“Does he always sleep this long?”

“Usually? Yeah, I suppose so.”

“And this is normal for him? Talk about a lazy species.”

“Hey, as we get older we’ll be no better, if not worse than him.”

“Yeah but that’s later. Right now we’re not lazy, he is.”

“Are you going to wake him up?”

“Duh, there are ponies waiting for their orders and he’s on his ass asleep.”

“Oh, I don’t think he’s going to like you waking him up.”

I cracked an eye open to look about the room, finding Weiss arguing with her brother next to my bed.

“Yeah well he can bite my ass if he doesn’t like it.” Eben remarked with a huff, his little arms crossed over his chest defiantly.

“But he’s had a rough couple of days. First with some kind of mental breakdown, then he shows up in… that.” Weiss replied, shooting an arm out to gesture to my still existing combat gear. Somewhere through the night my M4 had been removed from my person and stood against the wall on my right while the Magnum in my thigh holster pressed into my right leg rather uncomfortably.

“Not my problem.” Eben remarked, turning away from his sister momentarily. “He’s got other priorities to his customers. Do you even know what stage his first projects are in? What do I tell the three girls when they ask for an update?”

“You tell them that it’s in progress.” I replied in a low, rumbling morning voice. Both baby dragons turned to face me, only one with a look of surprise on her face.

“Oh good, the guy’s awake. Now he can get to work.” Eben turned from the room while Weiss climbed up onto my bed next to me. Rolling onto my back I worked to massage some feeling in my leg where my sidearm had sat and irritated me over the night.

“What’s his problem?” I asked while Weiss sat down on her backside next to my head, watching me intently.

“Oh you know, it’s apparently been slow going for him while we’ve been doing things and so he doesn’t like you.” Weiss explained with a shrug as she played with her tail.

“I think you mean, ‘And he doesn’t like you.’” I replied to receive a chuckle from the girl beside me. “Ugh, what time is it anyways?”

“Sometime still early morning. Princess Luna came down about an hour ago to let us know that we would be served breakfast upstairs in the kitchen once again.” Weiss let herself fall backwards with her arms spread wide on the mattress.

“Right. So hoping that nothing too adventurous happens today, we’ll eat breakfast and then get back to work on those three new projects. Have you managed to do the rough cutting like I asked of you?” I turned my helmeted head to more or less look at Weiss’s feet; apparently like the rest of the creatures living in Equestria, anything resembling reproduction organs were safely tucked away.

Turning my head back upwards towards the ceiling, I let out a sigh and closed my eyes once again.

“Yeah I managed to cut out the large excess material to shape; under the bed frame, inside the cabinet cavities and what not.”

“Good, good. And you didn’t cut all the way down to the exact measurements right? You left me room to properly shape and take off the remaining excess with more precision?” I inquired, folding my hands over my armoured stomach.

I kind of wish I'd put on some kind of ghillie suit during my adventures yesterday instead of all this body armour with the extra equipment jabbing me in every conceivable place. Oh shit.

Bolting upright I reached back and pawed at the thermal monocular pouch before realizing that it was still attached to my helmet, just flipped up and out of the way.

“Actually. I wanted to try my claws at precision myself, so I did a lot of the shaping myself.” Weiss replied once she’d up-righted herself when I'd done so.

“You what?” I not so much as demanded as I tilted an eyebrow in her general direction. “You know what, I'm too hungry for this conversation right now. Let’s go grab some breakfast before I blow up at you so early in the morning.” I announced, scooting onto the side of the bed to stand up properly.

Taking the time to remove next to all my combat gear save the thigh holster, I dropped everything next to my desk with the thermals safely stored in it’s pouch again. Now i’ll need a cabinet to properly store all that… This left me in a pair of camouflaged pants with the army green shirt clinging to my body, not leaving very much to the imagination for women.

Aside that I had to keep my combat boots on, given that I wasn’t sure whether or not my existing clothing had made it back here safely or if they were still in the alternate Canterlot with a traitorous Luna. Not that It was all that much of a loss, these boots were so fucking comfortable considering I'd gone the entire day with them on and had even slept comfortably with them. My feet weren’t getting too hot nor did they feel restrained like they’d normally feel in my shoes.

“So, I know about that rifle a couple rooms over, is that what these things are?” Weiss inquired, poking at my M4 curiously before looking back at the shiny metal on my leg.

“Not quite. That one there is more for automatic fire at significantly shorter ranges and this bad boy,” I paused to extract my sidearm to show it off. “Is for even shorter ranges than that.” I ran the cylinder over my forearm to check the load of the bullets within and ready to go before holstering once more.

“But they all do the same thing?” Weiss left my M4 alone and climbed up onto my back before I pulled her off again to pull my plate carrier -now stripped down to bare necessities- back over my head so that my back would have some armour against her claws.

“Yep, they’re all highly lethal weaponry.” I remarked as Weiss re-scaled my back and settled in for the trip upstairs.

Exiting the room, Weiss and I left the dungeon altogether and stepped into the morning sunlight; making me flinch back in response.

“Ow…” I grumbled as we aimed towards the castle, noting the curious glances in our direction from the groundskeepers and guards. “Sunlight hurtses usss!” I hissed in my best Golum voice before taking to the shade on the interior.

“You really need to get out more.” Weiss noted calmly as we entered into the breakfast buffet that was the kitchen. Hopping down again she hurried off to grab a plate and worm her way through the tables to the meats.

“Yeah, or I could just go out only at night.” I replied, acquiring a plate for myself as I viewed my options. “How’re the steaks done?” I asked as I acquired a second plate of fresh fruits and berries.

“Cooked.” Weiss’s voice replied from behind a collection of flowers between us.

“Well I certainly hope so. Can you tell how well done they are?” I sighed back, popping a strawberry into my mouth while I continued to examine the remaining options.

“Ahh, pink on the inside but doesn’t look like it’ll take my teeth to cut through it.” Weiss explained after a moment. I shrugged and aimed for the meat table regardless to view for myself how the steaks had been done up. Mostly medium rare, perfect.

“Awesome, just how I like it.” I muttered as I forked a steak onto my empty plate. Moving down the line I flipped a couple of poached eggs onto the surface of the steak before taking to an empty table to eat.

“So is that all we’re doing today? Working on the projects?” Weiss inquired as she took up a seat next to me. I nodded as I chewed on some steak and egg.

“Honestly Weiss, I've had more than enough adventuring for this week.” I replied with a sigh after I'd cleared my mouth out. “I really just want to stay home and make some money.”

“That sounds like a good plan.” Princess Luna’s calm, soothing voice remarked. Before I knew what I'd done, I'd dropped my utensils and drew my sidearm on the alicorn, aiming for a shot to the head.

Recovering with a groan, I lowered my weapon and holstered it once more as Luna stood back in shock; an eye twitching at my display.

“Sorry Princess. Yesterday was a tad hectic for me.” I explained, looking down at my plate sorrowfully.

“I accept your apology. May I ask what lead you to draw a weapon on me?” Luna requested as she sat down next to me at the table.

“Has Twilight Sparkle contacted you or your sister about playing around with time?” I countered, dropping my head into my hands after having pushed away my plate for the time being.

“She has, yes. It turns out another unicorn from her past sought revenge and in doing so, changed events in the past which lead to some unfavourable presents and futures.” Luna replied, leaning against the table to look me over. “I assume that because you aren’t a creature of magic, you were brought along with them?”

“Good guess. First world had an on-going war with the Crystal Empire where you and I were the top ranked sniping team in Equestria, never mind we were the only sniping team in Equestria. We were just going out to finally end King Sombra when you turned traitor and dropped me from your back at over a kilometer above ground.” I explained, massaging my eye sockets with the palms of my hands. “Apparently in that world we were an item, complete with matching undergarments.”

“I- sorry what?” Weiss asked, trying to stifle laughter. “You, and Luna? Together?” I nodded though Luna seemed to take offense to this.

“Why is that so funny to you, little one?” Luna demanded in curious contempt.

“It’s- it’s just the idea of him and you, you and him… I can’t wrap my head around it!” Weiss explained before completely bursting into laughter. “But what do you mean, matching undergarments?”

“Apparently that worlds Princess Luna bought me a set of underwear with her butt print on it.” I explained in shameful defeat before sitting up to try and check if I was still wearing them. I was.

Now it was Luna’s turn to burst into laughter with the dragonling next to me, both girls now rolling on the floor peeling with laughter.

“Wait, you were given a set of underwear with my Cutie Mark on it?” Luna asked for clarification once she’d collected herself on the floor. I nodded in reply, my head back in my hands. “Do-” Luna began and I could already tell what her next question was.

“Don’t ask.” I held a hand up to interrupt her train of thought.

“You don’t know what she was going to ask.” Weiss replied as she returned to her seat.

“Do was going to ask if I still have them or not. Weren’t you?” I looked up from my hands at Luna over my shoulder.

“He’s good.” Luna remarked as she too sat down. “You’re hesitancy to answer my question makes me think you do.”

Rather than give a confirmatory answer, I merely groaned and returned to my breakfast. Today was going to be a long day if this was any indication. This had the effect of making Luna burst into more laughter, falling back off the seat once again to roll around on the floor, hugging herself.

“Wait, wait wait wait. Are you still wearing them?” she demanded through teary eyes and broken laughter.

“Of course not.” I directly lied, remaining calm as I continued to eat. “I took them off and changed as soon as I woke up.”

“Well now I know that’s a lie.” Weiss remarked from next to me. “You didn’t change, you just took off the armour.”

“So you are still wearing undergarments with my cutie mark on them!” Luna exclaimed through a huge grin. “Oh that is too good!” she flopped back onto the floor in laughter.

“If you’d like I can take them off and burn them.” I suggested in all casualness, finally fed up with eating so I pushed the plate back again and leaned back in my seat.

“Aww, that’s mean!” Luna pouted once she’d recovered and rested against the table, floating a glass of cold water over to drink. “You said they were a gift from me in this other world? I want to know why I’d gift you such a personal item in the first place.”

“Apparently they were for the first night we’d spent together.” I explained, spinning my chair around to lounge against the table. This comment froze both Luna and Weiss.

“As in…” Weiss approached the subject carefully.

“As in we slept together. Got busy, did the dirty deed, we did the dance with no pants. We fucked each other. ” I replied, dropping the jaws of everyone who wasn’t me in the room. “Of course I was quite objective towards this news when I too found out.”

Luna mumbled something incoherently under her breath, rubbing the back of her neck with a hoof and looking away nervously from me.

“Regardless, near to the end of that world she turned traitor on me and dropped me to my death before the world itself ended and switched to a new one.” I replied, standing up with my plate to dispose of the dishes and grab a drink for myself.

“I find it hard to believe that I would do that, given that you and I had apparently slept together.” Luna said, watching me as I navigated the kitchen to the garbage and sinks.

“I think it came as heartbreak revenge or something. Or it was well in the plans.” I shrugged as the three of us left the kitchen and aimed for my hole in the ground.

“Why do you say that?” Weiss asked as she rode on Luna’s back.

“Well, when she explained our relationship, I had a similar reaction to when I explained to Luna my intentions to keep our relationship strictly platonic. That Luna probably didn’t take too kindly to things and used it as an excuse to kill me and secure King Sombra’s reign.” I explained as we strolled through the gardens with my hands in my pockets. Judging by the condition of the flowers and the look of the weather, I could guess that Equestria was coming due for winter; my favourite season to be honest.

Granted I had yet to find out how well my dungeon would remain insulated in the winter months.

“That would actually explain quite a lot, to be honest.” Luna replied in calm honesty. “If I had the reaction to mess with you while retaining some sort of connection to you in hopes of saving face, then it’s entirely likely that alternate me would have the reaction to try and end you if that was my original plan in the first place.”

“Right. Last I saw before the world ended was your eyes turning reptile. Later on I found out that such eyes were from-” I explained but was cut off from a distraught Princess.

“Nightmare Moon, yes. Tell me about that one.” Luna requested with interest.

“Basically Nightmare Moon took over Equestria and banished Celestia to the moon. Ruling with an iron hoof from some castle I’m not aware of you had some guards that Twilight apparently knew and what looked like a bat-pony thing.” I explained, reminiscing as we sauntered through the gardens. I found it slightly strange how the Dungeon entrance was just off the main courtyard but ehh, wasn’t my decision.

“And what about you? What position did you take?” the Princess asked curiously, lifting an en eyebrow as we sat down on a bench overlooking the central fountain.

“Captain of the shadow guard, I think.” I replied after determining what to call Nightmare Moon’s castle guard.

“Oh, so no more relationships between us?” Luna playfully knocked a hoof against my shoulder. I nodded in reply, leaning back against the bench with my arms across the backrest.

“Nope, I think Nightmare Moon was too self-important to indulge in such frivolous activities. Still, ran into Spike and Twilight there who more or less explained everything.” I looked up at the sky above me, letting the sun beat down on my face and try to warm me through the gently blowing winds.

“Spike was there? Did you injure him?” Weiss asked hopefully from my lap.

“Nah. I wanted to, I nearly shot him too but Nightmare Moon stopped me.”

“Dangit. Couldn’t have at least kicked him?”

“Nope, I was too far away and they left before I could do so.” I explained, gently stroking Weiss’s back. “Trust me, had I been able to do anything- I would have.”

“Well I appreciate the sentiment. Shame you couldn’t do anything to him though.” Weiss replied, seemingly disappointed in my lack of ability to provide physical harm to her violator.

After a couple minutes in silence, merely watching the nearby castle staff coming or going, I picked Weiss up and stood aiming for my dungeon home.

“So, back to work then?” Luna inquired, joining us on our trip downwards. I nodded in silent reply as my boots did wonders to absorb the shock of footfalls onto solid stone stairs.

“Yep, spent long enough away from my tools as it is; Eben was right this morning, I’ve got customers waiting for me.” I explained as we entered into the large main room of stone. Weiss hopped down from my back and scurried into the workshop to jump up onto the slab of wood that she’d worked surprisingly meticulously to carve away the excess material.

“Tada!” she announced, throwing her arms wide as I examined the bed frame on which she stood.

“Wow, I must say Weiss, I’m pleasantly surprised in what you’ve accomplished.” I announced, examining the bed frame in greater detail while Luna excused herself. “You’ve left just enough material for me that I can properly apply a finish to the surface of the wood without thinning the material out too much. Good job.”

“Thank you! You should see the cabinets!” she beamed a giant smile at me before crawling off the soon to be completed furniture to show me the cabinets next to the frame.

I’ve got to say, if Weiss was this good with her claws, we’d be able to crank out the remainder of these orders by the end of the week.

Strapping myself into my tool belt, I set to work on the headboard to draw the Cutie Mark Crusader logo as best I could; adding in bolding with tiny Xs to indicate where to cut with the chisels.

Moving down to the footboard I had to sit back and go through at least four renditions of an apple seeing as I couldn’t quite get an agreeable look to it.

“What’s up?” Weiss asked as I sat back with my pencil spinning between my fingers, my current iteration of the apple logo in thin graphite before I crept back to erase everything yet again.

“I can’t seem to get a good apple logo going. Either it’s lopsided, too flat or doesn’t look like an apple.” I mumbled back, tilting my head as though that would help create the final product.

“Can I try?” she requested, holding out a hand for my writing utensil. I shrugged and tossed her the stick in my hand, sitting back against the wall as Weiss approached the footboard with the pencil in her claws.

“Ok, you’re officially going to be my rough cutter and apple artist.” I exclaimed as once Weiss stepped back from a perfectly drawn apple. Now all I’d have to do is trace it with a chisel, maybe add in a bit of wood burning for a natural colour finish and it’d be good. Soon as I finish cut the remainder of the body of course.

“You just keep giving me new jobs…” Weiss sighed with a smirk, sitting back in my lap momentarily before I stood up and began the task of cutting.

“That would be because you keep surprising me with your skills.” I informed of the tiny dragon while pulling out a parting chisel to begin the first few cuts along the drawn lines. “So give me your opinion, should I go with a sharper looking cut with this parting chisel or should I give it a rounded out cut?”

“I’d say…” Weiss’s voice dropped away in thought momentarily. “Rounded cut. You’re already going with the rounded head and hoof-boards with the scroll-work matching the curvature, no point in adding in a new cut. Right?”

I shrugged in reply, considering her suggestion which made sense in all honesty.

“Rounded cutting it is then. Now if you please, I’d like you to start crushing up some rubies, apatite and titanite for a sort of paint.” I requested as I continued the outlining cuts of the apple. Weiss gave a squeak, salute and then ran off next door to start up her next task.

Setting aside my chiselling for the time being, I utilized my hand planer to start shaping the remainder of the body to remove the claw marks remaining from Weiss’s assistance and to take down the unnecessary material left over, ensuring to avoid chipping my blade and ruining the finished look.

A half hour later Weiss reappeared with three bowls of gem dust in her hands and on her head, setting them gently down on the tool cabinet behind me before licking off her fingers.

“All good?” I asked while shaping the headboard, the last bit of the bed frame to be shaped before finishing.

“Yep, I’ve made sure that it’s been ground down into a fine powder ready for mixing with whatever you’re going to use to turn it into paint.” Weiss reported dutifully before dipping a claw into the bowl of apatite to sneak a taste.

“And how much of the powder have you eaten already? Do I have any left over?” I inquired with a smirk, watching Weiss out of the corner of my eye. Weiss grinned in reply, sucking off her fingers before climbing up onto the bed frame’s cross board nearest to where I was stood working.

“Yeah, you’ve got gems left over. Not as many I’ll admit but you’ve got some.” The dragonling replied honestly. I halted my work to give Weiss a quick hug once I’d brushed off the wood chips clinging to my clothes. “How’s things going here?”

“Save for the finishing, nearly done this one. Do you want to try the shaping of the fabric cabinet while I work on mixing the paint for the trophy one?” I offered, holding up the hand planer in offering.

“Can I really? You’ll have done nothing on it at this rate!” Weiss looked at me apprehensively, trying to decide whether or not she should take the tool in my hand.

“Go for it. We’ll let Sweetie Belle know that it was a Weiss Original when Eben goes and delivers it.” I shrugged back carelessly. “If you need help or a second opinion you can always ask me for help.” I added as I stood and approached the bowls of gem dust. I’d need an oil or something in order to have the gemstone dust keep from wearing off quickly.

Then an idea hit me, arcing an eyebrow in the process.

“Weiss, I require the use of a scale.” I announced, turning back to the dragonling working behind me.

“Why?” she inquired as she turned to face me.

“So I can rough up the wood in the engraving of the mark on the trophy cabinet. It’ll let me bleed the gem paint into it so it’ll last.” I explained, making Weiss’s eyebrow shoot in for a moment before she began feeling around her body looking for a loose scale.

“I can’t find a loose one, sorry.” Weiss replied with a shrug before turning back to her project.

“No worries, I still have to figure out how to get the gemstone dust to adhere to the wood in the first place.” I turned back to the bowls before me to think. Maybe just a bit of water, let the dust soak and hopefully dissolve- oh, some kind of acid or base that would properly dissolve the dust into some kind of paste?

“What does Equestria have for acids or bases?” I requested as I turned to lean against the wall nearest to me.

Weiss set my planer down and stared up at me inquisitively.

“Why do you need something like that?” she demanded.

“So I can dissolve the gem dust and turn it into a paste.” I explained casually, as though it was the most obvious answer.

“Uhm, I have no idea. You’d have to talk to Princess Luna about that or someone else who could answer.” Weiss shook her head and turned back to the task at hand before her.

Regardless, I still can’t really do anything until I get the adhesive. Don’t want to use glue since that will just look shoddy but I’m not sure if existing lacquers would work for me. I took a seat against the wall again in thought, trying to come up with something that could help me.

~~~

“So how was your day?” Princess Celestia inquired from the table nearby where she and her sister sat. I was at a stove currently in the process of cooking up a pot of chili for myself.

“Simple.” I replied shortly after shaking in a bit of spices with no real form of measurement how much I was putting into it. “Was quite relaxing just being able to work on a project without having to worry about killing something, triggering an anxiety attack or traversing through alternate time lines.”

“I see. So then were you able to remain productive?” the white alicorn looked up at me from her salad.

“Ehh, relatively. I need something that would help me turn some gemstone dust into a lacquer without making everything look like a child had finger painted it on. I figured that some kind of acid to break it down into a sort of paste might work, or if I was to acquire a pre-existing clear coat I could mix it all together.” I shrugged back whilst stirring the spices into the hand-ground browning beef before adding in tomato paste, kidney beans among other ingredients.

“Which would you prefer?” Princess Luna spoke up after finally emptying her mouth out of greens.

“Honestly I haven’t the foggiest idea. I’d probably start with the clear coat and try that out before I risk dissolving the gemstone dust down to nothing with an acid.” I explained, setting the wooden spoon down and dropped the lid over the pot to let it cook.

Taking a seat between Weiss and Luna, I got comfortable in the conversation around me.

“There are a number of hardware stores in Canterlot that should be able to help you. Would you like one of us to acquire you find this material?” Luna looked up at me from her plate. I really couldn’t identify what all was on that plate but it certainly wasn’t human digestible.

“Nah, I’ll finish up the two other projects and have Eben deliver them while collecting payments. I’ll use the profits to have Eben get the lacquer himself on his way back.” I shrugged back, resting against the table with my arm posted under my head. Weiss behind me slurped on an emerald, watching the conversation unfolding ahead of her.

“You’re already finished with two of the projects?” Celestia tilted her head in shock and I could faintly see bits of her plasmid tail slowly swinging behind her.

“Not exactly. While I’ve been working on the bed frame and the trophy cabinet as I can do so, Weiss has been working on the fabric cabinet all by herself. She’s quite the carpenter.” I rubbed Weiss’s head once I’d turned to include her with a compliment, receiving a large smile from around the melted emerald in reply.

“My, a dragonling of many talents.” Celestia gave a warm smile before forking another bit of salad into her muzzle.

“Quite.” Luna added equally as warm. “So then what’s in the plans for the rest of the day? Or do you plan on returning to work after you’ve eaten?”

“Nah, we’ve been working all day; might as well rest for the evening. I’ve got nothing to do later, personally.” I replied, spinning around so my back was to the table and the elder Princess across from me.

“Well then if you don’t mind spending time with us, we would be happy to have you join our company and explore the castle. I don’t believe you’ve had a proper tour yet, correct?” Celestia offered with a mouth partially full.

“Sister, finish what’s in your mouth before you speak. It’s quite unsightly.” Luna requested, slightly disturbed with her elder’s lack of mannerisms.

“Well if you’re offering, I might as well. It’s still going to be another fifteen minutes for my chili to finish up though. I’d say feel free to hang out here in the kitchen with me but given that it’s your kitchen…” I stood up from the table to return to the pot to give it a stir and ensure that it didn’t start to burn and stick to the bottom of the pot.

~~~

Over three hours later, night had fallen on us as we toured the castle and everyone had decided to turn in for the night; save for Princess Luna who didn't seem to sleep what so ever.

"I've been thinking..." Weiss spoke up from around the wall separating our rooms. "I think I should talk to Spike and Twilight Sparkle about why Spike acted like he did."

"Why?" I spoke up with eyes closed, completely buried under blankets as per my norm.

"I feel like I should give one of them a chance to explain his actions. Maybe it had something to do with him being a dragon?" Weiss suggested surprisingly calmly. If this is what she'd decided to do while I'd been brooding over it for the last few days, I might as well support her.

"Very well. We'll send them a letter tomorrow requesting an explanation or something." I finally announced, turning over onto my other shoulder to get comfortable. "Now go to sleep."

"Good night- I still want to know what I should call you..." Weiss complained, sounding like she had sat up in bed.

"Just call me Captain or Carpenter or something. This universe doesn't seem to mind me identifying myself with a title rather than a name." I would've waved off the comment if my hands weren't currently pressed against my body, as though I was hugging someone to my body.

"'Kay, good night Captain." Weiss replied, hopefully settling in for the night.

Author's Note

So this one took me so much longer to write than normal that I've reached a point where I just didn't want to write the chapter anymore. Stretching it out into bursts over the weekend while trying to remain sociable during my grandparents 50th anniversary celebration, sickness and my dad's 48th birthday all in the span of three days; I just want this to be over!

I'd gotten a comment about the lack of a character name for the main character so I've decided to use a title instead for now... Personally I think it's doing the same thing that I wanted to try avoid; have a sort of quip to the story alongside his silver hair...

I've also decided through the same commenter to try and restore Spike's relationship with Weiss and Captain, but that'll come up in the next chapter.

Saúde!