III

Snow and I were walking out of the palace to go get my things. She seemed to be beaming with happiness. If she wasn't in armor, she'd be bouncing. We got into the streets and the silence between us maintained, other than Snow's humming. Captain Armor and Lieutenant Arrow wanted me to get to know this pony, even though I could go without doing so. Although knowing Officers, they'll likely quiz me to see if I took them seriously or not.

"So you said you were 'Spoken for'. What did you mean by that?" Why did I chose to ask that?

Snow looked at me with a devious look, "Why you asking? Trying to see if you got a chance?"

"No. Just trying to have a conversation."

"Well if you must know, I do have a Stallionfriend he is an Earth Pony named Summit from a wealthy family here in Canterlot." She said proudly.

"Earth Pony? I thought you said Earth Ponies were boring?" I said getting her with her own words.

Her eyes went wide and then she glared, "That was in reference to working with them, not having a relationship with them."

"I see." I said trying not to laugh.

"Okay wise guy, my turn to ask. Do you have anypony special in your life?" She asked smiling again.

"No. It's been just me and my brothers for the most part. They have had some relationships, but they were all short lived. I have some cousins in Manehatten that i'm close with." I looked at her, and she was looking at me with her icy eyes expecting more, "That's it."

"Interesting. Well as your new friend and partner, it is my task to find you a mare."  She meant it.

"Oh please, that's not necessary." I said trying to get her to stop her train of thought.

"Oh come on. Having a Wing Mare is better than having a Wing Stallion." She said bouncing still.

"There Isn't any way to convince you to NOT be my matchmaker is there?" I asked.

"Nope, your suck with me Flame Strider."

I sighed in defeat, "Fine. Let's just hurry and get my things."

☼

I opened the door to my brother's quarters. Thankfully they were out, "Alright let's hurry and get my things. Those shelves up there and this footlocker." I said pointing with my wing. i got to work on the footlocker.

Snow levitated my items off of the shelf, "Pony Anatomy: Pressure Points & Weak Spots, Bestiary, Fighting forms, The Royal Guard Handbook? You read this stuff?"

"Yeah why is that a problem?"

"It is for you." Thasus said from behind me.

I spun around to see my brothers standing there at the door, "So who's this?" Atlas asked.

"Atlas, Thasus, Orion, meet Snow. Snow, meet my brothers." I said blankly.

"Why do they look almost identical?" Snow asked.

"Were Triplets." Orion stated.

"Okay cool you all have met, can we get back to work?" I said a little annoyed. Orion picked that up.

"Whoa, Strider is that annoyance in your voice?" He asked.

"No."

"It is, it totally is."

"We let him go for an hour and you've already gotten him annoyed? What's your secret?" Thasus asked Snow.

"I think its part of being a mare. A little bit of embarrassment, a dash of the unexpected, and you can get him blushing." Snow giggled.

"Well then I ask that you keep it up. Say any chance your single? Strider needs a date." Thasus mentioned.

I could feel my face go red as I listened in.

"We've already discussed that I have a stallionfriend, but I did tell Strider that I'd help him find a mare whether he wanted one or not."

"Not quite the conversation we had, but that sums it up." I said putting the final item into my saddlebags, "Well my brothers, sorry to cut this short but we must be off."

"Oh no you don't." Orion started, "Were spending the day with you."

"Agreed. So where we going?" Thasus asked.

"How about some dinner before me and Strider go back to the palace?" Snow suggested.

"Why can't we go to the palace with you?" Atlas asked her.

"Because you aren't on the guest list, and your not a Palace Guard or a Personal Guard like us." Snow informed him.

"I see. So where we eating?"

"How about Doughnut Joe's?" Orion suggested.

"Doughnuts for dinner? No, we should ask Strider where were going, since were celebrating the advancement of his career." Thasus said bringing all eyes to me.

I was about to protest, then I remembered a place close to the palace that I passed once while on patrol, "The Copper Wolf."

"Where is that?" Orion asked.

"Close to the palace. Come on let's go."

☼

We were at the Copper Wolf Tavern. None of us were in our armor anymore, Snow and I made a quick stop to the barracks to put my things down and take off our armor. We drew some short glances from the other patrons. We all sat at a table close to the door. My brothers and Snow were having fun talking while we waited for our drinks. I was busy scanning the crowd. The bartender was particularly interested in a customer at the far end of the bar, and there were several patrons sitting around the room, more interested in the crowd rather than their drinks.

"What do you think Strider?" Snow asked me.

I wasn't paying any attention, "What do I think what?"

"What would you say if Equestria was at war with another country like the Griffons, Deer, or The Dragons for that matter?" Atlas asked.

"I'd say the only real challenge out of the three of those options would be the Dragons. The other two would pose a threat sure, but none like the dragons would."

"Doesn't Celestia's Star Student have a baby dragon?" Snow asked not expecting an answer.

"She does, I've met the both of them at the Canterlot library. That reminds me of something I wanted to talk to you three about." Thasus started, "You know how I like to read?"

"Yes." Orion, Atlas, and I all said at once. Snow quietly sipped her cider while listening.

"Well while I was in the library a few months back I came across a curious bit of magic. It's the mixture of a potion and magic."

"What does it do?" Atlas asked curiously.

"It can bring a group of ponies together in a sort of magically linked way, a bonding potion of sorts. At first I didn't understand any of it. That is how I found Celestia's Student in fact, I had seen her in the library so much I decided to ask her for help, she took the time to give me quite the lecture and explain it to me. Her dragon fell asleep at the start." Thasus elaborated.

"Not to quote Atlas, but 'What does it do?'" I asked.

"If we drink this magically enhanced potion I speak of, we will be able to sense when one of us is happy or sad, calm or excited, in pain or not. For example; If I was depressed about something, you three would be able to sense my emotions. You would not feel said emotions, you would just know something is off. Also lying would be out of the question between each other."

"How would we be able to tell the difference between each other?" Atlas asked.

"The book was unclear about that part, but Twilight said we'd just know." Thasus finished.

"Twilight?" Snow asked.

"Celestia's Student. Please Keep up Snow." Orion said to her in a tone she didn't like, Snow huffed in response.

"So I was thinking in these last few weeks I could make the potion, and at the train station before we go our separate ways we could drink it." Thasus suggested.

"If I could express a concern?" Snow chimed in, "If somepony decided to use mind control on Strider here to get close to the princess, wouldn't that make you three also under said control?"

"Just the opposite actually. The caster of the mind control spell would need to be either incredibly powerful or have all four of us together to go under the control spell at the same time." Thasus said excitedly, "Not like there will ever be a need for that little feature of the spell."

"Knock." Atlas said emotionless. Thasus knocked on the table three times with a hoof.

"What was that?" Snow inquired.

"We don't like to jinx things. Bad karma vs good karma. Were all a little superstitious." Orion explained.

"Your the weirdest bunch of ponies I've met since moving here." Snow said going back to her drink.

"So anyway what do you think about the spell?" Thasus asked eager for our approval for it.

"I'm in." Orion said confidently.

"Me too." Atlas said smiling. They all turned to me, waiting for my answer.

"If you think it would be a good thing for us to do, then i'm in." I gave them a shrug of my shoulders. I looked at the time, eleven forty-five. "Perhaps Its time we called it a night?"

Looking at the time as well, they all nodded. Thasus went and settled the tab while we waited by the door. After leaving we went in separate directions, Snow and I to the Palace Barracks, my brothers to the City Barracks. Along the walk Snow became excessively tired and began to fall asleep while walking, forcing me to poke her whenever she got close to a wall. Once in our room, I made sure Snow was in her bunk before I went to sleep.

I couldn't sleep. I hadn't slept on a mattress in over a year for one. Secondly I was nervous about tomorrow. I looked over at the table that held my belongings that needed to be put away. I got up and started organizing my things. I had two suit coats for formal wear that I hung up in the wall locker, as well as a red & black wool scarf. I dident have anything to put into my footlocker yet. I started putting my books on the shelf above my bed in order. I got to the bottom of the stack of small books. There sat a large book with no title or markings of any kind, it only had a Featherlock on it. A Featherlock is a unique Cloudsdale instrument. It will only unlock to the feathers of its owner. Since this one was mine, I opened it.

This book however was not a book. It was hollow and held some precious items of mine. Mostly old letters, a pair of used Wonderbolt tickets, a 3rd place ribbon, and three pictures. One picture of me and my brothers in front of the Guard Recruiting office, a picture of all my cousins from Cloudsdale, and a rather old picture of my mother Cloud Fire in her youth. My coat and mane colors were near exact to my mother, only difference were that again my eyes are blue. Shaking off the feelings I was getting by looking at the old items, I put them back into the false book, locked it, and put it among the real books.

Feeling tired I put down my things to be taken care of at a later time and crawled back into my bunk. Still worried about what morning would bring but not caring at the moment.