Author's Note

Welcome, ladies and gentlemen, to the next installment of Artemis' journey, his second chance at a life and, hopefully, happiness. I hope you'll enjoy the ride and, as always, let me know what you think in the comments below. I hope you all have a nice day and I also wish you all the best during the holidays and the new year to come

Prologue: I Hate My Life

If you had asked me a thousand years ago what I would be doing with my life in the future, I'd have told you that I'd still be working the daily grind until I could afford to retire. I'd have also had you committed if you'd even suggested that I'd end up inhabiting the body of a colorful pony prince, and yet, here I am. I've been tortured, sleep deprived, starved, beaten, near incinerated and subjected to God only knows what else in that span of time, but nothing could have prepared me for my greatest challenge yet: learning how to read. I now stare at a children's book, struggling to sound the words out and having to restrain myself as the urge to light the cursed thing on fire burns within my breast. No pun intended.

"Please, Prince Artemis, you need to relax," the tutor, an overly fussy unicorn by the name of Bright Quill, instructs me calmly. I look up from the thrice damned book, doing my best not to glare at the stallion seated across from me. We're in the library, an expansive collections of books, scrolls and dusty tomes, with Cadance, watchful as ever, sitting nearby enjoying a cup of tea. My own beverage, coffee, heavily doctored with cream and sugar, sits only half finished nearby, with a handy pot of still steaming hot goodness within easy reach for a refill. I don't know where the palace staff gets their beans but they deserve a raise for finding something so rich as what I have sampled so far. It's the only thing that's kept me sane while having to endure these humiliating lessons. Why is it so fucking difficult? "Frustration will only make learning more difficult, your highness."

"Thanks for the astute observation," I say, tone incredibly dry, the tutor frowning in obvious displeasure. Should I try to be more polite? Probably. Is it too early in the day for me to muster up the energy for such a colossal undertaking? Definitely. "I just don't understand why this is so fucking difficult." My use of a word that doesn't exist in Equish makes Bright Quill twitch and I have to hide a smirk behind my dark blue mug. My one pleasure in all of this is ruffling his feathers, so to speak. Figures Celestia would pick one of the most stuck up, prissy ponies on her staff to teach me. An extra layer of my so-called "punishment", I'm sure. Still, I don't have any choice but to learn if I want to take back control of my life, such as it is.

"From what the princesses have told me, your highness, you spent a thousand years in near total isolation," Quill begins formally, another thing that bothers me about him. He addresses me like I deserve such respect when it couldn't be any farther from the truth if he tried. "While your modern usage of Equish is surprising, it does not come as one for you to have such difficulty adjusting to its written format." He takes a moment to adjust his glasses, the cherry on his stereotypical teacher sundae. "Why, even your sister, Princess Luna," I stiffen, unable to help it, "is having difficulties with learning to adapt to the modern era. You really should not be so hard on yourself, your highness."

"I'll try to remember that," I mutter, having to stop myself from grinding my teeth. A month since my defeat and still the mere mention of her name sets me on edge. I have to relax, otherwise I'll end up throwing this book across the room or something equally childish. "This...is...Ri...Ringer?" I think that's right and Quill's nod confirms it. "He...is...a...unicorn." Obviously that one was a bit easier thanks to the accompanying picture. "Watch him...play with...a ball." The fact they don't use a phonetic alphabet is what is making this really difficult, if I'm honest with myself. "He...damn it, this is ridiculous!" I slam the book shut, my frustration getting the better of me. "I'm over a thousand years old, so I shouldn't be having so much trouble with a book meant to teach children how to read!"

"Prince Artemis, please-" I hold up a hoof to stop him, taking several deep breaths in an effort to calm myself.

"I need a break," I tell him, a sigh issuing from him as a result. "We've been at this for hours and I can't take any more of it right now."

"Very well, your highness," Quill replies stiffly, clearly put out by my attitude. Fuck him, he's not the one learning things from the ground up. Why can't things be simple? Oh, right, life sucks, that's why. "If you will excuse me." At my nod he gathers his things and leaves, Cadance taking his place once he's truly gone. She studies me intently and I have to keep myself from squirming in my seat while under her scrutiny.

"What?" I ask at last, reminding myself to be civil with her at least.

"It's kind of eerie, that's all," she replies, my frown returning to my face.

"What is?" I ask, somehow dreading the answer.

"If I didn't know any better, I really would believe that the two of you are actually twins." Her reply raises my hackles, my teeth grinding together before I can stop myself. "You both hate waking up in the morning, you both are complete grumps until your first cup of coffee, which you doctor in the exact same way, and you even drive poor Quill just as crazy as Auntie Luna does." She gives me a careless shrugs. "I'm sorry if that bothers you, but-"

"But nothing," I interrupt her, unable to remain civil anymore. "I don't want to hear about what you think makes the two of us similar, Cadenza." She frowns at me but I can't care less at the moment. "She's...Princess Luna and I might look alike, but that's where the similarities end." I finish my cup of coffee and take a moment to pour myself another. "Now, what's our next item on the docket for today?" Best to change the subject before I literally end up biting her head off. It's clear she's not happy with me from the way she's looking at me right now, but she shouldn't have made such a stupid comparison in the first place.

"Well, after a round through the park," great, more garbage picking, "we have your first magic lesson." Okay, what?

"Hold up," I say, holding up a hoof for emphasis. "You have me booked for a lesson in how to use magic?" At her nod I count to ten, as I'm already well versed in the use of my powers. "Why, in God's name, do you have me scheduled for something so bloody redundant?"

"Because, other than levitation, what you know isn't regular magic." My lack of an immediate response to that statement causes her to sigh. "You learned how to fight, to teleport, to do everything everypony else can, only with dark magic." Oh, fucking shit on a shingle. So first it was learning how to read and now it's learning how to use magic all over again. It's official; I hate my life. "Here, let's get you ready for your daily round of community service." Cadance reaches out to me when I'm not really paying attention, hoof about to touch my collar, when I snap my gaze to her and strike it aside out of instinct. "Ow! Artemis, that hurt!" Fuck.

"Shit, Cadance, I..." I trail off, having reacted without even thinking about it. "Are you alright? Let me see." I gently, tentatively, reach out to take her hoof, examining her, for lack of a better term, wrist carefully. "I'm sorry, I just...I'm sorry." I have no excuse, cursing myself silently as I check for a break. "Looks like it's just a bruise. Thank Christ for small miracles."

"Um...can I have my hoof back now?" Cadance asks hesitantly, drawing my gaze from her hoof to her face, the princess looking mildly embarrassed.

"Oh, sorry," I say, letting her go at last. "Look, Cadance, I-"

"No, it's okay," she replies, surprising me as she offers me a small smile. "I shouldn't have tried to touch you when you weren't paying attention." She laughs, the sound coming across as a little forced and awkward as hell. "I sometimes forget what you've been through and, well, I'm sorry too."

"Right." I reach up to touch my collar, pulsing a bit of power through it to activate what Cadance had been attempting moments before. If I had a mirror I would now see a coal gray unicorn with a white mane sitting in my place. It would be a bit hard to explain why one of the crown royals is out picking up garbage on a regular basis, along with mending fences, shingling rooftops and other odd jobs, so Celestia had been thoughtful enough to add a disguise function to my newest accessory when she oh so graciously gifted it to me a week before. "Let's just get this done." I stand and walk for the door, staring fixedly at the floor in front of my hooves as I walk. I can't even be around other ponies without constantly worrying about them bumping into me and triggering a reflex drilled into me by that heartless bitch while we were still on the moon. Yet another thing about this "second chance" that I hate. Thanks a lot, Elements.

0o0o0o0o0o0

"How do these ponies make such a bloody mess?" I grumble to myself as I walk through the park, using a long, pointed stick to stab pieces of trash with extreme prejudice, having to check inside bushes and under benches to make sure that each and every single solitary piece is collected. I glance over at my chaperones, a pair of royal guards that have no idea who I really am. To them I'm just a parolee, someone who committed some minor infraction or caused a public disturbance perhaps. "They should know who they're watching," I mutter under my breath, giving a drink can a particularly vicious jab of my poking stick. "They should all know." But that would go against the whole fucking narrative Celestia has constructed. Can't have that, no, of course not. "Damn Celestia." Another piece of waste is stabbed. "Damn Luna." I grit my teeth, feeling the familiar burn in my chest as I stab a disposable coffee cup. "And damn that insufferable Cadance, too!"

"Hey, parolee!" One of the guards calls over to me sharply, drawing my ire. "Keep it down and do your job, or we'll add disturbing the peace to whatever you did to land this detail. Got it?"

"Oh, of course, officer," I reply with biting cheer, imagining I'm stabbing his face as I pick up the next piece. "Wouldn't want to upset anypony, now would we?" I roll my eyes and get back to work, taking several deep breaths to try and calm myself down. "Fucking overly sensitive goddamn ponies." I still can't understand these people, ponies, whatever. I'm also horrible at interacting with them in a social setting, as I'd proved the other night during a dinner with several nobles. Celestia had been able to play it off as me readjusting to life among "our little ponies", but honestly a thousand years of isolation would kill anyone's social skills, especially given the circumstances surrounding mine. My small talk is limited to sarcasm, one or two word answers and glaring silently. Makes for awkward dinner conversation, as one might imagine. It also doesn't help that talking to anyone is like constantly walking on eggshells so I don't end up causing them to burst into tears. I still have to buy that one maid flowers for yelling at her when she walked in on me while I was taking a shower, because ponies are comfortable with nudity and all that and I'm, obviously, not.

"Is there a problem here, guardsponies?" A now familiar, masculine voice asks, causing me to take a deep breath and brace myself. When I turn to look to see who it is, the evidence provided by my ears is confirmed as fact. Standing perhaps twenty feet away from me is one Shining Armor, captain of the royal guard and, as I was surprised to learn, Cadance's boy-toy. He also happens to not like me very much, which always leaves me puzzled whenever he reminds me of it. As far as I'm aware I've been nothing but civil to the stallion, so his veiled hostility is a little off-putting to say the least. Of course he's likely perfectly justified in his dislike of me, given what he knows about me and all, but he's the first pony who knows the truth to react in such a way to me thus far.

"Captain Armor, sir!" The pair of guards snap to attention and salute in perfect unison. Military training at its finest, I guess. "We were just reminding the parolee to remain focused, sir!"

"At ease," Shining Armor tells them, the guards moving to stand at what I assume is parade rest. "So, 'Dusk', giving these stallions a hard time are we?" Dusk Shade is the name of my disguise and I, of course, give Shining Armor the frown his question deserves as I get back to work.

"All I did was make a few snide comments," I reply casually as he approaches. "If they can't handle someone with a smart mouth, then they seriously need to be better trained." I see the area around Shining's eyes tighten, my comment clearly striking a nerve. Good, I'm getting sick of just taking his displays of passive aggression without giving him some payback.

"They're just doing their jobs," he decides to remind me unnecessarily. "So, I see the princesses still have you picking up garbage. Personally I think this is more of a job for the park custodians but, well, you need to serve your time somehow." And there's the passive aggressiveness. Definitely not the only one who isn't happy about my sentencing, it seems. "Looking forward to this afternoon?"

"What about it?" I ask in turn, not really paying him any attention at this point. If he wants to just be a dick then I'm well within my rights to ignore him if I like.

"You boys can head back to the barracks," Shining tells the guards instead of answering me. "I'll keep an eye on the parolee." They give him a crisp salute, which he returns, before departing.

"There a reason you wanted us to be alone?" I ask casually, though now I'm kind of starting to feel slightly worried. "Not going to decide to dish out some well deserved justice, are we?" If he is then I'll be massively surprised.

"We're not barbarians," Shining says, sounding offended by the mere suggestion. "Not that you don't deserve it for everything you did, but it's not my call."

"Then what the hell do you want?" I ask again, giving him my full attention now. "I have work to finish here, in case you didn't notice, so, unless you actually need something from me, we'll have to trade barbs some other time."

"You know when Princess Celestia first came to me with the truth, I expected you to be some sort of fire breathing monster." I let out a snort at the mental image that little comment conjures in my mind. I only wish I had a power as badass as being able to breath fire on demand, but, sadly, I was not so blessed in my current incarnation as that. "So when I first met you, you can imagine how surprised I was by how soft you look." Soft? What the hell is that supposed to mean? "That under that vulnerable looking exterior is the mind of a killer, well...if I didn't know the truth I would just think you're strangely rude and leave it at that."

"So is this the part where you tell me that you're watching me and that I'd better be careful?" I ask him, not impressed if that is the case.

"Maybe," he says, leaning in close. "I'm also here to tell you this: if you ever, ever hurt Cadance again, I will end you." Ah, so that's it. "Got it?"

"Yeah, I got it," I reply quietly, not at all threatened by him but still feeling like dirt from being reminded of what I did. "Is that all?"

"Just show up on time this afternoon," Shining tells me, again puzzling me. "Now finish up here so I can get back to the palace."

"Sir, yes sir," I drawl, causing him to roll his eyes at me. Hurt Cadance again? Christ, I really hope I won't.

0o0o0o0o0o0

"By the First Egg, I thought we'd never get away," one of the guards hisses under his breath, he and his partner slipping into the shadows of a handy alleyway some time later. "Being around that pony is like choking on sand with how much negativity he gives off."

"Quit your whining," his fellow snaps, looking around as if checking to see if they are alone. "We need to get this done before we're missed."

"Yeah, yeah," the first says dismissively, his form briefly wreathed by green flames. Once they pass he is now a she, a sporty looking pegasus. "Just change so we can get moving already."

"Right." The second guard also becomes cloaked in flames, taking the form of a younger looking unicorn. "Meet you back at the barracks in twenty." He then takes off at a swift trot while the pegasus flies away for parts unknown.

0o0o0o0o0o0

I sneeze as I turn in my now almost full bag of trash, rubbing my nose and sniffling a bit. Can alicorns get sick? Christ, I really hope not. The last thing I need at this point is to catch a god forsaken cold. At least I'm done with this nonsense for the day, Shining Armor escorting me back to the palace, like I even need a chaperone in the first place. But we have to keep up appearances, right? Christ, I hate politics. But as I walk the palace halls, heading for the study where I'm supposed to have my magic lesson, I can't help but notice something.

"Why are you still following me?" I ask, keeping my gaze forward for the time being.

"I'm not following you," Shining replies despite obviously shadowing me. "We're just going to the same place is all." Oh, hell no.

"You're my magic tutor?" I can't keep the incredulity out of my voice. "What, did you draw the short straw or something?"

"No," he replied, pulling ahead of me and opening the study door. "I volunteered." I watch him enter, mouth agape, and can only think of one thing to say in response.

"Why me?"

0o0o0o0o0o0

At the base of the mountain upon which Canterlot sits, on the far western edge of its base, lies a small, densely packed forest. It is scarcely visited, as there is nothing of value there, at least not that anypony knows about. Nor is it a security risk, as the only approaches to Canterlot are by air, a road under near constant surveillance and by train. But today a sporty looking pegasus mare sets down outside this forest, eyes casting about for any signs that she has been followed. Once certain she is in the clear, the mare walks to the edge of the treeline and slips inside, her form once again consumed by flames. This time, however, it is not a pony that is left behind, but a quadrupedal being with pony-like features, a hard, black carapace, soulless looking green eyes with neither whites nor pupils, insect-like wings and a short, stubby horn upon its brow. A changeling, something not seen in Equestria for hundreds of years, or so everypony thinks.

The changeling heads deeper and deeper into the forest, which darkens as the canopy grows increasingly thicker, the trees soon swathed in strange, shiny black growths with glowing green protuberances that pulse and quiver as if alive. The changeling relaxes upon seeing these strange things, as it drew ever closer to its destination; the temporary hive from which it, and many others, observed Canterlot and its inhabitants. It is stopped by two larger, fiercer looking changelings, who let out low, threatening hisses, as if in challenge. The scout does not appear phased in the slightest by their display.

"I bring my latest report, as the queen has ordered," the scout says, the praetorians, changelings specifically birthed to guard the queen herself, exchanging a brief glance as a result. One nods and moves back into the shadows, while the second makes a gesture to the scout for it to follow, leading it deeper into the ever thickening growth, which now formed structures in and among the trees. The praetorian brings the scout to the largest of these organic looking structures, the front of it splitting open with a wet, sucking sound to admit them. The pair stop just within the threshold, taking a knee and bow their heads in respect to the figure seated on what can only be described as a throne.

"Speak," the figure, larger, leaner, its horn long and crooked and eyes snake-like as they focused on the scout, who bowed its head lower at the simple command.

"My queen," it begins respectfully, "I bring my latest report on the subject you wished me to observe."

"Then give it," the queen orders, tone holding an edge of impatience.

"The subject has proven volatile," the scout tells her swiftly, a slight tremor running through its frame as she glares down upon it. "Attempts to speak with the subject have been rebuffed on multiple occasions, in multiple forms. The subject gives off a persistent aura of bitterly dark emotions and is constantly on guard. He even struck the pink princess for simply trying to touch him, though he seemed to regret it once he realized what he had done."

"Is that all?" Its queen inquires further, causing the scout to shake its still bowed head.

"There seems to be a sense of attachment growing towards the pink princess," it informs her. "It is only speculation, my queen, but it could prove of some use."

"Return to your duties," the queen instructs it, a frown forming on her harsh featured face. "What sort of game is Celestia playing, keeping her defeated enemy so close? Learn the truth behind this and do not return until you do." The scout practically presses its snout into the floor and backs out of the room, the queen appearing to be deep in thought. "Volatile, is he?" Her frown slowly morphs into a wicked grin. "This might turn out to be more fun than I first anticipated~"