterday after you woke up?"

"Eeyup."

"In that case, who are you going to see?"

"Gem Cutter again. She did a wonderful job with Twilight's necklace, so I was hoping she could do this too."

"In that case, you better hurry up. I'm sure that she'll understand if you talk to her about it."

"Okay. Thanks, Shining," Dark thanked before giving him and Cura a wave. "If you two will excuse me, I need to get going. See you two at the party."

And with that, Dark ran down the halls through the castle. Once he'd made it through the front gates, he took to the skies, remembering exactly where Gem Cutter's store was and made a beeline for it. Minutes later, he landed in front of the store and opened the door, sounding the bell hanging above it.

"Hello?" Dark called out, not seeing anypony there.

"Just a moment," a voice answered him. A few seconds later, Gem Cutter came out from the back and smiled as she recognized her customer. "Mr. Dark! It's good to see you again. How are you feeling? I heard about that fight you had with Prince Shining Armor in the Coliseum."

"Please, Miss Gem Cutter," Dark began, raising a claw, "after that necklace you made, you can just call me Dark."

Gem Cutter chuckled. "Well then, if I can call you Dark, then you can drop the Miss for me."

"Alright," he chuckled.

"And as for you question, all of Canterlot has been talking about it."

"Really?"

"Uh-huh. Everypony has been talking about it since it happened. I'm surprised that you didn't know about this."

"Me and Shining were both stuck in the castle's medical wing, so we didn't know. We were actually discharged from it not too long ago."

"So you're both okay now?"

"Yep."

"Thank Celestia," Gem Cutter sighed in relief. "So, I take it that you're here for something?"

"I am," he nodded before nervously rubbing the back of his head. "But... can you do me a favor?"

"That depends," she answered, raising a curious eyebrow. "What is it?"

"I'll need for you to keep this order of mine a secret."

"Okay, but if you're wanting it to be a secret, then why are you telling me?"

"Well you're the one who's going to be making it, so why should I tell you?"

"... fair point. So? What is it about this order that's so secretive?"

Dark looked around the room the see if anypony else was there. Seeing that they were alone, Dark shuffled a claw around.

"Ring."

Gem Cutter blinked. "Sorry?"

"I need a ring."

"A ring? Why would you... wait... no! Are you...?!" Getting a meek nod from Dark, Gem Cutter squeed as she rushed up to him and gave him a congratulatory hug. "I can't believe this! Another Royal Wedding! And I get to work on the ring!"

"Not so loud!" Dark hissed, looking around to see if anypony walking outside of the establishment had heard her outburst.

"Oops, sorry," she apologized, setting him back down. "Wow. Now I understand why you're wanting it to be so secretive. Does anypony else know?"

"Princess Celestia, Cadence, and Shining."

"And when's the wedding?"

"That's the thing here. You see, I'm not quite ready to ask her yet. I just want it on claw for when the time does come up."

"Ahhh, I see. Still, though, I can't wait for it to happen."

"I'll be sure that you get an invitation."

"Good. Now then, do you have materials that you're going to provide like your last order?"

"Not this time. While I may be discharged, Doctor Cura told me that I'm not allowed to use any of my magic, including my magic that has my materials and bits stored in it."

"So my materials then?"

"Yeah. Also, you don't mind if I pay you when it's finished, do you?"

"It's no problem for me. It worked well last time, so I can trust you to come through again."

"Thank you," Dark sighed in relief and thanks.

"You're welcome," Gem Cutter replied with a smile. "Now then, anything special you want with it like with that necklace?"

"Actually, considering that I've never done this before, I was hoping that maybe I could let you make that call? After all, nopony knows what a mare wants in a ring besides another mare."

"Oh, I'm sure I can think of something that she'll love."

"Thank you again. When you're finished, could you send me a letter so I can come pay and pick it up?"

"No problem. Same place as last time, right?"

"Yep."

With his thanks and a wave, Dark left the store and made his way back to the castle. Once he got there, one of the guards at the front gate told him that he was expected in the throne room. Thanking the guard, Dark walked down the halls towards the room. When he got there and opened the doors, he was met with a blast of confetti to the face.

"SURPRISE!"

Brushing the confetti off of his face, Dark looked around to see that the entire throne room had been decked out with tables with an assortment of foods and non-alcoholic drinks, streamers hanging from the ceiling with balloons near the top, an assortment of games setting off to the side, and an empty DJ turntable set back near the throne. But the biggest thing he saw were those that attended. Along with Twilight and her friends and family were the Crusaders, Celestia and Luna, Cura, Anvil, First Strike with a sack behind him, and..

Dark blinked in surprise at the last guest. "Snow Flower?"

Twirling her opened umbrella, Snow Flower stepped forward in a kimono identical to the one that she wore when they fought.

"Hello, Champion Dark," she greeted.

"Uhh... hello. I didn't expect to see you here."

"To be honest, neither did I," she said with a shrug. "I came by to check on you and Prince Shining Armor when this Miss Pinkie Pie suddenly dragged me over here. When she told me about what's going on, I decided to go along with it. That is, if you're alright with it."

"Sure. I don't see anything wrong with it."

"That's great!" Pinkie said. " Oh, and you can just call me Pinkie, Setsuka."

"Very well," Snow Flower replied, not bothered by the name that Pinkie had called her.

"Good. Well then, let the party begin!" Pinkie exclaimed before turning towards the DJ table. "Yo, Vinyl! Spin that shizzle!"

Popping up from behind the turntables, Vinyl gave Pinkie a quick salute before working her music magic to turn the throne room into a party room. With the music and lights, everyone broke off to either dance, eat, drink, or talk with each other. While most of the party-goers were having fun dancing, Dark was off to the side with First Strike and Snow Flower.

"I know it's a little late, but congratulations on winning, Dark," First Strike said, shaking Dark's claw.

"Thanks," Dark thanked with a hint of half-heartedness.

Snow Flower, noticing Dark's tone, arched an eyebrow. "Something the matter? If I were you, I'd be happy about becoming the new champion."

"I am, Snow Flower, but it's how I won that's kinda bothering me."

"Ahhh, I see now," First Strike nodded in understanding. "Don't feel like you've earned it, right?"

"Yeah."

"Well either way, in the end, you won. So don't let it bother you too much, Dark."

"Yeah," Snow Flower agreed before giving him a look. "And besides, if anypony should be upset, it should be me and the other gladiators."

Dark and First Strike looked confusingly at her. "Why?"

"Oh, don't pretend like you don't know, Dark. With what you pulled against Prince Shining Armor with that dragon transformation, you could've easily had beaten all fifty of us within a matter of minutes, if not sooner."

"I know, but where would be the fun in that?" Dark questioned. "And besides, Twilight didn't want for me to use that kind of magic until Shining ate that Rage Pellet."

With a huff, Snow Flower turned her attention to First Strike. "So then, I take it that since Prince Shining Armor was defeated and is no longer champion, that means that he'll be the fiftieth gladiator and I'll be bumped down to ninety-ninth."

"Not quite," First Strike said. "Shining Armor informed me that he won't be returning as one of the fifty, so the spot is still yours."

"Thank you. Oh, and Dark?"

"Yeah?"

Before Dark could react, Snow Flower swiftly unsheathed the hidden sword in her umbrella and sliced Dark's ear.

"Ouch! What was that for?!"

"That was for giving me those third degree burns from that fire breath of yours at the end of our fight," she told him, cleaning her blade before sheathing it. "And don't complain either. You've appeared to have already regenerated your ear."

"Yeah, but it still hurt."

Snow Flower gave him a half-lidded glare. "Third. Degree. Burns. Even after all of the healing that's been done to me, I'm still a bit sore."

"In more ways then one apparently," Dark muttered under his breath.

Sensing the tension increasing, First Strike cleared his throat to gain their attention.

"I suppose I should also give you this," he said, pulling a large bag from behind him. "Here. This is the prize money for winning."

"Sweet," Dark smiled before taking the bag and opening it to look inside. "Wow. That's a lot of bits. I should have plenty for what I need, get some more materials for my forge, and still have a good chunk to store away."

"Speaking of yer forge, lad, how's it been?" Anvil asked as he joined them.

"Doing pretty well. The guards are keeping me plenty busy, along with the orders from the other townsponies."

"That's good to hear, but I'm here for another reason." Anvil rubbed his forehooves together eagerly. "So, what kinda gear are ye wanting me to forge for ye? Got anything in mind?"

"I do, but the schematics are back in my saddlebag. Give me a moment and I'll go get it for you."

"Ye don't have to do that already."

"But we leave for Ponyville after the party is over, so I probably should get it to you now."

Leaving before they could add anything further, Dark went over to Twilight and asked her where they put his saddle bag at. After a quick explanation on why he would need it, Twilight decided to save him the trouble of leaving the party to look for it by teleporting his saddle bag over to him. Once he fished the scroll out, Dark kissed Twilight in thanks before she returned it to their room and Dark returned to Anvil.

"Okay, here you are," he said, giving Anvil the scroll.

Unraveling it, Anvil looked over it in interest. While he was intrigued by the design of the armor, he was also unsure.

"Are ye sure this is what ye want, lad?" he questioned.

"Yep," Dark answered.

Anvil looked back at it again. "Are ye sure that ye can even handle the weight? I mean, if ye were an earth pony or alicorn, then I wouldn't question it much, but yer not."

"Don't worry, Anvil, I'll be fine. I already figured out the weigh of it, and it should be light enough that it won't affect me too much."

"'Light enough'?" First Strike questioned, looking over Anvil's shoulder at the scroll with Snow Flower.

"But you're already tough enough," she said. "Why would you even need this kind armor?"

"It's only my wings, arms, and tail that are tough. Everything else that's pony, while not as vulnerable as a normal pony's hide, is still weaker than my draconic limbs. And besides, I already have some light armor-"

"That ye'll need to have repaired," Anvil reminded.

"-that I'll repair, but I don't have any heavy armor."

With a sigh, Anvil rolled the scroll back up. "Ye'r not gonna budge on this, are ye, lad?"

"Eenope."

"Fine, I'll make ye yer armor, but don't come back to me complaining if it's too heavy for ye, aye?"

"Alright," Dark chuckled, offering a clawshake to Anvil, which he met with a hoof.

"Well, this'll be interesting to see," First Strike commented. "Your greatest weakness to me was your defense, and with this new armor, you'll definitely be tankier than before."

"Yeah, I can't wait to see-"

"AAAAAAAAAAHHHHH!!! HOT!!! TOO HOT!!!"

Wincing from the loud shouting, Vinyl cut the music as she and everyone else in the room turned their heads to see Celestia sweating while panting with her tongue hanging out. Darting her eyes around, she quickly spotted the punch bowl and darted over to it before guzzling the cooling liquid down. Once the punch bowl was empty, Celestia slammed the bowl down on the table like an empty tankard and sighed in relief.

"Much better," she said to herself before scanning the crowd. "Alright, who put sun pepper sauce in my cake?"

"Sun pepper sauce?" Dark whispered in confusion to Anvil. "What's that?"

"It's the hottest pepper in Equestria that's supposedly as hot as the sun," he whispered back.

"But she's the Princess of the Sun. How's a pepper that's suppose to be as hot as the sun able to burn her mouth?"

"Beats me, lad."

As Celestia looked around everyone who was there, she didn't hear Dark and Anvil talking. However, after a third look, her sights locked onto a certain foal who was trying their best to hold back their laughter.

"Soul," Celestial called. "Were you the one who spiked my cake?"

Unable to hold back any more, Soul burst out laughing as he began rolling on the floor along with Pinkie, Spike, and Rainbow.

"S-S-So-Sorry," Soul said, trying to speak through his laughter. "It was just- just too easy to not do it."

Shaking her head, Celestia smacked her lips a few times before going to another punch bowl to fill herself a cup.

Well played, young Soul, she mentally praised with a smirk. Twilight and Dark weren't kidding when they said he can be a bit of a prankster. I'll have to keep an eye out incase he pulls another one on me.

"Um, Princess?" Soul called, gaining her attention. "You're not upset about it, are you?"

Celestia gave him a reassuring smile. "No, I'm not. However, I would like a slice of cake. Preferable one that isn't spiked by hot sauce?"

"Okay."

"Pinkie Promise?"

Soul looked at her confusingly. "I don't know what a Pinkie Promise is, but I promise that I won't give you another spiked cake."

"Thank you."

Giving her quick bow, Soul made his way over to the desert table. Along the way, Luna walked up along side him before giving him a small wink.

"That was quite impressive," Luna commented, giving him a hoofbump. "Not anypony can prank my sister like that."

"I didn't think it was all that hard really," Soul said, "but I promised that I wouldn't do that again."

"So it would seem," she said, levitating a large piece of cake onto a plate and giving it to Soul. "Here, take this to Tia."

"Who?"

"It's the nickname that I'll sometimes call Celestia."

"Oh, okay. Thank you, Princess."

Sliding the plate onto his back, Soul carefully trotted off back to Celestia. Once he was far enough away, though, he was unable to hear or see Luan as she brought a hoof up to cover her mouth to hide her snickering.

Meanwhile, over in another area of the throne room, Dark joined Twilight and her family.

"It really is too bad that you, Dark, and Soul can't stay for longer, Twilight," Velvet said.

"I know, mom," Twilight replied with a hint of regret, "but Soul has school tomorrow, and Dark has to get his forge running again."

"Technically I pick the hours that it's open," Dark reminded her before quickly adding, "but I think I've been away from it long enough."

"That's a good answer," Cadence said before smirking, "because I think that Twilight's got something planned for when you guys get back."

"Oh?"

Twilight blushed and fidgeted with her hooves. "It's just something that Celestia gave me to share with you."

"Oh. Well that was nice of her. What is it?"

Twilight's blush increased and found herself unable to answer.

"You'll just have to wait and find out," Cadence mercifully answered for Twilight. "Don't worry, though. I'm sure that you'll like it just as much as-"

Cadence cut herself off as she heard a vibrating sound coming from her side. Looking down, she saw that it was coming from Twilight, but that wasn't what piqued her confusion.

"Hey, Twilight?"

"Yes, Cadence?"

Cadence pointed to her flank. "Why is your cutie mark glowing and vibrating?"

Snapping her eyes open, Twilight looked back at her flank. "The map is calling me. There must be a friendship problem that needs my help."

"Sweet. It's about time that we got paired up for one of these things," Rainbow said, hovering above their heads.

"Does this mean that you need to leave now?" Night asked.

"I'm sorry, dad, but we can't ignore this," Twilight told him.

"Then you two take care," Celestia said, joining their group. "And don't worry, Rainbow Dash. I'll tell Spitfire that you're gone on a sudden mission so you won't be in any trouble with her."

Rainbow sighed in relief. "Thank you, Princess."

"You're welcome. Now off you two go."

Giving everyone a quick goodbye, Twilight teleported herself and Rainbow back to her castle to check out the map. Once they were gone, Soul walked up with the plateful of cake on his back.

"Where did Twilight go?" he asked.

"Something came up and she and Rainbow had to leave," Dark answered him. "They'll probably be gone for a few days."

"Okay." Looking over to Celestia, Soul smiled and walked up to her. "Here's your cake, Princess."

"Thank you, Soul," she thanked, taking the plate from him.

Holding the cake up to her face, Celestia inspected the cake for any signs of tampering. Once she saw that there didn't appear to be any, she licked her lips and took a bite of the cake. Mulling the taste over, Celestia hummed in content before she was suddenly hit by a wave of burning pain. Recoiling with tears from the burning sensation in her mouth, Celestia dropped the cake and grabbed her head in pain.

"AAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!!! SOUL!!! YOU SAID YOU WOULDN'T-" Celestia silenced herself as she saw a certain somepony laughing out loud.

"Pfhahahaha! Soul was right! That was too easy!" Luna bellowed while holding her side.

"You're going to pay for that, Luna!"

Chapter 61- Flare

It has been four days and five nights since Twilight and Rainbow were called away by the map to solve the friendship problem. Four days that Dark had to spend looking after Spike and Soul, which he found to be a rather lonely job without Twilight around. But what made him feel even lonelier was when he would wake up in the mornings to find the spot next to him cold and empty.

Sighing in disappointment, Dark got out of bed and stretched out his stiff limbs before heading downstairs to get breakfast ready for them. Once he got there and began baking, his mind began to drift to the letter that Twilight had left for them, telling them that they were called to Trottingham. Hearing the pan sizzling, Dark turned his attention back to the food. Fifteen minutes later, he had the table set up and was waiting for Soul, Spike, and Pyre to come down to eat. A few moments later, Spike and Soul walked in, the former freezing in place upon seeing Dark while the latter went straight for his spot at the table.

"Good morning," Dark greeted them from his chair.

"Good morning, Dark," Soul replied before downing his food.

"Uh... hey, Dark," Spike slowly said. "Soooo, how are you feeling?"

Dark sighed. "A little bummed that Twilight isn't here, but other than that, I'm alright."

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah, why?"

Spike took a second to look Dark over again before giving him his answer. "Dude, you're pink."

Dark blinked. "... say what now?"

"Yeah. I mean, look at you. Your mane and coat are all pink like Pinkie's."

Looking down at himself, Dark saw that his coat was indeed pink. With his eyes widening in shock, he pulled his mane out in front of him to see that was a slightly darker shade of pink than his coat.

"Whe- how- what?!" Dark shouted in confusion and embarrassment. "When the hay did this happen?!"

"You mean you didn't see yourself when you woke up?" Spike questioned, taking his spot at the table to eat.

"NO! I was too gloomy waking up without seeing Twilight again to even bother looking over myself!"

"You think Discord did this?"

"Nope," Soul suddenly said, having cleared his plate and downing the last of his milk. "It wasn't him."

"Pyre then?" Dark wondered.

"Nope."

"Well it wasn't me," Spike said. "So that would leave only-"

"Me?" Soul finished with a smug grin.

Dark looked at Soul in surprise. "You did this?"

"Yep," he answered with a smile.

"How?"

"It was easy. I just replaced your soap and shampoo bottles with pink coat and mane dye."

With a grumble, Dark began eating his food. "At least I still have that bottle of dye removal."

Slowly, Soul began to inch his way over to the entry way to the kitchen. "Actually... you don't."

"Hmm?"

"I may have kinda hidden it away somewhere outside of the castle."

Dark froze, his mouth wide-open with a forkful of food hovering right in front of it.

"Soul... what are you saying?"

"... that there's no more dye removal in the castle."

"Doesn't this mean that Dark will have to go outside and get some then?" Spike figured.

"Soul," Dark firmly called, "why did you do that?"

Soul darted his eyes around before booking it out of the kitchen and down the hallway.

"Sorry, Dark, but I have to go to school!" he called back.

Seconds later, Dark and Spike heard the front doors to the castle being slammed shut. Massaging his temples, Dark let out a small groan.

"Is it just me, Spike, or does Soul seem to be a bit bolder after he pranked Princess Celestia?"

"Yeah, I've noticed it too," Spike answered before taking another bite. "So, what's the plan?"

"Well, after this little prank of Soul's, I'll need to make a stop over at Rarity's for some dye removal."

"You're going out in Ponyville looking like that?" Spike questioned, pointing his fork at Dark.

"I'll wear my cloak."

"Why can't you just use that Shadowport spell of yours?"

"There's too much sunlight."

"In that case, you better get going."

"I will after everyone's done eating," Dark said before Spike waved a dismissal claw at him.

"Nah, don't worry about it, I got the dishes covered. Besides, you should go on ahead before everypony's up and about."

"Huh, well thank you, Spike. You're right, it would be unfortunate if somepony saw me like this." Dark chuckled to himself. "Especially if Pyre found out."

"Too late."

Snapping their attention over to their side, Dark and Spike looked just in time to become blinded by a flash of light. A few seconds later of blinking away the blindness, they saw Pyre standing in there with a camera in his claw.

"Hey! That's my camera!" Spike complained.

"Come on, kid," Pyre snorted. "Did you really think that I would just pass a chance like this up after seeing him like this?"

"I... guess not?" he unsurely answered.

"I thought so. Now, what do we have to eat today?"

As Pyre walked up to his chair and sat the camera down on the table, Dark got up and began making his way out.

"I'm going out to see Rarity about this dye," he announced.

"Just don't take too long," Pyre told him. "We've got training in Ghastly Gorge later today, and I'm not going to have us wait for you just because you got pinked."

With an irritated groan, Dark walked down the hallways towards the front doors and reached into his Shadow Storage for his black cloak. Throwing it over himself to hide his pink embarrassment, he left the castle and began his trek towards Rarity's. Along the way, he kept his walks slow so his cloak wouldn't flap out and reveal his coat, while keeping his head down so that nopony could see his face. And while most of the ponies didn't pay him much mind, a few of the guards who were patrolling the town did stop him. But, with a clever excuse and them recognizing his voice, Dark was left alone again. Minutes later, Rarity's Boutique was in sight, and after a quick glance around to make sure that nopony was watching him, Dark made a final dash to her door. Without losing a step, Dark opened the door, ran through it, slammed it shut behind him, and leaned back against it in relief.

"Hello? Who's here?" a voice called out.

"Rarity?" Dark called.

"Dark? Is that you?"

"Yes."

Trotting out from the back, Rarity frowned at him. "Dark, darling, for what reason would you need for slamming my door shut so abruptly and loudly?"

"Sorry, Rarity," he apologized, "I was in a hurry and didn't want anypony to see me."

"Regardless, that isn't any reason for you to behave so roughly with my door," she chastised. "Now, care to tell me what it is that brings you to my Boutique, and why are you wearing that dreadful thing on a beautiful sunny day like this?"

Dark stood back up, making sure that his cloak wasn't revealing anything. "I was hoping that you had some more of that dye removal for sale?"

Rarity blinked. "Dye removal? Why would you need it? I thought that you still had a bottle of it?"

"I did, but somepony thought it would be a good idea to prank me by dying my coat and hiding my dye removal outside the castle."

"Ah. Well then, I think that I can help you out with that. But first, what exactly is the damage?"

"... what?"

"What I mean, darling, is that I would like to get a look at you."

"... no."

Rarity frowned. "Dark, if I'm going to help you, then I'll need to get a look at your coat to see what kind of dye was used so that I can get you the proper dye removal."

"Aren't all dye removals the same?"

"No."

"... you promise not to laugh?"

"Oh, please, Dark," she scoffed, "I'm not one to jump to laughing at somepony's misfortunes like Rainbow Dash or Pinkie Pie might."

Dark quirked an eyebrow at her claim, and though it was hidden beneath his hood, Rarity could practically feel it.

"... okay, most of the time I'm not."

"That's better," he said before letting out a sigh. "Alright."

Lighting his horn, Dark removed his cloak and hung it up on the coat hanger beside the door, revealing his pink coat and mane. As he stood there gauging Rarity's reaction, he waited for what he thought would be the inevitable laughter. However, to his surprise, Rarity managed to keep herself composed.

"Umm... well now... now I see why you would be so embarrassed," Rarity spoke.

"So? Can you help me?" Dark asked.

"Of course. Just, um, give me a moment if you would."

Dark watched as Rarity walked up to him and began looking over his mane and coat as he stood there in the center of her Boutique. After a few moments of listening to her muttering to herself, he watched as she backed away with a nod.

"I believe that I may have something for that," she announced.

"Oh, thank you," Dark sighed in relief. "Nothing against Pinkie, but while pink does look good on her, I don't really care for it on myself."

"You know, they say that only real stallions wear pink."

"Not this one."

"Oh, very well," Rarity sighed. A second later, she lit her horn and teleported a bottle of dye removal to her side. "Here you go."

"Thank you, Rarity. It'll be nice to get rid of this color before somepony else sees-"

"Hello? Rarity, ya there?"

In slow motion, Dark turned his head around to see Applejack open the door and walk in.

"There ya are," she said, "Ah was just checkin' in with ya ta see if we we're still on for our trip ta the... spa... today." Applejack's voice faded as she began to take notice of Dark and his pink problem. "Uhhh... what's goin' on here?"

"Soul replaced my shampoo and soap bottles with pink dye," Dark grumbled, eliciting an amused snort from Applejack.

"Well then, good thin' that Rainbow ain't here ta see this," she said, trying to keep herself from laughing at him. "Speakin' of her, do ya know when she and Twilight will be gettin' back?"

"No," he sighed.

"Is something wrong, Dark?" Rarity asked concerningly. "You look a bit downhearted."

Dark shuffled a claw around and sighed again. "I just miss Twilight."

"Ah know what ya mean, Dark," Applejack said. "It's noticeably quieter without Twilight or Rainbow around."

"Not like that, Applejack. I miss waking up next to her every morning, eating with her, talking with her, and falling asleep with her in my arms."

"Ah, I believe I see what you're getting at," Rarity said understandingly. "You feel like apart of yourself is missing with her gone, don't you?"

Dark nodded and chuckled to himself. "And to think, less than a year ago I never thought that I would find somepony so special and precious to me. And now that I have, I can't imagine my life without her, let alone having to spend several days without being by her side."

While Rarity went "Awww" at his confession, Applejack looked like she was in thought.

"Something on your mind, darling?" Rarity asked, poking Applejack's side.

"Huh? Oh, nothin' really," she said. "It's just that what Dark just said about Twi is kinda like what Big Mac was sayin' about Cheerilee last night."

"Speaking of them, how have they been?"

"Close. Like very close. Cheerilee came over for dinner a few nights ago and she and Big Mac fell asleep on the couch."

Rarity giggled. "Perhaps you'll be finding yourself with a new sister-in-law pretty soon?"

Applejack found herself stammering as she stumbled back. "R-Rarity! What are... they haven't even been goin' out for that long yet!"

"Actually, Applejack," Dark cut in, "they've been going out for like nine or ten months now, so for all we know, they could decide to get engaged any day now."

"Ah know that!" she snapped. "Big Mac told me how long they've been datin' each other. Ah just feel like it's too soon for them."

"Applejack, darling," Rarity sympathetically spoke, placing a hoof on her shoulder, "are you worried about your brother?"

"Of course Ah'm not. Cheerilee is a fine pony, and Ah'm sure that she and Big Mac will get along just fine. It's just, what if they do get married and Big Mac decides ta move out with her? Without him helpin' out... Ah don't know how long the farm will last without him."

"You make a valid point, Applejack, but isn't Dark still working for you?"

"Kinda. He'll come help us if we need the extra help."

"And I still will," Dark chimed.

"And while that is very generous of Dark," Rarity continued, "what if the opposite were to happen with Big Macintosh?"

"Sorry, what?" Applejack said confusingly.

"I think what she means is what if Cheerilee were to move into the farm with Big Mac and the rest of you?" Dark reworded for Rarity. "I'm sure you have enough room to house another pony, right?"

Applejack slowly nodded. "We do, but it was our ma and pa's room. We haven't done much with it since they... ya know."

While Rarity did know what she meant, Dark didn't. He had a good idea of what became of Applejack's parents, but he'd never outright asked her or the others, afraid of bringing up bad memories if he turned out to be right. And with the tone of voice Applejack had used when talking about them, he was that much closer to believing that he was right.

Shaking himself from his thoughts, Dark glanced over to see Rarity gently patting Applejack's back while she tipped her hat down to cover her face. Feeling guilty for having a part in causing her this grief, Dark sighed and walked over to Applejack, draping a wing over her and pulling her into a comforting hug.

Taken aback by the sudden contact, Applejack flinched and looked at Dark in surprise. And while she didn't feel very comfortable at first, as the seconds rolled by, she allowed herself to relax beneath the comfort of his wing.

If this is what it's like for Twilight, then she's one lucky filly, Applejack thought with a slight hint of envy.

"Whatever happens with them, Applejack," Dark began, "you don't need to worry. I'll always be there to help you guys out if you ever need me. After all, you guys did make me an honorary Apple."

"Thanks, sugarcube," Applejack muttered, wrapping a hoof around Dark in a return hug.

"You're welcome." The two remained like that with Rarity watching from the side for a few moments before Dark let Applejack go. "Well, I suppose I better get going."

"Gotta busy day ahead of ya?"

"Eeyup. Gotta get back home and get this dye out of my mane and coat before opening the forge. Then later this afternoon, Pyre's going to be training me and Spike in Ghastly Gorge."

"And what about Soul?" Rarity wondered. "Won't he be all alone at the castle?"

"The way I see it, either he stays at the castle all alone, minus the guards I've got lurking around, or he comes with us to Ghastly Gorge where we can keep an eye on him."

"Wouldn't it be dangerous for him to be there though?"

"He'll be sticking with Pyre, so he'll be safe with him if anything should go wrong. Besides, if Twilight found out that I left Soul all alone at the castle, I'd probably be in deep trouble."

"I see," Rarity mumbled, still having her reservations about this.

"Well Ah can understand ya," Applejack spoke, starting to feel better. "Y'all trust Soul, but y'all are still worried about him bein' alone."

"Kinda," Dark admitted. "While I do trust Soul when he's alone, I'd just feel better if somepony or somedragon were there with him."

"If you're sure," Rarity submitted. "However, if ever find yourself in need of somepony to watch over him for a few hours, I'm sure that I could do that for you. He could even help Sweetie Belle with her homework."

"Same with me," Applejack said. "If you and Twi need somepony ta watch out for him for the evenin' or somethin', just ask and Ah'll be glad ta help ya out."

"Thanks you two," Dark thanked before looking up at the clock and frowning. "Well, sorry to do this, but I better get going. I'll see you two around. And don't forget, Applejack, to give me a call if you guys need any help."

Tossing his cloak back on and pulling his hood up, Dark left the Boutique and began cautiously making his way back to the castle, leaving Applejack and Rarity alone.

"Well," Rarity began, "that was something."

"Y-Yeah, it sure was," Applejack stammered, which in turn caused Rarity to glance curiously at her.

"Applejack, darling, is there something the matter?"

"Eenope. Nothing's wrong."

"Uh-huh," Rarity deadpanned, clearly not buying it. "Come now, dear, tell me what's on your mind."

"... ya promise not ta be upset or tell Twilight?"

"If it's important to you, then I won't."

Tipping her hat down, Applejack hid her face. Not because of the threat of tears like last time, but to hide the small blush on her face.

"Ah was just thinkin'... about how lucky Twilight is," she admitted.

"What? You mean with having Dark as a coltfriend?"

Applejack gave a small nod. "If she and Dark weren't together right now, Ah don't think that Ah'd mind havin' a go with him." She glanced over to her friend from under her hat. "What do ya think, Rarity? Am Ah bein' selfish about it?"

To Applejack's surprise, Rarity shook her head, her cheeks burning red like Applejack's.

"N-No, not at all, darling," she answered somewhat nervously. "Actually, if I'm to be honest with you, I don't believe that I would mind giving him a chance either."

Now it was Applejack's turn to give a curious look. "Really?"

"Yes. While he may be a bit fierce and rough around the edges at times, he truly is a good and honest stallion."

"Hehe, his ferocity and honesty are actually a few reasons why Ah was thinkin' about him."

"Out of curiosity, Applejack, if it were you that Dark chose and he began living with you, how would you feel about it?"

Applejack took a moment to ponder that question before she answered her.

"Well, Ah wouldn't have ta worry about any of them timberwolves wanderin' too close ta the farm with how fearful of him they are. That, and now Ah know what Twilight meant when she told us about how comfortable and safe she feels when Dark's got his wing wrapped around her."

"I thought that Twilight may have been exaggerating a little bit when she told us at first, but if you're vouching for it too, then I suppose I have no choice but to believe her now," Rarity said before pondering the same question herself. "As for me... well... I'm sorry to say, Applejack, but I can't think about it right now. I didn't really consider it until you asked."

"It's alright. As long as we don't do nothin' ta hurt Dark's relationship with Twilight, agreed?"

"Agreed," Rarity nodded as she trotted past Applejack towards the door. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to go to talk to Aloe and Lotus about making a last minute change to our schedule."

"Huh? Why?"

"Oh please, Applejack, surely after all of that drama you could go for a little something extra today."

"Uhh... Ah'm not so sure, Rarity. Ah mean, Ah don't want ya ta-"

"Applejack, that wasn't a question. You're going to get an extra something with your spa treatment, and you're going to love it!"

While Applejack didn't quite feel like it, she knew that Rarity could be just as stubborn as herself at times. Following her outside so she could lock the door behind them, Applejack followed Rarity towards town. As she did, she felt that something was off as she suddenly felt herself feeling extra warm.

"Hey, Rarity?"

"Yes, Applejack?"

"Is it just me, or does it feel rather warm ta ya?"

"... now that you mention it, it does."

As they continued to walk down the street, they passed a thermometer hanging on the side of one of the buildings. Upon closer inspection, they saw that it read sixty-seven degrees.

"Well that's weird," Applejack commented before shrugging it off. "It's probably nothin' ta worry about."

Later that day, Dark was closing his forge down after a somewhat shorter day of work. While he did manage to remove the dye, it took him almost an hour under the water for it to wash off of him. When he did and saw the time, he decided that he would have to skip his lunch break to make up for the time he lost.

With his forge locked down for the day, Dark began making his way through Ponyville to pick up Soul from school. As he walked through town, he gave a polite nod to those who passed him, happy that none of them had seen him when his coat was dyed-

"Hey, Pinkie Guy!"

Except for one particular squad of guards who he'd accidentally literally bumped into.

With an exasperated sigh, Dark turned around to see Steel Hoof, Kite Shield, and Aura Lance walking up to him with a smug look on each of their faces.

"Hey guys," Dark groaned.

"So," Aura began, "where are you off to?"

"To pick Soul up from school."

"Hey, Dark?" Kite spoke.

"Yeah?"

"We've been hearing a rumor around town that you and Princess Twilight have taken this Soul kid in."

"Pretty much," he confirmed. "Not long after I found him in the Everfree Forest, Twilight and I decided to adopt him."

Steel quietly gasped. "Does this mean that you and the Princess are married or are soon-to-be married?"

Dark shook his head. "No, we're not." At least, not yet anyway.

"Well that's too bad," Aura huffed before smirking again. "So, what happened to you before, Pinkie Guy?"

"Soul decided to prank me by replacing my shampoo and soap bottles with pink dye."

"I take it that the kid's gonna be in trouble for this?"

"Meh, not really. There wasn't any harm in it, so it's fine as long as he doesn't pull it again."

"Too bad, because I wanted a picture before you got rid of it. Maybe that Pinkie Pie mare would like it?"

"Way ahead of you," Pinkie said, walking between Aura and Steel.

"Gah! Pinkie! When did you get here?!" Dark gasped.

"Oh, silly, I know when I'm needed," she answered while holding a picture in her hoof. "And I already got a picture of Dark as *snort* Pinkie Guy."

"Pinkie, no."

"Oh? And what if Twilight or even Shining Armor and Cadence were to see it?"

Dark's eyes widened. "You wouldn't."

Pinkie gave him a confidant smirk. "Wouldn't I?"

Staring her down for a few moments, Dark's resolve faltered as he sighed in defeat.

"What is it that you want?"

"Hmmm. That depends."

"On what?"

"On what you're willing to do for me."

"How about anything that doesn't sound too unreasonable?"

"You sure?"

"Yes."

"Then swear it."

"I swear to Celest-"

"SWEAR TO ME!"

"How?"

"Make me a Pinkie Promise."

"... seriously?" he questioned, getting a serious nod from Pinkie and sighing before going through the motions while saying, "Cross my heart, hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye."

"Good," Pinkie said with a satisfied smile and bouncing away. "I'll hold you to that. See you in a few weeks then, Darky!"

Feeling a chill crawl up his spine from that last sentence, Dark shivered in unease.

"Why am I suddenly worried for myself?" he wondered out loud.

"I don't know," Steel answered sympathetically, "but there's no going back for you now."

"Yeah. Now, if you guys will excuse me, I need to get going."

With that, Dark waved his three guard friends goodbye and continued his way to the schoolhouse. When he got there, he was welcomed with the sight of Soul playing in the playground before spotting Dark and walking up to him while hanging his head.

"Hi, Dark," Soul quietly said.

"Hey, kid," Dark returned. "Something wrong?"

"You're not upset about the dye, are you?"

With a small sigh, Dark shook his head. "It wasn't that bad, Soul. However, next time, I would prefer that you leave my dye removal at home instead of hiding it."

"O-Okay."

"Good." With a smile, Dark patted Soul on the head, earning him a smile in return. "Now then, how about we get going?"

Crouching down, Dark waited for Soul to jump onto his back and secure himself before flying up into the air and towards Ghastly Gorge.

"Now remember, Soul," Dark began to remind, "when we get there, I want you to stay back with Pyre. If you get bored, you can do your homework or something, but just make sure that you don't distract Spike or I while we're focusing. We don't want to have an accident and have to explain it to Twilight when she gets home, right?"

"Right."

With an approving nod over his answer, Dark continued the flight to Ghastly Gorge. With some idle talk to pass the time, they quickly found themselves at their destination with Spike and Pyre already training. Landing down a safe distance away, Dark let Soul jump off his back before they went to join up with them.

"About time you showed up," Pyre snorted.

"Sorry," Dark apologized. "I got distracted on my way to pick up Soul."

"Then that's your fault, now get to it."

"Alright. So, what is it that you're wanting me to do today?"

Pyre smirked. "We're going to do what we've been doing since we first started this."

Oh great, Dark sarcastically thought with an eye-roll. I get to blow myself up in the face again.

"Don't give me that look. You've been improving, so today, we're going to get it right. Now begin!"

Taking his spot ahead of Pyre and the others so he wouldn't accidentally blast them too, Dark began his breathing exercises. After a few breaths, Dark felt comfortable enough to begin the spell.

Slowly inhaling, Dark began to channel his horn's magic, creating an orb of energy in front of his maw that steadily continued to grow. Feeling like he was at that certain point, Dark unleashed the air in his lungs along with his fire breath. Unfortunately, like so many other attempts, when the flames came into contact with the orb, it combusted in his face and sent him hurdling back along the dirt ground before coming to a stop in the small river.

Pulling his head out of the water to where he could see over it, Dark irritated sighed with water bubbling up around his head. Swimming to the riverbed, Dark walked out of the water and set himself ablaze, drying himself off in an instant before looking to Pyre.

"I don't get it! What am I doing wrong?!" Dark asked, his frustration over it beginning to show.

"Beats me," Pyre shrugged. "Have you been using your shadow breath too, or just your fire for it?"

"It's suppose to be a fire-based spell, so I haven't bothered to think about using my shadow breath."

"Okay, what does Nocturne have to say about it?"

"He's been keeping quiet about it," Dark answered. "The few times that I did ask him, he would either give me a vague answer, or none at all."

Listening in on their talking, Spike quickly put aside practicing to fire magical beams and joined Pyre's side.

"When you use your magic, is it just raw magic, or are you using another spell?" Spike inquired.

"Just raw magic," Dark replied, too blind in his annoyance to see where Spike was going with this.

"Then maybe that's the problem."

"What is?"

"What I mean is that instead of gathering a bunch of raw magic like what you've been doing, channel one of your spells and combine that with your fire breath."

"... seriously?" Dark questioned.

"Might as well try it," Soul chimed in from on top of Pyre's back. "You don't really have anything to lose if it doesn't work."

"..."

"Is something wrong, Dark?" Spike wondered.

"... it can't be that simple of a fix... can it?" Dark slowly asked with disbelief.

"Won't know until you try," Pyre said with a pointed claw. "Now go and try."

Resuming his spot from before, Dark dug his claws into the ground to try and anchor himself before beginning the spell. As he charged his horn to create the orb of energy like before, he also began to run another spell with it.

Okay, Dark began thinking to himself, running through some of his spells, start out with a simple beam of magic, and if that fails, then I'll try something else.

With the magic gathered, Dark began to inhale while simultaneously manipulating the orb for the spell he wanted to use. However, unlike every other attempt before, when he made the change, magical sparks of lightning began shooting out from the orb. Noticing the sparks, Dark lost focus and abruptly aborted the spell, causing it to explode in his face again and sending him flying back from a fifteen foot wide crater that came from the explosion.

"Oooouuuch," Dark groaned, rubbing his head.

"Why'd you stop?!" Pyre incredulously asked. "We've never seen results like that before! It looked like you were making progress there!"

"Sorry, I panicked. I wasn't expecting that to happen and it caught me off guard."

"I've seen Twilight do that a few times," Spike spoke. "Sometimes when she's using magic for a powerful spell, either sparks will shoot out of her horn, or bolts of magical lightning like that will happen. But I've rarely seen her do that last one."

"Look," Pyre sighed, "just do it again, but this time, follow through with it and don't hold back."

Shaking to relieve himself from the dust that was starting to gather in his mane and coat, Dark gave a nod and took his position alongside the crater he'd recently made. As he did and got himself ready, Spike looked nervously at Pyre.

"Hey, Pyre?"

"Yeah?"

"Is this really such a good idea?" Spike cautiously asked. "You know, letting Dark do this?"

"Why wouldn't it?"

"It's just that as he was charging his spell, I felt... nervous, almost scared."

"Hah! You don't need to worry about it, kid. Besides, I doubt that Dark would actually hurt us."

"Probably not," Soul added in, "but if this spell is still experimental, then for all we know, we might get caught in the blast of something bad if it goes wrong."

"Pfft. Like we would," Pyre dismissed, completely undeterred by Soul's and Spike's worries.

Spike was about to add onto his statement when a rock floated up into his view. Following it with his eyes, he began to notice a bunch of other loose rocks and other rubble starting to float around them.

"Uhh, what's going on here?" Spike wondered.

Looking around briefly, Pyre, Spike, and Soul quickly landed their sights on Dark as the orb of magic he'd created had expanded to the size of his chest and continued to grow. As they watched, magical energies crackled all around Dark as the sheer power he'd collected continued to unintentionally cause anything loose around him to begin floating off the ground.

"Is that suppose to happen?" Soul worryingly asked.

"I don't know," Pyre admitted, now feeling a tinge of nervousness himself. "Dark! You should probably stop now!"

Between going tunnel vision on possibly completing the spell, and the noises from the growing orb, Pyre's words never reached Dark's ears. Seeing that he wasn't listening to him, Pyre felt a sense of fear take him and scooped Spike up in one claw, and grabbed Soul off of his back with the other. With both of them secured in his hold, Pyre flew away up to the cliffs far behind Dark.

"Pyre?! What's going on?!" Spike shouted before Pyre landed on the ledge and brought them over to take cover behind a boulder.

"Okay, perhaps you two might've been right," he admitted.

"About what?"

"About being nervous about this. Something about the spell is different, and it's making me feel uneasy."

"You see!" Spike blurted. "I told you so!"

"Yes, I know!"

"But what about Dark?!" Soul fearfully asked. "He's still down there!!"

"There's nothing we can do to help him! If any of us go down there, then we might end up-"

Pyre cut himself off as he felt a sudden power spike and a loud thrumming sound. Looking around the boulder, he, Spike, and Soul all looked with their jaws dropped at what they were witnessing. Seconds later, a powerful and thunderous explosion shook the earth, followed by a tree-ripping shockwave blowing past the boulder they took cover behind.

Several minutes earlier on the outskirts of Ponyville, Rainbow and Twilight were flying in and looking forward to relaxing after successfully solving the friendship problem they were sent to fix.

"It's about time we got back here," Rainbow said. "I swear, Twilight, if you would've just held onto me, we would've gotten here hours ago."

"I know, Rainbow," Twilight replied, "but unlike you, I'm not all that comfortable with traveling at speeds as fast as what you do."

"Meh, I'm just happy that we're finally done dealing with that plot hole of a sheriff."

While Twilight wouldn't exactly have used Rainbow's wording, she nevertheless nodded in agreement.

"You're right. It's a good thing that that stallion was there to help us."

"No kidding. Did you see how he used that bow of his? It was so awesome! I didn't even know a pony could snipe a rope from that distance! That, and I'll never dis anypony wearing a feathered green hat again." Rainbow paused briefly before rubbing the back of her head in confusion. "By the way, what was his name again?"

"You mean Robin Hoof?"

"Yeah, that's it."

Continuing their flight, the two made their way over Twilight's castle and noticed the lack of smoke from Dark's forge.

"Guess he's not working if the fires out," Twilight commented, not noticing as Rainbow shifted around nervously.

"You miss him, don't you?"

"... is it that easy to see?"

"Twilight, you were complaining about not seeing him ever since you woke up this morning, so yes, it's easy to see."

Twilight blushed and looked away. "Oh, right."

"Umm... Twilight?" Rainbow meekly called, earning her a surprised look.

"Something wrong, Rainbow? You almost sounded like Fluttershy with how quiet you just were... and why's your face turning red? You're not sick, are you?"

"No, it's not that. It's... well... I know that Dark's your coltfriend and all but... I was wondering..."

"Yes?"

"... could I maybe... borrow Dark... in a few weeks?"

"Sure," Twilight happily answered. "Really, Rainbow, I don't see why you're so nervous about asking me this."

Rainbow raised an eyebrow. "Really? You don't know?"

"Why?"

"Think about it, Twilight. What's happening in a few weeks?"

Twilight tapped a chin in thought as she flew alongside Rainbow. "Well, there aren't any holidays that I'm aware of. So then, considering the month you're wanting to borrow Dark, that would put it at... about..."

Twilight's jaw dropped and her eyes widened from shock and appall as she finally put the pieces together.

"RAINBOW!"

"Aaaand now she gets it."

"Do you know what you're asking of me?!"

"Yeah, but can you blame me?" Rainbow countered. "Dark's a awesome and a nice guy. Even more so after what he did in the Coliseum. So why wouldn't the thought of crossed my mind once... or twice... or maybe a few times?"

Calming herself through breathing exercises, Twilight calmly spoke to Rainbow.

"Look, Rainbow, I understand why you would want him to help you through that, but I personally doubt that he would, even if I were to allow it."

Rainbow sighed. "Yeah, I figured as much, but I just wanted to make sure. Please don't take this the wrong way, Twilight, but I'm a little jealous of you."

"Jealous? Why?"

"Because of what you and Dark have going. Don't tell anypony this, and please don't be mad at me, but during the time I spent training Dark with his flying, I might've wondered what it would've been like to try and date him."

Twilight didn't say anything, instead remaining silent as she continued to give Rainbow her undivided attention.

"I wasn't sure if I wanted to at first, but after seeing you two together and how happy you both were, it got me wondering if that could've been me if I were the one to have asked him out."

Twilight remained silent after Rainbow was finished. After a moment of her not adding anything, Twilight glided over to Rainbow and placed a hoof on her shoulder.

"I'm sorry, Rainbow," Twilight sympathetically said, "I didn't know that you felt that way about him." Seeing a small nod from Rainbow, Twilight sighed. "I'll think about it."

Rainbow's ears and head perked up at the sudden answer, a look of hope on her face. "You mean..."

"I said that I'll think about it, so whether or not it happens is still up in the air." Twilight paused as she gave Rainbow a soft smile. "And don't worry. I'm not mad at you, Rainbow."

"Really?"

"Really. While your request did take me by surprise, I'm not upset with you. Same with what you've just admitted."

Heaving a sigh of relief, Rainbow stopped and hovered in place to give Twilight a hug.

"Thanks for listening, Twi," she thanked. "Even if I don't get to... you know, borrow Dark from you, it's good to know that you're not mad at me. That, and it's nice to have finally told somepony about my..."

"Crush?"

"... well, old crush now I guess, heheh. Still, though, it feels like a weight has been lifted off of my chest, and now I feel- WHOA!"

Rainbow froze in mid-air briefly and pointed towards a monstrous beam quickly passing through the forest in the distance.

"What kind of a spell is that?!" Rainbow asked in surprise.

"I don't know," Twilight answered, "but whatever it is, it's packing a lot of power."

A few seconds later, the beam suddenly stopped, creating a massive explosion that shook the earth as the shockwave knocked Twilight, Rainbow, and any nearby clouds back away from it. After a few seconds of tumbling and trying to right themselves, they landed on one of the treetops with dropped jaws as they both saw a mushroom cloud towering high above them, raining trees, rocks, and other debris all around the impact zone.

"Uh, Twilight," Rainbow quietly spoke.

"Huh?"

"What just happened?"

"I'm not sure," Twilight slowly answered. Opening their wings, she and Rainbow made their way back up into the air and followed the glowing trail from where the beam came from. When she did, Twilight's eyes widened. "But I know where it came from. Come on!"

Over at the Ponyville Day Spa, Rarity and Applejack were relaxing in the mud bath.

"Ahhh. Ah gotta give it ta ya, Rarity," Applejack began with a sigh, "Ah had my doubts at first, but Ah've never felt so relaxed in all my life."

"I'm glad to hear that you're enjoying your spa treatment," Rarity replied, sinking a little further into her mud bath.

"Yeah. Ah could get used ta this." Applejack sighed in bliss as she too slid further into her own mud bath. "Ain't nothin' like a relaxin' day at the spa after a hard day's-"

Applejack couldn't speak as a massive quake shook the room, causing the mud to splash up into her mouth and cover hear head. Rarity wasn't fairing much better as she shrieked when she felt the entire room shake and mud washed over her head. Thankfully for the both of them, the cucumbers they had over their eyes prevented any of the mud from getting into them.

"What in Celestia's name was that?" Rarity asked shockingly. "Was it an earthquake?"

"It can't be," Applejack said. "Ponyville's never gotten any earthquakes before. Not even Granny Smith mentioned anythin' about any earthquake. And besides, it was too short ta be one."

"Well what else could have possible have done this? If it's not an earthquake, could it be a dragon like when Spike grew?"

"Nah, cause if it were, then there'd be more of them quakes ta follow. No, if Ah had ta guess, Ah'd say it was either somethin' heavy landin' somewhere in Ponyville, or some explosion."

Meanwhile in Sugarcube Corner, everypony in the building were all crouching low to the floor, worried that another quake was going to follow. That is, everypony except for Pinkie.

"It's okay, everypony," she announced, "it's all over now."

"A-Are you sure about that, dearie?" Mrs. Cake questioned.

"Yepperoni. To be honest, it's actually about time that it happened. I was starting to wonder what was taking him so long to finally do it."

"Do what?"

Pinkie didn't answer. Instead, she smiled and returned to her job like nothing happened, humming a happy tune as she did.

Over in Ghastly Gorge, Pyre, Spike, and Soul were peeking out from behind their boulder cover in mutual silence as they looked shockingly at Dark and what he'd caused. They didn't know how much time had passed in silence, but it was soon broken by a pair of wingbeats approaching from behind. Turning around, they saw Twilight and Rainbow flying in behind them with matching expressions. Once they landed, Soul darted to Twilight and hugged her.

"Pyre, what happened?" Twilight slowly asked, her eyes scanning the damage below them.

"We did it."

"Did what?"

"The Flare. We figured out what Dark was doing wrong and fixed it."

"You mean I figured it out," Spike corrected before turning his attention back to Twilight. "But I swear, Twilight, I had no idea that this would happen."

"None of us did," Pyre added. "Yes, I thought that it might be a bit flashy, but nothing of that magnitude."

"And how's Dark doing?" Twilight asked. "Is he alright?"

"We don't know," Soul answered. "He's just been standing there ever since he fired that thing."

Setting Soul down, Twilight flapped her wings and flew down to Dark. With her gone, Rainbow finally spoke up.

"So, Dark did that?" she questioned, gesturing to the monstrous hole in the side of the gorge.

"Yeah," Spike nodded. "It was really something."

"Yeah," Rainbow nodded in agreement, "and so was that explosion that we saw."

Down at the bottom of the gorge, Twilight landed near Dark and cautiously approached him. As she got closer to him, she began to notice just what he did. While the area beside and behind Dark was just fine, a trench several dozen feet deep and wide lay in front of him, the rocks having been turned to liquid from the intense heat. Even looking further down, Twilight could still see the glowing from the molten rock as it pierced the side of Ghastly Gorge and beyond.

"Dark? Are you okay?" Twilight gingerly asked.

Slowly, Dark turned to face Twilight with mixed look of pride, shock, and fear. "I... don't know."

Twilight stood beside him and surveyed the area. "I take it that you weren't quite expecting this to happen?"

"No," he answered, shaking his head. "I was expecting a beam of searing-hot flames about the with of my head at most. Not something that looked like it belongs in one of Spike's games or comic books."

Twilight looked again at the destruction. "Yeah, that's definitely bigger than your head. Maybe big enough that an adult dragon could walk through, but that might be a stretch."

Hesitantly, Dark looked over to Twilight. "What should I do?"

"What do you mean?"

"I know that practice makes perfect, but after this, I'm not sure if I even want to practice it anymore."

"Why not?" Twilight asked confusingly. "Dark, that was the Flare! The spell that you've spent years completing! Look, I understand that you're nervous of it-"

"Scared, actually," he quietly admitted, causing Twilight to drape an understanding wing over him.

"-but you can't give up yet. I saw what this spell did on my way here, but unless you can better control it, then it'll just be that much more dangerous to yourself and everypony else."

"And what about the damage? There's no way I can fix this, and I doubt that Discord could either."

"I wouldn't quite say that."

Looking up, Dark and Twilight saw Discord floating above them as he looked at the damage and gave a low whistle.

"My goodness, Dark," Discord said, "you've really done it this time."

"It's not like I did it on purpose," he grumbled.

"Maybe not, but you still did."

"Discord?" Twilight called. "Can you use your chaos magic to fix this?"

Discord looked over the damage that the attack caused, watching as the melted rock begin to sizzle and cool off.

"I can, but it'll take me a while. Especially when I start to get closer to the impact zone."

"Thank you, Discord," Twilight sighed in relief.

"It's fine," he waved. "Just warn me next time something like this happens, Dark."

"Sure... okay," Dark replied half-heartedly.

Satisfied, Discord left to begin restoring the damage Dark caused. Once he was far enough away, Twilight saw the worried expression on Dark's face.

"Hey, it's alright," she said, trying to cheer him up, "Discord will fix everything up. Once he's done, it'll look like nothing happened."

"That's not it, Twilight," Dark spoke.

"What's wrong then?"

Dark gulped and began looking around. "I'm still in trouble."

"If it's Princess Celestia and Princess Luna you're worried about, then I'm sure you'll be fine."

"It's not them that I'm worried about, Twilight. With how many animals that were more than likely caught in the path and the explosion of the Flare, the one I'm actually worried about is-"

"DARK FLAME!"

Dark winced as the soft yet firm and angry voice echoed throughout Ghastly Gorge.

"Fluttershy."

Chapter 63- Apples Forever

Something has gone wrong. We don't seem to have an archived copy of that chapter.

Chapter 76- Invitations

Something has gone wrong. We don't seem to have an archived copy of that chapter.

Chapter 78- Hanging With Yourself

Something has gone wrong. We don't seem to have an archived copy of that chapter.

Chapter 81- Concerning Developments

Something has gone wrong. We don't seem to have an archived copy of that chapter.

Chapter 86- Wedding Planning

Something has gone wrong. We don't seem to have an archived copy of that chapter.

Prelude

"Ugh! Son of a biscuit! What the heck kind of dragon makes that loud of a roar!?" exclaimed a young stallion while he tried to regain his bearings in the late summer evening.

His name is Dark Flame, a blazing-orange unicorn with blue eyes, a long, blond mane, and a goatee. He worked as the blacksmith in the village of Stonewall due to his knack of fire magic and the strength in his forelegs when wielding a forge hammer. Despite being a blacksmith and the upside-down crescent moon-shaped scar on the front of his right shoulder that added to is tough look, Dark was a naturally kind and gentle-natured pony with a good sense of humor. He's also polite to mares, and has a soft spot for foals and small animals. However, despite him having these positive traits, his lack of a cutie mark was what hurt him the most, earning him little to no respect from the other villagers. However, over time Dark took up a second job. When he wasn't forging weapons, armor, or repairing tools for the villagers, he served as the village's greatest defense against dragons.

After eight years of acting as the village guardian, Dark was granted the title of Dragon Slayer, for defeating every dragon that came to destroy his village for the gems and ore that filled its mines. But... this time was different. The dragon that came this time wasn't at all like the hundred or so dragons he'd faced before. While most dragons stood tall at forty feet, their leader, King Inferno, stood a bit taller at seventy feet. However, this monster was far greater then what anypony could have imagined. This beast of a dragon stood even taller than the Dragon King at over one hundred feet tall while on all fours.

As Dark's eyes focused again, he was able to completely make out the figure looming over the village like a manticore to a mouse. Upon seeing it, Dark could only think of one species of dragon that would come even close to fitting what was here. But that was only in the old books and stories passed from their ancestors two hundred years ago when this village first became isolated from Equestria, though being in the mountain range didn't help much either. It was a Scaleless Dragon. A race of dragons said to be nothing more than a myth, but were obviously not.

Despite not having scales, this wasn't a liability for them as their hide was twice as strong as a dragon's scales. And there were only six named Scaleless Dragons in the old book that Dark remembered. Aques, the blue Scaleless Water Dragon. Fissure, the brown Scaleless Earth Dragon. Aero, the white Scaleless Air Dragon. Pyre, the red Scaleless Fire Dragon. Aurora, the ethereal Scaleless Dragon of Light and Life. And lastly was the dragon that stood glaring down at the village he had set ablaze.

"Nocturne, the black Scaleless Dragon of Shadow and Death," Dark whispered, more out of astonishment that this was actually happening than of fear for facing the incarnation of death itself.

The dragon must have heard Dark, because the muscles on his slim, muscular chest tensed and flexed. Slowly, the dragon lowered his head to look at the stallion that spoke his name. After getting a good look at Dark, the dragon smirked, a glint reflecting in his golden eyes as he found his reason for coming to his village.

Pfft, show off, Dark thought to himself while rolling his eyes after seeing the dragon's muscles flex.

"So, you know of my name, little pony", Nocturne said with a booming voice that made the ground tremble. "I'm surprised that a pony as young as you knows of my existence, though it matters little. I take it, however, that you are the one they call, Dark Flame, the 'Dragon Slayer'?" he asked, flexing his claws when he quoted the name Dragon Slayer.

Dark didn't answer at first, surprised that a being as ancient as Nocturne knew of Dark's name. Which begged the biggest question that was on his mind since this whole thing started.

I just hope this isn't going were I think it's going, or else I'm so screwed. Oh, and the village too, he thought before calmly addressing the dragon. "What is it that you're doing here exactly? An ancient dragon such as yourself surely has better things to do than drop in on a village way out in the middle of nowhere. That, and the shadows you created are sorta blocking my view, so I can't see squat besides a few feet around me, and you for obvious reasons."

Nocturne gave a low chuckle. "Amusing, but you should know of why I have come. I am Death Incarnate, and though I don't care about King Inferno and his complaints towards you, I have taken notice of all of the dragons that you've slain. All that death in one spot, it drew me here like a moth to the flame. So, color me surprised to find out that the rumors of the one responsible for killing so many of my kin, was from a single pony."

Dark looked down, sighing inwardly. Times like this I wish I was wrong. Besides, it's not my fault those dragons were stupidly single-minded and kept trying to barbecue me every time. He looked back up to return Nocturne's gaze and finally asked the question he didn't want to ask. "So, now that you're here, what is your plan exactly? Were you just wanting to chat with me, avenge those fallen dragons, or did Inferno send you after me by making you an offer you couldn't refuse?"

The dragon said nothing, his only answer was a wicked smirk on his face as he breathed in the shadowy mist, revealing the village and villagers... or what was left of them. All around, Dark could see the stone buildings either on fire, crumbling to the ground, or both. The villagers however, were nothing more than skeletons littering the streets. He continued to look around in shock at what had become of his fellow villagers, but his heart dropped when he saw the skeletal remains of his dad, Brick Set, his mom, Swift Wing, and his sister, Lilly, over by their house.

"I came here to see for myself if the rumor of you being a pony were true, and to see if your strength matched up to what Inferno told me... however." Nocturne gave a wide, sinister grin that showed off his mawfull of massive dark-gray fangs with red tips, one of which appeared to be missing. "I didn't want any interruptions during our fight, so I decided to-"

But he didn't get to finish his sentence as a fireball as big as the dragon's head hit him square in the face, causing his head to whiplash. He turned to direction it came from and saw a very pissed-off Dark who was syphoning the fire from the burning buildings into his mane and tail, which were now literally on fire.

"You want to know how I managed to beat those newts you call dragons?!" Dark shouted at the large dragon, who was now glaring at the lone pony who attacked him head-on. "I possess a unique ability called Amplify, which lets me draw in any element that I specialize in to increase my magic output!"

Dark roared as he launched another fireball at Nocturne's head, only for the dragon to dodge it. Although he was very big and a much easier target, Nocturne was by no means slow.

Dark didn't pay any mind to the missed spell as he took low, aggressive stance and began channeling the fire he'd collected in his mane and tail, sprouting multiple tendrils of fire from each spot. All twenty of them were easily long and wide enough that they could restrain the ancient dragon, and Nocturne knew it. Slowly, he started to understand why those other dragons fell so easily to this pony and decided to finish it quick with his shadow breath. The same one that he used to silence the villagers when he first arrived, though was mildly curious as to why Dark was untouched.

After taking in a deep breath, Nocturne released his shadow breath, completely covering the ground and buildings in shadows again, leaving the only light source being from the full moon up above... and a fiery glow quickly circling him. Turning his head, Nocturne saw Dark using his fire tendrils to hold him just above the dark mist. Nocturne raised his right claw, taking a swipe at Dark in hopes of either slashing through him, or causing him to fall into the shadows. Just before the claws made contact, Dark launched himself up above the dragon, firing a barrage of fireballs at his face. Nocturne didn't pay much mind to the fiery projectiles as he drew his wings out in front of him and using them as shields. Although they barely hurt at all, Nocturne did notice the number of projectiles that hit him.

Thirty-six fireballs and one firebomb within ten seconds, Nocturne mentally noted. And each having enough force to blow through a stone wall. Rather impressive for a single unicorn.

Feeling the assault cease, Nocturne separated his wings and was preparing to breathe out another torrent of darkness, but found his maw forcefully snapped shut. Upon revealing his head, Dark launched his tendrils towards the dragon, restraining him before he could act. Now thoroughly annoyed with the stallion, Nocturne started swinging both of his claws, trying to swat him out of the air. But each strike missed its target as Dark used some of his other tendrils to bind around Nocturne's wrists, slightly guiding each swing to just barely miss him. Now with a hold on Nocturne's maw and claws, Dark decided to try and end it as best as he could think. Sending his remaining tendrils out, Dark wrapped them around the dragon's legs, wings, and tail. With two tendrils per limb, Dark used his last four to wrap around Nocturne's mid-section as an anchor, firmly securing himself on his back.

With Nocturne now immobilized, Dark then began to pull on each limb-bound tendril, bending them awkwardly and causing the dragon to roar in pain and frustration. At this point, Nocturne knew he was in serious trouble and decided to take Dark as serious as he could. As his body began turning into living shadows, Nocturne let out a low chuckle as he merged with the shadows covering the ground.

Upon losing his target, Dark quickly planted a few tendrils into the ground, propping himself up in mid-air while the rest retreat back towards Dark and took a defensive position, like a pit of snakes ready to lash out.

Or like the snakes on the head of a gorgon, he thought, shuddered at the memory of facing against that living nightmare. Worst. Night. Ever.

That moment of thinking, though brief as it was, was enough for the black dragon to re-emerge out of the blanket of darkness as he lunged towards the young stallion. Dark saw it at the last second and tried to avoid the rows of razor-sharp fangs, but was too slow as the dragon tore off his left foreleg, causing him to lose his focus and cry out in agony as he fell. Though it hurt like a mother, he was able to regain his focus, and with nineteen of his tendrils, he began twirling them like a fan and cleared out the shadows, revealing solid ground while his last one began to cauterize the wound. He lost a decent amount of blood and started to feel a little light-headed, but the adrenaline kept him awake.

Dark, with his tendrils at the ready again, turned to face the dragon, who just returned the stare... smiling.

"You're far better than what I had expected. I was starting to believe that you were actually about to dislocate, or even break something. However, though you may specialize with fire magic and can draw in flames from wherever, I can choose to use either my fire breath, or my shadow breath," The dragon then chuckled. "Unlike the other dragons, you hold no power over me. I am the Embodiment of Death," he roared as he dove a claw into the shadows, only for it to reappear from the darkness surrounding Dark and creating two long gashes on either side of his mid-upper spine.

"I am the Bringer of Darkness!" Roaring again, he withdrew his claw, just to thrust it back into the shadows and have it reappearing beside Dark, severing his right foreleg this time and causing him to fall forward on his muzzle.

"And you, mortal," Nocturne spat, rage now made evidently clear in his voice while his draconic eyes turned from gold to a blood-red. "ARE NOTHING!"

With that declaration, Nocturne again withdrew his claw, this time backhanding the stallion, lopping off his tail near the base and causing its tendrils to dissolved. Slumping to the ground after being knocked into the side of a nearby house, Dark's body had all but reached its limits as his fiery tendrils receded back into his mane, which returned to its normal, blond state. Barely conscious and still losing blood from the two wounds on his back, his tail stub, and missing right foreleg, Dark used his back legs to sit up on his haunches. Looking tiredly at the great dragon, with the last of his magic, he decided that if he was going to die, then he'd do it fighting until his last breath.

Dark sighed tiredly as he decided to attempting his last ditch plan. It may not kill his opponent, but it should at least leave a nice wound at the very least.

I know I promised mom and dad that I wouldn't use this type of magic, and I know it's considered taboo, but morals be damned! It's not like anypony can do anything more to me, Dark thought grimly. Especially since I'm gonna be dead within the next minute.

With the last of his strength, he gathered his remaining magic to cast one last spell. His eyes started growing heavy, but could see his horn's magical aura turn from a grayish-blue, to black as he cast his last spell. As the spell was released, Dark's eyes closed from exhaustion and he fell to his stomach.

Hehe, that was a lot easier to cast than I thought it would, he thought as he was quickly losing consciousness.

However, he was able to hear a pained grunt, followed by something that sounded like running water, and a low voice telling him, "Well played, little pony... well... played."

*Beep... Beep... Beep*

Ugh, stupid heart monitors. If I never hear another one again of those, it'll be too soon, Dark mentally groaned, thinking back to when he had surgery on his shoulder. While fighting that gorgon was easily the worst night ever, the day I had to get that stupid surgery was easily the worst- He paused in mid-thought, realizing something that should not be. By Celestia's Ethereal Mane, how did I get into this hospital? And more importantly, why am I still alive... and what the hay is on my back?! It's poking is irritating as heck, and I can't scratch it thanks to Mister I'm-Going-To-Take-Your-Forelegs! I mean seriously! I'm starting to feel like the Black Knight from that one Montneigh Cobra story.

Knowing that he was now somehow alive, he tried opening his eyes. It was slow at first, but he eventually opened up his eyes to see another set of green, draconic eyes looking back mere inches away from his. What came next was pretty obvious.

"AAHHHH!" they both screamed, one trying to force himself back further into his bed, while the other stumbled backwards, rolling off of the foot of the bed and onto the floor.

Fully awake and alert now, Dark could take in his surroundings. While he couldn't bring himself to look beneath the bed sheet that covered him from the neck down and see the damage that had been done to him, he did look around the hospital room. It had sanitized white floor and a matching curtain to give his area privacy. To his left was a window with ugly, green window blinds, the door to his room on his right, and a nightstand with a lamp on the right side of his bed. Trying to lean forward a bit, he was able to see a baby dragon with purple scales and green spines that matched his eyes.

"Uhh, hey there," the little dragon greeted awkwardly while getting back up to his feet. "Sorry about scaring you like that. I was told to keep an eye on you while the others went to grab some lunch."

Dark didn't know what to make of this. Here in front of his was a dragon, a baby dragon maybe, but a dragon nonetheless, who was talking to him and not wanting to kill him. He was so used to fighting every dragon that saw him that his brain had to take a moment to catch up with this new turn of events.

Okay, this is new. A dragon that's not trying to kill me on site... wait a second. What was that about others? Dark stiffened slightly at the thought of other dragons being nearby while he was both physically and magically weak. "When you say 'others', do you mean more dragons?"

The little dragon looked up at the stallion with a cocked eyebrow. "No, I meant 'others' as in ponies. Speaking of which, I better go get them. They were pretty worried when they found you and wanted me to get them as soon as you woke up," he explained as he ran to the door before looking back. "Oh, before I forget, my name's Spike. Nice to meet ya," he said before leaving the room and closing the door behind him.

"Huh. Well, he actually seems like a decent dragon. Maybe he really doesn't know of me and wont try to kill me after all?" Dark asked himself hopefully.

A few minutes later, Dark heard multiple sets of hooves coming closer to his door before it became engulfed in a purple aura, and opening the door was its owner, a young unicorn mare with a lavender coat and eyes, and a purple mane that had a strip of hot-pink, and dark-purple, who was carrying Spike on her back. Behind her walked in five other mares who were roughly the same age as the lavender unicorn, though he'd never ask their age. They each entered quietly and walked over to take a seat on the floor by his bed with the lavender unicorn sitting closest.

Beside her was a cyan blue pegasus with a rainbow mane and magenta eyes, a butter-yellow pegasus with a long pink mane that hid most of her face, and teal eyes, an orange earth pony with emerald eyes, a blond mane, and wearing a stetson hat, a white unicorn with a purple mane and light-blue eyes, and finally, a pink earth pony with a slightly darker pink mane, and blue eyes.

"Hello," the lavender unicorn greeted warmly. "My name is Twilight Sparkle, and these are my friends: Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, Applejack, Rarity, and Pinkie Pie. I've been told that Spike already introduced himself to you, right?"

"Yeah," Dark answered slowly. "Sorry if I seem uneasy, I'm just not used to meeting a dragon like him. He actually seems to be fairly mannered for one. At least, when compared to all of the other dragons that I've meet before."

The girls and dragon looked at him with agreement until Rarity spoke up.

"That he is," she nodded in agreement. "Our little Spike may be a dragon, but he is far from dangerous. You don't know just how much of a help he's been to not just us, but to everypony in this town." This prompted a nod from the mares.

"Huh. Whenever I saw a dragon, it was always wanting to kill me and destroy everything in sight. So meeting one who's actually acting friendly is kind of new to me," he explained.

Although they were a little put-off by that little bit of information about dragons wanting to kill him, it only rose more questions for Twilight.

"So where are you from then?" Twilight asked.

"Stonewall Village," Dark answered her.

Twilight hummed to herself in thought and started pacing alongside the bed. That's when Dark noticed something he didn't before. She had wings. Twilight was an alicorn, and his face immediately took on a look of horror upon the thought of accidentally insulting a Princess of Equestria.

Twilight noticed though, growing used to this look from other ponies she hadn't met yet, and stopped him before he could start. "Don't worry about it. I may be a princess, but that doesn't mean I like the formalities. I'd much rather prefer to be treated like any other pony."

Dark was a bit surprised by that statement, but then again, this whole hour seemed to be full of surprises. That's when he remembered he forgot to introduce himself. "I'm sorry, I haven't introduced myself yet. My name is Dark Flame, former Guardian of Stonewall Village and Dragon-" He paused in mid-sentence, not wanting to talk about his title and possibly scare the mares or little dragon.

Everyone smiled at receiving his name finally, but Twilight wasn't done with her questioning.

"So, where is this 'Stonewall Village'? I've never heard of it until you showed up."

"It's up in the mountains on Equestria's south-eastern borders, near the Dragon Kingdom," Dark explained.

This left Twilight gaping in shock. "That cant be!" she exclaimed. "That's over half of Equestria away from here, and nopony can live in that area anyway. The land around those mountains is all desert for dozens of miles, the creatures there are highly poisonous, and the closest settlement down there would be Appleloosa. Nopony even goes that way anymore, let alone come back from it. Even the Native Buffalo Tribes keep away from that area of the desert."

Now it was Dark's turn to get some answers, and set some things straight. "Sorry, but I really did come from there. It was an old mining village in the mountains until, according to the village elders and some history books I read, the dragons came and blockaded the village with the ponies inside. Also, how did I get here exactly?"

Rainbow Dash spoke up this time. "I was working with Twilight on her flying lessons, since she still has a few problems flying."

"Hey, I've gotten a lot better at my flying," she objected, but was ignored as Rainbow continued.

"Anyway, we were flying when we saw you passed out in the fields, so we flew down, picked you up, and brought you to the hospital. But I've been wondering, though, what exactly are you? I mean, you look like a pony, but..." She trailed off, unable to find the right words to finish her question.

If Dark wasn't paying attention before, he definitely was now. "What are you talking about? I am a pony. Although I did get into a bad fight with a dragon and lost both of my forelegs and tail. I mean, heck, by all rights I should be dead right now."

The looked at him confusingly until Twilight spoke up. "Um, you do have a pair of forelegs and a tail. Kinda hard to miss them."

Dark just gave her a deadpanned look. "Seriously?" he asked, as if it were a bad joke. But sure enough, he did feel something from where his forelegs used to be. Raising an eyebrow in surprise, he began to lift his right foreleg up from below the bedsheet... which he immediately regretted. Starring wide eyed in shock, he looked at his supposed leg and hoof, only to find the right arm and claw of a familiar black dragon. He then pulled out his left foreleg, and with it came the same result.

He looked at both of his new appendages and could think of only one thing to say. "How the hay...?"

Feeling his tail move, he tore off the covers and looked down at it. Like his now draconic arms, his tail was also that of the black dragon's.

Since Dark was leaning forward to look at his tail, which was now easily as long as he was from head to hoof, the girls saw his back and let out a few gasps. Dark turned his head to look at them. Confused by this, he followed their gaze towards his back where that annoying itching from earlier was. Now this was the biggest surprise of them all. On his back were a pair of black, draconic wings, each expanding the length of his entire body from his muzzle to the tip of his new tail.

That was the last straw for him. Upon seeing his new wings, his brain completely shut down from the shock, causing Dark to pass out and off the side of the bed onto the floor. This left his guests standing in place with mixed expressions of worry, alarm, confusion, and a few who were out right laughing at the sight of the stallion passing out.

Author's Note

Like I said, this is my first fic, so any constructive criticism or suggestions will be welcomed.

Chapter 6- Concerns and Flight

Dark was grumbling to himself as he made his way to the kitchen. Despite the goodnight's sleep that he got, his legs were aching more than ever. He tried setting his claw of fire and massage his sore muscles, but it could relieve only so much of the ache.

"This is gonna be annoying," he said to himself. "Good thing it'll only last a week or so."

"Having troubles?" a voice asked Dark, causing him to jump in surprise.

Sitting at the table was Sunshine, who was helping herself to some bananas while reading the morning news paper. She looked to Dark in amusement of accidentally scarring him. Dark, however, didn't understand why she was up so early. The sun wasn't set to rise for another forty minutes or so.

"Good morning, Aunt Sunshine," he greeted her. "Also, not really. Just a little sore from yesterday is all."

"Alright, and a good morning to you as well, Dark," she returned.

"So what are you doing up so early?" he asked while grabbing a bowl and some cereal. "The sun's not suppose to be up for a while yet... unless my clock was wrong and it's later than I think it is."

"No, it's not wrong. I just woke up and couldn't get back to sleep," she answered. "Plus the train back to Canterlot leaves early in the morning, so there's that too I suppose."

"Okay. Well at least I'll get to say goodbye before you leave," he said before eating.

"Thank you, Dark." She paused for a moment. "Dark?"

"Hmm?" he answered, cheeks puffed out with a mouth-full of cereal.

"Before I forget, I wanted to ask you something." She continued after Dark nodded. "Is there anything that I should know about your village before I get a report about it?"

Dark swallowed his food. "Like what exactly?"

"Just anything that you think I should be aware of."

He tapped his chin in thought for a moment. "I suppose the biggest thing would probably be the chest in my forge with the Draconium in it."

Sunshine cocked an eyebrow. "How much Draconium did you find?"

"Not much. It was by complete accident that my cousin found it while digging in the mine at the time. But he only found enough to make one weapon out of it. Since we didn't think it would be worth forging a single weapon to use against a horde of dragons, we decided to put it away for safe keeping in my chest."

"Is this chest actually yours, or do you call it that because it's in your forge?"

"The chest is actually mine. I keep most of my personal items in it, such as my life-savings, some of my spell books, and a fire ruby that I found one day while practicing my fire magic."

Sunshine took a sip of her coffee. "Is there anything else that I should know about?"

Dark nervously folded his ears back. "There may be one more thing," he slowly answered.

Putting her coffee and paper off to the side, Sunshine gave him her full attention. "Go ahead," she warmly encouraged.

He took a deep breath. "Have you ever wondered what happened to the dragons I defeated?" he asked.

"No, I haven't put any thought into that," she admitted.

"Probably for the best," he commented before continuing on. "I'll give you the short version then. Our mayor ordered the bodies to be dumped in the mines. That way if the dragons did take over the village, they would have to sort through their dead before getting to the gems and ore."

Sunshine furrowed her bows. "And why would he order that? Also, how many dead dragons are down there?"

Dark let out an annoyed sigh at remembering how stubborn the old geezer was. "It's because it was either that, or we go with his original plan. As for how many dragons?" Dark paused for a moment to think about it. "Honestly, I stopped keeping track after a hundred and sixty... ish."

"That's a rather large number of dragons," she commented. "But if that wasn't his original plan, then what was it?"

"He wanted us to build spires around the village and on the wall. After which, he would have us decapitate the dragons and plant their heads on them as a warning to any others that would come near the village."

Sunshine's eyes widened. "So then, that means that..."

"He wanted to impale their heads upon the spires of Stonewall," Dark finished for her.

"So what happened to change his mind?" she asked, a hint of anger creeping in her voice.

"I asked cousin Big Beard to convince my little brother, Light Wing, to talk the mayor out of it." Dark paused, gauging Sunshine's reaction before continuing. "He was easily able to convince him, but dumping them in the mines was the alternative."

"Why didn't you ask your brother yourself?" Sunshine asked. "I understand that you didn't get any respect from your fellow villagers, and that they probably wouldn't have listened to you. However, why did you have your cousin ask your brother for you?"

Dark's face saddened a little. "It's because Light hated me," he admitted. "Despite us being brothers, he was always jealous that I was born a unicorn and could cast magic, and that he wasn't. My parents, sister, and I have tried to talk to him about it several times each year, but his resentment just kept growing until he outright refused to talk or listen to me. That's why I asked Big Beard to talk to him about the dragons, because Light looked up to him and respected him."

Sunshine got up out of her chair, walked around the table to Dark, and put a understanding hoof on his shoulder. Dark looked back up to see her with a sad smile on her face.

"I understand how you feel, but I have to ask though... what happened to him?" she asked.

"Light, Big Beard, and a few of Light's friends tried to leave the village to go get help, but they never returned. That was almost a year ago now."

"I'm sorry to hear that."

"Yeah, me too. But I still miss him, though."

Sunshine tilted her head. "You mean your brother?"

Dark nodded. "I'll be honest with you. He might have been a plot hole towards me, but he was still my brother. Regardless of how he acted, I still loved the guy. Even now I miss him just being around."

Though she was slightly taken aback by his choice of words, Sunshine still felt for him. Both in knowing what he was going through then, and now.

"I understand what you mean," she solemnly said.

Dark gulped before asking her, "You mean with what happened between you and... umm..."

"You're talking about Luna and I, correct?" she assumed, to which Dark nodded.

"I'm sorry for bring up something personal like that," he apologized.

Sunshine gave him a reassuring smile. "It's alright, Dark, I'm not upset with you. But I must know; did you do what you could to try and get through to him?"

"Yes... I did."

"Then that is all that I could ask for, so please try to not feel too bad about it."

Dark smiled back to Sunshine before they turned to some friendlier topics. Apparently time flew by because once Dark looked to the clock he saw that he was suppose to be at the farm in five minutes.

"Ah crud! I'm gonna be late!" he panicked.

Watching Dark run around the kitchen, trying to clean up after himself before leaving, Sunshine calmly rose up with a thought.

"If you want, I can teleport you to Sweet Apple Acres for you?" she offered.

Dark froze and looked questionably at her. "Really? Why?"

"Well, it is because of me that you're late now, right?"

He didn't give a verbal answer. Not wanting to admit that she was technically correct and accidentally upset or insult her, Dark decided to play it save and gave a small nod.

"Alright then. Thank you for doing this for me," he thanked.

"You're welcome," she said as she walked over to him. "Now, I need you to keep calm and hold your breath."

"Why? What's going to hap-" Dark's question was cut short by a blinding flash, leaving the kitchen empty as they teleported away.

After reappearing in a bright flash of light, Dark immediately collapsed to the ground with Sunshine looking at him apologetically. The nausea he was feeling was making everything spin, causing him to squeeze his eyes shut from seeing anything while laying sprawled out. Before they knew it, Applejack came around the barn from seeing the bright flash, running at full speed towards them.

"What happened ta ya?" she asked Dark who moaned in reply. "Did you try ta fight those timberwolves?"

"No, Applejack. I accidentally made him late getting here and offered to bring him." Sunshine looked down to Dark. "Although, perhaps I should have warned him a little bit sooner before I teleported us."

Applejack started poking at Dark's side. "So he's just dazed from the teleportin' then?"

Sunshine nodded before lighting her horn and placing it on Dark's forehead. A few seconds later she removed it and gave him some room. Feeling his headache gone, Dark stood up and looked to Sunshine, a little annoyed by the sudden warning. She didn't say anything, and instead tried to feign innocence by just smiling innocently back at him.

"Well at least I took care of your headache," she playfully countered, seeing his annoyed glare.

Dark chuckled. "I suppose so. Thank you, Aunt Sunshine, for the help." He then turned to Applejack to properly greeted her.

"Well as much of a pleasure as it's been, I should be getting back to the castle. I'm sure Twilight will want to spend some time with me before I have to leave." Sunshine bid the two goodbye before lighting her horn with another teleport spell, but paused as she almost forgot to tell them something. "Before I forget to tell you two, I'll be sending some guards to Ponyville to help keep an eye out for anymore timberwolves. Also, Dark, you may practice this weekend after Twilight's testing." Then in a blink of an eye, she was gone again.

"You know," Applejack began. "Ah never did ask what kind of work she did exactly. Twilight just told us that she works with Princess Celestia."

You have no idea how right you are, Dark thought. "Yeah, that's pretty much what I know too." Granted it technically wasn't a lie that they worked together, considering that they are one and the same pony. Any more thoughts were interrupted by the suns rays shining in Dark's face.

"Ah guess we should get started, huh?" Applejack suggested.

"Yeah," Dark agreed, stretching his legs before trotting over to the wagon.

Despite the aching from his sore muscles from earlier, they started feeling better as he began working. With the pain and stiffness fading, Dark started to pick up his pace. He was bucking a little faster then he did the previous day and feeling better about himself for it. It wasn't until a few hours later that the soreness was completely gone, now instead feeling like he just hit the gym. Before he knew it, it was close to breaking for lunch. Applejack approached him as he was about to start on his last tree before then.

"You're sure lookin' a lot better than when ya first started today," she commented.

"Yep," he answered happily. "Definitely feeling better too."

"Well that's good ta here." Applejack paused when she saw something familiar in the tree. "Uh, Dark, you might wanna hold off on buckin' that tree."

"Why? What is it?" he questioned.

"It's me trying to take a nap," a voice in the branches complained.

Looking up into the tree, Dark saw Rainbow laying on a tree branch with a pillow and blanket.

"Umm, what are you doing up in a tree, Rainbow?" Dark asked her.

Applejack trotted over to them. "Well for some reason, RD likes ta take her naps in my apple trees."

Rainbow huffed. "I was just trying to get in a nap before Dark's flying lesson this afternoon. Speaking of which, AJ, you better not wear him out too much before I get my turn with him."

As the two mares locked eyes with each other in a stare down, Dark was trying his best to hold his tongue.

Keep it to yourself, Dark, he mentally told himself. Even though this is the perfect setup for a dirty joke, it wouldn't be a good idea since Applejack's your boss.

Even though he managed to not say anything, he was however, snickering. Applejack and Rainbow both looked to Dark who was now borderline laughing to himself.

"What's so funny?" Rainbow asked Dark.

Controlling himself he answered, "It's just what you said."

"What I said?"

"Think about it for a moment and you'll know what I mean."

Both mares replayed what Rainbow said in their minds, and it wasn't long before they both understood the implication of what she said. Seeing their expressions turn from confusion to embarrassment, Dark started laughing louder. Soon enough, Rainbow started to join in the laughing as well. Even Applejack was thankfully finding it to be humorous. After a moment the laughing finally died down.

"Glad to see you two have a good sense of humor and aren't taking it too seriously," Dark commented.

"Just don't try making jokes like that around Rarity or else she'll flip," Rainbow playfully warned.

Applejack gave Dark a playful smack upside his head. "And especially around our sisters," she added.

"No worries there. I'll be sure to keep such comments away from them," Dark assured.

Any further talking was cut short by a rumble from Rainbow's stomach. She just shrugged it off as Dark and Applejack looked to her.

"Guess we better head on in and get somethin' ta eat," Applejack suggested as she turned towards the farm house. "You can come too if ya want, Rainbow."

"Sweet. Thanks, AJ," Rainbow thanked, hovering alongside the two as they made their way to the house.

The inside of Canterlot Castle was less busy than usual. Despite the time of day, ponies would normally still be out and about either patrolling the halls, or running off to a meeting of some sort. Sunshine stopped in the middle of the empty hallway, checking each direction for anypony who might walk in on her. Knowing that she was alone, Sunshine removed her illusion, turning back into Princess Celestia. Now in her natural form, she casually made her way to the throne room where Luna should be covering for her.

Stopping in front of the giant golden doors, Celestia opened them and walked on inside. Upon seeing her sister, Luna glided down from the throne and met Celestia halfway. After embracing each other in a sisterly hug, Luna was the first to speak.

"How was your investigation, Tia?" she asked.

"It was very productive, Luna," Celestia answered. "And thank you for covering for me so I could go."

Luna waved if off with a hoof. "Think nothing of it, sister. After all, you had to run the kingdom for an entire millennium. The least I could do for you is take over for a few days so you could do your own thing." Luna paused as a certain stallion came to mind. "Although, I don't know how you managed to deal with Blueblood by yourself. Remind me again why you decided to adopt him as your nephew? Cadence I understand, but why him?"

Celestia sighed. "It's because he's the direct descendant of Princess Platinum. That's why."

Luna groaned at being reminded. Though Platinum was a rather nice unicorn royal, she never understood how somepony like Blueblood could be related to her. Those thoughts were put on hold when she remembered the one for Celestia's absence.

"As nice as it is to talk about our dear nephew," Luna said sarcastically. "I'm curious as to this kirin you went to see."

Celestia let herself relax. "It appears that despite a few hiccups in his past that he had no control over, there isn't much to worry about."

"Well, I suppose that I'll be looking forward to meeting him as well then."

Celestia looked to her somewhat surprised. "You haven't looked into his dreams yet?"

Luna shook her head. "Haven't noticed anything that would draw me to check in on him." Her train of thought was interrupted from remembering something important that came for Celestia while she was out. "Speaking of things to check on, there is a matter that requires your immediate attention."

Celestia raised a eyebrow. "Yes? What is it?"

Luna nodded to the guards who gave them an understanding salute before they left the throne room. "One of our pegasus guards returned a few hours ago. He said he had a message for you from Captain Iron Guard, but I told him instead to go to the barracks and rest while waiting for your return."

"I didn't think that we would be hearing back from him so soon. But why didn't you ask for the report instead of waiting for me?"

"Don't get me wrong, sister. Although I am curious as to what they found, this was you operation to begin with. It would seem only fair that you would be the first to hear it before anypony else."

Celestia smiled at Luna. "Thank you for the thought, Luna, but you didn't have to do that. After all, I did fill you in on it when it was put in motion for a reason."

Luna thanked Celestia as they made their way to the throne to wait for the messenger. They had a good ten minutes idly talking to each other before the doors opened. Along with the two guards from earlier, a third pegasus guard made his way to the base of the dais before bowing.

"Arise," Celestia softly ordered, which he obeyed. "Now, what is this message that you have brought?"

"It's the initial report of what we saw when we landed, Your Highness," the guard answered, searching his saddlebag for the scroll. "After we landed, Captain Iron Guard asked for one of us to return the following morning."

He found the scroll and held it up with a hoof. It was taken from him by Celestia's magic, floating over to the two sisters and breaking the seal on it. Unfurling the scroll, Celestia and Luna both began to read it. Though they managed to keep their composure on the outside, on the inside they were quite shocked and horrified by what was written on it. They looked over the scroll a few more times to make sure they didn't misread anything before Celestia levitated it back to the guard.

"Tell me," she said, the calmness in her voice wavering. "Is it true of what is written in here?"

The guard read over the letter quickly before looking back to answer. "Yes, it is. But this is just explaining what we saw at first glance, Princess. Everypony else that remained behind is looking into the village and... cleaning that."

"Very well," Celestia answered before conjuring a piece of parchment, a quill, and some ink. After a minute of writing, she brought the new scroll down to the guard. "I want you to bring that to the castle's mail room and have it sent to the dragon's emissary immediately. After that you are relieved for the next three days to relax. I'm sure making a trip like that there and back took quite a toll on you."

"At once, Your Highness, and thank you," the guard humbly thanked and bowed before running off with his new order.

Celestia conjured two more parchments and started writing, but was interrupted by Luna.

"What was in the letter you gave him, Tia?" she asked.

"I set a date for King Inferno to get his scaly hide over here in one month's time to discuss with him the actions made against Stonewall Village," Celestia answered. "As of now, though, I'm writing to Twilight and Cadence to inform them of what's going on, and to request their presence at the meeting as well."

"That's cutting it pretty close to Nightmare Night, about a week before if I'm not mistaken."

"I wanted to hold it as soon as I could while giving everypony time to prepare. That, and if we held it after, then we would have a smaller window with the holidays and cold winter weather."

"I understand, Tia, but what about Twilight's friends and Shining Armor? Will you be calling on them too?"

"Yes, I'll be requesting that they also attend." She paused for a moment, tapping her chin in though. "Do you think I should ask Twilight to bring Dark as well?"

Luna spoke to her with caution her voice. "Are you sure it's a good idea putting those two in the same room together? I understand that this directly involves Dark, but still, Shining Armor probably wouldn't hesitate to attack him on site. Not mention that he's apparently living with Twilight."

Celestia nodded. "That, and the fact that Twilight seems to have developed a small crush on Dark too, and vice versa. Though I doubt that they'll work up the courage to tell each other for a while yet."

Luna's eyes went as wide as dinner plates from the news. "I'm not sure if I should be squealing with joy for Twilight, or be worried for Dark's safety. But what are your thoughts about them being together?"

A small smile made its way on Celestia's face. "If I didn't feel comfortable with it, then I wouldn't have allowed it, let alone encourage Twilight to pursue her feelings."

Because of the amount of work they did yesterday, Applejack decided to let Dark go early so he could get in his practice with Rainbow. Dark was reluctant to go, though, not because he didn't want to learn how to fly, but more so because he didn't want to cheat Applejack from him not working a full day like yesterday. However, she told him that Rainbow and her had talked about it during the party and worked out a sort of time-table for him. He would work normal hours Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, while he would get off a few hours early on Tuesday and Thursday. Feeling reassured and less guilty for leaving early, Dark started to make his way to Ponyville Park where Rainbow would be waiting for him.

Arriving at the park, Dark looked around to try and find Rainbow, but she wasn't there. It wasn't until he caught a glimpse of a rainbow streak in the sky that he looked up. Above him, Dark could see Rainbow flying through the air doing loop-the-loops, barrel rolls, and other stunts that showed off her speed and acrobatics. He took a seat on the grass and watched in amazement of her flying skills. After a few more minutes, Rainbow took notice of the one-pony audience below her and made her descent before landing in front of him.

"Those were some pretty sweet moves up there, Rainbow," Dark complimented.

"Yeah, it was pretty awesome wasn't it?" she bragged. "Even though it was just practice and not my actual stuff."

"Regardless, it was still really fun to watch."

"Thanks for the compliment, but that's not why we're here is it?" she asked, to which Dark nodded in reply. "So... learning how to fly." She started pacing in front of him. "Let's start you off easy. I want you to give me twenty wing-ups."

Dark looked at her with a cocked eyebrow. "What's a 'wing-up'?"

Rainbow facehoofed. "Right, forgot you're new to wings." She removed her hoof from her head and looked back to Dark. "It's basically a push-up, but with your wings instead of your forelegs... or in your case, your arms. Here' I'll show you."

She got down and started showing him how wing-ups worked. Seeming simple enough, Dark stretched and moved his wings a bit before mimicking Rainbow. It felt a little awkward at first, but she assured him that he was doing it correctly for someone with his wing-type. Finishing up his wing-ups, Dark looked up to Rainbow who gave him a disapproving shake.

"You look like you've hardly even broken a sweat. How about you give me another twenty," she recommended.

Resuming his position, Dark proceeded with his warm-ups. By the time he finished his second set, he felt his wing muscles start giving off a familiar light ache, though just barely. With a nod of approval from Rainbow, Dark got up.

"Good. Now, how much have you used your wings since you've awoken with them?" she asked.

"Not much. Mostly to hide my face in embarrassment really," he answered.

"Alright, try stretching out your wings and get a feel for them."

Dark nodded and began experimenting with his wings. Focusing, he began to unfurrow his wings, extending them to their full length, folding them, and getting a feel for their full range of motion. Rainbow spent five minutes watching Dark get accustomed to his new wings while looking to see anything that would impede him when he would flap them.

"Alright, I think I have a good feel for them," Dark announced.

"Good. Then your first lesson will be a simple wing exercise," Rainbow began explaining as she stood a few yards in front of Dark. "Now, I want you to flap your wings and follow my lead. This will help you get used to flapping them at the same time so you can stay airborne."

Dark opened his wings, and like Rainbow did, gave his wings a flap. Unfortunately for him, though, in his eagerness to learn to fly, he accidentally put too much effort into it and aimed them at a downward angle in front of him, launching himself backwards several feet and landing square on his back. Rainbow winced and quickly ran over to his side after seeing him hit the ground.

"Dark! Are you alright?!" she worryingly asked.

Dark couldn't respond due to the air being knocked from his lungs, and instead made a wheezing sound.

Rainbow sighed. "Okay, apparently we're gonna have to take it a little bit easier with the strength and size of your wings than I originally though."

Dark gave a slow nod as he tried catching his breath. Few seconds later he rolled over and stood back up, ignoring the pain in his back.

"Alright, I'm ready," he managed to speak out.

"You sure about that? That looked like it hurt a bit."

"Yeah, I'll be fine. Just got a bit winded is all."

"... well if you're sure, then I suppose we'll try it again. But this time, try to ease up on the force of your flapping."

Dark nodded and followed Rainbow's lead, gently mimicking her wing motions. By taking it easier this time, he didn't send himself flying back. After ten minutes of repeating the process, Dark started to naturally flap his wings in sync. Rainbow stopped her flapping and let Dark try it on his own for a while. He did well for the most part, fumbling with the timing a few times, but was quickly fixed. After she felt like he had enough, Rainbow held up a hoof to signal Dark to stop.

"That was better," she complimented him. "Now, how do you feel about learning to hover?"

Dark had an uneasy look, thinking back on his recent back flop. Rainbow noticed it and with a heavy sigh, signaled him to follow her. Trotting out of the park, they made their way over to a secluded pond near the tree line. She pointed for Dark to stand in front of it with his back towards the water.

"There. Now if you do have a repeat of last time, you'll fall into the water," she stated.

"Huh, good idea, Rainbow," Dark complimented.

"Alright then, let's get started." She took her position in front of Dark. "Now, you're gonna want to put a little more strength into your flapping than when you were practicing earlier, but not so much that you launch yourself again." She was about to demonstrate before quickly adding, "And don't worry if you don't get it the first few times. Learning to fly will take time, and even longer to maintain."

Dark shrugged. "Nothing against your teaching, Rainbow, but I wasn't expecting to fly for a few weeks."

"No offense take. Everypony learns to fly at different paces, but I'll be sure to be there to help you along the way."

He gave her a smile, feeling happy that she was willing to be patient with him. "Thanks, Rainbow."

They both got down in a takeoff stance before Rainbow gave him one last piece of advice. "Now, since this is your first time doing this, try flapping your wings slowly, then gradually increase the output overtime until you feel yourself lifting off the ground."

Dark nodded before following her instructions. He slowly beat his wings, up and down. Feeling comfortable with how it was going, he slightly upped the force of his motions while rhythmically beating his wings. Up and down, up and down, slowly increasing the strength behind each flap. After a minute of repeating the process, he felt the ground missing from beneath his claws and hooves. Looking down, Dark could see that he was hovering a few inches off the ground. He raised his claws above his head in a cheer, which threw him off-balance and caused him to face-plant with his rump and tail flailing in the air. Though his last meeting with the ground caused Rainbow to wince, this time she was laughing out loud at him. As Dark lifted his face and began rubbing his sore muzzle, he glanced over to Rainbow, seeing her rolling on the ground laughing.

"So... Dark," she tried saying in-between laughs. "What did you learn?"

Dark gave a grunt while sitting up. "Stay focused and try not to get to exited?"

"Meh, more or less. Once you get better at it, then you can start to multitask. For now, though, you might wanna hold off on anything that doesn't involve hovering in place."

And so for the rest of Dark's flight training, he tried to master how to simply hover in place. After several tumbles, and accidentally flinging himself into the pond a few times, Dark had started to get accustomed to hovering. Seeing as how he was getting better, Rainbow told Dark to now maintain it for as long as he could. Despite it being his first day of training, he managed to continue hovering for eighteen minutes straight. It was a little better than what Rainbow was expecting, but still not enough for her to allow him to move onto the next stage of her training just yet.

"Alright, that's enough for today," she told Dark, noticing the sun starting to set.

Dark immediately landed and fell to his stomach, his wings throbbing from the workout Rainbow put him through.

"My wings feel like jelly," he groaned.

"You'll get used to it." She trotted to Dark and offered a hoof to help him up. "And by then, I'll have you flying like a pro."

"If by 'pro' you mean like you, then I'm in for a heck of a long wait," Dark joked... sorta.

"Still, though, with how strong your wings are already, and with a bit of practice, you'll be flying in no time." She paused to look at the sun setting. "But that's gonna have to wait till next time, seeing as how it's starting to get late. For now, though, I want you to do two sets of fifty wing-ups each day that we're not practicing. One in the morning, and one in the afternoon. I would have you do them even on days that we're practicing, but between working on AJ's farm and my training, that might be pushing it a little."

"Alright then. I'll see you on Thursday then?"

"Yep! See ya later, Dark!" Rainbow called, waving goodbye before zooming off to her cloud house, leaving a rainbow-colored trail in her wake.

Seeing the trail she left behind just made Dark even more excited to learn how to fly. Although his wings were that of a dragons, he'd hoped that he could at least try to come close to match her average speed. With an extra spring in his step from what he considered to be a good day, Dark made his way back to the castle.

Before he entered the castle, Dark bopped his hooves and claws free of any mud he might have collected after his unintentional dip in the pond. Trotting through the halls, he began making his way to the lounge to rest before he bumped into Twilight.

"Hello, Dark," she greeted him.

"Hello, Twilight," he returned.

"So, how did your flying lessons go?"

"Overall, I think I did alright. Rainbow taught me how to hover... after tumbling around like a ragdoll that is."

"Well at least you're making progress." She paused, looking over Dark and noticing he was covered in grass stains, dirt, and mud. Particularly his back. "But what happened to you exactly? How did you accumulate that much dirt and mud on your back?"

"On my first attempt, I over-propelled myself and landed flat on my back. After that, Rainbow moved our training over to the pond by the park so if it happened again, then I would land in the water instead of the ground. Good thing too since I lost my balance a few times and fell backwards."

"Well you better go grab a shower then. Spike is already making us dinner." Dark nodded and started making his way to the bathroom before Twilight stopped him. "I almost forgot, Princess Celestia sent us a letter." Dark turned to face her. "She wants you, the girls, and I to attend a meeting with her at Canterlot Castle in one month. It involves your village, and the Dragon King will be there as well."

Dark's face turned from cheerful to serious at the mention of the king. The thought of meeting him face-to-face stirring a suppressed rage that had been built over time.

"You're talking about King Inferno, aren't you?" he asked.

Twilight was surprised Dark knew him by name. "Do you know him?"

Dark's eyes furrowed as he shook his head. "I know of him, and he knows of me, though we've never met in person before... until now anyway."

Twilight's face turned to concern. "Is everything alright?"

Dark let out a sigh before he answered her. "I'm going to be meeting the dragon responsible for putting my home through two hundred years of suffering for the first time. I guess I'm just a bit anxious about it is all. I mean, what am I suppose to say to him, or even do for that matter?!" Dark began pacing in frustration, his voice raising. "Hundreds, if not thousands, of ponies are dead because of him, and he's going to be here as a guest! A guest to whom I can't so much as lay a claw on, less I get you and the other princesses in trouble!"

His ranting was stopped upon feeling a hoof on his shoulder. He turned to see Twilight and his anger began to simmer. She gave him a sad smile, understanding that he's upset and there wasn't anything he could do to change it.

"It's alright," she told him. "Celestia and Luna won't let him get away with what he's done to you and your village. And neither will I." He allowed a smile to creep up from hearing Twilight speak. "He has gotten away with this for far too long, and nopony, or dragon, will prevent what he has coming to him. That, and I'm sure the other nations will be hearing about this as well."

"But what kind of a punishment can one give to a foreign ruler?" Dark questioned. "Payment in blood is pointless and would get us nowhere. And he would probably brush-off any fine that he'd be slapped with, treating it as though it were pocket change to him... and..."

His frustration and sorrow had caught up to him. Dark was having trouble finishing his sentence as it became harder for him to hold back the pain he kept bottled up. Between being physically exhausted from his long day of work, his training, and the emotions he tried to hide, Dark fell to his rump, involuntarily letting a few soft sniffles escape him. His vision became blurred soon after. It wasn't from the tears forming in his eyes, though, but from a soft, lavender coat. Looking up, he saw Twilight wrapping her forelegs and wings around him in a comforting embrace.

"Twilight?"

"Shhh," she softly quieted him, petting his mane like her mother used to do for her when she was sad. "Everything's going to be alright."

"But-" He tried talking but was promptly cut off by Twilight.

"You've been keeping all of this hurt to yourself, haven't you?" she asked, feeling him nod in reply. "Why?"

"I didn't want to trouble any of you with my problems anymore than I already have," he quietly answered, his voice slightly muffled.

"You shouldn't have to feel like keeping any of that from us," she told him, tightening her hug. "If something's bothering you, you tell us. If something's upsetting you and you need to talk, we'll listen." Twilight's eyes were starting to water now. "And if you're hurting and need somepony there for you, then all you need to do is ask, and I'll be there."

Letting her words sink in, the last of Dark's defenses crumbled as he let himself go. His sniffles turned to soft sobs and he let his tears flow as he wrapped his arms around Twilight. He didn't care about anything else at the moment. Any other sounds were being drowned out by him sobbing into Twilight's chest, and her comforting, soothing words. Whether it was a few seconds or a few minutes that passed, he didn't know. To him, nothing mattered besides what, or who, was in front of him right now. For the first time in what felt like a lifetime, Dark felt like he could truly be himself, that all his worries could disappear. They stayed like that for a good while before Dark's sobbing slowly died down. Pulling back a bit, he looked to see Twilight's face, and saw that her eyes were bloodshot with wet streaks that matted the fur beneath her eyes.

"Twilight?" Dark softly spoke. "What's wrong? Why are you crying?"

She gave a quick sniffle before whipping her eyes. "It just makes me sad, seeing one of my friends so hurt like this."

"I'm sorry, Twilight," he apologized, gently wrapping his wings around her in a comforting hug and pulling her into his chest like she did for him. "This is exactly why I didn't want to tell anypony about what I was feeling."

"I know. But still, you shouldn't feel like you need to keep it to yourself. So next time you need somepony to talk to, please don't hesitate to ask me."

"Are you sure about that?" Dark questioned. "You know my past isn't a very pleasant topic."

"I'm sure, and besides." Twilight tilted her head to look up into Dark's eyes. "My castle, my rules," she giggled.

Dark gave a throaty chuckle. "Yeah, I suppose so."

Though the mood was lifted somewhat, they didn't bother to move. Instead, they remained the way they were, simply enjoying the company of one another while in each other's embrace. They quietly stayed like that for a few more minutes before Twilight broke the silence.

"We should probably head to the kitchen. Spike should be almost done making dinner by now," she suggested.

"Alright," Dark answered before looking over his coat. "Although, I should probably get cleaned up first. I'm still covered in dirt and mud."

Twilight pulled back a little to look at her own coat, noticing that some of it got transferred onto her as well. "Guess I better grab one too."

"In that case, you should go fist," he offered. "Besides, your castle and all that."

Twilight giggled and gave him a playful bop on the nose for him jokingly trying to use her own words against her. "Darn right it is. Still though, are you sure? I mean, you are covered in more of it than I am."

Dark shrugged. "I can be patient."

"Alright then," Twilight answered as she broke their hug and made her way to the bathroom.

Dark let out a content sigh as Twilight rounded the corner. Closing his eyes, he started replaying her words in his head, smiling contently in knowing that there was somepony who would be there for him that he felt he could completely trust. His thoughts were interrupted when he felt a pair of eyes on him. Slowly, he turned his head to the side to see Spike with a raised eyebrow, a sly grin, and a camera in his claw.

"You can consider this as payback for the picture of me and the Crusaders," Spike taunted while waving the camera.

Dark didn't move, seeing as he was to embarrassed to do so. What's more is the fact that Spike had managed to sneak in a camera shot of him and Twilight without either of them knowing.

"And what about when Twilight finds out?" Dark asked.

"Oh, she'll find out alright," Spike answered smugly. "Besides, isn't it the little brothers job to annoy their older siblings?"

"I wouldn't really know. My brother didn't exactly get along with me."

"Oh... sorry about that," Spike apologized with a look of guilt.

"You didn't know, so it's alright," Dark quickly brushed off.

"Alright. Well, dinner's ready when you are."

"Okay. Thanks, Spike."

It was another long day in Stonewall Village. The guards there were able to get almost all of it cleared of dragon corpses and blood thanks to the pegasi bringing in some rainclouds. Even Iron Guard was down with his troops in helping them clean the place up. Despite his rank, he always preferred to lead by example rather than with words. Wiping the sweat from his brow, he turned to see one of his soldiers galloping towards him.

"Sir," he said with a salute. "We have just cleared out the entrance to the mines as per your orders, sir."

"Very good," Iron Guard complimented. "Has anypony went in yet?"

"No, sir. We thought it best to wait for you to be present before entering."

"Very well then, lead on."

The guard guided him over to the mine where a dozen more guards were waiting for them. Upon seeing their captain, they parted to either side of the entrance, got into line, and saluted.

"At ease," Iron Guard told them. "It's been a long day for everypony so formalities aren't a priority at the moment. Now, who's ready to explore a cave?"

A group of cheers sounded as they entered the mine with the unicorn horns providing them with light. The tunnel was big enough for them to walk through side-by-side, but would be a tight fit for a fully-grown dragon. Why something would stuff two of them in to seal it was beyond their understanding. After a minute of walking, they caught the scent of a strong, foul odor before coming to what was the main chamber of the mine. They looked off to the sides, noticing that they were now standing on a wooden ramp instead of solid ground. Iron Guard took a loose rock from the wall and dropped it off the side. It wasn't until a few seconds later that they heard it make contact, though it didn't sound like rock hitting rock.

"All unicorns," he called out. "Send out a magical flare, give us some light."

They obeyed, and soon, most of the darkness with lifted by several orbs of light. The main chamber was enormous. It was a few hundred yards wide in all directions, and roughly fifty below was what they thought was the bumpy cave floor. Casting a few flares of his own, Iron Guard lit up the floor. The sight from when they first arrived at the village was bad enough, but now, a few of the guards couldn't keep their stomachs down.

Below them, covering the entire chamber floor were more dead dragons. But these ones were older than the ones that they found outside. From what they could see, most still had scales and skin attached to them while others were nothing but bones, and some were skeletons with loose strips of rotting flesh hanging off of them. Iron Guard sighed to himself, looking at the new mess they were presented with. Turning to his troops, he began to address them.

"Alright everypony, we're heading back to camp. Try to get some rest, because it looks like our stay here has just been extended by a few days."

A collection of groans and gagging echoed through the cave in response, but he couldn't blame them. Even after the battles and aftermaths he's seen, Iron Guard didn't want to be here any longer than he had to. They had a body count of the dragons that they found outside and the graves by the pillar. Now, though, they had to sort through another batch, this time in a rank-smelling cave. And judging by what he saw, there were a lot more corpses in this cave alone than there were outside.

Chapter 8- Ambushed

Today was a busy, cloudy day for Dark at Sweet Apple Acres. After what happened yesterday with the guards, Dark upped his work speed to try and make up for the time he missed, and to cover for Applejack having to leave for that meeting. But he made sure that he didn't go overboard with it, considering that his training this afternoon was suppose to push his wings' limits. Dark even noticed last night at dinner that Twilight was unusually interested in his training today, but refused to tell him why for some reason.

With their morning work done, Applejack, Big Mac, and Dark went inside the house where Granny had lunch ready for them. Applejack had told her about what Rainbow Dash had in store for him and decided to make a little something extra. She also brought out a large bottle of their family's cider.

"This isn't alcoholic, is it?" Dark nervously asked.

"Eenope," Applejack answered. "We keep the hard cider down in the cellar under lock and key. This here is the non-alcoholic stuff. Besides, Ah'm not gonna have that stuff served on a work day."

"Thank goodness," he said relieved. "I've never drank anything alcoholic, so I don't know what it would do to me if I did. I don't even know how much alcohol I can handle."

"Really?" Big Mac questioned.

"Yep," Dark answered. "Besides, I didn't exactly have the luxury of drinking. Couldn't risk being drunk incase of a dragon raid."

"Ah suppose not," Applejack agreed.

"Regardless of that, sonny," Granny began. "Though this may not have as big of a kick as the hard stuff, one mug of this here cider will leave ya feelin' fully charged and rearin' ta go."

Grabbing the mug that Granny placed in front of him, Dark brought it to his lips for an experimental taste. Smacking his lips after taking a few sips, Dark began pondering the flavor it left behind. It tasted of sweet apples and something bitter that he couldn't identify, but neither were too overwhelming. Liking what he tasted, he took a large swig of it, the little tastes now exploding in his mouth. Dark immediately thought of this as the best drink ever created as he closed his eyes and began chugging. Finishing off the last drop of his cider, Dark slammed the mug on the table with a hearty belch. Looking back, he could see everypony in the room staring at him.

Dark gave a nervous chuckle. "Umm... excuse me?"

Applejack and Big Mac each gave a chuckle of their own while Granny began cackling.

"Ah take it that ya liked it?" Applejack jokingly guessed.

"Best thing I've ever drank," Dark happily answered.

"Thank ya kindly for the compliment, sonny," Granny thanked. "Up for another round?"

"Only if it's okay with you guys."

Granny nodded as she came over and poured him a second mugful before taking her own seat at the table. The four ate while occasionally breaking into conversation. Dark was rather interested in Granny's stories about her younger years, mainly of how her family had founded Ponyville. Even Applejack shared a few of her adventures with him. But story time came to an end as they finished their food, and had more work to do. After taking care of their dishes and thanking Granny for the food, the three made their way back outside.

The rest of the afternoon went much like how things did earlier, except now Dark was feeling far more energized after the two mugs of cider that Granny gave him. He was even working faster than what he'd been earlier, now running from tree to tree instead of walking like everypony else did. It wasn't long after that until Applejack found her way over to him.

"Whoo-wee!" she exclaimed. "That's quite a nice number of apple trees you've bucked. Are ya sure that you're not gonna be too tired when ya leave ta meet up with Rainbow?"

"Are you kidding?" Dark asked energetically. "I'm so wired right now, I'm starting to doubt that she'll even come close to how tired she told you girls I'd be."

Applejack shook her head. "That's probably the cider doin' the talkin' there," she explained. "Ah've seen this happen a few times with some ponies. They would have a few mugs of cider, then later that day they'd crash... hard."

"So, when do you think that'll happen?" he asked. "Because if it's before or during Rainbow's training, then I might be in trouble."

"Don't ya worry about that, sugarcube. Y'all should be done with whatever she has planed for ya before it hits."

"Alright. Thanks, Applejack."

"No problem. Speakin' of Rainbow, shouldn't ya be on your way over there right now?"

Dark looked up to see the position of the sun. "Yeah, I suppose I should. Unless there's something you want me to take care of before I leave."

"Nah, where good," she answered.

"Alrighty then. In that case, I'll see you tomorrow," Dark said before running off to the pond.

"Eeyup. See ya soon," Applejack answered, waving to him before turning back.

Taking a moment to look over his work, Applejack gave an approving nod at how he did for today. By her count, Dark had gone from applebucking sixty trees in a day, to eighty. Granted, she and Big Mac could clear over two hundred of them in a single day apiece, but she was still pleased at the progression he was showing. Thinking about how full their apple cellar would be by the time the season ended, Applejack resumed her work while humming a joyous tune.

Exiting out of the apple orchard, Dark stopped and noticed that this afternoon was a bit breezy. He didn't notice it earlier because of all of the trees blocking the wind from the area they worked.

This might make my training today a little bit tougher, he though while continuing his walk. Probably a good thing, though. It'll help burn away that extra energy I have.

Making his way down the road back to Ponyville, Dark noticed three familiar guards approaching him. It wasn't until they were within a few yards that he could confirm that they were the same three from yesterday.

"Hey guys," Dark greeted them. "How's it going today?"

"Just fine, loverboy," the female guard teasingly answered.

"Not this again," he groaned, eliciting a few snickers from her and the younger guard. Then a thought came to mind. "By the way, I never did ask what your names were."

The three looked to each other before looking back to Dark.

"I'm Kite Shield," the younger guard answered.

"I'm Aura Lance," the female guard answered.

"My name is Steel Hoof," the older guard answered. "And I'm the leader of this squad.

"Nice to meet officially make your acquaintances," Dark replied. "By the way, how did you get the name 'Steel Hoof'?"

Steel Hoof held up his right foreleg, revealing a hoof made of metal. "That's why," he answered.

"Huh, didn't notice it before." Dark looked back to Steel Hoof. "Thanks for telling me. Hope it was alright that I asked."

He gave Dark a polite nod. "It's fine," he answered. "Got it a long time ago during my younger years as a guard. After I got it, I decided to change my name to better fit myself. Although it draws unwanted attention at times, it does blend in well with the armor, so most ponies don't even notice it."

Dark looked to the others. "And what about you two, if you don't mind my asking?"

"Well," Aura Lance began answering. "My name pertains to my cutie mark, which is a pair of crossed magical spears."

"Like Aura's name, mine too pertains to my cutie mark. It's a magical kite shield, kinda similar to Aura's," Kite Shield answered.

"That's cool," Dark commented.

"Those two work really well together," Steel Hoof added. "While Kite uses his shields for defense, Aura would take the offense by creating spears and launching them. During a few sparring matches, those two managed to best two or three other squads at once with this tactic."

"It's mostly because of Aura that we managed to win," Kite bashfully said.

"Are you kidding?" Aura questioned. "It was your shields protecting us that led us to victory during those sparring matches."

"You give me too much credit," he dismissed.

"Nonsense," Steel said. "Your shields are one of the strongest ones we have in the guard. By my account, the only one in the guard to have a stronger magical shield than you was your old mentor, Shining Armor."

"I remember Twilight telling me that he specializes in defensive magic, like shield spells and barriers," Dark chimed.

"Indeed he does. Even now he's considered to be the most powerful unicorn when it comes to those spells. And like I already said, it just so happens that before he moved to the Crystal Empire, Prince Shining Armor personally trained Kite Shield."

"That must have been really exciting for you."

"It was," Kite replied. "Even though he was strict with me, I know that it just meant that he truly cared about my training."

"By the way, Dark," Aura began. "What kind of magic do you specialize in? Your cutie mark looks like it's fire-based."

"More or less," He answered. "Although I've just about mastered fire magic, I still don't use it much outside of my forge."

"So your an offensive spell caster?" Kite asked, receiving a nod in reply. "So who do you think would win in a duel between you and Prince Shining Armor?"

Dark thought about it for a few moments. "I would have to say that he would win."

"Seems like the proper outcome," Steel commented. "Considering he's got more experience then you do."

"I'm not so sure about that," Dark countered. "I spent the last eight years of my life fighting dragons on a regular basis of four to seven days. The real reason why I believe that he would beat me is because the use of my fire magic is conditional. Where he can use his preferred magic without restraint, I run the risk of burning, melting, and/or setting everything around me on fire. So in the end, I try not to use it too much unless I'm alone, or there isn't anything flammable around me. Like I said, it depends on the condition I'm in."

"So you're cautious when using your magic," Steel concluded. "I know a few guards that could learn a thing or two about that."

"Thanks," Dark gratefully replied, just before his eyes widened. "Oh crud! I'm gonna be late for my flight training!"

"Who's training you to fly?" Aura asked.

"Rainbow," he answered. "I was heading over to the pond to meet up with her before running into you three. I just hope she isn't too upset with me."

"In that case, good luck to you lad," Steel said with a salute. "Until we meet again."

"Thanks, Steel. But why are you guys saluting me? I'm just a normal guy after all."

"It's because Princess Twilight has ordered us to treat you like we would to her and her friends."

"As nice as that is, I don't really believe that I'm worth that kind of respect," Dark admitted. "So if it's alright with you three, could you treat me like a normal pony and not salute me? You know, more like how two ponies would casually greet each other."

"A rather surprising request for Princess Twilight's coltfriend," Aura commented with a snicker.

"I'm not her coltfriend," Dark argued with a groan. "I'm just a guy that she found passed out in a field."

"Whatever you say."

"If that's what you want, then we can do that for you," Steel agreed.

"Thank you. Well, you three take care, and I'll see ya around!" Dark called as he ran off, trying to get to the pond as fast as he could.

Rainbow was impatiently tapping her hoof by the pond as she waited for Dark to show up. She had expected him to show up a while ago, but now was thinking about flying over to Sweet Apple Acres to go fetch Dark and drag him over herself. That was until she heard heavy breathing behind her. Turning around, she saw Dark slowing from a full gallop, to a trot, and eventually a crawl before stopping a few yards away from her, panting for breath.

"Look who's finally made it," Rainbow commented. "What took you so long anyway?"

Dark didn't answer her as he was too busy trying to catch his breath and raised a claw, asking for a moment.

"Well, whatever. Now that you're here, we can finally get started."

Dark looked up. "Can I have a few more seconds to catch my breath?"

"You're late enough as it is," she answered. "Besides, you can think of this as apart of your training for today. Now off the ground."

Reluctantly nodding, Dark began beating his wings, hovering a foot off the ground.

"Good. Now I want you to hold that as long as you can," she told him while looking at a stopwatch she brought with her.

"Is this another endurance test?" Dark asked.

"Yeah, it is. Your wings are strong enough for flight, but you won't get very far with your current air time." She paused. "Now, did you do those exercises I told you about?"

"Fifty wing-ups in the morning, and another fifty at night, correct?"

"Yep. So, why were you so late anyway?" Rainbow asked.

"Bumped into some guards that I met yesterday."

Rainbow glared at him. "Were they the same ones that chained you up and dragged you across Ponyville?"

"Yes, they were."

"Okay, what happened this time?"

"Nothing," he answered. "We managed to get on good terms yesterday when they walked with me back to help explain to Applejack about what happened. I actually forgot to ask for their names yesterday, so I stopped to ask them, considering that they seemed to be good enough ponies."

"So you were late because you made some friends then?" she asked, raising an eyebrow.

Dark scratched his chin. "Well, when you put it like that... yeah, I suppose I did."

"Tell you what," she began. "If you can continue to hover for forty minutes, then I'll forgive you. If you can't, however, then you'll have to do seventy-five wing-ups instead of fifty until next Tuesday, Deal?"

"But that's over twice as long as my highest time," Dark complained.

"Well if you don't think you can, then I guess I'll just add to your workouts even more."

"Alright," he groaned. "Deal."

And so, Dark began his endurance test with an added side bet going on. The breeze from earlier had picked up, blowing in his face, across the pond, and into forest behind him. As he continued to hover, though, Dark began to notice that the wind was blowing him backwards over the pond. Soon he found himself hovering just above the center of it. He was at thirty-five minutes now, and Rainbow was starting to grow both anxious about possibly losing, and surprised at how well he was doing today. Eventually, Dark hit the forty minute mark, making Rainbow click the timer on her stopwatch.

"Way to go, Dark!" she called. "You've managed to stay hovering for forty minutes."

"Already?" he asked surprised. "It doesn't feel like it."

"Well you can stop hovering now and come back here."

Dark looked down below him. "Uhh, what about the water? Are you wanting me to just plop down into it?"

Rainbow Dash rubbed her chin in thought for a moment, a new idea coming to mind.

"Alright, new plan," she announced. "I'm going to teach you how to move while hovering."

"Sweet."

"This time, however, I want you to try and not falling into the water. If you do, then you'll start over by starting from the center of the pond, and trying to make your way over here."

"Alright, I can do that."

"Good," Rainbow said before giving her instructions. "Now to move while hovering, or flying for that matter, you'll need to angle your wings slightly while also tilting your body in the direction that you want to go."

Dark nodded before trying. "You make it sound a lot simpler than I thought it would be."

"That's because I know what I'm doing, and I'm also the best flyer in Equestria," she bragged. "But it's a lot easier said than done."

Dark noticed this as he tilted forward too far and plummeted into the water. After getting himself out by flapping his wings, Dark tried it again. Rainbow was rather patient as she sat on the shoreline, watching Dark as he tried to move while hovering. After a few hours of watching, Rainbow took a look at her watch, seeing that it was almost time to call it a day. But before she did, she noticed that Dark wasn't nearly as tired as what he should have been.

"How is it that you're still going like that?" she asked.

"Granny gave me some cider," Dark answered as he started inching towards Rainbow.

Rainbow's eyes widened. "You had cider?! And they didn't send any with you for me?!" she upsettingly asked.

"Sorry, I didn't know that you liked it," he apologized.

"Alright, after we're done here, I'm heading straight over to Sweet Apple Acres to get some!" Rainbow declared. "But at least now I know how you're able to keep up."

"Actually, it's because of what you told them that Applejack had Granny serve it."

Rainbow facehoofed. "Of course," she said before looking at her watch again, then back to the setting sun. "Looks like our time for today is almost up, so you better get a move on before-" She stopped as she saw Dark inching his way across the shoreline. "Okay, never mind then."

"So... how did... I do?" Dark asked in-between breaths.

"Even though that cider did give you an edge, overall you did well," she announced. "At this rate, I might start teaching you how to actually fly by Thursday." Dark cheered before Rainbow looked to his seemingly limp wings. "By the way, how are your wings feeling?"

"Like jelly," he answered sitting down. "Feels like I can barely move them."

"Well as long as you can make it back to Twilight's Castle, then you're okay. In the mean time, I'm heading off to talk to Applejack about that cider," she proclaimed as she began taking off. "Also, you seem to have a good handle on hovering, so feel free to practice on your own whenever you want."

"Alright, see ya later!" Dark shouted as Rainbow flew away.

After she was out of sight, Dark laid down for a moment to rest himself. Only a few times has he felt this physically tired before, and one of them were due to pulling two all-nighters in a row at his forge. Feeling his muscles starting to get stiff on him, Dark made his way to get a drink of water from the stream leading into the pond. As he made his way over to the stream, Dark turned his back to the forest, letting the cool, late afternoon wind cool his face off. After taking a moment to feel the wind in his face, he lowered his head and started drinking from the stream, feeling the cool water refreshing him with each gulp. What he didn't know, however, were the eight pairs of eyes glowing from the edge of the forest.

With his back turned to the forest, and with the direction that the wind was blowing, Dark didn't notice as the eight timberwolves swiftly, yet silently, crawled closer to him. Though the stench the timberwolves carried with them would have normally given them away, they were downwind of Dark, making their scent undetectable. They were ninety feet behind Dark now as he brought his head up for a breath of air. Slowly it became sixty feet, then forty-five feet. Still unaware of their presence, once they hit thirty feet, the first timberwolf broke into a sprint.

Picking up the sudden sound, Dark turned his head around to see a timberwolf in mid-pounce. Moving by instinct at this point, Dark dodged the initial attack, but still got a good sized scratch on his right thigh. Squaring against his attacker, Dark noticed the other seven timberwolves behind the first one.

Where they hay did they all come from?! Dark wondered in a slight panic. Why couldn't I smell them before they got so close?

While taking a defensive stance, Dark took a moment to take in his surroundings. He noticed first off that the wind was blowing in the direction of the forest which hid their scent. Second, he saw that because of the direction he dodged the timberwolf, he was now standing with his back towards the pond.

Well they certainly caught me at a bad time, he thought. My wings are still too tired to lift me up over the pond to escape, and if I try swimming across, then they'll just surround me and either wait for me to drown, or come in after me.

Any more thinking was interrupted as two more timberwolves joined the first one, attacking his front and sides. Still physically exhausted, and from being scratch on his leg, Dark couldn't dodge them too much, so he had to take another approach instead. He lit up his horn, encasing the three in his golden aura, and lifted them off the ground. But once he lifted them, the rest of the timberwolves began charging.

Seeing them coming, Dark took the three timberwolves he held in his magic, and slammed them into three of the timberwolves charging him. While the six of them broke apart, that still left two more who were very close to Dark by this point. Standing on his legs, Dark pivoted on his left leg, swinging himself around and hitting one of them with his tail while the other leaped for Dark's neck. With him standing on his legs, Dark ducked, avoiding the timberwolf's mouth and claws before taking a swing with his own claws, breaking it apart and watching its remains fall to the ground.

Taking a moment to catch his breath, Dark looked at the wooden remains scattered around him. As he let out a sigh of relief, the wooden pieces began glowing with a eerie green color before reconstructing themselves. Within seconds, the eight shattered timberwolves became whole again.

"Oh, come on!" Dark shouted, throwing his arms in the air out of frustration.

Upon reassembling, the timberwolves immediately charged Dark from every angle, save for his back which was still against the pond. Firing blasts of magic out of his horn, Dark began picking them off one by one. He managed to shoot down half of them before the other half converged on him. Unable to dodge, Dark began striking back at them when they got close enough. His right claw made contact with one of them while his left forearm became clamped down in another's jaws. Roaring in pain, Dark lunged his head at his attacker, opening his maw before biting down hard on the timberwolf's head, crushing it to splinters with his sharp, draconic fangs. Spitting out the chunks of wood, he noticed that the last two were clawing away at his wings, which he could barely feel. Using what strength he had in them, Dark shot his wings open, throwing the two timberwolves a good thirty feet away.

Lifting his left arm off the ground to relieve it of any pressure, Dark lit his horn to prepare casting a spell. By the time the timberwolves reassembled themselves and got back up on their paws, Dark unleashed a ten foot high wall of flame that began to circle around in front of him, leaving an opening behind him into the pond.

"That's it," Dark growled, his horn glowing bright. "Now you'll burn!"

Activating his Soul Eyes, Dark was able to pick out the location of the seven timberwolves prowling the other side of the fire wall. Looking down to the one he bit earlier, he saw that it had no life left in it as its head was completely shattered.

Alright then, he thought. If I can destroy their head, then they'll die. Dark looked back towards the others. In the meantime, I'll just have to see if incineration will work.

Now knowing how to permanently put them down, Dark began shooting fireballs out from his horn towards the timberwolves. They must have backed up from the flames, though, because each of his shots missed their mark. Not letting it bother him, Dark started firing more, one after another, until he finally made contact with one of them. The timberwolf didn't fall apart like it did before, however, but instead took Dark by surprise by jumping through the wall of fire and running into the pond behind him. Seconds later, the timberwolf emerged out of the water, burnt, and pissed.

Giving a low howl, it called to the others, who soon followed its lead by jumping through the fires and ran directly into the pond, dousing the flames. Though slightly burnt from their brief run-in with the fire wall, the seven timberwolves didn't seem too bothered otherwise. What they didn't notice, though, was that after the first timberwolf emerged through the fire, Dark began channeling his magic into a powerful fire spell. After five seconds of loud growling and panting from Dark, the ground below them began glowing red. Looking down at their paws, the timberwolves saw a circular fire glyph on the ground that had expanded until they were all standing inside it. Turning and jumping through the wall of fire to get some distance, Dark turned back around, his horn now glowing even brighter.

After muttering a short incantation, his spell detonated, creating a fire pillar that shot up thirty feet into the air. Though the sight of his most favorite trap spell always made him shiver in giddiness, it was quite taxing on his magic. What's worse is that he didn't hear the howls of pain that he was expecting. Feeling his magic depleting from both his physical exhaustion and casting so many spells, Dark had to dispel his Soul Eyes, causing him to lose sight of his targets. He didn't lose them for long, though, as he caught movement from the corner of his right eye.

Turning, Dark could see four of the timberwolves with a slight limp to their walk, and severe burn marks.

Guess I just barely nicked them before they doused the flames in the pond... again, he concluded.

He was snapped from his thoughts as he heard panting behind him. Spinning around with a claw flexed, Dark was met with the other three timberwolves. With a swing, he took out the first one, scratching its face before it fell apart, but that still left the other two to continue forward. After they were in mid-pounce, Dark reached his claws forward, grabbing each of them by the neck before holding their heads side-by-side and unleashing his fire breath upon the two. This was a mistake as he soon found out, however. Although he held them off the ground while standing bipedal and holding them up above his head, he forgot about their claws. As he continued to breath fire from his burning maw, the two helpless timberwolves kept scratching at his face with their front claws while trying to dig into his chest with their rear ones.

After a few seconds, Dark let them drop with their heads burnt clean off. Even though he took out another two, he had little time to rest as the first four cautiously walked towards him with the fifth now starting to reassemble itself. Doing a quick check over himself, Dark saw that the two did in fact cut his chest open pretty well. Though it didn't appear life-threatening at the moment, it still hurt a lot, making him hold his left claw to his chest wound. He also felt blood running from left cheek and down his neck.

This isn't going well, he thought to himself. I'm physically and magically tired, my wings are still too tired and sore to hover out of reach, I'm bleeding, and I've only got three of them so far. That, and I can't use Healing Flame unless I wanna heal them too.

Still standing on his legs, Dark turned to face his attackers. Slowly, they made their way closer to Dark before one of them broke into a sprint. Leaping up at his neck, Dark quickly ducked down, brought his right claw in, and with a quick thrust, embedded his claw into the timberwolf's chest. With it still holding together, Dark gave another shove with his claw, sending it through the back of the timberwolf. After seeing the glow from its eyes fade, Dark threw it off his arm and towards the remaining timberwolves, who were standing a good forty feet away. Dark then began feeling slightly queasy and fell to his right claw, trying to keep himself upright using both legs, and his one good arm.

Angered by the loss of their fellow timberwolves, and with how much of a fight Dark has put up, the last four timberwolves each let out a loud howl. Their combined howls were long and loud, echoing throughout the late evening sky. After finishing their group howl, they each let out a loud growl, eager to end this fight.

Dark now knew that this fight wouldn't end well if they prolonged it, so he decided to do what he should've done from the start. Removing his left claw from his bleeding chest to stand on all-fours, Dark took a few seconds to take in a very deep breath. This needed to be just as loud and long as what the timberwolves had done. Even though each second he inhaled was painful on his wounded chest, he continued on. Few seconds later, he let it all out.

Throwing his head back and fully extending his wings, Dark let out a mighty draconic roar, along with breathing out a large plume of fire from his maw. It was far louder than what the four timberwolves had managed, and it held up just as long. While his fire breath towered high above the treetops, his roar could be heard clear across Ponyville. After a good ten seconds of roaring and fire-breathing, Dark stopped, panting for breath while facing the four timberwolves. They were now snarling at him for his show of defiance, but that wasn't the reason for Dark's bellowing.

And now I wait, he thought to himself, trying to catch his breath. Then an idea came to him from the pair that recently attacked him. In the mean time, though, let's see if this new strategy will work.

One minute earlier at Sweet Apple Acres, Rainbow was sitting down with Applejack at her house, each with several empty mugs of cider sitting beside them. After her lessons with Dark, Rainbow immediately flew to the farm, complaining about why she didn't get any. Applejack facehoofed, briefly forgetting how much she loved her cider. Soon enough, Applejack led Rainbow into her kitchen where some of the cider from before sat. It started off as just a simple drink between friends, but quickly turned to a drinking game to see who can drink the most within a certain time limit. Of course, neither won as they ended up in a tie... again.

"Ugh, who's idea was this again?" Rainbow groaned.

"Ah have no idea, Rainbow," Applejack answered. "Still, though, Ah shoulda known that you'd want some after finding out about Dark havin' a few mugs of it."

"How many did he have exactly?"

"Just two." Applejack rubbed her chin. "By the way, did he crash before ya left?"

"You mean from the cider, right?" Rainbow asked.

"Eeyup."

"Nope. He was sore and tired, but he didn't crash. Kinda sucks too. Without your cider, I'm sure he'd be too tired to even walk back."

Applejack took another swig from her mug. "Well at least it wasn't the hard stuff."

"Oh boy, that would've been funny to see," Rainbow remarked, before both she and Applejack burst into laughter at the thought of Dark flying drunk.

Their merrymaking was interrupted by the sound of a group of loud howls echoing through the house. Freezing in place, the two looked to each other before quickly running out the front door. Using what little light the setting sun was providing, Rainbow took to the air, trying to make out where the source of where that noise came from.

"You see anythin' up there, Rainbow?" Applejack asked.

"Not yet," Rainbow answered.

As soon as she said that, another loud sound ripped through the evening sky, causing her to wince in surprise at the volume it emanated. Rainbow knew that sound well from her trip during the Great Dragon Migration. It was a loud draconic roar, and it left a column of fire right where the pond was.

"What they hay was that?!" Applejack yelled to Rainbow. She then turned to see an orange glow in the distance. "And what's with that glowin' over there?"

Rainbow didn't answer her, she just hovered where she was, watching the fire burning above the trees.

I shouldn't have left him so quickly, Rainbow mentally berated herself. I should've stayed and helped him back to Twilight's Castle before flying off like that.

"Rainbow!" Applejack shouted, snapping her out her thoughts.

Rainbow immediately flew down in front of Applejack and lowered herself to the ground.

"You need to get on, now!" Rainbow ordered with a bit of panic in her voice.

"Why? What's happenin'?"

"It's Dark!" Rainbow exclaimed. "That was his roar we heard, and we need to get over there to him right now!"

Not wasting any more time, Applejack climbed on top of Rainbow and held onto her neck. Soon as she was secured, Rainbow launched herself and her passenger up into the air.

"So where are we headin' anyway?" Applejack asked.

"I saw fire erupting from the direction of the pond where we've been having our flying lessons," Rainbow explained. "So that's probably where he's at."

Meanwhile, on the outskirts of Ponyville, Steel Hoof, Aura Spear, and Kite Shield were just finishing up their shift before retiring for the night. Besides Dark stopping to visit with them, their day had been relatively boring. Granted they did talk to each other during their patrols, but other than that, nothing.

"That's it, I'm bored," Aura declared.

"Yeah, me too," Kite agreed.

"I know it seems boring," Steel began. "But if it helps keep the village safe, then isn't it worth being a little bored?"

They were about to agree with him before loud howls were heard. Quickly lighting their horns, Kite conjured sever magic shields around them while Aura summoned an equal number of magical spears. Taking a few seconds to survey the area around them, they then heard a massive roar that made them shudder in fear.

"What where those noises?" Kite shakenly asked.

"The first one was a pack of timberwolves, no doubt what we were sent here to guard the town from," Steel paused for a moment. "The second one was defiantly a dragon, but it sounded a little off, though."

"Whoa! Look at that!" Aura called, pointing a hoof at a large column of fire shooting up into the air behind them.

Taking a moment to think, Steel looked to Kite. "What does the map say is over there?"

Pulling the map out of his saddlebag, Kite began to look over it. Few seconds later, he looked back up to Steel.

"The only thing the map shows in that direction is a pond," Kite answered.

Aura froze. "Didn't Dark say that he had flight training over by a pond?"

The two stallions looked to each other, then back to Aura before they all broke into a gallop, heading towards the pond.

Meanwhile, inside her castle, Twilight was in the lounge, laying on one of the couches with a small stack of books beside her. With Dark not home yet, she was finishing up the book that he interrupted her from reading yesterday, Dating for Beginners. She also had, The Symptoms of Love, and a few other books and romance novels that she borrowed from Rarity. Finishing up her second book on the subject, Twilight gave a content sigh as she levitated the book down on the coffee table and began reading the next one. Just as she finished reading the first paragraph of the book, Twilight heard a howl. It wasn't very loud due to the castle filtering out the noise, but it was still audible.

"Twilight! Twilight!" She heard Spike calling before the library doors flew open, revealing the little dragon. "Did you hear that?!"

"Yeah, I did," she answered. "But I wouldn't worry about it too much, Spike. Besides, that's why Princess Celestia sent the guards-"

She was cutoff by a draconic roar that loudly echoed through the castle halls. Twilight suddenly felt a pang in her chest as worry and fear began to take hold.

"Oh no," she whispered.

"Twilight?" Spike called.

"Spike, is Dark back yet?" she worryingly asked.

"Not yet," he answered. "Kinda weird, though. He's usually back by now."

Twilight slammed the book shut and quickly got to her hooves.

"Spike, I want you to stay here in the castle," she told him. "If I'm not back in a half hour, then expect a message of some kind, either a letter, or a pony."

"Twilight, what's going on?" Spike asked, he himself starting to panic now.

"Dark's in trouble," she answered. "And I'm going to go help him."

Lighting her horn, Twilight teleported herself out of her castle and onto the road. Spreading her wings, she took flight, making a beeline for the only place where she could think that Dark would be.

I just hope I'm not too late, Twilight thought as she pushed herself to go faster, heading towards the pond.

Why didn't I think of this sooner? Dark mentally questioned himself. It might have made things a little bit easier.

After roaring into the sky for help, Dark put his new plan into motion, which was to magically hold the timberwolves in place while using his fire breath to burn them away. He managed to get one timberwolf who got too far ahead and tried pouncing him alone, just for Dark to catch it in his magic before torching it, leaving three timberwolves left. However, he had only enough magic to do it one at a time, so he had to be careful with which one, and his timing.

Until then, he kept breathing out fireballs and long streams of fire, hoping to catch one of them before finding his opening. He wasn't having any luck, though, as the timberwolves kept running and dodging his fire. This had left the surrounding area covered in patches of fire, lighting up the area like as though it were a festival. Though the fires would be a pain to be put out, it did leave the timberwolves less room to run around.

It had been five minutes now since his call for help, but there was still no response. He could feel his fatigue catching up to him now, his movements becoming sluggish, his horn now letting out sparks instead of a constant glow, and to top it all off, the wounds on his chest, forearm, thigh, and cheek, all had some black mist flowing out of them.

Where the hay are they?! Dark panicked in thought. Somepony must have seen, or at least have heard me. So what's taking them so long?!

Dark's body was starting to shutdown on him as his arms gave out from under him. Soon after his legs buckled, leaving him to lay on his side. This is what the timberwolves had been waiting for. With Dark now laying on the ground weakened, the last three timberwolves wasted no time as they all hastily ran in to finish him off. Unable to move his legs and arms, Dark instead curled into a ball before using the strength he gathered over time in his wings to encase himself.

The two timberwolves from earlier didn't so much as leave a scratch on my wings, Dark thought. Perhaps I can use them to shield myself until help arrives.

Soon after, he felt them pounce on top of him and began clawing away at his wings. As he thought, his wings were indeed far more durable than the rest of him. After what felt like an hour of non-stop clawing, though, he started to feel a slight pain in his wings where they've been targeting. Getting worried, Dark quickly inhaled before breathing fire under his wings, catching the timberwolves by surprise and setting one of their paws on fire. Howling in pain, the timberwolf ran and jumped into the pond to put it out. The damage had been done, though, as its front-left paw was burnt off. The rest of them backed away, not wanting to risk further fighting, but it was too late for them.

Hearing what sounded like the high-pitched whistle from a speeding pegasus, Dark parted his wings and poked his head out. Looking around, he saw Rainbow land right beside him with Applejack on her back.

"Are you alright, Dark?" Rainbow asked while looking over Dark's bleeding cheek.

"I could be worse," Dark answered.

Hearing hooves galloping behind him, Dark turned his head to see Steel Hoof, Aura Lance, and Kite Shield closing in on him. Once they reached him, they took up defensive positions in front of him and on each of his sides.

"Whoa, what happened here?" Aura asked. "It looks like a dragon went on a rampage."

"Well, you're half right about that," Dark quipped. "That was actually me."

"What in the name of Celestia were ya thinkin'?!" Applejack snapped. "You said that ya wouldn't use fire against them!"

"It's not like I had much choice," Dark argued. "There were eight of them, they had me surrounded, and they're much bigger than the three that I ran into before."

Applejack's eyes widened before looking to the three timberwolves, then back to Dark.

"They're alpha timberwolves," she explained. "Their claws and teeth are covered in a special sap produced from their bodies that's poisonous and can cause uncontrollable bleadin'. And in a worse case scenario, it can cause necrosis."

Dark gulped. "And the side effects of catching necrosis?"

"Ah've never seen it before," Applejack answered before raising an eyebrow. "Why?"

Dark didn't answer her. Instead, he sat up and opened his wings, showing everypony the wounds that he got from his fight. They all gasped at seeing his chest, right thigh, and left forearm. They also saw the blood that covered his entire front half, along with most of the left half of his body, and his entire right leg.

"We've need to get him to the-" Rainbow began, but was interrupted by a flash of light.

Looking behind Dark, they saw that Twilight had just teleported in. Dark immediately covered himself with his wings before Twilight could see.

"Dark, what happened to you?!" she worryingly asked, moving in front to look him over.

"That's what happened," Rainbow answered, pointing her hoof at the three timberwolves who were now limping back away from them.

The timberwolves then turned around and limped away as fast as they could. Rainbow and the three guards were about to chase after them until Twilight lifted a hoof to stop them.

"Let them go," she told them. "They won't be coming back anytime soon." She looked back to Dark. "Now, how badly are you hurt?"

"A lot," Applejack answered. "Looks like a nasty bite on his left forearm, a deep scratch on his right flank, and it looks like they tried shreddin' his chest."

"WHAT?!" Twilight shouted. "Dark, show me now!"

Reluctantly, Dark moved his wings aside for Twilight to see. With the light provided by the nearby fires, she could clearly see the gashes and bite marks on him.

"We need to get him to the hospital, now!" Twilight declared.

"I'll be alright, Twilight," Dark spoke, trying to stand on all fours. "It doesn't even hurt as much anymore."

"All the more reason to get you taken care of before something happens!"

"Twilight, really, I'm-"

Dark cut himself off as his strength failed him, causing him to fall back down on his side again. Seeing him suddenly collapse caused everypony to call out to him in worry. Running to his side and lifting his head onto her lap, Twilight began checking his pulse.

"Then again, I've been wrong before," Dark softly admitted before yawning.

"Don't you dare fall asleep now!" Twilight told him.

"Heh, kinda hard to do at the moment," he replied, his eyelids feeling heavy. "I'm totally beat."

Twilight looked up to her friends. "I'm taking him to the hospital. Applejack, you and Rainbow go tell Spike that I'll be late getting home tonight." She then turned to the three guards. "And you three, send out a signal flare to the other guards, tell them about what happened here, then see what you can do about putting out those fires."

"Yes, Your Highness," they said in unison.

With everything taken care of, Twilight teleported herself and Dark to the Ponyville Hospital.

The Ponyville Hospital was rather quiet lately as Nurse Redheart was sitting behind the front desk, reading a fashion magazine that she picked up from a nearby table. It wasn't until a bright flash bathed the lobby in light that she was pulled out of her reading. After the light faded, she looked up to see Twilight sitting on the floor with something in her forelegs. As the blinding effect on her eyes cleared, she could see that it was the kirin from Pinkie's party, Dark Flame if she remembered correctly. Now that she could properly see again, Nurse Redheart could see the wound on his chest, thigh, and forearm, and all the blood that covered him.

"I need help!" Twilight desperately called out. "He's badly wounded and his breathing is weakening!"

Hearing her cry, Nurse Redheart grabbed a nearby stretcher and helped Twilight lift Dark onto it. Quickly after, a group of nurses and a doctor came rushing in.

"What happened?" the doctor asked Twilight while rolling Dark to the emergency room.

"He was attacked by a pack of alpha timberwolves," Twilight answered.

"And what about this black mist emanating from his wounds?"

"I don't know. He was like this when we found him."

The doctor pulled out his stethoscope and held it to Dark's chest, listening to his heartbeat. After a few seconds of listening in, he pulled his head back.

"His heart rate is low! We need to move faster!" he ordered as the medical ponies pushed Dark forward before stopping in front of Twilight. "I'm going to have to ask you to wait outside, Princess."

"But I can help him!" Twilight argued.

"I'm sorry, but I cannot permit non-medical personal beyond this point," he stated. "In the meantime, I recommend that you head home and get yourself cleaned up."

Twilight looked down at herself, seeing how much of Dark's blood that she was covered in. Although she didn't like the site of it, she also didn't want to leave Dark behind.

"If I can't go in, then I'll wait here," she solemnly answered.

The doctor nodded. "Very well then. If you could head on over to the waiting room, then I'll come by after we're done to inform you of his condition."

Reluctantly, Twilight gave a small nod before turning around and headed for the waiting room while the doctor made his way through the double-doors to begin the surgery.

Chapter 9- Worry and Relief

Twilight looked back to the clock hanging on the wall. It had been almost a half-hour since they brought Dark into the emergency room to begin the surgery. Letting her gaze fall back to the floor, she continued pacing around the empty waiting room, finding it difficult to keep still for even a minute while knowing that Dark was in such bad condition. As her thoughts remained on him, she started sniveling, now scared of what might happen to him.

"You idiot," she muttered, trying to hold back her tears. "Why'd you have to fight them alone and get yourself hurt like this?"

Meanwhile, at the kitchen of Sugarcube Corner, Pinkie was busy looking for some spare cupcakes to munch on before heading off to bed. As she was about to finish off the last of her dozen cupcakes, her Pinkie Sense kicked in. After a few seconds of involuntary body twitching, Pinkie began analyzing what it meant.

"Hmm," she hummed to herself as she began to figure it out. "One of my friends is sad, crying, and is at... the hospital?" Pinkie's eyes widened while her mane began to flatten out and lose some of its bright color. "That can't be good," she said before hastily writing a note, sticking it on the front door, and galloping away to the hospital.

Over at Twilight's Castle, Spike was snacking away on a bowl of gems while reading his newest comic book crossover starring Daring Do, and the new guy, Indiana Ford. Granted, he was concerned about Dark as well, but worrying about him from over here wouldn't do him any good. So instead, Spike decided to calm his nerves with a good read. That is, until he heard the castle doors open with a loud bang.

"What the heck?" he wondered out loud.

"Spike?" somepony called out. "Spike, are you here?"

"Twilight sent us ta talk ta ya," another voice spoke.

He knew who those voices belonged to, they were from Rainbow and Applejack. But if they're here, then something must have happened to Twilight. Setting his comic book off to the side, Spike got up and went to meet them.

"Hey girls," he greeted. "What's going on, and where's Twilight?"

"Dark's hurt and Twilight brought him to the hospital," Rainbow answered.

"Is he alright?"

"No, he's not alright, Spike," Applejack took over. "He looked like he'd lost a lot of blood and had nearly passed out before Twilight took him away."

"We gotta get over to the hospital then!" Spike exclaimed. "Besides, if he's hurt that badly, then shouldn't we be there for him? And if not for him, then what about for Twilight?"

"We know," Rainbow answered. "Applejack and I talked about it on the way here. She'll go with you to the hospital while I go tell the others. I'm sure they'll wanna know about what's going on as well. Especially since the timberwolve's howling, and Dark's roaring has most likely put most of Ponyville on edge.

"Should I send a letter to Princess Celestia about what happened?" Spike asked.

"Just hold off on that for now, sugarcube," Applejack answered. "We'll go and see Twilight first before we start sendin' off any letters."

"Alright," he huffed before jumping on Applejack's back.

"See ya at the hospital, Rainbow," Applejack called before galloping away.

"See ya, and be careful!" Rainbow warned while flying off to Carousel Boutique to talk to Rarity.

Up in the living quarters of Carousel Boutique, Rarity was sitting on Sweetie Belle's bed while holding the scared little filly in her forelegs. After hearing the howling and roaring from earlier, she screamed and dove beneath the blankets, hoping to hide away from whatever made those sounds. Within seconds of hearing her, Rarity ran through the door and towards her sister. Seeing Sweetie Belle shivering from under the covers, Rarity crawled up onto the bed to be with her, trying to calm her down by telling her that the guards will protect them from the monsters out there. A few minutes later, though, they heard a pounding at the front door.

"It's alright Sweetie," Rarity softly told her. "It's nothing to be worried about. I'm just going to go see who it is and be right back."

"But what if it's one of those monsters that made that noise?" Sweetie Belle shakily asked, hugging her sister tighter.

"Now since when did a monster ever have the proper decency to knock on a door instead of breaking it down?" Rarity jokingly asked. "Because I've never heard of one."

"I suppose not," Sweetie answered.

"That's right. Now, give me a moment to see who it is and I'll be right back, alright?"

"Alright."

Releasing her little sister, Rarity made her way downstairs, the constant banging on her door starting to annoy her now.

"Yes, yes, I'm here!" she barked through the door. "Now what is it that- oh, hello, Rainbow."

"Hey," Rainbow answered.

"Well now, what is it that's gotten you so worked up that you feel as though you need to try and beat my door down?" Rarity impatiently asked.

"It's Dark," she explained. "A pack of timberwolves ambushed him and now he's in the hospital."

"Good heavens," Rarity said with a hoof to her mouth. "Is he alright?"

Rainbow shook her head. "No, he isn't. He was in pretty bad shape by the time we got there, not to mention that he torched most of the area when they were fighting. Right now I'm going around telling our friends about what happened to him."

"But what about those horrible sounds from earlier?"

"The first one came from those timberwolves. The second one though came from Dark."

"Really?" Rarity questioned.

Rainbow nodded. "It's actually because of his roar that we arrived in time to help him."

"Alright," Rarity began. "Just give me a moment to go explain to Sweetie Belle and I'll be-"

"No!" Sweetie Belle shouted as she ran down the stairs, having eavesdropped on their conversation. "Dark's my friend and I'm coming too!"

"Sweetie Belle," Rarity scolded. "What have I told you about eavesdropping on other ponies?"

"I know it's wrong, but I couldn't stop listening in after hearing about what happened to him. But I'm worried, so I wanna come with you."

"I'm sorry, Sweetie, but I can't let you. Especially on a school night."

"But..." Sweetie tried arguing, only to start breaking down.

Rarity sighed before trotting over to hug her sister. After few minutes of comfort, Sweetie's sobbing died down.

"I just don't want anything to happen to you. You know that, right?" Rarity gently asked, receiving a small nod.

"You know," Rainbow chimed. "Although a few timberwolves got away, they did look pretty banged up, so I doubt that they'll come back. Especially this far away from the Everfree Forest and into Ponyville."

"Are you sure about that, Rainbow?" Rarity questioned.

"I'm sure. Saw them limping with burn marks covering them before they ran off."

Rarity looked back down to Sweetie Belle. "Alright, you can come. But you are not to leave my side unless I say so, understood?"

Sweetie Belle looked up and happily nodded, wiping a few tears out of her eyes. Even though she would sometimes resort to using crocodile tears to get her way, this time wasn't an act. After she hopped onto her back, Rarity made her way out the door with Rainbow following right behind her.

"Did you tell Twilight yet?" Rarity asked.

"Who do you think brought him in?" Rainbow remarked.

Rarity sighed sadly. "Oh dear. In that case, we all better hurry. She's probably worried right now, and will need all of us to be there for her. I'll go ahead and tell Pinkie since we'll be passing her by anyway."

"Alright," Rainbow said, turning towards Fluttershy's cottage. "Be safe now."

"We will," Rarity answered Rainbow before she took off.

Once her friend was out of sight, Rarity and Sweetie Belle began making their way to Sugarcube Corner to tell Pinkie about the bad news. Although they were reassured that the timberwolves wouldn't come so near town now, that didn't stop Sweetie Belle from tightly latching onto her sister's neck, afraid of what might be lurking just outside of light illuminating from Rarity's horn as they trotted down the road.

"It's alright, Sweetie," Rarity cooed. "Twilight taught me a few shield spells, so you can relax."

Feeling her sister's hold loosen somewhat, Rarity continued her way to see Pinkie. Once they reached Sugarcube Corner, she was about to knock on the door before Sweetie Belle spoke up.

"Rarity? What's that on the door?" She asked.

Looking to where she was pointing, Rarity saw the note and brought it over for her to read.

Dear Friends.

You don't need to go in and get me. I'm already at the hospital. See you when you get there.

Your friend,

Pinkie Pie

They stood there looking at the note for some time, wondering how Pinkie already knew. Rainbow did say that she didn't tell her yet, so how?

"So, are we gonna go now?" Sweetie asked. "It's not like we can do much more here."

Snapping out of her thoughts, Rarity put the note down before turning back down the road to the hospital.

"Quite right, Sweetie," Rarity answered. "Let us be off."

As Rainbow landed on the small bridge in front of Fluttershy's cottage, she noticed that it was rather quiet. Granted that the animals would normally be asleep right now, but not even the frogs or crickets could be heard. Trotting up to her house, she saw four guards posted outside the door, all of whom looked a bit tense at the moment. As Rainbow got to the door, the guards crossed their spears, blocking her from getting in.

"What the hay?!" Rainbow snapped. "I'm here to see my friend!"

"Name?" one of the guards asked.

"Seriously?" she scoffed. "You don't know who I am?"

The guards said nothing, remaining silent and still as statues.

"Ugh... Fluttershy!" Rainbow called. "Would you mind telling your guard dogs to heel and let me in already? I really need to talk to you right now!"

A few seconds later, Rainbow heard come rustling in the cottage, along with a few animal sounds before the door cracked open, revealing a single turquoise eye. Seeing who was here, Fluttershy opened the door and poked her head out.

"Oh, hello, Rainbow," she greeted her friend before turning to the guards. "It's alright, sirs. She's one of my friends."

Heeding Fluttershy's words, the guards returned their spears to their sides, allowing Rainbow to pass.

"Would you like to come inside?" Fluttershy offered.

"Now's not a good time, Fluttershy," Rainbow answered. "We've got a problem on our hooves."

"You mean the timberwolves and that dragon?" Fluttershy shakenly answered.

"Yes, and no. You see, Dark was the one who roared, but he was attacked by a pack of alpha timberwolves and is now at the hospital."

Fluttershy let out a quiet gasp as she listened.

"He wasn't looking very good when he was taken away. Since then, I've been flying around Ponyville telling our friends about what happened. We're meeting up with Twilight at the hospital."

"I'm sorry, Rainbow," Fluttershy quietly apologized. "But I can't just leave my animal friends all alone right now."

Curious as to what she meant, Rainbow poked her head through the door to see her living room jam-packed with the missing animals.

"Well, at least now I know why it's so quiet out here," Rainbow commented.

"As much as I want to be there for everypony, I can't abandon them with a bunch of timberwolves nearby."

"We can take care of them while you're away, Miss Fluttershy," one of the guards answered.

"Are you sure?" she asked, looking up to the guards.

"Yes, ma'am," another guard answered. "We're here to guard both you and your animals. Besides, how hard can it be to take care of a few critters?"

"Also," Rainbow added. "The few that got away were pretty hurt from fighting Dark, so don't worry about them."

Fluttershy took a moment to think it over. Knowing that her animal friends would be safe, she decided to trust the guards to do their jobs.

"Okay, thank you for doing this," she said, giving the guards a thankful hug. After she thanked each guard, she turned to Rainbow Dash. "Alright, I'm ready to go."

And with that, the two pegasi flew up into the night to meet up with their friends. Along their flight, a concerning question was bothering Fluttershy. Nervous on what her answer would possibly be, she took her time to ask.

"Umm, Rainbow?" she meekly called. "Exactly how bad of a condition was Dark in when he was taken to the hospital?"

Rainbow let out a tired sigh. "Do you really wanna know, Fluttershy? Because you might not like what my answer will be."

"... never mind."

Back at the Ponyville Hospital, Twilight was now sitting in one of the chairs in the waiting room. Every minute to her felt like an hour as she sat there, waiting for some sort of news about Dark's condition. She wasn't alone, though, as Pinkie showed up not five minutes ago. As soon as she saw Twilight's disheveled condition, Pinkie immediately ran over to her and brought her into a big hug, ignoring the blood staining her friend's coat. Although Twilight was still very worried about Dark, having at least one of her friends beside her did make her feel somewhat better. Soon after, Applejack and Spike came running through the doors.

"Twilight!" Spike exclaimed. "What happened to you?"

"Don't worry, Spike," Twilight answered. "I'm just fine."

"No, she's not fine," Pinkie corrected frowning. "I mean, yeah she's fine physically, but it's totally another story with her emotionally."

Spike walked over and tenderly placed a claw on her chest, seeing if what Pinkie said was true. Sure enough, Twilight didn't flinch as Spike patted her down, checking her for any injuries. Knowing that Twilight wasn't hurt, Spike hugged his sister, doing what he could to help her feel better. Seeing that her friend was in good claws for the moment, Applejack trotted over to Pinkie.

"How'd ya get over here so fast?" she asked. "Did Rainbow tell ya about what happened?"

"No," Pinkie solemnly answered. "My Pinkie Sense was going off, telling me that one of our friends was at the hospital and feeling very sad."

"Ah understand," Applejack answered in a matching tone.

With their little talk over with, Applejack and Pinkie Pie walked over and joined Spike and Twilight in their little group hug. It wasn't five minutes through their friendly huddle that Rarity and Sweetie Belle opened the door and trotted in.

"Twilight, darling, are you alri-" Rarity froze in mid-sentence as she saw the blood covering Twilight's chest and legs before covering Sweetie Belle's eyes with a hoof. "TWILIGHT! What happened to you?! We need to get somepony to check on you right away!"

"I'm fine, Rarity," Twilight sniveled. "This isn't my blood."

Rarity's eyes widened. "You mean, all of that's from Dark?"

"It is. Or, at least what got on me anyway."

"And... how is he doing?"

"I don't know," she answered, her voice beginning to crack. "They haven't said anything yet."

Seeing that her friend on the verge of breaking down, Rarity rushed over to help calm her while also trying to avoid touching the bloodstains. Even Sweetie Belle, after taking a moment to get over how Twilight looked, came over to try helping her feel better.

"Everything's going to be alright, Twilight," Rarity softly reassured. "He'll make it through this, I'm sure."

Meanwhile, down in the operating room, the nurses and doctor where busy trying to keep Dark alive. They ran into a few complications with the black mist spewing from his wounds. It was giving them a hard time properly applying the antidote for the timberwolf sap. That, and he was very low on blood.

"The third blood packet's almost empty, doctor," Nurse Redheart announced.

"Can one of you go get us another packet and set it up?" he calmly asked one of the other nurses assisting them. "And make sure you bring extras. At the rate things are going, we'll be need them. Also, bring some more antidote for the timberwolf sap, and make sure it's the strong stuff. It's proving to be more resilient than what I had originally thought it would."

The doctor turned back to his patient, looking over the black mist.

Just what in Celestia's name is this stuff anyway? he wondered.

"And could one of you take a couple magic samples of this mist and send it to the lab? I need to have it analyzed so we know exactly what we're dealing with here."

With the comfort of her friends, Twilight was starting to calm back down. She'd asked Spike to send a letter to Princess Celestia about what happened and requesting more guards be sent if possible. With the letter sent, all she could do now was wait... again.

"I hate this," Twilight muttered.

"Pardon?" Rarity asked.

"I hate having to wait like this and not being able to do anything to help."

"We know, sugarcube, but sometimes the best kind of help is waitin'," Applejack commented.

"Besides," Spike chimed. "You remember what he said happened to him before he came to Ponyville. If that's true, then why can't he pull through this too?"

A small smile formed on Twilight's face. "I suppose you're right. Thank you, everypony," she thanked, returning her friend's hug with one of her own.

While she was still worried about Dark, Twilight was starting to feel reassured that he'd survive this, thanks to her friends. Hearing the door open again, Twilight snapped her attention back over to it, expecting to see the doctor or one of the nurses. Instead, it was Rainbow and Fluttershy who came in. Upon seeing Twilight's blood-stained coat, they froze in place with Fluttershy letting out a loud 'eep'.

"Whoa, you alright there, Twilight?" Rainbow asked. "I don't remember you getting hurt before you left."

"I'm fine, Rainbow," she answered.

"Then what happened to get all of that on you?" Fluttershy worryingly asked as she cautiously walked closer to see.

"Remember what I told you on the way here, Flutters?" Rainbow asked.

"Oh... right," she replied, looking up to Twilight. "You should probably go get yourself cleaned up, Twilight."

"But I can't leave him alone," Twilight argued.

"But he's not alone, dear," Rarity said. "We'll be waiting right here for him. Besides, you really should go and wash that blood off of yourself before it dries on any further. While it's very thoughtful of you to want to stay nearby, you should also think of yourself too."

Looking down to her coat, Twilight was now noticing that the blood had already started to dry and crust onto her coat. Giving a reluctant nod, Twilight got up and walked to the door. She stopped, though, as she felt a soft yellow hoof on her shoulder.

"Would you like for Rainbow and I to come with you?" Fluttershy offered. "For the company I mean."

Twilight looked from Fluttershy to Rainbow Dash, who gave an affirming nod.

"I guess a little company would be nice right now," Twilight answered.

"So, we gonna teleport to your castle, or are we flying over?" Rainbow asked as she trotted to her two friends.

"Teleport," she replied. "I'd prefer to not be gone for any longer than I have to."

With that, Twilight began channeling her magic to teleport herself and her two friends back to her place. After they left, Rarity and Pinkie went over to Applejack to try and get a better explanation of what exactly happened, leaving Spike and Sweetie Belle by themselves. Seeing Sweetie Belle sitting on the bench alone, Spike walked over and took a seat beside her.

"You alright, Sweetie Belle?" he asked.

"I guess," she sighed. "What about you?"

"I'm doing okay. I mean, yeah I'm worried, but it's nowhere near as what Twilight is."

Sweetie Belle wiped her eyes while letting out a few soft snivels. Seeing her in such a saddened state, Spike put a reassuring claw on her shoulder.

"Sweetie Belle?" Spike gently called, causing her to face him. "Is there anything you want me to do that'll make you feel better? It's pretty obvious that this is bothering you a lot too."

With a tint of pink on her cheeks, Sweetie Belle meekly nodded before scooting up against Spike, wrapped her forelegs around his chest, and burying her face in his shoulder. Though it surprised him at first, Spike understood what Sweetie Belle was asking for. Gently, he wrapped his arms around Sweetie Belle and softly stroke her mane while she continued sniveling into his shoulder. Hearing her sister's soft weeping again, Rarity turned her attention from her discussion and back to Sweetie Belle. But instead of going over to her, she instead remained where she was, seeing that her sister was already being well taken care of.

Seems like one really can count on Spike for just about anything, Rarity thought to herself with a smile.

After almost an hour of waiting, Twilight, Fluttershy, and Rainbow finally returned. Twilight looked refreshed as her coat was now completely clean of any traces of blood from earlier, but her mood didn't change all that much. Yes, she was feeling a little bit better, but she was still very worried.

"Anything?" she asked, getting a group of head shakes in reply.

"I don't think it'll be too long now," Spike commented while holding a now sleeping Sweetie Belle.

Even though her sniveling did turn into soft sobs, it didn't last too long as she fell asleep shortly after. As time passed, her sad face had eventually turned to a content smile as she snuggled up against Spike's warm chest. He had tried to gently prying her off of him to let her sleep on the bench, but despite her being asleep, she was surprisingly strong and wouldn't let go of him, not that Spike minded it all that much. Actually, between how tired he was getting and with the added warmth from Sweetie Belle's coat, Spike was starting to fall asleep as well.

And so, they continued to wait. Soon an hour passed, and then another. Before anypony knew it, it was already 11 P.M. and still no word. Now scared about what's taking them so long, Twilight began to shudder. Even her friends were starting to become anxiously worried at this point, minus Spike and Sweetie Belle, who were now both fast asleep, still holding onto each other. Seeing that they were asleep, Fluttershy went over and fetched a blanket to cover the two with. It was then that the doctor and Nurse Redheart finally came into the waiting room. Upon seeing them enter, everypony instantly ran up to them.

"How is he? Is he alright?" Twilight quickly asked.

"Before I begin answering your questions, Princess, there's something I need to go over with involving his contact information," the doctor said.

"Why? Did he miss something?"

"Yes, he did. He didn't put down anypony for us to get ahold of, should he be sent here." He looked up from his clipboard to Twilight. "You wouldn't by chance know if he has any relatives nearby would you?"

"He doesn't have any family," Twilight sadly answered. "They were all killed in a dragon attack."

"That's unfortunate," he replied. "Then who should I put in for his contact?"

"That would be me," she told him. "Should anything happen to him, then I want to know."

"Very well. In that case, would you please sign this then?" he asked, levitating the clipboard with the document and a pen over to Twilight.

She took the pen in her magic and signed the form before returning them back to the doctor. He looked over to it verify that everything was in order before disclosing the information to her. The doctor then flipped some of the papers over and looked down to his surgical charts before addressing Twilight's previous questions.

"Now that that's out of the way, I can tell you how the operation went. Now, there were some complications with the surgery..." he began.

Hearing those few words had an immediate impact as Twilight's eyes began to water all over again. Seeing what was going on, Nurse Redheart took over.

"It wasn't anything so bad that we couldn't handle, I assure you," she began explaining. "What the doctor meant was that the black misty stuff coming out of his wounds was actually magical residue from him regenerating. At least, that's what we believe it to be. Between the test results that came in, and from what we saw during the surgery, I'd say it's a safe guess. Although, I've never seen these kind of magical readings before."

"But if he was regenerating, then why would you consider that to be a complication?" Pinkie asked, the color and poofieness of her mane returning to normal.

"It's because his regeneration was making it difficult to administer the antidote, which in turn required us to repeatedly reopen his wounds to properly apply it," the doctor explained. "Even though he's able to regenerate, it didn't remove the poisonous sap that was still in his system. Also, he'd acquired such a significant dosage of the sap that we had to use a more potent antidote than we normally would. Not to mention that he was very low on blood when we started." He looked to Twilight. "You're lucky you brought him in when you did. Another five to ten minutes later and we might not have been able to save him."

Hearing the good news lead everypony to sigh with long-awaited relief.

"However," Nurse Redheart began. "We'll be keeping him here tonight and tomorrow night, just to make sure that nothing unexpected happens to him. After all, he's still in need of more blood, between what little he was brought here with, and with us having to keep his wounds open during the surgery." She turned to the doctor. "I swear, though, ten blood packets in a few hours? We've never had to burn through that much blood ever before."

"Well, we've never had to do an operation quite like that before either," the doctor pointed out.

"So he's really going to be alright then?" Twilight asked hopefully.

"Yes, he is," Nurse Redheart replied. "He just needs a lot of food, water, and rest."

"Is it alright if I can see him?"

Nurse Redheart looked to the doctor, getting an approving nod before motioning for Twilight to follow her over to Dark's room, but she stopped when she noticed that her friends weren't following her.

"Aren't you girls coming too?" she asked.

"Sorry, sugarcube, but Ah need ta go home and tell Big Mac about what's goin' on with Dark," Applejack answered.

"And I need to get these two to bed," Rarity explained while levitating Spike and Sweetie Belle onto her back. "By the way, Twilight. Would you be alright if I brought Spike over to my place to sleep for the night?"

"Go ahead, Rarity," Twilight answered. "I don't even know if I'll be going home tonight anyway."

"Just make sure that you don't tire yourself out too much now, darling. I'm sure you're just as exhausted as the rest of us, if not more."

"I'll make sure to get some sleep," she assured before looking to the rest of her friends. "And what about you three?"

"I'm heading out to fly Fluttershy home," Rainbow explained. "Besides, she doesn't like flying alone out in the middle of the night like this."

"Especially with what's happened tonight," Fluttershy added.

"And I'm working in the morning so I'll need all the energy I can get before then," Pinkie happily chimed.

"I understand," Twilight said, giving them an understanding smile before Rainbow walking up beside her.

"Besides, I'm sure that you'll want to be alone with him after all that waiting," she whispered, causing Twilight to blush slightly, but also receiving a nod in reply. "Anyway, we'll be sure to drop by here tomorrow to check up on him."

"Alright. Thank you girls for your support, and for all the help you've given," Twilight thanked before following Nurse Redheart to the room Dark was resting in.

Nurse Redheart led Twilight to the same room where they had him in the last time he was here. After taking a deep breath to calm herself, Twilight gently opened to door, revealing Dark sleeping peacefully on the bed. They didn't need to turn on the overhead lights as the bedside lamp was already lighting the room in a soothing dim glow. Walking up closer to Dark, Twilight could see the I.V. sticking into his left arm, supplying him with fresh blood. And while she couldn't see the rest of him thanks to the blanket covering him, she did notice the gauze patch on his cheek.

"Although he can regenerate," Nurse Redheart began explaining. "We thought it would be best if we kept him bandaged up, and applied some healing ointment onto them, just to be safe."

"Thank you for everything that you've done for him, Redheart," Twilight thanked with a grateful smile.

"You're welcome, Twilight," she returned.

"And thank you for not using my title. To be honest, I'm kinda surprised that you remembered that little request."

"After how you went on about it, it wasn't really that hard to forget," Nurse Redheart commented, causing the two mares to giggle quietly. "Well, I suppose I'll let you two be. I'll be back later to check on you two."

"Alright. Have a nice night, Redheart."

"You too, Twilight," Nurse Redheart replied as she quietly left the room and closed the door behind her.

Now alone, Twilight walked up alongside Dark's bed and sat down, looking over him. The blood that stained his coat from before was washed clean off, and he even had a pleasant scent to him now. With a relaxed smile on her face, Twilight laid her hooves on his right claw and gently held it. After a few minutes, she became surprised when Dark's claw started to gently hold the hoof that was in his palm, despite the fact that he was still asleep. With a content sigh, Twilight began stroking the back of Dark's claw with her free hoof, simply happy with the fact that he would be alright.

In front of the castle ruins in the Everfree Forest, the cloaked figure was furiously pacing back-and-forth in front of the three injured alpha timberwolves that had returned from their failed ambush attempt, drawing the attention of the others gathered around.

"This is unacceptable!" he bellowed, backhoofing the three-legged alpha off to the side. "I gave you a golden opportunity to get rid of him and you went and bucked it up!"

His outburst caused everyone present to cower in fear. He turned to the two burnt alpha timberwolves with murderous intent in his eyes.

"I want you two out of my sights until the invasion," he ordered before turning to the limp alpha timberwolf. "As for you," he growled, a blinding light shining from the darkness of his cloak. "With that wound of yours, you are now no longer of any use to me."

Then, with a blinding flash of light and a brief howl of pain, the wounded alpha was gone, its only remains being a pile of smoldering ash on the ground. After the light from within his cloak faded, the cloaked figure turned his attention back to the others.

"Let this be a reminder to the rest of you!" he shouted. "My patience is now at its end! So if any of you fail me again in any way, then I'll kill you myself!"

Even though outwardly Rainbow seemed to be fine at the hospital, she was actually wracked with guilt on the inside. She never liked showing her softer, emotional side around others, but Fluttershy was her oldest friend, making Rainbow feel more comfortable with opening up about her problems. On their flight back, she'd been telling Fluttershy about how she feels as though she's responsible for how Dark ended up. How she should have known better than to leave him alone after such a tiring training session, especially with them being on high-alert with the timberwolves.

"I don't know what to do," Rainbow worryingly said. "It's all thanks to me being so narrow-minded that this happened to Dark."

"It's not your fault, Rainbow," Fluttershy softly argued. "Nopony knew that they would be waiting for him, and we don't even know if Dark was the one they wanted. For all we know, they could have been waiting for either of you to leave first, then go after the other one."

"First he's target by three timberwolves, and a few days later, he's attacked again, but by eight alphas this time. No, Fluttershy. The first time I would've agreed with you, but twice in the same week at different locations? There's no way I can believe that it was just some dumb luck."

"Well... at least he'll be alright."

"That's not the point!" Rainbow shouted. "It's because of me that he nearly died, Fluttershy! What do you do to fix that?!"

Though Fluttershy didn't like being talked to with that tone of voice, she didn't let it bother her. Instead, she took a deep breath to calm herself.

"If you're really that worried about it, then you should go apologize to him," Fluttershy stated.

"... you're joking, right?" Rainbow deadpanned.

"Why would I be joking about that? We've already agreed at the meeting that he's a forgiving stallion, so I'm sure he would forgive you too."

"Leaving your friend for dead isn't the same as accidentally crashing into them, or chaining them up and dragging them across Ponyville."

"Do you want to make this better or not?!" Fluttershy snapped, irritated with how Rainbow was going on about this.

The small outburst was quite a shocker to Rainbow as it caused her to lose her balance. Getting herself realigned, she looked to see that Fluttershy was very serious about this, the look on her face was almost like what she would use when using The Stare.

"Wow, Fluttershy. Since when did you get so strict and authoritative?"

"I had to if I wanted to keep Discord in line, even though I don't like it. But that's not what's important right now, is it?"

"No, it's not," Rainbow sighed. "Alright, tomorrow I'll go and talk to Dark. Hopefully he'll be in a forgiving enough mood."

Fluttershy glided over to Rainbow and put a reassuring hoof on her shoulder.

"It'll be alright." She looked down to see her cottage just below them. "Well, this is my stop. Thank you for coming with me, Rainbow."

"No prob," Rainbow replied. "And... thanks for listening, Fluttershy."

With that, Rainbow Dash made her way to her cloudhouse, leaving Fluttershy landing in front of her door. She was happy to finally be back home and was looking forward to getting some sleep. Quietly, she pushed the door open so that she wouldn't spook the guards into attacking her by mistake. But when she opened the door and walked inside, she saw that all four of them were passed out, either on the floor, the chair, or across the couch. Giving a quiet giggle, she made her way to the linen closet, grabbing a few blankets before draping one over each of the guards, one of whom she thought heard mumble something about a devil bunny. Smiling at how comfortable they looked now, Fluttershy locked the front door and made her way up to her room, more than ready to retire for the night.

At the same time, back in Ponyville, Rarity was coming upon her home with Sweetie Belle and Spike still sleeping away on her back. Neither of them moved an inch in their sleep during the return trip, which led Rarity to glimpse back a few times to make sure they were still there. They did talk in their sleep a few times, though, which made Rarity quietly giggle in amusement.

Finally reaching her home, Rarity unlocked the door, quietly trotted inside, and turned on the lights. She felt Sweetie Belle squirming, causing her to look back to see her trying to bury her scowling face deeper into Spike's scaly chest. Realizing her mistake, Rarity turned off the lights, instead resorting to her horn's glowing aura for light. After locking up, she gently went upstairs to put the two to bed. Reaching Sweetie Belle's bed, Rarity gently levitated the two off of her back and began to try and gently separate them. Seeing as her first few attempts failed, she decided to risk them waking up by tugging a little bit harder. After a few more tries and hearing some displeased grunts from them, Rarity conceded, knowing that if she pulled any harder that she'd wake them up. She began looking between the contently sleeping pair, and back to her sister's bed, deciding on whether it would be a good idea or not.

It's just for one night, Rarity thought to herself. And Spike isn't the kind to do anything inappropriate to Sweetie Belle. Besides, it's not like I can subtly separate them at this point.

With her mind made up, Rarity lifted the two onto Sweetie Belle's bed and drew the covers over them. Taking a step back to look them over, she saw Sweetie Belle letting out a content sigh, both of their faces turning from scowls to soft smiles. Seeing how cute and comfortable the two of them were together, Rarity quietly cooed at them while just as quietly making her way out to let them sleep.

Perhaps I'll let Sweetie Belle sleep in after all, she thought to herself. She did have a rather stressful night, and I'm sure Miss Cheerilee will understand after I explain things to her.

A few hours have passed since Nurse Redheart had left Twilight alone with Dark, and it was time that she started making her rounds. After seeing to some of the other patients, she quietly opened the door to Dark's room to see Twilight still awake at his bedside.

"I can't believe you're still up," she quietly told Twilight.

"What do you mean?" Twilight tiredly asked.

"It's two in the morning. Honestly, Twilight, you should get some sleep before you keel over and I have to check you into the hospital myself."

"Just a few more moments and I'll head off to sleep."

"Would you like me to go fetch you a spare blanket?"

"If it wouldn't be too much trouble, sure."

"Alright, just give me a moment to look over his readings and I'll get right on it," Nurse Redheart answered.

After a few minutes of checking his vital readings and the amount of blood left in his current packet, Nurse Redheart left the room. Soon after she returned with a blanket for Twilight, draping it over her shoulders before leaving to continue her rounds. All by herself again, and now with a fresh warm blanket, Twilight let out a loud yawn. Looking around the hospital room, Twilight now noticed that there weren't any other beds in the room, and that the only chair there wasn't cushioned. Looking back to Dark's bed, she saw that there was actually room for another pony on it.

It might be a little crowded, but I suppose it wouldn't hurt. It's just for one night, after all, Twilight nervously thought. Besides, I doubt that the floor would be very comfortable to lay on.

With that thought in mind, Twilight carefully made her way up on top of the bed before gently laying herself down beside Dark. With a small amount of room to move around with, Twilight scooted herself up against Dark, putting herself between his right arm and upper-body. Now feeling more comfortable with how she's settled in, Twilight began stretching herself out, gently laying her right foreleg and wing across Dark's chest while resting her head in the crook of his neck. With her own blanket covering her, and laying down alongside Dark, Twilight felt more at peace than she ever had before.

I can't believe how soft and warm he is right now. He's even more so than he was a few days ago, she thought, smiling to herself. Too bad he's not awake, though. It would be nice for us to just talk to each other like this for a while.

And with those last thoughts, Twilight closed her eyes. The feeling of Dark's chest rising with each breath, and the soft, rhythmic beating of his heart, finally lulling her off to sleep.

Chapter 26- Meeting With Dragons

Dark was pacing around the room as his anxiety for his confrontation with King Inferno drew closer. While his morning had gone by smoothly thanks to Twilight and their friends, now that the meeting was less than an hour away, little could calm him back down now. However, it wasn't out of nervousness that made him feel like this, but how he would react when he finally met him. Not only that, but they got confirmation that morning that General Razor Claw would indeed be accompanying him, along with the Dragon Counsel Elder, and some strange pony for some reason.

Shaking his head from his thoughts, he went over to the window of their guest room and looked at the view. They'd got a room that gave them a great view over Canterlot, and far in the background, Ponyville. As he continued gazing at the sights, the sound of something falling onto the floor in the bathroom drew his attention over to it. Walking over, he brought up a claw and knocked on the door.

"Everything alright in there, Twilight?" Dark asked through the door.

"Yeah," she called back, "I just forgot how hard and annoying it was to put on this darn dress."

"You want me to go get one of the girls to help you?"

"No, it's alright. I can get it on my own just as soon as... there."

"All good now?"

"Yep. Now I just need to put on some makeup and I'll be ready."

"Not to sound rude, but is all of this really necessary? I mean, I know that it's a big deal and all, but is it really worth going through so much just for a quick meeting with a group of bloodthirsty dragons?"

"That's a bit harsh isn't it?"

"In terms of General Razor Claw, I'm being quite literal. I actually saw him drinking blood from a dead pony as though he was drinking from juice box."

"Regardless of that, since I'm meeting them as a Princess of Equestria, I should try to look my best for them."

"That sounds more like something that Rarity would say."

"Well, considering that we're friends, it's only natural that some of their habits would rub-off on me."

"I guess."

"By the way, are you ready for this?"

"About as ready as I'll ever be I guess."

"Meeting King Inferno for the first time still bothering you?"

"Yeah. The guy's been a plague on Stonewall for two hundred plus years. It's only natural that I'd feel like this, right?"

"I suppose so."

"Speaking of him, do you know who this pony that he's bringing with him is? Because last I heard, ponies to them were only good for acting as their food, or as slaves."

"All I know is that he's suppose to be like nopony we've ever seen before. Something about him being covered in metal plating."

"Neat."

"Aaaaand... done!"

Hearing that she was finished getting herself ready, Dark took a few steps away from the door to give her room. Soon enough, the bathroom door opened up as steam started pouring out of it, along with a sight that made Dark's heart skip a beat. He'd always thought that Twilight was beautiful enough and that nothing could make her even more so, but that dress she was wearing was doing a heck of a job at proving him wrong. His eyes began taking in her new look, seeing how the dress hugged her form, but also had room for her to not feel confined. He also noticed the matching golden horseshoes she was wearing, and the tiara sitting on top of her head. For the first time since meeting her, Dark saw Twilight as a princess. Seeing his expression, Twilight gave him a smile and blushed slightly before walking up to him.

"You alright there?" she asked.

"Huh? Oh, yeah, I'm fine," he answered, stumbling over his words. "And you look... I-I don't even know how to say it."

"Well then, perhaps you can show me?"

Getting her hint, Dark shook himself out of it and wasted no more time as he affectionately kissed her, to which she promptly returned. A few minutes of making out had passed before Twilight decided to break their kiss, though was a little reluctant to do so.

"That's enough for now," she told him. "If this goes on, then I'll need to redo my hair and makeup."

"Now we wouldn't want that, would we?" he half-teasingly said with a smirk.

"Don't worry, we'll find time later on to continue this. For now, though, just try to cool yourself off."

"Sorry, Twilight, but I can only do hot. And besides, you're the one who's stoking this bonfire with her love."

"... was that suppose to be some kind of innuendo for something?"

He blinked a few times before his words clicked. "Sorry, poor choice of words. That's not what I meant by what I said."

"I know," Twilight giggled. "I'm just playing with you."

Sighing, Dark shook his head before giving Twilight a peck and moving towards the door. Opening it up for them, Dark came face-to-face with Cadence, who too was dressed in her royal regalia.

"I just came to get you two for the meeting when I just happened to hear Dark saying something about you 'stoking his bonfire', Twily," she smirked.

"If you heard all of that, then I'm sure that you heard the rest of it," Twilight shot back.

"I suppose so," she sighed. "Honestly, it was so much easier to playfully tease you when you were still a filly. But enough of that, we've got some dragons to meet."

Following after her, Dark and Twilight left their room to meet up with the others at the throne room. After passing through a few corridors, Dark looked curiously to Cadence.

"So, this pony that Inferno's bringing with him," he began, "do you know anything about him?"

"Not really, why?" she questioned.

"It just doesn't make any sense to me that he'd bring a pony to accompany him like this."

"Since nopony knows, we'll just have to wait until they arrive and see for ourselves," Twilight told him.

Nodding, Dark let it drop and quietly followed the two as they came to the throne room doors. As they approached, a guard on each side of the door opened them up for them to pass through. Upon heading inside, they noticed that everyone was already gathered, and that the dais had been modified to hold four thrones instead of its normally single one. And while the room was big with stained glass windows, what made Dark hesitate was the sight of Shining Armor wearing his Draconium armor again. Seeing Dark freeze up, Twilight gently nudged him to continue forward. Obeying, he continued with them, but not without shrouding himself in a cloak of shadows incase Shining decided to attack him... again.

"Shining," Cadence called out, "what are you doing wearing that armor? I though that you were going to wear your ceremonial one?"

"I was going to, but then I decided that I'd feel more comfortable wearing this instead," he explained to her.

"Hey, where's Spike?" Dark asked when he noticed the little dragon wasn't around.

"He's over at my parents' house," Twilight answered.

"Ah, alright."

"And why are you shrouded?"

"Just feeling a bit uneasy seeing that armor again."

"Your concern is understandable, but I assure you that Shining Armor will not attack you during this meeting," Celestia firmly spoke.

"We've already given him a good tongue lashing for last night's dinner," Luna added. "That being said, we also expect you to do the same by not attacking him."

"Yes, Your Highnesses," Dark bowed.

"Good. Now, if everypony will take their seats, King Inferno will be here shortly."

"Aren't we missing somepony?" Shining questioned.

As those words left his mouth, the doors to the throne room opened as a lone unicorn stallion in purple and gold armor, and saddlebag walked in. Although curious as to who this new pony could be, Dark waited until he was standing amongst them, bowing to the four princesses.

"I'm glad that you could make it," Celestia said to him.

"After what I saw in that village, I've been looking forward to this meeting," he returned.

"Wait," Dark spoke as he eyed the stallion. "I know that voice. Captain Iron Guard, is that you?"

He turned to face Dark, an amused smirk on his face. "Been a while, kid."

Laughing in joy to seeing his battle buddy again, Dark gave him a hoof/claw shake. Seeing them acting like that, Shining looked to them confused.

"You two have meet before?" he questioned.

"We fought side-by-side during the invasion in Ponyville," Iron Guard answered before turning to Dark. "By the way, what happened to you? Didn't you used to have a goatee and have a black coat?"

"Ditched the beard and dyed the black coat," Dark quickly summarized.

"Looks good. So, you ready to meet the Dragon King?"

"More or less." Dark paused as he looked at the doors to the throne room. "Speaking of meeting them, how are they suppose to fit through those doors? Last I saw, General Razor Claw was twice the size of them, so I doubt that he could just squeeze inside."

"We gave the guards a special amulet to give them that'll shrink them down to fit inside," Luna explained before giving an eye roll. "Of course, I imagine that they'll take them off once they get in here to show-off their size and strength."

"Those idiots will just make themselves a bigger target for us should they choose to do something stupid," Dark commented.

Iron Guard was about to comment on him, but stopped himself when he started to feel the floor quake.

"They're coming," Celestia announced. "Everypony, if you would please take your seats."

Everyone quickly took their seat as Twilight, Celestia, Luna, and Cadence sat on their respective thrones on the dais as the others sat on the floor where sitting pillows were provided for them. Picking his spot, Dark sat down in front of Twilight on the end with Applejack sitting next to him, followed by Rainbow, and then Pinkie. On the other side from the center to the outside sat Rarity, Fluttershy, Iron Guard, and Shining on the end. The shaking started to gradually become more violent, causing Dark's claws to start balling up into a fist in anticipation. As time seemed to slow down for him, he suddenly felt a hoof on his shoulder. Turning to his left, he saw Applejack warmly smiling at him.

"Easy there, sugarcube," she soothed. "Take a deep breath and try ta relax."

Closing his eyes, he tried following her instructions, but it just made things seem to move even slower for him. This suffering of time didn't continue for much longer, though, as the doors to the throne room were thrown open by a bulky brown dragon with black spines, and single emerald eye, the other of which was covered in a metal plate, who was carrying a large brown sack on his back. Followed behind him was an elderly-looking bronze dragon with a long white beard and moustache. Like the rest of his body, his eyes were faded with age, giving him a look of aged wisdom. And finally, following in behind him was the king himself. Inferno, who stood taller than the other two, had deep-red scales while his spines, claws, and eyes were a bright-orange.

Seeing them caused Dark's tail to twitch, but remained calm. And while the others were holding out alright, Fluttershy wasn't doing as well as she had lowered herself down to the pillow she was sitting on. Which, of course, was only made worse when they removed their amulets and grew back to their full size. While Inferno stood almost as tall as the ceiling, the other two only came up half-way up his neck.

"Welcome to Canterlot, King Inferno," Celestia welcomed.

Inferno remained silent as he looked over the group of ponies in front of him before finally speaking up.

"Quite a collection of ponies you have here, Princess," he spoke. "Is this really necessary?"

"It is, though I suppose I should introduce you to everypony. To my right is Twilight Sparkle, Princess of Friendship and Element of Magic."

"Hello, Your Highness," she politely greeted with a small bow.

"To my right is my sister, Luna, Princess of the Night."

"Hello," Luna less than welcomingly said.

"And next to her is Cadence, Princess of Love and Ruler of the Crystal Empire."

"Hello, King Inferno," Cadence smiled, though was rather nervous on the inside.

"Hello, Princesses," Inferno returned. "But I still fail to see why these lesser ponies are with you."

"If you'll allow me, I can explain. Sitting on the far end in front of Princess Cadence is her husband, Prince Shining Armor."

"Hello," he said with a small bow, if only to hide his glare.

"Why is he wearing that damned thing?" Razor Claw snarled.

"Calm yourself," Inferno ordered. "Though I must say that I too am curious."

"Just a precaution after what we heard is all," Shining answered.

With a silent nod, Inferno turned back to Celestia. Taking that as her cue, she continued her introductions.

"Next to him is Iron Guard, Captain of the Royal Guard."

Iron Guard remained silent as he gave them a salute.

"These five young mares from your right to left are Fluttershy, Rarity, Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash, and Applejack. Along with Princess Twilight, these six ponies make up the Counsel of Friendship."

They were each about to give the King and his companions their own welcome, but were silenced as he gave them an unamused snort.

"And finally, on this end sitting in front of Princess Twilight is-"

"YOU!" Razor Claw shouted. "I knew I recognized you!"

"General?" Inferno questioned. "What is it?"

"It's him! The one I told you about!"

Inferno's eyes then moved over to the kirin sitting on the end, eyeing him curiously... and cautiously. He didn't know why, but he could feel a sense of danger from him.

"Explain."

"I am Dark Flame," he introduced himself as the shadows were now flowing off of him like fog from a fog machine. "Dragon Slayer, and former Guardian of Stonewall Village. Oh, and it's nice to see you again too, General."

"I still owe you for this!" Razor Claw shouted as he pointed to the metal covering his eye.

"I don't see why you would. Besides, it looks good on you, and I don't mean that as an insult either."

"I must agree with the young one," the elderly dragon chimed with a voice to match his age.

"May I introduce, Rin," Inferno spoke as he raised a claw over to the elderly bronze dragon. "He is our Counsel Elder, my most trusted Advisor, and a master wizard of draconian magic."

"A dragon wizard?" Twilight beamed with a sparkle in her eyes.

"Hello, everypony," Rin politely greeted with a deep bow before smiling to Twilight. "And yes, young princess, I am."

"Yeah, yeah. Now that that's all out of the way, can I now get back to this little eye-stealer?" Razor Claw angrily asked.

"Quit your complaining already," Dark groaned. "Besides, you had two other dragons with you, not to mention that I was already wounded by that traitorous snake."

"You mean this traitorous snake?" an unknown voice asked.

Stepping out from behind Inferno was what appeared to be a pony in a tattered gray cloak. Immediately upon seeing him, Dark, Shining, and Luna all shot up in their seats and took an aggressive stance while Twilight shrunk down into her seat.

"What's the meaning of this?" Inferno questioned.

"A few weeks ago," Celestia began explaining, "the town of Ponyville was attacked, and the one leading them was a pony wearing a cloak, much like the one that this one is wearing."

Inferno raised an eyebrow. "This must be some kind of misunderstanding, because he has never left my side these past few months."

"A likely story," Dark commented.

"Sorry, but I don't know what you're talking about," the cloaked pony said. "Besides, shouldn't you happy to see your old friend again, Dark?"

"Old friend?" he questioned. "I don't have any old friends. The only friends that I do have are the ones that I've made during my time in Ponyville."

"Really? I'm hurt," he mocked. "After all." He pulled the cloak off, revealing a blue-eyed, white pegasus, who's body was half-covered in metallic plating. "I'm the one who gave you that shiner."

Dark's eyes widened to their fullest as he saw somepony he'd never thought that he'd see again. Though it started out as shock, his face soon became contorted with rage.

"Oh, don't give me that look now," he told Dark. "Aren't friends suppose to-"

"Don't you DARE call me your friend!" Dark shouted. "You lost that right a long time ago! And how are you still alive for that matter?!"

"Dark," Twilight called. "who is that?"

"That," he spat, "is Gunter, my first friend... at least, that's what I thought he was at the time."

"But you told us that you didn't have any friends before coming to Ponyville."

"I said that I didn't have any true friends. And to be honest, I was never really a friend to that traitor now was I?"

"Oh, boo-hoo," Gunter mocked. "Honestly, quit being so sore about that."

"'Sore about that'?! You betrayed me, stabbed me from behind with a dagger that I made specially for you, and then you tried to turn me over to Razor Claw himself!"

"Cry me a river why don't you. Besides, you're still wear that present I gave you so proudly."

"What present?"

"Why, that scar on your shoulder of course."

"Bite me!" Dark snapped before hissing and baring his fangs. "Or better yet, how about I bite you?"

Seeing his shimmering fangs, Gunter slowly crept back behind one of Inferno's legs.

"But how is this possible, Dark?" Twilight questioned. "Didn't you say that everypony from your village was dead?"

"That's what I though too, but apparently, I didn't finish him off enough," Dark answered.

"What?"

"After Gunter tried to turn me over to Razor Claw, I snapped. Not only did I attack the General and the two dragons accompanying him, but I also went after Gunter as punishment for his betrayal."

"Isn't that a bit much?" Luna questioned.

"Not when you consider that him turning me over to the dragons meant that he was practically guaranteeing the village's destruction."

"So what?" Gunter nonchalantly questioned. "That village doomed anyway. I was just trying to fulfill my end of the bargain."

"And what was that?" Dark growled.

"That in exchange for you, I would get a seat of honor in King Inferno's court."

"So you betrayed the village for your own personal gain?"

Gunter pretended to think about before shrugging.

"Yep, pretty much," he grinned. "By the way, have you bagged anypony yet?"

"I'm considering bagging your head. Does that count?"

"... don't tell me that you're still a virgin," Gunter said, causing Dark and everypony there to blush. After receiving no answer, he began laughing hysterically out loud. "Oh my Celestia you are!"

Slowly, Dark turned to face the princesses, who was now looking down to him shockingly.

"Princess Celestia, Princess Luna," he dangerously addressed, "may I please have permission to kill this guy? I promise you that it'll be quick and clean."

"I'm fine with it," Luna said before turning to Celestia. "What do you think, sister?"

Celestia's eyes furrowed as she frowned. "While I cannot condone such an act of mannerism or betrayal, there is nothing that we can do."

"What?!" Dark incredulously shouted.

"If he is indeed here with King Inferno, then he'll have diplomatic immunity just like he does. That is, unless King Inferno would revoke his immunity."

"Not happening," Inferno replied.

"I would reconsider those words very carefully," Dark hissed, his shadows now flooding off of him. "You don't want to make an enemy of me any further than you already have."

While everyone looked to Dark worryingly, Rin saw something else. Despite his aged eyes, he was able to see something different. Subtly casting a spell on himself, he was calm when he saw Dark, but his face turned to horror when he saw a familiar massive black figure behind him.

"King Inferno," Rin nervously whispered, "I advise that we not provoke the lad anymore than we already have."

"And why would that be?" he questioned. "If you're afraid that he'll kill us, then you needn't worry."

"It's not that, Your Highness. It's something else."

Seeing the look on his face, Inferno now became aware of what he meant.

"You used that one spell of yours, didn't you?" he asked, receiving a confirming nod. "What did you see?"

"Death."

Feeling slight concern, Inferno decided to get straight to why they were here. If what Rin had told him was true, then prolonging this meeting would do them no good. Especially with how angered Dark was already.

"Perhaps we should get to why we're here," Inferno suggested to the ponies.

"I agree," Celestia replied. "Now, we're here to discuss the actions that you've taken against the village of Stonewall, which rests within our borders. As you know, this is a violation of the treaty we signed hundreds of years ago."

"I remember."

"If so, then why did you do it?" Luna questioned.

"Because, I've already invested so much into it before we signed that treaty that I didn't want to give it up, especially after I heard of the Draconium and untouched gems that those mines held." He paused as he chuckled to himself. "If I had those gems, they could keep my hunger sated for hundreds of years."

"So you did it for food?" Celestia asked.

"Partially. And incase you haven't noticed, my kingdom isn't as peaceful as yours is. There are some dragon clans that didn't approve of my reign as their king and wished to dethrone me. The Draconium in those mines would've help my armies... but that was a waste of time."

"What do you mean?"

"Those clans soon fell to my dragons, and after that, I sent them to that village to try and starve it out."

Is he actually admitting this? Dark thought to himself. Wow. Maybe this meeting might be easier than I'd thought it be.

"I could only send a few dozen at a time to surround and blockade the village, though. If I were to send any more than that, my actions would've been noticed. However, I didn't expect those ponies to be so resilient." He paused as he glared at Dark. "Then, a few hundred years later, I received word that the dragons that I've sent to that village weren't reporting back. It wasn't unti a few months later that I was told that a single pony was killing-off my dragons in an attempt to free his village." His gaze turned back to the princesses. "It was then that I decided to take full notice of him and try to assault his home while staying under your radar. Every few days to a week, I would send a dragon to two to try and kill this little beast of burden... only to receive news that they've failed to do so."

"Just to be clear, you're talking about Dark, right?" Cadence asked Inferno, who nodded in reply. "So then, how many dragons did you lose?"

"I believe that I can answer that," Iron Guard said as he pulled out a piece of parchment from his saddlebag. "Going by what my troops and I saw, and that we've gathered from in the mines, there were roughly six hundred and thirty-four degraded or degrading dragon carcasses."

Hearing this number caused the mares to gasp loudly and for Shining's jaw to drop while Dark just shrugged as Iron Guard continued.

"As for the ones on the surface, there were two hundred and twenty-five. This does not include the massive black one that we found dead in the center of the village."

"Wait," Dark interrupted, "how are there so many dead dragons there? There should only be one."

"A black dragon you say?" Inferno inquired.

"That is correct. If I had to guess, I'd say that he was the largest dragon that I've ever seen. Even more so than what you are, Your Highness."

"So it's true then," he said as he looked over to Dark, "you killed Nocturne, Lord of Death."

"More or less," Dark said rubbing the side of his head from feeling a slight pain in it. "It was a very close call, though."

"Wait a moment," Twilight interrupted, "I thought that Nocturne was the Incarnation of Shadow and Death?"

"That shadow part is merely extra. What Nocturne is known for is being the Lord of Death," Inferno corrected.

Twilight sighed. "The books are going to have to be rewritten after this."

"Another time, Twilight," Celestia spoke. "Captain Iron Guard, you may continue."

"Yes, Princess," he said before continuing. "Now, this was the number of dead on the dragon's side. As for the number of ponies who've died, we could only go by the number of graves that were placed at the pillar."

"What pillar?" Dark asked.

"Outside of the wall was a monumental stone pillar of sorts with graves surrounding it."

Hearing this caused Dark's slight headache to suddenly intensify into a monstrous migraine. Grabbing the sides of his head with his claws, he squinted his eyes shut to try and dull the pain. However, instead of getting it to reduce, he got something else instead. A vision, or rather, a lost memory.

It was a few days after his fight with Nocturne. Daybreak came as he stood in the center of his village with his black wings, arms, and tail. Hearing the echo of several thunderous roars, Dark looked up to see the largest swarm of dragons that he'd ever seen in his life. He would've tried counting, but just figured that there were over a hundred of them. As they got closer to him, Dark could feel the fires in their fire sacs burning. Not wanting to waste any time for them, Dark lit his horn and reached out to them with his magic. Feeling the fires they were all getting ready to breathe over him, Dark took control of their fire breath and turned it against them. Like so many others before now, Dark manipulated the fires in their throats to create a blockage. Within seconds, with nowhere for the fires to escape from, the pressure in their throats became too much and caused said fires to combust, decapitation most of the dragons while the others' necks were barely being held together.

Feeling hooves shaking him, Dark opened his eyes and looked up to see him surrounded by his five friends and fillyfriend, all of whom were looking worryingly at him. Not even have noticed that he'd fallen onto his stomach, he shakily began to sit back up.

"What happened, Dark?" Twilight asked concerned.

"I remember," he muttered.

"Come again?" Applejack questioned.

"I remember they day that dragon swarm attacked my village. It happened just a few days after my fight with Nocturne."

"Would someone mind explaining to me what's going on here?" Inferno impatiently asked.

"Dark lost his memories of what happened after his fight with Nocturne," Twilight explained to him.

"Well now," Razor Claw smirked as he held up the brown sack, "then I suppose he doesn't remember these."

"Remember what?" Dark groaned.

The General's smirk grew wider as he tossed the sack onto the ground and spilled out its contents of hundreds of weapons. Immediately, Dark recognized them for what they were.

"Those are my weapons," he said looking up to the dragons.

"How do you know that?" Rainbow asked.

"I think I'd remember the look of my own weapons that came from my forge."

"So you remember that much, but do you know where I found these two hundred and fifty-four weapons at?" Razor Claw sadistically asked.

Hearing that familiar number, Iron Guard looked down to his notes, noticing that the number of weapons matched the number of graves that they found.

"That can't be a coincidence," he mumbled to himself.

"What is it?" Shining asked.

"The number of those weapons," Iron Guard spoke up to the General, "they match the number of graves that we found at the grave pillar. Tell me, is this just a coincidence, or is there more to this?"

"So, you've figured it out already," Razor Claw chuckled.

Hearing this gave Dark another migraine as more lost memories flooded his mind. This time it took place the day after his fight with Nocturne as a heavy rain started to pour over his village. Looking around, Dark could see the damage that had been done. Everywhere around him were ruined buildings, some more so than others. As he continued to look around, he started noticing more skeletal remains of his fellow villagers. Heading over to a specific group by his family's house, Dark looked down at the bones of his parents and sister. Then, what started out as a sniffle soon turned to him bawling out loud. For over an hour he cried loudly, the only other sound being the puddles of rainwater around him. Another hour later, Dark had managed to get his crying under control for the time being. Not wanting to see his dead family anymore, he walked out of the village and towards a clear area where he decided would be a good place to put his family to rest. Wanting this to be special, he walked around until he found a large stone to act as a monumental pillar, rolled it over to the desired location, tilted it up on end, and began digging their graves. Thanks to the rain wetting the soil, it didn't take him long to make the three graves for his parents and sister.

As he went back for them, he began looking around to the other skeletons that were laying around. It was then that Dark decided that they too should have a place to rest. After getting his family settled down and burying them, he then began working on the graves for the others. He didn't know how many there were, so he just keep making more and more until they were all put to rest. It took him a few days, but in the end, he'd managed to create a whole new graveyard. With no way to tell who was who, and not wanting to spend time creating a few hundred nameless tombstones, Dark instead decided to take the weapons in his forge and the armory, and plant them into the ground to use as their tombstones instead. Taking a few steps back, he took a moment to look at the graves surrounding the massive rock. After apologizing to them for failing them and giving them all a silent farewell, Dark quietly walked back into the village to pack what he could for the journey away from his ruined home. That was, however, until he heard the sound of draconic roars echoing through the skies.

Feeling covered in warmth, Dark opened his eyes to see his friends embracing him. What's more was that he was surprised to see that he'd started crying at some point. Reaching forward, Dark wrapped his arms around Twilight and buried his face in her chest.

"Sshhhh," Twilight soothed as she stroked his mane. "Now, what did you see?"

"I-I buried them," Dark shakily answered. "The villagers... I'm the one who buried them all. A-And I used those weapons as their tombstones... wait. Those weapons."

Noticing the sudden and dangerous shift in his tone, Twilight and the others backed away from Dark as he slowly raised his head. Gone was the sadness in his eyes, now replaced by pure fury.

"You," Dark growled as one of his golden eyes started to turn red. "You defiled them."

"Heheheh, took you long enough to figure out," Razor Claw mocked.

"Those don't belong to you!" Dark shouted before slamming his claw onto the stone floor.

Upon contact, pure darkness spread from his claw and reached out towards the discarded weapons. Taking a cautious step back, the three dragons and pony watched as the spears, axes, and swords began to stand themselves upright before slowly descending into the blackness. Once they were completely submerged, the darkness retreated back towards Dark's claw.

"What did you just do?!" Razor Claw shouted. "Those were my trophies! Give them back!"

"They. Are not. Yours!" Dark roared.

Hearing his voice change again, Twilight took a few more steps back.

Oh no, not again, she worryingly thought.

Twilight wasn't the only one to have noticed the sudden change either as the other ponies took a few steps back as well. And while they were wondering what was going on to him, Rin could see what was happening clearly before turning to Razor Claw.

"You fool!" he barked. "Now look at what you've done!"

"What is it?" Inferno questioned.

"That lad is also Lord Nocturne!"

"What?!"

"It's true," a voice agreed.

Turning to it's source, they saw that it came from Dark... at least, that's who it appeared to be. Some of the shadows that were emanating off of Dark's draconic limbs had wrapped themselves around parts of Dark. Most noticeably was the right-half of his face, which was covered in complete darkness. Along with the black color, the shadows have also changed his look from a pony shape, to a draconic one that they were familiar with.

"Lord Nocturne?" Rin carefully asked. "Is that really you?"

The half-Dark, half-Nocturne nodded before turning to Razor Claw, growling. "You were a fool to provoke us, General."

"Oh, shi-" he tried saying before he found his throat being squeezed.

Looking down, he could see that a monstrous, black draconic claw that was bigger than his head, had suddenly found his neck in its grasp. Looking over to where it was coming from, Razor Claw became confused and slightly frightened when he saw that the arm it was attached to was coming out of a dark ripple.

"Ho-How-" he tried speaking, only to find himself losing his footing as he was being held up off the ground.

"You have said quite enough, hatchling. Now be silent!" Nocturne shouted before slamming him hard onto the stone floor and retracting his arm and claw into the darkness from whence it came.

"Lord Nocturne," Inferno spoke, gaining his attention.

"Ah, if it isn't the young king. Tell me, is this what you were hoping for when you told me about him?"

"What... what happened to you, My Lord?"

"What does it look like? I was bested and was forced to share this kirin's body!"

"Then why do you stay like this?"

"Because he's in control, that's why. And while I'm just along for the ride, I must admit that it's been rather interesting."

"Nocturne," Twilight called, now gaining his attention instead.

"Ah, Princess Twilight. I didn't expect that we'd meet again so soon," he said with a small smile. "My congratulations on you and Dark, by the way."

"Thank you, but that's not what I want to talk to you about."

"You want to know what's going on with Dark and I, right?" he guessed, getting a nod from Twilight. "Like I told you, we are one now, though he's still unaware of-"

"That's what you think," Dark interrupted, his half of his face now glared angrily at Nocturne. "You have some explaining to do, Nocturne, now get to it! How is it that you're using my body like this?!"

"Might as well now that everyone is assembled and I won't have to say this again," Nocturne said before forcing him and Dark to sit down. "Like I just said, you did defeat me back in Stonewall, but I used my magic to transfer my soul into your body. I had planned to take over your body, but I somehow failed and am now a prisoner inside it instead. In turn, you have gained all of my powers and have complete control, while all I can do is sit back and watch."

"Then why are you out now?"

"I can only surface when you start to get mad like this at something, and like that stallion from yesterday."

"So I was right, that was your voice I heard mixing in with Dark's," Twilight spoke.

"Correct, though that was about it. Now, if you remember back to when you fought that ursa major, Dark, you'll also notice that when you roared right before you finished it off, that it was my roar that was heard, not yours."

"That was battle rage and I was a bit too focused to have been paying attention to something like that," Dark commented before turning to Twilight, his expression firm yet soft. "And Twilight, why didn't you tell me about him before? How long have you known about him?"

"After I was put to sleep when I had the Feather Flu," she shamefully answered. "I wanted to tell you, I really did, but I was asked not too."

"By who?"

"By me," Nocturne told him. "I asked her to not tell you about me, same when Discord looked into your memories."

"So you're the reason why they said that I shouldn't know about my lost memories?"

"That is correct. And besides, with how you reacted to the memories you've recovered recently, would you really want to learn everything that you've lost all at once?"

Dark grumbled. "I guess not."

"As I thought. Besides, you still have some memories missing. And while the ones you've recovered today were important, there are still more important ones left. One in particular."

"What can be more important than remembering that you were inside me, having to bury my village, and killing hundreds of dragons in a matter of minutes?"

"That, you'll-"

"Have to figure out on my own, right?" Dark interrupted, now starting to grow slightly annoyed with this speech.

"Yes," Nocturne answered before redirecting his attention to the gathered dragons and pony. "As for you four, if you don't want Dark or I to show you why he's the new Lord of Death, you will cease your provoking and get this over with." Once he got a hasty nod from the four, he turned back to Twilight. "I'm sorry for suddenly barging in like this, but I had to have some words with them."

"Just please give us a bit of warning next time," Twilight recommended.

"You'll know it when Dark's eyes start to turn from gold to red. It was the same when we fought if you remember, Dark."

"Yeah, I remember," he said. "It happened right after you bit off my foreleg."

"Correct. Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to rest. Being out like this is rather taxing on me. Also, Dark," he spoke, gaining his full attention. "Don't blame Twilight for this. Even though she didn't tell you by my request, she wasn't happy in the least to do it."

"You almost make it sound like you're concerned for her," Dark observed.

"Spending time in here with you has made you're feelings and personality rub-off on me. So yes, I suppose I am because of you. Speaking of which, before I leave, I have one last thing I want to tell you."

"Yes?"

"Screw you for giving me these feelings!" Nocturne told Dark before he went back to rest.

Feeling Nocturne's presence gone, and the shadows that formed his half of his face receding, Dark had gained complete control over his body again. Rotating his arm and wing around, he felt complete again.

"D-Dark?" a small voice called out to him.

Turning around, he saw his friends looking nervously at him as Fluttershy trembled where she laid.

"I'm sorry, everypony," Dark solemnly apologized. "I didn't mean to go off like that."

"It's alright, darling," Rarity spoke. "We're just a bit surprised is all."

"Yeah, me too."

"Dark?" Twilight called, her head hung down. "I'm sorry for not telling you about this beforehoof."

Sighing, Dark shook his head before gently raising her head back up with a claw.

"You have nothing to be sorry for," he softly said before pulling her into a warm hug.

Happy that Dark wasn't upset with her, Twilight wrapped her forelegs around him and tightly hugged him back. It didn't last long, though, as a throat clearing reminded them that there were others present, and that there was a meeting to finish. Taking a step back away from each other, Twilight returned back up to her seat while Dark and the others walked back to theirs. Keeping his head down to not see the looks that the others were giving him, Dark kept quite while Inferno spoke up.

"Perhaps it would be for the best if we were to finish this meeting now?" he suggested.

"I believe that it would," Celestia agreed.

"Now, while I'm still not approving of how many of my dragons that I've lost to him, especially when considering that it's about a quarter of my army that was wasted on him, I am willing to look past it."

"Your Highness!" Razor Claw quickly spoke. "Surely you can't-"

"It is my decision to make, General, and you will respect it!" Inferno boomed before lowering his voice to a whisper. "Or would you prefer that he'd kill you here? If so, then I wouldn't mind letting it happen, considering how badly you've failed me."

With a reluctant growl, Razor Claw fell silent and let the two continue.

"Also," Inferno added, now speaking to Celestia, "we will pay the fines and submit to any other punishments that are within the treaty."

"You also know that the other nations will need to be made aware of this, right?" Celestia clarified.

"Of course, Princess."

Celestia looked to the other princesses.

"Is there anything else that we wish to discuss?" she asked, getting silent head shakes in response. "Then I believe that our business is done here."

With that, the three dragons bowed before using their amulets to shrink themselves back down. Once at the proper size, Inferno and Razor Claw turned around to leave while Rin made his way over to the ponies before stopping in front of one of them.

"Excuse me," he politely called down to her, "but you're the one called Fluttershy, right?"

"Umm... yes?" she quietly replied.

Seeing that he got the right pony, Rin softly smiled down to her. "I just wanted to meet the pony that Discord told me so much about."

"Discord talked to you about me?"

"Hehe, that he did, little one. And quite a bit too," he told her, causing her to smile back at him. "However, as much as I would like to stay and talk with you some more, I must be heading on back." Rin looked up to the princesses. "It was a pleasure to meet you, Your Highnesses."

With that, Rin politely bowed to them before making his way out. But while he was leaving, Gunter remained in place, appalled by the actions of Rin and his king.

"King Inferno," he called over to him standing by the door, "you're not going to just leave like this, are you?"

"Yes, we are," Inferno replied before looking back at him with a glare. "And if you want to stay in my good graces, then you'll cease questioning me and follow us."

Giving an annoyed grunt, Gunter gave Dark one last look before leaving with his king. With them gone and the meeting over, Dark let out a relaxed breath as he laid down on his stomach. For the next few moments, nopony spoke as they let the mood of the meeting fade.

"Well," Iron Guard spoke, breaking the silence, "that was... interesting."

"It's.. definitely one of the more exciting ones that I can remember," Luna nodded.

"Hey, Dark?" Applejack carefully called to. "Are ya alright? Ah mean, you aren't gonna start actin' differently again, are ya?"

"No, I'm not," he answered. "Technically speaking, Nocturne's been apart of me since we've first met, so nothing's really changed with me."

"Then what about how mad you got at those two guys?" Rainbow asked.

"As I'm sure you've heard, I have a bad history with them, and what I said to them before was from me, not Nocturne."

"So... you really did try to..." Fluttershy tried saying, but couldn't bring herself to finish.

Sighing sadly at her, Dark nodded. "That was a different place I lived in, and he's the only pony who I would wish that upon." Dark paused as he turned to the princesses and bowed. "I'm sorry for my outburst."

"Like I said before," Celestia spoke, "I don't condone acts like that. However, at least now I have a better understanding of what's transpired."

"I on the other hoof wouldn't have minded if you would've done away with that stallion right then and there," Luna shrugged.

"Sister!"

"What?" she blinked. "Don't tell me that you weren't expecting him to do the same, because I saw the look on your face, though subtle as it was."

"Aunty Celestia?" Cadence questioningly glanced over to.

"Well... maybe a little bit," she admitted before turning to Iron Guard. "Captain, would you be so kind as to have the guards bring that thing you brought over here up from the vault?"

"You mean the-" he was going to ask before getting a confirming nod to his unanswered question. "Right away."

With a quick salute, Iron Guard made his way out of the throne room and to the vault. It didn't take him too long to for him to get there and back a familiar red and gold chest in tow. Setting it down, Iron Guard went back to his cushion while Dark continued eyeing the chest.

"Is that what I think it is?" he asked looking over to Celestia, who in turn smiled down to him.

"Why don't you look for yourself?" she told him.

Happily wagging his tail, Dark leaped over to his old chest and began to open it. Looking inside, he was happy to see that everything still there, including the raw Draconium ore that was stored. Confused about it, Dark looked back up to Celestia.

"Is something the matter?" Celestia asked.

"No, nothings wrong," Dark said, "it's just that I didn't expect you to keep the Draconium inside is all."

"Luna and I talked about it and decided to leave it," she explained.

"Besides, it was in your chest when we found it after all," Iron Guard chimed.

"True, but without my forge, this ore is useless to me," Dark told them.

"If it's a forge that you require," Luna spoke up, "then you could use ours. I'm sure that the royal smiths would be more than happy to craft something from a metal such as that."

"Thank you for the offer, but if I could, I'd rather forge it myself."

"Very well then. When do you want to start?"

Dark cocked an eyebrow. "... you're serious?"

"Do I look like I'm joking?"

"... no?"

"Good, because I'm not. Now then, when would you like to start?"

Unsure, Dark looked over to Twilight. "It's up to Twilight since she's the one who's planned our schedule here."

"We're going to be busy today," Twilight began explaining, "but you should have time for tomorrow. How long do you think it'll take you to forge this thing you'll be making?"

"Using the technique used by my old mentor, and using some magic that I've developed, it should take me about twelve hours to complete."

"I guess you'll have to wake up early then."

"Not necessarily," he said before putting the chest in his Shadow Storage. "So long as I'm awake, it doesn't matter what time I start it."

"Great!" Twilight happily said, clapping her hooves together before getting up and walking down the dais. "In that case, we're going over to visit mom and dad."

Getting up out of their seats, Cadence and Shining began to follow after her. Twilight didn't go very far, though, as she paused half-way towards the door before turning around.

"You too, Dark."

Dark blinked. "... what?"

"You're coming with us."

"Oookaayyy... why?" he slowly asked.

"Well you are my coltfriend, so why shouldn't I bring you over to meet my parents?"

It was then that Dark audibly gulped, not quite sure if he was ready to meet them just yet. With the feeling that he wouldn't be able to talk himself out of this, he followed behind his fillyfriend to meet her parents.

Chapter 46- A Tale of the Past

Seven years ago

Shining was walking down the halls leading his squad of four. Brick Break, a rugged, brick-red earth pony stallion with a brown mane and eyes, Tempest, a middle-aged, light-purple pegasus stallion with a blue mane and eyes, and Silica, a young, sandstone-colored unicorn mare with a white mane and light-pink eyes. They'd been called to the office of Bastion, the current Captain of the Royal Guard. For many years, those four have been in the same squad, and during those years, they'd had success after success. Their only failed mission being a joke-mission to beat the other guards and ranked officers in a drinking contest. As they continued down the long hallways, they began talking amongst each other as to why they would be called over there.

"So, boss," Brick said with his gruff voice, "what do you think the captain wants?"

"I can't say," Shining answered.

"Perhaps it has to do with you taking over his position next month?" Tempest guessed. "I mean, the guy is getting pretty old. What is he now? Like sixty-six?"

"He's fifty-five, Tempest," Silica corrected. "But I don't understand why he'd want to retire. He still seems more fit than most of the guards."

"Yes, he is," Shining nodded. "However, after so many years in service, I'm sure that he's more than earned his right to retire by now."

"I heard that Princess Celestia ordered him to retire due to his age," Brick said.

"Hehe, I'd bet. I'm sure that he wouldn't be willing to otherwise. The guard is his life after all."

With a round of agreeing nods, they continued their walk in silence until they came to the door of Bastion's office. Giving the door a few knocks, they waited until they heard and old and strong voice tell them to enter. Obeying, they each went into the room and stood side-by-side at attention. They remained like that until a stone-gray earth pony with a black mane and gray eyes turned around from looking out of his window to his visitors.

"At ease," he told them, allowing them to relax before giving them a smile. "So, how are you doing today, Lieutenant Shining Armor?"

"Good, sir," Shining said, saluting.

"Hehehe, it's alright, lad," Bastion lightheartedly told him. "I'm about to retire, and you shall become Captain of the Royal Guard in my stead. So, in the meantime, when we're alone, even with your squad, let us talk simply as two ponies, instead of stallions of war."

"Yes, sir- I mean, yes, Bastion."

"Good. So then, how are the rest of you doing?"

"Good, sir," they all answered in unison.

"Good to hear."

"Excuse me, Bastion," Shining spoke, "but while I do enjoy chatting with you, I don't believe that that's why you've called my squad and I over here."

Chuckling, Bastion took his seat behind his desk. "You're right about that, lad. So then, you want to get straight to business, huh?"

"Yes, sir."

"Very well then. In that case, why don't you four take a seat."

Waiting for the four to be seated, Bastion looked over the parchment on his desk. Once they were all sitting down in their chairs, he looked back up to them.

"Earlier today," he began, "I was givin this message about a string of abductions from several villages. All of which are within ten miles from the border to the Dragon Kingdom."

"Sir," Shining spoke, "you don't think that this is the dragons' doing, do you?"

"No, I don't believe so," Bastion said with a headshake. "We've gotten witnesses reporting that whoever these abductors were walking as both bipedal and quadrupedal. And, while most were seen at a distance, they were seen wearing what looked like armor, some vests, and most noticeably, each had claws, fangs, and a fur coat."

"So, diamond dogs then?"

"That would be my guess, but that doesn't mean that they'll be easy to hunt down and defeat. You all know of how they tend to hunt in packs, and how big their dens can be."

"If I recall," Shining began, "the largest one that we four have seen held over a hundred of them."

"Yes, I remember the report. However, if they're being so bold as to ponynap ponies from several villages, then their den will more than likely be bigger than the one that you four had discovered."

"If this report is true, Captain, then are we going to have any backup, or are we going in alone?" Brick questioned.

"You'll be receiving support from a group of creatures living near the village you'll be sent to," Bastion said with a smirk. "Tell me, have any of you heard of 'kirins'?"

"Sorry, can't say that I have," Shining answered, the others nodding in agreement.

"I didn't think so, considering how few of them that we've seen. A kirin is the hybrid offspring of a pony and a dragon."

"What?!" the four shouted in surprise, earning an amused chuckle from Bastion.

"That's right. There are pony-dragon hybrids living within Equestria, though they tend to stay near the Dragon Kingdom, which makes them the perfect ones to assist you on this mission. With their knowledge of the terrain, and their tough dragon-like bodies and ferocity, they'll be a huge asset to you. Any questions?"

"What'll be our means of transportation?" Shining asked.

"There'll be an airship that'll bring you four to the village where the last abduction was located at, and bring you back when you return. It leaves in two hours, so take that time to prepare yourselves. It'll also be the same place where you'll rendezvous with the three kirins. Once you do, you seven will search for the den that the diamond dogs are holding the ponies captive. You're authorized to do whatever you need to do to rescue them and see everypony back safely."

"Is there anything else that we need to know?"

"Nothing special. Just remember to stay safe, watch each other's backs, and return home alive when the mission is complete. And remember, Lieutenant Shining Armor, this'll be your last mission before I retire, and you become the new Captain of the Royal Guard. Now then, if none of you have any questions left, then let us commence with the mission!"

Saluting to their captain, Shining led his team out of his office to prepare for their new mission. As Brick and Tempest split away to the armory to arm themselves, Shining and Silica both made their way to Cadence's chambers. Acting casual, the two soon reached her bedroom door, gave a quick knock, and walked in to see her reading a book on her couch.

"Well, this is a surprise," Cadence happily said as she put the book down and gave the two a hug and kiss each. "You two aren't playing hooky, are you?"

"Sorry, hon," Silica said, "but the captain has given Shiny and I a mission over by the Dragon Kingdom's borders."

"Really? Why?"

"Apparently there have been a series of ponynappings along the borders from what the reports says to be led by diamond dogs," Shining answered.

"So, the captain wants you two to go and rescue them then?"

"Brick Break and Tempest Keeper will be coming along as well, hon, and we'll also be getting some additional support when we land."

"That's... somewhat relieving. I still wish that you could get some more help though. This doesn't sound like it'll be very easy."

"Hey, we'll be fine," Shining told Cadence with a reassuring kiss before looking over to Silica. "Isn't that right, Sila?"

"You know it," she replied. "After all, we're the best squad in the history of the royal guard."

Letting out a small giggle, Cadence leaned forward and kissed Silica for a while before turning her affections towards Shining. With both her coltfriend and fillyfriend having received their good luck kiss, Cadence then pulled them into a group hug.

"Just, promise me that you'll both be careful?" she worryingly asked, getting both Shining and Silica to nod in agreement before giving their princess a kiss on both her cheeks.

"We promise to be careful," Shining softly spoke.

"And we also promise to watch out for each other," Silica equally replied.

"I know you will," Cadence smiled, letting the two go from the comfort of their hug.

After making a brief trip to the armory to get themselves some gear, Shining and Silica found Tempest and Brick waiting by the airship docks, both with their armor, a shield, and a spear on hoof. With them all together, they made their way over to the airship that would take them to the village where the last ponynapping happened, and departed into the skies. Five hours later of riding on the airship, they finally caught sight of the town coming into view. However, the sun was about to set, so they would have to delay their mission until tomorrow morning.

Landing the airship, Shining and his squad unboarded and made their way to the local inn, letting the airship's crew tend to it themselves by the crew's request. Not letting time slip by, once they got to the inn and paid for their rooms, they each ate a late dinner together before heading directly to sleep afterwards, wanting to be up and early with the sunrise. For Shining though, the thought of meeting a race of ponies who he'd thought were just an old mare's tale kept him awake. Of course, he was worried about the ponies that were ponynapped, but he also had a chance to meet and work with a rare breed of ponies.

By the time daybreak came, Shining and his squad were already up and waiting for the kirins to accompany them on their hunt for the diamond dog's den. As they waited by the road to the Dragon Kingdom on the outskirts of town, Brick started shifting uncomfortably.

"Something wrong, Brick?" Shining asked, noticing his movements.

"Just a tad nervous, boss," Brick answered him. "Had an uncle who was eaten by a dragon, and since these guys are half-dragon, I'm not sure what to expect from them."

"I get where you're coming from, but they're also half-pony, so we shouldn't be too worried about them. Besides, we'll be outnumbering them, and we're the best squad in the royal guard."

"Darn right we are!" Tempest proudly agreed.

"For a bunch of ponies, maybe," an extra voice said.

Turning to look at the direction of the voice, the four ponies were met with the sight of three kirins. One had blue scales with green spines and eyes, another with red scales and eyes with orange spines who carried a longsword strapped to his waist, and the last one with brown scales and spines, and golden eyes. All of which had two pairs of horns growing from the back of their heads. While the three males each stood a head taller than Shining, neither him nor his squadmates felt intimidated by them.

"I take it that you are the ones who'll be helping us with this mission," Shining said, more of an observation than a question.

"We are," the red one spoke. "I suppose since we'll be working together, we might as well introduce ourselves. My name is Ru, the brown one is Rock, and the blue one is Sapph."

"Nice to meet you three. I am Lieutenant Shining Armor, and this is my squad. The pegasus is Tempest Keeper, the earth pony is Brick Break, and this unicorn lady, is Silica."

"A mare, huh?" Sapph said, grinning as he approached her. "Hey, how about after we're done with this we-"

Before he could finish, Silica slapped his claw away from her and glared at him.

"Sorry to disappoint you, but I'm already happily called for," she told him, trying her best to avoid glancing at Shining who was smirking at them while the other snickered.

"Alright, that's enough of that," Shining told them. "We came here for a reason, now let's go."

With an agreeing nod from Ru, Shining and his squad followed after him and the two other kirins, one of which was nursing his stinging claw from the slap it received. As they walked, Shining trotted up alongside Ru.

"So, where are we heading exactly?"

"The Wastelands to the east," Ru answered Shining. "About two days travel by ground. We could be there quicker, but we're not too keen on carrying ponies on our backs, or in our claws while flying."

"Fine by me. Unless it's by airship or chariot, then I'm not all to comfortable with being up in the air."

"Very well. Anyway, as I was saying, we've spotted some diamond dogs over in that area, but haven't had any problems with them, so we've let them be. That is, until we received word from Princess Celestia that those mutts been drakenapping you ponies. Now, as part of our... agreement, we three will help you find the diamond dog den and rescue their captives. However, we're not by any means responsible for what may happen to you on this mission, that includes whether or not you come back in one piece, or even at all."

"Understood."

"Good."

Three days have passed since they left the village in search for the diamond dog's den. They ran into problems with the storm that suddenly appeared, causing them to find refuge in a nearby cave and lose an extra day's worth of rations. Thankfully though, before they left, they had decided to pack extra food and water incase the mission took them longer than they expected. Once the storm had finally passed, they exited the cave and continued following Ru and the other two kirins.

By the time noon came around, they broke for lunch up on a small cliff overlooking a valley. Half way through their lunch, their ears perked as they heard something running along the bottom of the cliff. Walking over to the edge to take a peek, they all saw a pack of three diamond dogs running. While two of them wore leather armor, the one leading them too wore leather armor, but was studded with gems.

"It's a scouting party!" Ru told them. "Rock, Sapph, let's get them!"

"Tempest, you go with them!" Shining ordered. "We'll pack everything up and be right behind you!"

Saluting, Tempest took to the air and followed the kirins after the diamond dogs. Quickly breaking camp, Shining, Brick, and Silica ran down the path leading down the cliff to catch up with them. A few minutes later, they met them with each kirin with a diamond dog pinned underneath them, and Tempest looking at them with a mixture of confusion, worry, and alarm.

"Well done, guys," Shining commented. "Now, let's start-"

"Please!" the lead diamond dog pleaded. "Don't hurt us!"

"Why should we listen to you? You diamond dogs have been ponynapping ponies from the nearby villages."

"That not us!" another one said. "It was dragon-ponies who did that!"

"We been running from dragon-ponies after they take diamond dog's den from us!" the last one added.

"They right," the leader said. "They come to den with big numbers, kill diamond dog solders, kill females and pups too, and skin dead diamond dog for their pelts!"

"What?" Shining said confusingly. "Why would they do that?"

"Diamond dogs not pupnap ponies, that dragon-ponies doing! They wear pelts to look like diamond dogs! Diamond dogs get falsely blamed while dragon-ponies-"

"ENOUGH!" Ru shouted with a punch to the pinned diamond dog's face. "These lies end now!"

"You the one who lie! You kill most of den and take over for yourselves! Survivors flee, try to regroup and find new place to live!"

Confused, Shining looked back and forth from Ru to the diamond dog trapped beneath him.

"Hey, Shining?" Silica whispered.

"Yeah?" he whispered back. "Something up?"

"I don't think that those diamond dogs are lying."

"What makes you say that?"

"Well, for one, that kind of story isn't something that one would just come up with on the spot like that. Plus, you know that I'm a pony person, and they don't seem all that bad. Now, the kirins on the other hoof have been giving me an uneasy feeling ever since we've met them."

"Yeah, I've been getting that feeling too," Shining quietly agreed. "But, I didn't want to jump to anything without getting to know them first."

"What are ponies whispering about?" the lead diamond dog nervously asked.

His attention drawn back to them, Shining walked over to the downed diamond dog. After thinking how to go about this for a moment, Shining mentally nodded with his choice before addressing the diamond dog.

"Will you tell us where this den is?"

"Does that mean that ponies believe us?" the lead diamond dog asked, his eyes now with a spark of hope in them.

Before Shining could answer him, Ru gave a subtle nod to the two kirins and each of them swiftly bit down on the neck of the diamond dog the each had pinned below them. With an audible crack and some brief gurgles, the three diamond dogs lay dead with their necks snapped and blood leaking from the wounds while the kirins got off of them.

"What the hay was that for?!" Shining snapped at them. "They were about to tell us where their den was!"

"Calm down!" Ru snapped back. "Once they talked about their den, I knew which one he was talking about, so we didn't need him or the others. Besides, letting them go would alert them to us, and keeping them as our prisoners would only deplete our rations before we made it back."

"You still didn't need to kill them! We're soldiers and warriors, not murderers."

"Sorry to say this, but things here aren't like what they are where you come from. The world here by the Dragon Kingdom is far more savage than what your ponyland is." After a pause of silence, Ru unstrapped his sword belt and held it out to Shining. "Here. As a show of loyalty, I give you this weapon."

Hesitantly, Shining took the sword in his magic and unsheathed it. "What is it? I've never seen a sword red like this before."

"That there is a sword made from Draconium. It's a rare red metal that's very lethal to dragons, and by extension, us kirins. I give it to you as a show of good faith and of our loyalty to our... alliance."

If that's true, then why does it feel like he's lying? Shining mentally asked himself. And why would he give me a weapon like this if it's dangerous to him? Is he that confident of himself and his two companions, or is he just stupid? Either way, I should play this safe.

"Thank you for this gesture, Ru," Shining thanked while sheathing the sword and strapping the sword belt on. "So, how far is this den then?"

"It's at the base of that mountain range, just past the other side of this valley," Ru answered him. "If we keep at it and not take any breaks, we can be there by midnight."

"In that case, let's go."

With an agreeing nod, Ru and the other two kirins began leading the ponies across the valley. Within a few minutes of beginning their trek, Shining's squadmates came up to him, each with the same concern.

"Hey, boss?" Brick quietly spoke, getting Shining's attention. "Is it really a good idea to trust them?"

"Yeah. After all, you saw what they did to those diamond dogs," Tempest added. "It actually looked like they were willing to talk to us and tell us what we needed to know before those three killed them."

"I know," Shining calmly said. "Which is why I want all of you to be on guard around them. Though I don't quite believe what those diamond dogs said, if they do happen to be right, then I want us to be prepared."

"And what if they were lying to us?"

"Better to be cautious and be wrong than to not and end up in trouble. Which is why for now on, each of us will be taking watch shifts. Even if one of them are on watch, I want a set of our eyes watching."

"If by chance the kirins were to betray us, why would they then give you a weapon that they said is lethal to them, sir?"

"Probably to lure us into a false sense of security and trust," Silica quietly answered for Shining. "And if that's the case, then we'll have to be careful of not only their strength, fire breath, sharp claws and fangs, but also of their cunning."

"Exactly," Shining agreed with a nod. "Also, if they do try something on us while we're asleep, I want whoever is on watch at the time to wake the rest of us. Once we're all awake and alert, we'll begin our attack on them. While they may be stronger than us individually, together we can beat them."

"Yes, sir!" the three quietly replied before returning to their prior positions.

Keeping silent, the four ponies cautiously followed behind the three leading kirins. As they walked, Shining quietly ordered for them to keep their distance, but to not make it look like they were keeping their distance. Though they did while at the same time keeping an eye on their guides, they soon lost track of time and found that the sun was about to set with their destination just coming into view. A few hours later after the sun set and the moon sat high in the sky, they found themselves at the other side of the valley. Walking up the pathway leading up, they made their way to the top of a small plateau that gave them a great view of the Dragon Kingdom.

"We'll rest here for the night," Ru told them. "Stone, go get what firewood you can."

With a silent nod, Stone flew off to find the wood, returning in a few minutes with an armload for the fire. Once lit, everyone gathered around and got themselves a bite to eat before Silica let out a loud yawn.

"Guess we better get ourselves some sleep," Shining suggested.

"In that case, I'll take the first watch, boss," Brick said, getting up from his spot and climbing up to a ledge up above them for a better view of their surroundings.

"That's not needed," Ru told him. "Rock will take the first watch and Sapph will have the second."

"Thanks," Shining spoke, "but I'd rather have one of my guys on watch. Besides, there's only three of you and four of us."

"Yes, but we're used to going days without sleep if needed."

"Why don't we just have one of our guys and one of yours go on watch?" Silica suggested. "That way, everyone gets to have someone on guard while the rest of us sleep until our watch rotation."

Looking over to her, Shining slowly nodded in agreement while Ru, after waiting for a while to see that they wouldn't budge on it, eventually nodded too. With everyone in agreement, Stone flew up to Brick's perch and took a seat alongside him while the others laid beside the fire and soon fell asleep.

Shining startled awake by a blood curdling scream. Shooting his head up from its resting place, he quickly looked around to take in his surroundings. As he did, his heart sank when he saw that Brick's and Tempest's bodies were scattered around their camp sight, leaving almost everything around Shining covered in red. With fear and panic, Shining looked over to where he heard the scream coming from and saw Silica pinned to the ground by Sapph, who had a hungry look to him while Ru stood beside them smirking.

"What are you doing to her?!" Shining shouted, getting all of their attention before noticing that Silica was without her armor, had an inhibitor ring on her horn, and had a steady stream of tears flowing from her eyes.

"Oh, nothing much," Ru smirked. "We're just going to have ourselves some fun before we take her and toss her in with the rest of the female slaves."

"What?! So those diamond dogs were telling us the truth?!"

Ru laughed out loud into the night sky before stopping abruptly and looking back to Shining with a wicked grin.

"Yes, they were, but that doesn't really matter now, does it?"

"Then what about this sword you gave me? You said that it was a sign of good faith and loyalty!"

"Heh, I lied. Just like I did to everypony before you who fell for that exact same trick."

With an angry snort, Shining unsheathed the Draconium sword, determined to return it to its original owner in his chest. Before he could get a running start though, he felt something hard hit him on the back of his head. Dropping straight to the ground and causing his magic to sputter out, Shining then felt a spear being driven through his stomach, which thankfully missed his vital organs, before being yanked out. Feeling his consciousness quickly slipping away from the pain and blood loss, Shining was able to hear Ru's last words. Words of which made Shining's blood both boil with rage, and run cold with dread.

"Rock, place this on his horn. I don't want him interfering with his magic." Ru paused as he licked his lips at the fearful Silica." Now then, who want's to have a go at her first?"

Shining didn't know how long he was out for. He tried lifting his legs, but they felt too heavy for him. However, with Ru's last words ringing in his ears, he forced himself to move, earning him the feeling of his hoof sliding against the rocky ground. Just as his body started to obey him again, he heard a pained scream, which for some reason, also sounded like a dragon's roar.

Opening his eyes, Shining saw Silica laying on the ground, panting for breath while blood leaked from the corner of her mouth. As he saw her laying there broken-looking, he also saw Rock and Ru standing by her, laughing and pointing at Sapph, who was writhing on the ground with his front claws on his crotch, and his back legs crumpled up against him. After a few moments, Shining saw him bring one of his front claws from his crotch, stained in his own blood.

"Hahahaha! That's what you get for getting too greedy with her!" Ru laughed at Sapph.

"Yeah," Rock agreed with a chuckle.

"I didn't want to be left out of the fun!" Sapph snapped before glaring venomously at Silica, who weakly smirked back at him. "Apparently, she's too much trouble to keep around."

"Seriously?" Ru scoffed.

"HEY! Maybe next time, you can be the one to have her bite off your-"

"Alright, alright, fine! We don't need to bring her with us."

"Good."

While royally pissed at what they did to her, Shining managed to smile at what Silica did to them, though he was cringing on the inside at the thought of it. Glancing over to Sapph, he watched as he moved his shaky legs, made it up to his claws, and walked over to Tempest's spear. With an angry snort, Sapph grabbed the spear, turned around, and slowly made his way back to the downed Silica.

Knowing what he was going to do, Shining tried forcing his body to move, but it felt incredibly heavy and wasn't responding as he wanted. He then tried using his magic, but felt something blocking it. Glancing up, Shining saw that he too had his horn slapped with an inhibitor ring. With his magic blocked and no strength to move, Shining watched in slow motion as Sapph neared Silica while Ru and Rock watched him expectantly, unaware of Shining being conscious again.

Once he was directly in front of Silica, he reversed his hold on the spear and held it above his head with the spearhead pointing downward. Knowing that her last moments were upon her, Silica took a last look at Shining, seeing him looking back at her as he tried to keep his tears from overflowing. Seeing him alive, the fear on her face faded as she gave him a sad smile before mouthing to him "I love you". Seeing Shining's eyes widen, she knew that he knew what she just silently said to him.

Closing her eyes, she waited for the spear to drop, which came immediately as she felt it impaling her through her back and burying itself into the ground through her front. Though it hurt a lot, she didn't cry out in pain, only grunted and softly whined. But, while she was in a lot of pain, her smile to Shining never wavered, not even after a few moments later when her eyes became heavy and she laid her head down to sleep.

The three kirins watched Silica's body in silence. After a minute had passed, Sapph nudged her to see if she was still alive. When he didn't get any reaction out of her, he pulled the spear out from her back and kicked her away... right towards Shining. Seeing her stopping at his hooves, he reached out to her and pulled her onto his lap. With a hoof, he brushed her mane out of her face to see that she still retained that smile that she died with. Unable to hold back anymore, Shining buried his face into his dead fillyfriend's coat, allowing his tear to run free with his muffled cries. Hearing the muffled sound of someone crying, the three kirins looked over to see that Shining was awake.

"Well, crap. I though that he'd be unconscious for a few more hours at least," Rock said somewhat embarrassed.

"Do you think he saw Sapph kill her?" Ru wondered.

"Who cares!" he snapped. "She's dead and that's all that matters. Now, let's grab him and get back to the den. I want to get to the healer to see if they can do something to regrow my-"

Sapph cut himself off when he felt a rumble beneath his claws. It started out small, but increased in magnitude by the second. Then, for reasons unknown to them, the blood and loose rocks surrounding them started floating off of the ground. While they looked at their surroundings in confusion, they soon saw a glow coming from Shining, who was still holding Silica tightly against his chest. As they looked at him, they soon saw that the phenomenon around them was coming from him, and the magical inhibitor, which began to crack under the magical pressure it was under.

"UUUAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!!!!!"

With a piercing cry of rage and agony, something in Shining snapped as his horn erupted with power, causing the inhibitor ring to shatter in a blinding magical light. Once the light died down, Shining's coat became hot-white while his mane and tail became like fire, his eyes turned red and burned like a pair of suns, and the wound in his stomach had started to heal itself, but just barely. And as his tears continued to pour from his tear ducts, they immediately sizzled away, creating a constant stream of steam from his eyes.

Breathing heavily, Shining looked up from Silica to her killers, who all flinched away upon seeing the murderous glare from his burning eyes. Gently laying Silica's body on the ground, Shining got up to his hooves before noticing a glint of light from the Draconium sword in the corner of his eye. Using his magic, he took the sword in his aura before turning his attention back to the three kirins and slowly made his way over to them.

Feeling a sense of fear, Sapph immediately turned around and started to fly away. But, before he could flap his wings to get away, Shining quickly used his magic on the spear that Sapph had used on Silica, and impaled him as he did to her, until the spear was lodged firmly into the stone ground. However, though the area that Shining impaled him in was near his center, me was sure to not hit anything vital so that he could keep him alive for a while.

Seeing their companion stuck and unable to move, Ru and Rock both charged Shining, who just stood in place, unmoving. As the two flew closer towards him through the floating blood and small rocks, Shining's horn began to glow, and before either of them knew it, Rock found himself impaled from behind with Brick's spear, piercing his chest and ending him on the spot. With him being the only one left and feeling in great danger, Ru stopped his flight path and turned around to fly away, but instead found himself trapped in a magical barrier and slammed into the ground.

Before he could shake the daze from the slam away, he felt a sharp pain traveling through his back and out his front. Sparing a quick glance, Ru saw that the spear from Rock's body was gone from him, and was instead what had pinned him to the ground. Looking from the spear up in front of him, Ru saw that Shining was now standing mere feet away from him with the Draconium sword that he gave him held high above his head. Resigning to his death, Ru closed his eyes before the sword severed his head.

With two kirins down, Shining cleaned the blade of his sword off on the dead kirin before making his way over to the last of them, who was still struggling to break the spear that held him firmly in place. Using his magic, Shining removed the spear from the dead Ru and impaled it into another area of Sapph's stomach, causing him to roar in pain. Once it became bearable, he looked up to see Shining glaring directly into his eyes.

"What? Do you think that I'm bad? Do you think that you've won?" Sapph chuckled before spitting out a glob of blood. "Let me tell you something, pony. That entire diamond dog den is full of kirins like me, some of them much worse and far more cruel than I. And, once they find out that you killed us, they'll be coming for you, your family, and everyone that you care about!"

"Then I'll just have to kill them first," Shining coldly stated before raising his sword and pointing it. "Starting with you."

"Go ahead. It's not like you can beat us all. There are a thousand kirins inside the den. You'll be walking into your own grave."

"Yes, it will become a place of rest." Shining paused and raised his sword, "but it won't be my grave. Instead, it'll be a tomb of kirins."

Wasting no more time, Shining brought the sword down upon Sapph's neck, severing his head before taking it into his magic and throwing it off the side of the plateau and down into the valley. With the traitorous kirins dead, Shining saw to his fallen comrades and fillyfriend. Gathering the remains of Tempest and Brick, Shining laid them down next to each other before taking their blankets from their saddlebags and covering their bodies with them. Then, he turned his attention towards Silica, who he took into his magical hold and gently kissed her forehead before setting her down with the other two and covering her with her blanket. With the three laying side-by-side and covered, Shining casted a magical barrier over them to preserve their bodies.

"I'll be back for you," Shining quietly told them before looking out towards the Dragon Kingdom. "Right after I wipeout the kirins and save the prisoners."

With a salute to his fallen squadmates, Shining turned around and began making his way into the Dragon Kingdom. Before he left the plateau though, he walked past the corpse of Sapph and removed the two spears impaled through his back, intending on using them some more. That though was shattered though as both spearheads had been dulled and bent from the hard contact of the kirin's scales, and instead decided to leave them with their original owners and return them with them.

Resuming his travel despite it still being late into the night, Shining didn't have much trouble seeing his surroundings thanks to the moonlight, and the glowing from his rageshifted mane and tail. For almost an hour he continued walking, searching for any signs of anything that would indicate the location of the diamond dog's den. Soon enough, he saw a cave in the distance with a faint glow coming from inside. Feeling like he was close now to his goal, Shining galloped the rest of the way to the cave. After ten minutes of a hard gallop, he finally came to the mouth of the cave and quietly walked inside.

Keeping close to the walls, Shining snuck in and made his way down deeper into the tunnel. While he would've been concerned for his rageshift giving him away, he soon found himself deep enough where torches began lining the cave walls. Within a minute of walking into the tunnel of torches, Shining peeked around a corner to find a pair of kirin guards in iron armor.

Giving a snort, Shining thought of a way to take them out before they could get a chance of alerting the others. Remembering his skills with shields spells, Shining encased the two kirins in a barrier and brought them over around the corner to him. But, instead of increasing the size of the barrier like he normally would, he instead shrank it until they were crushed. And, while doing so would normally be taxing on his magic, his rageshift allowed for it to be no harder than crushing an apple beneath his hoof.

With the two guards dead and out of the way, Shining walked down the tunnel they'd guarded and continued with the same treatment for every kirin that he passed. Five minutes and thirty crushed kirins later, Shining exited the tunnel and entered into the diamond dog's den. However, it wasn't what Shining had expected.

"This isn't a den," Shining said in awe to himself, rotating his head around to get a look at the massive cavern. "It's a small city!"

For a while, he took in the sight around him. Along the walls were cave entrances leading into what he guessed were their individual homes. And at his hooves, down the large ramp leading down to the center of the cavern below him, was what appeared to be a temple with an eerie-looking, onyx-black statue of a slender, bipedal creature with long claws, a tail, wings, a pair of horns, and a faceless head. As he continued to look around, he was unaware that when he spoke, his voice had echoed off of the walls and alerted all of the kirins to his presence. It wasn't until he heard that the cavern had gone quiet that he saw that all of the kirins had locked their gazes upon him.

"Uh-oh."

Seeing Shining standing there on the top of the ramp overlooking them, the kirins all let out a unified roar before flying up to him. Seeing the swarm of kirins flying at him, Shining retreated back into the tunnel to bottleneck them. Casting a few shield spells to further thin them out, Shining began firing beams of magic from his horn at the incoming kirins. While normally his magic wouldn't be that strong against them, with his rageshift still continuing, Shining's spells either wounded them, or killed them, depending on where the shots landed.

As time went by, Shining would back away from them, keeping his distance while the kirins were starting to have to to climb over their dead just to get at him. After ten minutes had passed, the first of the kirins finally got within twenty feet of Shining. Once it did though, Shining quickly cut it down with his Draconium sword while continuing his magical barrage. Before Shining knew it, forty-five minutes had passed and the kirins were starting to fall back.

Pressing his advancement, Shining continued firing one beam of magic after another while slicing those with his Draconium sword that got too close to his liking. Soon enough, Shining found that he'd pushed them back into their "city", and started firing at them from the top of the ramp. With him in the open, the kirins could now fly at him while those on the ground charged at him up the stairs. As he continued to shoot any kirins flying at him out of the air and threw any of the nearby dead down the ramp, knocking those charging up back down to the bottom, Shining began to notice something.

Where are their weapons? he wondered. They have armor, and yeah, they have cudgels and some swords, but where are their shields, spears, axes, and bows at? Are they really that confident in their natural strength that they didn't think that they would need them? And why aren't they using any magic? Can kirins even use unicorn magic?

Clearing his mind from those question for now, Shining focused on the kirins that were still attacking him. Over an hour had passed since this had started, and while he would've been exhausted at this point, his rageshift kept him fighting. With a few more blasts of magic at the flying kirins, and sending those charging up the now slick ramp tumbling back down, Shining looked around to see that only a few hundred remained.

Looking up, he saw a stalactite hanging just above where he was standing. Firing a blast of magic at the base of it, Shining knocked it loose, causing it to fall down onto the ramp in front of him, and roll down, crushing the kirins beneath it as it rolled over them and into the giant statue, destroying one of the legs and toppling it over. With that one move, over half of the remaining kirins were lost, leaving the remaining eighty to begin flying away from Shining. However, he wasn't willing to leave until he knew that every single one of those kirins were dead and rotting in this soon-to-be tomb of theirs.

Taking aim, Shining then began to snipe them out of the air from his spot. While he got most of them in mid-flight, there were some who flew into some of the cave homes in the side of the cavern. They weren't safe though as Shining would fire several blasts of magic into them and cause them to cave-in on top of them. Not seeing any more of them, Shining took a few minutes to listen carefully for any sounds of any of them still being alive. Hearing no sound coming from anywhere, he began making his way down to the bottom the slick and bloody ramp.

After taking longer than he needed so he wouldn't slip and fall down all the way, Shining walked around to the side of the statue where he saw a large tunnel with rail cart tracks leading down them. Curious, he went down into what he supposed was a mine and entered into the main chamber where he saw several dozen, half-dead stallions chained together at work. With another look, he quickly saw the taskmaster and charged him.

With Shining's speed, the taskmaster didn't know he was coming at him until he turned his head to see Shining's Draconium sword at his neck. Witnessing the death of their taskmaster and recognizing Shining as a member of the royal guard by his armor, the ponies cheered for him while he grabbed the keys to their shackles.

"Everypony!" Shining called, his voice echoing across the mines. "You're free!"

With another round of shouts and cheers, Shining broke the keychain and tossed the five keys on it to five different ponies for them to free themselves and the others with. Seeing that they could free themselves just fine, Shining went back up the tunnel and exited the mines in search for the mares and foals that were also ponynapped.

Entering back into the cavern and walking around the fallen statue, Shining's nose was greeted with the scent of perfume. Taking a few sniffs, he followed it in the direction of the temple. Getting an idea of where the mares could be, Shining went up the small flight of stairs and into the temple. Making his way inside, he saw that the inside of it was lined with stone pillars on either side of him as he continued deeper into it. Coming upon a large set of heavy wooden doors, Shining used his magic to push them open, revealing a room full of blankets, pillows, and weeping mares with collars with chains that anchored them down to the ground.

Princess Celestia isn't going to like hearing about this, Shining thought.

While he felt his rage building again at seeing what they were using them for, Shining kept himself from exploding and began looking around. Spotting a set of keys on a hook on the wall, Shining walked over, picked it from its hanger, and walked over to the closest mare to unlock her collar with one key, while using the other on the inhibitor ring on her horn. With one freed, Shining went over to the next to unlock her collar too, but used a third key to undo the strap holding her wings down.

After he freed the second one, he gave the keys to the unicorn mare that he freed, telling her to free the others before getting tackled in a hug by the pegasus that he'd just freed. As he hugged back the weeping pegasus, repeatedly being thanked for saving them, the others were being freed one after the other. A few moments later, Shining lifted her head up with a hoof to look at her.

"Tell me, are there any foals around here?" Shining tenderly asked.

"I-It doesn't m-matter," she croaked. "Th-They'll be b-b-back f-for us."

"No they won't. There aren't anymore kirins around to hurt you or anypony else. So, please, tell me where the foals are."

Still sobbing, instead of telling him, she pointed a hoof towards a corridor from the side of the room. With his thanks and a promise to return to them with the foals, Shining made his way down the hallway in search for the foals. He didn't have to look very far though as he could hear crying just ahead of him. Turning the last corner, he saw a large, locked prison cell filled with several dozen foals, ranging from infants to those in their younger teens. Feeling angry again and needing to take it out on something, instead of looking for the key, Shining used his rageshifted magic, and with some strain, he pried the iron door off of its hinges and threw it hard against the wall. With the door out of the way, Shining walked over into the cell of foals who began scampering away from him in fear.

"It's alright, I'm not going to hurt you," Shining softly spoke to them before laying down in front of them to make himself look less intimidating. "I'm here to help you and take you all home."

Seeing that some of them looked a little more relaxed, he held out a hoof to them. A few moments later, one of the younger fillies walked closer and placed her hoof on Shining's. Noticing that she was becoming more relaxed, he leaned forward and gave the filly a reassuring nuzzle, which caused her to return it with one of her own. Seeing that their friend wasn't being harmed, a young colt walked up and joined them. Soon enough, the foals came up to Shining one-by-one to either hug or nuzzle him while crying in relief. Letting them have a moment, Shining waited until they began to calm back down before getting up.

"Alright, kids," Shining addressed them, "let's get you all home."

Turning around, Shining led the foals down the hallway he came from and into the chamber where the mares were now all freed and waiting for him. Once they say him walking in with the foals following in after him, most of the mares ran over to them and picked their child or children up to hug them. While it was heartwarming to see the mother crying with their reunited foals and he didn't want to interrupt it, Shining reminded them that they still needed to leave this place and return them home, to which they all agreed with.

Leading them out of the room and into the massive temple hallway, Shining stopped before remembering what awaited them out there.

"Alright, kids, we're going to play a little game," Shining told them, causing the foals to cheer in joy. "Now, what we're going to do is like Follow the Leader, but with our eyes closed. Do you want to play?" Once he saw them all nod in agreement, Shining smiled, hoping that this plan would work. "Good. Now then, one of you come over here and grab onto my tail with your mouth. After that, I want the next pony to do the same to the one gabbing onto me, and so on. And don't worry, my tail isn't actually on fire, it just looks like it is. Now, can you kids do that?"

With another round of nods, Shining quickly found his tail being held tightly in the mouth of the young filly that had first approached him. Giving her another soft smile, he waited for the other foals to follow her example. After a few corrections, Shining was leading a train of foals out of the temple with their eyes all shut. Before they got out though, one of the mares walked up alongside Shining.

"So, why did you want the foals to do this?" she asked him.

"I didn't want for them to see what's out there," Shining whispered. "And by staying in line like this, none of them will stray from the one in front of them."

"Alright, but what's out there that you don't want them to- oh my Celestia," she whispered, seeing the dead kirins littering the ground around them. "Now I see what you mean. Did you do all of this?"

"Yes, but we shouldn't stay her any longer than we need to. I can see the stallions at the exit clearing the tunnel of the kirins up there."

With him heading them, Shining led the foals along a path that wouldn't let them accidentally bump into any of the dead kirins while using his magic to toss aside any that would. Once they got to the base of the ramp, he told the foals that it was slick with water instead of telling them the truth an scaring them, so they would need to take it slow so nopony would trip and slide down. Although they had a few close calls, they all made it to the top without anypony slipping and falling down.

"Good job, everypony," Shining complimented the foal. "We're almost done."

"Cah we ofen our eyhs het?" one of themcomplained through their mouthful of tail.

"Not quite yet. Just wait a little longer and I'll tell you. Besides, you want to win this game, don't you?"

Smirking at his plan working, Shining continued to lead them until a few minutes passed after passing the last dead kirin. Allowing them to open their eyes and let go of each other's tail, the foals all cheered for winning their "game" before running back to their moms. After some more time had passed, they finally exited the cave to see the moonlit surface where the freed stallions all waited for them. While most of them ran to their families, a few approached Shining.

"We thought that it would be a good idea to bring these carts with us," one of the stallions said while gesturing to the ten carts behind them. "Most are filled with supplies for the journey home, but some are unloaded for the foals and any who are injured to ride in."

"Good thinking," Shining said approvingly. "I wouldn't want the foals to make the trip back there on hoof anyway."

"How far away is the nearest village anyway?" another asked.

"It took three days and nights to get here, and that was with having to hunker down in a cave from a storm." Shining paused when he remembered something. "Hey, can I ask you guys something?"

"Of course, sir."

"Can we spare one of the carts? My squadmates and I were attacked in our sleep and they didn't make it. I would like to return them to Canterlot so they could be properly buried, but I don't want the foals to see them."

"Oh... I'm sorry to hear that. Of course we can spare one for them."

"Thank you. You'll find them up on the plateau over there," Shining told them, pointing a hoof in the direction they were at.

"It almost sounds like you're not coming with us."

"I'll catch up with you all later. First off, I need to return back into that cavern and make sure that nopony can get in or out."

"You think that one of those things might've survived?" one of the stallions asked fearfully.

"I don't think so, but I don't want to take any chances. Now, you lead them to the plateau and I'll catch up with you there. And don't worry about the barrier that I placed around them. I'll remove it from here."

With that, Shining dispelled his barrier around his squadmates and turned around to galloped back into the cave. Feeling no sense of fatigue, he continued his pace until he came out into the cavern. Taking a few breaths to steady himself, Shining fired a beam of magic up at the ceiling and dragged it across it, causing the stalactites and loosened rocks to start falling down. Soon enough, the entire cavern started shaking as it began to cave-in. With no time to spare, Shining booked it as fast as he could back the way he came, keeping himself ahead of the cave-in that was starting to follow him. With falling rocks behind him, Shining didn't keep track of how long he'd been running for until he could see the moonlight shining again. With a final push, Shining leaped out of the mouth of the cave and rolled against the rocky ground before coming to a stop and panting heavily for air.

Taking a few minutes, Shining laid where he was, allowing his burning lungs a chance to rest. Once he felt like he could breathe without his chest burning, he got back up onto his hooves and took one last look at the caved-in entrance before regrouping with the survivors. With him being by himself trying to catch up to them, Shining was able to travel faster than the caravan of survivors could, and was able to meet up with them just as they reached the plateau where his squadmates rested.

Leading them over to them, Shining took the three into his magic and gently placed them down into the empty cart they reserved for them. Placing another barrier around them to preserve their bodies, Shining looked both sadly and happily back to the survivors to go over the plan with them.

"Alright, everypony!" Shining called out. "It'll take us two to three days for us to reach the nearest village. From here, we'll cross this valley to the other side. After that, there'll be a road that'll lead us directly to the village. To make this trip smoother and quicker, we'll rotate who rests and who pulls the carts. The foals and any who are injured or weak will of course be exempted from doing this. Now let's go home!"

Hearing the roar of cheers for their journey home, Shining smiled before turning around to lead them. However, after taking his first step, he felt suddenly tired. A second later, Shining's rageshift ended, and his magical and physical fatigue both came crashing down on him, causing him to collapse onto the ground and pass out.

Present day

Dark looked in confusion with watered eyes as the image from the gem faded. Looking over to Shining sitting on the couch beside him, he saw that his eyes were filled with unshedded tears.

"I passed out after that, so the gem ends at that point," Shining went on to explain. "When I woke up, I was in the hospital wing of Canterlot Castle with Princess Celestia sitting beside me. She told me that the survivors loaded me up into the wagon with my squad and carried me back. Thankfully, my directions to them were simple and specific enough that they were able to handle it without me leading them."

Choosing to remain silent, Dark simply nodded while Shining continued.

"After I told Princess Celestia about everything that had happened, she told me to never speak of it to anypony other than her, Captain Bastion, and later on, Princess Luna and Captain Iron Guard."

"If she ordered you, then why are you telling me?" Dark questioned. "I know that you said that I deserve to know, but aren't you going against her orders by doing this?"

Shining sighed. "In a way, I suppose that I am. However, given who and what you are, I think that she would've filled you in on it eventually."

"Alright. By the way, how'd you get your Draconium armor?"

"I was told that when the stallions began loading the supplies into the wagons, they also loaded the Draconium ore that they found and were planning on giving it to me as a gift for saving them. When I was told that, I requested the ore be forged into the armor you saw me wearing."

"Ah. Well, that answers that." Dark paused as he remembered what had happened to Shining, turning him somber. "Thank you for telling me all of this, Shining. I see why you were so distrusting and aggressive towards me when we first met. Also... I'm sorry about your squadmates... and Silica. She didn't deserve what they did to her."

"No... s-she didn't."

Shining was now on the verge of breaking down as he began to softly sniffle. Unsure of how to help him, Dark did the only thing that he could think of, the same thing that his dad would do for him when he was younger and was feeling sad. Scooting a little closer, Dark raised his claw and gently patted Shining on the back. And, though unintentional, that small show of support was enough to push Shining over the edge.

Letting his tear flow, Shining silently bawled while Dark continued to support him. After a moment had passed, Shining shifted to face Dark and pulled him into a brotherly hug. And though Dark was initially shocked by his sudden action at first, it quickly died down as he returned it. There, the two remained in their brotherly embrace while Shining quietly crying for the memory of his dead fillyfriend and two friends. They remained silent like that for some time. No other noises could be heard besides the sound of sniffling, and the cracking of the wood in the dying embers in the fireplace. However, unknown to them, they weren't the only ones awake at the time.

At the top of the stairs, Twilight and Cadence were both sitting down, hugging each other from hearing Shining's story.

"I can't believe that that actually happened," Twilight quietly said, finally getting her sniffling under control. "I mean, I though that his reason would be bad, b-but not like th-that."

"I know, Twilight," Cadence softly replied, stroking Twilight's mane like she did during her foalsitting days when Twilight was sad.

"I also can't believe that you and Shining had a fillyfriend, and how well you kept it secret from everypony."

"I know, but that doesn't matter anymore. Silica is gone... but, hopefully we'll see her again."

"I would've like to have seen her." Twilight wiped her eyes before pulling back to look at Cadence. "So... what about her funeral? Shining didn't say anything about it."

Cadence gave Twilight a sad smile. "Silica and the others each got a funeral and were recognized for the success of their mission... even if they didn't make it. They're all being held in the mausoleum where the bodies of important royal guards are laid to rest."

"Really?"

"Yes. They were the best squad in the history of the royal guard, even to this day, and were deemed worthy of their resting places."

"That's nice to know, at least," Twilight said, a faint smile crossing her lips before letting out a tired yawn. "We should probably get back to bed before the guys find us."

"Okay, but should we really leave them alone together though?" Cadence questioned. "Should we be concerned that this story of what happened might resurface Shining's old hatred?"

Breaking their hug, Twilight leaned down the stairs to take a peek at them. When she saw the scene between Dark and Shining, she smiled and looked back up to Cadence.

"I wouldn't worry about those two anymore. If anything, I'd say that they've both taken a giant leap towards being friends."

Author's Note

I knew that Dark Souls III would be very fun and take up a lot of my time, but I didn't expect it to be this fun. Anyway, sorry for how long this chapter took. I'll try to cutback on the Dark Souls and move that time back over to this story.

Chapter 62- The Heat

Author's Note

I regret nothing!

Chapter 62- The Heat

Dark woke up tired and groggy, no thanks to the past few weeks of work that Fluttershy put him through. When Fluttershy confronted Dark in Ghastly Gorge, she wasted no time in giving him a tongue-lashing. Being reminded of how similar this felt to when his own mother used to scold him, Dark quickly found himself reduced to a withering, shivering pile of tears.

When Princess Celestia and a few dozen of her guards arrived to inspect what had happened, upon seeing Dark's state at the hooves of Fluttershy, her concern turned from the sudden explosion and mushroom cloud, to him. But, after taking a few moments to interview Twilight and the others about what had happened, she understood the cause of the explosion, and by extent, the reasoning behind Fluttershy's ire.

Since that day, and thanks to some help from Twilight and Discord, Dark was able to continue practicing on perfecting the Flare without worrying about any repercussions. However, during the early morning and late evening hours, Fluttershy all but demanded that Dark come to her cottage and tend to the animals for her as his way of making up for what he did. And while he didn't think that it would be too bad at first, he was quickly proven wrong as news of what happened to the other woodland critters had reached their ears, causing Fluttershy's animal friends to give Dark a hard time while there.

Now, though, after his third week of working for Fluttershy, Dark was finally finished. And with it being the weekend today, that meant no work for him, which he was thankful for as he could finally spend some alone time with Twilight.

Speaking of Twilight...

Opening his eyes, Dark saw Twilight sleeping contently in his arms and smiled. Even though she'd returned, with him working for Fluttershy, he didn't get a lot of snuggle time with Twilight.

Maybe that's why she's been extra affectionate to me during what time off I have lately, Dark mused. But then again, so have the rest of our friends. At least, except for Fluttershy. Especially these last few days. I mean, since when did Applejack and Rainbow start deliberately brushing up against me and nuzzling me like that?

Feeling stirring in his arms, Dark broke away from his thoughts to see Twilight starting to wake up. But, before she even opened her eyes, a smile crossed her lips as she leaned her head up and subconsciously met Dark's lips with her own. Humming in bliss, Twilight wrapped her hooves around Dark's neck and rolled him onto his back with her laying on his chest, all without breaking their kiss.

As the minutes rolled by, Twilight continued to make out with Dark, uncaring about anything else but the stallion she had beneath her. However, with the lack of air in her lungs, Twilight was reluctantly forced to break apart from him, save for a small strand of saliva that connected their lips. Licking her lips, Twilight opened her eyes to give Dark a half-lidded, hungry gaze.

"Good morning," she said, tracing circles on his chest with a hoof.

"And a good morning to you," Dark returned with a chuckle, one that suddenly went silent when Twilight began nibbling on his ear. "Wow. Somepony's frisky this morning."

"Can you blame me? Ever since Fluttershy had you working for her to take care of her animal friends, you've been returning home half-asleep. Almost literally at times."

"I know," he sighed apologetically. "I'm sorry that I've been neglecting you. But now," Dark gave Twilight a fanged grin, "I no longer have to work for her, so I'm all yours now."

"That's good, because you're not going anywhere until I'm satisfied. In every. Single. Way."

Getting her message loud and clear, Dark rolled them over to where he was now on top. Leaning down, Dark kissed Twilight for a few moments before breaking it and began to slowly leave a trail of kisses and nibbles down her neck, causing her to lightly pant in turn. As he got lower towards her stomach, Dark paused for a moment as he felt something off about her.

That's weird, he thought confusingly. Twilight doesn't usually radiate so much heat off of her body like this. Not even when we're in the middle of doing this kind of thing... and what's this alluring smell that's coming from her?

"Dark?" Twilight moaned in slight disappointment. "Why did you stop?"

"Sorry, Twilight."

Returning back to it, Dark slowly continued down to Twilight's stomach. The farther down he went, the hotter he could feel her getting. But, before he could get any lower, a banging on the door interrupted them. Peeking up from the covers, Dark saw the irritation on Twilight's face as she glared at the noisy door.

"I'll go check it out," Dark sighed, hopping out of bed.

Making his way to the door, Dark opened it to see Spike nervously shifting from one foot to the other.

"Hey, Spike. What's up?"

"Uh, hi, Dark," Spike replied, glancing past him to see Twilight giving him a death glare. "Umm... hey, would you mind coming with me for a moment? I need to talk to you."

Dark glanced back to Twilight. "Not to be rude, Spike, but can it wait? We were in the middle of something and-"

"That's why I need to talk to you! Now, Dark!"

Taken aback by the excessive firmness behind his voice, Dark gave Twilight an apologetic look before leaving their bedroom and closing the door behind him.

"This had better be important, Spike," Dark stated, his unhappiness clear for Spike to see.

"Oh, believe me, it is," he said. "You know how Twilight's been acting weird lately?"

"Just a little bit, but I just thought that was due to our time spent apart and not having as much time together. Why?"

"Well, you're half-right, but the other half isn't what you think. You know how it's warmer around Twilight lately?"

"Huh, so I wasn't just imagining that," he said out loud to himself before returning to Spike. "But what does this have to do with what you want?"

"I'm getting to that," Spike replied before showing the calendar that he'd been holding in his claws to Dark. "Here. Look at this."

Taking a quick look, Dark scanned over it. "What about it? It's just a calendar with today's date circled, but with nothing written on it."

Spike's left eye twitched before he began pointing a claw at a date with a red marker circling it.

"Dude, you don't know what today is?!"

"No, so could you just spit it out already?!" Dark barked, having enough of this guessing game. "Look, Spike, I'm sorry for snapping at you like that, but I've got Twilight waiting for me in bed, giving me the most seductive looks she's ever shown, her scent is very alluring, and she's radiating heat like a mare in... wait..."

As Dark's mind began to put the pieces together, his irritation turned to realization. With eyes widened in disbelief and his jaw dropped, he look down to see Spike smirking triumphantly at him.

"No."

"Yes," Spike nodded, pointing again at the circled date on the calendar. "Since you didn't know, Twilight's heat starts today."

"Okay, now Twilight's weird behavior makes sense." Dark paused for a moment, a few other things, or ponies, coming to mind. "What about the others?"

"Huh?"

"Some of our friends have been acting more closely to me during these past three weeks. Almost affectionately with Rainbow and Applejack."

Spike facepalmed. "Of course they would. Dark, that's one of the early warning signs of them going into heat too. It has something to do with the chemicals in their brain that causes them to become attracted to males more. And since you've been hanging around them so much more than any others, that means they're attracted to you."

"... how do you know so much about this?"

Spike gave a deadpan look. "Twilight."

"... of course. So, this little thing they have for me is only temporary and will only last until their heats are over with?"

"Yep."

Oh, thank Celestia. "Okay then, how long does it last for them?"

"Only for a week with our friends. It would be the same for Twilight, but ever since she became an alicorn, it now lasts up to two weeks for her."

Taking a few breaths to calm himself, Dark sat down and began to start thinking.

"Okay, I'll just have to try avoiding our friends for now then. As for Twilight, how did she... uhh... 'take care' of it before?"

"Either with some tea or a spell to make it more bearable as far as I know."

Dark nodded. "Alright, so we just need to get her some tea and she'll be good."

Spike shook his head. "Sorry, but it won't be that easy."

"Why not?"

"I read it in one of Twilight's books about this sort of thing. If a pony is in a relationship, their heat will become so bad that it'll be almost unbearable for them unless they're... ugh, you know."

"But if I do do that, then-"

"I know," Spike interrupted. "That's why I'm here for you, so that I can help get you somewhere safe."

"And what about Twilight? Can we really just leave her there without her following us?"

Spike raised a claw to protest, but quickly found the words dying in his throat. "Yeah, you're probably right about that. If we do run and hide, she could just teleport to us."

Dark thought about it for a moment before coming up with an idea. "What if we were to restrain her?"

"How?"

"I have an idea. Just wait here and I'll be back."

Turning around, Dark made his way back into his and Twilight's bedroom. When he did, though, he was surprised to see that the room was littered with lit candles, rose petals scattered across the floor, and most noticeably, Twilight laying on their bed wearing her lingerie.

Oh, crap, Dark mentally cursed. This is gonna be hard... in more ways than one.

"What took you so long?" Twilight asked seductively.

"Uhhhhhh..."

Gigging, Twilight slid off of the bed and sashayed her way over to Dark.

"So, where were we?"

Gulping, Dark Shadow Melded out of Twilight's sight. However, any sense of safety he felt was replaced with worry as Twilight began to giggle again.

"Oh, trying to play hard to get, huh?" she teased, looking around for any signs of him. "Well, if you're trying to hide from me, then it won't be much of a challenge. After all," Twilight lit up her horn and began channeling her magic. Seconds later, her eyes started glowing purple, "I've read that spellbook of yours, so I know all of your spells. Even the one for your Soul Eyes and Second Sight."

Looking around their bedroom, Twilight soon found Dark's soul moving against the wall, but froze as soon as her glowing eyes landed and remained on him.

"I see you~"

With a nervous gulp, Dark dispelled his Shadow Meld. "Look, Twilight, you're not thinking straight. It's your heat. It's messing with your head."

"Oh, I know what it does," she replied, slowly making her way towards Dark. "I've read plenty on it before my very first heat, and learned even more after I began to experience it."

"But still, do you know what'll happen if we go through with this?"

Twilight gave a half-lidded smile as she whispered into his ear, "Well, we did talk about the possibility of it, right?"

At that moment, Dark froze and felt his heart skip a beat. "T-Twi-light. A-Are you s-sure about this? Are we even ready?"

"I know I am, and in more ways than one, if you know what I mean. Just think, Dark, it would be our own little foal. Yours and mine."

A dozen thoughts were running through Dark's mind now. With the possibility of being able to start a family of his own actually being within his grasp, Dark was considering it even more.

Then again, after being responsible for taking so many lives, it would be nice to actually help bring one into this world. That, and I did get the ring from Gem Cutter last week, he mused, a small smile gracing his lips as he further entertained the idea. However, despite the temptation, he was a still little unsure about it and broke that train of thought. I'm sorry, Twilight, but as much as I want to, I'm going to have to think about it.

Using his magic, Dark created several shadowy tendrils and wrapped them around Twilight's legs before laying her flat on her back onto the bed. Unfortunately for him, this didn't seem to affect Twilight as she seemed to actually be enjoying it.

"Well, this is new. You've never uses your tendrils before," she said before hungrily licking her lips. "I like it. It's kinda kinky."

Taking in a deep breath, Dark recollected and steadied himself. "Sorry, Twilight, but with how sudden this is, I'll need to think about it for a moment. So, until then, you'll have to stay there."

As Dark made his way over to the door, Twilight smirked.

"You know that these won't hold me down here forever," she told him. "I'll be out of these things soon enough."

Standing in the now open door, Dark looked back. "I love you, Twilight, but not just yet."

With that, Dark closed the door to their room and walked over to Spike.

"Yikes, dude," he said. "I heard everything. How'd you manage to not fall to that?"

"I have no idea, Spike," Dark sighed tiredly. "By the way, where's Pyre and Soul?"

"I'm right here," Soul answered, reappearing alongside Spike.

"Soul?"

"The emotions coming from you and Twilight in there were ridiculous," he commented. "It may not completely be love, but it's enough to make me turn invisible for a few moments. By the way, what did you two talk about?"

"Having a foal together," Spike blatantly answered.

Soul's eyes shimmered. "Cool! That means that I get to be a big brother!"

"Actually, Soul, I'm not so sure I'm ready yet," Dark said.

"Why not? You love her and she loves you, so why not have a foal?"

"It's... complicated for me, Soul. Like I said, I'm not quite ready yet."

"Yet means that up to this point in time, which means that you might be ready any second now~" Twilight sang through the closed doors.

"Okay, we better get going," Spike said, running with Dark and Soul down the hallways and stairs.

Once they got to the second floor, they about to make a run for the first floor when Twilight suddenly teleported in front of them, minus her lingerie.

"Told you that I would get out of them," she said licking her lips.

"This way!" Spike shouted, leading them down another corridor with Twilight leisurely following after them.

After turning the corners of several hallways, Spike led them down another set of stairs. Reaching the bottom, they were about to turn right in a four way intersection when they skidded to a halt at a sight that brought fear to Spike.

Before them, standing side-by-side, were Sweetie Belle, Apple Bloom, and Scootaloo. Each of them giving half-lidded smiles.

"Hello, Spike," they said eerily in unison.

"Uhhh, h-hey, girls," he nervously replied, taking a step back. "Umm, what brings you three here?"

"You see, Spike," Sweetie Belle began.

"It turns out that we're experiencin' our first heat this year," Apple Bloom continued.

"And we were thinking that since you're our coltfriend," Scootaloo added.

"That you could help us with it," they ominously finished together.

Hearing hoofsteps from their right, Dark, Spike, and Soul looked to see Twilight turning the corner.

"Okay, let's split up!" Spike shouted in a panic. "Soul, you come this way with me! Dark, you go that way! We'll meet up at the rendezvous point!"

Running down one of the free hallways, Spike and Soul quickly disappeared from around the corner, leaving Dark standing there confused.

"What rendezvous point?!" he shouted.

Hearing Twilight getting closer, Dark quickly booked it down the last hallway, leaving Twilight and the Crusaders to meet at the intersection.

"So, first heat, huh?" Twilight asked.

"Yeah," they replied.

"Well, good luck to you then."

Waving to each other, Twilight and the Crusaders parted ways to chase after their respective coltfriends.

Over in the main library, Spike and Soul darted in and looked frantically around the room.

"Where to now?!" Soul panicked.

Glancing around again, Spike saw an open window up above and pointed to it. "There! We can escape through that!"

Looking up, Soul followed the direction of Spike's claw. "I might be able to get both of us up there."

Grabbing onto Spike, Soul was just about to lift him up when the window became shrouded in a light-green aura and closed.

"You know," Scootaloo began, "you might've gotten away if you two didn't leave the door wide open."

Turning around to face them, Soul hovered back with Spike still in his forelegs.

Closing the door behind them, the Crusaders each closed in on the two until they were backed towards one of the bookshelves. Feeling like they had them cornered, they stopped and smiled devilishly.

"Looks like we finally win this little game of tag," Sweetie Belle said.

"And now, for our reward," Scootaloo added, hovering off the ground.

"But should we really be doin' it right here?" Apple Bloom wondered.

"What's wrong?" Sweetie Belle questioned. "The carpet is nice and soft, and we also have couches too."

"Ah know, but what about Soul?"

The other two Crusaders hummed in thought for a moment before Scootaloo came up with a thought.

"Hey, Soul's part changeling, right?" she asked.

"Yeah?" Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom answered.

"So he can shapeshift, right?"

"Yeah?"

She turned and began eyeing out Soul, "So does that mean that he can also shapeshift into Spike?"

With their eyes widening in understanding and mouths drooling slightly, they each slowly turned their heads and faced the two young males.

"GET THEM!"

With horror in their eyes, Spike and Soul gulped.

"Well, it's been nice knowing you, Soul."

"It's been nice knowing you too, Spike."

Running down the hallway, Dark glanced back to see that he'd lost Twilight at some point. Turning another corner, he leaned up against the wall to take a quick breather.

Okay, okay, okay. So, I'm in a section of the castle I've barely explored with Twilight chasing me, Dark thought, trying to think of a plan. First, I need to get out of the castle and find some help. Hopefully somepony will be willing... to... how could I be so stupid?! I'll just Shadowport to the throne room and call Princess Celestia with that communication crystal she gave us!

Mentally slapping himself for not having thought of that sooner, Dark Shadowported into the throne room and began pouring his magic into the crystal. Seconds later, a projection screen appeared above the crystal, but it was covered in snow.

"Come on, come on, come on," he muttered, waiting for the screen to clear up. Moments later, a clear image appeared on it.

"Princess Celestia, I need your help with TwiliiiiOOOOOHHHHH MY GODDESS!!!"

Turning the crystal off, Dark froze like a statue, taking quick breaths as he paled.

"There are not enough 'Nopes' in the world for what I just saw."

Glancing back to the crystal, Dark began thinking over his options. Okay, so Princess Celestia is... currently unavailable, and Princess Luna is most likely asleep. So, all that leave for me to talk with is... crap.

Feeling cornered and without any other choice, Dark sighed in defeat as he activated the crystal again. However, this time when the image appeared, it was of Shining Armor sitting on the throne in the Crystal Empire.

"Dark? What are you calling me for?" Shining curiously asked.

"Uhh... hey, Shining?" Dark nervously began. "I've got a... let's say 'problem' here."

Shining let out a long, sympathetic sigh. "You too, huh?"

"Huh?"

"Twilight's in heat, isn't she?"

"... how'd you know?"

"Because I'm having the same problem with Cadence."

"Is every mare on a synchronized heat timer or something?!" Dark groaned in exasperation. "It was never this bad back in Stonewall!"

Shining chuckled. "Well then, that sucks for you, Dark."

Rolling his eyes, Dark looked to Shining. "Okay, if you're having the same issues with Cadence, then how is it that you're sitting there all calm and comfy, while I'm running like my life depends on it?"

"Because I tied her up on our bed."

"Yeah, me too. Except that Twilight's broken free and is now chasing after me like a silent serial killer in one of those horror movies."

"Yeesh."

"Anyway, I need your help, Shining," Dark said almost pleadingly. "What am I suppose to do with her until her heat wears off on its own?"

"Call the guards for help?"

"Some might if I asked them, but Twilight outranks me, so she could just order them to follow her instead."

"What about your own personal guards? Didn't I hear you mention something about you creating guards out of shadows?"

"Yes, but I also made them so that they would treat any order that Twilight gave them as though it were my own. Think of it as a conjoint deal."

"In that case, in my opinion, if she's already broken free from your restraints and is after you, then you'll just have to find a place to hide."

"For two weeks?!"

Shining arched an eyebrow. "'Two weeks'?"

"Spike told me that Twilight's lasts for two weeks ever since she became an alicorn."

"Ouch. Well, while that does suck for you, you'll still have to hide."

Dark sighed and rubbed his temples. "Okay. Maybe I can hide out at Sweet Apple Acres or in the Everfree Forest. And if not, then maybe I can hide in either Canterlot or in the Crystal Empire. I've actually never been up there yet."

"While those are fair ideas, I wouldn't recommend-"

"Prince Shining Armor!" Running into view of the screen was a vaguely familiar orange pegasus with a blue mane. "Sir! We've got a serious problem!"

"Hey, aren't you that one guy who came with Shining when he came to Ponyville?" Dark asked, the name on the tip of his tongue. "Umm, Flash Sentinel, right?"

"It's Flash Sentry," he corrected with a small edge to his voice. "Anyway, Prince Shining Armor, we have a problem."

Shining's brow furrowed. "What kind of-"

"OHHHHH, SHINYYYY~"

"... oh no." With urgency in his eyes, Shining faced Dark again. "I'm sorry, Dark, but it looks like I now have my own problems to deal with. Good luck trying to avoid my sister."

"Too late for that," Twilight giggled, silently walking up alongside Dark. With a yelp from Dark, Twilight watched as he Shadowported away, leaving her alone with the projection of Shining and Flash. "Hey, Shiny. Are we still on for Skyla's birthday next month? Still can't believe she was born so early."

"As far as I know, we are. And her early birth may be because of her being an Alicorn. Now, I'm sorry to cut this short, Twily, but I really need to go!" Shining said.

"That's okay, Shiny," Twilight shrugged before turning and walking away. "After all, I have myself a sexy kirin to catch."

Having Shadowported to the front doors, Dark quickly made his way through them and took to the skies.

"That was too close," Dark said to himself as he flew high above Ponyville. "Okay, if I can make it to either Sweet Apple Acres or the Everfree Forest, then I should be safe there until I can think this thing over, or until this heat thing- OOMPH!"

Feeling like something had crashed into him, Dark was sent hurdling down to the ground with a weight on his chest. Skidding to a halt after leaving a small trench behind him, Dark looked up to see Rainbow standing over him, panting.

Oh, no. Not now.

"Hey, Dark," she grinned. "Whatcha doing?"

Dark gulped before replying to her. "G-Getting away from Twilight's heat."

"Oh, that's neat," she said as she lowered herself onto him until she was laying on top of him. "You know, on our way back from Trottingham, I asked Twilight if she would be willing to share you with me for this."

Dark's eyes widened. "R-R-Really?"

"Mhmm. She considered it for a while, but as it turned out, she didn't want to. Not because she wasn't willing, but because she didn't know how you would feel about it."

Dark cleared his throat. "Well, that was nice of her to think of me."

"So? What do you say?"

"Sorry, Rainbow, but I'll have to decline. Nothing against you or anything, but Twilight's the only mare for me. That, and I'm sure that this heat thing is messing with your judgement."

With a disappointed sigh, Rainbow shook her head and got off of Dark to let him back up.

"Should've figured you'd remain loyal to Twilight, but that's what I like about you," she said before shrugging. "Oh well. Maybe I'll have better luck with Pyre."

"Well I- wait... Pyre?! Why him?! You barely know each other!"

Rainbow looked back and smirked. "We might've gotten off on the wrong hoof when we first met, but we've been hanging out for a while now. What? Didn't you ever wonder where he goes during his time off?"

With that, Rainbow gave Dark a quick wave before taking off, leaving him standing there in surprise with his jaw dropped.

"Huh. Who'da thunk?"

As Dark continued to watch Rainbow flying away, Dark saw a familiar speck of lavender in the distance. Quickly glancing around, Dark found the nearest building and ran into it, uncaring of what building it was. Slamming the door shut behind him, he began to lock it shut before leaning up against it and slowly slide to the floor.

"What did I tell you about slamming my door shut, Dark?" a voice asked him.

Snapping his attention up, Dark began to see where he'd gone and hid in, which just happened to be Rarity's Boutique with Rarity herself sitting on the couch, looking at him with a frown.

"Twilight's after me and I needed to hide," he excused.

Still frowning, Rarity took a sip of her tea. "Am I to believe that it's from her heat?"

"Yeah. I already had Rainbow literally crash into me and try hitting on me, but I managed to get away from that after a quick talk." Dark paused as he looked wearily at Rarity. "You're not going to try starting something like that with me too, are you?"

Rarity recoiled as though she'd been insulted. "Dark! What a rude and uncouth thing to assume of a lady!"

Dark winced. "I'm sorry, Rarity, but with the explanation Spike gave me, and having to deal with Twilight and then Rainbow, I'm not sure which mare I can trust right now."

Taking it as a fair enough excuse, Rarity nodded and sat he teacup down. "I understand, darling."

"Speaking of which, and please don't get upset for me asking, but why haven't you tried something yet?"

"It's quite simple, really. While I admit that I too am in season like every other mare currently is, I am still a lady. And as such, a lady mustn't allow for herself to succumb to such primal urges."

"And Sweetie Belle?"

Rarity blinked. "What about her?"

"... you know that she and the other Crusaders are expiring their first heat, right?"

"No, I did not," she said, setting her tea off to the side. "She wasn't even showing any of the early signs of it. Do you know where she is now?"

"Last I saw, she, Apple Bloom, and Scootaloo were chasing Spike through the castle."

"Oh, dear. In that case, you'll have to excuse me, Dark. I need to go find Sweetie Belle before she and the others do something that they might come to regret."

Dark nodded. "And I need to get moving before Twilight finds me again."

"Too late~"

"GAAAAHHH!!!"

Without hesitation, Dark bolted through the door that Twilight had left open and flew away.

"Hi, Rarity," Twilight greeted. "Nice day today, huh?"

"Oh, yes, of course, darling," she replied.

"Well, I guess I'll see you around."

With that, Twilight trotted out the door again, leaving Rarity all alone.

"Goodness, Dark," Rarity sighed with a headshake, "now I see why you were so nervous about her before."

Dark was now soaring across Ponyville to the point where his eyes were beginning to sting. Wanting to get as much space between him and Twilight as he could, he brought his arms up to shield his eyes as he quickened his pace. And while it seemed to have been working in his opinion, his shielding of his eyes prevented him from seeing anything, which led him to being shot down from the air and to crash down into the middle of Ponyville.

With a groan, Dark cracked his eyes open to see confetti raining down from all around him. Seconds later, he heard something humming as he was dragged by his tail along the dirt until it turned to wooden floorboards. Recognizing the interior as Sugarcube Corner, Dark was suddenly taken by surprise as he felt himself sliding down what felt and looked like a slide before coming to a stop. Seconds later, Dark saw Pinkie looking down at him from above.

"Heya, Darky," she smiled. "How ya doing?"

"Pinkie?" Dark groaned. "What happened to me?"

"Sorry, but I had to shoot you down with my party cannon so that I could talk to you for a moment."

"And you couldn't just call me, why?"

"Well I tried, but you didn't seem to be listening to me."

With another groan, Dark rolled himself over and stood up to take a look around the cave he was in.

"Where are we?"

"Oh, that's right! You've never been down here before!" Pinkie exclaimed as she bounced around. "This is my Party Cave. It's where I do most of my party planning." She paused as her smile grew. "But for now, this is going to be a cave for a different kind of party. One for just the two of us."

Not liking the tone in which she said that, Dark began looking around for a way out. However, the only way back up was the slide they came down from.

It shouldn't be too hard to get out, if at all, he mused. I can just Shadow Meld up there and escape that way.

"If you're thinking about escaping, then you might as well stop now," Pinkie said. "Besides, you Pinkie Promised me that you would help me in a few weeks, and that time's up."

Dark glanced over to her curiously. "Pinkie? Did you-"

"Plan for this? Yeppers."

"No."

Pinkie's smile dropped along with her mane. "What?"

"I'm not doing it."

Pinkie's eyes now appeared to have a small fire burning inside them. "Nopony breaks a Pinkie Promise."

"I'm not breaking it because what you're asking of me is going against what we agreed on," Dark argued.

Pinkie paused in mid-stride as her eyes narrowed. "Explain."

"I said that I would do whatever it was you wanted as long as it wasn't unreasonable, Pinkie. And what you're asking of me, in my opinion, is just that."

Pausing to think about it for a moment, Pinkie slowly backed away, her face now turned to regret.

"I'm sorry," she apologized. "I guess this heat's really getting to me, huh?"

"Kinda," Dark admitted, offering her a friendly smile. "But, then again, so is just about every other mare. I mean, if you'd seen how Twilight's been acting today, you'd understand."

Pinkie smiled, her mane returning to its poofy state.

"You're right. Just about every mare is acting weird today," she said before pointing a hoof behind him. "And now that I'm looking at her, I can see what you mean about Twilight."

Dark froze in place as he felt a pair of hooves reach around and hug him from behind. Immediately after, out of the corner of his eye, he caught the sight of Twilight as she leaned up and began to nuzzle his cheek with an occasional lick.

"You're a hard guy to get, you know that?" Twilight said teasingly.

Taking a few sniffs, Dark's mind briefly froze, noticing that the pheromones from Twilight had gotten significantly stronger since he'd smelt her in their bedroom. Not wanting to stay any longer, less he'd fall to her completely, Dark Shadowported up to the dining area of Sugarcube Corner and ran out the door, leaving Twilight alone with Pinkie in her Party Cave.

"So, you tricked him into Pinkie Promising to help you with your heat, huh?" Twilight questioned with a raised eyebrow.

"Yeah," she admitted. "Granted that I didn't think about that little loophole he pointed out, but I guess that it's for the best."

"Yes, it is-"

"I mean, other than you, Dark, you, what's-her-name, Spike, the Crusaders, Fluttershy, and Discord, the rest of us in our group aren't being shipped, so you've got nothing to worry about." Pinkie tapped her chin in thought. "And, yeah, Rainbow is chasing after Pyre, but nothing's going to come of it. Besides, she's not suppose to be shipped in this story."

Twilight blinked in confusion a few times before letting out a tired sigh.

"You know what? I'm not even going to ask."

"Probably for the best," Pinkie nodded, watching as Twilight left the cave before calling out to her. "By the way, Dark's heading to Sweet Apple Acres next!"

"Thanks, Pinkie!"

Once she was sure Twilight was gone, Pinkie sealed the entrance. "I might have to share this the other two. Hmmm... maybe during the next Pinkies Night Out. If nothing else, it should give them a good laugh."

Dark was never happier to see Sweet Apple Acres as he dove down below the treetops and picked out a random apple tree to hide in. Making sure that he was tucked in deep enough to not be spotted, Dark leaned back against the insides of the crown, closed his eyes, and sighed in relief.

"Finally," he breathed. "No chance of her finding me in here."

"Dark? That you in there?"

Opening his eyes by the male voice calling his name, Dark poked his head down below the branches to see Big Mac looking up at him.

"Big Mac! Oh, thank Celestia I finally found another guy."

Big Mac nodded. "Havin' trouble with the mares?"

"Yeah. Twilight's been after me ever since she woke up this morning. What about you? How are you handling this?"

"Alright," he said with a shrug. "Was just on my way over ta see Cheerilee now that Ah'm done chainin' Applejack up and lockin' her down in the apple cellar."

Dark blinked. "Why would you need to do that?"

"Dark, ya ain't ever seen an Apple mare in heat before. And with Applejack, anythin' less would let her escape. She'd already brought down a barn a few years ago, so since then, Ah've had ta chain her up just ta keep her from breakin' free. And with the metal beams and concrete anchorin' her chains down, ain't no way she's gettin' free without somepony ta free her."

"... okay. Oh, you do know that Apple Bloom and the other Crusaders are experiencing their first heat and came to the castle this morning looking for Spike, right?"

Big Mac's eyes widened. "She's what?!"

"... I take it that you and the others didn't know about this?"

"Where is she?! You said she's in the castle, right?"

"With Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo, yes. But I don't know if they got Spike yet. After all, he had Soul there to help him, and they were talking about meeting up at some rendezvous point somewhere."

"Thanks. Ah'll go ta the castle and look for Apple Bloom then."

"Okay. Uh, hey."

"Yeah?"

"You mind if I hide out from Twilight here in the orchard?"

"Go ahead. Oh, by the way. Would ya mind helpin' us out in a few weeks? It's almost Applebuck Season, and we could use some extra help."

"Sure I can, and thanks for letting me hide here, Big Mac."

Watching Big Mac disappear past the rows of apple trees, Dark retreated back up into his spot and laid back to relax. Stretching his arms, Dark brought them around the back of his head and laid his head against them. Starting to feel relaxed, Dark sighed and closed his eyes, listening to the leaves rustle from the breeze and hearing the birds chirping. However, his moment of peacefulness ended when he caught that scent again. With a grunt, Dark sat up to flee when he felt a hoof gently grab his claw.

"Dark?" Twilight called, leaning up with her back against the other side of the tree. "Can we please talk for a moment?"

Dark paused, now noticing that Twilight tone wasn't flirtatious like the other times, but calm and pleading. With a quiet sigh, he returned to his spot against the tree and held Twilight's hoof back.

"No tricks?" he asked.

"No tricks," she confirmed. "I just want to talk to you for a moment." Feeling Dark gently squeeze her hoof, Twilight took it as her sign to continue. "First off, I want to apologize for my behavior up to now."

"It's okay. I understand that this whole heat thing is messing with your head and impairing your judgment."

"Well... kinda."

"What do you mean?"

"You're right about it messing with my head, and I find what it's driving me to do to be a little scary. But, at the same time, I suppose that I kinda also want for this to happen."

Dark turned his head to glance around the tree at Twilight.

"What are you saying exactly, Twilight?"

Twilight nervously gulped. "... what if we were to actually... you know... try it? A family I mean."

Climbing on the branches, Dark made his way around the tree to face Twilight and sat himself down in front of her on the same branch.

"Is this the heat talking, or you, Twilight?" Dark questioned.

"No, this is all me," she admitted. "I actually wanted to talk to you at Rarity's, but without the spell that I used before talking to you now, it was my heat that was talking."

Dark swallowed a large lump in his throat as he tried to keep himself calm. Yes, they'd talked about it, but nothing beyond that. And yes, she did bring it up before back in their bedroom. But now, after admitting that this is actually Twilight herself saying that she wanted this instead of her heat, along with her seeming like she's serious about it, Dark felt himself quickly caving.

"I... I know that I asked you this before," he began, "but are you sure that this is what you want, Twilight?"

She nodded. "I'll admit that the thought of having a foal of our own is kinda scary, but I do. We've done good with Soul during the time we've had him, right?"

"Right, but we haven't really had him for very long, and Soul's a teen who can take care of himself. A foal is complete different."

"I know, Dark. I've foalsat Skyla a couple of times already." Twilight paused as she saw Dark's eyes darting around. "Is something wrong with us having a foal, Dark?"

"N-No. N-Nothing's wrong," he stammered.

"Then why are you acting so nervous about it?"

With a nervous gulp, Dark took both of her hooves gently into his claws and looking into her eyes.

"I... um..."

"It's okay. Take your time."

Dark nodded and took a moment to calm himself before speaking.

"I've never admitted this, Twilight, but during my time back in Stonewall Village, I'd often daydreamed about having a family and foal of my own. Even some nights when I fell asleep, I would dream about it. But, when I would wake up from it, I would find myself quietly sobbing every time, knowing that it was merely just a dream. And as the years continued to pass by, I began to seriously doubt that it would ever happen."

Dark bit his lip, trying to hold back tears that threatened to fall from his eyes as he continued.

"But now, after meeting you, living with you, and getting to know you after all this time, along with you saying that you want a foal of our own too... I don't know. I mean, I would still love to start a family with you, Twilight, but for me to go from just dreaming about it to it being a very possible reality, it's kinda..."

Leaning forward, Twilight wrapped her wings around Dark as she lovingly nuzzled his cheek.

"I understand, Dark," she whispered. "You want to, it's just that you were caught off guard by the suddenness of it, right?"

"Y-Yeah," he answered. "Not just by the sudden suggestion of having a foal, but the time of this heat season too. Normally in Stonewall, it didn't start for another month. Speaking of which, if you don't mind me asking, what are the months for when you mares normally go into heat?"

"April and August," Twilight answered knowingly. "You say it wasn't the same in Stonewall Village?"

"No. For some reason, it would instead happen during May and October."

"Then why didn't you bring it up last October?"

Dark shrugged. "Between Shining trying to kill me and meeting King Inferno, it kinda slipped my mind."

"Huh. Well, in terms of why it's different, the change in climate and location could have something to do with it. That, or since Stonewall was disconnected from Equestria for so long, the magic caused the heat cycle there to go out of sync. Who knows."

"Sounds like you're just guessing now."

Twilight pouted. "Without knowing for sure or running any tests to make a comparison, all I can do is make theories about it."

With a small chuckle, Dark wrapped his arms around Twilight and nuzzled her back.

"Thanks for making me feel a little better with your nerdiness, Twilight," he thanked.

"You're welcome. Even if I wasn't trying to be funny."

"Regardless, it still helped."

"I'm glad then... so?"

"So?"

Twilight blushed and glanced away. "Do you want to?"

"... are you absolutely sure this is what you want, Twilight? Not just to help with your heat, but what you overall want?"

Twilight shyly nodded. "Yes. I want this.. for both of us," Twilight reached a hoof down and rubbed her stomach, "and for our future."

Feeling comfortable with this, Dark pulled her into a loving and passionate kiss. Tightening their embrace, Dark and Twilight deepened their kiss as Dark's wings flared out and folded around them, shielding them with some privacy from the outside world. Taking a moment to breath, Twilight looked expectantly into Dark's eyes.

"So, does this mean..."

"Yes," Dark smiled. "But you do know that if we do happen to have a foal, then I'll have to make our family official, right?"

Twilight's breath caught in her throat as she felt her face and ears burning at what Dark was implying. But, regardless, she nodded all the same.

"O-Okay. Just.. a little warning, though, Dark."

"Yes?"

"Well, even with me being in heat, the tea that I've been drinking before now might reduce our chances of conceiving."

"By how much?"

Twilight briefly shrugged for a moment. "About fifty percent. If I stop drinking it, then the odds should increase."

"... wow. That must be some strong tea, huh?"

"Yep," she giggled, giving Dark a peck on the lips.

"In that case, I guess we've got a busy two weeks ahead of us."

"I guess we do. So, back to our room then?"

Dark glanced off to the side and looked down. "Considering that it's either that or here in this tree, I'll go with the bed."

Dark and Twilight released their hug and flew together up out of the tree before gliding alongside one another.

"By the way, Twilight, how'd you find me here?"

Twilight smiled. "Pinkie told me."

Dark sighed and shook his head. "Of course she did."

"Also, would you be alright if we used something different this time?"

"Like what?"

"Well, since we'll be... busy, could we maybe try using some aphrodisiacs?"

"An afro-what? What does it do?"

Twilight gave Dark a knowing smirk. "Oh, you'll like it. Trust me."

Over at Fluttershy's cottage, Spike and Soul were panting on the couch as Discord sat in the chair opposite of them.

"That was a close one, you two," Discord said with a small chuckle. "Good thing that I got to you two before three girls did."

"Yeah... thanks... Discord," Spike said between gasps of air.

"Yeah," Soul panted, "thanks a lot."

"It's no problem," Discord dismissed. "Now then, what about Dark?"

Spike and Soul looked to each other before turning to Discord and shrugging.

"Last we saw, he was running from Twilight," Spike said.

"Um... excuse me," Fluttershy spoke, poking her head through the front door, "but are you sure?"

"Yeah... why?"

"Because I just saw Twilight and Dark flying back to the castle."

Soul's pupils turned to pinpricks. "OH NO! SHE GOT HIM!"

"HE'S SO SCREWED!" Spike shouted in a panic.

Discord snorted at Spike's unintentional double meaning before turning to Fluttershy. "And you saw this?"

Fluttershy nodded, her eyes briefly flashing blood-red before returning back to their normal turquoise color. "My eyesight's gotten a lot better since I became a bat pony. So much so that I saw them leaving together from somewhere over Sweet Apple Acres."

Nodding, Discord reclined on his chair. "Then there's nothing we can do about it."

"Why not?!" Soul questioned.

"Yeah, Discord!" Spike agreed. "We need to go help Dark!"

"No we don't," he argued. "If what Fluttershy saw was true, and that they're really leaving together, then Dark has most likely made his decision. And if that truly is the case, then who are we to interfere?"

With a small huff, Spike reached over to the coffee table and grabbed a cookie.

"Fine, but if it turns out that they do end up have a kid from this, then I'm not changing its diapers."

Chapter 64- Apples Together

Applejack happily hummed to herself as she walked over to the barn with a spring in her step. After the few hours she and the others spent interacting with her deceased parents a week ago, Applejack felt as though a great weight had been lifted from her shoulders, and had now been replaced with an unexplainable lightness. Then again, that could also be because Big Mac finally decided to ask Dark to be his best stallion for his and Cheerilee's wedding today, and thus having everything that they needed for the wedding.

Looking back to that night with a smile, Applejack walked up to the door and slowly opened it, squeaking on its hinges as it did. Once it was opened enough for her to peek inside, she quietly chuckled to herself and shook her head at the sight inside. Walking in to get a better look, she withheld her laughter as she saw Dark passed out upside down on a pile of hay with his wings and the upper-half of his body hanging off the side of the bale, Big Mac on the floor with a lampshade covering his head, Caramel under an overturned table, Cousin Braeburn (who came early to be with his cousin before the wedding) under a pile of empty apple cider bottles with only his rear hooves and tail sticking out, and Discord, who too was passed out as he swayed upside down with his tail somehow stuck between the beams in the rafters, and a bottle clutched in his paw.

Glancing around at the passed out males in the room, Applejack suddenly had a mischievous and somewhat mean idea come to mind. Quietly making her way out of the barn, she went back to the house to grab something. When she returned, she did so with the family's triangle and hung it up on a nail. Holding the metal stick that came with it into her mouth, she smirked before she began to relentlessly ring it, causing each of the males to groan in pain and slam their hooves, claws, and paw over their ears to relieve them of the unholy racket.

However, this also caused for some of them to have another addition to their rude awakening. While Dark began flailing his arms by the sudden sound, this also caused him to slide off the hay bale he'd been asleep on and land head-first onto the ground, burying his horn into it in the process. Discord didn't fair much better as he jerked his tail in surprise and fell head-first fifteen feet into the ground where his horn and antler both got stuck in the ground. And while Big Mac and Braeburn where alright, Caramel bolted his head up and knocked his muzzle against the wooden table he'd fallen asleep under.

"Time ta wake up, everypony!" Applejack shouted. "Breakfast is ready!"

"Applejaaaaaack. Not so loud," Dark whined.

"It's too early ta get up, and my head's killin' me," Big Mac groaned.

"What? Y'all can't be asleep now, Big Mac! It's your weddin' day, and we gotta finish gettin' everythin' set up before everypony gets here," Applejack told them.

Feeling like she'd done enough to wake them up, Applejack left the barn to let the guys get themselves up.

"Wow-wee. What was in that stuff?" Braeburn asked, his mind still foggy from last night.

"I don't know, but I've never had anything that strong before," Caramel spoke, rubbing his temples.

"Discord?" Dark called, popping his horn out of the ground before falling on his rump.

"Yeah?" he grumbled, trying to pull his horn and antler out of the ground.

"What was that stuff you gave us? I remember chugged a few bottles of Applejack's hard cider last night without getting even a little bit tipsy from them, but I don't remember anything beyond that."

Teleporting himself free, Discord wobbled around for a few moments before leaning up against the wall to support himself and looking to the bottle he was holding.

"Hmmm. The label says 'Eris' Golden Apple Cider'. Huh. Interesting."

"Where'd ya get it from?" Big Mac wondered, tossing the lampshade off of his head.

"I have no idea," Discord shrugged as he took a closer look at the bottle, "but what I can tell you is that it doesn't belong here."

"How so?" Braeburn asked. "Ah mean, it's just a bottle of cider."

"A bottle of cider, yes, but not one that belongs in our world. Sad thing is that I don't remember a thing about what happened last night."

Caramel shakily stood up. "Hey. Didn't we record what happened last night on some recording gem?"

"Oh, yeah!" Dark exclaimed, causing him and the others to wince and reach for their ears at the volume of his voice. "Sorry. But you're right, we did."

"Gotta remember ta thank Prince Shinin' Armor and Princess Cadence for the gift," Big Mac said. "Too bad they couldn't make it ta the weddin'."

"Twilight told me a few days ago that her niece will be having her birthday next week, so if you want, I can thank them for you when we go up to visit."

"Ah wouldn't mind that one bit. Thanks, Dark."

"You're welcome," Dark replied. Once he felt stable enough to walk, he made his way over to the crystal and picked it up while the others gathered around him. "Now, let's see what happened exactly."

Using his magic to activate the gem, Dark sat it down in front of them and watched as a projection screen appeared above it. Moments later, it showed them all having fun at the bachelor party.

"Okay," Discord nodded, "I remember this part. Anypony else?"

"Eeyup," Big Mac and Braeburn replied.

"I do," Caramel answered.

"Okay then," Dark nodded. "In that case, let's fast-forward it."

Doing just that, Dark paused and played it at another time.

"Bah! Hey, Dark, did you get anything stronger than this?" Discord asked, tossing the emptied bottle of hard apple cider off onto a pile. "It's alright, but it's not really that great."

"Hey now," Big Mac huffed, "it ain't polite ta go and insult somepony's drink like that."

"Well I'm sorry, but I just don't find myself getting drunk off of it is all."

"Me neither," Dark agreed, "but that's not exactly a bad thing, is it?"

"You're suppose to get wasted at bachelor parties, and we're not!" Discord complained.

"But you're the Lord of Chaos, right?" Braeburn questioned. "So, couldn't ya just use that fancy magic of yours and get somethin' that'll get y'all drunk that way?"

Discord blinked a few times as he processed it before showing them a toothy grin.

"You know what? You're right! I can!"

Flexing his claw, Discord ripped open a portal, and without looking, reached an arm inside. Shuffling around in it, he finally grabbed onto a bottleneck and pulled it out. When he did, the portal sealed itself up behind him as he looked over the bottle.

"Huh. Interesting."

"What's that?" Caramel asked, walking up to take a look at the bottle with a picture of a golden apple. "'Eris' Golden Apple Cider'? Never heard of that brand before."

"Me neither," Big Mac said, looking at it too. "Ah don't know of anypony who makes this kind of cider."

"Well, it did come from a different dimension," Discord reminded them before conjuring a few mugs and popping the cork to fill them. Once full, he passed them out to everyone and held his mug up high. "Bottoms up!"

Tilting their heads back, they all gulped down their drinks until they were emptied. One by one, they each slammed their empty mugs onto the table with a loud belch.

"Ahhh. Now that's the stuff," Discord said with a satisfactory grin before hiccupping.

"Heheh. Sounds like it did the job in getting you drunk," Dark chuckled before hiccupping too.

The picture went to black after that, leaving Dark and the other to mull this over. After a few minutes of silence had passed, Discord was the first to speak.

"Okay, so Dark and I managed to get ourselves drunk, which I must admit is a first for me."

"Me too," Dark nodded.

"And if we got drunk off of it and couldn't remember anything, then you three definitely got wasted on it."

Big Mac gulped. "Ya know, Ah'm not sure if Ah wanna know what happened anymore."

"Me neither, cousin," Braeburn agreed. "Ah mean, who knows what happened when we were-"

Braeburn went silent as he heard a loud snoring coming from behind the stack of hay bales near the back of the barn. Looking at each other in confusion, the five guys quietly walked over to the stack and peeked behind it. As they did, they all froze when they saw Luna laying flat on her back, passed out and wearing a party hat with empty cider bottles scattered all around her.

"Uhhhh... what's Princess Luna doing here?" Caramel quietly asked.

Too shocked and confused to answer, they all rushed back over to the crystal and turned it back on... and what they saw only made things worse.

Several hundred feet up in the air, a one hundred and thirty foot long pirate ship was somehow soaring across the skies, its sails open and its black flag marked with a skull and crossbones surrounded by green apples. And while the sight of the flying pirate ship was a strange sight, its crew was far more so.

Standing on the bow of the ship was its captain, Big Macintosh, as he wore a brown trench coat, an eyepatch, belts, and a captain's hat, all embroidered with his cutie mark. And on the deck below him was his crew. Braeburn, having switched out his brown vest and hat for tattered black ones, stood alongside Caramel, who was now wearing a weathered white shirt and had piercings on both of his ears.

Back behind them, probably the most questionable of them all, were Discord, Dark, and a set of instruments with a pair of ten-foot speakers. While Discord wore a white shirt and a black vest, pants, and boots, his mane had grown out and styled into dreadlocks that was being held back by a red bandana, while his goatee too had grown out and was now braided, all the while sitting on a chair behind a drum set as he spun the drumsticks in his claw and paw. And while Discord looked somewhat like himself, Dark was completely different. Wearing a tattered black robe that hid his body from sight, Dark stood, hunched over as he held a scythe-shaped guitar in his bony claws while a pair of glowing red eyes showed beneath his hood.

With a smile on his face, Big Mac turned around towards his crew. "Tonight, we plunder the castle!"

A roar of cheers echoed from his words, most voices normal while Dark's voice was cold and haunting with a slight echo to it. Satisfied with their response, Big Mack walked up to the mic stand near Dark and Discord, stood up on his back hooves, and took the mic in his hooves. With a nod, they began playing a jolly song as they traveled to the castle.

As the ship continued to fly closer towards Canterlot, they continued to sing, never stopping even as they got closer to the castle. Smirking, Big Mac sang as the ship flew towards the castle and crashed into a specific room. Once the dust and debris settled, Braeburn and Caramel jumped off of the ship and bagged the startled mare in a magic proof bag before returning to the ship.

"Captain! We've got the wench!" Caramel shouted.

Big Mac nodded. "Then set sail ye scurvy dogs! Our next headin' be home!"

Cheering for their success, they backed ship the up as it blared with an annoying beeping sound while a pair of red lights on the back of it flashed on and off. Once pulled back enough, the ship sailed back into the night sky towards Ponyville, its crew singing merrily as they flew away from the sirens and searchlights from Canterlot.

The screen cutting out, the five guys all looked at the blank screen with shrunken pupils and slacked jaws as they processed what they'd just seen themselves do.

"Wow... did that really happen?" Caramel asked, finally breaking the silence.

Discord looked at the bottle he was still holding. "For us to do something like that, this must've been some pretty powerful stuff."

"Wow, cousin," Braeburn spoke, "Ah can't believe those pipes ya got. That was some mighty fine singin' ya did there."

"Ah can't believe Ah broke my country accent for a pirate one," Big Mac said in disbelief.

"Oh my Celestia!" Dark shouted in a panic. "Guys! We ponynapped Princess Luna!"

"... aren't you more curious about why you were all skeletal-like?" Discord questioned. "Or how you suddenly learned how to use an instrument that we've never been seen in Equestria before?"

"It's probably either another Lord of Death thing or the alcohol, but that's not important right now! What're gonna do about Princess Luna?!"

Quickly and quietly, they all ran back over to see Luna still zonked out.

"Judgin' by how she looks, Ah'd say that she actually enjoyed herself last night," Big Mac commented.

"So, who's going to wake her?" Caramel wondered, getting a quick round of "not it" from everyone but Discord.

"What?! Why do I have to do it?" he complained.

"You didn't say 'not it'," Dark answered. "That, and you were the one who gave us cider from another dimension."

Grumbling beneath his breath, Discord walked up to Luan and began poking her.

"Mmmm. Five more minutes, Tia," she muttered, rolling onto her side and hugging an empty cider bottle to her chest.

"Time to wake up, Moonbutt."

With a groan, Luna cracked an eye open and saw Discord standing beside her.

"Discord, you have five seconds to tell me what you're doing in my chambers before I throw you out."

Discord smirked. "Well, that would be a compelling threat if we were actually in your chambers right now."

Opening her other eye, Luna looked around to see that she was laying in the middle of a collection of empty cider bottles. With another look, she saw the barn she was in, along with Big Mac, Dark, Braeburn, and Caramel, all of whom were looking nervously at her. Now recalling the events of last night, Luna felt herself blush as she stood up and cleared her throat.

"Well now," she began, trying to regain some of her composure, "that was quite the party we had, was it not?"

"Uhhhhh."

"Actually, Princess, besides what we saw on our gem recording, we don't actually remember anything that happened last night," Dark explained.

"Ah. Well then, that would explain why you all were so... what's the word ponies use these days? 'Hammered'?"

"Eeyup," Big Mac confirmed.

"Well it was fun either way," Luna shrugged. "Oh, and don't worry about what happened last night. I told Tia about what happened and she called off the guards that were pursuing your, ahem, flying pirate ship."

"Soooo, we're not in trouble?" Dark cautiously asked.

"Not at all. Actually, if nothing else, I should be thanking you for ponynapping me. I needed a break from all of that paperwork I was piled with."

With a collective sigh of relief, the guys all sat down to relax themselves from the stressfulness of worrying about what they unintentionally did. However, Luna noticed this and decided to mess with them.

"Although," she smirked, "if I am to completely forget about what you five did, then I shall need something in return."

Immediately, they all froze in fear.

"A-A-And that would be?" Big Mac inquired.

Luna walked around for a while, enjoying the looks they were giving her before deciding to end her little game.

"I've heard of the food that your family cooks, Big Macintosh, and of how good it is. In return for my forgetting about last night, what I wish for is to partake in such a breakfast."

Big Mac blinked. "That's it?"

"That is all," Luna confirmed, walking past them and towards the barn doors.

Once she was outside and out of earshot, Discord groaned in annoyance and facepalmed.

"Something up?" Dark asked.

"Considering that she wore a party hat and had so many cider bottles with her, I doubt that she would've gone through with turning us in if we'd declined."

"So what? She played us for a free meal?"

"Just about, though I can't exactly blame her. Those Apples really do make great food."

"It's about time y'all showed up," Applejack huffed before pointing at the table, "and what's Princess Luna doin' here?"

As one, everyone looked directly at Dark, seeing as how he was responsible for the bachelor party that had later involved Luna.

"Uhh... she joined the party last night?" Dark meekly answered, earing a fierce blush from Applejack.

"She what?!"

"It's not what you think!" he quickly said. "Discord got us some... strong cider that got us all super drunk. After that, we apparently went to Canterlot where Luna joined us."

Applejack glared at Dark. "You're hidin' somethin'."

With a nervous gulp, Big Mac walked up with the crystal in his hoof. "This here'll show ya everythin' that happened last night."

Taking the crystal from him, Applejack looked it over before placing it on a coffee stand.

"Ah'll take a look later," she said. "Right now, y'all need ta get somethin' ta eat before we finish settin' up for the weddin'." She took a few sniffs and recoiled. "And y'all better get rid of that bad breath too."

While they other groaned, Dark smirked as he walked outside to use his fire breath, sanitizing his mouth from the flames and ridding him of his bad breath. Breathing out a small stream of steam, Dark returned with a smug look on his face.

"There, all done," he happily said, getting an approving nod from Applejack after she smelt his breath, which oddly enough smelled like cooked apples.

Joining Luna, Dark waited for the others to rid themselves of their own bad breath. After almost ten minutes had passed by, the other guys made their way back and took a seat around the table before digging in. Once they were finished with their breakfast, they split up with Discord going to take care of Fluttershy's animal friends, the rest of the guys helping set everything up for the wedding, and Applejack and Luna leaving to check on the mares. What the guys didn't know, though, was that Applejack took the recording gem with her to show them.

Three hours later in the Apple's back yard, Dark placed another chair down and looked at the work they'd done with a low whistle.

"Wow. That's a lot of chairs," he commented.

"Eeyup," Big Mac nodded, walking up alongside him.

"I know that your family is very respected here in Ponyville, but are you sure that we need this many chairs?"

"Hmmm... eenope."

"Oh, thank Celest-"

"We're gonna need more."

"... say what?"

"Those chairs are for the ponies from Ponyville who're comin' ta the weddin'. We're gonna need a lot more for when the other Apples get here."

"... and how many Apples are we talking about?"

"Well," Granny began as she walked up to them, "from the replies that Ah got, we're gonna have most of the Apple clan here for this here weddin'."

Dark's eyes widened. "A-And how many would that be?"

Granny hummed to herself in thought before shrugging. "Ah'd say about another hundred and fifty, give or take a few dozen."

Dark looked back over towards the wagons they used to transport them.

"Where are we gonna get that many more chairs?"

"Town hall should have plenty more ta spare."

Taking that as their cue, Dark and Big Mac went over to the wagons and got themselves strapped up. Ready to go, they were about to run down the road when Applejack, Twilight, and Luna suddenly teleported in front of them.

"Hold it right there, Big Mac," Applejack said, holding up a hoof to him. "You can't be goin' off now. We gotta get ya ready for your weddin'."

"But the seats-"

"Dark can do it by himself," Twilight interrupted, glancing from Big Mac to Dark with a stern glare, "isn't that right, honey?"

"All one hundred and fifty of them?" he whined.

"Consider it punishment for you ponynapping Princess Luna last night."

"But that wasn't us!"

"Hey, it's your own fault that you got yourself drunk off of alcohol that Discord grabbed from another dimension. Now you have to deal with the consequences. And since Princess Luna all but gave you a pass for it, I will be the one to take over. Oh, and by the way, I'll also be expecting a full-body massage from you tonight, and a hoof massage the next three nights."

Leaving it at that, Twilight teleported herself and Luna back to where Cheerilee was. With a small sigh, Dark trudged down the dirt road back to town, leaving Applejack and Big Mac standing there watching him.

"Wow. That was somethin'," Applejack commented. "Whaddya think was up with Twilight? Ah mean, yeah she was in the right ta chew Dark out for you guys ponynapping Princess Luna, but Ah didn't think that she'd be so..."

"Bitchy?"

Jumping in surprise, Applejack and Big Mac turned around to see Granny standing directly behind them.

"Granny! That's no way ta talk about Twilight!"

"What?" she innocently questioned. "Ah'm just statin' the facts here. Ah don't know what's goin' on between her and Dark, but Ah doubt that she needed ta be so moody about it."

Watching as Granny left for the house, Applejack and Big Mac shared look, both silently wonding the same question before Applejack spoke it.

"You don't think that Twilight's actually..."

"It's either that, or she's actually that upset with Dark about what happened last night," Big Mac shrugged, not knowing which one to think.

"Either way, Ah better get back ta Sugarcube Corner and help Pinkie and the Cakes with the caterin'."

"Umm, AJ?"

"Hmm?"

"How's Cheerilee doin'?"

Applejack smirked. "Other than that she's over at Rarity's Boutique, ya know that Ah can't tell ya, Big Mac."

"Ah know."

Applejack turned around and ran down the dirt road with a smile on her face. But if Ah had ta tell ya, Ah've never seen her more excited in my life.

A little over an hour later, Dark got the new chairs back and set them in place. Wiping the sweat off his brow, he made his way over to the house where Braeburn and Caramel were helping Big Mac with his suit. Sparing a quick glance, Dark smirked at seeing that they were busy at the moment, earning him the time he needed to go get one of Big Mac's wedding gifts.

Flying over to a certain area, Dark got his present ready and returned back to the house to see that Big Mac was all dressed up in his black tuxedo, which was complimented by a magenta-colored rose and bowtie.

"Looking good," Dark complimented from the doorway.

"Thanks," Big Mac said, trying to keep his cool from the thought of being married in a few hours.

"You look nervous."

Big Mac gulped. "E-Eeyup."

"Well then," Dark smiled, "perhaps you'd like to have one of your wedding gifts now?"

This caught everypony's attention.

"Really?" Big Mac questioned. "Isn't it a little early?"

"Not for this one." Dark walked in and stepped off to the side. "Alright, you can come over now."

Upon seeing his early wedding present, Big Mac found himself in gawking disbelief with Braeburn as they saw his father and mother walking into the house.

"B-Bu... ya said that ya didn't know when ya could do it again," he stammered.

"Yeah, I didn't," Dark admitted, "but as it turned out, the spell got a lot easier for me after casting it a few more times."

"Sorry to interrupt," Caramel interrupted, "but who are those two?"

Walking up to them, Big Mac pulled his parents into a big hug while Braeburn shook his head clear and answered for him.

"They're his Ma and Pa," he answered confusingly. "But they're suppose ta be..."

"Have you two forgotten already?" Dark chuckled. "And by the way, don't tell anypony about what I am, alright? I don't want too many ponies to know."

"Right, right. The whole Lord of Death thin'," Braeburn remembered. "Don't worry none, Dark. Ya seem like a good pony, so Ah promise not ta tell anypony."

"Me neither," Caramel agreed, though probably more out of fear than anything.

"Good," Dark nodded, "otherwise it'll be a nightmare for me, and by extension, Twilight, if ponies found out that I can briefly bring the spirits of the dead back like this."

"How long will ya and Ma be here for, Pa?" Big Mac wondered.

"We have until a few hours after sunset," he answered. "And by the way, congratulations on gettin' married."

"Cheerilee seems like a very nice mare," his mother spoke. "I'm sure that you'll both make each other very happy."

"Thank ya both," Big Mac thanked, giving them an extra squeeze before letting them go.

"So," Mr. Apple began, "what can we do ta help?"

"Nothing much," Dark answered. "Most of everything has already been taken care of. The guests and the rest of the Apple family should be arriving anytime now, along with-"

Dark paused when a bright light showed from outside the house. Running out, he and the others saw that the food tables that they'd set up had all been filled with foods, drinks, deserts, and a fifteen-layered wedding cake. And there, standing in front of it all were Twilight, Luna, Applejack, and Pinkie.

"Perfect timing."

Hearing his voice, Twilight turning around and walked up to Dark with a guilty frown. "Umm, hey, Dark?"

"Yeah?"

"Look, I'm sorry about how I acted to you earlier today. Applejack talked to me about it, and after I talked with Princess Luna, I now see that I went a little overboard with how I reacted."

"It's fine, Twilight," Dark said, pulling her into a hug. "You were right, I did do something stupid. But I promise you, I won't ever act like that again. After all, that cider doesn't even exist in our world."

While Dark and Twilight were busy, Applejack noticed her parents and immediately bolted over to them with a eager hug.

"Y'all are here!" she happily exclaimed. "But how?! Dark said that he didn't know when he could brin' y'all back again!"

"And like he said," her mother began, "it was his first time casting it on us. He came by a few more times, and with our permission, we allowed for him to use it so that we could actually attend Big Mac's wedding."

"So, you are the Apple parents that I've heard about," Luna spoke as she joined them. "It is a pleasure to finally have the chance to meet you. And... you have my sincere condolences for your untimely passing."

Surprised by Luna showing up and talking to them like this, Mr. and Mrs. Apple politely bowed to her.

"I-It's an honor to have you here, Your Highness," Mrs. Apple said.

"Please, rise," Luna said, raising a hoof and warmly smiling at them. "There is no need for such formalities on a day like today. And besides, even if I wanted to, there's nothing that I can do to you two even if you did somehow upset me."

Mr. Apple gave a light chuckle. "Ah suppose so. Still, though, we're mighty glad ta have ya here, Princess."

"Thank you. After what your children have done for Equestria, both in the farming industry and saving our country, it's the least we can do." She smirked as she glanced back behind them. "Isn't that right, Tia?"

"That it is, Luna," Celestia giggled, causing them to turn around and stare at her with wide eyes as her gaze softened. "It has been a while since I've seen you two. Am I to believe that this is Dark's doing?"

"Umm, y-yes, P-Princess Celestia," Mrs. Apple nervously answered.

With a light laugh, Celestia walked up to them and draped a wing over each of them. "There's no need to be so nervous. Like my sister said, your children have done a marvelous job at keeping Equestria supplied with their apples, along with keeping everypony safe in times of emergencies."

Removing her wings from them, Celestia walked up to Applejack and teleported a wrapped box alongside her.

"Where would I be able to put this, Applejack?"

She smiled as she pointed to an empty table with a pink tablecloth over it.

"Weddin' presents go right over there on that table, Princess."

"Thank you." Celestia glanced over to Luna. "Did you remember yours, sister?"

Sighing in annoyance, Luna teleported her own wrapped box over to her side. "You're never going to let that go, are you?"

"Not after what happened last time. I mean honestly, who leaves the wedding present on the counter?"

"I still say that you were the one who was suppose to bring it."

Chuckling at them for their sisterly behavior, Dark and Twilight watched as they made their way to set down their gifts. Before they did, though, they were distracted by the sound of a thunderous stampede. Turning their attention down towards the road, Dark's jaw dropped as he saw a line of wagons and a few airships coming in, all marked by an emblem depicting some kind of apple. And behind them, some of the ponies from town were following in.

"... I'm guessing that those are Applejack's relatives," Dark guessed.

"Looks like it," Twilight replied before looking herself and Dark over. "We better get dressed. The wedding shouldn't be that long away now."

Almost an hour later, everypony was in their seat, ready for the wedding to begin. With Dark standing beside Big Mac as his best stallion, the other groomsstallion were Braeburn, Caramel, and Discord. And with Celestia preceding, that left Applejack standing on the other side as Cheerilee's best mare, along with Twilight and the rest of their friends acting as the bridesmaids, which left over three hundred ponies sitting in the audience. Of course, with the unexpected ghostly appearance of the two Apple parents, most of the Apple family, and adults in Ponyville who remembered them, were in an uproar. Thankfully, after a somewhat vague yet exceptional explanation from Celestia and Luna, everypony calmed down and returned to their seats to talk amongst themselves while they waited.

"Ugh, this is takin' too long," Big Mac huffed as he nervously pulled on his bowtie. "How much longer until we can begin?"

"Beats me," Dark shrugged. "Hey, Discord, how much longer?"

Discord looked at the watch that had appeared on his wrist. "It should've started a few minutes ago actually."

Big Mac heavily gulped. "Y'all don't think that she decide ta call it off, do ya?"

Catching a flash of light in the corner of his eyes, Dark glanced over and smiled. "Oh, I highly doubt that."

Hearing the music and following Dark's line of sight, Big Mac saw Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo in their peach-colored dresses as they hopped down the isle, spreading flower petals along the floor as they did. When they got to the end and stood off to the side, Cheerilee began making her way down the isle in her white wedding dress as she held a bouquet of red roses in one of her hooves.

As she took her time, Cheerilee kept her eyes on Big Mac, feeling everything else around them vanish as she focused on his green eyes. Finally stepping up beside him, Cheerilee handed the flower bouquet over to Applejack to hold onto as she took Big Mac's hoof and looked up to Celestia.

Seeing the tears of happiness that Cheerilee and Big Mac were holding back, Celestia smiled warmly at them before she looked up to address everypony.

"Mares and gentlecolts. We are gathered here today to witness the union of Cheerilee, and Big Macintosh Apple. It's funny how this had all had started out. What was once an act of good intentions during Hearts and Hooves Day by three young fillies, had gone wrong and almost threatened to ruin their friendship. But who would've guessed that instead, their intentions had actually led them to ending up here, even if it was a bit later than what they thought."

"We said we were sorry," Apple Bloom said, causing the audience to chuckle while Celestia smiled and nodded.

"Yes. It may have started out rather unusually, but in the end, it did provide them with what they needed for their feelings to take root. And over time, it grew into something beautiful. Now, who would like to start first?"

Big Mac cleared his throat as he decided to take the lead. "What can Ah say that Ah already haven't? Ah love ya, Cheerilee, and Ah don't care if we end up livin' on the farm, or somewhere far away. As long as Ah'm with ya, that's all that matters ta me." Big Mac took her hoof into his own. "Ah intend ta stay by your side, do good ta ya as your husband, and grow old with ya until the end of our days."

Dark closed his eyes and smiled to himself. That you will, buddy. That you will.

Wiping a few tears from her eyes, Cheerilee spoke next.

"Before your sister and her friends tried to play matchmaker with us, I honestly didn't think that we would end up like this. But after that day, we started spending more time together, and before I knew what was happening, I started falling for you." She blushed as she continued. "I was surprised by it at first, and a little scared to be honest, but that all changed after our first date together. When I first felt your strong hooves gently wrapped around me... I have never felt so safe before then. You're so big and strong, Big Mac, and at the same time, you can be very gentle and caring." Cheerilee brought a hoof up to his cheek. "And while I am happy to know that you'd leave the farm, Big Mac, I also know of how much you love your family. So please, don't you worry about a thing, because I have no intention of separating you from them, or your farm."

Glancing off to her side, Celestia smiled when she saw Applejack shedding a few tears with a sigh of relief. Taking Cheerilee's silence as the end, she nodded in approval to them before she looked over to Dark.

"May we have the rings?"

Using his unicorn magic, Dark reached beneath his suit and provided her with a pair of golden bracelets, one with Big Mac's cutie mark, the other with Cheerilee's.

Taking them into her own magical hold, Celestia brought the bracelet with Cheerilee's mark down and placed it in her hoof.

"Do you, Cheerilee, take Big Macintosh Apple as your lawfully wedded husband, to have and to hold, from this day forward, for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, until death do you part?"

Cheerilee smiled as she slipped the bracelet onto Big Mac's foreleg.

"I do."

Satisfied, Celestia turned to Big Mac as she gave him the bracelet with his cutie mark.

"And do you, Big Macintosh Apple, take Cheerilee as your lawfully wedded wife, to have and to hold, from this day forward, for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, until death do you part?"

With a big smile on his face, Big Mac slipped the bracelet onto Cheerilee's foreleg.

"Eeyup!"

Celestia chuckled along with the audience at Big Mac's choice of words.

"In that case, by the power vested in me by... well, me, I now pronounce you husband and wife. You may now kiss the-"

Before Celestia could finish, Cheerilee leaped up at Big Mac, knocking him over as they shared their first kiss as a married couple.

"... okay, never mind then."

With that kiss, hats were thrown into the air as everypony cheered and stomped their hooves in applause, causing the entire apple orchard to shake under the collective tremors of the Ponyvillians, and the Apple family. And while she whistled and stomped in applause, Applejack couldn't help but smile and happily cry for her brother and new sister-in-law.

Best. Weddin'. Ever.

Not long after the wedding ended, the reception began with everypony either eating at a table, or dancing to the music. It first started off with a slow dance for the newly married couple, but once they had their dance, other couples began to join in as well. Even Spike and the Crusaders all shared a dance together. And while it might've seemed a little awkward at first, everypony found themselves quickly getting used to it, finding it to be rather cute in the end.

Once the couples slow dance was over, the music was replaced with a more lively tune for all to enjoy. One that Mr. Apple used to be able to get to dance with Applejack and Apple Bloom, much to their joy. And though it was bit difficult at first, after being introduced and talking for a while, Soul managed to find himself a new friend and dance partner in Apple Bloom's favorite cousin, Babs Seed. Even despite him turning invisible due to the excess of love and other positive emotions emanating from all around him, he and Babs still continued to dance, even if it looked like she was dancing with a floating suit and top hat.

Agreeing to take a break, Dark and Twilight went over to the buffet table where they each filled up a plate with apple related foods, and a slice of the wedding cake. When they got back to their table where Luna and their friends were sitting and sat down, Dark glanced over, and for the first time, saw what exactly Twilight had stacked onto her plate.

"Are you seriously going to eat all of that, Twilight?" Dark skeptically asked.

"Of course I am," she said matter-of-factly. "I didn't get much to eat during lunch and have been starving ever since."

Dark looked up and down the pile of food and two large slices of wedding cake.

"... Twilight, that's more than even Pyre would be able to eat."

"Speaking of him, why isn't he here?" Rainbow wondered.

"Something about how dragons don't do weddings," Dark replied, eyeing out Twilight's towering food before eating his own.

After taking a few bites, Dark saw Celestia standing off to the side by herself. Excusing himself for a moment, he got up, but was stopped by Luna before he could go. Whispering something in his ear, he chuckled and walked over to her.

"I'm not interrupting anything, am I?" he asked once he got close enough and caught her attention.

"Not at all, Dark," she smiled. "Just enjoying the sight is all."

Standing alongside her, Dark looked sideways at her and cocked an eyebrow.

"Soooo... 'until death do you part'? Really?"

Celestia looked down to him confusingly. "Sorry?"

"That last part that you said."

Beginning to understand where he was coming from now, Celestia chuckled before giving him a sly smirk.

"I see. I suppose that I should remember something different for the next wedding." She tapped her chin as she looked at him. "Perhaps during yours and Twilight's wedding?"

With a blush, Dark looked away and began clawing at the ground. "I-I suppose."

"So, did you get her engagement ring yet?"

Dark turned back to Celestia and nodded. "I placed the order after I was discharged from the castle's medical wing after my fight with Shining in the Coliseum. And I already received it."

"And where would it be now?"

"I put it in my Shadow Storage so that Twilight wouldn't accidentally stumble upon it."

"A good idea," Celestia approved. Looking out at her ponies celebrating, she glanced off to the side and licked her lips. "If you'll excuse me, Dark, I have a slice of cake with my name on it."

Getting up to return to their table, Dark took a step forward before freezing. "Actually, Princess, I was told to tell you something."

"Oh? And what might that be?"

Dark nervously rubbed the back of his head. "Ummm... don't pig out on the cake because it'll go straight to your flanks?"

Celestia glared at Dark. "Excuse me?"

"It was Princess Luna! She told me to tell you that!"

Shaking her head, Celestia let out an exasperated sigh. "I swear, she's never going to get off my back with that. Alright, I won't 'pig out' as she called it."

Deciding that silence would be best, Dark simply nodded while Celestia left for the buffet table. Once she was far enough away, Dark quickly made his way back to the table and took his seat with a sigh of relief. It didn't last, though, as he looked down to see that his plate had been cleared out.

"Wha-? Where did my food go?" he asked, looking at the others sitting with them.

"Sorry, Dark, that was me," Twilight apologized.

Looking at her in disbelief, Dark saw that her own plate was cleared of all traces of food too.

"You didn't..."

"What? I said I was hungry. And to be honest, I actually don't even feel full yet." She turned to look back at the buffet table and levitated up her plate and Dark's. "I'm going to get some more food. And to make it up to you, Dark, I'll go refill your plate too."

When Twilight was out of hearing range, Dark turned his attention back to the others at the table, including Celestia, who just began to sit herself down.

"Okay, did she really just eat everything off my plate during the short time that I was gone?" he asked.

"You bed she did," Rainbow answered, glancing over to see Applejack and her family at one of the other tables. "Boy, if Applejack were here, I'd bet she'd be impressed with Twilight too."

"Well I for one don't envy Twilight in the slightest," Rarity commented. "All of those calories that she's eating are going to do a horrific number on her figure."

"With the amount of magic that she probably uses on a daily basis, I'm sure that she shall burn it off rather quickly," Luna dismissed.

"Maybe," Dark pondered, "but Twilight doesn't normally eat that much."

"Well, like I said before," Twilight spoke, returning to the table with her plate of food and setting down Dark's, "I didn't get much to eat during lunch, so I was extra hungry tonight."

Dark looked skeptically at Twilight. "If you say so. Oh, and thank you for the food, hon."

Sharing a brief kiss with her, Dark was about to dig into his new plateful of food until a voice called out to him.

"Hey, Dark! Ya got a minute?!" Big Mac called.

With a small sigh, Dark got up. "Don't touch my food."

"I won't if you don't take too long," Twilight half-joked.

Making his way through the crowd of ponies, Dark finally met up with Big Mac and Cheerilee.

"I'm sure you're both tired of hearing this by now, but congratulations," Dark smiled.

"Thanks," Big Mac thanked. "Also, thanks for bringin' Ma and Pa here for this."

"You're welcome. But really, Big Mac, like I wouldn't do it after I found out I could."

"Still, we're really grateful that you did this for us, Dark," Cheerilee said. "It also make me feel happy to finally get to meet them in person, instead of talking to their graves."

"That, and how Ma absolutely loves ya," Big Mac added.

"That too."

Reaching a claw out, Dark waited for Big Mac to take it for a shake, but instead, he was surprised when Big Mac brushed it aside and was given a bro hug. With a chuckle, Dark returned it before Big Mac stepped back to be replaced by a thankful hug from Cheerilee. Once released, Dark halted the married pair before they began to return to the party.

"Before I forget, would you two like your second wedding gift?"

Sharing a brief glance, Big Mac nodded. "Sure, what is it?"

"Well... it's optional, actually."

"Oh?" Cheerilee enquired.

"You see, after Big Mac asked me to be his best stallion, I began to work with Nocturne with some more of his death magic. And after a few days, I managed to figure out the spell I wanted."

"Which is?" Big Mac pressed.

"That part Princess Celestia said about 'until death do you part'? If you want, can make that happen."

"How so?"

"I've heard about some married couples who have a hard time continuing on when their spouse dies before them. So, with that in mind, I learned a spell that can link both of your souls together. That way, neither of you will outlive the other."

Both of their eyes widened at the news. After a moment, Cheerilee was the first to recover.

"And what would be the catch?" she cautiously asked.

"No catch. It's exactly as what I said it was. You don't have to choose whether or not you want it now, I can wait. And if you do decline now, but in the future you do decided that you want it, all you have to do is ask."

"... well.. ta be honest with ya, Ah don't know how Ah would be able ta go on without Cheerilee now," Big Mac admitted.

"Like I said, you don't need to choose now, so take your time in talking this out. And who knows, maybe in time I can create an improved version of it."

"Thank you, Dark," Cheerilee thanked, grateful and slightly disturbed by the offer. "We'll talk about it."

"Okay. And if you do decide to not go for it, then don't worry about it, I won't be upset about it."

Leaving it at that, Dark wished them luck with their new life before making his way back to the table for something to finally eat. But when he got there, he froze in mid-walk as he saw that his plate was empty again while Twilight's face was covered in crumbs. With a pout, Dark took his seat and looked between Twilight and his empty plate.

"I told you not to take too long, Dark."

Several hours later, not long after the sun had set, Luna's moon shown extra brightly in the sky. With the light illuminating everything around them, Big Mac and Cheerilee walked through a sea of ponies to a carriage pulled by a pair of royal guards, courtesy of Celestia. It was quite the surprise and honor when they found out that her gift to them was an all-expenses paid honeymoon vacation to one of their private tropical islands. That, and Luna's gift of an all-expenses paid trip around the world. As for the rest of their gifts, Celestia and Luna already had them being delivered to their suite, with Big Mac and Cheerilee's permission of course.

Reaching the end of the lane they were made, they stopped to see Applejack, Apple Bloom, Granny, and their ghostly parents waiting there for them. Sharing one last hug with them, Big Mac and Cheerilee went up to the carriage where he opened the door for her to hop in.

"Wait! I almost forgot," Cheerilee chuckled. Turning around, she waved at the crowd. "Alright! I want every mare up front and center! Princesses too! Time to see who gets married next!"

After almost a minute later, every unmarried female was crowded up in front of Cheerilee while the males all stood far away from the action. And in terms of fairness, Celestia and Luna decided to cast a spell to shrink themselves down so they wouldn't be tempted to take advantage of their height. Even the Crusaders were participating to get a chance of grabbing the bouquet, deciding to stand on top of each other's backs to make themselves taller.

"Also, before I forget, I don't want there to be any cheating," she told them. "That means no magic, and no wings."

Giggling to herself from hearing some of them groan, Cheerilee turned her back to them, closed her eyes, and tossed her bouquet up high behind her. Looking back, she watched as it fell slowly to the waiting hooves of each unmarried mare that had gathered. At first it looked like Rarity was going to grab it as she leaped up for it, but instead crashed into Rainbow as she tried to do the same thing. After that, the bouquet began to bounce around on top of the sea of hooves as one of them tried to claim it.

Laughing alongside Big Mac at the sight of them, they stopped when the bouquet final fell into the crowd. Unable to see who it was that won, they waited until the mares all parted to reveal Twilight as she looked in shock at the bouquet that had literally fallen into her hooves.

Seeing that Twilight had gotten the bouquet and was now looking at him, Dark blushed heavily and swallowed the large lump in his throat while Discord began laughing and slapping him on the back.

"Ohohohoho my goodness, Dark!" Discord boomed. "I hope you've got something planned, because I think that somepony's going to be expecting you to pop the question pretty soon now."

Ignoring him, Dark kept his eyes locked onto Twilight's as he saw her face blushing and her eyes shimmer in the moonlight. As he did, his claw twitched while his mind drifted towards the ring he had safely hidden away. Shaking himself out of his thoughts, Dark gave Twilight a goofy smile, snapping her out of her own thoughts as she shyly smiled back.

Chapter 65- Welcome to the Crystal Empire

Almost a week had passed by since Big Mac and Cheerilee's wedding. With them gone on their three week honeymoon, Applejack and Dark were left to tend to the farm. And while some simple chores were needed completing, with Applebuck Season having been just a week prior to the wedding, the trees needed some time to grow new apples for harvesting, which allowed them the perfect timing to go visit the Crystal Empire to celebrate Skyla's birthday. Making the necessary arrangements for while they were away, the gang packed their bags and made for the train station. Even Spike, Soul, Sweetie Belle, Apple Bloom, Scootaloo, and Pyre were invited to come along. However, they hit a little snag.

After they got on the train and it began pulling out of the station, Twilight started to feel nauseous and it wouldn't stop, even by the time they pulled into Canterlot. Once the train stopped, Night, Velvet, Celestia, and Luna boarded and saw the condition she was in. Celestia used a spell for cleansing such symptoms, but when it didn't work, Twilight was recommended by her and Velvet to try and sleep it off. Believing that to be the best, she snuggled up against Dark's side and used his wing as a blanket. It didn't take her long to fall asleep after that, and when she did, Dark was asked as to what happened. And though he had an idea of what it could be, he didn't want to jump to conclusions just yet. So instead, he chalked it up to her eating some bad food, which Spike agreed to since he himself feelt like he had a little stomachache after that hay sandwich he made them before they left their castle.

Once Dark was finished going through his explanation and was being left alone, Applejack came up to question him about it personally. And while she didn't doubt him after seeing how Spike had acted while they waited at the train station, there was still the fact about how much food Twilight ate at the wedding reception. But again, Dark didn't want to jump to any conclusions yet, especially since Twilight's sickness could very well have come from the bad hay sandwich she ate.

Deciding to go along with it for now, Applejack left Dark and Twilight alone. Not long after she left, Dark let out a big yawn as he began to feel tired himself. Looking down to see Twilight curled up against his side with a smile, Dark curled his tail around her and unfurled his wing further, sheltering all but her head. Laying his head down alongside hers, Dark smiled as Twilight subconsciously nuzzled against his cheek before falling still again. Moments later, he let out a tired sigh before he too fell asleep.

While Dark and Twilight fell asleep, the others were all awake and anxious. Since they left a day early, they would take that opportunity to get settled in and walk around the Crystal Empire. Now, though, as they crossed into the frozen north, a few of them let out a yawn and looked out the window to see the moonlight reflecting off of the snowy landscape, while some were more energized.

"I can't believe the day's almost here!" Pinkie exclaimed, bouncing in her seat. "I've been looking forward to this day ever since Cadence and Shining Armor invited us!"

"We know what you mean," Night said. "I'm looking forward to seeing Skyla again."

"And at her birthday party," Velvet added. "And I bet that the rest of you are too."

Within the private cart that Celestia and Luna had reserved for them all, everyone cheered in expressing their excitement. As soon as they did, though, they all quickly silenced themselves as they heard a tired groan coming from one of the seats. Looking over, everyone saw Dark and Twilight were still asleep.

Breathing a sigh of relief, Celestia turned from their sleeping forms back to the others.

"Perhaps we should all retire for the night. No doubt that we'll have plenty to do when we reach the Crystal Empire tomorrow morning."

"Awww. Do we have to?" Sweetie Belle asked with a small pout.

"If we go to sleep now, then we'll be in the Crystal Empire that much quicker when we wake up," Spike said.

Sweetie Belle crossed her forelegs and smirked at him. "Alright, but not without you."

"Sweetie Belle," Rarity spoke with a warning tone.

"What? It's not like we were going to do anything, Rarity. I doubt we even could with everypony all around us."

"And besides," Apple Bloom added, "we haven't spent that much time with Spike for a while now."

"Yeah," Scootaloo agreed. "We're not going to try anything funny, so why not let us fall asleep with him? You know, to make up for lost time."

"Now, now, girls. There's no need for that, is there?" Velvet asked.

"We just wanna spend some time with Spike," Sweetie Belle said.

"I don't see any problem with it," Luna shrugged.

"Pardon?" Rarity questioned.

"If they are true to their word, then I see no reason why we should deny them."

"Yaaayyyy!"

Acting before anypony else could say anything, the three Crusaders all grabbed the blankets they packed with them and pounced Spike. Snuggling up against him from every side, they all got themselves comfortable and yawned before drifting off to sleep. After they did, Spike too found himself quickly succumbing to sleep with the help of three warm and soft bodies enveloping him.

Deciding to follow their example, the others each picked out a spot of their own to fall asleep in. Once they did, the lights were turned off and the room went silent, save for the occasional snoring. However, Soul found himself unable to sleep. Due to them having entered the frozen tundra, he started to feel cold despite his blanket, and began looking for a warm spot to sleep. Not wanting to disturb Dark and Twilight, or any of their friends, Soul went over his three remaining options. He did consider trying either Pyre or Luna, but he was unsure of how they'd react. So with that, he was left with his last, and probably safest, option.

Grabbing his pillow, Soul fluttered over to where Celestia was sleeping and plopped his pillow down beside her. Feeling the small movement on her side, Celestia cracked an eye open to see Soul snuggling up against her warm coat and down into his blanket and pillow. Remembering when Twilight used to do that during her younger days as her student, she felt a surge of nostalgia as she smiled down to him and lowered her wing over him, providing Soul with extra warmth and sense of security before they joined the others in sleep.

Twilight stirred as the sunlight and the rumbling from the train tracks began to wake her. Becoming aware of her surroundings, she felt the cool air against her face in contrast to the rest of the heat that shielded her. Knowing its source, Twilight curled herself up beneath Dark's wing in an attempt to return back to sleep. Of course, when she shifted herself around, she also caused Dark to begin moving as well. Peeking from beneath his wing, Twilight watched as Dark blinked the tiredness from his eyes before they landed on her.

"Well, good morning under there," he quietly chuckled.

"Good morning," she yawned.

"Still tired?"

Twilight gave him a small nod as she looked around from under his wing. "It still surprises me how big your wings are. Even more so that they're able to completely cover me when I'm like this."

"Well, we don't usually fall sleep in this kind of position, so it is kinda new."

"But not unwelcoming," she smiled before poking her head out to share a kiss with him. "By the way, how much longer until we get to the Crystal Empire?"

Perking his head up, Dark looked out the window to see white snow stretching out towards the horizon. And there in the distance ahead of them, Dark saw something tall jutting up from the snowy wasteland reflecting the sunlight off its surface.

"If I had to guess, I'd say about an hour? I can't really tell with how fast these trains go," Dark shrugged, getting a groan from Twilight as she withdrew her head back into the warmth of Dark's wing and snuggled up against his side.

"In that case, I'm still feeling a little sick, so I'm going to go back to sleep," she muttered. "Wake me up when we're there. Hopefully it'll clear up by the time we get there."

Before he could say anything, Dark heard the sounds of Twilight's light-snoring. Smiling to himself, Dark laid his head down where Twilight poked her head out to keep the cold from getting in. However, he was unable to go back to sleep, and instead just laid there contently, listening to Twilight as she slept. Some time later, he watched as Applejack awoke from the seat opposite of them and waved to him.

"Mornin', Dark," she chipperly greeted.

"Morning, Applejack," Dark quietly returned.

Applejack smiled at Dark before looking at the rising and falling form beneath his wing.

"She's still asleep?"

"Just went back to sleep, actually. She woke up for a moment, but when I told her it would be a little while before we reached the Crystal Empire, she said she was going back to sleep."

Applejack looked back to Dark with a level look. "Dark, ya know she's more than likely carryin', right?"

Stealing a quick glance from where Twilight lay, Dark nodded. "I know. While I want to believe that her nausea came from the sandwiches Spike made, and her moodiness was due to what she saw on Big Mac's gem recorder, her increase of appetite and sleep are making it hard for me to deny it."

"So then why are ya tryin' ta?"

"I just don't want to get my hopes up, Applejack," he solemnly said. "Remember that before Twilight, I never thought that I'd have a chance for a family of my own. And now that I could find out any day now that it may very well become a reality..."

"Ah understand, Dark. Ah really do," Applejack sighed. "Ah'd always dreamt of seein' Ma and Pa again, but with them bein' dead, Ah never thought that Ah would get the chance." A warm smile formed as she got up, walked over to Dark, and draped a hoof over him in a hug. "But after ya came along, that dream that had been so far out of my reach has been made real."

After a few moments passed, Applejack let go of Dark and gave him a playful punch to the shoulder.

"But y'all better be prepared for if she is, alright?"

Dark chuckled. "Alright."

"Especially if her parents find out."

Dark froze and his face paled slightly. "Do you think they'll be alright since we're an unmarried couple and we might be having a foal together?"

Applejack nervously rubbed the back of her head. "Sorry, Dark, but Ah don't know."

"... well cra-"

Taken by surprise by the train suddenly jerking, Dark and Applejack braced themselves as the train began to decelerate. The movement shaking the others awake, the cart was quickly filled with groans and moans from the abrupt awakening. That is, all except for Celestia, who'd been awake for the past hour focusing all her attention on a book she'd brought along. Feeling the shifting from under her wing, Celestia looked under it and smiled as Soul wiped his eyes.

"Good morning, Soul," she said with a motherly tone. "Did you sleep well?"

Yipping in surprise, Soul glanced up to see Celestia smiling at him.

"Umm... yes, Princess."

Seeing his nervousness, Celestia chuckled to herself. "There's no need to be so nervous, Soul. Though, I am curious as to why you decided to sleep with me last night."

"Because I was getting cold last night. I would've gone to Dark and Twilight, but since she wasn't feeling very good yesterday, I didn't want to bother her."

"So why me then?"

"... because I like you and didn't think that you would mind?" he meekly answered. "I'm sorry if what I did was wrong."

Her smile brightening, Celestia used her wing that she'd had draped over him to pull Soul in for a hug.

"There's nothing to apologize for, Soul," she softly told him. "Actually, I didn't mind it at all."

"Really?"

"Yes. It reminded me of when Twilight used to do the exact same thing."

"Oh... okay... well, thank you for letting me stay here for the night."

"You're welcome, Soul. Now, why don't you go get your pillow and blanket repacked? We should be arriving any minute now."

Giving her a nod, Soul grabbed his blanket and pillow and made back for his seat. As he did, Celestia got up and stretched herself out before tucking her book back into her bag. While she and the others were getting their stuff ready, Dark had awoken Twilight to get ready. Minutes later, they were all ready as the train pulled into the train station.

Once it stopped and the doors opened, they each filed out of it and were greeted by Cadence, Shining with Skyla sitting on his back, and a hoofful of their crystal guards. Happy to see them again, Twilight ran up to Cadence, embracing one another before doing their greeting while her friends followed behind her. With them greeting Cadence, the others went up to Shining, his parents both giving him a warm hug before moving towards Skyla.

"It is good to see you again, Shining Armor," Luna said with a smile.

"You too, Princess Luna. And hello, Princess Celestia," Shining returned.

"Hello to you too, and thank you for inviting us for this one's birthday party," she thanked.

"You're welcome. Besides, I don't think that she'd like it if you two were to miss it. Would you, sweetie?"

Giggling happily, Skyla reached up for Celestia with eager hooves. When she found herself wrapped in Celestia's magic and brought up to her face, she cooed as she latched her tiny hooves onto her face and began to nuzzle her. With Celestia with Skyla, and his parents and Luna watching them, Shining turned to Dark and greeted him with a hoof/fistbump.

"So," Shining began, "how've you been doing?"

"Alright," Dark shrugged. "Oh, before I forget, Big Mac says 'thanks' for the gift you guys gave him and Cheerilee."

"Thanks. I was hoping that he would get it safely. By the way, I heard that a flying pirate ship crashed into Canterlot Castle and its crew ponynapped Princess Luna."

Groaning, Dark facepalmed. "I'm never going to let Discord bring any alcohol ever again."

"So it was you guys who did it?"

"Yeah," he sighed. "We even got it all recorded on the gem you gave Big Mac."

"I'm going to have to see if I can get a copy of it someday," Shining chuckled. A moment later, his expression turned serious. "So, did you manage to hide from Twilight?"

Dark froze up as his eyes darted away from Shining. Taking his silence as his answer, Shining sighed with a nod.

"I see." He looked over to Twilight for a few moments before turning back to Dark. "I see that she isn't showing. Tell me honestly, Dark, are you two expecting or not?"

"... I'm not completely sure, but..."

"But?"

"... she has shown some of the signs."

Shining quirked an eyebrow. "Such as?"

"She's been eating more than usual lately, for starters," Dark began, "then yesterday on our way here, she became nauseated after she ate a hay sandwich that Spike made. However, Spike also had a stomach ache, so that could just be from bad hay. Lastly, she fell asleep early last night and went back to sleep when she started feeling sick again this morning." Dark sighed and shook his head. "I know that I keep telling myself that she went to sleep to try and sleep her nausea off, but it's starting to add up."

"Hold on for a moment," Shining spoke, "didn't you two go get her checked out after her heat was over?"

"We didn't. With all of that tea she'd drank before, even with her being in heat at the time, she'd figured the odds of her having a foal were fifty/fifty. And with those odds, we agreed that we would wait and find out the natural way."

"... I take it that you're prepared to take responsibility if she is?"

Dark nodded and subtly pulled a box out from his Shadow Storage.

"Picked it up before her heat even started," Dark quietly said before returning it.

Shining nodded in approval. "As long as you're willing to take responsibility, then I'm fine with it."

Dark gulped. "And your dad?"

Shining glanced over to see his dad now talking to Pyre. "Heee... probably won't take it very well."

"Should've figured," he sighed. A few silent moments later, Dark chuckled to himself. "You know, it's kinda funny."

"What?"

"Just looking back on how we used to be. It wasn't really all that long ago that you tried to kill me on sight, but now, you're fine with me and Twilight having a foal together."

"Mostly because I love my little sister and that you make her happy... that, and you haven't really done anything to warrant my distrust in you." Sparing Twilight a quick glance, Shining placed a hoof on Dark's shoulder. "Promise you'll take care of Twilight for me."

With a sincere smile, Dark returned the gesture and placed a claw on Shining's shoulder.

"Twilight is very precious to me, Shining. I promise you, I'll take good care of her."

"Good answer," Shining smiled. Removing his hoof, he turned to see Cadence and the others following behind her. "We all ready to go?"

"We are," Cadence answered before turning to Dark. "Somepony's been eager to see you."

Following Cadence's motioning towards Celestia, Dark saw Skyla sitting on her back. Upon seeing him, though, she leaped off of her back and latched herself onto Dark's face with a happy giggle. Chuckling at her antics, Dark grabbed her in his magic and pulled her back to blow a raspberry on her tummy, eliciting a joyous squeal from her. Ending his assault on her, Dark let her catch her breath before leaning in for a nuzzle.

"And how's our almost-birthday filly doing?" he asked, getting a hug from her as she cooed.

Chucking, Dark sat her on his back and waited for her to get settled down. Once she was, he followed along with the others as they were lead by Cadence.

"We'll have our guards bring your things to the castle," she told them. "Your rooms are already prepared for you. So, in the meantime, how about some breakfast? You haven't eaten anything yet, have you?"

"No we haven't," Celestia answered.

"In that case, it's a good thing that I thought ahead. Everything should be ready by the time we get back." Cadence glanced back to the group. "Oh, and I also asked the chefs to prepare some meat for you guys."

Pyre's eyes widened slightly. "You did?"

"Yes. I knew that you were coming, so I thought that you and Dark would like some meat."

"Hold on a second," Dark interrupted, "how'd you know that I like meat?"

"Aunty Celestia and Luna told me after the Coliseum thing. I have to admit that I'm rather surprised that you even do eat meat."

"Just barely. To be honest, besides the Hearth's Warming Ball, that was the only time I've ever eaten meat in Equestria."

"But you're still okay with it, right?"

Dark shrugged. "As long as nopony is disturbed by it. That's the main reason why I don't eat it in the first place."

"Fair enough."

As Cadence and Shining continued to lead them to the castle, they began to explain a few things about the Crystal Empire to Dark and Soul. And while they listened, they were also in awe at the sight of the crystal ponies, and to see their buildings made of crystals like how Twilight's castle was. Even Pyre was curious about it and decided to try and lick one of the buildings. However, when he did, he spat and wiped down his tongue, complaining that the crystal was far too salty for his tastes.

Along the way, they walked past a particular statue that made Dark pause and look at for a moment.

"... is that Spike?" he curiously asked.

"You bet!" Spike answered, walking up alongside him. "The crystal ponies made it after I helped Cadence defeat King Sombra after he and the Crystal Empire returned. Since then, they've labeled me as a hero and have been calling me-"

"Hey, everpony, look! It's Spike, the Brave and Glorious!"

"Aaaaand here we go."

Within seconds, Dark found him being pushed back as a wave of crystal ponies crowded around Spike. Using his wings, he kept Skyla safely secured on his back while he watched in amusement and curiosity as they revered Spike. After several minutes of waiting, he watched as Cadence stepped in to break them up so that they could get something to eat, but promised them that Spike would be around for a few more days.

Returning with Cadence to their group, Dark returned Skyla to her mother as he and Spike continued following after them. After ten minutes of walking had passed, they were standing before the Crystal Heart.

"So this is it?" Dark questioned.

"It is," Cadence answered. "This is the Crystal Heart. So long as it sits here, it protects us from the weather of the frozen north, and keeps evil beings like what King Sombra were, out."

Dark looked over himself. "If I'm still here, then I guess that it knows that even though I'm Death Incarnate, it also knows that I'm not a bad guy."

"I guess you could say that the Crystal Heart has a mind of its own."

"Well then, if I'm here, then I'm guessing that its fine with Soul too?"

Looking down, everyone saw Soul standing there. But to their surprise, Soul's pupils were fully dilated with a puddle of drool forming at his hooves.

"Soul? Are you alright?" Twilight asked.

"Yeeeaaaahhhh. I'mmmm fiiiiiiinnnneee," he drawled.

Sharing a worried look with Twilight, Dark pulled Soul back away from the Crystal Heart. Once he was a few yards away, Soul viciously shook his head clear from his trance.

"W-What just happened?" he cluelessly asked.

"It would seem that the love contained within the Crystal Heart is too much for Soul to stand being near," Celestia spoke.

"Huh. So this is what I was feeling when we arrived here," Soul mused.

"Are you feeling better, Soul?" Cadence concerningly asked.

"Y-Yeah. Just as long as I don't get that close to it again."

"Good. Also... would you by chance still be hungry?" she cautiously asked.

"Because I'm a changeling?" he questioned, getting a nod from Cadence. "Kinda. I don't like to feed on emotions, but when I got close to that thing, it was like I couldn't stop myself."

"In that case, we'll try to be more careful next time."

"Yeah."

As Cadence turned to lead them towards the castle doors, Dark walked up alongside her.

"Hey, can I ask you something?"

"Of course you can, Dark," Cadence chuckled. "What is it?"

Dark glanced back to the Crystal Heart. "Why don't you have any guards or spells in place to protect the Crystal Heart?"

Cadence looked back to it as well. "We don't feel like we need to since the Crystal Heart protects the Crystal Empire."

"... so you leave it unprotected because it protects itself?"

"Pretty much."

Though a bit skeptical about leaving such an important relic unprotected, Dark kept it to himself so he wouldn't sound rude to his hostess. Through the doors and up several flights of stairs, Dark and the others followed Cadence and Shining as they led them to the dining hall. After a time, they finally reached the double doors leading to it. But, before they entered, Dark sniffed the air as a familiar scent caught his attention. When Cadence opened the doors and led them in, Dark and Pyre froze side-by-side, salivating at the sight of the spread laid out on the table, including-

"Dark," Pyre muttered, "is that that I think it is?"

Dark's eyes shimmered in anticipation. "IT'S BACON!"

Spreading his wings, Dark was about to launch himself over to the table when Twilight pulled him back down by the tail.

"Manners, Dark," she scolded. "Honestly, just because you like it, doesn't mean that you can start acting like that in front of everypony."

"Sorry," Dark apologized.

Making their way in, they each took a seat at the table, Shining and Cadence sitting at the head with Skyla sitting in her booster seat alongside them. Once everyone was seated, they began to fill their plates and cups before digging in. While some table talk was made, most of the sounds came from the clinking of silverware. Of course, there were also a few moans of bliss from the food, mainly coming from Dark and Pyre as they decided to split the pile of bacon between them, and the Crusaders from the pancakes with the Crystal Empire's unique crystal berry syrup.

After a good ten minutes of eating and talking had passed, Dark saw Twilight as she glanced down at his plate. However, unlike during the wedding, she had a look of restrain on her. Looking down to his plate of pancakes, hash browns, toast, and another plate for his bacon, he went to address her.

"Something wrong, Twilight?"

Snapping her attention up, Twilight shifted around in her seat as her eyes flickered from Dark, to his plate.

"It's... it's nothing," she dismissed.

"... you don't sound very convincing. Is it me eating meat?"

"No, no, no. It's not that. It's just... well... umm..."

"Go on. I'm listening."

Twilight look at him with an expression of nervousness and guilt. "Can I... well, would you mind if I... tried some... bacon?"

While her voice was meek and rather quiet, it was still loud enough to catch the attention of everyone in the room, which was made evident by the immediate silence that followed her surprising request. And while Velvet, Rarity, Fluttershy, and the Crusaders all had an appalled look on their faces, Applejack found herself looking between Twilight and Dark, while the rest looked at her in confusion.

"Uhh, Twilight?" Rainbow called. "Do you know what you just said?"

"I know," Twilight defended.

"Twilight, sweetheart," Velvet spoke with a shudder. "Why would you want to eat... ugh, meat?"

"I... don't know. It just smells really good."

Blinking in surprise, Dark cleared his throat. "Uhh, Twilight, are you sure? I mean, you're a pony."

"I know. I'm just asking if I could try a piece."

Though hesitant, Dark knew the look Twilight was giving him. Knowing that this is what she wanted, Dark hesitantly placed a piece of bacon on Twilight's plate. When she picked it up in her magic, Dark glanced around the table until his eyes met with Applejack, who raised an eyebrow and gave him a smug look. But before he could say anything to her, the silent dining hall was filled with the sounds of crunching. Turning back to Twilight, Dark watched as she chewed a small piece of the bacon.

After a moment of chewing, Twilight swallowed it and hummed to herself as she mulled over the taste. Taking another bite, she continued to think over the sweetness it left, along with its chewy and crunchy texture. Before Twilight knew it, her strip of bacon was all gone. With a huff for running out, she turned back to Dark.

"Could I try some more, Dark?" she innocently asked.

"Umm, sure?"

Taking that as her cue, Twilight took a few pieces from his plate and began munching on them one at a time, completely unaware of the looks she was getting. Dipping them into some of her maple syrup, Twilight took a large bite and shuddered from the taste. Within seconds, Twilight had finished off another three pieces of bacon, but it wasn't enough.

"Sorry to ask you again," she apologized, "but would you mind if I had more of that bacon?"

Finding words difficult to speak, Dark pushed his plate of bacon over to Twilight. Eyes twinkling, Twilight forewent her table manners by leaning down and eating the bacon right off of the plate. As she did, Celestia's and Luna's jaw dropped while Fluttershy and Rarity both fainted out of their chairs. As the minutes went by, they tried to eat, but the sight of Twilight eating Dark's bacon was too much for them to ignore. When Twilight finally cleaned the plate, she let out a loud burp.

"Ahhhh, that hit the spot," she sighed in relief as she pat her stomach. Hearing nothing but silence, Twilight looked around to see everyone staring at her. "Is something wrong?"

"Um... Twilight?" Cadence hesitantly spoke. "What was that?"

"What?"

"You just ate a plateful of bacon, sweetie," Night said, still uneasy about what he'd just seen.

"I know. It's actually surprisingly good. I can see why you like it so much now, Dark." Twilight smiled before her stomach rumbled. "Hmmm, still not enough. Hey, Cadence? Could I get some more bacon please?"

"Ar-Are you sure about that, Twilight?" she cautiously asked.

"Yep. I knew the bacon smelled good and gave me a sudden craving for it, but after actually having some, I can't get enough of it."

Hearing the clank of a dropped fork, everyone looked to see Dark frozen in place, his coat a few shades paler and his eyes wide open. Then, slowly, Dark turned to face Twilight, his expression unchanging.

That's it, he thought, that's the last straw. There's no more trying to deny it now. Not after that.

"Dark? Are you alright?" Twilight asked, worry evident in her voice.

"Shining," Dark calmly called, though his eyes were anything but, "tell me, where's the castle's medical wing?"

Shining raised a confusing eyebrow. "Why would you-"

"Just tell me."

While Shining was a little miffed for being interrupted like that, what got his attention the most was how unusually calm Dark's voice was.

"Up the stairs and to your right. You can't miss it."

Dark slowly got up from his seat. "Please excuse us for a moment. Twilight, let's go."

"Huh? Why? We haven't finished eating yet, and I'm still hungry," she complained.

"Trust me on this, Twilight, you'll want to come along for this."

While unsure of what was up with him, Twilight trusted Dark and excused herself to follow him. As they started to leave, Applejack, still maintain her smug look, called out to Dark.

"So, ya gonna get her tested ta see if-"

"Yes, Applejack, I am."

Once Dark and Twilight left the room and closed the door behind them, Applejack began to joyfully laugh, earning her curious looks from the others.

"Applejack, darling, what's gotten you in such a mood to make you so loud?" Rarity grumbled, regaining consciousness from Sweetie Belle while Rainbow woke up Fluttershy. "Surely it has nothing to do with Twilight eating that... meat."

Gaining control of her laughter, Applejack was able to reduce it to a chuckle. "Eeyup. It most certainly does."

Rarity recoiled in disgust. "Ugh! Why in the world of Equestria would that ever be a good thing?! She's a pony who ate meat... and liked it!"

"I have to agree with Rarity, Applejack," Celestia chimed. "Never in all my time with Twilight have I ever seen her touch meat, let alone eat it."

Applejack looked to Celestia and snickered. "Y-Y'all can't honestly tell me that ya ain't noticed the signs? She's been showin' them since the weddin'."

"What signs are you speaking of?"

"Think about it. Excessive appetite, nausea, exhaustion, strange food cravings..."

Taking a moment, Celestia began to think those symptoms over. As she continued to do so, she heard a gasp from across the table. Turning her attention to its source, Celestia saw Velvet holding her hooves over her mouth, her eyes watery and cheeks reddened. Then, from seeing Velvet's reaction, a lightbulb went off in Celestia's head. Realization taking hold, her eyes widened and her jaw dropped in disbelief. Slowly, Celestia turned back to Applejack, who was trying to restrain her giddiness.

"Applejack... is Twilight...?"

Applejack gave a sound nod. "Eeyup!"

"I can't believe it," Velvet happily sniffled, "my little filly's going to be a..."

"Wait, what's going on with Twilight?" Cadence asked confusingly.

Trying to compose herself, Celestia turned to her. "You should know already, Cadence. But if you need an answer, then look to your left."

Doing that, Cadence looked and saw Skyla eating at a small plate of precut pancakes. A moment later, her head snapped back, her face now reflecting what Celestia's was just a moment ago.

"No... are you saying that Twilight's...?!"

Without another word, the three mares got out of their seats and ran to the doors, throwing them open as the ran through. With them gone, Applejack was unable to hold herself back any longer and once again began laughing out loud in happiness.

"I don't get it," Spike said. "What's going on?"

"Beats me," Night shrugged.

"Applejack," Shining called, trying to get her attention. Once she'd calmed down enough, Shining continued. "You seem to know what's going on here. Mind telling us?"

Applejack chuckled. "All Ah'll say is this." She turned to face Pinkie. "Hey, Pinkie, ya got your party cannon, right?"

"Of course I do, silly," she giggled. "You know that I never leave home without it. Why?"

Applejack looked towards the opened doorway. "Because we're gonna be needin' it very soon."

Over in the medical wing, Twilight and Dark were waiting for the doctor to return with the results. When they first arrived and Dark explained to the doctor her symptoms, Twilight mentally berated herself in not figuring out what was happening to her sooner. And while the doctor was excited about the possible news, and was honored to conduct the tests, she withheld her optimism until she knew for sure. After she did her scans on Twilight, she left to get the test results.

Alone with their thoughts, Dark sat beside Twilight, holding her hoof as they anxiously awaited the news. As time seemed to drag on for them, Dark felt Twilight's hoof shake. But when he looked, he saw that it wasn't only her hoof, but her entire body was trembling. And though he was extremely nervous himself, he had to keep himself together for Twilight's sake as much as his own. Releasing her hoof, Dark wrapped an arm around her shoulders and pulled her in while draping a wing around her.

"You doing okay?" he tenderly asked. "You're shaking like a leaf."

"Y-Yeah," Twilight shakily answered. "I'm fine. It's just... ooh wow."

"Yeah, I'm nervous too."

"Nervous isn't quite what I would say."

Dark gently took Twilight's hoof into his free claw. "How... how do you feel then?"

Twilight leaned into Dark with a shudder.

"I feel scared," she admitted. "I'm scared of what's happening to me, of what's going to happen in our future... but, at the same time, I'm also happy and excited."

"Good."

Twilight shifted to look up at him. "And what about you, Dark?"

"Hmm?"

"I know that you said that you were nervous, but how do you feel?"

Feeling his heartbeat thumping against his chest, Twilight could tell what Dark felt, but still wanted for him to say it. And after a brief moment, he did.

"I-I... *sigh* I'm scared too, Twilight," he admitted. "I'm scared because I don't know what to do. Sure I helped mom with the foalsitting, but I don't know what to do with a kid of my own. There are just so many questions that I have on how to raise a foal of my own, but I don't have the answers to them."

"Aren't you happy, though?"

Dark held Twilight tighter against him and rested his head on top of her own.

"Happy doesn't begin to describe how I feel, Twilight. Thanks to you, you've given me something that I've only ever dreamed about, distant as it seemed at the time. So, yes, I'm scared about us having a baby, but at the same time, I couldn't be any happier for this to have happened, or more grateful to you."

Relieved and happy to hear his answer, Twilight wrapped her hooves around him and melted into his embrace with a sigh. As they remained like that, Twilight felt something drip onto her head. Looking up at its source, she saw that they were tears from Dark. Letting free a few of her own, Twilight wiped Dark's tears away before he returned the favor.

"Sorry about that," he apologized, trying to recollect himself.

"Are you crying?" Twilight playfully teased with a sniffle.

"N-No. I'm not crying. It's... umm... what did Shining call it again?"

"Liquid pride?"

"Yeah, that's it. It's liquid pride."

Twilight giggled. "Whatever you say, Dark."

Chuckling along with her, Dark leaned down and pulled Twilight into a passionate kiss. Of course, between the sounds of their moaning and kissing, they didn't hear when the doctor came back in, blushing profusely as she accidentally walked in on them.

"Umm, e-excuse me?" she nervously said, snapping them from their show of affection and redirecting their attention towards her. "Sorry to interrupt, but I have the test results back."

Turning around to face her, Dark held Twilight close as she grabbed his claw in anticipation. Seeing that they were all set and ready, the doctor gulped before looking down at her sheet.

"Okay, so if you wouldn't mind, I'll get straight to the point," she offered.

"Yes, please," Twilight replied.

"Alright then. In that case... Mr. Dark was correct," she said with a brightening smile. "Congratulations, Princess Twilight, you're going to be a mother."

Even though they knew it, it was an entirely different thing hearing their doctor say it. Feeling a fresh wave of tears coming, Twilight smiled greatly as she leaned up to affectionately nuzzle Dark, to which he returned with a nuzzle of his own while hugging her close with a claw falling protectively over her stomach.

"Now," the doctor continued, "from what I'm seeing here, Princess, you're a little under five weeks along into your pregnancy. So, with that said, you're still allowed to do most of what you would normally do. However, I suggest that you try to limit the amount of magic that you use. While levitation spells and other lower-level spells are fine, you shouldn't use any that would put a strain on you or your body."

"What about teleportation?" Twilight questioned.

"For now it's alright, but after your third month, I would advise that you refrain from using such a spell. Also, I would recommend that you schedule an appointment with your local hospital for a biweekly checkup. Considering that you're an alicorn, and that the father is a pony-dragon hybrid, we'll want to keep a closer eye on the growth and development of your baby."

"We will. Thank you, doctor," Dark thanked. "Oh, and could you please not tell anypony? Besides our friends and family, we'd like to keep it to a secret for now."

"I can do that, and you're welcome." She turned around and made for the door. "I'll let you two be. Congratulations again, and good luck."

With the doctor gone and closing the door behind her, Dark and Twilight remained as they were. Shedding a few tears of joy, Twilight and Dark looked down to her stomach, both imagining the foal that was growing within. Placing a hoof over Dark's claw on her stomach, Twilight tearfully laughed as she rubbed her hoof over it.

"I can't believe this is happening," she happily said.

"Me neither," Dark agreed, "but I'm glad that it is."

Cupping Twilight's cheek with a claw, Dark turned her head to face him before sharing a brief kiss with her.

"I love you, Twilight."

Letting free a few more tears, Twilight gave him a peck before relaxing her back against his chest.

"I love you too, Dark," she whispered.

In mutual silence they sat, Twilight sitting on Dark's lap with her hooves idly caressing her stomach, while Dark continued to hold Twilight protectively and lovingly. Minutes later, their attention was brought up when the door to the room burst open with Celestia, Cadence, and Velvet all panting as they skidded to a stop.

Unmoving from her spot, Twilight cocked her head to the side confusingly.

"Is something wrong, mom? I've never seen you act like this before... and were you crying?"

Catching her breath, Velvet took notice of how Dark and Twilight were seated, along with the placement of Twilight's hooves, and her radiant smile. Reservedly, she walked up to them with Celestia and Cadence following closely behind her.

"Twilight... sweetheart," Velvet slowly spoke, her eyes wandering from the hooves on Twilight's stomach, to her face, "tell me, dear, and please be honest with us... are you pregnant?"

Blushing as though she'd been caught with her hoof in the cookie jar, Twilight weakly smiled and gave a small nod. Instantly, Dark and Twilight were forced to cover their ears as Celestia, Cadence, and Velvet all squeed in unison. And while Celestia accidentally used her Royal Canterlot Voice, Cadence and Velvet together were just as loud, which was made that much louder by the crystal halls echoing their squeeing off the walls and throughout the castle, all the way outside to the Crystal Empire.

Still recovering from their ringing ears, Dark and Twilight found themselves in a joyous hug from Celestia, Cadence, and Velvet, with Velvet assaulting both Twilight and Dark with kisses.

Wincing from the sudden squeeing, Applejack got back up and chuckled.

"Sounds like they found out."

"Found out what, AJ? Come on and tell us already," Rainbow said with a hint of irritation.

"Well, Ah had my suspicions at first, but after hearin' that noise, Ah can say for a fact that Twi's gonna be a Ma."

Everyone froze as they let that settle in. After a few silent moments passed, Apple Bloom was the first to speak up.

"A Ma?! You mean ta say that Twilight's gonna have a baby?!" she exclaimed.

"Heheheh. Eeyup!"

"I can't believe it! Twilight's pregnant!" Rarity shouted excitingly.

"And Dark's gonna be the daddy!" Pinkie bounced. "Oh my gosh! This is so amazing! I need to get a party ready for them!"

As the mares, Spike, and Soul were cheering and shouting, Shining facehoofed while Skyla laughed with them.

I should've figured that was what was going on with her, he mentally berated himself. I already knew the signs when Cadence was pregnant with Skyla, so I should've noticed it with Twilight too. Not to mention that Dark already told me the signs he saw before.

"Twilight's having a baby," Night blankly muttered.

"Hmm? You say something, dad?" Shining asked.

Flaring his nostrils, Night stomped his forehooves onto the table.

"Twilight's having a baby?!" he shouted, but instead of joy and happiness, it of out of anger. "Dark! Where are you?! Get your flank out here this minute!"

Remembering that Dark said something about the medical wing, Night knocked over his chair as he dashed out of the dining hall, shouting profanities along the way. Sharing a worried look with each other, everyone else, including Pyre, got up from their chairs to chase after them, Shining having Skyla riding on his back. However, while everyone got up to go stop Night, Pinkie stayed behind.

"You all go on ahead!" she called out, "I'm going to stay here and get this party ready!"

Pinkie stood still until the sound of their steps died down. Closing the doors, Pinkie grinned as she reached into her mane. However, instead of grabbing her party cannon, she pulled out a bomb the size of her body with "The Big One" written on it. Staring at the pony-sized bomb, Pinkie grinned widely.

"Ohh, I've been saving you for a special occasion."

Lighting the end of the fuse, Pinkie took cover behind Cadence's chair and covered her ears.

"Fire in the hole!"

Taking in the love and attention they were receiving, Dark and Twilight remained as they were while Celestia, Cadence, and Velvet began bombarding them with question. And while Dark was a little hesitant to answer some of them at first, he started feeling more relaxed when Twilight reminded him that the others would more than likely be reacting the same way.

"So you don't want anypony else to know about it yet?" Cadence asked.

"Yes," Twilight answered. "Besides our closest friends and family, we'd rather not let ponies know about me being pregnant yet."

"But you can't keep it hidden for too long, Twilight," Celestia said. "With you being a princess, the press and other ponies tend to keep a closer eye on you, so it won't be long before they find out. Either through their own snooping, or when you start to show."

"What do you suggest, Princess?" Velvet asked.

Celestia closed her eyes in thought for a moment before nodding. "One of three options. One, I can place an illusion spell over Twilight to hide her pregnancy. Two, Dark marries Twilight before she starts to show too much. Or three, they get married after the baby is delivered."

"What do you think, Twily?" Cadence wondered.

Twilight thought about it briefly before answering. "The first option is rather pointless since it won't hide all of the symptoms, not to mention when I actually... give birth to our foal." She nervously and uneasily swallowed a lump in her throat before feeling Dark's arms hugging her reassuringly from behind. "Thanks, Dark."

"You're welcome," he said with a nuzzle.

"Anyway, while the third option sounds nice, like the first option, everypony will already know about our foal."

"So that leaves us with the second option then?" Dark questioned.

Twilight nervously fiddled with her front hooves. "Well... if you want to that is. I would personally like to, but it's your call."

Feeling put on the spot, Dark shifted his thoughts to the ring he had hidden away. His face smiling on its own, Dark leaned down and shared a brief kiss with Twilight.

"Twilight, I-"

"Dark Flame!" Over in the doorway, Night stood aggressively as he blew steam from his nostrils. "You got my daughter pregnant!"

"... ahh crap."

"So much for keeping it a secret," Twilight sighed in defeat.

With heavy hoofsteps, Night marched over to Dark and Twilight, his heated glare never leaving Dark.

"You've got a lot to answer for, and with Celestia literally as my witness, you will answer for them!"

Keeping his calm, Dark tried to reason with him. "Uhh... Night- whoa!"

Dark suddenly found himself hanging upside down in Night's magical hold.

"You're coming with me!" Night declared.

Having enough, Dark lit his horn only to find his magic fizzle out. Looking to his arms, he then attempted to use his shadows, but couldn't even get a wisp.

"What's going on with my magic?" Dark asked.

"I laced my magic with an anti-magic spell on the way up here," Night explained. As he turned around to make his way out, he saw the others standing in the doorway panting for air. "Ah, Shining, you're just in time."

"For what?" he questioned.

"Dark and I are going to have some words together. In the meantime, would you go to my room and get me my castrating knife? It's in the side zipper pocket of my blue bag."

Dark's pupils were reduced to pinpricks. "WHAT?! NO!"

"What?!" everyone else shouted.

"NO! YOU CAN'T DO THAT TO ME!" Dark objected in a panic. Besides, I actually have a use for them now!

"I don't think that's really going to do anything to him, dad," Shining spoke. "Even if you do castrate Dark, he'll just regenerate them back."

Oh, thank you, Shining! Dark mentally praised.

"Hmm, you're right, it wouldn't do much good," Night admitted as he walked past him with Dark in tow. "In that case, Shining, go get me that Draconium sword of yours. I'll use that instead."

Once again, Dark's eyes went from relaxed, to utterly terrified.

Celestia damn you, Shining! he mentally cursed. Your stupid sword just costed me my nuts!

"Twilight! Help!" Dark shouted, panicking as he flailed his limbs around. "I don't want to lose my stallion bits!"

Feeling a headache coming on, Twilight rubbed her head and groaned.

"Dad, let go of Dark."

"Sorry, sweetheart," he denied, "but while I'm fine with you being with him, I won't stand for him getting you pregnant without marrying you first!"

"Sorry, dad, but that wasn't a request."

Having enough, Twilight used her magic and overpowered Night's, canceling it out and taking Dark into her hold. Bringing him over, Twilight sat him down. Soon as his hooves and claws touched the ground, he immediately darted behind Twilight and curled into a whimpering ball.

"Wha- Twilight Sparkle! What do you think your doing!?" Night demanded.

"Look, dad," Twilight huffed, "I've got a headache coming on, so I don't want to deal with this right now. Now, if you want to talk to Dark, then I don't want anything to happen to him. Understood?"

"But-"

"And just to make sure that you don't, I want Shiny to go with you and watch over Dark."

"T-Twilight? A-Are you s-sure about t-t-that?" Dark nervously questioned.

"I trust that Shiny will watch after you while you and dad talk," she confidently told Dark. "And besides," Twilight glared at her dad, "nopony in their right mind would intentionally anger a pregnant mare, especially if they're an alicorn, right?"

Granted Dark was still unsure about this, but in the end, he decided to put his faith in Twilight and Shining.

"... alright, Twilight," Dark sighed in defeat. "I'll do it."

However, while he did trust Twilight and Shining, Dark tucked his tail protectively between his legs before he slowly followed behind Night and Shining.

Once Night had Dark and Shining in his room, he asked that Shining cast a soundproof barrier around the room so nopony would be able to listen in on them. With it in place, Night motioned for Dark to take a seat on a wooden chair. The moment he sat down, Night wasted no time in verbally drilling him for getting Twilight pregnant before getting married. A long time believer in the old order of things, Night wasn't taking this very well to say the least. Of course, after he began telling the history of his parents and how they addressed such things, Dark and Shining began to understand that this was actually drilled into Night's mind when he was a young colt.

For three hours Night went on lecturing Dark on his actions. As he continued his rant, Dark glanced over to Shining in a silent plea to make Night stop, only to get an apologetic smile in return. Hearing that Night wasn't speaking anymore, Dark looked back to see him resting in his chair, catching his breath. Remaining silent, Dark waited for him to continue.

"Shining," Night spoke, "you've been awfully quiet. What're your thoughts on this?"

"I'm actually perfectly fine with it." Shining shrugged, causing Night to gape at him.

"What?! After what he did to you sister, you're fine with it?!"

"We talked together about it, dad, and he said that he intends to take responsibility if this were to happen."

Night turned back to Dark, his glare from when they began remaining.

"Is that so?"

With a nod, Dark reached into his Shadow Storage and pulled out a small box.

"It is," he admitted, floating the box over to Night. "After the Coliseum, I had this ordered and picked it up before Twilight's heat began. Took me by surprise to be honest. I didn't even know about it until Spike told me that morning."

Taking the box from Dark with his magic, Night opened it up to see the ring sitting inside.

"Did you plan for this?" he accusingly asked.

"No. Like I said, I didn't know about Twilight's heat until that very morning when Spike told me about it."

"Then why do you have this ring?"

"With how well our relationship was going, especially after we adopted Soul, I decided that it would be a good idea to have this ring tucked away. To be honest, when I first ordered it, I didn't think that I would actually have to use it for quite some time yet. I got it to hold onto for when the time came, just incase."

"I see," Night muttered. "So, you didn't get this ring because you'd actually plan on getting Twilight pregnant, but instead, you were just simply planning ahead?"

"Pretty much."

With an understanding nod, Night closed the box and returned it to Dark.

"I still don't like what you did, Dark," he told him, "and until you marry her, you're on very thin ice."

"You do have a plan to fix that, right, Dark?" Shining questioned.

"I do, actually," Dark answered.

Shining blinked in surprise. "Really? When'd you figure it out?"

"Some time during Night's three hour rant."

"Hey!" Night shouted.

"Sorry, Night, but you can only hold somepony's attention for so long without their minds wandering. And like I said, Shining, I have a plan. Tomorrow evening, after Skyla's birthday party, I'll propose to Twilight. I even have an interesting little spot picked out."

"Good to hear," Shining smiled. Lighting his horn, he dispelled his barrier. "Well, I think we've spent enough time in here. And besides, Pinkie said something about a party for you and Twily."

Dark chuckled as he followed Shining out of the room. "Of course she would."

Making their way back to the dining hall, Dark and Shining talked while Night followed silently behind them. When they got to the dining hall doors and opened them, they froze at all of the pink and light-blue balloons, streamers, confetti, confections, and of course, the giant banner with "Congratulations On Having A Baby!" written on it. Jerking back from suddenly having Pinkie appear in front of them, Dark, Shining, and Night each found a light-blue party hat strapped on top of their heads.

"About time you guys showed up," Pinkie bounced.

"Sorry," Dark apologized, "it took longer than I thought it would."

"Oh, that's okay, we weren't waiting that long. But now that you guys are here, we can finally get this party started!"

While Pinkie bounced back to start the music on the record player, Dark spotted and made eye contact with Twilight. Using his shadows to glide over to her, Dark stopped in front of her and pulled her in for a kiss. Humming to herself, Twilight brought a hoof up to caress Dark's cheek before slowly pulling away.

"Thank you, Dark."

"Huh? For what?" he asked confusingly.

"For everything," she smiled. "For being my friend, for falling in love with me and being my coltfriend," Twilight placed a hoof over her stomach, "and for giving me this foal of ours."

Dark wrapped an arm round Twilight and pulled her into a hug.

"You're welcome, Twilight. And thank you too, for becoming my first true friend, for giving me a home when I had none, for accepting my feelings and agreeing to be my fillyfriend, and of course, for this beautiful chance to start a family with you."

Twilight leaned up and began nuzzling him. "You're welcome."

Maintaining their embrace for a few more moments, Dark and Twilight soon released one another and began making their way to the party, walking side-by-side with their tails entwined.

Chapter 66- The Calm

Dark awoke from perhaps the best sleep he's ever had. Whether it was from yesterday's news of him and Twilight being expecting parents, or if Luna decided to grace him with his dream of him relaxing in front of the fireplace holding a very pregnant Twilight, Dark didn't know. But, which ever it was, Dark was thankful for it as he never felt happier. Smiling to himself, he cracked open an eye to see the top of Twilight's horn point away from him. Confused, he glanced down to see that sometime in her sleep, she'd turned herself around, now snuggling up to him with her back against his chest, and his arms now wrapped around her chest.

Despite her being up against him with no possible space between them, Dark closed his eyes as he gently tried to hug her closer. As he did, one of his claws drifted down Twilight's chest until it rested over her stomach. Smiling to himself, he began to gently caress it, imagining that the foal growing inside was sensing his love for it.

I can't believe it, he thought giddily. I'm actually gonna be a dad.

Continuing his motion of affection for a few more minutes, Dark soon stopped as an idea came to mind.

Hmm... I wonder...

Opening his eyes, Dark casted his Soul Eyes and looked down. With the spell running at full, Twilight's soul outlined her entire body, but that wasn't what he was looking for. Dialing it down, Dark watched as Twilight's soul was reduced to a ball of fire before glancing below it with a smile.

Feeling Twilight stirring, Dark turned his attention back to her as he saw her starting to wake up. Hearing her yawn cutely and wiping her eyes clear, Dark leaned forward and began nuzzling her cheek, earning him a content sigh as she nuzzled him back.

"Good morning," Dark whispered as he continued to nuzzle her.

"Good morning to you too," Twilight replied, leaning her head back against him.

"How'd you sleep?"

"Like a foal," she giggling.

"You mean like this one?" Dark playfully asked while caressing her stomach again.

Twilight brought both of her hooves down to rest over Dark's claw, and her stomach.

"Yeah. Like this little one."

With a heartfelt smile, Dark guided Twilight's head to share a morning kiss with her. When they parted, Twilight looked at him for the first time that morning and noticed his eyes.

"Dark? Why did you cast your Soul Eyes?" she wondered, causing him to smile wider.

"Go ahead and cast it," Dark told her with a smile. "Then you'll see why I have it on."

Mentally shrugging to herself, Twilight casted the spell, her eyes glowing purple to Dark's gold.

"Okay, now what?"

"Look down."

Listening, Twilight looked down, but only saw her own soul outlining her body.

"I see me."

"You probably don't see it then. Are you running the spell at full power?"

"Yeah."

"In that case, tune it down to its minimum output."

"Okay. One second."

Reducing the power of the spell, Twilight took another look, and though she saw her own soul lingering in her chest, she inhaled sharply when she saw a tiny flame nestled just below it. Her eyes beginning to water, Twilight smiled as she rubbed her stomach.

"I-Is that...?"

Dark gave Twilight a gentle squeeze. "Yeah. That's our foal there."

Smiling and shedding joyful tears, Twilight wrapped her forelegs around her stomach, hugging the growing foal while Dark hugged Twilight. For a while they remained laying in bed like that, simply enjoying their time together with their minds on their foal. And while they would've liked to of stayed like that, a ring from the clock on their nightstand reminded them of the time, and that they had to get up.

Sharing another kiss, they both sat up in their beds before Twilight suddenly felt sick. Realizing what was about to happen, Twilight darted over to the joint bathroom and slammed the door shut. Seconds later, Dark winced as he heard the sounds of Twilight hurling over the toilet. And while he knew that this morning sickness was one of the symptoms of a pregnant mare, it didn't stop Dark's concern for her.

Getting out from the bed, Dark waited for a moment before hearing Twilight calm down. Opening the door, he frowned when he saw her miserably hunched over the toiled. Walking up to her, Dark gave her a sympathetic look and began to gently rub her back. And while the look of anguish on her face made him frown, the small smile she gave him let him know that his efforts to help her were appreciated and working. He continued this gesture for the next ten minutes, remaining by her side in the bathroom until Twilight finally spoke.

"Thank you, Dark," she thanked. "Sorry about that. I'm feeling better now."

"Any time," he sadly smiled. "Also, I'm sorry that you're having to suffer through this."

Twilight sighed. "It can't be helped. I knew that if I wanted a foal that I would have to put up with the consequences that came with carrying one."

"I know. I just wish that there was a way to make it so that you didn't have to suffer through it."

"I know, Dark," she smiled. Flushing the toilet, she smirked at Dark. "Now, if you don't mind, I need to use the bathroom, so out."

Chuckling, Dark nuzzled Twilight before leaving her in peace to await his turn. Ten minutes later, Twilight stepped out to let Dark in. After going through his morning ritual, Dark walked out to join Twilight before they made their way to join the others in the dining hall. When they got there, they were happy to see their friends and family already eating with Pinkie and Cadence talking off to the side.

"I mean, I don't get why they were so upset with me," Pinkie said. "So, yeah, The Big One made a big mess of things and I had to clean most of it up while tidying up the rest before everypony got back, but it all worked out well in the end."

"Maybe, but that still left us with a lot of garbage, Pinkie," Cadence sighed. "With all of the extra confetti, streamers and whatnot, we won't have anymore room until the garbage pony comes."

"That's why I packed all the extras into bags, so that I can reuse them. They didn't have to take it all out to the garbage because it wasn't garbage to begin with."

"If you didn't want them to take it out, then why'd you put them into trash bags?" Cadence questioned.

"Because I was so busy with the party that I didn't have time to stuff them into my other party bomb."

"... wait, you have another one of them?"

"Of course I do, silly," Pinkie giggled. "And that wasn't even my biggest one."

"... what?"

Smirking, Pinkie reached into her mane and pulled out a bomb three times bigger than The Big One that shook the floor.

"The one that I used yesterday was called The Big One," she went to explain as she patted the bomb, "this one here is called The Bigger Big One."

Cadence gulped. "A-And how m-much bigger is this one, exactly?"

There was a gleam in Pinkie's eyes. "Big enough to turn the entire Crystal Empire into one massive party ground, or Canterlot, whichever."

Everyone shivered at the thought, but as soon as Pinkie put the party bomb back in her mane, there was a collective sigh of relief. Watching Pinkie return to her seat, Cadence was about to return to hers when she saw that Dark and Twilight had walked in. Quickly, she ran over and gave both of them a hug before letting them go and walked them to their seats.

"So, how're you two doing this morning?" Cadence eagerly asked.

"Ehh, more or less alright," Dark answered.

"Why? Is there something wrong?"

Twilight grumbled. "Morning sickness."

"Ahhh. I see. So that's why you two took so long?"

"Yeah," she sighed before smiling and nuzzling Dark. "But the backrub that I got did help make me feel better."

"What?"

"When I heard what was going on, I went in and started to rub Twilight's back," Dark explained.

"Awww. That's so sweet," Cadence cooed before poking Shining's side. "Why didn't you ever do that for me, Shiny?"

Shining gulped down his food, trying to find an answer for her. Coming up with nothing, he weakly chuckled and shrugged.

"Sorry, sweetheart," he apologized.

Cadence shrugged. "That's alright," she said with a smirk, "you'll just have to make it up later tonight."

"You too, Night," Velvet spoke with a frown. "You didn't give me any backrubs either when I was pregnant with Shining or Twilight."

"Don't forget about the hoof massages," Dark added.

"Yes, and those. So tonight, Night, I'm expecting a hoof massage and a back massage from you."

"You too, Shiny," Cadence agreed.

In unison, Night and Shining turned to glare at Dark and spoke at the same time, "I hate you, Dark."

"Aww, I hate you guys too," Dark playfully mocked with a chuckle.

Playfully rolling her eyes, Twilight saw Skyla sitting in her chair laughing at them. Remembering what today was, she got up and walked over to her.

"Good morning, Skyla," she said, kissing her cheek before nuzzling her. "Happy birthday."

Giggling, Skyla latched onto Twilight's face. "Twala."

Snapping her eyes wide-open, Twilight recoiled and looked at Skyla in surprise. "Did you just...?"

"She's been speaking for a few months now," Cadence smiled. "She can kinda say most of our names, but as you heard, she still has some work to do. I'm actually surprised that she didn't say anything yesterday."

"Probably because she gets a little nervous when she's around so many strange ponies and doesn't like to talk," Shining voiced. "That, and the fact that she's never seen Pyre before."

"I suppose."

Smiling happily, Twilight went back to hugging and nuzzling Skyla. Moments later, Dark was up alongside her. Seeing him out of the corner of her eye, Twilight let go of her to let Dark have a turn. When Twilight retracted herself from her, Skyla then saw Dark beside her and reached out her hooves for him.

"Dar!"

Though initially surprised like how Twilight was, Dark recovered himself and leaned down to nuzzle Skyla, chuckling as she squealed happily and latched onto his muzzle.

"Yours was one of the last ones that she learned to say, Dark," Cadence went to explain.

"That's perfectly fine," he chuckled. "I'm actually surprised that she even said it in the first place."

"Well, she did take a liking to you when you two first met," Twilight said.

"Heh. I guess so."

Gently pulling himself free from her hold, Dark planted a small kiss on top of Skyla's head, eliciting a joyous squee from her before returning to his chair to eat. Sitting himself down, Dark began stacking up the waffles onto his plate before searching for any bacon. After almost a minute of searching, he heard Twilight sigh in satisfaction and looked over. To his shock and slight disappointment, Dark saw the empty plate with the scattered bits and pieces it once held and whimpered.

"... bacon..."

Somewhere north of the Crystal Empire, Flash and a squad of his troops were out searching the base of the mountain range for any signs of the cloaked stallion and Sombra. Thankfully for them, the weather was merciful on them as it was a cloudless, sunny day. However, that didn't do much to lift Flash's mood with the conversation that the others were holding.

"Dude, are you serous?!" the first one asked in disbelief.

"Yep," the second nodded. "I was there yesterday when Mr. Night Light ran through the halls shouting about how Dark Flame got Princess Twilight pregnant."

Keeping his thoughts to himself, Flash gritted his teeth and continued leading them forward.

"That's sweet," the third one said. "That means that there'll be another royal wedding coming up soon!"

Suddenly, Flash froze as his eyes snapped wide-open. "All of you, be silent!"

The three guards winced from Flash's tone.

"Sorry, sir!" they apologized, saluting him.

"Shhh! Keep quiet and get down!" he hissed.

Turning their attention ahead, the three guards crouched down alongside Flash behind a small snowbank. Poking their heads up, they all saw what looked like ancient stone pillars carved into the mountain's side, and in the center of it, a nine foot cave leading in.

"How did nopony see this before?!" one of the guards quietly asked in disbelief.

"I don't know," Flash answered, "but this has got to be where they're hiding."

"I take it we're going to scout it out, sir?"

"Yes. We'll sneak in, find out who and what we're dealing with exactly, then report back to the prince and princesses."

The three guards gave him a confirming salute. "Yes, sir!"

"Good. Now, let's go."

Sticking close to the mountain side, Flash led his squad closer to the cave. Taking a few cautious minutes to try and spot anything guarding it, he confirmed that it was unguarded and slowly led them closer to it. Hiding behind the pillars, Flash halted his squad and had one of the crystal ponies activate the crystals that were inlaid with their horseshoes to silence their hoofsteps. Now being able to move about the stone without creating any sound, Flash took the lead as he led them into the cave. As they entered, one of the guards halted and glided his hoof across the stone.

"What are you doing?" Flash questioned him.

"Sir, come take a look at this," he said, motioning for Flash and the others. "Look at these rocks."

"Yeah? What about them?"

"These walls don't look like a natural cave, or ruins. It actually looks like somepony's been chipping away at it within the last month or so."

"He's right, sir," another spoke. "If you look at the rocks beneath our hooves, you'll notice the difference between the weathered rocks, and the ones that were mined."

Listening to his troops, Flash took a closer look, noticing that the smooth weathered stone was only a few feet wide before it drastically turned rough for the other six. Frowning, Flash looked down deeper into the cave.

"We're going to take this slow," he told them. "Stay single file and keep some distance between the pony in front of you. We don't want to bump into anything and give ourselves away. Also, try to refrain from speaking."

Seeing them silently nodding, Flash led them deeper into the cave. While they didn't see anything unusual within the first few minutes, they did come into a chamber and paused. Seeing that this massive chamber could house a very large dragon, they proceeded with extreme caution. On the far side of the chamber, they saw a glow coming from what looked like a doorway reaching up to the ceiling. Hugging the wall to stay in the shadows and out of the light, Flash and his three troops peeked their heads around the corner and immediately retreated their heads back.

"S-S-Sir?" one of the guards nervously whispered. "P-P-Please t-tell me that's n-not..."

Flash peeked his head around the corner again and grimaced.

"Yeah. It is."

There in the back of the dome-shaped room behind the monstrous burning bonfire was Sombra, sitting on a dragon-sized throne made of bones with his eyes closed. But, he wasn't alone. Before him stood several minotaur skeletons, each fully armored and carrying a heavy axe. Hearing him emanate something between a sigh and growl, Flash recoiled back until he could just barely see him.

"What's taking that peasant so long?" he growled irritatedly. "He said that he would be back yesterday! How long does it take for a single pony to make a deal with a bunch of stupid, overgrown lizards?!"

Stamping his hoof in frustration, Sombra snapped his eyes open, the whites of his eyes now green and purple mists flowing from the corners, indicating his power had been restored.

"The brat's birthday is today! Their guards, prince, and princess are distracted, their defenses vulnerable enough to make the Crystal Empire easy for the taking!"

He jumped down from the throne and began pacing around the bonfire in frustration.

"I swear, if he doesn't return before noon, I'll lead the invasion force myself and-"

Hearing the sound of a small rock echoing through the chamber, Sombra froze and faced the direction it came from. Remaining silent for a moment, he strained his ears until he heard what he thought was whispering.

"Well now," Sombra deeply chuckled, "it would appear that we have guests. Tell me, have you come to pay homage to your king?"

Knowing that Sombra was onto them, they were about to run away when a wall of dark crystals jutted up in front of them, stalling them just long enough for four shadowy tendrils to lash out and snag each of them by their rear hoof. Being lifted upside down, they watched as the doorway was sealed by Sombra's crystals before being turned around to come face-to-face with Sombra himself.

"What? Aren't you happy to see your king again?" he grinned, showing off his fangs.

"You are not our king!" Flash defiantly shouted. "We follow Princess Cadence and Princes Shining Armor, not a defeated relic like-"

"SILENCE!" Sombra boomed, hurling several crystals out at Flash and imbedding each of them into his left foreleg, hind leg, wing, and side, each accompanied with scream of pain. "I am your king, and I will not be denied by a no-named guard!"

Composing himself, Sombra turned his attention to the three crystal guards.

"Now, what about you three? Will you answer your king's calling, or will you die alongside him?" he questioned, pointing a hoof at Flash as he hung suspended in the air, blood seeping through his armor.

Scared for their lives, each of the guards looked between the wounded Flash, and Sombra. A few moments of silence later, they looked at each other and nodded in silent agreement.

"We have chosen, Your Highness," they said together, removing their helmets and bowing their heads to Sombra.

"A wise answer," he chuckled, lowering them to the ground and releasing them. "However, I will require proof of your loyalty."

They each bowed him again. "What is it that you wish of us, King Sombra?"

Sombra grinned from hearing them calling him that again. Darting his eyes to their side, Sombra pointed to Flash.

"I want you three to kill this stallion," he ordered. "It doesn't matter which method you use."

Giving Sombra a salute, they watched as Sombra released Flash from his shadowy tendril, dropping him unceremoniously onto the floor before surrounding them. Hearing him groaning in pain and seeing pleading in his eyes, one of the guards reached into Flash's saddlebag and pulled something out.

"What is that thing?" Sombra asked skeptically.

"It's called a Cyanide Pellet, Your Highness," the one holding it answered. "Each of us are given one."

"What does it do?"

"Simply put, King Sombra, it's a pellet used to commit suicide. If any of us are to be captured by the enemy, we're to take one to insure that we don't reveal anything incase we were to be tortured for information."

"Interesting. This is new to me, so go on and use it. I'm curious to see what happens."

Heeding their king's approval, two of them pried Flash's mouth open with their hooves while the third one dropped the pellet into his mouth. Forcing his mouth shut, they waited for him to chew it before taking a few steps back. Seconds later, they watched Flash as he swallowed it. As soon as he did, they turned around and took Sombra by surprise as they tackled him to the ground.

"What is the meaning of this?!" Sombra demanded. A second later, he shielded his eyes from a blinding flash of light.

"Go, Lieutenant! Tell the prince and princesses! We'll hold him off!"

Feeling the pain dulled by his Rage Shift, Flash stood up as he felt his body coursing with power. Looking over himself, he grinned at the sight of his white coat, and his mane and tail appearing to be on fire. Grinning at Sombra with his now red eyes, Flash bit the crystal in his wing and yanked it out. Flaring his wings and giving them a powerful flap, Flash disappeared in a bolt of lightning, breaking through the dark crystals blocking the doorway out and flying out of the cave.

Roaring in fury, Sombra impaled each of the crystal guards on a crystal spike. Growling, he picked himself up and glared at the remaining living stallion.

"What. Was. That. THING?!" he demanded, getting a weak chuckle from the guard.

"A Rage Pellet, courtesy of the Crystal Empire Research Division. Each of our high-ranking officers have one, and you just stood by and allowed for me to give it to our Lieutenant," he lied, not wanting to tell him that in truth, each of the Crystal Empire's guards had their own Rage Pellet.

His fury blinding him, Sombra pulled the stallion up from his impaled crystal and tossed him and the other two into the bonfire. And while the sight of his enemies burning would've been pleasant to see, Sombra wasn't in any mood for it. With the pegasus having escaped his grasp, he had no choice now but to set their plan into motion.

Roaring out loud, Sombra waited as the ground shook with the sounds of marching. Retaking his seat on the throne, he watched as his undead legion emerged from the tunnels. Within minutes, the main chamber was crowded with his army of skeletal ponies, gryphons, zebras, minotaurs, and buffalo. All armored and armed with many, many more still standing deep in the tunnels off to the sides.

"There has been a change in plans," Sombra announced, looking out at the glowing green eyes of his army. "We march now! Onward, to the Crystal Empire!"

Later on that afternoon, everyone was gathered in the castle's dining hall. With Pinkie being in charge of setting everything up for Skyla's birthday party, she made sure that there was plenty for the hundreds of ponies that they were sure would be attending, ranging from the castle staff, the crystal guards, civilians who wanted to attend, younger and older foals, and of course, her family and friends. And while Dark thought that such a number of attendants for a single foal's birthday party was a bit too much, he was reminded that this was for the Crystal Empire's youngest princess.

With everyone together in the dining hall and gathered outside in the hallways, they all sang Happy Birthday to Skyla, who was sitting at the head of the table with her own personal birthday cake sitting in front of her. Once they'd finished singing to her, she followed her parents' instructions and tried to blow out the candles. It took her a few tries, but she eventually managed to blow out her two candles. With a thunderous round of cheering, Skyla happily clapped her hooves together before digging them into her cake and eating it off of her bare hooves.

The sounds of chuckling and cooing filled the halls at the sight of her messily eating her cake, but it soon began to die off as Pinkie and several others began to cut the other cakes for everyone else to share. As they did, each pony made sure to take a moment to praise Shining, Cadence, and of course, the birthday filly. And while most of the adult ponies began to talk amongst one another, Pinkie and Fluttershy led the younger ones in several foal-friendly games and activities.

Laughing at her daughter, Cadence began wiping off the cake frosting from Skyla's mouth and hooves.

"Looks like somepony was eager to eat her cake," she giggled, causing Skyla to giggle happily in return.

"Yeah," Shining agreed. "Good thing that Pinkie decided to use the edible candles for her birthday cake instead of the normal ones."

Remaining by their daughter's side, Shining and Cadence stood and talked to ponies who either came up to Skyla with a happy birthday, or to talk to the royal couple. Of course, some of them were nervous and questioned why they invited a dragon like Pyre to their daughter's birthday party, but once they were told about how he's a relative of Spike's, they began to calm down and continue about the party.

And then, there were Dark and Twilight, who had their own swarm of ponies to deal with. The news of Twilight being pregnant had spread throughout the Crystal Empire thanks to Night's outburst yesterday, so a lot of ponies decided to come directly to them to get the news. With their plans for keeping her pregnancy a secret now shot to Tartarus, and the fact that everypony would eventually find out soon, Dark and Twilight both sighed in defeat before they told them that Twilight was indeed pregnant.

Of course, while Celestia and Luna were nearby and overheard, they both knew yesterday after the commotion that Night had caused that keeping this secret would be next to impossible. So, it wasn't much of a surprise when all of the mares around Twilight and Dark suddenly happily squealed in excitement when they confirmed it.

"You know," Luna began, "when we return to Canterlot, it's very likely that we'll need to begin preparations for another royal wedding."

"I would imagine so, Luna," Celestia agreed with a smile. "Let's just hope that it goes better than the last one."

Luna groaned, resisting the urge to facehoof in public.

"I still can't believe that I slept through a full-scale invasion like I did!"

"Me too, but at least you were unharmed," Celestia said before her thoughts drifted back to Dark's and Twilight's foal. "Hmmm. Perhaps we should also have the castle's nursery refurbished before the baby comes. What do you think?"

"Yes. I believe that it would be a good idea," Luna smiled. "It shall also provide us a nice place to play with the little one when he or she comes to visit."

Celestia let out a near-silent squee. "I can't wait to start foalsitting for them!"

"You may have to get in line then, because I'm sure that Cadence, Shining Armor, Night, Velvet, and Pinkie will also want to foalsit too."

"Just as long as I get my turn."

Meanwhile, back over by Shining, Cadence, and Skyla, three high-ranking stallions approached them with a bow.

"Captain Gray Diamond, Lieutenant Saph, Lieutenant Emerald Lance, thank you guys for coming," Shining thanked.

"You're welcome, Your Highness," Gray replied for them.

Looking over his three officers, Shining frowned as he noticed somepony missing.

"Where's Lieutenant Flash?" he asked.

"Out on patrol up north," Saph answered. "Said something about needing to clear his head and cool off."

Bringing a hoof to his forehead, Shining rubbed the bridge of his nose and groaned. As he did, Cadence stepped up and took over for him.

"It's about Twilight, isn't it?" she figured.

"Yes, Princess," Emerald nodded, causing her to sadly sigh.

"I know that they've been close friends for a while, but the distance between them has prevented them any chance for becoming more. And with Twilight pregnant, and Dark most likely to propose to her any day now, I can only imagine the hurt that Flash is going through."

"I'll admit that I was rooting for Flash at first, too," Shining spoke. "And while I still have the utmost trust in him, I believe that Dark's the better pick for Twilight. Especially with all of the trouble she and her friends tend to get into."

"Speaking of Dark, where is he?" Gray wondered. "We actually just got here, so we haven't seen him yet."

"One second, I'll call him over."

Looking out over the crowd, Shining soon found Dark and Twilight standing off to the side surrounded by several dozen ponies. Using his magic, Shining picked up a piece of food and tossed it over at him. Hitting him on the head, Dark looked for whoever threw it before seeing Shining waving him over. Excusing himself, Dark made his way past the gathered ponies and towards Shining with Twilight having chosen to accompany him.

"I suppose I should thank you for not getting my attention by hitting me with a blast of magic," Dark chuckled. "So, whatcha need, Shining?"

Shining cleared his throat before he gestured the three stallions with a hoof.

"Dark, this is Captain Gray Diamond, Lieutenant Saph, and Lieutenant Emerald Lance," he introduced, each of the stallions nodding to Dark as they were named.

"So, you're the kirin that we've heard so much about," Gray said before he and the others bowed to Twilight. "Princess Twilight Sparkle. It is an honor to meet you again. Also, our congratulations on the wonderful news."

"Thank you, Captain," Twilight smiled as she looked over them. "It has been a while since I've seen you all, and I'm glad to meet you all again, but there seems to be somepony missing from your group of officers."

"If you're talking about Lieutenant Flash, then he's out right now, Princess," Saph answered her.

"Oh... that's too bad. I was hoping I could talk to him again, seeing as how the last time wasn't on such good terms."

"When was the last time, if you don't mind my asking, Princess?" Emerald wondered, causing her to look at Shining, who guiltily chuckled.

"Yeeeaaaahhhh... you guys remember when we received the notice about the attack on Ponyville last year?" Shining reminded them.

Gray blinked. "Wow. That long ago, huh?"

"Yeah," Twilight nodded. "It's been a while, and I don't like to stay out of touch with my friends for so long."

"I see," he said before turning his attention towards Dark. "Sorry about turning our attention away from you like that, Lord Dark."

Dark looked surprisingly at him. "How did you know that I was a lord? Did Shining or Cadence tell you?"

The three officers looked at him in surprise.

"No, they didnt," Saph spoke. "Are you really a lord?"

"Kinda, but only my closest friends know about it."

"Oh."

"If you didn't know that I was one, then why did you call me that, Captain?"

"Out of respect, sir," he answered.

"Thanks, but you don't have to worry about it," Dark told him. "I'd rather prefer that ponies be on a first-name basis with me, instead of them calling me by that title."

"Um, yes, Lor- I mean, Dark," Gray stammered, surprised by Dark's modesty.

"Thanks."

"So, Dark," Emerald spoke, "we heard about how you defeated the ursa major. Tell us, do you think that you could do it again?"

"Right now? I could easily take on several of them at once."

Everyone in their group besides Twilight looked at Dark with disbelief.

"Dark," Shining began, "I know that you beat me in the Coliseum, but I doubt that you could actually do it."

"Actually, Shiny, he could," Twilight defended, nervously rubbing her hooves.

"Really? Besides that dragon form he used against me, how would he manage that?"

Dark chuckled as he placed a claw on Shining's shoulder. "Pray that you never find out, Shining."

"So... could I ask you something, Dark?" Saph hesitantly asked.

"Sure, go ahead."

"We know about you and Princess Twilight having a foal, but what about marriage?"

"No, we're not married," he denied before angling himself to where Twilight couldn't see him mouthing the word "yet" to them. Smiling at the looks on their faces, Dark looked up at the clock and noticed the time. "Hey, Twilight?"

"Yes, Dark?" Twilight replied.

"Would you mind coming with me for a moment?"

"Okay, but where to?"

"You'll just have to wait and see," he chuckled before shaking the officers' hooves. "It was nice to meet each of you. Hopefully we'll get to talk some more before we have to go."

Giving Dark a quisitive look, Twilight followed Dark's claw gesture and began making her way back into the crowd of ponies. Once she was ahead of him, Dark turned around and gave Shining, Cadence, Gray, Saph, and Emerald a knowing wink before running up to her side to join her.

Meanwhile, off to the side at their own table, Night and Velvet were sitting with Celestia, Luna, and Twilight's friends. As they talked and ate together, Night caught sight of Dark leading Twilight through the crowd before they left the room.

"I'm going to see where they're going," he said, getting up from his seat, but before he could get three steps away, Velvet pulled him back by his tail.

"Let them be, Night," she told him.

"Why? Where are they going?" Rainbow wondered.

"You don't think that Twilight's feeling sick again, do you?" Rarity questioned.

"Ah doubt it," Applejack dismissed. "She didn't even look like she was sick this time."

"I bet I know," Spike chimed in.

"Really now?" Luna questioned. "Pray tell, how do you know this?"

Spike nervously chuckled as he scratched the back of his head. "I might've caught Dark looking at a ring when he didn't think anypony was around."

There was a collection of gasps while Pinkie giggled gleefully.

"This is great!" she exclaimed with a bounce. "That means that I'll get to use The Bigger Big One-"

"NO!" everyone fearfully shouted.

"Okay, okay. I'll just give them a normal Pinkie Pie Party."

Twilight walked alongside Dark as he led her down another hallway. While she normally wouldn't have any problems with this, Dark's silence and the nervous looks he would make weren't helping her much. Even after she'd asked him what it was going on, he just told her that he had a surprise and that she'd have to wait until they got there.

Turning another corner and going down a flight of stairs, Dark led Twilight out of the castle to where the Crystal Heart sat. Making their way closer to it, Dark walked up to it and around to where the setting sun's light would shine on them through it. With them right were he wanted to be, Dark stopped with Twilight right behind him.

"Alright, we're here," Dark exhaled.

Twilight looked around. "The Crystal Heart?"

"Yep. Here."

"Okay, but what about it?" she confusingly asked as she turned around. "You said that you had a surprise for me, but besides the sunlight shining through the Crystal Heart, which I must admit does look rather pretty, I don't see any-"

When Twilight turned back around to face Dark, her words caught in her throat and her legs suddenly lost their strength. Her eyes widened and hooves over her mouth, Twilight looked at the sight of Dark kneeling before her. However, it wasn't like how a pony would kneel before royalty.

"Dark... w-what are you doing?" Twilight shakily asked, though she already knew the answer.

"Something that I would've done yesterday if your dad didn't interrupt us," Dark answered, taking one of her hooves into his claws while trying to hide his torrent of emotions. "Actually, even before we found out that you were pregnant, I wanted to ask you this. It's something that's been on my mind since I saw that you were the one that caught the bouquet at Big Mac and Cheerilee's wedding."

Raising his right wing up, Dark blocked out the sunlight and casted a shadow between him and Twilight. Letting go of her hoof and shrouding his left claw in shadows, Dark reached into his Shadow Storage and pulled out a small black box. Folding his wing and retreating the shadows from his claw, Dark held the box out to her while focusing his gaze on Twilight's watery eyes.

"Like I told you yesterday, Twilight, you gave me a home when I had nothing. You became my first true friend and gave me a reason to continue on with my life after losing everything. And now, with this foal of ours on the way, I will do everything that I can to repay you, no matter what it is, or how many years it takes. I love you so very much, and so I ask you, Twilight Sparkle..."

Dark opened the box, revealing the woven, four carat silver ring inside.

"... will you marry me?"

With a wide smile and her tears flowing freely, Twilight hastily nodded.

"Yes," she sniffled. "Yes, of course I will!"

Shedding a few tears of his own, Dark took the ring out from the box and placed it over Twilight's horn. Breathing a sigh of relief and wiping a few tears from his new fiancé's eyes, Dark pulled Twilight into a hug before sharing a kiss. With the newly engaged couple sitting in the light of the setting sun before the Crystal Heart, life felt perfect for them. After several minutes had passed, they parted their lips with matching smiles. Rising up, they turned and began making their way back inside. However, before they could make it in, the sound of strained flapping and ragged breathing caught their ears.

Turning around, Dark and Twilight looked just in time to see Flash crashing to the ground and skidding across the crystal surface, leaving a trail of blood behind him. Shocked to see him in such a state, they both ran over to his side and began looking him over.

"Flash! What happened to you?!" Twilight shouted in panic. Noticing the black crystals jutting out from his wounds, she gasped in fear and took a step back. "No... don't tell me that...!"

Wheezing, Flash cracked open an eye and weakly looked up to Twilight.

"S-Som-bra... army... com-ing..."

Feeling a knot in his stomach, Dark casted his Healing Flame on Flash and looked to Twilight.

"Twilight, take him to the medical wing and inform the others about what's happening."

"But what about you?" she questioned as she levitated Flash alongside her.

"There's a platform at the top of the castle, right?"

"Yes?"

"I'm going to go up there and try spotting them. With the nighttime almost here, I'll still be able to see them with my night vision. Once I get an idea of what we're up against, I'll meet you and the others in the throne room."

"Alright. I'll see you soon."

Sharing a brief kiss, Twilight teleported herself and Flash to the medical wing while Dark Shadow Melded and traveled up the side of the castle. Once near the top, he saw the platform Twilight had told him about where she and Spike had found the Crystal Heart. Materializing from the shadows, Dark walked over to the edge facing where Flash flew from and scanned the area. It didn't take him long to find what he was looking for, for after a few seconds of searching, Dark spotted something approaching them. Taking a few moments to confirm what he was seeing wasn't a trick from the last rays of sunlight, Dark chuckled as a grin of anticipation formed on his muzzle from the sight of the many thousands of armored skeletons approaching them.

Chapter 67- The Storm

Twilight appeared in the medical wing of the castle in a blinding flash of light with Flash limply floating in her magic beside her.

"Somepony! I need help!" she shouted. Seconds later, several of the castle's medical staff in the room darted over and immediately saw Flash's condition. "He needs medical attention, now!"

Taking him from Twilight, the doctors and nurses moved Flash to one of the operation tables and began removing his armor while one of them began to question her.

"Princess Twilight, what happened to Lieutenant Flash?" the doctor asked her.

"He was attacked," Twilight answered. "When we saw him, he just crash-landed by the Crystal Heart."

"And those crystals?"

"They were there when Dark and I got to him, but they're not from the crystalline floor that he crashed into." Twilight followed the doctor back over to Flash, just as they finished removing his armor. "Is he going to make it?"

"We're not sure, Princess," one of the others answered. "The wounds are deep, and he is very weak. The only reason why he made it this far is due to those crystals still embedded in him, otherwise he would've bled-out by now."

"So they're clogging his wounds?"

"Yes, they are," the doctor answered, looking over his wounds more closely. "Although, the wounds seem to be slowly sealing themselves up as well."

"You see that light above him?" Twilight asked as she pointed to Dark's Healing Flame floating above Flash. "It's a spell Dark casted on Flash that's healing his wounds."

"In that case, since he's with us now, we should remove the crystals and begin working on him."

"Thank you," Twilight thanked, lighting her horn to leave. But before she did, she looked back to them with a look of worry. "Also, you should call in any off-duty staff. I expect that we're going to have a lot of ponies in here soon, so we'll need as much help as we can get."

Leaving it at that, Twilight teleported herself out of the medical wing and near the hallway to the dining hall. Not wanting to waste any time, Twilight flew above everypony, earning her a few stairs before she landed in front of Shining and Cadence.

"Twily?" Shining said confusingly. "Something wrong? You don't look so goo-"

"Oh my Celestia!" Cadence exclaimed, her eyes locked onto the ring on Twilight's horn. "Twilight! Did Dark propose to you?!"

Immediately, everyone in the dining hall fell silent as their gazes all shifted over Twilight. However, this wasn't the time for that.

"Yes, he did," she hastily answered, "but we've got more important things to worry about!"

"What could be more important than my sister-in-law getting married?"

Twilight gave Cadence and Shining her most serious expression. "Sombra's coming."

There was a loud collection of gasps.

"Twilight," Shining spoke, his tone hard and serious, "are you absolutely sure about this?"

"I am," she soundly nodded. "Flash came crashing down by the Crystal Heart and had Sombra's crystals embedded in his side and legs, and he also had a gapping hole in his wing." Twilight placed a shaky hoof on Shining's shoulder. "Shiny, Flash said that Sombra has an army."

Hearing everything that she needed to hear, Cadence stepped forward.

"Attention, everypony!" she called out, "I am hereby issuing a Code Black. All guards are to prepare for battle while everypony else are to stay calm and make their way to the shelters!"

"You heard her, everypony!" Gray shouted. "The enemy is coming, so let's move it!"

In haste, everypony made for the doors and split into two groups. The civilians going left towards the shelters, while the guards went right towards the armory. While they were heading out, Celestia, Luna, Pyre, Night and Velvet, and the others all came up to them.

"Are you for real, Twilight? Is Sombra really back?" Spike asked.

"He is," she confirmed, causing Spike to nervously gulp. "And if he's coming here with an army, then we'll need everypony's help if we're going to beat him."

"It'll take a while for the guards to get themselves equipped, Your Highnesses," Gray announced with his Lieutenants by his side. "Sombra's picked the worst possible time for us to attack us. Very few of our guards are actually armed and ready for combat. The rest were off-duty and attending Princess Skyla's party."

"How long until they can be ready?" Shining asked.

"About a half-hour if they move it," Saph guesstimated.

"That won't be quick enough," he muttered. "We're going to need to find a way to stall Sombra's army."

"I believe that we could you help with that, Shining Armor," Celestia offered.

"But the last time we engaged Sombra, we nearly lost," Luna reminded her. "And he didn't even have an army with his that time. Speaking of, how large are his forces?"

"We don't know," Twilight answered her. "Dark went up to the top platform to scout them out and said to meet him in the throne room."

Celestia nodded. "In that case, we should go to the throne room and-"

Celestia went silent as she and the others heard a loud, low thrumming sound echoing throughout the castle. Ten seconds later after the thrumming sounded, they covered their ears and dropped to the floor as a massive explosion shook the entire castle.

"What the Tartarus was that?!" Shining shouted in confusion.

"T-They're not h-here already, a-a-are they?" Sweetie Belle fearfully asked.

"No," Twilight answered. "I know what that was, and that wasn't from Sombra or his army."

Without warning, Twilight lit up her horn and teleported them all to the throne room. Fighting off a wave of dizziness, she ran over to the balcony with the others following closely behind her. When they got there, all but Twilight, Spike, Rainbow, and Pyre gawked at the giant mushroom-shaped cloud of snow, dirt, and other debris off in the distance. All of which was illuminated by the fires from the crater that had appeared.

"What in Equestria did that?" Gray asked bewildered.

Twilight was about to answer when she caught something shining above her. "Look up and you'll find out."

Listening to her, everyone on the balcony looked up to see a ball of light shining like a beacon near the top of the castle. Seconds later, a large beam of reds, purples, and some blues fired out from it, creating the same thrumming sound they'd heard earlier before it impacted the ground off to the right of where the mushroom cloud was. Throwing up a barrier around them, Twilight braced herself as the area where the beam impacted exploded, illumination the entire Crystal Empire and the surrounding area in a bright light. And though the light lasted for just a few seconds, it was more than enough time for everyone to make out the entirety of the army that was marching towards them.

"Oh, no," Saph muttered.

"There's got to be thousands of them!" Emerald exclaimed.

"Tens of thousands, actually," Luna said grimly. "And this doesn't include those that were caught in those two blasts."

"Alright, but what did that to them?!" Shining demanded.

"Me." Turning around, they all watched as Dark materialized from the shadows, panting heavily and wobbling as he did. When he was fully materialized, he looked directly at Shining. "You wanted to know how I would be able to fight off several ursa majors all at one? Well there's your answer, Shining. Say hello to the Flare."

"Are you feeling alright?" Twilight asked as she walked up and helped support him.

"Yeah. Just a bit winded is all."

Pyre stepped forward. "How's your limit? Still the same as before?"

"Yeah," Dark panted. "Three shots are still my limit before I start to blackout."

"In that case, you should rest and restore your energy, Dark," Luna suggested as she looked out towards the army with a night vision spell on her eyes. "Your preemptive strike against them has stalled their march. Probably in fear of you casting another Flare."

"I saw that before I came down here," he said, regaining enough strength to stand steadily on his own. "I managed to take out about a fourth of their forces with those two shots, but there's still a lot more left."

Casting a spell to increase the range of her eyesight, Luna looked at the army and grimaced.

"Sombra's forces are all made up of skeletons from a variety of different races, and not just ponies either."

"Then we don't need to worry about feeling guilty for killing them," Gray said.

"But that just means that they won't feel pain or die like they would if they were still alive," Emerald pointed out.

"So, in other words, we're still boned," Saph chuckled with dark humor.

"I wouldn't say that," Pyre said with a fanged grin.

"Oh, really?" Celestia questioned with a small smirk.

"I'll admit that I was getting a little bored with that party in there, but with these guys here, I'll finally get to have some fun." Pyre began stretching. "Besides, it's been a while since I've fought an army of that size."

"Well, don't you think that you're going in all alone now," Dark told him. "I'm coming with you."

"So am I," Twilight said.

"No, Twilight. You're staying here with the others."

"No I'm not, Dark," she firmly argued, getting an equally firm look from Dark.

"Please don't argue with me on this, Twilight."

"I can fight them and you know it!"

"I know!" Dark snapped before calming himself down with a sigh. "Look, Twilight, I know that you're powerful, but if they get past us or try flanking us and we're not able to intercept them, then who's going to protect everypony here?"

Twilight frowned, knowing that he was right. But before Dark continued, his expression softened.

"Besides, you're carrying our future with you, Twilight. It's not that I don't believe you can handle yourself in a fight, because I know you can. It's just that I don't want to risk anything happening to you or the baby."

"As much as you probably don't want to hear it, Twilight, he's right," Cadence said sympathetically. "Even though you're still in the early stages of your pregnancy, if you were to take one wrong hit, it could mean the end for your foal, and possibly even yourself."

Fighting back tears of sadness and frustration, Twilight leaned her face against Dark's shoulder.

"This sucks," she muttered. "I've always been on the front lines with my friends and family, not sitting back here where it's safe while the ponies I love are out there risking their lives."

Dark wrapped a wing around Twilight in a hug and began nuzzling her.

"I get where you're coming from, Twilight," he sympathetically said, "but this is about more than just us now."

"I know, but I still don't like it," she sighed. Looking up to him, Twilight gave him a good luck kiss. "Just promise me that you'll come back."

"I promise," Dark smiled.

"Me too," Shining spoke, gaining their attention. "What? You didn't think that I'd let my future brother-in-law go off to battle on his own like that now, did you?"

With a thankful smile, Twilight hugged her brother and Dark. "You'll look out for each other out there, right?"

"We promise," they answered together as they hugged her back.

"Alright, enough already," Pyre groaned with an eye-roll. "We're wasting time here while we have guys that need killing."

Releasing Twilight, Dark and Shining walked over to Pyre. But before Shining could go too far, Cadence stopped him with a kiss.

"Good luck out there," she smiled.

"Thanks, but with Dark watching my back, I don't think I'll need it," Shining chuckled.

"Still, though, be careful."

"I will."

Sharing another kiss with her, Shining then placed a kiss on his daughter's head before turning around to the railing of the balcony.

"Are you guys ready?" Pyre asked.

"Ready," they answered.

"Before you leave," Luna spoke, "allow for me to aid you with a bit of light."

Lighting her horn, Luna raised the moon high above the night sky. As it rose, its light began to show brighter as it pierced the darkness. By the time it reached its peak, its light shown bright enough to illuminate the entire area, which was made that much brighter by the moonlight reflecting off of the crystal buildings and the snow, easily revealing the army approaching them.

"Thank you, Princess Luna," Shining thanked.

"Can we go yet?" Pyre huffed. "We've wasted too much time with the goodbyes, so you two will have to jump while I change and land on my back."

"Wait, what?!" Twilight shouted.

"Let's go!"

Waiting a few seconds after watching Pyre leaping off the edge in a burst of flame as his body grew, Dark and Shining followed. Jumping into a freefall, Dark used his shadows to don his repaired armor, while Shining used his magic to summon to him his Draconium armor and sword. A few seconds later, they landed on Pyre's back, who'd grown several times bigger, allowing for them to walk across his back safely without having to worry about falling.

"Where'd you get that armor from?" Dark questioned. "You didn't have it a moment ago."

"Summoning circles," Shining answered with a smirk. "Got the idea from watching how you summoned your armor and weapons."

"Neat. By the way, why the Draconium gear?"

"Besides it being my best set of armor right now, it's to avoid accidentally being barbecued by Pyre. And what about you? Why're you wearing that armor again and not the new one you had Anvil make after you beat me at the Coliseum?"

"It's not finished yet," Dark answered him.

"We're almost there," Pyre called back. "How're you guys wanting to do this?"

"Shining and I will take the right flank while you work on their left," Dark answered. "If we feel like we're getting overwhelmed, we'll send out a signal flare for you to come and help us."

"Alright. I'll drop you two off then and-"

"Thanks," Shining interrupted, "but we've got it. Just take us over them."

Glancing back to give him a curious look, Pyre looked at Shining before shrugging.

"Suit yourself then."

Less than a minute later, Pyre was about to pass over Sombra's army when Dark and Shining stood on the side of his back looking down. Sharing a look, they met each other with a hoof/fist bump.

"See you down there," Shining said with a grin.

"You too," Dark returned.

Jumping from Pyre's back, Dark and Shining fell into a freefall directly towards the heart of the right side of the army. As they fell, they both lit their horns with Dark lighting his body on fire and plummeting like a giant flaming spear, and Shining creating a five-layer barrier around himself as he dropped like a cannonball. After a long ten seconds of falling, they both impacted the ground, Shining shaking the ground and kicking up dirt, snow, and skeletons upon landing, while Dark's impact created a wave of fire that splashed out from where he landed, melting any that were too close to him.

From the bottom of the crater his barriers created, Shining leapt out from it, blasting everything around him while creating magical shields and swords to protect him and cut down any that were too close. And while he noticed that they were fully armored and armed, it wasn't magically enhanced to resist his magical projectiles or blades.

After a minute of blasting and slicing them down, Shining felt a tremor coming from behind. Turing around, he created another magical shield just in time to block skeletal buffalo that had charged him. Pushing it back, Shining fired a powerful beam at the unarmored gap on its snout, blowing the skull apart and causing the buffalo to collapse into a heap of bones and armor. However, as soon as it fell, three skeletal minotaurs charged at him, each wielding an axe with an axe head the size of Shining's body.

Bracing for impact, Shining winced as the three axes all came down onto his shield, creating a crack in it. With a growl, Shining used his magic to push them back and conjured a row of seven magical spears that arched over his body before launching them. Much like with his duel against Dark, as soon as he'd launched one, another was there to take its place. Soon enough, Shining had impaled the three minotaurs with several magical spears each before turning his sights on the other skeletons surrounding him.

Switching to an aggressive defensive tactic, Shining created several more magical shields around him and brought them in to resemble a turtle shell. Safe and sound, Shining created more magical spears and placed them in each of the open gaps the shields couldn't cover. Using his magic to rotate the dome of shields and spears, Shining began to slowly make his way over to where he saw Dark land. Chuckling in his magical fortress, he continued firing his magical spears out every few seconds, only for another to be replaced.

Meanwhile, a few hundred feet away, Dark was having the time of his life. Not having to worry about friendly fire at the moment, Dark wasted no time in casting fire spells with reckless abandonment. Launching fireballs into the air, he watched as they exploded and began raining smaller fireballs down upon the surrounding army. Along with his fireballs, he would also create walls of fire that he would push out into a wave, conjure Fire Orbs for his Explosive Fire Needles, and of course, creating a flaming vortex around him. And while it was enough for most of them, the larger and more heavily armored ones were able to pass through them.

Chuckling at how much fun he was having, Dark watched as the minotaurs and buffalo charged at him. However, before they hit him, Dark shrouded his body in a thin layer of shadows. When they struck him, they phased through him like a shadowy ghost, rendering him unharmed.

Holding his claw out, Dark summoned his Death Reaver and cleaved the minotaur vertically in half before rounding on the buffalo that had ran through him. Slicing through it and its armor, Dark's eyes drifted to his sword as he saw the red gem embedded in the center of it glow after each kill.

Channeling his death magic from his claw into his sword, Dark powered it up. Once the blade was glowing black with power, he drew it back and swung in a downward slash, launching a black wave of death magic from it that carved a clean path through any that it came into contact with it.

Laughing from the thrill of battle, Dark's attention was soon caught by the sight of a skeletal zebra flying through the air, impaled by a magical spear. Knowing who was the cause of that, Dark turned in the direction he saw Shining land and began making his way to him, cutting skeletons down with his sword while blowing others up with his fire magic.

After a few minutes of cutting through their forces, Dark and Shining finally regrouped with Shining creating an opening in his defenses for Dark to walk in.

"So," Shining began with a light pant, "having fun?"

"You have no idea," he chuckled.

Chuckling along with him, Shining was about to add something more when he became distracted by an explosion towards the center of the army.

"Hey, Dark, did you see that?"

"Yeah," he nodded, "but who-"

Dark went silent when he saw several gold and purple beams of magic flying into Sombra's army and exploding. Following the direction they came from, he and Shining both shook their heads in exasperation when they saw that they were coming from towards the top of the castle, and were phasing through the light-blue barrier that was surrounding the Crystal Empire.

"Figures," Dark sighed. "I should've known that Twilight would find a way to help us from there."

"Yeah," Shining agreed, "but if she and Princess Celestia are providing us with support from there, and Cadence is protecting the Crystal Empire with her barrier, then where's Princess Luna?"

As it to answer his question, a flash of blue illuminated the area between the center of the army, and the Crystal Empire. Looking over in that direction, they watched as Luna flew, firing multiple bolts of lightning towards Sombra's forces and chaining them to the armored skeletons. When their bones were finally reduced to ash and their armor sparking with electricity, she moved on to begin it all over again.

"... I'm gonna go out on a limb here and say that that's her," Dark joked as he threw up another wall of fire behind them.

"You know, this makes me wonder why Sombra decided to attack us now," Shining mused out loud, absentmindedly launching his magic spears at the army surrounding them. "I mean, yes, our guards were unprepared due to Skyla's birthday party, but between Princesses Celestia and Luna, Twilight, Cadence, Pyre, and the two of us, you think that he would have thought this through better."

"Speaking of Sombra, where is he? You'd think that with all the commotion we've caused, he would've come to check it out by now."

Shining furrowed his brow. "That's not good, then." Suddenly, a thought popped into his head. "Hey, when you were up there, did you see a detachment unit anywhere else?"

"I only saw the main force," Dark answered. "If there is one, then it either held back so that we would be distracted by the main force, or they were sent on ahead of time so that by the time the main force came in, they could flank us."

Shining looked at Dark in surprise. "For a guy who lived in an isolated village for nearly all of his life, you seem to know some military tactics."

"I read a few books about them while growing up," he shrugged. "That, and I had to think like a tactician while defending the village."

"Huh... well, let's hope that Sombra's just overconfident in his army and is somewhere around here, instead of secretly leading another group."

Back in the castle, Twilight and Celestia provided ranged support with Cadence and Twilight's friends right behind her. With Night and Velvet having taken Skyla and the Crusaders to hide in their room, Twilight breathed a little easier knowing that they were safe. And while she would've like for Spike and Soul to have gone with them, they were being unusually stubborn about it, but were allowed to stay on the condition that they both stayed close.

As Twilight and Celestia continued their attack, Applejack and Rainbow stepped closer to the edge to get a better look at the action. Looking across the snowy landscape, they both gave a low whistle at the size of the army being illuminated by Luna's moonlight, and the fire from Dark and Pyre.

"That's a lot of bad guys," Applejack commented.

"Yeah," Rainbow nodded in agreement. Continuing watching, she chuckled when she saw a pillar of fire jutting up from the army. "Looks like somepony's enjoying himself."

Another flash of blue lightning drew their attention towards the centerfront of the army.

"Looks like he's not the only one," Applejack said. "Seems like Princess Luna's havin' herself a fun time, too."

"Yeah. Kinda makes me wish that we were down there with them."

"I wouldn't advise that, Rainbow Dash," Celestia spoke. "While I know of how well you two can do in combat, you wouldn't last long against numbers like that, especially if Sombra really is somewhere down there."

"And Dark and Shining Armor can?" she questioned before hearing Pyre roaring as he flew over the army, breathing fire down upon them.

"With Pyre and Luna also down there, I wouldn't worry too much about them."

"And besides Twilight and Aunty Celestia supporting them," Cadence began adding, "pretty soon, they'll also have the crystal guard backing them up."

Groaning, Rainbow looked back to her friends. "Hey, Pinkie, can't you use that giant party bomb of yours on them?"

"Sorry, Dashie," Pinkie shrugged, "but The Bigger Big One is a bomb meant just for parties. Now, if I'd packed my newly remodeled war balloon, then we'd definitely be able to do something about them."

"Is that the same one we used durrin' the Ponyville Invasion?" Applejack questioned.

"Yep, but I made a few changes to it, so it's a lot more fun now and-" Pinkie stopped herself when she saw Soul standing off to their right, staring off into the distance. "Soul? Something wrong?"

"I'm... I'm not sure," he unsurely answered.

"What is it, Soul?" Twilight asked, overhearing them.

"I feel.... I don't know, like a great mass of hate and disdain?"

"Where?"

Soul pointed ahead of him. "Over there."

"Is it Sombra?"

"Probably," Celestia said. "But if it is him and he's trying to sneak in, then he'll find it difficult between Cadence's barrier, and the Crystal Heart's protection."

Twilight hummed to herself as she continued to fire beams of magic at the Sombra's army.

"Regardless, we shouldn't ignore him. Soul, keep your... uh... senses on him, and tell us if he starts to move."

"Okay, Twilight," he replied, focusing his attention on the negative emotions that he'd been sensing.

"And what about the rest of us?" Rarity wondered.

"Just stand by for now. I'd rather that you girls stay close incase I need your help with something."

"Gah! But waiting like this is so boring!" Rainbow exclaimed, throwing her hooves up in exasperation. "I want to be out there where the action is, not sitting on my flank up here on the sidelines watching it!"

"Ah know, sugarcube," Applejack agreed. "Ah wish Ah could be out there too, but we're better off here."

A few minutes later, they heard hoofsteps echoing from the stairwell. Moments later, Gray showed up.

"Your Highnesses," he said with a bow.

"Captain," Cadence returned with a nodded. "How's everything going with the crystal guards?"

"I'm pleased to report to you, Princess, that they were able to move faster than what we'd originally thought. When I left to report to you, almost all of our forces were armed and ready for battle."

Cadence nodded with a sad sigh. "Thank you, Captain. I'm sorry. I would much rather not have to give you and your soldiers this order, but-"

"Don't worry about it, Princess Cadence," he interrupted with a smile. "You don't need to give us the order. The Crystal Empire is our home, and we're all willing to do what we need to do to protect our families and homes from that monster, Sombra."

Cadence smiled, feeling as though a great weight had suddenly been lifted from her shoulders.

"Thank you, Captain. Be careful out there, and good luck."

Giving them a salute, Gray was about to go on down when Rainbow scooped him up in her forelegs, earning her a confusing look from Gray and the others.

"What?" she asked. "I may not be able to help them out there, but I can at least fly this guy back down to where the guards are faster than he would running."

Without another word, Rainbow flew off the edge of the platform with Gray and flew him down the side of the castle until they came to the throne room balcony. Turning inside, she flew him through the hallways, following his directions until they came to the castle's armory. Setting him down, Rainbow hovered alongside him.

"Well, I guess good luck out there," she said.

"You're not wanting to come?" he questioned. "I heard you complaining all the way from the bottom of the stairwell. That, and I've heard about how fast you are, and I've read the report on the invasion on Ponyville about how you helped them."

Rainbow sighed. "As tempting as that is, I would never hear the end of it if I did."

Waving to him, Rainbow turned around to rejoin her friends. When she was out of sight, Gray chuckled to himself before turning to his guards. Seeing that they were all ready, he shared a salute with them before turning back around and leading them through and out of the castle. Coming to the edge of Cadence's barrier, he stopped as was flanked by Sapph and Emerald.

With his two remaining captains and the crystal guard at his back, he marched them through the barrier to meet Sombra's forces. As they passed through, they watched as Sombra's forces had gotten close enough that the undead unicorns were now firing beams of magic at Cadence's barrier, though the long range had reduced their power. Picking up the pace, Gray and his captains broke into a gallop, followed by their forces as they shouted their war cry and charged head-on against Sombra's army.

Less than a minute later when they'd gotten close enough to them, Gray drew his sword with his mouth and leaped into the front lines of Sombra's army. Blocking and parrying the first few incoming attacks, he then bucked at a pair of earth pony skeletons before slicing the head off of a unicorn skeleton. Seconds later, he heard the clanging of swords, spears, and shields as his crystal guard finally made contact with Sombra's forces and began driving into them. With the running start the crystal guards had, they were able to wedge themselves deep into the undead army before spreading themselves out.

Up above, Luna watched with a satisfied smirk before firing several bolts of lightning towards the back of Sombra's army, making sure that the chain effect her lightning had wouldn't reach to her allies. Breaking her connection, Luna began to fly around in the air, dodging the magical projectiles that were being shot at either her, or at Cadence's barrier behind her. However, as the battle continued, she found more beams of magic being fired off, forcing her to magically don her old armor as she flew down to join her allies on the ground.

Feeling invigorated having Luna fighting alongside them, the crystal guard cheered for her as they continued to slowly push their way further into the enemy's ranks. With their shieldponies up front and their spearponies right behind them, they were able to save most of their forces from the spells and weapon strikes that clashed against their shields. But, when it came to the armored minotaurs and buffalo skeletons, they did little to stop them.

With several minotaurs and buffalo breaking their lines, the others behind the spearponies drew their swords and began their assault of them. After taking a few losses of their own, they finally managed to put them down. However, Saph became wounded by them and was fading fast.

"Sir!" one of them shouted to Gray. "Captain! Lieutenant Saph is wounded! We need to get him back to the Crystal Empire!"

Hearing them, Gray turned around and made his way back to Saph's side with Luna and Emerald following right behind. Standing by his side, Gray kneeled down to take a look at Saph and frowned when he saw the deep gash along his left side.

"The wound is too great," he said. "He won't make it back to the Crystal Empire in time."

"What if I were to teleport him back?" Luna suggested, but before she could get an answer, she and the others watched as Saph took his last gurgling breath before his eyes glazed over.

Silent bidding his friend farewell, Gray ran a hoof over Saph's eyes and closed them.

"We have to keep pushing forward," he told them. "Even though we lost Lieutenant Saph, we still have an empire to defend."

With one last salute, they left Saph to continue their assault. For the next ten minutes they fought back their outnumbering opponent, doing their best to keep themselves and their allies alive while trying to strike down their enemy. Several long minutes later, off to their right, Gray, Emerald, and Luna spotted Dark and Shining as they cut through the undead with a whirlwind of magical swords, shields, and fire. Glad to see their prince unharmed and reunited with them, the crystal guard cheered with renewed morale and pressed harder into the opposing army.

Cleaving through another dozen undead, Dark and Shining regrouped with them and helped relieve some of the pressure from their sides. Once things seemed to be under their control, they made their way behind their allies towards Luna, Gray, and Emerald.

"Glad to see you two made it," Luna said with a small smile.

"You too, Princess Luna," Dark returned with a grin. "By the way, nice lightshow you put on there."

"It was of no trouble. To be honest, the metallic armor they wore only helped with spreading my lightning."

"Sorry to interrupt," Shining spoke, "but where's Lieutenant Saph? Shouldn't he be here with you all?"

Removing their helmet, Gray and Emerald bowed to Shining.

"Your Highness," Gray remorsefully began, "I am sorry to inform you that Lieutenant Saph has fallen in battle."

Shining remained quiet for a moment before speaking again. "Could you tell me where his body is?"

"With the others who've fallen, Your Highness," Emerald answered, pointing towards the thirty fallen who were laid side-by-side in six rows of five.

Without a word, Shining walked over to them and stood in silence. A few moments later, Dark walked up alongside him.

"I'm sorry about what happened to them," he said.

Shining sighed. "It's not your fault, Dark."

Silently nodding, Dark remained by Shining's side as they both looked them over. As they did, Dark began to notice that while they were indeed dead, their wounds. while fatal, could be mended. Glancing down to his Death Reaver, Dark smiled upon seeing the red gem glowing much brighter than what it was before.

I know what you're thinking, Dark, Nocturne told him.

And? Dark questioned. What's your take on it?

I have no objection over it. You've collected plenty of souls from those undead you struck down with this weapon to do it.

Good. "Hey, Shining?"

"Yeah?" he sighed as he silently mourned for his fallen friend.

"Mind standing back a little bit? I'm gonna need some room for this."

Despite being confused as to what Dark was up to, Shining took a few steps back until he was back with Luna, Gray, and Emerald.

Seeing that Shining was far enough away and he had plenty of room to work with, Dark walked between the rows of bodies until he was standing at the center of them. Raising his Death Reaver above his head, Dark flipped the sword around to hold it in reverse. Focusing his power into his right arm, Dark began to channel it into his sword, causing the gem to begin emanating red sparks of magical energy.

"Today, nopony dies!"

With that declaration, Dark trusted his sword down into the ground. When he did, bolts of red magical energy ran from the gem, down the sides of the blade, and split off towards each of the fallen crystal guards. Remaining in this position, Dark continued pouring more power into his sword, causing the gem to pulse faster while the arcs of energy crackled with power.

As Dark continued the spell, everypony else who was watching watched in awe as every wound on each of the corpses began to mend themselves. Once they were all healed, they saw Dark send one last pulse of magic from his Death Reaver into the ground, causing the pulse to spread out and for each of the dead bodies to spontaneously jerk upon making contact. Seconds later, each of the bodies gave one last jerk ask they all simultaneously snapped open their eyes.

All around Dark, a collection of gasps, coughing, and groans sounded as the once dead crystal guards began to move on their own. However, unlike Sombra's army of undead skeletons, these ponies were all just as alive and well as they were before they all died. Feeling the exertion of the spell, Dark leaned on his sword as he took a quick breather. As he took his break, he looked around with a small smile as he saw the once dead ponies begin to stand up and look themselves over in confusion.

"Oooohhhh. What happened?" Saph groggily asked.

"Uhhhhh... you don't remember?" Emerald questioned, still trying to process the fact that his friend was just resurrected before his eyes.

"Besides taking a minotaur axe to my side, the last I remember was Captain Gray and Princess Luna standing over me. After that I... don't know. I blacked out I guess?"

"You died, son," Gray said as he and the others hesitantly approached him and the other resurrected ponies.

"But... if I died, then how am I alive?"

"You can thank Dark for that," Shining said, sighing in relief.

"What?! How?!"

Standing back up, Dark pulled his sword out from the ground and turned to Saph. "I'll tell you later, but right now, you and the others better pull yourselves together. We've still got a battle to win."

South of the Crystal Empire, Sombra stood, waiting until the right time for him to strike revealed itself. As he waited, he watched in the distance as lightning and fire shot up from where his army was, but frowned when he saw the dragon flying overhead and burning them.

"So, they somehow got Pyre to fight on their side," he said to himself with a snort. "This could prove problematic for us."

Continuing to watch, Sombra's ears perked up at the sound of wings approaching him from behind. Frowning further, he turned his head to see a hooded stallion landing alongside him.

"You said you'd be back yesterday," Sombra growled. "What happened?"

"They were a bit more difficult to negotiate with than I thought," he answered Sombra. "It didn't help me much either that a former accomplice of mine whom I thought to be dead, was actually still alive."

"Then that's your own fault. But enough about that. Did you mange to get them on our side or not?"

The stallion pulled down his hood, showing Sombra a toothy grin.

"It took some convincing, but after saying a few choice words that caught their attention, I managed to get them to agree."

"Good," Sombra chuckled, but it didn't last long due to the glare he was getting from the cloaked stallion.

"Now, Sombra," he began, "would you mind telling me why you went on ahead and attacked the Crystal Empire without me?! You've deviated from the plan! If you would've waited for me, then I could've casted an illusion over the army and hidden them until they were marching into the Crystal Empire!"

Sombra's shadowy mane flared in anger. "If you would've been here on time, then I wouldn't have had to! That illusion you casted to hide the entrance wore off, which allowed for their scouts to find the temple!"

Composing himself, Sombra turned his back to him. "If I had waited any longer, the attack would've been ruined."

The stallion growled beneath his breath. "Fine. Now, how are our forces doing?"

Sombra frowned again. "We've had a few unexpected surprises which resulted in the loss of over a third of our forces already."

"What?! How?!"

"I don't know what they've got up there, but a superweapon of sorts destroyed a forth of our army in just two blasts. Thankfully, there hasn't been any more since then."

"Anything else?"

"Yes. Turns out that Pyre, Lord of Fire, has joined their side and is currently fighting our forces."

"A minor inconvenience."

"Princess Celestia and Luna are there as well."

"Didn't you say you had something for them just incase?"

"I did."

"Then why even bring them up if they're of no threat to you?" he snorted before walking up ahead of Sombra.

"And where do you think you're going?" Sombra questioned.

"To begin the next phase of our plans," he answered. "Speaking of, you are able to get me though that barrier of theirs, right?"

"Only with your help I can. However, they will notice it."

Together, Sombra and the cloaked stallion began making their way towards Cadence's barrier. As they did, Sombra glanced at the cloaked stallion and noticed something missing.

"You seem to have lost your sword," he commented.

"No, I didn't," he answered Sombra. "I left it with our new allies to have it reforged into an entirely different kind of sword. While I loathe to admit it, it was well-made and has served me well. But, I would much rather have it remade into something... more to my liking. I'll be going back to visit them in a few weeks or months to pick it up from them."

Silent nodding, they made their way up to Cadence's barrier and stopped at the edge of it. Lighting their horns briefly, Sombra and the cloaked stallion combined their magic and pried open a small gap for the latter to walk through. Once he was through Cadence's barrier and the invisible force field provided by the Crystal Heart, the cloaked stallion turned back to see Sombra standing outside the barrier as it sealed itself back up.

"You better not get caught," Sombra warned him. "If you do, then this whole plan all be for naught."

"Have you forgotten already?" the stallion chuckled as his body and cloak beginning to disappear. "With my power over light and life, nopony will be able to see me coming, and their Crystal Heart won't expel me. And by the time they find out what I'm up to, it'll be too late for them to stop me."

Chapter 68- Breached

Since he'd told Twilight, Soul's kept his attention focused solely on Sombra. After a while had passed with him not moving from his spot, Soul began to grow bored. However, his brow furrowed when Sombra suddenly began to move closer to Cadence's barrier.

"He's moving, Twilight," he called out.

Ever since the crystal guard engaged Sombra's army, Twilight and Celestia ceased their supportive fire and took a moment to rest themselves.

"Can you tell us where, Soul?" Twilight asked.

"Yeah. He's coming closer."

Hearing this, Cadence strengthened her barrier a little more and smirked.

"In that case, he'll find getting through my barrier a challenge," she confidently proclaimed. "He failed to break through last time, and ever since then, Shiny's been helping me improve my defensive spells. If he couldn't get through before, then I doubt that he'll get through now."

"Well, he didn't exactly do much to put pressure on your barrier before," Spike pointed out. "Last time, all he did was wait you out until you exhausted yourself."

"Either way, I think we may find out," Soul spoke up. "He just stopped outside of your barrier, Cadence, and is just standing there."

Seconds later, Cadence winced and yelped in pain as she felt her barrier being torn open before it sealed itself back up. Her eyes widening in fear, Cadence walked over to the ledge facing the direction she felt the breach come from, and where Soul had been staring at.

"My barrier has been breached!" she said in a panic, immediately gaining everyone's attention. With fear in her eyes, she looked down to Soul. "Where's Sombra right now?!"

Maintaining his senses, Soul quickly spotted Sombra's position, but had a look of confusion as he did.

"That's weird," he muttered to himself before looking up to Cadence. "He's still outside."

"But he opened up my barrier! Why would he do that if he wouldn't pass through it?!"

"It is curious," Celestia commented.

"What I'm more curious about," Twilight began, "is why Sombra would even try it. I mean, even if he did somehow manage to break through your barrier, Cadence, he would still have to deal with the Crystal Heart keeping him out."

"Okay, okay, so let's go through what we know," Rainbow said as she paced around while hovering. "We have an evil king who's come back for revenge, he just broke through a barrier that he wasn't able to before, just to not go through it in the end, and to top it all off, he did all of that probably knowing that the Crystal Heart is still here to keep him out. Now, did I miss anything, or is that about it?"

"She's right," Cadence agreed. "Sombra's smart enough to know that the Crystal Heart is still active, so it wouldn't make any sense for him to do this."

"Unless he wasn't alone right then," Celestia spoke in thought. "Soul, can you sense anypony else near Sombra's location?"

Focusing his senses, Soul felt for any emotions other than Sombra's anywhere in that area. However, he shook his head.

"I'm sorry, Princess Celestia, but I can't tell," he answered. "If there is somepony else over there, then their emotions are being overshadowed by Sombra's."

Frowning at the thought of Sombra working with somepony, Celestia looked over the others. As she did, she gave a small chuckle when her sight came over Rainbow as she anxiously shifted her weight around on her hooves, and her wings fluttered. Hearing Celestia, the others turned round to face her. When they did, Rainbow's eyes made contact with Celestia's.

"Go ahead, Rainbow Dash," Celestia said with a nod. "But make sure to be careful and come back if you do see somepony down there. Also, for your own sake, do not engage them."

Happy to have something to do other than waiting around, Rainbow gave a salute to Celestia before she launched herself off the platform and into the air. Flying around in the air again, Rainbow smiled widely for a moment before focusing on her mission. Reaching the outskirts of the Crystal Empire's houses, Rainbow glided around the area Cadence and Soul talked about. While she did see Sombra standing on the other side of the barrier with a grin on his face as he eyed her, he wasn't the one that she was looking for. But that didn't stop her from taunting him and chuckling to herself when she saw that grin of his fall.

Ignoring him, Rainbow hovered high above the ground and looked around anypony who might've entered. However, she wasn't able to see anypony wandering around. And with the massive distance between Cadence's barrier and the line of buildings, Rainbow was sure that if anypony would've made it through that they wouldn't've gotten that far already, even if they were in a gallop. Becoming a little annoyed, Rainbow grumbled to herself and continued the search.

"Should've brought Fluttershy with me," she muttered. "She could see a lot better as Flutterbat than I can, even with this moonlight."

Spending the next ten minutes searching around, Rainbow still didn't find anypony. With Sombra still outside and nopony inside, Rainbow spared one last glance at Sombra before making her way back to the castle.

Once the pegasus was out of sight, Sombra chuckled to himself before it gradually rose into laughter. While at first he'd thought that she might find his companion, he was relieved that she didn't spot any signs of him. If only she'd landed in front of him, then she might've noticed the set of pair of hoofprints in the snow leading towards the Crystal Empire.

"Those fools," Sombra chuckled. "They have no idea of what's coming to them... speaking of which..."

Lighting his horn, Sombra shot a signal flare up into the night sky. Once it was high above the peak of Cadence's barrier, it exploded in a flash of red light that shown brightly against the darkness of night. Seconds later, a loud screeching sound echoed across the landscape.

"Ah, there we go," he said, now looking over towards the area where his army was engaged with the crystal guards. "Now, let's see how you fare against this?"

Returning to the castle, Rainbow landed on the platform with a dissatisfied grumble.

"Nothing," she spat.

"What do you mean, Rainbow?" Twilight asked.

"Besides Sombra idly standing exactly where Cadence and Soul said he would be, I didn't find anypony else anywhere!"

"Did you look around the houses on the outskirts?" Cadence questioned.

"Yeah! I searched everywhere from the edge of you barrier, to the first few blocks of the Crystal Empire!"

Twilight hummed to herself in thought before she looked back to Soul.

"Do you sense anything now, Soul?"

"Nothing," he answered with a shake of his head. "Other than Sombra, I can't sense anypony-"

Soul went silent as a loud screech echoed throughout the Crystal Empire. Scared by the new sound, Soul quickly found himself shivering in fear as he huddled down beneath Twilight.

"W-W-What w-was th-that?" he shakily asked.

"Gryphons," Rainbow growled.

"Sombra didn't go to Griffonstone and recruit them, did he?" Pinkie nervously asked. "Because I really don't want to have to fight Gilda."

"Nah. I doubt that she would join him."

"But he does have dark magic," Twilight reminded them. "He could've put them under some kind of mind control spell."

"It's not mind control, Twilight."

Turning around to face the source of the voice, everyone flinched in surprise when they saw Fluttershy standing at the other side of the platform. However, sometime during Rainbow's return, she had transformed herself into Flutterbat and was now looking back at them with her glowing, blood-red eyes.

"Fluttershy?" Celestia wearily called, unsure if that was really her or not. But when Flutterbat smiled and nodded, she let out a small sigh of relief.

"Like I was saying, Twilight," Flutterbat continued, "it's not mind control."

"How do you know that?" Twilight questioned, watching as Flutterbat pointed a hoof out towards the horizon.

"Because I can see them flying towards us," she answered. "And it's not just gryphons, but also pegasi as well."

Rainbow walked up alongside her and peered out and saw a black speck in the distance. "Are you sure, Flutters? Because I can barely see them out there."

"Didn't I tell you already? As a bat pony, I have much greater eyesight." Flutterbat turned her head towards the battle raging on. "From here, I can also clearly see everypony fighting down there."

"Do you see Shining and Dark?" Cadence questioned, getting a small nod in return.

"He, Dark, and Princess Luna are leading the charge, but are split up. Princess Luna and Dark are each on their own on either side of the crystal guards, and Shining Armor is up at the front."

Twilight had a small smile, but was quickly overtaken by her frown. "Thanks for the update on them, Fluttershy-"

"Bat."

"-whatever, but we still need to know about these gryphons and pegasi."

"Oh, right." She returned her gaze on the incoming fleet. "Like the rest of his army, they are all undead skeletons."

"If so, then how is it that they can still fly?"

"While they appear to all be skeletal, their wings still have enough skin and feathers to allow for them to fly."

"In that case," Celestia began was she too walked up alongside Flutterbat, "we shouldn't waste anymore time."

Lighting her horn, Celestia began charging to fire a large beam of magic. Seconds later, she was joined by Twilight, and surprisingly, Rarity.

"What? You didn't think that I would stand by and not help my friends, did you?" she innocently asked.

"Then why didn't you help them before when they were supporting Dark and Shining Armor?" Rainbow wondered.

"Because they also had Pyre with them. Here, the only ones standing between them and Cadence's barrier are Princes Celestia and Twilight."

"In that case, I might as well try too," Spike shrugged.

"Are you sure, Spike?" Twilight questioned. "I know that you've improved on you magic, and if the tremors in the castle these last two weeks are any indication, you've been practicing it on your own, but it's still going to be tiring for you."

As if to answer her, Spike brought his glowing claws together out in front of him to create a green orb of magic. With him and the others charged and ready, they all fired a beam of magic directly at the heart of the enemy fleet. However, before any of their attacks could strike, they were all blocked and neutralized by an invisible force field with the appearance of an aurora borealis before fading again.

"Oh, ponyfeathers," Twilight cursed, immediately recognizing the colors patterns. "It's him! It's Lady Aurora's former apprentice!"

"Then this isn't looking good for us," Celestia frowned. "We're not only dealing with Sombra, the former Apprentice of Shadow and Death now, but also the former Apprentice of Light and Life."

"Was that an anti-magic field?" Rarity asked.

"Yes, it was," Twilight answered her. "And if that's the case, then we better go help Cadence reinforce her barrier."

"I'm counting somewhere around one thousand of them," Flutterbat spoke. "Between their numbers and the undead unicorns that are bombarding her barrier, she'll definitely need the extra help."

"Especially if he's up there with them."

"I didn't see any living pony up there, but then again, he could be hidden somewhere within them. Also, before you say anything, Rainbow, no, you're not going out there to fight them."

"Oh, come on!"

Back down in the middle of the battle, Dark leaped up in the air as he swung his Death Reaver and cleaved a minotaur's head off before conjuring a pillar of fire in front of him. Landing back on the ground, he used the darkness the night provided him and created a swarm of shadowy tendrils all around him. Despite the moonlight shining from above, it didn't negatively affect any of his shadow magic as he thought it would. On the contrary, his shadow magic actually felt like it was being boosted by the moonlight.

Wonder if it has anything to do with that magic transfusion Princess Luna gave me, Dark wondered to himself as his tendrils pierced through the surrounding undead, leaving him to think in peace before giving a shrug. I'll have to talk to her about that later and find out her opinion on it. Until then, I guess that I should-

Dark was cut off by the sound of screeching echoing across the night sky. Looking up and around, Dark searched for the source of the sound. After a few minutes of searching in the safety of his ring of tendrils, Dark was about to go back to fighting when he saw several colorful lights glowing from the platform where Twilight and the others were. A moment later, he watched as four beams of magic fired out off to the side. Following their trajectory, his eyes widened when he saw the beams all blocked by a wall of multi-colored light. After the beams and the force field faded, Dark then saw a signal flare from Luna, ordering them to regroup. Figuring that this was important, Dark Shadowported back behind their allies just in time for Luna and Shining to teleport in as well.

"Princess, what was that?" Dark asked her.

"It's the fugitive that Twilight and I tried capturing," she darkly answered.

"You mean the alicorn that we've been looking for?" Shining clarified.

"The same. I would recognize that aurora borealis anywhere. And if it's protecting whatever the others fired at, then it would mean that he has in fact joined forces with Sombra."

"But what were they firing at... and what was that screeching? It kinda sounded like a gryphon."

Casting a pair of spells to grant her improved sight and night vision, Luna looked up towards the area where the beams ended. When she did, her eyes widened before canceling the spell.

"It would appear that Sombra has a fleet of roughly a thousand pegasi and gryphons flying directly towards he Crystal Empire from the east," Luna informed them.

"And it looks like they have an anti-magic field around them," Shining said, noticing how the force field neutralized the magic fired at them.

"What now then?" Dark questioned. "We can't leave these guys or else they'll all probably die, but our magic can't do anything against that fleet."

"If our magic can't harm them," Luna smirked, "then perhaps a dragon and his fire breath can."

Dark gave her a deadpanned look. "As much as I love and had missed the thrill of battle, Princess, I don't think that it would be a good idea for me to fight against a fleet of magicproof pegasi and gryphons."

Luna chuckled. "I wasn't talking about you, Dark."

Firing another, much larger signal flare into the air, Luna waited until Pyre flew towards them. Bursting into flames, Pyre shrunk himself down and landed safely next them.

"What is it?" he grumbled. "I was having fun out there."

"Well, you're about to have even more fun," she smirked while pointing a hoof out. "We've just discovered a fleet of one thousand pegasi and gryphons flying in from the east. Also, they appear to have something that's blocking our unicorn magic."

There was a glint on Pyre's eyes. "Are you asking me to go fight them?"

"If you're feeling like it."

Without another word, Pyre launched himself up into the air and in a burst of flames, returning to his normal size as he made his way to intercept the incoming fleet. By the time Pyre was far out of hearing range, Dark grumbled to himself under his breath.

"Something up, Dark?" Shining asked.

"I should've asked him to breath some fire on me to Amplify myself," Dark answered. "With him gone, we've lost a powerhouse, and I'll need my Amplify to help make up for his absence."

"If it's fire that you need, then why don't you just use the fire Pyre left behind?" Luna suggested, but before Dark could answer, Emerald came rushing up to them.

"I'm sorry to interrupt," he apologized, "but Lord Dark, we've just gathered a few dozen more of our fallen."

Guess I'll just have to absorb his flames later, Dark mentally groaned before addressing Emerald. "Alright, let's go."

Dark rubbed his forehead as he followed after Emerald. Once Dark was out of their hearing range, Shining and Luna looked back to each other with matching frowns.

"He won't be able to keep this up for much longer," Luna said.

"Yeah," Shining sighed. "If he keeps reviving our fallen, then he won't have much left in him for when we fight Sombra and that other guy."

"Then let us finish this quickly before that happens."

It didn't take Pyre long before he spotted the Sombra's fleet. Once he did, he pumped his wings faster with the intent of increasing his speed and ramming through them. Less than a minute later, Pyre intercepted the fleet and tucked his wings in, quickly diving through their fleet and taking a few dozen of them out in his first strike. However, what he wasn't expecting was to run head-first into a large crystal obelisk that the gryphons and pegasi he ran into were carrying.

Landing, Pyre shook the dizziness out of his head and looked down at the black crystal obelisk that was now imbedded into the ground. Picking it up, he began to examine it until he noticed that the horseshoes and gauntlets that the pegasi and gryphons respectively were wearing were glowing for a moment before going out. Examining their gear better, Pyre was able to spot the carvings on them, along with the ones of the four sides of the fifty foot obelisk in his claw.

Enchantment ruins, he thought to himself. Increased strength in their horseshoes and gauntlets, and increased durability in the crystal obelisk. Just what are you planning, Sombra?

Looking back up, Pyre watched for a moment as Sombra's fleet increased their altitude and speed. Watching as they flew higher until they were above where the cloudline would be, Pyre's eyes slowly widened as he began to piece everything together. Without another thought, Pyre launched himself up into the air and began breathing fire on them. And while his flames did burn most of them away, a large number of the pegasi and gryphons who weren't carrying any obelisks began fighting him back to cover those who were carrying the payloads.

Doing his best to ignore them, Pyre continued to target the ones carrying the obelisks, trying to get them down before they got above the Crystal Empire. However, it was being made more difficult with the ones that were attacking him. And while they didn't possess any Draconium to hurt him with, the strength enhancements on them were doing their job when it came to them striking or blocking Pyre as a group. Despite being a Scaleless Dragon, when faced against a few hundred pegasi and gryphons with strength enchantments on them, even Pyre was finding it annoying. Quickly growing tired of this, on his next run, before he made contact with the fleet, Pyre sucked in a quick breath before spewing fires all over them.

Why didn't I just do that in the first place? he mentally groaned with an eye-roll. Oh well, at least I'm not getting shot at by freaking unicorn lasers and stuff.

Focusing back on track, Pyre rammed into the obelisk closest to him, crashing through the pegasi and gryphons who were carrying it before continuing through another. And while he found this method fun, it was also taking too long as they were closing in on Cadence's barrier. Picking up the pace, Pyre flied above them and breathed his fire breath down below, covering them in his fire before dropping their obelisk into the snow far below, knocking up snow and dirt as it crashed into the ground. A few moments later, pyre had successfully incinerated Sombra's fleet and saved Cadence's barrier from being destroyed.

Breathing a sigh of relief and chuckling to himself, Pyre looked proudly at the burning skeletons littering the ground below him.

"Hah. And they thought that they would make it," he said cockily with a grin. "Perhaps next time Sombra will think twice before sending such weak-"

Pyre went silent as he heard another screech behind him. Snapping around, his eyes widened in dread as he saw that a second, much smaller fleet, had flown in around him from the west. Then, with him hovering in place from shock, Pyre watched in slow motion as they dropped ten black crystal obelisks from hundreds of feet above Cadence's barrier, all aimed around the castle. Getting ahold of himself, Pyre snarled and went after them. While he may not be able to stop the obelisks, he could still at least stop the gryphons and pegasi from doing further harm.

Still hidden from sight by his invisibility, the cloaked stallion stood by the Crystal Heart as he awaited the signal. Upon hearing the gryphon's screeching directly above him, he chuckled to himself and turned his gaze to the artifact.

"It's finally time," he said with a wide grin.

Using his magic, the cloaked stallion grabbed the Crystal Heart with his magic and with after a few tries, he pulled it from its resting spot. With the Crystal Heart removed, he immediately felt its force field fade. At that moment, the sound of shattered glass filled the sky as Cadence's barrier shattered. Throwing his head back, the cloaked stallion laughed out loud as the ten crystal obelisks impacted the crystal floor around the castle. With everything going as planned, the cloaked stallion used his power and bent the light around the Crystal Heart, turning it invisible as he took to the skies with it in tow.

Holding her horn with her hooves, Cadence cried out in pain as she collapsed to the ground. With all of their attention focused on Sombra in the south, his army battling the crystal guard in the north, and the fleet that Pyre had fought in the east, they were completely unaware of the smaller group that had snuck up on them from the west. But, despite her barrier shattering under the combined impact, Celestia and Twilight were more concerned with Cadence's health from the severe backlash that had left a large crack in her horn. Combining their magic, Celestia and Twilight began to sooth the whimpering Cadence as they began to mend her horn. While they were busy, the others were on the edge of the platform looking up.

"Looks like you'll be getting that action that you've been wanting, Rainbow," Rarity said.

"Heh. Looks like it," Rainbow briefly smirked before turning towards Cadence. "But what about Cadence? Is she going to be alright?"

"She'll be fine," Celestia said. "If left unattended, the damage could be permanent. However, Twilight and I were able to get on it in time to prevent that."

"Will she still be able to cast magic?" Rarity worryingly asked.

"In time. She'll be limited to levitation for a while, but after a month or so, she'll be back to normal."

While he felt the worry and concern emanating from his friends and family, Souls snapped around as he felt something else.

"Princess! Sombra's coming!" he shouted.

Maintaining her spell, Celestia's gaze shifted over to him. "Are you sure? The Crystal Heart's force field should keep him out."

"Yes. He's coming this way. Also," Soul turned around to directly face the others, "is the Crystal Heart suppose to be moving?"

If Sombra's approach didn't catch their attention, then this certainly did. However, to everyone's surprise, the answer didn't come from Celestia or Twilight, but from Cadence.

"N-No... it's... not," she weakly answered him.

"Did somepony move it?" Twilight wondered.

"If so, then why didn't I sense then?" Soul questioned.

"And why didn't I see them?" Rainbow asked.

A moment of thought later, a realization dawned on Twilight, causing her to facehoof.

"Of course!" she exclaimed. "Remember that Sombra's partner has power over light?"

"Yeah," everyone but Cadence answered together.

"Well, think about it. If he has power over light, that means that he could bend the light around him, just like how Dark can do with shadows."

"Alright, but what does that have to do with anything?" Rainbow questioned.

"It means that by bending the light around him, he can turn himself invisible," Celestia grimaced, causing Rainbow to snort in anger.

"No wonder why I couldn't find him!" she shouted. "That little punk was invisible and hiding the whole time!"

Twilight nodded conformingly at Rainbow before she looked to Soul. "Soul, can you track they Crystal Heart's location?"

"I can, but it's airborne right now, so it'll be hard for me to keep track of it," he answered.

"In that case, you can guide me to it," Rainbow said.

"What?"

"I'm the fastest flyer in Equestria, remember? With you riding on my back and guiding me, we'll be able to catch whoever's got the heart in no time."

"I'm coming too," Flutterbat said, her eyes glowing red with determination. "But I'll be carrying Soul with me, Rainbow. That way, you'll be able to move a lot faster without having to worry about him accidentally falling off."

"Are you sure, Fluttersh- bat?" Rainbow questioned, biting her tongue and correcting herself upon receiving a glare from Flutterbat. "I mean, what if this guy comes after you?"

Flutterbat gave a loud hiss, revealing her pointed fangs. "I'm not as weak and frail as what I was before, Rainbow. Now, let's get going before he gets away."

Crouching down, Flutterbat waited for Soul to get on. Once he was settled down and secured, she and Rainbow flew off to chase after the thief. With them gone, Celestia and Twilight returned their full attention on repairing Cadence's horn while the others stood behind watching them.

"Umm, Twilight?" Spike spoke.

"Yes?"

"What if Sombra comes after us?"

"We do what we can for now. Besides, I doubt that he'll find us all the way up here."

"You would be surprised," a voice from behind them darkly chuckled.

Recognizing that voice, everyone but Cadence turned around to see Sombra standing on the other side of the platform.

"It's about time that we met face-to-face, don't you think, Princess Twilight Sparkle?" he mockingly asked before his gaze swept over the others. "Ah, Spike, the Brave and Glorious," he chuckled briefly before glaring at him. "How could I forget about the lizard that helped lead to my downfall? I must say, though, that you do appear to have grown a little since I last saw you."

Without thinking, Spike fired a beam of magic from his claws. Taken by surprise, Sombra stumbled back as he was struck in the face.

"I'm a lot stronger than I was back then," Spike growled.

"So it would seem," Sombra too growled. A second later, he fired a beam of magic at Spike, but was blocked by a golden barrier. "Ah, yes. How could I ever forget about the almighty Princess Celestia?"

"You are not welcome here, Sombra," Celestia warned. "Turn yourself in now and no further harm will come to you."

Sombra, finding her offer amusing, laughed at her for a while before coming down from it.

"Do you really think that I would just surrender like that?" he questioned. "Face it, Celestia, you are without your corrupt sister and the Elements of Harmony. How do you hope in defeating me when I've already won?"

"What?"

Without warning, Sombra's eyes were suddenly glowing green as he took them by surprise with a spell. When his eyes returned to normal, he was pleased to see that everyone's eyes were complete copies of his own red and green eyes, including the purple mist. As they began to tear up from witnessing their worst fears, Sombra was about to laugh in victory when he saw that Twilight was the only one who wasn't affected by his spell. Casting it again, he waited for her to fall victim to it, but it never came.

"What's this now?" he questioned, lighting his horn to run a magic scan on her. A moment later, he arched an eye. "I see. You have been touched by Nocturne, Lord of Death. No matter. Even with my former master's blessing, you're still too weak to stop me."

Narrowing her eyes, Twilight sent a pulse of magic through the area, cleansing the others of their curse. However, the damage was done as they were all unconscious from the curse. Gritting her teeth, Twilight levitated them all in her magic and teleported them all to the castle's medical wing. With the others out of the way, Twilight spread her wings and stood firm against Sombra.

"Awww. Does the little princess wanting to fight?"

Increasing the magical output in her horn, Twilight's magic grew more fierce as the sheer power of it gradually lifted Twilight off of the ground. Her eyes now glowing white with power, Twilight glared at Sombra.

"You'll find that I'm a lot stronger than I appear to be, Sombra."

A split-second later, Twilight fired a beam at Sombra, hitting him and sending him flying back. But before he could fly off the edge of the platform, Twilight encased the area in a barrier, causing him to crash up against it. Taking a moment to protect herself, and more importantly, her unborn foal, Twilight casted several barriers around herself along with a magical exoskeletal-like shell. Feeling safe, Twilight barely flinched when Sombra fired a blast of magic back at her.

Firing a few more beams of magic, Sombra growled as Twilight remained unmoving where she magically hovered. Lighting his horn with a purple and green aura, Sombra sent crystal spikes jutting out from the crystal floor beneath Twilight. When they crashed against her barrier and shattered, Sombra roared, his mane flaring with his anger.

Sprouting shadows from his body, Sombra used them to strike out at her barrier. Putting more force behind the strikes and thrusts, Sombra's shadowy tendrils began to put a crack in Twilight's first barrier. Seeing and feeling this, she began firing beams back at him in retaliation. Within seconds, the two were battling it out with Twilight trying to hit Sombra with her magic and blocking him with her barrier, while he would lash out with his shadows, and block with a wall made of crystals.

As their fight continued, more effort was put into their spells with Twilight's attacks were now cracking the crystals, and Sombra having sprouted a dozen shadowy tendrils from his body, along with his increase of magical projectiles, and crystals rupturing from the ground below Twilight. Having finally broken through her first barrier, Sombra chuckled as he watched the white glow of power leave her eyes and setting her back on her hooves within her barrier.

"You have indeed gotten powerful," he complimented her, "but I can give you even more."

"No thanks," Twilight told him. "I don't need power from you."

"You may come to regret that decision."

Twilight's brow furrowed. "Are you threatening me?"

Sombra gave her a sly grin. "Not at all. I'm merely saying that if you were to join me, you could become more powerful than you'd ever imagined. After all, the powers of a queen are far greater than that of a princess."

Twilight snorted. "Sorry to disappoint you, Sombra, but that will never happen. Besides," Twilight tapped a hoof to her ring, "I'm already engaged, and I don't think that my fiancé would appreciate you trying to take us from him."

While she remained firm and unmoving on the outside, Twilight was squealing giddily on the inside for having called Dark her fiancé for the first time.

Having not noticed it before, Sombra's eyes widened in fury when he finally saw the silver ring around Twilight's horn. With a roar loud enough to echo throughout the Crystal Empire, Sombra shifted his body into a mass of shadows and encircled Twilight and her barrier. However, when he did, he was further angered upon seeing Twilight smiling to herself.

"What's so funny?!" he shouted.

"Your tricks won't work on me," Twilight answered. Seconds later, she casted Soul Eyes on herself and gazed into the shadows. "I can see where you're hiding inside those shadows. Tell me the truth, Sombra. You were never really able to actually convert your body into shadows, were you? You only use them to conceal yourself."

"SILENCE!"

As though as one, every inch of Sombra's shadows that brushed against Twilight's barrier compressed on it, cracking her second barrier. With a few more pushes, Sombra broke through her second barrier, leaving her with two left. But before he could begin working on the next one, Twilight used her magic and held Sombra in place.

With Sombra held firmly in her hold, Twilight began to fire a laser out of her horn directly at Sombra's chest. However, when her laser had hit him, she didn't stop and instead continued to burn a hole into his armor. And while it was working from the sounds of his pained roars, she soon found her laser blocked by another wall of crystals. Grunting, Twilight yanked Sombra towards her, pulling him through his crystal wall and face-first into her barrier. Now close and personal, Twilight brought her horn to the edge of her barrier and blasted Sombra with inches between his face and her horn.

Canceling the spell, Twilight looked up to see that Sombra's shadows were gone, and all that remained of the area where he stood was a scorch mark on the crystal floor. Sighing in relief, Twilight turned around to see if he had somehow gotten behind her when she felt another of her barriers shatter. Wincing from it breaking, Twilight blinked and saw that crystals were jutting at her barrier in all directions from all around her. Sending a pulse of magic out, Twilight shattered the crystals with ease. However, with all of the magic she'd spent, and the side effects of her pregnancy, Twilight began to feel a little woozy. Sitting herself down to rest, she canceled the barrier that was holding Sombra in with her to conserve her magic.

"You're not looking so good," Sombra said with a laugh. "Perhaps you'll rethink my offer now?"

While Twilight didn't want to admit it, Sombra was right about how she wasn't feeling as well as what she should be. Remaining silent, she lit her horn again to create another barrier along with launching three signal flares.

It's only a matter of time now, she mentally assured herself. Seconds later, she felt her barrier coming under siege again and began pumping more magic into it to reinforce it. I just hope one of them gets here soon.

Wanting to draw this out until help arrived, Twilight began mixing her attacks up and distracting him by launching fireballs and lightning bolts. As she was casting those, she began to subtly cover the floor outside of her barrier in a thin layer of ice. With Sombra distracted and the floor iced-over, Twilight then used her magic and created a gust of wind, blowing a confused Sombra across the ice before he sprouted a crystal behind him and stopped his movement.

However, while he did manage to stop himself from sliding away, Twilight's attacks didn't stop as he found himself being electrocuted one moment, then being sent bursting through his crystal the next by one of Twilight's beams. Watching Sombra as he was knocked off the ledge of the platform, Twilight stopped her spellcasting, minus her barrier, and took a moment to relax. As she did, she winced and rubbed her head to try and relieve her of her oncoming migraine.

Hopefully that'll buy me enough time, Twilight thought before sighing out loud. They were right. I shouldn't be fighting. Not while I'm like this.

Back down on the battlefield, the battle was starting to turn in their favor. With the sight and sound of Cadence's barrier shattering, everyone felt an extra pressure for them to succeed in defending their home. And while Dark and Shining wanted to go back initially, words of assurance from Luna convinced them to both stay for a bit longer. Now though, after seeing the variety of spells and signal flares coming from the platform, Dark and Shining were becoming all the more nervous.

"Not good," Dark muttered to himself before landing in Pyre's fires. "No sign of Sombra or the other guy, and now this."

His mind beginning to wander to darker places, Dark began to absorb the fires around him while also managing to incinerate a few skeletons along the way. Less than a minute later, Dark had absorbed all of Pyre's flames. With his Amplify active, he darted back to Shining and Luna, leaving a blazing trail behind him.

"Feeling better?" Luna asked him.

"Much," Dark sighed. "I feel recharged and ready to go again."

"Good," Shining frowned, "because somepony's going to have to return to the castle."

"I would offer to go," Luna began, "but if I were to leave, the troops may lose morale."

"And since I'm their prince, the same would happen if I were to leave."

Seeing where this was going, Dark nodded. "So you're wanting me to go."

"As much as I want to go back and check on everypony, you're the best pick."

Dark rolled his eyes. "You know, all you had to do was tell me to go and help them. You didn't have to beat around the bush like that."

Shining facehoofed. "Just shut up and go already."

"Are you sure? Because if somepony dies while I'm gone, I won't be able to bring them back to life like before later on."

"We are," Luna assured. "We got most of them already, so we'll handle the rest while you go help the others."

With a nod, Dark shrouded himself in shadows and disappeared from their sights.

"Are you sure about this, Princess?" Shining questioned.

"I am. After all." Luna smirked at Shining as she reached into his bag with her magic and fished out an item. "You haven't shown them what you and your crystal guard can do yet, have you?"

Getting her meaning, Shining took the item in his hoof and casted a spell to magically enhance his voice.

"Attention, everypony!" Shining shouted, gaining the attention of all of his guards. "Time to eat up and end this battle!"

Using their magic, Shining and Luna created a barrier and blocked Sombra's army out from their own. With them safe, each of the crystal guards reached a hoof into a pocket on the inside of their armor and pulled out a Rage Pellet. Then, as one, Shining and each of the crystal guards tossed it into their own mouths and swallowed. Seconds later in a flash of light, Shining and his crystal guard shined like a second sun briefly before it died down. When the light dissipated, Shining and the others all had a white-hot coat, and their manes and tails appearing to be on fire. Now in their Rage Shift, the crystal guard barely waited long enough for Shining and Luna to lower their barrier before running back into the fray. With newfound adrenaline and power coursing through them, they forwent their weapons as their bare hooves were more than enough for them to punch and buck through the armor plating on the undead army.

Back on the platform, Twilight began firing volleys of beams at Sombra, who'd used his magic over the shadows to return back to the platform. The moment he returned, her efforts to keep him at bay until help arrived continued. But while Twilight was doing her best, she was becoming more tired from all of the spellcasting. Not only that, but Sombra was also using his crystals as a shield again.

Dang it! Where is everypony?! Twilight mentally shouted.

"You're nearing your limit, aren't you?" Sombra questioned, chuckling when he saw Twilight's face. "Yes, I know. Your spells have been gradually getting weaker."

"Even so, it's still enough to stop you," she countered.

"Only because I wanted to play with you a little before I took you."

His eyes glowing pure green, Sombra rose his front hooves before driving them down, cracking the crystal floor from the strength of the impact. Within seconds, Twilight yelped in pain as a bunch of crystal spike, much sharper than the ones that Sombra had previously used, had pierced her barrier and were now mere inches away from poking her.

"Now then," Sombra soothingly said, "what do you say about leaving that lowly fiancé of yours for a real stallion?"

"Never!" Twilight spat, only to get an amused chuckle from Sombra.

"Sorry to say, Princess, but you don't have much of a choice in the- RAAAAAAAHHHHH!"

Sombra roared out in pain as he felt a pair of fangs bury themselves deep in his neck while a weight clung onto him from his back. Bucking and jerking his head, Sombra tried to remove whatever it was that had him in their jaws. After a moment, he was able to catch a glimpse of what it was. But, to his surprise and Twilight's, it wasn't whom they were expecting.

"F-Flutterbat?!" Twilight yelped in surprise.

Her eyes darting over to her, Flutterbat gave a slight nod before biting down on Sombra's neck even harder, paralyzing him for a moment from the shock of feeling her fangs sinking deeper.

"Why are you here?! You were suppose to be chasing after the Crystal Heart with Rainbow and Soul!"

Shifting her weight around and using her increased strength, Flutterbat pinned the paralyzed Sombra down below her and removed her blood-soaked fangs to speak.

"I saw your signal flare and came to help," she said. "Don't worry, I left Soul with Rainbow before I came here." Her face turning to a grimace, Flutterbat licked up Sombra's blood in her mouth and spat it out. "Disgusting. Your blood tastes horrible, and it has an even worse aftertaste. Nothing at all like Discords~"

"Get off of me!" Sombra shouted, sending a shadowy tendril out from his back against Flutterbat. Once it pinned her up against the ceiling, it crystalized itself and held her there.

"Do you think this will hold me?" Flutterbat questioned. With a few jerks of her body, the crystal began to crack. "I may be weak as a pegasus, but when I'm like this, I am far stronger!"

Jerking again, Flutterbat freed her left foreleg and brought it down on the crystal to free her right one. Seeing that she could pose as a problem, Sombra closed the space between his crystals and Twilight until they were poking the magical shell protecting her hide.

"If you care for you princess, monster, you will stay where you are," he threatened before quickly turning on Twilight. "As for you, Princess, don't even think about trying to teleport yourself out of there. These crystals are the exact same ones that I used on that trap I placed on the Crystal Heart. If you teleport out, you'll find yourself right back where you were. Now, if you care for any of the others, you will dispose of that ring and become my queen!"

While Flutterbat hissed angrily, Twilight felt a sense of fear beginning to take her as she felt trapped. Facing Sombra, she kept her face stoic as to not show him her emotions. Watching Sombra as he slowly made his way closer to her, Twilight's mind began running though options on how to deal with this and get her and Flutterbat away from him. However, in one moment, all of that fear and worry was washed away, leaving Twilight with a knowing smirk that halted Sombra in place.

"What's that look for?" he questioned. "You've lost. Your friends and princesses are either wounded, indisposed, preoccupied, or in your bat friend's case, captured. And last I saw of Pyre, he was off chasing the rest of my fleet. So, why is it that you're acting like you've won?"

As it to indicate to him, Sombra saw Twilight glanced over his shoulder behind him. Turning around, Sombra was met with a darkness that wasn't his own. Confused, he quickly darted his eyes to see that it wasn't darkness, but a black dragon-like claw. Before he could react, Sombra was gripped by the black claw, encasing his whole body and feeling it slowly crushing him under its grasp before being thrown far away from the castle.

Sighing in relief, Twilight watched as an Amplified Dark returned the arm and claw back to the shadows before running up to her.

"Twilight! Are you alright?!" he worryingly asked.

"Yeah, I'm fine," she breathed.

Using his flaming mane, Dark shaped it into fifteen flaming tendrils, one for each crystal spike that was jutting up against Twilight. Carefully, he guided a tendril around each of the crystals before breaking them off enough for Twilight to fly up out of. With her free, Dark looked back to see Flutterbat breaking out of her own crystalline prison before feeling Twilight run into his chest and wrapping her forelegs around him.

Happy that she was safe and unharmed, Dark wrapped an arm around Twilight as he pulled her closer. What he did next, though, took twilight by surprise as his tendrils all began to gently wrap themselves around her, mainly her stomach. Hearing her humming in content, Dark knew that the temperatures of his tendrils were warm enough to provide her a comforting warmth.

"I know I already asked, but are you okay?" he gently asked. "You didn't take any big hits, did you?"

"No. I managed to stay safe behind my barriers up to the point before you came in," Twilight answered him.

"I think you mean before I came in," Flutterbat corrected as she walked up next to them.

Releasing Twilight, Dark took a moment to look over Flutterbat. "Feeling alright there, Fluttershy?"

"It's Flutterbat," she groaned with an eye-roll. "Honestly, why can't anypony get it right?"

"Sorry. Just that the last time I saw you like this, you weren't exactly in control."

Flutterbat's blood-red eyes softened. "It's alright. I'm in control of it now. It's just that I tend to become a little... moodier, when I'm like this."

Not quite the word I was thinking of using, but that works too, Dark thought. "Thanks."

Feeling a nudge on his chest, Dark looked to see Twilight as she gave him a quick peck.

"Not to be rude or anything, but don't you have an evil king to defeat?" Twilight reminded him.

Smiling, Dark shared a kiss with Twilight before turning to hug Flutterbat, who returned it along with a smile of her own.

"Stay safe, and I'll see you two soon."

"Good luck, Dark," Twilight wished him.

"Kick his flank for us," Flutterbat smirked.

With a resounding nod, Dark shrouded himself in shadows and took off into the direction he'd thrown Sombra. Flying through the sky as a cloud of black fog, he soon spotted another one heading directly towards him. Coming out of his shadows and crashing into it, Dark shrouded his claw in darkness and pulled Sombra out of his own shadows before plummeting down to the ground with Sombra in his hold. In a dive-bomb, Dark threw Sombra downward and spread his wings to prevent his own crash.

Landing on his hooves, Dark summoned his Death Reaver into his right claw and waited for the kicked-up snow to settle. Once it did, he was met with the sight of Sombra getting back up to his hooves with a groan. Locking eyes with him for the first time, Dark raised his sword and pointed it at Sombra.

"Death comes for you, Sombra. And I am pissed."

Author's Note

There was more than one reason why I had Dark give Twilight that magic transfusion so long ago, and the same for Luna's magic transfusion to Dark. Now you know why.

Chapter 69- Dual Shadows

Dark and Sombra stood off against one another as they awaited to see who would make the first move. While Dark was pointing his sword at Sombra and flicking his tail in anticipation, Sombra's dizziness from his impact to the ground began clearing up. And while he was mad about how Dark had tossed him like that, he was more impressed that he'd reached into his own shadow and plucked him out of it.

He never mentioned anything like this, Sombra thought to himself, trying to figure Dark out.

"I don't think that I've ever seen a kirin quite like you before," Sombra spoke. "Tell me, you are Dark Flame, correct?"

Dark maintained his posture as he gripped his sword tighter. "So what if I am?"

"Then am I to assume that you are Princess Twilight's betrothed?"

Dark arched an eyebrow. "How did you know that?"

Sombra snorted. "I saw the ring that she wore. Last I heard of you two, you were still courting one another. Tell me, when did this happen?"

"Just moments before your army showed up actually," he smirked.

Sombra gritted his teeth and roared as he fired a beam of magic at Dark, who stood there and parried it with his sword.

"It's his fault!" Sombra shouted. "If he would have returned on time, then this could've been over with and she would be mine by now!"

Dark glared at Sombra. "Come again," he dangerously said.

"You listen to me, peasant," Sombra spat, "you have no business being with somepony like her. Now, as a king, I would have every right to make her my queen... after I conquer the Crystal Empire again of course."

Feeling a spike of anger, Dark's eyes briefly flashed red as he fired his own beam of magic at Sombra. However, Sombra didn't pay much mind to it as a crystal wall sprouted up in front of him.

"Did I touch a nerve?" Sombra knowingly mocked. "Face it, Dark, you are a nopony. Your only purpose in life is to serve your superiors, like the king that I am. Either as a slave, or as fodder for-"

"You are no king," Dark growled.

Sombra glared at Dark. "It would be wise for you to chose your words carefully if you wish to continue living-"

"Suck it, Sombra!" he interrupted again. "A king without a kingdom is no king at all. All you are is a fallen tyrant who's returned because he doesn't know when he's beaten."

Lighting his horn again, Sombra created a pillar of crystal before shattering it, revealing the black crystal-like scythe it held. Pulling it free, Sombra turned his hateful gaze back to Dark.

Careful, Dark, Nocturne spoke in his head.

Why? Dark questioned. It's just a crystal scythe. And to be honest, it actually looks kinda weird with that bladed-head on the end of it, instead of it having the usual point.

Don't you remember you idiot? That's my Living Weapon!

You mean the one that he stole from you all those years ago? Dark asked, looking over Sombra's weapon. But it doesn't look anything like what it was before. Wait a second, if your Living Weapon was still here, then why did that undead thing happen when I was sent to that other world?

Because I didn't insert a piece of my soul into it like you did yours, that's why. And yes. Though twisted and malformed it may be, that is my Death Reaper.

"I was going to let you live," Sombra began to threaten, pulling Dark from his inner talk with Nocturne, "but now that you've tried my patience, peasant, you will die."

"I am no peasant, Sombra," Dark said.

"Really now? If so, then what are you? Because other than a lowly commoner, you are nothing more than the dirt beneath my hooves."

Dark flared his wings and began seeping his shadows from them. Within seconds, Dark had covered the entire ground around them in a shadowy fog with Sombra looking around.

"I am a lord, Sombra," Dark told him. "And as far as I can tell, I am your superior, Apprentice."

With a roar, Sombra charged Dark with his scythe held high above his head. Using his magic to boost himself, Sombra turned into a blur as he closed in on Dark and swung his scythe. However, his swing missed as Dark sunk into the shadowy fog beneath them. Seconds later, Sombra heard the snow crunching behind him and turned around just in time to block a vertical slash from Dark's sword.

"You will pay for what you've done, Sombra," Dark growled, forcing Sombra down with one claw on his sword. "You will pay for the pain that you've caused, for all the remains you've twisted to form your army, and for threatening Twilight!"

With his free claw, Dark took a swipe at Sombra, barely missing his cheek as Sombra turned to shadows and disengaged. Seeing the body of shadows gliding around him, Dark shrouded his left claw in shadows before charging after Sombra. Grabbing ahold of him, he pulling Sombra out of his shadows again and threw him off to the side.

"What is the meaning of this?!" Sombra shouted. "I am the King of Shadows! The shadows are my ally, not yours!"

"You think the shadows is your ally?" Dark asked with a chuckle before he Shadowported inches in front of Sombra and lifted him off the ground by his throat. "You merely adopted the shadows, Sombra. I was reborn in it!"

Dark pulled his sword back, engulfing it in his shadows as he readied to pierce Sombra's chest. Soon as he thrusted his sword, Dark was parried by a swing of Sombra's scythe. Seeing an opening from his parry, Sombra kicked Dark's chest with his back hooves and freed himself. No longer in Dark's grip, Sombra began spinning his scythe in an attempt to slice Dark apart, but for every swing he made, Dark sidestepped him, or either blocked or parried his attacks with his sword.

Not gaining any ground against him, Sombra got some distance between them and began spreading a layer of crystal beneath them while also creating spikes to impale Dark. Creating a fifty foot wide crystal platform below their hooves, Sombra rose it up while also sprouting crystal spikes up all around the risen platform. Once a good hundred yards around the platform were covered in spikes, Sombra looked around to the spot where he last saw Dark to see if he got him. To his disappointment, though, he couldn't find any trace of him.

"Looking for somepony?"

Spinning around, Sombra found Dark materializing from the shadows of the night. Wasting no time, he fired a beam of magic at Dark, only for him to block it with his free claw until Sombra stopped firing it.

"What are you?!" he shouted in confusion and fury. "You claim to be a kirin, but none of the ones that I've met could even withstand half the amount of power I put into that. And yet, you blocked it with a single claw like it was nothing!"

"You don't get it yet, do you, Sombra," Dark said. "The one who made me wasn't exactly a normal dragon, so I'm not what a normal kirin would be."

"Well then," he darkly chuckled, "why don't we have a look inside your mind and find out?"

Engaging Dark, Sombra brought his scythe down in a downward slash before being blocked by Dark's sword. With them locked, Sombra pushed closer to Dark with a grin on his face with his eyes glowing green. However, to his surprise, Sombra was blocked out by the same familiar power. Recognizing it, Sombra canceled his spell and looked Dark straight in the eyes.

"So, you too have been blessed by Nocturne's powers like Princess Twilight," he growled.

"Blessed wouldn't exactly be the word that I would've chosen, but sure, let's go with that."

Rotating his scythe, Sombra knocked Dark's sword up and bashed the pommel of it against Dark's snout. With his eyes blurred by the reflexive tears that appeared from having his nose struck, Sombra swung his scythe at Dark's neck, only for it to be gripped by a flaming tendril that sprouted from Dark's flaming mane. Seconds later, nine more sprouted up from within until Dark's entire mane consisted of ten fiery tendrils.

Twisting his scythe, Sombra sliced through the tendril holding onto it and backed away before it could reform itself. Once he was far enough away, Sombra sent crystal spikes flying up from the ground beneath Dark. However, before his spikes could run Dark through, he'd withdrew into a ball and covered himself with his wings, using them as a shield and breaking the spikes that tried to penetrate his draconic hide. Frowning at failing to impale him, Sombra pulled a few of the crystal spikes surrounding them up from the ground before throwing them at Dark, each ending up breaking against his durable wings. Completely focused on wearing down Dark, Sombra yanked more crystal spikes up and began to throw them too. But, before they could get far, they each bounced off of a golden barrier surrounding them.

With him not being in any immediate danger, Dark opened his wings and stood back up on his hooves with his horn alight. Smirking at Sombra, Dark combined his ten flaming tendrils into a single mass of fire and sent it forward. While it missed Sombra, as soon as it connected with his barrier, it erupted, covering the entire inside of the barrier in flames and forcing Sombra to seek shelter in a tepee of crystals to keep himself from being burnt alive.

Trapped in his little safe zone, Sombra wildly looked around at the firestorm brewing outside of his crystal walls. Hearing a tapping against the crystal behind him, he turned around to see Dark giving him a fanged grin.

"You can't hide in there forever," Dark said, using his magic to rotate the fires around them faster to increase the temperature. "I'll give you thee options, Sombra. Either you surrender and face everypony, continue fighting me and be incinerated by the flames, or stay in there until you succumb to the intense heat."

While he was cornered, Sombra wasn't out of moves. Roaring out loud, he lit his horn again and began to once again try and impale Dark in crystal spikes from the ground, which was proving difficult with the lack of vision the flames were providing. Starting to feel uncomfortable from the heat of the fires, and now from his own crystals surrounding him, Sombra began taking the crystal spikes he'd created within Dark's barrier and began hurdling them all in the same spot in an attempt to break Dark's barrier. After a minute of throwing his crystals and enduring the almost unbearable heat now, Sombra heard the shattering of Dark's barrier and watched as the flames slowly began to receded.

Once they were low enough, Sombra was met with Dark suddenly standing up from the nearby fires with his sword raised high above his head. In slow motion, he watched as his sword came down upon his crystals and sliced through it with little resistance. Shattering his own crystal walls, Sombra leaped away from Dark before his sword could strike him. However, when he landed, he was greeted with not only the remaining flames, but also the near-melting crystal floor.

Roaring in pain, Sombra jumped up into the air and turned his body to shadows to try and find a safe place to land. As he rose, he looked out and saw that the field of crystal spikes surrounding the arena platform he'd made were now accompanied by a sea of fire. Distracted by what he was seeing, he cried in surprise when he felt Dark's claw reach into his shadows and drag him out by the neck again. Being thrown down, Sombra had just enough time to see the now fireless crystal platform. Bouncing off of it from the impact and rolling off to the side, he just barely dodged Dark as his sword's blade was buried deep in the crystal, sending a large crack across the platform and splitting it in half.

I was mislead, Sombra mentally growled, watching as Dark pulled his sword out of the ground. Not only is he powerful magically, but also physically. I swear, if I get out of this fight alive, I'm going to kill that partner of mine for this.

Taking a page out of Dark's book, Sombra used the shadows in his mane and sent a pair of shadowy tendrils out towards Dark, who used his sword to backslash through it with little effort. Unwilling to lose, Sombra spewed shadows from his mane until his vision of Dark was blocked by the thick shadowy fog. With a chuckle, Sombra used his magic to detect Dark's location through the shadows and created several shadowy tendrils all around him.

Ordering them to attack Dark, Sombra silently made his way around to where he was standing behind Dark. However, when he raised his scythe after getting close enough, Dark spun around and blocked it with his sword before swiping Sombra's face with his claws. As Sombra cried in pain, the shadows he'd created dissipated, clearing the platform once again. And while the pain did subside a little bit, his pupils shrank as he saw that he wasn't regenerating the claw marks across his face, and that there seemed to be shadows seeping from the wounds.

"What did you do to me?!" Sombra shouted, wincing from the pain.

"Draw first blood, apparently," Dark responded, flexing his claw. "Now, do you want to continue this, or are you willing to surrender?"

Snarling, Sombra used his magic, causing three crystal pillars to erupt around him. Seconds later, they all shattered, revealing crystal clones of Sombra, each with a crystal scythe of their own.

"Don't think that I'm finished with you yet!"

Rainbow was hot on the tail of the thief who stole the Crystal Heart, thanks to Soul who was directing her from his spot on top of her back. They managed to get close enough to where Rainbow had actually been able to touch him a few times, but every time she did, a blinding flash of light made her lose her grip on him and having to continue all over again.

To avoid being blinded again, Rainbow decided to trust Soul by letting him take control. Closing her eyes, she allowed for him to grab her mane and steer her towards the direction that the Crystal Heart was at. After the first time they got close, it was Soul who was blinded by the light. But, after a quick suggestion from Rainbow, Soul opted to close his eyes too, letting his sense of emotions lock onto the Crystal Heart again and using that as his guide. Of course, while this also meant that they would run the risk of running into buildings, with how close behind they were, Soul was able to steer Rainbow to match the flightpath of the thief as he guided them with the Crystal Heart.

"Are we close yet?" Rainbow asked, her brow furrowed in annoyance. "While I don't really mind this, I'd really like to get my hooves on that guy and be able to see again."

"I know," Soul replied, "but we can't look or else-"

"Or else we'll just get blinded again," she groaned knowingly. "Really, it's too bad that Flutterbat had to go like that."

"Well somepony had to go help Twilight, and it couldn't be you since you're our best choice for catching this guy."

"And you couldn't because I need you for tracking the Crystal Heart."

"I guess we make a pretty good team, huh?"

Rainbow laughed. "Of course we do! But then again, I am awesome, and awesomeness goes well with anything."

"I know, so why don't we put that awesomeness to finally catching this guy?"

Rainbow smirked. "You bet. Alright, let's get that jerk and return the Crystal Heart!"

With a powerful flap of her wings, Rainbow gained a burst of speed as Soul felt them closing in on the Crystal Heart once again. Gently pulling her mane to steer her, Soul guided Rainbow until they were a few feet behind the thief.

"We're almost there," Soul told her.

"I known," Rainbow said. "I can feel his draft coming from his wingbeats."

"Do you think you can follow him without me guiding you?"

"This close to him I should. Why?"

"I have a plan. Instead of us trying to fly up and grab it from him again, you stay on him and I'll try using my magic to pull it away from him. What do you say?"

With her eyes still closed, Rainbow looked up towards the top of her head where Soul was leaning.

"That would be a good idea, but unless you changed back into a changeling and I didn't notice it, you're still a pegasus and don't have a horn."

Soul snorted in frustration as his plan was crushed. "I wish I knew how to gain control over my changeling powers, then I wouldn't have to worry about them going off on their own and could shapeshift freely."

"In that case, I have an idea of how we can get it. Are you with me?"

"Sure."

"Okay, in that case, when I say, you grab the Crystal Heart and get it back to that pedestal thingy that it was sitting at when we first got here."

"What about you?" Soul nervously asked.

"Don't worry, I got this guy. Just hold on tight for now, okay?"

Nodding, Soul lowered his forehooves from on top of Rainbow's head and wrapped them around her neck as he laid down on her back. With him low and secured, Rainbow gave another boost of speed and began flying above the thief. Hearing the wingbeats below her, Rainbow suddenly dove down and clung her forelegs around the thief's barrel with his wings pinned down against his sides. With her having a strong hold on the thief, Rainbow tried hovering in place while the thief tried hitting her in the face.

"Go!" she shouted, realigning herself after taking a hoof to the muzzle. "Grab the heart!"

Even with his eyes closed, Soul could still see the flash of bright light that the thief was trying to blind them with, but it wasn't enough to disorient them. Carefully crawling off of Rainbow and onto the thief, Soul felt around for the Crystal Heart while trying to avoid the two hooves that he felt trying to grab at him. Sensing it a little lower, Soul reached down until he felt something hard against his hoof. Flapping his wings, he flew down, grabbed ahold of it, and yanked it away from under the thief's cloak.

"I got it!" Soul exclaimed, flying out of the thief's reach.

"Then go and return it!" Rainbow shouted.

Opening his eyes again, Soul turned towards the castle and flew with the Crystal Heart in his grasp.

"NO!"

Immediately after hearing the stallion shout, Rainbow's muzzle was met with the back of the stallion's head as he threw his head back in a headbutt. Releasing him, Rainbow brought her hooves up to her nose as she felt it starting to bleed. Opening her eyes in fury, she saw the thief starting to get away from her to retrieve the Crystal Heart before she zoomed towards him. Despite the few seconds head start he had, Rainbow managed to catch up to him in less than half that time.

Tackling him from behind, Rainbow drove him down until they crashed into the ground with her using his body to soften her crash. Jumping back up into the air, Rainbow hovered as she delivered a series of kicks, punches, and the occasional buck to the stallion as he tried to charge his horn to cast a spell. However, her recklessness got the better of her as one of her kicks left her wide open and allowed for the stallion to take a few hits in on her already-bleeding muzzle.

Growling angrily, Rainbow flapped her wings and delivered a headbutt into his gut. Knocking him back from the force of the impact, Rainbow wiped the blood from her face as she watched him being sent tumbling across the crystal floor until he came to a sudden stop by one of the houses aligning the street.

"You picked the wrong pony to mess with, bud," Rainbow snarled, spitting some of the blood that had gotten into her mouth off to the side.

Slowly and shakily, the stallion got back up to his hooves as the tattered cloak's snap around his neck came undone. His cloak falling off of his body, Rainbow was able to see the horn and wings on him, along with his pained face as he panted for breath.

"You bitch," he growled. "You have no idea who you're dealing- ooph!"

The stallion was interrupted by Rainbow tackling him to the wall and pinning him up against it.

"If you're smart at all, you'll never call me that again," she hissed.

Despite him being in pain from the hits he'd received, and being pinned up against the wall, he simply grinned at Rainbow. Closing his eyes, the stallion flared his horn in a blinding light. However, Rainbow wasn't so lucky. With her being that close to his horn when it went off, she was unprepared for it. With her eyes still wide open, she cried out in pain as the light blinded her eyes before falling to the ground with her eyes clamped shut and her hooves covering them.

Sliding down against the wall, the stallion watched as Rainbow writhed on the ground in front of him. Taking a few moments to regain his breath, he stood back up and walked over to Rainbow. Once at her side, he used his magic to clamp her mouth shut and hold her hooves down.

"You little bitch," he seethed. "I was going to leave you be and go after the brat and the Crystal Heart, but after that little stunt you pulled, I'm just going to have to take you back with me instead."

Preparing to pick Rainbow up in his magic, the stallion suddenly stopped when he heard something coming quickly towards him. Turning to see what it was, he looked just in time to see a wall of light rushing towards him. Once it reached him, it felt like a wall had crashed against him. Losing focus on his magic, he released Rainbow before shouting as he was expelled from the Crystal Empire by the power of the Crystal Heart.

Over by the Crystal Heart, Soul groaned as he tried to crawl away from the overabundance of love that the Crystal Heart was inadvertently force-feeding him. Of course, with how fast he flew, along with not being used to flying that fast that much, Soul was having a hard time as he panted with each crawl.

"This sucks," he muttered, trying to keep himself from blacking out from the excess love intake. "I swear, I'm never getting anywhere near that thing again after this."

Continuing to crawl away, Soul released a loud breath as he felt as though he was far enough away from the Crystal Heart that the affects it was having in him were bearable. However, the damage was done as his intake of love all but exhausted him.

"Hope Rainbow doesn't mind me taking a nap," he said with a yawn. "Really hope she's alright."

With those last words, Soul's hooves slid out from under him, leaving him sprawled out as his exhaustion drove him to sleep.

Over on the battlefield, Shining and Luna led the crystal guard as they began to pick off the remains of Sombra's undead army. Thanks to the Rage Pellets that everypony but Luna ate, the crystal guard were able to wash over them like a flood as the increase of power, and durability to their crystal coats, had practically turned them into high-damaging tanks. Of course, while Shining didn't get the durability they'd received, his magic more than made up for it. With the same level of power during his Coliseum match with Dark, Shining stood ahead of his guards and laid waste to every undead that stood in his path with a massive beam from his horn that he'd dragged across and them cut them down.

With the Rage Shift ending for everypony, Luna covered them with tethers of lightning that arced in front of them, allowing them a break to recover. Once they'd recovered enough strength, they returned to using their weapons as they began to end the battle. Ten minutes later, the last of Sombra's army was wiped out with Shining blasting the skeletal minotaur into pieces. Looking around, everypony searched for any signs of any that might've been missed. After a few moments of not finding any of the undead rising again to attack, each of the crystal guards raised their weapons and cheered in victory.

"That was quite a fight," Shining commented as he met up with Luna.

"That it was," she agreed. "It was fortunate that we had Dark here to revive our fallen. Otherwise, I'm sure our forces would've suffered great losses, if they even survived at all."

Their attention was drawn to the distance in the east as they saw a pillar of fire erupt from a platform surrounded in a sea of fire and spikes. Hearing the laughing and clashing of steel that accompanied it, Shining and Luna shared a knowing look.

"Dark," they both sighed together with a headshake.

"Think we should go help him?" Shining wondered.

"Considering how exhausted and vulnerable Dark will be once his Amplify wears off, I would think that assisting him would be wise."

"In that case, let's go."

"No," Luna said, blocking Shining with a wing. "You will accompany your guards back to the Crystal Empire."

"But-"

"You yourself are tired and exhausted from the aftereffects of your Rage Pellet. While it is admirable that you would want to help him, it is also foolish in your current condition. As soon as you got there to help, I have no doubt that Sombra would immediately target you with how weak you are. No, Shining Armor. Right now, it would be best for you to accompany your guards and see to your wounded. Let me help Dark."

Though he didn't want to admit it, Shining was feeling tired at the moment. With a reluctant nod to Luna, Shining sighed before addressing his guards.

"That's it, everypony, we're heading home!" he shouted. "Those who can, help carry our wounded back to the castle."

Smiling at his crystal guards, Shining went to assist one of the wounded back to the castle with the rest. While they gathered their injured and began to return back, Luna watched for a moment before she flapped her wings and few off to assist Dark.

Dark laughed as he pulled out a crystal scythe that had been impaled through his gut as he cleaved through the last of Sombra's crystal clones. While it started out fun at first, Dark soon found himself further enjoying the fight as he was dodging scythe strikes left and right. He took out the first one by shrouding his claw in shadows and swiping its head off, and then the second one later on by erupting in a pillar of fire. Now, with the last of them gone, it was back to just Dark and Sombra, the latter having backed away from the flaming-maned kirin approaching with a bone-chilling chuckle.

"What's the matter, Sombra?" Dark darkly chuckled. "Why are you so weak?"

"Weak?!" Sombra barked in offense.

"Yes, weak! When Twilight, Spike, and the others told me about you, I thought that you were this super powerful unicorn king. But, after fighting with you, I can say that I'm kinda disappointed with you."

"How dare you insult me!" he shouted. Charging Dark, Sombra swung his scythe in an attempt to slice him up. "I am a king and a Agent of Death! You have nothing-"

Sombra went silent as Dark grabbed Sombra's scythe in his free claw instead of blocking it. Raising his sword, Dark brought it down on where Sombra stood, only to miss as Sombra released his magical hold on the scythe to dodge it. Flipping the scythe around in his left claw, Dark took his stance as he began to dual wield the scythe and sword. Seconds later, Sombra began to chuckle before it escalated into laughter.

"What's so funny now?" Dark asked him.

Sombra ceased his laughter and gave Dark a fanged grin. "What you're holding there is what is called a Living Weapon, you fool. It-"

"It's a weapon that's bound to the one who created it," Dark interrupted, "and it can only be wielded by either its owner, or those whom were giving permission to wield it by said owner. Which, in this case, would've been Nocturne, making this mockery of a scythe his Death Reaper."

Sombra froze briefly with his mouth slightly-agape, surprised by the knowledge that Dark possessed before composing himself with a scowl.

"How do you know about my former master and his weapon's name?" Sombra growled.

Smirking, Dark encased his left claw with his shadows before sending them up the scythe. Several seconds later after shrouding the scythe, the shadows retreated back into Dark's claw as the crystal scythe began to crack. Shattering apart, the falling crystal revealed the Death Reaper scythe as it was restored to normal, causing Sombra's eyes to widen in shock and fear.

Examining the scythe, Dark gave Sombra a fanged grin as he began to approach him while dragging the scythe's blade along behind him.

"Remember when I said that I was a lord, Sombra?" Dark reminded.

"What does being a lord have to do with how that weapon isn't consuming you?!" Sombra demanded.

"Because I am the Lord of Death." Seeing the look of disbelief Sombra was giving, Dark continued. "Yes, Sombra. I defeated Nocturne and took over his job in maintaining the balance of death in the world."

"You lie! Nopony can defeat Death Incarnate!"

"Well I did." Dark turned inwardly. Nocturne.

Yes?

You know what I'm thinking, right?

Yes.

If I gave you control over my right half, could you get past his mental defenses?

Of course I can. Who do you think was the one who taught him how to do it in the first place?

Mentally nodding to Nocturne, Dark flared his mane into several flaming tendrils and sent them all out at Sombra. Dodging around his crystals and beams of magic, Dark wrapped his tendrils around him tightly before pulling him over towards him. With Sombra now sitting before him, Dark pressed his Death Reaver to the front of Sombra's neck, while the blade of his Death Reaper was pressed on the back of his neck.

With Sombra secured, Dark surrendered his right-half to Nocturne, allowing for his blaze-orange coat to turn to black. A few moments later, his right eye was turned red and began glaring heatedly at Sombra.

"We meet again, my old apprentice," Nocturne growled.

Gasping from hearing his former master's voice again, Sombra had only a second before he was incased in a pair of massive wings that blacked out the light of the fires around the platform they were on. Feeling a pressure in his mind, Sombra looked up at the glowing gold and red eyes that were glaring at him before feeling something in his mind snap.

Sombra didn't know where he was. One moment he was face-to-face with Dark and Nocturne, and the next he found himself standing on what felt like dead grass in the pitch-black darkness.

"Nocturne!" he shouted. "What did you do to me?! Where am I?!"

Hearing a low, rumbling growl echoing across the sky, Sombra began making his way towards the direction of its source. Still blind by the darkness, Sombra tried lighting his horn to provide him some light, but was surprised when his his horn failed him. With no source of light to provide, he continued blindly through the darkness until he bumped into something solid. Rubbing the soreness from his muzzle, Sombra then brought a hoof up to feel stone. Gliding it across the surface, he followed the outline of it as he began to feel what this was. A few seconds later, Sombra realized what he was touching, just as the ground beneath his hooves began to quake.

Seeing a pale-blue glow off to his right, Sombra looked to see the ground cracking with the light shining from it, along with what appeared to be spirits escaping from the crack. While the crack continued to widen, Sombra heard a similar sound off to his left and saw another crack rapidly growing. Soon enough, several more showed up, all converging at the same spot. As the fissures converged, the pale-blue light they provided lit the area up enough for Sombra to see. And while a location like this wouldn't pose much of an issue with him, Sombra couldn't help but shutter, not by the graveyard he was standing in, but by the tombstone he'd ran into with is own name on it.

"What is this?" Sombra whispered, his voice laced with a hint of fear.

"Your grave."

Snapping his head up, Sombra's eyes widened as he saw Nocturne towering over him, the pale lighting giving him a more haunting appearance than normal.

"But I'm still alive!" Sombra shouted angrily. "And where am I?!"

With the biggest grin he'd seen on Nocturne, Sombra watched as he spread his wings, causing the clouds overhead to disperse, and for the glowing fissures in the ground to snake outward like individual rivers until the rest of the area was lit up. Now that he had plenty of light to see, Sombra saw that from one horizon to the other was one massive graveyard. Other than the pale-blue moon shining high above, Sombra could also make out the variety of tombstones, ominous statues, mausoleums, dead trees, and of course, the gallows right behind him.

"I have taught you much during your studies, Sombra," Nocturne spoke, "but you left too soon for me to teach you everything. What you see before you is my world."

"What exactly do you mean by that, Nocturne?"

"Perhaps that was a wrong choice of words. You see, while Dark and I share a body, and by extent, the same mind, we both have our own personal minds as well. And this here," he gestured with a claw, "is what's in my mind, my world. A little bland, but I personally like it. Granted, I can look through Dark's eyes as though they were my own, but it's only to watch. I cannot interact unless I try to force myself out, or if Dark let's me out."

"So back there-"

"Dark let me out, yes. However, I can only ever have control over his right-half."

"He must be quite powerful if he were to stop you from taking him over."

"I tried once after he killed my body, but failed."

"And how did he defeat you?"

Nocturne gave an amused, throaty chuckle. "Don't you try and wheedle answers out of me. I know that you would only try and use it against us if I told you."

Sombra frowned for having been found out so quickly. "Fine. So, why am I here? Are you going to kill me in here?"

"No. That will be left to Dark to take care of," Nocturne grinned.

"So you're going to pawn off your responsibilities as a failed master to him then," Sombra smirked.

His grin quickly turning to a scowl, Nocturne slammed his claw down upon Sombra, crushing all but his head before gripping him and pulling him up to his face.

"Be fortunate that it is him that'll be finishing you off and not me," he growled. "I'm sure that while he'll probably make it fairly quick for you, I wouldn't mind enjoying myself in taking my time with you."

"Wh-What's stop-ping you then?" Sombra choked.

"I have just one question for you, and I want you to answer me."

"What?"

"What happened after I sent you to kill those gryphons? You were almost happy when I sent you off on your mission, then you return with this new attitude and those eyes. What happened?"

Despite his body being in agony, Sombra maintained a stoic look on his face from being asked that question. Remaining silent, Sombra merely glared back at Nocturne's glare. After a few minutes of silence had passed, Nocturne gave a snort, knowing that he wouldn't be getting any answers from him.

"Very well, then," he said. "In that case, we are done here."

Feeling the pressure of Nocturne's grip loosening, Sombra quickly found himself falling down towards the ground. However, instead of coming to an abrupt stop, he kept falling and falling until he was surrounded in darkness again.

Sombra blinked his eyes a few times as he regained his senses. His vision returning, he glanced down to see Dark's sword still pressed up against his neck while Nocturne had receded back into Dark, leaving him fully in control. Not wanting to give up, Sombra began to charge his horn to blast Dark in the face, but didn't feel a hint of magic from his horn. Glancing up at it, Sombra's pupils shrank as his horn had been removed.

"So you've noticed," Dark said, seeing Sombra's gaze and expression.

"MY HORN!!!" Sombra cried in fury. "WHEN DID YOU-"

"You may be immobile when Nocturne dragged you in, but I wasn't. When Nocturne brought your consciousness into his, I was still free to move as I saw fit, which involved removing Nocturne's fang from your forehead and placing it in my Shadow Storage.

"Nocturne told me about what you two talked about before you regained consciousness," Dark added, gently pressing his sword and scythe tighter against Sombra's neck, all but threatening to behead him.

Though he was prideful and unwilling to surrender, Sombra knew that he was beat. With his horn gone and a pair of blades ready to take his head, he sighed in defeat.

"You win," he conceded. "Go on, finish it."

Dark furrowed his brow. "Princess Celestia said that the death sentence is banned in Equestria. However, we're in the Crystal Empire, so I don't think that that rule applies here."

"Then get it over with already. I would rather not continue bearing with this defeat longer than I have to."

"... while I should make you pay slowly for threatening Twilight and attacking with that undead army of yours... that's not me. I'll try and make it as quick and painless as possible."

Resigning himself, Sombra gave Dark a curt nod in thanks and understanding. "Then farewell, Lord of Death."

Nodding in return, Dark breathed in deeply for a few seconds before letting it out. Breathing shadows from his maw, Dark watched as Sombra's form vanished in the shadows that had consumed him. And though he heard a gasp, it was brief before just as quickly ceasing. Several seconds later, Dark ended his shadow-breathing as he regained his breath. When the shadows he'd breathed out had begun to disperse and fade, Dark looked solemnly at Sombra's skeleton that had collapsed onto the ground.

Returning both the Death Reaver and Death Reaper into his right and left arms respectively, Dark knelt down and reached towards Sombra's skull. Plucking the crown off of his head, Dark looked at it with a sigh.

"Too bad," he said to himself. "If only I'd somehow met him before he turned evil, then perhaps we could've been friends... maybe-"

Dark suddenly collapsed as he suddenly became fatigued. Groaning, he caught a glimpse as his fiery mane had reverted back to its normal blond color.

"Heh, that lasted longer than I thought I would," he weakly chuckled. Rolling onto his back, Dark let out a long sigh as he looked up into the night sky. "I think I'll just lay here and rest for a little while before going back. Doubt that I could even make it that far at the moment anyway."

As Dark continued to lay and rest, he tied Sombra's crown to his belt before he caught something moving in his peripheral vision. Tilting his head to look, Dark saw something fluttering within Sombra's ribcage. Reaching for it with a claw, Dark carefully extracted it from Sombra's chest and brought it over for him to look at. When he did, his face contorted in confusion.

"A black feather?" he questioned. "What in the hay's a black feather doing in Sombra's chest?"

Before he could question if further, he heard the sound of wings flapping closer from behind before hearing hooves landing on the crystal platform and walking up to him.

Must be one of the princesses, Rainbow, or Twilight, Dark guessed, placing the feather in one of his pockets. Good thing too. I could use a hoof in getting out of-

"Why won't you die?!"

Surprised by the distantly familiar voice, Dark failed to react quick enough before he saw one of Sombra's crystal clone's scythes impaling him through his gut and into the crystal beneath him. Grunting from the pain it caused, he later cried in pain when a second found its way closer to his lungs and heart. Unable to remove them, Dark tried to Shadow Meld, but the two scythes kept him rooted in place.

"What will it take to finally kill you?" he asked as he walked up so that Dark could see him, making no more attempt to hide himself as the fires around the platform illuminated him completely. "Beasts, armies, banishment to another world where my hitponies waited for you, and now, the King of Shadows and former Apprentice of Death."

As he continued, Dark looked upon him for the first time and felt a torrent of questions and emotions running through him. But, of all the emotions he was feeling, the two that stood out the most were disbelief and sorrow.

"B-But... how...?" Dark tried to weakly ask, but failed to find his words.

"Am I alive?" he finished with a smug smirk. "Well, that's a question that you're never going to find out." He raised the third scythe in his magic, aiming it for Dark's heart. "Besides, you won't live long enough to remember when I finally kill yo-"

"Surrender your weapon and I may yet let you live, criminal."

Freezing in place, he turned his head around slightly to see Luna standing directly behind him with a sword of magic pressed firmly against his neck. When he didn't respond, Luna pressed her blade against his neck further, cutting into him enough for a trickle of blood to flow down Luna's blade.

"Fine," he said, tossing the scythe in his magic off to the side before giving her a glare. "But don't think that this means that I will surrender."

"You have nowhere to escape to this time," Luna growled.

He glared back at Luna. "Do you really think that I would've come out here without a backup plan?"

Before Luna could answer, his horn flared in a blinding light, forcing her and Dark to shield their eyes. A few seconds after hearing a grunt and the sound of crystal breaking, Luna opened her eyes to see that Dark had used his wing to shield himself from not just the light, but also the crystal scythe that had broken off against his wing. Standing beside Dark, Luna looked out around her and across they sky for the stallion that had tried to kill him... and escaped her again. Seeing no trace of him and feeling nothing from her magic, Luna cursed under her breath before turning to Dark.

"Come, let us get you back to the castle," Luna told Dark.

Waiting for a moment, Luna watched as Dark weakly tried to remove the scythes from his stomach and chest, but couldn't. Giving him a hoof, Luna grabbed both Dark and the scythes in her magic, and pulled them loose from the crystal platform. With Dark free, she watched as he slowly pulled them out from him and let them fall alongside him.

"Good to see your wounds already healing," she commented. "Now, let us go."

"I can't," Dark muttered.

"Pardon?"

"I'm too tired to fly. Just let me lay here and I'll catch up... eventually."

Luna shook her head as she picked Dark up in her magic. "My apologies, Dark, but I am not letting you stay with that stallion possibly lurking nearby, especially if I can't sense him."

Setting Dark on her back, Luna took off into the night sky for the Crystal Empire. As she flew, questions of who this stallion was ran through her mind. But now that she'd gotten a very good look at him and his cutie mark, identifying him should be much easier.

Continuing her flight, Luna felt Dark's arms wrapping around her neck as he held onto her. However, while that didn't concern her, what did was the wet spot she felt forming on her back. Maintaining flight, she craned her neck around and saw Dark's face buried into her coat. And though it was barely audible with the wind rushing past them, she could still hear the sounds of Dark sobbing.

Author's Note

Sorry this took so long. With the new WOW expansion coming out soon, I've been trying to prepare for it while also trying to keep these chapters consistently coming out. Hopefully the next one won't take so long.

Chapter 70- Bitter Revelation

Luna didn't know much of what to do in situations like this. With Dark still quietly sobbing and clinging to her from her back after landing, she figured that Twilight would be the best pony to handle this. Stopping one of the castle staff, Luna asked where she could find Twilight. Thankfully, the maid knew where she and the rest of her friends and family were. After being told where she could find them, Luna thanked her and made for the medical wing with a roll of her eyes for not thinking of it first. As she continued down the hallways, she looked back to see Dark unmoving as he continued to cry. At this point, Luna wasn't concerned about the blood from Dark that had more than likely stained her coat, but of the cause behind his sudden turn of emotions.

Coming to the double doors to the medical wing, Luna pushed them open and went inside. Walking through, she looked around at the dozens of occupied hospital beds aligning the walls. And while most of them appeared to have minor wounds, a few weren't so lucky as they looked like it would take them a while until they'd recover. As she continued through, a few of the ponies, both medical staff and the injured, took a moment to give her a respectful bow. And while it didn't really surprise her, what did was when they all gasped and began staring at her... or rather, at Dark laying on her back.

Following their gazes, she saw what they were all staring at. Wondering how she didn't see it before, Luna understood now what caught everypony's attention. It wasn't the fact that she was carrying Dark as he quietly cried, but the familiar headwear that hung from his belt. Recognizing Sombra's crown, Luna raised her wing to cover it and began to ignore the whispering ponies as she continued past them to the room where the others were at.

Coming to the room, Luna took a breath before she quietly opened the door. When she did, she saw that several queen-sized beds were occupied by Rainbow, Cadence, and even Soul, while the others were gathered around them, including Twilight's parents and the Crusaders. Her gaze sweeping over Cadence and Soul, Luna was even quieter so she wouldn't wake them. However, Luna's face saddened when she saw Rainbow laying in bed awake with Scootaloo hugging her, and a white cloth wrapped over her eyes. Coming closer, she noticed that Rainbow's cheeks were matted down with tears while she gave an occasional sniffle.

"What has happened here?" Luna asked as she joined the others.

"Glad that you could make it, Luna," Celestia said without turning around. "Turns out that not everypony got out clean from that ordeal. When Cadence's barrier was penetrated, the magical backlash from it cracked her horn pretty good. Twilight and I were able to get a good start on healing it, but she won't be able to use magic for a week or two. Even after that, she'll be limited to light-lifting for some time."

"And what about Rainbow Dash and Soul?"

"From what he said for the few minutes he was awake after we found him, Soul managed to return the Crystal Heart, but when he did, the love it radiated overwhelmed him. Between a sort of food coma that he got from it, and the exhaustion of flying back with the heart, Soul was just too tired to continue."

"So Soul is just fine then."

"Yes," Celestia said before giving a sad sigh, "but I wish I could say the same for Rainbow Dash. From what she told us, she engaged Aurora's Apprentice while Soul returned the Crystal Heart. They traded blows, and despite her winning, he blinded her with his magic before the heart repelled him. However, with how close her face was to his horn when the spell went off, not only was she blinded by the light, but it also burnt out her retinas."

"So she can no longer see then," Luna concluded solemnly, getting a nod from Celestia.

"I've already sent for our best eye surgeons in Canterlot. Hopefully they'll be able to restore Rainbow Dash's eyes."

Luna quietly nodded before she felt shifting on her back and remembered that she had a passenger.

"Tia, could you call one of the doctors in please? We have one more who needs to be checked out."

Following Luna's head gesture, Celestia, for the first time, noticed Dark clinging to her from her back.

"Dark?" she said, looking him over. "What happened to him? Was it Sombra?"

"Something's wrong with Dark?" Twilight asked. Turning around from Rainbow, she saw Dark laying on Luna's back with his arms around her neck. Running up alongside them, Twilight looked Dark over, and while she was concerned about the two holes in the back of his jacket and the blood staining the chainmail beneath it, she was even more so when she saw Dark's face. "Princess Luna, what happened to Dark? Why is he crying like this?"

"I do not know, Twilight," she answered her. "When I arrived, I encountered the fugitive standing over Dark with a scythe in his magic, while two others were already pinning him down to the crystal ground through his stomach and chest. However, he blinded us and tried to finish Dark off before he escaped... again."

Shaking from hearing how Luna had found Dark, Twilight wrapped a hoof around him and held him.

"Shhhh, it's okay, you're safe now," she whispered.

Hearing Twilight's soothing voice, Dark cracked a puffy eye open to look at her. And while her lovely smile would normally make him feel better, it wasn't enough this time.

"I-It was h-him, T-Twi-light," Dark quietly whimpered.

"Who was it?" she gently asked, only to find Dark burying his face into her shoulder.

While Twilight held Dark and tried to comfort him, Luna just stood there awkwardly with Dark still on her back. Noticing this and feeling like everyone had a long enough night, Celestia spoke.

"Perhaps we should convene in the morning once we've all rested up," she suggested.

"Yes, Princess," Twilight replied, only to be stopped by Luna's hoof on her shoulder.

"Dark will have to stay behind, though," she told her. "I want the doctors to check him out before he retires for the night, and to hopefully find out the cause for this mood of his."

While most of them left to rest for the night, Luna, Shining, Scootaloo, and Twilight stayed behind. While Shining wanted to remain by Cadence's side, and Scootaloo to help Rainbow, Luna talked with Rainbow about her fight while Twilight helped Dark out of his armor. Once she'd removed his damaged jacket and sat it off to the side to be repaired, her eyes locked onto Sombra's crown hanging from his belt. Hesitantly, she took it in her magic and placed it on a nearby table while Dark dismissed the rest of his clothes.

With him undressed, Dark dragged his hooves as he went into the full-size bathroom attached to the room. Closing the door behind him, he turned on the shower and let the water run. Once the steam began to rise, Dark walked in and stood under the steaming water as it began to wash the sweat, blood, and tears off of him. Though it did help in cleaning him up, the warmth did little to comfort him as fresh tears awaited to replace those washed away by the shower.

"Why?" he asked with his voice cracked. "Why would you want to do that to me?"

Feeling like staying longer wouldn't do him any good, Dark turned off the water and walked out onto the crystal floor. With a sniffle, Dark focused inward and began radiating heat from within to dry himself off, along with hiding any tears staining his face. Several long seconds later, he felt his coat, mane, and tale were dried and refreshed. Doing his best to compose himself, Dark opened the door and walked out. As soon as he closed the door shut behind him, Dark found himself relaxing a little bit as he became wrapped in Twilight's warm and loving embrace.

"Feeling any better?" she gingerly asked as she stroked his mane.

"A little I guess," he muttered.

"I don't know what happened to you back there, Dark, but just remember that I'm always here for you whenever you need me, alright?"

Dark sniffled and nodded against Twilight. "O-Okay. Thank y-you, Twilight."

"You're welcome," she whispered. "And please don't rush it. I'll wait until you're ready to tell me whenever you feel like it."

"I'm sorry to interrupt," Luna softly spoke, "but the doctor is here to checkup on Dark."

Releasing him, Twilight guided Dark towards one of the spare beds for him to sit on while a green crystal pony mare with pink eyes and a yellow mane walked up to him. With a crystal in her right hoof, she ran it over Dark's body from his horn, to his tail, and across his wings. Once she was done running it over him, she looked at it with a confused frown.

"Well, there doesn't appear to be anything wrong with him physically or magically," she announced.

"What about mentally?" Luna questioned.

Humming to herself, the doctor took out another crystal from her coat and placed it against Dark's head. After a minute of silence, she pulled it away and eyed the crystal out.

"According to this, there's nothing wrong with him mentally either."

"Well, there's obviously something wrong for Dark to be acting like this," Twilight said.

"I'm sorry, Princess Twilight, but whatever it is, it's not coming from an outside source like a spell, drug, powder, or poison."

"I... see." Twilight let out a tired sigh. "I'm sorry about that, doctor. It wasn't fair of me to act like that to you. I just don't like seeing Dark like this is all."

"I understand what you mean, Princess," she sympathetically said. "I suppose I could clear him to go, now that I know that there's nothing physically or magically wrong with him. Just make sure to keep an eye on him and tell me if you notice any changes later on."

"I will. Thank you for your help, doctor," Twilight thanked.

With a bow to Twilight and Luna, the doctor made her way out of the room to leave them in peace. But, before she left, she stopped at the door and looked back.

"I'll be back in an hour to check on Princess Cadence and Miss Rainbow Dash."

With the doctor gone and having closed the door behind her, Dark sighed before feeling Twilight nuzzling up against his side.

"Ready to go to bed?" she asked him.

"Yeah," he tiredly sighed.

"Before you retire for the night," Luna spoke, "would you mind telling me how you got your claws on Sombra's crown?"

With a hollow look in his eyes, Dark looked back to the crown sitting on the table.

"Sombra's dead," he simply stated. "This time for good."

"I see..."

Remembering what he'd found, Dark walked over to his jacket and plucked the feather he'd found from one of the pockets.

"I also found this in his chest."

"Why would he have a chest with him?"

"Not that chest, Princess. I'm talking about his ribcage," Dark corrected, earning him looks from everypony but Cadence and Soul. "After I reduced him to a skeleton, I found this black feather fluttering in his ribcage."

"And you just took it?" Shining questioned.

Dark half-heartedly shrugged his wings. "I thought that it was unusual and figured that one of you might know something about it."

Everypony looked to each other in silence, seeing if any of them could provide an answer for Dark. With none of them having one, Shining spoke up again.

"Sorry, but I don't think any of us know what to say to that."

"It's fine," Dark sighed.

"I could take it to our scientists and have them take a look at it... but..."

Shining's words faltered as his gaze swept over Cadence. Seeing this, Luna gave a small smile.

"If you would like, Shining Armor, I can take it to them for you," she offered, earning a thankful smile from him.

"Thank you, Princess Luna," Shining thanked.

"And what about Sombra's crown?" Twilight asked.

"Hmmm... Dark, I know that you were the one to defeat him and claim his crown, but would you be willing to part with it for a while?"

"Sure," Dark half-heartedly answered. "It's not like I have a use for it, anyway."

Along with the black feather, Luna picked up Sombra's crown in her magic and levitated them both by her side.

"Thank you. I'll be sure to return it to you soon."

"If you want. Like I said, I don't really have any use for it."

"Alright. Have a pleasant sleep, everypony, and I'll see you in the morning."

With Luna gone, Twilight and Dark said their goodnights to Shining, Rainbow, and Scootaloo before they made their way to their room to call it a night. However, while both of them were exhausted from the events of that night, sleep wouldn't come so easily for either of them.

It was a bitter morning as Twilight awoke with her holding Dark's sleeping form tightly to her chest. When they got back to their room and made their way into bed, Twilight wasted no time in holding him as he buried his face into her chest and wept. And while it made her sad to see him like that, it was made only worse by the fact that she didn't know what she could do to help him feel better. It wasn't until Dark had cried himself to sleep that Twilight had a moment to try and sleep as well. However, throughout most of the remaining night, Twilight found herself awakened from her slumber by the sound of Dark crying in his sleep. Whispering words of reassurance into his ears, Twilight hugged him and stroked him mane comfortingly until his weeping stopped and his breathing relaxed again.

Glancing at the clock on the nightstand, Twilight sighed when she saw that it was already past nine. Looking down to see Dark sleeping peacefully, Twilight leaned down and placed a kiss on his forehead.

"Sleep well, Dark," she whispered. "Hope you feel better when you wake up."

Letting him go for now, Twilight slipped out from under the covers, making sure to tuck Dark in before quietly making her way to the bathroom to get ready for the day. Once she was finished and exited the bathroom, she stole a glance at the bed to see Dark still asleep. With a sad smile, she quietly exited the room and decided to go to the medical wing to check on Cadence and Rainbow before going to grab something to eat. When she got there, she was pleased to see both of them up with Shining and Scootaloo by their sides, each greeting her as she walked in. However, she noticed somepony missing.

"Where's Soul?" she asked.

"The doctor discharged him, so he's off with the others," Scootaloo answered her.

"Okay, and how are you feeling, Rainbow?"

"Besides not being able to see, not too bad I guess," she answered. "Besides, from the way that jerk was talking to me, it sounded like it could've been a lot worse for me."

Twilight shivered at that last part, but pushed any thoughts about it away and smiled at the good news of no longer having to worry about Soul or Rainbow. Content with her answer, Twilight greeted Shining before walking up to Cadence where she was immediately pulled into a warming hug.

"Shining told me about Dark before you came in," Cadence said as she hugged Twilight a little tighter. "How's he doing today?"

"Not very well, Cadence," Twilight solemnly answered. "He cried himself to sleep last night, and later began crying throughout the night in his sleep. He's in bed still sleeping right now."

"And nopony knows what's wrong with him?"

"Nopony besides Dark, and he hasn't had the time to explain since he's been to busy crying about it." Twilight pulled away from Cadence to look at her horn while maintaining their embrace. "So, how are you feeling?"

Cadence brought a hoof up to her horn and tenderly touched it. "It hurts a little bit, but I'll be fine. As long as I don't try using any magic anytime soon, it should heal just fine."

"It's probably going to be difficult for you to go without magic, huh?"

"Maybe, or maybe not. Remember, Twilight, that unlike you and Shiny, I wasn't born with a unicorn horn, and I remember what it was like to go without using magic."

Twilight sighed with relief. "Good. It's good to hear some positive news involving your condition too."

"Speaking of news," Shining spoke, "we'll be holding a meeting in an hour to discuss what happened last night. Everyone who's had a major hoof or claw in it is required to show for it."

"What about Pyre?" Rainbow asked. "I haven't heard anything from him, or about him from last night or today."

"He said that he had something to do and left soon after the battle had ended last night. He won't be back until later today, possibly around sunset."

"And what about Dark?" Twilight wondered. "We all know his part from last night, but should he really be attending?"

Shining shook his head. "Considering the state he's currently in, I don't think either Princess Celestia or Princess Luna would mind excusing him."

"Thank you, Shiny."

"But he will need to be told about it later, though."

"That's perfectly fine, just as long as he gets some peaceful rest."

"Good. In the meantime, Twilight, you should probably go get yourself something to eat."

As it to agree with him, Twilight's stomach rumbled loudly. Chuckling in embarrassment, Twilight saw the amused looks she was getting, and while Rainbow's eyes were blind and bandaged up, Twilight could still practically feel the smugness behind them.

"Yeeaaahhh. That's probably a good idea," she said out loud.

Giggling, Cadence waved Twilight off with a hoof. "Well, go on then. I'm sure the chefs wouldn't mind cooking something up for you."

"Thank you, Cadence," Twilight thanked before making for the door. I wonder if they have any summer sausage? I remember Sunset and the other girls saying before that it was really good when grilled on a frying pan and dunked in syrup.

Twilight was walking to the throne room from having finished her late breakfast. While her thoughts on Dark had put a damper on her mood, her full stomach helped in making her feel better, which was made even more so with the fact that the kitchen staff actually did have summer sausage. And though she was in heaven while she ate two sticks of them after dipping them in syrup, some of the other castle staff weren't taking it too well. While most of them managed to act professional about it, two of the kitchen staff fainted while three others had to excuse themselves as they felt nauseous from watching her eat. Even one of the poor guards felt sick and had to excuse himself from his post to run away somewhere secluded before using his helmet as a puke bucket.

Making her way down the last hallway, Twilight came to the doors to the throne room where two crystal guards stood. Giving them a smile, she was given a respectful salute before they opened the doors for her. Walking in, she saw a table sitting in the center of the room with a crystal at the center. Around the table were a collection of sitting pillows where Celestia, Luna, Shining, Cadence, Spike, Soul, her friends, Gray, Emerald, and Saph sat.

"Hello everypony, Spike," Twilight greeted them. "I'm not late, am I?"

"No you're not, Twilight," Celestia answered her. "Actually, we were just about to start."

Seeing the empty pillow, Twilight walked up and took her spot between Celestia and Cadence.

"Should you really be here, Cadence?" Twilight thoughtfully asked her.

"I'm alright, Twilight," she smiled. "Besides the small ache in my horn, I'm fine. Thank you for asking, though."

"Alright, and you're welcome."

"Cadence and Shining Armor have already informed us that Dark won't be attending this meeting," Luna said.

"That's too bad," Saph disappointingly sighed. "I was hoping to properly thank him for bringing me back to life."

"And everypony else too," Emerald added in agreement.

"Agreed," Gray nodded. "Without him, our guards would've succumbed to Sombra's numbers. How's he doing, by the way? We were only told that he was rather emotional when Princess Luna returned with him."

"Not very good, I'm afraid," Twilight sadly said. "And Dark's been crying too much to tell me what it was, so I don't know what's bothering him."

"And that's partially what we're here to find out," Luna spoke. "But first, let us hear the report from last night."

"Very well," Shining said before turning to Gray. "Captain, do you have the list of our wounded and losses?"

"Yes and no, Your Highness," he answered him before laying a scroll on the table and unfurling it.

"What do you mean?" Cadence asked.

"According to this, sixty-seven of our guards were admitted to the medical wing to be tended to for their injuries. This does not include Lieutenant Flash, who the doctors want to keep a little longer despite him being mostly healed, Miss Rainbow Dash, Princess Cadence, or Soul... and Dark too now I suppose. Anyway, while there were those who needed some stitches, I'm pleased to say that none of them were in any life-threatening danger, and should all be fine within in a few days to weeks."

"And our casualties?" Shining sighed, readying himself for the bad news. However, that was broken when he saw a smile of relief on his captain.

"Your Highnesses," Gray proudly began, "I am pleased to say that we have received no casualties during Sombra's attack. Though a bit beaten up, everypony made it back home alive."

That wasn't what Shining or any of the others were expecting to hear. While half of them gawked silently at the news, a few gasped in surprised while a few others cheered.

"But... how?" Soul asked confusingly.

"It was mostly thanks to Dark," Gray answered him. "Apparently he was serious when he said that nopony would die."

"I shouldn't be too surprised by his actions," Luna said. "After all, he the Lord of Death, and has some form of bond with everyone in this room."

Gray, Emerald, and Saph froze as they each slowly turned their heads to Luna.

"Umm, pardon, Princess Luna, but what do you mean by that?" Gray asked her.

Everyone else's eyes fell on them.

"Oh... right... you guys don't know yet, do you?" Shining asked, forgetting that they didn't know about Dark.

"About what, sir?"

"Remember when Dark said that he was a lord?" Twilight took over.

"Yes?"

"Well..." Twilight looked at her brother and the other princesses. Silently getting the go ahead from them, she continued. "You didn't know because it's kind of a secret, but Dark is the Lord of Death."

"... which means...?"

"Oh, for the love of- Dark is literally the Embodiment of Death you numbskull!" Rainbow abruptly said.

Immediately, all there of the officers' eyes snapped wide before shouting in unison, "WHAT?!"

"I fought in battle side-by-side with Death?!" Gray shouted.

"I was resurrected by Death?!" Saph shouted next.

"Princess Twilight is tapping Death?!"

While the first two reactions were to be expected, the words that Emerald spoke threw everyone off. While Gray, Saph, Soul, and Shining were too stunned to respond to that, Rainbow, Applejack, Pinkie, Spike, and Luna laughed, while Cadence, Celestia, Rarity, Fluttershy, and Twilight blushed fiercely. Regaining his senses, Shining glared at Emerald.

"Latrine cleaning, one week," he said, "with a toothbrush."

"Why would you even say something like that?!" Gray questioned him. "And in front of Prince Shining Armor no less?!"

"Dude, do you have a death wish or something?" Saph questioned. "Because let me tell you right now, dying sucks."

"What?" Emerald said defensively. "You can't honestly tell me that I'm the only one here who's thought of that?"

There was an awkward moment of silent where no one answered.

"... maybe we should get back on topic?" Twilight meekly suggested, trying her best to hide her burning face behind Celestia's wing.

"That... would be for the best," Celestia agreed. Clearing her throat, she redirected her attention back to Gray. "Is there anything else to report, Captain?"

Gray composed himself as he looked over another scroll. "Other than us having no casualties, I'm letting most of our guards have the day off before I send them out to search for Sombra. Since we didn't see him during the battle, we have to assume that he escaped."

"Not quite," Luna objected. Lighting her horn, a familiar crown appeared on the table in front of her.

"Is that...?"

"Sombra's crown, yes," Luna finished for Gray.

"But how? Nopony saw him leading the army."

"The army was just a decoy, as apart of his plan no doubt," Twilight explained. "While you guys were busy with them, Sombra further distracted us by standing towards the south of Cadence's barrier, while his fleet approached from the north."

"But we heard told that Pyre intercepted them," Saph said.

"He did, but they were all decoys for the small group that came in from the west that broke Cadence's barrier."

"We were played this whole time," Gray snorted in frustration. "But that still doesn't explain what Sombra's crown is doing here."

"You can thank Dark for that," Luna said. "After he defeated Sombra, he took his crown. Whether as a trophy or as proof of his defeat, I don't know. But, either way, Sombra is truly dead and won't bring harm to anypony ever again."

Realization came to Gray. "So when I saw Dark leaving..."

"It was because Princess Luna and I felt Cadence's magic suddenly fade, so we wanted somepony to go check it out," Shining answered. "And neither Princess Luna or I could leave because we believed that our troops would lose moral if one of us did."

"So that's why you ordered us to take our Rage Pellets, sir?" Emerald asked.

"Yes. With Dark no longer there to continue reviving our fallen, I didn't want to take anymore chances." Shining sighed and smiled. "I'm glad that I did, too."

"As are we all," Celestia nodded, "but we're not done yet."

"Right," Luna agreed. "There's still the matter of Sombra's accomplice."

"You mean that jerk who did this to me, right?" Rainbow irritatedly asked, pointing a hoof to her bandaged eyes.

"The same. Rainbow Dash, before he blinded you, were you able to get a look at him as well?"

"Yeah. While the guy was invisible when me and Soul were chasing him, he turned visible after I tackled him to the ground."

"I still don't know how you two managed to find an invisible opponent and retrieve the Crystal Heart from him."

"I'm part changeling, remember?" Soul reminded. "I could sense the Crystal Heart, even when it was invisible like he was."

"... of course," Luna mumbled, feeling like an idiot for forgetting.

"While we're on the subject of this guy and my eyes," Rainbow continued, "can somepony tell me how much longer I'm gonna have to be like this? Because I'd much rather be able to see instead of being blind like a bat."

"Excuse me? Care to rephrase that?" Fluttershy snarked.

Oblivious to her comment, Rainbow turned to face towards Fluttershy. "What?"

"I'm part bat, and I'm not 'blind as a bat', am I?"

"Oh, come on, Fluttershy. You know what I meant," Rainbow defended herself. "Anyway, back to that guy."

"Yes," Celestia nodded. "Now, tell me, Rainbow Dash, what did this pony look like?"

"While I did see him, the moonlight wasn't quite enough for me to make out his colors. But, what I did see was that he had emerald-green eyes, some sort of a blue coat, and a short yellow-colored mane or something."

"Anything else?"

"Yeah, and get this, the weird part was that his horn was white with a blue tip, and unlike his blue coat, his wings were white!"

A stallion with a blue coat and white wings... why does that sound so familiar? Twilight wondered to herself.

"Sorry I can't help you out more," Rainbow apologized. "If I had some better lighting, then maybe I could tell you more."

"It's alright," Celestia assured her before turning to Luna. "What about you, sister?"

Luna nodded.

"Thanks to both my moonlight and the light provided by the surrounding fires, I was able to get a very good look at both his colors, and his cutie mark."

"Would you care to show us?" Shining asked her. "The gem at the center of the table will allow for you to project an image of him from your memory."

Luna looked over the crystal curiously. "How does it work?"

"It's simple, really," Cadence said, "just pour some of your magic into it while thinking about the pony you want to show us."

Following her instructions, Luna closed her eyes as she focused on her encounter last night. With the stallion in mind, she began focusing her magic on the crystal. A few seconds later, she heard it hum to life and ceased her casting as she opened her eyes when she heard a collection of gasps. Looking up at the projection, Luna showed them not only the stallion, but an entire picture scene with Dark laying on the ground with two crystal scythes pinning him down, the stallion standing over him with a third hovering above him in his magic, and Luna sanding behind him with a magical sword pressed against his neck.

"Oops," she muttered.

"Is that the guy you were talking about, Rainbow?" Pinkie innocently asked, getting a blank look from Rainbow.

"... seriously, Pinkie?" she asked flatly.

"Oh... right... sorry about that."

"It's rather strange, though," Luna said to herself out loud.

"What is it, Princess?" Rarity asked.

"The stallion that Twilight and I tired to capture back in Canterlot does indeed look like this pony, but this stallion's wings are white, not blue."

"He probably dyed his wings then, otherwise he would be sticking out with his wings being different colors to his coat," she said before turning back to the projection and shivered with a look of disgust. "What a brutal stallion."

"Why would he do something like that to Dark?" Fluttershy asked.

"Ah don't know," Applejack spoke, "but just look at his eyes."

"Yeah," Soul nodded. "It's easy to see the anger and hatred behind them... hmmm..."

"Something on your mind, Soul?" Spike asked.

"Just a thought. I'm starting to wonder now if it was really Sombra I was sensing last night, or if it was this guy."

"Either way, your description of him was close, Rainbow Dash," Celestia said.

"How close?" she wondered.

"Well," Cadence began, "like you said, his horn is white with blue towards the tip, and his wings are also white. You were also right about his eye color, and while his mane and tale are blond, his coat is blue."

"Hmmm, more of a metallic-blue to be precise," Rarity said eyeing out the stallion.

"There's also the matter of his cutie mark," Gray spoke.

"I didn't get a look at it," Rainbow said. "What is it? I'll bet that it's pretty lame."

"A golden crown with wings that's being bathed in a ray of light piercing the clouds."

"... okay, that sounds pretty cool."

As they all talked and commented about the stallion, one voice remained silent. Taking notice of Twilight's silence, Cadence glanced over to see her. When she did, she felt a wave of confusion and sadness when she saw Twilight with her hooves covering her mouth, and her eyes red with tears running freely.

"What's wrong, Twilight?" Cadence asked, gaining everyone's attention as they all focused on her.

"No... oh, please no... it can't be him..." she whispered.

"Twilight?"

"This doesn't make sense... and yet... it makes perfect sense..."

"Twilight!"

Feeling hooves on her, Twilight looked around to see Cadence and Celestia looking worriedly at her, both with a hoof on her shoulder.

"Twilight, what's the matter?" Celestia gently asked.

"It's him, Princess," Twilight answered with a sniffle.

"Who, Twilight?" Cadence repeated. "Do you know who that alicorn is?"

"He's not an alicorn, but a pegasus. And yes, I was told of him. Actually, almost all of us were."

"Are you sure, Twilight?" Spike skeptically asked. "Because I'm sure that I would remember a pegasus with a blue coat and white wings... wait as sec..." Spike began to mull it over. "Blue coat... blond mane... emerald eyes... white wings... white... light... light wings...!"

Spikes eyes snapped wide-open as he pieced it together.

"Light Wing?! You mean as in Dark's brother?!"

Everyone's attention immediately returned towards the projection.

"No way!" Rainbow shouted.

"Ah thought that Dark said he died a long time ago?!" Applejack exclaimed.

"He also thought that Gunter was dead too," Twilight solemnly reminded them, wiping her tears out of her eyes, "but in the end, he was still alive. And if those two survived, others might've too."

"Twilight," Celestia hesitantly spoke, "are you sure about this?"

Twilight gave a small nod. "When I had the feather flu and Dark was keeping me alive with his magic, I saw some of his memories. I don't know how it's possible, but besides the horn, that stallion trying to kill Dark really is his brother, Light Wing."

"Wait," Gray interjected, "so what you're saying is that Dark's supposedly dead brother is actually alive, and had allied himself with Sombra?"

"It's not just that," Celestia began, "but if this is true, then he's also the one responsible for trying to kill Aurora, Lady of Life, rallying the creatures of the Everfree Forest to invade Ponyville, and is also the one who sent Dark into the other world, thus almost bringing upon an undead apocalypse."

"But it gets worse," Twilight whimpered.

"Worse?" Rainbow questioned. "How can it get any worse?"

"Why did you say that?!" Pinkie shrieked. "You never say that! Whenever somepony says that, it's practically guaranteed to get worse!"

Shining shook his head at them and turned back to Twilight. "You were saying?"

"Right." Twilight took a moment to compose herself before speaking back up. "Anyway, like I said, it gets worse. After I found out that Blueblood was confirmed with helping Light and was captured, I went to interrogate him-"

"You still never told us how you got the information out of him," Luna reminded.

"-when I did, he told me that his accomplice, meaning Light, was able to come into contact with that world's version of him."

"So, what does this mean, Twilight?" Rarity cautiously asked her.

"You don't get it?!" Twilight snapped, her tears running freely once again as she was unable to contain her emotions anymore. "When I went over there to rescue Dark, that world's Light attacked me and tried to kill me! Dark stopped him and his gang, but in the end, Dark killed him and the others! Don't you see?! If Dark is in such a fragile emotional state now, what do you think will happen when he realizes that he killed his own brother?! It doesn't matter if he was from a different world, it'll be the same to Dark, and the emotional and mental damage it could do to him will... will..."

Unable to say anymore Twilight found herself bawling into Cadence's chest as she wrapped her hooves around her in a comforting hug before Shining joined them. While they were busy trying to comfort Twilight, Pinkie's mane went flat as she and Fluttershy tried comforting each other. And while Soul and Spike were quietly talking to each other, Rainbow, Applejack, and Rarity were all in deep thought, thinking the same thing.

"Twilight's right, this is worse," Rarity said, dabbing her eyes with a tissue. "This thing between Dark and Light... I can't imagine what he must be going through. I can't imagine it if it were to happen to me and Sweetie Belle."

"Or me and Apple Bloom," Applejack sighed.

"Or me and Scoots," Rainbow mumbled.

While the three were in thought about their respective siblings, Celestia leaned down to Luna.

"Are you alright, Luna?" Celestia gently asked.

"Tell me, Tia," Luna quietly spoke, "is how Dark acted the same as how you felt after you had to banish me to the moon?"

Celestia's face fell as the shame and sorrow from that night returned.

"Yes. While I made sure not to show it in public, I-"

Before she could finish, Celestia found herself being pulled into a hug by Luna.

"I'm so sorry, sister," she whispered. "I'm sorry to make you suffer like that. It was never my intention to hurt you so."

Celestia's face saddened as she leaned into Luna's hug and returning it with her own.

"I know, Luna. I know," she said with a quiet sniffle.

The two sisters remained like that for a few minutes before they let each other go to wipe their tears from their eyes. Looking up across the table, they saw Soul and Spike comforting Pinkie and Fluttershy, Rainbow with Applejack and Rarity, and Shining and Cadence with Twilight. With a heavy sigh, Celestia and Luna composed themselves.

"I believe that that's all that we have to discuss," Celestia said as she turned off the crystal. "Captain, Lieutenants?"

"Yes, Your Highness?" they replied.

"I hope that you'll keep this information behind Dark's title and his brother to yourselves?"

"We will," Gray answered for them.

"In that case, thank you for attending, and for the information you've provided us."

Saluting her, Gray, Emerald, and Saph exited the room. Not long after, the other began to file out and return to their rooms until Celestia, Luna, Shining, Cadence, and Twilight were left. Shifting on her pillow, Celestia turned to face Twilight with a sad frown. And while she did calm down a little bit, she still hiccupped and sniffled. Placing a hoof on her shoulder, Celestia gently rubbed Twilight, gaining her attention. Feeling further saddened by seeing her like that, Celestia spoke to her in the gentlest, most motherly tone she could manage.

"Twilight, why don't you go with Cadence and Shining Armor and rest yourself? Luna and I will talk to Dark."

With another sniffle, Twilight wiped a her tears away. "I-I'll come too."

"You don't have to, Twilight," Luna gently spoke from alongside Celestia.

"Yes... yes I d-do. Dark's my... he's my fiancé now. It's my job to be there f-for him when he's sad like th-this. And now I know what's bothering him, s-so I can help him get through it."

Solemnly nodding for her answer, Celestia and Luna helped Twilight up before they slowly walked together to talk to Dark. When they were far enough away, Cadence leaned her back into Shining's chest and sadly sighed.

"What do you think Shiny?" she asked.

Sighing himself, Shining wrapped his hooves around Cadence and held her close.

"I think that while I'm proud of Twilight's commitment to be there for Dark, she's still too young to be dealing with this kind of emotional baggage."

"Yeah. She and Dark both."

Chapter 71- Decisions

Dark laid on top of the center of the bed as he stared blankly up at the ceiling, his cheeks having long been matted down and dried of the tears that he'd finally ran out of. But even without the tears to accompany it, Dark continued to cry as the scene of his thought-to-have-been-dead brother from last night replayed repeatedly over in his mind. Letting out a depressed sigh, Dark curled himself up tightly into a ball and laid his head down to try and sleep it off some more.

I can't believe this, he thought. I knew that he hated me, but for him to go so far as to...

Dark's sobbing grew in volume again a little as a fresh wave of sadness washed over him.

"I'm sorry, Light," Dark sobbed to nopony. "I don't know what I did to deserve it, but I'm sorry."

As he continued to lay there, Dark repeated his apology over and over again. He was so absorbed in his own sorrows that he didn't hear it when the door open up, or when three sets of hooves entered the room. It wasn't until he felt the bed beginning to sink in all around him and start to feel a warmth encompassing him that he finally took notice that he was no longer alone. Taking in the familiar scent of lavender and burnt firewood, Dark lifted his head up slightly to see Twilight laying on top of him with her forelegs and wings spread over him, doing what she could to blanket him with her warmth. Seeing her looking down at him and feeling her warmth blanketing him, Dark withheld a whimper as he closed his eyes and let himself melt against Twilight's embrace. Moments later, he felt Twilight stroking his mane in an attempt to calm him further.

"It's okay, Dark," she whispered reassuringly. "It's not your fault. You did nothing wrong."

"I did, Twilight," Dark spoke, his voice sounding dead and hollow. "How else do you explain how my... how my own brother would act like that against me?"

"I think I may be able to answer that, Dark."

Opening his eyes again, Dark noticed that the sinking in the bed he felt wasn't from Twilight laying on him, but from Celestia and Luna on laying down circling around him, both of whom were without their royal regalia. Now that he was paying attention, he could feel his back was pressing up against Celestia's side.

"P-Princess-"

Luna raised a hoof and stopped him. "No. Not this time, Dark. Right now, we come to you not as Princesses of Equestria, but simply as Celestia and Luna, just two pony sisters."

"Two sister," Celestia continued for Luna, "who know all too well what it is that you're going through, and wish to try and help you."

Dark laid his head back down against the bed. "I don't know what you could do to help. My little brother wants me dead and I don't even know why."

Luna sadly sighed. "Envy has a way of changing a pony."

"Light's always been like that towards me, but he's never gone to such lengths like this before now." Dark paused for a moment as memories of past events ran through his mind. "Or rather, I suppose since he sent that army of Everfree creatures into Ponyville."

"Actually, it predates even that, Dark," Luna corrected. "If memory serves correct, it would go back to when you were first attacked by those alpha timberwolves after your flying lessons with Rainbow Dash by the pond."

"Great." Dark gave an empty sigh. "What do I do now about him? Or rather, what should I and can I do about him now?"

Celestia lowered her head and craned it so Dark could see her face.

"For now, you should try to recover."

"I'm fine. I don't need to-"

"I'm not talking about your physical well-being, Dark. I mean that you should take some time off to recover emotionally. Trust me, Dark, I know exactly what you're going through, and some emotional rest will help you feel better."

"... you mean with you and...?"

"Yes, with that."

"While we don't like to talk about it much," Luna spoke, "we do see the parallels between this and when I became Nightmare Moon. While there are several obvious differences, in the end, it's the same thing with two siblings where the younger becomes consumed by jealousy and transforms. And while your brother may not have transformed physically besides the addition of his horn, he's still not the same that you remember, correct?"

"I... I guess..." he slowly admitted. "Like I said, while he did hate me, it was never this bad, or even this close to it."

"You mustn't blame yourself for not being able to stop him sooner, Dark," Celestia spoke.

"Why not?" he asked dully.

"Because, unlike me, you recognized what was happening with him quickly and acted on it. I remember what you told me when I first asked you about him last year, about how you tried your best to talk and reason to him. And when that didn't work, you then turned to your family members for help. You have done more than I ever did before Luna's fall from grace, and if I could, I would've done it over again, but with your example."

"Uh... thanks, Prin- er... Celestia." Dark sighed and glanced down to the bedsheets. "It's still my fault, though."

Twilight began nuzzling the side of Dark's head reassuringly. "Not it's not, Dark. Like I said, you didn't do anything wrong."

"No, not that. It's my fault that I didn't notice that it was him sooner."

"There wasn't any way that you could've known that the cloaked stallion was Light."

"There was, actually. I just didn't notice it before."

"When?" Luna wondered.

"Before he sent me through the portal," Dark answered, unaware of Twilight as her breath hitched at where this could lead. "When he confronted me in front of the castle, he attacked me with his sword. I didn't think anything of it at first, but looking back on it now, I recognize that sword he used was the exact same one that I made for him." Dark gave a depressed sigh. "Yet another blade I crafted who's owner tried to kill me with it."

"Even so, how long has it been since you've last seen it before then?" Celestia gently asked.

"Since the day Light left with the others, but that wasn't the only source of evidence I overlooked. When he blinded me, he flared his wings, just like how Light would."

"And now he's applied that to his horn's magic," Luna added.

"Looks like it." Dark sighed to himself. "But..."

"But?" Twilight parroted.

"There's still more."

"Like what?" Luna asked.

"If he survived and made it through Inferno's blockade, then why didn't he go get help like he was suppose to? If he would've gone and gotten us help, then Stonewall would've been saved instead of becoming a giant graveyard."

"I... cannot answer that..."

Dark's gaze fell once again. "There's also the matter of him trying to kill Aurora. If the other Scaleless Dragons find out about this, there'll be no way in Tartarus that he'll escape this alive."

"It does make things more difficult for him," Celestia admitted. "He deliberately tried to kill both you and Aurora. If he would've succeeded in either of those ventures, then he would've doomed the world."

"And the only reason why he didn't kill Aurora was because he probably didn't know of her ability to be reborn," Luna added.

"... I suppose," Dark sighed.

"As for him not finding your village help," Twilight softly began, "there's only one pony who can answer that."

"Yeah, but by this point, he's as likely to try killing me again as he is to speak to me."

Twilight flinched. "Perhaps, but if he did, then what do you think would happen?"

"Everypony in the village would've been saved."

"Yes, but then you probably never would've meet Nocturne."

"Considering that he's the one who killed everypony-"

"And the one who led you on the path to meeting us," Twilight gently interrupted, smiling as she saw Dark's eye raise. "I still feel horrible about what he did to everypony in Stonewall, and for how Light up and abandoned everypony, but if that never happened, then we probably would've never have met you. We wouldn't of had you as our friend, Shining would still have a vendetta with kirins, Soul would've died in the Everfree Forest from those timberwolves, and I never would've had the chance to fall in love with you."

A small smile graced Dark's lips as he leaned his head against Twilight's. "Yeah... you're right about that. So... what do I do now?"

"Like Celestia said," Twilight continued, "for now, you should try to get some rest... and maybe get something to eat as well. I bet you must be pretty hungry after going so long without anything to eat."

"Sorry, Twilight, but I don't really have much of an appetite right now."

"Alright." A smile formed on Twilight's muzzle as she snuggled her cheek up against Dark's. "And you know, we're going to be pretty busy when we get back home."

"We are?"

"Yes, we are, or have you already forgotten?"

As Dark thought about it for a moment, he caught a glint of light reflecting from Twilight's ring. Remembering of what's to come in his future, for the first time since yesterday, Dark felt a genuine smile forming. Seeing her smile in return, Dark craned his neck around and shared an affectionate kiss with Twilight. Sliding an arm around her, Dark pulled her off of him and brought her to lay down beside him to cuddle with, all the while without separating their lips. Now holding her as she held him, Dark continued their kiss a while longer before pulling away. And while the pain from Light's actions still lingered fresh in his mind, Dark didn't feel quite as dragged down as he began to feel genuinely happy again.

"You're right, we will have a lot to do," Dark agreed. Lowering his claw, he rested it over their growing foal. "We'll have to get a baby room ready. Get it foal-proofed, install some extra-soft carpeting, a crib, some quilts, baby toys-"

"Don't forget about the changing station and diapers," Twilight eagerly added.

"Oh, yes," Dark sarcastically chuckled, "I'll so be looking forward to changing stinky diapers again."

Twilight laughed, both for Dark's sarcasm about changing dirty baby diapers, and that Dark seemed to be feeling better.

"And don't forget about the wedding," she reminded him. "We'll need to talk to Pinkie and the Cakes about the wedding cake, select my bridesmaids and your groomsstallions, talk to Rarity about fitting me for a wedding dress, make a list of ponies who we want attending-"

"Considering that I don't really know that many ponies, it shouldn't be all that long," Dark said, getting a playful bop on the nose from Twilight.

"It'll be fine. Now, what else will we need...?"

"Well, if we're going to have a guest list, we'll be needing invitations. Hmmm... we'll also need to figure out the catering. My bet is that Applejack would want dibs on that."

"We're also going to need somepony to preside over the wedding ceremony."

"Ahem."

Hearing a clearing of the throat above them, Dark and Twilight remembered that they weren't alone and looked up to see both Celestia and Luna happily smiling at them. Both for Dark's improved mood, and for how eager they were for their upcoming wedding and parenthood.

"If it's alright with you two, perhaps I could do it?" Celestia offered.

Twilight's face lit up. "You would?"

She gave her a soft smile and nod. "It would be a pleasure and honor to wed you two."

Letting go of him, Twilight and Dark both sat up before pulling Celestia into a thankful hug.

"I would love for you to, Celestia," Twilight happily answered.

"Thank you, Twilight. And if you two are willing, we can hold it in Canterlot like with Cadence and Shining Armor. After all, it will be a royal wedding."

"I'm alright with it if Dark is."

Dark shrugged. "If Twilight's alright with it, then so am I."

"So, Dark," Luna spoke, "I know that you said that you didn't know of many ponies, but surely you know of some that you would like to have invited."

Dark thought it over for a minute or two before nodding, now having a few ponies in mind.

"I told Gem Cutter that I would personally invite her to our wedding after I proposed to Twilight."

"And who would she be?"

"She's the one who made Twilight's necklace and ring."

"In that case, I shall be looking forward to meeting with her. I find her craftsponyship with the necklace and ring to be very well done. Perhaps she would be willing to take a request from me?"

"I'm sure she would be more than happy to, Luna," Dark smiled.

"Anypony else you can think of?" Twilight inquired.

"Mr. Fancy Pants and Miss Fleur De Lis. They've supported us since our relationship was revealed to the public, and after talking to them during the Hearth's Warming Eve Ball, I think that they should get an invitation."

"A wise choice," Luna approved. "Those two are respected members of the Canterlot Elite, and should greatly improve your standing with them if you two were to invite them. So, anypony else?"

"Besides a few ponies from Ponyville, I'll have to go back through the letters we received. I remember a few of them showed their support to us as well, and I would like to thank them by inviting them too. Oh, also Captain Gray Diamond, and Lieutenants Saph, Emerald Lance, and Flash Sentry."

"You want Flash to come too?" Twilight questioned, unaware of Celestia and Luna wincing slightly.

"You said he was your friend, right? I just thought that you would want him there as well."

"... we'll talk about it," she hesitantly said. "So, who else should we invite?"

Dark thought about it for another moment. "Well, the Scaleless Dragons are technically my family, so they should be invited by default, along with all of your family members, our friends, and of course, Luna. I would also add Celestia to that, but since she'll be presiding over the ceremony, she doesn't count."

"Awww, I don't get counted in?" Celestia playfully pouted, causing the others to laugh before Dark had a few more ponies, or rather, people, in mind.

"Hey, what about our other friends? You know, from across the portal?"

Now it was Twilight's turn to think this over. While she did want to have all of her friends there, with them there, there could be some complications.

"... that might be kinda tricky," she answered. "While Sunset Shimmer would be alright, it might be confusing if there was suddenly two of our friends attending the wedding. Not to mention there would also be another me there."

"Personally, I hope they come," Celestia spoke. "It would be nice to see Sunset Shimmer again after so long."

"Well, if you want, they'll be coming over pretty soon for a visit."

"What? When?" Dark excitedly asked, causing Twilight to giggle.

"Looking forward to seeing them again?"

"Hey, I'll bet that you are too. And yes. While they may be otherworldly versions of our friends, they're still independent from them in their own ways."

"Is it a wise decision to have duplicates of the Elements of Harmony in the same world?" Luna questioned.

"That's why we're doing it here instead of their world," Twilight explained. "If something magical happens here, then we'll be able to fix it. But if it happened in their world, then we wouldn't have any magic to help us contain and fix it. And don't worry, I'll have a few contingency plans set just incase."

"Hmmm... very well then, Twilight," Luna agreed with a hint of skepticism. "I shall trust you in taking the necessary precautions for when they-"

Luna was cut off by the sound of something growling loudly. Looking at its source, she saw Dark with an embarrassed look while Twilight and Celestia looking knowingly at him.

"Looks like somepony's feeling better enough to be hungry after all," Luna teased with a smug look.

Dark looked down to hide his face. "I guess so."

With a nod, Celestia rose from her spot on the bed and hopped off before stretching her limbs from their stiffness.

"In that case, why don't we go grab something to eat?" she suggested. "The others were rather down when they heard about... you know who. It would be good for them to see you feeling all better about it... you are feeling better and not just trying to act like it, right?"

"Yeah, I'm feeling better. Not quite good yet, but I'm starting to feel better."

Staring at him, Celestia could see that while his eyes still held a great sorrow in them, the happiness he was starting to show on his face was genuine. Giving him a nod, she walked over to the table in the room and levitated her royal regalia that she'd left on it. Putting them back on, she kept her eyes on Dark and Twilight as they both got off of the bed before Twilight ushered Dark to the bathroom to make himself more presentable.

"You think he'll be alright, Tia?" Luna asked her as she too stood by the table and donned her regalia. "I know he said that he's feeling better, but he still has that look of hurt in his eyes, so surely he can't be over it already."

"You're right, Luna, he's far from being alright," she said before giving a sad smile. "It will take him some time to come to terms with it, but he won't be alone. As long as Twilight is there for him, he'll make it through this."

After about ten minutes of cleaning himself up, Dark came out of the bathroom fresh from the shower. With the steam still wafting off of him, Dark let out a relaxed breath as he felt fresh.

"Much better," he sighed before quickly finding Twilight alongside him.

"All set then?" she asked.

"Yeah. Sorry that I took so long."

"It's fine, now let's go. I want to have some more of that summer sausage from this morning."

Dark licked his lips as he followed Twilight, Luna, and Celestia out of their room.

"... huh... I thought your lips tasted different and familiar. I take it that it's the food cravings again?"

"Yeah," she sighed. "I've already caused some ponies some discomfort from them seeing me eating meat."

"While it's true that we ponies very rarely eat any meat, a long time ago we used to," Luna said.

"But," Celestia continued for her, "over the course of time, the practice became seen as barbaric, and ponies began migrating away from adding meat to their diet. However, with your condition, an exception can be made for it."

"Tell us, Twilight, how comfortable are you with eating meat?"

"Well, while I wasn't very fond with the idea at first, I don't really find it that bad right now," she answered. "I'm starting to get used to the thought of eating meat, just as long as it's not from anything sapient."

"Oh?" Celestia questioned. "And what about beef and other steaks from the cows?"

"... that's difficult to answer. While I know that there's beef in summer sausage, I also know of a few cows living near Ponyville that are friends with Applejack."

"If you want, we can have the gryphons send shipments of them to you. And if anypony asks about it and you want to keep your food craving a secret from everypony, you could just say that the meat's for Dark, Pyre, and Spike."

"Sounds like a good excuse," Dark thought out loud.

"It does," Twilight agreed, "but I don't want to have to lie to everypony like that."

"Then don't. If anypony asks, just remind them about Spike and I, and let them figure the rest out. That way, you won't technically be lying to them."

Twilight shook her head with a smile. "Thank you, Dark, but I can't. As a princess, I can't just lie to everypony like that. If I did, ponies would stop believing me. And what if we go out for dinner one night and I suddenly have a craving for meat again?"

"... yeaaahhh, that would cause a problem," Dark slowly agreed before giving a defeated sigh. "Alright, we'll do it your way."

Twilight leaned up against Dark and planted a kiss on his cheek. "Thank you."

Continuing their walk, they soon came upon the doors to the dining hall and entered. Once they went inside, all eyes fell on them, and before they knew it, Dark found himself in the middle of a group hug.

"Uhh, what's going on here?" Dark asked.

"We found out who your brother was at the meatin', Dark," Applejack answered him. "Ah'm sorry about Light."

"It's.... fine, Applejack."

"No it ain't. Ta have your own kin act like that ta ya... it just ain't right or fair of him."

Dark sighed with a hint of sadness as he let himself melt into their group hug. A few minutes later, they let him go and retook their seats while Dark, Twilight, Celestia, and Luna took theirs. With them sat down, Dark looked over to his side to see Soul looking sadly at him before hopping onto Dark's lap and hugging him.

"I'm sorry, too," he said.

"Hey, it's alright, Soul, I'll be fine," Dark assured.

"You sure?"

"Yeah. I'm actually feeling better."

"Maybe, but I can tell that you're still very, very sad and hurt about it."

"It... might take me some time, but I'll get better." While Soul was right, Dark didn't want it to show. So, thinking back to what he and Twilight talked about, he let those thoughts fill him before he started talking to Soul again. "But let's forget about that for now. Right now, let's try to enjoy the rest of our stay up here before we go home to Ponyville. After all, when we get back, we're gonna to have to get ready for when your baby brother or sister arrives."

Instantly, Soul's face lit up as he was reminded that he would be becoming a big brother. Seeing him in a better mood, Dark ruffled Soul's mane and sat him back in his chair before filling his plate with the food laid out before them on the table.

"So, Twilight," Rarity spoke, "have you or Dark talked about your upcoming wedding yet?"

"Actually, we have," Twilight happily answered. "I was hoping that we could talk to you and the others after lunch about it."

Later that day, Dark and Twilight sat down with their friends to ask for their parts in the wedding during the party that Pinkie had thrown them in celebration for their upcoming engagement. And while everypony eagerly agreed in their roles, none were more excited than Rarity with having the chance to make Twilight's wedding dress. With everypony having their assigned jobs, Twilight and Dark went to visit her family in Cadence's and Shining's suite. While there, Cadence and Velvet took the opportunity to squee in delight of Twilight's engagement to make up for last night.

While Twilight was busy with her mom and sister-in-law, Dark was left with Shining and Night, who were looking over Skyla. Knowing about Dark's internal struggles, Shining offered for Dark to foalsit Skyla for a while in hopes of making him feel better. Happy to keep an eye on her, Dark accepted, but not without taking Shining by surprise by asking him to be his best stallion. Despite Shining feeling a bit hesitant at first considering their past, he felt a little more comfortable with it once Dark explained to him that it's exactly because of how far they've come that he wanted Shining by his side during the wedding. Accepting in the end, Shining shared a quick bro hug with Dark before leaving him with Skyla while he and Night went out.

Now having the responsibility of watching over Skyla, Dark watched her as she played with her toys, eventually joining in when she rolled a ball over to him. After some time had passed watching her, playing games with her, and playing Peek-a-boo, Dark found himself laughing happily with his thoughts about his brother being temporarily put out of mind.

So busy having fun they were having that it wasn't until a small and cute yawn reached Dark's ears that it was brought to an end. Seeing her tiredly wiping her eyes, Dark picked Skyla up in his arms and brought her over to her crib in Cadence's and Shining's bedroom where he laid her to sleep. Tucking her in, Dark gave her a little nuzzle, earning him a tired coo before he began to softly sing her one of the lullaby's his mom used to sing to him. As he continued to sing with his focus solely on her, Dark was unaware of the small audience behind him as they watched in silence before stepping out and closing the door.

"I'm glad to see he's doing so much better," Cadence commented.

"Yeah," Twilight smiled. "But, then again, I suppose foals have that effect on ponies."

"Yes, they do," Velvet agreed. Moments later, she turned and pulled Twilight in for a hug. "He's going to make a great father for your foal, Twilight."

"If his interactions with Skyla are any indication, then I'm sure he will. Oh, speaking of foals," Twilight turned to Cadence, "Cadence, do you by chance still have-"

"A First-Time Parent's Guide On Parenthood?" she guessed with a knowing smirk. "It's on the bookshelf, right where we left it. And yes, you can borrow it."

Letting go of her mom, Twilight hugged Cadence. "Thank you. I promise to return it when we're done using it."

"Thanks, Twilight, but you might want to keep it for a while. At least, until after the first few months of your foal being born. Celestia knows Shiny and I needed it quite a few times after Skyla came along. And don't feel shy about asking Shiny or me for any help if you need it."

"Your father and I will be right here if you need anything too, sweetie," Velvet added.

"We will, mom, Cadence," Twilight answered, reaching a hoof around Velvet and pulling her into a hug with her and Cadence.

A few moments later, they heard the door quietly open with Dark walking out of the bedroom and just as quietly closing it.

"So?" Cadence questioned.

"She's asleep," Dark replied with a yawn.

"Looks like she's not the only one who's tired."

"You can thank her for that. If I would've stayed with her any longer, then I probably would've fallen asleep right there with her."

"Give it about a year and you can, but with your own foal."

"Heh, yeah, I guess so," he said.

Looking across them, Dark's eyes suddenly darted away nervously from the look Velvet was giving him. Seeing this, Velvet shook her head and sighed before walking up to Dark and pulling him into a hug.

"Now, now, now. There'll be none of that from my future son-in-law," she told him.

"Yes, mo- I mean, yes, Velvet," Dark corrected himself, earning him a giggle from the others and Velvet. "Sorry about that."

"It's quite fine, dear. I figure that you may still have some reluctance with... you know, but if you want to call me that, then you go right on ahead, I'm perfectly fine with it."

"A-Are you sure?"

"Yes, I am."

Dark relaxed himself against Velvet and draped an arm over her in a return hug.

"Thank you... mom."

"You're most welcome," Velvet said with a smile. Moments later, that smile turned to a small grin. "You know, as much as Shining loves Twilight as a little sister, he always did want a little brother to pick on and play with. Guess he finally gets to have one."

Dark chuckled. "I suppose so."

"Plus, you'll also have me as your sister, and Skyla as your niece too," Cadence chimed.

"And don't forget about me," Twilight added with a nuzzle. "Or should I say us?"

Dark chucked and returned Twilight's nuzzle while draping a wing over her. "Like I could forget about you and our baby."

"Well, you did this morning, but I guess I can let that one slide."

After a minute of them all huddled together, they moved towards the couches where they talked about Dark's and Twilight's plans for their wedding and foal. While they managed to answer most of their questions about the wedding, there was plenty to think about for the baby. Mentioning a few things, Twilight conjured her a scroll with an inkpot and quill and began adding to the list of what they would need, like bottles, a baby carriage, some formula and other baby foods, and pacifiers to name a few. A good half-hour later of talking about their future, the doors to the room opened with Shining and Night slightly panting for breath.

"Shiny? Is something wrong?" Cadence asked.

"Ehhh, maybe?" Shining unsurely answered.

"What is it?" Twilight asked.

"Well, Pyre's back, but he's not alone. They're waiting for us in the throne room to talk to us, Princesses Celestia and Luna, and Dark."

"This can't be good if he's wanting all of us," Dark muttered.

With a sigh, Cadence stood up from her spot. "Alright, let's go then. Mom? Dad? Sorry to ask, but could you look over Skyla while we're dealing with this?"

"Of course, dear," Velvet smiled. "We'll be more than happy to watch over her."

"Thank you." With Dark and Twilight behind her, Cadence walked out with Shining. "I suppose we better get Aunty Celestia and Luna first."

"Actually, I already did," Shining told her, earning him a nuzzle from Cadence.

"I knew there was a reason I married you other than your good looks and personality."

"Really?" Shining questioned with a sly grin. "I thought it was because of my massive-"

"Nope! Nope! Nope!" Twilight interrupted. "I don't wanna hear it!"

"Yeah, Shining, really," Dark agreed before a sly grin of his own formed. "Besides, I bet mine's bigger than yours."

Hearing a lack of response, Dark turned around to see Twilight, Cadence, and Shining all standing still with heavy blushes on their faces.

"What?" he innocently asked. "Don't tell me that you though that I use big weapons to compensate for something. If anything, they reflect what I've got. Just ask Twilight."

As Dark continued along as though he did nothing wrong, Twilight couldn't think that her face could get any hotter.

Did he really have to say that in front of them?! she mentally shouted as her cheeks burned. ... then again, he isn't wrong either.

"Twilight?"

Twilight slowly turned her head around to see Cadence and Shining looking at her with a variety of mixed expressions.

"Y-Yes, Cadence?" Twilight nervously asked.

"What Dark said... well..."

"He was joking, right?" Shining asked skeptically.

"... uuuhhhhhh... we should get going! Can't keep Pyre and the others waiting."

Snapping herself attention back ahead of her, Twilight hastily made her way down the halls. As she turned the corner out of Cadence's and Shining's sight, they both looked at each other with matching faces before hearing a smack echoing across the walls.

Dark and Twilight continued to the doors to the throne room with the former rubbing the sore spot on the back of his head.

"You didn't have to whack me like that," he grumbled.

"After what you did back there, you deserved it," Twilight countered.

"Okay, in my defense, it wasn't my fault. Shining should've known what he was getting into when he started going there."

"Still, you shouldn't have done that in front of them... but, if you find yourself in a spot like that again and have to, then could you please not use my name?"

"Alright." Dark retreated his claw from the back of his head. "By the way, where are Shining and Cadence?"

Twilight looked down the hall they came from. "Huh. That's weird. They should've been here a while- oh, there they are."

Following her gaze, Dark saw Cadence and Shining turn the corner. "There you two are. What took you so long?"

Shining cleared his throat. "Well, thanks to you, Dark, we had to take a little longer coming here for our blushes to die down."

Dark shrugged. "Just remember that you're the one who started this."

"Alright, that's enough you two," Cadence intervened. "If you want, you two can fight about that later, but for now, we need to find out what Pyre wants and who these guests he'd brought are."

Not waiting to hear another word, Cadence approached the doors again before a guard posted at each side opened it for her. And though they were silent when she and Twilight passed, they both quietly snickered when Dark and Shining walked past. Ignoring them, they walked in to see Celestia, Luna, Pyre in his shrunken height, and three others, one of whom was holding an egg with rainbow-colored waves dancing across it in her claws. With a smile, Dark identified the three Scaleless Dragons as Aques, Fissure, Aero, and Aurora's egg.

"There you are!"

Before Dark or Twilight could react, they both found themselves wrapped up as Aero gently coiled her body around them and hugged them both.

"I can't believe it!" she joyfully squeed. "You're having a hatchling and are getting married! Ooh! Can we come?!"

Dark chuckled as he tried his best to hug her back. "Considering that you and the others are technically my siblings, I would think that it would be a guarantee."

With another squee, Aero hugged them a little tighter until a clearing of the throat caught her attention.

"Aero, dear, I understand that you're excited to see Dark again and about the news, but could you let them go?" Aques asked, her voice smooth, wise, and motherly.

"Oh, alright, sorry," she meekly apologized, unwrapping herself and letting Dark and Twilight back down.

With them standing on their hooves again, Dark and Twilight were greeted with the sight of the other two standing before them. Now having a better look at them, Dark could see Aques' ocean-blue body was sleek like Aero's, her eyes were a sea-green, but most noticeably was that she had fins running from the base of her light-blue hair, and down her back until it ended at her tail. Fissure on the other hoof, was bulky and opted to walk on all fours. His hide also seemed to be made completely of rock instead of fur like the others, along with his eyes which appeared to be rubies, much like how Pyre mentioned them once before.

"Hello, Dark, Princess Twilight. My name is Aques, Lady of Water," she introduced. "I'm sorry for not speaking to you sooner during that stallion's trial, but we were only there to observe you, not to talk. And the fact that you're our youngest sibling makes me all the more sorry."

"That's alright," Dark replied. "It probably wasn't the best time anyway. Besides, I was still kinda upset with Inferno."

"Thank you."

Twilight took a few steps forward and extended a hoof. "It's a pleasure to meet you, Lady Aques."

Aques understood the gesture and met her hoof with her claw. "The pleasure is all mine, sister."

Twilight blushed and looked away. "T-Thank you."

Aques gave a small laugh. "No need to be so shy about it, my dear. And please, you're practically family, so there's no need for such formalities."

Twilight nodded. "In that case, you don't need to call me Princess." Her gaze fell upon the egg she was holding. "Um, sorry to ask, but that egg..."

"It's Aurora," the one next to her spoke, his voice low and rumbly. "Fissure, Lord of Earth."

"I'm sorry about our brother," Aero apologized floating along side them. "Fissure doesn't speak nearly as much as the rest of us."

"It's alright," Dark dismissed. "Just as long as I can talk to him, it'll be fine."

"Good," Fissure nodded.

"Sorry, but back to the egg," Twilight redirected. "Fissure, you said that this egg is Aurora?"

"Yes."

Twilight eyed the egg out in Aques' hold, and before she knew it, she found herself staring. Snapping herself out of it, she blinked and looked to them with an apologetic look.

"Sorry about that."

"It's fine, Twilight," Aques dismissed. "Actually, would you like to hold her egg?"

Though Twilight was ecstatic at the opportunity, she was also nervous. "Are you sure?"

"I am, and I know that out of all of us, she'd probably like you the most. Besides, you'll want to practice holding an egg for when you have yours."

"You know that we don't know if its an egg or not yet, right?" Dark questioned.

"Regardless, it's good for her to have some practice, just incase. Isn't that right, Twilight?"

Twilight blushed heavily as she meekly nodded. Taking the egg with her magic, she sat down and placed it on her lap. With its colors flowing along its surface, Twilight gently stroked the egg as she remembered Spike's egg when she first saw it. With the egg being a little over a foot tall, she found herself hugging it and draping her wings over it to keep it warm. As Twilight held the egg close, a light began to show from it, causing her to jerk her head back in surprise. But, apart from the comfortable warmth, Twilight felt nothing dangerous from it.

"Seems like she likes you," Aques commented with a smile.

"How can you tell?" Twilight wondered.

"She may be confined to an egg, but she can still hear and sense what's going on around her." Aques paused when she got strange looks from Dark and the ponies. "This isn't the first time this has happened to her, and she told us what it was like inside an egg, since she still retains her memories."

"So she's alright with what I'm doing?"

"She is," Aero agreed. As she continued to hover and watch, her smile grew as a light began to show from both Aurora's egg, and now Twilight's belly. "And it looks like she likes your hatchling too. Then again, none of us have ever had any children before, so being an aunt or uncle will be new and kinda exciting for us."

Smiling, Twilight leaned down and began to gently nuzzle the egg.

"Thank you, Aurora," she whispered, eliciting another glow from the egg.

"As sweet at this is," Pyre interrupted, "we still have stuff to talk about."

Aero huffed and crossed her arms. "Did you really have to interrupt such a sweet moment? I mean, how often is it that Aurora blesses an unborn baby?"

"Still, we have important things to talk about." Pyre's gaze fell upon Dark. "Meaning your brother, Dark."

Dark's eyes widened in worry. Crap, he knows!

"Dark," Aques spoke, placing a claw on his shoulder, "I'm sorry, but we need to discuss how to go about him."

While Dark wanted to protest, he found himself lacking the words or strength to. Feeling the emotions from earlier return, Dark reluctantly nodded and moved to take a seat at the table from yesterday with his head lowered. Soon after he sat himself down, he heard Twilight move her seat cushion beside his before feeling her sitting next to him and leaning up against him with Aurora's egg sitting on her lap. With her wing draped across his back in a hug, Dark leaned into Twilight as she started to nuzzle him supporting and comfortingly.

"Now then," Celestia began after she and the others got seated, "for Dark's sake, why don't we try to make this short?"

"I take it that he hasn't been handling this very well?" Pyre guessed.

"No, he hasn't," Twilight answered. "It wasn't until we started talking about our foal and the wedding that he started getting better, and it seemed like it was pretty much forgotten when he was playing with Skyla."

"Who?" Aques questioned.

"The baby pony I told you about when I went to visit Dark during the winter, remember?" Aero reminded.

"Ah, yes."

"Anyway," Twilight continued, "Dark hasn't been taking it very well, considering... you know."

"It's to be expected," Fissure said, getting a nod from the others.

"But that doesn't change the fact that he aligned himself with Sombra," Luna spoke before levitating a black feather in a glass jar and setting it on the table. "Speaking of him, I have the test results from this feather Dark found in him."

"Don't you mean on him?" Aero corrected.

"No. According to Dark, when Sombra was defeated, he found this feather inside Sombra's ribcage."

"What? Why would a feather be in a pony's chest?"

"We don't know, but the real question is what this feather is exactly."

"Isn't it just a feather?"

Luna shook her head. "According to the test results, there's nothing."

Twilight's ears perked up. "What do you mean 'nothing'?"

"Exactly that. What we have here is indeed a feather, but it lacks anything, like a void of some kind."

"Can I see the test results?"

With a nod, Luna levitated the papers over to Twilight. Taking them and looking them over with a scrutinizing eye, she began to swiftly read through them. It took her a minute until she'd read it through, but was left confused and read it over again. After the third time, she looked back up to Luna.

"There must be some kind of mistake," Twilight said.

"That's what I said," Luna agreed. "However, the ponies who ran the tests did so multiple times with each ending with the same result."

"Maybe they're wrong?"

"Twilight," Shining spoke, "the Crystal Empire's scientists are rarely wrong, and if they redid the tests and kept coming up with the same results, then that's what it is."

"But that can't be!" she exclaimed. "These results say that this feather has no organic or inorganic components at all! By all rights, this thing shouldn't even exist!"

"It is strange," Celestia commented in thought. "Perhaps Discord might know of it. After all, when it comes to unexplainable things, he would probably be best to answer them."

Pyre huffed and folded his arms. "If so, then why can't he explain that pink terror?"

"Seems like nopony can explain Pinkie Pie," Luna said. "But back to what we were originally talking about, we'll keep the feather locked up for Discord to take a look at."

"We can keep it here in the vault if you want?" Cadence offered.

"Thank you, Cadence. Now, back to the topic of Light Wing. How is it that you know about Dark's brother?"

"Pyre told us on our way here," Aero answered her. "When I heard Sombra's voice on the winds, I told Fissure and Aques, and we took Aurora's egg and made for here. We were just about to come to the shoreline when we saw Pyre coming towards us. He explained the rest on the way here."

"That explains why Pyre got back sooner than expected, but again, how do you know about Light?"

"That was me," Fissure spoke. "Rin called me about Light Wing."

"You mean Rin as in the Dragon Counsel Elder?" Twilight remembered, gaining a nod from him.

"Yes. He saw Light speak with Inferno."

"But why would he be involved with him?" Celestia wondered.

"Don't know, but while aligned, Rin said they didn't sound too friendly."

"Sounds like their alliance is rather unsteady," Shining commented.

"Yes. Inferno also mentioned having sent a few dragons on some mission. They should be close to Equestria by now, if not already here."

"You don't believe that Inferno is preparing for war, do you?" Cadence unsurely asked. "After all, we just got done with Sombra, which, by the way, I haven't thanked you for yet, Dark."

"Hmm?" Dark mumbled, his mind still on his brother aligning himself with Inferno.

"You've revived many of our troops last night. If it weren't for you, our forces would've fallen, and the Crystal Empire would've been overrun. So thank you, for everything that you've done for us. Shiny and I will never forget it, and neither will the crystal guard."

"Uh... you're welcome," he replied, surprised by her words and lightening his mood a little bit to where he was paying more attention.

"As true as Cadence's words are about your part, Dark," Celestia spoke, "she may also be right about Inferno preparing for war."

"Could Equestria even handle it?" Twilight unsurely asked.

"We have plenty of resources to support a long-time war if we need to, but I would prefer to avoid it all together."

"We shall need to send an ambassador to negotiate with them," Luna voiced with a small smile. "And I might know just the ponies to send."

Dark's eyes narrowed when he saw her looking directly at him and Twilight.

"No."

Luna blinked. "Pardon?"

"We wouldn't be good picks for going."

"Why not?" Twilight questioned. "I wouldn't mind finally having a chance to act as a representative of Equestria to a foreign nation, especially if it's to maintain peace between us and the Dragon Kingdom."

"It's because I don't want to endanger you, Twilight."

Twilight frowned. "It's because I'm pregnant, isn't it?"

"It's not just that this time, Twilight. They've had a target on my back for years now. What do you think would happen if negotiations fell through and they find out that we're not only engaged, but that you're also carrying my foal with you? They may not wait for us to leave before targeting you and the baby to get to me."

"While you make a fair and valid point, Dark," Aques spoke, "I doubt that you two will have to worry about that."

Dark looked at her in surprise. "What? Why wouldn't I worry about my fiancé and unborn child being targeted by Inferno?!"

"Because, while Inferno may hate you and have wanted you dead, he knows better than to risk the wrath of a Scaleless Dragon, let alone five of us. And yes, I'm including you as one of us Scaleless Dragons, Dark."

"And if he threatens one of us, he'll have to deal with all of us," Aero added.

"That's why I've assembled the others," Pyre spoke. "Since both you and Aurora were attacked by the same pony, we've gathered to watch over you two and to take care of him."

Dark glared at Pyre upon hearing that last part. "I hope you're not suggesting what I think you are."

Celestia gave Dark a sad and almost pleading look. "Dark, while I understand that you still care for Light, you need to look at all that he's done."

"And before you even think about it," Luna quickly spoke, "no, I never intended on harming Equestria as Nightmare Moon. When I wanted eternal night, plans had been made that would sustain Equestria during the never-ending night. Ponies and vegetation wouldn't wither or die from the cold, but instead would have thrived. Of course, that was all lost after my banishment, and it was my top scientists that had created them, so I can't recreate any of it."

"... alright, so you would've kept Equestria alive," Dark grumbled. "But Light-"

"Has threatened more than you may know," Aques said. "No apprentice is taken on without them first knowing everything there is to know about us. That was one of the first things we made clear if we were to take on one before Sombra betrayed Nocturne."

She's right, Nocturne commented from within Dark's mind. Among the first five things they were to learn, that was one of them.

Thanks for telling me this now after what's happened, Dark bitterly thought. By the way, you want me to let you out to talk with them?

No, and don't you dare pull another stunt like with what you did with Pyre.

Don't worry, I'm not even in the mood for trying it.

Good... and hey, sorry about your brother.

With his mental chat with Nocturne over with, Dark returned his attention back to the others. "So... what does this mean about Light?"

"It means that your brother, Dark, knew what he was doing. He knew that we kept the balance of this world in check, and yet he still tried to kill Aurora. Thankfully, it looks like he didn't know about her ability to be reborn as an egg. But don't you see, Dark? Without Aurora, there's no more new life being born. Without me, the seas will flood the land before the ice freezes over it."

"Without me, the skies will be filled with lightning, and tornadoes and hurricanes will dance across the world," Aero said.

"Without me, fire will rain down from above while the world is burnt to ashes," Pyre voiced.

"The earth shall shatter and fall apart should I die," Fissure rumbled.

All eyes were on Dark now and he sighed. "And without me, the dead shall rise and plague the land in undeath."

"Now you see?" Celestia asked, getting a small nod from Dark. With a sympathetic look, Celestia got up and walked over so she could place a comforting hoof over his shoulder. "Dark, if there was any way that we could prevent Light's fate, then I would do so in a heartbeat. But, if he's deliberately threatening the balance of the world, then I can't afford to take any risks."

"Which brings us to this," Pyre said before taking in a deep breath. "You may not want to hear this, Dark, but it will have to be put to a vote. And while a decision like this would normally be between just us Scaleless Dragons, considering how close you are to these ponies and that the one responsible is a pony as well, they should get a say in this."

Dark was hesitant, but had a uneasy feeling at where this was going to lead.

"And... that would be?"

Pyre frowned. "A vote for the death of Light Wing."

"But I thought that the death sentence was banned in Equestria?"

"It is," Celestia spoke, "but this isn't a death sentence. And besides, he's not just a dangerous threat to Equestria, but to the whole world. He's already made several attempts at not only you, but the rest of us as well, or have you forgotten when he personally led his fleet of manticores and army of timberwolves to attack Twilight's castle with the intent of attacking her?"

Dark winced as those memories returned.

"I'm sorry, Dark, but like I said, if there was another way, then I would take it. But, for the sake of my little ponies, and for every other creature on this world, my vote is yes."

"Yes," Pyre voiced.

"Yes," Fissure agreed.

"I'm sorry too, Dark," Aero apologetically said, "but I have to agree with them."

"As do I, Dark," Aques nodded.

Dark looked hopefully to Luna, who's gaze fell.

"I apologize for this," she regretfully began, "but while I do empathize with Light, he's far more dangerous than what I ever was as Nightmare Moon."

"I have to say yes," Shining sighed. "Don't take this the wrong way, Dark. While I have grown to like you, Light's like Sombra, and I can't risk having another pony like him wandering around freely."

"And I have to agree with Shiny," Cadence agreed, though showing that she wished that they didn't have to.

Dark's eyes fell upon Twilight, who nervously began petting Aurora's egg. Seeing how nervous she was, Dark gave a sigh and placed a claw on her shoulder.

"Twilight?"

"Y-Yes?" she nervously answered.

"It's alright," Dark simply said.

"What is?"

"I see how uncomfortable this is making you. If you're worried about your answer, then don't. It won't change how I feel about you or see you. All I want is your honest opinion on this."

Twilight looked away with guilt. "Dark... you know that I love you, but..." Twilight sighed and lowered herself. "I know that he's your brother and that you still hope that he'll come around, but I don't want to risk losing you to him again. It was bad enough when he sent you away to the other world, but things are different now."

Twilight sniffled and wiped a tear from her eyes.

"I don't want to risk you dying to Light and having me raise our child alone in a world of undead."

Not wanting to see Twilight sad like this, Dark stretched his wing around her and pulled her in for a hug. Wrapping his arms around her, Dark began to gently and reassuringly nuzzle her.

"Thank you, Twilight," he whispered. "Please, don't feel bad about being honest with me. And don't worry, I promise I won't leave you alone like that."

Feeling her nod against him, Dark looked up to face the others. "You all know where I stand on this. But, if Light is to... you know, then could I ask a favor?"

"Of course, Dark," Celestia sadly smiled. "What is it that you wish?"

"Just don't make me the one who has to do it. He's only an apprentice, so he shouldn't be bound by the requirements to die like I am."

"Of course. We would never ask you to do such a thing anyway."

"Thank you, Princess," he thanked, though saddened for Light's fate, he was at least a little happy that he wouldn't have to be the one to carry out his sentence.

"If we're in agreement, then I believe that this meeting is over," Pyre announced, getting a nod from everyone present.

Just as everyone got up to leave, Aero spoke up.

"So, Dark, when do we get to go back with you and the others to Ponyville?" she eagerly asked.

That made Dark pause. "What do you mean?"

"I said that we're here to watch over you and Aurora," Pyre reminded him. "That means that Aero, Aques, and Fissure will be staying with us at the castle in Ponyville. Oh, and Aurora's egg as well. That is, if Twilight will allow for it."

Surprised by his answer, Dark looked at Twilight for hers. And while she was hesitant at first, she surprised Dark when she smiled and nodded.

"It wouldn't hurt to have the extra security," she said. "And besides Spike having some more friendly dragons to talk to, they are also your family, Dark. This will give us a chance to get to know them better." And maybe run a few tests on them too if they're willing.

Chapter 72- Clearing the Air

Two days had past since the meeting about Light's fate. Since then, everyone did their best to relax and recuperate from the attack just a few days prior. Cadence no longer felt her horn continuously hurting her, but she still couldn't use any magic yet without hurting herself. Even the smallest spark of magic sent her recoiling from the pain. Those who were affected by Sombra's spell had recovered without any physical or psychological damage done to them, but Luna did have to help quell some of their dreams. Thankfully, it was for only one night that she was needed. However, Rainbow wasn't as lucky.

When the doctors from Canterlot arrived, they ran a few tests on her eyes, but they were unable to repair the damage done to them. Devastated by the news, Rainbow considered just locking herself in her room, but a few reassuring words from Fluttershy gave her hope that she could get her eyes back upon their return to Ponyville. Until then, Rainbow would just have to bear with it. Thankfully, the Crusaders and Soul had to get back to Ponyville for school, so everyone but Dark, Twilight, and the Scaleless Dragons said their goodbyes and gave their thanks for letting them come over before they left. But before they did, Twilight, having also learned Dark's Second Sight spell along with his Soul Eyes, casted it on Rainbow so that she could use them to see until her eyes were restored.

Gray and Emerald were alright for the most part, where as Saph and those whom were revived by Dark's magic on the other hoof were ordered by Shining and Cadence to see a psychologist to talk about what happened to them. While they were happy that they were all alive, Shining and Cadence were also concerned for their mental state from being killed and later resurrected like they were. And while things seemed to be going alright for them, Dark wasn't all that well.

Even though he was feeling a little better thanks to the efforts of Twilight, his friends, future in-laws, and the Scaleless Dragons while awake, he woke up Twilight both nights when he started to cry in his sleep again. While he tried his best to be happy again and not show his sadness during the daytime, his subconscious betrayed him during the night, revealing to Twilight what was hidden beneath it all as he wept for both his brother's betrayal, and his fate.

Saddened to still see him like this, Twilight would gently hold the still-sleeping Dark close to her and let him cry into her chest as she whispered words of reassurance into his ears. For both nights this had happened, and both times she would do what she could to help comfort him. After they woke up in the morning, she told him about what had happened with Dark apologizing afterwards. But, what made this hardest for her was the fact that she felt like she couldn't do more to help him, knowing that this was a problem that only Dark could take care of with time. Until that time came, Twilight promised herself that she would continue doing what she could to help him through it.

Now going into their third morning, Twilight groggily woke up from another night of soothing Dark in his sleep. Sadly frowning, she held him closer as she nuzzled into his mane, eliciting a moan from him. Watching as he stirred, she continued this act of affection towards him until she felt him nuzzling back into her neck.

"Good morning," Dark tiredly muttered.

"Good morning," Twilight returned.

Reaching a hoof down, she lifted Dark's head up to face her before she shared a tender kiss with him. A few minutes later, she broke their kiss and continued to nuzzle against his head.

"Everything alright?" he asked.

Twilight gave a sad sigh as she locked her eyes on his again. "It happened again last night."

Dark bit his lower lip as he felt unsure of what to say. Each morning he would apologize to her, but he knew that no matter how much he wanted to, he couldn't help himself while asleep. With apologies being useless by now in his mind, Dark instead gave a sigh before returning to nuzzling Twilight back and wrapping his arms around her.

"Hey... Dark?" Twilight gingerly asked.

"Yeah?" he answered, noting the caution in her voice.

"Umm... it's just a suggestion, and please don't feel upset by my suggesting this, but maybe you should talk to somepony about what you're feeling?"

"I've already done that, Twilight. I've talked to you and the princesses about what I've been feeling."

"True, but have you told us everything?"

"Yes, I have. I swear, Twilight, I'm not hiding anything."

Twilight took Dark's head in her hooves and pulled back to look into his eyes. Seeing no signs of deceit behind them, she sighed and leaned her forehead against his.

"I know, Dark," she whispered, "but perhaps you should go talk to one of the psychologists anyway. Perhaps they could give you some ideas on how to continue forward?"

"I don't know, Twilight," Dark muttered. "Like I said, I've already talked to you and Princess Celestia and Luna about my past with Light, and how I've been feeling lately. Heck, even the Scaleless Dragons were willing to listen and give me their individual input on it. In the end, you all said that I'll just have to come to terms with it over time. Maybe not word-for-word, but you get it."

"Yeah." Twilight sighed and rested her chin on his head. "Alright. While I think it may help for you to talk to one, I won't pester you further for you to if you don't want to."

Dark leaned up and placed a peck on Twilight's lips. "Never think that you're pestering me, Twilight. Maybe slightly annoy when you're on one of your reshelving rampages, but that just comes with the package that is you."

Twilight gave a playful frown. "You know that I like to reshelve my books."

"I know," he said with a small smile. "That's why I like to tease you about it once in a while, just like how you occasionally tease me about when I became a mare."

Twilight smirked. "Come on now, you know that being a mare isn't that bad." With little effort, she surprised Dark as she quickly pushed him onto his back while she stood over him with a hungry grin. "You know, you should consider yourself lucky."

Dark quirked an eyebrow as a small grin began to show. "And why's that?"

Twilight lowered herself until she was laying on top of him while idly circling a hoof on his chest.

"Because, you're one of the few males who knows just what it takes to make a mare tick."

Recognizing that seductive tone of hers, Dark grinned before he felt Twilight's lips pressed against his and felt her tongue invading his mouth. With a throaty growl, Dark rolled them over with him now on top while fighting back. Feeling her tongue retreat, Dark pressed forward into hers as he heard her moan and felt her hooves wrap around the back of his neck, pulling him in even further. But before they could take this any further, Dark separated their lips, both of them panting with a displeased pout on Twilight's muzzle.

"Why'd you stop?" she inquired.

Dark gulped and glanced down towards Twilight's belly before looking back up to her eyes.

"Should... should we even do this with the baby?" he unsurely wondered.

Twilight looked down at herself with a hint of worry for a moment. Faintly blushing, she remembered the rather embarrassing talk Cadence and her mother had given her about this specific subject... amongst other things.

"Umm... well, it should be alright."

"Are you sure?" Dark questioned. "I don't want to hurt you or the baby."

"I'm sure," she nodded. "Just... be careful... and gentle, alright?"

Dark leaned down and affectionately nuzzled her cheek. "Of course, Twilight. Oh, before we begin."

Dark flared his wings and allowed for the shadows to come flowing off of them. Within seconds, their bed was covered in a layer of black fog before they spilled off the sides and began forming a dome around them. Soon enough, Dark and Twilight were concealed in a soundproof dome of black fog surrounding their bed.

"There," he said satisfactory, "now we can have our privacy and won't disturb anypony with the noise."

"And what if somepony comes in?" she questioned.

Dark shrugged. "They'll probably just leave and think that I need to be alone for a while, which I will... with you."

With a heated, half-lidded gaze, Twilight pulled herself up and nibbled on Dark's ear, causing his body to shudder in pleasure.

"Then what are you waiting for?" she whispered in his ear. "Come on, big boy."

An hour later after their activities, Dark dried himself and Twilight off after soaking under the shower and cleaning themselves up before they left together to grab something to eat. With the exertion from earlier, they were both hungry and needed to replenish their lost energy. Of course, while both of their stomachs rumbled, neither paid much attention with Dark having a content smile on his face, and Twilight walking with a little extra spring in her step. Along the way to the dining hall, they turned a corner and came across another pony, one whom Twilight was happy to see as she ran up and gave him a friendly hug.

"Flash! You're better!" Twilight happily exclaimed, unaware of his pained grunt.

"Ngh. Not quite," he wheezed.

With a squeak, Twilight let go of him as he grunted in pain. "Sorry about that, Flash. I thought that with you wandering around that you were all better."

"Not exactly, Princess."

Twilight's smile fell a little. "Flash, we're friends, so you don't have to call me that."

"I know."

"... anyway, if you're not better, then why are you up and about?"

"I may not be completely healed yet, but I don't need to stay in the medical wing either. Besides, it gets boring when you're cooped up in there."

"Tell me about it," Dark grumbled in agreement.

Flash's eyes hardened at the sound of Dark's voice, his sight peering past Twilight to see him as he walked up to join them. Remembering his training, Flash put on his stoic guard face.

"The doctors said that I have you to thank for my speedy recovery," Flash directed at Dark. "I also heard a rumor that you resurrected a bunch of our guards during Sombra's attack before fighting and defeating Sombra himself."

Dark scratched the back of his head. "You know?"

Flash snorted. "Everypony knows. Hay, the entire Crystal Empire and probably all of Equestria knows by now. Where have you been all this time?"

"Mostly in either my room, the dining hall, or visiting Cadence, Shining, and Skyla. I haven't really explored more than that since the attack."

Twilight placed a hoof on Dark's back and gently rubbed it. "Dark's been having some difficulty with... stuff."

Flash glared at Dark. "You're talking about his brother Light Wing, right, Princess?"

Dark's head snapped up. "How'd you-"

"I'm a Lieutenant of the crystal guard, so it's my job to know of any threats that could endanger the empire. Speaking of, are you going to kill him like your title implies."

Now it was Dark's gaze that'd hardened. "Excuse me?"

"I know what you are as well as who your brother is. So tell me, Lord of Death, are you going to do your job and kill Light or not?"

"Now hold on a minute, Flash," Twilight firmly spoke. "Even if you're my friend, you're starting to get out of line. Nopony talks to my fiancé like that, especially since he's saved so many ponies during Sombra's attack, possibly even you too."

The lights suddenly began to dim as a darkness started to settle in. With the hallway dimly lit, Twilight and Flash looked back at Dark to see his glowing red eyes piercing the darkness.

"Did you seriously just ask me to kill my brother?" Dark growled threateningly.

Feeling like he'd made a mistake, Flash slowly backed away and bowed.

"Sorry for my outburst, Princess," he apologized. "You were right, I was out of line there."

"Thanks, but I don't think that I'm the one that you should be apologizing to," Twilight told him, nodding over to Dark.

"Right." Flash turned to Dark and bowed, but maintained his glare. "Sorry about that."

With a throaty growl, Dark's shadows receded and his eyes reverted back to normal.

"Yeah, sure," he grumbled, noticing the look in Flash's eyes and not completely buying it.

"Well," Flash began as he got back up, "I better get going. I need to report back to Captain Gray now that I'm out of that hospital. Have a nice day, Princess Twilight... Prince Dark. Oh, and congratulations on your foal and upcoming marriage."

Without another word, Flash walked past them down the hall and around the corner. With him gone, Dark massaged his temples while Twilight looked disapprovingly at where Flash left.

"Is it just me, or did his voice have a bit of edge to that last part?" Dark questioned.

"No, it did," Twilight upsettingly agreed. "I don't get what his problem is. I've never seen him act like this before to anypony."

"Well, it better not be because he was hurt and had to miss out on the battle."

"Either way, I'm going to bring this up with Shiny and Cadence. Maybe they'll know what's going on with him."

"Alright." Continuing down the hall, one of Flash's words struck Dark. "What did he mean when he called me 'Prince'?"

Twilight blushed. "Oh, that. Well, you know that once we're married, you'll be carrying the title of Prince like Shiny, right?"

"... huh. Actually, I didn't even think of that."

"Really? You never considered the fact that you would become a prince after we got married?"

"Well excuuuuuuuse me, Princ-" Dark was cut off when Twilight shoved a hoof over his mouth and silenced him. It wasn't until she removed it with a frown that he spoke. "What was that for?"

Twilight gave a disappointed sigh and shook her head. "No, Dark. Just no."

Leaving it at that, Twilight went on ahead, leaving Dark standing there confused before he started to catch up to her.

"What? Was it something I said?"

Twilight and Dark were sitting on one of the couches in Cadence's and Shining's suite with Skyla sitting on Dark's lap. After they got themselves something to eat, true to her word, Twilight and Dark went straight to them to see what was up with Flash's unusual attitude. Having just finished her recount about their meeting with flash, Cadence and Shining shared a knowing look with each other.

"So, do you two know what's going on with him?" Twilight asked.

"We do, Twilight, but it's not that easy," Cadence said.

"Why? What could be so bad that Flash would start acting like this? He's my friend, so what would cause this from him?"

Shining patted Cadence's shoulder. "You can take this one."

"And why's that?" she questioned. "Why can't you tell her?"

"Because you're the Princess of Love and this sort of problem is right up your alley?"

"... okay, fair enough." Cadence sighed and turned to Twilight with a soft yet sad look. "Look, Twilight, you know how you and Flash have been friends for a few years now?"

"Yes, I know, but what does that have to do with this?"

"Just give me a moment and I'll get there. Anyway, you two have been friends for so long that over the course of time, Flash's feelings towards you have... gone beyond just friendship."

Twilight took a moment to process it before she understood what Cadence meant. With rosy cheeks, Twilight's mouth was slightly agape as she looked between her and Shining.

"Really? How long has he felt like this?" Twilight asked.

"About a year after you two met," Shining answered. "To be honest, I was actually kinda pulling for him until Dark and I mended things."

"But why didn't he say anything?"

"It was because of the distance between you two," Cadence sadly answered.

"But he had a chance to when he came to Ponyville with Shining... and why didn't he ask for some time off to come and visit if he felt that way?"

"I'm sorry, Twilight, but I can't answer that. Maybe he was waiting for the right time to talk to you about it, maybe he was nervous and couldn't. Either way, I don't know."

Twilight slumped down into the couch. "And now that he and everypony else knows about my pregnancy and engagement... I can't imagine how he must've felt when he heard it."

"As soon as he did, he requested to go scouting for Sombra," Shining spoke before giving a hollowed chuckle. "I know that it's kinda cruel to say, but thanks to his broken heart, he found Sombra and warned us before his forces invaded the Crystal Empire."

Twilight silently nodded before turning to her side. "What about you, Dark? You've been awfully quiet lately. How do you feel about this?"

Dark looked down to see Skyla having fallen asleep in his arms.

"I feel... conflicted," he admitted. "To be honest, I want to be mad with him for what he said to me, but I also want to feel sorry for him. It's bad enough that he liked you like that and then suddenly learned our engagement and foal, but if we were to actually invite him to the wedding like I'd originally thought, then that would be like a kick to the balls for him."

"Yeah, I can see that," Shining figured with a nod.

"Yeah, but it's not just that. I'm sure his pride's pretty hurt too, not just because of that, but because he's known Twilight for years, and then here I come from out of nowhere and am starting a family with her." There was a silence for a few moments before Dark spoke back up again. "So, what should we do about Flash? Granted he was rather edgy towards me, but I think that was mostly out of him being hurt more than angry."

"I don't want to discipline him considering what this involves, but I'm not sure," Cadence voiced.

"Actually," Shining began, "I might have an idea. Plus, it would have the added benefit for him to try and vent."

"What? Are you going to have him fight me?" Dark chuckled, only to see that Shining wasn't laughing with him. "... wait, you're joking, right? You're not gonna actually have him fight me, are you?"

"... okay, maybe not. It did sound like a good idea at first, but I'm pretty sure you'd just wipe the floor with him."

Dark deadpanned. "I could beat him before he even got off the ground if I wanted."

"Exactly. So, any other ideas?"

Twilight shrugged. "We could always do it the old fashioned way."

Ten minutes later, Twilight, Cadence, and Dark were waiting for Shining to return.

"Are you sure this is a good idea, Twilight?" Cadence questioned. "I mean, yes, this is a good idea, but aren't you worried that they might try to fight?"

"If it does come to that, then I'll stop them," Twilight answered.

"Or you could send them down to the training grounds until they get it all out of their systems."

"You know that more than likely it'll be him who tries to start it, right?" Dark spoke.

"Maybe, but if you two do start to fight, then I'd rather have it outside instead of in our room," Cadence told him.

"Yeah, but still, if anypony's going to have a reason to start something, more than likely it'll be him."

"I hope not," Twilight said. Moments later, her ears flicked as she heard hoofsteps approaching the door. "Sounds like they're just about here."

Few seconds later, Shining opened the door and walked in with Flash following behind him. As soon as they were in, Flash's eyes hardened and he turned around just in time for Shining to close the door on him.

"No. You're going to talk about this," Shining said with finality.

"At least, you, Twilight, and Dark are," Cadence voiced with Skyla sleeping on her back. "Shiny and I are going to go have some lunch with Skyla. Now, I want you three to play nice while we're gone, and if you feel like you need to get it all out of your system and fight, then I'd prefer that you'd use the training grounds."

With her sleeping daughter, Cadence walked over to the door that Shining began holding open for her and left with him. Now all alone with them, Flash sighed and muttered beneath his breath as he stood there.

"Would you come and take a seat, Flash?" Twilight asked, gesturing to the empty couch across from her and Dark with a hoof.

Silently and slowly, Flash made his way past them and took a seat on the couch opposite from them.

"Yes, Princess?" he asked, causing Twilight to sigh again.

"Look, Flash, I understand that you're upset right now, but I'd prefer that my friends not address me by my royal title."

"Yeah... friend..."

Twilight brought a hoof up to her forehead and rubbed it. "Look, Shiny and Cadence already told me, Flash. You don't have to hide your feelings anymore. Come on, tell me."

Flash suddenly felt exposed as his secret feelings towards Twilight was revealed to her. Unable to speak, he directed his gaze away from her towards the ground and remained silent.

"You were called here so that you could talk to us," Dark spoke. "You're not in any trouble. Twilight and I are here to listen to what you have to say without judging you, nothing more."

Flash's head snapped up and directed his angry glare directly at Dark. "You want to talk, huh? Well, what if I have some questions?"

"Then we'll be here to answer them," Twilight answered him.

"Alright then. In that case, why him, hmm? What makes him so special that you would chose him over me? Is it because he's a lord and I'm just a guard?"

Twilight took a breath and remained calm. "No. We didn't even know for sure about Dark's title as Lord of Death until after we began dating. And the reason for why I chose him over you was because he asked me first."

"But that's not fair, though! He's been living with you and-"

"According to my brother and Cadence, you've had a crush on me for years, Flash," Twilight gently interrupted. "You've had plenty of time to ask me, and to be honest, I might've taken you up on your offer before Dark came along. For years you could've requested some time off to come and visit, or you could've asked me when I came up to the Crystal Empire for a visit, but you didn't. Heck, you could've even asked me when you came to Ponyville with Shiny last year before Dark asked me that following week." Even though I more than likely would've declined after the effort Dark and I tried putting into us trying to get together.

"Like I would ask during a stressful time like that," he snorted with crossed hooves.

"Okay, that's a fair excuse for that, but what about the rest?"

Flash bit his lip and looked away. Seeing that he didn't have an answer for her, Twilight's voice took on a more gentler tone.

"Listen, I know that you still have feelings for me and had hoped that we could become more than just friends, but I'm with Dark now, and that's who I'm staying with. Now, I know that we may not be special someponies, but perhaps we can still be friends... right?"

Flash's ears wilted as his face fell from permanently being friend zoned. Yeah... friends...

"Flash?"

"... sure. I guess we are... just friends..."

A small smile formed on Twilight's lips. "Thank you, Flash."

"Sure."

"Um... so, this may be a bad time, but we may not have another chance to ask you in person. Dark and I were wondering that since you're my friend if... well... would you come to our wedding? I know that this is hard for you, but I would like it if all of my friends were there to support us."

Wincing from being asked, Flash solemnly shook his head. "Thank you for the offer, Twilight, but I think that it would be better for everypony if I didn't come."

Twilight's smile faded and took on a saddened and hurt expression. "But-"

"It's better this way. Having to come to terms about all of this is hard enough, but I don't know what I'd do if I did come."

"I... I understand."

Dark placed a claw on her back and rubbed it comfortingly.

"As for you, Dark," Flash continued as he got up and stretched, "I want to see just what you can do."

Dark turned from Twilight to give Flash a deadpan stare. "What."

"Princess Cadence said that we could fight in the training grounds, so come on."

"And what would that prove?"

"Like I said, I want to know what you can do. I want to see just what I'm up against with you."

"... this is a stupid idea, Flash, and you know it."

"Maybe, but I know that I'll feel a little better after I get to hit you a few times."

Dark gave an irritated sigh and got up from his spot on his and Twilight's couch. "You know, after what you said about me and my brother earlier today, I honestly wouldn't mind mopping the floor with you. But, I also know that not only would it not be a fair fight to you, but it'll also get me nothing but grief from others."

"So what? Is that a no?"

"It is. I won't fight you."

"Well, I could always challenge you to a duel. That way, you couldn't ignore it and would have to-"

Flash didn't have any time to react as Dark Shadowported in front of him, and with one of his shadow-covered claws, grabbed him by his neck and lifted him off of the ground with ease. However, instead of feeling a lack of oxygen from having his throat gripped, Flash felt perfectly fine, like a weight had been removed from him. Of course, this didn't mean that he was comfortable being handled like this and threw a punch at Dark... only for his translucent pale-blue hoof to phase through him.

Bringing his hooves up, Flash looked at them in confusion before he noticed something laying on the ground. Moving his hooves off to the side, Flash's eyes widened in fear as he saw his own body laying lifelessly on the ground with its eyes and face locked in a look of shock. Now thoroughly scared, Flash slowly looked back over to face Dark, who still held him off the ground by the neck.

"You said you wanted to know what I can do?" Dark calmly spoke. "Well, this is it."

"What... what did you do?" Flash fearfully asked.

"As Lord of Death, I have powers that are unique, like the ability to sever somepony's soul from their body."

Without another word, Dark slammed Flash's spirit back into his body. A few seconds later, Flash gasped and began to cough as he became reacquainted with his body again.

"Wh-What was that for?" he wheezed.

"I had to put your soul back into your body before it was too late," Dark replied.

"Too late for what?"

"... tell me, when was the last time you killed something?"

"Never. I've never gotten to see any action besides when I found Sombra."

Dark nodded. "Then tell me, do you know what happens when something dies?"

"They die, so what?"

Dark shook his head and looked at Flash with a stern face. "Look, when something dies, not only do they lose their spirt, but also the muscle control in their bodies."

"Just tell me what you're getting at already!"

"When something dies, they lose control of their bowels," Dark bluntly said. "Look, Flash, the aftermath of battle isn't covered in just blood, but also literally crap. Pray that you never have to see it for yourself. That's why I had to shove your spirit back onto your body, so that you wouldn't make a mess of Cadence's and Shining's room."

"I... see..." Shakily, Flash got back up onto his hooves.

"Good. So, are we done here?"

Flash's gaze fell as his ears wilted against his head. "Yeah, we are. Sorry for bothering you two."

With a quick bow, Flash turned around and was about to leave when he felt a hoof gently fall on his shoulder. Turning around, he saw Twilight with a sad look on her face before she pulled him into a hug.

"You're never a bother, Flash," she told him, "and while I may not love you like I do with Dark, I do still love you as a friend. So please, don't let this get you down."

Hesitantly, Flash looked to Dark to see his expression. When he did, he was surprised to see Dark giving him a small smile and nod. With nothing to worry about, Flash wrapped a hoof around Twilight and returned her hug.

"Thank you," he thanked. "Also... I'm sorry for all the trouble I've caused you two today."

"It's alright, Flash. I know that that wasn't the real you there, you were just hurt and upset."

"Y-Yeah."

They lingered for a little longer until Twilight broke their hug. "But our offer still stands. I know that you already said that you wouldn't, but I would be happy to have you at our wedding."

"Like I said before, I don't think that that's a very good idea for me," he said. "... but... maybe I'll think about it... in time."

A small smile formed on Twilight's lips. "Well, if you ever change your mind, just know that you'll have a spot saved for you."

"Thank you." Having better composed himself, Flash looked between the two. "Well, I think I better get back and get some rest. Still a bit sore and all."

"Alright. Take care, Flash, and I'll see you later."

"Sure. Until next time, Twilight, Prince Dark."

Dark snorted with a smile. "I don't care much for titles, so you can just call me Dark. Besides, if you're a friend of Twilight's, then I should offer the same."

Flash nervously chuckled as he rubbed the back of his neck. "Well... I don't know if I could call you my friend just yet."

"I understand. At least we're not on unfriendly terms, right?"

"I guess."

"Alright. In that case, until next time, Flash."

With a silent nod, Flash left the room and made his way back to his quarters to rest. With Twilight and Dark all alone again, they both made their way over to the couch and flopped down on it.

"That could've been a lot worse," Dark mused.

"It almost was," Twilight sighed. "Thank goodness that it wasn't." Twilight shifted around to look up at Dark. "Were you really wanting to fight him?"

Dark had a look of guilt on his face. "Yes. You know that the subject of Light is a tender one right now."

"So what stopped you then?"

"You were," he admitted. "I figured that you would be upset with me if I were to accept his challenge to fight, so I didn't. Besides, I wouldn't have anything to gain by fighting him."

Twilight smiled and snuggled up against his side. "Good answer."

Later that day, Dark, Twilight, and the Scaleless Dragons were by the train station saying their goodbyes to Cadence, Shining, Skyla, Gray, Emerald, and Saph.

"Thank you for having us over," Twilight thanked them.

"Thank you for coming, Twily," Shining said with a hug. Once he released her, he turned to Dark. "And thank you, Dark, for saving the Crystal Empire."

Dark looked away in embarrassment from the praise. "It was thanks to everypony that the empire was saved, not me."

"Destroyed a chunk on their army and stalled them from advancing, charged in with Shining to further hold them off, revived our fallen to continue fighting and letting them return to their families, saved Twilight, and defeated Sombra after doing all the above before that," Cadence listed with a smirk. "If you want, I could go into further detail about them. So, should I go on?"

"Uh.... no, no thank you, Cadence. That's fine. I really don't need such thanks and all that."

"Well, you better get used to it," Gray spoke, "because, from the sound of things, the ponies of the Crystal Empire have all heard about what you did and are considering on honoring you alongside Spike, the Brave and Glorious."

"Really, Captain Gray, I don't need-"

"Hey, it's not my choice, it's theirs."

"He's right," Saph agreed. "The crystal ponies are already working on a statue alongside Spike, the Brave and Glorious'. It should be done in a couple of weeks or months, so be sure to come back and take a look then."

"Well see," Dark said before noticing somepony missing. "Hey, where's Flash?"

"He said he couldn't come," Emerald answered.

"Really?" Twilight questioned, getting a shrug from him.

"Said that he needed to be alone and think on a few things."

"How was he when you saw him?"

Emerald frowned. "He was... different. I don't know if it's a good different or not, though."

"We'll keep an eye on him, Twilight," Cadence reassuringly told her. "He probably just needs some time to get things in order."

"Oh... okay." Though feeling a little down, Twilight smiled regardless and hugged Cadence. "Hope you get better soon, and I'll see you at the wedding, right?"

"What kind of a question is that? Of course you will. I wouldn't miss your wedding for the world, Twilight."

"Good." Letting go of Cadence, Twilight moved towards Skyla sitting on her back and kissed her forehead before affectionately nuzzling her. "Bye-bye, my little birthday filly."

With a happy gurgle, Skyla clung to Twilight face and hugged her. "Bah, Twala."

Joyful for hearing her saying her name again, Twilight placed a kiss on her cheek and stepped back for Dark to have a turn.

"See ya later, little one," Dark said with a nuzzle, causing the little filly to clamp on to his face too as she hugged him.

"Bah, Dar."

Once she released him, Dark placed a small kiss on Skyla's other cheek, causing her to giggle before looking towards the officers.

"It was nice to meet you three," Dark told them. "I hope that we'll be seeing you three at the wedding."

"If Princess Cadence and Prince Shining Armor will allow it, then we will," Gray spoke for them.

"What do you mean? Of course you're all allowed to go," Cadence told them.

"Well, in that case, we'll be looking forward to it."

Dark smiled and extended a claw for a shake. "Until then, then."

Stepping forward, Gray, Saph, and Emerald each took a turn in sharing a claw/hoofshake with Dark.

Hearing the train whistle, Dark and Twilight were reminded that they had to go. With a last goodbye, they began to file into the cart reserved for them where the Scaleless Dragons were all waiting for them.

"It was nice for them to reserve this for us," Aero said.

"Well, I don't think that many ponies would exactly be open to sharing a train cart with four other dragons and a dragon egg," Twilight said.

"Meh, I guess."

Taking their seats, Dark and Twilight waved to Cadence, Shining, Skyla, and the officers as the train began to pull away. Once they were out of sight, Twilight leaned back in her seat and against Dark with a sigh of relief.

"Tired?" Dark questioned.

"Yeah," she answered. "I don't know about you, but this entire trip seemed to have been pretty hectic and exhausting."

"Yeah, definitely not what we'd planned, huh?"

Twilight nodded with a tired yawn. "Hey, you mind if I take a nap?"

"Not at all."

With a tired smile, Twilight gave a peck on Dark's cheek before curling herself up into a ball to sleep. But before she could doze off, she felt Dark curl himself and his tail around her before draping his wing over her like a blanket. Smiling, she nuzzled into the side of his neck, savoring the warmth and security she felt before falling asleep.

Chapter 73- Scaleless in Ponyville

The next day, Dark, Twilight, and the Scaleless Dragons finally arrived in Ponyville. With the time still early in the day, most of the ponies were either still asleep, or just starting to open their stalls or shops for the day, leaving the streets mostly empty. As they made their way from the train station and down the street into town, they drew the attention of what ponies were about on the streets. While they've gotten used to seeing Pyre some time ago, the sight of the other three and the egg was enough to put them on edge. But, since they were with Twilight, Dark, and Pyre, it wasn't quite enough to make them flee or cower in fear. In fact, the sight of Aero's and Aques' slender and elegant forms actually made them look in confused appreciation. Of course, the slight tremors from Fissure's heavy steps snapped them out of those thoughts and returned them to their work.

Continuing down the road, they were about to pass by Sugarcube Corner when the door burst open with a pink blur darting out and stopping directly in front of them. And while Aero, Aques, and Fissure jumped at the sudden appearance of Pinkie, Twilight, Dark, and Pyre just shrugged it off.

"Hey, guys!" Pinkie beamed. "How's everypony and dragon doing today and... wait, why are you all here? Are you here to visit Ponyville before you all head on back home, or are you-"

"Easy there, Pinkie," Twilight interrupted, smiling at her friend's energetic antics. "One question at a time."

"Oh, okay. So, what're they doing here? Not that I'm not happy to see them, of course. I just didn't expect to see them again so soon."

"They're going to be staying here in Ponyville."

"For how long?"

"That would be hard to answer," Aques answered. "It depends on how long Twilight will allow for us to stay here. Otherwise, we'll be living here."

Pinkie gasped with her eyes bulging out. "So you're all going to live here?!"

"Pretty much," Aero happily said.

With a happy squee, Pinkie reached around and pulled Aero, Aques, and somehow Fissure as well, into a massive hug.

"This is so great! Not only do I get to throw a 'Welcome to Ponyville' party for three dragons and a Aurora's egg, which I have never done before, but I also get to have three new friends!"

"Umm... Pinkie...?" Aero wheezed.

"Yeah?"

"Crushing... us..."

"Oops." Pinkie sat them back down and let them go. "Sorry about that."

With a few groans, Aero and Aques hunched over while Fissure's back cracked.

"How're you so strong?" Fissure questioned.

"Because I grew up on a rock farm. But if you think that I'm tough, then you should see my sister Maud. You'd like her. Oh, by the way, where will you all be staying?"

"I've offered them each a room in the castle," Twilight answered her. "Celestia knows there's plenty of extra bedrooms in that thing."

"And while I am thankful," Aques began, "I don't know how long I'll be staying there. I would much prefer to sleep in a body of water."

"What about on a waterbed?" Pinkie suggested, earning her a confused look.

"A what?"

"Wait, you don't know what a waterbed is?"

"... no?"

"In that case, we'll just have to fix that." Pinkie then remembered what she was doing before she'd spotted them. "But not right now. I need to go back and get back to work. And don't worry, I'll have your 'Welcome to Ponyville' party all ready for you four tonight. Hey, is it alright if I hold it in the castle, Twilight?"

"I don't see why not," she shrugged. "We'll probably need the extra room anyway."

"Exactly. Well, have a nice day, and I'll see you all later today to give you the tour."

With a smile and a wave, Pinkie bounced back into Sugarcube Corner with the door closing behind her on its own.

"She's a strange one," Fissure commented.

"Yes, but you get used to it."

"I don't know, Twilight," Dark spoke. "There're still a few things that she does that makes me a little uneasy."

"... okay, you get used to most of it."

Continuing their walk through town, they eventually came to the castle. Pushing the doors open for them, Dark stood off to the side to let them in and smiled when he saw Twilight inhale deeply.

"Ahhh, home sweet home," she sighed in content.

"Yeah, I was starting to miss it too," Dark agreed.

"I like it," Fissure commented.

"Of course you do," Pyre snorted. "It's all crystal. Really, I don't get why it's like this. It looks like it belongs more in the Crystal Empire than it does here."

"Still, I like it."

Rolling his eyes, Pyre walked on ahead and waved them to follow. "Come on. I'll show you guys to your rooms to get settled in before Twilight and Dark take over giving you the tour."

"You go on ahead," Aero said. "I've already been here, so I'll just stay here with our little brother and future sister-in-law."

"Fine. Be back in a- whoa!"

Taking to the air, Pyre avoided Soul as he darted beneath him in a panic.

"Sorry, Pyre!" he said.

"Soul? Why are you still here? Doesn't school start in a little bit?" Twilight scolded.

"I'm sorry, Twilight, but my alarm didn't go off this morning."

"In that case, hop on and I'll get you there," Dark said, crouching down to let Soul hop on.

"Actually, Dark," Aero spoke, "could I take him?"

"Really?"

"Yeah. If we're going to be living here, then I'd like to get to see some of the town, and where Soul goes to school and stuff."

Dark shared a glance with Twilight. "Are you sure? I remember you saying something about you being nervous around a lot of ponies."

"That's why I want to go out before everypony wakes up, and I'm also hoping that seeing a bunch of the younger ponies will help me get more comfortable being around more of them."

"I guess I'm alright with it. What about you, Twilight?"

"I suppose you could," she said.

"Thank you, Twilight," Aero thanked.

"You're welcome. Oh, Soul?"

"Yes?" he replied, jumping on Aero's back.

"Did you at least get something to eat?"

"I had some toast and jelly."

"In that case, I'll make sure to bring you a lunch at school."

"Thank you, Twilight."

"You're welcome. Now you better get going."

With a wave goodbye, Soul held onto Aero as she flew up into they sky. Soaring high above, Soul clung on tighter as he was unused to the almost serpentine motions as she flew across the sky.

"How you doing back there?" Aero asked, noticing his grip tighten.

"O-Okay," Soul answered over the wind rushing past them. "Just not used to this is all."

"You mean flying? But I thought that you could fly?"

"I can, but not like how you can."

"Ahhh. Well, don't worry about it, you'll be alright."

"Okay."

"By the way, where're we going?"

"It's the red schoolhouse on the other side of town."

"Okay."

"... um, excuse me, Aero?"

"Yes?"

"... you're Dark's sister, right?"

"Yes, I am. Why?"

"Well, since Dark adopted me, and you're his sister, then would that make you my aunt?"

Taken by surprise by his question, Aero fumbled in her flight, but quickly managed to right herself before losing her altitude. Slowing to a stop, she floated in place and craned her head around to look at Soul with a look of surprise and realization.

"I... well, I guess that I am," she slowly replied.

"In that case, would it be alright if I called you Aunty Aero?" Soul innocently asked.

Her smile beaming, Aero reached back and nuzzled Soul. "Of course it would," she laughed. "I would hug you right now, but you're kinda sitting between my shoulders."

"It's alright, Aunty."

Feeling herself warming up from being called that, Aero gave Soul another smile before she resumed her flight. Within seconds, she felt Soul as he started to snuggle down against her coat and nuzzle into it. Smiling at it, she started scanning the town below them before she finally found the schoolhouse. Changing direction, Aero began to fly towards it, but stopped and floated in place when a rainbow-colored streak zoomed past her and landed on a nearby cloud.

"Aero? What're you doing here?"

"Rainbow Dash?!" Aero said in surprise, but not because of her sudden appearance. "Your eyes!"

Rainbow sat up proudly with her fully restored eyes glistening in the sunlight. "Yeah, pretty sweet huh? Good as new."

"But how? Before you left, your eyes were damaged beyond repair."

"For a unicorn, maybe," Rainbow smirked, "but not for a draconequus."

"You mean Discord? He's the one who restored your eyes?"

"You bet he did. This is just like how he did when Dark lost his eyes." Rainbow laughed at herself. "Can't believe I forgot about that back at the Crystal Empire."

"Well, it's good to see you with your eyes again."

"Thanks. Hey, not that I'm not happy to see you again, but what are you doing here in Ponyville... and with Soul on your back?"

"The others and I are going to be living here to keep an eye on Dark and Aurora's egg."

"Sweet!"

"As for Soul, he was running a little late this morning, so I'm flying him to school today."

Rainbow's joyful expression turned to realization. "Oops. In that case, I'll let you get back to it. Sorry for stopping you."

"It's alright. I'll see you later?"

"You bet."

Waving her off, Aero resumed her flight towards the Ponyville schoolhouse at a faster speed. After a good half-minute of flying, Aero landed near the door to the schoolhouse and remained still while Soul fluttered his wings and lowered himself to the ground.

"Thank you for bringing me to school, Aunty," Soul thanked before squeaking in surprise by Aero pulling him into a hug.

"You're very welcome," Aero happily replied.

A few seconds later after remaining like that, the door opened to Cheerilee.

"Soul, there you are," she said with a breath of relief. "You're usually here sooner, so I thought that something might've happened... to... you..." Cheerilee's words drifted off as she saw Soul being hugged by a white, elegant dragoness. "Um, Soul?"

"Yes?"

"W-Who's your friend here?"

Being let go, Soul hopped down and ran up to Cheerilee. "Miss Cheerilee, this is Aunty Aero."

Aero gave a shy smile and waved. "Hello."

"Oh, she's... wait, your what? But how?"

"She's Dark's sister, and since he and Twilight adopted me, Aero's my aunt, along with the others."

"Wait, others? Just what's going on here?"

"Maybe I should explain," Aero stood in. "You see... umm... I'm sorry, I didn't catch your name."

"Oh, I'm sorry, my name is Cheerilee Apple," she introduced, squeeing on the inside for using her new last name.

"I'm Aero, Lady of Air," Aero introduced herself.

"'Lady of Air'?" Cheerilee echoed. "Would that by any chance have anything to do with Dark being the... you know?"

"Yes, actually. Tell me, are you familiar with name Nocturne?"

"The dragon that Dark's bonded with, yes."

"Well, he was my eldest brother, but now that Dark has beaten him and they're now more or less the same kirin at this point, Dark's our youngest sibling."

"But I was told that he didn't have any siblings besides Pyre."

"Considering what we are, he and Twilight have been trying to keep quiet about this from the public."

"Ahh. I can understand that," she said before smiling. "Still, though, it's good to see that Dark as you as a sister. You seem like a nice dragoness."

"Thank you. The others are nice as well."

"Just how many others are with you?"

"Well, there's Aques, Fissure, and Aurora's egg."

"Her egg? Why an egg?"

Aero nervously scratched an arm. "That's... complicated."

Cheerilee nodded. "I see. Personal family matters, right?"

"You could say that."

"Then I won't pry, but I will thank you for bringing Soul to school. He would've been late, otherwise."

"You're welcome," Aero said before something that Cheerilee said caught her attention. "Sorry to keep you, but could I ask you something?"

"I suppose. What is it?"

"You said that you're an Apple. Are you by chance related to the Apples living at Sweet Apple Acres?"

Cheerilee blinked in surprise. "How do you know about them?"

"I visited them when they were having a snowball fight with Dark and his friends last winter, but I don't remember seeing you there."

"Oh... well, that's because I was married into the Apple family not too long ago."

Aero squeed. "So you married Applejack's big brother?"

"Yes, and I'm very happy to be married to that big lug," Cheerilee said with a dreamy look, one that slowly dissipated. "Now if only Apple Bloom would stop trying to ask me for answers to her homework and tests. You don't know how confusing and slightly annoying it gets sometimes since I'm both her teacher, and her sister-in-law now."

"Hey, big sis, what's goin' on out there that's takin' ya so long?"

Cheerilee sighed. "And that's the slightly annoying part I was talking about."

Looking back to the open doorway, they watched as Apple Bloom came walking around the corner. When she did, her eyes lit up as she saw why Cheerilee was taking so long.

"Hey, girls, Aero's here!" she excitingly announced.

"Really?" Sweetie Belle squeaked before running around the corner with Scootaloo following closely behind. With a joyful smile, Sweetie Belle ran up and hugged Aero's chest. "Miss Aero! You're here!"

"Hello, Sweetie Belle, Apple Bloom, Scootaloo," Aero happily said as she hugged her back before they were joined by Apple Bloom.

"Hey, everypony," Scootaloo called out, "come out and see this!"

"What is it, Scootaloo?" A few seconds later, Diamond Tiara looked around the corner. When she did, her eyes widened in fear as she saw Aero holding Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle. "Dragon!"

Aero looked up to see the scared filly looking at her. "Hmm? Oh, um, hello there."

"Hey, it's alright, Diamond," Scootaloo assured. "She's a good dragon like Pyre. She's also Dark's sister."

"... really?" Diamond skeptically questioned.

"Yeah. Didn't you notice how she doesn't have any dragon scales like Dark or Pyre?"

Cautiously, Diamond Tiara looked over Aero and noticed that she was indeed covered in fur instead of scales.

"Huh."

"Now go on and say hi to her," Scootaloo encouraged.

"Are you sure about this?"

"Absolutely. I promise she won't bite or anything."

"Yeah, Diamond," Apple Bloom agreed. "Come on and say hi ta Aero."

"She's really nice," Sweetie Belle voiced.

Being encouraged by them, Diamond Tiara followed Scootaloo as she lead her up to Aero. When they did, the other colts and fillies inside the school started to peek their heads through the door and windows to look at the dragoness. Slowly, one after another, they went out to see her, and before she knew it, Aero found herself in front of a group of awed foals.

"Oh, hello there," Aero kindly said to them.

They were all silent as they got a close look at the first female dragon they've ever seen in their lives. A few silent moments later, one of them, a pale-purple unicorn filly with a blond mane and yellow eyes, walked up to her.

"Hello," Aero gently spoke. "What's your name?"

She looked to Cheerilee for permission to answer. Once she did, she looked back to Aero.

"My name's Dinky," she answered her.

"Hello, Dinky. I'm Aero."

"Hi, Aero," Dinky said before she looked Aero over. "You're really pretty."

Aero giggled. "Thank you."

"How do you keep your coat so sleek and shiny like that?" another asked her.

"I air-dry it after a bath, and then I start brushing it."

It was after that that Aero was bombarded by questions.

"Why don't you have any scales?"

"Why do you look like that?"

"Where are your wings?"

"Why do you have a mane instead of spines like Spike?"

"Where did you come from?"

"Alright, everypony, that's enough for now," Cheerilee interjected. "Don't forget that we still have school." With a disappointed collection of 'awws', Cheerilee looked back to Aero with an apologetic look. "I'm sorry about that, Aero. They've never seen a dragon quite like you before, let alone a female."

"It's alright," she dismissed before putting Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle back down. "Besides, I kinda like these kids."

Cheerilee hummed to herself in thought as she rubbed her chin with a hoof.

"What'cha thinkin'?" Apple Bloom wondered.

"Aero?"

"Yes, Cheerilee?" Aero asked.

"Do you by chance have any plans for this morning?"

Aero thought about it for a moment before she shrugged. "Nothing that I can think of. Why?"

"I was wondering, since the children seem to be so taken with you, I was wondering if you would be willing to help teach them?"

Every filly and colt now had their sights locked onto Aero as they anxiously awaited her answer.

"What was it you were hoping for me to teach them?"

"Well, we ponies don't have very much information regarding dragons, even with Spike living here, and Pyre doesn't seem interested in telling us. So, I was wondering if you would be willing to teach us about dragons and their customs?"

Smiling, Aero stretched herself out and laid down on the grass. "I could help you with that, and maybe I can even get my sister to join in later today."

"Alright, students, looks like we'll be having class outside today, so go back inside and get your notebooks and pencils."

With a collection of cheers, the foals stampeded back into the schoolhouse and quickly returned with a pencil and notebook. Taking a seat on the grass around Aero, they all paid attention as Aero began telling them the foal-friendly information regarding dragons.

It was close to noon when Pinkie showed up at the castle to give Aques and Fissure the tour of Ponyville, the former holding onto Aurora's egg. With them being accompanied by Dark, Twilight, Spike, and Pyre, they felt more comfortable about it and followed her out with Twilight having packed a lunch for Soul. Their tour started out with a stop at Rarity's shop where she showed them some of her dresses and offered Aques to commission her a dress of her own. Of course, considering that she would be the first female dragon, Rarity offered to make for her as a gift.

While their first stop was pleasant, it was when Pinkie led the group into town when things started to become a little hectic. However, it wasn't because of the two new dragons there. Thanks to Pyre living in Ponyville for a while, the townsponies were still surprised by them, but not frightened enough to flee. No. It was because of Twilight and Dark that things became like this. With news from the Crystal Empire having spread already, everypony knew about their engagement, the foal, and the attack, but it was the first two that really got everypony's attention.

Throughout the tour, they had to stop numerous times when ponies would come and congratulate Dark and Twilight on their upcoming marriage and parenthood. And while everypony was happy, Mr. and Mrs. Cake were even more so with the latter of the two pulling Twilight off to offer her some motherly wisdom, which Twilight was happy to receive. While Mrs. Cake and Twilight were busy talking, Pinkie brought down Pound and Pumpkin to show off to Aques and Fissure. Even though they weren't that taken with Fissure, they were both more than open to Aques as they reached out for her to pick them up. When she did, she was surprised to see that they were so comfortable with her, seeing as how they'd just met. It was then that Pinkie told them about Dark's own party when he met them for the first time, which caused Aques to smile at the thought.

Returning the twins to Pinkie, she left them in Mr. Cake's care just as Mrs. Cake returned with Twilight. Buying a snack for the road, they each said their goodbyes for now and made for their next location, which turned out to be the schoolhouse. As they approached, they were all surprised to see Aero laying on the grass surrounded by the schoolponies and Cheerilee. Getting a little closer to see what was going on, Aero's head rose as she spotted them.

"Hello," Aero cheerfully greeted with a wave. When she spoke, everypony turned around to see who she was talking to. While they were surprised to see Dark, Twilight, Spike, and Pyre, their eyes widened when they saw the other two. "Everypony, these are my brothers and sisters that I told you about. The blue one is Aques, the bulky brown one is Fissure, and that egg that Aques is holding is Aurora."

Having spent some time with Aero and listening to her stories about her siblings, the foals wasted no time in running up to the two and asking them questions. After some interference from Cheerilee and an apology from her for their rowdy behavior, she asked if they would be willing to spare a moment to talk to the kids about themselves. After giving her their permission, Aques went over to sit by Aero with Pinkie following her, while Fissure made himself comfortable off to the side a little bit. When they split up, so did the foals with the fillies being entranced by Aques' beauty and curious about the egg, followed her, while the colts hung around Fissure, thinking he was the coolest with how he looked like he was made of stone. Not wanting to really have to deal with kids, Pyre opted to fly up on top of the schoolhouse and spread himself out to soak in the sunlight.

With the foals occupied and having some time free, Cheerilee made her way up to Dark, Twilight, and Spike. Once close enough, Cheerilee caused Twilight to let out an 'eep' when she suddenly pulled her in for a hug. When she let her go, Cheerilee started to giggle like a schoolfilly.

"Oooh! I'm so happy for you!" Cheerilee squealed giddily before turning on Dark and giving him a hug too. "Both of you!"

Twilight happily giggled back. "Thank you, Cheerilee."

"Yeah... thanks..." Dark wheezed, taken by surprised by Cheerilee's strength.

Realizing she was crushing him, Cheerilee let him go with an apologetic smile. "Oops. Sorry about that."

"It's fine," he dismissed with a pop of his back.

"Ooh! You two must be so excited!"

"We admit that we're both really excited, but also a bit nervous too."

"I can understand that," Cheerilee nodded understandably before turning to Twilight. "So, how're you doing? I imagine that you're having morning sickness and food cravings?"

Twilight grimaced. "Don't remind me," she groaned. "While the food cravings aren't really all that bad, I could do without waking up most mornings with the urge to vomit."

"Oh, sorry."

"It's fine."

"So, how far along are you?"

"Between five to six weeks."

"And what kind of food cravings are you having? I would imagine that they would be rather... interesting."

"Apart from the meat, the weirdest craving that I've had was ice-cream with ketchup, mustard, and pickles."

Cheerilee managed to keep herself from blanching at the thought of eating such horrendous-sounding ice-cream before her mind clicked at the first one.

"Wait, did you say 'meat'?" Cheerilee questioned.

Twilight nodded sheepishly. "I know that ponies used to eat meat a very long time ago, but it's going to be somewhat challenging since nopony really eats meat this age."

"Um... what kind of meat have you been craving?" she cautiously asked.

"... beef, pork, and chicken so far," Twilight nervously replied. "I'm hoping to try and substitute fish for most of them if I can."

"I see..."

"I'm sorry if this is making you uncomfortable, Cheerilee."

"Well... I suppose a little bit. But, then again, I probably should've expected this, since the foal probably going to be part dragon, right?"

"We don't know yet," Dark answered. "It's too soon to tell what the baby will look like, including whether it'll be born as an egg or not."

There was an awkward pause that was interrupted when Spike hopped off of Twilight with a paper bag in his claw.

"Yeeeeaaahhh, I'm outa' here," he said with tinted cheeks. "This is starting to get too much for me. I'm going to bring Soul his lunch and hang out with the girls. Call me when it's time to go."

A moment of silence passed as they watched Spike walk away before turning back to each other.

"Heh, guess we embarrassed him," Dark chuckled.

"Why?" Cheerilee questioned.

"Because, we're here talking about the possibilities of our baby being born, and we forgot that Spike might end up in the same boat in the future."

Cheerilee blushed. "You mean because of his relationship with Sweetie Belle, Apple Bloom and Scootaloo, and how their kids would be kirins?"

"Eeyup." Turning around to look at him, they looked just in time to see the Crusaders approach Spike and each sharing a kiss with him. "You know, I still say that he's one lucky dragon."

"And those fillies are lucky to have him," Cheerilee said with a smile. "Each one of those girls just love to talk about Spike while at school, and when they're over at the farm."

"By the way," Twilight began, "are you still living in your house, or did you move in with the Apples?"

Cheerilee's smile widened before proudly saying, "Moved in with them four days ago."

"What?" Dark said with a hint of disappointment and guilt. "Why didn't you wait for us to help you move? You know that me and Applejack would've been more than happy to have helped you."

"Please tell us you and Big Mac didn't do it on your own," Twilight nearly pleaded with worry.

"Oh, no, no, no," Cheerilee quickly dismissed. "You see, turns out that Princess Celestia provided us with a moving crew to help with the moving as a part of our wedding gift. Granted that we mentioned it to her during the reception that we decided that I was going to live with the Apples on their farm, but we didn't know she'd actually did it until we got back from our honeymoon."

"Wait a moment, didn't Princess Luna give you and Big Mac a ticket around the world?"

"Yes, she did, but with school still going on, there won't be enough time for that, not to mention that it was hard enough to find a substitute teacher while I was gone. But, when summer vacation comes around for us in a few weeks and school ends, then we'll take that time off to travel."

"Sounds like a plan," Twilight said before looking past to see Aques showing the fillies Aurora's egg. "Why don't we go and join them for a while? I'm curious as to what they're talking about."

Over in the underbrush of the forest behind the schoolhouse, three sets of eyes pierced at the sight before them.

"Well, boss?" one of them asked in a deep voice.

"Well, what?" another one snapped.

"What do we do now?" the third questioned.

"Same as what we planned before."

"But what about what the king ordered us to do? You know that he won't like it if we deviate from-"

"My old dragon won't care," the second growled before setting his gaze on Spike and gagging. "I can't believe this. Not only is he a pony lover, but he's an actual pony lover! It's sick!"

"Yeah, so sick," the first agreed with a chuckle, earning him a slap over the back of his head from the second.

"Shut up, idiot."

"So, what're you wanting to do about the shrimp?" the third asked.

Their "boss" growled in thought. "We can't get close to him with him hanging around the Scaleless Dragons..." His eyes fixated on the three fillies cuddling up with him, and while he had a strong urge to gag, he instead had an idea accompanied by a fanged grin. "But maybe we don't have to."

"I know that look. You've got a plan, don't you?"

He chuckled. "You bet I do, and it's my best one yet. This way, we'll get that puny pony lover and be able to get away with it scot-free. We just need to lay low for a while and avoid being seen or otherwise caught."

"What's the plan then?" the first one questioned.

"You will follow the yellow one with that bow on her head." He then turned to the third one. "And you will follow that orange pegasus hanging onto his arm. I'll follow the white unicorn. Now, spread out and meet back in the hideout in one week. And remember to keep a safe distance, stay out of sight, and for goodness sake, stay down wind. I don't want us to get caught just because one of you idiots forgot to hide your scent."

Having lost track of time with the stories that Aero, Aques, and Fissure provided, school came to a close and Pinkie's tour continued. Only this time, with school being out and their previous stop, they were now accompanied by Sweetie Belle, Apple Bloom, and Scootaloo as they made their way to Sweet Apple Acres. And while Pinkie was their tour guide, since this was Apple Bloom's home, she decided to let her take over.

"And here's Sweet Apple Acres," Apple Bloom proudly proclaimed.

While Aero and Aques found it to be pretty, Fissure felt himself relaxing as he smelt the trees and fruits.

"Beautiful," he commented, his low, rumbling voice having a tone of fondness to it. Wandering off of the dirt path leading through the orchard, Fissure walked over to the nearest tree and placed a claw on it. When he did, me smiled. "And strong, too."

"Thanks," Apple Bloom happily chirped. "Applejack and Big Mac spend a lot of time takin' care of the trees."

"I can tell." Fissure closed his eyes and remained silent for a few moments before giving a nod. "The trees like them."

"Wait, you can speak ta the trees?"

"Yes. I am everything earth. Not just rock, but also plant."

"Huh.... neat."

"Hey, Fissure," Aero called out, "show them that thing that you do."

Rolling his ruby eyes, Fissure faced the others before his body began to change from rock, to wood. Once fully changed, Fissure walked back to them, his claws clinking like wood against the dirt road.

"Whoa! That's so cool!" Scootaloo exclaimed.

Apple Bloom knocked a hoof against his leg. "He sounds and feels just like wood."

"I changed my hide to wood."

"Sweet! Can you change into anything else?" Spike eagerly asked.

"Yes. Even this."

Fissure's wooden hide began to shift again. Once it was over with, he shimmered in the sunlight as his entire body was turned into a living mass of diamond.

"I can change my hide into anything earth," Fissure told them before frowning at the sight of Spike's drooling. "No, I'm not edible."

"Let it go already," Pyre huffed, getting a frown from Aques.

"You tried to eat his tail," she reminded him with a disapproving tone. "Why shouldn't he give a warning after that?"

Choosing to stay out of it, Fissure reverted back to his brown rocky look before continuing his way down the dirt path. After a few steps, he gave a faint smile of amusement when he saw that Apple Bloom had found her way on top of his head and sat down.

"Where to?" he asked her.

"Just up ahead," she answered with a pointed hoof. "Applejack and Big Mac should be almost done with chores for today." Clearing the orchard and moving into the front yard, they saw Applejack leaving the barn and closing it. "Hey, Applejack!"

Hearing her little sister calling her, Applejack turned around to welcome her home, but stopped when she saw the group she was traveling with, namely the dragon who's head she was riding on top of.

"Apple Bloom! Why are ya sittin' on his head?!" Applejack scolded.

Fissure gave a throaty chuckle. "She's fine."

"... alright, if ya say so." Applejack relented before walking up them. "So, what brings y'all out here today... and why are y'all even here ta begin with?"

"We're all living here now as a way to help us keep an eye on our little brother here," Aero answered while ruffling Dark's mane.

"And we're here here because I'm giving them a tour of Ponyville before their party tonight," Pinkie added.

"Oh. Well in that case, welcome ta Sweet Apple Acres, largest apple producin' farm in Equestria."

"And you run it on your own?" Aques questioned.

"Eenope. Ah have my brother Big Mac ta help me, and Dark if we're needin' an extra hoof, or claw in his case."

Fissure let Apple Bloom down before stepping forward. "You seem proud of this place."

Applejack's posture straightened as she indeed did feel proud. "Eeyup. Take really good care of our trees."

"So they told me," he nodded, getting a confused look from Applejack.

"What? Ya mean the apple trees?"

"Yes. I am everything that is earth. The plants speak to me in ways others can't hear."

"Huh... um, hey, can Ah ask ya somethin'?"

"Hmm?"

"If ya can talk ta trees, then what can we do ta make them better?"

Fissure shook his head. "Nothing. They're happy the way they are."

"Oh. Well, alright then." Applejack then turned to Dark and Twilight. "And how're ya two doin'?"

"We're doing fine, Applejack," Twilight answered.

"Alright, but what about, Dark?"

"I'm doing alright," Dark said with a smile, one that Applejack skeptically looked over.

"Uh-huh," she deadpanned, clearly not buying it. "Come on, Dark. You didn't actually think that Ah wouldn't see it, did ya?"

"What do you mean? I'm really fine."

With a heavy sigh, Applejack walked up to Dark and hugged him. "You may look and act fine, but Ah can see the hurt clearly in your eyes."

Dark winced. "It's not that bad, Applejack."

Applejack looked to Twilight for confirmation while maintaining her embrace. With a sad sigh, Twilight shook her head.

"He seems to be doing better," she began, "but he still cries in his sleep, including last night."

"About him Ah'm guessin'."

Dark solemnly nodded as he leaned into Applejack's hug. "I just need some time to get over it is all."

Applejack nodded and gave him a small squeeze. "Well, if ya ever need somepony ta talk ta when Twi's not around, Ah'll be right here."

"But-"

"Nope. Ah'm not gonna hear it. Y'all were there for me when Ah needed it with my parents, now it's my turn ta be there for ya."

While saddened about the reminder of Light, Dark was grateful for Applejack's support. With a small smile, Dark wrapped an arm around Applejack and returned her hug.

"Thanks, Applejack," he thanked.

"You're welcome," she said. Breaking their hug, she pulled back and gave him a nudge towards the house. "Now, ya better get on over ta the house and see Granny. If she finds out that y'all were here and didn't drop in ta say hi, she'd find ya and tan your hide."

Chuckling, Dark left for the house while Applejack talked to the others, answering questions that the new arrivals had for her about her orchard and family. Ten minutes later, Dark returned from visiting with Granny and rejoined the group before leaving the apple orchard for town.

Later on that evening, the 'Welcome to Ponyville' party that Pinkie had thrown in Twilight's Castle was in full swing, and was going better than expected. While the ponies were a bit nervous at first for having three new dragons and a dragon egg living with them in Ponyville, over the course of the party, they started to warm up to them, especially when they all saw the young ones running up to Aques and Aero wanting to play with them. Once everypony had calmed down, and after having Twilight, Dark, and their friends vouch for them, Aques, Aero, Fissure, and Aurora were welcomed with friendly greetings. While the two dragonesses were playing with the foals off to the side, and Fissure was talking with some of the adults with Pyre beside him, Pinkie sat down with a satisfied look on her face while holding Aurora's egg in her lap.

"So, what of you think, Aurora?" Pinkie asked her, getting a series of soft glows in response. "Yeah, I think the party's going pretty well so far too."

There were another series of flashes.

"Nah, I don't believe that'll be a problem," Pinkie dismissed.

"What won't be a problem?"

Looking off to the side, Pinkie saw Twilight walking up to her with Dark following behind.

"Oh, nothing much. Aurora just asked if them living in Ponyville will cause any of the ponies any problems is all."

"After all the stuff that's happened in Ponyville since we've known each other, I doubt that three dragons and a dragon egg will be that much of a problem, if at all."

Aurora's egg glowed a few times.

"Yes, Aurora, she is serious," Pinkie told her.

Dark blinked in confusion. "You can actually understand her?"

"Yep."

"How?"

Pinkie shrugged. "Don't know, I just can."

Deciding to just go along with it, Dark simply nodded. "Well, I think that I'm going to chat with Aques for a while."

"Alright," Twilight nodded. "In that case, I'm going to go have a chat with Fissure. I'm curious about his ability to change his body like he did in Sweet Apple Acres, and would like to get a few samples from him."

Aurora's egg flashed a few times.

"What's she saying, Pinkie?"

"That you should be alright if you ask him nicely," Pinkie replied. "Turns out that while Fissure can be pretty stubborn at times, if you ask him and he likes you, he'll let you. Oh, and Aurora also says to be careful of the fumes in your lab. You know, for the baby's sake."

"I'll be sure to be careful," Twilight said reassuringly. "Thanks, Pinkie, You too, Aurora."

With a soft glow that Twilight took as Aurora's thanks, she and Dark left into the crowd, leaving Pinkie and Aurora's egg alone. Smiling to herself, Pinkie looked out at the party to see ponies laughing at Aques and Aero laughing as they played with the colts and fillies, and seeing Fissure getting along with the small crowd that had gathered to visit with him. Leaning back and sighing in satisfaction of another successive party, she closed her eyes hugged Aurora's egg closer to her.

"Yeah, I think that you and the others are gonna fit in here just fine."

Chapter 74- Unwelcome Visitors

Since the Scaleless Dragons arrived in Ponyville, three days have passed. Since then, they would take turns on keeping an eye on both Dark, and Aurora's egg. Of course, Dark didn't think it necessary with his Shadow Wraiths all but swarming the castle, but they weren't having any of it. While one would watch over them, the others would find something to do around town. As they each went around town looking for something to do, they soon split off.

Aero found herself heading back to the schoolhouse to assist Cheerilee with her teaching, hoping to further find herself comfortable with getting over her unease of larger crowds. She also managed to befriend Fluttershy to the point where the pony wasn't shaking in fear of her, and seemed to have formed a sort of bond when she started talking to her about her problems with crowds. Of course, Fluttershy sympathized with her as she used to have similar problems herself.

Aques, while finding the lake behind the castle to sleep in, decided to remain living in Twilight's Castle instead, thanks to Pinkie introducing her to the waterbed. While it wasn't quite the same as falling asleep in the water, she found herself quite comfortable with how the bed moved and sounded beneath her, along with the added benefit of having silky-smooth bedsheets covering her without them becoming wet and heavy. However, unlike Aero, Aques didn't travel out that much, instead opting to remain by Twilight's side. While her intent was to look after her and her growing baby, she also found herself assisting her and reading with her, much to her surprise and delight.

Fissure, much like Aero, spent most of his time outside of the castle. While he would usually be found near or inside Dark's forge, he often found himself wandering through the trees of Sweet Apple Acres. During his first time out there by himself, he was spotted by Applejack, who he decided to remain with and watch her work while exchanging stories. As he watched her applebuck, he would pay attention to how she and the trees would interact and smile. Granted that Fissure knew the force behind her bucking, but he also knew that while she was being hard, she was also precise, and in a way, gentle, with how she bucked the trees, making sure to buck them with just enough force for them to drop their apples, but not enough to actually hurt the tree. After his second time visiting, he even offered Applejack his help, whether it be helping in knocking the apples out of the trees, or pulling the cart.

Now, with Pyre, even with his siblings there with him, not much had really changed for him. Granted that he was a little happy to have them all back together again under the same roof, but with the amount of time he'd spent living in Ponyville now, he wasn't all that interested in going out and meeting new ponies. Instead, during the days off of guarding Aurora's egg and Dark, he would focus on his training sessions with Dark and Spike, the latter of the two also having taken magic lessons from Twilight. While his lessons with her were going better with him being able to levitate heavier objects now, he would also do his own personal training, one that would generally ended up sending a tremor through the castle from a magically reinforced room that Twilight had made in the basement near her lab for when it came to testing some of her more explosive and unstable experiments.

Going into the forth day of Ponyville having its newest family of siblings, the sun rose to awaken each of them, and while some were willing to rise with the sun, others weren't. With her yawning loudly, Aques stretched before slowly moving to comb her coat down. Once she was done, she left her bedroom to see Fissure, Aero, and Pyre with Aurora's egg, leaving their own rooms.

"Good morning," Aero tiredly greeted them, earning a tired reply from Pyre and Fissure, but a little more of an upbeat one from Aques.

Stifling another yawn, Aero walked down the hall and knocked on Spikes door to wake him up for breakfast. When she didn't get a reply, she knocked again, but still, nothing. Curious, she cracked the door open and peeked inside to see a large lump beneath the blanket of his bed basket steadily rising and falling. Sighing and shaking her head, she quietly closed the door and followed the others down to the kitchen to eat. When they reached the kitchen, they were all pleasantly surprised to see both Dark and Twilight already starting on breakfast for all of them.

"Good morning," Twilight welcomed them. "How's everyone doing today?"

"Tired," Aero groaned half-asleep. "Do you have any of that coffee?"

"Yep, got a fresh batch of coffee ready for you guys," Dark answered while working the stove. "Hey, Twilight, could you get it for them please? I'm kinda busy with breakfast at the moment."

Knowing how Aero felt and listening to Dark, Twilight brought a mug of coffee over to her and watched as she partially inhaled it. Noticing that Fissure and Pyre where acting the same too, Twilight levitated them both a mug of their own for them to drink.

"Ahh. Much better," Pyre said after taking a few sips.

"Yes, much," Fissure agreed.

"So, Twilight," Aero began, "does Spike usually sleep in?"

"Yes, but considering that it's also a Sunday, he might not be up for a while yet," she answered her. "Why?"

"No reason. I just saw him still asleep and just though that I'd ask is all."

"I understand." Twilight closed her eyes and smiled. "Also, besides it being the weekend, I doubt that he'll want to get up anyway."

Back up in his bedroom, Spike was flat on his back as he slept. With the extra personal training he did yesterday, he was more tired than he'd thought he would. However, even though his fatigue from his own practicing had tired him out almost to the point of passing out, it was all worth it. While he did manage to reach his goal, it was flawed and still needed a lot of work, which was being made that much harder by him trying to keep what he'd been working on a secret, while also having to explain why the floor, walls, and even himself, were covered in black scorch marks. Thankfully, though, his excuse of wanting a safe place to practice his magic while being close to home, was enough for Twilight to get behind. It also had the added benefit that it was also true too.

However, while he was tired from his practicing and was ready to relax for the rest of the day, three certain fillies had other plans. With them wanting to hang out with him, Spike allowed for them to stay as he led them up to his room to talk and play some board games together. As time passed with the four of them having fun and losing track of time, Spike did his best to stay awake for them, but his exhaustion had finally caught up to him, causing him to pass out where he sat.

Seeing him asleep like that, Sweetie Belle, Apple Bloom, and Scootaloo each helped put Spike to bed before they started packing up the game. With Spike asleep and it starting to get late outside, the three each found themselves tired as they dragged their hooves half-asleep out of Spike's room and down the hallway. But before they could get to the stairway, Twilight came up and was surprised to see them still there, having thought that they'd left already. Hearing their explanation, and being tired herself, Twilight offered for them to stay the night before she left to write their sisters a letter and teleport them off.

With Twilight's permission, they each gave a tired cheer before turning around and heading back. While there were plenty of spare rooms for them to pick from, there was only one that they all wanted to be in right now. Making their way back and closing the door behind them, the three made their way over to Spike's bed basket and crawled in with him with Sweetie Belle snuggling on top of him, and Apple Bloom and Scootaloo on his sides. With each of them having a part of Spike to sleep with, they were all quick to fall asleep.

Now feeling rested and curious about the unexpected weight covering him, Spike cracked an eye open to see a familiar curly pink and light-purple mane with a white horn poking out of it. Immediately recognizing who this was, Spike tried to move his arms to hug her, but felt an extra weight on them too. Rolling his eyes at himself, he looked around to see Apple Bloom and Scootaloo using his shoulders as their pillows while cuddling with his arms.

Smiling softly at them, Spike leaned his head down and planted a kiss on Sweetie Belle's head, causing her to stir and moan from being woken up. Shifting her head, Sweetie Belle looked tiredly up and smiled when she saw Spike smiling back.

"Good morning, Spike," she yawned.

Chuckling, Spike planted a peck on Sweetie Belle's lips. "And a good morning to you too. Not that I'm not happy to see you and the others, but what are you girls doing here?"

Sweetie Belle sighed tiredly and nuzzled the crook of Spike's neck. "Apparently we lost track of time last night, so Twilight let us stay here for the night."

Humming, Spike laid his head back down on his pillow and relaxed. "I'll have to thank her for letting you girls stay."

Sweetie Belle was about to speak, but a groan off to her left silenced her.

"Spike? Sweetie?" Scootaloo tiredly grumbled. "Go back to bed you two. It's too early to be up on a weekend."

"Especially after how long we were up till last night," Apple Bloom groggily added.

With another chuckle, Spike leaned his head over and kissed Apple Bloom and Scootaloo on the head.

"Sure, that sounds like-"

*Bang... Bang... Bang*

"Hey, Spike! Time for you to get up already. Foods getting cold."

Spike gave a throaty growl. "Does he have to do that?" he asked in annoyance. "Seriously. Pyre doesn't need to be that loud or obnoxious when waking me."

"Yeah," Sweetie Belle sighed in agreement. "I wish that it was Aero. At least she's nice."

"Either way, there's no way we'll be able to go back to sleep now," Scootaloo grumbled.

"At least we'll have time when summer vacation comes around," Apple Bloom reminded them.

Scootaloo smiled. "Now there's something to look forward to."

"Yeah," Sweetie Belle piped. "Just four more weeks and we'll be all done with school, and have more time to spend with Spike."

"And I'm looking forward to it," he said, trying to affectionately nuzzle them. "Sorry, I'd hug you girls right now, but you two are kinda hogging my arms."

Giggling, Apple Bloom leaned up to share a kiss with Spike before she let his arm go to stand up and stretch. Soon after, Scootaloo mimicked her actions before she too got up, minus the giggling. Finally, after giving him a kiss of her own, Sweetie Belle carefully got off of Spike, allowing for him to get up.

Seriously, how'd I get so lucky as to have the three of them? Spike smiled to himself in thought before standing up and stretching. "Well, we better get going. Besides not wanting to have to listen to Pyre pounding on my door again, I could go for something to eat... but first, I need to use the bathroom. You girls go on ahead and I'll catch up with ya at breakfast."

Jogging past the Crusaders, Spike made his way to the bathroom, unaware of the looks he was getting on his way out.

"Umm, am Ah seein' things, or is it just me?" Apple Bloom wondered out loud.

"Nope, it's not just you," Scootaloo answered.

"You think he's okay?" Sweetie Belle asked with a hint of worry.

"Why would ya think that?" Apple Bloom questioned.

"Well, it's just that before we started going out with him, he was shorter than us."

Apple Bloom and Scootaloo nodded. "Uh-huh."

"And when we three started going out with him, he suddenly grew a little and was at eye-level with us."

"Uh-huh."

Sweetie Belle's cheeks were tinted red now. "And now, sometime between now and Hearts and Hooves Day, Spike's grown to the point where we actually have to look up a little bit to look him in the eyes."

"Okay, so Spike's grown," Apple Bloom mused, "but doesn't he also look a little..."

"Slimmer?" Scootaloo guessed.

"Yeah, exactly."

"Yeah, I saw it too. But not only does he seem to be taller and slimmer, but did you girls feel his muscles too?"

Sweetie Belle nodded. "I thought I was just imagining it at first, but I definitely noticed it."

The three turned to the open doorway.

"Guess that training of his with Pyre's paid off," Scootaloo commented.

"And him helpin' Dark out in the forge," Apple Bloom added.

"And his magic lessons with Twilight," Sweetie Belle further added.

"He's probably lost some of that baby fat with his growing up, too," Scootaloo thought.

Silently nodding in agreement, the three left Spike's room and made for the kitchen.

"Sooo," Apple Bloom slowly began, "do any of ya think that anypony else will notice?"

"Spike! What happened to you?!"

After using the bathroom, Spike found himself munching away at his breakfast with Twilight hovering just beside him with a look of wonder and worry, while Dark, the Crusaders, and the others were all gathered around.

"What are you talking about, Twilight?" Spike questioned.

"What do you mean 'what are you talking about'? Look at you! You've grown again!"

Actually taking the time to look himself over, Spike began to notice that everything seemed to be a little bit smaller.

Huh, so I wasn't imagining it after all, he thought. "Well, that's neat."

"That's nea- girls!" Twilight turned to face the Crusaders. "Do any of you three know what happened to him?"

"Sorry, Twilight, but we don't," Sweetie Belle answered.

"We went ta bed with him lookin' just fine," Apple Bloom began.

"But then we woke up with him suddenly looking like this," Scootaloo finished.

"Really?" Twilight questioned. "That's it? Nothing happened last night that could've caused this?"

They all shook their heads before Sweetie Belle began answering again.

"I'm sorry, Twilight, but we don't know. We all played some board games, Spike fell asleep, we put him to bed, was about to leave until you told us we could stay the night here, and fell asleep with Spike."

Twilight turned back to spike. "Really?"

"She's telling the truth," Spike answered. "I fell asleep last night looking normal, then I woke up like this. By the way, thanks for doing that for me, girls."

"You're welcome," the Crusaders all replied in unison.

"And you're not worried about it?" Twilight questioned him.

"Hey, I'm just happy that I'm starting to grow up."

"Not this fast you shouldn't! How do we even know if this is safe for you?"

"Stop your worrying, he'll be fine," Pyre told her.

"Why shouldn't I be worried? Spike shouldn't be growing this quickly!"

"It's because of how far behind in his growth he was. Yes, he does seem to be growing unnaturally quickly, but now that he's getting close to being caught up to where he's suppose to be, thanks to these three fillies, he should start to grow at a more natural and steady pace."

Twilight looked over Spike with unease. "So, he's going to be alright?"

"Yes," Pyre huffed with an eye-roll.

Aques placed a reassuring claw on Twilight's shoulder. "Don't worry, dear. Pyre knows what he's talking about."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes, I am. This isn't the first time we've had a late bloomer."

"She's right," Aero agreed. "You trust us, right?"

"Of course I do," Twilight answered. "It's just that I'm a bit concerned that Spike might be growing up too fast too soon, and that it might actually be unhealthy for him."

"We understand Twilight," Aques began, "but we assure you that you have nothing to worry about."

Twilight gave a heavy sigh before she started to relax herself. "Alright. If you three say that he'll be fine... I'll trust you on this."

Aques and Aero both gave Twilight a hug.

"Thank you," Aero thanked.

"Sure," Twilight said with a nod. A few seconds later after they broke their hug, a question came to her. "Hey, what about his magic?"

"That, I don't know," Pyre answered her. "I've only seen two others of Spike's kind, so I don't know much about them. His magic might've increased along with his growth, or it may not have."

"Either way, I'm perfectly fine with how I am," Spike chimed, finishing up the last bite of food on his plate with a belch. "Ahh, thanks for the food, Twilight, Dark."

"You're welcome, Spike," Twilight answered.

"Yeah, what she said," Dark said.

Sighing in relief, Spike stood up from his chair and stretched.

"Hey, Sweetie, Apple Bloom, Scoots?"

"Yes?" they replied.

"What do you three think about a picnic lunch today?"

They each eagerly nodded in agreement.

"Sure, Spike. Where at?" Apple Bloom wondered.

"That, I'm leaving up to you three."

They hummed to themselves in thought before huddling up to talk about it. About a minute later, they broke with their decision made.

"Would it be okay if we had it at the clubhouse?" Scootaloo asked.

"Sure," Spike shrugged. "I don't see why it wouldn't be okay. So then, I'll see you girls around noon?"

With a nod from each of them, they all got up from their seats and went on over to give Spike a group hug.

"Alright, girls," Twilight began, "why don't you three head on home. I'm sure your families will be wanting to see you again before the morning is over with. Especially since you three staying over last night was so last minute."

"Okay, Twilight."

With a goodbye hug from Spike, they each made their way out of the castle and towards their homes. Once she was sure they were gone, Twilight sighed and took a seat at the table with Dark right beside her.

"Hey, you doing alright?" he asked with a nuzzle.

"Yeah. Just a little tired is all," she said with a groan. "And it's not even close to noon yet."

"You wanna go take a nap?"

Stifling a yawn, Twilight nodded and stood up. "I'll be in our room if anyone needs me."

Dark got up and followed alongside her. "You want me to come with you and keep you company?"

With a smile, Twilight closed her eyes and leaned against Dark as they continued down the halls.

"I wouldn't mind it at all."

Outside the castle, three sets of eyes were tracking the Crusaders as they made their way through town with a set of stolen binoculars. Once the Crusaders split up to go to their homes, three eyes retreated back into their tree.

"Looked like they were going to be meeting up at the farm pony's home," one of them said.

"How do you know that?" another questioned, earning him a smack on the head.

"I can read their lips, idiot."

"So, what's the plan then?" the third wondered. "Are we gonna just sit and wait for them then ambush them and take them hostage there?"

There as a moment of silence as the first one looked over the third.

"You know what? That'll work just fine. Nice thinking," he complimented. "Good to know that one of you isn't an idiot and can think."

"I don't get paid to think," the second one said.

"You're not getting paid anyway. Now, let's go back and hide out in that apple orchard. While we're there, we'll help ourselves to some apples until they show up."

"And what about when the runt gets there?" the third one asked.

"We'll be out of there with those fillies by the time he gets there. By the way, did you write the note?"

The third held a piece of parchment in his claw. "All done. Also included the location where you're wanting him to meet us."

"Good." He rubbed his claws in anticipation. "By the time I'm finished with Spike, he'll regret having turned against me. And when he's laying dead in the middle of the street where all of his pony friends can see him, I'll take those three for myself. They should make for decent slaves for me."

"And what about the Scaleless Dragons?" the second one questioned, causing the first one to facepalm in exasperation.

"How many times do I need to go over this with you?! It doesn't matter what kind of dragon they are. No dragon is allowed to interfere when the challenge is issued."

"Alright, but what about after?" the third wondered. "What's to stop them from coming after us? The code won't protect us after the challenge is finished."

"It does with this new update before we were sent. With this new addition to the code, no dragon will be able to touch us until we return home. And when we do, we'll be under the protection of my old dragon."

"And what about the ponies? They won't be affected by the code like we dragons will."

"True, but they won't risk attacking us, especially when they learn that my old dragon is the Dragon King. You know, international stuff and blah, blah, blah."

"... even so, I'm still not so sure about this plan."

"Good thing I wasn't asking for your opinion then. Now shut up and let's get moving."

A few hours later, Spike was in the kitchen getting ready to make him and the Crusaders some lunch. With him alone for the moment as he began gathering things up, he began thinking back to what Twilight was wondering about his magic increasing with his growth. Curious, Spike stood back and lit his claws with his green aura of magic. Focusing, he opened a few of the cupboards and levitating what he needed out with better control than what he had before.

Huh, so far it looks like Twilight was right after all, he thought as he continued to levitate sandwich materials out in front of him.

Wanting to see just how much better at his magic he was, Spike began to levitate multiple items at once with precision, much like he'd seen Twilight do so many times before. A few minutes of practicing his levitation later, Spike had their lunch made and placed it in the picnic basket he left on the table. Once it was filled up, he used his magic again and levitated it off of the table and into his waiting claw.

"This is so sweet," he said to himself gleefully. "If my magic is this much stronger, then my lessons with Twilight should be bumped up a bit."

With his picnic basket in his claw and a hop in his step, Spike whistled as he walked towards the doors to leave the castle to meet up with the Crusaders for their picnic at their clubhouse.

Over at Sweet Apple Acres, Sweetie Belle, Apple Bloom, and Scootaloo were all sitting in the clubhouse waiting for Spike to show up for their picnic lunch together.

"How much longer?" Scootaloo groaned out of boredom.

"It shouldn't be too long now," Sweetie Belle answered.

"Good. Because I'm hungry enough as it is."

"Suppose we should've gotten somethin' ta snack on when we came here," Apple Bloom said.

"Well, there's plenty of apples to much on."

"But then it would ruin our appetite for the lunch Spike's bringing us," Sweetie Belle pointed out.

"Ah know, but like Scoots, Ah'm gettin' kinda hungry," Apple Bloom said. A second later, they suddenly went silent as she and Scootaloo both heard a loud growl. With a smirk, they looked to the source, being a blushing Sweetie Belle, and her stomach. "And it seems like we're not the only ones."

"Can you blame me? You girls know what Spike's cooking is like, so why not wait for it?

"Maybe, but gettin' hungrier than a pig that's gone a few days without slop isn't very healthy for ya."

"Or smart," Scootaloo added.

"Alright," Sweetie Belle sighed in defeat. A few moments of silence later, she spoke back up. "Hey, what should we do after we're all done eating lunch?"

Apple Bloom tapped her chin in thought before she turned to Scootaloo. "Ah got nothin' so far. What about you, Scoots?"

Scootaloo shrugged. "Personally, I wouldn't mind some cuddling time."

Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom both snapped their heads towards Scootaloo with widened eyes.

"Sorry, Ah don't think Ah heard ya right," Apple Bloom said as she began cleaning out her ears. "Did you just say that ya wanted ta cuddle?"

Scootaloo tilted her head. "Yeah, so?"

"Okay, who are you and what have you done with Scootaloo?" Sweetie Belle asked.

"What?"

"Oh come on, Scootaloo. You hardly ever want snuggles."

"Maybe not before all of this started, but thanks to you two and Spike, I actually don't mind some cuddle time."

"But isn't mushy stuff like that not awesome or cool?" Apple Bloom questioned.

"Hey, our coltfriend is a hot magical dragon who's super popular in the Crystal Empire. I think that anything involving him would be considered awesome, whether it might be considered mushy or not. Not to mention that hot bod he's starting to grow into."

Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom both blushed as they thought about Spike's new body.

"Okay, you got us there," Sweetie Belle admitted.

"Yeah," Apple Bloom agreed. "Now that y'all mention it, Ah wouldn't mind spendin' some more time with him like that too."

"Hey, how big do you think Spike's gonna grow?" Scootaloo wondered. "You girls don't think he's gonna be as big as when he had that growth spurt on his birthday, do you?"

"He might."

"Either way, Ah doubt that anypony would wanna mess with any of us if it meant havin' ta deal with Spike," Apple Bloom said.

Sweetie Belle giggled while Scootaloo snickered. Seconds later, they heard the sound of claws against the wooden ramp before hearing a loud knock on the door to their clubhouse.

"Speaking of Spike," Sweetie Belle began before going to the door and opening it. "Hi, Spike. We were wondering when you would..."

Sweetie Belle's words died off when she saw that it wasn't Spike standing at the door, but a taller red one with wings and orange spines. Seeing this unfamiliar dragon, Sweetie Belle instinctively tried closing the door shut on him, but he already had his foot in the door. Now scared, Sweetie Belle ran back with the others and looked to the opened window. They were about to jump out of it and have Scootaloo float them down to safety, but another male dragon blocked it off, this one being a thin purple one with dark-purple spines, and blond hair that just covered his eyes.

With their other escape rout blocked off, and the red one blocking off the door, the Crusaders began throwing the stuff in their clubhouse at him. While most of their stuff was brushed off, it was the table that had hit him in the face that sent him in a momentary daze. Having an opening, they each ran past him to escape, but not before Apple Bloom bucked the back of his knee and sent him falling forward. Leaving him behind, the Crusaders each ran down the ramp and were about to make for Scootaloo's scooter and wagon, but skidded to a halt when they saw a heavy brown dragon with blue horns and a clubbed tail blocking their path to it.

Backing up, they were about to turn around and run for Apple Bloom's house, but where stopped when the purple one nabbed Sweetie Belle by the back of the neck, and the brown one grabbed Apple Bloom and Scootaloo the same way. Struggling to get free, they tried to kick, flap, and blast their way free, but their grip on them was too strong.

"Pesky little ponies," the red one growled as he walked out of the clubhouse with a small limp in his step. Stopping in front of them, he glared at each of the fillies before addressing the purple one. "You got the letter, right?"

He reached back behind him and pulled out a furled scroll. "Right here."

"Good." Taking the scroll, the red one walked back up into the clubhouse and tossed the scroll in the middle of the room. "Now that that's done, let's get out of here and get over to that village. I want every one of those ponies to see this."

Taking the lead, the red one flew up over the orchard with the other two following behind with the Crusaders in their grips. As they were being taken away against their will, the Crusaders each tried to cry out for help, but a brief squeeze of their neck was all that they needed to be told to stay silent. Scared for their lives and what these three dragons might do to them, they each squeezed their eyes shut while trying to stave off their fearful tears. Unfortunately, thanks to them having their eyes closed, they didn't notice Spike walking below them, completely unaware of what was flying up above him.

Making his way through the apple orchard, Spike walked along with a picnic basket in his claw. While he was looking forward to this picnic with his three fillyfriends, he also didn't want to appear too excited and decided to take his time. When the clubhouse did come into view, he continued walking up to it, but noticed the unusual silence. Brushing it off as them being quiet to surprise him with something, Spike walked up the ramp to the clubhouse and knocked on the door.

"Hey, girls, I'm here," he called out through the door, only to get silence in return. "Sweetie? Apple Bloom? Scoots? Are you girls there?"

Getting no answer again, Spike shrugged and grabbed ahold of the doorknob. Turning it and opening the door, Spike walked in expecting to see his fillyfriends, but instead was met with a disorganized room with broken pictures, podium, and furniture, including the table. Curious as to why the Crusades would leave their own clubhouse like this, Spike sat his picnic basket down and walked further in. As he looked around the room filled with broken glass and splintered wood, a single scroll sitting in the center of it all was what caught his attention.

Did they get into a bad argument or something? he mentally asked himself.

Gulping at what the Crusaders probably wrote, Spike picked up the scroll and unfurled it. When he started reading it, his pupils shrank and his breath quickened. While he was scared from reading how Sweetie Belle, Apple Bloom, and Scootaloo were foalnapped and wanted Spike to meet them in the middle of Ponyville if he wanted to see them again, it was the name at the bottom of the letter that truly frightened him.

Garble's here in Ponyville!? he thought in a panic. "No. No, no, no, no, no..."

Spike started to hyperventilate now at the thought of the three most important fillies in the world being taken away by someone like Garble. However, along with that overwhelming sense of fear, there was another that began to surface. It started out slowly, but soon enough, Spike's sense of fear was replaced with a mixture of protectiveness, and most dangerous of all, anger.

Growling with his flames licking the corners of his maw, Spike turned around and booked it out of the clubhouse for the castle. As much as he wanted to confront Garble and save his three fillyfriends, he would first need some gear from his bedroom.

Throwing the doors to the castle open, Spike ran through the halls and up the stair, completely ignoring Fissure and Aques as they walked past him by the entrance. Coming to his bedroom door, Spike threw it open hard against the wall and ran inside. Running over to his chest sitting off in a corner, Spike began rummaging through it until he found what he was looking for.

Adjusting the leather belt, Spike buckled it on his waist and reached in for a cylindrical-shaped object. Clicking the small button on the side of it, the ends shot out into a metal staff.

Guess I'll have to use it after all, Spike thought, pressing the button again and setting his retractable staff in the holster on his belt.

Turning his attention back into his chest, Spike began to pull out a few smoke bombs that he placed into the small satchel on his belt before heading back in.

"Spike?"

Hearing Twilight's tired voice, Spike lifted his head out of the chest and looked to see her, Dark, Fissure, and Aques coming into his room.

"What's going on?" Twilight tiredly asked. "You're being awfully loud."

"It's that," he simply said, pointing to the letter laying on the floor behind him.

Using her magic, Twilight levitated it up for her and the others to read. When they did, they each bore an expression of worry and unease.

"Spike, is this-"

"The same Garble from the Great Dragon Migration?" Spike finished for Twilight. "Yes, it is."

"But how?"

"I don't know, and I don't care. Right now, he's got my girls, and I'm going to get them back."

"Not alone you aren't. We're coming to help you."

"Thanks, but I got this."

"But, Spike-"

"No, Twilight!" Spike snapped, his face contorted in anger while his eyes began to water. "I'm not going to have you fight my battles. I'm not the same helpless little dragon that I was the last time we faced off. Now, I'm bigger, stronger, have magic and a weapon, and I'm going to save my fillyfriends!"

Spike maintained his gaze on Twilight as she just stood there and processed Spike's words. When a moment went by without her saying anything, Spike snorted and went back into his chest.

"Look, I'm sorry, Twilight," he apologized, "but Garble's more than likely after me, and is using the Crusaders to bring me out. If they're going to be saved, then it's my responsibility to be the one to save them."

"Do you know who you're really facing, though?" Aques asked.

"Yeah. Garble."

"I mean do you know who he is? Or rather, what he is?"

"... what? I'm sorry, I don't get it."

Aques shook her head before Fissure took over. "Garble is Inferno's son."

Spike's, Twilight's, and Dark's eyes were now all focused on Fissure.

"Are you sure?" Twilight asked.

"Yes, I am."

Twilight began pacing around the room. "In that case, this just became a lot more complicated. Not only do we have a royal dragon here in Equestria unannounced, but he's also gone and foalnapped three fillies."

"It doesn't matter to me," Spike told them, closing his chest, "I'm still gonna go fight him and get my girls back."

Spike started to make his way out of his room, but a claw on his shoulder stopped him. Looking up to its owner, Spike saw Dark with a unusually serious look on his face.

"Are you sure, Spike?" he asked him.

"I am," Spike replied. "I appreciate the concern and your guy's willingness to help, but this is my fight."

"Then are you prepared to do what you might need to do?"

"... like what?"

"Tell me, Spike. If it turns out that there's no other way, could you bring yourself to kill him, even if it's to save Sweetie Belle, Apple Bloom, and Scootaloo?"

Spike shuddered at the thought of possibly having to take a life. Even though he does love the Crusaders, he wasn't sure if he could.

"I... I don't know," he slowly answered. "I mean, I want them back safe and sound... but to have to kill in order to do it..."

"Look, Spike," Dark began understandingly, "I know what you're going through, and I would rather prefer that you don't, but it could be a very possible chance that you will."

"What if I were to just knock him unconscious? I may not be able to cast any stun, sleep, or paralysis spells yet, but I can still beat him up until he's out."

"True, but can you hold onto your sense of right and wrong in the midst of a fight without losing yourself?"

"What do you mean?"

"Sometimes during a fight, one can lose themselves in battle, causing them to do things that they wouldn't normally do. A killing blow could've easily had been meant as a simple hit to disable or daze, and by the time you realize it, it's too late."

"He's right."

Turning back to the door, they watched as Pyre and Aero walked in.

"How much did you hear?" Spike wondered.

"Plenty to know what's going on," Aero said sadly.

"While you are too young to be in a situation like this," Pyre began, "in the end, the decision is yours."

"But we can do something to stop this, right?" Twilight asked.

"I doubt it. I've met Inferno's son a few times, and while he may be a arrogant and at time, stupid, teenage dragon, he can also be cunning. My bet is that he would follow the Dragon Code and challenge Spike here to a one-on-one duel, possibly to the death."

"But we can do something to stop that, right?!"

"I'm afraid not, Twilight," Aero spoke. "Recently, there's been a change to the Dragon Code in terms of dueling. If anyone were to interfere during the match, the challenged, meaning Spike, would forfeit, and the challenger, Garble, would win."

"He might win, but that doesn't mean that he'll leave this place alive," Dark snarled.

"But he can. You see, that's what the newest addition is. After the match is over with, the victor and their party are free and untouchable until they return to their home. That way, no one can attack the victor while they're weak and vulnerable."

"But that's for dragons, not ponies!" Twilight countered. "We don't need to abide by that rule!"

"If you do that and attack Garble after the match, then Inferno may very well declare war on Equestria," Pyre told her.

"However," Aero slowly began, "there's also a clause that exempts the repercussions of killing of a participant."

"Meaning if Garble kills Spike, Garble walks free."

Dark furrowed his brows. "But if Spike killed Garble, then Inferno would have no choice but to suck it up and take it."

"Exactly."

All eyes were turned on Spike as he mulled all of this over. Standing where he was in silence, he took a few moments to think it over.

"I don't want to kill Garble," Spike told them, eliciting a sigh from Twilight. "But, if it turns out that he's giving me no other choice, then... I may have to."

"Spike," Twilight uneasily called, "are you sure about this?"

"To be honest, no, I'm not. But it's not like I have much of a choice, either. Either I fight him and try to save the Crusaders, or I sit back and do nothing."

"So you've made your decision then?" Aques asked him.

Spike gave a solemn sigh and nodded. "Yes, I have."

"Okay, but what about Twilight? After all, she's pretty much your guardian, right?"

Now it was Twilight's turn to be put on the spot as all eyes were on her. With a sigh, she sadly looked down at Spike.

"I would prefer that you don't, Spike," she said, earning her a frown from him. "But... I also have an idea of what you're going through with this."

"So...?"

"... do what you have to do."

Leaving it at that, Twilight began walking out of Spike's room.

"Twilight? Where're you going?"

"To the throne room," she answered. "Princess Celestia needs to know about what's going on here."

"I'll go with her," Dark said before walking up alongside Twilight, leaving the five dragons alone.

"Well," Pyre piped, "I guess we better go get your fillies back."

Spike nodded. "Yeah, I guess."

"Don't worry, Spike," Aero told him. "We'll be right there beside you cheering you on."

"Really?"

"Yes. We'll even take you there ourselves," Aques said before turning to Pyro. "Pyro, you're carrying him."

Muttering under his breath, Pyre knelt down for Spike to jump up onto his back. Hopping onto his back, Spike held on tight as Pyre opened Spike's bedroom window and flew out with Aques, Aero, and Fissure following behind. As they flew high over Ponyville, they could see a large group of ponies and royal guards gathered around in a circle the town square. Dropping down, Pyre and Fissure landed on the outside of the ring with a heavy thud, while Aques and Aero floated just off the ground.

Jumping off of Pyre's back, Spike ran over to one of the nearby guards.

"What are you guys doing just standing here like this and not helping them?!" Spike demanded.

"We can't," the guard answered. "The red one threatened to harm those fillies if we were to try anything. He did make a demand, though, which was that he wanted you here. We've sent one of our pegasi to come get you, but it looks like you've already found out."

"Yeah," he snarled. Turning away from the guard, Spike led the Scaleless Dragons over towards the center of the ring of ponies before he finally broke through. "Garble!"

Hearing his name and the familiar voice, Garble leered at the younger dragon.

"It's about time you showed up, shrimp," he said as he eyed Spike out. "Huh, you look like you've grown a little bit since we last met, but you're still a wimp."

"I'm going to only ask you this only once Garble. Why are you doing this?" Spike demanded.

"Sorry, you're gonna have to be a bit more specific than that."

"Why are you foalnapping Sweetie Belle, Apple Bloom, and Scootaloo?!"

Hearing their names, they each finally opened their eyes and saw Spike staring down Garble.

"Well, I had to get your attention somehow," Garble answered. "Besides, what better way to do that than to kidnap those closest to you?"

"Despicable," Pyre spat, "just like your father."

"Not my problem, Lord of Fire. Speaking problems," Garble turned his attention back to Spike, "you've got your own problem right here in front of you."

"So what? Are you going to use the Dragon Code to challenge me to a duel to the death or not?"

Garble blinked in surprise before scowling. "Taking all of the fun out of it, aren't you?"

"The only fun that I'll be having is getting a chance to beat you up," Spike growled.

Garble took a moment to process that before breaking into laughter.

"Looks like you've grown a pair, huh? I like that. It'll make killing you in front of all of your pony friends that much easier."

Spike flexed his claws. "If that's what it takes to save my girls from you, then so be it."

Any mirth and playfulness in Garble's eyes vanished at the sound of Spike's threat. Growling, he motioned a claw for the other two to back up and give them room. With a large berth, Garble and Spike slowly started to circle each other, sizing the other up. However, that ended when the clock tower rang. Using that as their cue, Spike and Garble both roared as they dashed towards the other with raised claws.

Chapter 75- Don't Buck With a Dragon

Author's Note

Yes, the title is a reference to Bayonetta's "Don't f*ck with a witch".

Chapter 75- Don't Buck With a Dragon

This wasn't how Spike had expected his day to go. What was suppose to be a relaxing day with his three fillyfriends had suddenly came to a grinding halt and turned completely around as he became locked in a death battle with Garble in an attempt to save Sweetie Belle, Apple Bloom, and Scootaloo from him and his two accomplices. However, with the Dragon Code's rules of engagement, he would receive no help during this fight, leaving him on his own.

And at the moment, he was perfectly fine with that.

Charging at his friend-turned-enemy, Spike flexed his claws and added a little more speed to his step. While Garble had the advantage in size, strength, experience, and flight, Spike knew that he had the advantages of his smaller size which was complimented by his speed and agility. Not only that, but Spike also had the items in his belt, his retractable staff, and most importantly, his ability to use magic.

Closing in on each other, Spike dropped and slid beneath Garble's legs to avoid a swipe from his claws. As he slid between his legs, Spike took a swipe at them, barely doing any damage, but still gaining Garble's attention. Looking up, Spike's eyes widened before he quickly rolled off to the side to avoid the spiky tail that had come down where he had previously been. Getting back up on his feet, Spike hopped back as Garble swung his tail out at him. Dodging the attack, Spike then started dodging from side-to-side to avoid Garble's claw swipes. Dodging another claw swipe, Spike dashed forward where his fist met Garble's jaw in an uppercut, causing him to stumble back before Spike followed it up with a claw swipe of his own to his softer underbelly.

Making contact, Spike clawed at it a few more times to leave a solid mark. Unfortunately, he remained stationary for too long, allowing for Garble to swipe his claw across the side of Spike's face. Rolling across the ground, Spike came to a stop before quickly getting back to his feet. As he did, he winced as he felt pain coming from his cheek. Placing a claw against it, Spike felt something wet and brought his claw back to see four streaks of blood on his claw.

"I'll admit that that wasn't half bad," Garble said rubbing his jaw, "but you're gonna have to do a lot better than that if you want to live."

Growling, Spike reached into his satchel and pulled out a pair of smoke bombs. Lighting the fuses with a stream of his fire breath, Spike waited a moment before chucking them at Garble. When the exploded and covered the area in smoke, Spike reached for his retractable staff and pressed the button to extend it. Armed and having Garble lost and confused in the smoke cloud, Spike charged in to attack. Though it was difficult to see in there, thanks to the light from Celestia's sun, Spike was just barely able to make out the outline of Garble standing nearby him.

Using this to his advantage, Spike stayed low and quickly ran up to Garble. Targeting his leg, Spike swung his staff and hit him on the side of his knee. Hearing his roar from being hit, Spike quickly retreated back to avoid Garble's tail swipe before running back in and taking another swing, this one hitting his other leg in the shin. Repeating this action, Spike continued to assault Garble while using his speed to avoid getting hit again. Hitting him in the knee, Spike retreated back and was ready to strike again when Garble roared in fury and started breathing fire out all around him.

Even though he was fireproof, Spike didn't want to stay in there and ran out of the smoke cloud. Panting slightly for breath, he turned around and saw Garble's flames as they dispersed the smoke cloud. Moments later, he watched as Garble walked out of the fires with a small limp, and his fangs bared.

"You're going to pay for that, you little rodent," Garble growled.

Spike's brow narrowed as he spun his staff around and took a fighting stance.

"Then what are you waiting for? Get over here and fight me, you big red jerk," Spike snarled. "Or are you too afraid to fight me anymore?"

Falling to his provocation, Garble roared as he charged Spike. Once he was close enough, Spike leaped back and brought his staff down on Garble's snout. Though it hit, it didn't do much to Garble as Spike again found himself backing up. As he avoided Garble's claws, Spike waited for the next one that came his way. When it did, he used his staff to parry the strike before fluently following it up with a counter of his own and striking the side of Garble's face.

With his head knocked away and his eyes losing him, Spike jabbed one of the ends of his staff against Garble's knee, causing him to grunt in pain as said knee crumpled and forced him down to it. With him down on his knee and in somewhat of a blind spot, Spike then began to jab at the side of his exposed ribs. Getting a few hits in, Spike landed another one before Garble unfurled his wing and knocked Spike away. Using the momentum from his tumbling, he planted his staff in the ground and used it to send himself springing back up to his feet, while Garble flapped his wings to help him stand back up before giving Spike a murderous glare.

"You will die!"

Dark and Twilight were sitting in the throne room as they waited for the snow on the projection screen to clear and reveal Celestia on the other end. As they waited, Twilight began to shift around on her throne nervously while Dark stood beside her throne and rubbed her back in an attempt to calm her down.

"What's taking her so long?" she asked impatiently.

"She's probably on lunch break or something," Dark answered. "After all, it is that time of day."

"I know, but still, I wish she would've picked up by now. I don't want to stay away from Spike any longer than I need to."

"Neither do I, Twilight, but I trust Spike to pull through this. He might not have seen much in terms of combat, but between his weapons training with me, lessons from Pyre, magic lessons from you, and whatever he's been doing in the basement, I'm sure he'll be fine."

"I know, but I still want to be there for him."

"Be there for who, Twilight?"

Surprised by the new voice, Twilight and Dark both looked up to see that Celestia had finally returned and was sitting on her throne.

"Princess! Finally, you're here! Look, we've got a problem here in Ponyville!" Twilight said with a panicked tone.

"What is it, Twilight?" Celestia wondered.

"You remember Sweetie Belle, Apple Bloom, and Scootaloo, right?"

"Yes. They're Rarity's, Applejack's, and Rainbow Dash's sisters, and Spike's three fillyfriends. What about them?"

"They've been foalnapped by dragons."

Celestia's concerned look turned shifted to a neutral expression. But, even though she wasn't showing it, Twilight knew that it was just a mask to hide her anger.

"Does anypony know who these dragons are?"

"We do, or, at least one of them. His name is Garble, and from what the Scaleless Dragons say, he's the son of King Inferno." Celestia's brow narrowed as Twilight continued. "But that's not all. Not only did he foalnap them, but he's also using them as bait to lure Spike out into what we figure to be a duel to the death."

"I wouldn't be surprised if they were already fighting right now," Dark added.

"In that case," Celestia began, "I'm heading off to meet with the dragon emissary and inform him of what's going on. After that, I'll head immediately down to Ponyville."

"Okay, but what do we do until then?" Twilight questioned. "According to the Scaleless Dragons, there's been a recent change to the Dragon Code which will allow for Garble to walk away after their fight without anyone interfering."

"That is if Spike doesn't beat him to red paste first," Dark pointed out.

"If their fight ends before I get there, do what you can to stall them from leaving and let me take care of the rest," Celestia told them. "I don't care about the changes to their code or if this Garble is Inferno's son, nothing comes into my kingdom and gets away with foalnapping my subjects and trying to kill another with my knowledge."

"We will do what we can, Princess," Twilight said, earning a nod form Celestia.

"Then I won't stall any longer. I'll see you all as soon as I can get there."

With that, Celestia cut the connection, leaving Dark and Twilight with a snowy screen again before they too turned their crystal off.

"Alright, let's go, Dark."

Running alongside Twilight, Dark followed her out of the throne room and towards the doors to find where Spike and Garble were fighting at.

Spike's fight with Garble had taken a turned against his favor. After swinging his staff at Garble, he grabbed it and yanked it out of his claws before knocking him away with his tail. With Spike groaning from the hit, Garble began superheating the metal with his fire breath before breaking Spike's retractable staff over his good knee.

His Hearth's Warming present and only weapon now destroyed, Spike growled as he stood up with flames licking the corners of his snarling maw.

"Hah! What now, runt?" Garble smugly asked, flipping the ends of Spike's broken staff around and holding them like a pair of stakes.

Snorting smoke out from his nostrils, Spike reached a claw back into his satchel for a smoke bomb. But, before he could grab one, Garble charged him and began to thrust the broken ends of the staff at Spike in an attempt to skewer him. While he was able to dodge the first few strikes, Spike slipped and fell backwards onto his back.

Facing up at Garble looming overhead, Spike watched as he raised both of his weapons. Annoyed and angry for him breaking his present and only weapon, Spike raised his claws in front of him and used his magic to unleash a wave of magic that knocked Garble back several feet away from him. Getting back up again, Spike kept his eyes on Garble as he too got up, albeit with a surprised look on his face.

"What was that?!" he demanded. "I know you didn't just use magic on me, so which of you puny unicorns interfered?!"

"It wasn't any of them," Spike said. "It was me."

A moment later, Spike's claws were encased in his magical green aura, causing Garble to gawk at what he was seeing.

"Wha- but how?! How can you do magic like that?!"

"As it turns out, my species of dragon don't get to have wings. However, what we do get in return is the ability to use magic."

Focusing on his magic, Spike began to take a page out of Dark's book and started to shape his magic. Seconds later, the magical aura around his claws had spread up to his elbows with a more solid and shimmering look. Looking over his Magic Claws spell, Spike snorted before he dashed over to Garble again. With his claws raised, Spike didn't even flinch when Garble thrusted his weapon at him. Instead, Spike took a swipe at the metal and slashed clean through it. Taking another swipe, Spike then managed to get a clean and good hit on Garble as his Magic Claws left four deep cuts on his chest.

As he clung to his chest in pain, Garble roared and took a swipe at Spike with his other weapon. Unfortunately, the claw that Spike had struck Garble's chest with was on the same side that Garble held his makeshift weapon, resulting in Spike being unable to dodge it as it found its way into his upper-right arm. Roaring in pain himself, Spike held his injured arm against his side and chest before taking another swipe at him, this time missing as Garble took to the air with his wings.

Holding back a pained whimper, Spike fell to a knee before he looked to the metal jutting through his arm. Clenching his teeth, he grabbed onto the metal shaft with his left claw, and in one pain-filled motion, yanked it out of his arm. Shouting from the pain brought with relieving himself, Spike fell to the round on his good side as he clung his wounded arm to his chest.

Reaching into his satchel, Spike, with a shaky breath, lit the two smoke bombs and laid them around him. Closing his eyes, he waited for them to go off. When they did, he waited a few moments for the smoke to settle in before he tried to steady his breathing. Feeling the blood trickling over his arm and down his body, Spike focused the magic in his left claw into a healing spell and placed it over his wound.

"Come on out and fight me you little coward!" Garble shouted.

Ignoring him, Spike remained where he laid as he continued to try healing his injury. While it seemed like he was managing to heal it, it was going too slowly and would need more time before he could fight with his arm again. Fortunately for him, that extra time came when two new watchers joined the crowd.

"Spike! Are you alright?!" Twilight shouted in worry, hearing Spike's scream as she and Dark came towards them.

"No, he's not alright," Garble chuckled, spitting a glob of fire onto his claw and smearing it against his wounds, causing him to hiss in pain as the fire cauterized his wounds to where they weren't bleeding as much anymore.

"Help us, Spike!" Sweetie Belle cried out.

"Get us outta here!" Apple Bloom shouted.

"Kick his plot, Spike!" Scootaloo cheered.

Hearing their cheering and cries for help, Garble snarled and breathed a stream of fire at the ground near their hooves.

"Shut up!"

Hearing a growl coming from near Twilight, Garble landed and looked over to see who it was, having noticed that Spike was still in the smoke cloud, and the Scaleless Dragons were off watching on another area of the crowd. Looking over to her, his eyes widened in fear as they fell upon Dark, who's eyes were red and glaring at him.

"D-Dragon Slayer Dark?" Garble gulped.

"I didn't know before that Inferno had a son," Dark said in a low voice. "Tell me, how does it feel having a dragon like him as a father?"

Garble put on a brave and cocky face. "Heh, pretty good actually."

"... you know that you won't be getting away from this, Dragon Code or not. After all, there's always a loophole, and trust me when I say that we will find one."

"Go ahead if you want," he dismissed with a claw, "by the time you do, it'll be too late and I'll be long gone back to my father's kingdom where you can't touch me."

"Have you forgotten already? In the end, death claims us all."

While Garble was talking with Dark, in his arrogance, he kept his back turned to the smoke cloud, becoming unaware of a green glow from within. Moments later, he became fully aware of it when he was blasted in the back by a beam of green magic that sent him colliding with a wall of one of the buildings. Groaning and slowly standing back up, he was met with yet another beam of magic, this one sending his upper-half crashing through the side of the house with his lower-half hanging out from the hole.

"Don't think that you can turn your back to me just yet," Spike said, holding his right arm to his side while his left was extended out with his magical aura surrounding his claw.

Grunting, Garble scrambled to stand back up. However, as soon as he managed to look at his attacker, his face was met with another beam of magic from Spike, causing his head to whiplash and send the rest of his body falling into the house.

Using this time, Spike began casting his healing spell on his claw and placed it on his would to resume healing it. As the seconds rolled by, Spike's gaze never left the hole in the wall. Watching with an intense glare, Spike soon saw a table flying out of the gaping hole towards him. Stepping off to the side and dodging it, Spike then saw movement as Garble began walking out of the house and into the light. When he did, though, he did so with a pair of longswords in his claws, wearing a belt with a sheath for both swords, and a heavy-looking bag tied to his side.

"Well, well, look at what I found in there?" he chuckled. "I don't know who lives in that place, but there's a lot of weapons and stuff in there."

"Hey! Those are property of the royal guard!" one of the guards shouted.

"Well, now they're mine. Oh, and speaking of which, look at what else I found."

Sheathing one of his swords, Garble reached into the bag and grabbed what looked like a hoof-sized bomb. Chuckling to himself, Garble lit the fuse with his fire breath and tossed it at Spike before taking to the air to get out of the blast radius.

Taken by surprise, Spike barely had any time to throw a barrier around himself. Unfortunately, with the rush of the spell, he didn't have much time to reinforce it, causing it to shatter from the force of the bomb's explosion. Crying out in surprise and a little bit of pain, Spike was tossed back a few feet before skidding to a halt on his back. Coughing, he looked up to see Garble having sheathed his other sword was and now holding a bomb in both of his claws instead.

Seeing what he was about to do this time, Spike raised both claws up and erected a barrier around him. Pouring more magic in to reinforce it, he waited for Garble to start bombing him. Moments later, Spike heard Garble laughing before he dropped the two lit bombs and went straight for another two. Bracing for impact, Spike stood and heard the bombs bounce off the top of his barrier before detonating a second later. Grunting from the force behind the two explosions, Spike fell to a knee while he maintained his now cracked barrier.

Seeing Garble lighting the two new bombs, Spike dispelled his barrier before firing a beam from both of his claws, each aimed for the two bombs Garble still held in his claws. Despite him missing his marks, it was enough to spook Garble as he flew higher above him. Unfortunately for Garble, thanks to him being distracted by Spike, he briefly forgot about the lit bombs he was holding. Seconds later, both bombs exploded in his claws, causing Garble to roar in pain as the force of the explosion sent him plummeting down out of the air.

Landing with a hard thud, Garble groaned as he tried to recollect himself. Slow to get up and in pain, he brought his claws out in front of him to see and hissed in both pain and rage upon seeing most of the scales on his claws had been blown off from the force of the bombs. Glancing down at his chest, he then saw that it didn't get away clean either as blast from the bombs had re-opened his cauterized wounds on his chest, causing them to start bleeding again, albeit slower than before.

With another grunt of pain, Garble sat his elbows back to sit up, but was quickly pinned down by a sudden weight sitting on top of his chest. Now between rage and worry, Garble looked up at Spike sitting on his chest with both of his Magic Claws raised above him. Instinctively, he brought his arms up to defend himself before Spike began clawing away at him. Roaring in pain, he tried to shake Spike off, but his placement on his chest, and his feet at his sides, prevented him from shaking him off or using his wings.

Feeling Spike's Magic Claws tearing through his scales, Garble roared as he retracted his arms away from protecting him and went for the weapons at his sides. Drawing the swords, he took a few swipes to his chest before he went to slice both at Spike's neck, only for him to grab the blades with his magical claws. Surprised that Spike had caught them, Garble tried to pull them loose, but his grip on the blades were too strong, and the magic covering them were preventing the blades from cutting into his claws. Seeing as how this wasn't going anywhere fast, Garble instead focused on his tail and flung it towards Spike.

Unknowing about what was coming at him from behind, Spike suddenly cried out in pain as he felt one of the spikes on Garble's tail puncturing through the scales on his left shoulder and collarbone. Reeling in pain, Spike's grip on the two blades loosened, allowing for Garble to pull them free before slicing them horizontally across his chest. Feeling the new source of pain, Spike brought his arms to the two wounds on his chest before crying out again as Garble brought his tail up with Spike still attached to it, and flicked him off.

Rolling to a stop covered in dirt and blood, Spike laid limply as he tried to stay conscious. Hearing a collection of horror-filled screams, Spike glanced off to his side to see Sweetie Belle, Apple Bloom, and Scootaloo with tear-filled eyes as they all tried to struggle to get free. Gasping for air, Spike slowly rolled onto his stomach and laid there for a moment as he tried to get his breathing under control.

"Do you see it now?" Garble snarled, licking the bloodied blades as he limped closer to Spike. "You can't beat me, Spike. Even now after all of this time, you're still that weak, pathetic, little runt that I met at the Great Dragon Migration."

Whimpering from the pain, Spike managed to slowly get himself to stand on all four of his claws, all the while panting for breath.

"Yes..." he panted, "I am weak. Compared... to your strength... I am weak. But... in the end... you're the weak one..."

Garble paused. "What was that?"

"Unlike you... I have actually friends... who're always there for me." Feeling his breathing getting under control and the intense pain starting to fade slightly, Spike stood a little higher while remaining on all fours. "I have friends who care for me... who love me... and who I love in return. And now, Garble... thanks to the love and support of my friends and family to keep me going... I'm going to beat you!"

Sliding his arms out, Spike anchored his claws into the ground before they became encased in his magical aura. Ignoring the pain, Spike opened his maw and took in a deep breath while pointing it directly at Garble. Breathing in and grinding through the pain from his shoulder and chest wounds, Spike soon felt the magic in his claws begin to flow up towards a ball of magical energy gathering within his open maw.

While Spike was doing this, off to the side, Dark, Twilight, and Pyre all watched in horror at what Spike was trying to do.

What is he thinking?! Dark shouted in his head in a panic. He's going to destroy everything around here!

"Everypony run!" Dark shouted.

"It's not safe here!" Twilight shouted alongside him. "Everypony get away and get to cover!"

Noticing the clear tone of fear in their voices, everyone in the area started to run away. Even the two accompanying Garble took heed of their warning, figuring that if the Princess of Friendship and the Lord of Death were both shaken up by this, then this warranted listening to them. Dropping Sweetie Belle, Apple Bloom, and Scootaloo unceremoniously on the ground, the two teen dragons took to the skies and fled.

With the Crusaders free, they were about to run up to Spike, but quickly found themselves enwrapped by Twilight's magic as she pulled them back with her, Dark, and the Scaleless Dragons as they fled.

"NO! We have to go back and help him!" Sweetie Belle protested.

"Not this time," Dark denied. "Spike's never done a spell like the Flare before. For all we know, he could very well botch it up and cause it to backfire and blow up the surrounding area."

"Then we should stop him before it's too late!" Scootaloo argued.

"It became too late when he started casting it. Once started, it has to be completed, regardless of whether it's successful or not."

"How would you know?!" Apple Bloom snapped, out of both fear and anger.

Dark ignored that, but winced as he remembered the first time he tried casting the Flare and tried to cancel it.

Not one of my best moments... or smartest, he thought, remembering the burns he'd sustained from that day. Good thing I had a fireproof spell on me at the time.

"Trust me, Apple Bloom. As the one who created the Flare, I know first hoof what happens with this spell."

Over on the abandoned streets, Spike continued to channel his magic while Garble spread his wings and flapped. Raising off the ground, he flew over towards Spike with his swords pointed outward, waiting to get close enough to take one last swing at him. Closing the distance, Garble was only twenty yards away when he felt his blood suddenly run cold.

Feeling something telling him to stop there, Spike ceased channeling his magic. Having enough air in his lungs, Spike pushed it all out in one go. When his fire breath hit the orb of magic he'd gathered, Spike was sent skidding back as he fired a single-story, house-sized beam of greens and purples that emanated a high-pitched sound as it ripped through the dirt road and towards it's target. Thankfully for Spike, with the angle at which Garble was flying at him with, he had to aim upward, allowing for him to fire his Flare without it hitting any of the buildings. However, being unused to the kickback that the spell packed, Spike's aim was thrown off, but didn't completely miss his target.

Not expecting this, Garble's expression turned to one of horror as he tried to alter his flight path and avoid the spell rushing towards him. However, it was too late for him as Spike's attack roared towards him. Feeling the heat and power of the spell, Garble silently roared in pain as his left arm, shoulder, and wing were consumed in the light. Unable to do anything at this point, his body began to lock up in shock before he dropped down to the ground.

Finally ending the spell, Spike slumped down to the ground as he tried to keep himself awake from the amount of magic and blood he'd lost. However, while he did hit Garble with the Flare, it wasn't a direct hit. Slowly and painfully, Spike crawled back up to his feet and trudged over towards Garble's broken form with his left arm clinging to the wounds on his chest.

As he approached, Spike kept his eyes on Garble's body, watching as his chest slowly rose and fell with each wheezing breath he took. Besides his breathing, Spike immediately noticed that Garble's left wing had been blown off, the remains of it still attached to him having been cauterized by the intensity of the spell's heat. Not only that, but Spike nearly blanched when he saw that Garble lost not only his left wing, but also his entire left arm and a chunk of his shoulder, which he was sure he would've died from blood loss if the spell hadn't cauterized that too.

Tearing his gaze away from the grievous wounds, Spike saw something glinting the sunlight off to the side. Turning to see what it was, Spike saw that it was one of the swords Garble had used. Extending his right claw, Spike used his magic and levitated the sword over into his waiting claw. Looking over it and seeing it covered in a mixture of dirt and his own blood, Spike growled as he held it over Garble's prone form and flipped the blade, holding the sword in reverse as it's blade was now pointed downward. Holding the blade over his body, Spike took one last look at Garble, noticing now that his eyes were glaring at him.

"Do it," he wheezed. "Come on... do it... you coward."

Snorting in anger, Spike raised the sword above his head as he readied to deliver the finishing blow. However, before he could, he saw that everyone who had fled before had started returning. It was then, to his own regret and sorrow, that he saw the horrified faces of Twilight, Sweetie Belle, Apple Bloom, and Scootaloo. Seeing the looks on their faces, it suddenly dawned on Spike just what he was about to do. Along with that realization, Dark's words from earlier started to replay in his mind.

"Sometimes during a fight, one can lose themselves in battle, causing them to do things that they wouldn't normally do."

Slowly, Spike lowered the sword in his claw and looked at it in fear.

What's happening to me? he fearfully wondered. I almost just...

"No, Garble, I won't do it," Spike said, tossing the sword off to the side before giving a heavy sigh of relief.

Garble growled, but it quickly led to him coughing. "How... weak."

"No. I'm not weak, and I'm not going to kill you." Spike stood tall and began wincing at the pain he was feeling now that his adrenaline was starting to die down. "You've lost, Garble. Before when we were fighting, I might've done it. But now that you're like this, there's no need to. I'm not a killer, and I'm never gonna be one."

With that, Spike began to slowly walk away from his defeated foe and towards his friends. As he did, Garble tried to get up, but was in too much pain to do so. So, instead, he hissed in pain and glared at Spike.

"So you won't finish me then?" he snarled, causing for Spike to stop and look around at him.

"No, I won't. Be thankful that I'm being merciful to you, especially after how you used my fillyfriends like that."

"... you know that I wouldn't have shown you such mercy, right?"

"I know."

Having no more of it, Spike turned his back to Garble and went to rejoin his friends and family. But, before he got to them, his strength began to leave him. Falling to a knee, Spike started to breath heavily as his wounds and the exertion of battle started to take their toll on him.

"Spike!"

Glancing up, his vision was filled by his three fillyfriends. Seeing the worried looks on their faces, he gave them a weak smile.

"Hey, girls," he weakly said. "Don't worry, I'll be fine."

"Not like this you won't," Twilight said walking up to him. Using her magic, she lifted Spike up alongside her. "I'm taking you to the hospital to get you some help."

"Can we come too?" Sweetie Belle asked, getting a nod from Twilight.

"Sure. Hang on, girls. I hope none of you get teleportation sickness too." Charging her horn, Twilight looked back to Dark. "Hey, sweetie? Could you take care of things here while I look after Spike and the girls?"

"Sure," Dark nodded, "you go on ahead."

Watching them teleport off, Dark waited for a moment before he turned his attention towards the wounded dragon. Walking up to him with the Scaleless Dragons following behind him, Dark stopped when he and the others were standing over Garble.

"King Inferno's son or not, Garble, you're not going to be getting away from this one," Dark stated.

Grunting, Garble turned his head to face Dark. "So what? Are you gonna kill me then?"

"No. Death would be too easy of a punishment. The Scaleless Dragons told us about the update on the Dragon Code, and according to the newest addition to the rules, they're meant for the victor, since the one defeated is suppose to be dead. And, seeing as how you're not dead, the Dragon Code's protection won't apply to you."

Garble's pupils were reduced to pinpricks as Dark continued.

"You were betting on beating Spike so much that you probably didn't consider the possibility of losing, or the consequences that would come with it. Now that you've lost and aren't protected by the code anymore, you'll be answering for your crimes."

"And he won't be the only one."

Turning their attention to the new voice, the guards saluted and the civilians bowed as Celestia landed a few feet away from Dark and the Scaleless Dragons. Following behind her, a group of royal guard pegasi landed with two familiar dragons in chains.

"I believe that these two are with that one down there?" she questioned.

"Yes, they are," Dark answered with a bow.

With a nod, Celestia took a moment to see the what damage had been done. "A bit subtle compared to what you usually do, don't you think, Dark?"

"... this wasn't me," he grumbled, slightly miffed that she would assume that it was his doing.

Celestia blinked. "Really?"

"Yes."

"Strange. I could've sworn that I saw you cast the Flare before we got here."

"That was Spike."

Surprised by the news, Celestia looked over the hole in the wall, scorched dirt, and the shallow curved divot in the ground.

"Really now? Spike?"

"Well, he was the one who figured out how to get the Flare to work properly," Pyre reminded her. "That, and considering that he has the requirements to cast it, I shouldn't be surprised that he would try it."

"And under our noses this whole time too," Dark added.

"... well, we can discuss that matter later," Celestia redirected as she used her magic and brought the two dragons over to them. "Right now, what I want to know is what you three are doing here in the first place."

"Like we'll tell you," Garble weakly said, earning him a cold glare from Celestia.

"If you want to be treated for those wounds, then it would be in your best interest to cooperate."

While Garble scoffed, the purple one stepped forward.

"We were originally sent here by King Inferno to keep an eye and Dark and the Scaleless Dragon Lords," he told her. "Our job was to keep track of him and report back to the king if we noticed anything unusual."

"So you've been sent as spies then," she concluded.

"Uh... I guess so?"

Celestia hummed to herself in thought. "Alright, what happened then to have gone from spying, to this?"

"Don't you say anything," Garble barked, earning him a warning look from Celestia.

Ignoring him, he began to answer her. "After a day here, Garble saw Spike and started getting mad at him. He then ordered us to change our objective from focusing on Dark, to Spike's three girlfriends. Once they were in a secluded place together, we went in and grabbed them to use as bait to lure Spike out for Garble to fight."

Celestia looked down at Garble's broken form. "I see that things didn't go quite as planned."

"No. I even told him that this wasn't a good idea and that it would be going against King Inferno's orders, but he didn't listen."

Nodding, Celestia looked over to the guards that had gathered around them.

"Guards, take this dragon and get him some medical attention. Once he's patched up enough and not in danger of dying, bring him to the dungeons in Canterlot."

"What?!" Garble shouted, cringing as his body was wracked in pain.

"You, young dragon, are an unwelcomed foreigner in Equestria, who's acted as a spy against us, foalnapped three young fillies, and tried to kill one of my subjects, who also happens to be a hero of the Crystal Empire. You will spend your days locked away in the dungeons until your sentence is fulfilled, or when we decide to release you back to Inferno."

With a hardened gaze, Celestia watched as Garble was lifted up by a pair of unicorn guards before they and a few others marched off with him. Once they were gone, she turned her attention back to the other two dragons that she'd captured.

"As for you two," she began, "you'll both be arrested for spying as well."

Nervously, the two dragons bowed to Celestia. "Yes, Princess."

Celestia's firm look took on a somewhat softer tone. "However, considering how you surrendered quietly, and your willingness to cooperate with us, I'm willing to go a little easier on you two than what I will be with him."

Nodding, the two surrendered themselves completely and allowed for the guards to escort them away. With them gone, Celestia looked around before finally noticing a few missing.

"Where are Spike, Twilight, and Soul?" she asked.

"Soul is over playing at the park with some of his classmates, so thankfully, he didn't get to see what happened," Dark answered her. "As for Twilight and Spike, Spike was really hurt during that fight, so Twilight teleported him over to the hospital."

"Unfortunately," Aero began, "Sweetie Belle, Apple Bloom, and Scootaloo saw what happened, and went with them to support him."

Understanding, Celestia nodded. "In that case, we should make our way over there. Here, I'll teleport us all there."

Hearing those words, Dark's eyes widened, and before anyone knew it, he was already up in the air and flying towards the hospital.

"I'll meet you guys there!" he called back at them, wanting no part in being teleported by her again.

Twilight sat in the waiting room with the Crusaders sitting around her as they waited on news about Spike. Despite the fillies trying to put on a brave face, Twilight saw through it and pulled them to her with her wings in a comforting hug. Surprised by how quickly all three of them were to accept it, Twilight continued to gently hold them as she assured them that Spike would be alright. That was, until they were joined by Pinkie, Fluttershy, Rarity, Applejack, and Rainbow. Seeing their sisters there, Sweetie Belle, Apple Bloom, and Scootaloo all ran up to their embraces.

"Sweetie, darling, are you alright? Did they hurt you? Are you-"

"I'm fine, Rarity," Sweetie Belle said, cutting her sister off. "We're all fine."

"But Spike..." Apple Bloom sniffled and her voiced trailed off, causing Applejack to hug her tighter against her.

"Don't worry, sugarcube. He'll be alright," she said reassuringly.

"Yeah," Rainbow smirked. "Spike's a tough guy. He'll pull through. By the way, what happened anyway? All I saw was a really big beam of magic, kinda like Dark's Flare, but smaller."

"It was Spike," Scootaloo spoke. "We were foalnapped and Spike used that spell on the guy who took us and held us hostage."

Rainbow found herself immediately glaring as the fur on the back on her neck stood on end.

"Where is this guy?" she growled menacingly. "I'll show him what happens when he takes my sister away!"

"You mean you didn't see it?" Twilight questioned.

"None of did," Rarity spoke.

"Yeah," Rainbow nodded. "Applejack was at her farm, Rarity was in her boutique, Pinkie was working in Sugarcube Corner, and I was with Fluttershy. It wasn't until we saw the Flare fired into the sky that we all came to check out what was going on."

"And then we found out that you brought Spike and the Crusaders here, Twilight," Fluttershy said.

"Yeah. So, where's this punk that did this? I want a piece of him for what he did."

"Sorry, but you're too late, Rainbow," Twilight told her, gaining her attention.

"How so?"

"Spike hit him with the Flare."

"... so he's dead then?"

Twilight shook her head. "Not quite. Spike hit his left arm and wing, but it didn't kill him."

"Where is he now?"

"I don't know. I left to bring Spike here before I found out. Spike was in pretty rough shape when the fight was over with."

"Apparently if he's in surgery," Rainbow muttered. "But I still want to know what happened to that jerk who tried to hurt our sisters and almost killed Spike."

Before Rainbow could get an answer, a bright flash of light blinded everypony. When the light died down, they all saw Celestia standing in the center of the waiting room with the Scaleless Dragons.

"Princess! Finally. Hey, where's the guy who foalnapped our sisters so I can kick his flank?"

"He's been arrested and will be transferred to the dungeons beneath Canterlot," Celestia answered her.

Rainbow frowned in disappointment. "So that means no flank kicking then?"

"No, Rainbow Dash. He's already been beaten and will be serving time in the dungeons."

"Fine," she huffed, sitting down and crossing her forelegs. "Do we at least know the name of this guy?"

Twilight stepped forward. "You girls remember Garble?"

"That brutish red teenage dragon that we all met when we followed Spike during the Great Dragon Migration?" Rarity asked in clarification.

"The same."

"Yeah, I remember him," Rainbow said. "So, he's the one responsible then?"

"He is."

Further talking about Garble was silenced when the doors opened up with Dark walking in with Soul riding on his back.

"Hey," he greeted them. "Sorry I took so long. I decided to go get Soul from the park on the way over here."

"Is Spike okay?" Soul worryingly asked.

"I'm sorry, Soul, but we don't know," Twilight answered him before giving a small sniffle.

Letting Soul off of his back, Dark went over and draped a wing over Twilight as he pulled her into a comforting hug. Quickly after, Soul soon added himself too, both for Twilight's sake, and his own. As they all waited, hours had passed and it was starting to get close to sunset. And while they wanted to stay for Spike, the collection of growling stomachs were getting louder. Deciding that some would go out and grab everyone something to eat, Celestia, Fissure, and Pyre were about to leave when Nurse Redheart walked into the room

"Hello, everypony," she greeted them warmly and tiredly.

Immediately, she found herself confronted by three very concerned fillies.

"How's Spike doin'?"

"Is he okay?"

"Will he be alright?"

"Calm down, girls," Nurse Redheart told them. "Don't worry, the surgery was a success, and Spike is currently resting."

There was a collective sigh of relief.

"Umm... could we see him?" Sweetie Belle nervously asked.

"Of course you can. Right this way. Just remember that he needs his rest, okay?"

With a round of nods, Nurse Redheart led the group over to Spike's room. Silently following after her, they soon came to his room. Quietly opening the door, they walked in to see Spike asleep in his bed with his chest, left shoulder, and right upper arm bandaged up, and a gauze patch on his cheek where he'd been scratched. Along with those, there was also the heart monitor, and the I.V. providing him medicine to dull the pain. Seeing him like that, Sweetie Belle, Apple Bloom, and Scootaloo all ran up alongside his bed.

"Like I said before, he's alright," Nurse Redheart reminded them.

"Are you sure?" Scootaloo questoned.

"Yes. He just needs to rest and recover for now."

"How bad were his wounds?" Celestia asked.

"The two on his chest weren't too deep, but still needed stitches. The one on his arm, despite the shoddy healing job, we managed to get mostly healed, but will take a few weeks for it to heal completely. However, he got lucky with the puncture wound on his shoulder."

"How so?" Twilight wondered.

"The wound entered his left ribcage and came very close to hitting his vital organs. Fortunately for him, whatever caused it was angled just right that it stopped short just a half-inch away from hitting them."

Twilight began to shake at the thought of how close Spike was to dying. "It was a spike from a dragon's tail."

"Really?" Nurse Redheart questioned, getting a nod from Twilight and the others. "Well, sounds like there's quite a story behind this."

"There is, but maybe we should talk about it somewhere else," Aques suggested. "It's late enough as it is, and I wouldn't want to wake the poor drake."

"I suppose so," Rarity agreed before walking up to the Crusaders. "Come along, girls. Let's let Spike rest for now."

"We're not going anywhere," Sweetie Belle protested.

"Yeah," Scootaloo agreed. "We're staying here with Spike to help him when he wakes up."

"It's the least we can do after what he went through ta save us," Apple Bloom told them.

The adults all looked amongst each other before Nurse Redheart shrugged.

"It's up to you if they can or not," she said.

Rarity looked down at the three fillies. "You know that you three have school tomorrow, right?"

"We know, but we can't just leave Spike like this either," Sweetie said.

"Yeah," Scootaloo agreed. "Besides, how's Spike suppose to eat or drink anything if he can't move his arms?"

"Ah'm sure Cheerilee would understand," Apple Bloom said surely.

Rarity's eyes looked over them before they locked onto Sweetie Belle's. Seeing that she and the others weren't going to budge on this matter, Rarity sighed and pulled her into a hug.

"Alright, Sweetie," she relented. "You girls can stay as long as you follow Nurse Redheart's instructions and not wake Spike up. Provided that Rainbow and Applejack agree too."

"I'm alright with it," Rainbow shrugged.

"Ah suppose Ah could talk ta Cheerilee about it and tell her what happened," Applejack said. "That is, if she hasn't heard about it already."

"Thank you," the Crusaders answered in unison.

"In that case, I'll be back in a little bit to check up on you girls and Spike," Nurse Redheart informed them before taking her leave.

Satisfied with their answer, Rarity let Sweetie Belle go and made for the door to join the others. Once they were outside and closed the door behind them, they began to make their way out of the hospital to eat before Applejack stopped and looked back at the door to Spike's room.

"Something up, AJ?" Rainbow asked.

"It's nothin', sugarcube," Applejack said with a sigh. "Ah'm just a little worried about them is all. Ya know, after what just happened and all."

Seeing Applejack's discomfort, along with Rainbow's and Rarity's on the matter, Celestia walked up to them.

"If it would make you feel better, I could have a few guards posted at Spike's room, and have some assigned to watch over your sisters for a while."

"Sure, Princess," Applejack sighed in relief. "Thank ya kindly for this."

"Yeah," Rainbow agreed. "While I would normally trust Scoots on her own, it would make me feel better knowing that she has some extra muscle there with her."

"And for Sweetie Belle too," Rarity voiced in approval.

"In that case, you'll have to excuse me for a moment while I go and recruit some guards for the job. I'll meet you girls for dinner."

With a nod from them, Celestia teleported herself away to find some guards to watch over Spike and the Crusaders.

Over in Spike's room, Sweetie Belle, Apple Bloom, and Scootaloo each remained as they were beside Spike's bed. Watching him as he slept, their silence was soon interrupted by a small yawn coming from Apple Bloom.

"You sound sleepy," Sweetie Belle observed.

"Kinda," she replied, rubbing her eye. "Guess Ah'm just a bit tired from all the excitement is all."

"I hear ya," Scootaloo said with a yawn of her own as she eyed Spike's bed out. "You know, girls. We were talking about cuddling with Spike earlier today."

"Yeah?" Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom answered together.

"And even with his growth spurt, there's still a lot of empty space on the bed here."

Getting what she was getting at, the two nodded in agreement and began to ease their way into Spike's bed. With some careful maneuvering, they each managed to find a comfortable place to rest with Apple Bloom and Scootaloo cautiously taking Spike's sides, and Sweetie Belle curling herself around his head in place of his pillow. Giving him one last nuzzle, the Crusaders dozed off to sleep in the comfort of their coltfriend, happy to have this day behind them.

A few hours later after Luna had risen the moon, Nurse Redheart quietly returned to check up on Spike and the Crusaders with a spare bed in tow. Slowly opening the door, she walked in and made her way over to the bed. However, to her surprise, when she did, she saw the Crusaders all snuggled up against Spike's arms and head. Sighing and rolling her eyes, Nurse Redheart checked on Spike's heart monitor and I.V. before leaving the room to return the spare bed, muttering to herself.

"I swear, those fillies are spending so much time around Twilight that they're starting to pick up on her habits."

Chapter 77- Double Vision

Author's Note

To try and prevent any confusion, the following characters will be addressed as such.

Human Twilight: Twi (again)
Human Rainbow Dash: Dash
Human Applejack: AJ
Human Rarity: Rares
Human Pinkie Pie: Pinks
Human Fluttershy: Shy

... I think I'm gonna need an aspirin.

Chapter 77- Double Vision

Everyone was now sitting in the lounge. While their friends were talking to their counterparts, Dark sat beside Twilight on the love couch, nursing a regenerating bruise on his left cheek, while Sunset and Twi sat together on the other one across from them.

"I can't believe you thought my Twilight was yours," Sunset grumbled.

"I didn't know at the time," Dark defended himself.

"Really?" she asked with a quirked eyebrow. "You didn't know that Twi's a unicorn with glasses, is wearing her mane back in a ponytail, and appears to be a few inches shorter than Twilight?"

"I noticed the glasses, but I didn't really pay attention to the rest of that at the time before I kissed her."

"Apparently," Twi muttered unhappily.

Dark sighed. "I said I was sorry several times, Twi. I honestly didn't think that you were... well, you."

"I know, but I still didn't like it. Besides, there's only one person who's allowed to kiss me, and you're not her."

"Darn right he's not," Sunset smirked before leaning over to share a kiss with Twi.

As he sat there watching the two mares kissing, Dark's mind began to wander. However, he immediately put those stray and hot thoughts out of his mind.

Nope. Not gonna go there, he mentally chastised himself. Besides, she may look like Twilight, but she's not... then again, seeing them like this isn't exactly helping me.

Gulping, Dark looked away for his sake as the two remained lip-locked. Several moments later, Sunset and Twi separated, both with a pleased look on their faces.

"Heh, even as a pony, you haven't changed a bit," Sunset commented.

"Neither have you," Twi giggled.

Snuggling up against each other, Sunset and Twi looked across the coffee table between them and their hosts to see Dark looking away with a flushed face.

"You doing alright there, Dark?" Sunset smirked.

Dark coughed into his claw. "Uh, yeah, I'm okay."

"You sure about that? You're face is looking a bit red there."

Becoming more nervous from the two mares looking expectantly at him, Dark looked to his side to see Twilight smirking at him.

"Um... a little help here, hon?" Dark asked her.

"Hmm... I don't know," she mischievously said, tapping her chin with a hoof. "I'm actually finding this to be rather entertaining to watch."

"Speaking of my counterpart," Twi began, her eyes glancing up at Twilight's horn, "I was wondering about something."

"Yes?"

"Why are you wearing that ring on your horn, Twilight?"

Twilight glanced up to her engagement ring and blushed as she fidgeted with her hooves.

"Oh. Well, you see, it's because this is my engagement ring."

There was an immediate silence that followed, not just from Sunset and Twi, but also their friends. A split-second later, Dark and Twilight found themselves confronted by their human friends.

"You're getting married?!" Rares exclaimed.

"When did this happen?" Sunset asked.

"A little over a month ago," Twilight answered. "Speaking of which, would you girls be able to come to our wedding? We've got an invitation for each of you if you want."

"Y'all want us ta come ta your weddin'?" AJ asked in surprise.

"Well... yeah. I mean, you're all my friends after all, so why wouldn't I invite you girls?"

"And you're marrying Dark?" Dash asked, causing for Twilight to smile as she gave Dark a peck on the cheek and nuzzled him.

"I am."

"Nice. By the way, I'm liking your pony look, Dark."

"Thanks," Dark thanked, not bothering to correct her that he was a kirin.

"So, when is the wedding?" Shy asked.

"Next month."

"Goodness. You two don't waste much time, do you?" Rarity commented.

"Kinda, but there's also a reason for that."

"Like what?" Twi enquired.

Sharing a look with each other, Twilight smiled at Dark before she leaned back and exposed the small bump on her belly. Hearing the collective gasp, Twilight giggled as she saw the gawking faces of her human friends. A few seconds later after they regained their senses, Twilight found herself surrounded by them as they carefully hugged her and her pregnant belly. That is, all except for Sunset and Twi, who were too stunned to do anything from the sudden and unexpected news.

"This is so wonderful!" Shy squeed happily.

"How far along are you, darling?" Rares asked.

"I'm about ten weeks into my pregnancy now," Twilight answered.

"And you're showing this much already?"

Twilight sighed. "Apparently I get it from my mom."

"Um." They all stopped and looked back to see that Twi had snapped out of it and approached them. "Do... well..."

"Yes, Twi?" Twilight patiently asked.

"It's just that... do you think that'll happen to me?"

Twilight shrugged. "Maybe. While we're more-or-less the same, there're still plenty of things different about us that still makes us unique."

"Maybe, but I don't think that something like this could be one of them..."

"Something wrong?"

Twi nervously shuffled a hoof around. "Um... could I... feel it? Your stomach that is."

Softly smiling, Twilight extender her hoof out. Taking Twi's hoof into her own, she guided over and gently placed it over her growing foal. Surprised by her willingness, Twi looked at Twilight to see her smiling back. With a gulp, Twi looked back down to where he hoof was touching and gently moved it along the little bulge and smiled.

"This is kinda weird," she said with a giggle.

"Yeah," Twilight giggled with her, "I suppose it kinda is."

"Um, excuse me?" Shy softly spoke, gaining Twilight's attention.

"Yes?"

"Well... if it's okay with you... could I maybe have a turn?" she asked.

"Sure you can. Anypony else?"

"If you wouldn't mind it," Rares answered.

"If it's alright with ya, then Ah wouldn't mind," AJ said.

"You bet!" Pinkie exclaimed with a bounce.

"Meh, I suppose," Dash shrugged, trying to hide her giddiness.

"Thanks, Twilight," Sunset began, "but if it's alright, I think I'll pass."

Twilight looked up to her in surprise. "Really?"

"Yeah. I don't know, it's just kinda weird seeing you like that while also dating your human counterpart."

"Come on, Sunny," Twi encouraged her. "If I can do it, I'm sure you can too."

"Sorry, but I just don't think that I can without seeing you instead of Twilight."

"Oh, lighten up, already," Rainbow said as she and the others came up and joined them.

"Yeah," Dash agreed, hovering alongside her counterpart. "Besides, it's not like there's some magic spell that can give you the equipment to do that to Twi."

A maddening blush crossed Sunset's face before she nervously gulped and glanced away.

"... actually..."

Dash's face paled. "Wait... you know that I was just kidding, right?"

Sunset slowly nodded. "I know... but as it turns out, I actually do know of a spell like that."

Everyone's attention was now solely on Sunset, especially Twi's.

"Um... why would you know something like that?" she nervously yet curiously asked.

"I wanted to know everything that there was about magic while growing up," Sunset embarrassingly explained. "Even the more... questionable spells."

There was a silence in the room as everyone tried to wrap their minds around that piece of information that Sunset gave them. It wasn't until a few minutes had passed that it was finally broken by the pink ponies.

"Well," Pinks slowly began, "I think this is the time where I say 'I've seen enough hen-"

Pinks found herself cut off when Pinkie shoved her hoof into her mouth to silence her.

"Nope," Pinkie said. "Sorry, me, but I don't think that that'll work here."

Pinks calmly lowered Pinkie's hoof. "What would you say then?"

She shrugged. "That I've read enough fan-"

"Girls, please," Rarity chided.

"Honestly," Rares agreed disapprovingly, "is now really the time to be making such comments as those?"

Pinkie and Pinks shared a look before shrugging. "Seemed like it to me," they both answered simultaneously.

"... anyway," AJ began to redirect, "we're all really happy for ya, Twilight, Dark."

"Eeyup," Applejack nodded. "You two are gonna make fine parents."

Dark and Twilight were gonna thank them, but the sound of the doors to the lounge opening caught their attention. Turning their gazes over to it, they and all of their friends saw Spike as he and the Crusaders all walked in.

"Hey, Twilight, I was wondering if we... could..." Spike's words drifted off as he saw the duplicates of their friends. "Uhh, Twilight? Did Pinkie get into the mirror pool again?"

Twilight looked sheepishly at him. "Ehh, not exactly, Spike."

"Wait," Shy spoke up, "this is Spike?"

"Yeah, I'm Spike," he answered confused.

"As in the cute little puppy Spike?"

Spike blinked. "How'd you know that I was turned into a dog?"

"Because, it's us, Spike," Sunset answered, walking up to face him.

It took him a moment, but Spike soon recognized the pony before him.

"Sunset Shimmer?"

"Heh, about time you figured it out."

"Spike?" Sweetie Belle spoke. "Who's she?"

"Remember that world that Dark was sent to last year through the portal?" he reminded her.

"Yes?"

"Well, she's one of the people who helped look after Dark while he was over there."

"Alright, but then why do they all look like everypony here?" Scootaloo asked.

"Because," Sunset began to explain, "the world that I live in is a parallel to this one."

Apple Bloom tilted her head in confusion. "Ah don't get it."

"... okay, think of it like this then. Our world is just like this one, except instead of everypony being ponies, they're what are called humans."

"Ya mean those things that Lyra likes ta talk about?"

"You mean Lyra Heartstrings?"

"She is," Twilight answered for her. "She's an old friend of mine who's got a thing for humans and hands."

"Oh. Well, it's probably a good thing we're all ponies then, but yes."

"Yeah," Spike agreed. "So, how've you been, Sunset?"

"Pretty good," she smiled. "Schools out for summer vacation, I've got the best friends I could ask for, and I have the worlds smartest girl for a girlfriend."

"That's nice."

Sunset nodded before smirking at him. "So, what about you? You seem to be doing pretty good for yourself. You also look a bit bigger than the last time I saw you as a dragon."

Spike puffed his chest out proudly. "You bet I am. Thanks to these three lovely fillies, not only have I grown up a bit, but I'm also the luckiest dragon alive to be with them."

There were a collection of awws that were soon accompanied by a peck on his cheek from each of the Crusaders. However, while they were distracted by them, three certain sisters were slowly making their way over to them, each recognizing the voices of their younger sisters.

"Sw-Sweetie Belle?" Rares cautiously called, catching her attention.

"Yes, Rarity?" she asked, unaware that this wasn't actually her sister.

"Sorry, Sweetie," Rarity spoke as she stepped in, "but I'm your sister, Rarity."

Sweetie Belle's head darted between the two. "But aren't you both Rarity?"

"Well, in a way," Rarity said before gesturing a hoof to her other self. "Sweetie Belle, this is... well, me from the world on the other side of the portal."

Sweetie Belle looked between them. "... so does that mean that you're both my sister then?"

Rarity and Rares both looked to each other before the latter of the two replied.

"It's a bit more complicated than that, precious face."

"In a way we are," Rarity began to explain, "but I'm your sister here. She's your sister from a parallel world."

"So you are both my sisters then," Sweetie Belle concluded.

"... well, in a way I suppose."

Happy, Sweetie Belle ran up and threw her forelegs around the two in an attempt to hug them both at once.

"This is so awesome!" she squeaked. "I get two Raritys to play with."

"Just her now," Rares corrected. "While I indeed am Rarity, she's your actually sister. Besides, I have my own Sweetie Belle to look after back home. Although, I must admit that you are quite adorable as a little pony."

"Ah don't know, Rares," AJ said as she walked up alongside them. "Ah mean, Ah'm still tryin' ta get used ta bein' a pony. Ta see our lil sisters like this is just... weird."

"You alright, Applejack?" Apple Bloom asked AJ.

"Y'all know that Ah'm not your Applejack, right, sugarcube?"

"Ah know, but you're still an Apple, right?"

"Yes."

Apple Bloom walked up and hugged AJ while Applejack stood behind watching with a smile.

"Then Ah don't care if ya come from some other world or not. You're an Apple, so that makes us kin, right?"

Touched by her otherworldly sister's words, AJ smiled and let herself relax as she hugged Apple Bloom back. While they were busy, Dash hovered over to Scootaloo and landed in front of her and Spike.

"So," Dash began, "this is what you look like as a pony, huh?"

Scootaloo shuffled around nervously. "I guess so."

"Huh. Neat."

She looked up at her in mild surprise. "You're not weirded out by this?"

Dash shrugged. "I've seen plenty of sci-fi shows and stuff back home to have an idea of what's going on here. Besides, with how often weird stuff happens around CHS, I'm not really too surprised by this." She paused as she looked over to Spike. "What I am surprised about, though, is that you're actually dating Spike."

"It's not just me, though," Scootaloo said.

"Yeah, I'm kinda confused about that part. What's up with you, Apple Bloom, and Sweetie Belle kissing him like that?"

"They're in what's called a herd," Sunset explained to them.

AJ's head shot up. "Wait, you mean like how some animals live in herds?"

Each of the Equestrians frowned, including Sunset who addressed it. "We would prefer that you not call us animals, AJ. Considering that we're not like the ones from over in the other world."

"Oops. Sorry, y'all."

Sunset sighed. "It's fine. But to answer your question, yes, it's basically the same thing."

AJ sat down on her rump as she looked down at Apple Bloom. "So..."

Apple Bloom nodded. "Ah'm in a herd with Spike, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo."

"... you are?"

Seeing her reaction, Applejack sighed and walked up to AJ before placing a hoof on her shoulder.

"Ah understand how ya feel, sugarcube," she said understandably. "It took us a while ta get over this news too."

While Rares looked at them dumbfounded, Dash turned her attention back towards Dark.

"Hey," she spoke, "when you were stuck over on our side, you say something about Spike having three girlfriends and how you didn't want to tell us who they were. This is why, isn't it?"

"Pretty much," he answered her. "I didn't know how you, AJ, and Rares would react to your sisters' parallels being in a relationship with Spike all at once. From what I remember of your world's culture, this sort of a relationship is rather uncommon and sorta frowned upon in some areas."

Dash shrugged. "Meh, I'm fine with it."

AJ and Rares both looked over to Dash. "Really?"

"Yeah. I mean, why shouldn't we be okay with it? Spike's a dragon, so who in their right mind is gonna try stealing a dragon's girlfriends, or even attempt anything with them?"

"Last month, actually," Spike idly answered.

"Huh?"

"He's right," Dark began telling them. "Last month, a dragon with a grudge with Spike came to Ponyville and foalnapped Sweetie Belle, Apple Bloom, and Scootaloo, just so that he could get Spike to come out and fight him."

Sunset looked over the Crusaders and Spike. "So, since Spike and the girls are here, I take it that this other dragon lost?"

"Yeah. He's currently rotting away in the Canterlot dungeons."

Taking another look of Spike, Sunset began to notice the somewhat fresh scars on his body and frowned.

"I see you didn't get away clean."

"Yeah," Spike sighed, looking over himself. "He got me pretty good. But in the end, he got it worse."

"How so?"

"Spike blew his left wing and arm off," Dark replied with a small glare.

"What?! How?!"

"By using a spell that he really shouldn't have been using," he said while looking at a guilty looking Spike. "You're lucky you were aiming upwards, Spike. You probably could've destroyed half of Ponyville had that hit the ground."

"I know, I know," Spike said with a hint of annoyance. "Really, you've already grilled me about it after I got out of the hospital. Do you really need to hold it against me after this long?"

"He is kinda right, Spike," Twilight agreed. "Although, I believe that you've been lectured enough on the subject, so we'll let it drop."

"Wait, Spike used magic?" Sunset asked, getting a nod from each of the Equestrians. "But how? He's a dragon."

Spike held up his let claw and began channeling it with his magic. "Turns out that my species of dragon can use magic to make up for the lack of wings."

"Huh... so, how's everypony taking it? I'm sure that something like that didn't just go without spooking a few ponies."

"It didn't," Spike answered with a headshake. "Turned out that almost half of Ponyville saw what happened."

"Includin' Cheerilee and most of our classmates," Apple Bloom added.

"Yeah. They were pretty worried when they saw Apple Bloom and the others being held captive like that, and then again when I was fighting Garble." Spike paused when he saw the confused looks on their faces. "He's the guy who had the Crusaders foalnapped and fought me. Anyways, later the next day after I woke up in the hospital from a nap, I saw that a bunch of the Crusaders' classmates had come to visit when I was asleep. It was nice, though, that they left those flowers and get-well cards. It was also surprising to wake up and find out that Princess Celestia had assigned some of the guards here in Ponyville to guard me and the girls."

"Wow, sounds like quite the event."

Spike groaned and rubbed his scarred shoulder with a claw. "One that I wouldn't mind not ever have to do again."

"True, but I believe that we're getting a bit sidetracked," Twilight redirected, addressing Spike and the Crusaders. "Spike, you and the girls came for something?"

"Huh? Oh, yeah," he remembered. "We were wondering if we could bring the projection gem you guys got last week over to my room for us to watch?"

"I suppose you could for tonight," she replied before raising a hoof. "However, if you four are going to be up watching it, then I'll have to ask that you try to keep the volume on it down. We may be having a sleepover, but that doesn't mean we should all be loud and disturb each other... or the neighbors... again."

"Got it, Twilight. Thanks."

"Thank you, Twilight," the Crusaders each thanked.

Waving to them, Spike and the Crusaders grabbed the projection gem and left the lounge to go grab some snacks for their shows.

"So, what's this thing you were talking about?" Dash wondered.

Twilight thought to herself for a moment before answering. "I suppose it would be best to compare it to would be your world's television, but we use a crystal instead of a heavy hunk of... whatever televisions are made of."

"Definitely sounds more convenient," Sunset commented.

"Yeah. Anyway, I believe that we have a sleepover to begin."

With a round of cheers, both Pinkie and Pinks reached into their mane. While Pinkie pulled out an assortment of games for them to play, Pinks pulled out a bunch of snacks and non-alcoholic drinks for them to enjoy. With the food and entertainment, Dark walked over to the fireplace and used his fire breath to start a fire for them.

Having everything they needed to begin their night, they each sat down in front of the fire and began to play a variety of games that they all could play together, such as pictionary, charades, and twister with several mats set out for them. After a few hours of playing, they each began to share stories about the adventures from each of their worlds. While things on their side were going rather smoothly without any major magical events going on, there were plenty of things to talk about over on the Equestria side, one of them being Dark's Championship match in the Coliseum that Twilight was able to get a recording of after she heard that Luna had requested one. She made a mental note to show them if they wanted to the next night when Spike and the Crusaders weren't hogging the projection gem.

While they continued to talk about their lives, as she said, Twilight allowed for her human friends to have a turn at touching her pregnant belly. Once they each had their turn, she offered Sunset a turn again, but had politely turned it down, still feeling somewhat uncomfortable about it. Understanding, Twilight didn't press it and instead opted to lay down against Dark while Shy took Sunset's turn and fonded over the growing foal.

"How have you been feeling, Twilight?" Shy asked. "With the pregnancy I mean."

"I've been doing fine, Shy," Twilight smiled

"I still can't believe that you've been pregnant for over two months now and haven't told us," Sunset said. "That, and about Dark proposing to you."

"I wanted for them to be a surprise for when you girls came over to visit," she defended.

"Well, you can be sure that it was a surprise," Pinks confirmed. "And a good one too. Kinda surprised my Pinkie Sense didn't go off about it sooner."

"Guess it doesn't work between worlds," Pinkie figured, earning her a shrug from Pinks.

"Either way," Rares redirected, "we're all really happy for you both."

Everypony nodded while voicing their own words of agreement.

"Thank you, everypony," Twilight thanked with a smile. "We're both really happy and excited for this, right, Dark?"

Dark chuckled and shared a quick kiss with Twilight before nuzzling her. "That we are."

"Um, if it's alright to ask," Shy slowly began, "how are you doing with the symptoms?"

Twilight's smile fell a little bit. "Well, it should go without saying that I've been having morning sickness, but it varies on how bad it is each morning. As for the food cravings, they're actually not that bad."

"What kind of food cravings?" Twi asked curiously. "It's not like ice-cream and onions or something like that, is it?"

Twilight blanched. "Eww, no! That sounds horrible!"

"Okay, so what kind of cravings have you been having?"

Twilight glanced at Sunset for a moment before answering.

"Well... it may sound rather unnatural and disturbing, but for some time now, my food cravings have revolved mostly around meat."

As Twilight had suspected, Sunset's eyes bulged at her answer.

"No way!" she said in disbelief. "You've been eating meat?! Like real meat?!"

Twilight sheepishly nodded. "We think that it's because the foal is part dragon like Dark is, so she's causing for me to have these meat cravings."

"Really?" Dash said with a smirk. "What kind of meat?"

"Mostly beef, pork, fish lately, and chicken."

"... so what about Dark meat?"

"Yes, I eat dark meat too," Twilight answered obliviously. "I believe that would go under chicken."

Dash snickered at her joke having gone straight over Twilight's head, but there were a few who did catch it. While Pinkie, Pinks, and Sunset were laughing together, Applejack and AJ snorted, and Rainbow snickered along with Dash before sharing a hoof bump with her. While they were enjoying the joke that the others didn't seem to get, the doors suddenly opened.

"What's with all the racket?" Pyre asked in an annoyed huff before pausing for a moment when he saw all of the duplicates. "... what's going on here?"

Seeing as their human friends were all too stunned by the dragon that had just barged into the room, Dark cleared his throat before he began explaining.

"Sorry, Pyre," he apologized. "We were just having a bit of fun before Dash made some comment that's apparently meant to be funny."

"I see," Pyre slowly said. "Anyway, why are there almost two of each of you?"

"Remember that other world that I was sent to?" Dark asked, waiting until Pyre nodded in understanding and for him to continue. "Well, as it turns out, that other world I went to had duplicates of our friends there. They're all here to visit for the next few days to a week from my understanding."

Pyre looked them over and shrugged. "Alright."

"Uh, what's that exactly?" Dash asked as she hovered around Pyre inspecting him. "He looks like a dragon, but where are his scales?"

"I'm a unique species of dragons who don't have scales," he answered her.

"Cool. So, how many of you guys are there?"

"Not counting Dark, there are only five of us. One of whom is an egg."

There was a gasp, and before Pyre knew it, his vision was obscured by yellow and pink.

"A cute little egg?!" Shy said excitingly. "Can I see it? Please?"

Guess she's not afraid of dragons like our Fluttershy is, Twilight mused in slight amusement.

Slowly, Pyre pushed Shy back to give himself some room. "Sorry, but Aurora shouldn't be disturbed right now. Even if she's an egg, she wouldn't want to be bothered considering the time of night."

Shy's excitement fell. "Oh... okay."

Seeing her like that, Pyre sighed, "You can see her in the morning."

"Really?" she asked, her mood having been lifted.

"Yes. You'll also be meeting my brother and other two sisters as well."

"Okay."

"Hey, Ah have a question," AJ spoke, gaining Pyres attention. "If you're a dragon, then why aren't ya bigger? Ah mean, Ah figured that a fully-grown dragon would be a lot bigger than you are... you are fully-grown, right?"

Pyre snorted. "Yes, I am. I'm just like this because if I were at my full height, then it would send you ponies in a panic."

"That, and Dark would probably punch him out of the sky again," Rainbow cackled, earning her a look from Pyre.

"Are you ever gonna let that go?"

"Nope."

"... anyway, I'm heading off to bed with the others. Oh, and Aero put Soul to bed earlier tonight for you guys."

"Alright, thanks, Pyre," Twilight thanked, getting a wave from Pyre in acknowledgement.

"So," Pinks began, bouncing up alongside her, "who's Soul?"

"Oh," Pinkie began answering with a bounce, "he's Twilight's and Dark's adopted kid."

Each of their guest friends' eyes were instantly locked onto Dark and Twilight.

"WHAT?!"

"When did this happen?!" Sunset exclaimed.

"Just after Hearts and Hooves Day," Dark answered.

"After when?" Dash asked.

"It's this world's version of Valentine's Day," Sunset clarified.

"Oh."

"Anyway," Dark continued, "I found him being chased by a small group of timberwolves in the Everfree Forest. After I saved him and found out that he'd been living on his own for a few years, I decided to take him home... with his permission of course. The next day, Twilight and I offered to adopt him, to which he eagerly agreed to."

"Oh, that poor kid," Shy said sympathetically. "When will we get to see him?"

"Tomorrow morning at breakfast probably," Twilight answered her.

"So, what kind of a pony is he?" Sunset wondered.

"Now that's the thing with Soul," Dark began answering. "You see, Soul's actually half-pony, and half-changeling. And before you say anything, his changeling parent broke away from her hive long ago when she was young, so they have no connections to any of the changelings."

"... if you're sure about that," Sunset said unsurely.

"Excuse me, darlings, but would you mind telling us what exactly a changeling is?" Rares asked.

"Basically, they're creatures that can shapeshift and absorb love and other positive emotions, and can covert it into power."

"So in other words-"

"They're like a parasite, and I'm not just saying that because they're more bug-like than pony."

"... that's a little harsh, don't you think?" Shy asked, causing Sunset to shrug.

"I'm just going by what I read in the archives and libraries in Canterlot."

"Well either way, we'd like it if you would be a little careful saying stuff like that around Soul," Dark told her. "Remember that he's not like that, and besides, his mom didn't teach him about changelings since she didn't want him living a life like they do."

Sunset gave a small sigh. "Alright. I promise that I'll be careful talking around Soul."

"Thanks."

Nodding to them, Sunset then felt a hoof on each of her shoulders. Looking around, she saw that they belonged to Rainbow, Applejack, and Rarity.

"We understand what you're going through, darling," Rarity said.

"Yeah," Applejack agreed. "We were all worried about our sisters havin' the same classes as him, but he turned out ta be an alright kid."

"Especially after how he helped save the Crystal Empire," Rainbow added.

"So you're all alright with him then?" Sunset asked.

"Eeyup," Applejack answered her. "He might be part changeling, but he's done nothin' wrong ta anypony."

Sunset nodded. "Alright then. In that case, if you're all vouching for him, then I'll give him a fair try."

Twilight walked up to her and pulled her into a thankful hug. "Thank you, Sunset."

With a small smile, Sunset hugged her back. A moment later, she broke their hug and brought a hoof to her mouth to try hiding her yawn.

"Wow, what time is it?" she groggily asked.

Dark glanced up at the clock hanging up on the wall. "Almost midnight."

"Aww, but we've got the whole night ahead of us to party," Pinks argued before yawning herself.

"It's alright, girls," Twilight said assuredly. "Besides, you'll all be staying here for the entire week, so we'll have plenty of time to hang around and have more night-filled fun."

"Just as long as nopony tries to do anything to me," Dark joked.

"Like what, darling?" Rarity asked.

Dark chuckled. "Considering that I'm the only guy here, I thought that you girls would try and do my mane while putting makeup on me."

Hearing them laughing at the idea, Dark joined them, completely unaware of the two Pinkies who subtly slid a makeup kit behind one of the couches.

"Anyway," Twi began, "how're we gonna do this?"

"What do you mean?" Twilight asked.

"The sleeping arrangements. Will we all be sleeping here in sleeping bags and on the couches or what?"

"Oh. Well, if you girls want, I've got plenty of spare guest rooms for each of you that you could all use. Otherwise, if you'd prefer, we could all just sleep here."

"Um, is it okay if we can sleep in a bed tonight?" Shy asked. "While I would like to spend more time with everybody-"

"Pony," Sunset corrected, causing Shy to blink.

"Sorry?"

"While here, we say 'everypony', instead of 'everybody'."

"Oh, okay. Anyway, while I would like to spend more time with every... pony, I think that I would prefer a bed for tonight."

"Me too," Dash agreed. "Besides, we can all sleep here tomorrow night when we're all more awake and ready for an all-nighter of gaming and stuff."

"Sounds good to me," Pinkie bounced. "That'll allow for me and me to get some more games."

"Ooh! Do I get to see where you live?" Pinks asked Pinkie.

"Of course you do."

Quietly, Sunset walked over to Twilight's side. "Are you still sure this was a good idea with two Pinkie Pies here?" she whispered.

"Better here than back in your world," she replied before speaking up for everypony to hear here. "Okay, everypony. If you'll follow me, I'll show you to where the guest rooms are."

Motioning with a hoof, Twilight led them out of the lounge and through the halls. As she did, she and Dark would point out to them where the kitchen, dining room, and the bathrooms where. Going up the stairs, she led them down to the hallway where the guest rooms were located.

"Alright, here you go, girls," she said. "Just pick out a room and make yourselves at home."

Listening to her, they each picked out their own individual rooms... except for two. While each of them had given their goodnights and thanks before heading into their room to retire for the night, Sunset and Twi blushed as they both stood before one of the guest room doors, looking back at Twilight and Dark.

"Umm..." Sunset stammered.

"We..." Twi faltered.

"Don't worry, it's fine," Twilight waved off.

"Yeah," Dark said before giving them a smirk. "Just make sure to not be too loud. Wouldn't want for them to hear now, would you?"

Both Sunset's and Twi's faces were almost glowing red with how embarrassed they were, which only fueled Dark's mirth from seeing them like that. That was, until Sunset recovered enough to give a smirk of her own.

"Hey, Dark. Remember that little talk we had back when we were having breakfast that one morning?"

Dark paused as he tried to remember. "Uh... which one?"

Sunset's smirk widened into a mischievous grin. "Oh, you know, the one where you first ate meat and I asked if you've ever eaten meat before."

Now recalling what morning she as talking about, Dark's eyes widened in worry. She hasn't forgotten about that yet?!

"... you wouldn't."

"Well, I did say that I would tell Twilight at some point, right?"

"You also said that you wouldn't say anything about it in front of Twi."

"Tell me what?" Twilight asked confused.

"Oh, you'll find out soon enough," Sunset said knowingly. "Until then, I think that we'll be calling it a night."

"Okay... but..."

"Something wrong?" Twi asked her counterpart.

"... if you two are gonna be doing... you know, just make sure you've got a soundproof spell up, and clean the sheets in the morning."

Though both Sunset and Twi were blushing brightly again and unable to verbally answer, they both gave a small understanding nod.

"Okay then. In that case, you both have a good sleep and we'll see you girls in the morning."

With a wave, Twilight and Dark turned around and made their way back to their room. Once they were out of sight, Sunset and Twi went into their room and closed the door. Locking it behind them, they both let out a huge sigh before making their way over to the large bed sitting before them. Crawling in, Sunset let out a satisfying groan before she yelped when Twi rolled on top of her.

"You know," she slowly and seductively began, "she did give us her permission."

"I know," Sunset replied with a gulp, "but are you sure we should?"

"Do you know a soundproofing spell like Twilight said?"

"Yes, I remember."

"Then what are you waiting for? Go ahead and cast it." With a smirk, Twi leaned down to whisper into Sunset's ear. "Plus, I'm also curious about that spell you mentioned to the others. You know, the one about giving you the... extra equipment."

Her cheeks darkening at what her girlfriend was suggesting, Sunset lit her horn and was about to cast a soundproof spell, but stopped when an idea came to mind.

"Hey, why don't you cast it?" she suggested.

"Me?!" Twi yelped in surprise.

"Yeah. I mean, with all of the new magic that we've been getting back home, it would probably be a good idea for you to try learning some spells just incase."

Figuring that that would be a good idea, Twi nodded before she lit her horn. Following Sunset's instructions, Twi soon enough casted the room in a purple glow before it faded into the walls.

"Nice job," Sunset complimented.

"Did I do it?" Twi asked, looking around to see if there was anything different.

"Yep, you just casted a soundproof spell."

Happy with herself, Twi planted her lips against Sunset's and started to make out with her. Several minutes later, Twi found herself on her back, panting for breath with Sunset standing over her.

"So," Sunset cooed, "are you ready?"

"Mhmm."

With a half-lidded gaze, Sunset leaned down and nipped at Twi's neck, causing her to gasp from the sense of pleasure she felt.

"You better be, because for the next few hours, things are gonna get... magical."

Chapter 79- Unexpected Guests

Everyone was exhausted from the events of their day with their own double, and from staying up late playing games with each other. While Rainbow and Dash were both wiped from their racing, and later Rainbow showing Dash her cloud house, Fluttershy and Shy were tired from looking after the animals. Rarity and Rares managed to get everyone's measurements for their dresses, along with Dark's and Spike's suits, and both Pinkie and Pinks were surprisingly energetic from their project, despite them being almost completely covered in grease, woodchips, metal shavings, gunpowder, and smoke.

While they were tired for some of the more better reasons, AJ was more emotionally tired than anything else. Granted that she was introduced to applebucking by Applejack and Big Mac and had enjoyed it, but between her learning about Cheerilee and Big Mac being married, and later being shown and interacting with the pony-versions of her deceased parents, AJ, while wanting to stay up with the others, was the first to sleep when her head hit the pillow.

Along with the others who were tired for negative reasons, after Twi's break from magic lessons from Twilight, she suddenly requested that they stop, much to Twilight's disappointment. While she didn't tell them the actual reason behind why, the excuse she gave them was that while she was eager to learn, she thought that she might've rushed into this a little too quickly and wanted to do too much too fast. Thankfully for her, Twilight understood what Twi was getting at, despite her wanting to continue with the lessons. Although, on the other end, Twi's subtle shifts and looks didn't go unnoticed by Sunset as she knew something was off about her. But, while she wanted to know what was wrong with her and help her, she didn't want to get too pushy and decided to wait until Twi decided to talk to her about whatever was bothering her.

Later in the middle of the night, they were all sleeping peacefully in their sleeping bags in the lounge with a fire crackling in the fireplace. That was, everyone but Twi, who was shifting around in her sleep as her dreams kept her restless. It wasn't much really to any normal person or pony. If anything, dreams that somehow involved magic were quite common, lately in both worlds. However, for Twi, it was a nightmare. Standing in Twilight's castle's library, she looked around and saw the portal that she and her friends came through and saw herself as a pony. However, when she lit her horn with power, she began to notice some subtle changes.

It started off with her glasses as they burst into fire and outlined her eyes. Next came her horn, which lost its lavender color and spiral form for a more jagged look as it continuously glowed with an aquamarine-blue. Scared, Twi tried to cancel her magic, but it continued on its own. The next change came when a pair of feathered, dark-purple wings sprouted from her back. Crying out, she tried to stop herself from using her magic anymore, and after a struggle in which seemed like hours for her, her horn finally stopped casting. Sighing in relief, Twi closed her eyes and brought a hoof to her beating chest.

Calming herself down, she took a few more breaths to steady herself before she opened her eyes. However, as soon as she did, she immediately started to regret ever doing so. Now, while her right eye was normal with the whites and her purple iris, her left one was far different with the whites being an aquamarine-blue like her horn and "glasses", and her iris now having a red tint to it. And while she looked at her reflection in horror, it was only her right-half that looked horrified, while her left-half had this devilish grin.

"Soon now," she said ominously. "Soon, Twilight, your magic will release me, just like last time."

"No!" Twi shouted in fear. "You're not here! Sunset helped me defeated you! You're gone now!"

She laughed at Twi in amusement. "You really though that I was actually gone? Oh, no. I was never gone, just sealed away. And now, thanks to you using magic again, my seal has been weakened."

Twi's widened in fear. "No."

"Yes. The more magic you use, the sooner I'll return."

"Then I'll just stop using magic!" she said defiantly, causing her to laugh louder.

"You really think that you can just stop using magic and keep me away? Well guess what? It's too late for that. I'm coming back, and just as the twilight falls to midnight, you will fall to me."

"NOOO!!!"

"That's enough of that."

In a flash, Twi found all traces of her darker-half gone, leaving the unicorn pony looking back in the mirror again. Not believing that this was over, Twi looked over herself to see that the wings were gone, and that her horn and glasses were returned back to normal. With a shudder, Twi fell to her haunches as she tried to keep herself from weeping in fear.

"I must admit that it isn't often that I see somepony else with a dark-half like I."

Turning her head around, Twi looked at the source of the voice, which she immediately recognized as this world's Luna, thanks to some books and pictures that Twilight had shown her.

"It is rather curious, though. As much as Twilight as you appear, your wanting to cease using magic is rather... disturbing," Luna continued before letting out a chuckle. "I can only imagine what a certain lavender princess would do if she heard what you just said. I'm sure she would have an aneurism."

"P-Prin-cess?" Twi shakily called.

"Just Luna, Twilight Sparkle," she easily told her.

"Um... Twi, if it's alright. Just to keep me and this world's Twilight separate."

Luna nodded. "Very well then."

"Thank you."

"Now, back to this dream-"

"Wait, this is a dream?"

"It is."

"But how-"

"Surely Princess Twilight told you about my duties as the Princess of the Night, correct?"

Twi nodded. "We talked about you and Princip- I mean Princess Celestia. She said that you control the moon and can go into dreams."

"And that is why I'm here," she told her matter-of-factly. "While I was curious about you and your friends that came here, it was your nightmare specifically that drew me to you." Luna walked over and sat down beside Twi. "Now then, tell me about that creature that I saw."

Twi shivered and remained silent as she tried to control her nerves. Feeling a wing draping over her back, Twi glanced to see Luna giving her a warm and understanding smile as she patiently waited for an answer. After a few minutes, Twi began to explain.

"I suppose I should start from the beginning," she began before looking back to Luna. "That is, if we have enough time."

"Time in the dream can be manipulated, so we'll have plenty of time if you wish to tell me."

Twi slowly nodded before she began. "Alright then. You see, it all started out when I stumbled upon some strange energy signatures coming from Canterlot High... did Twilight tell you?"

"Yes. She informed my sister and I about the other world, including the location, and our roles in it." Luna frowned. "I must admit that the thought of us being reduced to school faculty members is rather unsettling."

"Okay. Anyway, after their fall dance, I began looking into it. Then, the readings began to spike during some kind of band competition they were having. After that, I went to look into it personally, and thanks to our school going over to theirs for a school competition that we hold every four years, I created a device to capture the energies around the school and contain them.

"Unfortunately, Principal Cinch, the Principal of the school that I went to before I transferred, wasn't happy about CHS becoming athletically and academically better. And so, to make sure that I would participate in these 'Friendship Games'," she said in disdain, "she blackmailed me, threatening to revoke my application to an independent study program that I was trying hard to get into at the time."

Luna clenched her teeth at hearing how Twi was blackmailed, but kept her comments to herself as she continued to listen.

"Anyway, with no choice, I decided to listen and participate. Thankfully at the time, I was able to bring my device, which I wore around my neck like an amulet, and began to collect the energies around the school. However, what I didn't know was that I was actually draining the magic out of six certain girls, who're now my friends and girlfriend-"

Twi slapped a hoof over her mouth to silence herself, but the damage was already done as Luna was smirking smugly at Twi.

"Anyway," Twi said before clearing her throat, "in the end, our schools tied, and it came to one last round. Finding out about the magic that I had collected, Principal Cinch and the other students began to pressure me to release the magic that I had stored, and when I did, I..."

"You what?" Luna pressed, though already having a good idea of what.

"... I changed," she said, her voice cracking a little bit. "I released all of the magic and absorbed it. I thought that I knew what I was doing, but I was far from it. The magic I unleased swallowed me, and turned me into me into a magical she-demon."

"And that was what I saw when I arrived?"

Twi gave a small nod. "Her name is Midnight Sparke. I thought that after Sunset Shimmer harnessed the power of friendship and saved me from Midnight that everything was over... but I guess that I was wrong once again."

Seeing her shaking, Luna brushed her wing comfortingly against Twi's back before she let out a small sigh.

"I too know what it is like to succumb to the darkness," she admitted, looking back to her own darker times.

"Huh?'

"Surely you have read about Nightmare Moon, yes?"

Twi's ears wilted as she looked away. "Oh... right..."

"Yes, we both have fallen to corruption, but in the end, we both came out from it. And while my darkness manifested from jealousy and bitterness for my sister, yours came from curiosity and the peer pressure of your fellow students and Principal."

"Y-Yeah, but still..."

Luna gave a small smile. "Also, with where you stand, I believe that you'll do fine. After all, you have a good group of friends who'll be there for you."

"And what about Midnight Sparkle?" Twi fearfully asked. "What if she does come back?!"

"Whether she's just apart of your imagination, or is actually real, I do not know," Luna admitted. "However, what I do know is that no matter what happens, your friends will be there to help you. And if you're scared about it, talk to them, I'm sure they'll listen." Luna smirked. "Especially your girlfriend."

Twi blushed and tried to look away, but the redness on her cheeks had spread up to her ears now. Seeing that her comment had gotten the desired reaction, Luna stood up and began walking away.

"Trust in your friends, Twilight Sparkle," Luna advised her. "In the end, it will be them who'll help you through this endeavor."

"I... I'll try," she slowly said, getting an approving nod from Luna.

"In that case, I must be off."

"Other dreams to go to?"

"Not quite. You see, it's almost morning, and I can sense some of your friends are starting to awaken, along with your lover."

Twi blushed harder at what Luna called Sunset, which in turn, caused Luna to laugh at her.

"Do you have to do that?" Twi grumbled.

"I'm sorry, but it's just so easy and far too funny to resist," Luna apologized through her laughter. "Honestly, this is just about as much fun as messing with Dark and Princess Twilight."

"Well, I'm glad that you're having a kick out of this," she sarcastically said.

"I am, but there's another reason for it."

"Oh? And what would that be?"

Luna smirked triumphantly. "You're no longer worried about your nightmare, right?"

Twi paused and blinked in surprise. While her fears of Midnight Sparkle possibly returning were still there, Luna's actions and words had caused for them to take a back seat for the moment.

"Yeah, I guess so," she said with a small smile.

"Good. Now then, I must take my leave, and you need to wake up." Luna backed away as everything around them faded to white. "Until next we meet, Twilight Sparkle."

When Twi woke up, she did so with a calm mind, despite the nightmare she had. Raising her head up from her pillow, she looked around to see that both Applejack and AJ had awoken, along with Dark and Sunset. Blushing at what Luna called her, Twi shook that particular memory out of her head before she looked around to see everyone else still peacefully asleep.

Then again, we were up pretty late last night, she thought.

Deciding to get up, Twi stood up and stretched herself out. Feeling her joints pop, she let out a quiet sigh of relief before she quietly followed after Sunset and Dark. Once he'd caught up to them, she walked up alongside Sunset.

"Good morning, Sunny," Twi said before giving her a kiss on the cheek.

"Good morning, Twi," Sunset returned with a peck on Twi's lips. "How you feeling today? Up for some magic lessons?"

Twi froze briefly at the though of using more magic, namely because of her nightmare.

"Actually, Sunset, I think that I'm done with magic for now."

Both Sunset and Dark snapped their heads to face Twi.

"I'm sorry, did I just hear that right?" Dark asked.

"Yeah," Sunset confirmed. "Twi, is there something wrong?"

"No! Nothing's wrong," Twi hastily answered. "It's just that I don't want to rush into this like... last time..."

"I know what you mean, Twi, but you don't have to worry. Both Twilight and I will be right there to make sure nothing happens."

"Still, though, I'd rather not risk it."

Sunset gave a disappointed sigh, knowing that Twi was going to be stubborn about this.

"If you're sure that this is what you want, then I won't pressure you into doing it."

Happy that Sunset was willing to let this go, Twi leaned up against her side and began to affectionately nuzzle her cheek.

"Thank you for understanding, Sunset," Twi thanked.

As they continued making their way down the hallway, Dark looked back and smiled upon seeing Sunset and Twi walking side-by-side as they were. While it was still kinda weird to see Twi here as a pony, he was starting to get over it as he was constantly reminded how similar, yet different she was from Twilight. Looking away from the couple behind him, Dark turned his attention forward as he continued to lead them towards the kitchen so that they could make something for them and the others to eat.

"So, what should we make this time?" he asked them as they walked into the kitchen.

"Well, we had pancakes and waffles last time," Sunset mused, "so how about something else?"

"Did you have something in mind?"

"How about some omelets?" Twi suggested, causing Dark to snort. "What? What did I say?"

"Nothing," Dark chuckled. "It's just funny how both you and Twilight like omelets."

"To be fair now," Sunset began, "when she had them back home, it was when I used the recipe that you gave me."

"Heheh. Yeah, that would explain it. Okay, then. Let's get to cooking."

Using their magic, Dark and Sunset began pulling out the ingredients for their breakfast while Twi, not wanting to use any sort of magic in fear of her dream becoming a reality, helped carry stuff with her mouth, which she found to be rather easy. About a half-hour later, they had enough for everyone to eat, including the Scaleless Dragons, and the Crusaders, who'd stayed another night over. By the time they got the table set up, the others started to awaken, though some needed a bit of coaxing.

With them all up and eating away together at the table, they began to talk about all that they did last night. While watching the recording of Dark's Coliseum Championship match against Shining, and seeing his Scaleless Dragon form had brought about a round of surprises from them, especially from Aero, Aques, and Fissure, was rather entertaining to watch, it was when they started to play Hide and Seek with each other in the castle that things got a lot more fun. And with them playing with the lights off, along with Spike and the Crusaders joining in, it was easily one of the funnest nights they'd ever had.

Of course, there were a few hiccups. Thanks to Dark, Spike, and the Scaleless Dragons all having night vision, to make things fair, Twilight casted a spell on their eyes to temporarily disable their night vision. However, while Twilight got them, she didn't forget about Fluttershy's vampiric eyes' night vision. Of course, after bringing that up, she and Fluttershy had to explain Flutterbat to them. And while some of them were slightly off-put by it, Shy was actually more curios as to what it was like being part bat, rather than being scared.

As they continued to talk and extend their breakfast by an hour, their topic soon began to turn away from the previous night, to what they were going to do tonight.

"So, any ideas?" Twilight asked them.

"Ooh! I know!" Pinks said, waiving her hoof like a schoolfilly in class.

"Yes, Pinks?"

"We could play that one game we all like."

Dash looked at her expectantly. "You talking about that Ghost in the Graveyard game?"

"Yep!"

Dark winced as he subconsciously rubbed the shin on his right foreleg.

"Then you all should go do it," Twilight said.

"You kinda sounded like you weren't going to join us," Twi observed. "Is something wrong?"

"No, nothing's wrong. I just don't want to risk tripping over something while I'm running and accidentally hurt the baby," she answered, rubbing a hoof over her bump.

"In that case, I think that I'll sit it out too," Dark offered, earning him a surprised look from Twilight.

"Really? But I thought that you'd want to play it again."

"I do, but I also don't want for you to feel left out, so I'll just watch them alongside you. Maybe even make us something to snack on and drink while we watch them?"

Twilight blushed at the offer. "That's really sweet of you, Dark, but you really don't have to."

"I know, but I'm going to anyway."

"Alright then," Rainbow piped up. "In that case, let's play over at Sweet Apple Acres."

"Sure," Applejack shrugged. "Ah don't mind it. Heck, maybe we could even get Big Mac and Cheerilee ta join us."

"Ah still can't believe that they actually tied the knot," AJ quietly muttered to herself, both happy and surprised that it actually happened.

"Well," Fluttershy began, "if everypony wants to, we can also have it over by my cottage."

Everyone looked at her with varying levels of surprise and disbelief.

"You're kidding, right?" Soul questioned.

"Why? What's wrong?"

Spike spoke up this time. "Fluttershy, have you forgotten that you live right by the Everfree Forest?"

She shook her head. "Oh no, I haven't forgotten."

"Then why when there could be a bunch of timberwolves nearby watching us?"

"Because they know to not try and hurting anypony anymore. And besides, even if something does come out to try and hurt us, Dark and Discord will be watching us, so there's that too."

"Eeehhhh, thanks Fluttershy," Pinkie thanked, "but if it's alright with you, I think that I'd rather play at Applejack's place."

"Oh. Okay."

"It's not that we don't believe you, darling," Rarity told her, "but we would just rather feel safer there than so close to the forest."

"It's alright," she said understandably. "I don't mind, I was just offering was all-"

Fluttershy was cut off when three loud knocks echoed throughout the castle. Surprised, everyone turned to Twilight.

"Were you expecting somepony?" Sunset asked her.

"Not that I can think of."

"I'll go get it," Aero offered.

"Are you sure?" Twilight questioned. "After all, this is my home, so I should be the one to answer the door."

"While that's true, you also have your friends from another world over here. So, with that said, why don't you stay here and let me go get it for you. Besides, if it's somepony suspicious, then I can just turn invisible and quickly warn you guys."

Though she was a little reluctant, Aero did make a few good points. Giving her a nod to go ahead, Twilight watched as Aero slithered through the air as she flew over to the front doors. When she was gone, her friends turned back to her.

"Is there something wrong, Twilight?" Rares asked with a hint of concern.

"What do you mean?" Twilight wondered.

"What she means is why did Aero act like that?" Dash clarified. "With the way she was talking about it, it kinda sounded like she was expecting some kind of trouble."

All of Twilight's pony friends shared a knowing look, even the Scaleless Dragons looked somewhat uneasy. Of course, the most noticeable was Dark, who's head and ears drooped at whom they were on high-alert for. But, before any of them could ask him about it, Aero hovered back into the room with a mixed look on her face.

"Umm, we've got company," she told them unsurely.

"Alright, who is it and who are they here for?" Twilight asked.

Aero looked across the table and pointed. "It's for her," she said, looking and pointing directly at Sunset, who blinked in surprise.

"Sorry? Did you just say that it's for me?" she asked confusingly.

Aero silently nodded before turning back around and peeking around the corner. "Okay, you can come in now."

Curious, they all watched as Aero floated off to the side to allow their guest in. A few seconds later after her announcement, a white unicorn with a pink mane walked in and eyed everyone there.

"Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't think that you would still be eating," she apologized.

"Oh... um... hello, Aunt Sunshine," Twilight welcomed. "I'm sorry, I didn't know that you were coming, otherwise I'd had invited you to breakfast."

"It's quite alright, Twilight," she said before her eyes fell upon her belly and smiled.

"So, what brings you here today?"

"Besides getting to see that cute, little, baby bump of yours that Dark told us about," she said, causing Twilight to blush in embarrassment, "I'm also here to talk to somepony else." Her eyes scanning over everyone until they fell upon her target and softened. "Hello, Sunset Shimmer."

Though she didn't recognize the strange unicorn mare addressing her, Sunset knew that soft, motherly tone anywhere. Eyes widening in fear, she began shaking in her seat as she fearfully watched Aunt Sunshine making her away around to her. As she watched her getting closer, she began to sink down into her seat and closer to Twi for support, which she was given as Twi started to gently pat Sunset's back as she too watched the older mare approach them.

Stopping before the two, Aunt Sunshine looked down at how Sunset and Twi were acting and felt her smile widen as the look of her eyes softened even more.

"Well now, here's something that I never though that I'd see," she mused out loud, looking between the two. "Of course, I couldn't be happier for you two."

Sunset opened her mouth to speak, but she found that she couldn't form any words, leaving her mouth to open and close like a gaping fish. Unable to say anything, Sunset lowered her head and looked away, clenching her eyes shut as she tried to not look at her. As she continued to fear what was coming to her, she was taken by surprise when she felt a hoof under her chin gently turning her to face back up. When she did, she slowly opened her eyes to see a pair of purple ones looking sadly back at her.

"Sunset, can we talk for a moment?" Aunt Sunshine gently asked her, getting a small nod in reply. "Thank you." She looked back up to address the others. "You'll have to excuse us for a little bit. Sunset and I have some... unspoken words to say."

With Sunset's consent and the others informed, she lit her horn and teleported herself and Sunset to the lounge. Once their hooves touched the soft carpet and blinked the blinding light out of their eyes, Aunt Sunshine lit up her horn again and casted away her guise, turning back into Celestia. Now back at her full height, she flexed her wings briefly before turning her head to look at Sunset. When she did, her heart sank as she saw the younger mare wilting beneath her towering form.

"Please, Sunset," Celestia pleaded, "there's no need to look upon me with such fear."

"B-But... why n-not?" she meekly asked.

Saddened to see her like this, Celestia turned to one of the couches and sat herself down before patting the spot next to her. Getting her meaning, Sunset slowly made her way over and took her seat at her side, keeping her eyes downcast the entire time.

"Speak to me, Sunset," Celestia softly spoke. "Tell me what's on your mind."

"I... I'm..."

Sunset took a shaky breath to steady herself as she felt her emotions of regret and sorrow taking over. After a few minutes rolled by, she soon felt a wing draped comfortingly over her back. Flinching at the unexpected contact, Sunset risked a glance up, only to see Celestia looking back down at her with that motherly look she remembered growing up seeing on her. Feeling the wave of memories and emotions that accompanied seeing Celestia's smile, Sunset gritted her teeth as she struggled to hold back the tears that were threatening to flood out of her eyes... but it was all for naught.

Upon her seeing Sunset's expression, Celestia felt a pang in her chest and held her forehooves out, inviting her in for a hug. Feeling the dam finally break, Sunset threw herself into her old mentor's embrace, burying her face into her chest as she let her tears flow freely. Holding tightly onto Celestia, Sunset bawled like a little filly as she tried to occasionally apologize to her, only for her words come out as an incoherent mess of sobs and hiccups. As Sunset let out years of pent-up emotions, Celestia remained silent as she held her tightly with her wings shielding her, and a hoof gently patting her head down. For several long minutes Sunset's cries could be heard echoing throughout the room, but after over a half-hour had passed, her cries had finally been reduced to sniffles.

"Feeling better?" Celestia cautiously asked, feeling Sunset nodding against her chest.

Pulling away a little bit, Sunset looked up at Celestia with blurry eyes.

"I'm... I'm s-sorry," she weakly apologized. "I'm so sorry, Pr-Princess."

"Whatever for, Sunset?" Celestia asked confused.

"For everyt-thing. For shouting at you, accusing you of holding me back when you were just looking out for me, for running away, and for... for h-hating yo-ou."

Feeling ashamed all over again and unable to directly face her any longer, Sunset returned her face against the damp fur of Celestia's coat. As she started to unload a fresh wave of tears, Celestia, with saddened eyes, leaned down to comfortingly nuzzle Sunset's head.

"My dear Sunset, you shouldn't be the one apologizing," she softly told her, causing her to look back up at her.

"What?"

"While it did hurt, in the end, it was my fault," Celestia said as she started wiping the tears out of Sunset's eyes. "I should have taken into consideration your reaction to what you saw in that mirror, but I didn't. Looking back on that, if I had also explained things better and more clearly to you, then all of this could've been avoided. But, it was during our... heated conversation, that I truly regret the most. I became upset with you, Sunset Shimmer, and in that moment of anger, I made perhaps the worst decision in my life, just after banishing Luna to the moon."

Celestia's hug on Sunset tightened as those old memoires resurfaced.

"When I released you, I didn't just lose my most prized pupil, but I also lost the little filly that I came to think of as my daughter. And when you left through that portal and it sealed itself behind you, I thought that I'd lost you for good and was scared of what would happen to you."

She tilted Sunset's head up to face her and smiled sadly at her.

"But then, when you returned for Twilight's crown, while not how I'd hoped to see you again, I was overjoyed to see that you were alive. Then, when Twilight came back and told us about what happened and how you were doing after she followed after you, and then again after the siren incident, I became relaxed that you found yourself some friends who love you, and you love back."

"But none of that would've ever had happened if I hadn't been like that to start with," Sunset countered. "If I wasn't so self-centered and prideful of myself, and if I hadn't gotten so bitter, angry, and resentful towards you..."

"But you've changed, Sunset," Celestia reminded her. "You're a much better pony now than you were back then, and I can honestly tell you that I'm very proud of the young mare that you've grown up to be."

Sunset managed a smile and wiped her eyes clear. "Thank you, Princess, but I couldn't have done it without my friends there, including Princess Twilight."

"They may have been what started you off, but in the end, it was you who decided to change like you did. Although, I am surprised that your friends just happen to be Twilight's friends here."

Sunset gave a small nod. "Me too, and I wouldn't trade them for anypony else. They're all really important to me, and I couldn't imagine myself without them anymore."

Celestia nodded in agreement before a coy smile formed on her lips. "One in particular apparently, whom also happens to be your lover."

Sunset's eyes widened in shock and embarrassment. "How did you...!"

Celestia chuckled. "You can thank Luna for that. Turned out that she visited your fillyfriend's dream last night and found out about you two. Speaking of whom." She turned her attention towards the closed doors and, with a flick of her lit horn, opened it up, revealing Twi standing there on the other side, red-hoofed and with reddened, tear-stained eyes.

"Twi?" Sunset called.

Seeing that she'd been caught in the act, Twi nervously pawed at the floor with a hoof.

"I'm sorry for eavesdropping like that," she apologized. "It's just that, after how you reacted towards her, Sunset, and then how she suddenly teleported you two off like that... well... I got a bit worried."

"Thanks, Twi, but I'm fine, really," Sunset assured, but her reddened and puffy eyes weren't making her very convincing.

Seeing her eyes, Twi walked up over to them. Stopping before them, she looked up at Celestia, who smiled down at her and opened her wings for her to join them. Taking it, Twi hopped up onto the couch with them and immediately hugged Sunset close to her, her ears still ringing with the sounds of Sunset's sobbing as she arrived in the middle of her breakdown.

"Um.. Twi?" Sunset meekly called. "How much of that did you hear?"

"Enough," she answered her, tightening her hug on her. "I'm sorry that that had to happen."

"Thanks, Twi, but it's fine. Besides, I needed to be brought down a few pegs anyway." Feeling a little better, Sunset looked up to see Celestia smiling warmly down at them. "So, Princess, how long are you going to be staying here with us?"

"I'm sorry, Sunset, but I can't stay for much longer," she apologized, blushing faintly and directing her eyes off to the side. "I... may have skipped on open court to see you after Luna told me about how you were back here in Equestria. I'm sure the guards are in a frenzy looking for me right about now."

Sunset chuckled. "I'm glad to see that that part of you hasn't changed."

As if to agree with her, Celestia began to chuckle along with her before their chuckles turned into laughter. It took them a few minutes before they could speak back up again.

"It really is good to see you back and doing so well, Sunset," Celestia told her before looking at Twi. "And I'm also very happy that you've found somepony special."

"Uhh... thank you, Principal- eh, Princess Celestia," Twi stammered, blushing at Celestia's comment.

Celestia gave an amused chuckle at Twi's blunder of words. "You're welcome, Twi. So then, did Twilight and Dark invite you to their wedding?"

"They did, Princess," Sunset answered her.

"Good. In that case, I'll be looking forward to seeing you two, and your friends, all there."

Giving them both one last hug, Celestia got up off of the couch and stretched her sleepy legs.

"Now, if you two will excuse me, I need to go see Twilight before I leave. Oh, and before I forget." Celestia turned back to face then with a sly grin. "Don't think that you're off the hook for me not getting a chance to tease you for bringing home a fillyfriend, Sunset Shimmer. When you two come back for Twilight's and Dark's wedding, you can expect me to start teasing you about it, and believe me when I say that I've got a lot of making up to do in that regard."

Giggling mischievously at the embarrassed looks they were giving her, Celestia teleported herself out of the lounge and towards the dining hall where the others were still at.

"Sorry about that, everypony," Celestia apologized.

"Is everything alright, Princess?" Twilight asked.

"Yes, Twilight, everything is just fine. Sunset and I just needed some time to ourselves to mend some old wounds was all. She is currently in the lounge with Twi."

Twilight let out a breath of relief, along with their friends from across the portal.

"That's good to hear. So you two are alright again?"

Celestia nodded happily. "We are, and I'm glad to have her back in Equestria, even if it's just for a short time. Now, I'm sorry to do this to you, but you'll all excuse me. I may have snuck away from the castle to come and see Sunset, so I better get going."

Giving them a bow, Celestia lit her horn and teleported herself back up to Canterlot. With her gone and them knowing that Sunset was alright and in good hooves, they were about to get their breakfast cleaned up when Dark stood up abruptly, his body tense, eyes hardened, and his ears turning as if listening for something. Seconds later, he gave a throaty growl as his wings opened out half-way, both seeping shadows off of them with one wrapped around Twilight protectively.

Taken by surprise by this sudden change in attitude, Twilight looked up to him.

"Dark, is there something wrong?" she asked him.

"There's an intruder in the castle," he growled, causing each of their guests to have a look of unease on their faces.

"Are you sure?"

Dark nodded. "When I created my Shadow Wraiths, I made it so that they would alert me if anything were to sneak into the castle."

"Do you know who it is?"

"No, but what I do know is that the Shadow Wraiths have the intruders cornered over in the library."

"The library? Which one?"

Dark glanced down at Twilight. "The one with the portal."

Hearing that, Twilight bolted up and threw open the doors with her magic as she ran towards the library. Sparing a glace back, she saw that Dark, all of her friends, the Crusaders, Spike and Soul, and the Scaleless Dragons, were all following after her. Coming upon the doors to the library, they soon heard three sets of screams coming from within. Bursting through the doors, they saw several dozen of Dark's Shadow Wraiths with their blades drawn, surrounding three earth pony mares, while another dozen were off to the side, hovering protectively around three familiar fillies.

"What in tarnation is goin' on here?" Apple Bloom asked confusingly, seeing what was going on.

"Is that really what I look like?" Sweetie Belle wondered.

"Uhh, Sweetie Belle? I think we've got bigger things to worry about," Scootaloo said, looking over at the three fillies huddled together, "like how is it that we're over there, when we're all right here?"

"That, and who those three mares are," Spike added, glancing over them. "And why do I feel like I've seen them before?"

Before anyone could answer, Sunset and Twi came running up behind them, having heard the screaming from down the hallway.

"What's going on?! We heard screaming and-" Sunset went silent upon seeing both the three fillies off to the side, and the three familiar earth pony mares before her. "Oh, you've got to be kidding me."

Author's Note

I'm sorry for how long it took for me to get this one out, but Legion has been distracting me for a while now, especially after I found out that I was carrying the item for the Demon Hunter's hidden Artifact Weapon skin for the last TWO WEEKS without knowing it.:facehoof:

Chapter 80- And Then There Were More

Author's Note

To prevent any confusion... again, the following characters will be addressed as such.

Human Sweetie Belle: Sweetie
Human Apple Bloom: AB
Human Scootaloo: Scoots

Also, when addressed as a group, they will be referred to as the CMC, instead of the Crusaders.

Chapter 80- And Then There Were More

"What were you thinking, having us come to this awful place?!"

"I thought that this led to Princess Twilight's castle, not some kind of sick place like this?!"

"I wanna go home!"

Seeing them half-shouting amongst themselves, Sunset facehoofed with a groan.

"I can't believe this," she muttered to herself. "Hey, Dark, mind calling those things off?"

Dark shot her a sidelong glance. "Seriously? I don't even know who they are."

"Yeah, you do. Just take another look and you'll recognize them."

Confused as to why she was so calm about the three intruders being in the same room as the portal, Dark listened and took a good look at the three earth pony mares. As he did, he looked at each of them individually. While he didn't notice anything familiar with them at first, he later began to see it. It started when he noticed the light-yellow mare with the familiar poofy orange mane being held back in a spiked hairband. Next was the light-purple one with the dark-purple mane with the green stripe in it, being held back in pigtails. And then, lastly was the light-blue mare, with her two-toned blue mane held back in a ponytail. Finally recognizing them, Dark's eyes snapped wide open.

"And there's the lightbulb," Sunset commented, noticing his reaction.

"Stand down!" Dark snapped. "They're fine. You may return to your stations."

Hearing his orders, each of his Shadow Wraiths retracted their blades and gave a bow before fading into the nearby shadows. However, even with them gone from sight, none of the three moved. Sparing a moment, he saw that Rares, Dash, and AJ had gone over to their actual sisters, before moving towards the three mares. Stopping in front of them, he looked down at them with mixed expressions.

"Soooo, dumb question here, but just to make sure I'm not confusing you three with somepony else, you three wouldn't by chance be Adagio, Sonata, and Aria, would you?" Dark asked them, earning a surprised look from them.

"What's it to you?" Aria rudely asked.

"Not now, Aria," Adagio scolded before turning back to Dark. "Sorry, she can be a bit moody at times."

"Yeah, I know already."

Adagio gave a half-lidded gaze as she got up and slowly approached him.

"Mmmm, so you do. So, tell me, handsome, who might you be?"

"Careful there, Adagio," Sunset warned, gaining her attention.

"Oh, Sunset Shimmer, how nice to see you again so soon after summer vacation."

"What are you talking about, Dagi?" Sonata asked. "We just saw them a few days ago. It's how we knew that the portal was open."

Adagio looked at her youngest sister with her jaw opened in disbelief that she just dumped their plan like that, while Aria facehoofed.

"Anyway," Sunset redirected, "like I was saying, you better stop with the flirting while you can, Adagio."

"Oh? And why would I want to do that?"

"... do you seriously not recognize him?" she asked before motioning a hoof. "It's Dark Flame. You know, the guy who got trapped in our world last fall and killed off that gang that took over the school."

"Really now?" Adagio asked, taking a moment to look over Dark before resuming giving him her hungry gaze. "Well, well, well, aren't you a hunk of stallion."

"Alright, that's enough!"

Before Adagio could blink, she vision became obstructed when Twilight suddenly appeared up in her face.

"Now you listen here, Adagio. Dark is my fiancé, and if I catch you trying to flirt with him again, then you'll know first-hoof what it's like to be beaten down by an angry and pregnant alicorn."

"Ah, Princess Twilight, I forgot about- wait, what was that last part?"

"She said that Dark's her fiancé and that she's preggers," Sonata recalled.

"What?! You're kidding me!"

"Doesn't look like it," Aria said, directing Adagio's gaze towards Twilight's ring before pointing out her pregnant belly.

"... oh..." Adagio directed her gaze from Twilight's belly up to face her, just to see Twilight looking back at her with her horn alight, and a rather disgruntled look on her face. "... eh, sorry about that."

Twilight furrowed her brows and growled, "You better be."

Feeling like she was in some serious danger, Adagio slowly walked back to stand between her sisters while Twilight walked back and stood beside Dark.

"Hey, Dark," Sunset began whispering to him, "do you know what was up with Twilight just now?"

"It's probably her mood swings," he whispered back. "They don't seem to happen often, but it's best to avoid triggering them."

"Yeah, I noticed." Sunset turned back to the Dazzlings. "So, what are you three doing here?"

"And why are you all earth ponies instead of sirens?" Twilight added with a hint of venom in her voice.

"If I had to guess," Twi spoke up, "I would say that it's because their pendants broke."

"She's right," Adagio confirmed. "If we still had our pendants, we would've returned as sirens. But, since you girls broke them, we were turned into these instead. The portal must've noticed this and made the proper changes to us."

"Why?" Dark wondered.

"You may not have seen us as sirens, but in that form, the gems were actually apart of us, not a pendant," Aria answered him. "They were embedded in the base of our necks, so if we were changed back into sirens when we returned through the portal, then we would each have a gaping hole in our neck."

"Eesh."

"Yeah, exactly."

"And why are you three here?" Twilight questioned.

The Dazzlings each shared a look before Adagio spoke.

"To be honest, we just wanted to visit our old home," she answered her. "We heard about what these seven were doing, and then heard from their three sister here about how they were curious about Equestria and wanted to go see it. After we heard that, we figured that we would come with them."

"So you wanted to come back to the same world that Starswirl the Bearded banished you from?"

"Considering that we lost our gems and can't use our magic like we used to anymore, I didn't think that it would be much of a problem."

"She does kinda have a point, Twilight," Sunset voiced, earning her a surprised look from Twilight.

"You're agreeing with her?!" she asked incredulously.

"Well, she's not exactly wrong."

"But their banishment-"

"Was not your decision," Aques said as she floated up over to them. "It was mine."

Surprised by Aques intervening in this, Twilight snapped her attention towards her, missing the terrified looks on the Dazzlings' faces as they each bowed deeply and fearfully to her.

"What do you mean?" Twilight asked Aques. "It was Starswirl the Bearded who banished them."

"You forget, Twilight, that we Scaleless Dragons prefer to stay out of the history pages. While your books do say that it was indeed Starswirl who banished them, what they don't say is that it was I who asked for his help in doing so in the first place."

"What?! Why?!"

Aques' gaze turned to the Dazzlings. "Because the sirens were creatures of water, in a way making them my subjects. And since I was unable to properly do it myself, and since I sure as heck wasn't going to bother asking mother and father for help with it-"

"You still haven't told me about them," Dark interrupted, only to be ignored as Aques continued.

"-I recruited the help of Equestria's most powerful wizard to do it for me. Even the matter of them being earth ponies instead of sirens now doesn't change a thing about them to me."

This new news took Twilight by surprise, now knowing that her favorite wizard of all time had previous dealing with the Scaleless Dragons. This also begged the question as to what else they might've been involved in that the history books didn't mention. Feeling a headache coming on from this information, Twilight pressed a hoof to her temple and began to slowly massage it.

"I'm... I need to sit down for a moment," she said as she made her way over to the couch.

"And what about the Dazzlings?" Dark asked.

"I don't really care right now. Aques can decide on how to go about them. However, if she does end up allowing for them to stay, then I don't want any trouble from them, which includes them hitting on you... again."

"Oh, I'm sure they'll behave themselves," Aques confidently said, glaring down at the Dazzlings. "Right?"

"Y-Y-Yes, L-Lady Aques," they all squeaked, fearing what Aques would do to them otherwise.

"Good."

Meanwhile, over on the other side of the room, Rares, AJ, and Dash were all trying to comfort their younger sisters as best as they could as they adjusted to their new bodies. After the CMC calmed down from the sight of their transformation, and from getting over seeing their older sisters like this, Rares, AJ, and Dash started to get some answers out of them.

"AB, what in tarnation were y'all thinkin'?" AJ asked her gently yet firmly.

"Ah've been hearin' from you and your friends about this other world, so we were wonderin' what it would be like," she answered her.

"And you girls thought that it would be a good idea to come running along not knowing that was on the other side?" Rares chastised.

"We figured that we knew enough when we heard Sunset Shimmer talking to you and your friends about it," Scoots replied.

"That was still reckless of you girls to do, squirt," Dash told her.

"I know, but the way Sunset Shimmer talked about it made it just sounded so cool."

"And we figured that since the Dazzlings were coming with us that we'd have the supervision to do so," Sweetie defended. "You know, since they used to live in this place a long time ago."

"Yeah, about that," AJ began with a disapproving frown. "Why did y'all group up with them anyway?"

"We figured that it wouldn't hurt," AB answered her. "Ah mean, we still remember what they did ta all of us at the Battle of the Bands, but that was when they had them shiny gems. Now that they're gone, we figured that it wouldn't hurt ta trust them with this... well, that, and they said that they were kinda homesick."

"Them? Homesick?" Rares scoffed.

"They said so themselves," Sweetie told her. "They figured that without their magical necklaces that it wouldn't hurt for them to come back, just to see how things in this world changed."

"Still though, this was a plumb bad idea y'all had this time," AJ scolded. "Ah mean, does Granny and Big Mac even know where ya are, AB? Or your friends' parents for that matter?"

The CMC shared a look before AB spoke up.

"We told them that we'd be hangin' out at a friend's place and possibly be stayin' the night."

Well, she ain't technically lyin', AJ thought, much to her dismay. But still...

"While that may be, it was still mighty foolish of ya ta come over here like that, even with a... guide. So, with that bein' said, once we get back home, you're grounded."

"Awww."

"Same goes for you too, Sweetie," Rares told her. "I'm sorry, but of all of the crazy stuff you and your friends tend to do, this is easily the worst."

"Okay," Sweetie sighed in disappointment.

"Good. Now then, seeing as how we've gotten all of that out of the way, what do you say about us showing you girls around?"

"Really?" Scoots asked with a bit of skepticism.

"Why not?" Dash shrugged. "You girls may be grounded when you come back with us, but until then, you might as well enjoy yourselves. Besides, it's not often that you get to go to another world, or get to see that world's version of yourself."

Hearing that last part, the CMC turned their heads past their sisters to see their Equestrian counterparts.

"Uhhh, isn't there some rule against seein' ourselves like this?" AB questioned.

"I think that's with time travel," Scoots replied.

"Wow. Do I really look that cute as a pony?" Sweetie asked.

Hearing them talking about them, the Crusaders locked eyes with their human-turned-pony counterparts and walked up to them before sitting themselves down just out of their reach.

"Umm... hi?" Apple Bloom greeted.

"... hey," AB returned unsurely.

"... well, this is kinda weird."

"More like a lot weird," Scootaloo said.

"Yeah, I'm with me on this one," Scoots agreed.

While the two Apple Blooms and Scootaloos were somewhat unsettled by this, Sweetie Belle and Sweetie weren't very worried. If anything, they both appeared to be taking it rather well.

"Hello, I'm Sweetie Belle," Sweetie Belle greeted.

"Hello, I'm Sweetie Belle, too," Sweetie returned warmly. "But if you want, you can just call me Sweetie. You know, to make things less confusing for everybody."

"Don't you mean everypony?"

Sweetie cocked her head in confusion. "Every-what-now?"

Sweetie Belle shrugged. "Guess it's a custom thing for us ponies. You'll get used to it eventually."

"Ehh, I'm not so sure. We may not be here long enough for us to have the time."

While they were talking, Applejack, Rainbow, and Rarity walked up alongside themselves to watch their sisters talking. After a few moments had passed, Rarity glanced off to the side to see Spike silently watching them. Seeing the eagerness in his eyes, Rarity cleared her throat, catching their attention.

"Sorry to interrupt," she apologized, "but there's a certain dragon who's been waiting patiently for you girls."

Remembering Spike, the Crusaders looked over to him and waved him over. Slowly and nervously, Spike walked over to them and sat down besides his fillyfriends. However, even sitting beside them, Spike still felt uncomfortable about having two versions of them right there before him. So, it was with some level of difficulty that he found his voice to greet them.

"Um.... hi?"

"Whoa! It can talk?!" Scoots exclaimed.

"Wow, that's neat," AB said.

"What is it and how did you get him?" Sweetie asked.

Spike tried to answer them, but seeing them with his fillyfriends' faces kept him silent. Seeing this, Sweetie Belle took over for speaking for him.

"This is Spike, and he's a dragon," she explained, gaining each of their attentions before she continued. "Also, Twilight hatched him and raised him, so he's not a pet like a dog or anything."

Spike snorted, remembering his trips through the portal when he actually was a dog.

"So he's not a pet dragon or anything?" Scoots asked in clarification.

"Eenope," Apple Bloom answered. "Spike is Ponyville's one and only dragon... well, normal dragon anyway."

"Huh, neat," AB commented.

"Yeah, but that's not the only thing about him," Scootaloo said with a knowing smirk. "You girls wanna know the best part about Spike?"

The CMC looked at her expectantly. "What is it?"

To answer them, instead of using her words, Scootaloo got up and walked over to plant a big kiss on Spike's lips. Seeing this for the first time, the CMC, along with AJ, Dash, and Rares, all watched in shock as Scootaloo lingered. Only after several moments had passed did she let Spike go, just to settle herself down on his lap while Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle scooted themselves over until they were snuggled up against his sides, earning them a new wave of looks.

"You see, girls," Scootaloo began, "while Spike's all of what we said and more, he's also our coltfriend."

"... your what now?" Sweetie asked half-stunned.

"She means that Spike is their boyfriend, darling," Rares answered her, causing each of their eyes to snap wider open.

"What?!"

"Who does that even work?!" AB half-shouted.

"It's actually a lot easier than ya think," Apple Bloom spoke.

"Speaking of Spike," Scootaloo began, "what about the Spike on your world?"

"Eh, that won't be happenin'," AJ answered her.

"Why not?"

"You see, in our world, Spike's a dog, not a human like we are."

"So?" Sweetie Belle questioned. "Spike's not a pony, but we're still together."

"Maybe, but things are pretty different in our world," Dash began smoothing out. "You see, in our world, cross-species relationships are considered a crime."

"What?! Why?!"

"You have to understand, dear, that in our world, humans are the only sapient species," Rares explained to Sweetie Belle and the others. "Unlike your world where you have a multitude of sapient races, in ours, we have only us, so we don't have the flexibility that you do."

The Crusaders shared a look.

"I think we get it," Sweetie Belle said unsurely. "We have similar laws here, but nopony has ever broken them, so I guess it's just a bit of a surprise is all."

There was a rather awkward pause before Spike, now feeling a bit more comfortable being around them, cleared his throat.

"Soooo," he slowly began, "do you girls like comics?"

"Sure," Scoots shrugged. "Well, I suppose that depends on what you got. I'd bet that whatever we've got that you have has ponies instead of humans."

"Probably, but you can't deny that it's still interesting, right?"

The CMC looked at each other before looking at their pony doubles for approval. With a nod from each of them, the looked back to Spike.

"Ah don't see why not," AB said before glancing up to AJ. "That is, if it's alright with y'all?"

"Ah don't mind," AJ answered her.

"Sure, you kids go on ahead and have fun," Dash waved them off.

"Yes, what they said," Rares agreed.

With their approval, the Crusaders gave Spike some room to get up before they began to follow after him. However, after a few steps, they all stopped when they heard the sound of grunts and collapsing bodies behind them. Turning around, they saw AB, Sweetie, and Scoots all laying with their faces planted on the floor.

"Oops. Guess you girls aren't really used to walking on four legs, huh?" Spike figured, watching as they got back up wobbly legs.

"Not really," Scoots answered him. "Just give us a moment and we'll get it right."

Figuring that they could help them, Sweetie Belle, Apple Bloom, and Scootaloo each walked up to their doubles and let them lean on them as they figured out how to walk on four legs. Though it was slow for them, they soon made their way out of the lounge and towards Spike's bedroom with him and Soul slowly and patiently leading them along.

Once the eight of them were gone, Applejack, Rarity, Rainbow, and their doubles each let out a breath of relief, figuring that that could've gone a lot worse, considering that it was their younger sisters that they were dealing with. Of course, they weren't the only ones as everyone else in the room felt a bit more relaxed after seeing that. However, just as everyone was starting to feel a bit more relaxed, Applejack walked up over to Twilight and Dark.

"By the way," she began, catching their attention, "Ah almost forgot ta ask what happened ta Aunt Sunshine."

Twilight's body froze as she slowly locked eyes with Applejack. "Huh?"

"Don't think Ah didn't notice, Twilight. Aunt Sunshine came in ta see Sunset Shimmer and left with her, but then Princess Celestia comes in and tells us that she's done talkin' with her. So, Twilight, how is it that Aunt Sunshine came in ta talk ta her, but when they were finished, it was Princess Celestia who came back instead of her?"

Twilight looked blankly at her before facehoofing. I know that you wanted to keep this a secret, but this one is on you, Princess.

With a sigh, Twilight removed her hoof and looked around to see that the others had gathered for an explanation.

"Okay, I'll tell you, but nopony, or dragon, or siren, is to tell a soul about it, okay?" Once she got confirmation from each of them, Twilight nodded before she continued. "Alright, so here's what's going on. You see, sometimes Princess Celestia likes to get away and take a break, but she can't just walk into town without everypony making a big deal of it, and that's where Aunt Sunshine comes in..."

Later that day, just after sunset, everyone but the Scaleless Dragons were out at Sweet Apple Acres to play Ghost in the Graveyard together. As it turned out, they were even able to get Big Mac and Cheerilee to join them. That is, after they got everything sorted out with there now being another Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo around, and of course, who the three earth pony mares were. Once they got everything explained, and assured that the Dazzlings weren't evil anymore, Granny allowed for everyone to start their night of fun.

While they were out playing together around the house and in the orchard nearest to the farm, Dark and Twilight sat on top of the roof of the house with Granny, watching their friends and family having fun below them thanks to a night vision spell Twilight provided for herself and Granny. As they sat securely and comfortably on the rooftop, Dark flew inside to make them each some of his homemade hot chocolate, with Granny's permission of course.

"Sure is good ta see the farm so lively again," Granny commented before sipping on her mug.

"I'm sure it'll get even more so pretty soon," Twilight said, taking a sip herself.

"You're talkin' about Big Mac and Cheerilee, aren't ya?"

"... yes?"

"You can't say that you haven't thought about it yourself?" Dark questioned, getting a small headshake from Granny.

"No, Ah have. Quite a bit actually," she admitted, gazing out at the trees below, and the ponies and dragon playing in them. "Since Ah found out about them two, Ah've been wonderin' about how long it would be till Ah'd start hearin' little hooves runnin' around the house."

"So you're looking forward to being a great grandmother?" Twilight cautiously asked.

"Of course Ah am! Ah've been wantin' great grandfoals for years now, but that big lug's been luggin' around, and Ah doubt that Applejack is gonna wanna get herself into a relationship anytime soon. Speakin' of foals," she began, glancing down at Twilight's belly, "how ya doin' with the little one?"

Twilight looked down and smiled as she gently caressed her bump. "We're doing just great, Granny."

"Good. Dark takin' care of ya?"

Twilight giggled and nuzzled Dark. "He's hardly left our side during his time off of work or training."

"You know you like it," Dark teased, draping a wing around her.

"Good ta hear, otherwise Ah'd tan his hide," Granny threatened. "And don't think that Ah won't! You may be the Lord of Death, and a prince soon, but you're still not nearly old enough ta not be bent over my knee!"

Dark looked uneasily at Granny, ignoring the giggling coming from Twilight. "Umm... yes, Granny."

"Good boy." Heheheh. Ah still got it. Not bad for a... dagnabbit, how old was Ah again?

Pushing that question off to the side for now, Granny closed her eyes and took another sip of her hot chocolate. Her thoughts drifting back to Dark and Twilight's foal, Granny sighed as memories of her time pregnant returned.

"Everything alright, Granny?" Twilight asked.

"Hmm? Oh yeah, everythin' is just fine, sugarcube. Just thinkin' of when Ah was in your horseshoes," she replied fondly. "Ah tell ya, lookin' back on it, Ah have never felt more happy than Ah did when Ah heard my son's first cries, or when Ah saw him for the first time." Setting her cup down, Granny took Twilight's hoof in her own and held it gently. "Ah'm really happy for y'all, and Ah hope that you two will feel the same joy when your little filly is born, that Ah did for my son."

"I'm know we will, Granny," Twilight smiled before wrapping her hooves around her in a hug. "And I know we're both excited and eager to meet our little girl."

Smiling warmly, Dark watched as Twilight and Granny hugged each other. A few moments later of watching, with his thoughts drifting towards their foal, a new thought came to Dark.

Good thing that the castle is made of crystal and is fireproof, he thought to himself before frowning. Although, I should probably cast a few fireproofing spells on some of the non-crystal things in the room. Celestia knows that the carpeting will need it, along with her crib, the blankets, her toys... actually, now that I think about it, I'll have to fireproof just about everything that isn't crystal. Well then, I guess I know what I'm doing tomorrow.

Hearing the fun screams of their friends and family members, Dark, Twilight, and Granny watched from their spot as everyone started running out of the treeline and into the yard, followed closely by Soul who was chasing after them. Laughing at the sight below them, they watched as Soul caught up and tagged Sonata.

"Got ya!" he announced.

"Awww," she whined in brief disappointment before shrugging it off. "Oh well, that just means that you'll get to find me now."

"Just remember, Sonata, to stay within the boundaries we set out for everypony," Sunset reminded her.

"Don't worry I will. Besides, I think that I've found the perfect hiding place."

Chuckling to herself, Sonata rubbed her hooves together and ran to hide while everyone who was playing turned around and began counting down, ready for another round. Fortunately, Sonata's hiding place was pretty clever as she found that hiding in the pond was a place where they didn't think to look until Adagio brought it up.

As time began to roll by, everyone who was playing began to get more and more tired. Eventually, it got to the point where both the Crusaders and the CMC were starting to doze off. Deciding to call it a night, they each bid Granny, Big Mac, and Cheerilee a goodnight before they all made their way back to the castle. Once they got there, the older sisters each led their younger siblings over to the rooms that they were staying in for the night, while the Dazzlings, having been allowed to pick out their own rooms earlier that day, quickly retreated inside for a good night's sleep. Of course, while Twilight was allowing for them to stay, she didn't trust them completely. So, to calm her mind of any worry, she placed a few wards on their bedrooms to keep track of them, along with ordering some of the Shadow Wraiths to subtly watch their doors and follow them if they did leave.

Now, with the Dazzlings being watched over, their friends all hunkered down for the night, and with the castle secured, Twilight let out a tired sigh as she crawled in beneath her bedsheets, ready to call it a night. But, before that could happen, she smiled tiredly as she felt Dark crawling in from the other side and sliding himself up alongside her. Feeling his familiar warm coat, Twilight wrapped her forelegs around him as she snuggled up against him, all the while being mindful of the baby between them.

"This was fun night," she quietly said.

"Yeah, it was," Dark muttered, feeling tired himself.

"I know I said it before, but you really didn't have to stay with us the whole time. You could've gone down and played at least a few rounds with them."

"I know, but I felt content as I was by your side. Besides, it really was fun just watching them. That, and listening to Granny's stories."

"I know, and it was enjoyable for me too, but my point still stands."

Dark gave a tired sigh and shared a brief kiss with Twilight. "Alright, next time we play, I'll be sure to play with them."

"Good answer," she said with a quick peck before snuggling back down. "Now, if it's alright with you, I'm going to sleep."

"Okay. Goodnight, Twilight. I Love you."

"Goodnight, Dark. I Love you too."

Everyone awoke the next morning bright-eyed and ready after the good night's rest from their eventful day yesterday. Despite the tiredness they all felt the night prior, none of that was seen this morning as they were all helping out either making breakfast in the kitchen, or helping setting up the table in the dining room, which also included the Dazzlings. Despite her unease about having them sleeping over in her castle, Twilight was pleased when she learned that not one of them tried to do anything funny last night while they were all asleep.

With everyone pitching in together, they were quick to finish setting the table with dishes long before their breakfast was actually ready for them. However, with how many of them there were, and with the kitchen unable to allow for all of them to help, Dark, Twilight, Sunset, and Twi, all remained in the kitchen while the others sat around the table and talked about how much fun they had last night. As their conversation continued, it soon began to drift towards them playing it again tonight, and eventually towards Fluttershy offered the day before to allow for them to play over by her cottage. While none of the Equestrians were very eager to jump at the offer, even with Fluttershy's assurance that none of the Everfree creatures would try to harm them, they weren't denying her offer either.

As they discussed the offer, they eventually came to an agreement to play at Fluttershy's cottage tonight on the condition that Discord would be there to seal the area they're playing at off, and to watch over them, just incase. With that settled and out of the way, they then began to talk about some of the adventures they had, but before they could get very far into them, Dark, Twilight, and Sunset came in with everyone's food held in their magic, while Twi came in pushing a trolley of food, still unwilling to use any of her magic. With them bringing the food in, the were pleased when the others pitched in and helped relieve them of the food as they began setting the food-filled plates on the table. Finally, with everyone gathered around the table and sitting down, they each began filling their plates with food, some more hastily than others. After a few minutes of eating, the verbal silence was finally broken.

"Uh, sorry for askin', but why aren't any of us eating hay or grass?" AB wondered.

"You mean because we're ponies?" Apple Bloom asked back.

"Yeah. Ah thought that ponies ate grass and hay and oats and stuff, not people food like this."

"Ah don't know what you mean by people food, but yeah, we do eat grass, hay, and oats. The thin' about it, though, is that we tend ta mix it in with our food when we do eat it. Like these pancakes for example. Sometimes we'll add them into it for some extra flavor."

AB looked back down to her plate of food. "Huh, neat. Is there any in this one?"

"Just a little bit," Twilight answered her, watching as AB took a bite of it and chewed on it thoughtfully before swallowing.

"Huh, Ah can't even tell that it's there."

"Probably because you're a pony now, so it tastes natural to you. Actually, to be honest, I'm kinda surprised that you're taking to eating stuff like this so well."

Ab shrugged. "Well, ta be honest, Ah kinda did eat grass when Ah was a little kid in diapers."

Scoots laughed as she sat beside her. "Hah! You used to eat grass?!"

"Oh, come on, Scoots. Don't tell me y'all never did that yourselves." Scoots fell silent, causing AB to give her a triumphant smirk. "Yeah, Ah figured as much."

"I think it's safe to say that we all did that at some point in our lives," Sweetie voiced.

"Probably, but Ah'll bet that none of y'all liked lickin' the salt blocks."

AJ looked at her sister with suspicion. "You're not still lickin' them, are ya?"

"What? No! Ah stopped doin' that years ago." AJ gave AB a stern look which caused her gaze to falter a little bit. "... okay, Ah might take a small lick once in a while."

"Ah thought so." Then again, Ah shouldn't be one ta talk, considerin' Ah was just a tad older than she was when Ah myself stopped doin' that.

Deciding to leave that topic be, everyone returned back to eating... until Spike felt a familiar pressure in his gut and his cheeks puffed out. With a mighty belch not coming from his food, Spike let out a small stream of fire where a scroll with the royal seal fell out of it.

"Whoa! Where'd that come from?!" Dash asked in surprise.

"It's a thing that I can do," Spike said, using his magic to pick up the letter so he wouldn't be reaching over the others. "I'm able to send and receive letters through my fire breath."

"Do you always burp like that when you receive them?"

"Yep."

"Heh, sweet."

"I take it that it's a letter from Princess Celestia?" Twilight asked.

"Looks like it," Spike answered before levitating the scroll over for her to take a look at.

"What do you think it's about?" Pinks whispered to Pinkie as she leaned over to her.

"My guess, it's probably the beginning of the next story arc," she whispered back with a shrug.

"Are we gonna find out then?"

"Not just yet."

They both glanced over briefly to see Twilight just starting to break the wax seal.

"So, next chapter then?"

"Next chapter."

Chapter 82- The Dragon Kingdom

Dark, Twilight, and Spike stood near base of the ramp leading them up to their airship. It wasn't anything too fancy, seeing as how it was a standard airship with its oval-shaped hot-air balloon tied down to a seventy-five foot ship beneath it. As they made their way up the ramp, Twilight began explaining to Dark about the different kind of airships that Equestria has. While most of them were more private airships for nobles and such, they did have a few that were meant for carrying cargo, but what they didn't have were any that were equipped for war.

While Twilight continued to explain airships to Dark on the deck of the ship, they were soon joined by Shining, Fissure, and Aero, with Shining having his own input on the subject. After a few minutes, their attention was turned towards the sound of chains clinking with each step. Looking at the source, they saw Garble and the two other dragons being escorted by sixteen royal guards who where assigned to go with them. Upon closer inspection, they saw that Garble's left wing was reduced to a stub ending in a metal covering, and his left shoulder being covered by a metallic plate. However, the most noticeable difference was the look in his eyes, showing behind them how defeated and empty they were.

While Spike looked at Garble with mixed feelings, Garble kept his gaze down, not wanting to look at anything but the ground before him. Followed behind him were the other two dragons who accompanied him. However, while they too were chained up like Garble, they didn't have that same sense of defeat as what he did, which was further proved when they both nodded respectfully to Spike as the guards continued to escort them down below the deck and into a small empty room.

With everyone aboard, Shining ordered the airship to take-off. After the guards untied the rope securing the ship to the posts anchoring into the ground, the pony at the helm then steered them towards the west to the Dragon Kingdom. Now flying high above the skies of Canterlot, Dark, Twilight, Spike, and Shining all went below deck to settle down, while Fissure and Aero stayed above deck.

After picking out their rooms, Shining and Spike went to Dark and Twilight's room and sat down at the table to relax. As they did, Shining started to become uneasy as his thoughts returned to the last time he went to the Dragon Kingdom in an airship. Even with the circumstances being different, he couldn't help but notice the similarities, like, again, he was in an airship, and currently had three others with him, all of whom he trusted.

Seeing his unease, Twilight got up and sat herself down by Shining's side.

"Hey, you doing alright there?" she asked, patting his back with a hoof.

"Yeah, I suppose," Shining replied. "It's just that this, how we are right now, it kinda reminds me of the last time I was headed this way. Too many similarities I guess."

"Do you need to go above deck and get some fresh air?"

"In a moment," he said with a headshake before smiling softly at Twilight. "But for right now, I have a small question for you, Twily."

"Yes?"

Shining's eyes glanced down. "... well... I was wondering... could I touch it?"

Following the direction of his gaze, Twilight gave a small smile before she took Shining's hoof into her own and gently placed it over her belly. Taken a little bit by surprise, it took Shining a moment before he realized that Twilight had let go of his hoof. Now holding his hoof against her on his own, Shining gave a small smile as he gently caressed his sister's baby bump.

"I'm still finding this hard to believe," he said with a chuckle.

"What?"

"That you had actually found somepony special and began on starting a family with them."

Twilight smiled warmly as she gave Shining a hug. "Well, I have, and I'm happy that I did, Uncle Shiny."

While he was a little slow at the start, a smile began to form on Shining's lips.

"I'm gonna be an uncle."

"You seriously haven't thought of that yet?" Spike asked with an amused snort of smoke.

"I guess it just never really sunk in until Twily called me one."

"Well, don't forget, Uncle Shiny," Twilight accented with a bit of mirth, "that this also means that Cadence will be an aunt, and that Skyla will have herself a little cousin to play with."

Shining's smile went a little wider as he wrapped a foreleg around Twilight, pulling her into a hug and planting a brotherly kiss on top of her forehead.

"This really is a wonderful thing, Twily," he told her before turning to Dark. "And I'm proud to say that in my opinion, you couldn't have picked a better stallion."

Smiling at his kind words, Dark gave Shining a small, polite bow. "Thank you, Shining."

"You're welcome," Shining returned with a small nod. "Now then, what do you all want to do? Last time it took us five hours to get to the village, and three days to get to where... you know. So, with the airship taking us straight there, and not having to take shelter from the weather, we should be there by tomorrow."

"How about a game?" Spike suggested.

"Like what?" Dark wondered.

There was a small glint in Spike's eyes. "It's a type of board game."

"Twilight and I didn't bring one, so I take it that you did?"

With a grin, Spike reached into his backpack and unfolded a makeshift map that he'd made. With it set out, he reached back in to pull out a book, and sack of what was soon to be revealed to be several types of dices. As Spike continued to set the game up, Shining looked over it with a glint in his own eyes.

"Spike, is this...?"

Spike looked back at him with a chuckle. "You bet it is, Shining. Dark, may I introduce you to the greatest game in all of Equestria."

"Here we go again," Twilight groaned.

"Welcome, to Ogres and Oubliettes."

Several long hours later, Fissure and Aero went below deck to see what the others were doing. As they went down, they heard voices coming from behind one of the doors. Recognizing them, they made their way over to the door with the intent of going inside, but stopped when they heard the unusual conversation from the other side.

"I wanna cast a spell," Dark said from the other side. "I can cast any of these, right? On the list?"

"Yes, any of the first level one," Spike replied.

"In that case, I wanna cast Magic Missile."

"Why are you casting Magic Missile? There's nothing to attack here?" Twilight asked confusingly.

"... I... I'm attacking the darkness."

The sounds of Twilight, Spike, and Shining could be heard clearly through the door as Fissure and Aero looked at each other, both clearly confused as to what was going on in there.

"Hahahahahah! O-Okay, okay, fine," Spike said as he managed to get his laughter under control. Once he did, he cleared his throat before he continued. "There's a thestral in front of you. He's wearing a brown tunic and has a black mane with silver eyes-"

"Actually," Shining interrupted, "no, I don't. I have golden eyes."

Spike quirked an eyebrow. "Really?"

"Well, I did have silver eyes, but I decided that I wanted golden eyes."

"... Shining, you've played this long enough to know that you can't just switch like that."

"I know, but we hardly play this much together anymore, so I didn't think that it would hurt."

"He does have a point," Twilight agreed, getting a loud sigh from Spike.

"Alright, whatever. Okay, you two can talk to each other if you want."

"... hello," Dark said to Shining.

"Hello," Shining returned.

"I am Eventide, Wizard of Sunlight."

"Then how come you had to cast Magic Missile?"

This prompted another round of laughter while Dark remained silent, blushing in embarrassment while muttering beneath his breath. No longer able to withhold their curiosity, Aero knocked on the door before they were allowed to enter. Whey did, they saw Dark, Twilight, Spike, and Shining all sitting around a table with a crudely-drawn map sitting out, and what looked like character pieces on it.

"Hi, Aero, Fissure," Twilight welcomed them.

"Eeehhh, what's going on?" Aero unsurely asked.

"We're playing Ogres and Oubliettes," she answered with a small shrug before giving Dark a small smirk. "That is, we're trying to."

"Give me a break, Twilight. This is my first time playing this game," Dark whined.

"It's alright, Dark," Shining said, patting him on the back with a grin. "After all, the first time is always the hardest."

Unable to say or do anything in response, Dark remained stoic as he gawked at Shining, while he, Twilight, and Spike laughed at him once again. After a full minute had passed with him not moving, Aero floated over to him and placed a claw on his shoulder to shake him.

"Hey, Dark, are you okay?"

Hearing Aero calling for his attention, Dark was shaken out of his stupor.

"Uhhh... yeah," he slowly replied before looking back to see that the others were now snickering at him. "... I'm gonna go outside and get some air."

"We didn't go overdo it, did we?" Twilight asked, worried that they might taken things too far with him.

"No, you're all fine. I just wasn't expecting Shining to say something like that was all."

Shining chuckled at Dark. "Heh. In that case, you can think of that as payback for that little thing you told Cadence and I back in the Crystal Empire."

Knowing what he was referring to, Dark didn't look back as he made his way up the stairs and onto the deck of the airship. Feeling the wind through his mane, Dark walked over to one of the railings and looked out over it, seeing the vast landscape beneath them that stretched beyond the horizon. Enjoying the unique view due to the setting sun, and not actually having flown this high up before, Dark propped himself up on the railing and leaned on it as he peacefully took in the scene.

For the next half-hour, Dark watched the sun set and the night take over the skies. Feeling like he'd calmed down enough, Dark turned around and made his way back down below deck to join the others. Coming back into the room, he saw that Twilight, Spike, and Shining had continued the game without him, while Aero and Fissure watched from off to the side. Their continuing without him didn't really bother him in the least, having figured that he'd been gone long enough that he would've felt bad if they did decide to wait for him.

"So," Dark began as he made his way over to his seat beside Twilight, "how's the game going?"

"Alright, but I think that we should start thinking about calling it a night," Shining suggested. "I mean, it's gotta be nighttime by now."

"Yeah, it is."

"In that case, we probably should pack the game up and head off to bed," Twilight agreed. "We each have a busy day ahead of us, plus the three of us will have plenty of time to play on the way back."

"I suppose," Spike said with a small sigh. "Oh, I also saved your character sheet, Dark. You know, for the next time we play. Now that you're starting to get into it, you could play with me, Big Mac, and Discord."

Dark blinked. "Wait. You three play this game together? Why haven't I seen any of this?"

Spike shrugged. "Probably because you were either working or training most of the time that we'd played, or were too tired and went straight to bed."

"Okay, so when's the next one?"

"Considering that we had to skip our next one due to the wedding, the following one would be on Friday the week after."

Dark scratched his chin. "Hmmm. I'm not sure if I'll be able to make it."

"Why not? As far as I know, you don't have anything planned for that day."

"Maybe, but Twilight and I don't know how long our honeymoon will last for... or what we're even doing for it."

"I wouldn't worry about it," Shining chuckled. "If I know Princess Celestia and mom, then I'm sure they won't let you two go without one. And I'm sure that whatever it is will be wonderful."

"I'm sure it will," Twilight agreed with a smile, one that quickly turned to a yawn.

"Yep, sounds like it's bedtime," Aero said, getting up and stretching out. "I'm off to bed. See you all in the morning."

"Me too," Fissure agreed before following Aero to the room they were sharing for tonight.

"I suppose we better get going too," Shining said, getting a nod from Spike as he started following him out.

As the two started to exit the room, they both bid a goodnight to Twilight and Dark, who returned it with their own. Now alone in their room, Twilight went over and crawled into bed while Dark went over to turn off the overhead light for the night. With his night-vision, he had no trouble making his way around the table and back towards the bed to join Twilight in sleep.

The next day was one of tense nerves as their airship was flying over a valley familiar to Dark and Shining, the latter of whom was shaking slightly with hasten breaths as he looked down upon the familiar setting from on deck, while the others were eating a late lunch below deck.

Keep yourself together, Shining Armor, he mentally told himself. It's all buried in the past now... and I'm about to literally have it dug back up.

As he continued to look down over the railing on the side of the airship, he heard heavy clawsteps coming up from behind, along with what sounded like a breeze of air.

"You doing alright? You seem a bit tense right now," Aero asked as she floated up alongside him, while Fissure took up a spot on Shining's other side.

"Just some bad memories of this place," Shining solemnly answered her.

"Having second thoughts?" Fissure asked.

"... I suppose I kinda am, but I've already come this far, so I might as well see it through. Besides, whether I want to be here or not, we need to know if those kirins buried down there did indeed work for whatever that creature was."

"In that case, we'll work as quickly as we can and get you out of here," Aero said. "Right, Fissure?"

"Yes," he rumbled.

"Well that's good," Shining began as he turned his head to look at the direction that they were going with a grimace, "because we're almost there."

Following Shining's gaze, Aero and Fissure both saw a mountain range coming up.

"At the rate we're going, we should be there within the next half-hour. I'm gonna go on down and tell Twilight and the others."

Turning around, Shining went below deck to see Twilight, Dark, and Spike just as they were about to finish up their lunch.

"Hey," Shining said, gaining their attention.

"Hi, Shiny," Twilight returned before noticing the look on his face. "Is something wrong?"

"Not exactly, Twilight. I just came to let you all know that my stop is coming up pretty soon."

"Oh... so that means that you'll be leaving us soon."

"Hey, I'll still see you back in Canterlot when you return. Besides, if anything, I should be the one worrying, considering that you've got the harder and more dangerous job between us."

"Maybe, but this can't be an easy thing for you either, having to return to all of this."

Shining shook his head with a heavy sigh. "No, it's not easy. Then again, I didn't expect it to be."

Not liking seeing her brother like this, Twilight got up and went over to give him a hug.

"I'm sorry that this is starting to take a toll on you. Is there anything that I can do to help you feel better?"

"Just stay safe, and I'll be fine," he said, returning her hug. "While coming back here is unsettling and brings back bad memories, I'm also worried about you going into the heart of the Dragon Kingdom. Especially with you being pregnant like this. I don't know if King Inferno knows about it or not, but if they do, then they'll more than likely target you."

"I'd like to see them try," Dark said with a growl. "Just like when he came to see us in Canterlot, if he or any of the others try anything to Twilight, they'll be dead before they even take their first step."

"Of that I have no doubt," Shining nodded approvingly, "which is why I didn't voice any objection to Princess Celestia and Princess Luna about Twilight going."

Letting their conversation end there, Shining turned back around and went back up onto the deck. Not long after, Dark, Twilight, and Spike followed after him. After another twenty minutes, they were starting to get close to the mountain range when the ships Captain came up to Shining with a salute.

"Prince Shining Armor, we're almost to your destination and will be landing for you to disembark," he informed him.

"Thanks, but you can just continue onward," Shining dismissed.

"But sir, how will you get down there? Are you going to ride on one of those dragons?"

"Nope. I've got my own way," he smirked before turning to Twilight and giving her another hug. "Be safe, Twily, and good luck."

"You too, Shiny."

Pulling away from Twilight, Shining gave Spike a quick hug before turning to Dark, who, after a brief moment of hesitation, Shining hugged.

"Look out her," Shining whispered.

"You bet," Dark whispered back.

With a pat, they let go of each other. With his goodbyes said and done, Shining walked over to the railing and, with a salute, jumped off of the side with Aero and Fissure following after him. But while they were all calm about it, the ship's crewmembers all scrambled over to see Shining falling to what they all thought was his death. They were about so send some of the pegasi crewmembers over to fetch him, but Dark halted them before they could take off, having already seen this before and knowing what he's planning. After several long seconds of waiting, they watched as Shining encased himself in one of his barriers before hitting the ground with enough force to create an impact crater and kicking up the dirt and rocks into a blinding cloud. Not long after that, they all sighed in relief when they saw Shining walking out of it completely unharmed, making his way over towards where the old cave entrance was with Aero floating alongside his right, and Fissure walking along his left.

With the show now over, they each returned to their stations and changed their course slightly to take them to the Dragon Kingdom's capital city.

On the ground, Shining watched as the airship continued further into the Dragon Kingdom. With them gone and his own destination close, he began his walk to where he remembered the collapsed cave entrance being.

"So, Fissure," Shining began, "I know that you're the Lord of Earth, but can you really do it?"

"Yes," he plainly answered.

"Can't you feel where this cave is that Shining Armor's been talking about?" Aero asked.

"Yes. I can also feel the collapsed cave leading to it."

Nodding, Shining led them towards the entrance. After twenty minutes of walking, they finally came upon it.

"Well, here it is," Shining said with an uneasy breath.

Stepping forward, Fissure looked over the collapsed cave entrance before running a claw over it. After a few moments of his eyes scanning over it, he turned to look back at Shining and Aero.

"I can do it, but it will take some time," he told them.

"How long are you thinking?" Aero wondered.

Fissure turned back to the entrance. "About an hour."

"That long?" Shining skeptically asked. "I figured that as the Lord of Earth that you would be able to do it much faster."

"If you want a cave sturdy enough to walk through, then I'll need the time to do it. Besides, the walk there itself will take us a while."

"Well, as much as I don't want to stay here any longer than I need to, it's not necessarily like we're in any rush."

Fissure nodded. "Then stand back while I clear us a path."

Following his instructions, Shining backed away with Aero. Once they were far enough away, they watched as Fissure dug his claws into the ground, causing the earth beneath them to rumble. Moments later, they watched as the rocks blocking the cave entrance began to rise up and returned to where they were before the cave-in. Fissure then used his power over earth to turn the outside of the boulders to liquid rock and pressed them together in an attempt to bind them together.

As they cooled off, Fissure looked over them to make sure that they would hold. While most if it seemed alright, he saw that some of it would need some extra earth to fill in some gaps. Using some of the earth from the ground, he reshaped them before applying them to the required areas, filling in the cracks and allowing for it to hold soundly together. Giving a small nod at how it turned out, Fissure continued onward clearing the cave and returning it to how it was before Shining caved it in all those years ago.

Once they were far beyond the other side of the mountain range where Shining, Aero, and Fissure departed from, Dark looked over to his side at Twilight.

"So, how long do you think it'll take us to get to the capital?" he asked.

"It shouldn't be too long," she answered him, thinking over it in hear head. "From what I saw on the map downstairs, and with how fast we're going, we should get there just before sundown."

"So we're still a few hours out then," Spike summed up.

"Just about."

"In that case, should we start getting ready? You know, get dressed and stuff."

"Not just yet. Besides, what kind of clothes would you wear anyway?"

"I was actually talking about you and Dark, Twilight."

"I'll get changed after a bit... although," Twilight turned to Dark, "I still don't know what you'll be wearing."

"I'll be wearing my Coliseum armor," he answered her. "Not the one that I got winning the Championship match, but the chainmail one."

"Really? Why that one? Don't you have other clothes that you can wear besides that?"

"It's either that, the tuxedo I wore to the Hearth's Warming Eve Ball, or the armor that Anvil made me for becoming the Coliseum Champion. And trust me when I say that that armor isn't something that I should be wearing to something like this, unless I'm looking to start a fight."

Twilight sighed. "Alright, if there's nothing else, then you might as well."

"Speaking of your Champion armor," Spike began, "you still haven't shown any of us yet. Have you even worn it to see if it fits at all?"

"I have, and it fits perfectly," Dark replied. "And despite what Anvil thought of it at first with the weight of it, between my natural strength, and the enchantment runes he placed on the inside of the armor to lighten them like with my sword, it's actually pretty light."

"Do you think that you'll ever show us?"

"... maybe after we get back I will."

"Sounds good," Twilight said before turning towards the steps leading below deck. "Now, if you two don't mind, I'm going down to see if they've got any pickles to snack on, and maybe some ketchup to dip it in."

Several hours later, the airship carrying Dark, Twilight, and Spike started to approach a chain of volcanoes with dragons perched on the cliffs, while others were flying over them. Standing on the bow of the ship, Twilight, wearing her dress and royal regalia, Dark in his black armor, and Spike, watched as they got closer and eventually flew over the volcanoes. When they did, they were granted the sight of the Dragon Kingdom's capital city.

"Well, here we are," Twilight nervously breathed. "Welcome to Vulcan, the capital of the Dragon Kingdom."

As the name implied, the entire area was surrounded by a chain of volcanoes, creating a natural barrier between the city and the outside world. Inside, several more volcanoes were shown with rivers of lava flowing at the base of them. In the sides of them, grand caves could be seen, each with a burning glow coming from within. And there, at the center of it all, was easily the biggest volcano they'd ever seen, easily bit enough to fit ten other volcanoes inside it.

Flying closer to it, their eyes began to wander around, noticing all of the dragons perched on ledges, flying around in the air, and some even seen relaxing in the rivers of lava. However, off to their left on a large plateau, they all saw that it was covered with something that appeared to be moving and glowing, but it didn't look like any dragon.

"What are those things?" Spike asked.

"Salamanders," Dark frowned. "And a lot of them. Guess Rin wasn't joking when he said how many of them there were."

"All the more reason for us to stop Inferno from unleashing them," Twilight said. "And hopefully, by returning Garble back to him, something in him will snap and cause Light's spell over him to break."

"Considering that we've never tried that method, or found a way to free anypony from it before, I doubt that it'll work... but, even so, I do hope that it does."

Turning their attention back towards the central volcano they were heading towards, they quickly noticed several dragons with armor flying towards them, each with a spear in their claw. Keeping an eye on them, they watched as the three dragons came up to the airship and hovered in front of it. However, as the dragons' eyes looked over the scared crew, Spike, and Twilight, their eyes soon fell upon Dark. When they did, his heartrate skyrocketed as they each roared and pointed their spears at him.

Seeing that this could quickly turn hostile, Twilight stepped forward in front of him.

"I am Princess Twilight Sparkle!" she declared, causing the three dragons to pause while she continued, "and I have been sent here by Princess Celestia and Princess Luna to speak with King Inferno!"

They eyed Twilight out before the center one gave a low growl and focused back on Dark.

"This one-"

"Is with me," Twilight interrupted him. "Dark Flame is here as my personal bodyguard. He will not attack any of you unless I'm attacked first, or he's provoked. As a Princess of Equestria, you have my word."

The amount of displeasure on their faces was clear for all to see. However, despite their reluctance, they relented.

"So be it," the dragon growled. "We shall escort you to one of the platforms to Inferno's lair."

Once the dragons had turned around, Dark leaned over to Twilight.

"Why did you tell them that I'm just a bodyguard and not your fiancé?" Dark whispered to her.

"Please don't be upset, Dark," Twilight whispered back. "It's just that if they don't know about my being pregnant yet, then they probably don't know about us getting married soon either. And if that's the case, then I'd rather that they continue to not know."

Dark thought about it for a moment before nodding in agreement. "Alright then."

Though Twilight was glad that this possible problem had been adverted, along with the one with the dragons confronting them, she didn't allow for any of her relief to show, and instead remained her posture with a stern and regal look to her. As their airship followed the three dragons escorting them, they looked around to see that other dragons had taken notice of them, or more specifically, of Dark. Closing in on Inferno's lair, they had to close their ears as the angered roars of every dragon who'd spotted them reverberated throughout the city, but were once again relieved that none of them made any move to even approach them.

Floating down to their landing platform, several of the pegasi flew off the sides of the airship with ropes in their mouths. Once they landed, they pulled the airship down until the bottom of it made contact with the stone ground, and tied the ropes down some nearby stalagmites. With the airship secured, the other members of the crew pulled out the ramp to let Twilight, Dark, and Spike off, along with six of the royal guards, while the others stayed to guard the airship.

With their escort following right behind them, Twilight led the way towards the mouth of the entrance with Dark and Spike flanking her sides. When they got there, the three dragons who had escorted them there turned and began to lead them inside the volcano. As they followed them inside to be taken to Inferno, Twilight's eyes flickered to the side every time they crossed another dragon that growled threateningly at them. But, as nervous as she was becoming after seeing so many dragons looking like they wanted to devour them initially, she also noticed that each dragon that growled at them flinched and went silent after she saw that Dark's eyes would snap over directly at them.

I figured that the dragons probably wouldn't of liked Dark being here, but I didn't think that it would be this bad, Twilight thought as she looked at another group of dragons that had been silenced by Dark's gaze. Then again, while they do seem almost hostile towards him, it doesn't look like they're willing to attack him either.

"We're here," the lead dragon announced, catching Twilight's attention as she now stood in front of a massive stone doorway easily twice the size of these dragons. "Wait here and I'll announce you to His Highness."

"Very well," Twilight regally replied.

Listening to him, Twilight and the others waited outside of the stone doors while the guard went in to inform Inferno about their arrival. While they waited, several large dragons had gathered around them, each growling in displeasure. However, when Dark turned to look at them and flashed his eyes red, they went silent and took several steps back away from him. A few minutes later, the doors opened to the draconic guard that went to talk to Inferno.

"King Inferno will not be seeing you," he told them.

Twilight and the others looked appalling in response to the reply.

"Excuse me?" Twilight said with a bit of irritation in her voice. "Did you just say that he will not be seeing us?"

"Yes."

"Did he give a reason why?"

"Yes, but that doesn't matter. What does is that he'll see you tomorrow instead when he's better prepared for this surprise visit of yours."

"How convenient," Spike muttered, folding his arms displeasingly. "Figures that he'd want some time to hide something that he wouldn't want us to see."

"Mind your tongue, whelpling," the dragon growled, tightening his grip on his spear, which also prompted the other two to do the same. "You may be here with Princess Twilight Sparkle, but you're still tiny and weak compared to us."

While Spike began to growl in offense, he quickly felt Dark place a claw on his shoulder before walking up in front of him.

"In that case, perhaps you'd like to face me like so many before you?" Dark asked with a gleam of anticipation in his eyes, causing the guard to take a step back.

"Keep talking, Dragon Slayer," he growled at Dark. "King Inferno will wipe you out, just like how Lord Nocturne did to your village."

Dark's eyes took on a dangerous look to them.

"Keep talking, dragon," Dark spat, "and you, along with the rest of this city, will find out first-hoof just how I got that title."

"Easy there, Dark," Twilight said, trying to calm him down before looking back up to the draconic guard who started this. "I would recommend that you cease this provocation while there's still time. After all, while his village was destroyed, in the end, Dark defeated Nocturne. So, if he could do that to the Scaleless Dragon of Death, then what chance do you think you'll have against him, especially since Dark's taken over Nocturne's position as Lord of Death?"

Each of the dragons listening were now looking at Dark with eyes filled with fear. It was bad enough that the Dragon Slayer was within their city, but now that he possesses the powers of Nocturne...

"You're bluffing," the guard stated nervously. "This scum doesn't possess Lord Nocturne's powers."

With a flaming snort, Dark's claw emanated a dark fog while a pair of dark portals appeared above his head. Seconds later, Nocturne's massive draconic arms popped out of them, each claw easily big enough to grip one of the dragons' heads in its palm and crush it. Growling, Dark's eyes turned blood-red as he punched his fist into the palm of his claw, which was mimicked by the pair above him. Cracking his knuckles, Dark grinned as his tail began flicking in anticipation.

"Care to test that?" Dark asked, using Nocturne's voice and sending a chill down the dragons' spines. "Go on. Give me a reason to send you to join the hundreds of dragons that tried to kill me before you."

Seeing that Twilight wasn't actually bluffing about Dark, the guards lowered their spears while the other dragons who'd come to see had scattered, now with greater fear of Dark.

"Apologies, Princess," the guard apologized with a bow. "I didn't mean to step out of line. However, King Inferno's orders still stand. If you would return to your airship, His Highness will see you tomorrow."

"Very well then," Twilight said. "We shall return and await for you to come for us when it's time."

Letting it end there, Twilight turned around and began making her way back to the airship with Spike and the royal guards. As she began leaving, Dark retracted the arms back into the portals and dispersed the shadows from his arms before giving one last snort and following after Twilight.

"That was close," Spike commented once Dark was back beside them. "I mean, seriously, could you have made things anymore tense there, Dark?"

Dark looked down at Spike. "... do you really want me to answer that?"

"That was a rhetorical question, Dark. It was easy enough to see how much you wanted to fight him."

"He's lucky that I didn't," he growled. "Those idiots don't know that with the amount of fire that I can Amplify around here, and combining it with the power of my Flare, that I could destroy all of Vulcan with one blast if I wanted to, if not most of it."

"You're not doing that, Dark," Twilight sternly told him. "Even if we do end up being enemies in a war, I won't allow for you to destroy an entire city of dragons like that. Besides, wouldn't that be kinda similar to what Shining did to those kirins?"

While he didn't like the comparison, he did grimace as he found a few parallels between what Shining did, and what he was thinking about doing.

"... I suppose you're right," he admitted. Seeing Twilight nod approvingly, Dark looked up. "I wonder how Shining's doing?"

"You said that you could do this in an hour," Shining complained, "and it's been well over one hour."

"Doing this kind of work makes me hungry," Fissure defended himself.

"Besides," Aero took over, "I didn't hear you complaining when we sat down to take a break to eat."

"Anyway, we're almost there."

"How much longer are you thinking?" Shining wondered, but got his answer when Fissure gave him a deadpan look and punched through the last of the rubble, opening the way up to the main chamber.

"Now."

The smell from within was horrific as the scent from the decaying bodies was all trapped inside when Shining had collapsed the cave entrance. Now having a way out, Shining, Aero, and Fissure were all hit with a wave of nausea as the smell of decay hit them all, causing each of them to gag before Shining managed to cast a barrier around each of their heads to filter out the smell.

"Thanks," Fissure thanked with a breath of relief.

"No problem," Shining grimaced, looking out at the familiar but ruined setting.

"Alright, let's get this over with," Aero told them. "This place is making me uncomfortable enough as it is."

With a nod, Shining led the two down the stone ramp. As they descended, he continued to look around and saw that while the loose rocks that he'd blasted from the cave's ceiling had crushed most of the kirins' corpses, they were still well preserved with the lack of air coming in over these past years.

Coming to the base of the ramp, Shining went over to the closest uncrushed corpse and looked down at it with a hint of regret for what he did. Of course, while a part of him was regretful for what he did, he also knew that it was too late to take any of it back. Pushing those feelings away, Shining created a magical sword from his magic and carefully sliced open the dead kirin's chest. Once the incision was large enough, he used his magic to pry the ribcage open and reach in with his magic to feel for anything that should be in there.

Which there was.

"What the hay?"

Hearing Shining, Aero and Fissure walked up to him to see what he found. When they did, they watched as Shining used his magic to carefully extract whatever it was that he found inside. Once he pulled it out, they all looked at the black feather that had laid hidden within its chest.

"Looks like your guess was right," Aero commented.

"Looks like," Shining frowned. "Hey, could you two give me a hoof and check some of the others? I just want to make sure that this isn't some fluke."

"Sure."

While Fissure used his powers to remove the boulders crushing the corpses, Aero used her power over wind to slice open the bodies and send a small blast of wind into them. Unfortunately, when she did, the gust of wind blowing out of them brought a black feather out along with it. For the next hour they continued, searching hundreds of corpses and finding a feather in each of them.

Sighing to himself, Shining looked around at the hundreds that were still visible. "I think that that's enough."

"You sure?" Aero asked.

"Yeah. At the rate we're going, it's starting to look like that if we were to search each and every one of them that we'll find a feather on them... or in this case, inside them."

"Probably," Fissure agreed before catching something black off to the side. "What's that?"

Shining turned to see what he was referring to and grimaced. "The remains of the statue of that creature from the looks of it."

"Let's check it out."

Listening to him, they went over to the remains of the onyx-black statue. While everything from the base of it to the waist was fine, the entire upper-half of it had been broken off by a boulder that had fallen onto it. Looking around, they found chunks of black rock that Fissure identified to actually be onyx.

"So, this is it huh?" Aero finally spoke after several moments of silence had passed.

"Yep," Shining replied. "I didn't really think to take a good look last time, though."

Humming to herself, Aero floated around it as she inspected the remains of the statue, while Fissure looked over the base of it. After a moment of looking it over, Fissure paused.

"What's this?"

Coming over to see what he was pointing at, Shining and Aero looked at the name engraved onto the base of the stone.

"Is that supposed to be a name?" Shining wondered. "Because I've never seen one so short before."

"If it is, then it's unsettling," Fissure grumbled, clearly not liking it.

"I... I think I've heard this name before," Aero mused out loud.

"From where?"

"From Aurora. I can't remember what it was about, but I do remember her giving me a name, one that she told me never to talk about."

Shining looked questionably at Aero. "And now that we know?"

"... we need to go back to Ponyville and speak with Aurora. If we need to, we'll get Pinkie Pie to translate what she's saying to us with her light."

Not waiting for a response, Aero used her wind to lift Shining onto her back and fly up towards the entrance. But, before she left the cave, she turned back towards Fissure.

"After we're gone, I want this entire place sealed up again," she told him. "It doesn't matter what method you use, just as long as nothing can get in here."

Once she'd gotten an understanding nod from Fissure, Aero left with Shining on her back. Once they'd left the cave and were flying into the night sky, she heard Shining speaking up.

"What about Fissure?"

"He's fine," she dismissed.

"I mean how's he gonna get back?"

"He's Earth Incarnate. He can meld into the earth and travel anywhere, just like how Dark can meld into the shadows and travel across long distances through that. So, more than likely, Fissure will be back in Ponyville before we even cross the border into Equestria."

Author's Note

Sweet Celestia this took longer than it should've. Of course, what can you do when you're working on nights that you're supposed to have off and having your work schedule adjusted to work longer hours due to being short staffed? Anyway, hope you guys enjoyed, and I'll try to get the next one out sooner... if work doesn't keep me again.

Chapter 83- Attempted Negotiations

"I don't like the feeling of this," Spike commented once they'd finally returned to Dark and Twilight's room in the airship.

"Me neither, Spike," Twilight agreed.

"I mean, while we did drop in on him out of nowhere like this, King Inferno still should've been prepared for it. I remember that Princess Celestia had plenty of those surprise visits while we lived in the castle with her, and she was prepared each and every time."

"I know, Spike, and that's why I'm not liking this either."

"You think he put it off till tomorrow to have time to plan some sort of ambush for us?" Dark wondered.

"I'm hoping not," Twilight replied before letting out a sigh. "Although, considering his history with you, and how much of a grudge he and General Razor Claw have against you, I wouldn't be surprised if he did."

"In that case, if they do have something like that planned for us and try springing it on us, then I won't hesitate to fight back and kill them all."

"You sure you wanna do that?" Spike questioned, earning him a flaming snort from Dark.

"I'll be damned before I let them harm you, Twilight, or our unborn daughter," he answered him. "You guys are my family, and I'll use every ounce of power that I have to ensure that I won't lose you."

"Even if it means destroying all of Vulcan like you said you could earlier?"

Dark sighed and shook his head. "No. While I will use the Flare if it comes to that, I already promised Twilight that I won't Amplify it and destroy the city."

"I hope not," Twilight said with a glace at Dark. "While I know that you would only do it to help protect us, I don't want to see you becoming a killer."

"In a time of war?"

Twilight frowned and nodded. "If you did destroy the city, you wouldn't be killing just the adult dragons and those salamanders, but also their hatchlings and eggs. And I know that you wouldn't kill a child or baby."

Dark's ears wilted as a sense of shame washed over him. While he wouldn't hesitate to kill an adult dragon, or even a teenage dragon like Garble if it attacked him, he wouldn't do that to a young hatchling or egg. His eyes falling upon Twilight's belly, Dark flinched as he thought of how he'd felt if Inferno or Razor Claw would kill his own foal like that.

"You're right, I wouldn't," he somberly answered, placing a claw over their growing daughter with a sigh. "I just hope that they won't either."

Twilight gave Dark a small smile as she placed her hoof over his claw.

"I doubt that they will. But if they do, then I know that you'll be there to keep us safe."

"I suppose so. After all," Dark leaned in and carefully rested his head against Twilight's belly, "it's my job to protect my family, right?"

"Right."

For the next few minutes they remained like that, Twilight smiling down at Dark as she brushed his mane with a hoof, while Dark laid his head against her belly, making sure to be careful and barely put any pressure on it.

"How much longer do you think until she starts kicking?" he wondered.

"From what I read, foals can start to kick from anywhere between sixteen to twenty-two weeks," Twilight replied. "I just hope that when she does that she doesn't kick too hard. I remember mom telling me that it would hurt a little bit when Shiny and I kicked her when she was pregnant with us."

Humming in acknowledgement, Dark then began to gently nuzzle her belly, and would've continued to do so in silence if it weren't for Spike speaking up.

"Well, I don't know about you two," he began, "but I think that I'm gonna call it a night. After all, for all we know, King Inferno could send for us first thing in the morning."

"I suppose you're right about that," Twilight agreed, stopping her stroking motions on Dark's head and standing back up, which caused Dark to give a small discontented groan.

"Okay. In that case, you two have a nice night, and I'll see ya tomorrow."

"Alright. Goodnight, Spike."

"Yeah. Night, Spike."

It was just past three in the afternoon as Dark paced around the room while Twilight and Spike sat at the table with a mid-day snack.

"Dark, relax," Twilight told him. "They'll call for us when they're ready."

"I know, but the fact that they're holding this meeting off for this long is making me uneasy," Dark replied.

"I know, Dark," Twilight said sympathetically. "I'm not liking them making us wait like this anymore than you are, but we have no choice. We'll just have to wait until they send someone to come get us."

Breathing a stressful sigh, Dark stopped his pacing and took a seat beside Twilight.

"While we're waiting," she continued, "why don't we come up with a plan incase things go south for us?"

"Already got that covered," Dark spoke.

Spike cocked a curious eyebrow. "Care to share?"

"It's pretty simple. Before we left from Canterlot, I started to subtly create some Shadow Wraiths and hid them in our shadows."

"You what?" Twilight asked surprisingly.

"What's wrong, Twilight?"

"You... how many Shadow Wraiths did you create and hide in our shadows?"

Dark hummed to himself for a moment. "... if I had to guess, I'd say about thirty of them are hiding in each of our individual shadows."

"Thir- Dark!"

"Easy, Twilight. They won't attack or anything unless we're in genuine danger. Not to mention that if any of those dragons try to attack us with our backs turned to them, my Shadow Wraiths will block and counterattack them, giving us some time to recover and escape if we need to."

"So that's your plan?" Spike questioned. "Use your Shadow Wraiths to cover us while we make our escape?"

"And the guards," Dark added. "If any of my wraiths are in anyway destroyed, they'll just return to the shadows."

"I'm still not really sure about this idea, Dark," Twilight frowned.

"I said yesterday that I'd protect my family, Twilight, and I intend to do so," he returned before giving a small growl. "I already lost my family once before, and I won't allow myself to lose another, especially when I have the power to prevent it. Besides, with my power, I doubt that they'll even be needed. They're more of a cautionary measure than anything."

Twilight placed a hoof on Dark's shoulder. "Dark, I know that you want to protect us and keep us safe, but-"

*Knock-Knock-Knock*

Twilight paused as they turned towards the door. "Yes?"

"Princess Twilight?" one of the guards spoke through the closed door. "May I come in?"

"Sure."

They watched as one of the royal guards opened the door and entered with a salute.

"Your Highness, we just received word that King Inferno is ready to see you, Prince Dark, and Spike."

Twilight took a breath to calm herself and nodded. "Thank you. Make sure that our three..."

"Prisoners?"

"... yes. Make sure that they're all ready to come with us. Oh, and make sure that they've got a cloak or sheet covering them so that none of the dragons know who they are. It would be bad if they saw who they were before we returned them to King Inferno."

"Yes, Princess," the guard replied before leaving to gather Garble and the two others.

Getting up, Twilight began to walk out of the room with Dark and Spike following before she stopped at the doorway and turned around to face Dark.

"Like I was saying before I got interrupted, Dark," Twilight continued, "just make sure that you don't do anything too risky. I know that your intentions are good and for our safety, but I don't want to see you fall because your sense of protectiveness over us caused you to do something stupid and irreversible."

"I'll do what I have to, Twilight," Dark stated before softening his voice, "but I understand what you're saying. I promise that I won't do anything too drastic during this meeting."

Twilight gave a small sigh of relief and nuzzled Dark's cheek. "Thank you."

"You're welcome," he said, returning her nuzzle with one of his own. "Now, how about we get going? I'd rather get this done and over with as soon as possible, and get the hay out of here."

Agreeing, Twilight continued to lead them above deck and waited for the other guards to show up with the prisoners. Once they did, Twilight, Dark, Spike, and eight of their royal guards made their way towards the cave leading into the volcano. Once they got there, they were met with a pair of dragon guards who escorted them back to the throne room. Several long minutes later, they stopped while the two dragons opened the doors for them to enter.

Walking inside, they saw pillars aligning the wall, reaching up to the high ceiling with metallic arms holding a fiery braziers from a set of chains. Standing in-between each pillar was an armored dragon with a spear, standing guard as they all carefully watched their movements. And if the braziers didn't provide enough lighting for them, then the rivers of lava flowing from the walls like water down into a small trench along the corners of the walls, did.

Distracted by the look of the throne room, they didn't notice the end of it until they were already half-way there. There, sitting on a golden throne with embedded gems, was Inferno. Seeing him, and the mountain of treasure towering behind him, they also noticed Razor Claw sitting on Inferno's right side, and on his left, four dragons clothed in gray robes that revealed nothing but the end of their tails.

Ignoring the looks he was receiving from both Inferno and Razor Claw, Dark continued onward silently while subtly inching closer to Twilight's side. Once they felt like they were close enough, Twilight bowed, followed by Spike, the royal guards, and lastly and reluctantly, Dark.

"I suppose I should welcome you to my kingdom, Princess Twilight," Inferno spoke, his voice reverberating off of the stone walls as he cocked his head to the side. "You seemed to have gained some weight since we last met."

"It's a pleasure to be here, King Inferno," Twilight politely said, ignoring his comment. "I've never been to the capital before, let alone the Dragon Kingdom. So seeing all of this for the first time is really-"

"Cut the pleasantries, Princess. What I want to know is what you're doing showing up here out of the blue like you did yesterday."

Twilight managed to hide her frown at rudely being interrupted like that and maintained her posture.

"I was sent here by Princess Celestia and Princess Luna to talk to you about the sudden increase of dragons, salamanders, flaming manticores, and from what I understand, hellions."

Razor Claw narrowed his eye. "Where did you get such information from?" he growled.

"From Rin," one of the cloaked dragons spoke, earning the three a surprised look from Inferno and Razor Claw.

"You sent him?!"

"Yes," the second one replied.

"We four of the Dragon Council sent Rin to Equestria to ask for aid from their princesses.

"You would dare go behind my back like this?" Inferno hissed.

"We four already came to a unanimous decision that what you're doing isn't in the best interest for this kingdom," the third one spoke.

"War with Equestria would be a foolish act, bordering on suicidal," the fourth added curtly. "You would have to combat with not only four Alicorn Princesses and Discord, the Lord of Chaos, but also Lords Pyre and Fissure, Ladies Aques and Aero, and now, Lord Dark, who I would imagine wouldn't mind tearing you apart, Your Highness."

Well, she's not exactly wrong about that last part, Dark though.

"Like that maters at this point."

Hearing that familiar cocky voice bouncing off of the walls, Dark growled as Gunter walked out from behind Inferno's throne and sat in front of him.

"What are you doing here?" Dark growled menacingly.

"You may want to be more specific, considering that that could go one of two ways," he told him.

"Hmm?"

"You see, I'm here, or rather, still here, because your brother tried to poison me after I left Canterlot last year," Gunter explained before chuckling. "It was clever how he was able to trick me like that. Too bad for him that I'm quite familiar with the scent of nightshade, even if it was diluted by the food coloring that was cleverly mixed in with it."

"A pity you didn't drink it."

"As for the other reason why I'm here... well, I did say that I received a seat in King Inferno's court. Or did you forget already?"

Dark was grinding his fangs at this point. "How did you know about Light being in Canterlot?"

Gunter smirked. "How do you think he got the materials to make that amulet?"

A second later, Dark created a burst of shadows from his claws and extended wings, causing each of the dragon guards to point their weapons at him. However, before Dark could do anything, Twilight placed a hoof on his shoulder to try calming him down while facing Inferno with a small glare.

"King Inferno, I would advise that you control your... underling... before he starts something. We're here on a peaceful mission, and I don't want to see it ruined because of any deliberate provocations from your side."

Inferno scoffed. "Peace? Why would I indulge in such a ridiculous notion?"

Twilight looked back to her guards and gave them a nod. Upon receiving her signal, three of the guards pulled the sheets off, revealing the three dragons beneath them. Seeing who they were, Inferno's eyes widened in surprised before narrowing in on Twilight.

"What is the meaning of this?" he hissed.

"This is my peace offering," Twilight diplomatically said.

"WHAT?!"

"You see, King Inferno," she began with a small, smug grin, "a little over a month ago, Garble and these two came to my town of Ponyville as spies for your kingdom."

The four council members looked over at Inferno while Twilight continued.

"They already admitted it to us. They were sent to spy on us, but when Garble spotted Spike, he couldn't help but settle an old grudge. He challenged Spike to a duel in accordance with your Dragon Code, and lost."

This got Inferno's attention. "He lost?!"

"He did," Spike said, taking a step forward. "He foalnapped my three fillyfriends and challenged me to a duel. In the end, he lost and those other two were captured. And, since I spared his life, he now belongs to me... but, instead of keeping him as a servant, I'm returning him back to you as a sign of peace on behalf of Equestria."

With a motion from Twilight, the guards unshackled the three teen dragons and allowed for them to slowly and cautiously approach Inferno.

"You should also know, Inferno," Dark spoke up, "that your son, Garble, was well within my rights as Lord of Death to claim his life."

Inferno's eyes locked onto Dark with heated anger as he continued.

"You owe us, Inferno. Not just me for not claiming Garble, but for Spike as well, by him choosing to return him to you."

Inferno directed his heated gaze from Dark to Garble and the two flaking him as they approached and stopped at the foot of the dais leading up to his throne. Crawling off of his throne, Inferno walked down the small ramp and stood towering over them. Taking a moment, he saw that while the two others were just fine, Garble was a mess. Seeing his missing wing and arm, and the pitiful look in his eyes, Inferno leaned down low enough to where his muzzle was just inches away from Garble and the two others.

And ate them.

Shocked and disgusted by what they witnessed, Twilight and Spike turned away to not look, while Dark's eyes began to glow red with rage, watching as Inferno chewed and devoured his only son and two companions.

"WHAT THE HAY?!" Dark roared, watching the lump in his throat moving as Inferno swallowed the chewed remains. "What kind of a sick parent are you?!"

"He was no son of mine," Inferno snorted. "What you brought me was a broken and defeated teenage dragon, nothing more."

"And those two spies got captured," Razor Claw added. "As punishment for their failure, they both would've been sentenced to death anyway."

"Even if Garble was hurt like that, he was still your son! Your child!"

"Don't you dare speak to me about what it means to be a parent when you yourself have no offspring to claim!"

"That's enough!" Twilight declared, stomping her hoof and cracking the stone beneath her. "Look, we're here to talk about your actions of building an army, and to negotiate to try and avoid war."

"And why would any of us want to do that?"

Dark felt a chill run up his spine upon hearing that voice again. Slowly turning his head around, he watched as Light casually made his way across the room from the door, and past them towards the base of the dais. As Dark watched his brother walking past them, he noticed him wearing a white trench coat, and a Neighpanese katana in a light-blue sheath, tied to his belt.

Tearing his eyes away from the sword, Dark locked his hurt-filled eyes on Light as he finally made his way up beside Inferno's throne.

"I can't believe you, Light," Dark said, his voice filled with sorrow, disappointment, and anger. "Trying to kill me is one thing, but to go on ahead and join Inferno like this?"

"This is your own fault, brother," Light spat. "If you would've just died to those timberwolves like you should have, then none of this would've happened."

"Speaking of things that should have happened, why didn't you go get help for Stonewall Village like you were supposed to?"

"I don't need to answer that to you. Besides, everypony is dead, leaving us as the last of our bloodli-"

Light furrowed his brow as he glared at not Dark, but Twilight. Or, more specifically, the ring on her horn. Spotting it, Light's eyes widened slightly as he turned back to Dark.

"Wow, Dark... just wow."

"What is it now?" Dark asked with a small edge to his voice.

"I'm actually surprised of you."

"What? What is it?" Gunter asked.

"Don't you see it?" Light snarked, pointing a hoof at Twilight. "It would appear that our dear Princess Twilight is engaged to Dark."

Twilight's eyes widened as she looked up at the ring on her horn that she'd forgotten to remove.

Uh-oh, she thought before thinking up of an excuse. "I'm sorry, but you're mistaken. You see-"

"Save it, Princess," Light interrupted. "You can't deny nor hide your engagement to my brother. After all, the design of that engagement ring of yours is specific to our old village, and our village alone."

Crap, this isn't good! Dark though in slight panic for having been found out.

"Also, does anyone else notice that the Princess appears to have put on a bit of extra weight?"

"Shut up, Light!" Dark shouted.

"Last I saw her, she didn't have nearly that much weight, nor could she have put on so much in such a short amount of time. And I doubt that she's pregnant, seeing as how I killed Aurora last year."

While Dark didn't answer, the flash of fear in his eyes was enough for Light to notice. That, and the fact that Dark was not standing protectively in front of Twilight with bared fangs.

"... wait... no... Are you serious?!"

All eyes were now on Twilight as her eyes darted around at the surrounding dragons.

"What is it now?" Razor Claw huffed, glancing down to see Light gritting his teeth.

"That's impossible! I was there! I killed Aurora! There's no possible way for that mare to be carrying a foal!"

Good. So he doesn't know about Aurora being able to be reborn, Dark thought with a hint of satisfaction.

"Light," Inferno spoke, "are you telling us that Princess Twilight is actually pregnant?"

Light was snarling at this point. "I don't know how it's possible, but yes. And if I had to guess, judging by the fact that she's wearing Dark's engagement ring, the foal is his."

Inferno abruptly stood up from his throne and snapped his claws, causing each of the dragon guards to grip their spears tighter.

"I cannot allow for the spawn of Dark to live, whether it's carried by a Princess of Equestria or not."

"I'd be very careful if I were you right now, Inferno," Dark growled threateningly, shadows flowing off of him and across the floor around him, Twilight, Spike, and their guards.

"Give me one good reason why I should?"

"Because I am Death Incarnate, and you don't want to be threatening my fiancé or daughter."

Inferno raised an eye before giving a flaming snort.

"Your threats are meaningless to me."

"King Inferno, don't do it!" the council members pleaded, only to be ignored by Inferno as he turned to his right.

"General Razor Claw, if you would?"

"With pleasure," Razor Claw replied with a wicked grin. "Guards! Kill them all!"

Twilight's head darted around as each of the dragon guards roared and pointed their spears at them. However, before any of them took their first step towards them, Twilight, Spike, and their guards watched as two of them suddenly collapsed to the stone floor. While they were curious as to what happened, the royal guards pushed that thought off as they surrounded Twilight, Dark, and Spike, allowing for the unicorns to shield them with a barrier, just as several others collapsed.

"What's the meaning of this?!" Razor Claw boomed. "Get up you lazy lizards!"

"They no longer answer to you."

Turning heated gaze, Razor Claw began to glare at Dark, only for his anger to diminish upon making contact with Dark's glowing red ones.

"What did you do?" Razor Claw growled.

Smirking, Dark glanced off back behind him at the last of the dragon guards. A second later, that dragon too collapsed into a heap on the floor.

"Whenever anyone thinks of their own shadows, they immediately think to the one that their body casts on the ground." Dark raised a shadow-covered claw and idly examined it. "What they don't bother to think of is the other kind of shadow that they unknowingly create."

"What are you talking about? What other kind of shaaAAAAAAAHHHHHH!!!"

Screaming in agony, Razor Claw suddenly found himself writhing in pain on his back while holding his arms around his stomach. A few seconds of screaming later, he suddenly found blood beginning to leak from the corners of his mouth. Straining against the pain, Razor Claw directed his eyes to the side to see Dark with one of his shadow-covered claws raised.

"You've felt the shadows that I'm talking about, General," Dark lowly spoke. "What I just used were the shadows within your own body."

"That's impossible!" Gunter shouted. "There's no shadow within our own body."

"Hmph. Says the stallion who claimed to be the brightest stick in the woods back in Stonewall Village."

"You know I'm right about that!"

Brightest stick in the- that doesn't even make any sense! Twilight mentally screamed, finding no logic in that.

"Fur, scales, skin, muscles, bones; these are a few of the things that cast a shadow within our bodies. Going further, our intestines, bladder, kidneys, liver, the stomach, which Razor Claw just bore witness to, lungs, and the windpipe, are all shaded from the light, filling them with a shade of darkness. Even..."

Dark turned his eyes back to Razor Claw and rotated his claw until it looked like he was holding something in it.

"... the heart."

Dark kept his eyes on Razor Claw as he clenched his fist. Immediately as he did, Razor Claw's cries of pain were silenced as he laid lifelessly on the ground.

"It may not be Nocturne's death magic," Dark began, taking notice of the fear in Inferno's and Gunter's eyes with a hint of joy, "but it's still rather fitting for a Lord of Death, wouldn't you agree?"

At this point, Inferno was shaking from rage of Dark killing Razor Claw, and in fear for the revelation of his power over shadows.

"Kill him!"

Light gave an annoyed sigh. "Do I have to do everything myself?" he grumbled.

A second later, Light spread his wings and used his speed to dart to Dark. Closing in, he began to draw his sword with his right hoof, revealing the blade as it glowed with light. Once close enough, Light swung his sword in an overhead arc, but his strike was stopped when a large two-hoofed sword suddenly formed in Dark's claw and blocked him. While initially surprised by the sudden appearance of the strange fleshy weapon, Light quickly recovered and pushed back before he would take another swing at Dark. But before he could, he was taken by surprise again by the power behind Dark's sword as he was pushed back before being knocked away.

"Leave this matter be, Light," Dark warned him. "I don't want to have to fight you."

"Well that's too bad, because I want to fight you." Light held out his sword for all to see. "Do you recognize this, Dark? It's the sword that you made for me before I left Stonewall. Thanks to Inferno's blacksmiths, and with a few barrels of Aurora's holy water that I'd hidden away after killing her-"

"Supposedly."

"-they were able to create for me this holy water-infused katana, making it a holy sword."

That would explain why the damned thing hurt when we crossed, Nocturne finally spoke in Dark's head.

You mean about how it's a holy weapon? Dark mentally asked back.

Yes, but as a sword, I'll be alright. As the Lord of Death, however, that weapon is lethal to you, even if it's not made of Draconium.

Dark kept his eyes on Light while he took a few steps back and leaned over to Twilight.

"Get everypony back to the airship and get out of here," he whispered to her.

"But what about you?" she whispered back.

"I'll stay here for a little longer to make sure that Light and Inferno don't follow you guys out. Now go, and be careful."

Though not liking leaving him alone like this, Twilight listened to Dark as she led Spike and their guards back to the airship in a gallop. As they ran, Twilight conjured up a quill and parchment before she looked over to Spike and floated them to him.

"Spike, I need you to send Princess Celestia an urgent letter telling her that the negotiations have fallen through, and that we're in trouble."

"A bit of an understatement there on both of those parts, but I got it, Twilight," Spike replied, using his magic to write the letter before rolling it up and sending it off. "Alright, it's sent."

"Thank you, Spike."

"No pro- incoming!"

Looking back ahead of them, Twilight saw that the hall was blocked by a half-dozen guards who were coming straight for them. Feeling like she'd have to fight this, Twilight just started to light up her horn when her shadow beneath her erupted, and with it, the Shadow Wraiths that were hiding within. Even though Dark had told her and Spike about this, neither of them were ready for when it happened.

Continuing their run to safety, the Shadow Wraiths from Twilight's shadow charged at the incoming dragon guards before Spike's shadow erupted, allowing for the Shadow Wraiths hidden within to join the others. With the sixty Shadow Wraiths, they swarmed the six dragon guards and began slicing away at them with their shadowy blades. As they distracted the guards, Twilight and the others were able to safely and quickly make their way past them.

Passing them by, Twilight led Spike and the royal guards around the corner and down another hallway. Moments later, she looked around as she saw that the Shadow Wraiths had caught up to them, and were now floating alongside and above them. Several minutes and another six dead dragon guards later, they finally reached the platform where their airship was docked, and thankfully unharmed.

"Princess, is something wrong?" one of the royal guards guarding the airship asked, seeing them running at them.

"We're leaving, now!" Twilight shouted.

"But what about the meeting with-"

"Inferno's sent his guards to kill us! We need to leave before they catch up to us!"

"At once, Your Highness, but what about those things?"

Twilight looked at the Shadow Wraiths floating around them. "You can thank Dark for them. They're sort of a backup plan incase things started to become dangerous for us. And before you ask about Dark, he told us to run and said that he'll catch up to us later."

The guard saluted. "Understood, Princess."

With a nod, Twilight, Spike, and the royal guards who'd followed them boarded the airship, while Twilight ordered the Shadow Wraiths to floated around the airship and protect it as they traveled. With everyone onboard, the pegasi crewmen untied the ropes holding them down to the stalagmites and began to fly away. As they pulled away and flew over Vulcan, Twilight's eyes went back to the cave entrance that they'd come from, waiting for Dark to come through them.

Dark found himself struggling with having to fight Light. While he was easily stronger physically and magically than Light, his heart just wasn't in it, having to fight his brother and only blood relative like this. It didn't help much either that while Dark did have him beaten in those categories, Light was considerably faster than Dark as he managed to get some sword hits on him, but was proven ineffective as his katana's blade glided harmlessly against the chainmail.

As their fighting progressed, Dark would try to take a moment and target Inferno's internal shadows to crush his heart like he did with Razor Claw. However, before he could get a grasp on them, Light would attack him, making Dark lose his focus and interrupting him. Thanks to Light's constant interruption, Inferno managed to escape the throne room and send in another dozen of his guards to kill Dark. The Dragon Council also escaped, but that was more because Dark told them to, seeing as how they didn't agree with Inferno and were the reason for Rin coming to them for help in the first place.

Growing tired of this, Dark leaped back away from Light and snapped his claw, causing the thirty Shadow Wraiths hidden within his shadow to fly out and attack the dragons. With them occupied by his wraiths, Dark continued fighting off Light to try and buy Twilight and the others more time to get away. However, as he fought Light, he noticed that while his Shadow Wraiths were winning, more dragons were charging in from down the hallway.

Inferno must've sent them to try and kill me, Dark thought before scowling. And if he's sent them, then he's probably sent some after Twilight and the others as well.

Growling, Dark casted his Shadow Claw on his free claw and waited for Light's next attack. When he swung, Dark grabbed the blade with his claw, gave it a hard yank, and tossed it off to the side with Light still holding onto it. Now having a few seconds before Light would catch himself in mid-air with his wings, Dark's body erupted with shadows, bathing the entire room in darkness.

Not knowing what was going on, Light spread his wings in mid-air and began pushing the darkness back with the light emanating from them. It was difficult for Light as he never had to deal with this kind of darkness before. But once he pushed the darkness back far enough, he saw that Dark was holding his level to the ground with both claws in a striking stance. The next thing that Light noticed was that the blade of Dark's sword was glowing black with power.

His sword charged up enough, Dark swung his Death Reaver in a horizontal slash that launched out a black wave of death magic similar to the one that he used against Sombra's undead army. As the wave of death magic flew out, it sliced cleanly through each dragon before continuing down the hallway that the incoming dragons were in. Shrouding his lower-half into shadows, Dark glided to the entrance to the throne room before using his magic to block the doorway off with a wall of fire, trapping Light inside and unable to follow after them.

Satisfied with no longer having to worry about fighting Light at the moment, Dark turned around and continued down the hallway with his Shadow Wraiths following closely behind him. As they flew, Dark watched as the bodies of those unfortunate enough to have been sliced by his attack start to dissolve into black mist. Snorting, Dark continued forward without looking back before he turned the corner and came upon another group of dragons. Rolling his eyes, Dark charged his sword and launched another wave of death magic at them. Not bothering waiting, Dark flew in right behind his attack, using it as a shield as it cut through the dragons until it finally dissipated at the exit of the volcano.

Flying out, Dark landed on the platform and looked up to the sky. Spotting the speck in the distance, Dark breathed a sigh of relief, seeing that Twilight and the others had made it out in the airship without being followed. However, just as he started to feel relaxed, the ground trembled and the air around him blew hard to the point where it stun his eyes, and the dust prevented him from seeing. Reaching into his Shadow Storage, Dark reached in and grabbed his eyeband before putting it on. His eyes now safe, Dark casted his Second Sight to see past the dust, only to see himself suddenly being surrounded by several dozen of dragons on ground and air, and a the few hundred salamanders that the dragons and brought with them and dropped off on the platform. Darting his eyes around, Dark waited for any of them to make a move to attack, while his Shadow Wraiths hovered around him, ready to charge at a moment's notice. Several seconds of waiting later, one of the dragon guards stepped forward.

"Surrender now and your death will be swift," she told Dark.

While most would be nervous or frightened in this position, Dark instead found himself chuckling in amusement of the dragonesses' threat. As the seconds passed, that chuckling gradually escalated into full-blown laughter that irritated the dragons watching.

"What's so funny?!" another dragon demanded.

"You're hopelessly outnumbered!"

"This is the end for you! We will not let you leave this place alive!"

"This is where we will stop you!"

Dark's laughing died down and was now grinning sinisterly at them. Using the shadows seeping from his wings, Dark used them to encompass and rotate around his body until he was consumed in a sphere of darkness, prevent anything from the outside to see what was happening within. After several long seconds had passed, the sphere erupted outward, revealing Dark in a state that immediately caught the attention of each and every dragon around him.

During his time shrouded, Dark had switched out his Coliseum armor, and replaced it with another. While he still wore a black waist cape, the rest of his armor was completely different. In place of the chainmail jacket and pants, Dark now wore black plate armor. From the plated boots on his hooves, to the gauntlets on his claws, and his dragon skull-shaped pauldrons on his shoulders with enchanted eye sockets that gave the illusion that they were on fire, every part of his body was covered in plated armor. This also included his tail, which included three rows of curved blades traveling up the sides and top of his tail, the top of which continued up the spine of his back and ending at the base of his neck where a black hood completely hid Dark's face. His wings, while not covered in plated armor, was covered in a special mesh that would still strong enough to protect his wings.

With him wearing his Coliseum Champion armor, his red eyes glowing from beneath his hood, and his lower half becoming shrouded in shadows again, Dark floated up off the ground and summoned his Death Reaper scythe in his left claw. Now armed with both of his Living Weapons, and floating at the dragons' eye-level, Dark began channeling his death magic into his scythe and sword.

"No one can stop death."

Chapter 84- Escape from the Dragon Kingdom

Celestia paced around uneasily in the middle of the throne room as she talked to Luna and Rin standing near her. Having the throne room all to themselves, they were discussing the possible reasons for why they haven't received any word from Twilight yet about their peace meeting with Inferno. Granted that they did receive one yesterday to inform them that the meeting was being pushed back due to Inferno not being ready, but it didn't do much to ease them. Of course, Celestia also had to read the letter over when she saw the rather sloppy writing, recognizing it as an old habit of Twilight's for when she would sometimes walk and write while irritated.

"How much longer do you think we shall need to wait?" Luna wondered. "I mean, it won't be much longer before you'll have to lower the sun, Tia, and for me to raise the moon."

"I don't know how much longer, Luna," Celestia replied, "but I'm starting to regret having sent Twilight like this."

"Lord Dark is there, so I'm sure she'll be alright," Rin assured her. "After all, he is the Lord of Death, and nothing in their right mind would deliberately provoke him."

"Didn't that exact thing happen last time, though?"

"We didn't know what Dark was at the time. Now that we do, I'm hoping that King Inferno see reason, even if he is somehow being controlled."

"Regardless," Celestia began, trying her best to hide her nervousness, "I still find this lack of update to be worrisome."

"You know that I'm concerned as well, sister," Luna said supportively, "but I trust in those three to see this through. And while we know that Dark has a rather bad history with them, we also know that Twilight will be able to rein him in before he does anything stupid."

"True, but I'm not so sure that she'll be able to if she's threatened. We've heard of how protective Dark can get."

"Yes, but can you blame him? After all, he lost his family because of Inferno, so of course he'll do whatever he can to save his future one."

"I'm still having a hard time believing that," Rin voiced. "I mean, never before has any of the Scaleless Dragons had any offspring of their own. To think that Dark would be the first among them to do so... I'll need to research this."

Luna gave him a wary look. "I'm not so sure that either Twilight or Dark would appreciate you poking around at her like that. And aren't you supposed to be a Council Elder?"

"You forget that I'm also a mage as well. Besides, can't an old drake have a hobby or two?"

"Just as long as you have their consent," Celestia sighed.

"Of course, Princess. Even if Lord Dark and I seem to be on good terms right now, I still wouldn't want to cross any of the Scaleless Dragons, least of all Death Incarnate."

"And yet there are plenty who would still confront him and want him dead," Luna pointed out. "The most important and concerning of which being his younger brother."

Rin gave a sad sigh. "Such a shame that is. I've met him a few times in passing back in Vulcan, and each time I did, he had this... aura about him. I don't know what it was exactly, but it made me uneasy just being near him."

"Which does nothing good for us since he's joined King Inferno."

"If what Dark thought is true, though," Celestia added, "then it's more like that King Inferno joined Light instead of-"

Celestia was interrupted when a familiar green wisp flew in front of her. Recognizing it as a letter sent by Spike, Celestia let out a breath of relief as the wisp was turned into a scroll. Taking it into her magic, Celestia smiled before she began to read it. However, when she did, her smile vanished in exchange for a look of fear and worry.

"Tia, what's happened?" Luna cautiously asked, rarely seeing her looking like this.

"I've made a terrible mistake," Celestia fearfully said.

"What's going on, Princess?" Rin asked, now becoming uneasy about this.

"The negotiations have failed."

"How badly?" Luna questioned.

"Bad, Luna. Very, very bad. King Inferno shot down Twilight's proposal of peace and tried to have them all killed in the middle his throne room."

"Did they all make it out?"

"Yes. According to this, Twilight, Spike, and the royal guards we sent with them, are currently making their way to the airship."

"What of Lord Dark?" Rin asked. "What's become of him?"

"Dark stayed behind to buy them time to escape. However, as it turns out, Dark brought some of his own guards which are escorting Twilight, Spike, and our guards."

"This is really it then," Luna said disheartenedly. "We are truly at war with the Dragon Kingdom now."

"It would appear so, Luna."

"I am terribly sorry about this, Your Highnesses," Rin apologized with a bow. "I never expected King Inferno to take such actions. Even when he started gathering his forces, I didn't think that he would actually do it without the council's approval."

"It's not your fault, Rin," Celestia sighed. "You and your Dragon Council tried to do what you could to stop him without resorting to violence."

There was a moment of silence as they let the news of what happened settle in.

"So," Rin spoke up, "what now?"

Celestia shook off her fears with a determined and stern look. "Now, I must make for the Dragon Kingdom and get Twilight and the others out of there."

"But it'll take too long for you to get there! You'll never make it in time if you fly, or even if you teleported!" Luna objected.

"Not like this I can't," Celestia said before facing her sister. "Luna, I'm sorry to ask this of you, but would you be willing to lend me some of your power?"

"Why?"

"With enough power, I can teleport myself straight into the Dragon Kingdom and get them out of there. However, to do that, I'll need a bit of your magic to do it."

"Very well then," Luna nodded, not hesitating as she lit her horn and moved around the table to cross her horn with Celestia's.

"Thank you, Luna."

"I will give you some of mine too," Rin said, holding up a claw with a whirling orb of gathered magic in it.

"Are you sure?" Celestia wondered as she finished receiving Luna's magic and shivering with the additional magical energy.

"I am. I was hoping to preserve the peace between our two nations, but now that's failed. The least that I can do at this point is to help you retrieve those three before King Inferno manages to get his claws on them."

"If he hasn't done so already," Luna grimaced. "Who knows how much time has passed since Spike sent that letter to us, or what's happened since then."

Nodding in agreement, Rin pushed the orb of collected magic towards Celestia. Once it was close enough, Celestia lit her horn and tapped it against it, causing it to be slowly absorbed into her horn. Now having the collective powers of Luna and Rin, Celestia's horn was starting to crackle with magical energy.

"Thank you," Celestia thanked them. "With this much magic, I should have enough power to teleport directly to the Dragon Kingdom's capital of Vulcan, and back with everypony, including the airship they left in."

"Just be sure to not use too much of it at once," Luna told her. "It would be bad if you magically burned yourself out and were to fall asleep for another full week like last time."

"Yes, Luna, I remember."

"Good, because you'll need to return to make a statement about this new war with the Dragon Kingdom."

"That, or you could do that instead if you wanted to."

"I could, but I think that the ponies would be more comfortable if you were to do it, seeing as how they trust you more than I."

"Sorry to interrupt," Rin spoke, "but I believe that you have some ponies to save?"

Celestia blinked. "He's right. We'll talk about this later. Until then, Luna, you'll have to take over while I'm gone. I'll send you a letter through either Spike or myself with an update and further instructions after I get there."

"Very well. Take care, Tia, and be careful."

Letting it end there, Celestia lit her horn, and in a booming flash of light, she teleported off to Vulcan.

Dark chuckle as he decapitated yet another dragon with his Death Reaper scythe, before slicing through another with his Death Reaver sword. For the last thirty-five minutes, Dark had been on this rampage as he and his now seventeen Shadow Wraiths slaughtered everything that got close to them. Between the dragons, salamanders, and the flaming manticores that later came in to fight him, the carnage on the platform soon became so much that the ground wasn't visible anymore beyond the blood flooding over and off the sides of it. The dragons had figured that Dark would've dropped by now, but none of them knew of his stamina. That, and thanks to the fires sprouting from the flaming manticores' manes and tails, Dark used his Amplify to absorb them, severally weakening them while boosting his own power.

Losing another Shadow Wraith, Dark looked up and grinned as he noticed that with the position of the sun lowering behind the volcano, the platform was now mostly shrouded in shadows. Letting out a low and ominous laugh, Dark Shadow Melded into the shadow, causing the dragons and their minions to pause at him suddenly vanishing. As the dragons frantically looked around for him, Dark idly floated up through the shadows to the nearest dragon's neck, and dispelled his Shadow Meld just before he swung and lopped its head off.

The strike was fast, but just slow enough for the other dragons, salamanders, and flaming manticores, to see Dark cut the dragon's head off before disappearing again, this time with his Shadowport, over to another dragon and decapitating its head off too. Unsure of how to counter him, they all watched as Dark Shadowported between the dragons, salamanders, and flaming manticores, shouting "Die!" with each head he sliced by his sword and scythe.

As they watched helplessly as Dark beheaded them one by one, they started regretting not listening to those seven dragons yesterday when they said that Dark was declared to have defeated Nocturne and taken his place as Lord of Death. Now believing the dragons that they'd laughed at for spouting words of insanity, some of the dragons and flaming manticores started to turn around and flee. However, this act quickly caught Dark's attention and caused him to snarl in disappointment.

"Where do you think you're going?!" he shouted at them.

Drawing his sword back, Dark swung it towards one of the fleeing dragons and launched a blade of darkness out of it. While it was just the size of his sword's blade instead of a massive wave, in exchange for the size difference, it traveled much faster, reaching the fleeing dragon and slicing its wing off before the shadows crept up the rest of the dragon and dissolved it into black mist. Snorting at the dissolving dragon, Dark swung his scythe, launching a curved blade of death magic from it before repeating the process, switching between the two weapons.

"No! You don't get to run away!" Dark barked furiously. "You guys started this whole thing with me, so you better damn well stay and finish it!"

It got to a point where Dark's movements almost made it look like he was dancing, each spin firing another blade of death magic as he spun around. As Dark continued to enjoy this "Dance of Death", he didn't notice one of the dragons diving at him from directly above him. After another swing of his scythe, Dark was about to follow it up with another swing of his sword, but quickly found a draconic mouth stretching around him before it gobbled him up and swallowed him whole in one gulp.

All eyes were now on the dragoness who'd swallowed Dark. Almost instantly, they were roaring in victory for her killing him and started to land on the platform around her. However, after a few seconds had rolled by, the dragoness suddenly clutched her throat and started to violently cough. Staring at her in confusion, they all suddenly saw what was causing her such discomfort when two blades suddenly protruded from her neck and spun around, slicing off her head and the upper-half of her neck to reveal a panting and enraged Dark, covered in dragon saliva and blood.

Infuriated for them trying to eat him, Dark roared loud enough in Nocturne's voice that it caused the nearby dragons to cover their ears at the volume of it. It didn't help them either that Dark's roar was reverberated off of the wall of volcanoes. Launching himself up off of the collapsing corpse, Dark flew up high above the dragons and took in a deep breath. Having gathered enough air in his lungs, Dark glided around as he began breathing shadows down onto the dragons from above. As he continued to do so, he watched as the entire platform was covered in his lethal shadow breath before hearing the pained roars of the dragons caught within it.

Ceasing his shadow-breathing, Dark hovered in place high above the platform before the shadows he'd breathed seeped off the sides of the platform and dissipated, revealing the floor littered with skeletons of dragons, salamanders, and what few flaming manticores remained. With the platform now clear, Dark landed down on top of the pile of bones and turned to towards the cave at the sound of roaring. Moments later, the roaring ceased, and after that, Dark watched as six of his Shadow Wraiths returned from within, having figured that they took cover inside when he went started to go crazy with his scythe and sword, and ended up covering the cave in the meantime.

Taking a moment to scan his surroundings, Dark noticed that no more dragons, flaming manticores, or salamanders, were coming after him. Dispelling his Amplify, Dark planted his sword into the skull he stood on, helping to hold himself upright as he panted heavily from suddenly feeling tired from the backlash of having used his Amplify for such a long period of time. With nothing coming for him, and having his remaining Shadow Wraiths floating around him in a circle, Dark took this moment to take a breather.

"Well.. that was fun," he panted out loud, his voice and eyes returning to normal.

Getting his breathing under control, Dark snorted before he turned his head to the side and spit out a hunk of spit. Starting to feel better, Dark removed his Death Reaver from the dragon skull and was about to leave when he saw a bright flash of light behind him. Believing it to be Light using his wings, Dark spun around with his weapons ready to attack. But, instead of seeing Light like he predicted, in his place was Celestia, who stood slack-jawed as she saw the large pile of dragon, salamander, and flaming manticore skeletons. As she continued to take in the sight before her, her eyes eventually went down to the blood flooding the entirety of the platform, and then up to Dark standing on top of them all. With the scene before her, if it weren't for her seeing his armor in production, and for the sword in his right claw, Celestia wouldn't had recognized him.

"What in the...?" Celestia tried to speak, but was finding words hard to form at the moment.

Relieved and confused for Celestia showing up, Dark leaped off of the pile of bones and landed on his hooves several meters in front of her. Standing in front of her, Dark pulled his hood back, revealing his face before returning his eyeband back to storage and dispelling his Second Sight spell. Reversing the hold on his sword, Dark plunged it into the ground before dropping to kneel before her, ignoring the blood that was starting to cling to his armor, weapons, and waist cape.

"Princess Celestia, this is a surprise," Dark said with his head bowed.

"I believe that I should be the one who should be surprised here, Dark," Celestia returned before her eyes fell onto Dark again. "You don't need to bow Dark. Now, what happened here?"

"To start things off, Inferno ate Garble and the two other teen dragons who we brought back," he began answering, hearing Celestia give a small gasp before he stood up on his hooves and looked up at her as he continued. "He then had Razor Claw give the order to have us all killed. Since then, I've been here, covering for Twilight and the others as they escaped on the airship. I managed to get Razor Claw while I was at it, and I would've gotten Inferno too, but Light was there with them and interrupted me before I could finish Inferno off."

"I see," Celestia sadly sighed. "I'm sorry that things didn't go like we'd hoped that it would."

Dark's gaze fell as he frowned in disappointment. "Forgive me, Princess, but I think that it should be me who should be apologizing. After all, you, Princess Luna, and Rin all trusted us to smooth things out with Inferno. But instead, we ended up failing and plunging Equestria into war with the Dragon Kingdom."

"Tell me, who attacked first?"

"They did, Your Highness. Like I said, it started when Razor Claw ordered his guards in the throne room to kill us. Of course, needless to say that they didn't get very far, if anywhere at all."

Celestia shook her head. "Then you have nothing to apologize for, Dark. If what you say is true, and trust me when I say that I believe you, then it is King Inferno who's to blame for us being at war now." She took a moment to look over behind Dark and grimace. "Although, by the looks of things here, I'd say that he won't be mounting any kind of attack for a little while yet."

"Maybe," Dark mused out loud, earning him a look from Celestia. "I don't think that he's lost that many dragons. And even though I killed a lot of those salamanders, I doubt that it was enough to put that much of a dent in what we saw when we first flew into this place."

Celestia glanced around briefly before she gave a nod. "Either way, you've done more than enough here. Now, we better catch up to Twilight and the others before anymore of them show up."

"Yes, Princess."

"Also, before we leave," she began, looking over Dark. "You should probably do something about your armor. I doubt that Twilight would appreciate seeing you in such a state as to be covered in blood like that, even if it's hard to see."

Nodding in agreement, Dark shrouded himself in shadows before sending his armor back into his Shadow Storage. With it gone, he saw Celestia nod approvingly before she took off after the airship. Hesitating for a moment, Dark recalled his remaining Shadow Wraiths back into his shadow before following right behind Celestia. Looking back, he kept his eyes out for any sign of anything following them. Once he and Celestia few above and past the chain of volcanoes, Dark absorbed his Death Reaver and Death Reaper back into his body, seeing no reason to have them out anymore as they made their way towards the direction he saw the airship flying towards.

Back in Inferno's lair, Light watched Dark and Celestia fly away from another cave with Inferno looming over him.

"You better be right about this, Light," Inferno warned. "I'm taking a great risk in letting him go like that."

"At the rate he was going, you probably wouldn't have that much of an army left, and Equestria would've rolled over what remaining forces you had," Light countered, keeping his eyes on Dark until he and Celestia were out of sight. "We were unprepared for this. His power is far greater than what we thought it was."

"This plan of yours is falling apart. If Dark was able to do this much damage alone, then what do you think would happen if he had the armies of Equestria and the Crystal Empire to back him up?!"

"He won't."

Inferno looked at Light with a mixture of curiosity and anger. "Explain."

"Now that we've seen what Dark can do, we, or rather, I, can plan around it."

Light began walking out of the cave and onto the platform.

"And where do you think that you're going?!" Inferno heatedly barked.

"I need to return to where I stashed Aurora's remaining barrels of holy water. If my plan for Dark is to work, then I'll need them all, along with some of her old spellbooks."

Light paused and turned around to face Inferno with a wicked grin.

"Be patient with this, Inferno. When this is all over with, Dark will be out of the way, and Equestria will be free for you to safely attack."

Not all was peaceful on the airship. While they did manage to get away from Vulcan, there was still a group of dragons that followed them while Dark was distracted. After fifteen minutes of flying away from Vulcan, Twilight, who kept her eyes on the horizon for Dark, spotted a group of ten dragons chasing them down. With them approaching, Twilight called out a warning and started to snipe at them with her magic. Soon after she began, she found herself joined by the royal unicorn guards, and Spike. However, while most of their attacks connected, the distance between them and their targets caused the beams of magic to lose their power, resulting in the dragons flinching from the collective attacks, but nothing more.

This didn't prevent them from stopping, though. But as the dragons drew closer, Spike started to have enough. Even though he didn't want to do this, he didn't want to see Twilight or the other ponies getting hurt either. That, and he also started to think of how the Crusaders would react if the dragons were to catch up to them and captured them. Growling, Spike fell to all fours and opened his jaw. Seeing the energy starting to gather in his maw, Twilight shouted for the others to stand clear behind Spike. A few moments later, Spike fired a Flare off at the incoming dragons, piercing one through the chest and blasting the wing off of another behind it.

With one dragon dead and the other plummeting out of the sky, Spike took a few steps back and took a breather while the others resumed their bombardment. Once they saw that the dragons were close enough that they started to fire fireballs at the airship, Twilight switched to shielding the back end of the airship with a barrier, while the unicorn guards continued their attack. Of course, by this time, the dragons were close enough that the Shadow Wraths that were flying alongside the airship, turned around and charged the oncoming dragons.

While the unicorns provided cover, the Shadow Wraiths were able to get in close to swarm the dragons. With the dragons outnumbered like they were, while being distracted by the magical blasts to the face from the unicorns firing at them, they weren't able to do too much to defend themselves. Sure they were able to get twelve of them with their combined fire breath, but the rest of the Shadow Wraiths had either cut into their soft underside with their shadowy blades, or sliced through the membrane of their wings, causing them to fall hundreds of feet to the earth below and crash in a broken heap.

The last of the dragons falling, everyone cheered while the remaining Shadow Wraiths returned to their positions guarding the airship. Wincing from the discomfort of having shielded the back portion of the airship, Twilight fell to her rump and began massaging her forehead to try dulling the pain. Moments later, she saw a shadow nearing her and looked up to see Spike with a concerned look on his face.

"Hey, you doing alright?" he asked.

"Thanks, Spike, I'm fine," Twilight replied. "I just overdid it a little bit was all."

Spike frowned. "That's not good, Twilight. You can't just cast those kinds of spells like that. You heard what the doctor told you about using magic like that at this stage of your pregnancy."

"I know, but how else was I supposed to keep the airship safe?"

"Have some of the guards to it?" he huffed in slight annoyance.

Knowing that he was right, Twilight gave a silent nod in agreement. Glad to see her agreeing with him, Spike leaned down and helped Twilight up.

"Alright, let's get you back to bed. After that, I'll go see if we've got some medicine for your headache."

"Thanks, but I'd rather not take any medicine, for the baby's sake. If it's alright, I'll just try to sleep it off."

"Sure. In that case, I'll go tell the guards and crew that you'll be unavailable after we get you to bed."

"Thank you, Spike."

Smiling, Spike helped Twilight down below deck and back into her room to rest. Once she was tucked into bed with a cup of water on the nightstand, Spike returned back on deck. Sighing, he walked over to the railing on the back of the ship and leaned on it as he looked behind them for any sign of Dark. After almost twenty minutes of waiting and watching, Spike finally saw something flying towards them. Noticing that it wasn't the size of a dragon, nor did it even look like one, Spike kept his eyes on it until he could make out the familiar white coat and ethereal pink, green, blue, and purple mane and tail.

Princess Celestia? But what's she doing here? Spike wondered.

Waiting to say anything, Spike continued to watch as Celestia's form got closer. As she did, he noticed that she was carrying an orange blob on her back. Once she was close enough, Spike was able to see that it was Dark who was on her back, clinging to her as he appeared to be asleep. Even more curious as to what happened, Spike waited until Celestia landed beside him.

"Hello, Princess," Spike greeted her.

"Hello, Spike," Celestia returned, taking a moment to look around the airship. "Looks like you all managed to make it away safely."

"Just about. We had some of those dragons chasing after us."

"Yes, I saw them scattered across the ground on the way here."

Spike sighed and leaned on the railing. "Yeah. It was a good thing that Dark had those Shadow Wraiths guarding us. Those dragons were starting to get too close, so Twilight had to start shielding us from their fireballs."

"Speaking of Twilight, where is she?"

"She got a bit of a headache after she dispelled the barrier, so she's resting now down in her and Dark's room." Spike tilted to the side to see Dark slumped over Celestia's back. "Speaking of Dark now, what's up with him?"

Celestia looked back to Dark asleep on her back with an amused smirk. "While Dark was covering everypony's escape, he used his Amplify to help keep them at bay. He was rather tired and filthy when I arrived, so about half-way getting here, we took a quick break by a small river so that he could wash off the blood and dirt on him. The cool water woke him up and bought him some time, but his exhaustion was quick to catch up to him."

She chuckled at the thought.

"When I noticed this, I decided that I would carry him for the rest of the trip. It was a good thing too, considering that he fell asleep just moments after I got him settled on my back."

"Huh. Well, guess we better get him to bed too then."

Turning back around, Spike began to lead Celestia down to Dark's and Twilight's bedroom.

"By the way," he began, looking back at Celestia following him, "how did you get here so fast? I thought that you were still in Canterlot?"

Celestia frowned. "I was, but when I received your letter, Luna and Rin gave me some of their magic so I could come and get you all out of here. However, now that I see that everypony is safe, I won't need to teleport everypony and the airship back to Canterlot. So in the meantime, I'll just stay here and return with all of you."

"Couldn't you have done that on your own?"

"Not without some help from the others."

"Okay, but another question, if it's alright with you that is."

"Of course, Spike. What is it?"

"Is it okay for you to not be in Canterlot right now? I mean, from what you just said, it sounded like you just suddenly and abruptly left Canterlot, and we probably won't be returning back until somewhere around tomorrow afternoon."

"True, but I already wrote to Luna on my way here, so she knows what's going on. She'll look after Equestria while I'm here with all of you."

Nodding in understanding, Spike walked over to the door where Dark and Twilight were staying in. Lifting a claw to his lips in silence, Spike quietly cracked the door open and conjured a small light in the palm of his claw, illuminating the room in a dim green light just bright enough for them to see. Spotting the bed off in the corner of the far side of the room, Spike stepped off to the side while providing Celestia with the required light.

Approaching the bedside, Celestia took a moment to look at Twilight's sleeping form, remembering a time when she was younger and would sing her to sleep. Smiling at those memories, Celestia took Dark in her magic and held him up as she pulled the covers back. Of course, after she laid Dark down in bed and pulled the covers up, her smile softened when she saw Twilight subconsciously roll over toward Dark and began snuggling against him. Not wanting to accidentally awaken them, Celestia quietly walked out of their room with Spike and closed the door behind them.

"Well, I suppose I should lower the sun," she sighed before making her way above deck.

"Alright, in that case, I think I'm gonna call it an early night," Spike said with a yawn. "All this excitement today's been rather tiring. That, and using the Flare has left me feeling a little drained."

"I understand, Spike. I think that I too shall retire early after I'm done here."

"Okay. Well, goodnight, Princess."

"Goodnight, Spike, and pleasant dreams."

It was mid-afternoon when the airship flew over Canterlot and began its descent towards the castle. Coming in to land, Dark, Twilight, Spike, and Celestia all watched from the side before they spotted Luna waiting for them, along with Shining, Aero, Fissure, and Rin. Waiting for the pegasi crewponies to tie the airship down to anchor it, they began filing down the ramp provided for them and smiled when they felt the grass beneath their hooves and claws. Seconds after they were on solid ground again, Celestia, Twilight, and Dark, found themselves hugged by Luna, Shining, and Aero respectively, while Fissure and Rin approached Spike.

"Are you alright, Twily?!" Shining frantically asked as he started looking over Twilight.

"I'm fine, Shining," Twilight smiled, earning a breath of relief from her brother.

"Thank Celestia."

"Thank Dark. It was because of him that we were all able to get away safely." Twilight nervously gulped. "If he wasn't there with us, we all would've been killed in the middle of King Inferno's throne room."

Nodding in understanding, Shining pulled away from Twilight and glanced over to Dark, who was being squeezed by Aero coiling herself around his body. Walking over to him with Twilight, Shining waited until Aero noticed them and released Dark from her hug.

"Ooouuuch. Did you have to hug me so tightly, Aero?" Dark groaned, popping his back.

"I was worried when we heard what happened in Vulcan," she defended.

"... alright, fair enough," he relented before seeing Shining standing in front of him. "Hey, Shining. What's-"

Dark found himself stunned when he suddenly found himself begin pulled into a hug by Shining. Confused, he looked over to Twilight for answers, only to get a smile from her.

"Uhhhhh... Shining? What's going on?" Dark asked, starting to feel uncomfortable.

Pulling away, Shining smiled at Dark and placed a hoof on his shoulder.

"Thank you."

"Huh? What for?"

"For looking after my sister," Shining thankfully answered. "If it weren't for you being there for her, Twilight would be..."

Understand what he was getting at, Dark smiled and placed a claw on Shining's shoulder.

"It's no problem," he softly said before giving a small smirk. "After all, it's my job to protect my family."

Shining chuckled and gave Dark a playful punch. "Yeah, I suppose it is. Also, I believe with that that you've just earn yourself a bachelor party up in the Crystal Empire."

Twilight walked up alongside Dark with a look of uncertainty. "Speaking of which..."

"Yes, Twilight?" Dark asked, noticing her hesitation.

"... as much as I don't want to suggest it... should we perhaps postpone the wedding?"

"Out of the question."

Hearing that objection, Dark, Twilight, and Shining looked over to see Celestia walking up to them with Luna and Aero following closely behind her.

"Excuse me, Princess Celestia," Twilight began, "but is this really a good time for such an event?"

"Quite the contrary, Twilight," Luna stated. "While we may now be at war with the Dragon Kingdom, a royal wedding would do well to lift the ponies' spirits. Besides, we've had one royal wedding during a time of unease, so it wouldn't be of much issue to have another, if any issue at all."

Hearing her opinion, Twilight looked at Dark. "What do you think? Personally I'd rather keep to the schedule we already have for it, instead of having to postpone it."

With a smile, Dark began nuzzling Twilight's cheek. "I have no problems with continuing on like we had planned. If anything, I'd prefer it."

Happy with his answer, Twilight flung her hooves around Dark as she hugged him tightly.

"Sounds like the wedding is still on then," Celestia smiled approvingly.

"But what about King Inferno?" Rin wondered. "I doubt that he'll wait long to retaliate after you escaped him."

"I wouldn't worry too much right now," Dark said before breaking his hug with Twilight. "Besides him possibly needing some time to recover his numbers and rally his forces' moral, I also managed to kill General Razor Claw, so he'll need time to select a new General to lead his armies."

And with Razor Claw dead, that means that my record is cleared, now having killed every dragon that's ever attacked Stonewall Village, he mentally added with a hint of pride and satisfaction.

Rin nodded in agreement. "If General Razor Claw is dead, then I'm sure that King Inferno will need time to select a replacement. With that alone, we should have about a month before he begins planning for something."

"In that case, we should start making plans of our own," Shining suggested.

"If we could remove Light's influence over King Inferno, then he should see reason and halt his attack," Luna mused.

Twilight sighed in disappointment. "It's too bad that we can't use the Elements of Harmony anymore. I'd bet that we could use them to free him from it."

"What about the Rainbow Power that you got to defeat Tirek?" Spike questioned.

"I don't know. We've never really had a need to try using it again. And besides," Twilight's hoof fell over her belly, "absorbing that much magic and transforming again could harm the baby."

"When you put it like that, the Elements would be the safer option, seeing as they themselves hold the power," Celestia spoke.

"But again, we returned the Elements back to the Tree of Harmony."

Fissure glanced over to Twilight. "The Tree of Harmony you say?"

"Yes. It's a tree that-"

"I know of the tree, Princess," he interrupted with a small grin. "Besides, who do you think created it?"

Twilight went slack-jaw and began staring at Fissure. "What?!"

"After creating the world, I needed something to help stabilize it. The Tree of Harmony was my first, and still my greatest, masterpiece."

Celestia slowly blinked. "You're serious."

"You actually created the Tree of Harmony?" Luna said in disbelief.

"Yes. Earth Incarnate and all that," Fissure replied with a wave of his claw.

It took her a moment, but Twilight managed to regain her senses. "While that's incredibly fascinating and all, that still doesn't help us."

"Yes, it does," Fissure argued. "When the time comes, you and the others retrieve the Elements of Harmony from the tree, and I will remain by its side and keep it alive until they're returned."

"This won't be easy without you, you know," Aero frowned.

"What won't?" Dark asked, getting a look from Aero and Fissure before Shining spoke up.

"It's about what we found," he began explaining. "As it turned out, each of the kirins that we searched had a black feather, exactly like the one Sombra and those gryphons had."

"Okay, but what does that have to do with what Aero was talking about?" Dark asked.

"The statue there had a name carved on it," she started to explain. "I remember Aurora telling me something about that specific name, but I can't remember what she said about it. When we got back, I went and asked her about it. But even with Pinkie Pie there to translate for us, we couldn't understand her. So, the only other way for us to get answers is to contact mother and father through an old ritual. But, thanks to Fissure, Aurora, and Nocturne being unable to help us like normal, it will take us almost an entire week without interruption to complete."

"Alright, but why can't you just do it now before Fissure has to go and keep the Tree of Harmony from dying?" Twilight questioned. "You may not have Aurora or Nocturne there, but at least he'll be of some help, right?"

"The materials required to perform the ritual are hard to acquire, even for us Scaleless Dragons. That alone will take us several weeks to collect, even if we start searching right now. And with those three being unable to be there for the ritual itself, we'll need more time to properly perform it, since contacting mother and father from where they're at is rather difficult."

"In that case, should we count on you to be there should King Inferno attack?" Luna asked.

Aero shrugged with a sigh. "That, I cannot answer. If we're in the middle of the ritual, then we won't be able to help. It's that delicate."

"Best to prepare without us," Fissure told them, much to their dismay.

"Very well then. We shall make preparations without you then," Celestia said before turning to Dark and Twilight. "But until then, we've got some other preparations to make, don't we?"

Chapter 85- Preparations and Arrivals

Author's Note

Okay, you guys should know the drill by now, but just incase, here's a reminder.

Human Twilight: Twi
Human Rainbow Dash: Dash
Human Applejack: AJ
Human Rarity: Rares
Human Pinkie Pie: Pinks
Human Fluttershy: Shy

Chapter 85- Preparations and Arrivals

Ever since Celestia gave her announcement, the ponies of Equestria have been in a state of borderline-panic. With them officially being at war with the Dragon Kingdom, a number of the ponies began to buy preserved and canned foods from the market and store them in their cellars. Apart from that, much to their regret, Celestia and Luna made a call to arms, calling in their reservists, along with bringing a few willing retired veterans back. This didn't go for just the royal guard, but also for the Wonderbolts as well.

While Equestria was busy with gathering their forces, Shining and Cadence were busy up in the Crystal Empire. Even though the war was against Equestria, they were still close allies with them and wouldn't allow for them to fight this war alone. Having made the call to arms as well, Shining had his general and lieutenants begin training the new recruits. While they were busy with that, Shining would rotate with Cadence in running the empire while the other went down to their research facility to oversee the new crystals they had developed. They were close to getting them perfect, and once they did, they would distribute them to each of their guards and Equestria's.

In Ponyville, once Dark, Twilight, and Spike returned home, they personally informed the Dazzlings, Aques, and Pyre on what happened. Twilight gave the Dazzlings the option to return back through the portal where it would be safe, but they refused, saying that they had enough of running away and wanted to stay and help how they could. This also seemed to gain them some points not only with Twilight, but with Aques as well.

Since then, Dark has been spending a majority of his time in his forge, creating better weapons and armor for the guards to help prepare for the upcoming battle. Any time that he didn't spend in it, Dark would spend in Ghastly Gorge with Pyre and Nocturne pushing his training. Of course, he also remembered to reinforce his growing army of Shadow Wraiths. Though they were originally meant to guard the castle, and were a challenge to create at first, ever since he first started making them last November, the more of them he created them, the easier it became. But, even with all of that experience, at the end of the day, he could only produce perhaps seven of them, unlike the ninety he made during their trip to the Dragon Kingdom. However, despite all of his time with work and training, he always remembered to save some to save some personal time for himself and Twilight.

While Dark was busy with his work and increased training, Twilight was having her own problems to deal with. With the announcement of the war, she and Mayor Mare held a public announcement to try and ease their worries about it. It did work to an extent, but it still left many of the Ponyvillians very skittish about it, but thankfully not enough for them to frantically panic. Another thing that eased their minds was the fact that Twilight had announced that the Scaleless Dragons living in town with them were on their side and that none of them approved of the war that Inferno had declared on them.

After Twilight managed to get Ponyville under control, she waited a few weeks before she messaged to Sunset about their current situation. Sunset wasn't happy to hear about it, and seemed a bit worried about it, considering that it had been many years since Equestria had seen war. Thankfully, this didn't seem to deter Sunset or the others in their plans to come over, which left Twilight with a thankful smile. However, she was surprised when Pinks suddenly showed up through the portal just a few hours later, putting her arrival a few days earlier than what she'd planned. When Twilight asked her what she was doing here so soon, Pinks answered by saying that she and Pinkie would need to slightly modify their projects, and left it at that before she bounced over to meet up with Pinkie.

While they were doing that, Applejack and Rarity found themselves more busy than before, having to gather more apples and make new uniforms respectively. Thankfully, some of Applejack's relatives came up from Appleloosa to give her and her family a hoof in harvesting, while Rarity got help from Sweetie Belle and Fluttershy, using the latter's sewing skills. However, Fluttershy couldn't always be there.

After the announcement, Fluttershy went into the Everfree Forest to warn the creatures living there about how the dragons would be coming to Equestria to attack. Though she went with the intention of convincing them to run away to somewhere safer, what happened instead left surprised, worried, and also glad. Deciding to agree to their offer, Fluttershy also decided to return and help feed them during her free time, thanks to Discord's help.

However, even with all of these preparations for the war going on, there was still some good bit of news that gave everypony something to look forward to. Despite the news of war, the royal wedding between Twilight and Dark was set to continue as planned. As Celestia and Luna and figured, the good news brought the ponies a sense of comfort and happiness. Along with that, Celestia also told the papers about the "assassination" attempt on Twilight, Spike, and Dark, which instead turned to a horrific fail and ended up costing the Dragon Kingdom hundreds of losses with their forces. While she was glad to see the positive feedback from it, what she didn't say was who killed them all, nor the fact that that number was but a fraction of what Inferno had waiting to march on them.

Now with a week before the wedding, things were starting to slow back down to a more steady pace. While everyone was still on edge with preparations for the war, since the few weeks that had passed, the initial rush of fear was starting to die down, leaving ponies to now begin getting things ready for the wedding, or in some cases, starting to finish up in advance.

As for the future groom and bride, it was just after nightfall as they were both relaxing by the fireplace in the lounge, started to enjoy their next week off, much to Celestia's insistence. Despite the war preparations, she didn't want for either of them to wear themselves out before their wedding by overworking themselves, or worse, getting hurt or injured. With all of the hustle these last few weeks and the little amount of time they managed to spend together, they were more than happy to agree with her. That, and Sunset and the others would be coming back to visit later in an hour or two, something that both Twilight and Dark were looking forward to.

Happy with how they were, Dark let out a blissful sigh as he continued to hold Twilight while she sat on his lap. Feeling her leaning back into him and start to nuzzle his chin, Dark smiled and continued to hold Twilight against him with one claw, while gently caress her slightly larger belly with his other. Like the last half-hour, they both sat in relative peace and silence, the only sounds being their breathing, the crackling of the fireplace, and the occasional hum of content.

"One week left," Dark sighed before giving a small chuckle. "I still can't believe that this is actually going to happen."

"I know," Twilight giggled. "I'm really excited for it."

"Yeah. Me too."

Using this time of peace and privacy, Dark took Twilight's chin in his claw and gently turned her head to share a tender and loving kiss with her. All too happy to return it, Twilight brought a hoof up to caress Dark's cheek as she pressed back with one of her own, drinking in one another as their lips remained locked for the next few minutes. Parting for air, Twilight sighed in content and smiled before giving Dark a quick peck. Returning back to her snuggling up against his chest, Twilight hummed while Dark resumed caressing her belly. Content with the way they were, Dark and Twilight remained as they were until the lounge door opened.

"Heya, Dark, heya, Twilight."

Hearing the chipper voice, they looked back to see Sonata walking in.

"Hello, Sonata," Twilight greeted her. "Is there something we can help you with?"

"Not really," she shrugged. "I just wanted to tell you that Spike told me to tell you that Sunset and the other Rainbooms are on their way here."

"Okay. Thank you, Sonata."

"You're welcome." Turning around, Sonata just started to skip back out before she suddenly stopped. "By the way, do you two know by chance where the Pinkies went?"

Twilight and Dark shared a look before they both shrugged.

"Sorry, but we have no idea," Dark replied. "We asked them a few nights ago, but they both just giggled like they were hiding something."

"Huh. I wonder where they could be?"

Meanwhile, in Pinkie's Party Cave, both Pinkie and Pinks were working on their secret project.

"Okay, how's it going over here?" Pinkie asked Pinks, who was looking over the edge of her project.

"It's going great!" Pinks exclaimed. "I got our cutie marks printed on the outsides of the two spiked-zeppelin balloons, got the armor plating on, got the thruster installed, got the small cannons mounted on the sides, and I got the four rotatory cannons on the front installed."

"What about the BBC?"

Pinks gave Pinkie an unsure look.

"Uhhh, the what now?"

"The BBC. You know, the Big Bucking Cannon."

"Oooohhhhhh. Okay. For a moment there, I thought you were talking about... something else."

"Like what?"

"Nothing!" Pinks quickly replied with a blush before calming back down. "Anyways, yes, I got it installed too. By the way, why do you call it that instead of the BFG?"

Now it was Pinkie's turn to look confused. "The what now?"

"You know, the Big Fu-"

"Whoa! Hold on there! You can't say that word!"

Pinks blinked before she giggled with a snort. "Yeah, right. I suppose I can't if we don't wanna risk losing our T rating on this thing."

Pinkie gave a sound nod. "Exactly."

"By the way, how's it going with yours?"

Pinkie's face lit up. "Got the cannons set up, the double-barreled turrets are installed, and I just finished up attaching the last of the rotary engines and propellers on the sides."

Happy with the good news, Pinks jumped off the side and slowly floated down to the ground.

"Hey, you don't think that we're going a bit overboard by building these things, do you?" she asked somewhat unsurely.

Pinkie thought about it for a brief moment and shrugged. "Nah. After all, they did it a lot more in that game than what we're doing here with these. And besides, we're fourth wall breakers, so we're kinda obligated to these kinds of things."

"Huh. Well when you put it like that, I suppose we are," Pinks giggled in agreement before looking up at the clock hanging by the door. "Hey, aren't the others from my world supposed to be here soon?"

Pinkie looked over to the clock too. "Yeah, I suppose they will. Oh well, now's as good of a time to call it as ever I guess."

In agreement, the two pink ponies began making their way to the door when they got a good look at each other's coats. While Pinks was covered in metal shavings and gunpowder, Pinkie was covered in gunpowder, oil, and grease.

"Eww. Guess we're gonna need a bath first," Pinkie grimaced.

"Yeah," Pinks agreed. "You should go first."

"Nah, you go on ahead. I'll wait."

"But this is your home and dimension."

"But you're me."

"... okay then, in that case, let's take it together."

Pinkie blinked. "What?"

"Yeah. Besides, I'm just taking a bath with myself in the end."

"Meh, works for me," Pinkie shrugged before she and Pinks began making their way up the slide in Pinkie's Party Cave, and towards the bathroom. "By the way, me."

"Yes?"

Pinkie looked at Pinks suspiciously. "This isn't gonna get weird, is it?"

"Are you kidding me? This whole thing was weird to begin with."

"Can't argue with that." Pinkie started up their bath and began adding bubbles before noticing something hanging from Pinks' neck. "Ooh, pretty necklace you got there."

Pinks looked down to the pink necklace with an imprint of her cutie mark on it.

"Oh, yeah. I totally forgot I was wearing it."

"Where'd you get it?"

"Now that's a fun story," she began as she and Pinkie sank down into their bubble bath. "You see, it happened on a Saturday. At least, I think it was a Saturday. The movie didn't give us any specific dates, so I'm just going by the day that it was released. Anyway, we were all going on this camping trip to Camp Everfree..."

Dark, Twilight, Spike, Soul, and the Dazzlings were all waiting in the library to greet their friends from across the portal. As the minutes ticked by, they relaxed on the couches while Sonata played with Soul. During these last few weeks, Sonata found herself becoming somewhat attached to the young colt, offering to watch over him while Dark and Twilight were busy and play with him. In turn, Soul also started to open up more to Sonata, finding her to be fun to play with, and enjoying her personality. He also tired the same with Adagio and Aria, but found them to be a bit harder to befriend than their youngest sibling.

Several minutes later of playing tag, it was now Soul's turn to chase Sonata. Chasing her around the room, they suddenly stopped when the mirror began sounding up. Knowing that they were coming through, they went back and joined the others, who were now approaching the portal.

A few seconds later, Sunset stumbled out of the portal and fell to the floor. But before she could get up, she was pinned down at the bottom of a pile of bodies when Twi, AJ, Dash, Rares, and Shy stumbled out of the portal and fell on top of her. Getting used to their pony bodies again, they each wobbly got up to their hooves, much to Sunset's relief.

"Okay, next time, we each wait five seconds before following in instead of all of us piling through at once," she said as she brushed her coat with a hoof.

"Agreed," Twi grimaced. "My back's really sore from that."

"Girls!"

Hearing her voice, Sunset and the others looked over to see Twilight coming towards them. Happy to see her again, they each made their way over to meet her half-way for a group hug.

"I'm so happy that you could all make it," Twilight gleefully said.

"Us too," Sunset agreed. A few moments later, she and the others let Twilight go and took a step back, her face turning serious and solemn. "I'm sorry to hear about the bad news."

Twilight's smile faltered for a moment, but was quickly recovered. "Thanks, but let's forget about that for now. That's not what you're all here for now, is it?"

"No, it's not."

"Then let's forget about that and get to partying!" Pinks exclaimed from behind Sunset, causing her and the others to yelp in surprise.

"Pinks! When did you get here?" Sunset asked, trying to get her breathing under control.

"Silly filly, we've been here the whole time," Pinkie said from beside Twilight. "Oh, cool! You all brought your necklaces too!"

Looking at her friends, Twilight saw that they each wore a color-coded necklace with their cutie mark embedded in it.

"Are those the geode necklaces that you wrote to me about?" Twilight asked, sensing the powerful magic coming from them.

"They are," Sunset confirmed. "And like I said before, they each gave us a unique power."

"Interesting..."

Noticing the look on her face, Twi came forward. "You better not."

"What?" Twilight innocently asked her counterpart.

"I know that look. You're wanting to borrow our necklaces and run experiments on them."

"Can you really blame me? I mean, you all have with you a magical piece of jewelry from a world that shouldn't have any magical to begin with."

"We know, Twilight," Sunset spoke, "but to be honest, considering that we were pretty much meant to have them, I don't really see much of a problem with us keeping them."

"Especially with our new powers and looks," Dash said.

"Looks?" Dark repeated.

"Yeah. I mean, while the outfits are alright, the crystal wings that me, Shy, and Twi have are-"

"Wait, wait, wait," Twilight interrupted. "What was that last part about my other self?"

Dash tilted her head. "You mean about how Twi has wings now?"

Slowly, Twilight's gaze moved from Dash over to Twi, who, as Twilight now noticed, was just as tall as her, and was now sporting a pair of wings on her back.

"Oh you've got to be kidding me," Twilight muttered.

Now all eyes were on Twi and her new set of wings.

"Um... wow, Twi," Sunset spoke, trying to find her words.

Turning her head around, Twi looked behind her and saw the wings on her back.

"... you know," she slowly began, "I know that I should be freaking out right now about this, but after everything that's happened since the Friendship Games, this doesn't even make it to my top fifteen."

"Yeeaahhhhh. Hey, Twi?" Sunset called.

Twi turned back around. "Yes, Sunny?"

"How much do you know about alicorns?"

Recalling what she read about them, realization began to dawn on Twi. "Oh... right..."

"Yeah, we may have a small problem," Twilight agreed.

"How so?" Dark wondered.

"How? Dark, Twi is an alicorn now! Everypony will see it!"

"And I doubt that the dress that my other self made for us will accommodate her new wings now," Rares spoke up.

"Then we'll just bring her to Rarity tomorrow and have her alter the dress a little bit to hide the wings."

"But how will she hide them until then?" Shy asked.

"A simple concealment spell should work," Twilight figured. "It'll keep her wings invisible until we bring her in to see Rarity."

"Okay," Twi agreed, deciding to trust them with this matter.

"Then what about the rest of us?" AJ wondered. "Ah mean, even if we're all dressed up for the weddin', we'll still look like ourselves here."

"Simple, just dye your coat and manes," Dark shrugged. "I'm sure that Rarity has some more in her boutique."

"Ya sure about that?"

"It's where I got mine from. That, and she and Pinkie pranked me and Twilight by dying our coats to match the other."

Pinkie snorted. "Yeah, that was funny."

"Good. Glad that we got that out of the way," Sunset said approvingly before looking behind Dark and Twilight at the Dazzlings. "So, how've you girls been?"

"Super!" Sonata exclaimed with a bounce. "Like we said, we've been on our best behavior and have been helping around the castle and town."

"It's actually not as bad here as I thought it would," Adagio piped up. "Sure it's not the ocean, but it's still peaceful and quiet."

"Not counting a few weeks ago," Aria added with a frown. "Really. I don't think that I've seen ponies acting so ridiculously."

"You can't really blame them," Twilight defended. "Ponies haven't been to war in hundreds of years."

"What about the yaks?" Spike questioned.

"That doesn't count."

"Sounds like there's a story involved," Sunset said.

"I suppose so," Twilight admitted. "But first, how about we get you all settled in? After that, we'll head on over to the lounge and swap stories. After all, I'm extremely curious about what happened during your girls' camping trip. Don't get me wrong, Sunset, but reading about it and listening to it in person just aren't the same."

"Nah, I get it."

Glad with that, Twilight and Dark led their guests to the guest rooms, minus Pinks. Once they were all settled down, they retreated back to the lounge where Spike, Soul, and the Dazzlings had helped with snacks for them all to munch on while they shared their stories. The girls found it kinda funny when Twilight began telling them about the visit from Prince Rutherford of Yakyakistan, finding his actions to be both rude and amusing at the same time, the latter being more because of how ridiculous his reasons were.

Once Twilight was finished, Sunset and the others began telling their tail about their trip to Camp Everfree. During that time, Twi went into her dreams of Midnight Sparkle, and how she feared using magic would let her loose. Of course, by the time their story was over with, Twi showed that she no longer feared using magic by using her levitation on multiple nearby items, one of which being a cookie from the cookie tray to munch on. Twi also went on to tell them about when Luna paid her a visit in her dreams last time she was here, telling her to talk to her friends about her nightmares.

As they continued to catch up with recent events, they made sure to stay clear of the failed peace talk in Vulcan, or the mention of Dark's brother. Time quickly went by, and before they knew it, it was already nearly midnight. While they still wanted to stay up and hang out, they all needed to rest for the remainder of the night. Lifting Soul onto his back, Dark and Twilight bid their guests goodnight before going to tuck Soul away into bed, while Pinkie returned back to her home. With everyone in their rooms, the quiet of night began to finally settle in on the castle's occupants. However, not all of them were peacefully asleep as Sunset and Twi had... other plans. One that would keep them up for a few more hours, but would leave them well rested.

By the time morning came around, everyone was up and well rested, two in particular. Thankfully for Sunset and Twi, they remembered to silence their activities with a soundproof barrier before they began. While Twilight and her guests waited in the dining hall, Dark, Soul, Spike, and the Dazzling were working in the kitchen to finish up everyone's breakfast. Thanks to the six of them, they were able to get it done pretty fast, and bring it out to them in one trip.

Buzzing through their meal, everyone helped in cleaning their dishes before Dark, Twilight, Spike, Sunset, Twi, and Rares got ready and began making their way over to Rarity's boutique.

"Oh, it'll be so nice to see my other self again," Rares giddily said.

"Just as long as you don't go fashion crazy on us again like you did at camp," Sunset half-joked.

"I wasn't that bad."

Twi looked over to her. "Yes, you were actually."

"Sorry, Rares, but you kinda were," Sunset apologized.

Rares sighed in defeat. "Alright. I suppose that I did overdo it a bit with turning the dock into a runway."

Nodding in agreement, they continued to follow Dark, Twilight, and Spike to the boutique. As they did, Sunset looked up at the sun in the sky.

"I know that we're here for Twilight, but I should probably go and see Princess Celestia and spend some time with her," she mused out loud.

"I'm sure she'd like that very much," Twilight agreed with a smile.

Sunset looked bashfully at Twilight. "I'm sorry to have to ask you this, Twilight, but could I-"

"Yes. Besides, I already said that the princess would like it, so why shouldn't I let you go spend some time with her?"

Taking a moment, Sunset hugged Twilight before they continued their walk. "You really are the best friend a pony can have."

"And what about me?" Twi smirked, only to get a smirk back in return from Sunset.

"Oh, you don't need to worry about that, sweet flanks."

"Do you mind?" Twilight asked slightly irritatedly.

"What?" Sunset knowingly smirked. "It's not like we're talking about what happened last night in bed."

"Maybe, but I'd rather not have Spike hearing this."

"Yeah," Dark agreed. Besides, it's not helping me either with these images in my head.

"Like haven't heard it before," Spike dismissed with a wave of his claw. "Besides, I've had the misfortune to hear Dark and Twilight doing it twice already."

"Either way," Rares began, "we should probably end this train of thought. It appears that we've finally arrived."

Looking in front of them, they saw Rarity's boutique not twenty feet away from them. Walking up to the door, they saw that the sign was set to open and allowed themselves in. Once they were all in, they closed the door behind them with the bell above the door ringing.

"Rarity?" Twilight called.

"Just a moment, darling," she called back from within. A few moments later, Rarity walked down the stairs and saw her guests. "Oh my, you're here already."

"Indeed we are," Rares returned before she walked up to Rares and shared a hug with each other.

"Just as fabulous as always," Rarity complimented.

"You too, darling. However, we're here for more important reasons, more specifically, dress modifications."

"Oh?"

Rares motioned for Twi to step forward for Rarity to have a look at. As she got closer, Twi unfurled her new wings, causing Rarity to let out a small gasp.

"Oh my. I see what you mean. When did this happen?"

"We figured that it happened when we got our magical necklaces during our camping trip," Twi explained.

With her mentioning it, Rarity now took notice of the necklaces that she, Sunset, and Rares all wore.

"I see," Rarity muttered to herself before shrugging. "Well, never fear. I can take care of this in a jiffy."

"You can?" Twi questioned.

"Of course I can. Nothing that a little extra fabric can't fix. Oh, and I suppose that you better come along too, Twilight."

Twilight blinked in surprise. "Me? Why me?"

"To retake your measurements, of course. I don't know if you've noticed, darling, but your baby belly has grown a little since I last took them. If you want to be comfortable wearing your wedding dress, then I'll need to take them over again."

"It will only take a moment, Twilight," Rares added. "My other self can work on Twi's modifications, while I take your measurements for her."

Twilight sighed in defeat. "Suppose I might as well while I'm here."

Following after Twi and the two Raritys, Twilight went with them up to her workroom. But, before they got to the stair, Sweetie Belle trotted down before spotting Spike and making a run at him. Seeing her coming, Spike prepared himself, for not two seconds later, he caught Sweetie Belle as she leaped up and wrapped her legs around him with a smooch.

"Hi, Spike."

"Hey, Sweetie," Spike smiled. "How've you been lately?"

"Alright. Me and the girls have been getting ready for next week."

"Yeah."

"Why are you here?" she asked before quickly adding, "Not that I'm not happy to see you of course."

"Don't worry, Sweetie. I get it. We're just here to get some changes and measurements done for Twi and Twilight."

There was a mischievous smirk on Sweetie Belle's face. "Soooo, you're not doing anything right now?"

"Nope. Just waiting for them to be done."

She closed the distance between until their muzzles bumped. "In that case, you wanna hang out in my room until they're done?"

Getting what she was asking, Spike nodded before Sweetie Belle gave him a quick peck on the lips and darted back up stairs. Once she was out of sight, Spike looked back to Dark and Sunset.

"Well, if you two will excuse me, I'll be spending some time with Sweetie."

Remaining silent, Dark and Sunset watched as Spike ran up the stairs, following after his fillyfriend. With them now alone, the remaining two went over and sat themselves down on one of the couches as they waited for their fillyfiends to be done. As time went bye, Sunset took a look at one of the magazines Rarity had provided for her waiting customers to read, while Dark felt something on his tail. Lifting it up from over the armrest of the couch, he sighed when he saw a white furball attached to it.

"Hey, Opal," Dark sighed, only to get a hiss from the cat.

Frowning it her, Dark used his magic to pry Opal from his tail and set her back down. With one last hiss from her, Dark watched as she walked away and gave a small groan before glancing over to Sunset.

"So, how've you been lately?"

Sunset looked up from her magazine. "Hmm? Alright I guess. Not really too much to talk about that I haven't already told you guys last night."

"How about your house and the school?"

Sunset blinked before she smiled and sat the magazine down. "Still worried about the damage that was done to it?"

Dark frowned at himself. "Yeah."

"Thanks, but you don't need to worry about it. I got it all fixed up, and I used the extra cash from the bits you gave me to install a new security system. Although, I'd still prefer magic in terms of home security any day."

"I see."

"As for CHS..."

"Something wrong?"

Sunset bit her lip before answering in an apologetic tone. "Things have returned to normal... but..."

"But?"

"... there's been a complication. You see, Dark, no one there blames you for the Dragon Gang being there. Actually, if anything, both the students and staff are happy that you saved the school from them..."

"But?"

Sunset gave a sad sigh. "While everyone there appreciates what you did for them, someone had to answer for why they were there in the first place." She looked up at him with an apologetic look. "The police took a look at the security cameras around the school and saw you being dragged away into the basement by them."

"Wait," Dark interrupted. "It took them this long?"

"Yeah, I don't get it either. Guess they just sometimes tend to drag their feet. Anyway, they later took another look and somehow managed to briefly spot you again when you fighting the Dragons off. I'm sorry, Dark, but Principal Celestia and Vice-Principal Luna both had their hands tied with this one."

"With what?"

"... they didn't want to, but to comply with the School Board and authorities, you've been expelled from Canterlot High, and are now wanted by the police."

"Wanted?! For what?! All I did was help save you guys from them!"

"We know, and none of us at CHS will ever forget that. But you're wanted for not only that, but also for impersonating a dead person. You see, Dark, the police found out about the you from our world, so they know that the you from there is dead. When they saw you on the cameras, they thought that you were some kind of identity thief."

Dark crossed his arms with a huff. "This is so stupid."

"Look, we all know it's not true, but we need to keep Equestria and the portal a secret."

"I know, Sunset. I know," Dark replied with a disappointed sigh. "Well, it's not like I can just go back there anyway without risking an undead global disaster here."

"I guess not," Sunset weakly chuckled, attempting to cheer herself up with his humor.

Placing a hoof on his back, Sunset started to rub Dark suppotingly. A few moments later, both Raritys and Twilights came back down and saw them.

"What's going on?" Twi asked.

"I just told Dark about our little complication back at Canterlot High," Sunset explained.

"Oh... I still say that that's still stupid of them."

"What happened?" Twilight asked them.

"I'll explain it to you on our way back."

"Oh, before you forget," Rarity began before levitating a bag to them. "Here's the coat dye for you and the others. Rares and I have already gone through and picked out the colors for each of you. Except for you, Sunset. Since you don't need to worry about any duplicates, you don't need any of the dye."

"Thank you, darling," Rares thanked, taking the bag of coat and mane dye from her. "Well, it was a pleasure working with you."

"As working with you," Rarity returned.

"If we're all done here, then we better head back and check in on the others then," Sunset suggested.

With a round of agreements, they were making their way to the door when Dark paused.

"Hey, what about-"

Before Dark could answer, Spike and Sweetie came walking side-by-side down the stairs.

"Sorry about that," he apologized. "I kinda lost track of time with Sweetie. Are we ready to go?"

"Yep."

"Okay. See ya, Rarity." Spike turned to give Sweetie Belle a goodbye kiss. "See ya soon, sweet lips."

"You too, hot stuff," Sweetie smirked back with a blush.

Not wanting to question it for now, they watched as Spike took the lead and led them back to the castle. Once they were gone, Rarity turned to Sweetie Belle with a questioning look.

"What?" Sweetie Belle asked.

Rarity narrowed her eyes. "Did you two-"

"No, Rarity, we didn't," she huffed in annoyance of being asked such a thing. "We just played some games while you and the other Rarity were busy with the Twilights." That, those games may have involved us making out, she mentally added.

Keeping her judgmental gaze on her, Rarity soon relented when she saw no deceit in her sister's eyes.

"Very well, Sweetie," she conceded. "But, after working on the wedding dress for Twilight, I'm still in the mood for making modifications. So, with that said, why don't you come on up for one last fitting."

Noting how that wasn't meant as a request, Sweetie Belle followed after her sister to get fitted for her flower filly dress... again.

Later that afternoon, up in Canterlot, Celestia dragged her hooves as she made her way into the dining hall where Luna sat waiting for her.

"Another stressful evening I see," Luna said, noticing Celestia's exhaustion.

"The nobles have been pestering me nonstop about not only the war, but also about their objections about Twilight's and Dark's wedding next week."

Luna's eyes narrowed. "Don't tell me that these nobles are the remnants of Blueblood's entourage."

Celestia walked over to her chair and plopped down unceremoniously into it with a loud sigh.

"Unfortunately, it is."

"... we could-"

"No, Luna, we're not going to lock them away in the dungeons."

"Ponies have been imprisoned for less," Luna pouted. "Remember when you had that one noble locked away for destroying your cake?"

Celestia looked to Luna with a surprised blush. "That was a five-layer angel cloud cake! Do you know how hard it was to make one of those over a thousand years ago?!"

"Yes, I remember perfectly, Tia."

"Then you'll also remember that he also tried to undermine us several times throughout our reign back then."

"Yes, I remember... again," Luna replied before sighing in annoyance as she remembered that particular stallion.

Nodding in agreement, Celestia then allowed for a small smile to form. "However..."

Luna quirked a curious eyebrow. "What?"

"The Sultan from Saddle Arabia has been made aware of the declaration of war from the Dragon Kingdom."

Luna's eyes widened in expectance. "Are you saying that Saddle Arabia is going to align with us in this?"

"... not quite," Celestia meekly replied, earning her a small huff from Luna. "You see, while they don't agree with King Inferno's decision, they do want to help us. However, they want to do it in a way so subtle that the Dragon Kingdom won't notice that they're involved and have allied themselves with us."

"I take it that they've informed you on it?"

"Yes. From what the Sultan wrote to me, he's sending his 'Champion', to come and help us."

Luna gave Celestia a disappointed look. "Just one?"

"The Sultan has promised me that he's the best of the best, and that nopony has never bested him in his 'arena'."

"I hope that he's not exaggerating this horse of his, Tia."

"Pony, actually."

Luna blinked. "Pardon?"

"The one he's sending us is a pony."

"Really? Who?"

"He didn't give a name, but he's supposed to arrive soon now. He also warned me that this pony is rather eager to violence, is the very definition of egotistical, and is quite the narcissistic."

"Okay, but why wasn't I told about this sooner?"

"I just received the message during afternoon court, you were still asleep, and I didn't think that it was really worth sending a guard to wake you up and inform you."

"Well, you're not exactly wrong there. At least I'll be awake to greet him."

Agreeing, Celestia began eating her dinner while Luna started breakfast. Ignoring the complaints of the nobles, they instead began going over things to go over for the upcoming wedding. However, twelve minutes in, there was a ruckus coming from the hallway. Seconds later, four guards ran through the door and slammed it shut behind them.

"What's happening out there?" Celestia asked.

One of the guards stepped forward with a bow. "Your Highnesses, there's an intruder in the castle!"

Both Celestia and Luna abruptly stood up.

"Who would dare to intrude in our castle?!" Luna barked furiously.

"We don't know who it is, Princess."

"Is it the fugitive?"

"No. It's some earth pony, Your Highness."

"Can you describe this pony to us?"

"Yes. It's a tan earth pony stallion with brown eyes, and a black mane and tail, the front of his mane leaning forward, while the back is tied into a ponytail."

Celestia took a brief moment to think. "I'll need more to go on. Is there anything unique about him? Like is he wearing any clothing?"

"A few, and yes, he does. He wears a sort of golden headband on his forehead, his ears are pierced with a golden earring, wears a greenish vest with what appeared to be fur, has pants with bladed-greaves, and spiked-gauntlets protecting the front of his forelegs."

"Seems like quite the character," Luna said amusingly.

"That's not the weirdest thing though," the guard continued, gaining their attention again. "He's also got this wickedly long moustache, and has these strange weapons."

"Strange how?"

Before the guard could answer, the doors were thrown open, knocking the guards blocking it back and revealing the stallion in question, exactly as the guard had described. However, what was unusual was that not only was this stallion standing on his back hooves, but in his front ones, he was holding a pair of strange bladed weapons with something of an axe head on them. What's more was that when the stallion flicked one of the weapons in his hooves, the two blades stopped rotating while one of them slid up alongside the first. Repeating the process with his other weapon, the stallion sheathed them on his back and held his hooves up high in a victorious pose.

"Who wants some Craven?!"

Chapter 87- Party Time

Dark looked at Night before his eyes traveled over the gathered males before him.

"What do you man by 'last day as a free stallion'?" Dark asked.

Shining chuckled as he approached him. "What dad is talking about is your bachelor party, Dark."

Now knowing what they were getting at and why all of these guys that Dark knew were gathered like this, Dark's blinked in surprise.

"Really?"

"Well, duh," Rainbow said with a grin. "What do you think that the rest of us were doing that's kept us so busy?"

"But I thought that only guys attended bachelor parties?" Twilight asked.

"Yeah, they do, but me and the other girls have been busy working on your bachelorette party, Twilight."

Twilight's eyes widened in realization. "So that's why I haven't seen you, Sunset, the Dazzlings, or any of our human counterparts?"

"Yep. We know that you getting married tomorrow is really important and all, but this is just as important too."

"Eeyup," Big Mac agreed.

"So, what do you say we get going, Dark?" Shining asked, causing Dark to look over to Twilight.

"What do you say?" he asked.

"Well, I say that you should go with them and have yourselves a fun time," Twilight smiled before turning firm. "Just as long as you don't drink that cider again. You know the one I'm talking about."

"Don't worry, Twilight, we won't."

"Great!" Discord exclaimed. "In that case, let's get going. The night is young and we have a full night of partying ahead of us."

"Just as long as he's back and in shape for the wedding," Twilight warned them.

"Will do. Now then, off we go."

Giving a snap of his claws, Discord teleported him and the other males there off to the Crystal Empire. With them now gone, Twilight and Rainbow turned towards the door when Twilight paused and facehoofed. Seeing this, Rainbow glanced over to her.

"Something up?" Rainbow asked.

"Dark's teleportation sickness," Twilight sighed, causing Rainbow to wince.

"Oh... yeah. Well, maybe being teleported by Discord isn't as bad."

Twilight gave her a deadpan look. "He's Discord, Rainbow. What makes you think that him teleporting Dark wouldn't be as bad as me or somepony else?"

"Uhhh... wishful thinking?" Rainbow weakly chuckled with a shrug. "Anyway, we can let them deal with Dark's teleportation sickness. I'm sure Discord could just snap his claws and cure him of it or something. But enough of that. Right now, you need to get your flank through those doors so we can get your bachelorette party started."

Up in the Crystal Empire, the guys arrived in a flash of light. As they each blinked away the spots in their eyes, their attention was turned to a groaning sound. Blinking their eyes clear, they all looked down to see the source was Dark, laying sprawled out on the crystalline floor.

"What's wrong with him?" Iron Guard asked.

"Oopsie-doopsie, I completely forgot," Discord said with a chuckle.

"What?"

"That Dark gets teleportation sickness."

Shining looked over to Discord. "How can you forget something like that?"

"It just slipped my mind at the time. Besides, it's nothing that a simple snap of my claw can't fix."

Doing just that, Discord snapped his claw and listened as Dark's groaning ceased. Several long seconds later, he and the others watched as Dark stood up and shot an angry glare at him.

"Did you plan that?" Dark asked in annoyance.

"Nooooo.... okay, maybe," Discord smirked.

"... one of these days, Discord. One of these days," he ominously said with a small grin.

"One of these days, what?" Discord asked, only to get silence in response from Dark.

Not bothering to answer him for now, Dark kept quiet and looked around to see that they were in fact in the Crystal Empire. However, by the looks of it, they had a little bit of a walk until they reached the castle. Seeing Shining motioning for them, Dark and the others followed him. Several minutes later, they were about to pass the crystal statue of Spike holding the crystal heart when Dark stopped. However, it wasn't from the sight of Spike's statue, but of the one beside it.

It was a statue of him in a rather unique pose that displayed both power and contemplation. The statue depicted Dark kneeling as his wore his Coliseum armor. While his tail was curved around him and his wings were partially unfurled, in his right claw he held his Death Reaver sword in reverse as its blade was planted into the ground at his side, and in his left, with the statue's gaze peering at it, was Sombra's crown.

"You like it?" Shining asked, having noticed Dark seeing the new statue of him and walking up to him. "The crystal ponies finished it up a few weeks ago."

"It's... I don't know what to make of it," Dark admitted, eyeing the statue out. "I mean, this is really incredible of them to do and all, but do I really deserve this?"

Shining shot Dark a questioning look. "Seriously? Dark, you killed thousands of undead, resurrected dozens of our guards, and still had enough strength to fly off and defeat Sombra for good."

"Sorry. I'm just not used to having stuff like this done for me I guess."

"It's fine... so?"

"So?"

"Do you like it?"

Dark looked over the statue again before letting out a small smile. "It does seem kinda imposing, but yeah, I like it."

"Good to hear. Did you also read the plaque on the face of the statue?"

Curious, Dark walked up in front of it and read it over.

"'Bane of the Tyrant King'?" he read out loud in confusion.

"It's what the crystal ponies started to call you after you left, kinda like how they call Spike the Brave and Glorious."

Nodding in understanding, Dark started to read it over. It was then that noticed that there was more writing below it and began reading it out loud.

"Breaking their lines.

Thousands of soldiers.

Run for their lives.

Legend arise."

"Again, it was their idea. As it turned out, some of the crystal ponies saw your Flare spell destroying Sombra's forces. In turn, they found it fitting that these words be placed on your statue."

"Huh... I suppose..." Dark unsurely said. "While I could agree with most of that, I'm not so sure about the legend part."

"You're a bit late on that."

Turning their heads to the new voice, the guys all saw Gray, Saph, and Emerald coming towards them.

"We saw the flash of light and came to check it out," Gray went to explain. "We then saw that you were all standing her at the new statue and heard you talking about the writing on it."

"Yeah, but like I was just telling Shining, I'm not so sure about the legend part."

"Sorry, but it's a bit too late for that," Saph informed Dark. "The crystal ponies have already decided on it. Us included."

Dark sighed in defeat before shrugging. "Alright. I guess it can't be helped at this point."

"Nope," Shining chipperly said. "Now, how about get inside and get this party started."

With a round of cheers, Dark chuckled and followed Shining as he again led them towards the castle for a long night of partying.

Over in Canterlot, Twilight was enjoying her own party. After she'd passed through the doors, she found herself being coiled up in a hug by Aero with Aques following shortly after with a tender and less enthusiastic hug of her own. Hugging them back, she looked around to see all of her pony and human friends there, along with her mom, Cadence, Celestia, Luna, and of course, the Dazzlings. With Twilight and everyone present, they could finally start their party.

As the party continued with games, non-alcoholic drinks, and music, Twilight made sure to thank everyone for their hard work, including the Dazzlings again.

"I still say that we should've hired a male stripper," Adagio commented.

"But ponies don't normally wear clothes, so it wouldn't really work," Sunset countered. "Besides, considering who and what Twilight's fiancé is, would it really be that good of an idea?"

"She's got a point, Dagi," Sonata agreed with a shrug. "I mean, Dark is Death after all."

"Don't remind me," Adagio shuddered, recalling the feeling of terror she felt when she touched Dark and peeked into him.

"While I thank you for the thought, Adagio, I'm gonna have to side with Sunset and Sonata on this one," Twilight said.

"Well that's too bad," she sighed in defeat. "And here I had the perfect stallion in mind."

"... it's not somepony that I know, is it?"

"I doubt it."

"Then who is it?"

Adagio shrugged. "Some stallion that we saw fight in the Coliseum."

"Which one?" Sunset asked.

"The one who kept throwing his weapons," she replied, unaware of a tall figure looming over her from behind. "I mean, did you girls see the way his muscles where? And that moustache, oohhhhhh~"

While Adagio was busy fantasizing, Sunset, Sonata, and Twilight slowly backed away from her.

"Uhhh, Dagi?" Sonata nervously called.

"What is it?"

"Look behind you."

Arching an eyebrow, Adagio turned around to see a mass of midnight-blue in front of her. Looking up, she then saw Luna as she glared down at her with a heated expression.

"I surely hope that you are not talking about the gladiator Craven," she threateningly said.

"So that's his name? I like it."

Not liking how she was speaking, Luna began lighting her horn before she felt a hoof on her shoulder. Looking to her side, she saw Celestia with a small grin on her face.

"Now, Luna," she began teasing, "this is not the time for you to get possessive of your crush."

Despite the music and everyone being scattered around, Celestia was still just loud enough for the entire room to hear her and go silent, including the music. With everyone's eyes now on Luna, her face started turning a deep shade of purple.

"HE'S NOT MY CRUSH!" Luna exclaimed with the Royal Canterlot Voice.

"Really?" Adagio asked with a sultry grin. "In that case, you won't mind if I take him out and show him a-"

"Finish that sentence and I will send you to the- I mean..."

"AWWW. Aunty Luna's finally found herself a special somepony!" Cadence gushed.

"He's not my special somepony!" Luna denied, only to get a pat on the back from Celestia.

"We know, dear sister. We're just teasing you about your little crush is all."

Luna gave a pout and looked away from them. "Well stop it."

"Well I don't think it's so bad," Twilight said before smirking herself. "After all, when I throw my bouquet tomorrow, all of the unmarried mares will have to gather around, which will include you and Princess Celestia."

"I will not be participating in the catching of the bouquet."

"Sadly, that's not your call to make, Lulu," Celestia smirked. "It is a sort of custom that all of the singles gather to try and grab the bouquet. Besides, if you'll recall, you participated in it during Big Macintosh's and Miss Cheerilee's wedding."

Hearing the snickering coming from around her, Luna cleared her throat and straightened her posture in an attempt to regain some of her lost dignity.

"So," she began, trying to redirect their conversation topic, "how do you think the guys are doing for Dark's bachelor party?"

"Shots, shots, shots, shots, shots, shots, shots, shots, shots, shots, shots, shots, shots, shots, shots, shots!"

"Everypony!"

Up in the Crystal Empire, the crystal castle was glowing like a disco ball with greens, reds, and blues while Dark's bachelor party was in full swing. While Shining was the one who had planned and was in charge of it, he also brought in a bit of help. That, and it also helped him that the entirety of the crystal guard wanted to help as their thanks for Dark resurrecting them during Sombra's attack.

Inside the castle ball room, Dark, Shining, and the other guys were all either dancing and singing on the dancefloor to the music provided by their DJ, eating food at the buffet tables, swimming in a pool of beer, having drinking games, or tried making their way through one of several inflatable obstacle courses set up throughout the castle, some doing it sober while others tried it drunk. All in all, it was easily the funnest party that any of them have ever had, and it was all thanks to a certain pony that Shining was recommended.

"Dude, this party is awesome!" Dark exclaimed to Shining once the music had died down enough for him to hear.

"You can thank Pinkie Pie for that," Shining said. "She's the one who recommend that I get him to set this thing up."

"Really?"

"Yep. She said that he's the greatest party planning pony around."

"That's quite the compliment if it's coming from Pinkie. So, who's this pony that Pinkie recommended?"

"That would be me."

Surprised by the voice suddenly answering from behind him, Dark spun around to see a thin earth pony stallion with a light-tan coat wearing a yellow shirt, a fluffy brown mane, and strangely, a rubber chicken sitting on his back with a number two written on its stomach.

"Hi there. Name's Cheese Sandwich," he introduced with and enthusiastic hoofshake. "And this guy here on my back is my best friend, Boneless Two."

Collecting himself from the vicious hoofshake, Dark flexed the soreness out of his claw.

"It's nice to meet you, Cheese Sandwich," Dark said. "My name is-"

"Dark Flame. Yes, I know who you are already."

"Heh. I suppose you would since you're the one who put this together."

"Oh, no. I may be the one who put this together, but it was Prince Shining Armor here who got me to do this. Besides, how can I turn down a bachelor party for a friend of Pinkie's?"

"So you know Pinkie," Dark said.

"Oh, yeah. We go way back. She's actually the one who got me interested in becoming a super-duper party pony. Then, after we collaborated on Rainbow Dash's birthiversary party... well... we've been keeping in touch ever since."

A coy smile met Dark's lips. "Oh. So, does that mean that you two are a thing?"

Cheese Sandwich gave a chuckle. "Sorry, but we're just friends. Although, I might ask her out someday. After all, we both have a lot in common."

"Yeah. I could see you two being together."

"Me too," Shining agreed. "But while this is interesting and all, how about we go get something to eat."

"And something to drink," Dark added. "I'm starting to get pretty thirsty." He then glanced over to the table surrounded by Emerald, Saph, and a few dozen crystal guards. "And I think I know just where to go."

Back in Canterlot, Pinkie felt a shiver crawl up her spine that caused her attention to be drawn north.

"What's wrong, me?" Pinks asked her counterpart, having noticed her change in behavior.

"I'm not sure, me," Pinkie replied, "but I'm getting this feeling like the guys are talking to Cheese Sandwich about us being a couple."

"Isn't that a good thing, though?"

"It would if it weren't for the fact that none of us in our group other than Twilight, Twi, Dark, Sunset, Flutters, and Discord, are supposed to be shipped in this story."

"What about in the next chapter with-"

"They're not apart of the list of ponies, Spike, or the Crusaders, so they don't count. But still, be surprised when it happens, okay? We don't want to give anything away to them."

"You mean 'them' as in the readers, or 'them' as in the other characters?"

"Umm... both?"

"Okie-dokie-Pinkie," Pinks giggled with a salute before bouncing off with Pinkie following after her.

"Hey, Pinks?"

"Yes?"

"Do you think we might be overdoing it with the forth wall breaking?"

"Nope. Why? Do you want us to overdo it? If so, then I've got an entire list of jokes, memes, references, and other material that we can do."

Reaching into her mane, Pinks pulled out a furled scroll and gave it to Pinkie to look over, watching as she read it with the occasional nod or snort.

"Okay, we'll have to try some of these-"

"Yay!"

"-but not right now."

"Awww. But why not?"

"Because too much of a good thing can be bad for you."

"What about our sweets?"

"With all of the energy we burn off every day, we kinda need the sweets, so they're an exception."

"Oh, yeah, that makes sense."

Nearing Twilight and the other girls, Pinkie returned Pinks' list and joined them.

"I still can't believe that you girls brought only the non-alcoholic cider," Rainbow complained slightly before gulping down a mug of cider.

"That's because we didn't want to run the risk of mixing them up and letting Twilight accidentally drinking the alcoholic ones," Cadence explained.

"And I for one don't mind one bit," Twilight nodded before taking a swig from her own mug.

"Besides, we're underage to drink any alcohol," Twi reminded them.

"Maybe in our world we are," Dash began with a smirk, "but if I remember what Sunset said correctly, then here in Equestria, we're old enough to drink."

"That's still no excuse for us to, Dash."

Celestia nodded in agreement. "She's right. Just because you can do something doesn't mean that you should."

"Ugh, fine," Dash groaned before looking at her mug of cider with an idea. "Hey, who wants to have a drinking competition?"

Rainbow's ears immediately perked up at this. "I'm in!"

"Meh, sure, why not?" AJ shrugged.

"Well, if you're in, then so am Ah," Applejack said.

"As will I," Celestia announced, earning her a surprised look from Luna.

"Are you sure, Tia?" she questioned.

"It's not alcoholic, so I don't see any reason why I can't."

Luna gave a nod. "In that case, I too shall join in the drinking competition."

Before any of them could blink, Pinkie and Pinks had pulled up a table with several mugs and barrels of cider for them.

"In that case, we'll be the judges," both Pinkies said simultaneously.

Watching eagerly as the two princesses and their friends took their seats at the table, Pinkie and Pinks both began to fill up their mugs before they both froze in place.

"Is something wrong?" Velvet asked them.

"I just have this feeling," Pinkie slowly answered.

"Like what, darling?" Rares wondered, this time with Pinks answering instead.

"Like the guys are doing something similar to this, but with alcoholic cider."

"Lucky," Dash muttered.

"And Dark?" Twilight asked, watching as both Pinkies shared a look and nodded.

"Chug, chug, chug, chug, chug, chug, chug!"

The room was in a cheering frenzy as Dark, Shining, Gray, Emerald, Saph, Iron Guard, Steel Hoof, Anvil, Big Mac and Night all sat at a table chugging down another mug of alcoholic cider. Several others had been apart of their drinking contest too, such as Kite Shield and some crystal guards, but they'd dropped out either before they could no longer hold their liquor, or in the case of an unfortunate few, after. Pyre, Fissure, and Discord were invited to join them, but each of them declined on the grounds that possibly besides Dark, they would drink them all under the table.

Now going into their twelfth round, Night, Steel, Gray, and Emerald where looking a bit worse for the wear, while the other remaining competitors were holding out, some better than others. While Iron and Saph were starting to look a bit worse for wear, Dark, Shining, Big Mac, and Anvil were still holding strong, with Dark having finished his drink before the others.

"This cider, I like it," he said approvingly before throwing his mug on the ground. "ANOTHER!"

"How are ye holding up so well, lad?" Anvil curiously asked. "I heard that ye barely drank."

Dark stood proudly. "I'm part dragon, that's why."

"Really? That's yer reason why?"

"Yep. Otherwise, I would've been out of it after like the forth mug."

"How much do you think you can drink?" Night wondered.

Curious now, Dark glanced at the pile of cider barrels with a grin. Lighting his horn, Dark magically brought the barrel over to him and uncorked the top.

"Cheers!"

Throwing his head back, Dark stood on his hooves as he lifted the heavy barrel of cider and began to chug it. After the first few seconds of watching, everyone began to cheer for Dark as he gulped one mouthful after another of the golden, burning liquid. As Dark continued to chug down the cider, the others continued their chanting. It wasn't until after almost three minutes had passed that Dark slammed the now empty barrel down with a triumphant belch that echoed off of the crystalline walls. Seeing that Dark had chugged an entire barrel of hard cider by himself in under three minutes, the entire room erupted into cheers while Dark raised his claws in victory... only for them to fall over his stomach a few seconds later.

Concerned that he might've overdone it, Night and Shining found themselves by Dark's side.

"Hey, you alright?" Shining asked.

"Ooohhhhh. Stomach," Dark groaned.

"Think we should get him to the medical wing?" Night asked.

A second later, a loud grumbling could be heard from the depths of Dark's stomach. As Dark continued to groan, the rumbling in his stomach continued to grow. However, while everyone was starting to gather around to see what was wrong, Cheese Sandwich's eyes widened.

"Oh, no. Not again," he fearfully said before pulling out a pair of gas masks for himself and Boneless Two.

Those few who saw this were about to ask him, but before they could, Dark suddenly lifted his tail and produced the loudest fart that they'd ever heard. But, that wasn't all, though, as not only was Dark passing gas loud enough to shatter windows, but he also somehow managed to shoot fire out from his rear, taking several ponies behind him by surprise.

For thirteen straight seconds this continued until it finally began to sputter out, leaving a small stream of smoke from Dark's butt as he sighed in relief. Taking a few moments to take in what had just happened, everyone just stared at Dark before a few of them began to cheer for his grand show of flatulence. However, it was short-lived.

The cheering quickly died down in place for ponies choking and gagging as they smelled the horrific smell that accompanied it. While most of them ran around and tried to open windows to let the fresh air in, some were too blinded by their stinging eyes to see, and those few unfortunate ones were huddled around a trash bucket as they emptied their stomachs.

"Oh my Celestia!"

"That's horrible!"

"It smells like dead burnt possum and skunk dipped in a sewer and slathered in melted moldy cheese!"

"My eyes!"

"It's in my mouth! Oh, Celestia, it's in my mouth!"

"It burns!"

Watching as the ponies, Discord, and the two Scaleless Dragons were panicking and trying to flee from the smell, Dark stood up and laughed and took in a deep breath.

"My beef stronnng!"

Coughing beside him, Shining tried waving a hoof in front of his face as he looked up at Dark with reddened, teary eyes.

"Your beef wrong."

Having enough of this, Discord, holding his breath, snapped his claws and cleared the castle of the foul stench. With fresh air filtering in, everyone besides Dark and Cheese Sandwich, began gasping for air to clear their lungs out, most doing so while in a coughing fit. Once the coughing had died down a bit, Night walked over to Dark with his bloodshot eyes.

"That's it, no more alcohol for you," he declared, earning a unanimous murmur in agreeance.

"But what the heck was all that about?" Discord wondered. "You weren't like that when you drank during Big Macintosh's bachelor party."

"I also didn't chug an entire barrel of hard cider either," Dark reminded them.

Shining coughed a few times before he spoke. "Okay, so from now on, you only drink from a mug, nothing bigger, and for our sakes, no more barrel chugging."

"Okay."

Not wanting to dwell on this any longer, Discord suddenly had an idea and floated over to Cheese Sandwich to whisper his idea into his hear. As Discord continued, Cheese Sandwich's eyes widened as his eyes twinkled.

"You know what? That's a really good idea!" he exclaimed excitingly. "Why haven't I thought of that?!"

"Because you're not me," Discord smirked.

"Okay, everyone!" Cheese Sandwich called and clapped his hooves, gaining everyone's attention. "I just got a really great idea from Discord! Now, who here's heard of the Lady of the Rings?"

Seeing every hoof and claw shooting up into the air, Cheese Sandwich nodded with a smile.

"Great! In that case, who wants to reenact some of its battles?"

With a chorus of cheers, Cheese Sandwich and Discord shared a look before Discord snapped his claw and changed the scene. Thanks to his powers of bending reality, they found themselves now placed upon a tall wall protecting a stone fortress carved from the mountainside with a single stone bridge leading up to its wooden gates. While the guards were posted on the walls with bows and arrows, and a sword and shield, up in the keep overlooking them were Dark, Shining, Night, Discord, Big Mac, Cheese Sandwich and Boneless Two, Iron Guard, and Gray, all of whom were in some form of hard leather armor and chainmail. Except for Discord, who was wearing his Captain Wuzz outfit.

"Huh, so you've chosen the Battle of Hooves' Deep," Shining noticed, looking up at the dark clouds as the rain poured down on them.

"Well, it was either this or the Siege of Ponedor," Discord shrugged.

"Maybe we can do that one next if we survive this?" Dark asked.

"Oh, no need to worry about that. Nopony is going to die in this, I made sure of that."

"Thank goodness for that," Night sighed. "That would be one hay of a party spoiler if somepony did die."

"Speaking of 'party'," Cheese Sandwich began, pointing out in the distance, "looks like the guests have arrived."

Sure enough, marching towards them was an army of changelings wearing thick black armor, and armed with broad shields and swords, and extremely long pikes.

"Just so we're clear," Night nervously began, "what happens if we die here?"

"Oh, nothing bad I assure you," Discord idly dismissed. "If you die, then you're sent to the throne room back in the castle to watch the rest of the battle. I promise that there won't be any excruciating pain, only a little bit of it. After all, taking all of the danger out if it wouldn't make this as much fun now, would it?"

"Well that's good to know," Iron Guard muttered under his breath.

"Looks like they're just about in range," Gray announced.

"In that case," Shining began, looking to Dark, "since this is your bachelor party, Dark, how about you take lead?"

Dark looked to Shining curiously. "Are you sure?"

"Yep. Go on ahead."

"In that case, as soon as they're within range of our archers, have them fire at will. While I thoroughly enjoyed watching the show on your guys' gem projector, Night, I'd rather not wait until they're practically at our walls before we start firing."

"In that case, I might as well head on down and join the others in some fun," Discord said, but was stopped by Dark before he could leave.

"Hey, do you and the others by chance have any explosive arrows?"

"Sorry, but while I can give us some and make us some catapults and trebuchets, I'd rather keep it as close to the original material as I can."

"Fair enough I guess. Okay, good luck down there."

"Luck? Oh-ho-ho-ho, Dark. For me, I don't need such a thing."

Dark, Shining, and Night raised an eyebrow and spoke in unison, "Twilight."

"... really? You had to bring that moment up?"

"Well, ya did pretty much walk into it," Big Mac shrugged.

"Ehh, whatever."

Waving them off, Discord teleported off from the keep and onto the wall with the crystal guards. Taking an open spot, Discord brought up his bow and notched an arrow. Following his example, the guards each notched their arrows and drew their bows. Several seconds later, the command to fire was shouted out, signaling them to loose their arrows and send them flying towards the oncoming ten thousand changeling army before beginning to notch another arrow to fire.

"You know," Shining began as they watched the battle below, "this is actually a good idea to prepare them when King Inferno decides to attack."

"True, this could double as a form of training," Dark agreed. "But, if it's alright, I'd rather not think about that at the moment. Right now, I just want to have some fun with my friends, adopted family, and future family."

"Eeyup," Big Mac agreed before noticing some spare bows and quivers filled with arrows.

Seeing his gaze, the others all shared a smile before they each grabbed a bow and quiver for themselves and joined in the fight from their spot in the keep. Unleashing a volley of arrows themselves, they began to fire at will, laughing and enjoying the fun that they were having together. That is, until a thought crossed Night's mind.

"Hey, Shining?" he called.

"Yes, dad?" he replied, loosing another arrow.

"I just thought of something. Is it really a good idea to be letting your guards fight like this right after all of the alcohol that they just drank?"

"I wouldn't worry too much about it. Besides, Gray and I trained them after all, so I know how tough they are."

Several long hours later, Dark woke up with a yawn and stretched his joints out, earning him a satisfying pop from each of them. Rubbing his eyes with his claws, he then sat up from his spot on the table to see the entire ball room littered with sleeping stallions stinking of alcohol, Pyre and Fissure having nodded off at one of the tables, and Discord, who was once again hanging by his tail, this time from the chandelier as it slowly spun around.

Standing up, Dark glanced towards the window to see that the sun had broken over the horizon. With a small groan, he then looked around for Shining and Night, but couldn't find either of them. Getting up, he then quietly made his way to the throne room in search for them, figuring that they would both be too tired to make it to their rooms. Sure enough, when Dark entered the throne room, he saw Shining sleeping upside down on the throne with Night lounging on the small ramp leading up to the dais.

Quietly, Dark maneuvered his way around the stallions that had fallen asleep in the throne room and made his way up to the throne. Once there, Dark nudged Shining until he snorted away. However, this was a mistake for Shining as upon seeing the sunlight, he immediately slammed his eyes shut and winced as he felt a throbbing in his skull.

"Ouuuuuch," he groaned.

"You doing alright?" Dark asked, getting another groan from Shining.

"Not so loud, Dark. Now, what do you want?"

Dark was about to answer Shining, but instead he paused as the reality of today had slapped him in the face. With a heavy gulp and wide eyes, Dark uneasily collected himself.

"Uh... Shining... I'm getting married today."

Shining's eyes shot open, this time ignoring the pain that came from the light of the sun. Rolling over, he stood up and casted a cleansing spell to clear him of his hangover.

"Everypony get up!" he shouted, causing the entire room to groan out in pain as the others awoke to Shining's louder than usual voice.

"Where's the fire, Shining?" Night groaned, massaging his temples from where he laid.

"Dad, Dark's marrying Twilight today!"

Hearing that, Night immediately bolted up onto his hooves. "You heard him boys! We've got a wedding to get to!"

"I'll go wake the others," Dark said to Shining and Night before flying out of the throne room and towards the ball room. Once there, he flew up to Discord, still hanging by his tail upside down. But, before Dark could say or do anything to wake him up, he heard Discord talking in his sleep, or, more specifically, singing.

"You spin me right round, baby, right round like a record, baby, right round right round~"

"I can't believe this," Dark muttered with a facepalm. "Discord! Wake-up!"

Slapping his face, Dark woke Discord up, earning him an unhappy glare from him as he folded his arms.

"Was that really necessary?" Discord asked, feeling just a little bit irked by being slapped awake.

"Considering that we're supposed to be on the next train to Canterlot for my wedding? YES!"

Forgetting about the others, Dark's shout at the end there caused the room to be filled with groans and moans of displeasure and pain as the hungover stallions all began to wake up, along with Fissure and Pyre, who as it turned out, didn't get drunk off of the cider from last night.

"... fine. I'll give you this one," Discord submitted. "Now then, what do you need me to do? I doubt you woke me just for the sake of waking me."

"Can you cure these guys of their hangovers like you did at Big Mac's bachelor party?"

Silently, Discord continued to swing upside down from the chandelier as he snapped his paw, instantly curing each of the stallions of their hangover.

"Okay, guys," Dark loudly announced, no longer worrying about the pain of their hangovers, "get yourselves cleaned up and ready! We've got a train to catch and a wedding to get to!"

Hearing that reminder, each of the stallions frantically got up to their hooves and made for the exit to their homes to get themselves ready. Within thirty seconds, the ball room was empty besides, Dark, Discord, Pyre, Fissure, and Cheese Sandwich.

"So," Pyre began, looking around them, "how're we gonna clean up this mess?"

"Simple." Snapping his claw, Discord cleaned up the leftovers of the party. "There, all done."

"Thanks a lot," Cheese Sandwich thanked. "That sure saved me a bunch of time."

"Sure, no problem."

Dark looked over to Cheese Sandwich "So, Cheese Sandwich, will you be coming with us? I know it's kinda last minute, but with how good of a job you did, I think that you've deserved it."

"You bet I will!" he happily exclaimed. "Just give me a moment to find Boneless Two and we'll meet you at the train station."

Waving him off, Dark, Discord, Pyre, and Fissure left the now clean ball room to go see how Shining and Night were doing before getting themselves ready to leave for Canterlot.

Over in Canterlot, Pinks woke up on the floor of the ball room with the others. That is, all but Twilight, who retired early for some extra sleep in preparation for tomorrow, and Celestia and Luna. Taking a look around, she saw that while most of her friends where here, Sunset, Twi, and both Rarity and Rares were gone. Shrugging to herself, she got up and stretched out when she saw her double still asleep on the ground with a smile on her face, laying on her back with her back-right hoof twitching every so often. Feeling a little mischievous, she slowly and quietly made her way over to Pinkie, and straddled her waist.

"Ohhhhhh, Pinkieeeeeeee. Time to wake uuuuupppp."

Upon receiving no reply, Pinks raised a hoof and slapped Pinkie across the face, gaining no reaction at all.

"Rise and shine, Pinkie!"

*Slap*

"Wake-up!"

*Slap*

"Up and at 'em!"

*Slap*

"... fine then..."

*Slap*

"That's for all clown jokes!"

*Slap*

"That's for never calling just to say 'hi'."

*Slap*

"That's because I get hot when I slap ponies! Hahah!"

*Slap*

"That's for all of the furry midgets in my world!"

*Slap*

"That's because I feel like it!"

*Slap*

"Why!"

*Slap*

"Won't!"

*Slap*

"You!"

*Slap*

"Wake!"

*Slap*

"Up?!"

*Slap*

"Wake-up!"

*Slap*

"That's because the author wanted to do a Deadpool video game reference!"

*Slap*

"That's because I like slapping fleshy things with this hoof!"

*Slap*

"That's for being in more episodes than me!"

*Slap*

"That's for making me love you!"

*Slap*

"That's for making me hate you, which, now that I think about it, really isn't healthy since you're me and I'm you."

*Slap*

"That's for never taking anyone to the dance!"

*Slap*

"That's for always partying late!"

*Slap*

"That's for being pink!"

*Slap*

"That's for stabbing me in the heart in video games when you would sneak over to my world for a visit!"

*Slap*

"That's for not letting me fly one of our secret projects except when I almost crashed one of them!"

*Slap*

"That's for being the worst wingman in the female equivalent to bro-mance in bro-mance history! Wait, would it be wingman, or winggirl... wingmare... meh, whatever."

*Slap*

"That's because I want to see how much longer I can keep doing this!"

*Slap*

"That's for all the hunky bronies out there! Hey, call me!"

*Slap*

"That's for being a total worrywart with the forth wall breaking!"

*Slap*

"That's for never washing the dishes when I was staying over!"

*Slap*

"That was for last year's white elephant gift! Who wants a white elephant?!"

*Slap*

"And finally!"

*Slap*

"That's because this whole segment was because the author needed to add more words to make this chapter longer so that it could be over seven thousand words long!"

*Slap*

Looking back down at her, Pinks saw that despite all that she was put through, Pinkie remained asleep with a smile on her face, completely unfazed by the comical bitch-slapping she received.

"Meh. Guess she's not waking up," Pinks said with a shrug before getting up off of her double and walking off. "Now, where was that dining hall again?"

Author's Note

I thought about turning this into a version of "The Hangover", but it would've been better to have done it during Big Mac's party. Hope you all still enjoyed it.

Also, I regret nothing with that part with the two Pinkies at the end. That was funny!:rainbowlaugh:

Chapter 88- The Big Day

The Crystal Empire's castle was in a bustle as most everypony in there was running round getting themselves cleaned up. From combing their manes, to a full shower, to wiping off any of the leftover stench and/or vomit from their drinking last night, they were all busy doing something. Those few who weren't, however, were waiting down by the Crystal Heart as they waited for the others. Along with Dark were Shining, Night, Fissure and Pyre, Discord, Big Mac, Gray, Saph, and Emerald, all of whom were already ready and waiting for the others.

For the next fifteen minutes they waited for the crystal guards to show up. While about half of them were here, the other half were still busy getting themselves cleaned from last night. As they patiently waited, Dark started to shuffle from one side to the other.

"Nervous?" Shining asked him, having noticed his movements.

"Yeah," Dark admitted. "Very nervous."

Night shot Dark a glare. "You better not be getting cold hooves, Dark. I will not stand for you leaving my daughter at the alter."

"I promise I won't. Guess that I'm just nervouscited is all."

"You're what?" Saph asked, having no idea what he was talking about.

"Pinkie Pie's own word," Discord explained. "It means that somepony is both nervous and excited at the same time."

Dark nodded. "Yep. Pretty much what he just said," he said before looking around, just now noticing a certain somepony he'd not seen since his time here. "Hey, where's Flash? Isn't he gonna be coming?"

Shining shared a knowing, almost sad look with his captain and lieutenants before addressing Dark.

"I highly doubt that he'll be coming with us, Dark."

"... still upset about me and Twilight?"

"Sorta. He's come to accept it, but he won't be over it for quite some time. We tried talking him into coming several times for Twilight's sake, but he's insistent that it would be a bad idea, and that it wouldn't end good for anypony there."

"She's not gonna like this, but alright." Dark gave a reluctant sigh. "So then, what's he gonna go in the meantime?"

"He'll be watching over the Crystal Empire while we're gone."

"You sure it's a good idea to have an emotionally unstable guy watching over an entire empire?"

"He won't be making any drastic changes if that's what you're worried about. All that Flash will be doing in my and Cadence's absence will be watching over the empire and keep it running for the next few days."

"Okay."

Another half-hour later, all of the guards who were coming with had gathered, finally allowing for them to make their way to the train station. Upon arrival, they were greeted by Cheese Sandwich, who was waving them down in front of the crystalline train.

"So, you guys all ready to go?" he asked.

"Looks like it," Shining replied.

"Good. In that case, let's get going to Canterlot!"

Following Cheese Sandwich into the train, Dark a thought came to his mind and glanced over to Shining.

"Hey, Shining?"

"Yeah, Dark?"

"I just had a thought. You were keeping up the barrier around Canterlot before we left. So then if you're here, then who's keeping the barrier up now?"

Shining chuckled. "That would be Cadence. I taught her some of my more massive shield spells, so she was willing to keep it up while I'm gone."

Over in Canterlot, Twilight awoke with a small yawn as she rubbed her tired eyes. As she blinked away the sleepiness and sat up to take a look around her room, her eyes fell upon the white wedding dress on the poniequin off to the side. Recalling what today was, Twilight's eyes snapped open as she stared at the dress.

Today's the day, she thought, her surprise turning to happiness. I can't believe it. I'm getting married today!

Closing her eyes, she let out a sigh and laid herself back down in her bed. Smiling at the thought, Twilight opened her eyes and proceeded to gaze at her dress as feelings of joy and happiness began to wash over her. For the next twenty minutes, she laid there admiring the dress and thinking about what's to come later that day when there was a knock on the door.

"Twilight, honey, are you up yet?"

Recognizing her mother's voice, Twilight smiled and turned her head to look at the door.

"Yes, mom, I'm up. You can come on in if you want."

Hearing her response, Velvet went into Twilight's room and moved towards her bed. Seeing her sitting up, Velvet hopped up on the bed alongside Twilight and took a seat beside her. Pulling her daughter into a hug, Velvet held Twilight as the two of them looked at the wedding dress. Moments later, Velvet started to get teary-eyed.

"Are you okay, mom?" Twilight asked, having heard her mom sniffling.

"Yes, dear, I'm alright," she said, wiping her eyes with a hoof before hugging Twilight a little tighter. "I just can't believe that my little filly is getting married today."

"I know, mom. I know."

Comfortingly patting her mom's back, Twilight held onto her until Velvet calmed down enough for her to speak again.

"Sorry, sweetie," Velvet apologized with a weak chuckle. "Here I am, crying already, and the wedding isn't even close to starting yet."

"It's okay, mom."

Pushing past her teary eyes, Velvet smiled and placed a loving, motherly kiss on Twilight's forehead.

"Well now," Velvet began, clearing her throat, "I came to get you for breakfast. After all, we can't have the bride go hungry on her wedding day, can we?"

"I suppose not," Twilight giggled. "Okay. Just give me a few minutes to freshen up and I'll be ready."

"Okay. Take your time. I'll be waiting here until you're done."

Planting a kiss on her mom's cheek, Twilight got up and went to the suite's bathroom to ready herself for the day. Several minutes later, she came out and with Velvet, the two left her room and made for the dining hall. Along the way, they passed by several of the castle staff, most of whom took a moment to pause and congratulate Twilight on her upcoming wedding before rushing off back to their duties.

Coming upon the dining room, Twilight and Velvet entered to see all of her friends already there eating, along with Celestia, Luna, Spike, Soul, the Dazzlings, and the Crusaders. Once they saw her, they each greeted her with a good morning and/or wave. Returning their greeting with one of her own, Twilight and Velvet took their seats and joined the others in their breakfast.

"So, Twilight, how are you feeling this morning?" Celestia asked her.

"A little nervous, but otherwise, I'm really excited."

"I would hope so, darling," Rares said. "Today is your big wedding day after all, a day in which I'm sure every girl has dreamed of at least once."

"I'm not so sure about every girl, Rares," Dash commented. "I mean I know that you and most of our friends do or did, but not me."

"Why ever not? Surely there's been at least one boy that's caught your eye... or are you into girls like Sunset and Twi are?"

"Maybe she goes both ways?" Pinks guessed with a shrug.

Dash waved a hoof dismissingly. "Nah. I'm just not looking to be in any sort of relationship. Besides, I have way more important things to think and worry about than that."

"Like what, your sports?" AJ half-joked.

"Exactly! If I'm gonna be a star athlete, then I can't spend my time with someone else."

"Funny how you say that, Dash, considering that I was pretty much the same way when it came to studying science and magic," Twi commented, smirking when she saw Dash's posture crumple a little.

"But I can't. What about my scholarship?!"

Dash felt a hoof fall on her shoulder and saw that it belonged to Rainbow.

"Hey, don't sweat it," Rainbow confidently told her. "Besides, if you're supposed to be just like me, then I'm sure that you're awesome enough to handle both."

"Then does that mean that you've gotten yourself someone too? Because last I heard, you were single."

"Yeah, I am, but that doesn't mean that I might not some day. After all, I can juggle my time between my friends and work, so why can't you with your sports and finding a special somepony?"

"Don't you mean somebody?" Dash corrected before sighing. "But, when you put it like that, I guess it does make my excuse seem a little weak."

"Yeah, it kinda does," Rainbow smirked, giving her other self a playful punch in the shoulder.

"Since when did Dash start gettin' sappy on us?" AJ chuckled.

"Yeah," Applejack chuckled in agreement, "Ah didn't think that y'all would start ta act like this."

"Weddings do tend to let out the softer side of ponies," Luna commented.

"Oh?" Celestia smirked. "Like you and your crush?"

Luna glared at Celestia. "... someday, Tia, when you find somepony that you like, I'm going to return the teasing, and when I do, the teasing shall be doubled."

"Of course you will," Celestia said amusingly.

"But Princess Luna is right," Velvet spoke up. "Weddings do tend to bring out the more romantic side of everypony, which eventually leads us to ask questions about ourselves and of our romantic love lives."

"Speaking of which," Twilight began, looking up from her plate, "how've things been going for you and Discord, Fluttershy?"

Fluttershy blushed and took a moment to wipe her mouth clean before answering.

"We've been doing really great, Twilight," she happily replied. "We've been spending more time together, and during that time, I feel like I've gotten to know Discord ever better."

"Yeah, we've noticed by how much you've been missing lately," Rainbow commented.

"Sorry, Rainbow. I didn't mean to neglect you and the girls. It's just that-"

"Hey, I'm not mad at you or anything, so don't worry about it. I just meant that we've noticed that you've been spending a lot more time with him lately."

"By the way, how long have you two been dating now?" Spike wondered.

Fluttershy tapped her chin as she thought about it. "We should be closing in on our anniversary in a few weeks."

"Oh, my. That long already?" Rarity surprisingly asked.

"Yes. It'll be next month that we've been together for an entire year."

A small smirk formed on Rarity's lips. "In that case, perhaps Discord's thinking about proposing to you?"

Fluttershy's face lit up. "D-Do you really th-think he would?"

"I would like to think so. Like you said, you two have been dating for almost a whole year, so he's bound to ask you eventually."

"I'm gonna have to agree with Rarity, Fluttershy," Twilight agreed. "As it turned out, during Big Mac and Cheerilee's wedding, Dark was seriously starting to consider proposing to me."

"Really?"

"Yes. He told me after he proposed to me."

Rainbow scratched her head. "Huh. So Fluttershy might actually be the next one of us to get hitched."

"Only time will tell," Celestia said. "But for now, let's leave that be. We should finish up and get ourselves ready. No doubt that there'll be a few early arrivals."

"Not to mention checking in on the guards," Luna added.

"You're absolutely right, Your Highnesses," Rarity nodded in agreement. "After all, we'll need to apply some makeup to Twilight."

"We'll also need to style her mane," Rares added.

"Perhaps even a hooficure."

"Yes, that too. Ooh, I really wish we had a spa around her to take her to."

"Actually, there is one right here in the castle," Celestia spoke, causing the two Raritys to turn her attention over towards her.

"Well then, that does it!" Rarity exclaimed, standing up from the table with her double. "Come along, Twilight. We're taking you to the spa to get you all pampered and ready for your big day."

"Uhh, did they just forget that it's the princesses' spa?" Apple Bloom whispered to the other two Crusaders.

"It's Rarity," Sweetie Belle sighed. "When it comes to spas, she can get a little bit..."

"Tunnel visioned?" Scootaloo guessed.

"... yeah, I guess that that'll work."

Seeing Rarity and Rares going, Twilight remained and looked to Celestia, who simply smiled and waved a hoof for her to go with them. Getting a thankful hug from Twilight, Celestia watched as she ran to join the others, but not before she called out to them.

"Oh, and when you get there, tell them that I said to give you the royal special! I'm sure that you'll enjoy it!"

"Yes, Princess, and thank you!" Twilight called back before disappearing around the corner.

Smiling from watching Twilight's excitement, Celestia stood up and began walking around the table.

"You'll have to excuse me, but I'm going to head on out. I'm sure that some of the guests will be arriving early to secure themselves a good seat."

"Ooh! Can we come with you?" Pinkie asked with Pinks bouncing up alongside her.

"I don't see why not."

With a pair of cheers, Celestia found herself between a pair of Pinkies as they bounced on both sides of her. Several minutes later, Celestia stood at the front entrance to the castle with Pinkie on her left, and Pinks on her right.

"Thank you for coming. I'm actually surprised that you two wanted to accompany me," Celestia said.

"Of course we did," Pinkie said. "Besides, there's somepony who should be here any second now."

"Oh? And who might that be?"

Before Pinkie could answer, Pinks began to bounce up and down with her hoof pointed out. "She's here! She's here!"

Looking towards where Pinks was pointing, Pinkie and Celestia both saw a light-gray earth pony mare in a faded-blue frock and brown saddlebag walking towards them. As she got closer, they could better see her pale-purple mane and eyeshadow, teal eyes, and the expressionless look on her face. Once she got close enough, both Pinkie and Pinks ran ahead of Celestia and wrapped her up in a hug.

"Hi, Maud!" Pinkie shouted.

"Hey, Maud!" Pinks greeted.

"Hello, Pinkie," Maud said in a monotone voice, hugging her sister before turning her attention to the other mare clinging to her. Looking over her for a moment, Maud wrapped her other foreleg around Pinks. "Hello to you too, other Pinkie."

"Huh?! How'd you know it was me?! I'm a completely different color than what I should be."

"You're still my sister," Maud shortly explained.

"Oohhhhhhh. Right. I suppose that I kinda am."

Letting Maud go, Pinkie and Pinks hopped alongside Maud up to Celestia, who was watching them with a look of confusion, but quickly hid it as they approached her.

"Greetings, Maud Pie," Celestia greeted. "It's a pleasure to meet Pinkie's elder sister."

"A pleasure," Maud returned before slowly blinking. "It's fine."

"Pardon, but what are you talking about?"

"I know it seems strange when compared to my sister. As you've seen, I don't show my enthusiasm like Pinkie Pie does."

"Umm... yes... I've noticed. Forgive me, it's just that after meeting Pinkie so many times, I didn't quite expect for you to be so... mellow."

"It's fine," Maud replied, showing no emotion in her facial expressions.

Putting on a smile, Celestia motioned for Maud and the two Pinkies to follow her.

"So," Celestia began, "what do you do?"

"I'm a geologist."

"Ah. I suppose growing up on a rock farm had something to do to that?"

"Yes."

".... so then, any hobbies or pets?"

Maud's gaze slowly drifted up to Celestia. "Yes. Both."

"Oh?" Celestia watched confusingly as Maud reached into one of her pockets and pulled out a rock to present to Celestia. "Excuse me, but what's this?"

"It's my pet rock. His name is Boulder," Maud replied.

"Oh... that's... unique," Celestia awkwardly said.

"As for my hobbies," she began, putting Boulder away, "I write my own poetry."

"Really? Now that sounds interesting. Mind if hear some if it?"

Maud gave a small nod before she began. "Rock. You are a rock. Gray. You are gray. Like a rock. Which you are. Rock."

Celestia slowly blinked as she heard Maud's "poem."

"I've written thousands," Maud informed her. "This next one's about rocks. They're all about rocks."

As Maud continued to read her poetry, Celestia put on a pleasant face as she listened, doing her best to not be rude and awkwardly ask for Maud to stop.

Several hours later, the train from the Crystal Empire pulled into the train station. Unboarding from the train, Dark and the other guys ran out of it and began stampeding down the road towards the castle.

"You know," Discord began, floating alongside them, "we wouldn't be cutting it so close if you all would've just let me teleport us here."

"Well how were we supposed to know that a pack of diamond dogs would suddenly pop up out of snow like daises and try hijacking the train?!" Dark shot back.

"Besides, Dark and a few of the other crystal ponies get teleportation sickness," Shining added.

"It's nothing that I couldn't fix with a snap of my claw," Discord reminded.

"That's enough, boys," Night told them, spotting the clock as it read 4:45 P.M. "The wedding doesn't start until six, so we've still got bit of time to make it to the castle, get changed, groomed, and back to the wedding hall with time to spare."

Dark let out a sigh of relief. "Thank goodness for that. If we were late, I wouldn't doubt that either Twilight or one of the princesses would have my hide. Whether that's literally or figuratively, I'm don't know and don't want to know."

"I wouldn't worry about it," Discord dismissed. "Besides, you'll just regenerate it back."

"Yeah, but that doesn't mean that I want to try it... actually, never mind. I already did that myself once before."

"Look's like ye won't have to, lad," Anvil said, motioning up to the castle gates.

Picking up the pace, Dark and the others closed in on the gates where six guards were letting ponies file in to get early seats for the wedding. When the guards saw them approaching, the stepped off to the side to let them all in. Once inside, Dark, Shining, Discord, Night, Fissure, Pyre, and Anvil parted from their group and went to the guest room where he and Twilight were sharing. Knocking to make sure that Twilight wasn't in there and hearing no reply, Dark opened the door and led the guys in.

"Okay, let's get ourselves dressed and get over to the wedding hall," Dark told them, heading over to his suitcase.

"I'm not getting dressed in some fancy clothing that I'll only be wearing once," Pyre proclaimed.

"Same," Fissure nodded in agreement.

"Do you even have any clothes?" Shining asked.

"If they don't, then I could easily fix that," Discord said with a chuckle.

"Let them be, Discord," Dark told him. "They'll be fine the way they are."

Twelve minutes later after scrambling to make themselves more presentable, there was a knocking on the door. Everyone freezing in place, they each turned towards the door as another set of knocks came through.

"Hello? Dark? Are you in there?"

"Yes, Princess Luna, just a moment."

Straightening his traditional black and white tuxedo, Dark walked over and opened the door a crack to peek through. Seeing that it was Luna standing there in a purple dress with a golden hemming, he stepped aside and held the door open for her to come in.

"Thank you," she thanked. "Ponies were starting to worry since nopony has seen any sign of you or the others, myself included. At least, until the guards came to inform my sister and I of your rather hectic arrival."

"Sorry about that, Princess," Dark apologized. "We had some trouble with a group of diamond dogs that boarded the train and tried to take it over."

"I see. They didn't prove much trouble I take it?"

"Besides having to stop the train to prevent hitting the blockade they set up in the middle of the train tracks, they weren't any problem."

"Good to hear. In that case, I shall go and inform the others. See you at the alter."

Leaving them be, Luna left the room and closed the door behind her. With the guys alone again, they continued to get themselves dressed up while Pyre and Fissure sat off to the side, the former groaning in boredom.

"Since there's nothing for me to do here, I'm gonna go and get a seat," he announced.

"Same," Fissure agreed, following after him before turning back. "See you all in a bit."

"See ya soon, guys," Dark called before fiddling with his necktie with a huff of annoyance. "Okay, can somepony please help me with this thing?!"

Chuckling, Night walked over and gave Dark a hoof. "Can't seem to get it, huh?"

Dark groaned in annoyance. "I can beat an ursa major by myself, I can fight off an entire army, I can bring ponies back from the dead, but what I can't do is do a freaking necktie!"

"We've all been there at some point." Night paused for a moment. "What about the one that you wore to the Hearth's Warming Eve Ball?"

"That was a bowtie, and it was a clip-on."

"Ahh, the clip-on. A stallions best cheat when it comes to fashion," Shining said with a bit of mirth.

Hearing the guys laughing at Dark, Pyre smirked as he and Fissure both walked down the halls to find a guard for directions. Finding one and following his instructions, the two brothers made their way down the halls until they came across three ponies, two of whom were Pinkie and Pinks, and the third who was a complete mystery to them.

"Heya, guys," Pinkie waved to them.

"About time you guys showed up," Pinks commented. "We were starting to wonder if something happened."

"Just some diamond dogs, nothing worth bothering with," Pyre idly dismissed.

"Ohh. Well, that's good to hear," Pinkie said. "Ooh! I haven't introduced you two yet. Pyre, Fissure, this is my sister Maud! Maud, these are Pyre and Fissure."

"Hello," Maud said in a monotone voice to Pyre before turning to Fissure.

When she did, there was a very slight change to her eyes as she approached him. Once close enough, she lifted a hoof and glided it over his rocky chest.

"... brown granite."

Pyre looked at her confusingly. "What?"

"He's made of granite," Maud clarified, earning her a rumbly chuckle from Fissure.

"Nice catch," he complimented before changing. "Now, what am I made-"

"Basalt."

Fissure blinked, surprised that she already identified. Smiling inwardly, he decided to challenge her and changed again.

"Sandstone."

And again.

"Obsidian."

And again.

"Marble."

And again.

"Shale."

Impressed with how quickly she could identify the types of rocks he'd turned into, Fissure smiled outwardly as he changed once again. However, unlike the other times, it took Maud a moment before she could identify it.

"Petrified wood."

Having enough, Fissure chuckled as he reverted back to his normal form.

"Very impressive," he commented Maud, causing the smallest spot of red to form on her cheeks. "How did you know?"

Pinkie draped a hoof around Maud's shoulders. "Maud knows everything there is about rocks! Isn't that right, Maud?"

Instead of verbally answering, Maud gave a small nod before looking curiously at Fissure.

"What are you?" she asked.

"I am Fissure, one of the six Scaleless Dragons, and the Lord of Earth," he answered her, subconsciously puffing out his chest slightly. "I am everything that is earth, be it rock or plant."

Nodding, Maud tapped a hoof against Fissure and felt that the rock he was made of didn't just look and feel like it, but also had the right density as it too.

"Hard as a rock," she idly said.

"You've no idea," Fissure chuckled, causing Maud to crack a very small smile.

"... are you going to the wedding too?" Maud asked him, getting a nod in reply.

"Was on my way there."

Maud nodded. "You want to go with me?"

Giving her a small bow, Fissure walked alongside Maud as the two left to the wedding hall, leaving Pyre standing there, staring at them while both Pinkie and Pinks were trembling in place.

"Oh my gosh! Did you see that?!" Pinkie shouted excitingly.

"I did! I did! I did!" Pinkie exclaimed equally as excitingly.

"What? I don't get it," Pyre said confusingly.

"What?! How could you not see the look on her face?!"

"She didn't look any different than when she first showed up!" Pyre said in annoyance. "She just kept up that bored look and spoke in that monotone voice the entire time!"

"Are you kidding me?!" Pinkie asked in disbelief. "She was blushing up a storm there! I've never seen her look like that!"

"Did you see the look in her eyes, too?!" Pinks asked her double. "I've never seen her eyes sparkle like they did there!"

"Me too!"

Still confused, Pyre looked over the two giggling mares. "Sooo... what's going on?"

Pinkie giggled before she answered him. "Maud totally has the hots for Fissure."

"Yeah," Pinks agreed. "I wouldn't be surprised if they were to ask each other out before the end of tonight."

Happy with how things turned out, Pinkie and Pinks turned around and bounced back from where they came from, leaving Pyre standing alone in the hallway as he thought to himself.

... if Fissure's gonna end up like Dark, then maybe having a nice suit for a wedding isn't such a bad idea after all.

The time for the wedding was near as just about everyone was ready. Inside the hall, rows of chairs were sat out with white strands of fabric tied to each chair alongside the aisle by a bouquet of violet roses. Along the walls and windows, white curtains were placed, along with flowers lining the walls. And there, where Dark waited at the alter, was an arch of red and white roses between a pair of marble pillars.

Along with Dark standing up at the alter as he waited for Twilight, was Celestia, who stood patiently in her pink and golden dress, who would occasionally give Dark reassuring words to calm himself. To Dark's immediate left stood his best stallion, Shining, in his favorite uncle's military dress outfit, followed by his groomsstallions, Discord, Big Mac, and Anvil. On the other side of the alter across from him was Cadence as Twilight's best mare, and her six friends, all of whom were wearing peach colored dresses with minor changes to match their individuality. Seeing as how Twilight didn't want to pick any one of her friends over the others and make them feel bad, she went with Cadence, seeing as she's known her for much longer, is her sister-in-law, and it would be a safer choice, which her friends were alright with.

Shuffling around on his hooves and claws, Dark looked out at those who've gathered for the wedding. It was easy to spot Pyre, Aques, Aero holding Aurora's egg, Soul, and Fissure, who Dark noticed was sitting rather close to a pony who was pointed out to be Pinkie's sister, Maud. Scanning the crowd again, he spotted Steel Guard, Kite Shield, and Aura Lance sitting in the front row beside the Scaleless Dragons, Granny Smith, First Strike, Gem Cutter, Snow Flower, the Dazzlings, Fancy Pants, Fleur De Lis, Gray, Emerald, Saph, and Cheese Sandwich.

Looking over to the other row, Dark immediately noticed Sunset and the rest of their friends sitting at the front row, along with Velvet who was dabbing her eyes with tissues already as she held onto Skyla for Cadence, Zecora, Luna, Redheart, and Cheerilee. There were also a bunch of ponies that Dark didn't recognize, but was curious when ponies to start murmuring amongst themselves upon one pony in particular. Dark also saw that in the audience were ponies who Rainbow had told him were the Wonderbolts, all wearing their military dress outfits instead of their flight uniforms.

Seeing that the entire room was packed, Dark closed his eyes and tried to control his breathing. As the minutes continued to roll by, he felt increasingly nervous, which in turn caused him to start nervously sweating.

"You doing alright there?"

Hearing her motherly voice, Dark opened his eyes and looked up at Celestia.

"Yeah. I'm fine," he replied.

"Feeling a bit nervous?"

"More like a lot nervous. When's she gonna be here anyway? It's starting to get kinda warm in here."

"Just relax, Dark," Shining told him, having heard him and Celestia. "This is all just a normal part of getting married."

Dark gave a small groan, clearly not liking having to feel like this as he waited. Seven minutes later of standing and nervously fidgeting and shifting around, the sound of music started to play. Hearing it, Dark's attention was drawn to the double-doors opening to Spike as he walked down the aisle in his black tuxedo and top hat, holding a pillow in his claws with a pair of rings on them. Soon after Spike reached the alter and stood off to the side, the Crusaders each came bouncing down the aisle in their pink dresses, spreading pink rose petals as they approached. It was when they'd made it to the alter and stood off to the side that the music changed and everyone stood up and turned their attention towards the doors as they opened.

As the doors opened, Dark felt his breath catching in his throat at what he saw. There, standing in the middle of the doorway was Twilight in a dress whiter than any snow that Dark had ever seen that did very well to hid her baby bump. Along with the dress, he also noticed her hair done up in a bun, but most importantly and happily, was seeing the silver necklace that he'd gotten her for Hearth's Warming being worn around her neck.

With the white veil draped over her face, and the bouquet of white roses in her magical hold, Twilight smiled and took a calming breath before she felt Night taking her hoof. Letting out one last breath, Twilight began walking down the aisle with Night escorting her. As she approached, she remembered her mom's advice about what to do if she began feeling nervous. Following her words, Twilight looked over to Dark as he stood at the alter, waiting for her. Once her eyes locked onto his, she felt her worries and nerves start to dissipate, just as Velvet told her. Time became lost as they held their gaze on each other, and before she knew it, Twilight found herself standing at that same alter. Levitating her bouquet to Cadence to hold on to, Twilight turned to Night and smiled as he pulled the veil off from over her face and laid it back before planting a kiss on her forehead.

"I love you, sweetheart," Night said softly.

"I love you too, dad," Twilight smiled.

Wiping a tear from Twilight's eyes, Night turned to Dark and shared a quick hug with him before turning to take his seat alongside Velvet. Now just the two of them, Dark and Twilight faced each other with smiles on their faces, and tears of happiness in their eyes. Reaching out, Dark held Twilight's hoof in his claw as they turned to face Celestia, while everyone in attendance sat themselves back down. Waiting for everyone to get settled back down, Celestia looked over the two before her and waited a little longer before she began.

"Well... here we finally are," she quietly said to herself before taking a calming breath and addressing everyone. "Mares and gentlecolts. We are here today to witness the union of Princess Twilight Sparkle, and Dark Flame. I must admit that I never thought that I'd see this day come. As my personal student, Twilight has spent a good deal of her life at my side, so it's easy for me to say that at times, I tend to think of her as my daughter. Of course, with that said, I also must admit that when I watched her growing up under my tutelage that I was starting to become concerned with how she was with her studies. To be honest, before I sent her to Ponyville to study the magic of friendship, I was just about convinced that she'd sooner marry a book than anypony else."

The room was filled with chuckles at Celestia's comment, including Dark.

"But, I'm overjoyed to see that I was wrong in that assumption. Not only did she drift away from her near-obsession with books and studying magic, but she also found friends that she trusts with her life. And now, she's found somepony special who she's wanting to share the rest of her life with."

Celestia looked at Dark.

"Young Dark Flame. For many years you've defended your village of Stonewall from the constant attack of King Inferno's dragon raids. And even though you were shunned and mistreated by your fellow villagers, you continued to fight to protect them until the end regardless."

Celestia shook her head.

"A stallion who risked so much for the safety of his village and fellow ponies, only to receive such treatment by them in the end, is not right. You deserve more than that."

Her gaze softened as she continued.

"And you have. When your village fell, you were left the sole survivor with lost memories. You traveled aimlessly into a world unfamiliar with you until you stumbled into a meadow and passed out. It was then that you were brought in by a stranger to you, who let you live with her, and soon became a friend worth trusting. As she helped you become familiar with Equestria and you two spent more time together, that friendship turned into something wonderful. From friendship to love, and from love to the beginnings of a family.

"You, Dark, have gone through much pain, misery, and fighting in your lifetime. So, I believe that it's long overdue that you've finally received the proper acknowledgement that you've earned."

Celestia turned to Twilight.

"Twilight, would you like to start us off?"

Nodding, Twilight took a calming breath before speaking.

"Dark. For the longest time, I never bothered with friendship. Most of my life, I thought that books were the most important thing in my life. It wasn't until Princess Celestia sent me to Ponyville that I learned how wrong I was. During my time there, I learned much about friendship, and now, I have five friends that are more like sisters to me. But, despite all of that, I'd barely thought about the possibility of any sort of romantic relationship. That is, until I met you.

"I admit, at first I found you to be a little unsure of whether you were trusting or not. That's why I had you stay with me at first, so that I could keep an eye on you. But, I was quick to realize that that wasn't necessary. Instead of being somepony dangerous, you turned out to be this big softy. You got along well with all of my friends and Spike, and before I knew it, I felt more comfortable with you, like you've been with us for a lot longer than what you were. Then, before I knew it, I started to have these feelings for you. I thought it might've been just a schoolfilly crush at first, but after the timberwolf attack, and when we went to the Running of the Leaves fair together, I felt more sure about it. But, the final straw for me, I think, was the morning after the attack on Ponyville when you tried asking me to be your fillyfriend."

Twilight glanced over to Celestia, who's cheeks were tinted with embarrassment and was looking away.

"I was worried that when my brother attacked you that it would drive you way, and later I thought that I'd lost you when you were sent through the portal and stranded on the other side."

Twilight paused as she whipped her eyes with a sniffle.

"But you're still here. In the end, you didn't let Shiny push you away from me and later became good friends with him, and you returned from the other side of the portal with the help of the friends that you've made there. While that's impressive in of itself, you also rescued Soul from a pack of timberwolves in the Everfree Forest, who we later adopted and gave a home to. And now, with our daughter on the way, I can say with the utmost certainty that I'm looking forward to spending the rest of my life with you. I love you, Dark, and I promise that from this day forward that I'll always stand by your side as your loving wife."

There was a moment where the only sounds was some sniffling from the crowd, and a few "awwws" from Twilight's friends. Allowing a moment for everyone to calm down, Celestia gave Twilight an approving nod before turning to Dark.

"Dark, if you would?"

Wiping his eyes clear, Dark smiled as he gave Twilight's hoof a gentle squeeze.

"Twilight. For almost all of my life I've seen struggle and fighting. While it wasn't until I was fifteen that I started the defend my old home from the dragons, I still barely knew what peace was with the threat of Inferno's dragons lurking. That is, until I met you. I know that I've said it before, but you, Twilight, have shown me peace in a lifetime of violence. You showed me what true friendship was when the only friend I had before had betrayed me to Inferno. You then went a step further in not only giving me a new place to call home, but to also share the same feelings of love that I felt for you."

Dark shook his head.

"When I was trapped on the other side of the portal, I was worried about how you were doing. Not only was... he, there in Ponyville, but I also couldn't get back to you, and I didn't have any way to contact you to let you know how I was doing. It got to the point once where I had almost destroyed the portal in an attempt to break through it and force it open. Thankfully, a friend that I made over there had stopped me before I did something stupid, and told me of a way to get in touch with you. And while it pained me to wait like I did, I was truly happy to see you when you and the guards came to rescue me.

"You saved me and returned me home to you and our friends in Equestria. Not only that, but thanks to you, I was able to peacefully spend a Hearth's Warming with a loving family, even if they weren't my family at the time. And now, thanks to you once again, you've given me the chance to have something that I've never though possible of having; A family of my own."

Dark brought a claw up and gently cupped Twilight's cheek.

"You have given so much, Twilight, and I'll do whatever I can to return that to you. I'll do everything that I can to be the best father that I can be to our daughter that you're carrying, and to be the best husband that I can be to you. I'll protect our family, keep you all safe from any danger, and while I'll more than likely screw up in a few places, never forget that I'll always love you, no matter what."

At this point, both Dark and Twilight were letting their tears run freely, along with almost half of those watching. Letting a moment pass, Celestia subtly used her magic to wipe her eyes before she smiled down at them.

"Very good, you two," she complimented before turning to Spike. "May we have the rings?"

Taking his cue, Spike walked up and presented the pillow with the two rings. Once close enough, he held it up as Celestia took the rings in her magic and turned to Twilight to give her Dark's wedding ring.

"Do you, Princess Twilight Sparkle, take Dark Flame as your lawfully wedded husband, to have and to hold, from this day forward, for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, until death do you part?"

Twilight was about to answer, but stopped as she and Dark both shot a curious look at Celestia. It took her a moment, but soon, Celestia recognized her mistake.

Right. Lord of Death, she thought. Guess I'll have to improvise then.

"Sorry. I meant... until the end of days?"

See as how that was better, Twilight giggled at Celestia before turning back to Dark and slipping a golden ring on his horn.

"I do."

Glad that she didn't screw up, Celestia nodded before turning to Dark and giving him Twilight's wedding ring.

"Do you, Dark Flame, take Princess Twilight Sparkle as your lawfully wedded wife, to have and to hold, from this day forward, for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, until the end of days?"

With teary eyes and a smile on his face, Dark slid the ring on Twilight's horn.

"I do."

Glad to hear it, Celestia looked up to address everyone.

"Then by the power vest in me by me, I now pronounce you husband and wife. You may now kiss the bride."

Taking a calming breath, Dark and Twilight looked into each other's eyes one more time. As they did, they both felt a sense of calmness and, with one movement, they both leaned in and shared their first kiss as husband and wife. Soon as their lips met, everyone was stood up as the cheered and applauded the new married couple. As they continued to cheer, Dark and Twilight held their kiss for a little while longer before they parted, both smiling widely and crying tears of joy. However, it wasn't quite over yet.

Raising a hoof up, Celestia waited for everyone to quiet down with Luna now by her side. Once the crowd had calmed down, Celestia teleported to her Twilight's crown, and another crown, this one being a silver circlet with a red gem embedded in the center of the circlet with what appeared to be a swirl of black mist inside it.

"Mares and gentlecolts," Celestia called out, holding the two crowns and placing them on Twilight's and Dark's heads. "I present to you, Mrs. Twilight Sparkle, Princess of Friendship, and Mr. Dark Flame, Prince of Flame and Shadow."

The crowed cheered once again, and somewhere within the cacophony of sounds, Pinkie and Pinks both pointed at Celestia and shouted "Ah! Ah! She said it! She said it!". Glancing up, Dark briefly looked at the silver crown placed on upon his head before turning his attention to his new wife. Smiling widely, he held his claw out as she took it with her hoof. Now claw in hoof, Dark and Twilight began making their way down the aisle with Celestia, Luna, and their friends following them, as everyone continued to cheer for them. Following the plan from their rehearsal, they made their way over to one of the balconies overlooking Canterlot and walked up over to the edge to see hundreds of ponies gathered below them, all of whom started cheering as soon as they saw the new royal couple appear.

Seeing them all, Dark and Twilight smiled and waved to the ponies below. Then, feeling a sense of overwhelming joy from the positive feedback of the crowd, they faced each other and shared another kiss, causing the crowd to cheer louder for them. Breaking their kiss, Dark leaned his forehead against Twilight as they stared in each other's eyes.

"This day has been just perfect," he whispered.

"Yeah, it has," Twilight said with a small smile. "But, it's not over just yet."

Chapter 89- Reception Ultimatum

The sun had just finished setting as everypony was moved out to the Canterlot gardens where Dark and Twilight's wedding reception was being held. With so many ponies in attendance, the ball room wasn't nearly big enough to hold the event, so, with a suggestion from Cadence, Pinkie had organized it outside where everypony could attend and enjoy themselves. She also remembered to add in a safe place where the younger ponies to play and some fun of their own.

Much like the inside, the reception area was filled with white decorations, ranging from cloths strung from tree to tree with lights, to the white tablecloths decorating the tables, and to the actual chairs. With all the different kinds of ponies attending, there were different kinds of foods aligning the food tables. While a few were set with punch bowls, some held some of the more sophisticated types of foods that the nobles would appreciate, while others held the more variant and enjoyable kinds, courtesy of Applejack's and AJ's cooking, along with some help from Pinkie and Pinks.

With the party having something for all to enjoy, everypony was pleased to be there. But, while some weren't quite taken with idea of having Vinyl Scratch supplying them with the music initially, the addition of Octavia's music had turned it into a music genre all of its own, which caused some of the nobles to look back and rethink their prior opinions. Plus, with Vinyl's experience with all of the places she'd DJ'd at, she'd developed a feel for the crowd and kept toned down a little to match the mood of the party.

While everyone was enjoying themselves and mingling with each other, the two newlyweds were standing off to the side as they were approached by each pony who came in to attend, receiving their congratulations and best wishes for a happy and bright future. And while Dark and Twilight were both very happy by all of this, they were standing like this for the last forty minutes, welcoming everypony and listening to them.

"This is getting kinda boring," Dark quietly said to his new wife.

"I know, Dark, but it's just how things are," Twilight told her new husband before glancing up at the silver crown upon his head. "Besides, you're a prince now, so you might as well start getting used to it."

"I guess," he sighed before chuckling. "It's kinda funny. We're married and I'm a prince now, but I don't feel all that different than I did when I woke up next to you yesterday morning."

"I know what you mean, and I agree. Although, if I'm to be perfectly honest, I think that I actually love you more now."

Dark smiled. "Because we're married now?"

"Mhmm."

Chuckling, Dark leaned in and shared a kiss with Twilight. "Yeah. I can agree with that."

"Sorry, but we're not interrupting you two, are we?"

Looking away from each other, Dark and Twilight saw Aques, Aero, and Pyre standing before them with Aero holding Aurora's glowing egg.

"No, you're not," Twilight answered for her and Dark.

Glad that they weren't bothering them, Aques closed the gap and pulled both of them into a hug while Aero coiled around them in her own special hug. It didn't last long, though, as Aero uncoiled herself to let them all go.

"We're all very happy for you two," Aques said.

"Yeah," Aero chimed, holding up Aurora's egg. "Especially Aurora. She's so happy that her egg hasn't stopped glowing since the actual wedding ceremony."

"Thank you," Dark thanked. "We're glad that you were all able to make it."

"Yeah, about that," Pyre began. "You see, we had only enough time to stick around for the ceremony."

Dark and Twilight's expressions fell a little before the latter spoke. "You're not staying longer?"

Aero placed her free claw on Twilight's shoulder. "I'm sorry, little sister," she said with a hint of sadness, "but we can't wait any longer. It'll take us about a week to complete the ritual for contacting mother and father, and we want to get it done as quickly as possible before Inferno tries something."

"I... understand."

Seeing her mood dampened by this, Aques wrapped her arms around Twilight in a gently hug.

"We're sorry, Twilight," she apologized, "but it has to be done. Otherwise, we would love to stay longer."

"It's alright, I get it."

Aques gave a soft squeeze before letting Twilight go. "Don't worry. When we're all done, we'll come back and spend plenty of time together to make up for it."

"What about Aurora?" Dark asked. "If you three are going to be busy for the next week, and me and Twilight on our honeymoon, then who's gonna look after her egg and Spike and Soul?"

"Fissure's got that covered," Pyre answered.

"And just incase, we've also got the Dazzlings to agree to look after them," Aero added. "Besides, they did a good job the last time, and that Sonata mare seems pretty nice."

Twilight looked over to Dark. "She does seem like the friendliest one of the three, and she's been good to Soul too."

"Yeah, can't overlook that," Dark agreed.

"Good. In that case, we better get going." With a wave, Pyre spread his wings and took off into the night sky.

"What if we need to get ahold of you?" Twilight asked.

"Sorry, but we'll be out of touch during the time of the ritual," Aques explained before giving her and Dark a wave. "Besides, you two will probably still be on your honeymoon by the time we're all finished up, so you won't be missing on anything. Anyway, we'll see you soon."

Dark and Twilight watched as Aques followed after Pyre, leaving Aero behind.

"Guess I better find the Dazzlings and let them hold onto Aurora's egg," she mused.

"If you want, we can look after her," Dark offered.

"Thanks, but you two are busy enough as you are. We've seen all of the ponies you've had to deal with, so I don't want to trouble you with anymore."

"It's really no trouble, Aero," Twilight said.

"Maybe, but still-"

"Hey, Aero! Let's get going already!"

Aero sighed at the sound of Pyre shouting for her and handed Aurora's egg over to Dark and Twilight.

"Alright. Well, I guess I'll see you two in a week."

Giving them one last hug, Aero flew up to join Pyre and Aques as they flew off and disappeared into the night sky. With them now alone again, Dark tucked Aurora's egg beneath his wing where it would be safe. At least, until they found the Dazzlings and gave her to them to look after.

"Too bad they couldn't stay longer," Twilight commented.

"Yeah, but if they say that it's important, then we can't really complain about it."

Seeing that nopony else was coming to them at the moment, Dark and Twilight began moving towards their table. Before they could get there, though, Applejack approached them, and she wasn't alone.

"Heya, Twilight, Dark," she called to them before wrapping them both in a quick hug. "So, how've y'all been? Pretty happy Ah'd bet."

"We are, Applejack," Twilight replied. "Although, we've been rather busy with everypony coming to congratulate us."

"Well, it's ta be expected Ah suppose," she said with a shrug. "By the way, there's somepony who's been meanin' ta see ya."

Applejack motioned a hoof for the other mare to approach them. She was a pale-blue earth pony with turquoise blue eyes, and what looked like a midnight navy-blue mane with teal-blue highlights.

"Hello, Your Highnesses, and congratulations on your marriage," she said.

It took her a moment, but Twilight was able to remember who this pony was.

"Thank you, Rara," she thanked before cocking her head to the side. "Or do you still prefer Countess Coloratura?"

"Just Rara, Princess. I've dropped the Countess gig long ago."

Twilight smiled while Dark stepped forward and offered a claw to her. "So you're Rara."

"Yep, that's me," she said, shaking Dark's claw.

"In that case, I should thank you."

Rara looked confusingly at Dark. "Why? What did I do?"

"Remember that letter you sent to me and Twilight?" Dark reminded her and getting a nod from her. "You were one of the few ponies who'd sent letters of approval for Twilight and I being together after it was made public. I just wanted to thank you for you being so approving of us where so many weren't."

"Oh. Well, you're welcome," Rara thankfully said. "To be honest, I don't really understand why ponies were so upset about it."

"Heh, not like they'll have much room ta say in it anymore, huh, Rara?" Applejack chuckled.

"No. I guess they won't."

Dark chuckled in agreement. "So, how do you know Twilight and Applejack, Rara?"

"I met Princess Twilight during a concert I was participating in," she said, smiling as she looked back on the choice she'd made with dropping Svengallop that day. "As for Applejack, we met when we were fillies one summer at Camp Friendship. Since then, we've written to each other. And yes, we did lose touch after a while, but we managed to rekindle our old friendship, and have been keeping in touch ever since."

"Well good for you two."

"Thank you." Rara was about to add on more, but was interrupted when her stomach started rumbling, causing her to blush in embarrassment while the others snickered. "Uhh... excuse me."

"No, no, it's fine," Twilight chuckled. "You go on and grab something to eat."

"O-Okay. Thank you again for the invitation, and congratulations on the marriage, and the foal."

"Thank you," Dark and Twilight both thanked.

As they watched Rara disappear into the crowd, Applejack and Dark looked at Twilight when they heard her stomach growling too.

"Sounds like somepony else is hungry," Dark chuckled. "Or is that our foal?"

"At this point, I'm not really sure," Twilight sighed.

"In that case, y'all better go on and join the others at the table," Applejack said. "Besides, Ah'm pretty sure that Twilight and your kid aren't the only ones who're hungry, right, Dark?"

"... yeah... I guess it has been a while since I last ate."

"And when was that?" Twilight asked with a raised eyebrow.

"... last night?"

Applejack nodded. "In that case, you two go on and grab yourselves somethin' ta eat. If anypony still wants ta meet with ya, then Ah'll just tell them ta come back later. Ah'm sure they'll understand when Ah tell them that you two wanted ta take a break ta get somethin' ta eat. Oh, and if ya want, Ah can look after Aurora's egg while you're busy."

Twilight and Dark looked at the egg tucked beneath his wing.

"Are you sure you can handle it?" Twilight wondered.

"Sure Ah'm sure. Y'all can trust me on this."

Sharing a look with Twilight, Dark reached under his wing and pulled out Aurora's egg for Applejack to take. When she did, she held it securely against her chest with a foreleg.

"Thanks. Again, Ah'll keep an eye on her while you two are busy doin' your thin'."

"Alright. Thank you, Applejack," Twilight thanked.

"No problem, sugarcube. Now go on with ya."

Listening to her, Twilight and Dark made their way through the crowd and towards the long table sitting out for them, and their bridesmaids and groomsstallions. However, before they got there, Twilight spotted somepony out from the corner of her eye and smiled.

"Hey, do you think we could go see one more pony?" she asked.

"Really? I thought you were hungry?" Dark questioned.

"I am, but I really want for you to meet her."

"Alright, if that's what you want, then we can spare a moment to meet her."

"Great!" Grabbing his claw, Twilight dragged Dark off to the side to where she saw the pony. Once she got close enough, Twilight waved her down. "Hey! Moondancer!"

Hearing her name being called out, Moondancer looked over to see Twilight and Dark approaching.

"Hello, Twilight, and congratulations on your marriage," she said, sharing a brief hug with Twilight.

"Thank you," Twilight thanked before the broke up. "I don't believe that you two have met yet. Moondancer, this is Dark, my husband," she blushed. "Dark, this is my friend Moondancer. She led the one who helped me disable the amulet that was jamming the portal and bring you back to Equestria."

Dark smiled and took Moondancer's hoof. "So you're Moondancer. Twilight's told me a nice bit about you."

"And I've heard quite a bit about you yourself," she said, shaking his claw. "Although, it's nice to finally meet you in person."

"You too. Also, thank you for helping Twilight in bringing me back home."

"You're welcome... besides, it wasn't like I could exactly pass it up."

"You mean with the undead apocalypse and all of that, right?"

"Well, that, and Princess Celestia pays really, really well," she admitted, getting a chuckle from Dark.

The three of them stood there talking for a while before Twilight's stomach rumbled again, reminding her and Dark about what they were doing and excusing themselves to get a bite to eat. Taking their seats at the center of the table, they looked over the food that was sitting before them and began picking at what they felt like eating. Although, a special request had to be made as Twilight's food cravings started kicking in again. Thankfully for her, the meat that she craved was easily concealed by the silver plate cover, shielding it from everyone.

After some time had passed with Dark and Twilight having finished their first plate of food, they were starting to get into their second when the sound of something tapping against glass was heard. As the party quieted down, everyone looked over to see Shining with a fork and glass cup held in his magic.

"Thank you, everypony," Shining thanked. "Now, seeing as how I'm the best stallion, I guess that I'm supposed to make some speech. Although, it would've been nice if I had one for my and Cadence's wedding reception."

Shining then pretended to cough as he called out Iron Guard's name, causing a number of the attendees to snicker while the stallion in question simply grumbled and took another swig of his punch.

"Anyway, speech... speech, speech, speech." Shining turned to Dark and Twilight. "Well, I suppose that I should start by congratulating Equestria's newest royal couple, but then again, I pretty much did that already, along with most of you I'm sure."

Hearing a chorus of agreeing murmurs, Shining continued.

"So now, onto the bride." His eyes softened as he saw his sister looking up at him, eagerly awaiting to hear his words. "Twily. My LSBFF. Growing up together, I never thought that I'd see the cute little filly that I grew up with would grow up to be such a beautiful young mare. And much like Princess Celestia said, I didn't think that you'd find somepony that you'd wanna marry either. Heck, even mom and dad can agree that they didn't think so either."

"I don't know what you're talking about, Shining," Night called out for everyone to hear. "I didn't think that for a second!"

"Oh, don't you start going on saying that, Night," Velvet scolded him just as loudly. "I can admit that I was concerned for Twilight, but at least I was able to keep it under control. You were so worried that it got to the point where you actually started to wear a groove into the floorboards when you started pacing around the house."

There was a moment of laughter at Night's expense.

Huh. Well now I know who I got that old habit from, Twilight mused as the laughter died down.

"Yes, I'm sure that just about all of us thought that at some point," Shining agreed. "But now, seeing her sitting here in this beautiful wedding dress of hers, I can proudly admit how wrong I was. It also fills me with joy knowing that she'll be spending the rest of her life with somepony she loves and trusts. But, I ask that you just make sure that you save some of that for the rest of us, Twily, because no matter what, we'll all still love you."

Her eyes watery, Twilight got up from her seat and went over and hugged Shining.

"I'll always have enough love for you, BBBFF," she said before placing a sisterly kiss on his cheek.

Hearing a few "Aawws" from the crowd, Shining then placed a kiss of his own on Twilight's forehead and let her go to sit back down. When she was seated, Shining's eyes lock onto Dark's and started to stare. A few seconds of silence later, Dark frowned.

"I'm not kissing you."

This joke of a statement from Dark caused a round of laughter.

"Good. Neither am I," Shining chuckled. "Soooo... Dark. Dark, Dark, Dark. The kirin who's married my sister... heh. You know, if somepony had told me that a year ago, I probably would've thought of them as insane and sent them to the loony bin. Strange how things can turn out, huh? Anyway, what to say about you? Hmmm...."

A small smirk was plastered on Shining's face.

"Well, I'm sure that just about everypony has witnessed how tough you are, am I right, everypony?"

The ponies shouted in agreement.

"Yeah, I thought so. But, what you don't know is Dark's weakness."

"And what's that?" Dark chuckled, only for Shining's smirk to widen.

"My daughter biting you." Shining chuckled as Dark's eyes widened. "Nopony outside of our family knows this, but during the week of Hearth's Warming when the family was together, Dark was being munched on by Skyla."

There were a few coos at the mental image they were given.

"Yes, it was cute, watching Skyla sitting on Dark's head and munching on his ear. But, what he didn't know was that Skyla was teething at the time, and later that day, she then bit his tail."

"I still don't know how she managed that," Dark said. "I mean, seriously! There should be no way that a little filly like her can bite my tail and hurt it like that!"

The party was filled with laughter and snickering. While they did find it funny, there were a good number of them who also found it cute. Letting them have their fill, Dark waited unit they started to die down before facing Shining with a small frown.

"Did you seriously need to tell everypony that?" he groaned.

"You mean that the Coliseum Champion and a hero of Equestria and the Crystal Empire crumbled before the might of a little filly munching on his ear that he practically begged for us to take her from you?" Shining teased with a chuckle. "Yes. Yes I did. Besides, you're my little brother now, and as your older brother, it's my job to pick and tease you. But honestly now, I really am glad for you to be apart of this family, Dark. While we've had our ups and downs in the past... okay, a lot of downs, mainly being my fault, I have come to respect you over time. You're magically and physically strong, almost always ready for a fight, and easily one of the toughest stallions I've ever seen. Of course, on the other hoof, you've also shown to have this softer side of you. You're understanding and are willing to listen, and are willing be there to help those who need it. And let's not forget about how good with foals you are. With how I've seen you handle and interact my little Skyla, and with how protective I've heard you've been with Twilight and your unborn filly, I'm sure that you'll be an excellent father for your guys' daughter. I guess what I'm saying, Dark, is that in the end, you have all the requirements that I would have for somepony to be with my sister. And so, it is with that that I welcome you to this family with open hooves, my brother."

Seeing Shining doing just that, Dark stood from his chair and joined Shining in a hug. After a moment, Shining released Dark and watched as he returned to his seat beside Twilight with her grabbing ahold of his claw. Seeing them happy like that, he subtly wiped his eyes and cleared his throat.

"Now, I know that traditionally, the best stallion is supposed to say some famous line or poem for them, but seeing as how I can't think of any at the moment, I think that we can just skip that part and go straight to the end here."

Shining then raised his glass. Seeing what he was getting at, everyone else raised their glasses to join him.

"To Twilight and Dark! May you live long, healthy, and peaceful lives together! Good luck to your future together and with your future children, and my Celestia bless you as she smiles down upon you."

"You bet I will!" Celestia shouted, causing everyone to briefly chuckle.

Finished, Shining raised his glass. "To Twilight and Dark! Cheers!"

"CHEERS!"

With the speech and toast over with, everyone drank and cheered before Vinyl started up the music again, this time switching to a more song with a more upbeat tune to it. As the ponies finished their drinks, they started to either talk amongst each other, or had moved to the center to dance with the music. After almost half an hour had passed, Vinyl stopped playing her music and was now letting Octavia take over as she began playing a slow song. While Octavia continued to play, Vinyl took a mic and announced that it was time for Dark and Twilight's first dance.

Smiling, Twilight took Dark's claw as the two of them made their way to the center of the dancefloor. Once there, they turned to face each other. With the music playing and the others backing away to give them room, they shared another look before Twilight leaned forward and slid her hooves around Dark's neck, holding him close while Dark in turn brought an arm around to hold her back. Locked in their hug, the two slowly began to shift around as they slowly started to sway with the music.

Moving in sync with each other, Twilight relaxed as she felt Dark keeping her secured from stumbling. Letting out a contented sigh, she closed her eyes and leaned her head against Dark, focusing on the two of them as they slowly danced to the music.

Hearing Twilight's sigh and feeling her leaning against him, Dark glanced back out of the corner of his eye and smiled as he saw the peaceful smile on her face. Smiling himself, Dark mimicked her actions as he too closed his eyes and breathed a quiet, peaceful sigh. Feeling at peace dancing with her, Dark let himself relax a little and leaned up against Twilight, turning his full attention to her as they danced to the music, while the rest of the world around them had seemingly vanished.

Nine minuets and two songs later, it was time for the others to join in for some slow dancing. As most of the couples came to participate, Vinyl threw on a disc of slow dance music and let it play so that she could join Octavia on the dancefloor. Soon enough, the floor was full again as couples began dancing with each other. As the music continued, Twilight opened her eyes and looked at the other couples as she and Dark danced at the center.

Along with her seeing Vinyl and Octavia, she could also see her parents, Shining and Cadence, Sunset and Twi, Discord and Fluttershy, Fancy Pants and Fleur De Lis, Big Mac and Cheerilee, and somehow, Spike with all three of the Crusaders and making it work for them. However, it was a certain pair that had caught Twilight's eye. Nuzzling against him, Twilight got Dark's attention and pulled back to where they could see each other.

"Something wrong?" Dark quietly asked.

Twilight nodded her head to her right side. "Look."

Curious, Dark looked over to his left and immediately spotted what Twilight was referring to. He blinked his eyes to make sure he wasn't seeing things, but sure enough, Dark saw Fissure off to the side with Maud leaning against his chest as the two of them danced. Seeing them, Dark let out a small chuckle.

"Well, didn't see that coming."

"Me neither," Twilight agreed. "Although, given Maud's love for just about everything that is rock-based, I shouldn't really be surprised by this."

"Still, it is nice to see."

"Yeah, it is. And who knows? Maybe they'll actually become a couple and in time, get married themselves."

"Maybe. They do seem like they make a good pair."

"Mhmm."

Letting them be, Dark and Twilight returned their attention to each other as they continued to dance. Several minutes later, they were stopped when Dark felt a tapping on his shoulder. Taking a look, they saw that it was Night who was standing there beside them.

"Excuse me," he said, "but would you mind if had a dance with my daughter?"

Seeing Twilight nod, Dark smiled and gave her a quick kiss. "Sure you can."

Letting her go, Dark stood back to let Twilight dance with her dad. Smiling at the two of them dancing, Dark made his way off of the dance floor and stood on the side as he watched them.

"This has been quite a night, hasn't it?"

Maintaining his smile, Dark looked back and saw Luna approaching him with Celestia right behind her.

"Yeah," he sighed. "Easily the best I've ever had... or seen."

"I'm glad to hear that," Celestia said.

"By the way, I'm curious about something."

"What is it, Dark?"

"Why haven't I seen any of those Dragon Sneeze Trees around Canterlot? They were up last year, so where are they?"

"Are you wanting them around?" Luna asked.

"No. I'm just curious is all."

"Well, if you must know, Dark," Celestia began with a small smile, "we're currently putting them to better use."

"Like what?"

Her smile turned to a mischievous smirk. "Oh, you'll find out soon enough."

Dark gave her an unsure look. "Should I be worried?"

"No. You have nothing to worry about."

A moment of silence passed between them before Luna spoke up with a small smile.

"So, how does it feel?"

"How does what feel? Being married?" Dark wondered.

"While that would be a valid question, it's easy to see how you feel about you two being married, so no."

"I guess so. So then, what do you mean?"

"I'm talking about your crown."

Dark glanced up at his circlet. "Well, it fits, surprisingly."

"I would hope so. We had Anvil reforge it to appropriately fit you."

"Okay, I see- wait, reforged? From what?"

"... do you truly not recognize it?"

Dark looked up again and began eyeing it out. "I don't think so. Why? Should I?"

"Yes. As it turns out, that crown was actually reforged from the one that you brought back with you after your battle with King Sombra."

His eyes widened as he looked back at Luna. "You mean this is Sombra's old crown?"

"Was his old crown, but reforged for one more deserving of it," she corrected. "I did tell you after all that I would return it to you, did I not? Consider it my wedding gift to you... that is, if you're alright with it. I can understand if wearing such a thing that once belonged to a pony the likes of him is unsettling to you."

Dark took another look at the crown upon his head. "Well, it's not like I really had any actual plans for it, and it would've been a waist of good metal."

"So you like it then?" Luna asked.

Dark smiled. "Yeah, I do. Thank you very much for this, Princess Luna."

"You are most welcome, and don't worry about accidentally melting or overheating it. Anvil has inscribed runes on the inside of your crown to make it fireproof."

"... didn't think about that one. Thanks for telling me that."

"You're welcome."

A few minutes later, Night let Dark back to dancing with Twilight as he went to join Velvet over at their table. But, the dancing didn't last for too long, though, as the music suddenly stopped, catching the attention of a particular pony.

"Hey! Who touched my music station?!" Vinyl snapped.

"Easy there, Vinyl," Octavia soothed.

"But nopony touches my tunes... well, except you."

"I know, love, but if you'd take a moment and look, you'll see that it's Pinkie Pie who's stopped the music."

Standing on her hind hooves, Vinyl peered over the crowd to see Pinkie over by her music station.

"... okay, she's cool then."

"Why do you think she stopped the music?"

"Okay, everypony!" Pinkie said through a microphone. "It's time for the groom and bride to cut the cake!"

"Never mind," Octavia deadpanned.

"Mmmmmm. Cake," Vinyl said, licking her lips.

Hopping back down, Pinkie bounced through the crowd and behind one of the garden's hedges. Moments later, Pinkie and Applejack were both pulling around a twelve-layer white wedding cake that somehow nopony had see, despite it standing taller than the hedges.

Seeing Pinkie and Applejack pulling the cake to a stop by the food tables, Dark and Twilight walked over to it. When they got there, Applejack stood there to the side with a long cake cutting knife in her hoof. Using their magic, Dark and Twilight took the knife from Applejack and brought it towards them. With their two magical auras dancing around the knife's handle, with smooth motions, they cut the cake for each of them to take a piece from. However, when Dark picked up his piece to give to Twilight, he looked at it with a small grin, one that Twilight noticed.

"Dark? What are you thinking?" she cautiously asked.

"When you looked into my memories, did you see the one where I was looking at my mom and dad's wedding album?" he asked.

"I did. Why?"

"Do you remember the pictures of when they cut their cake?"

"I do. They each took a piece and-" Twilight's eyes widened for a second before she furrowed her brows, now seeing what Dark was getting at. "No."

Grin widening a little bit, Dark raised the claw holding the cake.

"No, Dark."

Dark ignored her and slowly closed in on her, not even stopping when she raised a hoof in warning.

"Noo. Don't you dare- eeekk!!"

Though she saw it coming, Twilight wasn't ready when Dark suddenly thrusted his hoof forward and smeared the small piece of cake on her mouth. Hearing him and most of their guests laughing, Twilight calmly licked her lips clean while using her magic to clear away what she missed. Waiting a few moments, Twilight stood there for everyone to calm down. When it got to the point where they were now just chuckling, Twilight picked up the piece of cake she'd cut for Dark with her magic and held it alongside her head with a small smirk of her own.

"Sooo, you think that's funny?" she sweetly said, causing Dark to freeze and for his fur to stand on end.

Looking between Twilight and the cake, Dark gulped and took a nervous step back.

"Uhhhh, now, Twilight, honey, let's take a moment here and talk about this for a second," Dark uneasily said, only to watch as Twilight's smirk turned to a grin.

"Sure, dear, we can talk about it."

While her voice sounded sweet and innocent, Dark wasn't fooled as the look on her face was anything but. However, like with Twilight, while Dark saw it coming, he couldn't react in time as Twilight smeared the cake over his entire face, leaving it covered in white cake and vanilla frosting. With his eyes closed and covered in cake, Dark stood and listened as Twilight and everyone else laughed at him now. However, Dark wouldn't let this go as he had another mischievous idea.

Wiping the cake off of his eyes with his magic, Dark opened them and saw Twilight standing there with a hoof over her mouth as she was now giggling at him. With her distracted, Dark stepped closer to her and closed the gap by planting a surprise cake-covered kiss on her lips, earning him a squeak of surprise from Twilight. It only lasted for a moment, but it was long enough that Dark had transferred a good portion of the cake covering his lips over to Twilight's, who, while still surprised by it, liked her lips clean with a pleasant hum.

Their silliness aside, the two of them did a second take, this time without any mischief. With them having their own pieces, they then began to cut slices for the others as well. Of course, with how big the cake was, they had to take it slowly. That is, until Pinkie provided a much larger cake cutting knife that she then proceeded to use in cutting the cake herself into equal pieces for everyone. It wasn't long after that that everyone had their own piece of cake and were now enjoying it, either by sitting at a table, or standing and chatting with others. Of course, as everything must go, all good things must come to an end.

An hour and a half later, the wedding reception was coming to a close, and Dark and Twilight now found themselves standing before a white carriage with their bags packed, ready to take them to a private beach for their honeymoon vacation. But, before they could leave, there was one more thing that needed to be done.

"Alright, everypony!" Twilight called, "I need all of you unmarried mares up front! That includes you, Princess Celestia, you too, Princess Luna! And remember, no using your wings or magic!"

Ignoring a few groans for the rules she'd set, and one from Luna for having to participate, Twilight smiled and waited for the crowd of females to gather for the catching of the bouquet. When all that who were participating had gathered, Twilight turned her back to them and, with her bouquet in her hooves, tossed it high over her head and back towards the crowd.

Turning around, Twilight and Dark watched as the bouquet bounced off of the sea of hooves reaching for it. However, to their surprise, along with everyone else's, Sweetie Belle was tossed up towards the bouquet by to pairs of hooves that looked like they belonged Apple Bloom and Scootaloo. However, just before she could grab ahold of it, Sunset leaped up to catch the bouquet, unaware of the incoming filly, which caused them to collide against each other and send both of them tumbling down to the ground. It was then that Twi was spotted as she tried for a shot at grabbing it, but due to her not being used to jumping with four legs, she lost her balance and crashed against Maud, causing her to stoically slide along the ground by the force she was pushed with, and incidentally, allowing the bouquet to fall into a pair of waiting hooves.

With the bouquet caught, every mare stopped grabbing for it and backed away to reveal the "winner". Much to everyone's surprise, the one who'd caught it, albeit by accident, was Fluttershy, who was now staring at the bouquet with her face red, mouth agape, and eyes wide in surprise. She remained like that until the sounds of cheering sounded around her, snapping her out of her stupor and causing her to shyly hide behind her mane. Of course, while most of the attention was on her, a number of the males and a few females smirked and turned their attention to Discord, who was nervously pulling at the collar of his suit with a claw.

Happy for Fluttershy, Dark and Twilight chuckled and watched as she slowly made her way over to Discord and stood beside him, both of whom were looking away with fierce blushes on their faces. Giving one last chuckle, Dark cleared his throat, catching Twilight's attention as he grabbed hold of the carriage door.

"Well then, shall we be off, my princess?" he asked, causing her to giggle at him.

"Yes, my prince," she smiled.

Chuckling, Dark opened the door to allow for Twilight to hop in. Lowering his head, he bowed and held out his claw for her to hop in-

"Dark! Get away from there!"

Immediately Dark was alerted by Twilight's fearful shout and quickly found himself being held beside Twilight in her magical hold as she flew away from the carriage and back towards the crowd. Confused as to what had gotten Twilight so scared to act like this, as soon as she sat him down on the ground, Dark looked back to the carriage, only to experience an assortment of mixed feeling at what he saw.

"You know, it was rather rude of you to not have invited me to your wedding, Dark."

There, lounging on the seat in the carriage was Light, wearing his white trench coat and his katana sheathed on his belt. Frowning, he stood up and casually made his way out of the carriage for all to see.

"After all, I am your brother, and the only family you have left."

Getting ahold of himself, Dark stood between Light and Twilight with his wings unfurled, while Twilight, now standing behind Dark, looked over him and prepared a low-level paralysis spell for Light.

"Not anymore," Dark stated. "Twilight's my family now. And why would we let you come anyway? You may be my brother, Light, but you've spent most of our lives hating me, then you up and abandoned our village when you were supposed to get us help, tried to kill me and Twilight, knowingly tried to throw the world out of balance, and worse of all, you went on and allied yourself with the Inferno! The same dragon who's put our village through hundreds of years of Tartarus!"

Light blinked. "So?"

Before Dark had a chance to respond, stone spikes erupted from around Light, holding him in place with barely any room for him to move, less the stone spikes pierce his hide. Hearing the heavy footsteps, Dark looked back to see Fissure walking up alongside him and Twilight with a hardened look on his already stone face, while the royal guards and the off-duty crystal guards all surrounded Light and to protected Dark and Twilight.

"You will pay for harming Dark and Aurora," Fissure rumbled threateningly.

While everyone expected him to express fear, instead, Light chuckled as he stepped forward and phased through the stone spikes. Surprised by this, Fissure caused another stone spike to erupt from directly beneath Light, only for that to pass harmlessly through him as he continued to walk forward closer to Dark and Twilight. Not wanting to let him closer, the guards fired blasts of magic while others charged him with spears, all of which he phased through. Now just a few yards away from them, Light stopped and smirked while Celestia, Luna, Shining, Cadence, and all of Dark and Twilight's friends rushed to their side.

"How are you here?!" Shining demanded. "Nothing should've gotten past my barrier!"

"Relax, you stupid prince," he said with a look of amusement. "This is just an illusion. I'm not actually here."

Not believing him, Celestia lit her horn and began to scan the area where Light stood, and sure enough, she found nothing.

"He's telling the truth," she reluctantly said. "This is not the real Light."

Dark looked from Celestia back to Light. "What do you want?"

"A few things," Light began. "First, I wanted to see this wedding of yours."

"You were here the whole time?!"

"I was, and to be honest, I'm still surprised at you. I never thought that I would see the day where you actually got married."

"How is it that our guards patrolling the barrier haven't found you?!" Luna demanded.

"You're supposed to be smart. Figure it out for yourself," he snarked at Luna.

"If you were here the whole time, then why didn't you show up sooner?" Twilight asked, maintaining her horns power incase this was all a trick. "After all, letting all of this happened with Dark doesn't sound like something that you'd do."

Light gave Twilight a smile that sent shivers down her spine. "That's because, my new big sister, that this was one of my three wedding gifts to you two."

Dark recoiled his head in surprise. "What?"

"My first gift was that I didn't crash your guys' wedding." Light paused for a moment. "You know, this is the part where you should thank me."

"You still crashed the party, though," Pinkie growled.

"Yeah!" Pinks shouted. "And anypony who crashes a party is a party pooper who should be kicked out!"

Light ignored the Pinkies' comments as he continued. "Anyway, onto my second gift-"

"Thanks, but we'll pass," Dark interrupted.

"Oh, but you'll like this," he assured. "For my second gift, I've come to inform you that three days from tomorrow, Inferno will be launching his attack on Canterlot."

There was a loud collection of gasps from everyone present.

"That was a very foolish and stupid thing to say," Luna coldly said. "Why would you tell us when he's attacking and give us time to prepare?"

Light gave a low, sinister chuckle. "Because that's where my third gift come into play." He turned his attention solely on Dark. "I'm giving you a choice, Dark. On the day of Inferno's attack on Canterlot, you will have to chose on who you'll fight. Either me, or Inferno and his army."

Dark snorted. "Not happening."

"Oh, but that's where you're wrong," Light said with a toothy grin. "You see, you will chose one. After we last met, I went on ahead and hid one of Inferno's magma bombs in each of Equestria's major cities, including Ponyville."

There were more gasps and a few ponies who were now on the verge of panic.

"Of course, that doesn't include Canterlot."

"Why are you doing this?!" Celestia demanded.

"To see what Dark will choose."

Dark gave a small growl as Light continued.

"Before you lies two choices, Dark. This first being that you can stay and fight alongside everypony against Inferno's invasion. But if you do, then I'll detonate all of the bombs and destroy each city."

While Celestia and Luna glared heatedly at Light, Dark narrowed his brows and glared at Light.

"And the other?" Dark hesitantly asked.

"The other is that you can fight me and I won't detonate the bombs. Of course, you'll have to leave everypony here behind to fight Inferno's army by themselves. And if you do come, then I don't want to see anyone else with you. You will come alone, without any support, without any of those Shadow Wraiths of yours, and without that scythe that you took from Sombra. Oh, and just so you know, it'll be to the death."

"Why his scythe?" Twilight questioned.

"Sombra told me about his scythe and the power it held before Dark killed and looted it from him. I'm also willing to bet that that's the reason that Dark managed to hold off all of those dragons, flaming manticores, and salamanders on the landing platform back in Vulcan."

So he knows about the power of Dark's scythe, but not of his sword, Twilight mentally figured. In that case, he probably thinks that the scythe is Dark's source of power and wants to separate it from him in hopes of having an advantage over him... but still, can Dark do it? Could he bring himself to fight Light and... kill him?

"So, there you have it, Dark," Light finished. "There are your two choices. Either fight me and abandon everypony, or fight alongside everypony and forsake Equestria."

Light's body began to fade away.

"Don't worry, you don't need to decide just yet. I'll find out on the day we're supposed to fight. Until then, enjoy what time you have left with your wife and friends. It may be the last chance you'll ever have."

"Wait! You didn't tell us where or what time you'll be wanting to fight him at!" Sunset pointed out with only Light's head remaining as it too slowly faded.

"It time will be at noon. As for the location, it'll be where all of this started for us, back in Stonewall Village," he answered before his face turned serious. "And remember, if I see anypony other than Dark there at Stonewall Village, if Dark arrives and doesn't fulfill the conditions that I set for him, or if anypony even tries to find the hidden bombs, the deals off and I'll reduce each of your cities to rubble!"

Up on the side of Canterlot Mountain, Light's eyes cleared as the illusion of himself vanished. With his power to bend light, and thanks to the spellbook Aurora gave him during his time as her apprentice, Light was able to make not just an illusion, but one that he could see, hear, and speak through. Standing in a dome that kept him invisible, along with Gunter, who'd accompanied him, and their flaming manticore mount, Light smiled as he heard the panicked echoes coming below from Canterlot.

"There we go," he said with a satisfied sigh. "That's what I wanted to hear."

"What? Ponies screaming in a panic?" Gunter questioned.

"Yes. It'll help keep those patrolling guards distracted while we leave and regroup with the army."

"Good, because I need to get back to them as soon as I can and go over our attack plans with them."

Light snorted. I still can't believe that Inferno made that idiot his new general.

Turning his back to the Canterlot, Light hopped onto the front seat of the flaming manticore's two-person saddle, with Gunter jumping on in the second seat right behind him.

"By the way, what in Tartarus were you thinking calling Dark out to fight you one-on-one?" Gunter questioned. "I mean, he's tougher than we are, and both magically and physically stronger than us. Not to mention that magic he used to kill everyone when he came to Vulcan."

"Do you really think that I would challenge him like that without a plan?" Light huffed in annoyance. "I already have several measures in place to counter his powers, so shut up."

Both mounted, Light took one last look to see that all of the guards were trying to control the panic and dispelled the dome of invisibility to fly off into the night sky. With Canterlot now on the other side of the mountain, and seeing no pegasi following after them, Gunter leaned forward to speak to Light.

"So," he began, "why'd you say that to them?"

"What part?" Light questioned.

"The part about the bombs. There's no such thing as a 'magma bomb', and as far as I know, you didn't plant any sort of explosives anywhere."

"I know that," Light smirked, "but they don't. And if I know Dark half as well as I think I do, then he'll come to me. After all, he now believes that if he doesn't, hundreds of thousands of ponies, it not more, will die, and it'll all be on him."

Author's Note

Chapter 90- Making Tough Choices

The night had been exhausting, and not for the reasons that it should have been. Thanks to Light's appearance and words, after he left, a good number of the nobles who'd attended, along with the castle staff who heard, started to run in a panic about not only the bombs having been planted in Equestria's cities and Ponyville, but also about the news of Inferno's army coming to attack them. In their state of panic, they fled the party and made for their homes, shouting as they ran down the streets and spreading the news to those who were still awake, and those who were woken up by it. Soon enough, most of Canterlot's populace was at a point of mass panic

Having thought quickly, Celestia ordered the royal guards to go and contain her panicking ponies, along with Luna's lunar guard, Shining and Cadence's off-duty crystal guards, and the Wonderbolts. Even Discord, who'd given up on trying to track Light down due to his magic interfering with his own, decided to go and do what he could to help. While seeing ponies run around like that would normally give him a nice chuckle, the severity of the situation and the cause behind it was too great to ignore. That, and he also didn't want to disappoint Fluttershy.

While Luna and Discord led the guards and the Wonderbolts to quell the fear spreading throughout the city, Celestia led the others into the safety of the castle. Though most of them wanted to go and help in calming the city instead of seeking safety inside, Celestia wouldn't allow for it as she didn't want to risk any of them getting hurt. And despite a number of ponies wanting to go after Light before he got away like Rainbow, Dash, Shining, and surprisingly, Dark, Celestia didn't what that either. While she didn't want Dark out there with how close this was to him, she also didn't want to run the risk with so many lives at stake. So, with no choice but to sit tight and wait, they remained in the now heavily guarded throne room.

As they waited, Dark and Twilight found some form of comfort with each other. While they were both upset about Light showing up at the reception like that, it was the ultimatum that he gave that was hitting them the most, namely Dark. Despite the love and warmth from not just Twilight, but also Soul, and their friends and family, Dark's mood didn't improve much as he kept his eyes shut tightly to hold back any tears that would otherwise escape.

It took a few hours, but eventually, Luna and Discord returned with Iron Guard, Gray, Saph, Emerald, and Spitfire and Soarin, with news that the civilians had been calmed down to the point where mass panic was no longer an issue. Granted that the ponies were still spooked by it, but at least it was under control now. That, and thankfully, nopony was seriously hurt during that time.

But, while this news did allow a few to sigh in relief, Dark remained unmoving. Thinking that he'd gone and fallen asleep, Twilight gently nudged him. As it turned out, Dark wasn't asleep at all, but had remained stoically quiet as he'd been deep in thought during their time waiting. Nudging and calling him again, Twilight waited for a reply. However, when Dark opened his eyes, Twilight immediately regretted it as she became saddened by not just the sight of his eye-color having changed red in anger, but also of the tears that had been let free to flow.

After a moment of Celestia talking with Luna and Discord, everyone was cleared to go to their rooms and try to rest, including Maud, Night, and Velvet, who were offered rooms in the castle to sleep in by Celestia, instead of letting them go off back into the streets. With little to no argument, the group was escorted as they all made their way to their rooms. Not long after they made it to their rooms, most of them found themselves quickly falling asleep due to their emotional exhaustion. That is, all but Dark and Twilight, who's minds were too focused on Light's words to fall asleep. It wasn't until a few hours later, and a sleep spell from Twilight, that the two of them finally did manage to fall asleep.

The sun appeared as though it was dragging as it slowly rose over the horizon, bringing about the dawn of the new day. Inside their room in Canterlot Castle, Dark at Twilight remained asleep. With how stressful their wedding night had turned out, they had both agreed to draw the curtains before Twilight casted the sleep spell on them, keeping the sunlight from waking either of them as they slept in peace. Of course, while they wanted to just sleep in and rest, their internal alarm clocks wouldn't allow for them to oversleep for too long.

By the time the clock struck ten, Dark began to stir as he could no longer continue sleeping. Cracking his eyes open with a silent yawn, he glanced down to see Twilight sleeping against him with a peaceful smile on her face. Though the memoires of last night still weighed heavily on his mind, he couldn't help but smile at the sight of the mare he'd just married the day before.

Relaxing himself, Dark began to idly run a claw through Twilight's mane, causing her to give a quiet hum of approval as she continued to sleep. Staring lovingly at her as she slept, Dark continued holding her close and gently stroke her mane, enjoying this moment of peace between the two of them while he could. For a while Dark kept this up, not caring about the time that was passing by until Twilight began to stir. Seeing her starting to wake up, Dark leaned down and planted a kiss on her lips, earning him a coo from her as her hooves slid around him and pressed back with a kiss of her own.

"Good morning, Mrs. Flame," Dark whispered.

Slowly opening her eyes, Twilight smiled when she Dark smiling and gave him a peck.

"Good morning, Mr. Sparkle," Twilight whispered back.

Sharing another quick kiss, they then proceeded to cuddle in relative silence for a few minutes until Dark spoke up.

"How you feeling?"

"A little groggy, but otherwise, I'm... alright," she hesitantly replied before looking up at him. "What about you?"

Dark shrugged. "I've been up for a while, so I'm alright."

"And you didn't wake me, why?"

He smiled and planted a kiss on her forehead. "Because I didn't want to wake my beautiful wife when she's sleeping so peacefully. Besides, I don't mind. You're really cute when you sleep, especially when it's with a smile on your face."

Twilight smiled at the compliment, but it was short-lived as her expression turned mellow.

"And how are you doing?"

"Didn't I just say?"

Twilight's expression saddened. "You know what I mean, Dark."

Letting out a sad sigh, Dark tightened his hug on Twilight. "Yeah... I know..."

He looked back down to see her patiently waiting for him.

"I'm... not sure what I feel, really," he slowly admitted. "I'm sad and, to be honest, feeling a little depressed about what Light's put before me. But, at the same time, I'm... angry at him. I'm angry about him showing up like that last night, I'm angry that he caused a mass panic last night, and I hate it how he's forcing me to have to choose!"

Dark's voice began rising as he continued.

"I mean, what kind of a person does this?! Thanks to him, I'm sure that the news has already spread, and everypony in Equestria will soon know that their lives is now dependent on what my answer is!"

In his venting, Dark's eyes turned red with anger again with tears of frustration forming.

"But I don't want to choose, Twilight! I don't want to leave you and everypony else that I care about to fight Inferno, but I can't just let all of those ponies die because I couldn't bring myself to... to..."

Unable to finish, Dark clenched his eyes shut and gritted his teeth as he tried to hold himself together. But it was all for naught as he felt Twilight's forelegs guide his face down into her chest. Letting out a few sniffles, Dark hugged Twilight and quietly cried into her coat as she held him and stroke his mane in comfort.

"Nopony should force a decision like that upon anyone, "she quietly said, "and nopony should ever have to make a decision like that, either. I will not ask you to go, Dark, nor would I ever even suggest for you to. You shouldn't have to be the one burdened with something like this."

"But I am," Dark whimpered. "I don't want to go, but I'm feeling like I don't have any choice."

A few minutes passed before Twilight spoke up again. "We've still got a few days left to think about it. For now, let's try to spend our time together, as husband and wife."

Feeling Dark nod, Twilight gave a small smile and relaxed as she laid her head on Dark's, holding him and comforting him as they continued to lay in their bed. As time went by, Twilight felt Dark staring to relax again as he let it out. Eventually, time was soon lost to them as they remained like that together, but it was interrupted when there was a knock at their door. Drawing their attention from it, Twilight looked back and watched as Dark wiped his eyes with one last sniffle.

"Guess I should stop moping around like this," he said before putting on a smile and kissing Twilight. "Thank you, Twilight. I'm sorry for how I acted."

"Don't be," she gently dismissed. "I'll always be here for you and to support you however you need, for better or for worse."

Letting out a small chuckle, Dark began nuzzling Twilight's cheek. "I'll still never understand how I managed to be lucky enough to have somepony like you in my life."

*Knock-Knock-Knock*

A low, grumpy growl escaped Dark's throat. "I'll go see who it is."

Untangling himself from Twilight, Dark slid out from under the bedsheets and made his way over to the door. Throwing it open, Dark was greeted by the sight of Emerald and Saph saluting him.

"Good morning, Prince Dark," Emerald spoke.

"Princess Celestia has requested yours and Princess Twilight's presence for lunch," Saph said.

Dark blinked. "Hey, guys. I'm sorry, Saph, did you say 'lunch'?"

"I did," he confirmed.

"What time is it?"

"It's a quarter past eleven. Why? Is there a problem?"

"No, no problem. It's just that I didn't think that it was that late already was all. Guess we overslept more than we figured."

The two lieutenants shared a look before Emerald turned to Dark with a smirk.

"Shouldn't be surprised," he said with a chuckle. "After all, last night was your wedding night, so I'm sure that you two were pretty busy and didn't get much sleep."

Dark's eyes narrowed and darted at Emerald. "Where would you even get the idea of us feeling up to even doing something remotely close to that after what happened last night?!" he snapped, only to see their shocked and nervous expressions a second later. "I'm sorry, Emerald, you didn't deserve that."

"No, no. My apologies, Your Highness," he apologized with a bow. "I really shouldn't have said that to begin with."

"Darn right you shouldn't have. I swear, Emerald, sometimes I wonder if you have any sense of tact at all," Saph chided him before turning back to Dark. "I'm sorry for his behavior, Prince Dark."

"It's fine, and you two don't need to call me that if you don't want to," Dark sighed. "Like I said, I shouldn't have snapped at Emerald like that. And to answer your question: neither of us could sleep last night with what Light pulled on us. At least, until Twilight casted a sleep spell on us."

"... if I may, I still can't believe that he's your brother."

Dark hung his head and nodded. "Yeah. I'm starting to get that feeling too."

"But didn't Princess Celestia say that you were the only survivor of your village?" Emerald wondered.

"Light didn't survive. He managed to escape as planned, but instead of going to get us help like he was supposed to, he instead up and abandoned us."

The two guards shared a look before Saph spoke up.

"Well, I suppose we've overstayed our welcome," he carefully said before they both gave a salute. "Have a good day, Dark, and... we're sorry."

"So am I, guys," Dark sighed. "And thank you. You two have a good day too."

This business finished, the two guards turned and made their way down one of the halls. With them now gone, Dark closed the door and leaned his head on it with a groan.

"Well, that could've gone better," he heard Twilight say from behind as she draped a wing over his back and began nuzzling beneath his chin, "but that also could've gone worse too."

"So you heard that?"

"Yes. All of it."

Dark let out a tired sigh. "I'm so not looking forward to this," he murmured. "It's bad enough that I'm usually pretty sensitive when it comes to the topic of Light, but you guys have been sensitive enough to try avoiding that. Now that everypony knows about us being brothers and what he's done, though... this is going to be difficult to deal with."

"I know, but it'll all pass... in time, anyway. Speaking of time, we should probably grab ourselves a shower and get ready and meet up with Princess Celestia. I don't know about you, but I've already missed breakfast, so I'm not going to miss out on lunch."

Giving her a silent nod, Dark began making his way over to the joined bathroom to shower up. As he was making his way there, though, he noticed that Twilight was walking right beside him.

"Uhhh, Twilight?"

"Hmm?"

"Did you want to shower first?"

Twilight looked back with a half-lidded gaze. "Why can't we both? After all, this wouldn't be the first time we did it, so there shouldn't be any issue with it. That is, unless you don't want a nice, hot, steamy shower with me."

Freezing in place, Dark stood still as Twilight walked on ahead and deliberately ran her tail along his muzzle. Seeing her open the door, he gulped when she stopped and gave him a suggestive eye-wink before disappearing into the bathroom. Hearing the water beginning to run, Dark shook his head clear and followed after her.

... maybe this day won't be so bad after all.

It was forty-five minutes later when Dark and Twilight were making their way to join Celestia in the dining hall with pleasant smiles on both of their faces. Thanks to their activities in the shower, most of the tension and stress that had been built up from last night had been cleansed, which later caused both of them to silent curse themselves for not having though of doing that sooner to help them relax and go to sleep.

As they continued down the halls and past the noticeably increased number of guards patrolling the halls, they eventually came to the open doors of the dining hall where Celestia was in the middle of eating her lunch. Having noticed Dark and Twilight walking in, Celestia put down her food and waved them over.

"Thank you two for joining me," she thanked.

"Sorry, Princess," Twilight apologized. "We had a difficult time getting to sleep last night with... you know."

Celestia nodded. "I see. But just to be sure, you're talking about Light, right?" she asked, having guessed correct when she saw Dark glancing away.

"Yeah... him..." Dark answered her.

"I understand then. It would explain why I didn't see you two this morning at breakfast. However, you both seem to be in a rather good mood considering." A knowing smile formed when she saw them both blush slightly and glance at each other. "Ahh. I see now. Well then, I'm glad that you two are feeling better."

"Thank you," Twilight said before she and Dark took their seats beside each other at the table.

Remaining silent, Celestia continued with hear lunch while Dark and Twilight started eating theirs. Several minutes later of letting them eat, she spoke up again.

"I'm sorry to have to say this, but after lunch, we'll be convening in the throne room to go over plans for Inferno's army."

"Alright," Twilight said with a small sigh.

Letting their talk end there, they continued eating until they each had their fill, which included four servings for Twilight, and three for Dark. Setting their empty dishes off to the side, Celestia walked with them as they headed for the throne room. Once they made it inside with the doors closed behind them, they were met with Luna, Shining and Cadence, Gray, Saph, Emerald, Iron Guard, and all but two of Twilight's friends.

Seeing them coming in, Twilight and Dark quickly found themselves surrounded by Cadence and their friends in a massive group hug.

"How're you guys doing?" Sunset asked.

"We're feeling better," Twilight replied.

"Well that's good to hear," Rares sighed in relied. "I was rather worried there that your wedding night was ruined with the way that horrible stallion showed up like that. Ehh, no offense, darling," she quickly added, noticing Dark's change of mood.

"No, it's... you're right," Dark admitted with a sigh, "he is a horrible pony."

He felt somepony hugging him giving him a squeeze and looked back to see it was Applejack.

"Don't be so down, sugarcube. We'll find a solution ta fix this problem," she tried reassuring him. "Besides, he's your brother. Ah'm sure you'll figure somethin' out."

Dark sighed and shook his head. "I'm sorry, Applejack, but it looks like I may not have a choice this time."

"Nor do I," Luna agreed before motioning them with a hoof. "Come. Let us all sit as we discuss this."

Listening to her, everyone moved to the rectangular table that was set out for them with Celestia and Luna sitting at the head.

"By the way, why are you six girls here?" Shining asked Sunset and her group of friends. "I understand my sister and the Bearers of Harmony being here, and I get that you're her friends, but why are you sticking around?"

"Because we want to," Sunset replied before pulling out a scroll. "Also, Pinkie and Pinks both wrote why we should."

Shining arched an eyebrow. "And what would be?"

"According to this, they say that it's 'because reasons'."

"... that's not much of an answer."

"Well, it is Pinkie," Rainbow pointed out. "Probably best to not question her about it, especially if she's being that vague about it."

While he didn't really like the answer, Shining heard stories about Pinkie and what she could do, though most couldn't be explained. Deciding to go ahead and accept it for now, he took his seat as the others did.

"Now, as I was saying," Luna continued, "thanks to the panicking last night, everypony in Canterlot knows about your two choices, Dark."

"It wouldn't be surprising if the other cities caught wind of it by now," Shining added.

"I'm sure they have," Celestia said. "As for the ponies of Canterlot, I've been dealing with them all morning about what they think must be done. It doesn't help either that Light's threat has made the headlines of every newspaper in the city."

"And each are suggesting the same thing..." Luna added, drifting off to let them figure out, which, by Dark's expression, he did.

"But that's not fair!" Dash shouted.

"Yeah!" AJ shouted in agreement. "They can't expect Dark ta just up and kill his own brother like that!"

"But they are," Luna said grimly. "Make no mistake, neither my sister or I approve of this, but ponies are afraid of what will happen if he doesn't."

"Dark," Celestia spoke, "nopony here in this room would ask of you to do something like that. Especially Luna and I."

With a heavy sigh, Dark shook his head and leaned back in his chair.

"I guess that Flash was right after all," he said with a hollow chuckle. "Looks like I owe him an apology."

"What do you mean?"

"After Sombra's attack on the Crystal Empire, he found out about Light being my brother and confronted me about it, saying that I should be the one to deal with him. Turns out that in the end, he was right."

While everyone but Twilight was now staring incredulously at him, it was Applejack who was the most shocked.

"You can't be serious!" she shouted. "Ah mean, he's your brother for cryin' out loud!"

"Do you really think that I want to do this, Applejack?" Dark sadly asked her. "I know that he's my brother, but he's got me in a corner here. If it weren't for the fact that he's practically holding everypony in Ponyville and those cities hostage, then I would be more than happy to let somepony else deal with him instead, but I can't, nor can ignore him any longer. I don't want to do this, but I have to, and the sooner that I come to accept it, the sooner I can get this over with."

Despite not wanting to believe it, Dark knew it to be true. As his body shook from having spoke those last few words, he felt Twilight holding his claw while her wing was wrapped around his back supportingly.

"It doesn't help either that the date and time are exactly the same as when Inferno is supposed to attack," Iron guard added.

"Yeah, there's that too," Dark sighed. "With me having to deal with Light during the same time as Inferno's attack on Canterlot, I won't be here with you guys to resurrect anypony who dies like I did in the Crystal Empire, so you'll all have to be extra careful if you can."

"Well, it's not like we weren't taking that risk before. Besides, we'll be fine. Our guards have toughened up since the changeling invasion, as you've no doubt seen during the Everfree attack on Ponyville. While we're on the subject of our guards, perhaps we should go over what forces we have."

"Ah've sent a letter with Pinkie this mornin' ta give ta Braeburn when she and Pinks went back ta Ponyville," Applejack informed them with a small grumble. "Ah'm not sure how helpful we can be, or how many will come, but you'll have the Apple Family here ta support ya."

"Yeah, I noticed that they weren't here," Twilight said. "Why did Pinkie and Pinks go back anyway?"

"Said somethin' about makin' some last minute adjustments before bringin' their projects over here ta Canterlot. Ah still have no idea what they've been makin', and they didn't say when exactly they'd be back, just that it'd be before the attack happened."

"The Pinkie Pies aside," Luna began, "while we are thankful for your family's assistance, Applejack, we do not wish for you and them to suffer any losses for this."

"Hey, if that dragon beats us and wins, then everypony will be in this pickle of a mess, so it's better ta stop them here and now before it gets any worse. Besides, they've got somepony special workin' with them down there in Appleloosa, so Ah'm sure that he'll be comin' along too."

"Speaking of ponies helping," Rainbow began, "Spitfire spoke to me early this morning before sunrise." She paused when she saw everyone giving her a look. "What? I had a hard time staying asleep last night, so I got up extra early and accidentally bumped into her. Anyway, she wanted me to tell everypony that she and the others were heading back to Wonderbolts Headquarters to get geared up and will be back tomorrow with the others."

"Thank you, Rainbow," Celestia thanked. "With them spreading the Dragon Sneeze Tree woodchips and leaves, King Inferno's dragons will be too distracted and unfocused to attack us properly."

Dark glanced over to Celestia. "So that's what you did with them."

Celestia nodded while Shining cleared his throat.

"I should also inform everypony that I contacted Flash this morning through the communication crystal," he told them. "I've ordered him to gather the rest of the crystal guard and have them all board the next train to Canterlot. They'll also be bringing all of the Rage Pellets that we have stored, and the short-ranged communication crystals that we've been working on and disperse them out for the guards to use. That way, we'll be able to immediately send them their orders and communicate with each other, instead of having to send somepony and wait. And before anypony asks, yes, there will be enough for each of us with plenty to spare I'm sure."

"We've already tested them and they have a range of up to two miles in a snowstorm, and three miles with clear skies," Gray informed them.

"So if we count for all of the dragons, flaming manticores, and pegasi in the air, then we should plan for a two mile range," Twilight figured.

"The battlefield may not be as big as we think," Celestia spoke. "If they're planning on attacking Canterlot, then we can use the mountain as a focal point for our communication."

"It'll also provide for us with a great overview of the battlefield," Iron Guard pointed out.

"That it will. Also, during this time, I want for you girls to stay by my side."

Twilight and her Ponyville friends all looked at her.

"But what about the Wonderbolts?" Rainbow questioned. "I mean, they'll more than likely want me to be out there with them."

"I'm aware of that, Rainbow, and I shall speak to Captain Spitfire about it. Now, like I was saying, I want for each of you to be by our side up on the mountain. Since you'll each have the Elements of Harmony again, you'll all wait until King Inferno decides to enter the battle. When he does, your jobs will be to use the Elements against him and cleanse him of whatever Light has done to him. If all goes well, he should be turned back to normal and see reason again. In which, he'll cease his attack and pull his forces back."

"And what about the hellions?" Dark questioned, having broken his silence. "I'm sure that you've got plans and troops for dealing with the dragons, flaming manticores, and salamanders, but what about the hellions?"

"I'm sure that Discord and I can do something about them," Luna said with a small smirk.

Feeling a little better about it, Dark stood up and sighed. "In that case, I better get ready to go."

"Go? Go where?" Twilight wondered.

"To Stonewall Village."

"Already?"

"If I'm to get there by flying and still have any time to rest up, then I'll need to leave soon as I can. Besides, I know of the mountain range it's located in from your books, but not the exact location, so it'll take me some time to actually find it."

"There will be no need for you to do that, Dark," Celestia told him.

"But, Princess-"

"You will stay here, Dark, and spend what time you can with your family and everypony else. Luna and I will provide you with a small airship for you to take to Stonewall Village."

"And my troops made a map leading directly to it when we were sent to inspect it last year," Iron Guard told Dark. "I'll have them draw up a copy of it for you to use."

Sitting back down, Dark let out another sigh, this one being one of relief than sorrow or worry. "Thank you, everypony."

Celestia smiled and turned back from Dark to everyone. "The day before the attack, we'll have Canterlot evacuated to Ponyville. The next morning, the day of the attack, Fissure will lend us the Elements of Harmony while he maintains on keeping the tree alive. After the battle is over with, we'll need to return them back to the Tree of Harmony again. I spoke to Fissure about it, and he said that we'll have one day, that's twenty-four hours, to return them before the tree starts to die again, this time for good."

"In that case, we won't let you down and let this chance slip us by," Twilight confidently said, earning her approving responses from her pony friends.

"I'm sure that you won't," Celestia said with a smile. "Now then, I believe that that's all that we have to discuss. For now, you may return to what you were doing and try to rest if you can. No doubt that we'll be plenty busy very soon."

Being dismissed, everyone got up out of their seats and headed for the door. However, as everyone began to leave the room, Dark pulled Sunset back to speak in private.

"Something up?" she asked, watching as Dark's gaze remained on the ground.

"I need to talk to you, Sunset," he said.

"Okay, so what is it?"

Dark peeked down the hallway to see Twilight walking with the others, unaware of him and Sunset not being with them.

"I have a favor to ask you."

Not liking how that sounded, Sunset's brows narrowed as Dark continued.

"I'm sure that you and the others will be leaving Equestria soon."

Sunset nodded. "We were talking about it this morning and are planning on heading back home tomorrow. Now, what's this favor you need me to do?"

Dark paused and took a calming breath before speaking. "When you go back to Ponyville, I want you to go to my room and take the spare key to my forge located in my nightstand. After that, I want you to use it and take the bits that I have in my forge back with you."

Sunset's eyes widened as she took a few steps back.

"What?! Why?!"

"... for Twilight and our family."

Sunset stared, gawking at Dark as he continued.

"If it turns out that Light does kill me, then this world will be put out of balance again, but this time for good. What I'm asking you, Sunset, is if that does happen, I want for you to help Twilight rebuild her life in your world with Spike, Soul, our daughter, and anypony else that she brings with her."

"But... that's..."

"I don't know how many ponies she'll bring with her into your world, though. She might be able to only bring our friends and family, or she might get a few hundred. Maybe even a thousand if she's lucky enough."

"What you're talking about is sounding like an exodus," Sunset gaped. "Do Twilight and the princesses know about this?"

"I just thought about it while Princess Celestia was talking about their plans against Inferno, so no."

Shaking herself out of her stupor, Sunset glared at Dark. "Until you tell them, I won't be agreeing to anything."

Dark looked at Sunset in shock. "What?! But-"

"No buts! Listen, Dark, we're friends, and I know that you're just looking out for Twilight, but if you're planning something like this, then they need to know. And until they do, I won't give you an answer."

Dark opened his mouth to protest, but it quickly died down. With some reluctance, he nodded.

"Good," Sunset said. "In that case, I'll go get Princess Celestia and Luna back while you go get Twilight, Shining Armor, and Cadence."

Dark watched for a moment as Sunset turned around to follow after Celestia and Luna. Now alone, Dark turned around to catch up to Twilight, Shining, and Cadence.

Twilight's not going to like this.

"I don't like this, Dark."

"But, Twilight-"

It took Dark and Sunset only a few minutes before the seven of them were back in the throne room, and even less than that for Dark to explain to everypony his plan with Sunset if he failed.

"Why would you even think like that?" Twilight incredulously asked him.

"Light's been trying to kill me for some time now, and now he has not only Aurora's magic, but also a weapon that's lethal to me," Dark countered.

"Still, you shouldn't be thinking like that. You're not going to die, Dark."

"Twilight," Cadence softly called, "you know that he's just thinking about you and the others, right?"

"Besides," Shining added, "not every battle will end in victory, and not everypony will survive."

"But-" Twilight began, but was interrupted when she felt Dark's claw on her shoulder.

"Twilight, I was this close to dying when Light attacked me in the Crystal Empire, and I would have if it weren't for Princess Luna showing up. And Don't forget about when I was human and left without my magic. I actually did die for a moment there, but thankfully, that human left my Death Reaver embedded in my stomach, which, according to Nocturne, allowed for the piece of my soul within it to sorta jumpstarted me alive when you fixed the portal and magic started coming through it again."

Using this moment of silence in which Dark pulled Twilight into a reassuring hug, Celestia turned to Sunset.

"Would the human world even be able to support so that of us?" she asked.

"It might, but it'll also be somewhat difficult with there suddenly being two of almost everyone," Sunset answered.

"It wouldn't be like we'd have much choice at that point," Shining commented. "It's either stay here and live in a world filled with the living dead, or go through the portal and start a new life there."

"I don't like our options either," Luna said, "but if it's to keep our little ponies safe, then there's little choice."

Celestia nodded and looked over to Twilight, who was tightly hugging Dark now.

"What about you, Twilight?"

Hearing her being called, Twilight looked up at Celestia. "If... if Dark... dies... and the dead start to rise again... I'll do it."

"Alright, Twilight."

"But I'm confidant that Dark won't die," she firmly said, though the hint of desperation in it was noticeable. "He'll come back to us, just like he always does."

Dark was about to rebuke Twilight's comment there at the end, but instead remained silent and held Twilight a little tighter.

"Sounds like you all got it figured out then," Sunset said with a small headshake. "I don't know how much I can do on my end, but I'll try my best."

"Thank you, Sunset," Celestia thanked. "We'll write to you and keep you updated on what happens here. Hopefully this won't come to pass and we won't need to evacuate Equestria."

"Yeah. I hope it won't too."

Chapter 91- Prelude to War

It was the middle of the night when Twilight shifted around in her bed. Expecting to find Dark's warm body beside her, she draped her foreleg over him only to find his spot on the bed empty. Feeling him not there, she slowly opened her eyes to see not only the blanket being pulled away, indicating that he'd left, but she also saw that the balcony window doors were open, allowing a slight summer breeze to blow against the curtains.

Slipping out of bed, Twilight got up and made her way around their bed to see what was going on. When she got a view of the balcony, she saw Dark standing up with his claws held out in front of him and shrouded in darkness.

"Can't sleep?" she asked as she approached him.

Hearing her voice, Dark looked back at her. "Sorry, Twilight. I didn't wake you up, did I?"

"No. I just noticed that you were gone and that the window was open."

"Oh."

There was a brief moment of silence before Twilight spoke back up.

"Dark, can you please come back to bed? The deadline is tomorrow, and you're leaving this afternoon to go back to meet Light at Stonewall Village."

"I will, Twilight," Dark replied. "Just give me a few minutes. This is kinda important."

Twilight walked up alongside Dark. When she did, she saw a baseball-sized sphere of darkness that appeared to be drawing shadows into it.

"What're you doing?" she asked, curiously looking over the small orb.

"Since I can't bring my Shadow Wraiths with me, I'm gathering them all here for you to use tomorrow against Inferno. You'll have complete control over them, so they'll only obey you."

"You're... giving me your Shadow Wraiths?"

Dark gave a small nod. "Yes. All one thousand, three hundred and fifty of them. It should be a good enough army to protect you from Inferno and his army."

Twilight took a step back. "But..."

"I'm not going to leave you to fight Inferno and his army alone like this. Yes, you'll have our friends there and the princesses and Shining, but while I do trust them, it'll just make me feel better knowing that even though I can't be there for you, I can at least give you something to help you survive this."

"But I don't know if I can. I mean, I've never led an entire army before."

"What about when you brought the guards through the portal to the human world?"

"That was different."

Dark let out a sigh. "Guess it depends on how you look at it."

A few moments later, Dark grunted as the last of the Shadow Wraiths had gathered within the sphere. With the shadowy mist on his claws dissipating, Dark turned to face Twilight and held the sphere out to her in his claw.

"Whether you want to use it or not is your choice," he said. "You can use it right away and use them to fight Inferno's army, or, if you really aren't comfortable, then you don't have to. I just want for you to have this just incase you do end up need it."

Slowly, Twilight took the sphere from Dark with her magic and held it in front of her as she examined it.

"... if I did want to use it, how would I?" she asked.

"All you have to do is break it and the Shadow Wraiths within will be released. It doesn't matter how you do it, just as long as the glass shatters."

"Okay." Twilight sat the orb inside her bedside table drawer and closed it. "Are you coming to bed now? This might be our last night together, so I'd like to spend it with you by my side."

Dark paused as her choice of words. "... you make it sound like one of us might not make it tomorrow."

"In battle, there are many variables to consider, any of which could lead to our end, whether it's a poor command order, being a split-second too slow to dodge a strike, or not having somepony you trust at your side. The last two times I was apart of a battle, I would've died if it weren't for you being there. The first time was the attack on Ponyville when the manticores were about to break through Princess Celestia's barrier, and the second was when King Sombra basically had me at his mercy. This time, you won't be there."

Dark draped a wing over Twilight and pulled her close to his side as he nuzzled her head.

"And that's why I gave you that sphere," he softly said. "If you feel like you're in danger, use it and they'll protect you in my place."

"I'd still prefer you," she said, nuzzling his chin, "but thank you."

"You're welcome." Dark pause his nuzzling for a moment to share a brief kiss with Twilight. "I think I'm ready to call it a night for good this time."

"Okay."

It was noon and things were becoming very busy for all. Beneath the safety of Shining's magical barrier, now having been tinted to prevent outside eyes from peering within, everypony was either finishing up getting themselves ready to evacuate Canterlot for Ponyville, or were finishing preparations to fight Inferno's army. Within the castle, Celestia and Luna were in one of the guest rooms to visit with its current resident.

"We're sorry that you've felt the need to confine yourself like this," Celestia apologized.

"I felt like it was needed," Rin said. "As the Council Elder, it would be bad if I were to show around here, especially with so many of your ponies still unnerved by Inferno's imminent arrival."

"And what of Twilight and Dark's wedding?" Luna questioned. "Surely you could've attended that, could you not?"

"I could have, but with the threat of war looming over Equestria at the time, I again didn't think that it would be wise of me to attend. I do hope that the young princess wasn't too disappointed that I declined her invitation."

Celestia gave a small nod. "She was a little bit, but she understood and didn't let it get in her way."

Rin smiled briefly before it turned sour. "Now if only Light hadn't pulled that stunt of his," he said with a snort. "I find it hard to believe that he and Lord Dark are of the same blood."

"Don't you mean 'Prince' Dark?" Luna corrected.

"No, I didn't. For me, Dark will be the Lord of Death first, and a Prince of Equestria second."

"You seem rather set on this," Celestia noticed, seeing Rin sigh and shake his head in disappointment.

"The other older dragons and I still remember what the Scaleless Dragons are and did, and so, we will continue to honor them. It seems as though Inferno's generation, and those who followed after, have started to forget that." Rin looked out the window and saw the ponies running about below. "It is my hope that someday those young ones might remember or learn what we've learned. I want to see the Dragon Kingdom thrive once again as we revere the Scaleless Dragons like we once did so long ago. They once blessed us with massive deposits of gems from the earth to eat, pure and plentiful water to drink, favorable winds to hide our scent in our hunt, and the fire to help cook our food and fuel our forges. But, ever since Inferno stepped up as king, their praise has dwindled... along with those blessings I listed. Now, Inferno does know what they are capable of, and that's why he never acted on them. But now things are different. Too different."

"Perhaps after tomorrow his position might be vacant," Luna hinted.

"Luna!" Celestia scolded.

"What? You know it might be true. After all, we had a chance when Dark came to us yesterday with the offer of assassinating King Inferno in the dead of night."

"You know that I wouldn't allow for assassinations, Luna."

Luna frowned. "You can be a real spoiler at times, Celestia. At least with Dark, he would've been in and out of there within seconds if he wanted to. And that's without him having the risk of being caught."

"I know, but I still wouldn't allow for it."

"And you didn't."

"I believe that I would have to agree on this one," Rin voiced.

"Agree with who?"

"Both of you," he answered. "While no one would be better for assassinations than the Lord of Death himself, I also can't condone the thought of my king being assassinated like that, whether or not it may be beneficial for all."

"We understand," Celestia said. "So, what are you plans then?"

"For now, I will continue to lay low. It would be bad for some dragon your ponies aren't familiar with to suddenly show up out of nowhere. So, until tomorrow, I will patiently wait here."

"If that is what you wish, then we won't ask you to."

"Thank you... and..."

"And?" Luna pressed.

"... I may or may not be joining your fight tomorrow."

Celestia and Luna were both taken by surprise by him.

"What?" Celestia asked.

"What King Inferno is doing is wrong, and as the Council Elder, I won't stand for it."

"But you just said that you can't condone the thought of him being assassinated," Luna pointed out.

"Yes, because for a dragon, assassination is considered as an act of cowardice. Besides, I never said that I would fight Inferno himself. If I do chose to fight, then it'll be against his army."

Celestia looked over him cautiously. "Are you sure you can handle it?"

Rin gave a throaty chuckle that soon escalated to a rumbling laugh.

"I may be old and almost blind, Princess, but I've still got some fight left in me. Enough for one more battle at least."

Celestia and Luna shared a look before the latter spoke. "If that is what you wish, then we won't stop you."

"Thank you, Your Highnesses."

"You're welcome," Celestia replied before she and Luna began making their way to the door. "Now, if you'll excuse us, Dark should be leaving for Stonewall Village soon, so Luna and I are going to see him off."

"Tell the young lord that I wish him luck."

"We shall, Rin."

With a bow, Celestia and Luna left Rin's room and began making their way towards the airship docks. Along the way they were met by another who was coming to see Dark off.

"Hello, Princess Celestia, Princess Luna," Shining, said with a small bow, wearing his Draconium armor and sword at his belt.

"Hello, Shining Armor," Celestia returned.

"You going to see Dark too?"

"We are," Luna replied. "By the way, have you seen either Pinkie Pies yet?"

"Nopony has since they left for Ponyville a few days ago."

"I wouldn't worry about them too much," Celestia said with a small smile. "Pinkie Pie has never been one to be late with an event like this, so I'm sure she'll be here before long."

"I hope so, because Dark's leaving soon."

Picking up their pace a little bit, Celestia, Luna, and Shining made their way through the castle and Canterlot, towards the airship docks. With the civilians having been evacuated an hour earlier, they ran into no traffic besides the guards patrolling the nearly deserted city. As they continued down the nearly deserted streets, Luna looked over to Shining.

"So, how have preparations been coming along?" she asked him.

"Every guard has one of the communication gems installed into their helmets, so now everypony will be able to receive their orders and report back instantly, along with being able to talk to each other and coordinate with one another. We've also managed to work them into the Wonderbolts' headgear as well. We also have one for each of you two, Twilight, and her friends. And if something happens to them or they don't seem to work for some reason, then we've got spares."

"Good," Celestia said. "This will make things easier on everypony."

Shining nodded. "We've also given everypony a Rage Pellet to use, including Twilight and her friends. If you want, I've set some aside for you two as well."

"Thank you, Shining Armor, but I'll pass."

"Okay, but why?"

When Celestia looked away, Luna huffed. "Tell me, have you seen the Changeling Kingdom?"

Shining looked curiously at Luna before answering. "Yes, I have. Besides their hive, it's pretty much just a barren wasteland."

Luna nodded. "Barely anypony knows this these days, but the Changeling Kingdom was once a vast and beautiful jungle."

Shining blinked in surprise. "It was? What happened to it then?"

"My sister happened. I have seen Celestia go into a Rage Shift only once in my life, and when she did, she used the sun to scorch the earth and reduce the entire jungle to what it is today."

Shining was silent for a while as he processed that before speaking again.

"But why? What did they do to deserve that?"

"I'd rather not go into details, Shining Armor," Celestia regretfully replied. "We've all done things that we've come to regret, as you already know first-hoof. I am no exception. I've lived thousands of years and made plenty of mistakes that I still regret to this day. All that I'll say about it, though, is that since then, I've taken a vow to never Rage Shift again, nor to use my powers over the sun as a weapon of mass destruction like that ever again."

"It was rather annoying when she returned home, actually," Luna said with a huff. "After she did, Tia felt ashamed of herself for having done something like that and locked herself away in her bedroom. It took me a full month before I had finally convinced her to come out. It doesn't help much either that the dragons are doing almost the exact same thing now, minus the superweapon that the changelings possessed and almost used on us of course."

"... and what about Queen Chrysalis?" Shining hesitantly asked.

"She had nothing to do with it. Her hive moved into that area some hundred years later. By the way, Tia, who was the queen of that old hive anyway? I can't seem to recall."

"It's probably best to leave that in the past, Luna," Celestia told her, wanting to drop the subject and having to remember that old memory.

Since then, the three of them continued to walk in silence. After a good fifteen minutes of walking down the streets, they came to the airship docks where Twilight, her friends and human friends, and Spike all gathered to see Dark off. That is, except for Pinkie and Pinks.

"Where the heck are they?" Dark grumbled. "Pinkie and Pinks should've been here by now, and I really don't want to leave before saying goodbye to them."

"Don't worry, Dark, they'll be here," Twilight told him.

"Yeah," Rainbow agreed. "Besides, Pinkie's not usually one to miss seeing somepony off like this."

"I know, girls, but I still wish they would get back already."

"Something wrong?"

Everyone looked back to see Celestia, Luna, and Shining approaching them.

"Not really, Princess," Twilight replied. "Dark is just fidgety because he feels like he needs to go and Pinkie and Pinks aren't back from Ponyville yet."

"I just want to make sure that I say goodbye to everypony before I have to leave," Dark explained.

"Is that all?" Celestia asked.

"You seem nervous for other reasons," Luna observed.

Dark turned his gaze to the south east. "I'm... I just have a bad feeling about this. It sorta feels like I'm walking straight into a trap, and with how much time it's been between when Light told me to come and tomorrow, it very well might be."

"In that case," Shining began as he approached Dark, "you might want to take this with you."

Reaching beneath his armor with his magic, Shining pulled out a Rage Pellet and floated it over to Dark, who took it with his own magic.

"Thank you, Shining, but is this a good idea?" he questioned.

"I think it is. Why? Is there something wrong?"

"It's just that I've never Rage Shifted before, even when I was a normal unicorn. Now that I'm a kirin, I don't know what'll happen if I do."

"Does it really matter?" Rainbow asked. "I mean, it'll only be you and Light with nopony else around for miles, right? So, even if you change and lose your mind and start to go on some sort of rampage, nopony will get hurt and nothing important will be destroyed."

"She's right," Shining agreed. "Besides, like you said, you'll be alone, so you should take what help you can get now before you leave."

An uncertain frown formed before Dark took the Rage Pellet and placed it into his Shadow Storage.

"Thank you, though I'll try not to use it if I can help it," Dark said.

Shining nodded in understanding and was about to speak to Dark again when he saw Rainbow and Dash both standing off to the side at the edge of the platform and looking out into the distance.

"Is something up?" he asked them.

"I'm... not sure," Rainbow slowly answered.

"Something's coming this way, but I can't make it out," Dash added.

Having everyone's attention and curiosity, they joined Rainbow and Dash to try spotting what they were seeing. After a few moments, they found what they saw, but whatever it was, it was too far away. Thinking quickly, Twilight lit her horn and casted a spell to enhance her sight. When she did and looked back, she saw what was coming towards them... or rather, the two thing that were coming towards them.

"What the heck?" she muttered.

"What is it, Twilight?" Dark asked, turning his attention to Twilight as she squinted in focus.

"Is it King Inferno?" Celestia questioned.

"No, it's not him."

A few moments later, the two objects came close enough that the others could make out what they were.

"Wait a minute... are those what Pinkie's been workin' on all this time?" Applejack asked.

"Seeing as how they're coming from the direction of Ponyville, and that we're expecting Pinkie to be here by now, I'd say yes," Rainbow replied with a slow nod.

Approaching Canterlot were a pair of massive airships over twice as big as their normal ones, but there were two different types.

The first one was made of a balanced mix of wood and metal with blue colors, and a steel alicorn pony on the bow with its wings spread open. It was being propelled by four powerful propeller engines and several smaller ones that kept it floating, and was armed with twenty broadside cannons, and a pair of double-barrel battery cannons on the front and back of the airship. Within the airship were two levels below deck. The first of which consisted mostly of ammunition with cannons aligning the walls. But, down towards the second floor was where the larger cannons laid, along with a large room that acted as a medical station towards the back. And there, suspended above the sealed bomb bay doors, was a large bomb with a smiley face painted on the nose of it.

The second airship was far different than the first. Being made of more metal than wood, this airship was being held aloft by metal chains to a pair of red balloons on both sides of it, which were being held together by a metal catwalk to prevent them from separating. Also, unlike the normal balloons that would be used in Equestria's airships, this one had solid steel hidden beneath the balloons' fabric. It was also armed with an enormous cannon positioned on the front of the airship, beginning almost halfway to the back of the ship's deck, and ending by protruding out of the mouth of a large, metallic dragon mouth, positioned at the front. It was also armed with a pair of rotating cannons along both sides of the airships main cannon. However, unlike the first airship, this one had only one, very spacious floor below deck, with three large doors on both sides. While the two up front and towards the back had manned turrets on them, the two center ones were clear of any turrets, and were instead modified for them to be used as short runways for any pegasi to use.

Not wanting things to get out of hoof, Shining used the communication crystal within his helmet to tell the other guards and Wonderbolts to stand down and let them pass before they could start attacking them. As the airships approached and passed through Shining's barrier, they could see that both of the airships had a cutie mark on them. While Pinkie's was seen clearly on the flag hanging down from the catwalk of the red one, Applejack's was seen on the side of the sides of the large quarterdeck of the blue one.

A few minutes later, both airships found a place to dock alongside the platform, allowing for the crew of both to unboard from the deck. As they did, Applejack's face formed a wide smile as she saw her family from Appleloosa unboarding from both vessels, along with Pinkie from the red one, and Pinks from the blue one.

"Y'all made it!" Applejack exclaimed as she ran to meet her kin with a hug.

"Of course we made it," Braeburn said, hugging Applejack back. "We managed ta get most of the Apple family from Appleloosa ta come with us, but the elders and a few of the other ponies decided ta stayed behind ta look after the youngins."

"That's great." Applejack looked around and saw somepony missing. "What about him? Wasn't he comin' with y'all?"

"He said that he had somethin' ta take care of first, but promised that he'll be here tomorrow ta help us all out with them dragons."

While Applejack and talking to her family, Pinkie and Pinks met up and made their way to their friends while they came to meet them half way.

"So those are what you've been working on so much?" Twilight asked.

"You bet!" Pinks exclaimed.

"Girls," Pinkie began before quickly adding, "and Dark, Shining Armor, and Spike. Say hello to Equestria's first two warships. The red one is Pinkie's Hammer, and the blue one is the Applebreaker."

They were all silent as they looked over the two airships before Spike spoke up.

"Uhh, wouldn't it make more sense for Applejack's cutie mark to be on the red one, and yours on the blue one, Pinkie?" he asked.

"Colorwise it would, since apples are usually red and my eyes and cutie mark has blue in them. But really, can you actually see Applejack commanding something that's covered in spikes like that?" she asked, pointing a hoof back to the red airship.

"... good point."

"Besides, we're the ones who built them, so we should be the ones to chose," Pinks added. "Besides, I like it."

"They are... interesting," Rarity slowly said.

"Looks like they'll be a great help to us tomorrow," Shining added. "It'll also give our pegasi a place to rest if they need it."

"There's also a medical station in the Applebreaker for those who need medical attention," Pinks told them.

"And don't worry," Pinkie said with a smile, "there'll be plenty of snacks and drinks for everypony inside who'll need to take a quick break."

"While that's great to hear," Twilight began, "I'm more curious as to how those propeller engines are running like that. What are you using to make them run?"

"Oh that's an easy one," Pinkie said with a giggle. "They each have this crystal gem acting as the energy source-"

"But the cool thing about them is that every time a propeller makes a rotation," Pinks began taking over explaining for Pinkie, "it charges the gem with power again-"

"-which then makes the propellers spin again-"

"-and repeats the process over-"

"-and over-"

"-and over-"

"-and over-"

"Okay! Okay! We get it already!" Dash exclaimed as she and Rainbow rubbed their temples from the small headache.

As they did that, everyone looked at Twilight and Twi, who's mouths were hung open as they stared in awe at the blue airship.

"So you mean to tell us..." Twi began.

"That you two have found a way to created an infinite power source to fuel your contraptions?!" Twilight finished.

The two Pinkies shared a look before they shrugged.

"When you put it like that, yeah, I guess we did," Pinkie nonchalantly answered.

Twilight and Twi stared at Pinkie and Pinks in shock.

"How can you be so calm about this?!" Twi shouted. "Do you know what you've just discovered?!"

"That's it," Twilight spoke. "After this is all done and over with, I'm doing a full inspection of this aircraft."

"Me too."

While they were talking, Dark continued to look in silence between the two massive airships, and the twenty-five foot one Celestia and Luna were letting him use. Seeing him, Shining grinned and walked over to him.

"Feeling jealous that theirs are so much bigger than yours?" he joked.

"... I guess," Dark answered with a small grumble before facing him. "Did you really have to word it like that?"

Shining chuckled and patted Dark's back. "I'm just teasing you, Dark... besides, we might not get another chance like this."

Dark's mood turned grim as he sighed. "Yeah, I suppose so."

"... so, now that Pinkie and Pinks are here..."

"... yeah. I suppose it's about time I stopped putting it off and got this over with."

With a bit of reluctance, Dark mad his way back over to Twilight and their friends. Making his way past them, he stood in front of Pinkie and Pinks before draping a wing over each of them and pulling them both into a hug. As he continued to hug them, the others who were watching remained silent as Dark's bid his final goodbyes.

"Uhh, Dark?" Pinkie slowly spoke.

"What's going on?" Pinks asked.

"I need to go," he answered them, pulling back to see their frowning, sad faces. "I haven't left yet because I didn't get a chance to say goodbye to you two yet."

Pink's mane and ears wilted. "And now that you have..."

"You're going to go and leave now," Pinkie finished, now looking just like her counterpart.

After giving them a small nod, Dark found himself strangled as he was hugged by both Pinkies simultaneously. Hearing a quiet sniffle coming from the, Dark hugged them back for a while until they broke away.

"You know," Pinkie began, "you still owe me a Pinkie Promise."

A small smile formed on Dark's face. "I guess I do. What is it you want me to Pinkie Promise?"

Pinkie wiped her eyes before glaring at Dark. "I want you to Pinkie Promise that you'll come back to us."

"Sure. I can do that," he agreed, going through the motions of the Pinkie Promise.

Happy with that, Pinkie gave Dark another quick hug before he took a step towards his airship, but paused and looked back to see his friends with worried looks, while Twilight looked both scared and sad. Not liking seeing her like that, Dark turned around and walked over to her, where he immediately found himself wrapped in her forelegs as she held tightly onto him.

"Please be careful," she shakily whispered to him.

"I will," Dark whispered assuredly as he hugged her back, "and don't worry. Once this is all over with, we'll have ourselves a proper honeymoon."

After a while, Dark pulled back and shared a kiss with Twilight, who all too eagerly returned it. For almost a minute Twilight held him, not wanting to let him go, but Dark was on a schedule and needed to go. Breaking their kiss, Dark stepped back out of their embrace and held out his left claw. A moment later, a mass of shadows began to swirl around that quickly formed into Dark's Death Reaper scythe.

"Light said that I can't use this," he said, holding it out to Twilight, "but that doesn't mean that you can't."

Unwilling to argue with him, Twilight silently gave a small nod and took the scythe from Dark with her magic.

With his final farewells over with, Dark reluctantly turned his back to them and made his way over to his airship, not bothering to look back, less he be tempted to stay any longer. Coming up to his airship, Dark suddenly saw somepony standing off to the side, hidden from sight of the others by one of the buildings. Seeing that it was Snow Flower, he gave her a quick wave, which she returned before she turned around and made her way back towards the Coliseum.

Now aboard of his small airship, Dark untied the ropes anchoring it down and took the helm of the airship where a copy of Iron Guard's map securely sat. Taking off from the platform, Dark risked one last glance and saw his friends and family waving him off one more time before flying the airship out of Canterlot and towards Stonewall Village.

It was almost noon the next day as Twilight stood on cliff on the opposite side of Canterlot Mountain with the Death Reaper scythe strapped to the saddlebag on her back. With Sunset and the others having returned to their world, and the Dazzlings having taken Soul and the Crusaders back to Ponyville with Night and Velvet, Twilight had less to worry about. And while she would've liked for Spike to have gone with them, he was being stubborn about it. So, in the end, she allowed for Spike to stay as long as he stayed there by their sides.

Looking over over the ledge, Twilight saw their army below, and the two airships hovering above them, with Luna, Cadence, Rarity, Rainbow, and Spike at her side, each wearing a headset. While the plan was to originally have the Bearers of Harmony stay back and out of the way, with the introduction of Pinkie's Hammer and the Applebreaker being commanded by Pinkie and Applejack respectively, that plan was now gone. Of course, while those two had their reasons for not staying, that didn't explain why Fluttershy left with Celestia.

"How much longer are they going to take?" Twilight asked out loud to nopony in particular. "It's almost noon and they're still-"

Before Twilight could finish, a bright flash of light appeared behind her and the others, indicating Celestia had returned. Looking back, Twilight saw that Celestia had in her possession the six elements that had been returned to the tree, and were now returned to the crown and necklaces they were once embedded in.

"Sorry about that," Celestia apologized. "I didn't think that it would take me so long to put the elements back into your necklaces and crown."

"That's fine, but where's Fluttershy?" Rainbow asked. "She left with you, so why isn't she here with you now?"

"Fluttershy said that she had to do something and went into the Everfree Forest."

"What?!" everyone shouted.

"You just let her wander off into the Everfree Forest like that without any protection?! What the hay!" Rainbow shouted, clearly upset that Celestia let Fluttershy wander off like that.

"Now calm down, sugarcube," Rainbow and the others heard Applejack say through her headset to Rainbow, having heard the conversation.

"But, Applejack-"

"She's right," they heard Pinkie say through hers, "this is Fluttershy we're talking about. She wouldn't do something like that if she didn't feel like it."

"But without her, the elements won't work," Rarity pointed out.

"That may be true, but I believe in Fluttershy," Celestia said. "Besides, she-"

"Princesses!"

Hearing Spitfire talking through her communication crystal from her spot on Pinkie's Hammer, Celestia placed a hoof on the side of her headset.

"Yes, Captain Spitfire, what is it?"

"I think we may have a situation."

"What is it, Captain?" Luna asked.

There was a pause before Spitfire spoke up with uncertainty in her voice.

"Uhhh... well... I'm not sure what exactly is going on here, but I can see Fluttershy."

"Where is she?" Twilight asked.

"She's coming this way... and she's riding on top of a hydra's head."

"What?!" everyone shouted again.

"But that's not all. She also seems to be leading a large group of Everfree creatures."

Everypony looked at each other before Rainbow spoke up.

"Are you sure, Captain Spitfire?"

"She is," Soarin confirmed over his gem from beside Spitfire. "From what I can see, Fluttershy is leading an army consisting of four hydras, a few dozen manticores with what looks to be cockatrices riding on their backs, and a lot of timberwolves."

"Oh, good. She managed to get them after all. This is going to be delightful," Discord said in a disembodied voice before he flashed into existence beside the group.

"What are you talking about, Discord?" Twilight asked him.

"Turns out that those timberwolves who attacked Ponyville last year were so thankful to Fluttershy for freeing and defending them that they felt indebted to her. Then, when word that Inferno's army was coming got around, a little birdy told them and they agreed to pay Fluttershy back by help us fight against Inferno's army. And they also apparently managed to get those other Everfree creatures to come along too."

"So now we have the royal guard, the night guard, the crystal guard, the Wonderbolts, the Everfree creatures," Twilight looked back at the saddlebag she wore where the orb Dark gave her resided, "and the Shadow Wraiths Dark gave me."

"Sounds like we've just evened the odds," Spike said with a grin.

"Don't forget that they've still got more firepower than we do," Gray said.

"Both figuratively and literally in this case," Iron Guard added.

"Oh, I wouldn't be so sure about that one, boys," Pinkie giggled through her gem. "You haven't even seen the firepower that these babies are packing."

A few minutes later, Fluttershy rode the hydra and led them and the rest of the Everfree creatures into positon alongside their pony army. With them settled and secured, she flew back and returned to the others where she was given her own headset by Discord before he applied his own.

"Sorry I'm late, everypony," Fluttershy apologized.

"You're not late, Fluttershy," Cadence said. "Besides, King Inferno's army hasn't even shown up yet."

"Excuse me, Your Highnesses?"

"Yes, Flash, what is it?" Shining asked from his place down with his troops.

"I can see them. At this rate, they'll be here in about five minutes."

Taking a calming breath, Celestia lit up her horn and summoned her golden armor and halberd while Luna summoned her midnight-blue armor and longsword. Armed and armored, Celestia and Luna looked over to the horizon where they saw figures moving closer towards them

"So it begins."

Far in the south east mountain range of Equestria, Dark was bringing his airship down for a landing. As he'd approached the area where Stonewall Village was supposed to be located, he saw a large thunderstorm had gathered over the area. Not wanting to crash his borrowed ride, he decided to set it down and travel the rest of the way on hoof.

"You know that you probably shouldn't use your Champion armor, right?" Nocturne asked.

"Yeah, I figured that," Dark replied out loud before summoning his Coliseum armor and crown, and placing his Rage Pellet into one of his jacket's pockets. "With this chainmail underneath the cloth and leather, I should be less likely to attract any lightning."

"You also know that your fire magic will be severely weakened too, right?"

"Yes, and my fire breath too I'll bet."

Landing the airship and tying down the airship to a large boulder, Dark summoned his Death Reaver and placed it on his back before walking into the thunderstorm. As he did, however, Dark yelped in surprise and pain as the rain started crashing down on him.

"What is this?!" Dark asked in surprise.

"Looks like holy rain," Nocturne replied.

"'Holy rain'? How? And why does it sting so much?"

"That damnable brother of yours must've used Aurora's tears when he created those storm clouds. This isn't good, Dark. With this thunderstorm running strong like this, and with the amount of rain coming down, you'll barely be able to use your shadow or death magic."

Dark groaned as his mane started to cling wetly to his face. "So both branches of magic that I specialize in have been severely weakened to the point where they're almost nullified," he figured, using a claw to move his wet mane back behind his ears.

"Just about. If you can find the time to either get rid of those clouds or find some cover, then you might, but the soaked holy rainwater might still impede you."

"Great," Dark sarcastically muttered with an eyeroll.

Continuing forward, Dark started to get used to the holy rain that was stinging him. As he walked further, he soon came upon the stone wall his village was named after. Taking in a deep breath, Dark calmed himself before he walked through the opened gateway. However, when he passed through it, a wall of light suddenly appeared behind him and traveled out, circling the entire village in a wall of light before vanishing. Turning back around, Dark looked at where the wall of light came from and saw glowing ruin coming from the ground.

"How did Light manage to do all of this?" Dark wondered.

"He probably got some of the dragon mages to help him out," Nocturne guessed.

"Probably. I doubt that he's learned how to make magical runes... then again, I didn't think that he'd turn out like this either." Curious, Dark placed a claw on the wall of light. To his surprise, instead of it burning him, it just felt solid. "Weird. I thought that it would hurt."

"Looks to be a containment rune. It won't hurt us, but it won't go away until its caster is dead."

Dark sighed. "So we can't leave unless Light is dead, huh?"

"Correct."

"Damn. And I was hoping to just knock him out and restrain him."

"I know, but there's no use complaining about it now, so let's go and get this over with. I may be confined to this sword, but I still don't like this water pouring down on all over me."

Agreeing, Dark silently made his way into the town and through down the street past the ruined buildings. After several minutes of silence and being soaked in the rain, Dark finally came to the town square where he saw Light in his white trench coat as he stood with his back turned to him. However, while Dark didn't speak as he approached, the sounds of his claws and hooves splashing in the water puddles were heard clearly.

"I was starting to wonder if you were going to come, Dark," Light said, not bothering to turn around.

"You didn't exactly give me much of a choice," Dark said back, standing on his hooves while his claws twitched in nervous anticipation.

Letting out a humph, Light turned around and narrowed his eyes at Dark.

"I've been waiting a long time for this, Dark."

With a sinister grin, Light mimicked Dark and stood on his back hooves. He then drew his sword with his right hoof, causing Dark to reach back and draw his sword too.

"It's not too late to stop, Light," Dark said, trying to reason with him. "As a Prince of Equestria, I can try to ask Princess Celestia and Princess Luna to go easy on-"

"NO!" Light shouted, his sword glowing with a bright light. "What you are going to do is fight me, because until one of us dies, this barrier around the village will remain."

Feeling regretful for having to do this, Dark shouldered his sword and took his fighting stance while Light pointed his sword at him and spoke.

"Today, I lose a brother."

Author's Note

I'm really sorry, everyone. I didn't think that with the holidays being here that I would fall so far behind.

And before you ask, yes, I based those two airships off of Orgrim's Hammer and the Skybreaker, with a few small changes of course.

Anyway, hope you all enjoyed this chapter, and Happy New Year.:pinkiehappy:

Chapter 92- War of Equestria: Part I

Lightning flashed brightly in the darkened sky as the rain poured heavily down on the ruined village of Stonewall. With the place in ruins and abandoned, not a soul had any right to be there, save for the two brothers who were now engaged in a dance of death as one tried to kill the other. With each bolt of lightning, their swords flashed with its reflected light as Dark and Light swung at each other. Ignoring the rain having long since soaked their clothes, coats, and manes, the two ran through the puddles and raindrops as they both tried to draw first blood. However, while Light was fully into this fight, Dark's heart wasn't quit in it.

While he did make his choice, Dark still didn't like it that he had to go through with it, but did his best to push that feeling back as he used his Death Reaver sword to block Light's sword slash. Having Light's blade glance off of the flat of his sword, Dark spun his sword and swung hard in a downward slash. While the runes on them did make his sword lighter, Light was naturally faster, causing for Dark to miss and instead hit the ground with his sword, sending up cobblestone and water as his sword impacted the ground and created a pony-sized crater in the ground.

Seeing Light off to his left and in mid-swing, Dark instinctively raised his left claw and casted his Shadow Claw on it to block it. However, when Light's sword made contact with the back of the shadowy claw, Dark winced as he felt a sharp pain in the back of his claw. Pointing his sword, Dark thrusted it at Light, forcing him to flap his wings and disengage away from Dark. With some distance between them, Dark dispelled his Shadow Claw to see that his claw had a shallow cut on it. It didn't hurt too much at first, but when the holy rain started to rain onto it, Dark flexed his claw in pain as it felt like it was starting to burn.

Damn, that hurt, he mentally cursed before frowning at the cut. And I'm not regenerating it either.

It's not just Light's sword, but the rain as well, Nocturne informed him. They're not only weakening your shadow and death magic, but also countering your body's regeneration.

Thanks for letting me know about that little tidbit after the fight began, Nocturne, Dark snarked.

It slipped my mind, so give me a break.

Seeing him distracted, Light flapped his wings and launched himself at Dark. His sword drawn and light shining over it, he approached Dark as the tip of his blade scraped and sparked on the ground below. Once close enough, Light suddenly flew just inches off the ground and took a swing at Dark's legs, but missed when Dark flapped his own wings and used them to hop over his swing.

Having missed, he kicked himself off the ground and turned back for another pass. Using his powers over the light, Light created two illusions of himself and began to fly around one another in an attempt to confuse Dark of which was the real one. Having enough, the three Lights dove at Dark from three different angles with one from the front, and two from behind. However, despite hitting him from three different sides, he still had to be careful as Dark brought his sword back and charged it with dark energy before spinning around and unleashing it like a long whip of darkness at the three of them. He lost one of his illusions, but with the other one helping to distract Dark, and with his nimbleness with his flying, Light managed to get close enough to get a swing off on Dark. However, the slash of his weapon merely glanced off of the chainmail beneath the fabrics.

Noticing the real one had hit him, Dark immediately grabbed hold Light's hoof and sword with his left claw, and yanked him over his head, slamming Light on the cobblestone floor before dragging him across the ground in a circle and flinging him across the town square into an open door of one of the ruined buildings. Dark then lit up his horn with magic and let it charge for a moment before firing a large beam of magic where he threw Light at. Seeing the building explode, Dark kept his eye on it as he waited to see if Light made it out or not. He quickly got his answer when he saw Light flying out of the fires and directly at him. Bringing his sword up, Dark blocked Light's swing before being backed up by Light's speed as his sword became a flurry of light.

"What the buck do you think you're doing?!" Light snapped as me continued his barrage. "I know that you're holding back, Dark, and I will not stand for it! Either you fight me for real, or I'm leaving and going straight for your friends and family!"

This caught Dark's attention as he immediately returned it by unleashing his fire breath at Light. Despite the rain having dampered his flames, Light was close enough that the flames scorched both his trench coat, and his fur coat. Yelping in surprise and pain, Light quickly backed away as Dark's fires died down and looked over his front. Seeing that the front of his white trench coat had been burnt black, and that the exposed fur on his chest had been singed black as well, he touched his chest with a hoof and winced at the stinging pain he felt.

"You're going to pay for that, Dark." he growled.

Flaring his wings, Light illuminated the entire area with his light, blinding Dark and forcing him to shield his eyes. Using this as an opening, Light zoomed forward with his sword pointed out in front of him. But, when he got to where Dark stood, instead of feeling his sword sinking through Dark's body, it instead was stopped abruptly with a echoing clinging sound. Dispelling his wings, Light took a moment for his eyes to adjust from the bright light to the darkness to see that his sword had came into contact with a magical barrier surrounding Dark, while Dark himself was looking at Light with a mixed expression of sadness and anger.

"Why are you doing this?!" Dark shouted, swinging his sword through his barrier and forcing Light away again. "You've never been this bad before, so what changed to make you hate me this much?!"

"Nothing!" Light shouted back, swinging at Dark again as he used his wings to hover around. "I've always hated you, Dark, but was never able to properly express it until now!"

Dark swung back, parrying Light's attack. "But why?! What did I do to deserve this?!"

"You were a born as a unicorn, that's what!"

"What? You hate me because I can use unicorn magic, and you were born a pegasus and couldn't?"

"YES!" Light shouted, his movements becoming quicker and harder with his rising anger. "For years I had to watch you, my brother, as you used your powers to do what I never could! But that's only the beginning of it. Later, I had to watch as you effortlessly killed dozens, if not up to a hundred dragons, each year with those same powers!"

"You mean that you're jealous because I used my magic to protect our village from falling?" That can't be all of it. There has to be more to this than what he's letting on. At least, I hope so.

"Your magic allowed for you to do in seconds what it would take all of our guards to do in ten or fifteen minutes. Thanks to your unicorn magic, you were easily the post powerful pony in our village, and I wanted it!"

Dark blocked another one of Light's sword swings and pushed back hard, sending Light back through the air a few feet before catching himself with his wings.

"You're being too greedy, Light. You already had everything that you could want, and anything that you didn't have that you wanted, anypony in the village would've given to you willingly! If anything, I should've been the one who was jealous."

"What a load of crap."

"Is it?" Dark questioned, his eyes turning red with rage as he glared at Light. "You had the love, respect, and adoration of every single pony in Stonewall. You could easily have had any mare that you wanted, and I'm sure that even a few stallions would've went bi for you if you chose. When you would walk around town, everypony would stop to greet you and bask in your presence, and whenever you would go out somewhere to eat, somepony would always pay for your meal there! Every. Single. Time. And what did you do to deserve it? Nothing!"

Venting his long repressed anger from over the years, Dark shrouded his Death Reaver in darkness and brought it down hard on the spot where Light stood just a moment before. With Light having darted off to the side, Dark missed and hit the ground again, this time creating a dark explosion of shadow and death magic that tore up the nearby area, including a block of buildings. Panting hard, Dark's eyes glowed upon spotting Light while rubble started to fall back down all around him.

"I have sacrificed much to keep you and everypony else in our village safe, Light," Dark growled, bearing his fangs as flames licked the edge of his maw. "I put up with the ridicule and other crap that the ponies of our village gave me, just because I didn't have a cutie mark. And in your case, not only did I have to put up with that, but I even had to go as far as to not use my magic round you to make you feel better and try to get on your good side."

Dark's eyes reverted back to gold and softened a little bit.

"You're my brother, Light, and despite what you've said and done, I still can't help but love you like one. But, don't you ever try to justify your reasons for jealousy to me, especially when you know full well that I've had to deal with much worse than you or anypony here ever did."

Scoffing in annoyance, Light flared his wings and launched himself at Dark. With his sword ready to strike, Light clashed his sword with Dark's.

"I don't know if you've noticed yet, but I don't give a damn about what you feel!" he shouted before swiftly bringing his right rear hoof up and kicking Dark in the jaw.

His head snapping back from being kicked, Dark brought his sword out in front of him to shield himself from Light trying to run him through, while using his wings to keep himself propped up. Leaning back with Light pressing his sword's tip against his own, Dark wrapped his tail tightly around Light's back legs and pulled them out from under him, causing Light to fall on his back. Using his wings to stand himself up, Dark then spun around, dragging Light through the mud before he tossed him over into another water puddle.

Noticing Light not getting up quite as quickly, Dark shrouded his left claw and used his powers to try and create shadowy tendrils from the shadow beneath Light. However, while they did form and bind themselves round Light to restrain him, the holy rain had significantly weakened them, allowing for Light to break out of them with his wings. Not wanting for him to get up, Dark used his unicorn magic on Light, catching him in his magical aura and holding him down in place.

"Your magic won't keep me down for long," Light told him.

Lighting his own horn, Light illuminated his body in light, granting him increased strength and speed while also slowly healing him. Seeing this, Dark frowned and lit his own horn to cast his Healing Flame on himself. With his natural regeneration being nullified by the rain, he needed another source to keep him healthy through a possibly prolonged battle. Even though his spell would be weakened by the water, though, some healing would be better than none.

"So you're using your Healing Flame," Light said with a hint of cockiness. "Well, you're not the only one with a healing spell. Thanks to Aurora's spellbook, I've learned several spells from it, one of which I'm just dying for you to see."

With both brothers having a healing over time spell on them, they charged again with Dark firing bolts of magic from his horn, all of which Light managed to dodge with ease. Now a few yards away from one another, Dark suddenly planted his hooves and immediately stopped his forward movement with his sword ready to strike, causing Light to quickly fly off to the side as his stroke would've missed and left him wide open for Dark otherwise. Banking back around, Light met with Dark's sword once more, their blades clanging loudly across the sky with the thunder of lightning.

Up north in the center of Equestria, Inferno wasted no time with negotiations and instead immediately sent his army of salamanders and flaming manticores in to attack. While they were charging in, Inferno kept most of his dragons back, allowing for the salamanders and flaming manticores to do most of the work and wear the ponies and Everfree creatures defending Canterlot Mountain down before sending his dragons in to finish them off. With several thousand salamanders charging on the ground, flaming manticores flying through the air, and a few dragons on both land and air, and the two hellions burrowing beneath the ground off to the side, the war for Equestria had begun.

Retaliating, Celestia ordered her ground forces to hold steady. As she was doing that, Fluttershy, with her eyes glowing with shades of blues, purples, and black, stared at the army of Everfree creatures she brought with her and ordered the cockatrices up front, while the ones standing on the manticores' heads were flown to the front as well.

"Fluttershy?" Twilight called, gaining her attention. "What's going on with your eyes?"

Fluttershy blinked a few times until her eyes were returned to normal. "Oh, it's my chaotic powers."

"Your chaotic- what?!" Twilight glared at Discord. "Did you do this to her?!"

Discord chuckled and scratched the back of his head. "Weeeellllllll, not exactly."

"It was my doing, Twilight," Fluttershy said, gaining everyone's attention.

"What? But how?" she asked.

"Turns out that drinking Discord's blood while as Flutterbat has given me some of his chaotic magic."

"It's true," Discord confirmed, "but it only seems to work with her Stare. Well, for now anyways."

"So then what were you doing just now, Fluttershy?" Rarity asked.

Fluttershy looked back over the army of Everfree creatures. "I was giving them their orders. I can do more with my chaotic magic if I want to, but won't. At least, not right now."

"They won't conflict with our attack plans, will they?" Luna questioned.

"They shouldn't, Princess. I'm just having the cockatrices take up the front for now to make things a little easier for us."

"You're going to have them petrify Inferno's army," Twilight figured.

"Yes. Hopefully it'll work and make things a little easier for our troops."

"Well, it looks like we're about to find out," Cadence said, pointing down below them.

Down on the battlefield, Inferno's army charged forward as each salamander, dragon, and flaming manticore prepared to breathe fire upon the opposing army. However, as soon as they got within range of their flames' reach, every cockatrice began to stare at them with wide eyes. Within seconds, every flaming manticore and salamander began turning into stone with the former falling out of they sky, while the latter tumbled forward with their momentum and broke apart, causing the others behind them to stumble over the stone limbs.

With them disorganized, Shining gave the command, ordering each unicorn to fire blasts of magic while the others fired their crossbows into the oncoming forces. As volleys of magic and bolts rained down on them, more and more salamanders fell and started to create a small obstacle for the others behind them to crawl over. But, while the salamanders were easy targets, the dragons in their armor weren't as easy to take down. While the dragons weren't too worried about the magic and crossbow bolts being fired at them, the cockatrices' petrifying gazes were still a serious danger to them. Even though the petrification process would take longer on them, the possibility of them becoming petrified was still there.

While they were busy down below, Applejack ordered the Applebreaker forward with Pinkie and Pinkie's Hammer following right beside them, but far enough away to prevent any accidental collisions. With the flaming manticores in slight disarray, they saw an opening to counterattack and jumped on it. Within seconds of flying forward, they were finally close enough when Applejack pointed her hoof forward and gave the order.

"OPEN FIRE!!!"

Hearing her order, the rest of the Apples operating the cannons and turrets began to fire at the enemy fleet ahead of them. With the sound of cannons booming across the sky, Pinkie smirked before ordering her airship to do the same. As the four smaller ones began to fire at the flaming manticores that were starting to fly towards them, the BBC soon fired, producing the loudest bang they've ever heard. The massive round that they fired tore through every flaming manticore in its way with ease, including a few unlucky dragons who where in the projectile's path, and didn't stop until it vanished in a trail of smoke down towards the horizon.

As the crew on Pinkie's Hammer began to load the next round, the flaming manticores flew in to attack it and stop it from firing another round. But before they could, Applejack's airship pulled up ahead and provided covering fire for Pinkie's crew to reload. While they were doing that, Spitfire and the Wonderbolts were given the order to engage. Following Celestia's orders, the crew lowered the platforms on the hull of the airship for the pegasi to take off, while the ponies operating the four mounted turrets began to fire at any flaming manticore that they saw. Covering them, Spitfire led the Wonderbolts out of the airship and into the sky to meet Inferno's army head-on, along with Fluttershy's manticores.

"Hey," Soring spoke through his headset, "does anypony else find us fighting alongside these things to be kinda weird?"

"Are you kidding, Soarin?" Fleetfoot questioned over her headset. "This whole thing is weird."

"That's enough jabbing you two," Sptifire scolded. "Now, less talking and more focusing on the enemy."

"Yes, ma'am!"

Putting a bit of extra effort into their wings, Spitfire, Soarin, and Fleetfoot led the Wonderbolts into the flaming manticores like a barrage of bullets and began tackling them. After they collided into them, they started to punch and buck them out of the air until their target was knocked unconscious and sent plummeting to the ground. Of course, not all went so well as several of the Wonderbolts had to start flying back to the Applebreaker after receiving either a bite, gash, or puncture wound from the stinger on the flaming manticores' tail.

While the Wonderbolts were busy there, the Everfree manticores did what they could and fought like the wild beasts they were. Though they were faring rather well, the flaming manticores' fire breath made it difficult for the manticores to do too much. Even the cockatrices on their backs couldn't do much with how much their rides were jerking around, which caused for most of them to fall off and have to flutter down to the ground. As they fell towards the ground, they also landed on the backs and heads of salamanders and a few dragons, which the cockatrices immediately began to begin petrifying. The salamanders were petrified quickly enough, but the dragons took a bit longer to deal with, resulting in those cockatrices to be either eaten or crushed by the dragons.

While all of that was happening, Pinkie and Applejack ordered their respective airships forwards and closer to the battle. The closer they got, the more heat they were getting from the enemy fleet. It wasn't until a dragon flying towards them managed to evade enough cannon fire to land on the Applebreaker's deck that things became dangerous.

Not liking this, Applejack secured her hat, ran up to the dragon, and bucked it in the jaw as it leaned down to eat one of the other Apples. With the strength of her buck, she managed to stagger it just long enough for one of the battery cannons to rotate around and blast the upper-half of it off, leaving the lower-half twitching as it tumbled backwards and off of the railings of the airship, and down onto the unsuspecting armies below.

Seeing what had happened from her airship, Pinkie grinned before she felt a sudden weight on the front of her airship. Turning her attention to it, she saw that she too had been boarded by a dragon. Her grin widening further, she reached into her mane and pulled from it a two-hooved axe with a large single blade head. Standing up on her back legs, Pinkie held her axe in her front hooves and charged at the dragon before leaping up high and moving in slow motion as she brought the axe over her head and burying it in the center of the dragon's chest. With a roar of pain from the dragon, Pinkie dislodged her weapon and leaped back onto the top of her airship's cannon, watching as the dragon she slew toppled lifelessly off of her airship. Laughing one more time, Pinkie pointed her axe forward and ordered her crew to fire the main cannon, shivering in delight as she felt the cannon fire and vibrate beneath her.

"Oooohhhhh, yeeeaaaahhhh. That's the stuff."

While they were having their fun up in the air, down on the ground, Shining stood at the front lines as he and several other of his best unicorns casted a long wall of magical shields, while the others behind them continued to bombard them with crossbow bolts and magical spells.

"Hold fast, everypony!" Shining shouted. "Keep them back like this and we can win! Now push!"

Encouraged by Shining's words, the guards cheered and held their ground. As one, they then started to actually push back against the horde salamanders trying to either burn down their shields, or climb over them. As the guards pushed back, the timberwolves and hydras jumped and walked over their wall of shields and started to take the salamanders out from deeper within their ranks.

Moving swiftly, the timberwolves attacked using their fangs and claws, killing the salamanders as quickly as they could before they had a chance to incinerate them with their fire breath. Though they did well for a while, with there being so many salamanders, it was only an amount of time before the timberwolves started losing their numbers due to being burnt to ashes. The hydras, however, didn't have to worry as much about being burnt as they stomped and chomped on the salamanders beneath them. But, while they were easy for them, the dragons were what proved difficult for them.

With no front claws, arms, or wings like the dragons to help them fight, the hydras had to be careful. When they did engage a dragon, they had to quickly move to restraint them with two heads going for the neck, while the other two went for their arms. During that time with the hydra restraining and biting down on the dragon's neck, a number of ponies who were watching took this opportunity and began firing at it's softer underbelly. Though it took them a while, with the ponies and hydra working like that, the dragon was killed and thrown by the four hydra heads against the next dragon coming up to fight.

Seeing another dragon fall to the hydras and his troops, Shining allowed himself to smile for a brief moment before focusing back on the magical shield in front of him. Feeling barely any pressure against his own magical shield, Shining began to charge his horn with a second spell. A few moments later, he moved his shield down and fired a large beam of magic over the top of it, tearing through the ranks salamanders directly in front if him before bringing his shield back up to its proper height. Hearing everypony cheering for him for doing that, they were about to push forward again when they felt the ground beneath their hooves start to rumble. Seconds later, one of the hellions popped up out of the ground, devouring everypony beneath it and tossing others that were too close to it away with the tendrils on its face.

Towering over them, Shining watched in horror as the inside of its mouth began to glow as it inhaled. Knowing what was coming, Shining ordered for all of the unicorns to cast a barrier around everypony as much and fast as they could. However, they weren't fast enough as the hellion unleashed a torrent of flames down in the center of their army, incinerating anything caught within the immediate flames instantly, while others nearby suffered severe burns. Unable to do anything to actually stop it, Shining watched as it began to breath in again. However, just as it looked like it was about to burn them all again, a large stream of water shot down its throat, dousing the flames and leaving it waterlogged.

"I think that that's quiet enough of that."

Knowing the voice, Shining sighed in relief and looked up to see Discord floating above him with a tank of water the size of a two-story house strapped to his back, and a firehose in his claw and paw.

"What took you so long?!" Shining shouted at him.

Discord snapped his paw, causing the water tank and hose to disappear. "Well I didn't think that it would do that much damage. But don't you worry your pretty princely head about it anymore. I got this."

Seeing movement out of the corner of his eye, Discord saw the hellion started burrowing back under ground. Chucking to himself, Discord went after it and followed it down into the hole it had retreated back into. Catching up to it, Discord evaded the tendrils on its face that were trying to capture him. Now laughing at how much fun he was starting to have, Discord grabbed two of the sixteen tendrils and proceeded to drag it back up to the surface. A few minutes later of struggling with it, Discord finally managed to pull it up out of the ground and toss it away from the fighting.

With them now far enough away, Discord teleported himself over to the hellion, no longer having to worry about accidentally hurting anypony.

"You know," he began saying with a smirk, "a unique creature such as yourself would make for an interesting pet. After all, all of my friends have one, and I've been meaning to find myself one of my own. So, what do you say?"

The hellion shrieked and lunged at Discord, but missed as Discord teleported himself out of the way and reappeared up on top of its head.

"Should I take that as a 'no' then?"

Hearing it shriek again, Discord frowned in disappointment and snapped his claws, causing a giant mallet to appear in it before he brought it down on the hellion's head. Knocking it down to the ground and causing the earth to quake, Discord raised his mallet up again and was about to bring it back down, but was stopped when he found something coiling around his arms and mallet. Tilting his head back to take a look, he saw that the second hellion had somehow snuck up behind him and was now restraining his arms with its tendrils.

"Clever girl," he murmured before raising an eyebrow curiously. "You are a girl, right?"

Discord then found himself being tossed through the air by the hellion's tendrils until he was slammed down to the ground, creating a small crater with an imprint of his body in the center of it.

"I'm confused here. Would that be a 'yes' or a 'no'?"

Seeing it shriek, Discord shrugged and was about to get back up to fight it when he saw streak of midnight-blue impact the side of the hellion and knock it over. Sitting up, Discord shook the rubble off of him just as Luna landed in front of him.

"You seem to have gotten sloppy, Discord," she playfully joked.

"I assure you, Lulu, that it looked worse than what it felt," Discord brushed off as he brushed off his shoulder.

"Didn't I tell you not to call me that?"

"You did, but I decided to ignore you."

Smirking at their playful banter, Luna and Discord stopped when they felt the ground starting to tremble and looked up to see both hellions looking down at them.

"You know," Luna began with an amused chuckle, "if somepony told me a thousand years ago that I'd be fighting side-by-side with you against the Dragon Kingdom's army and their hellions, I'd thought them crazy and had banished them to the moon on the spot."

"If somepony told me that a thousand years ago, I would've laughed at them before turning them into a living pastry," Discord half-joked.

Putting their joking aside for now, Discord and Luna flew up out of the crater and towards their targeted hellion. With a burst of speed and their magic, they both rammed into their respective hellion and knocked both of them down in a cloud of dust and debris.

The storm continued strong as Dark and Light clashed swords once more. With both of them having their own healing spells, what damage they'd inflicted on each other before had been healed, and was now working on the more fresher wounds they'd received. Over the course of their fighting, Dark had received several broken and/or fractured ribs and a broken left arm, including several cuts along his wings, tail, and the palm of his left claw, which was used to grab Light's sword in exchange for him landing a hit on Light.

Light on the other hoof and been slashed by Dark's sword, some cuts deeper than others, while also receiving some slashes from Dark's claws, puncture wounds from Dark's fangs, and most annoyingly of all, having been burnt. Thanks to Dark's Healing Flame spell, Light found out quickly that if he'd stayed close to him for more than fifteen seconds that his fur and skin would start to burn up, forcing him to rely on quick hit-and-run tactics. It seemed to work to keep him from staying too close for too long, but it didn't help much when Dark would grab him either by his claw or tail and hold him there. He even had to fight dirty when Dark had caught him in a bear hug and head-butted him, breaking Light's muzzle and forcing him to knee Dark in the groin to release him.

Over the course of their fight, Light began to change his tactics. While his speed was superior to Dark's, Dark still overpowered him with strength and magic. Hoping to fix that somewhat, Light lit his horn and began conjuring arrows of light at his sides. Once he had a good few dozen of them, he unleased all of them at Dark, who, having dealt with something similar to this before, conjured six Fire Orbs and brought them out in front of him. Despite the rain having reduced the size and power of his spell, Dark launched his Explosive Fire Needles out of his Fire Orbs, taking out each of Light's arrows while all the others soared to where Light stood.

Seeing them coming for him, Light's eyes widened as he spread his wings and flew up to escape the explosions. Though he managed to escape most of them, as he flew, Dark aimed for him and where he predicted he would fly to. It wasn't until one of the Explosive Fire Needles' explosions had scorched Light's tail that he took cover behind one of the buildings.

"I'm getting really sick and tired of this shit," Light grumbled annoyingly, his eyes turning towards the old mining cave entrance. "I didn't want to do this so soon, but he's pushing me and not giving me time to cast my spell."

Though the rain had dispersed any dust his spell had kicked up, Dark still lost track of Light. Not liking not knowing where he was, Dark casted his Soul Eyes and quickly spotted where Light was hiding. Letting his six Fire Orbs orbit his body, Dark light his horn and began charging. A few seconds later of building up his magic, Dark fired off another large beam at where Light was. Doing his best to keep his focus on the spot, Dark tried to watch as his beam tore through the stone building right where Light was at, but eventually had to close his eyes when he felt some of the rubble starting to hit him in the face near his eyes. Holding it for a few more seconds, Dark then dispelled it while his horn fizzled and opened his eyes. Blinking, he then saw that the spot where Light had previously been was glowing red-hot from his spell. For a moment, Dark though that he'd actually done it and killed Light, but a groan from his side told him different. Looking over to his left, Dark saw Light leaning against one of the buildings with his sword sheathed and his right hoof holding his badly-burnt left foreleg.

"Just stop this now, Light," Dark told him. "You're not going to win."

Light chuckled. "You know what? You're right. I'm not going to win like this."

"So you'll end this and surrender peacefully?"

Light narrowed his eyes at Dark. "Buck no. This just means that I'll have to try something different."

Lighting his horn again, Light casted a spell he'd prepared before Dark showed up. With the spell having been casted, Light waited eagerly for a few seconds before he and Dark felt the ground beneath their hooves tremble.

"Aurora taught me quite a bit during my short time as her apprentice, one of which being how unique life and death magic are compared to the other elements. While they are polar opposites, they share quite a bit with one another. One such example is the power to resurrect the dead."

Dark's eyes slowly widened. "Light... what did you do?"

Light grinned as his eyes glanced to his left. "I just called for some reinforcements. Now then, Dark, I know that you've killed hundreds of dragons over your time defending Stonewall Village, and from what Inferno's told me, you've killed a few hundred more, but I'm curious to see how well you'll do when you have to fight them all at once... as my undead dragon army."

Dark, something's not right here, Nocturne warned him. Even if he was my sister's apprentice for a short time, it would've taken him far longer to get to the level required to cast resurrection spells. Years at least.

Then why am I able to do it after learning from you for less than a year? Dark asked him.

Because I'm apart of you and you have your Living Weapon, both of which Light lacks.

So, what? There's foul play going on here?

Yes, and I fear that it's in more ways than one.

Chapter 93- War of Equestria: Part II

Even without Nocturne's concerns, Dark didn't like the unexpected turn that this fight had taken. At first, he'd hoped that Light might've been bluffing when he said that he'd resurrected the dragons that he'd killed over the years, but as the tremors continued to grow more violent, so did the overwhelming stench of death and decay. Looking over at the direction of the old mining cave, Dark sighed and shook his head.

"I can't believe you, Light," he muttered under his breath.

"As you'll soon see for yourself, I now have the power to resurrect anything that's been dead for an extended period of time," Light said, not having heard Dark muttering to himself. "Now, why don't you do as our old stories said, and die?"

Dark turned to Light. "What?"

"Remember the stories mom would read to us? In them, the light would always vanquish the dark. Now, be a good boy and fall to my light."

"Your light?" Dark repeated with a tone of annoyance. "Your light, Light, is supposed to be a holy thing that's warming and welcoming to all, but is instead tainted and corrupted. As for my darkness, while it's normally associated as evil and accursed, with mine, it's more like a comforting and secure blanket for everypony, like the night that helps lull ponies to sleep every night."

Dark staggered as the tremors grew close, causing him to plant his sword into the ground to help balance himself as he stood.

"That's a matter of opinion," Light said dismissingly. "Your powers are seen as evil, where as mine are seen as holy and good."

"Maybe, but it also depends on how you use them that determines whether or not it's good or evil, and right now with the way you've been using your newfound powers, your light is an unholy, evil one."

"Says you, though I doubt that it'll matter in a little bit," he smirked, eyes glancing over to the mining entrance. "Tell you what. If you beat my undead army, then we'll talk some more. Until then, I'll be watching from up there."

Unfurling his wings, Light flew up to the storm clouds.

"Light! You get back down here! We're not done yet!" Dark shouted, not wanting to chase after Light into the clouds and make himself an easy target, due to him still being part pegasus and having control over the clouds and their lightning.

Grumbling under his breath, Dark poured more magic into his Healing Flame to prolong it, and refreshed his Fire Orbs. Hearing a low and gurgling growl, Dark readied himself as he faced the old mining entrance. Wincing at the stench hitting his nostrils, Dark covered his muzzle with his free claw as he saw the first of the undead dragons crawling out of the mine.

Despite them having been dead for months and packed down in the cave, there was still plenty of flesh and muscle clinging to them, along with some traces of blue magic flowing through them, most of which pooled and glowed brightly in their hollow eye sockets. Those who's heads Dark had blown off now had their heads back on thanks to Light, having been disposed of in the mines along with their severed heads. One by one, Dark watched as the undead dragons walked out of the cave, some having to crawl as they were missing their limbs, either by when Dark had fought them after Nocturne's attack, or due to the limbs having rotted away to the point where they simply couldn't remain attached and fell off.

As he watched them filing out of the mining entrance, Dark tightened his grip on his Death Reaver when he saw purple slime dripping from the undead dragons' maw.

"Dark, be extra careful with them," Nocturne warned, speaking through the sword instead of at Dark directly, now that Light was out of hearing range.

"Why? What's wrong?"

"Their fire sacs have degraded to the point where they no longer breathe fire, but a highly toxic miasma. If you or any other living thing gets caught in it, then it's all over."

"... how bad are you talking exactly?" Dark hesitantly asked, not liking the tone in which Nocturne spoke.

"The short version? Their miasma will melt away all organic tissue until only bones remain, and will whither any plants that are caught within until they're nothing more than a withered husk."

Dark snorted in annoyance. "Great. So now I not only have to deal with all of the dragons that I've killed here, but now I also have to watch out for a potentially lethal breath attack too."

"Yes, and I should also mention that they're immune to their miasma breath. Otherwise, they wouldn't be able to use it."

"Well that's just great," Dark sarcastically huffed. A moment later, he held his sword up in front of him and looked directly at the glowing red gem. "Nocturne, I need for you to let me be able to Amplify shadows again so I can take them out safely."

"No," he immediately replied, earning him a surprised blink from Dark.

"'No'? Why not?!"

"Using your Amplify on the darkness is too much of a risk."

"But I was just fine when I used it during the Flutterbat and vampire fruit bat incident during last year's Nightmare Night, so what's the risk in using it now?" Dark countered.

"That was only for an instant and you weren't nearly as strong as you are now," Nocturne rebuked. "I know you don't like it, but I'm keeping the seal that I put on you using your Amplify when it comes to shadows and darkness."

"That should be my call to make, Nocturne, not yours."

"I've been lenient and cooperative with you so far, Dark, but I will not allow for you to use it. Remember, we are one, so I know what your limits are. With your unique power to Amplify shadows and darkness, and the night basically being just the planet's shadow, you could easily have the power to make you godlike. Not to mention the vast and infinite darkness of space. However, in doing so, I'm confident that you'd become overwhelmed with the power and go mad."

Dark growled and gripped his sword with both claws as he readied himself.

"From the way you said that, it sounds like I won't be Amplifying using the darkness again."

"Not without more training you won't. Until such a time does come, you'll just have to fight these things the old fashion way."

With a small, reluctant sigh, Dark looked back at the small horde of undead dragons and charged his word with power, causing a thin layer of shadows to shroud the sword's blade.

"Your brother's holy rain had dampered you sword's power, but this should be enough to slay those undead fairly quickly," Nocturne informed Dark.

Dark nodded. "In that case, let's get this over with."

Spreading his wings, Dark launched himself forward and flew towards the lead undead dragon. His sword ready to strike, Dark flew up to the undead dragon before giving a powerful flap, avoiding the giant maw that tried to snap at him and flying above its head. Making it above it, Dark landed on top of its head and plunged his word down in its skull, causing the wound his sword created to start dissolving as the swords power ate away at it. Removing his sword from the undead dragon's skull, Dark flew off it and onto the next one, not bothering to turn back and watch as its decaying body dissolved into a black mist.

Moving onto the next one, Dark flew down to duck beneath a claw swiping at him. A moment later, he saw that the undead dragon to the side of him was taking in a deep breath. Knowing what it was planning, Dark sent his six Fire Orbs towards it while he went for the one in front of him. Slicing though its neck and decapitating it, Dark turned back just in time to see his Fire Orbs burn through the undead dragon's neck, severing its head before the orbs returned to Dark and resumed orbiting him.

With another two down, Dark allowed for a small smirk to form before he turned his attention back to the line of undead dragons that continued to pour out from the mine entrance. Getting an idea, Dark started to unloaded all of his Explosive Fire Needles just above the mine entrance. As the needles continued to explode against the rock face, more and more of it was destroyed, causing the loose rock to collapse down and block the cave.

"That should buy me some time," Dark said to himself.

"But not much," Nocturne spoke. "While they may be slower than they were when they were alive, and even though they are literally falling apart, since they're undead, they don't feel pain, so they'll try to burrow through the cave-in despite any damage they may receive while doing so."

"Okay, so until then, we've got..." Dark paused as he tried to count, but started to lose track when he got above fifty. "... a lot."

"Do what you can to take them out," Nocturne told Dark. "While you're doing that, I'll look out for any traces of Light and warn you if he's coming."

Nodding, Dark conjured another six Fire Orbs and launched himself with his wings towards the undead dragon horde.

The battle by Canterlot Mountain was still going strong as both sides were pushing for supremacy. While the ponies were sorely outnumbered, and the timberwolves were being burnt to cinders by the opposing forces' fire breath, they were still holding strong in this battle. Though the unicorns continued to hold the line with the others behind them continued to shoot their magic and crossbows, it also helped that the Applebreaker and Pinkie's Hammer would also provide support from above. This support also included both airships flying through the enemy's fleet and above Inferno's ground forces, allowing for the Applebreaker to drop its bomb into the heart of Inferno's army, killing hundreds of salamanders with the initial explosion, and leaving more injured with both the concussive blast and the debris that was kicked up from the explosion.

While the army and fleet of ponies and Everfree creatures were busy with that, Discord and Luna were having their own battle off to the side as the two of them were dealing with the two hellions. Though Luna and Discord were both powerful in their own rights, they were finding themselves having a small problem with the fact that the hellions were resistant to magic.

"Well this is getting rather annoying," Discord said as he floated beside Luna. "If I could, I would've turned both of them into harmless earthworms and fed them to some bird or fish by now."

Luna shot him a brief sideward smirk before turning stoic again. "As entertaining as that would be, I'm not so sure that Fluttershy would appreciate you changing them like that and feeding them."

Discord folded his arms with a huff. "No, I suppose she wouldn't."

A pair of shrieks redirected their attention back to the two hellions that were now breathing a torrent of fire at them. Thinking quickly, Luna tossed up a barrier around her and Discord before the fires could reach them. Not wanting to stay inside and deal with the burning heat, Discord teleported him and Luna out of her barrier and up above the hellions' heads. Pleased to see that they didn't notice them hovering above their heads, Luna flew up high above the battlefield before giving a powerful flap downward, sending her diving down as she held her sword out in front of her.

Seeing her dive-bombing with a cone of fire starting to form at the tip of her sword, Discord chucked as he got an idea. Still unseen by the two hellions who were still breathing fire at the spot where they though they still were at, Discord snapped his claw and conjured himself another ridiculously-sized mallet. Waiting until she got closer, Discord brought his mallet back and was ready to swing. Once Luna was close enough, Discord floated to the right side of the right hellion and swung his mallet upward. Just as Discord struck the bottom of the hellion's mouth, Luna came diving down, impacting the top of the hellion's head, causing both blows to meet and crush the hellion's head.

However, the hellion wasn't the only thing that was injured by their plan. Thanks to the impact from Discord's mallet, the force of it traveled through the hellion and clipped Luna, sending her tumbling as her blade, after enough force had been applied and the hellion's hide gave out, cut through the hellion with Luna following behind it, and slicing deeply through Discord's right upper-arm.

Both crying out briefly from their respective wounds, Luna regained control of herself before she could hit the ground. Wincing, she looked to her side to see her right foreleg had been broken from the impact of Discord's swing. Thankfully for her, though it hung limply at her side, no bone stuck through her skin. Taking in a shuddering breath, Luna gritted her teeth and pushed through the pain as she flew up to Discord, who was cradling his injured arm while his other one was held over the bleeding wound.

"What the Tartarus were you thinking?!" Luna shouted.

"Well it seemed like a good idea at the time," Discord defended himself. "By the way, what's up with that sword of yours? I can't seem to use my magic to regenerate or heal that cut you gave me!"

"My apologies, Discord," she apologized, "but my sword is enchanted to negate any outside healing effects of any wound cut with it. I had planned on using this when my sister and I first confronted you, but she wouldn't allow for it, saying that it was too brutal of a punishment."

"I can see why," he muttered displeasingly.

"You're not off the hook either, Discord. Thanks to you and your stupid hammer, my foreleg is broken and my magic is sputtering thanks to the pain its causing me!"

"Then why don't you just heal it?"

"Because I'm not very efficient when it comes to healing spells."

"Then go back get Tia or somepony else to heal it for you. At least my weapon isn't stopping you from getting magically healed."

There as a sudden screech before Discord and Luna found themselves met with the hard hide of the last hellion knocking the two of them with its tail. Though surprised by the hit and mentally berating themselves for forgetting about it, Discord and Luna both grunted in pain as the hellion's tail smashed them down into the ground. But, thanks to her broken leg, Luna yelped as her leg flared in pain. A few seconds later, the two of them were released when the hellion lifted its tail, readying itself for another strike.

Groaning, Discord continued to nurse his right arm while his eyes narrowed and a red boxing glove appeared on his claw. Ready for it, Discord waited until the hellion brought its tail down to slam on them. But, just as it was coming down on them, Discord brought his left glove back and uppercut the tail, stopping it in its tracks as he strained to hold it.

"You better get going," he grunted, struggling to hold the hellion's tail up while having to deal with the pain in his right arm.

Though reluctant to do so, Luna gave a begrudging nod before she sheathed her sword and flew out from beneath the hellion's tail towards Celestia and the others. With her gone and out of the way, Discord, with a grunt of force, pushed the hellion's tail to the side and let it crash against the ground a few feet away from him. Having a moment, Discord then flew up to the hellion's face and uppercut it's jaw, snapping its head back before the hellion moved with the motion of its head and fell backwards before burrowing back under ground.

"Fine then," Discord scornfully said, "if that's how you want to do it, then let's try something a little different.

Snapping his paw, Discord got rid of the boxing glove on his claw and replaced it with a tin water bucket. Holding the handle with his claw, he then began to tilt it with his tail and pour the water down into the hole that the hellion retreated into. But, instead of a small trickle of water from the bucket, what came instead was more equivalent to that of a waterfall of infinite water. Floating idly above the tunnel, Discord continued to pour water down into it with the intent of flooding it and forcing the hellion to resurface above ground. It didn't take too long as the gurgled shrieks of the hellion were soon heard. Seconds later, the hellion resurfaced again, but not where Discord had expected.

Taken by surprise, Discord watched in slow motion as the hellion came from the same tunnel it had disappeared into, fighting the flow of water all the way. Before he knew it, Discord found himself groaning in pain as the hellion's tendrils wrapped themselves around his body tightly, including the wound on his arm, which was being torn wider as two of the tendrils running against it were going in two separate directions. Shouting as he felt the bones in his injured arm give out and break, along with his gaping wound being torn wider, Discord tried to get his claw free so he could snap his fingers and teleport out of the hellion's grip. But, before he could, Discord was met with the rows of razor-sharp teeth as the hellion opened hits mouth where an increasing glow could be seen.

Knowing what was coming and not wanting to be on the receiving end of it, Discord struggled again to free either his claw or paw, but quickly found that the tendrils were too tight to move. Seeing the light growing brighter, Discord began to rapidly think of a way to escape this situation and defeat the hellion in his state. A few second later, Discord mentally facepalmed as he got an idea, one that was obvious to him, and another that he actually got from seeing Dark's memories, one of which included how he fought with dragons. Doing his best in ignoring the pain for a moment, Discord calmed himself and waited for the hellion to start using its fire breath. When it did, Discord used the tuff of fur on the end of his still-free tail like a hand and snapped its 'fingers', causing a giant zipper to appear on the hellion's mouth before it zipped itself shut. With it's mouth closed and nowhere for the fire to escape, Discord was suddenly freed as the panicking hellion's tendrils released it. Floating away to put a safe distance between them, Discord watched as the pressure of the hellion's fire breath increased until it became too much for it to take. With no place for the compressed and growing fires to grow, the hellion's body could no longer contain it, causing it's head to loudly explode into a red mist.

Snapping his claw, Discord conjured an umbrella in his claw and held it above his head as the bloody rain and hellion bits rained down around him. Keeping his eyes on the twitching body of the headless hellion, Discord watched it continue to spasm until it finally stopped moving.

"Huh. Now I see why Dark liked doing that so much with those dragons. It's easy and efficient... and kinda feels like cheating," Discord mused out loud to himself before shrugging his left shoulder. "Then again, I am the Lord of Chaos, so playing fair doesn't really necessarily apply to me."

With his opponent defeated, Discord turned around and was ready to return to Celestia and Fluttershy's side up on the side of the mountain when he cringed and held his claw over his bleeding and broken arm. Noticing that the wound had deepened, was starting to bleed profusely, and was now barely staying attached to him, Discord snapped his claw and placed his injured arm in a sling while also magically wrapping his wound in gauze. But, while it did stop him from bleeding everywhere, it wouldn't hold for very long as it rapidly started turning a dark-red. Having done what he could for himself for now, Discord flew off towards the mountain to where Fluttershy or somepony else could properly attend to him before he could bleed out.

Over on the other side of the battle field, Inferno stood with his giant warhammer, waiting with his general and fellow dragons as they watched the battle going on. Hearing the explosion off to the side of the battlefield where he saw his hellions, Inferno gave a flaming snort when he saw that the second one's head had blown up with blood spraying up from it. Upset with how this was turning out, he turned his head to look at Gunter, who was sitting on a saddle strapped to a flaming manticore that was hovering beside his head.

"The hellions are dead and these lesser creatures are taking too long," Inferno said disappointingly.

"Trust me, King Inferno, this plan of mine will work," Gunter told him with a cocky grin. "You just need to be patient and wait a while. We'll wear their forces down with the fodder before sending in the-"

"No! I want them all dead now!" he shouted, his eyes burning with anger. "Send in the rest of the dragons and slaughter them."

"Fine."

Inferno raised an eyebrow. "That includes you too."

Gunter's head snapped towards him. "What?!"

"You heard me. I want for you to join them in slaughtering those ponies. Prove to me that keeping you alive and making you my general wasn't a mistake."

There was a long pause before Gunter gave an annoyed snort and looked away. "... fine."

"Good. Also, don't you even think about returning if you fail me, because either way, you'll be dead either by them, or me."

Up on the cliff of Canterlot Mountain, Celestia stood with her horn lowered as she casted her healing spell on Luna. Hearing the explosion, Luna glanced over to see a red mist forming before laying back down as she rested with Celestia, Twilight, and her friends gathered around her.

"So Discord did this to you?" Fluttershy asked once she and the others stopped gawking at the bloody mess that had formed from where had Luna come from.

"He did, though it was unintentional, just a simple accident," Luna replied. "Of course, this also goes both ways in this case, seeing as how I accidentally struck him in his arm rather badly with my sword."

Celestia's magic faltered for a moment upon hearing Luna's news. "You mean to tell me that you've struck Discord and blocked him from being healed magically?"

Knowing that Discord was heavily magic-reliant, everyone's eyes widened and returned to Luna.

"And you just left him there injured and alone?!" Rainbow reprimanded.

Luna winced. "I know how bad this sounds, but he told me to leave, and I couldn't focus with my foreleg broken like this."

"Though I personally don't like the though of leaving a pony, or draconequus in this case, behind while they're injured," Celestia began, "your injury isn't one to be taken lightly either. Your leg was broken in three separate places, and some of the skin had started to stretch over one of the areas. Had you stayed for much longer and taken another hit to it, it's more than likely that you would've lost your leg, Luna."

"... okay, maybe it was a good idea after all," Rainbow second-thought, earning her a disapproving look from Fluttershy.

"Rainbow Dash!" she firmly said in a scolding tone.

"What? He's Discord, the Lord of Chaos and Disharmony. I'm sure he'll be fine."

"Not this time, unfortunately."

Hearing his the pain in his voice, Fluttershy turned around and gasped when she saw Discord slumped up against the side of the mountain, his right arm hanging limply in a sling and his color a few shades paler. However, it was the hefty amount of blood leaking down his arm and starting to pool around him that had Fluttershy so horrified and worried for him.

"Discord! What happened to you?!" Fluttershy shouted, her voice laced with fear and panic as she, Twilight, and Rainbow ran over to his side, while Rarity stood by Luna's side and covered her mouth with a hoof. "Oh my gosh! Your arm!"

"That oversized worm managed to stretch open the cut Lulu gave me, break my arm, and almost sever it, but I got it in the end," he tiredly chuckled.

Fearfully and carefully, Fluttershy started to undo the reddened gauze wrapped around Discord's wound to get a better look at it. However, she suddenly stopped when she saw that the flow of blood started to increase and wrapped it back up.

"He can't stay here," Twilight said.

"But I can-"

"I'm sorry, Fluttershy, but he needs a doctor to look at and fix that." Twilight held a hoof up to the gem on her headset and spoke into it. "I need a medical team up at the command post immediately. We've got a potentially fatal injury up here that needs medical attention now!"

Hearing confirming replies on each of their headsets, they all turned their attention back to Fluttershy and Discord, the former putting pressure on the wound while the latter of the two hissed in pain as he laid up against the mountain side and panted for breath.

"It's going to be okay, help is coming," Fluttershy said, just as much to ensure herself as she was for Discord.

"Well this sucks," Discord said with a pained groan.

A moment later, that pained groan turned to a small yawn as his eyes started to become heavy. Seeing this, Fluttershy's eyes widened in fear of what was happening.

"No, Discord! You have to stay awake!" she shouted, putting a hoof on his good shoulder and lightly shaking him to keep him conscious.

"That's going to be a bit of a challenge, Fluttershy," he weakly said before a small smile formed. "Unless..."

"Unless...?" Fluttershy gently pressed.

"Unless I had some extra motivation."

"'Motivation'? Like what?"

Discord used his good arm to help sit himself up and look tiredly into Fluttershy's eyes. "I was thinking that after this war thing is over with, you and I..."

His voiced lowered as he leaned in and whispered the rest of it directly into Fluttershy's ear. As he continued, Fluttershy's eyes widened and her face reddened. When he was done telling her and pulled away to look at her, he saw that while Fluttershy's expression was one of utter shock, she also had tears forming in her eyes. However, they weren't tears of sadness, but tears of overwhelming joy. Managing a quivering smile, Fluttershy ignored the blood staining Discord's coat as she gently wrapped her forelegs around his neck and shared a long kiss with him.

"Of course, Discord. I would love to," she happily said, pulling back with a sniffle.

Happy with her answer, Discord brought his left arm around Fluttershy and held her close. But, while he would've liked for them to remain like that for a bit longer, the sound of wings flapping and hooves landing on the rocks nearby drew his and Fluttershy's attention to the medical pegasi that came for them.

"His arm is almost severed and he's bleeding very badly," Fluttershy informed them. "Please. You have to help him quickly."

"He also can't be healed by magical means," Luna added.

Nodding at them, the four pegasi unrolled the gurney that they'd brought with them and helped transfer Discord onto it. Once he was safely secured on it, they flew off to take him to one of the medical tents they'd set up down below. As they left, Fluttershy was about to follow after them, but was stopped when Celestia placed a hoof on her shoulder.

"Don't worry, Fluttershy," she told her assuredly, "he'll be alright."

Fluttershy gulped as she saw the pegasi taking Discord away. "But I should be there by his side. Even if I can't do anything to help heal his injury, I can at least still be there and support him."

"I know, but right now, I need for you to stay nearby."

It was then that Luna limped over by Fluttershy with her head hung low.

"My deepest apologies, Fluttershy," she apologized. "If it weren't for me, Discord wouldn't be in this situation."

Though she didn't like seeing Discord like that, Fluttershy shook he head with a heavy sigh.

"It was an accident like you said, Princess Luna," Fluttershy said. "I don't blame you for what happened to him. If anything, it's Inferno who's-"

"Your Highnesses, we've got a problem!" Spitfire shouted, unknowingly interrupted.

"Yes, Captain Spitfire, what is it?" Celestia replied.

"It looks like King Inferno has sent in the rest of his army, and his general appears to be leading them."

"Any information on who this new general of his is?" Luna asked over her crystal.

"I can't tell for sure, but by the looks of it..."

"Yes?"

"... it... looks like a... pony?"

"What?! Is it Light?" Twilight worriedly asked.

"No, it doesn't appear to be Dark's brother."

There was a collective sigh of relief before Rarity spoke up.

"Well then, if it's not Light Wing leading them, then who is it?" she asked.

"From what I can see, he's a white pegasus with... wait, is that metal plating on his skin?"

Rainbow's eyes narrowed dangerously. "Did you say 'metal plating', ma'am?"

"I did. Why?"

"Gunter," she seethed, the anger in her eyes clear for all to see.

"Rainbow Dash?"

Rainbow stomped a hoof and flared her wings. "That's it! There's no way that he's getting away after this! I'm going after him!"

"Rainbow Dash, wait," Celestia calmly said, only for Rainbow to turn and glare at her heatedly.

"Hay, no! Not only did he betray Dark, but now he's betraying us ponies as well! I'm not letting that traitorous snake get away! Not this time!"

"I'm coming too."

Feeling a sudden chill from hearing that voice, everyone looked at Fluttershy, who's eyes were glowing red in fury as she'd changed into Flutterbat while nopony was looking.

"Flutters? Why would-"

"Inferno sent those things that hurt Discord," Flutterbat hissed, her fangs bared and eye glowing with a slight purple tint. "I'm not going to let him get away with this. Before this battle is over, I'll show him what happens when he tries to kill my new fiancé."

"Fiancé?!"

"Wait a second here! Did Ah just hear that right?!" Applejack shouted through her crystal. "Did Discord propose ta Fluttershy?! When did this happen?!"

"This is so amazing!" Pinkie shouted as well, though out of excitement rather than surprise and disbelief. "I get to plan another wedding for two of my bestest friends!"

So focused on her anger she was, Flutterbat didn't bother replying as she flew off straight towards Inferno's incoming army of dragons, leaving the others there to process what she'd said. A few seconds later, Rainbow shook her head clear before she flew off after her. To her surprise, however, as she got closer to Flutterbat, they were close enough to the battle where some of the flaming manticores were starting to go after her. Distracted by them suddenly going after her, Rainbow used her speed and agility to easily dodge their swipes and fire breath, while she in turn flew up behind their heads and planted a solid buck to the back of their heads, knocking them out and freeing herself to go back after Flutterbat.

Continuing her pursuit of Flutterbat, Rainbow was now flying over the last half of Inferno's army of salamanders, and was now starting to come awfully close to the dragons that he'd sent in. And there, just ahead of her flying towards them, was Flutterbat.

"Fluttershy! Get back here!" Rainbow shouted, but fell of deaf ears as she watched her continuing forward.

Not wanting to see her out there all alone, Rainbow picked up the pace again and began pushing herself until she felt that familiar feeling of pressure against her front. Smirking, she continued pushing herself until she flew past Flutterbat and came face-to-face with the army of dragons flying towards them. Now close enough, Rainbow put in that little extra bit of speed she'd been holding back and exploded in a Sonic Rainbow, sending her rocketing between the gaps between the flying dragons while the shockwave threw them off, knocking them into each other and sending most of them plummeting towards the ground.

Satisfied that she'd managed to beat Flutterbat to them and knock most of them out, Rainbow turned back and came to a hovering stop a few feet away from her.

"You don't have to do this alone, Fluttershy-"

"It's Flutterbat," she corrected with a hint of irritation. "Besides, they hurt Discord, and I'm-"

"Not going alone," Rainbow interrupted, frowning for a moment before easing it up. "Look, I'm not happy with what happened to Discord either. And while he may be annoying at times, he can be a pretty cool guy, so believe me when I say that I want a piece of Inferno too."

Flutterbat gritted her teeth and looked away, but glanced back when she felt Rainbow's hoof on her shoulder.

"Listen, Flutters, just wait a little bit and we'll all get him together," Rainbow told her. "We still have a plan, and once he stops being a giant chicken and comes out to fight us, we'll use the Elements on him. Besides, he's too well guarded right now for you or any one of us to go after alone."

Though displeased, Flutterbat's eyes traced over Rainbow before she gave a small nod.

"Alright. I'll wait for now," she said, albeit with a bit of reluctance. A second later, she poked Rainbow's chest with her hoof. "But if he takes too long, then I'm coming for him. And with Celestia as my witness, if I ever get my hooves on him, I'll turn him into a newt!"

"Sure you will," Rainbow chuckled and lowered Flutterbat's hoof, just to get a serious look from Flutterbat. Noticing her expression, Rainbow's chuckle began to drift off. "Wait, you were kidding, right?"

"No, I wasn't," she told her, earning a surprised look from Rainbow. "Though it requires that I use the Stare, my chaotic powers can allow for me to change a creature's appearance. Thanks to some of my animal friends' volunteering, I learned that I can turn creatures into others that are similar to them, like a kitty cat into a lion, squirrels into a chipmunks, Angel Bunny into a kangaroo, and a dragon into a newt."

Rainbow as silent for a moment as she had several questions running through her head. That is, until she finally decided to pick one.

"Wait, how did you know you could turn dragons into newts?" she wondered. "Did you get Spike to volunteer?"

Flutterbat shook her head. "No. Discord was helping me train with my chaos magic in the Everfree Forest when a dragon found and attacked us. At least, it tried to. It was then that I learned that my magic also applied to dragons as well."

Rainbow was about to comment when she saw Flutterbat's eyes quickly widen and narrow before she zoomed past her. Looking over her shoulder, she saw that the dragons had regained their flight and were now close behind her. And there, on the muzzle of the closest one, was Flutterbat staring directly into the dragon's eyes. Worried for her, Rainbow flew over to help her, but stopped when she saw a strange purple light radiating from Flutterbat's eyes. Second later, Rainbow gawked as the dragon Flutterbat had been standing on burst into a puff of smoke, having been turned into a newt the size of her hoof and now flailing its arms and legs as it fell hundreds of feet down to the ground below them.

"Now then," Flutterbat began, her voice sounding both silky and dangerous, "who would like to be next?"

As though to answer her, several dragons opened their maws and began breathing fire out at Flutterbat. But, before the flames could reach her, Rainbow swooped in and pulled her out of the way and back a safe distance.

"Let go of me, Rainbow," Flutterbat told her.

"Not now, Flutterbat," she answered, getting a displeased look from her. "You can't fight them all like this. If you do, very well may die."

"And what about your grudge with Gunter?"

"Oh, don't get me wrong. I have every intention of pummeling that jerk, but I know better than to go charging into an army of dragons to get to him. So, in the meantime, I'll wait for my chance to get him without getting myself killed."

Closing her eyes, Flutterbat took a calming breath and exhaled slowly.

"Okay. I'll do what you are and wait," she calmly said, earning her a smile from Rainbow.

"That's better."

Flutterbat nodded before frowning. "But I'm still really upset."

"Hey, if you need something to take your anger out on, we can help Applejack and Pinkie with those flaming manticores flying around them?"

While Fluttershy wasn't really one for resorting to violence, as Flutterbat, she was a bit more lenient with it. That, and she was really mad about what happened to Discord and needed to vent some of her frustration.

"Alright," she sighed in resignation. "They may not be King Inferno, but at least it's something."

Grinning, Rainbow nodded in agreement before she and Flutterbat flew over to help Pinkie and Applejack in clearing the skies before the dragons arrived.

Back in Stonewall Village, Light looked down from the safety of the clouds, charging his horn for a spell as he watched Dark continuing to fight off the remaining undead dragons that weren't currently trying to break through the collapsed mining entrance.

"For having limited magic and me taking several measures against him, he's doing better than I'd though he would," Light muttered to himself. "And what the buck is up with this spell? It should've been done by now, so what's taking so long?"

Growling at it, Light took another look and saw that Dark had just finished up reducing the last of the undead dragons to black mist, and was now leaning up against his sword as he took a break. Snarling, Light's eyes shifted from Dark, over to where the stone pillar and graveyard stood.

"I was hoping to save this for later," he began with a dark smirk, "but I think that it's about time that I started screwing with his head."

Lighting his horn brighter, Light kept his attention focused on the graveyard until a white seal encompassing the area started to glow. Pouring a little more magic into his spell, he maintained it and grinned when he started to see the ground beneath the seal shift.

"You may be fine with fighting undead dragons, but let's see how you deal with this mindbuck."

Author's Note

Sorry about the delay. These last few weeks have been rather stressful for me, which has prevented me from focusing on getting these chapters out. Thankfully, believe that I can see the light at the end of the tunnel...

Just hope it doesn't lead to a giant, bottomless pit.

Chapter 94- War of Equestria: Part III

Dark took a moment to catch his breath as he leaned on his Death Reaver for support. While fighting numbers like that wouldn't normally be a problem for him, the risk of him instantly dying from being caught in the undead dragons' miasma breath put him under additional pressure. That, and the fact that the holy rainwater pouring down on him wasn't doing much to help him either as it continued to hinder his fire magic, and his shadow and death magic. Not to mention that each drop of rainwater continued to sting and distract him, despite his attempts at ignoring them.

"Where's Light, Nocturne?" Dark asked, his eyes focused on the loose rocks that formed the cave-in at the mouth of the mine.

"He's somewhere up above us," Nocturne vaguely answered. "I can't tell where exactly with all of this holy water raining down on us. However..."

Dark raised a curious eyebrow. "What?"

"There's something going on behind us, just outside of the village's wall."

"Do you know what it is?"

"No, but what I can feel is powerful holy magic coming from that direction. But, it feels different, similar to the seals you would make for your fire pillars."

"So he's using magical seals too then," Dark mused out loud. "In that case, we should stay away from that area, along with any other areas with runes carved into the ground. I don't know about you, but I'd rather not get caught in a seal of holy magic."

"Agreed," Nocturne nodded, or would've if he had a head and neck to do so.

Hearing the rocks starting to move, Dark looked away from the light and back to the collapsed mining entrance. Having caught his breath and rested enough for now, Dark stood up and pulled his sword out of the ground, readying himself for another fight.

"You know, you should've been dead by now," Light's voice echoed throughout the village, causing Dark's head to snap around to try and find him.

"You can't say that you're actually surprised that I've beaten those undead dragons?" Dark wondered. "I mean, yeah their breath is more lethal to me, but they're a lot slower than what they were when they were alive. Plus, they've lost their fireproof hide in exchange for one to resist their poisonous miasma."

"I'm not talking about that, Dark," Light said with a sinister chuckle. "Tell me, did you ever consider how those humans found out about your arrival in the first place?"

Dark froze as he heard Light bring that up, which only fueled Light's glee.

"What does it matter now?" Dark questioned. "They're dead and are of no threat to me, or my friends and family."

"I know, but do tell me anyway."

Dark's eyes continued to scan the area, despite the sound of shifting rocks growing louder.

"I know that you worked with Gunter and Blueblood in creating that amulet that you used to send me there in the first place, along with preventing the portal from opening to let me back home to Equestria. I also know that Twilight told me that one of Blueblood's partners managed to get ahold of their world's version of them and..."

Dark's eyes slowly widened as he understood what Light was getting at. Shakily, he lowered himself to all-fours with his sword falling to his side.

"You didn't," he weakly said. "Light, tell me that you..."

"HAHAHAHAH!! So you finally figured it out!" Light laughed. "Of course, that idiot Gunter is too stupid to had thought of doing something like that, and that rat, Blueblood, didn't want to get his hooves any dirtier than they already were. So, Dark, tell me, since you've technically killed me once already, why are you so hesitant to do so again?"

"Just ignore him, Dark," Nocturne told him, trying to prevent Dark from crumbling at the flashbacks of when he killed Light's human-self.

"But I killed Light," Dark murmured.

"That wasn't your brother that you killed, Dark. That was a psychotic human who tortured and nearly killed you, and then later tried to kill Twilight."

"But-"

"But nothing! That man you killed was a monster, not your brother! Now, quit your pitiful wallowing, get yourself together, and fight! Or do you not want to go back to Twilight and the others?"

Though still shaken by what he'd just now learned, Dark stood back up on his hooves and slowly reached down and picked his sword up out of the water puddle he'd dropped it in. Taking in shaky breaths to try calming himself, Dark waited as the rocks barricading the collapsed mine fell, revealing several claws that were burrowing through the rest of it.

Up above, Light frowned as he saw that Dark wasn't quite as distressed as he'd hoped.

"Huh. I was kinda hoping that that would've done him in," he said to himself before shrugging. "Oh well, at least I'll get to see him squirm with this next part."

While Light remained on his spot up in the storm clouds, Dark readied himself as the first of the undead dragons broke through the collapsed mining entrance. While still disturbed that he had killed the human version of his own brother, he figured that distracting himself with this fight would help him. Calming himself with the help of a few words from Nocturne, Dark became calm enough that he wasn't shaking anymore, just as the undead dragon lumbering towards him got within range of its miasma breath.

Giving a single beat with his wings, Dark flung himself over the miasma and landed on the dragon's head before plunging his sword into its skull. Seconds later, the dragon ceased its breath attack and started fading away like the others Dark had slain before it. With the first of hundreds more down, Dark gripped his sword with both claws and readied himself for a long fight. But, that quickly changed when he heard the sound of hooves clopping on the cobblestone and puddles behind him. Thinking that Light had landed and was preparing to attack, Dark spun around and was ready to fight back, but froze in place at what was actually there.

Instead of it being Light walking towards him, what Dark saw instead was at least a hundred skeletal ponies ranging from unicorns, earth ponies, and pegasi. All of which Dark could see Light's magic running through them like with the undead dragons. Only difference between the ponies was that the pegasi had just barely enough skin on their wings to allow for them to fly again.

"Compared to those dragons, this on was a bit more difficult," Light's voice sounded through the area. "While resurrecting them was a simple enough task with the help of the seal instructions from Aurora's spellbook, it was having to regenerate the skin on the pegasi to allow them flight again that was the challenging part."

"You didn't..." Dark muttered quietly in disbelief before looking up at the clouds above. "Light! Tell me you didn't just do this!"

"Do what? Resurrect our dead fellow villagers to fight you?" he mockingly asked. "Yes. Yes I did."

"Please tell me that you at least didn't defile our family's graves?!" he pleaded.

"They're all dead, so it doesn't matter to me at this point. It's not like they have a use for their bones now anyway. Oh, and good luck finding out who's who in there, because even though I was the one who resurrected their skeletons, I still have no clue as to where any of them are, considering that they all look alike as bare bones."

As tears flowed from Dark's eyes for Light having done this to their deceased family, Light's laughter could be heard echoing all around him.

"Damn. During my time as Lord of Death, even I never went this far," Nocturne murmured. "This is low, even by my standards."

Not hearing anything from Dark, and sensing the undead dragons closing in on him, Nocturne turned his attention to Dark.

"Hey, Dark, you still with me here?"

However, instead of seeing Dark falling apart like he'd thought he would, he instead saw a burning anger in Dark's teary eyes. He was then further surprised when he saw Dark reaching into the jacket pocket that contained the Rage Pellet Shining gave him.

"Dark, now let's hold on for a second here and think about this," Nocturne cautiously told him. "You're hurting and angry right now, and need to take a moment to think this over."

Despite his concerns, Nocturne's words fell on deaf ears as Dark ignored him and pulled out the Rage Pellet from his pocket.

"No, Nocturne," Dark said grimly, eyeing out the Rage Pellet in his claw. "I was trying to be nice and patient with Light before, but now he's really crossed the line."

"But you told me yourself that you've never Rage Shifted before! And now that you're a kirin with my powers, we don't know what will happen to you!"

"Well then, it's about time we found out."

Before Nocturne could say another word to try and talk him out of it, Dark tossed the Rage Pellet in his mouth and swallowed.

Things weren't going too well as Shining stood at the front lines that held the barrier together. While most of the salamanders and flaming manticores had been defeated, and Flutterbat had used her chaotically-enhanced Stare on a large number of flaming manticores and ordered them all home, that still left a little over a thousand salamanders, and two hundred flaming manticores. But, what made things more difficult was the added addition of the dragons that had joined the battle. While Applejack's and Pinkie's airships, and the pegasi were distracting the ones flying above them, the ones on the ground were beating at the barriers with their dragon-sized weapons.

"Keep it up, everypony!" Shining shouted before glancing off to his right. "Kite Shield! Aura Lance! Can you two try buying us some time here?! We need to rotate some of these unicorns out for fresher ones, but we can't do it and keep the barrier up while under this kind of pressure!"

"Yes, sir!" they both shouted with a salute.

"Then do your thing!"

Both nodding, Kite created a dome of magical shields around him and Aura, while Aura used her magic to fill in each of the gaps with magical spears. With them now secured and ready, the two walked through the massive barrier and out into the enemy's forces. Almost immediately they were under siege from all sides and above as they made themselves to be easy targets. However, despite the numbers, only so many of them could get to them at once, which allowed for Kite to relax a little bit as his shields weren't under as much pressure as what he'd thought they'd be.

"Stay focused, Kite," Aura told him, having noticed his posture gone laxed.

"Sorry," he apologized.

A moment later, Kite looked around to see that they were several dozen yards away from the barrier. Out of verbal hearing range, Kite turned off the communication crystal installed in his helmet before turning to his companion and doing the same to hers, taking Aura by surprise before she glared at him.

"What do you think you're doing?!" she shouted.

"I've been meaning to ask you something in private for a while now, but was too nervous before to do so."

"So you pick now of all times?! And why did you turn off my crystal?!"

"I didn't want this being transmitted to everypony in the guard to hear. As for why now? It's because I figured I might as well ask just incase we get killed."

"Ask what?" she huffed, turning her back to him and launching another spear through a pair of salamanders before replacing it with another.

"Will you go out with me?"

Aura froze in place as she took a moment to process that. Despite the sounds of war all around them, and the banging and scraping on Kite's shields, his question continued to echo clearly in her mind. Slowly, after several long seconds, she turned back around to face him with a significant blush on her cheeks.

"Wh- what?" she stuttered unsurely.

Kite's brow furrowed in nervous determination. "I asked if you would go out with me."

"... d-do you mean a-as... just friends, or as... uh..."

Kite swallowed a large lump in his throat before he pushed his words out.

"As in more than just friends," he replied. "Aura Lance, if we manage to make it through this, would you go out on a date with me?"

Standing in the middle of a battle, Aura found herself nervous and weak-kneed. It wasn't because she was surrounded by hundreds of enemies who were trying to kill her, but because her squadmate and oldest friend, had just asked her out on a date. Not just a date either, but one that would more than likely turn out to be a romantic one. Opening her mouth, Aura tried to speak, but words to be difficult to say at the moment. It took her nearly a full minute before she found her voice again.

"... um... why would you want to-"

"I'm sorry, Aura," Kite apologized with a wince, feeling the pressure against his shields, "but it would take too long if I tried to explain to you why now. Besides, we are standing in the middle of the enemy's forces. I'm sorry if I'm sounding impatient here, but if it's alright, could you give me an answer?"

There was a brief pause before Aura slowly nodded. "I... well, I suppose it wouldn't hurt to give it a try."

Happy with her answer, Kite's joy was shown through his magic as his shields lit up brightly, momentarily blinding everything looking at its direction from the outside. Taking a step forward, Kite was beginning to approach Aura, but was stopped when she placed a hoof on his chest with a small smirk on her face.

"But that'll have to wait until after we both make it out alive," she said teasingly.

Blushing, Kite nodded in agreement before he turned his and Aura's crystals back on... and both winced when he did.

"Why did you two turn off your communication crystals?!" Shining shouted at them. "I've been trying to get ahold of you two for a while now just to get no response! I thought that you two were dead!"

"Sorry, sir!" Kite nervously apologized to him. "That was my fault!"

"And why would you feel the need to do that in the middle of a war?"

Kite didn't reply and was instead silent as he and Aura were too embarrassed to answer him. A few seconds of silence later, a snickering could be heard over their gems.

"If it's what I think it is, sir, you might wanna put us on a private channel," Steel Hoof requested, earning a snort from Shining before doing so.

There was a brief pause before they all heard a clicking sound, followed by the chat in their crystals going silent.

"Alright, we're alone now. So, what's going on here?" Shining irritatedly asked.

"You finally asked her, didn't you, kid?" Steel Hoof asked, earning an unseen surprise look from Kite and Aura, and a confused one from Shining.

"What are you talking about, Steel Hoof?"

"The kid's been trying to figure a way to ask Aura Lance out on a date. Sure took him long enough," he added with a huff.

"Wha... but.. how did you-" Kite tried speaking, but was stumbling over his words.

"I heard you talking to yourself about it in the barracks a few months ago," Steel answered Kite. "I always told you that you need to better mind your surroundings."

"Is this true, Aura?" Shining asked.

With a gulp, Aura sighed. "Yes, sir. It's true."

"... and...?"

"And what, sir?"

"What's your answer?"

She blushed and glanced at Kite. "Yes."

"In that case, I wish you two the best of luck. But for now, you'll have to save that for later. I don't mind love on the battlefield, but I don't think that now's the time for it, considering where you two are currently standing right now."

Kite and Aura looked around to see that they were still surrounded.

"Agreed," Kite agreed.

"Good. Now then, you two should get back here. We've managed to get most of the unicorns rotated out with newer, fresher ones."

"Yes, sir!" they both replied.

Moving as one, Kite and Aura moved together to rejoin the others as Shining changed their channel back to the one they were using before. One shielding them from their enemies, while the other one impaled them on her magical spears. However, just as they were passing through, the barrier cracked and started to shatter, starting from the top down.

"Damn it!" Shining grunted, having felt a shared fraction of the magical backlash from their barrier faltering.

As the barrier continued to crumble, the dragons started to swing their weapons over it in an attempt to strike the ponies. Doing what he and the others could, Shining poured more of his magic into the remains of the barrier to prevent the salamanders from overrunning them. Doing what he could, Shining looked around to see the other unicorns' magic starting to waver. Not liking where this was going, Shining pressed his hoof to the area on his helmet where his gem was located.

"This is Shining Armor," he announced, "I need for any available units to reinforce us at the center."

There as a brief moment of static before ponies began to reply.

"Prince Shining Armor, this is Captain Gray Diamond," he announced. "I'm sorry, sir, but my lieutenants and I are trying to prevent our right flank from collapsing at the moment."

"This is Captain Iron Guard," he spoke next. "I'm sorry too, sir, but we are just barely holding the left flank thanks to the hydra here."

Shining grimaced at the negative for reinforcements.

"Sorry, Shining, but I'm a bit tied up with the guests up here," Pinkie apologized.

"Shinin' Armor? Are ya still there?" Applejack asked.

"Yes. I'm here, Applejack," he replied. "Can you give us some support?"

"It's kinda hard ta say. It's a bit crowded up here, but Ah'll bring the ship over ta your location ta help ya as soon as Ah can."

"How soon are you talking? Because the barrier's breaking down, my unicorns are struggling to hold it, and the dead salamanders are piling up to the point where the others can almost use them to jump over the barrier."

There was a moment of silence before Applejack replied. "If ya can hold out for a minute or two, Ah'll be right there."

Shining breathed a sigh of relief. "Thanks. We'll do what we can until then."

"In that case, since AJ's coming to help you there, me and Fluttershy are gonna help Captain Gray and the others over there," Rainbow said, having heard them.

"It's Flutter- you know what? I give up," Flutterbat said with an exasperated sigh.

With help on the way, Shining returned to focusing on keeping the barrier from collapsing completely. However, due to the piles of dead salamanders increasing, a few of them had finally managed to leap over the top of the barrier, and down into the pony army, one of which landing right behind Shining with its eyes set on him. Seeing it, Shining was about to turn around and blast it when a familiar mare leaped on its back and plunged her sword into its skull. Relaxing slightly from the save, Shining smiled as the mare flicked the blood off of her sword's blade and sheathed it in her umbrella.

"I didn't expect you to be here, but thanks for the save, Snow Flower," Shining thanked.

Pleased for the thankfulness, Snow Flower walked up to Shining as she twirled her opened umbrella.

"You can thank First Strike for that," she said with a smile. "He may be past his prime, but that stallion still knows how to stir a crowd. Especially if its a crowd of gladiators."

"So the rest of you guys are here too then?"

She nodded before motioning off to their left with her head. "They're off over there. I saw that you guys were having some trouble over here and decided to come and help."

"Thanks. As you can see, we can use it."

Snow Flower giggled. "Well then, it's a good thing that I didn't come alone."

Shining raised an eyebrow. "Another gladiator?"

As it to answer his question, a rotating double axe flew past Shining's head and bounced off of the head of another salamander, leaving a large gash in its head before it the axe bounced back in the air and landed in the hoof of its owner.

"Welcome to the League of Craven!"

Seeing the strange earth pony stallion, Shining looked over at Snow Flower, who just shrugged.

"He's got an ego the size of Canterlot Mountain, but he's very good with those axes of his," she explained. "I don't know how he does it, but every time he throws them, they always seem to come right back to him."

Craven chuckled as he walked past them. "That's because Craven does it all with style."

Shining frowned. "I see what you mean about that ego," he said disapprovingly.

"Aww. Don't be jealous," Craven cockily smirked. "But by all means, let's admire me."

Shining rolled his eyes and pointed a hoof back at the dragons and salamanders behind him.

"We've got bigger things to deal with. Now, can you help us defeat them or not?"

Craven gave a cocky grin and began spinning his axes. "Heh. Too easy."

Using the head of one of his axes, Craven hooked it on the top of the barrier and pulled himself up and over it. Landing on the other side, he started to spin his rotating axes until they were almost a blur to everyone who saw. Laughing, Craven began throwing his spinning axes at everything that moved on this side of the barrier. Getting into a rhythm, Craven would throw one axe and wait for it to start coming back before throwing another, keeping his axes flying at a consistent pace that allowed for one axe to remain in his hoof, while the other struck his target.

As he continued slaughtering everything in his way, it appeared that he was thriving more and more on the high of each kill that he got. Of course, Craven didn't remain idle, however, as he was always on the move, changing directions and essentially controlling the battlefield around his immediate area. Whenever a salamander would get too close, he would skip back while throwing an axe in its face, or throw his axes horizontally side-by-side and knock them off to the side. However, while he was just fine with the salamanders, it were the dragons that excited him with the thrill of battle and bloodlust.

Wanting to have some fun, Craven ran towards one of the dragon and began throwing his axes at it. Though they struck the underside of the dragon, Craven's axes only managed to leave a shallow cut before they bounced back to him. Having caught his axe, Craven rolled off to his right in order to dodge the dragon trying to smash him under its claw. Seeing this as an opening, Craven jumped up onto the back of the dragon's claw as it lifted it back up and brought it level to its face to get a look at the stallion. Smirking at how easy the dragon unknowingly made this for him, Craven threw both of his axes and struck the dragon in both its eyes, blinding it and sending it reeling back in agony as it clung to its eyes with its claws. With the dragon now blind and its attention drawn away from him, Craven landed began rotating his axes until they were at full speed.

"Hashtag Craven big plays!"

His axes now spinning like a pair of buzz saws, Craven threw his two axes forward, both leaving a trail in the ground as they spun vertically, despite them soaring a foot up off the ground. A few seconds later, the two axes curved upward and shredded their way through the dragon's chest before exiting out the back. A second later, seemingly on their own, the two rotating axes spun in place briefly before going in reverse, cutting back through the dragon again before eventually being caught by Craven. Watching the dead dragon collapse, Craven ceased his axes spinning, folded his right axe up, hooked it onto his back, and smoothed out his mane with his free hoof.

"Seems to be blood everywhere I go," he said to himself with a hint of pride.

While he was busy, Snow Flower remained by Shining's side as she did what she could in covering for Shining as he tried to raise the barrier back up. Moving swiftly, Snow Flower swung her sword with quick strikes at any salamanders that got over the top of the barrier, while using her umbrella's canopy as a shield against their fire breath.

Good thing I had the guys at the Coliseum add that fireproof enchantment to my umbrella and clothes after my fight with Dark, she thought.

"Hey, Snow Flower," Shining called, gaining her attention as she flicked the blood off of her sword again.

"Yes?"

"Is your friend there always like that?"

Snow Flower shook her head with a defeated sigh. "Sad to say that he is."

Shining groaned inwardly as he struggled to raise the barrier back up.

"Dang it all," he muttered with strain in his voice. "What in Celestia's name is taking Applejack so long to-"

Shining was immediately silenced as the area on the other side of the barrier in front of him exploded, sending salamanders and their severed limbs flying up around them. Surprised by the initial explosion, he was soon greeted by several more, each accompanied by the screeching of the salamanders as they were torn apart, and the sound of cannon fire. Figuring what was the cause of it, Shining looked up and let out a breath of relief when he saw the Applebreaker rapidly descending before coming to a stop and hovering a hundred feet over them.

"Sorry for takin' so long," Applejack apologized. "We had a bit of trouble with them dragons over where we were just at."

"It's fine, Applejack. Thank you for coming," Shining thanked her. "Now then, could you cover us while my troops and I get this barrier back up?"

"Sure thing, sugarcube."

"Thanks. Also, we've got a lot of wounded here that could use some medical attention."

"Alright. Ah'll have some of the pegasi that are on board fly down and bring them up ta get patched up."

"Thanks again. It'll be good to get them some help before they-"

"Prince Shining Armor! There's been a development over here!"

Wincing from the volume, Shining took a second for his ears to stop ringing before replying.

"Yes, Captain Gray Diamond, what's is it? Your forces haven't fallen have they?"

"No, sir. We've spotted the enemy general near our position!"

Shining's eyes narrowed, but before he could give an order, another voice beat him to it.

"Stay away from him! He's all mine!" Rainbow growled.

"Rainbow Dash, are you sure you can-"

"I know I can," she firmly said, interrupting Shining.

"But what about us?" Emerald questioned. "You covering for us is what's been keeping us from being overrun."

"Fluttershy will stay here and continue to help you guys out."

"But she's just one pony," Saph pointed out.

"Yeah, but she's a pony with Discord's chaotic magic, so you should be just fine," Rainbow dismissed. "Besides, if we can manage to capture or beat Gunter, then maybe Inferno will finally get his scaly but out here and we can finally finish this."

"And what if Inferno decides to retreat instead of fighting himself?"

"Yeah, like he'll be able to outrun me, Pinkie and Applejack's airships, the Wonderbolts, or the princesses."

Letting it end there, Rainbow beat her wings and flew over to where Gunter was spotted. Weaving through the Everfree manticores, dragons, and what flaming manticores were left, she was soon able to pick out Gunter and his flaming manticore mount. Eyes narrowed sharply, Rainbow flew up high above the battle in the sky and dove down at Gunter from the side. Wrapping her forelegs around him, she tackled him off of his mount and continued downward towards the ground with the contents of Gunter's saddlebag spilling out below them. Closing in on the ground fast, Rainbow pushed Gunter down below her before she quickly started to pull up and skid to a halt several yards away.

Lightly panting from that exertion of speed and force, Rainbow brought her left hoof up to her right shoulder and winced. Feeling the pain coming from it, she tenderly rubbed against the sore spot as she just now started to realize that when she'd tackled Gunter, her shoulder connected with one of the metal plates covering his hide.

"Dang it. That hurt," she muttered.

"Damn right that hurt, you stupid mare!" Gunter shouted, getting up to his hooves and shaking the dirt off of him.

Good thing too that I had these metal plates, or else that would've hurt much more, he mentally added before cockily smirking at Rainbow. "Hey, aren't you one of those mares that I saw when I came with King Inferno to meet with the princesses?"

"Yeah, I am," Rainbow snorted, "and I've been looking forward to kicking your flank for a long time now. Ever since I found out what you did to Dark."

Gunter rolled his eyes. "Is that panzy of a stallion still complaining about that?" he scoffed, earning him an angry growl from Rainbow.

"Hey! You better watch your mouth! Dark's more of a stallion than you can ever hope to be!"

Not liking having been insulted like that, Gunter reached his left hoof into his saddlebag and pulled out one of two flare guns that had been securely strapped down in it.

"It won't really matter anyway," he grinned. "After all, Dark's a dead stallion. And in the end, a dead stallion isn't much of a stallion, right?"

Before he could react, Gunter found a hoof connecting to the side of his face as Rainbow flew up to him and landed a right hook.

"Fat chance!" she shouted defiantly. "Like Dark would lose to some cheap jerk like Light."

Gunter chuckled and wiped a small trail of blood from the corner of his lips. "That just goes to shows how much you know. I may be a deceiver and not play by the rules all that much, but Light Wing is far worse than I am. Especially since he received his new magic."

"What new magic are you talking about? Because I doubt that you're talking about his horn or that weird light that comes from his wings."

That cocky smirk reappeared on Gunter's muzzle. "Have you forgotten that I'm the brightest stick in the woods? I'm not stupid enough to spill the beans like that to some wannabe pegasus broad."

Rainbow's eyes snapped wide in anger for being insulted like that. "That's it! Either you shut up right now, or else I'm gonna clobber you until you're colors are turned black and blue!"

Chuckling, Gunter pointed his flare gun up and pulled the trigger, sending a red light up high where the dragons and pegasi were flying overhead.

"Come and try."

Falling for his taunt, Rainbow bolted at him as fast as she could with her left foreleg drawn back for a punch. However, as she got closer, Gunter brought both of his metal-plated forehooves up in front of his face, blocking Rainbow's punch when she was close enough to deliver it. Despite her punch having sent him rolling across the ground with the force and speed behind her hit, Rainbow yelped and recoiled her hoof to her chest. Taking a look at it, she saw that while it didn't seem to be broken, there as still a nice sized crack in her hoof.

Okay, so I gotta be more careful of that metal plating of his, she mused. Dang it all! It really sucks that, like, half of his body is covered in metal.

Shaking her hoof in an attempt to relieve the pain, Rainbow was about to charge at him again when a dragon landed between the two of them. Recoiling from the bad breath as it roared at her, Rainbow briefly looked around her surroundings to see that every dragon that had been up in the air had landed, most of which landed in the middle of their army of ponies and Everfree creatures, and were now slaughtering them with their claws and fire breath.

"Like I said before," Gunter began as he shakily got back up, "I'm not stupid. I know that I can't beat you, so that's why I'm having someone else do it for me."

Rainbow's eyes snapped back to Gunter. "You coward!"

"'Coward'? Nah. I just don't like having to fight a fight that I can't win is all."

Now faced with this dragon, Rainbow growled in anger and frustration, but paused when she heard panicking on her headset.

"The lines are falling! Everypony fall back to the checkpoint and regroup!" Shining ordered.

Snarling, Rainbow ignored the order and flew forward towards the dragon. However, instead of going for it, she flew down between its legs and went straight for Gunter. Seeing the surprised look on his face, she picked up her speed a little bit and tackled him just as he tried to spread his wings to fly away. Thankfully for Rainbow, this time she managed to hit a non-plated part of his body, instead of hitting his metal platings again.

Not stopping, Rainbow continued to fly low with one hoof wrapped around Gunter, while the other was pressing the side of his head down as she dragged his head across the dirt, leaving a small trail of upturned dirt, fur, and blood behind them. Almost fifteen second later of dragging him through the ground, Rainbow did a mid-air flip and tossed Gunter away, watching as his body tumbled across the grass until his body eventually came to a stop. Snorting, she took a look at his bloodied and dirty face, and landed beside his head.

"That was just plain pathetic," she said disappointingly. "With all of that cockiness and bragging of yours, I thought that you'd put up more of a fight. Now I see that you're just all bark and absolutely no bite."

Gunter let out a pained groan, unable to reply as Rainbow having dragged him through the ground caused the metal plating the side of his face and jaw to loosen and allow for some of the grass, dirt, and rocks to get in beneath the metal.

Hearing the dragon she'd gotten past earlier approaching, Rainbow looked over Gunter as she hastily thought of how best to get away with her new prisoner. As she did, she saw that Gunter had another flare in his saddlebag. Getting an idea, Rainbow reached in, pulled it free from its strap, and flew up and around to face the dragon. Once it was close enough, Rainbow aimed the flare gun at its face and fired, nailing it in the eye and causing it to lose its balance with the pain shooting through its eye, and crash in mid-run as it skidded past. Having distracted the dragon for now, Rainbow flew back down and tossed Gunter over her back before flying back up into the sky.

"Hey, guys!" Rainbow shouted through her headset. "I got Gunter!"

"You did?!" Celestia replied, her voice sounding surprised.

"Yeah! Turns out that the guy was a total wuss and had one of his dragons fight me instead."

"Well done, Rainbow Dash," Luna complimented.

"Thanks, but what am I supposed to do with him exactly? Because I doubt that he'll stay down for too long."

A second later, Rainbow found herself in the shadow of Pinkie's Hammer.

"You can put him in here!" Pinkie told her. "We've got a ton of extra rope and chains, so we can have him tied down below deck and have some of the crew guard him."

"Thanks, Pinkie," Rainbow thanked with a hint of relief. "While I don't like to admit it, I gotta say that these metal plates on him are making him extra heavy."

"That's interestin' and all," Applejack began, "but we've got one heck of a mess goin' on over here, Pinkie. We need ya and your airship ta come over here and help everypony out."

"Sure thing, Applejack," Pinkie confirmed. "Just give me a moment to pick up Rainbow and her cargo, and we'll be on our way."

Moving as quick as she could, Rainbow flew up to the landing platform leading below deck and landed, but winced as she felt a sting of pain coming from her cracked hoof. Letting the guards relieve her of her prisoner, Rainbow saw the stairs towards the back of the airship and flew up them until the reached the deck where Pinkie and Flutterbat waited for her.

"Fluttershy! I'm so glad that you made it," Rainbow said with relief as she hugged her friend, while Flutterbat, despite the slight irritation of her not calling her by her 'proper name' at the moment, gave a small smile and returned the friendly gesture.

"You too," Flutterbat returned. "I was a little worried when you flew off like that, despite you saying that you'd be fine."

Rainbow gave a nervous chuckle. "Well, not exactly. Turns out that punching metal plates isn't such a good idea."

Pinkie looked at the hoof that Rainbow was nursing slightly. "Are you gonna be alright?"

"Yeah. It's just a crack, so I'll be fine. Just as long as I don't try anything like that again with that hoof."

"Still, you should probably get somepony to take a look at that as soon as possible."

Hearing the new voice behind her, Rainbow turned around to see Spitfire landing and gave a salute.

"Thank you, ma'am, but I'll be alright," Rainbow said.

"I mean it," Spitfire firmly pressed. "We can't use regular fighting methods with these dragons, so we're needing to rely on bucks and punches to hurt them. If you're hoof is damaged already, then you shouldn't fight like that anymore."

"But I-"

Rainbow was silenced when Spitfire raised a hoof. "That being said, I know that you're also not one to just roll over and give up. So, while I can't allow for you to fight with your bare hooves anymore, that doesn't mean that you can't operate one of these turrets and help provide covering fire for everypony."

Rainbow paused for a moment before speaking. "You mean that I get to fire one of those cool cannons?"

Spitfire nodded. "That's right. Just remember to buckle your straps in before you start firing. The last idiot who operated it didn't and ended up falling out of it and off the airship."

Nodding, Rainbow gave another salute before she flew back down below deck and strapped herself into the open turret seat. Placing her hooves on the controls, she started to get a feel for it before she looked down the sights at the pandemonium below her. Frowning at how badly things were starting to turn out, Rainbow used her keen eyesight to pick out where the ponies were and began firing at the dragons and salamanders near them.

Up at the command post, Twilight and the others watched in horror as the dragons burned and slashed at the retreating ponies.

"This isn't good," Luna grimaced. "Our forces can't re-establish a barrier with those dragons all over them."

"There's gotta be something that we can do!" Twilight said, fearing for her brother's safety. "We can't just sit up here while everypony down there's dying!"

"And we won't," Cadence said, stepping forward towards the ledge. "I'm going to head on down and help set up a barrier for them to retreat into."

"Cadence-" Celestia began, only to go quiet when she saw Cadence look back with a hardened expression.

"My husband is down there in the middle of all of that, and I'm not going to just stand by and let him die while I can do something to help him!"

"But what about your horn?" Rarity asked. "Has it healed enough since King Sombra's attack for you to be doing that?"

"Don't worry about it. My horn is healed enough that I can safely cast spells again."

"Well then," Spike began, cracking his knuckles, "in that case, I guess I better get going too."

This earned him a surprise look from the others, especially Twilight.

"What?! No, Spike! You can't down there!" she sternly said.

"Yes I can," he shot back, facing Twilight with an almost sad look on his face. "Listen, Twilight, I can help them. Like Cadence, I too don't want to stay here while I can do something to help everypony down there."

Twilight's eyes were starting to water now, now having to fear for not only her brother and Dark, but for Cadence and possibly Spike as well. Hanging her head low, Twilight let out a sniffle before she felt herself being pulled into a warm, soft hug. Cracking her eyes open, she saw that she was being held comfortingly by Cadence, with Spike on her other side.

"We'll look after each other, Twilight," Cadence reassured. "I promise."

Spike nodded against Twilight's side. "Yeah. Don't worry about us. We'll be back before you know it."

Fearfully, Twilight brought a foreleg around both of them and hugged them back.

"Be careful you two," she whispered.

"Of course, Twilight," Cadence said with a smile, letting Twilight go with Spike following suit.

Finished with their goodbye to Twilight, Cadence and Spike walked over towards the cliff overlooking the battlefield below.

"Okay, Spike, hop on and I'll take you down."

Hearing her, Spike looked at Cadence briefly before smirking.

"Thanks, but I got this," he declined.

Curious, Cadence saw Spike as his claws glowed green with his magic, and watched as his magic pooled at the center of his back. Seconds later, her eyes widened as the two pools of magic began to shape themselves until they took the shape of a pair of large, magically translucent wings twice the length of Spike himself. Though surprised by it initially, she was then further surprised when they began to flap and lift Spike off the ground until he was in a controlled hover several feet off the ground.

"Just a little something Rin taught me," Spike bragged, clearly proud of himself and his ability to finally fly like other dragons. "Now let's get going. Shining and the others aren't gonna save themselves, you know."

Snapped out of her surprised stupor, Cadence spread her wings and followed down after Spike to join in the battle.

Over on the other side of the battlefield, a certain dragon who'd taken a signal flare to the eye had returned to Inferno and informed him about what happened to Gunter. Unfortunatly for him, after he was done, he was knocked down before his face was crushed by Inferno's warhammer.

"Useless," Inferno spat.

Lifting his warhammer's head out of the bloody mess that was the dragon's head, Inferno shouldered his weapon and began his march forward with the fifty armored dragons that stayed back to guard him.

"Guess if you want something done right, you'll have to do it yourself."

Author's Note

It's funny how at one moment you can feel like everything's going against you, and the next, everything seems to just fall into place. Anyway, everything that was stressing me out before has now been resolved, and with nothing else getting in my way or distracting me anymore, I can finally get back to these chapters and get them out at the rate that I used to.

Chapter 95- War of Equestria: Part IV

He'd made a grave mistake.

High up in the storm clouds, Light looked down with fearful eyes to see his older brother laying waste to everything in his way. Even though his attempts in breaking Dark did succeed in a way, it wasn't in the way that he'd planed for. While he almost managed to turn Dark into an emotional mess with his revelation of him having killed Light's human self, using their resurrected family and fellow villagers against him pushed him in a far different direction. Instead of emotionally breaking Dark and making him lose his will to fight, Dark had instead gone feral with rage.

He didn't know how it happened exactly. One moment Light saw Dark reach into his pocket and eat something, and the next, he retreated back into his cloud and peeked over as Dark's body suddenly changed with a primal roar. After bursting into a ball of fire, Dark's form was revealed to Light, but not as it was before.

In that brief moment of time, Dark's body had grown three times its size and length. His clothes and his crown were gone, while his Death Reaver sword had grown three times its size like Dark to accommodate for his sudden change. Even his unicorn horn was gone now, having been replaced by four draconic horns instead with two of the horns jutted up from his forehead and curved back, while the other two sprouted from the sides of his head, both curving back behind his head like the first two. That wasn't the only thing that had changed with Dark, though. His blaze-orange coat had turned pitch-black, but managed to show the veins running beneath his skin and fur like small rivers of liquid fire, his golden eyes now like a pair of raging infernos, and his mane was now on fire, along with a tuff of fur that had appeared on the end of his tail that had immediately ignited like his mane. However, unlike his mane after having been Amplified, this didn't allow for Dark to manipulate it as it came from his Rage Shift instead.

While Light was confused as to what had happened to Dark, Nocturne knew. Even though Dark took the Rage Pellet, Nocturne figured that Dark was on the brink of Rage Shifting anyway, and that the pellet was what was needed to bring him to that point. Either way, there wasn't much that he could do now besides try to talk Dark down, seeing as Dark's Rage Shift had turned him from a half-baked kirin, into a full-blooded kirin with his powers.

Unfortunatly for Nocturne, despite his best attempts at calming him, he couldn't get through to Dark as his rage had blinded him. Even so, he did what he could to try and talk to Dark, but for the most part, found himself being ignored as Dark snarled at the risen villagers that were approaching him. Nocturne also noted that the undead dragons behind them were almost on top of them and was about to warn Dark, but before he could, Dark spun around and easily sliced the dragon's head off. For a long while Nocturne watched as Dark paved a path of death in his wake, killing each undead dragon again before moving onto the next one. However, what was becoming more concerning to Nocturne was the fact that the Rage Pellet that Dark ate was supposed to put him in a Rage Shift for five minutes, but that time had long since passed as they just hit ten minutes by Nocturne's count.

His mind filled with rage, Dark's only thought was death and destruction, just like the two elements he specialized in represented. Having slain another undead dragon, Dark's burning eyes narrowed on the large group that were approaching him, with more pouring out from the mine. Growling, Dark stood up and spread his wings as he took in a deep breath. Seconds later, Dark unleashed an eerie roar that echoed throughout the village. However, unlike his other roars, this one had enough force behind it to push back the undead dragons. Not only that, but his breath was laced heavily with his death magic, which immediately started eating away at the undead dragons' rotting flesh, reducing them to bare bones within seconds with not a trace of life left in them, magical or otherwise.

Having dispatched the undead dragons in his immediate front, Dark turned back around to see his skeletal villagers within a few dozen feet of him. Growling angrily, Dark's four draconic horns started to glow a burning-red and crackled with power as he charged them with magic, similar to as though they were a unicorn horn. Roaring, Dark unleashed the magic he'd charged and caused the immediate area in front of him to erupt in a pillar of fire, essentially cremating everypony caught within the blast. Charging again, Dark did the same to the remainders of his undead villagers and family.

Never again, Dark mentally growled.

Dark! About time you answered me! What are you doing-

What I should've done from the start, he heatedly interrupted Nocturne, incinerate everypony so their bones can't be reanimated for something like this. Now, where's Light?

Dark, I don't think that you should be doing this.

Snorting, Dark looked up at the thundering clouds above him.

"Come out and play, Light!" Dark shouted at the heavens, only to get no response from him. "What's wrong? Isn't this is what you wanted?! To fight me without me holding anything back?!"

After a few seconds had passed with him receiving no answer, Dark snarled and lit his horns up again.

"Fine then!" he shouted. "If you're not gonna come out, then I'll just have to draw you out instead!"

With that, Dark fired several fireballs up into the clouds, each scattered to increase his chance of hitting Light. But, instead of them fizzing out from the rainwater when they entered the clouds, they each instead exploded into a dozen fireballs that soon started raining down on the village ruins, destroying any buildings that they crashed into with an explosion, including a few undead dragons. However, unlike the fires from before, these ones that were left behind here were burning too hot for the rain to put out, and instead evaporated the raindrops before they even touched the flames.

Up in the clouds, Light shook as he was almost hit by several of the fireballs that had rained down from above.

What the buck is he?! he mentally shouted, fearing what the older brother that he'd enraged had become.

Keeping low to the cloud, Light watched as Dark lit his horns again and fired off another volley of fireballs up into the storm cloud he was hiding in. Remaining still, Light watched as the fireballs passed by him before each exploded into another dozen fireballs that started to rain down around him. Carefully, Light dodge round the ones that had gotten too close to him before settling back down in the remains of the storm cloud.

If he keeps this up, he'll destroy the storm clouds, Light nervously thought to himself. And if that happens-

Light paused in mid-thought as the magical aura surrounding his horn gave a pulse of light, indicating that the spell he'd been charging since his retreat had finally been completed. Seeing this, the look of nervousness on Light's face had immediately morphed into a grin.

"About damn time," he said to himself with a hint of impatience.

Pleased that his spell was primed and ready, Light turned his head to look back down. When he did, he saw that Dark's eyes were now glowing gold and directed directly at him, along with a predatory grin on his face. A second later when Dark spread his wings and took off, Light knew that Dark had spotted where he was hiding within the storm cloud. Despite his spell being ready, Light gave a panicked yelp and began bucking the thunderclouds below him, causing it to shoot off bolts of lightning directly towards Dark. However, before the lightning could hit him, Dark tossed up a barrier around him, blocking the lightning bolts as he continued his flight towards Light.

Not liking where this could lead, Light retreated further into the storm clouds in an attempt to remain hidden from Dark. Flying as fast as he could, Light soon lost track of Dark as he would fly in random directions to try and confuse and lose him. After a few minutes of being chased after, Light looked back and stopped when he saw that he could no longer see Dark chasing after him. With him having lost Dark, Light let out a sigh of relief and simply hovered in place as lightning struck in the clouds around him. Feeling safe, Light chuckled to himself for out flying Dark, but it was quickly squashed as Dark suddenly burst up from the clouds in front of him.

Surprised by Dark's sudden appearance, Light barely had enough time to put up a barrier of light before Dark roared at him with his death magic, shielding him from being reducing him to bare bones like the undead dragons were. Having little time in the safety of his barrier, Light focused on the spell he'd prepared for and casted it, causing his body and Dark's to glow in a white light for a few seconds before it died out.

"And with that, my victory is guaranteed," Light said with a smirk.

"What did you do?" Dark growled.

"That I won't be telling you," he teased. "But, just know now that if I go down, I'm taking you with me."

Wincing from Dark roaring in anger, Light quickly drew his sword just in time to block Dark as he swung his sword at him. Though Light did manage to block him and prevent himself from being cleaved in two, the power behind Dark's swing was more than enough to send him soaring through the clouds. After several seconds of careening out of control, Light finally managed to right himself and wince when he felt a shot of pain running through his left foreleg. Taking a look, Light saw that while he did block Dark's sword from cutting him in half, part of his blade did manage cut him. Thankfully for Light, unlike with the undead dragons, he noticed that Dark's sword wasn't bathed in darkness, thus Light didn't start to evaporate into black mist like all the others.

Noticing that Dark was still in there, Light snarled and sheathed his sword before flying back up to the storm clouds and started bucking it repeatedly. Focusing on his pegasus magic, Light caused the entire collection of storm clouds covering Stonewall to convulse with bolts and flashes of lightning. Soon enough, Light heard the roars of Dark as he was finally struck by a bolt of lightning, and later grinned as he saw Dark's form emerge from the clouds as he fell and crashed into one of the houses.

Grinning at Dark having fallen, Light lit his horn and with another buck to the clouds, directed the lightning directly towards where Dark had fallen. However, being unused to combining magic like this, Light missed his target and ended up hitting the house next to Dark instead. Frowning at missing, Light was thinking about trying it again when he saw that the undead dragons had all exited the mine, managed to surround Dark, and were now closing in on him. Figuring that they could take it from here, Light landed on the rooftop of one of the still standing buildings, content with just sitting back and watching Dark get swarmed. However, before the undead dragons could get close enough, the area surrounding Dark erupted with fire, melting the nearby stone building and ground, and any of the undead dragons that were too close at the time. And there, standing in the center of it, was Dark, with his Death Reaver held high above his head and the gem embedded within it glowing brightly as magic was being poured into it.

"The day after I created this sword, Princess Celestia told me that a single strike from this weapon could destroy a fifth of Canterlot," Dark said, eyes focused solely on Light. "Let's see if she's right."

Even as a pegasus, Light could feel the power growing within Dark's sword. It wasn't until the red glow from the sword's gem became blinding that Light flew up in an attempt to get out of the blast radius. Risking a look back, his eyes widened just in time to see Dark bring the sword down and strike the ground.

Twilight frowned as she track of Spike and Cadence before they disappeared into the battlefield. Though she trusted them and knew what they were both capable of, she was still worried that something might happen to them. As if to show her nervousness, Twilight's body shivered and her wings fluttered, gaining her Celestia and Luna's attention.

"You wish to join then?" Luna inquired, having figured Twilight out.

Twilight glanced at Luna before giving a hesitant nod. "I do. Almost all of my friends and family are out there fighting, and here I am, sitting up here safe and sound because I can't run the risk of hurting my foal." Her expression fell to one of sadness and regret. "Tell me, Princess, am I being selfish?"

Celestia draped a wing over Twilight, remaining cautious of the scythe strapped to her back, and gave her a reassuring nuzzle.

"No, Twilight. Nopony would blame a mother for wanting to protect her unborn child."

"Besides," Luna added, "if you were to go down there, most of the ponies would be distracted in trying to keep you safe from harm, and they're struggling enough as it is."

With a bit of reluctance, Twilight nodded in agreement, deciding that her going down would cause them more problems than it would in helping them. However, any further though of that was cut off as Rarity cleared her throat to gain their attention.

"As true as that is," she began, pointing a hoof over to the other side of the battlefield, "I believe that things are about to become even more problematic."

Following the direction of where Rarity was pointing, Twilight casted a spell for increased vision on herself, Celestia, and Luna. Soon enough, they spotted what Rarity saw, which caused each of their eyes to widen.

"I can't believe it," Twilight muttered. "Rainbow's idea actually worked."

"Did somepony say my name?" Rainbow said over her headset with the sound of cannon fire in the background.

Twilight put a hoof on her headset and held it closer to her ear. "You were right, Rainbow. King Inferno is coming."

"Seriously? I was just saying that as an excuse for me to go after Gunter and beat him up. I didn't think that he would actually show up."

"Regardless, Rainbow Dash, thanks to you, you've forced King Inferno's claw and have drawn him out," Celestia confirmed. "And he's not alone either."

"Indeed," Luna nodded. "He appears to have a contingent of armored dragons accompanying him."

"I count about fifty of them," Twilight reported.

"In that case, where we're in trouble," Shining told them. "We're trying to establish a secondary line, but we're barely holding on as it is, even with Cadence and Spike coming to help us. And now with King Inferno and these armored dragons, we'll soon be both overrun, and overpowered."

"And it's too soon for everypony to use the Rage Pellets yet," Gray added. "If we use them now, we'll all be burnt out and too tired to fight them when the Elements engage King Inferno."

"What we need are reinforcements," Iron Guard said.

"But we don't have any reinforcements!" Shining shouted. "What we have is what there is, so we'll just have to bunker down and hold out as best we can until we get an opening for Twilight and her friends to hit King Inferno with the Elements!"

Worried for them, Twilight took a step closer to the ledge and looked down. When she did and nervously shifted, she felt something bump up against her side from within her saddlebag. Remembering what was in there, Twilight's eyes widened before she hastily reached in with her magic and pulled out an orb of black mist. Looking at the swirling darkness within, a small smile formed on Twilight's face.

"Don't worry guys, help is on the way."

Curious as to what she meant, Celestia, Luna, and Rarity watched Twilight and noticed the orb she was holding before she brought the orb down on the rocks. Shattering the glass that contained it, they were met with a torrent of shadows that erupted from the shattered orb before the shadows broke apart and slowly formed into the one thousand, three hundred and fifty Shadow Wraiths that Dark gave to Twilight. Surprised by the sudden appearance of the army appearing before them, Celestia, Luna, and Rarity took a cautious step back, while Twilight grinned and looked up at the army floating above them.

"Your orders are simple," Twilight spoke, her voice firm and authoritative. "You are to assist the ponies and Everfree creatures in defeating King Inferno's army of dragons, salamanders, and what flaming manticores are left. But, we need King Inferno alive, so don't kill him if at all possible."

Crossing their arms in front of their chests, the Shadow Wraiths saluted Twilight as their sign of confirmation.

"Good. Now go!"

Heeding her command, the army of Shadow Wraiths flew off the platform and descended upon the battlefield like a cloud of darkness. However, their presence didn't go unnoticed as their numbers shaded the battlefield below from the sunlight, causing most of the dragons to look up and start breathing fire at them. Scattering, most of the Shadow Wraiths managed to dodge the fires, but a good few hundred of them were still caught within the flames. Despite that, they continued diving down, slicing any flaming manticores and airborne dragons in their way, while avoiding the pegasi and Everfree manticores as instructed. Floating just above the ponies' heads, the Shadow Wraiths then glided forward, stabbing and slicing through Inferno's army with their armblades.

"Heh, looks like somepony was holding out on us," Cadence giggled, seeing the Shadow Wraiths attacking Inferno's army, but were not quite close enough to her to actually get a good look at them yet.

To her side, Spike hovered above and fired another beam of magic from his claws at a nearby salamander. Despite him having a rough time seeing the lifeless bodies all around him and throwing up from the sight of it soon after landing, with a bit of help from Cadence, Spike was able to collect himself to the point where he was at least no longer had the urge to vomit.

"Well, you know that Twilight tends to forget things when under stress and pressure," he reminded her.

A moment later, Spike cast his Magic Claws and slashed through another salamander that got too close to them. With another one down, Spike hovered by Cadence's side and was watching her back again before several Shadow Wraiths paused in front of Spike and eyed him over. Thankfully, with Spike having lived in the castle with Dark and Twilight for so long, and with the Shadow Wraiths seeing him every day and night since their creation, they knew that he was on their side and crossed their arms in a salute before flying off towards one of Inferno's nearby dragons.

"What are those things?!" Cadence yelped in surprise.

"Easy there, Cadence," Spike calmly told her. "They're Dark's Shadow Wraiths. But I don't' get it. They're supposed to be protecting Twilight's castle in Ponyville, so what are they doing here?"

"The night before Dark left, he gave me an orb that contained all of his Shadow Wraiths," Twilight answered him, having heard him and Cadence talking through their headsets.

"If you had it all along, then why didn't you use it before?!" Shining asked.

"Because I was so worried about you, Dark, and all of my friends, that I forgot about it, okay?!" Twilight snapped back.

"Either way," Luna began, "with these added forces, you and the others should start to try setting up another barrier to cover yourselves with before King Inferno and his armored dragons arrive."

"She's right," Iron Guard spoke through his headset. "With them here covering for us, we can start focusing on getting another barrier set up."

There was a brief pause before Shining spoke up. "Then let's make it happen," he said before addressing the guards. "Attention, everypony! Do not attack the Shadow Wraiths. They're on our side and are going to cover us. In the meantime, I want all unicorns to regroup and prepare to cast another barrier. The rest of you, continue to watch each other's backs and fall back."

Knowing that they were already where Shining wanted them to be, Cadence and Spike remained where they were as they continued to cover the ponies retreating back. After seven long minutes, most of the ponies had gathered back and had regrouped. With them back together with Shining now by Cadence's side, and the Shadow Wraiths still distracting Inferno's army, the unicorns and alicorn all lit their horns and readied themselves as they prepared to raise another barrier.

"How long do you think those things will distract them for?" Cadence wondered, but got her answer before Spike or Shining could reply.

As soon as that question left her mouth, a group of dragons used their fire breath, forcing the Shadow Wraiths to part and accidentally open up a gap. Taking advantage of this, a dozens of dragons and even more salamanders ran through the gap and directly towards where they were standing. Their spell not ready yet, and Applejack and Pinkie off to the sides helping hold ends of the line, Shining was about to switch spells for a powerful beam of magic to hold them off when Spike flapped his magical wings and landed in front of the line of unicorn guards, Shining, and Cadence.

"Spike! What are you doing?! Get back here!" Shining shouted in worry, only for it to turn to confusion when Spike looked back with a confident grin on his face.

"Don't worry, Shining, I got this," he calmly said.

Ignoring the further pleas from them and a few of the crystal guards who spotted him, Spike dispelled his wings and lowered himself to all fours. Sinking his claws into the ground to anchor himself down, Spike took a few calming breaths before he started to channel his magic and slowly inhale. Paying no mind to the dragons and salamanders that were approaching him, Spike gathered the magic from his claws up in front of his open maw. Remaining focused, he continued to inhale and channel his magic in front of him until a few moments later when the sphere of magic was almost as tall as he was standing.

Reaching the spell's apex, Spike fired off the Flare directly in front of him at Inferno's army. While Spike was pushed back a few feet by force of the recoil, the Flare did it's job as it completely decimated everything in its way. Salamanders that were caught within weren't even given the chance to be reduced to ashes, while the dragons were less fortunate with not having shared their quick deaths. As the Flare continued traveling further down, it tore through any dragons that were in its path. With Spike's smaller size and him having to aim upward slightly to actually hit them, the Flare pierced through the dragons' stomachs, while others farther back were struck in the chest by surprise. Even yeo of the armored Dragons that were accompanying Inferno got hit, the angel of trajectory having hit their head and leaving behind a pair of twitching, headless body.

But Spike didn't stop there. Continuing the Flare, Spike turned his head to his right in an attempt to drag the Flare and take out as many enemies as he could. While he did manage to turn his head and aim it off to the side a little bit, it wasn't much as the strain of the spell wouldn't allow for anymore without running the risk of a serious neck injury. But still, that little bit was enough to get a few more dragons and a few dozen more salamanders.

Ending the spell, Spike fell to his knees as he panted for breath. A few seconds later, he was reminded that he wasn't alone as the guards behind him cheered, mostly from the crystal guards. Giving them a shaky smile, Spike slowly got back up to his feet and as quickly as he could, retreated back to Shining and Cadence's side behind the barrier they'd just started to raise.

"That was quite impressive, Spike," Shining complimented.

"Thanks," Spike said, his panting starting to ease up, "but I'm sure that Dark... could've done that... a lot easier... than me."

"Maybe, but he's also a lot stronger, and he's done this a lot more than most of us."

"Regardless of Spike's lack of combat experience compared to Dark's," Cadence began, "you've definitely given them a reason to hesitate. What's more is that thanks to you, you have given us enough time to get this barrier started up before King Inferno could get here."

Proud of his accomplishment, Spike smiled before sitting down to rest. Despite having used the Flare before, he still wasn't used to it. That, and this one was bigger than any other he'd used before, requiring him to use more magic and tiring him out even quicker.

Letting him rest for now, Shining and Cadence both gave him a quick smile as they helped with raising the barrier. Less than half way through getting it up, though, they watched as the dragons breathed a wall of fire all at once, destroying half of the Shadow Wraiths while the other half barely managed to escape. With the line of Shadow Wraiths broken, Inferno's army charged forward with Inferno himself leading the charge at the center of them.

As the army continued to advance, Applejack and Pinkie redirected their airships more towards the center where they started firing down into the charging army. A few short moments later, they spotted Inferno and began firing their cannons at him, causing him to wince as one of the rounds impacted his right shoulder plate.

Repositioning her airship, Pinkie was moving to take aim with the main cannon when she heard an announcement over her headset.

"Pinkie Pie, Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy," Celestia called, "I need for you four to return back to the command post and gather Twilight and Rarity. It's time for you to use the Elements of Harmony and end this war."

"But how are we gonna get close enough to use the Elements on him without one of those dragons or salamanders getting to us first?" Rainbow questioned.

"What if we were to use one of the airships?" Twilight suggested. "We'll be up in the air away from the salamanders, be protected by the airships cannons if any dragons try to approach us, and we won't get in anypony's way."

"In that case, which one should we use?" Rarity asked.

"Ah suggest we use mine," Applejack voiced. "Ah've noticed that mine is a lot more maneuverable than what Pinkie's is. Plus, the deck will be clear, so we won't have any ropes or chains gettin' in our way like what Pinkie's does."

"Yeah. Guess I really should've though that part of the ship's design out better," Pinkie figured.

"In that case, Ah'll fly over ta ya and you and Rainbow can hop on. By the way, has anypony seen Flutterbat?"

"I'm right here, Applejack."

Letting out a yelp of surprise, Applejack spun around to see Flutterbat standing there looking at her.

"Gah! Don't scare me like that!"

"Sorry, Applejack. I didn't mean to frighten you," Flutterbat apologized while hiding her amused smirk.

"It's alright, sugarcube," Applejack sighed, calming her heartrate from the scare.

Returning to the helm, Applejack steered the Applebreaker up over to where Pinkie's Hammer was hovering and pulled up to the side, just below the runways. They didn't remain there for long, though, as Rainbow flew down to them moments later with Pinkie in her hooves. With the other two now with them, they flew off to pick up Twilight and Rarity, while Pinkie's Hammer flew back into the battle.

"Hey, who's drivin' that?" Applejack asked.

"Oh, that's just Spitfire," Pinkie smiled. "I figured that since she's technically the highest ranking pony in the air right now that she'd like to run my airship while I'm gone."

"Good thing, too," Rainbow nodded in agreement. "She really looked like she wanted to, too."

"Exactly!"

As they made their way to the command post, Applejack called for Braeburn to take over driving for her. Joining her friends on deck, she walked over to the side to join them and watched the battle below. While her airship rained fire down upon Inferno's army, his forces had also reached the fully-formed barrier and were now trying to force themselves through it. This also included Inferno, who was bashing the barrier with his warhammer, which was causing the barrier to start showing a few growing cracks. Making it to the cliff, they pulled up and waited for Twilight and Rarity to board before turning the airship around and heading down to the battlefield.

"Well, girls, this is it," Twilight said. "We'll use the Elements of Harmony of King Inferno, free him of whatever hold Light has on him, and then go find Dark."

Rainbow's ears perked up at Dark's name. "Oh, I almost forgot to tell you!"

Twilight looked curiously at Rainbow. "Hmm? Tell me what?"

"When I was facing off against Gunter, he told me that Dark was a dead stallion."

"He was probably just tryin' ta get ya riled up," Applejack dismissed.

"That's what I figured at first too," Rainbow admitted, "but he then let loose some information about Light having new magic. I don't know about you girls, but I'm kinda getting a bad feeling about this."

Twilight nodded. "All the more reason for us to end this as quickly as possible then. Now, are you girls all ready?"

A chorus of cheers sounded off from the five of them as they descended down towards the battlefield, flying out of the dragons' reach up above their heads as they flew towards Inferno.

"Welp. It looks like we're just about to entered into another video game cliché," Pinkie giggled.

"What do you mean, dear?" Rarity questioned.

"Well, almost all of the best video games have at least one boss battle in their series that involves a hero, or a group of heroes, fighting a boss from the deck of a ship. I just thought that it was kinda funny that we're going to get to experience one now is all."

Rainbow was about to comment on that, but her voice was drowned out by the sound of the airship's cannons firing below them in an attempt to clear the area near where Inferno stood. Seeing them closing in, Shining held a hoof up to the gem in his helmet.

"Alright, everypony, listen up!" he loudly said in his headset. "The Elements of Harmony have almost reached King Inferno. However, they'll need for us to try and distract his forces while they're busy with him, so now's the time for us to take our Rage Pellets and go all-out on them!"

Heeding his order, every guard and Wonderbolt reached into their armor and uniform respectively, and pulled out a Rage Pellet. A second later, almost as one, the ponies all burst in a flash of light as their coats were turned white, their eyes red, and their manes and tails burst into flames. With this power boost and speed boost for the pegasi, the guards holding the barrier reinforced it further, while the others began pushing back hard against the salamanders and dragons, and the Wonderbolts started to quickly pick off the last of the flaming manticores. Of course, this was made a little easier with the help of the remaining four hundred seventy-six Shadow Wraiths assisting them on the ground and air.

Seeing their forces fighting back and making progress, Twilight directed Braeburn to fly closer towards Inferno. As they closed the distance, the cannons fired at him, hitting him in his armored chest, stomach, and shoulder in an attempt to wind him and slow him down without killing him. Now having his attention, the airship turned so that its starboard side was facing him, along with Twilight and the others, who where lined up near the edge.

"So, the little princess has come to play," Inferno growled, lifting his warhammer into both claws and gripping it tighter.

"We'll give you one last chance, King Inferno," Twilight warned. "Either you cease this and surrender now, or face the consequences."

Raising his warhammer up high, Inferno was about to bring it down upon them, but missed as Braeburn kept his eyes on him and steered the airship away just before his warhammer began to lower.

"Victory will be mine this day!" Inferno shouted. " And when I do, the spawn of Dark shall die!"

Any sense of peaceful negotiations that Twilight had were instantly thrown out the window as her horn lit up and her eyes narrowed dangerously at Inferno.

"You're going to regret that."

Remembering the times of when she'd done it before returning them, Twilight focused her magic into the Element embedded within her crown. Second later, the others' Elements started to glow before the magic caused them all to start floating a few feet up above the deck. However, this also left them vulnerable as they couldn't move, which Inferno tried to take advantage of, but was denied by Braeburn steering the airship and evading his strikes, and the cannons firing at him to push him back and keep him at bay. Due to Twilight being a little rusty at this, two ribbons of rainbow magic slowly began to flow out of the Elements from the ends of their line, and began connecting to the ones closest to them. As the seconds ticked by, Twilight and the others focused on their magic while Braeburn and the rest of the Apple crew kept Inferno from hitting them or the airship. Thirty seconds later, the two ribbons of rainbow magic finally converged on Twilight's Element. Feeling it connect, she and the others napped their eyes open, all of their eyes glowing white with magic, while a pair of rainbows shot up into the air, spiraling around each other and converged into a ball of light. A second later, a single beam of rainbow magic shot out at Inferno, starting at his feet and wrapping around him as it climbed upwards.

Despite him swinging his claws, warhammer, and breathing fire at it, Inferno couldn't stop the rainbow as it wrapped around him in a vortex. Feeling the Elements' power working their magic on him, Inferno roared out as he felt them burning and cleansing him. His roar, while intentional, also had the unintentional effect of stopping both forces as they all watched what was happening to him. For ten long seconds this continued until the rainbow receded from Inferno and his sizzling body collapsed.

The magic of the Elements returning back to their gems, Twilight and the others were gently lowered until they felt the wood beneath their hooves. However, while most of them seemed to be alright and even pleased with having used the power again, Twilight fell to her side and held her hooves to her aching head.

"Twilight? Are you alright?" Rainbow asked, her and the others having noticed her condition.

Wincing, Twilight gave a small nod. "Yeah. I'll be alright."

"I'm guessing that using the Elements was too much for you to handle?" Rarity guessed, getting another nod from Twilight.

"Yeah, but I'll be fine. What about King Inferno? Did the Elements work in cleansing him?"

Taking a peek, Rainbow walked over to the side of the airship and looked briefly down to see Inferno slowly moving.

"I'm not really sure," she replied. "It's kinda hard to tell from up-"

Rainbow was cut off by an infuriated roar from below them. Turning back, Rainbow was joined by the others just in time to see Inferno steady himself back up with the support of his Warhammer in his right claw, while he held his left claw against his left eye.

"Don't think that I'm not done just yet, ponies!"

Roaring again, Inferno stood up and breathed fire towards the airship in anger. Seeing their king up again, the other dragons resumed their attack, leaving the ponies standing there confused as to why their plan had failed.

Up on the command post, Celestia and Luna watched the battle resume, both with looks of concern on their faces.

"This doesn't make any sense," Celestia muttered. "How did the Elements not free him of Light's influence?"

Luna frowned. "Perhaps King Inferno wasn't completely under Light's influence, but only just enough to sway him into attacking us?" she guessed. "After all, the last time we saw King Inferno last year, he didn't leave in a very pleasant mood regarding Dark. And Light wasn't with him at the time either, so he may not have been aligned with him at that moment."

Celestia mulled the thought over for a moment. "It is a possibility, but either way, our plan has failed, and we now have a serious problem."

"That's a matter of perspective."

Hearing the voice and hoofsteps behind them, Celestia and Luna turned their heads to look and immediately froze in place with their eyes wide.

"No... this cannot... how is he...?" Luna tried speaking, but failed in her words.

"You... you're still alive?" Celestia whispered in disbelief.

Standing there was a pale-peach earth pony stallion with a burnt-orange mane, tail, and beard, wearing a black cowboy hat and vest, and bearing a cutie mark of a fist. With a small, amused smile at the reaction of the two sisters, he gave a small nod and walked up between them.

"Been a while, hasn't it, Celestia, Luna."

Slack-jawed, Luna slowly looked at Celestia. "Sister... is that really him?"

Celestia slowly nodded.

"It is, Luna," she slowly replied. "He's really here..."

"...Nuck Chorris."

Author's Note

I know that some of you were expecting some big and flashy transformation with Dark's Rage Shift, but I've leaned not to put all my eggs into one basket. Hope you guys weren't too disappointed.

Chapter 96- War of Equestria: Part V

Even after seeing it, Celestia and Luna still couldn't believe who was before them. They both remembered him during their younger years long before Luna's banishment, but after a few thousand years, they'd thought him to be long dead. Instead, that same stallion stood there, not looking a day older than the first day they'd met.

"H-How are you...?"

"Still alive?" Nuck finished, glancing back at Celestia with an amused smirk. "Because I'm me."

Clearing her throat, Celestia calmed herself and recovered some composure.

"That isn't very much of an answer," she said.

"Maybe not, but it's the truth," he said with a shrug, before returning his attention back below them. "Quite the situation those ponies are in."

Luna sighed and walked up along Nuck's right side with a frown. "We do not know what has happened. The Elements of Harmony should've worked on Inferno, but he seems to instead be in a rage."

"Is that why you're here? To assist Twilight and the others?" Celestia asked, walking up along Nuck's left side.

Nuck shook his head. "No."

Taken aback, Celestia looked at Nuck with wide eyes. "'No'? But why?"

Looking down, Nuck watched as Twilight and her friends were battling with Inferno off the side of the Applebreaker, before his eyes turned towards those on the ground.

"She doesn't need my help, Celestia," he replied, gesturing to the army of ponies fighting below them. "But those ponies do. Besides, young Twilight Sparkle already has the weapon she needs to defeat Inferno, should she choose to use it."

"You mean her friends, right?" Luna questioned.

"No, Luna. I'm talking about something else."

"So you won't help Twilight, but you will help our ponies?" Celestia asked.

"That's right."

"So you're willing to help our little ponies," Luna noted. "If that's the case, then why did you wait so long to reveal yourself instead of helping them sooner like I did?"

"Much like Celestia, I don't tend to directly involve myself unless I believe it to be necessary. If I did, then ponies would become too reliant on me instead of trying to fend for themselves."

My life as Trotter, Appleloosa Ranger notwithstanding, he mentally added. Besides, I like to keep a close eye on my descendants. It's also nice to see that two of my greatest granddaughters have found and embraced each other as family, despite them being distant relatives. Although, I have a feeling that the pink one knew who I was when she first saw me.

"Even so," Celestia began, "we could've used your help much sooner. Many ponies have already lost their lives, and I don't like having to see more of them die."

"It's a shame too that if you were to get involved with your magic, Tia, it would do little to help due to you holding yourself back, or you accidentally scorching the earth with your magic, thus having a repeat of the Changeling Kingdom," Luna added. "You also admitted it to me that it's also the reason why you lost to Queen Chrysalis during Shining Armor and Cadence's wedding. While she did become a lot stronger thanks to her feeding off of their love fore each other, had she been fighting you at your full power, she would've failed miserably."

"Really?" Nuck asked, glancing to Celestia with a raised eyebrow. "These times of peace have made you go soft, Celestia. I would've thought that you would've maintained that level of control you hade over a thousand years ago."

"Please don't underestimate me like that," Celestia calmly said. "You of all ponies know of how cautious I have to be when using my magic like that."

Nuck paused for a moment before giving a single nod. "I suppose so. But that's enough of that. I need to go and help those ponies before the pellets' magic wears off."

Before Celestia or Luna could say another word, Nuck leaped off the cliff. Soaring down to the battlefield, he rolled into a flip before extending his back right leg and proceeding to lead with it into a divekick. Picking up speed with his descent, Nuck sped downward as his form was now accompanied by a high-pitched whistle. Seconds later, he entered the battle with his entrance being him divekicking clean through a dragon's skull, and impacting the ground with enough force to create a rather large crater.

Standing back up, Nuck brushed some of the dirt off of his vest and hat before his eyes turned up to a nearby dragon who was looking down at him with wide, fearful eyes. Moving quickly, Nuck jumped up into the air to be at eye-level with the dragon. Unfortunatly for the dragon, before it could utter a syllable, Nuck spun around and roundhouse kicked the side of the dragon's head, decapitating it and sending it flying before it collided against the head of another dragon and knocking it out cold.

Surprised by the newcomer, most of the fighting around them ceased as both armies turned to see who this pony was. But, while none of the ponies recognized him, every dragon who's eyes fell upon him immediately stepped back away in fear and spoke in hushed, fearful voices.

"King Slayer."

"Volcano Bucker."

"Roundhouse Executioner."

"Godsmack."

"Wait, you mean like the band?"

"They were named after him!"

As he stood there proud and tall, the area behind exploded into flames. Not expecting that to happen, Nuck turned his head around to look back and see that several salamanders were the reason for that happening, thanks to their fire breath. As they approached, Nuck frowned before the salamanders all leaped at him. With a sigh of disappointment, he spun around with a roadhouse kick that caused them all to explode from the force of his kick, turning each of the salamanders into red bloody mist that settled down without a single speck touching Nuck.

"Now then," Nuck began, standing on his back legs while cracking his forehooves, "would you like to do this the easy way, or the hard way?"

Having heard the stories behind his legend, and having seen him kill two of their fellow dragons with just a single kick, twenty of the dragons who'd stopped to watch slowly raised their arms and placed them behind their heads, indicating their surrender. However, the other thirty, who were a bit younger than those who'd surrendered and either didn't know or care who Nuck was, charged from all sides at him.

Glancing up at them, Nuck frowned before he leaped up off the ground towards the dragon in front of him. Landing on its chest, Nuck punched his left forehoof through the dragon's left ribcage before pulling out its heart seconds later. Dropping the heart, Nuck then jumped off of the dead dragon's chest towards the next closest one. Gliding at fast speeds, Nuck struck a fighting pose as he sailed through the air in a flying kick, one that made contact with an armored dragon's armored stomach. Unfortunatly for it, the armor did little in defense as Nuck, still maintaining his flying kick pose, pierced through his armor and scales before coming out the dragon's back a second later without a single drop of blood on him.

The ground approaching, Nuck skidded to a halt as the dragon behind him roared in pain and placed its claws on the two gaping holes in its stomach, trying to keep his insides inside. Not liking having it suffer, Nuck was about to put it out of its misery when a flash of gold descended from above and landed right on top of the wounded dragon's head. Blinking the light away, Nuck approached until he saw Celestia removing her halberd from the dragon's head.

"You were right," she said, cleaning the blood from her weapon. "These times of peace have put me out of practice. However, while I may not have that great of a control as I once did, my skills in close quarters combat haven't degraded so much. At least with this way, I can fight for my subjects without worrying about burning them and the entire area within a fifty mile radius into scorched earth."

Nuck gave a nod and offered a hoof as he helped Celestia back down.

"A good answer," he said approvingly. "Now then, shall we?"

"We shall, but first." Celestia paused as she flew up to be at eye-level with the other dragons. "Hear me, solders of the Dragon Kingdom!" she called, getting the attention of those dragons nearby her. "I am Celestia. Princess of the Sun and Co-ruler of Equestria. I come before you with an offer. Those of you who would lay down your arms and surrender shall be shown quarter and returned to your homes. Of this you have my word. However,for those who refuse and wish to fight... I'm sure you know the answer to that."

"Don't listen to her!" Inferno shouted, having heard Celestia's words while he battled with Twilight and her friends, who were standing near the edge of the Applebreaker. "She's just saying that because her forces are losing. Charge forward and slaughter them all!"

Though most of the dragons who heard him were hesitant about fighting both Celestia and Nuck, most of the younger ones didn't know who Nuck was and blindly followed his orders. Seeing that there were some who weren't willing to listen to her, Celestia let out a sad sigh and raised her halberd.

"I'm sorry to see that," she remorsefully said. "Please, forgive me for doing what I must."

With a flash of light, Celestia teleported herself in front of one of the charging dragons where she raised her halberd and thrust it into the dragon's chest. Plunging it deeper, she soon saw the dragon become lifeless and removed her weapon from its chest. Though regretful for her action, Celestia turned to the next one and was about to fly over to it when Nuck leaped up into the air and kicked up in its jaw, sending the dragon flying skyward until it disappeared past the atmosphere.

"A decent start, but you'll have to pick it up if you want to keep up," Nuck said with a hint of mirth.

Giving a silent nod, Celestia flew off towards another dragon, along with the guards below, who were now fighting back like they had before she and Nuck showed up. Of course, while those who attacked them were put down rather quickly, those dragons who took Celestia's offer and surrendered themselves weren't touched by the ponies. Instead, they were directed off to the side where Luna, despite not being healed yet, stood watch over them with her sword drawn as if daring for one of them to try something.

While Celestia and Nuck were busy helping the guards with the dragons and remaining salamanders, Twilight and her friends were doing what they could against Inferno. After the Elements of Harmony failed to stop him, Applejack returned to the helm to steer the airship, while Twilight began firing blasts of magic at him, and the others mounted one of the cannons on the ship's deck. With them working together, they managed to hit Inferno and dent his armor to the point where it was starting to grind against his other armor plates, reducing his mobility and making it harder for him to move about. But, it wasn't until a stray shot hit Inferno in the eye that Twilight became nervous.

Watching him flap his wings and lunge at them, Twilight called for Applejack to get the airship away, but was too late as Inferno came down upon them with his warhammer. Thankfully, the rest of them saw it coming and abandoned their cannons before the giant weapon smashed against the ledge of the airship, destroying three of the four cannons and causing the airship to tilt. Floating off the deck, Twilight lit her horn and grabbed ahold of Rarity before she could slide off the side, along with Rainbow, who snagged Pinkie up in her forelegs.

"Whoa!" Rainbow shouted in surprise. "What in the hay is this airship made of?! That weapon should've easily smashed right through it!"

"That's easy. Me and Pinks decided to use iron wood on the airships instead of the normal wood," Pinkie explained. "Besides, you know that when it comes to me, nothing but the best will do."

While they had them, and Applejack struggled to get the airship level again, Flutterbat's eyes glowed with chaotic power as she flew up and began to use her Stare on Inferno with the intent of turning him into a newt. To her surprise, though, Inferno closed his eyes and looked away before swinging his warhammer at her, forcing her to stop using her Stare and duck beneath it.

"Don't think that that'll work on me, pony," Inferno snarled. "I've watched you, and I know that despite the chaotic magic you possess, you still require eye-contact for your ability to work on those who you haven't gotten under your control yet."

He suddenly unleashed a torrent of fire at Flutterbat, who quickly flew off to the side, managing to miss the flames, but just barely as the end of her tail had gotten caught by the fire and charred black. Feeling her anger rising from both Discord almost getting killed, and by her tail getting burnt, Flutterbat hissed and was about to charge him when she felt a quick tug on her tail.

"Fluttershy! Come back!" Twilight called, letting go of Flutterbat's tail.

"Let me go!" she demanded, eyes shrunk with anger. "He's going to pay for trying to hurt me!"

"But you need to come back here! You can't stay out there alone like that or else he'll- look out!"

From her peripheral vision, Flutterbat saw Inferno's claw making a sweep for her. But, despite her seeing it coming, she reacted too slowly to it as Inferno swiped Flutterbat back down to the airship, causing her to bounced off of the deck from the force behind her impact. Concerned for their friend, Twilight and the others all ran over to her, but became distracted when Inferno suddenly threw his warhammer at the airship. Feeling Applejack lower the airship to dodge it, they got over to Flutterbat and began checking on her while they ignored the giant weapon that spun high above their heads. Casting a scan spell over her, Twilight and the others sighed in relief when they found that while she had a small fracture in her wing and a sprang hoof, she was otherwise just unconscious. However, that moment of relief was quickly dashed as a pair of giant red claws grabbed ahold of the side of the airship.

Seeing Inferno peeking over the ledge, Twilight felt the airship tilt as Inferno began dragging it down and holding it closer towards him. Realizing now that Inferno had thrown his warhammer as a means of distraction and getting them to lower themselves, Twilight was about to tell Applejack to pull up when she saw Inferno's right claw reaching out for them. Without her being able to teleport herself and the others out due do her being this far into her pregnancy, Twilight quickly tossed her friends out of the way with her magic and put up a barrier around her, just as Inferno's claws surrounded her and clamped down hard on her barrier. Now at a high risk of getting crushed if her barrier were to falter, Twilight put all of her focus into maintaining it while Inferno released the airship with his left claw and brought Twilight up in front of his muzzle.

"You know you can't stay in there forever," he growled, squeezing the barrier and causing Twilight to grunt under the pressure.

Turning his back to the airship, Inferno held the claw holding Twilight up high for all to see.

"Ponies of Equestria! Hear me!" he boomed, causing all fighting to cease as every pony and dragon's attention was now on him. "Cease your fighting right now, or I'll kill Princess Twilight!"

Gasps could be heard as the ponies actually took a look at what was in the purple orb he was holding, now realizing that it was Twilight inside her own barrier. While most had become worried for her and her unborn foal, Shining was practically fuming and would've more than likely had gone into a Rage Shift if the Rage Pellet hadn't done that already. However, despite his overwhelming urge to go try and save his sister, Shining managed to keep his hooves rooted in place. It also helped him too that Cadence, having noticed his body's subtle twitching, placed a hoof on his shoulder to try to calm him and encourage him to not do anything stupid and reckless. Even Celestia, Nuck, and Luna weren't making any moves. But, probably most surprising reaction out of all of them was Spike, who, instead of sweating and nervously biting his clawnails, was emanating a low growl with a very faint magical glow shining between his clenched fangs.

Seeing their pause to act against him or his army, Inferno smiled to himself inwardly while maintaining his stern look on them. Not even the Shadow Wraiths made a move. Pleased with how things were turning out, he chuckled and brought the claw holding Twilight back down beside his head.

"Good to see that you ponies are willing to listen," he said. "Now then, Celestia, I want you leave your weapon and come up here where I can better see you."

Keeping calm, Celestia planted her halberd into the ground and flew up to be at eye-level with Inferno.

"I'm here. Now, what is it that you want?" she asked, despite having a good guess as to what it was.

"I'll get straight to the point. In exchange for Princess Twilight life and that of everypony else's, what I want, Celestia, is the immediate and unconditional surrender of Equestria."

Celestia remained silent as her guess had unfortunately been proven correct. However, her silence was a mistake as she heard Twilight yelp as her barrier began to crack under Inferno's grip.

"Don't take too long, Celestia," Inferno taunted. "Princess Twilight doesn't look like she has much magic left to spare."

Eyes moving away from Inferno, Celestia frowned, seeing Twilight squinting as beads of sweat began to run down her head from the pressure she was under. Knowing that Twilight couldn't teleport out, nor be teleported without putting her and her foal at risk, Celestia's teeth clenched as she started to weigh her options. With time short and the lives of so many in her hooves, Celestia shut her eyes and bit back her tears.

"Please forgive me," she quietly pleaded.

Having come to a decision, Celestia looked up at Inferno and opened her mouth to reply when a motion from Twilight caught her eye. Glancing back to her, she saw her reaching back with her forehooves and grab the Death Reaper scythe off of her back. Eyes widening, Celestia watched as Twilight raised the scythe high above her head and bring it down hard on Inferno's claw between his thumb and index claw.

Roaring in pain, Inferno's claw opened up on reflex, accidentally letting Twilight go and allowing for her to fly quickly over to Celestia's side. Cradling his claw, Inferno looked at it and saw a scythe with its blade plunged completely into his claw. Growling, Inferno grabbed the scythe with his left claw and pulled it free from his right before flicking it in pain. Quickly recalling the lack of an alicorn in his grip, his head shot up towards where Celestia and Twilight were, the latter of which having been laid down on the former's back to rest.

"Don't think that just because you got away means that this is over," Inferno threatened, "because I'm-"

Inferno cut himself off as he felt his legs being locked in place. Grunting, he tried to move them again, but found them to be uncooperative. Looking down to see what the problem was, Inferno was confused as he saw nothing restricting his movements.

"What?" he asked himself.

"You're wrong, Inferno. This is over," Twilight tiredly said, causing his eyes to snap up at her.

"What are you talking about? What did you to do me?"

A weak smile met Twilight's lips. "I didn't do anything. But that weapon on the other hoof..."

Looking down at his claw, Inferno was just about to inspect the scythe when the scales and meat on his claws began to fade away, leaving only bare bones behind. Panicking from what he was seeing, Inferno tried to let go of the weapon his claw was holding, but like his legs, it too wouldn't obey him. He then tried to use his right claw, but was met with the same results.

"What's happening to me?!" he bellowed.

"It's the curse of a Living Weapon," Twilight answered, strength returning to her voice. "You went on ahead and grabbed ahold of it without its wielder's permission, and this is what happens. Although, this isn't at all what Nocturne told me would happen. I guess that the curse is different with each Living Weapon."

Eyes wide with understanding, Inferno desperately thrashed about to try and let go of the weapon. Or, he would have if his entire body wasn't locked up. From his neck to his feet, wings to tail and everything in between, Inferno couldn't move. The only thing that he could move freely was his head, but was unable to produce any fire to breath. Fearfully and without any way of stopping it, Inferno watched as more and more of his skeletal arm was exposed. Despite it being painless, it didn't do anything to relieve him of the terror that he felt, even as the curse reached his shoulder and began to spread throughout the rest of his body. Seconds later the curse reached up to his neck, preventing him from roaring as it covered his vocal cords and reached his jaw. Moments later, the curse had swept over his head and past his torso, leaving nothing inside either his skull or his ribs. With no heart of brain to maintain the rest of him, Inferno's body collapsed as the curse continued to finish him off. It took it about thirty seconds by the time the curse had reached the end of Inferno's tail, rendering the Dragon King nothing more than a lifeless pile of bones.

No one spoke or moved as they all stared at the dead king. That is, until the Death Reaper scythe suddenly burst from Inferno's bony claw, and flew straight to Twilight where it settled itself back on her saddlebag like it was before.

"Living Weapon indeed," Celestia muttered, utterly surprised by both the curse it had inflicted upon Inferno, and how it had made its way back to Twilight.

Seeing their king dead, and being confronted by four alicorns, two pony armies, two airships, the Wonderbolts, a few hundred Everfree creatures, and Nuck Chorris, the dragons started raising their claws in surrender. Though it was slow at first, one-by-one the ponies began to cheer as the war had ended in victory. That is, until the effects of the Rage Pellet started to wear off, causing them to suddenly become tired, but not enough to encourage the dragons to take a desperate last attempt at them. That, and the Shadow Wraiths were still hovering around them with their blades drawn.

Seeing her ponies recovering and starting to take the dragons prisoner, Celestia let out a small sigh of relief and glanced back to see Twilight holding onto her half-asleep on her back.

"Are you alright, Twilight?" she asked.

"Yeah. I'm alright," Twilight muttered. "How are my friends?"

"Let's find out."

Steadily, Celestia glided over to the Applebreaker and landed on the deck beside Twilight's friends.

"Twilight!" they all shouted, save for an unconscious Fluttershy, who'd reverted back to her normal pony self.

"How's she doing, Princess?!" Rainbow worriedly asked.

"Worry not, my little ponies," she smiled. "Twilight's going to be alright. She's just a bit exhausted right now."

There was a collective sigh of relief before Rainbow perked up again.

"Oh, by the way, did you hear what I said about what Gunter said about Dark?"

"No, I haven't. Why? What is it?"

"He said something about how Dark is going to die to Light," she said while nervously rubbing a forehoof. "I don't know if what he said was true or not, but I've got a really nasty gut feeling about this, and I don't like it."

"Then we should go to him," Twilight said, trying and failing to lift herself off of Celestia's back.

"Ah don't think that ya should, Twi," Applejack told her, then quickly raised a hoof before Twilight could speak. "You're tired enough as you are, and a few of us are banged up. You and the others should stay here and try ta recover. Ah'll fly this lug over and go get him."

"Not alone you're not! I'm coming too!" Rainbow objected. "Besides, it's just a cracked hoof, and I can stay off of it just fine if I want to."

"Well whatever we're going to do, we should probably do it soon," Rarity voiced. "The longer we wait, the greater the chance of us getting too late to Dark are."

"I agree," Celestia nodded. "But first, Applejack, how are the injured ponies here?"

"From what Ah've heard, none of them are in any serious danger," she replied.

"That's good to hear, but I think that we should relocate them before the airship takes off. In the meantime, Twilight, Rarity, Pinkie Pie, and Fluttershy will remain here in Canterlot Castle while you, Applejack, and Rainbow Dash go find and retrieve Dark."

"Umm, question," Pinkie said with a raised hoof. "How can Applejack and Rainbow find where Dark went off to if they've never been to his old village before?"

"... one moment." Celestia raised a hoof up to the earpiece of her headset. "Captain Iron Guard, are you there?"

"Alive and well, Princess," he replied.

"Good. In that case, I need your help."

"Of course, Your Highness. What can I do for you?"

"We have good reason to believe that Dark may be in more danger than we'd originally thought. I'm sending a group over to recover him, but they'll need somepony to guide them to Stonewall Village."

"I can do that, but what about the troops?"

"Shining Armor and I can take care of that."

There was a brief pause before Iron Guard responded. "Very well, Princess. I will accompany the recovery team."

"Thank you, Captain. I'm sending Rainbow Dash down right now to bring you up to the Applebreaker airship."

Making one last call to ask some of the Wonderbolts and pegasi guards to help unload the Applebreaker of the injured and accompany them on their trip, Celestia held Rarity, Pinkie, and Fluttershy in her magic and got ready to leave. Thanking them all for their help and wishing Rainbow and Applejack luck after receiving their Elements of Harmony to return to the tree, Celestia flew off with the four of them in tow, while Rainbow flew down to find Iron Guard. It didn't take Rainbow long to find Iron Guard thanks to his signal flare, and when she got to him, she scooped him up and flew back up to the Applebreaker, which was being unloaded of its injured. It took them a little while, but after twelve minutes of waiting, all of the ponies who needed medical attention had been relocated to Canterlot General Hospital, allowing for Applejack to steer the airship towards the south-east as per Iron Guard's directions.

Light found himself huddled beneath the rubble of a destroyed house as he hid from Dark. He didn't know how everything could have gone so wrong so fast. Despite having so much planned out in advance, everything quickly went wrong for Light. It was especially bad when Dark destroyed almost half of Stonewall Village with the power of a single swing from his sword, leaving little more than a smoldering crater and burning rubble all around. Luckily for Light, or rather, unluckily, the ruins holding the barrier up remained, keeping him trapped in here with Dark prowling around hunting for him.

After Dark brought down his sword and destroyed a large chuck of the village with a single stroke, Light found himself fleeing for his life once more. Despite him having flown away before Dark's sword struck, the explosion was still strong enough that it burnt enough of his primary feathers that he lost his ability to fly. Crashing into the ground and tumbling a few feet, Light hissed in pain as he felt the burning from his wings, but didn't have much time to dwell on them as he saw Dark bursting through a nearby building and charging straight for him. Getting back up to his hooves, Light ran further into town and tried to lose Dark between the buildings, only for Dark to come barreling through the side of one of the houses behind him.

Silently cursing to himself as to how Dark knew where he seemed to go every time, Light noticed the glow in Dark's eyes. Having lived with him and secretly spying on his training, Light knew the sight of Dark's Second Sight and Soul Eyes spells. Now knowing what was going on with Dark, Light ducked into a nearby building and lit his horn. He then created several illusions of himself and implanted each with a soul that he'd "borrowed" from a select unfortunate few. With his decoys in place, Light was about to send them out when Dark burst through the wall and took a swing at them with his Death Reaver sword, hitting one of the illusions while the others and the real Light all split up.

Running after them, Light glanced back to see that Dark had fallen for one of the decoys. Letting out a breath of relief, he ran back to the area of their village that had just been destroyed and took shelter in some ruins, figuring that Dark wouldn't bother to look for him all the way back here. And just to be sure that Dark couldn't track him with this eyes, Light cloaked his body with an illusion to hide his soul, a unique spell that he'd picked up from Aurora's spellbook. Of course, while he did lose Dark and was now hidden from him, he was still stuck here. Despite his failsafe for Dark's downfall being in place, Light would still much rather live to see the fruits of his success.

"Doesn't seem like there's much other choice at this point," he muttered to himself.

"Light! Where are you?!" Dark shouted, his voice echoing clearly across the rainy sky. "Quit your hiding and get out here!"

Several moments of silence later, Dark snorted in annoyance. "Fine then! If you won't come out, then I'll just end this now!"

Spreading his wings, Dark gave a powerful flap and launched himself straight up into the clouds. Seeing this, Light cautiously peeked out from his hiding spot to see what Dark was planning. It took a while, but as the seconds rolled by, Light could see an orange glow coming from within the storm cloud. Moments later, the clouds shrouding it faded away, revealing Dark hovering high within the storm clouds with a ball of magic twice his size hovering just in front of his gaping maw aimed downward. Suddenly filled with a sense of fear, Light scampered out of his hiding spot and made for the hill on the outskirts of town, hoping that he could hide behind the large rocks from whatever Dark had planned.

Up above, Dark found himself consumed by rage as he charged up his magic up. With the power of the Rage Pellet putting him into a Rage Shift, he had little doubt that while this Flare would easily be the biggest he'd ever casted, it would also serve in wiping Stonewall Village from the face of Equestria.

And with that, my past will be forever behind me, no longer there to haunt me, he mentally added.

Pumping more magic into it, Dark watched as the sphere of magic grew to over three times his own size before figuring that that was enough. Letting loose a bellowing roar, the storm clouds dispersed as Dark fired the Flare directly down at the center of the village. As Dark continued to fire the Flare, the beam of fire and magic impacting the ground began to slowly pierce deeper into the earth. Giving it all that he had, Dark gave the Flare one last push and watched as the burst of magic visibly traveled down the Flare until it hit the ground, causing the earth to erupt in an explosion that consumed all of Stonewall Village and most of the surrounding area within the barrier. That is, until the upheaval from the ongoing explosion reached the ruins holding the barrier. Shifting and cracking, the ground the ruins were carved on were destroyed, allowing for the explosion that had been contained to spread outward high above the village in a pillar of fire, along with a shockwave that dispersed any clouds that had remained, or were nearby outside of the barrier at the time.

It was almost a full minute later that things started to settle down a bit. Thanks to his new full-blooded kirin form, Dark had managed to keep himself airborne and outlast the fiery explosion, along with the rocks and other rubble that had been blasted up into the air. With the dust settling, Dark looked back down at what was once his birthplace, which now looked more like the crater of a volcano, the only clues to it once being a village being the few ruined buildings that had somehow survived, and were now serving as small islands that were poking out of the melted rock.

"And that's that."

Satisfied that his past was now gone, Dark flapped his wings and made towards the shoreline to rest. But, just before he got there, Dark's Rage Shift unexpectedly ended, changing him back into his normal self along with his clothes and crown. Of course, this sudden change also resulted in him quickly loosing consciousness due to magical exhaustion, before crashing into the rocky ground several feet away from the lava.

Dark was slow to wake. He didn't know how much time had passed, but however long it was, it didn't feel long enough. Sore, stiff, and achy, Dark slowly and cautiously shifted his limbs. Noting that nothing was broken, he cracked an eye open and saw his Death Reaver laying just out of reach of his claw. Grabbing ahold of it, he rolled over with a grunt onto his back and looked up at the night sky, having no idea that the barrier had been destroyed.

"Ooouuuccchhhh," he groaned.

"How're you doing?" Nocturne asked.

"A lot worse than I look." Dark paused and glanced to the sword in his claw. "Remind me to never go into a Rage Shift again."

"Agreed. Did you even know what you were doing?"

"I... I-I don't know how to answer that," he unsurely replied. "I know what happened, but I didn't mean it to go so far. It was like all I saw was red and I couldn't control myself."

"And thanks to that, you've destroyed not only Light, but all of Stonewall Village as well. We'll have to tell the other Scaleless Dragons when we get back, and get to work on you getting that under control."

Dark didn't say anything to that, instead remaining silent as he thought over his actions. Even if he did lose himself in a blinding rage, in the end, he didn't just kill his only brother and remaining family member, and the village he was born and raised in, but in a way, he also killed the risen villagers as well, including his parents and sister. Closing his eyes, Dark laid in silence with the only sounds being the bubbling liquid rock nearby. His thoughts lingering, Dark felt tears starting to build. Not just because of Light being dead, but because it was by his doing.

With nopony around him, Dark decided to surrender to his emotions and began to let out a few sniffles. But, before it could escalate any further, the sound of shifting rocks caught his ears. His moment interrupted, Dark rolled around and got back up to his hooves just in time to see Light sliding down on his side towards him, his sword tumbling out of his hoof and resting a few feet away from him.

"Careful, Dark. He's still alive," Nocturne warned him.

Surprised, Dark cautiously walked up to his fallen brother. Getting a better look at him, he saw that he was in pretty bad shape with large sections of his fur being burnt off, his wings reduced to nubs, and the upper half of his horn having been broken off. However, despite all of that, Light's eyes still glared at Dark with murderous intent.

"Don't think that this'll kill me," Light weakly warned. "I can feel the regeneration spell I casted earlier still working. I'll be back in a few weeks, and this time, my master will be with me."

This got Dark's attention. "'Master'?" he repeated. "Is he the one who gave you your magic? Who is he?"

Light chuckled, but it soon turned into a coughing fit. "Heh. He is. He's a being the likes of which I've never seen before. Probably the best way to describe him is that he's a tall and thin demon."

"Sounds familiar," Nocturne commented.

"It does," Dark agreed, acknowledging Nocturne before turning back to Light. "Let me guess. He's black, tall and lanky with a pair of horns and wings, has long claws, and even blacker eyes?"

Light's eyes slowly narrowed. "How do you know about Lord Nil's appearance?"

'Nil'? Well, at least we now have a name, Dark thought.

Having gone without a response, Light snorted as he continued to glare heatedly at Dark.

"I guess it doesn't really matter at this point," he said with a sigh. "So... what're you gonna do now?"

"Huh?"

Light tried to get up, but his body was too weak at the moment to allow for him to move.

"Like I said before, in time, I'll be back to the way I was before this fight started, and when do, you can guarantee that I'll be coming for you and Twilight again." Light smiled weakly upon seeing the look on Dark's face. "So, what's it goin to be, brother? Are you going to kill your own little brother to protect your precious mare or not?"

Dark was on the spot now, once again given a choice that he'd never wanted to deal with. While he didn't want to actually have to do it, even after everything that's happened during their battle, he also didn't want him coming back for him, or worse, Twilight and their unborn daughter. Swallowing the heavy lump in his throat, Dark took a step towards Light, followed by another. It was slow, but soon enough, Dark stood over Light's prone form with sword in claw. Glancing down at the weapon, Dark slowly raised it up and flipped it upside down with the blade now pointing down at Light's chest. Steeling himself, Dark raised his sword higher, ready to finish this for good. Gritting his fangs, Dark brought his sword plunging down... only to stop inches above Light's chest.

Confused by this hesitation, Light looked from the tip of the sword up at Dark, who loomed over him with tears leaking from his eyes and landing on Light's coat.

"I can't... I can't do it," Dark sniffled. "Despite all that you've done, all the ponies that you've betrayed, all the evil acts you've committed and dark pacts that you've made, you're still my brother, Light. I may have lost control and wanted to kill you in my Rage Shift, but now that I'm back in control again, I can't bring myself to do it. I won't kill you, Light. Because whether I like it or not, you're still family, and I won't kill my own family."

Light smirked. "Heh. Figures that you wouldn't do it."

"He might not be willing to," Suddenly, the right half of Dark had turned black and his right eye had turned red, "but I don't have such reservations. You may be Dark's brother, but you're no brother of mine."

With Dark tired and weak, Nocturne had little trouble in surfacing. Now in control of Dark's right half again, Nocturne raised the sword in his claw back up while Dark closed his left eye, regretfully accepting of what was to come.

"This is for my sister Aurora you little traitor."

No ties to hold him back with, Nocturne didn't hesitate when he brought the Death Reaver down on Light, who's eyes widened fully as the blade was plunged through him. Choking and coughing on his blood, Light didn't get a chance to say anything else before the sword's blade became shrouded in darkness and quickly dissolved his body into black mist in seconds.

Knowing that sound, Dark knew that it was over with, and that Light was truly gone this time. Hesitantly, Dark cracked his eye open, and when he did, he immediately glared at what was left behind.

"Light too," he muttered.

"It would appear so," Nocturne agreed, returning Dark's right half back to him and retreating back to the sword. "This would explain why he became so powerful and hateful all of a sudden."

Gritting his teeth in anger, Dark glared at the black feather that laid where Light had previously been. While he took some comfort in knowing that there was a reason behind Light's actions, it didn't change the fact that this Nil had corrupted his brother like that. Snarling, Dark took a step and with his sword still shrouded, he thrust the tip of the blade down on the feather, causing it to hiss like an angry snake for several seconds before it finally dissolved into nothing. With his brother now gone and the thing corrupting him destroyed, Dark looked around , believing that the barrier had just now dropped. But, before he was about to leave, his eyes fell on the sword his brother carried. Letting out a heavy sigh, Dark reached down with his left claw and picked up his brother's sword.

"I swear, Nocturne, if I ever find this Nil guy, I'm going to make him regret ever setting hoof in Equestria."

"As will I," Nocturne said. "Don't forget, Dark, that it's because of him that both Sombra and Light became what they were, and I want to make him pay for it."

Nodding in agreement, Dark took a step forward towards the direction he'd parked the airship Celestia had lent him. However, a few steps later, Dark suddenly fell to his knees and dropped both swords as his claws clutched at the cold pain in his chest.

"Wh... what...?!"

Rainbow and Iron Guard stood near the bow of the Applebreaker as they flew closer and closer towards the glowing area within the mountain range.

"Are you sure that's where we're supposed to be going?" Rainbow questioned again. "I mean, I know that he told us where his village was, but I didn't think that Dark's village would be this far out here in the middle of nowhere."

"Yes, I'm sure," Iron Guard curtly replied. "I'll never forget the mess that I saw this place in... although, I will admit that the bright glow wasn't there last time."

Thanks to a few directions that Pinkie had relayed to Applejack through their headsets, they were able to get a bit of extra speed on the Applebreaker, which resulted in them getting to their destination just after sunrise. And while Iron Guard did remember the area where the village was, he was also silently grateful for the large glow that practically shown like a beacon to them, even in the early morning sunlight.

Eager to get this over with and get some sleep after such an exhausting day and night, Iron Guard waited in anticipation as the Applebreaker closed in on the last mountain top in their way. However, once they got past it, such thoughts faded as he and Rainbow looked below in awe.

"... okay, I know that I just asked this, but are you absolutely sure that this is the place?" Rainbow asked again. "Because I don't think that Dark's village was in the middle of a freaking volcano!"

"This isn't right," Iron Guard said. "Something is wrong here."

"You're darn tootin' something's wrong," Applejack said, having let Braeburn take control so that she could come up and join Rainbow and Iron Guard.

"But I don't understand. I know that this is where Stonewall Village is supposed to be, so where did all of this come from?"

Applejack looked curiously at Rainbow. "Do ya think that Dark coulda done this?"

Rainbow looked over the area before shrugging. "It's tough to say. I mean, I know that his Flare spell is super powerful and all, but to do something like this might be a stretch?"

"But don't forget that Shinin' Armor also gave him one of them Rage Pellet things," Applejack reminded her, getting a nod in return.

"... in that case, yeah, this might've been Dark's doing after all."

"If so, then we'll have to go lower and look out for any signs of him," Iron Guard told them.

"Are ya sure about that?" Applejack questioned. "Ah mean, could Dark even survive this?"

"From what the princesses have told me, Dark is part dragon, so he'll be immune to lava like dragons are."

Relaying the message to Braeburn, the airship descended closer to the surface of the lava, but not close enough to start overheating the engines or the crew inside the airship. Once they got to a safe height, some of the pegasus guards and Wonderbolts that had accompanied them flew off in pairs to search for Dark, while the others stayed on the airship.

"So how long do you think it'll take them to find Dark?" Rainbow wondered.

"It's hard to say," Iron Guard said. "These searches are unpredictable. Sometimes they can take hours, days, weeks-"

"Captain Iron Guard! We found Prince Dark!"

"... or it could take them less than a minute," Rainbow smirked.

Rolling his eyes, Iron Guard put a hoof up to the earpiece in his helmet. "Very good. How's his condition?"

"..."

"Well?"

"What's up with the suspenseful silence? Just answer him already!" Rainbow impatiently barked into her own headset.

Seconds continued ticking by with no reply from them. It was starting to get to the point where Rainbow was ready to fly off and find out for herself now. Even Iron Guard was becoming impatient with them.

"We're sorry for the delay, sir," one of them finally spoke, "but we needed to check for a pulse... and talk down this weird talking sword."

"That's fine," Iron Guard huffed. "Now then, what's the prince's condition?"

There was another pause before the guard spoke up.

"He's gone, sir."

"Wha... what do ya mean exactly?" Applejack fearfully asked.

"... I'm sorry, but we were too late. Prince Dark is dead."

"Are you sure? I mean absolutely sure?" Iron Guard cautiously asked, ignoring the pair of gasps from behind him.

"We're positive, sir. He has no pulse, he's not breathing, and despite him being near the lava and being part dragon, his body has gone cold."

Iron Guard slowly shook his head. "You two remain where you are. All other units, return to the airship. Mr. Braeburn? Please pull the ship over. We've got a body to return home."

Hearing their sullen confirmations over the headset, Iron Guard looked back and let out a heavy sigh at the sight of Applejack and Rainbow comforting each other.

Princess Twilight's not going to like this.

Chapter 97- A Dark Day

Barely anypony spoke as they worked. Using the spare wooden materials on the airship, the Apples managed to make a simple wooden casket for them to lay Dark in and bring him on board. And while Light's sword wasn't a problem for them to retrieve, Dark's Death Reaver was a bit more tricky as Nocturne had to stop the ponies from picking him up and explain to the them what would happen if they grabbed him. It took them a while to think of a way to get the sword safely on the airship without touching it, but they eventually came to the idea of tying a pair of lassos around the ends of it and having a pair pegasi tow it up. With Dark and his Death Reaver now both on board and secured, and having found the airship Dark used to get here off to the side and still intact, they steered the two airships for the return trip.

The flight back to Canterlot was a rather quiet one as the loss of their prince and friend weighed heavily on their minds. Apart from the wind blowing and the sounds of the engines, the only exception to the mournful silence were the sniffles and whimpers coming from Applejack and Rainbow as they both sat side-by-side. And there, laying in front of them, was Dark's coffin with his crown sitting on top of it.

Glancing up from beneath her hat, Applejack lightly brushed her hoof over the wood.

"It ain't fair," she muttered. "He just got married and was gonna be a pa. Now he'll never get ta see his little filly, and she won't ever get ta see her pa either."

Gritting her teeth, Rainbow slammed her hoof down in frustration and immediately recoiled it as she'd forgotten that that particular bandaged hoof was the one she'd cracked.

"This is my fault," Rainbow whimpered. "If I would've told Princess Celestia sooner, we could've come here sooner and this... this..."

Applejack wrapped a foreleg around her friend. "There's nothin' that ya could've done, Rainbow. If what they said was true when they first found him, then we would've been too late anyway."

Despite knowing that Applejack was right, Rainbow still felt guilty about it. Letting out a shaky breath, she then wiped her tears and tried to put on a brave yet frail face.

"We're still in trouble, Applejack."

"Why?"

Rainbow shot Applejack a sidelong glance. "Two things. First, do you remember what happened with the dead the last time Dark was gone?"

Applejack's eyes widened and her body shuddered. "Yeah, I remember. And since we were on our way here before he died... Ah hate ta ask, but what's Canterlot gonna look like when we get back?"

"If it's like last time, probably everyone who died yesterday will be up walking around again."

Applejack gulped. "And... Inferno?"

"I... I don't know, AJ," Rainbow shakily answered. "But I really, really hope that he doesn't."

"Guess we'll find out when we get there," she sighed. "What was the other thing ya think we're in trouble for?"

Rainbow's gaze fell over Dark's coffin and her head lowered. "It's about Twilight. When Dark disappeared into that other world, we didn't know where he was and Twilight locked herself away in her room..."

"... and now that she's married ta him with a foal on the way," Applejack shivered, "who knows what she's gonna do."

Rainbow let out a heavy sigh. "I'm afraid to find out. But still, she's gonna need us now more than ever."

Silent agreeing, Applejack quietly sat beside Rainbow as the two of them remained by Dark's side. With them in no rush to get back, and not wanting to risk burning out the engines like they almost did on the way to Stonewall, the two of them were told that they wouldn't return to Canterlot until later the next day. And so they sat there in each other's company, quietly watching over their deceased friend and adopted brother. But time was quick to fly by, and before they knew it, it was already nighttime outside. Despite having missed several meals, neither Applejack nor Rainbow were hungry at the moment. Instead, they retrieved a blanket and some pillows from the medical station in the back and laid them out near Dark's casket to try and get some much needed sleep.

Up in Canterlot, things were starting to settle down a little bit. Despite the battle having ended, Celestia and Luna weren't allowing for anypony to return back to Canterlot for a few days yet. While Fissure did return after the Elements had been returned to the tree and used his powers over the earth to shift the ground and hide away the aftermath of the battle, the smell that lingered didn't go away so easily. And so, the two princesses decided to keep the civilians who lived in Canterlot away while the area surrounding it aired out.

Having just finished raising the moon for the night, Luna walked down the halls with a slight limp to her step. Despite the actual damage having been healed up, she was still a bit tender in that leg of hers. Turning down another hall, she came to the doors to the throne room and entered before closing the doors behind her.

"Another long night," she sighed to herself. "No doubt that ponies will be having nightmares about the battle these next few nights, if not weeks."

Luna paused in place for a moment as another sad thought entered her mind.

"And then there are all of those who've lost a loved one during the conflict... still don't know why Tia sent out the casualty list so soon."

Shaking her head, Luna walked up the dais and sat down on the throne. With everything that'd happened lately, she wasn't expecting anypony to show up for night court, leaving her and a few of her night guards guarding the doors alone for the night.

"Suppose I shouldn't delay any longer."

Lighting her horn, Luna's mind entered the Dreamscape. As she expected, she found a large number of nightmares that required her interference. While most of them did involve a family member who lost somepony during the battle, there were a few of those who were involved in it that needed help as well, namely Spike.

Sighing to herself for what was to come, Luna started her night with Spike's dream and ended the nightmare before moving on to the next one in line. Moving from one dream to another, Luna was pleased to see that Twilight, Pinkie, Rarity, and Fluttershy weren't having any nightmares tonight, unlike the night before. Continuing onward, Luna exited the latest nightmare and glanced around.

"Huh. I thought that there would've be more than that," she said to herself.

Shrugging, Luna expanded her senses outward to check in on the rest of her little ponies. When she did, she found her attention being captured as she found a cluster of dreams moving steadily across Equestria. But, what caught her attention besides them being in close proximity and moving, was the nightmare she sensed from them, and a collection of other less pleasant dreams from the others surrounding them. Curious, Luna entered the nightmare to get a look at what she was dealing with. When the scenery began to clear, Luna found herself below deck of the Applebreaker.

"Curious," she muttered. "Why would somepony dream of this-"

Luna paused when she heard a quiet sound coming from behind her. Rotating her ears, she soon made out the sounds of somepony sniffling. Looking back behind her, Luna paused when she saw Applejack and Rainbow sitting side-by-side in each other's embrace and weeping. Curious and worried as to what could cause them to act like this, Luna quietly walked over to them to ask. But before she could speak, her voice faltered and her body froze as she saw the wooden box sitting in front of them, along with a very familiar crown sitting on top of it.

"... oh no."

Hearing the voice, Applejack and Rainbow both looked up and flinched when they saw Luna standing there looking over them at Dark's coffin.

"P-Princess Luna?"

Hearing Applejack's voice, Luna looked down to see the both of them now looking fearfully at her.

"What are... what are you doing here?" Rainbow asked.

"I sensed your nightmare and came to inspect it," she replied, eyes drifting back up. "However, you both seem to recognize me, so who's dream am I in exactly?"

Rainbow and Applejack looked at each other and shrugged. "Ah'm sorry, Princess, but we don't know."

A shared dream then, Luna mentally figured. They must have shifted in their sleep and ended up close enough to create one.

She motioned towards the coffin behind Rainbow and Applejack. "In any case, what is the reason for dreaming of something like this? Has something happened to Dark?"

Both mares winced as their gazes fell downward.

"Y-Yeah... there is," Applejack replied with a gulp.

Seeing their hesitation, Luna's expression fell as she asked a question that she feared having answered.

"... this isn't just a nightmare, is it?"

They gave a small nod before Rainbow spoke up.

"The guards said that Dark was dead hours before we arrived," she quietly said. "The Apples managed to make this for him before the guards brought him up. We're flying back to Canterlot right now and should be there sometime around sunset."

"But... how did Dark manage to lose to Light?"

"Accordin' ta Nocturne, Dark didn't actually lose," Applejack explained. "Turned out that Light casted some kinda spell on Dark, but it didn't work until after Light had died."

Saddened by the news, Luna lowered her head in a silent prayer for Dark while Rainbow and Applejack returned to their grieving. Knowing what they were feeling, Luna walked over to them and wrapped them in her wings.

"I am truly sorry for your loss," she apologized. "He was a good stallion."

"Yeah... he was," Rainbow agreed.

"Wasn't he a friend of yours too, Princess?" Applejack asked, getting a small nod from Luna.

"That he was, Applejack. And despite already having lost many friends to the sands of time and to battle, it still doesn't hurt any less now than it did the first time."

Remaining still, Luna sat there as she silently held the two. For a while she remained with them until their sniffles and whimpers receded.

"I'm sorry to say this, but you'll have to excuse me," she spoke, removing her wings from around them and standing up. "I need to return and inform my sister of this news."

"And what about Twilight? Will you tell her too?" Rainbow wondered, causing Luna to freeze up.

"... that will be rather difficult. I'll have to talk to Celestia about how to best approach it first. Until then, I'll get rid of this and leave you two with a more pleasant dream."

Lighting her horn, Luna changed the scene for Applejack and Rainbow to that of Sweet Apple Acres. With them in a more content dream, Luna retreated her consciousness from the Dreamscape and returned to her body. Flickering her eyes, Luna walked down from her throne and made her way over to the doors.

"I need to speak with my sister," she informed the two guards. "If anypony should be looking for me, tell them that I am currently unavailable, and if it's important, to make an appointment at a later date."

Seeing their nods, Luna pushed the doors open and made her way over to Celestia's bedchamber, her hooves dragging along the carpet as the weight of what she had to relay slowed her down. While it would've normally taken her ten minuets to get there on hoof, it had instead taken her almost thirty by the time she found herself standing in front of the double oak doors with Celestia's cutie mark on them. Knowing there was no turning back now, Luna breathed in heavily and gave three firm knocks against the wooden door. Not long after, she heard grumbling from the other side of the door before it opened up to a rather groggy Celestia.

"Luna? What is it?" she asked, leaning on the doorframe to keep herself from sleepily swaying.

Luna let out a small sigh as she looked at her older sister with sorrowful eyes.

"I'm sorry to disturb your slumber, Celestia," she began, "but I have just been informed of some rather unpleasant news."

Having been called by her full name, along with the look on her face, Celestia snapped out of her tiredness and willed herself awake.

"What is the matter, Luna?"

Instead of answering, Luna motioned for them to go inside. Only once they were both in Celestia's bedroom with the door closed and magically sealed behind them did Luna face Celestia and speak.

"I won't dawdle with this, so I'll just come out and say it," Luna said before taking a calming breath. "I have just been informed that Dark Flame is dead."

There was a silent pause as Celestia took a few moments to process that.

"... are you sure of this, Luna?" she unsurely asked.

"Sad to say that I am. I went to investigate the nightmare of Applejack and Rainbow Dash, and it is there that the two of them informed me of what had happened. They also informed me that they'll be arriving by sundown."

Celestia shook her head in disbelief and massaged her forehead while Luna continued.

"Tia... what are we to do about Twilight?"

"We will tell her tomorrow. For now, though, let her rest," Celestia sighed sadly before looking over to the doors to her room. "I just hope she won't take it too badly."

"I don't believe you," Twilight defiantly said.

It was just past noon when Celestia and Luna pulled Twilight off to the former's room and sat down with her to tell her privately about what Luna had been told the previous night. As they expected, Twilight wasn't handling the news too well. While she wasn't blindly destroying everything in her unbridled sorrowful rage, her sense of denial wasn't making things much better for the two sisters either.

"Twilight, I know that this is hard to believe, and that it's even harder to hear, but Luna-"

"Is wrong!" Twilight interrupted Celestia. "There's no way that Dark could lose to somepony like him!"

"Forgive me, Twilight," Luna apologized, "but incase you didn't hear me the first time, both Applejack and Rainbow Dash were the ones who had informed me of this. And I'm sure that neither of them would lie about it, nor would they even joke about something like this, am I right?"

Twilight's eyes darted around nervously. "M-Maybe they just saw things? Yeah. That's probably it."

Celestia frowned sadly. "I'm sorry, Twilight, but Dark's de-"

"Don't say it!" she snapped, immediate silencing Celestia before turning to Luna. "You said that they'll be here around sunset, right?"

"I did," Luna confirmed.

"Good. Then in that case, we'll just wait until then and see. When they pull in and dock, you'll both see that you were all wrong and that Dark is alive."

Feeling shaken and having enough of this, Twilight got up and left Celestia's bedroom. Once they could no longer hear her hoofsteps, Celestia and Luna both let out a sad sigh.

"This isn't going to end well," Celestia muttered.

"She's in denial, Tia. It's a perfectly normal stage of grief for any grieving pony," Luna said. "We should know that better than anypony."

"I know, Luna, but it's just going to make it that much harder for her when she's faced with the truth."

Luna nodded and pushed her cup of tea way, no longer feeling thirsty. "What about the dead? Have any of them started to rise again?"

Celestia shook her head. "No, they haven't," she replied. "Although, it is curious how the dead are remaining dead this time."

"One would think that with Dark's death, the dead would rise like they did before when he was sent to the world beyond the portal."

"I suppose that'll be a question that we'll have to ask Nocturne... after they get back."

"And what will we do for Twilight when they do get back?" Luna cautiously asked.

Celestia remained silent for a moment as she thought about it. "With how far she is into her pregnancy, I doubt that Twilight will be able to do much damage in terms of magic. Of course, when the time does come, I have little doubt that she'll be an emotional wreck, and at that point, she'll need all of us there to support her through it."

Groaning, Luna stood up and stretched. "Alright, but if she appears to be getting out of control and hysterical, then I'll cast a sleep spell on her. We can't risk having her accidentally harm anypony else, or worse, herself and the foal. Until then, I shall retire to my chambers and get some sleep. Apart from what's to come at sundown, I'll more than likely have my hooves full with Twilight's dreams tonight... and that of her friends."

"Alright. Have a pleasant rest, Luna, and I'll see you in a while."

Later that evening at the airship docks, Twilight and her three friends stood waiting for the others to return. Along with them were Cadence and Shining, Spike, and towards the back, Celestia and Luna. Before they had gathered, the two sisters went to Cadence and Shining and relayed to them what Luna was told. While their first thought was going to talk to Twilight and check in on her, Luna stopped them when she told them about how she reacted when they told her the first time. Agreeing to not do or say anything about it for now, Cadence and Shining instead opted to keep a close eye on Twilight.

"How much longer do you think it'll take until they get here?" Pinkie wondered.

"It could be any minute as far as we know," Rarity spoke. "Why the rush?"

"I'm just anxious to have everypony here so I can get started on our victory party," she beamed, oblivious to the four royals wincing behind her.

"Perhaps it would be best if we held off on the party for now, Pinkie," Cadence cautiously suggested.

"What?! Why would I do that?!"

"... well, Pinkie..."

"Now may not exactly be the most appropriate time for one," Celestia finished for Cadence. "We just got done with a large battle yesterday," her eyes subtly glanced at Twilight, "now's a time for ponies to mourn for those loved ones who have passed on. Throwing a party right now may have the opposite reaction and do more harm than good for them."

Pinkie looked like she was about to argue with it, but after thinking about it for a moment, her eyes softened and mane deflated slightly.

"Yeah... I suppose a party wouldn't be a very good idea right now," she admitted.

"Perhaps you can throw one next week then?" Twilight optimistically suggested. "I'm sure that ponies will have gotten over the worse of it, and could use some cheering up by then."

Noticing the tone of her voice, Spike shot Twilight a glance, knowing that something was off with her. Besides that, he also noticed that she'd been unusually chipper since after Celestia and Luna pulled her off in private to talk, but hadn't asked about it.

"Is something up, Twilight?" he asked.

Twilight looked back at him and smiled. "Of course not, Spike. What makes you say that?"

"It's just that you seem to be acting a little bit off lately."

"I've noticed something odd about you too," Rarity voiced. "Twilight, dear, is there something going on that you're not telling us?"

"Of course there isn't," she denied, waving it off with a hoof. "I'm just anxious to see Dark again."

Letting out a sad sigh, Cadence walked up alongside Twilight. "Listen, Twilight. Aunty Celestia and Luna told Shiny and I about what happened. Now, it's understandable for you to be in denial about it, but-"

"Oh, look! I think I see them!"

Following the direction of where Twilight was pointing, the images of a large and small airship could be spotted flying towards them.

"Sorry to interrupt," Fluttershy spoke, "but what's she talking about, Twilight?"

"Nothing, Fluttershy. Nothing at all."

Seeing that her mind wasn't going to be changed at this point, Cadence draped her wing over Twilight in a quick and gentle hug before retreating back to Shining's side as the two airships started to make their descent.

Confident that they were wrong, Twilight stood ahead of them all and patiently waited for the Applebreaker to dock. As it lowered, she and the others started to see the Apples, guards, and Wonderbolts standing in a line alongside the airship. Soon enough the airship docked and a pair of Apple family ponies extended the ramp out. However, instead of them filing out, they instead removed their hats and stood off to the side.

Curious as to why they'd removed their hats and weren't coming down, Twilight was about to approach them when she spotted movement through the line of ponies. Seeing some form of movement, Twilight smiled and waited patiently for Dark, Rainbow, and Applejack to come walking off of the airship. And while she did see her two friends appear from the end of the line, there wasn't any Dark. Wondering what was going on, Twilight stood still and waited until Applejack and Rainbow stopped in front of her, both with puffy eyes and matted streaks of fur.

"Hey, girls," Twilight greeted, before noticing the looks on their faces. "What's wrong? Why do you look so sad?"

Applejack and Rainbow shared a worried look.

"... didn't Princess Luna tell you?" Rainbow cautiously asked.

Twilight cocked her head to the side. "Tell me what?"

Applejack removed her hat and placed it over her chest. "Well... it's about Dark..."

As it to accompany what she was about to say, the sound of Iron Guard walked across the wooden plank caused them to look back. And there following behind him, were four of his royal guards, carrying a long wooden box draped with a white blanket, and Dark's crown and Death Reaver laying on top of it. Hearing the sharp inhale coming from behind them, Rainbow and Applejack slowly looked back in front of them and lowered their heads when they saw Twilight staring at the casket with wide, horrified eyes.

"Ah'm sorry, Twi... but we were too late..."

After several seconds of no reply from her, Applejack and Rainbow started to feel worried by her silence. Risking a glance, the two of them looked up and were met with Twilight, tears flowing freely, teeth clenched, body shaking, and hyperventilated breathing.

Over at Sweet Apple Acres, Night, Velvet, and the Dazzlings brought Soul over to play with the Crusaders, while they, along with Aurora's egg, talked with Granny, Big Mac, and Cheerilee. Since news of their victory had reached their ears, they thought that some time out of the castle and over at the orchard would be a welcome change of scenery and relief from the stress these last few days put them under. With Soul, Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo playing in the yard, Night and Velvet sat on the porch with the Dazzlings and adult Apples as they talked and watched over the foals play. However, the talking and sounds of playful laughter were silenced as a scream echoed across the sky.

"Am I hearing things, or did that kinda sound like Twilight?" Sonata asked.

"I think so," Velvet said before turning to Night. "What about you, dear?"

"It did sorta sound like her," he agreed.

"But isn't she supposed to still be up in Canterlot?" Adagio questioned.

"As far as I know she is. But why would she be screaming like that?"

"Ah have a pretty good idea," Granny sighed.

"You do?"

Slowly, Granny nodded and closed her eyes as she looked up to the heavens. "Ah do. After all, it's the exact same sound that Ah made when Ah lost my husband all them years ago."

It didn't take long for them to put two and two together, and when they did, Velvet brought a hoof to her mouth as she looked over to Canterlot Mountain.

"Oh Celestia no," Velvet muttered.

"This can't be good," Aria muttered. "Does that mean then that Dark's... dead?"

"Ah'm afraid so," Granny confirmed.

"Granny? Is somethin' wrong?"

Remembering that they had four foals there in front of them, the adults all tried their best to mask their expressions.

"Everything is fine, children," Cheerilee told them, getting up and shooing them inside. "Now, how about we go inside and get something to eat? It's about that time of the day anyway."

While the three Crusaders went along with it without question, Soul hung back for a moment, feeling the swarm of negative emotions flooding off of the adults for a moment before following in after the others.

When Twilight screamed out in anguish for seeing Dark and realizing that he was truly dead, she accidentally used the Royal Canterlot Voice, causing her voice to reach beyond the city and shatter every window within a four block radius of the airship docks. Before she could get anymore hysterical than she already was, Twilight found herself being held by her friends as they all tried to provide her with comfort. Despite their attempts, Twilight continued to struggle, but it didn't last for long as Luna walked up to her and placed her horn to Twilight's forehead, causing Twilight to start losing consciousness before she fell asleep seconds later. But even when she was asleep, while she was no longer thrashing and crying out loud, it didn't stop her tears from flowing as she slept.

With little more to do for her at this point, Luna gently lifted Twilight onto her back and proceeded to bring her to her room to rest with Spike and the others following them, while Celestia, Shining, and Cadence stayed behind to look after Dark's remains. Making it to her room, Luna gently laid Twilight's weeping form down on her bed and drew the covers over her. Lighting her horn, she laid it against her forehead again, this time producing a peasant dream for her in hopes of lessening her pain.

"I am so sorry for your loss, Twilight," she whispered.

Letting out a heavy sigh, Luna turned back around and quietly exited Twilight's room where her friends and Spike waited for them, each with watery eyes of their own.

"She will be asleep for some time," Luna told them.

All around she got a quiet dejected nod in response.

"I can't believe that he's actually gone," Spike quietly said in disbelief. "He even Pinkie Promised, and nopony breaks a Pinkie Promise."

"But he didn't break it," Pinkie corrected, sniffling as she wiped her eyes. "He promised that he'd return to us and he did... just not how any of us had expected."

Spike quietly nodded and wiped a tear of his own. "So what do we do now?"

"All we can do at this point is be there for Twilight when she wakes up, and try our best to help her through this," Luna told them. "I will do what I can in her dreams while she's asleep, but the rest of you will need to be there for her while she's awake."

"As will we."

Everyone looked over and saw Cadence walking up to them with a sad frown on her face.

"It will take some adjusting, but Shiny and I will see if Captain Gray and his lieutenants will be willing to watch over the Crystal Empire for a week while we stay here with Twilight."

"Is that such a wise decision?" Luna questioned. "I understand that you two care for her, but to leave the Empire right after such a battle as what we just went through?"

"Captain Gray and the others can handle it just fine. Besides, it'll only be for a week so that we can help her through the worse of it."

Luna nodded in understanding. "I take it that's why you're here then? To check on Twilight?"

"Yes. How is she right now?"

"Sleeping, thankfully."

"Alright. I also came to inform everypony that Dark has been brought to the catacombs if any of you want to go see him."

"I suppose I should," Luna said. "I can show you the way there if anypony wishes to join me."

Without a word, Applejack, Rainbow, and Pinkie got up and walked up alongside Luna, while the others remained near Twilight's door in a group hug.

"I know the way there," Spike told them. "You all go on ahead, we'll catch up later."

Letting them be, Cadence and Luna led the way down to the catacombs. When they got there, they paused when they entered the torch-lit room and saw Celestia sitting on the far end. And there, on a small risen platform was where Dark laid, his body out of the makeshift casket with a white blanket draped over him, his crown laying on his chest, clothes folded off to the side, and his Death Reaver laying between him and Celestia.

Hearing the sounds of hoofsteps echoing behind her, Celestia turned around with a sad smile.

"Please, come in."

Listening to her, Luna and Cadence walked up and sat down on either side of her, while Applejack, Rainbow, and Pinkie were more slow in their movements.

"Nocturne here just finished giving me the details about what happened to Dark," Celestia informed them.

"Would you care to tell us as well?" Luna asked.

"I might as well," Nocturne said. "During Dark's battle with his brother, Light casted a spell on Dark. I didn't know what it was at the time, but it felt familiar somehow."

"What did the spell do?" Cadence asked.

"The spell Light used was an alteration of one that Aurora and I made together. It was intended for married pairs to use, ensuring that neither would outlive the other. However, Light somehow managed to alter it so that if Dark would die, then Light would still live. But, if Light died instead..."

"Then so would Dark," Applejack muttered, figuring it out.

"Right. Of course, Dark couldn't bring himself to kill his brother, so I did it for him, unaware of what Light had done to him."

Rainbow's teary eyes hardened as they slowly turned to the sword.

"So you mean to tell me that you're the one who killed Dark?" she growled.

Pinkie placed a hoof on Rainbow's shoulder. "It wasn't his fault, Dashie," she sniffled. "He didn't know that that would happen to him."

Silently, Rainbow got up and made her way to the exit.

"Rainbow?" Applejack called, causing her to stop for a moment.

"I'm fine, AJ," she replied. "I just need to get out of here and cool off for a while."

With that, Rainbow zoomed out of the catacombs, leaving Applejack, Pinkie, and the three princesses behind.

"Should we go after her?" Pinkie asked.

Celestia shook her head. "She'll be alright. We just need to give her some space for now."

Silently nodding, Pinkie and Applejack remained seated as they were for a few minutes longer before Celestia spoke up again.

"We should probably get going pretty soon," she suggested. "You two and the others can all come back tomorrow to see him if you wish."

"But won't his body start ta decay by then?" Applejack grimaced.

"I've casted a spell on Dark to preserve his body for a few more days. After that, we'll be laying him to rest in that tomb behind him."

Glancing up, Applejack and Pinkie saw a stone coffin they'd missed sitting on the other side of Dark. Looking away from it and down at Dark, Applejack got up and walked up to him. Telling which part was his head and which was his tail, Applejack leaned down and awkwardly hugged Dark's body for a while before pulling away for Pinkie to have a turn. Whispering a quiet goodbye to him, Applejack and Pinkie grabbed Dark's clothes and followed the princesses out of the catacombs.

It was the middle of the night when Twilight woke up with a start. While Luna's magic over her dreams did work for a time, it soon wore off, leading Twilight to the nightmare that had awoken her. Remembering what had happened before Luna put her under, Twilight's crying began anew. Curling up as best she could, Twilight's hooves brushed against her belly, reminding her that she wasn't quite alone. Wiping her eyes with a hiccup, she gently caressed her belly with a sniffle. Laying silently in her bed, Twilight continued to rub her belly until she was interrupted by an unexpected source.

"Oof!"

Surprised by the new feeling, Twilight's tears stopped flowing for a moment as she looked down at her belly in shock. Carefully, she brought her hooves back down and placed them over her belly again. Few moments later, she felt that same sensation again, but this time confirmed it as her foal kicking. Wrapping her forelegs around her baby-kicking belly, Twilight felt a new wave of tears flowing, both in joy for feeling her foal's first kicks, and because that Dark couldn't be here to share this with her.

"I'm sorry, little one," Twilight apologized, voice cracking as she spoke, "but daddy isn't here anymore."

As in response, Twilight felt her foal give another kick, this one being its strongest yet. Grunting, Twilight rubbed the spot over where it kicked and sighed. Figuring that she wouldn't be able to get any sleep with how rowdy the foal was, Twilight wiped her tears away before sliding out of bed and quietly making her way to her bedroom door. Cracking it open, Twilight peeked her head out to see if anypony was around. Seeing that she was alone, she quietly closed the door behind her and made her way towards the kitchen for something to eat. Traversing the quiet, darkened hallways, Twilight's trip was uneventful as nopony was spotted, just as she'd hoped, seeing as she wasn't in the mood for any company at the moment. Several long minutes later, Twilight finally reached her destination.

Pushing the door to the castle kitchen open, she was mildly surprised to see that none of the nighttime kitchen staff were present. Not bothering to put much thought into it, Twilight went straight for the fridge where she found a jar of pickles. Levitating them out with her magic, she closed the fridge door and then moved to the freezer where she found a tub of vanilla ice-cream. Pulling that out, she kicked the door shut behind her and took a seat at the table sitting in the center of the kitchen. Pulling a bowl out of the cupboard, Twilight used her magic to scoop the ice-cream into it and applied a heat spell onto the bowl. With the ice-cream being softened, Twilight opened the jar of pickles, dipped one of them in the ice-cream, and started to snack on it, listening as the pickle crunched in her mouth. Despite them being some of the larger pickles, it didn't take Twilight long to finish it off before she pulled out another and started up on that one. Before she knew it, Twilight found that she'd eaten almost half of the pickles, but still found herself hungry for more.

"I though that I might find you here."

Yelping in surprise, Twilight looked over to the doorway and saw Luna standing there with a sad, yet amused look on her face.

"Then again, your crunching wasn't all that subtle either," she playfully jabbed.

Seeing that Twilight wasn't responding much to her joke, Luna sighed and grabbed a bowl and spoon of her own before joining Twilight at the table for some ice-cream. For a while they sat there, the only sounds being heard being spoon against a glass bowl, and the crunching of pickles. By the time the tub of ice-cream was about half-empty, Luna was starting to think that coming here to talk was a mistake until Twilight finally spoke.

"How did you know I would be here?" she asked.

Luna gave a small smile. "I could no longer sense you in the Dreamscape, thus figured that you had awakened. And seeing as how you didn't have anything to eat since lunchtime, this was the first place I figured that you'd be, if not your room still."

"So you didn't really know that I'd actually be here or not?"

"Not really."

Giving her a small nod, Twilight went back to her snack and finishing another pickle before pausing from taking a bite of the next one.

"I'm sorry."

Luna blinked. "Pardon?"

Twilight looked up at Luna with watery eyes. "I'm sorry."

"Whatever for, Twilight?"

"For how I acted and treated you and Princess Celestia yesterday. All you two did was try and help ease me in with what you were told, and instead of listening to you two, I interrupted you, shot you both down, and ignored your words."

Luna sat her spoon down and gave Twilight her full attention. "While it was a little bit of a surprise despite us seeing it coming, we also do not blame you for your actions, Twilight. Your reasons for not wanting to believe us were understandable."

"I know, but still..."

Twilight's words trailed off as a new wave of tears flowed from her eyes again. Closing them and sniffling, Twilight didn't see it when Luna sat herself down by Twilight's side until she felt her wing draping around her. Feeling the comforting hug, Twilight buried her face in Luna's shoulder as she started to softly rub her back with a hoof.

"Why did he have to die, Princess?" Twilight muttered. "Is this some form of punishment for him for all of the dragons he's killed?"

"I do not know, Twilight," Luna softly replied, nuzzling her head in comfort. "Sometimes, bad things just happen to good ponies."

Luna patiently sat as she was while Twilight used her as a cry pillow until her it started to taper off to light sniffles.

"Perhaps you should go see him now?" Luna suggested. "While my sister did cast a spell to preserve his body for a few days, it would probably be best for you to go now and 'rip off the band-aid', as the saying goes."

"I don't' know if I can..."

"I know that it's hard and that it hurts, but it will only get worse if you delay it further. All of your friends, Spike, Cadence and Shining Armor, even Tia and I have gone to pay our respects to him. Now it's your turn, Twilight."

"... are you sure?"

Luna gave her a small smile. "Take it from a pony who's lived thousands of years, Twilight. I really do know what you are going through, and for me, I found this method to work best."

Hesitantly, Twilight nodded against Luna's shoulder and stood up as she slowly broke from her hug on her.

"Alright... I'll go..."

"Very well then. Would you like some company?"

Twilight though about it for a brief moment before giving a small nod. "I think I could use a little bit of company actually."

Standing back up, Luna nodded and stretched her stiff legs before walking over to the door with Twilight.

"Wait," Twilight paused, "what about the food?"

Without looking, Luna lit up her horn and put the remaining ice-cream and pickles away while simultaneously putting the dishes in the sink.

"There. That should do it."

Nothing more to distract them, Luna and Twilight made their way towards the catacombs. Apart from the few guards that they passed patrolling the castle, their walk was uneventful and quiet between the two of them. It was only when they reached the stone doors leading into tomb did Luna speak.

"Are you ready?"

Twilight, though nervous and not really ready, nodded regardless, knowing that this moment would come sooner or later.

"Alright then."

Pushing the door open for her, Luna stepped off to the side to allow for Twilight to go on ahead of her.

"Is it okay if I go in alone?" Twilight asked.

Hearing her request, a brief and fearful thought struck Luna, causing her to look over Twilight with a hint of worry.

"You aren't planning on pulling a Pony'o and Muleliet, are you?" Luna carefully asked, earing her a shocked expression from Twilight.

"What? No! Why would you even think of that?!"

Luna winced. "My apologies, Twilight. It's just that with... you know... and you being in there all alone..."

Twilight nodded, now seeing what she was getting at. "While I do see the similarities, I have no intention of doing something like that to us."

"To... ah, yes. Well then, in that case, if you need me for anything, I shall be waiting right out here."

"Thank you, Princess Luna."

Nodding, Luna closed the stone door behind Twilight. Now alone, Twilight took in a deep, calming breath and walked down the torch-lit hallway until she spotted what she came here to see. Air catching in her throat, Twilight held back her tears as she slowly continued forward before coming to Dark's prone form and sat down. However, despite her best attempt, Twilight couldn't hold back her tears for very long, and before she knew it, her cheeks were stained by them once again as they ran down and landed on the blanket covering Dark's body. Letting out a small hiccup, Twilight brought a hoof over and gently glided it over the outline of Dark's head while she held her other over her belly.

"I wish that you were still here," she whispered.

"In a way, he still is."

Taken by surprise by the voice, Twilight glanced down off to her side and saw Dark's Death Reaver laying there.

"... oh... hi, Nocturne," Twilight half-heartedly said before turning back to Dark. "What do you mean by that?"

"While the spell Light used on Dark may have removed his spirit from his body, while forging this weapon, Dark did put a piece of his soul into it."

"Yes. I remember you guys saying something like that when he showed it to us the morning after he forged it." Twilight let out another sad sigh. "But that doesn't really help him right now, does it?"

"..."

Hearing no response, Twilight figured that Nocturne was just being unwilling to reply and returned her attention back to Dark.

"I still can't believe that he's really... you know..."

"Do you know that he actually did die before?"

Twilight's ears perked up a little at this new information. "What? When?"

"When he was taken prisoner in the human world."

"But Dark told me that he almost died, not actually died."

"So he thinks," Nocturne corrected.

Feeling a small spark of hope at where this might go, Twilight rotated around where she sat until she was directly facing Nocturne.

"What happened then?" she cautiously asked.

"That hooded guy, who Light told us was actually his human self, took the Death Reaver and ran Dark through with it."

Nocturne paused, expecting a surprise gasp or something from Twilight. When he heard nothing coming from her, he continued on.

"Anyway, for a brief few seconds after that, I could tell that Dark had died."

"Then what happened?"

"Since a piece of his soul remained within the sword and it was impaled though him, and it was just after he died, the soul fragment in this sword was able to jumpstart the soul still trapped in his body and revive him."

Twilight's expression deflated immediately. "I remember what he said about the thirty minute rule. And since they found him hours after he'd... you know, he was far past the required time limit."

"While that's true, remember that there are a few exceptions."

"Like what?" she asked in a defeated tone.

"For example, while his body's spirit may no longer be there, there's still the piece sealed away in this sword. If a specific condition is met, it could be used to revive Dark. However, the soul would no longer be contained within the sword, so it's a one-time thing."

Twilight's eyes narrowed slightly as her voice took on a small edge to it.

"Why didn't you tell anypony about this when they found Dark so that they could revive him then?" she calmly asked, though Nocturne could easily feel her anger rising behind them.

"Because that 'special condition' I mentioned would be that the one to do it would need to have death magic flowing through them. And since Dark took over those particular powers of mine, he's the only being in this world who can do it. Now, we could go back through that mirror and asked that world's version of me to help, but if he wasn't pleased about us being there, then I highly doubt that he'll be willing to come over here."

Her anger quickly dissipating, Twilight hung her head in defeat. While Nocturne's idea sounded good at the time, they were missing the one thing for making this work. Feeling her foal kick again, Twilight let out a small grunt and looked down at her belly.

"For somepony who's just started, you've been rather active lately," she commented.

"Who are you talking to?" Nocturne asked.

"The foal," she replied, rubbing the spot where she kicked. "She just started kicking not long after I... woke... up..."

Slowly, a thought came to Twilight, causing her eyes to widen and shine with a glint of hope.

"... I know that look," Nocturne spoke. "You've just thought of an idea, didn't you?"

Twilight slowly looked from her belly to Nocturne. "You said that only someone with death magic can use Dark's soul fragment in the Death Reaver to resurrect him, right?"

"Yes, I did," he replied, wondering where she was going with this. "But incase you've forgotten, Dark's the only one in this world who has that kind of magic."

A small smile creeped up on Twilight as she rubbed her belly with a hoof. "No, he's not. There's another, and she's right here."

"..."

"Nocturne?"

"..."

Curious as to why he was keeping silent, Twilight leaned over and gave him a curious look.

"Hey, are you there?"

"... if I had a body, I'd be bashing my skull against the wall right now."

"Huh?"

"You are right, Twilight," he clarified. "That foal of yours is also Dark's, so she inherited his powers over death. It's probably why none of those who've died lately are still walking around."

"So our foal can bring Dark back to life when she's born?" Twilight hopefully asked.

"Yes, but we won't have to wait that long," Nocturne told her. "You two are still connected, so some of her death magic is flowing through your own. While your foal may be providing the required magic, you, Twilight, could use it to bring Dark back to us."

For the first time since she spoke with Celestia and Luna in her bedroom, Twilight found herself smiling, but stopped when a concerning thought came to mind.

"What would happen to her though? If I did this, what would happen to the foal?"

"As far as I know, nothing. Like I said, all that's required is a being who possesses a Lord of Death's death magic. I never said that there was an amount that was required."

"Alright, but I still can't touch you without getting cursed."

"That won't be an issue either," Nocturne corrected. "Besides Dark having given you permission already, with the foal growing inside you being the future Lady of Death, the Death Reaver will recognize her as its owner, and by extent, you. It's similar to the what had happened when Dark took the Death Reaper scythe back from Sombra."

Hesitantly, Twilight reached out with her magic and lifted the sword up. After a few moments of waiting, when she saw that she wasn't being cursed, she carefully hugged the weapon.

"You don't know how much this means to me, Nocturne," she said with a smile.

"I have a pretty good idea," he said with a with an amused tone. "Besides, things have been interesting with him around, so having him gone would make things a little bit boring for me."

"Alright. So then, how do we do this?"

"That's going to be the unsettling part."

Twilight cocked her head in confusion. "How so?"

"Much like what the human version of Light did to Dark, in order for this to work, the sword will need to be embedded within Dark."

Twilight's face paled. "Are you saying that I'll have to stab Dark?!"

"Pretty much, but preferably in his midsection," he confirmed. "If it makes you feel any better, at least he won't feel it."

"Not helping," she muttered distastefully.

Breathing in a shaky breath to calm herself, Twilight stood beside Dark's body with his sword in her held up in her magic. Floating it over, Twilight held it above Dark and flipped it so that its blade was pointed downward.

"Are you sure that my magic will work?" Twilight questioned.

"It will," Nocturne assured. "So long as your magic is in contact with Dark either directly or through the sword when it's impaled in him, it'll work. And while it's very small, I can feel a trace of death magic flowing through your own magic."

"Will it be enough?"

"Yes. Think of that small trace of death magic as a spark that's about to be dropped into a keg of black powder. Also, I should warn you that this jumpstart will consume Dark's soul fragment that he bound in here, so he won't be getting this chance again."

Understanding what he meant, Twilight shut her eyes and gulped as she plunged the sword down, causing her to almost throw up when she heard the sound of the blade cutting down into Dark's body. Holding it still for a while, Twilight waited for Nocturne to tell her what to do next, but he never said anything. Cracking an eye open, Twilight saw the Death Reaver sticking up from Dark's midsection, though the actually wound was covered by the white blanket. Releasing her hold on the weapon, Twilight looked over Dark's form expecting to see any form of movement, but when she didn't, she looked back up at the sword.

"Is it working yet?"

"..."

"Nocturne?"

Looking over the sword, Twilight noticed that the red gem was no longer glowing like normal. Thinking that something might've gone wrong, Twilight gently tapped a hoof against the gem in hopes of invoking Nocturne, but was met with nothing. Now starting to fear the worse, Twilight sat down on her rump and just stared at the gem, completely unaware of what was happening behind her. That is, until the light from the torches began to flicker.

Glancing back behind her, Twilight felt confused and slightly unsettled when she saw shadows that the torches were casting began to creep along the ground towards her. Jumping up to her hooves, she got out of the way and watched as the shadows finally crawled up to Dark and seemed to seep into him. Wondering what was happening, Twilight took a step forward, but paused and backpedaled when the fires from the torches started to flow over to Dark as though they were being drawn. Once they reached his body, the flames flowed towards his head before being absorbed into his mane. Recognizing the look of when Dark would use his Amplify, Twilight rushed over to his other side, keeping her out of the way of the flames and shadows.

Lighting her horn, Twilight began casted a scanning spell over Dark to check on him. A few moments later, her focus was broken when she saw the Death Reaver slowly sinking into Dark's body before disappearing into him, leaving no trace of it ever having been impaled there. As soon as the sword's hilt had submerged, Dark's body gave a sudden jolt, causing Twilight to let out a loud yelp and jump back up against the nearby tomb. Trying to calm herself from the sudden jump scare, Twilight brought a hoof to her chest and laid it over her racing heart before hearing the stone door being thrown open by Luna.

"Twilight! What's-"

Freezing in mid-sentence, Luna watched the scene before her unfold. Looking over it, she saw that the flames and shadows were all converging towards Dark's body where Twilight sat unharmed on the other side. Sighing a breath of relief, Luna cautiously walked along the wall and over to Twilight with a few questions on the tip of her tongue. Standing beside Twilight, Luna was about to speak, but found her words dying out when her and Twilight's attention were drawn to the soft breathing next to them.

Author's Note

One chapter left.

To be honest, at first I thought that I'd be happy when I finished this story. But now that we're practically there, I actually feel kinda bittersweet about it instead.

Chapter 98- Looking to the Future

Dark felt stiff as a board... and not in a good way.

The last thing he remembered was the cold gripping pain in his chest, or more specifically, his heart. It was soon after that that he got tired suddenly and collapsed, his eyes closing and his world turning to darkness. Now feeling his senses rebooting, apart from hearing the sound of fire flicking and not being able to move, he felt unusually cold and found it a bit more difficult to breath.

The hay...?

Letting out a grunt of effort, Dark tried to move any part of his body, but found himself just barely able move his limbs, even if it was just a twitch. Next he tried opening his eyes. It was hard and took him a bit of effort with how heavy they felt, but he managed to finally crack them open enough to see something white covering him. Managing to curve his lips to a small frown for being covered and unable to move to remove it, Dark tried lighting his horn to remove it instead, but found himself lacking the strength to create even a spark.

Stuck with no way to remove it and see where he was, Dark glared up at the white blanket and watched as his nostrils flared with each exhale, causing the blanket to rise slightly before falling back over his face.

Well this sucks, he though. Where the heck am I... and what happened back there?

Residing himself to his spot on what felt like a cold stone floor, Dark though about taking a nap when he suddenly felt the blanket covering his face and body starting to move. Watching the blanket being pulled off of his face, Dark slammed his eyes shut with a groan as a bright purple light shined above his head.

"Dark?"

Hearing his name, Dark squinted his eyes to see who was there. A moment later of letting them adjust to the light, Dark could just barely make out the teary-eyed face of Twilight sitting beside him, and the shock look of Luna next to her.

"Dark? Is that you?" Twilight cautiously asked.

"Twi... light?" Dark whispered, finding it rather hard for him to speak at the moment.

Dark didn't have any warning as to what happened next. One second Twilight was sitting there, crying with a growing smile, and the next, she lunged at him and wrapped her forelegs around him in a crushing hug, knocking the air out of his lungs with a wheeze. Surrendering himself, Dark laid motionless and confused as he watched Twilight burying her face into his chest and feeling his coat starting to become damp with her tears. Confused as to what was going on, Dark's eyes turned from Twilight to Luna, who was still standing where she was with her mouth slightly agape.

"... wha...?"

Hearing his raspy voice, Luna shook herself out of her stupor and sat herself down before speaking.

"How are you feeling, Dark."

"Like... crap," he muttered. "Hard... to... talk..."

"Makes sense I suppose," Luna nodded. "After all, you have been dead for almost two full days."

If Dark could, he would've snapped his eyes wide open and shouted in confusion, but with his voice not working properly, he had to settle for the former of the two.

"What...?"

Dark felt a shifting on his chest and glanced down to see Twilight having moved up and now nuzzling his collarbone.

"According to Nocturne," Luna began explaining, "Light casted a spell on you that caused you to die shortly after he did."

Huh. Sounds similar to that spell I offered Big Mac and Cheerilee, Dark mentally figured.

You would be right, Nocturne told him in his head.

Nocturne?

About time you woke up. I was starting to think that it might not work for a second there.

What happened?

It's just as Luna said. Turned out that the spell Light casted on you was a sort of lifelinking spell. Not long after he died, you died as well.

Frowning, Dark thought back to what Light had said about how if he went down, then he was taking him with him. He didn't think much about it at first, but now his words made sense.

"How...?"

"Are you alive?" Luna finished with a small smirk. "You can thank Twilight for that."

Hearing her name called, Twilight lifted her head up and locked her blurry eyes with Dark's.

"It wasn't that hard, really," she said, wiping her eyes with a smile. "Thanks to the piece of your soul that you had sealed away in your sword, Nocturne and I were able to use it to bring you back to life."

"... really...?"

"Yes. But, there's a catch. You see, the... I suppose you could call it a ritual, transferred the soul back into your body."

She means that that was a one-time deal, so don't expect us to bail you out like that again, Nocturne clarified.

"Kay..."

Happy to have him back and mostly alive again, Twilight closed her eyes and settled herself back down on Dark's chest. But it was short-lived as Luna cleared her throat from behind her.

"Perhaps we should move him to the medical wing and have the doctors check on him," she suggested. "Besides, I doubt that laying on the cold stone floor would feel all that great."

Blushing, Twilight got off of Dark and stood by his side.

"I suppose," she agreed, letting out a breath of relief from all of the stress she'd been through. "Alright, let's go then."

"Can't... move..." Dark reminded them, only to find himself encased in Luna's magic and lifted up off the ground.

"Perhaps I can assist you then," she offered with a smirk.

Smiling in thanks, Dark floated lazily alongside Luna as she and Twilight exited the catacombs and sealed the door behind them. As the minutes of silence and walking rolled by, Dark tried to move his limbs again. And while he did find that he could move them a little more than before, it still wasn't enough for him to do anything even remotely significant. At least it was starting to become a little easier for him to breathe.

"How... long...?"

Twilight looked over at him. "What, Dark?"

"Till... I... move...?"

Twilight shared a look with Luna and shrugged her wings. "It's hard to say, really. Your body was dead for two days, so it'll take some time for it to readjust to it being alive and moving again. Hopefully your body will be better after a night of rest and giving it a chance to let your blood circulate through it."

Dark gave her the tiniest and best nod he could manage.

"Kay..."

"At least your breathing is starting to return to normal," Luna commented. "Your voice also sounds as though it's returning."

"I guess," Dark rasped.

Resting his voice, Dark closed his eyes and rested as Luna continued to carry him in her magic until they came to the doors of the medical wing. Pushing them open, Luna walked inside with Twilight and were greeted by the medical night staff who all froze when they saw who Luna was carrying. With a gulp, one of the doctors stepped forward.

"Uh... Your Highnesses," he gulped, "forgive me, but what are you doing?"

Luna smiled as she and Twilight walked past the stunned medical staff and laid Dark down on his back onto one of the beds. Now that there was a good source of light, they noticed that Dark's blaze-orange coat had started to pale, his blond mane had started turning gray, and his eyes had a glossy look to them.

"I have brought you Dark because he requires your medical attention."

"But, Princess Luna... Prince Dark is-"

"I'm still alive," Dark quietly spoke.

Hearing him speak, everypony in the room jumped and yelped in surprise, much to Dark's, Twilight's, and Luna's amusement. Not believing it, the doctor walked up to see Dark breathing and his eyes tracing his movements.

"This isn't possible," he muttered to himself. "Princess Celestia had us come down and check you before she sent you to the catacombs! You were confirmed dead!"

"He was, but not anymore," Luna confirmed. "Now, if you would?"

His heart racing, the doctor quickly nodded and began ordering his staff to gather the instruments that they would need. Five minuets later, they'd hooked Dark up to a heart monitor, an I.V. with a blood packet to help his body recover, and another to supply his body with liquids. With him all hooked up, they then began running tests on his condition. While his body was running low on just about everything at the moment, with a bit of time and a lot of rest, they believed that he would recover just fine.

Doing what they could for the time being, the doctor and his crew did a final check on Dark before leaving him alone with Twilight and Luna. With them now alone, Twilight lifted the covers of the bed up and crawled underneath them to cuddle up against Dark's side. Though his body was cold at first, Twilight noticed that the amount of time that had passed had allowed for the fire sac in Dark's chest to start warming his body back up a little bit. Once she was comfortable and secured, Twilight laid her head down in the crook of Dark's neck and let out a heavy sigh as she started to relax.

"I trust that you can take it from here?" Luna asked Twilight with a smile.

"Yeah. I got him," she smiled back.

Nodding, Luna walked over to the doors and paused as she looked back. "I will be back in the morning to check in on you two. Until then, I whish you two a goodnight."

"Goodnight, Princess Luna," Twilight tiredly called back, hearing the door click shut moments later.

Now alone with just the two of them, Twilight smiled as she began to lightly nuzzle Dark's neck.

"I was so scared that I lost you..."

Feeling a pang of guilt, Dark tried to lift his arms to hug and comfort Twilight, but found his body still too weak to do so.

"I'm sorry, Twilight," he apologized, wishing he could do more to comfort her.

"It wasn't your fault, Dark. None of us knew what he had planned for you until it was too late."

"Still, I'm sorry for making you worry like that. Could you forgive me?"

"Of course I forgive you. You're my husband after all... although..."

"Hmm?"

Twilight gave him a small squeeze. "You promise to be here when I wake up?"

In a comforting gesture, Dark ran his thumb against Twilight's back as best he could. "I promise."

Satisfied, Twilight relaxed herself against Dark with the intent of falling asleep. However, before she could, a little presence had once again made herself known to her. Remembering the new and rather happy feeling, Twilight smiled and looked up.

"Hey, Dark?"

"Yeah?" he groaned, feeling tired.

"Can you move at all?"

"Not really. Why?"

Helping him, Twilight reached a hoof out, guided Dark's claw over, and rested it on her belly. Seeing his confusion, Twilight stifled a giggle and waited for him to find out. It didn't take her long until she felt her foal kick where Dark's claw laid. Feeling it, she smiled and looked back up from her belly to see the shocked look in Dark's eyes.

"Is... that...?"

"It is," Twilight confirmed, closing her eyes with a sleepy smile. "That's our daughter."

Feeling a new warmth in his chest, Dark smiled as best he could before he felt another kick. Happy to feel this sensation, Dark was about to speak again when he heard the soft steady breathing from Twilight. Knowing the sound of her breathing whilst asleep, Dark laid his head down and idly traced his thumb over Twilight's belly before falling asleep himself.

The morning was quiet as everyone woke up and reluctantly dragged themselves to the dining hall to eat. Even Celestia was finding herself lagging this morning with the memories of how Twilight and her friends had reacted still fresh in her mind, and it was made only worse when she saw Spike, Cadence, Shining, and the others all gathered to eat without her.

"Has anypony seen Twilight?" Celestia asked them, looking over them to see all of them with the signs of a tearful night.

"Sorry, Princess Celestia, but we haven't," Spike sighed.

"We tired knocking, but she's not answering her door," Rarity imputed.

"Ah would suppose she wouldn't with that sleepin' spell Princess Luna put on her," Applejack said.

"Yeah," Rainbow half-heartedly nodded, "she's probably still completely out of it."

"We should try to see her again after we eat," Fluttershy suggested. "It wouldn't do her any good if she were to wake up with nopony there for her."

There were a round of murmured agreements before the doors opened to Luna. But, much to each of their confusion, Luna was smiling and humming as she pranced past them to her seat.

"Good morning, everypony," she chipperly greeted them.

"Good morning, Luna," Celestia slowly greeted back, eyes carefully looking over her. "You see to be in a rather pleasant mood this morning."

"Indeed I am, sister."

"Excuse me, Princess Luna," Shining spoke up, "but do you know how long that sleep spell of yours is gonna last on Twilight for?"

Luna looked up from her plate. "Oh, it's worn off already. She's currently in the medical wing-"

"SHE'S WHAT?!"

Luna winced as everyone, including Celestia, shouted at her and rubbed her ringing ears. A second later she found herself crowded as Twilight's friends, Shining and Cadence, and Spike all began to bombard her with questions about what had happened to her. Quickly growing annoyed with this, Luna froze them all in a spell, immediately silencing them.

"Much better," she sighed. "Now, like I was saying before you all interrupted me, Twilight is in the medical wing sleeping."

"Did something happen?" Celestia asked, being the only one who wasn't frozen, thus being the only one still able to speak.

Luna smiled. "You could say that. I found Twilight awake last night and brought her down to the catacombs to see Dark. As it turned out, when I left her alone in there, she and Nocturne used Dark's Living Weapon to resurrect him. That's why she's in the medical wing. Last I checked, Twilight was still asleep with Dark, who is very much alive now."

If it weren't for them all still being frozen in place, Luna would've heard a loud collection of gasps. Having said what she needed to, Luna released her spell on them and returned them to normal. As soon as she did, she watched them with amusement as they all scrambled out of the dining hall.

"I did say that they were still asleep, didn't I?" Luna questioned, glancing over to Celestia, who just blinked.

"Did Twilight really...?"

"Yes, Tia, she did," Luna sighed in playful exasperation. "But considering that she's married to the Lord of Death, I suppose that in hindsight we really shouldn't be that surprised by it."

For the first time since before Inferno's attack, Celestia smiled. "I suppose not," she agreed before standing up. "If you'll excuse me, Luna-"

"Yes, yes, go on."

Being waved off by her sister, Celestia gave Luna a quick nuzzle before calmly making her way out of the dining hall to the medical wing. Along the way, Celestia thought to herself as to how Twilight and Nocturne had managed to pull this off. Several minutes of thinking later, Celestia's musing was halted when she heard laughter coming from down the hallway. Smiling to herself, she walked down and peeked through the door to see Shining and Cadence laughing while Spike and their friends surrounded a groggy Dark and Twilight in a group hug. Letting out a small laugh of joy and relief, Celestia walked in.

"I'm glad to see you two doing so much better," she said, gaining everyone's attention.

Hearing her voice, Twilight looked up from her friends and her ears wilted when she saw Celestia standing by there bedside with them.

"I'm sorry, Princess," Twilight quietly said.

A sad smile formed on Celestia's lips. "You mean for yesterday?"

Twilight slowly nodded. "It wasn't right of me to have treated you like that. All you were doing was looking out for me, and I..."

Seeing her starting to crumble, Celestia leaned down and gave Twilight an assuring nuzzle.

"I do not blame you, Twilight," she gently told her. "I will admit that it did hurt a little bit, but I also know that you weren't in your proper mindset at the time. So please, don't beat yourself up over it."

With a small sniffle, Twilight nodded and nuzzled Celestia back. "Alright."

Smiling, Celestia gave Twilight one more nuzzle and pulled away to face Dark.

"And how are you feeling?"

"Like you wouldn't believe," he grumbled, still a little annoyed by the fact that he was awoken so suddenly by five mares and a dragon all but dogpiling onto him.

Celestia chuckled. "I would imagine. But seriously now, how are you really doing?"

"Apart from being able to breath and speak easier, and able to open my mouth to speak better and eat now, I still can't move the rest of my body too much."

Seeing his displeasure about it, Twilight gave his cheek a quick peck before turning to Celestia.

"The doctor said that it will be a few days before Dark can freely move around again," she told everyone, "and a few weeks to a month more until his body's strength returns."

"Which means that I'll be stuck like this for a while," Dark muttered. "And it also means that our honeymoon will have to be put on hold... again."

Twilight proceeded to nuzzle his cheek. "That's alright. It just means more cuddle time for us."

"I know, and I have absolutely no problem with that, but I'd still like for us to go. And after that, I need to find Nil."

Everyone blinked in confusion.

"Uhh, who's Nil?" Rainbow asked.

Dark opened his mouth to tell them, but paused when he saw somepony missing.

"I think Princess Luna should be here to hear this," he suggested.

"In that case, I'll be right back."

In a flash of light, Celestia teleported away, only for her to return a few seconds later with Luna, who's cheeks were bulging out with the pancakes she'd stuffed into them. Taking a moment for herself, Luna gulped them down with a breath of relief.

"Couldn't you have waited for me to finish?" Luna irritatingly asked Celestia.

"Yes, I could have," Celestia smirked.

Sticking her tongue out at her playfully, Luna regarded the others present before her attention felt to Dark.

"My sister said that you had something to say, but requested my presence before speaking?"

"I did," Dark confirmed, taking a breath before beginning. "During my fight with Light, he let loose the name of the creature that had corrupted Sombra and those kirins."

Everyone was silent for a moment before Shining spoke up.

"You mean that Light knew who this creature was?" he asked.

"Not just knew him, but also apparently worked for him too like Sombra and those kirins did. After Nocturne killed him and his body dissolved, we found that he had one of those feathers embedded within him too."

While a few like Applejack and Rarity gasped, the others remained quiet.

"That would explain why he became so powerful," Twilight commented.

"And why his hatred for you was so much greater than you remembered," Luna added.

Dark gave a small nod. "Yeah. And now that I have a name to look for, I can start to look for traces of him and hunt him down for what he did."

"It's a bit more complicated than that."

Hearing the new voice, everyone's attention was redirected to the doors where Pyre, Fissure, Aques, and Aero all stood. That is until Aero flew over to them and proceeded to hug and nuzzle Dark.

"We heard what happened when we got here!" she exclaimed in worry. "Are you okay?! Are you hurt anywhere?! Do you need-"

"I'll be fine," Dark's muffled voice said from beneath her.

"I'm sorry, Aques, but what did you mean by 'it's more complicated'?" Luna questioned, watching as the three other Scaleless Dragons approached them.

"We just got done speaking with mother and father," Aques began. "According to them, things are a lot worse than what we'd originally thought."

"How much worse are we talking about?" Celestia asked.

"Like you couldn't imagine," Pyre frowned. "But first, we need Nocturne here."

Dark raised a curious eyebrow. "Why?"

"We have a message for him from mother and father, and want to talk with him directly."

Taking that as her queue, Aero let go of Dark and returned to floating alongside her siblings while Dark closed his eyes. He couldn't summon his Death Reaver from his body at the moment, but he had other ways of letting Nocturne to speak to them. Surrendering his right half, Dark allowed for Nocturne to possess it, turning his right half black and his right eye red.

"Alright, I'm here," Nocturne spoke. "Now, what did mother and father have to say?"

"I'll get to the point then," Pyre began. "They want for you to move up Dark's training and start training him on using his Amplify on shadows again."

Nocturne's half of his face frowned deeply before he sighed. "Very well."

Dark blinked his left eye in surprise. "Just like that?"

"If they want me to accelerate your training like that, then there must be a very good reason for it."

"And it is," Aero said, her face becoming serious, which was rather unusual for the carefree spirited dragoness. "When we described that thing to mother and father, they told us the tail about Nil, Lord of Nothing."

Everyone blinked in confusion.

"Uhhh... what?" Dark slowly asked.

"I said that he's the Lord of Nothing."

"Yeah, I heard. He's a lord of nothing, so he's not really a lord at all."

Pyre gave an exasperated sigh and facepalmed. "You're such an idiot."

While Dark didn't seem to understand it, Twilight's eyes widened as comprehension dawned on her.

"You mean that he's the lord of literally nothing?" Twilight asked, seeing them nod in return.

"What do you mean, Twilight?" Dark asked confusingly.

Twilight frowned and sat up to face and talk to him. "Think about it, Dark. Every Lord and Lady's name here has some connection to what they represent."

"Yeah, I figured that out a while ago."

"Well then, do you know what the word 'nil' means?"

"... I don't."

Twilight's frown deepened. "Nil means literally nothing. Zero. Absolute nothing. The end of the line. Non-existent."

Slowly, Dark and the others started to realize what they meant.

"You're kidding," he said in disbelief before looking over to his draconic siblings.

"Unfortunately, we're not," Aques frowned. "Mother and father found Nil erasing others from existence. When he was caught, Nil went after mother and father and battled them. They managed to beat Nil back, but before they could finish him off, he escaped them and hid himself away while he recovered. That was several thousand years ago."

"Since then, mother and father have been searching the multiverse for them, but couldn't find any traces of him," Pyre continued for her. "And now we see why. Since he was so weak, and is apparently still recovering, he's been manipulating others into working for him, using them to try and kill us Scaleless Dragons and throw the world out of balance."

Dark nodded. "Alright, so now that we know he's here, what's stopping them from finishing him?"

"While mother and father are powerful, they also abide by the same rules as we do. If they left their pocket dimension, then all of time and space will unravel. They can still speak to us and some other minor things, but they can't directly interfere and take care of this personally, as much as I'm sure they want to."

Dark gave an annoyed snort. "Alright, just who the hay are they?!"

"Our mother, Tempus, is the Scaleless Dragon Lord of Time, and our father, Locus, is the Scaleless Dragon Lord of Space. Together in their pocket dimension, they watch over all worlds and maintain the balance of time and space."

Silence reigned as everyone started to process the magnitude of what exactly they'd stumbled into. After several minutes had passed, Rainbow as the first to speak.

"... well if Nil's here, then I guess that means we're boned," she idly shrugged.

"Not quite," Aero corrected. "Soon after we told them about Nil's description, mother and father told us as they scanned over this world. Unfortunatly, they found out that he'd jumped to a nearby world just hours before we got into contact with them a few nights ago. They've already gone ahead and locked down three nearby worlds that he could've jumped to in order to help contain him."

"Now just hold on a second here!" Applejack interrupted. "Are y'all sayin' that this Nil fella has the power ta be able ta jump between worlds, and is still considered ta be weak?!"

"Pretty much," Pyre answered with a shrug.

Twilight nodded. "Alright, so they've got him trapped then, but what can we do about it?"

"For now, they want Nocturne to train Dark further and allow for him to use his Amplify on the shadows again. After they believe that Dark is ready or when the time is right, he'll be sent to go after Nil and finish him."

"Just to make sure, mother and father do know what'll happen if we go through with this training, right?" Nocturne questioned. "Now I'm not going to disobey them, but letting Dark start to absorb the darkness with his Amplify could make him godlike."

"And that's why they want it done," Pyre nodded. "With enough training from you, me, and the rest of us now, Dark will be able to use it to face Nil."

"What about the rest of you?" Twilight asked.

"We can't go, and Dark's the only one of us who can move freely to another world without disrupting the balance of this one."

Feeling the sudden weight of what was to come on his shoulders, Dark laid his head back down on the pillow with a loud sigh.

"I'm not gonna catch a break here, am I?" he asked with a weak chuckle. "Heh. Ain't no rest for the wicked."

Several months had passed since the day Dark had been revived and informed by his Scaleless Dragon siblings about what was going on. Since then, Dark recovered and as soon as he was well enough, he and Twilight finally had that honeymoon they were denied for so long. Thanks to Celestia and Luna, they were sent to their secluded beach house where nopony would bothered them, save for the staff if they were called upon. While the time they had there was peaceful, thing were quite different once they got back. Soon as the pegasi guards pulling their carriage had landed and they exited, Dark was immediately pulled off by Pyre and thrown into his new training with him, Nocturne, and the other Scaleless Dragons. While his training was going well, it would still take him a long time before he would get to where Nocturne was predicting.

During that time, other, more peaceful things have happened as well. A month after Inferno's failed attack, Rin was unanimously selected by the dragons and crowned as the new Dragon King, and had since ruled peacefully and fairly while slowly restoring his new kingdom back to its former glory. Or course, while they were in a peaceful alliance with the ponies, Celestia and Luna understood that it would take a while until the dragons of the Dragon Kingdom would be willing to leave their boarders to walk and interact amongst ponies.

Another thing that happened was the wedding of Discord and Fluttershy that took place during the end of fall. As soon as he'd recovered from the wound accidentally given to him, Discord and Fluttershy set the date for their wedding, which all of their friends had attended with Twilight preceding over them. A few months later during the winter, Fluttershy heard a little voice in the back of her head and listening to it, found out that she was two weeks pregnant with Discord's child. While the news did come as a shock to everypony as to how she managed to get pregnant while out of season at first, they then remembered that this was Discord they were talking about. Leaving it to it just being his chaos magic, everyone joined Fluttershy as they celebrated the wonderful news.

Now in the middle of March with the moon shining brightly in the night sky, Dark was hiding in the rafters of a warehouse in Manehattan. Having heard of a gang of ponies that were causing problems and avoiding the guards, Dark figured that it might be a group that Nil had corrupted before he left and volunteered to hunt them down. Even though he wanted to go after them at first, with Twilight now being two weeks from her due date and having been moved to Canterlot just incase, Dark was reluctant to go. That was, until Twilight told him to go, saying that she still had time and that he'd be back before then.

Shaking his head from worrying about it, Dark waited patiently as he stalked his prey. A few of them were already here, but he wanted to wait for the rest to show up. Hearing the static coming from the communication headset he'd been supplied with, Dark pressed a claw to it.

"Somepony say something?" he whispered.

"Your Highness, we've just gotten a request for you from Princess Luna," the pony on the others side said.

"Yes?"

There was a brief pause before the mare spoke up. "Well... I don't know what to say to this, but she's asking that after you're done here if you would go to the Manehattan Game Pause and pick her up a copy of For Glory for her? Oh, and make sure it's the Neighstation version."

Dark facepalmed and muttered, "Seriously? She's a Princess of Equestria. She should be able to get that herself easily from the Game Pause in Canterlot."

"She tried, sir, but they were all sold out."

Servers her right for not pre-ordering it in advance, Dark mentally sighed. A second later, he heard the doors to the warehouse open up to a dozen ponies walking in. "Alright, I'll go pick it up when I'm done here. Looks like the rest of them just showed up."

"Thank you, Your Highness. I'll be sure to relay the message-"

"Prince Dark! Urgent message from Canterlot!"

Dark let out an exasperated sigh. "Please don't tell me that it's Princess Celestia wanting me to pick her up a cake or something from a nearby bakery... again."

"No, sir, it's not. It's about Princess Twilight."

Dark remained quiet as he listened to what the guard had to say. As he continued, Dark's heart skyrocketed as his eyes widened and mouth fell agape.

"SHE'S WHAT?!"

"It's true, sir. I just received word from Princess Celestia that Princess Twilight went into labor a little over an hour ago."

Dark snorted. "Alright, screw stealth and subtly then. I need to finish up here quickly and get back to Canterlot."

"But, Your Highness," the mare spoke, "even if you left now, you may not be able to get back to Canterlot in time."

"Thanks to Luna's night, if I Shadowport there, I should be able to make it." I hope.

Clicking his headset off, Dark looked down at the ponies below as they looked around for where his voice came from. Leaping off of the rafters, he landed in the middle of them with a small crater and glared at them with glowing red eyes.

"I don't have any time to waste on you guys so I'll make this short and simple," Dark growled. "Surrender now and I promise that I won't kill you all."

To Dark's not surprise, the ponies all turned on him attacked. Those who had horns fired spells at Dark, while the others drew a weapon of some kind and charged him with them.

Sighing to himself, Dark manipulated the shadows they were standing in, causing shadowy spikes to erupt from beneath most of them and impale them, while he entangled the others in tendrils of darkness. Watching those who'd been impaled dissolve into shadowy mists, Dark was mildly surprised and relieved to see that none of them had any of Nil's feathers.

"I will say this one more time," Dark warned them. "Surrender now or join them in death."

Not wanting to risk dying like they did, the rest of the ponies discarded their weapons and ceased their spellcasting. With them having surrendered, Dark poked at his headset and turned it back on to speak with the city guards again.

"This is Dark. I've captured them."

"Thank you, Your Highness," the guard thanked. "I'm sending in the rest of the team to take them into custody."

"Alright. Also, just so you know, they attacked me, so there were a few who I had to put down. There's nothing left of them so need to bring in any body bags."

"Understood, sir," she confirmed.

Keeping his eyes on them, Dark waited patiently for the guards to show up and take over so he could go home. Despite it feeling like minutes to him, in reality it was only ten seconds that had passed until a dozen guards kicked down the door and flooded in. Staying until he knew that the guards had them, Dark bid them farewell and Shadowported over to the local Game Pause. Seeing as how it was between where he was at and Canterlot, he figured that while he wanted to get to Twilight as fast as he could, he could spare a few seconds to grab Luna's game for her. Walking in with his cloak covering and hiding him, Dark paid for the game and exited the building before tucking it away in his Shadow Storage and Shadowporting back to Canterlot.

Appearing in front of Canterlot Castle, Dark didn't waste any time as he darted inside. Running down the halls, he spotted a clock and saw that twenty-three minutes had passed between him leaving Manehattan and appearing in Canterlot.

Not bad, but I could be quicker, he thought.

As he ran down the halls, he came upon a group of guards patrolling the halls. Taking to the air to avoid crashing into them, Dark flew the rest of the way to the medical wing where Celestia had a maternity ward set up in preparation for Twilight. Turning the last corner, Dark saw the door and threw it open, revealing Celestia and Luna, Spike, Soul, the Scaleless Dragons and Aurora's egg, Night and Velvet, Shining and Cadence, their friends, and the Dazzlings, all anxiously waiting with Twilight in the room through the doors.

Walking in, Dark reached into his Shadow Storage for Luna's game and handed it to her.

"Alright, there's your game. Now, how's she doing?"

"We're not sure," Shining answered him. "The doctors kicked us out."

A sense of fear washed over Dark. "Is everything okay?"

"I'm sure everything is," Celestia said reassuringly. "They just asked to work in private so nopony would be there to interrupt or distract them."

Though he did feel a little bit better, it wasn't enough to calm his nerves as his eyes fell over the door leading to the other room.

"If everything's alright, then why can't I hear anything?"

"Soundproofing spell, courtesy of Shining Armor by the doctor's request," Luna explained. "He figured that it would be best if nopony in here heard what was going on in there."

"... oh..."

And so they waited. While most chose to sit down as they waited, Dark was too nervous and found himself either pacing around or standing and nervously shaking in place as he eyed the door. There had been a few times where he used his Second Sight and Soul Eyes to try and see what was going on and how Twilight was doing, but found his spells couldn't pierce through the wall or door thanks to Shining's spell.

Standing in front of the door for a moment longer, Dark snorted and continued his pacing until he felt a hoof on his shoulder and paused to look back to see Shining with a sympathetic look.

"Hey. Take it easy there," he calmly told him.

"But-"

"I know what you're going through, Dark, but you're not doing yourself any good by pacing around and worrying so much. Twilight's in there with the best doctors in Equestria looking after her, they'll make sure she's alright. Besides, you're making some of us nervous just by watching you."

Taking in a deep calming breath, Dark proceeded to use the breathing technique that Twilight had taught him. Going through the motions a few times, Dark felt a little more relaxed and followed Shining over to where a pair of open chairs sat for them. Taking his seat, Dark waited again, this time feeling more relaxed as Velvet paced her hoof on his back from beside him and began rubbing his back.

"Don't worry, dear. She'll be alright," Velvet soothed.

Silently nodding, Dark closed his eyes and focused on the motions on his back as he started to relax. Losing track of time, Dark's attention was drawn to a gasp from Fluttershy, who was holding Aurora's egg against her swollen belly. Seeing Aurora's egg glowing brightly, Dark was about to ask what was going on with her until Aero squeed giddily, forcing everypony to cover their ears.

"Wow that was loud!" Pinkie shouted, her ears still ringing loudly from the squee. "Can anypony hear me?!"

"Yes, Pinkie, we can hear you," Rarity said as she rubbed her ears.

"What?! I can't hear you?! You'll have to speak up!"

With an exasperated sigh, Rarity nodded to Pinkie. Seeing her make an O shape with her mouth in understanding, Pinkie smiled and nodded back.

"Excuse me, but does anypony know what's going on with Aurora's egg?" Fluttershy asked, wrapping her wings around the egg and shielding everyone's eyes from its bright light.

Aero giggled while Aques playfully rolled her eyes.

"Aurora is sensing a new life present," she answered before turning to face a stunned Dark. "Congratulations, Dark. Or should I call you daddy?"

While the room erupted into cheers, Dark stood stoic as he tried to process the news of his new fatherhood. While he knew it was coming and had prepared himself for it in advance, none of his preparations could hold a candle to how he felt now. Feeling a foreleg over his shoulder, Dark looked over to his side to see Shining grinning at him.

"Welcome to the club, daddy Dark," he teased with a playful jab.

Slowly, Dark's shocked expression began to morph to a large Pinkie-like smile. Feeling the joy that everyone else was feeling, Dark laughed happily and tossed an arm around Shining in a side hug. However, that moment of joy was interrupted when the door leading into the other room opened with the doctor in charge walking out of it. Soon as everyone saw him, the doctor found himself crowded and told them to calm down so he could finally answer one of them.

"How is she, doctor?" Velvet asked.

The doctor smiled brightly. "Everyone, I'm happy to report that Princess Twilight has successfully given birth to a healthy baby filly, and both are doing perfectly fine."

There was a collection of relieved sighs, gasps, and some cheering from the doctor's news. Letting them have a moment, he then turned his attention to Dark.

"You may go in and see them now if you wish, Prince Dark."

"Awww! But I want to see the new baby!" Pinkie whined.

"And we will," Celestia said. "But for now, let's give Dark some privacy with Twilight and their filly."

Now having the opportunity to go in and see his newborn daughter, instead of moving, Dark found himself frozen in place. Seeing what was happening to him, Luna rolled her eyes.

Here we go again, she mentally sighed.

Much like how she snapped Shining out of it when this happened to him, Luna walked up behind Dark and gave him a small shove. Stumbling forward a bit, Dark landed on his face and stood back up as he looked behind him to see Luna shrugging.

"You needed it."

Silently agreeing with her, Dark took a calming breath before following the doctor inside. Ignoring the door closing behind him, Dark looked straight ahead where he saw Twilight. Despite her messy mane, sweaty face, and how utterly exhausted she looked, the bright smile she wore on her face when she saw him made all of that fade away. It was then that Dark also noticed something that caused his breath to hitch. There, cradled gently in her forelegs, was their bundle of joy wrapped in a soft pink blanket. Taking a step forward, Dark made his way over to Twilight's side where he nuzzled and kissed her.

"How you feeling?" Dark gently asked.

"Like you wouldn't imagine," she tiredly said, but smiled none the less as she leaned down and nuzzled the foal in the blanket. "But it was well worth it."

Following Twilight down, for the first time, Dark saw his newborn filly. Her coat was a rose red color, she shared Twilight's mane color and style with the three different colors in it, and there on her forehead was a tiny unicorn horn. Looking down at the little thing, Dark smiled as he felt the corners of his eyes starting to tear up in pride and joy. Gently caressing her head with a claw, Dark let out a little sniffle and turned to plant a kiss on Twilight's forehead.

"She's beautiful," he whispered. "You did a great job, Twilight."

Twilight hummed in acknowledgement. "She looks like she takes after you."

"Huh?"

Lighting her horn, Twilight unwrapped the blanket around their foal, revealing to Dark that their daughter was a kirin much like he was. While her coat color was different, and she shared Twilight's mane colors, the filly's body was exactly like Dark's. Same draconic tail, same draconic wings, and instead of forelegs, she too bore a pair of draconic arms and tiny claws. With Dark having a good look at her, Twilight wrapped her back up in her blanket and smiled as she presented Dark with their foal.

"Would you like to hold your daughter?"

It took him a second, but Dark nodded, gently took the filly from Twilight, and laid her down in the crook of his arm. Hearing her whimper from the sudden change, Dark made soothing shushing sounds to calm her.

"Shhhhh. It's okay, little one. Daddy's here for you," he whispered.

Recognizing Dark's voice, the foal quieted down and slowly began to open her eyes. Silently, Twilight and Dark watched as their daughter's eyes opened for the first time, revealing a pair of golden draconic eyes.

"Looks like she has your eyes too," Twilight smiled.

"Yeah, but hopefully she'll have your personality," Dark said back.

Turning his attention back down, he chuckled when he saw that her little eyes were wide with wonder as she took in everything she saw. That is, until they fell onto Dark and Twilight, who then both leaned down and gently nuzzled her.

"Welcome to the world, little one," Twilight whispered.

Hearing her coo, they both backed away a little bit and watched as she shifted her arms out of her blanket and reached up for them. Leaning closer to Twilight, Dark held their foal as Twilight leaned over to her, letting the foal gently feel her face with a giggle. A few minutes later of exploring Twilight's face, she turned to Dark and reached up to him. Chuckling lightly, Dark leaned his head down for her to feel him too.

"We still need to pick a name for her," Twilight reminded him.

Smiling, Dark brought his head back and tucked the foal back in her blanket.

"I say that we should continue with this thing you and your mom have going," Dark said.

"You mean you want us to call her Twilight as well?" she questioned.

Dark shrugged. "Just a thought."

"Sorry, but it was confusing enough at times with it just being me and my mom."

"Okay," he chuckled. "What about you? Any names come to mind?"

Twilight nodded. "I was thinking about calling her Shady Shine."

Dark paused for a moment and frowned. "You're wanting to name her after our gender-swapped selves?"

Twilight nodded, but thought about it again and frowned as well.

"Yeah, now that you've said it out loud, it just doesn't sound as great," she admitted. "Sounded a lot better in my head."

Dark nodded in agreement before returning to thinking about their filly's name. He really did like Twilight's name, and their foal did have her and Velvet's mane type, so he wanted something similar. It took a few moments of thinking and swapping different names before one came to mind.

"How about Eventide?"

"... isn't that just a synonym for my name?" Twilight smirked, causing Dark to blink.

"How'd you know- never mind."

Regardless of the name being a synonym to hers, Twilight mulled it over for a while.

"Hmmm.... Eventide."

Dark felt a shift in his arms and looked down to see their filly now looking at Twilight.

"Hey, Twilight?"

Hearing Dark say her name, she looked to him and followed him down to their filly looking almost expectantly at her.

"She looked at you when you said it," Dark explained.

Twilight blinked and looked from their filly to Dark. "You say it now."

"Eventide?"

Like with Twilight, the foal's attention was turned to Dark from hearing that word.

"Huh. I guess she likes it," Twilight said before smiling. "Well, that settles it then."

Reaching out to him, Dark returned their foal back to Twilight, who proceeded to nuzzle the little filly.

"What do you think of that name, Eventide?" she gently asked, hearing her coo and feeling her nuzzle back in response.

Feeling a sense of serenity, Dark crawled up on the bed alongside Twilight and draped a wing over her and their little Eventide. Holding his two girls in his wing and arms, Dark gently kissed Twilight and their foal before relaxing and resting his head on top of hers.

He knew that things in the future were going to be difficult, and he knew that he would eventually have to go and confront Nil, but right now, Dark didn't care about any of that. At that moment, all that mattered to him were the mare and filly, his family, resting in his arms.

Author's Note

I said that there was one chapter left, but I forgot to mention the Epilogue.:trollestia:

Epilogue

Far, far away, two powerful beings resided. One was a scaleless female serpentine dragon, her light-tan skin and hair appearing as though it were shifting like sand. The other was a scaleless male serpentine dragon as well, his skin and hair appearing as though it were made up of galaxies, nebulas, and the darkness of space. From their place there, the two watched as Dark and Twilight held their newborn filly, Eventide. Smiling at the heartwarming scene, the female coiled up as she rested against the other's side.

"I really am happy for them, Locus," she sighed blissfully.

"As am I, Tempus. After everything that he's been though, the young stallion deserves this," he agreed.

Tempus nodded and frowned. "What he didn't deserve was for what happened to his brother."

"I know," Locus sighed. "But it's thanks to him that we now know where Nil has hidden himself all these millennia."

"To think he was hiding all the way over there in that one. For a creature that was knocking on Nocturne's doorstep, he was able to get quite far."

Locus nodded darkly. "He may have escaped once, but he won't be so lucky a second time."

"But can we really rely on just Dark?" Tempus questioned. "I know that he'll become incredibly powerful in time, even by our standards, but it's going to take more than that to stop Nil for good."

"I agree. Which is why when the time is right, Dark will battle Nil..."

With a wave of Locus' claw, two more images appeared. One showing a stallion sealed in a floating red crystal tied down to the ground by golden chains, the other of a human male teenager, breathing peacefully as he sat at the bottom of a large swimming pool.

"... and he won't be going alone."

Author's Note

To know of what's to come, check out my newest blog post for more details.