Moonlight Trails

Chapters

Walking In Moonlight.
Trapped At The Castle
The History of Moonlight
Knocking at Death's Door
The Interview
The Deceiver
Cycles
The Journey
Returning Home
A Loving Embrace
Choices
The Invasion
Broken
Reviving The Flame

Walking In Moonlight.

Hey, how's it going. My name is Smokey Trail. Or Big Smokey, Ol' Smokey or Smokey for short. I don't have that fascinating of a life. I'm a 25 year old dark grey pegasus that goes to work. Go home. Get stoned. Go to bed and sleep throughout the day. My whole life style in a hand basket. Yeah, I know I sound boring as shit. Hell, to top it off, I work as a Security Guard at one of the dealerships around here for carts. As a over night guard! I have no social life!

Occasionally I come across a few little punks running around the lot over nights and one of the delivery carts rolls in a few hours before sun rise, but other than that, that's about my only interaction with people outside of my house. I do share a house with a few other folk. All of them are assholes, but the kindhearted assholes nevertheless. I'd have their back in a firefight and I know they'd have mine.

I mean, my whole life wasn't that boring. I was in the Royal Guard, but that was only a few months due to an injury that made me come back to civilian life. I was in college as well, but once again, that fell through. I've been engaged as well, but to find out that she cheated on me several times with one of her ex's. Yet, it was still my fault. Hehe, go figure.

Well, one fortunate night I was off and decided on getting my nightly routine going a bit early. As I'm rolling, I hear a knock on the door. "Come in." I called back, to hear two of my friends come up the stairs and into my room.

"Hey, Ol' Smokey! There's this new nightclub in Canterlot. We're going to head there. You ought to come with us." One of them called out. It was Joy Stick. A skinny pegasus, with solid white coat and a shaved mane. HIs cutie mark was a couple of game controllers with the wires crossed, that he had stitched onto his blue jacket. I've known him for a long time, longer than my other buddy. He's the one who I used to get into trouble with back in highschool. It's surprising that neither of us have been arrested.

I chuckled softly, putting the joint in my mouth. "Guys, I look like absolute crap. I haven't trimmed my beard, shaved my head, or done anything productive in a while. Ain't no way in hell I'm going out." I said, lighting the joint, running my hand through my beard to try and even it out.

"C'mon dude, it's gonna be fun. We'll even pay for you booze. And think about it, you might come home with a lady." The short, chubby one said. His name was Bit Byte. He was a grey unicorn, a few shades lighter than me with a chestnut mane and tail. A fucking whiz at anything that involves technology with a laptop cutiemark that he had put onto his black jacket.

I looked at him and rose a brow. "Well think about this. Today is my only day off for the next week. I'm gonna enjoy it how I see fit." I bluntly stated, kicking back my legs and relaxing on my bed.

They all looked at each other before running downstairs and coming back up with a bucket of water, dumping it all over me. "There, you're showered and your bed is wet. It's gonna take some time before that dries so come with us." Joy Stick said. "And besides, I'm on vacation, I gotta head back to Manehatten after. It'll be a whole nother year before we get to hang out again."

I looked up at him, slightly enraged. "You're a son of a bitch, you know that?" I said before getting up from my bed, walking over to the other side of the room to grab a towel, wash cloth, and clean clothes. "Get that dried up while I go take a shower." I said, cursing to myself under my breath as I walked down the stairs and into the bathroom.

I don't mind going out, but I'd at least like to make plans before hand. I waited a bit for the water to become warm and stepped in. I reached over, grabbing a comb on one of the shelves of the shower and began to try and comb out any knots that I may have in my mane or beard. Surely enough, there was a lot.

Every few seconds, everyone would burst out laughing upon hearing me screaming out "DAMMIT!" or "FUCK!" in pain as I untangled the mess that was attached to my head. As I got out of the shower, I wiped the fog off the mirror and looked at myself. Tall, but fairly chubby. Damn, I've let myself get out of shape. I then look up at my face and grabbed a pair of scissors and began to trim away at my ginger-red beard, trimming it about an inch shorter.

I comb my mane back into a somewhat presentable style and began to put my clothes on. They weren't my best clothes, just something I'd go down the street in. A white t-shirt, blue jeans, my old combat boots, y'know, just casual wear.

I walk back upstairs to see all my clean clothes piled on top of the water on my bed with towels on the bottom. I stood there for a second with my jaw agape, wanting to say something, but couldn't force anything out of my mouth other than a simple "Why?!"

"What? It's being dried up." Joy Stick stated. I looked at him, glaring daggers at him almost. "Ok, fine. You didn't have any towe-"

"THEY'RE RIGHT THERE!!!" I stated, pointing out a stack of neatly folded towels in my closet.

"You didn't have any dirty towels." He said, finishing what he was saying before I interrupted him.

I brought my hand to my face, dragging it down in an annoyed fashion. I then look up at my closet to see my old green plaid paddy cap, I reach out, putting it on and looked at the other two.

I walk back over to my bedside where I keep my stash hidden and pulled another joint out, safely securing it my beard. One good thing is, the way I roll, they look identical to the cigarettes that you see other folks smoking, the only downside is the smell it leaves. "Alright you two, let's get going." I said, walking back down the stairs.

As I stepped outside, I felt my hat get taken off. "Don't where that! It looks stupid." Joy Stick said, tossing it back inside before shutting the door.

I walked passed him and back into my house to grab my hat before walking back outside. "Don't touch my hat. Do it again, and I'll break your arm." I stated in a cold tone before walking out to the cars outside. "Whose are we taking?" I asked, looking back at the other two, throwing my black jacket on. "Better yet, who's the DD tonight?"

"Don't worry about it. We got a taxi." Bit said shortly before a taxi pulled into the driveway.

"Classy..." I stated to myself before the three of us piled into this tiny car.

"Where too boys?" The driver asked.

"Canterlot's new nightclub please." Joy Stick replied to him.

The cab driver nodded before turning around and taking off towards Canterlot. It wasn't that far of a drive anymore seeing with the highways everywhere. It usually only takes an hour to get there now, two if traffic is backed up.

An hour passed and we arrived at the nightclub. As we pulled in, there was already a line, wrapping around the block several times over. I look at the two. "Any bright ideas now?" I asked, glaring at them.

"We didn't think it'd be this busy." Joy Stick said, looking around, grimace on his face.

"Didn't think it'd be this busy?! It just opened. Of course it's gonna be busy!" I stated, beyond furious at this point. Though finally shrugged it off. "Eh, fuck it. I'm already here, ain't like I got anything else to do." I said, putting my hands in the pockets of my jacket.

We stood there for a few more minutes before a young unicorn, about 20, maybe 21, came marching past all of us with two other unicorns behind her. They stood there and talked to the bouncer before he walked inside. I minute passed before he let the three in and signaled for the rest of us to be brought in as well. "Alright folks, opening time!" He yelled out, letting a vast majority of us in.

It finally came up to Joy Stick, Bit Byte, and myself at the front of the line. Bit Byte and Joy Stick walked inside, but it stopped at me. "Sorry pal, clubs full right now." He said, looking up at me.

"How long do you think it might take?" I asked, looking down at him, as he stood half way up to my chest.

"Dunno, could be five minutes, could be the whole night." He said, crossing his arms, trying to make himself look bigger.

I rolled my eyes, growing slightly annoyed once more. "Listen, just tell me where the closest pub or bar is around here. I just want to get a drink." I asked, rather calmly.

"Hey buddy!" He said, shoving me back. "Don't be trying to get an attitude with me." He said, crossing his arms once more. Two people left before he finally pulled to red rope. "Alright two more." He said.

I gave a calm smile and took a step forward before he put his hand up to me. "Not you, them two." He said, signalling a white earth pony mare and a light grey pegasus mare through and locking the rope up once more. He then looked up at me with this cocky grin. "What, if I say that you can't come in, then you can't come in."

I bit at my bottom lip for a second. "Ok, I see how it is." I said before pulling my fist back and punching him in the face, knocking him out cold. I fixed my jacket before looking down to make sure that he was still breathing. "Go on in folks!" I yelled out before walking passed them all and into a different direction, the crowd pouring into the club.

As I walked through the city streets, I looked around to see another bar, rather small, but comfortable looking. My ears perk up to hear a calm dubstep beat playing from inside. It was something by an old dubstep artist. DJ-Pon3 I think, she was first becoming big when I was only 5. So, about 20 years ago, give or take.

I walk in and look around to see that it was dim on the inside, but lit up well enough to where you can see where you're going without straining your eyes a lot. The carpet was black with bright pink and bright green dots along the floor. It wasn't one of those top class clubs, but something for people who can drink if the just want to drink, or dance if they want to just dance.

"Ey' got an ID on ya, mate?" A stallion called out from behind the bar. I nodded and began to pull my wallet out. "If ya got it, then I'm sure you're good. Besides, none of the younger ponies are gonna come in here. This place ain't hip." He said with a chuckle.

As I looked at him, it was a pegasus, but only with one wing, I couldn't help but to stare at first, but looked down at him. "What do ya got?" I said, sitting down at the bar.

"Eh, not much. Though name your drink and I bet ya I can make it." He said, grabbing a few bottles of liquor from the shelf. "Though, if you're broke and looking to get drunk, we got some of these too." He said, pulling a few more bottles of liquor from the shelves.

I scratched my chin and looked at them all. "How much can a hundred bits get me?" I asked, looking at the different liquors in front of me.

"A hundred bits?" He scoffed. "Which bottles can I get for ya? Our liquor maybe cheap, but unlike these fancy bars, we don't water down our liquors. But if ya wanna go big and just stick to one bottle and get smashed, then I got something for ya." He said, turning around and going into his storage room.

A minute passed before I hear him walking back through with a black bottle. Wait, the bottle ain't black, but the contents inside are. "I got the Zap Apple Cider Black Tar Liquor right here. Or Brain Bleach for short." He said, looking at me with a devious grin. "I brew this stuff myself and it's able to put me out after a few shots." He said placing the bottle down in front of me.

I looked at him and smirked. "I have been unphased by alcohol for a very long time my friend." I said, slamming the hundred bits on the counter. "Knock my ass out." I requested, grabbing the bottle from him, kicking the bottle back, taking a few massive gulps. After the third gulp, I felt a burn in my stomach that was quickly spreading up. "Shit." I said to myself, gulping down the contents that were trying to come up successfully.

I heard him burst out laughing. "Boy, I've never seen anyone kick back half a bottle of the stuff and live this long to tell the tale. Should I go ahead and call you an ambulance?" He asked, reaching for his phone.

I shrugged and looked at him, completely unphased. "You see, I've been drinking since I was young. There isn't anyone I haven't came across that I couldn't drink under the table." I said with a smirk. Oh, wait. What is this? I feel a comfortable warmth hit me starting at my stomach and quickly spreading through my body, a dumbfounded smile on my face.

"Aye, there it is. I know that look." He said with a grin. "It's a late bloomer for ya, though your tolerance is pretty stout. Tell ya what. Throw me twentyfive bits and I'll give ya another bottle." He said, turning to go into the back once more.

I look around the bar's dance floor to see a few more other ponies dancing on the floor. Suddenly, this mare, a unicorn with dark rose fur, her mane was mostly purple, but different shades of red and orange in it's pattern. Also wavy, but straight with curly freys at the ends. Wearing bright jeans, a loose fitting t-shirt, and black fingerless gloves.

I turned around to face the bartender as he caught me look at the mare. "Eyeing the lass over there?" He asked with a sly grin, pouring himself a shot of the Brain Bleach. "Everypony around here has had they're eye on her, but she's never stood and talked to any of 'em. Other than that, that's all I can tell ya." He said, before knocking back a shot. "Oh! That still burns." He shouted to himself.

I chuckled to myself. "Well, there's no chance in hell for that happening for me. I'm a fat old fart." I said to myself, taking another swig. Hmm, this becomes sweet after a while.

I get ready to kick back another drink before I feel it get taken from my hands. "Yoink!" I hear a mare say. I look at my hand to see the bottle was missing and look over to see that it was the same mare. "Never seen anyone take this stuff like a champ before." She said with a smile.

I looked down at her, to watch this tiny little mare kick back and chug down what was left in the bottle. "Dear Celestia, ma'am, do you have a death wish?!" I hear the bar keeper say.

"PSH! Mom has stuff that would put both of you under the table." She said, with a grin. "This is strong, but, I've had better." She said, placing the bottle back down. She then looked at me with a smile. "Hi! My name is Moonlight." She said, sticking out her hand for me shake it. I looked at her face to see these peach colored freckles along her cheeks.

I felt my grey cheeks light up before I took her hand and shook it. "Smokey Trail. Or Smokey for short." I said with a smile before releasing her hand.

She smiled and looked me up and down. "Come dance with me." She said, grabbing my hands.

"But I don't know how to dance." I stated, slightly embarrassed by the fact as she dragged me out to the dance floor.

"Don't worry, just let the rhythm take your body." She said before showing me what she meant.

I suddenly felt the effects of the liquor hit me. She looked at me and smiled before she lead the way, me following her. I watched her dance the night away, the her body matching with the lights and the beat of the music.

As we danced the night away, I heard a familiar call. "Last call! Come get your booze while you can!" I heard the barkeeper call out.

We both look over and made our way over to the bar. "You're a lot of fun, you know that?" She said with a smile. "A lot of other guys just try to get in my pants the first second they see me, though you're different." She stated.

I chuckled softly and shook my head. "Moonlight, I don't know what you're idea of fun is, but I'm about the most boring pony there is." I said with a chuckle.

"Stop beating yourself up! You're a fun guy. You just shy is all." She said, looking up at me. I could see that she had two bright blue eyes, almost like diamonds. She then looked at how much I've drank and smirked. "Are you going to be able to make it home?" She asked.

I looked at her and smiled. "Well, I'e made it home under worse condishuns" I said, finally drunk enough to slur my words.

"C'mon tall guy, let's get you home." She said, placing my arm over her shoulder.

I looked down at her, slightly shocked that she was able to carry part of my body weight on her. We walked out of the club when she looked up at me. "Alright, where do you live?" She asked.

"Ponyville." I said, only able to get out in one word sentences.

"Oh, that's quite the distance. How did you get here?" She asked.

"Taxi, then walked. Went to new place. Bouncer...MAJOR Asshole. Then...here." I spatted out. Damn, that stuff really did do a number on me, though one and a half bottles, I should probably be dead.

"Did you come here with anypony?" She asked, slightly getting exhausted from lugging me around.

I finally stood up straight, though still a bit wobbly on the legs. "Yeah, two others. Though they're still inside of that new place." I said, finally able to get an actual sentence out.

"Well, how about this." She said, taking a breath of relief as I got my body weight off of her. We'll go to -" And that's when it all went blank. I remember different spurts between the black outs, but they were all fuzzy.

Daylight finally broke through the night, I can feel an unknown warmth laying on top of me with my arms and wings wrapped around it. I slowly open my eyes, the sun automatically burning them as I opened them. I see a mess of purple, red, and orange hair in my face. My wing was wrapped around it as well, covering half of the bed. What is this warmth?

I use my wings to block out the sunlight to see that it was Moonlight laying on top of me, wearing my shirt from last night. I felt my face light up drastically, fully awake now. I begin to look around the room to see that this wasn't my house, it was her home that we were in. Oh shit! I look down at her once more to see her smile, as she pressed herself even closer to me, reaching up to grab my wing and cover her face back up.

"Nooo, don't want to wake up." She whined out. I laid there for a second, unsure whether to even breath in fear of waking her up. She had to be drunk to even consider taking something like me home.

I laid my head back down on the pillow, frantically looking around the room. "Shit. Shit. Shit." I muttered to myself under my breath.

I heard her groan and look up at me. "For a ultra comfy pillow, you're not that quiet when you wake up." She said with a smile, looking up at me with those diamond eyes.

Unsure of what happened I looked at her and gave a nervous chuckle. "W-What all happened last night?" I asked, rather scared to hear the end results.

"Well, it was kind of a blur, but after we left the dance club, we got you a taxi back to ponyville. I decided to come along to make sure you made it home safely. But I decided to take you home with me." She said, resting her head back on my chest, nuzzling into it.

"Oh ok then. Where is home for you?" I asked, beginning to notice the different expensive decors lining the walls.

"My house." She said, before shushing me. "Let me get some more sleep." She pleaded before curling up on top of me.

I looked around to see a photo off on the other side of the room. Of her parents I think. I sat up a bit to get a closer look. As I saw the photo, my heart dropped, sheer terror in my soul. Her parents are Princess Twilight and Sunset. Oh, I am royally fucked.

We then hear a knock on the door as an older mare walked in. Oh, no. It's not just any mare. It was her mom, Sunset. "Moonlight Dusk! What is the meaning of this!" She shouted out, her eyes glaring right through me.

"W-Wait, mom! Hold on. Don't worry, we didn't do anything. I'm still full clothed. He still has clothes on."

"Oh thank Celestia." I said under my breath.

"Wait, what does that mean?" Moonlight asked.

"I don't like one night stands. I loathe the idea of them. That's why I was panicking at first. I still kind of am." I said, looking down at Moonlight.

Sunset used her magic to yank the covers off and surely enough. I was still in jeans and she was in shorts. Another wave of relief hit me. "Well..." Sunset said in a calmer voice. "Why is he here?" She asked.

"I was at a nightclub at Canterlot. He walked in and looked like he needed a friend. We got to dancing and talking throughout the night. I asked him if he wanted to stay here and he agreed to it. He said, it'd probably be a safer idea than him going back home drunk with his friends to mess with him." She stated.

Sunset gave a small sigh of annoyance before shaking her head. "Fine, he just needs to go home. Breakfast is done. Only reason I'm not freaking out is because you usually don't do this. So it must have been at least a good reason." She said before turning around to leave the room. "Just be happy that it wasn't Twilight finding out. She would have already had guards up here." Sunset said before shutting to door behind her.

I gave a sigh of relief before I began to get up. "Ok, I probably need to get going." I said, attempting to get up, just to only be held down.

"Can you stay for breakfast at least?" She asked, looking up at me, her lips pouting.

I felt my heart sink of guilt as she looked at me. I had to leave so I can try and get ready work tonight. "But..." I paused to see her almost whining now. I gave a defeated sigh before nodding. "Fine, but I gotta go after that. I have to get ready for work tonight." I said before looking back up at the ceiling, wondering what type of hell I just agreed to endure.

Trapped At The Castle

As we finally made our way down the steps, I looked around. We wasn't in a house. We were in a damn castle! As I reached the bottom floor, there was a line of guards lining the walls. Huh, I recognize a few of them.

She dragged me into this massive dining hall that was several times the size of my own house. You could fit a stadium in here! "M-Moonlight, listen. I really need to go. I have work later tonight." I pleaded, getting more nervous as the seconds passed.

"Please, stay." I heard a booming voice come from the head of the table. I felt the color wash off of my face as I looked up to see the Princess of Friendship herself sitting there.

"I'm gonna die." I said to myself before a couple of guards moved us closer to the head of the table to sit near Twilight. She sat there, unpleased of my current existence in her castle.

"So, Mr..."

"Smokey Trail, your highness." I said, bowing before her.

"Mr. Trail, what business do you have with my daughter?" She asked, with a small tea cup in front of her, idly turning the contents of it, her cold eyes still narrowing in on me.

I looked up at her to see that she was about my height, though only going to be getting taller. I gulped down what nerves that there was lingering in my throat quickly. "I was abandoned by my friends at the new nightclub in Canterlot. Went to an older one. That's where I bumped into Moonlight. We got drunk. I woke up this morning, completely clothed, in her bed with no memory of last night." I said as bluntly as possible.

She finally brought her focus up from her tea cup. "There was nothing that happened between you two last night, was there? Sunset told me that she came into her room with her laying on top of you in your shirt."

"No mom. I didn't have any clean shirts at the time to sleep in. I asked to use his shirt while he was still drunk. I promise you, nothing happened." Moonlight said, looking up at Twilight.

Twilight's scorn slowly turned into a smile as she nodded. "Now..." She said, before turning back to me. "my only question is now is why didn't you allow him to use one of the guest rooms?" Twilight asked.

"If I may, I am completely unfamiliar with this place. If I would have woken up to being in a castle this massive after a night of heavy drinking. I would be to terrified to try and move to any other rooms." I mentioned to see the both of them let out a small laugh. I gave a sigh of relief upon hearing them.

"Well, you could have flown out the window possibly." Moonlight suggested.

"There are plenty of things I want to be in life, my dear Moonlight. A moving target on the other hand, eh not so much." I nonchalantly stated, the both of them laughing once more. Ok, Princess Twilight is laughing at my horrible jokes. Good to know.

"Please, please sit down." Twilight offered. "She's never brought anyone home that was as funny as you are." She said, as we both took our seats.

I smile a bit and nod softly. "Well, thank you, your highness, but I don't really imagine myself as the funny type. A sarcastic asshole, then I'm your man." I said to get a snicker out of the both of them once more.

"I need to introduce you to Discord. I'm pretty sure that you two would get along just fine." Twilight said with a gentle smile.

"What, is he a sarcastic asshole too?" I asked, to automatically get the result of Twilight groaning and rolling her eyes.

"You have no idea. He's the type of guy who would annoy you until the end of time with these witty remarks. And the puns, don't get me started with the puns." She stated in a mild manner.

I couldn't help but to laugh. "I like a good challenge every now and then." I mentioned in an excited tone. "Can't be as bad as you two put off."

They both looked at me in slight shock. "He seriously doesn't know, does he?" Twilight asked Moonlight to get a shrug from her. I saw a devious grin come along her face. "Oh Discord!" She called out.

"Yes, my princess?" I heard come from a vas on the table.

I looked around and then saw a small figure walk along the table. He popped up in front of me, upside down, and casually floating in the air. "Oh! What do we have here?" He asked, looking at me. "Is this Moonlight's wittle cowtfwiend?" He asked in a teasing way.

I blushed softly and shook my head. looked at him and smiled. "So, you must be the oh so infamous Discord I've heard so little about." I said, to see a betrayed look on his eyes.

"You haven't heard of me?! WHO HASN'T HEARD OF ME?!" He whined, almost throwing a temper tantrum in front of us.

I laughed and patted him on the back. "I'm just picking fun at ya, no reason to get all worked up. The name is Smokey Trail. Or Ol' Smokey for short." I teased him, looking up at him. "Now, to answer your question about if I'm her coltfriend. Eh, as far as it stands right now. I'm just a random bar guy who got to drunk to make it home or be able to tell her where home was. So the answer would be no." I said with a humble smile.

"For the time being that is." I heard her say under hear breath, my face automatically lighting up.

I then looked to see Discord was sitting on the other side of me at the table. "How is things going with you and Fluttershy?" Twilight asked, pouring a cup of tea for Discord.

"A lot more chaotic with another one of me running around. Though, everything is going perfectly well. She's planning on stopping by sometime today." He said taking a sip from the glass.

"That's good to hear. Speaking of another one of you running around, this is the first time that we've spoke since you're son has been born. How is the little guy doing?" Moonlight asked.

Discord chuckled to himself. "He's doing really well, though he's been a handful since he learned how to do magic." He said, rolling his eyes.

"How did he manage that at such a young age?!" Twilight asked. A hint of terror in her voice as she looked at Discord.

"Well, Draconequus are naturally gifted with magic prowess at birth. For example, give it a minute and we'll have cotton candy clouds outside, but I got lazy one evening and used my magic to fix me a snack real quick in front of him." He said, shying away slowly after each and every word.

"Princess Twilight, we've just got news that there is cotton candy clouds heading towards Ponyville." A guard called out.

"Called it!" Discord said before snapping his fingers. "There, now go check if it's fixed." He added, taking another drink of tea.

The guard nodded before taking off out the door. "He really is a handful, huh?" Twilight asked. She then looked at Moonlight with a devious grin. "It kinda reminds me of some baby stories from when she was younger." Twilight began.

Moonlight froze in place before looking at Twilight in complete terror. "M-mom, wait a second. That's not fair!" She said, pleading with Twilight.

"Oh yes! Let's gather around and tell tales about Moonlight's childhood tales." Discord begged, snapping his fingers once more, changing our surroundings to a campfire in the middle of the night, crickets chirping in the back ground as we all sat in the middle of a field.

I looked around and chuckled. "I think this ought to be fun learning about the mare that abducted me." I teased, turning to face her.

She blushed deeply, hiding under her long hair. "That's not fair. You all are teaming up on me!" She pouted out.

"Twilight!" We hear Sunset call out in the middle of the night. Discord snapped his fingers once more to bring us back into the castle walls.

"Yes, my dear?" Twilight asked, looking up at the mildly annoyed Sunset standing in the doorway, trying to keep a serious face.

"You're not telling him about Moonlight's childhood, are you?" She asked, looking down at the snickering alicorn, her arms crossed.

"N-no?" Twilight tried to mutter out in between snickering.

"Stop it. You're making her upset." Sunset said, gently shoving Twilight. "Besides, he's not her coltfriend yet. He doesn't need to know about it." Sunset stated, taking a drink from her cup.

"Awwwww..." Twilight, Discord, and myself whined out.

"Stop being mean." Moonlight said, tugging at my shirt. Pouting up at me.

I looked down at her and nodded softly with a gentle smile. "Fine, I'll stop." I said, before taking a drink of my tea. "For now at least." I teased.

"MOM! He's being mean!" Moonlight cried out.

"You were the one who brought him here, sweetie."

"Yeah, he is kinda cute, but still a meanie." She said, now just playfully pouting at me.

Did I hear her right? Cute? Did...Eh, I may have misheard her, that's it. "Oh, Smokey, may I have a word with you for a second." Discord said, snapping his fingers, the both of us appearing out in the hallway and away from all earshots.

"Ok, I guess so." I replied, not really having the option TO decline.

He crossed his arms and began to examine me. "So, it seems like Moonlight has taken a liking to you." He said, walking around me, examining my every feature.

"W-Well I don't think that she has taken that much of a liking to me. Besides, I'm just a standard pony. Nothing really special about me." I replied, looking up at him.

He scoffed at me and shook his head. "Well, you're right about one thing." He said in a cold tone.

My ears fell flat against my head upon hearing him. "Geez, you sure as hell don't beat around the bush, now do you?" I argued, shooting him a dirty glare.

He flew up in front of me, his eyes narrowing at me. I stood in front of him, standing my ground. He finally stopped and smirked. "Well, I try to weed out the weak ones before they waste Moonlight's time." He said, crossing his arms. "Though, you've not really given me any doubt." He said, before turning away. "Just don't disappoint me." He said, a glare back on his face.

I sighed and shook my head. "Wait, hold on. You think that me and her are going to be together. What makes you think that? She's a princess. I'm just a worker for a minimum wage job." I stated.

A gentle smile came across his face. "We'll see what happens." He said before vanishing into thin air.

I looked around for him to see that he was actually gone "Was that it?" I asked, looking around to get no reply. "Alright then." I said to myself as I made my way back into the dining hall to see Moonlight wearing my paddy cap, somehow kind of suiting for her. "Welcome back!" She called out, waving to me to join her.

I walked over and smiled softly. "Sorry to say, but I do really need to get going. It's noon and I have work to get ready for later tonight." I pleaded.

"Oh? What do you do for a living, Smokey?" Twilight asked, pouring herself another cup of tea.

I stood there for a second, kind of frozen, "Well, I'm, um..." I choked out. "I work for a security agency!" I said, trying to make my job sound at least a decent bit impressive. "Though, I'm always on overnight duties and that's why I must leave." I said, slowly inching my way to the door.

"What's the company?" Twilight asked, seeing through my facade, a cheeky grin on her face.

You are so mean! This isn't fair, I'm going up against the intelligence of the one of, if not, the smartest pony in Equestria. I gulped down the lump that was forming in my throat, before giving a defeated sigh. "Alright, fine, I work for a minimum wage job as a Security Guard." I said, completely ashamed of the fact. It's a good job with decent hours, yes, but not something that you would want to use to impress folks with.

Silence filled the room as I felt a wave of shame hit me. "I guess that I'll go ahead and take my leave." I said, turning away from them and made my way back outside.

As I made my way outside, I felt someone tugging at my wing. I turn around to see Moonlight standing there, looking up at me, "Please don't leave." She pleaded, looking up at me. "If I was concern about what you done for a living, I would have left you at the nightclub last night." She said, walking up to me, resting her head against my chest.

I felt my cheeks light up as I looked down at her, my shirt tightly grasped in her hands. What is she getting at here? Is this supposed to be some type of joke? It finally hit me though. What did she mean that she'd left me at the nightclub if it was a concern. "Moonlight..." I said, looking down at her. "What do you mean you would have left me at the nightclub if it was an issue." I asked, looking down at her.

I saw her lips form into a grin. "Well, you are rather talkative when you're drunk and told me a bunch of things." She said, looking up at me.

An ice cold chill ran up my spine as the thought entered my mind. "E-eh hehe, what all DID I tell you while I was drunk?" I asked, nervous to hear the results.

She looked up at me, a a bigger grin forming on her lips, and then gave a sly chuckle. "Well, I'll make a deal with you. You stay until dinner tonight, and I'll tell you everything." She said, grabbing me by my jacket, pulling me back towards the castle doors.

I looked at her, feeling my cheeks light up a bit before giving a defeated sigh and nodded. "Fine. I slept enough last night anyways. I should be good for the rest of the night." I said, a faint smile on my face.

"Good! And when you get off, you can come back here!" She said in a cheery tone.

"No, I do have to head home after. I got a few things I need to do at the house." I said firmly.

She whined softly, her bottom lip pouting out, though within an instant. "Ok then, fair enough." She said back in a cheerful spirit once more.

I rose a brow, slightly cautious to her attitude change. "Moonlight, I have a feeling that I should be worried." I stated.

She shook her head. "No reason to be worried." She said, leading me through the castle interior.

The History of Moonlight

We arrived in the evening at the other side of the castle, a bar room almost. "Huh, neat." I said looking around. The room contained dark cherry wood pillars with cherry counter tops, cherry floors, maroon satin curtains lining the walls in front of massive windows, the seats surrounding the bar itself were made of a cream colored satin seats that were plush enough that you sunk into them.

"Neat?" She asked. "Wait until you see the collection." She said, stepping behind the bar, flipping a switch with different bottles lining the walls. Different liquors that have came from far away lands. Different wines as well. Their collection was vast.

I looked around in awe upon seeing the collection. I began to open my mouth to speak, but shut it shortly after, just to take in this beautiful site. "Take your pick." She said in a sultry tone, grabbing my hand, pulling me towards the counter.

I felt my face light up a bit more. "I can't have anything right now." I stated, not trying to get wasted before my shift in a few hours.

She rolled her eyes. "Don't worry, if you've been invited into the castle, it kind of gives you a free pass from work." She replied, "Just think of it like we've borrowed your services for castle."

I opened my mouth to speak, scratching my chin. "It has been almost three weeks since I've had a full day off." I said to myself.

She smiled and poured a glass of clear bubbly liquor. "See, you need a day off every now and then." She stated.

"Well, I do at least need to go home later." I mentioned once more, doing my best to get the hint across.

She was gulping down her glass and nodded. "I understand. Just a few shots and then you go back home." She said with a smile.

I nodded before gulping down my own glass. I felt the burn from last night, hitting my stomach and churning. I couldn't help but to cough upon drinking it.

"Are you going to make it?" She asked, reaching over to pat me on the back,

Between coughs I eventually replied with a nod. "What in Equestria is that stuff?!" I asked, gasping for air.

She smiled before bringing the bottle up to her eyes. "Mother and Mom got it during their honeymoon." She said, swishing around the contents in her cup.

I felt the warmth of the alcohol running through my system as I looked at her. I smiled softly. "Well, they have a good taste in alcohol then." I said, sitting at the bar.

"Would you like some more?" She asked, opening the bottle once more to pour us another glass.

I reached out, placing my hand over top of the bottle and shook my head. "Not right now. Maybe later though." I said with a gentle smile. "What I am waiting for is for you to tell me what all I said while I was drunk." I said with a gentle smile.

She returned the smile and nodded. "Fine, though some of the things might embarrass you." She teased, before leaning over the counter,

"Couldn't have been that bad." I said, hoping for the best.

She chuckled to herself. "Well, when we left the club, we began to talk about things we liked to do in our spare time. You said that you had kind of a boring life and that all you ever do is work and get stoned." She said, disinterest in her voice. "Though, you also told me that you like to come up with ideas to help others." She said, a warmth now in her tone as she smiled. "You then proceeded to show me that you were a gentle soul with a rough exterior." She said, a faint blush on her face.

"How so?" I asked, resting my head on my hands, listening to her.

"A little kitten came along. You dropped everything to rush over and pick it up, cradling it almost." She said before snickering. "There is something oddly adorable seeing a stallion as big is as you be so gentle." She snickered out. "It's mom came out of the nearby alleyway with it's other kittens. I don't know what drove you to do this, but upon seeing this, you rushed to the nearest open store and got three cans of cat food, two bowels, and a bottle of water, rushing back to them all and fed them all."

I sat there for a second and smiled shyly. "W-Well, I wanted to make sure that they had a good meal. I don't want to see anything starve." I admitted, glancing away. "I've been without a meal a few times and it pains me to see anything or anypony else do without. Usually if I have the means to help, then I do what I can."

She reached up, placing her hand on my cheek. "And that's what I'm talking about. You're a gentle soul. You just have a rocky exterior that's sometimes hard to crack." She said in a gentle tone.

I could feel the warmth radiate of my cheeks as I looked at her, still unsure in what to do. "W-What else happened?" I blurt out.

I saw a slight annoyance on her face before the smile returned. "Well, after that," She stated, crossing her arms underneath her, placing them on the bar to support herself. " we got into a taxi for Ponyville and we arrived at town hall. I asked you where you lived, but you couldn't remember. I then decided to take you back home with me. Originally I had intended for you to sleep in one of the guest rooms, but you are quite the charmer as well." She said with a grin.

I felt my face light up once more. Gulping down what fear I had, I proceeded to ask her. "Oh no. What all did I say?" I asked, hanging my head in shame.

She laughed softly. "After we arrived at the castle, you walked into my room with my assistance and collapsed on the bed. I felt you wrap your wings around me, resting your chin on my shoulder." She said, her own face lighting up. "You then told me that how you thought I was the most beautiful mare in all of Equestria." She teased, looking over at me with a sly grin.

I sat there, lowering my head to hid the blush forming on my face. I wasn't lying. She is beautiful and any stallion would be lucky to have her. "What else happened?" I said, still hiding the blush on my face.

She laughed and walked to the other side of the bar, putting the bottle up. "At first, I thought you were up to something, but strangely enough, you didn't even try anything is what surprised me. You just cuddled up to me and held me all night." She admitted with a shy smile.

She then gave a mildly annoyed sigh. "I then asked you about your past relationships and that's when you went silent. Finally, you told me that it's kind of a touchy subject because you just got out of a relationship with someone and that you'd tell me later." She said, before looking at me with expectant eyes.

I looked down at her and gave a defeated sigh. "You're still wanting me to tell you what happened?" I asked, pouring myself another glass to see a nod come from her. I chuckled softly and nodded. "Well, I was engaged for a few years with somepony who I had full intentions of spending the rest of my life with." I said before taking a drink. "Well, around the year and half marker, I come to find out that she was cheating on me with a lot of other pony's. Both mare and stallion." I said, pain filling my voice upon going through my memory.

She stood there, almost shocked upon hearing this. "I'm so sorry to hear that." She said, hear ears drooping down.

I chuckled softly and shook my head. "That's not all." I said with a heavy heart. "When I asked her about it, she said that I was an idiot for even being suspicious. After that, that's when she started being more secretive. She would always hide her phone from me. She'd always be gone in the middle of the night at her friends house, or so she'd say." I said, growing more annoyed.

She came around the bar, walking up to me, wrapping her arms around me. She stood there, just holding me, resting her head on my shoulder. "I'm sorry to hear that this happened to you." She said, resting her head on my chest. "No pony should have to go through that." She added.

I chuckled softly and shook my head. "That's not all, but that's all I'm comfortable saying for now." I pleaded. She nodded, but remained there, holding me.

Her ears perked up before she reached out and grabbed my hands, dragging me up from my seat.

"W-Wait, where are we going now?" I asked, following her through out the castle once more.

She turned around and smiled. "You'll see!" She sung out before turning back around to walk.

A few minutes passed before she led me outside of the castle and onto the balcony that shows Ponyville in it's entirety. The sun was slowly falling over the horizon, the sky different shades of reds, blues, and oranges. I looked around in awe, walking over to the railing.

I looked over to her to see her shine brightly in the evening sky. The sun perfectly reflecting off of her rose colored fur in a warm bask. A warm summer breeze blowing through, lifting her mane in an trance inducing dance of colors. Her eyes eyes glowing like the sun itself in a bright blue.

I felt my face light up as a gazed upon her, almost lost in her beauty. I then snapped myself back to reality and chuckled to myself. "So, I gotta ask." I said, breaking the silence. "Why do you have a sudden interest in me?"

She glanced over at me and smiled. "You looked like you could use a caring friend." She said before turning to face me. "You're a torn and tattered soul who has been hurt so many times, that now, you're scared to be happy. You don't know what it's like to feel a gentle touch and you shy away from it." She said, placing her hand on my cheek. "I want to be the one to make you happy again." She said, looking up at me her eyes meeting mine.

I felt my heart drop. She was absolutely right, I am scared to be happy. Every Time I have come anywhere close to being happy, I just have had it ripped out from underneath me, but how did she know all this?! I barely even know her. Was I THAT talkative last night? Was she sincere? Was this just all a big joke? How can I be for sure that if I take this step, it won't just be ripped out from underneath me if she becomes bored with me.

I felt my heart hit my throat, wanting nothing more to be happy. Though a stronger voice inside quickly silenced that feeling with fear. I reach up, gently placing my hand on top of hers. "Moonlight..." I started, looking down at her, trying to say something, my heart wanting nothing more than to reach out, begging, pleading, aching for some form of kindness. Though my thoughts quickly silenced it.I pull away from her softly and turn around. "I'm sorry." I said before spreading my wings, leaping of the balcony and taking flight towards my home.

I looked back to see her standing there, pain in her eyes before she turned to head back inside the castle. I turned around to see my path back to my house, gliding down into the middle of Ponyville, to walk the rest of the way there. I don't deserve happiness. I don't deserve joy. I deserve to be alone.

A few hours passed before I made it back home. As I opened the door, I automatically get hit in the face with "WHERE DID YOU GO ALL NIGHT?!" Coming from Bit. "Joy Stick is pissed off at you and had to leave. So you may want to call him, by the way." Another one of my house mates called out.

"Yeah, yeah. I'll get right one that." I said to myself, waving them off as I made my way up and into my room. I look around and see my long haired calico cat greet me instantly. "Hey there my little fluff. How is my Sasha doing?" I said to her, picking her up and holding her close to me as she nuzzled up to me. "Did ya miss me?" I asked as she still nuzzled into me, meowing and purring in response to my question.

I smiled and walked over to fill her food dish and water bowl before sitting down on my bed, starring at the ground, the only sound in the room being Sasha eating away at her food. I gave a defeated sigh before laying down, looking up at the ceiling in defeat.

I then bring my attention to my room, only thing apparent is my bed, desk, and bookshelf, with the rest only screaming out loneliness in it's walls. I laid down on my bed, pulling the joint from my beard finally and lit it up. "At least there is one thing I can always count on." I said to myself, exhaling the first hit.

I start to settle in to the peace and quiet of my room before I heard a set of foot steps come up. "Dude, you didn't answer me. Where did you go last night?" Bit asked, looking over at me laying down.

I chuckled to myself. "Well, the bouncer got an attitude with me. I refused to deal with it and left." I stated, leaving out the fact of knocking the guy out.

"Well, someone knocked out the bouncer! You should have came back." He suggested, sitting down at my desk.

I groaned before sitting up. "I could have yes, but after you two left me out there an after the prick of a bouncer decided to show his ass to me, I didn't want to cause a scene so I left. I found a smaller nightclub and got drunk there. End of story." I growled out, growing more annoyed by the second.

He sat there for a second before finally taking the hint. "Ok, fine. Sorry that we left you out there." He said before turning to head back down the steps.

A few minutes passed before I heard a knock on the house door. "Come on in!" Bit called out. "Let me go get him. He's in a pissy mood." I heard him say, figuring that he was referring to me.

I hear subtle steps come up to my room. "Bit, go away. Today is not the day." I growled out louder.

"A-Actually, I'm here to give this back to you." I heard a soft familiar voice of a mare from behind. I shot up in my bed, the joint still burning before I quickly put it out. It was Moonlight standing there, pain still painted on her face with the hat in her hands.

"Moonlight?" I asked, surprised at the fact that she'd walk all the way here to just return a hat. "What brings you out here?" I asked, looking up at her.

She gave a faint smile. "You left that at the castle, so I figured that I'd return that back to you." She stated, standing there a minute as an awkward silence filled the room. "I can go ahead and leave if you want to." She said, pain filling her voice as another minute passed.

I sat there in silence, unsure what to say or do. Why do I have to be so awkward?! "W-Well, I guess I'll just go ahead and leave then." She said, turning and heading down the steps.

I heard the door shut before it hit me. Go after her you idiot! My body shouted out. "Wait!" I called out, running down my steps and outside to see her getting inside a cart. "Wait! Please wait!" I called out.

The cart came to a halt before it reached the end of my road. She stepped out of the door as I ran up to her. "What is it?" She asked.

I gulped down whatever fear and doubt that I had in my heart. "Please don't go." I pleaded before any chance of doubt filled my heart. "I don't want you to go." I admitted, looking down at her, hoping that this leap of faith isn't just another major fall for me.

I saw her expression go from hurt to happy almost instantly. "R-really?" She asked, looking up at me, those beautiful diamond eyes shining up at me once more.

I nodded softly. "You were right. I am scared. After having my heart ripped out and trampled on so many times, I'm scared to try anymore. I don't want to open up to others anymore. I'd much rather just go around miserable and grumpy and I hate that. Though when you just magically show up, I thought that this was just going to be a prank." I said, looking down at the ground.

She gave me a confused look. "A prank? What do you mean by that?" She asked.

"Basically, someone playing with your heart, feeding you a bunch of crap, just to have it all crushed, and then mocked. Where you're a princess and I'm but a security guard, I thought to myself 'Why would anypony want to be with or around a guy like me? Let alone a princess." I bluntly answered.

She looked up at me with horror in her eyes. "Who would ever do something as cruel as that?!" She cried out in horror.

I chuckled to myself. "A lot of folk would." I mentioned, remembering each and every pony who has done that to me.

I felt the warmth of her hand press against my chest before she ran her hand around to my back, pulling herself to me, resting her head against my chest and wrapped her arms around me. "I wouldn't ever dream of doing something so horrible to you. You too nice of a guy to let that happen to." She said in a gentle voice.

I looked down at her and smiled wrapping my arms around her as well. "I now know that you wouldn't." I said in a gentle voice. I smiled softly and dropped my arms to her sides, looking down at her. "Though one thing. You know a lot about me. I wish to know about you. You owe me some answers missy." I said with a small smirk.

She smiled and nodded happily. "Well of course." She said in her cheerful tone.

We broke the embrace as I took my wing, wrapping it around her to pull her close to me as we made our way back inside the house and up to my room. Thankfully none of my house mates were out and about at this time.

As we made our way upstairs, the smell of the still burning joint still filled the room. She turned to look at me. "So, I do have one question for you." She asked, crossing her arms. "Why do you smoke that?" She asked, pointing towards my ashtray and at the joint.

I gave a sigh and shrugged. "Well, if you're going to be around more often. I guess I ought to tell you." I said, sitting beside of her, putting it out. "To put it simple, due to constant migraines, nightmares, and other things that I will not mention at this time. Without it, there'd be no doubt that I'd been six feet under long ago." I said, a hint of pain in my voice.

She brought it up to her eyes before examining it closely. "It's just like a cigarette, but just different contents inside." She stated, observing the joint. She then brought her attention to me. "And this actually helps you?" She asked, actually curious to my response.

I chuckled and nodded. "Yeah, a lot more than alcohol ever has." I stated, roaming around the room, lighting incense in different parts of the room.

"And those are?" She asked, completely curious at what I was doing.

"These are called incense. You burn these to mask the smell of that." I said, pointing over to the joint, getting done with the last one.

As I walked back over to the bed, she moved over for me to sit down with her. "So this is your nightly activities?" She asked.

I nodded softly. "Yeah, basically. Many ponies look down at folks who do that around here, so that's why I do my best to keep it a secret." I mentioned, laying back on my bed resting my hand on my gut. My other hand being used as a pillow for my head.

A few seconds passed before I felt her lay back against me. She rested her head on my chest with her hand lying on top of mine. I looked down at her and blushed softly. Maybe my luck is turning around. Maybe this is the start of a new chapter in my life. I wrap my wing around her and pulled her close.

She nuzzled into my chest softly, small hums of joy escaping her as she got comfortable. "Thank you." She said softly.

I raised my head up to look down at her. "For what?" I asked, completely confused.

"For saying yes. To be honest, I was kind of scared that you were going to tell me no again." She said, drawing different things on top of my hand with her finger. "And I got to be honest. When you walked into the nightclub, I didn't pay no mind to you at first. Though I got to see that you are a really handsome guy and glad that I did. I felt comfortable around you. I wasn't scared to be alone around you either. If anything I felt protected." She said, curling closer into me.

I smiled and nodded. "Well, I owe you a thank you as well for giving me shot. Especially seeing as how I really don't deserve it." I joked.

She looked up at me with a pout and playfully swatted at my chest. "Oh stop beating yourself up." She demanded before laying her head back down on my chest. "You're a sweet, charming, gentle giant. You've just been through a rough spot is all and I'm here to make it all better." She said, lacing her fingers through mine. "That's if you want me to." She said, looking up at me.

I nodded softly, gently petting along her back. "Of course I do." I said with a gentle smile. "Though, I do have a question." I said, looking back down at her.

"Hmm?" She hummed out in an exhausted tone.

"One: What convinced you to pick me out of the lot? And two: What is your past? Because apparently you know a lot about me, but I don't know much about you." I joked.

"Which do you want to hear first?" She asked, not moving from her position. "Because both of them are long stories."

"Surprise me."

"Well, to begin with to back when I was still in diapers. My mother found out that I was a baby bundle of booming magic. At this age, I was able to master spells that took highly trained unicorns years to master. I had to be drained of my magic every night by basically being put in a room with unbreakable walls and let me go to town." She joked.

"Doesn't sound that bad. The baby want's to throw a tantrum, throw the baby in the sound proof, explosion proof room. They'll be fine." I joked, getting a small giggle from her.

"Sounds about right." She said, a gentle smile on her face. "But, when I got older, they wanted to see what I was capable of and sent me to Aunt Celestia for personal training and then to Aunt Luna. By the age of ten, I had mastered most spells, both dangerous and healing. I mastered potions by Zecora, flying past her assistant Apple Bloom's knowledge in a week." She said with a cocky grin.

Though that grin was quick to fall. "After that though, no school would take me because I was to educated for my age and I was back under my mother's wings to be taught. After that, I grew up with my nose in books. Each and every day. Day in and day out. If it wasn't for Momma. I'm pretty sure that I would have went crazy." She said, waving her hand around upon the word crazy to bring out the meaning behind it.

"Momma?" I asked, slightly confused.

She looked up at me and smiled. "Momma is my nanny. Sugar Pie was her name, but she always wanted me to call her Momma Sugar or Momma. She was a older mare who was as kind hearted as could be. She'd come in every morning and throw open my curtains, and let the sun in and said. 'Wake up sweetpea, Momma's got something waiting for ya down in the kitchen.' And sure enough, it was this outstanding breakfast with everything I could ever ask for. And everyday it was something new. Something delicious." She said, a smile from ear to ear on her face.

"Then when I was sitting at home with my nose in the books, she'd come by my room every day and sit and talk and talk and talk to me for hours about the most pointless of things." She said with a smile. "She knew I didn't want to be locked up studying each and every day, but what mother says goes at the castle."

"Question." I interrupted. As she looked up at me, raising a brow. "Ok, please don't think of this as rude of me asking, but out of Princess Twilight and Sunset. Who is mother?" I asked, slightly nervous about asking the question.

She chuckled and smiled. "Mother is Princess Twilight. Mom is Sunset. To tell you how I was conceived. Magic happened. Mom turned into a stallion one night due to a spell from Mother. Sex happened. Out I came a few months later." She said bluntly.

"Fair enough." I replied. "Sorry for interrupting."

She smiled and shook her head. "It's fine. I'm surprised you didn't ask sooner." She said, before nuzzling back into me before going back into her memory. "I miss Momma." She said, looking down.

"Miss?" I asked, extremely confused now.

I glanced down at her to see the smile falter as her eyes began to swell as well. "When I was 15, Momma ended up getting sick and that's when everything made a turn for the worst in my life. The doctors couldn't do anything for her. My mother's magic couldn't do anything for her. She had cancer and it was quickly taking her."

I felt my heart grow heavy, knowing where this is going. I quickly pulled her up to me, wrapping both of my arms around her. That's when she began to sob into me. "I was there with her the night that she passed away. She looked up at me from her bed and said with a gentle smile. 'Don't worry baby doll, Momma's gonna always be here. Just remember to keep your head held high so Momma can see that beautiful face.' She said right before she passed away." Moonlight said, before breaking down.

We both sat there for several minutes as I done my best to comfort her. "It's not fair." She cried out. I've felt the bitter lashes of loss as well. Several times as a matter of fact, but none of them as severe as this.

A few more minutes passed before she calmed down, whimpers being to only thing coming from her. "You don't have to tell me everything at once." I said, placing my hand on her cheek, wiping tears off of her cheeks with my thumbs. "Just whenever you feel that you're ready." I said with a gentle smile.

She looked up at me and smiled once more before reaching up, wrapping her arms around my neck, pulling herself up to rest her head in the crook of my neck. "Now to answer your other question." She said in a exhausted tone.

I heard her laugh again. "Well, to explain that, you remind me of someone who I never met." She said, completely confusing me. She looked at me and chuckled. "Momma's oldest son. A dark grey coated pegasus with a fiery red beard and black mane, and that he stood higher than the shadows." She said, playfully mocking Momma's southernbelle accent.

"Momma told me that she had a son who was killed while in the Royal Guard during the Changeling invasion when Aunt Cadence and Uncle Shining got married. Though she told me stories of how he wanted to help everypony through out Equestria. That he wanted to do what was right." She said with a gentle smile.

"She told me that he was my guardian angel. I was skeptical at first, but to entertain Momma and not upset her, I played along. Though each and every time she told me the story of my guardian angel, I'd get this feeling of protection. A feeling of comfort."

She then whined out, remembering the past. "After Momma passed away, I have never felt that sense of comfort again. I haven't felt that warmth or sense of protection." She cried out softly. "I just grew into this grumpy husk that hated to be around anyone." She stated. "I didn't want to be awake. I just wanted to sleep all the time. Mom would take me out to do things when she could and that was fun. I was happy, yeah, but that hope still wasn't coming back. I still felt that emptiness in my heart." She admitted, sorrow apparent in her voice.

"But I learned to coexist with it after time. I just grew numb to the void and continued on with my life, though when you arrived at the nightclub, I felt this aura. Something that I haven't felt in a long time." She stated, a big smile forming on her lips. "Something made me change my mind."

"Well, what made you change your mind about that?"

She blushed. "Please don't think this cheesy of me." She whined out, covering her face. "But I saw you." She said, still hiding her face. "I saw you and I felt this aura around you. An aura I haven't felt since Momma passed away." She said, eventually looking back up at me. "Then I notice that you looked like him as well. Even down to the soft, gentle, and nurturing character." She said with a bashful smile.

I looked down at her and smiled softly and held her close. "And just taking a guess, but you ain't going anywhere any time soon, are ya?" I asked, petting along her back.

She shook her head and smiled up at me. "Nope! You're stuck with me." She purred out.

I smiled and nodded, leaning down, gently placing a kiss on the top of her head. "Sounds good to me." I added, seeing her face light up almost instantly after I kissed the top of her head.

She smiled, curling up into a ball on top of me, nuzzling into me. "I'm happy to hear that." She said, happiness in her voice and sleep in her eyes. I reach over to cut off the lamp, the whole room quickly being covered in darkness.

I was still skeptical at her being around, but at the time, only thing I knew was that it was nice to finally have somepony to hold on cold nights and to wake up to on bright sunny days. It was strange. After being so bitter and alone for so long. I was happy. I was, for once in such a long time, happy.

Knocking at Death's Door

I wake up in the middle of the night to hear my phone ringing. I looked down at Moonlight who hasn't budged, but still had the same smile on her face as before. I look over on my desk to see that the light coming from my phone. I reach over and grab it, bringing it up to me, the light almost blinding me. "Hello?" I whisper out, not to wake Moonlight.

"WHERE ARE YOU?!" My boss screamed out from the other end of the line.

"Today's my day off, isn't it?" I asked, doing my best to play stupid.

"Is it?" My boss asked, actually confused himself. "Gah, dammit, hold on." He said before the sound of paper moving around filled the silence on the other end of the line until I heard him groan out. "No, it's scheduled for you to work tonight. You need to hurry up and get there." He said, a lot more calm.

I gave a defeated sigh "Ok, give me about 10 minutes and I'll be there." I said before hanging up the phone. I looked down at Moonlight to see that she still hasn't budged. I slowly began to sit up, gently moving her off of me and onto the other side of the bed before I finally managed to get up.

As I roamed around the room, trying to find my uniform, I felt a tug at my wing. "What's wrong?" I heard her ask in an exhausted tone.

I look behind me to see her hand still grasping my wing. "My boss called me and told me to get to work." I said while getting dressed.

She let go of my wing before grabbing the blankets and covering herself up. "You could have told him that you were working for Mother." She said in an exhausted tone under the blanket.

I chuckled softly and shook my head. "That probably wouldn't be that good of an idea, sweetie." I said, sitting down on the edge of the bed to lace up my boots.

I felt her sit up to rest her chin on my shoulder, hugging me from behind. "Sweetie?" She asked in a teasing manner.

I blushed softly and looked over at her. "Wait, I can't give you any cute nicknames?" I asked, teasing back.

She smirked and kissed my cheek. "I guess you can, but I need to come up with one for you." She said before nuzzling into me. "Maybe I can do that while you're at work." She said before laying back down, using her magic to turn on the lights for me.

I leaned over the bed to give the top of her head a gentle kiss. "I'll see you when I get back home." I said before turning to leave.

She nodded softly before pulling the blankets over her head. "Be careful out there." She said in a concerned voice before cutting of the lights as I made my way down stairs.

As I arrived at the Cart Lot, I saw my boss standing there. "Hey Smokey, what happened?" He asked, mildly annoyed at me.

I walked inside after locking the gate and door behind me. "I just simply thought that today was my day off. I just got my days mixed up is all." I said, making up an excuse.

"Well, you never do that, so I'm letting you off with a warning this time. Just please don't do that again." My boss pleaded. "My boss told me that you're up for promotion and everything is looking good for you. She is upset though because of this little incident, but I managed to save your butt." He said, looking up at me.

"I appreciate it Boss." I said, kind of excited to hear that my chance for a promotion is coming up.

"Well, you deserve it. Not many others that can rank up in several short months." He said with a smile. He then looked around. "I've already gotten the three major lots for you. You only got the four smaller lots to do. Be careful though, I've been hearing the wildlife up in the wood line again." He said before walking out the door and into his own cart.

I waited for him to leave before sitting down at my usual place. My head being held up by my hand as I watched the lot. Of course, nothings going on, random carts occasionally passing by. I gave an annoyed sigh and reached into my pockets and leaned back in my chair. "So bored!" I called out to myself. "Bored. Bored. Bored. Bored. Bored Bored. Oh so bored." I sung out to myself.

After thirty minutes passed, I heard my phone go off. I pull it out of my pocket to see Moonlight messaging me. "When are you coming home?" She asked in her message.

"Here in about an few hours."

"Awww."

"I'll come straight home after work."

"Promise?"

"I promise. Now go on and get some sleep. I'll be home when you wake up."

"O'kay :)" She replied.

I chuckled to myself and slid my phone back into my pocket. I felt a smile on my face that stayed there for a while before the realization of my boring job came back into play.

I laid my head on the desk in front of me on top of my crossed arms. "I guess I ought to go and do a couple of rounds." I said to myself, pulling my flash light out from it's casing.

I step back outside and begun to fly around the cart lot, trying to see if there was anypony on any of them or see if anything was damaged. Of course nothing was damaged. Only time ponies come here is if they're going by.

I landed and stretched out, yawning softly. "Well, at least this is the worst of it." I said to myself, going to each cart, inspecting them closely and making sure that they're all locked up on the lots.

A few minutes passed before my ears sprung up as I heard a low growl in the wood line. I looked over to see nothing, but kept hearing something moving around in the forest line. "For the love of... Get the hell out of there!" I yelled out, thinking that it was probably the local stallions just trying to play a prank on me.

I walk up to the wood line to inspect it closer. There was something there alright. Not a stallion, but a manticore towering over me. I stepped back, terrified to move at first. "Good kitty." I said in a terrified tone. Slowly moving back and away from it with it slowly following my every move.

Come on Smokey, think of something! Bigger, make yourself look bigger! I spread my wings out, my wing span spreading out further than the Manticore. It backed away a bit upon me doing this, but quickly saw through me.

I look around and notice that the ground was dry and mostly dusty. I began to flap my wings, slinging up as much dust as I can, blinding the beast and buying me enough time to fly away and back into the main office.

I grabbed my phone and called my boss back. "All patrols are cancelled tonight. I almost got attacked by a manticore." I said, my nerves on end.

"That's what I was afraid of. Everypony thought he was gone, but apparently not." He said with a defeated sigh. "Alright, lock yourself away and don't make any noise." He requested.

"Is there any chance of that thing coming in here?" I asked.

"There is, but you should be safe. Just don't make a lot of noise. I gotta make a call." He said before hanging up the phone.

Oh great! I'm at risk of being killed by a bloodthirsty beast. I begin to look around the inside of the office, trying to find something to put together for some defense. A few minutes pass as the only thing I was able to come up with is a make shift club out of pieces of wood and stone. I look like a damn caveman with this thing.

I stood at the door, my ear tightly pressed against to try and hear what was on the outside. Foot steps, four of them. That thing was walking around trying to find me. I heard a low growl in front of the door before I felt it smack hard against my head, sending me flying back.

It was inside the office. I laid there for a second, trying to gather my bearing, but only felt primal anger and rage. "Smash..." I growled out to myself, in a blood thirsty growl as I picked myself off the ground. "Smash!" I said louder. "BEARDMAN SMASH!" I finally cried out, lunging forward at it, putting everything I had into the club as I swung it.

I heard a sickening thud as I felt the club connect, cracks soon to follow as I felt the club give way. I look down at the manticore, it's upper shoulder completely shattered with it's leg now dragging the ground.

It looked up at me, crying for help. I felt a sickening evil grin creep along my face. "Kitty no want play no more?" I said, that primal urge still taking over. I held the club over it's head, dangling it. "But Beardman no get bored." I said, pressing the blunt part of the club against it's neck, watching it attempt to crawl away.

I finally snapped back to reality and look down at the Manticore. It whining and crying, doing it's best to get away from me. I lift the club up to see it walk outside and collapse on the ground, crying out in pain. "D-Did I really do that?!" I asked myself, dropping at the club and looking closely at my hands.

I look back at the Manticore to see it finally calming down, but whimpering out. I walk over to it and place my hand on the broken shoulder. It looked up at me and began to thrash around in terror, accidently clawing into my arm.

I pull away in pain, holding my arm. "You little shi-" I pause to see absolute terror in it's eyes. "Ok, I have a beast of the forest terrified of me. How did this come about?" I asked in a sarcastic tone.

I walk back inside as it took off on its own way. I look back at my arm to see that the whole right side of my uniform was soaked in blood. "Huh, I might need to go to the hospital." I said to myself before blacking out.

When I came to, I woke up to a blinding light. "W-What the hell?" I groaned out, my throat completely dry.

Ah, yes. Mr. Trail, welcome back." I heard a voice say. "Where am I?" I asked, still trying to see through the blinding light in front of me.

"Well the hospital. We lost you for a bit due to blood loss. That Manticore cut pretty deep into your arm." The voice said before pulling away the blinding light. He was a doctor of course, brown coat and mane with glasses perched up upon his nose.

"Well, that's good to know that I almost died." I joked, now able to move around.

"Oh, no. You didn't almost die. You actually died. Temporarily that is." He said, giving me a concerned look.

I looked at my arm to see different stitches and staples lining it, then back up at him, slightly surprised. "How long was I out for?" I asked, sitting myself up with my legs draped over the side of the bed.

He walked over to this stack of papers and began to examine them. "Well, for three minutes. You were lucky to walk out of that alive, Mr. Trail." He said, looking up at me.

I chuckled and nodded softly. "I guess you're right." I said, trying to get up push myself off of the bed, but was held back with different medical items.

"Wait, you're not admitted to leave just yet, please just sit back down and relax." He pleaded with me.

I sighed and nodded, laying back down. "Who saved me?" I asked, looking over at the doctor. "Well, your boss called some hunters to get the manticore out of the area for you, but they found it dead a hundred feet away with it's throat crushed." I heard him say with a chuckle. "Never thought that I'd see the day a pony would kill a manticore and live to tell the tale about it." He started.

"Yeah, not a very likely thing to have happen." I replied.

A few minutes passed before I heard a set of foot steps come down the hallway. It was Boss Man and he didn't look very happy. "Smokey Trail! What in the world did you do?!" He bellowed out.

"I killed a Manticore to protect myself?"

"You went against orders! You were to stay inside of there and not try to go after it." He said, looking down at me.

A wave of anger hit me as I shot out of bed able to stand on my own two feet now. "That bastard attacked me first! I refuse to stand around and be fucking cat food for something that's going to toy with me first before it kills me!" I snapped at him.

"You still went against orders and for that, I'm sorry that I have to be the one to tell you that you're fired. This hospital bill will not be covered by us." He stated, glaring up at me.

I stood there, my fist tightly clinched. "Well excuse me, I would figure that a damn hospital bill would be better than paying for my funeral costs!" I growled out at him.

"Those are the rules Smokey and you went against them." He said placing a termination slip on the table in front of me before leaving.

I sat looked at him, my body shaking with anger. "Gah...dammit." I said to myself before sitting back down on the bedside.

A few minutes passed before I heard another set of footsteps coming down the hallway. I was already lying back down with my back turned away from the opening. "Excuse me, Smokey?" The doctor said from the entrance of the room.

I sat up and looked to see that he had a stack of papers in his hands. "Let me guess? Bills?" I asked, annoyed at his current presence.

He held his breath before nodding. "Yeah, seeing as how the company refused to pay for your bill, we need someone to sign off and pay for this." He said placing it down in front of me.

"Well doc..." I said before laughing. "You may as well go ahead and cut it off at the shoulder." I said while holding up my cut up arm. "I ain't got the means to pay for any bills. I just lost my job."

He gave a defeated sigh and nodded. "Well, if that's the case then we need to get you out of here." He said, before walking out of the room again.

I sat there, in shock from all this. "Yeah, I'm sorry. I almost died, but because I don't have the fucking means to pay for it, then to hell with me then. Ain't that right?" I called out.

A few more minutes passed as I got up and ready to leave. I still had pants on, but was lacking a shirt. The only shirt that I had was covered in blood. I look around the room to see a solid white shirt laying out. I walk over to it and picked it up, examining it.

Suddenly the sound of not one, or two, but three ponies walking up to the door. "Here to kick me out now?" I asked, ripping the shirt arm off so it won't rub up against the stitches and staples.

I was almost knocked over before I felt arms wrap around me. "Smokey!" I hear Moonlight cry out.

I look down to see her with tears in her eyes, sobbing into me. "Thank goodness you're ok." She said, holding my close.

I look up at the door way to see Princess Twilight and Sunset standing there as well. "Are you ok?" Sunset asked, walking up to me, examining my arm.

"Yeah, I should be fine. It's just sore is all." I said with a pained smile.

Sunset and Moonlight both looked up at me, the both of them slightly annoyed at my remark. "Smokey, what is this?" I hear Princess Twilight call out, examining my termination papers.

I felt my heart sink. "W-Well, when my boss found out that a Manticore attacked me and I attacked it back. I done more damage to it than it did to me." I said, looking down at Moonlight, who was also inspecting the damages to my arm.

Moonlight paused and looked up at me. "You almost died!" She cried out.

Twilight looked around to see my medical documents and read through those as well. "No, he didn't almost die. He actually did die for a moment." She said looking down at the papers in shock.

Moonlight looked up at me, a wave of fear and joy quickly overtaking her as she rested her head back on my chest. "W-Well, thank goodness that you're ok and safe." She said, her voice cracking from worry.

"P-Princess Twilight? What are you doing here?" The doctor called out from the hallway.

I looked up to see a small smile on her face. "We're just here checking on my daughters coltfriend. We heard that he got hurt at work. Though we didn't know that he died for a bit." She said, looking through the paper work once more.

"W-Well, yes, but we was quick enough to bring him back." He said trying to put pride into his words.

"Right." I heard Twilight say before turning the pages. She looked at the corner of her eye to see that the doctor was holding other documents and grabbed them, reading them over. "Excuse me, Doctor. Would you mind explaining this?" She asked, pointing towards the bill amount.

"Well, you see, your highness. While he was under our care, his place of employment terminated him. So seeing as how his place of employment fired him and refused to pay for treatment. We had to halt all treatment." He said, backing away from her.

Her happy expression quickly changed to anger. "So, he's at work, gets hurt, and almost dies and his place of employment refuses to care for him? On top of that, the hospital, who I know has a back up fund for cases like this!" She said, backing him into the corner.

"W-We haven't had that fund for several years now. The owner of the hospital done away with that and told us to kick out those who can't pay for treatment!" He cried out, curling up into a ball in the corner.

She snorted at him, staring him down before turning away. "I want him to be escorted to the castle, my own personal doctors will see to him. As for the company, they will hear from me tomorrow morning. You will have your payment for his treatment regardless." She said before walking out the door. "Now where's the office of the owner of this hospital." She said to herself as she started down the hallway.

"Oh no. You're mother is going to kill someone." Sunset said, chasing after Twilight.

Moonlight looked up at me and rested her head against my good arm. "Come on, let's get you taken care of, Sweetpea." She said with a smile, looking up at me.

"Sweetpea?" I asked with a soft grin.

"Yup! I'm your sweetie and you're my sweetpea." She said, interlocking her fingers with mine as we made our way outside.

I chuckled softly and nodded, leaning down to kiss the top of her head. "I think I like the sound of that." I said before wrapping a wing around her.

As we arrived at the castle, there was already a whole team of surgeons and doctors waiting for me. They walked me in and sat me down on a stretcher and led me to one of the many rooms in the castle. "Alright, Smokey Trail. We're going to have to remove those staples and stiches currently in your arm and redo them. The doctor at the hospital who done it done a complete hack job." He said examining my arm.

I groaned and nodded softly. "Alright then, let's do this." I said with a chuckle.

He looked up at me and rose a brow. "Well, to do that, we're going to have to knock you out to do this."

"Like hell you are. I already died once tonight. If I'm going to die again, I damn well better be awake and see it coming." I said, looking down at them all.

They all looked at me in shock before nodding. "Well, if that's what you want, then alright, but most of the time, when pony's start seeing their own body being worked on, it induces some form of panic, but if that's what you want to do, I guess we can do that, but we do need to numb the area at least." He added.

"I don't have a problem there, just don't put me to sleep." I requested.

Moonlight looked up at me. "Are you sure that you don't want to be put asleep for this?" She asked, a hint of worry in her own tone.

I shook my head and smiled. "Nah, I'll be fine. Besides, if someone messes up, I wanna be sure I can give them a good smack on the head" I joked, wrapping an arm around her and pulled her close to me.

She giggled softly and looked up at me, that beautiful smile on her face. "Just don't hurt them to bad." She teased, nuzzling into me.

"I won't, sweetie." I said, petting along her arm to comfort her.

"Alright Smokey, we're going to begin." The doctor said, putting his mask over his face. "Moonlight, if you'd please step out of the room until we get done." He asked.

She nodded softly before leaning up on her toes to kiss my cheek. "I'll be in the next room, just call for me if you need me, Sweetpea." She said before running off.

I nodded softly and laid back on the bed and looked up at him. "Alright doc! Do your thing." I said with a smile.

He began by injecting a numbing solution into several places in my arm. "Ok, do you feel this?" He asked as he began to remove the first staple.

Surely enough, I didn't feel any pain. "Nope! Feels like nothing's going on there." I said, watching him.

He gave a sigh of relief and nodded as he began to remove the rest of the staples in my arms. A few minutes passed as I heard him now undoing the stitches on my arm. "How are we holding up?" I heard him ask.

I chuckled softly. "Doing fine, just bored." I joked.

I heard him laugh. "Well, that's good to know then." He said, finally pulling the last bit of the stitches from the wounds. He then spun around to pull a twine from a cabinet, and went back to focus back on my arm.

An hour passed as he worked his magic on my arm. "Alright, I'm just about done. Now we're going to see if you're able to have feeling back in your arm again once the numbing solution wears off. After that, we'll figure out what we need to do." He said with a smile.

I nodded softly and smiled. "Thanks doc, though I gotta question. What things did you do differently?" I asked, looking up at me.

"Well, the last doctor was focused on not using a lot of stitching and mainly jammed staples in you anywhere he saw fit. Granted you need a few, but not as many as he put into you." He said, before pulling away. "And we're done!" He said with a smile, removing his mask.

I sat up and smiled. "Thanks doc. Now what?" I asked, looking up at him. "Well, like I said, we gotta wait for the numbing solution to wear off. Then Doctor Horse is going to come in to give you a check up, make sure everything is secured, and to stop any bleeding, if there is any." He said, giving a sigh of relief.

Moonlight popped her head around the corner. "May I come back in?" She asked in a shy tone.I smiled and nodded to automatically almost be knocked over once more.

"So when's the wedding?" The doctor teased, automatically get the both of us to blush.

"W-Well, we've just started dating, so it's probably going to be a while." I said, looking down at her to see her face beam with joy. "Well that's if she can put up with me for that long." I joked.

Her expression quickly changed into a pout. "What, don't think I can put up with you?" She asked, crossing her arms.

I laughed and held her close. "I'm only picking." I said with a chuckle.

"You better be!" She whined out before nuzzling into my chest.

"So what now?" I asked to doctor.

"Try to make a fist." He requested of me as he reached over and grabbed his clipboard. I nodded softly, slowly moving my fingers in, but not able to make a fist. I heard him give a worried sigh. "That's not good. It seems that you might have some nerve damage in that hand now." He said, writing his findings down on the clipboard.

"Well what does that mean?" I asked, looking down at him.

"It means that either you'll eventually regain capability to move your hand and fingers in time, or you'll lose all feeling in your arm and it will have to be amputated." He stated as he finished writing down his findings.

I sat there with a slacked jaw. "Wait? I might lose my arm?" I asked.

"There is a possibility, but it's not a likely one. We just need to keep a close eye on it. So until then, we have made accommodations for you to stay here in the castle until then so you can remain under watch." He said, looking back up at me from the clipboard.

"I can't do that. I have a pet at home that I need to take care of." I objected, looking down at him.

"A-Actually, while you was being operated on, Mom and Mother came to me and asked me to get a few of you things from home, just in case." Moonlight said, looking up at me, "Don't worry though, your kitty is here safely." She said in a cheerful mood.

"Well, if everything is already here, then I guess so." I said, looking at her, giving a small smile. I then turned towards the doctor "So, you want me to stay in here right now until the other doctor is ready to see me?" I asked.

He shook his head. "No, that's fine. You can go on to your room and get relaxed. He'll come to you when he's ready." The doctor said before packing up and stepping outside of the room.

"Come on Sweetpea." Moonlight said as she helped me out of the room. "Let's get to bed. You must be tired." She said, leading me back through the castle.

The Interview

As I laid in bed with Moonlight at my side, I looked up at the ceiling, unable to fall asleep. The thoughts of everything happening within the past few hours finally catching up to me. I looked over at her to see her curled up into a small ball with a smile on her face. I smiled before leaning over to give her a gentle kiss on the top of the head before setting up in bed.

As I sat up, I finally had a chance to look around the room. Once more, another massive room that you could fit my house in several times over. The floors were covered in nice, thick, warm, plush, blue carpets. The walls painted in different shades of purple and blue with towering bay windows spread out every few feet.

I pulled myself out of bed and walked over to the closet, looking for a shirt to wear that might now bother my arm. A few minutes passed, but I couldn't find anything. I groaned out slightly before flipping to another shirt. A silky red one with one of the arms gone in it. I put it on to see that it was actually kind of spacious as well. "Hmm, neat." I said to myself before walking out and into the hallway.

This is the first time that I've actually been able to look around by myself, not that I don't mind having Moonlight by my side though. It's sometimes nice to be able to examine and enjoy the view of something rather than being rushed through it like we usually were.

The hallways were different shades of bright reds and blues with a beautiful, dark blue, almost black marble floors. "Sightseeing, Smokey?" Twilight called out from behind me, almost making my leap out of my skin.

I turn around to see her standing there, exhaustion all over her face, though she managed to keep a smile. "Oh, uh, yes ma'am. Sorry if I'm in some place I don't belong. I can go back to my room if it's an issue." I offered.

She shook her head and walked past me. "I do need to talk with you about something. Nothing to worry about though." She requested of me.

I nodded of followed after her and into a study. I looked around to see that this room was rather small. Actually about the size of my own room back home. It was nice and cozy, lavender carpeted floors with bookshelves lining the walls, the only form of light coming from a few lamps placed around the room.

We walk over to two chairs before she sat down. "Have a seat." She offered as I nodded and sat down in front of her.

"Is everything alright?" I asked, slightly concerned.

She nodded, before pulling a bottle of wine from a small shelf located at the side of her chair. "Everything is fine. It's just I need to talk to you about what your boss has informed me about that incident at that Cart Lot and the reasoning behind your termination." She said, pouring two glasses, gliding one glass over to me with her magic. "Now in that attack, what exactly happened?" She asked, concern in her voice.

I looked up at her, slightly beginning to worry at what my boss did tell her. "I was doing my patrols throughout one of the lots, I hear something coming from the woodline and I thought it was the group of teens that lived a few minutes away from there. They occasionally like to go up on the lots and goof around." I stated, trying to recollect my memories.

"After I found out that it was a Manticore, instead a group of teens, I panicked a bit, but tried to make myself look bigger by spreading my wings. It fell for it at first, but was quick to come back. Seeing that the ground was dry, I began to flap my wings to knock up some dust and dirt to blind it." I added before I sat back in my chair, taking a drink of wine.

"Then, having the chance to fly away. I took it. I flew back to the office to call my boss and tell him of my findings. He told me to lock myself in the office and stay as quiet as possible. I didn't agree to that, I refused to be cat food for a giant pony-eating beast." I said, a small chuckle escaping my lips.

"Well, of course you would. No one would like for that to happen." She stated.

"Exactly!" I exclaimed. "But, I built me a club out of wood an a rock and pressed myself against the door to try and listen for it. Well, big boy knew where I was and decided to take out the door upon trying to reach me." I said, before lowering my head, remembering back to that primal rage. "The door, it hit me in the head fairly hard." I added.

"The doctor did mention on his reports that you were possibly at risk of a concussion in his reports." Twilight mentioned, scratching her chin, trying to remember what the reports said.

"Well, something happened." I said, looking down at the ground. "When I hit my head, I kind of flipped and began to beat on the Manticore, breaking its shoulder and crushing its throat. It died about a hundred or so feet ahead of me." I said, kind of worried now.

"And that's when you blacked out from blood loss?" She asked.

I gave a simple nod in reply. "After, I woke up at the hospital to Jackass McSuckasack telling me to get out." I froze and looked at her, after saying the mock name for that doctor. "Sorry, I forget that I'm in front of the Princess of Friendship. I apologize if my phrasing is rude. I'll tone it down if you want." I asked.

She laughed and shook her head. "Oh, you're fine. If it was a problem, I would have said something by now, but I am loving these nicknames you have for others." She said, still snickering to herself.

I gave a sigh of relief and nodded. "Ok then, but that's all that's happened around that time." I said, looking up at her.

She nodded softly and gave a pained sigh. "So, what is of this Beard Man, was it?" She asked, crossing her arms, staring at me.

I froze for a second, speechless for a moment. "W-Well, imagine he's an alter ego. Though, only comes out in situations that needs him." I said, doing my best to explain it.

"What are those situations?" She asked in a stern voice.

I gave a sigh before scratching the back of my head in thought. "Well, obviously if I get hit hard enough in the head being one." I joked, but didn't get a single laugh. "Right then..." I said to myself before continuing. "Other situations that it has happened in is situations that I need to protect someone." I admitted.

She sat there for a minute examining me closely. "Have you ever turned against someone you care about?"

"No, it's helped people I care about out of situations that might hurt them. This isn't the first time this has happened and I ended up in the hospital about it." I stated. "I've been shot. I've been stabbed. Bitten. Hit with a sledge hammer." I said, pointing out different scars and marks along my body that was covered by my fur. "And then this beauty. The thing that created Beard Man." I said, parting my beard to reveal a massive scar along my neck that was unable to be hidden by my fur.

She drew back in terror. "Oh my!" She cried out in fear. "How did you endure all that?" She asked.

I chuckled to myself. "Stupidity as my friends would always say. 'Can't do any damage to an empty head!" I said in a mocking tone. "Though, it's because I cared a little bit too much." I said, hanging my head. "For folk who couldn't care less if I lived or died. So I guess it really was stupidity." I joked.

Twilight looked at me with pained eyes. "What of your parents?" She asked.

"They're not, um..." I paused, gulping down a bit of pain in my throat. "They're not in the picture." I said, clasping my hands together. "My dad left mom when I was 4 and my mom, who is another whole story in and of itself." I said with a slight chuckle. "But her coltfriends were more important than me or my brothers. I was kind of pushed out of my own mom's house by her coltfriend and we haven't really talked ever since." I said, still trying to gulp down the pain lingering in my throat.

"Then who was the one involved in raising you?" She asked.

"Don't get me wrong, my mom raised me, but my mamaw, or grandmother, was the one who made me who I am. She was the pony who taught me right from wrong. That taught me that it is better to be kind and offer things to the less fortunate, rather than be cruel and greedy." I said with a small smile.

Twilight sat there for a moment, thinking about something, but what. Another minute passed before a smirk came along her lips. "Smokey, I have an offer for you." She said, the smirk falling into a smile.

"Ok? What do you got?"

"Seeing as how you were able to protect yourself against a manticore, I want to hire you to be our personal bodyguards. Seeing as how you are one day going to marry Moonlight, we're practically family anyways." She joked.

"W-wait, let's not get that far ahead yet. We just started dating." I said, my faces a whole canvas of different reds.

"I know you wouldn't be the type to hurt anypony without reasoning. I know that you are absolutely head over heels for her from the way you look at her. I see that look in your eye, Smokey, that look of you will do anything to make her happy. Sunset and I have already talked about this. Plus, she's the one who really needs you." Twilight said, referring to Moonlight.

I rose my brow and tilted my head in absolute confusion. "How so?"

Twilight gave a saddened sigh. "She's had her heart broken a fair share of times, she's lost someone who we all loved, though she grew closer to the pony. I'm pretty sure you heard about Momma. Have you not?" She asked.

"Yes, that was her nanny and she died from cancer while Moonlight was at a young age."

Twilight nodded softly. "Ever since then, she has been this depressed, antisocial, dread of a thing. Me and Sunset didn't know what to do. Though the morning after she ran into you, we've noticed a drastic change in her personality. She's back to our happy, little, baby girl." Twilight stated, pure joy in her voice. "We don't know how, we don't see how, but she looks up at you and is able to see hope again. She is able to see joy and happiness again. And I mean no offense by saying that either."

I chuckled and shook my head. "Believe me, I understand. I'm a rugged, monster of a stallion who looks like he probably has a head collection in his basement. Most folk usually steer away from me." I said with a smile.

She sat there with her eyes sprung wide open after my remark. "How did you know that's what I said?" She asked.

I couldn't help but to bust out laughing. "Oh! It hurts." I cried out in laughter, holding my bad arm. "I didn't know that's what you said. That's just a usual representation many folk get around me." I said, still laughing at her reaction. "Why do you think I was shocked at first when Moonlight approached me. Usually folk run in terror." I stated. "Though after my past, it kind of comes with the title." I said, referring to myself.

"Fair enough." She said, the good-hearted smile returning. "So back to the offer. What do you say?" She asked, looking up at me.

"What type of things would I have to give up?" I asked, scratching my chin in thought.

"Nothing to be honest. If you so choose to live in your own home, then so be it. You're all your finances will be taken care of so long as you keep making Moonlight happy." She said with a smile.

I sat there, in disbelief for a moment. "I really can't do that to you. Plus, it's not fair to you or Sunset either having to take care of another household financially." I stated, looking to see her writing something on a scroll.

"How does this sound?" She asked, presenting a contract in front of me, a 5 digit number in the salary box.

I paused to look at the amount and gave a small sigh of relief. "Fifty Thousand really ain't that bad for a yearly income." I said, examining the contract.

"Oh, no that's not yearly." She said walking up beside me.

"It's not?" I said, panic beginning to set back in.

"No, that's the quarterly income. That's how much you'll make in four months....Smokey?" Huh, it got dark all of a sudden. -THUD-

The Deceiver

When I came to, I was laying in one of with the hospital beds in the castle with the right side of my head pounding. "Owwww." I whined out, before sitting up. I sat up, groaning out in pain. "Can somepony tell me what happened?" I called out, but heard no one reply. "Hello?" Nothing. "Somepony?" I called out in a softer voice, unsure of what is going on.

I got up, groaning heavily, holding the right side of my head. I hear two ponies talking in the hallway. It was a couple of the castle's nurses. "Hey!" I called out.

One of them ran inside and looked at me. "Mr. Trail? Are you ok?" she asked.

"The right side of my face is killing me, but aside from that. I'm fine." I said with a small chuckle. "Can somepony please explain what happened to me?" I asked, trying to rack my brain for any information, prior to this.

"You were in Princess Twilight's study and passed out, smacking your head against the corner of the table We were sure that you wouldn't come out of your comatose state for a while." She said, before writing down in her clipboard.

"Do you have anything to get rid of this headache?" I asked, flinching in pain now to each pulse of my head.

"Well, yes, but the last time we tried to give your morphine, your body managed to absorb it. It lasted all but five minutes." She said, looking up at me.

"How long have I been out for?" I asked, trying to ignore the pain coursing through my head.

"Eh, only a couple of days."

I nodded before looking around the room. I look at my bed side to see Moonlight asleep with dozens of "Get Well" baskets lining the walls. "How long has she been there?" I asked.

"Well, since you arrived. It was kind of hard to explain to her why you blacked out this time." The nurse said, once more looking through her clipboard. "You're the new body guard to the Ponyville royal family, is that right?" She asked, looking up at me.

I nodded softly. "I mean, Princess Twilight came to me for the offer, but I haven't really accepted it yet." I said, looking back at the nurse.

She nodded softly before handing me her clipboard. "Well, from what I can see, you're perfectly fine to head on back out. I just need you to sign this for me." She said, handing me my discharge papers.

As I began to sign them, I feel someone tugging at my wing. I chuckle softly. "One second sweetie." I said finally finishing the rest of the paper work before turning around to see Moonlight looking up at me.

She was exhausted, but her smile was still there, though quickly fell to an angry stare. "You had me worried sick!" She said, before storming up to me, backing me against the wall.

How can this little of a girl be so scary at times?! I look down at her to see the anger quickly fall before she wrapped her arms around me. "I'm happy you're ok though." She said in an exhausted tone.

"Excuse me, Smokey, you have a visitor." One of the nurses said, looking at me.

I rose a brow and nodded softly. "Alright, who?" I asked.

"Oh Smokey!" I heard call out, a wave of anger running through me. I know that voice, and didn't really care for it. A white coated unicorn came in, skinny, tons of makeup on, and a nappy, disgusting looking red dyed mane. "How's momma's baby doing?" She asked walking up to me.

"Fine." I said in a cold tone. "What are you doing here?" I asked, my eyes narrowing at her.

"What, can't I come by to see how my baby is doing?" She asked with an appalled expression.

"I don't know, usually you just arrive to ask me for something because the flavor of the week finally stopped handing out." I growled out, staring her down.

She shot me a dirty look before looking back at Moonlight, a feign smile on her face. "Well hello there, who are you?" She asked, extending her hand towards Moonlight, but was halted by my wing shooting up between them.

"If all you came here to do is to 'check up' on me. I'm doing fine. Now leave, you have no other business here." I said in a cold tone.

"Smokey!" Moonlight finally objected. "Be nice!" She demanded. I looked back at her opening my mouth to say something, but was instantly silenced as she moved my wing aside and walked forwards. "Hello, Miss...?"

"Crystal Diamond. I'm his mother if you haven't figured it out by now. And you must be his little marefriend." She said, looking at Moonlight.

Moonlight blushed and nodded. "Yup!" She cheered out happily.

I saw the edges of Mom's lips curl up before she gave a disapproving snort. "You really know how to pick them, don't you." She said, before looking up at me.

Moonlight froze and looked at her. "E-Excuse me?" She asked, slightly confused.

"Oh, it's nothing sweetie. It's just usually he picks-"

"Well, hello. Who are you?" Princess Twilight called out from the door way, looking directly at mom.

"P-Princess Twilight? OH! I'm sorry, I was just here to bring my dip shit of a son home." She said, reaching out to grab me by the wrist.

"Your son?" She asked, eyeing mom down. "Well, he's my future son-in-law, plus my daughters personal body guard." She said, walking up to my side.

"F-Future son-in-law of Princess Twilight?" She said, a completely bewildered expression on her face. "So who's your daughter?" Mom asked.

I reach out, wrapping my wing around Moonlight and pulled her close to me. "Moonlight is." I replied, looking down at mom with a cheeky grin to see all the color fall from mom's face.

"O-Oh." She said to herself before looking around. Moonlight looked at her, examining her close, seeing something that I didn't. "It's good to finally meet the in-laws of Smokey! He's such a good stallion." She said with a proud smile.

"He is. It was you who raised him, is that right?" Twilight asked to immediately get a prideful nod. Twilight smiled. "Please, come with me then, I've been wanting to speak with you. Smokey has told me so much about you." She said, reaching up to place her hand on Mom's shoulder as they both left the room.

Moonlight looked up at me once they were out of earshot. "Something doesn't seem right about her." Moonlight said, her eyes pressed back against her head.

I nodded softly and sighed. "I know, Sweetie. I know." I said, holding her close.

A few hours passed since then. We were walking around the castle as the sun was barely over the horizon. We was heading towards the dinning hall, happy to be done with having to deal with mom. "So, how are you liking your stay at the castle so far?" Moonlight asked, holdig onto my arm that was draped over her shoulder.

I chuckled and shrugged. "It's nice. Wasn't ever really expecting to live in a castle before." I joked.

"Well, get used to it! Because you're here to stay!" She said, wrapping her arms around me.

I smiled and leaned down to kiss the top of her head. "I know and I don't plan on going anywhere." I said with a gentle smile.

"Good!" She cooed out, nuzzling into me.

We turned the corner into the dining hall to see that the table was lined with food from hundreds of different chefs, many different pony's sitting at different seats, all of them nicely dressed. I froze and looked at myself who was still wearing blue jeans and a torn t-shirt. "Eh, excuse me for a moment. I need to go get changed." I said, turning to leave, but was pulled back by Moonlightl.

She wrapped her arms around my own arm. "It's fine. As long as you're not running around being lewd or anything, you'll be fine." She said, pulling me to two seats that remained vacant.

"Hey, I'm going to get us something to drink. Want anything?" She asked.

"Just a cup of wine will be fine. Thanks Sweetie." I said, before sure ran off and into the kitchen.

"Couldn't you wear something nicer?" I heard call out in front of me.

I look up to see that mom was still at the castle. An automatic scowl quickly grew on my face to see that she was sitting in front of me. "I thought you left by now." I said, slightly angry now.

"What, and ruin this? You need me here to make sure you don't screw up." She said, stepping on some nerves. Ignore her, just don't pay any mind to it. "And of course I smell alcohol on you, you worthless drunk." She scoffed.

I took a deep breath, trying to calm myself. "Mom, just... I'm trying to have a nice dinner. Please stop." I pleaded.

She drew back as if I insulted her. "No reason to get an attitude!" She blurted out, causing everypony to look at us.

I froze and looked around to see everyone, except for Princess Twilight, giving me a look of disapproval. I sighed and shook myhead. Just stay silent. There isn't anything she can work with if I stay silent.

"Why didn't you try to get with Princess Celestia's daughter? She's much more loaded than these folk are." She suggested.

"It's simple, I care for Moonlight. Not anypony else." I stated, looking down and away to avoid eye contact, though still felt judgemental eyes lying upon me.

"You need to stop being stupid by thinking with your 'heart'. Nopony gets anywhere in life thinking like that."

I shot up from my seat before storming out of the dining hall. I felt my whole body shaking with anger. "Calm down, Smokey." I said to myself, pacing back and forth in front of the closed door.

I look to see Moonlight coming down the hallway with a couple bottles of wine in hand. "Smokey? What are you doing out he-" She paused as she noticed my nerves on whits end. "What happened?" She asked, rushing up to me.

I gave a pained sigh and shook my head as I leaned against the wall. "It's kind of hard to explain." I said, looking back down at the ground.

She placed her finger on my chin to tilt my head back up. "I don't want to hear that, Sweetpea. Now tell me what happened." She said, looking into my eyes with a concerned stare.

I nodded softly and went to open my mouth, but heard the door open to see that disgusting red dyed mane bitch come out of the door. "Smokey!" She called out, looking around for me.

I was gone as a gust of feathers took my place. I'm not dealing with this! Not right now at least.

I made my way outside to see that the sun had finally set. I looked up at the night sky and took flight, off and into the Everfree Forest. I didn't care where I went, or how far I went. As long as I was far away from her.

I finally landed in a clearing near the Castle of the Two Sisters. I fell to my knees, anger building up inside of me. "Why? My life is going good for once! Why does SHE have to come back?!" I asked myself, clinching the grass underneath me.

"WHY?!" I screamed out, punching into a tree, causing the whole thing to shake. "Why is it that I can't have a happy ever after?! Huh?!" I screamed out once more, taking out my anger on the tree, knocking dents into it, the whole tree shaking violently upon each contact.

I finally collapsed after an hour or so, actually sobbing out loudly. "I'm so tired of it all. If I try to better myself. Something comes along and rips it out of my hands. If someone comes into my life that is actually good for me, then that bitch comes along." I said to myself, shaking, my fingers digging deep into the bark of the tree.

I gave a defeated sigh before leaning up against the same tree that I was beating on. "I guess it really is my destiny to be this unhappy, grumpy, bastard of a stallion." I said to myself.

I heard something fall from my beard. I look down to see that it was the joint. Huh, I thought that I left this at the house. As I reached down, a small folded up letter fell as well. I picked up the joint and brought it to my mouth, quickly lighting it up, before exhaling the fast hit. A wave of calm flooding over my body.

I gave a small sigh of relief before sprawling out on the ground. "Haven't needed one of you in a while." I joked, looking at the joint from the corner of my mouth.

"Tough times?" I heard a voice echo throughout the forest.

I shot up with my fist clenched and began to look around. "Who's there?" I called out, my ears moving around to try and pick up some source of noise.

I saw a bright flash in front of me before Discord appeared. "Hello!" He said with his usual chipper self.

I looked up at him and gave a sigh of relief. "Yeah, I guess you can say it's tough times. What brings you out here?" I asked, before sitting back down, leaning against the tree.

"Well Moonlight sent me out to find you. She was worried when you just up and vanished when your mom came out to find you." He said, sitting down across from me.

I gave a heavy sigh. "Discord, my mom is a psychopath. She only does things to put money in her pocket. She has broken up marriages. She has destroyed families. Yet she can hide her intentions from anypony. She can easily make the nicest pony seem like this worthless peice of shit. She can even convince them that they are too." I said, remembering everything that she said.

"Yes, I know. I heard." He said, examining his fingers. I looked over at him and rose a brow in confusion. He looked up at me and chuckled. "There is a reason why Twilight keeps me around. I can be in many different places." He said, making clones of himself all through out the visible forest. "All at once!" They all said at the same time before clashing together in a blob. "So earlier, I heard what she was saying. And you had every right to leave. I told both Princess Twilight and Moonlight about what she said, and they are not pleased." He said, with a slight chuckle.

I smiled and nodded softly. "Well, at least there are a few folk that know the truth."

He nodded and smiled. "Though I do have one question." He asked, looking at the joint. "Why are you smoking that?" He asked in a concern tone.

I held it up and sighed. "It's something that helps with a great deal of things. I'd honestly be six feet in the ground by now if it wasn't for this." I said with a chuckle.

"What do you mean?"

"Depression, suicidal tendencies, nightmares, migraines, stress, take your pick." I said with a chuckle, but decided to put it out and tossed the little bit that was left away. "So they're wanting me back home?" I asked.

He nodded softly. "Though if you want, you can take your time out here. I can wait." He offered.

I smiled and shook my head. "I'm fine. I just want to go back home and be with Moonlight." I said with a small blush.

I chuckled softly. "You two really are cute." He said before snapping his fingers with us appearing in Twilight's study, both Moonlight and Twilight sitting there.

Surely enough, Moonlight ran up to me and wrapped her arms around me. "Feeling better?" She asked, looking up at me, concern in her eyes.

I nodded and wrapped my arms around her. "Of course!" I said with a chipper smile. "Are you alright?" I asked, looking down at her.

She nodded softly before resting her head on my chest. "Your mom is mean." She said, holding me close.

The smile soon fell as I nodded. "I know, but I'll find a way to deal with her, ok?" I said looking down at her, trying to see my happy Moonlight once more.

"We'll deal with her." Twilight said, looking up at me from her seat. "You're part of our family now and the thing is we tend to take care of our own." Twilight said with a gentle smile.

I looked at her and chuckled, "Well, as much as I'd appreciate it. This really is something I need to do on my own, an-"

"No, I insist. She came into my home and tried to make a fool out of me as well as belittle you as much as she did. It's disgusting that a pony would even consider doing this to their children." She said, anger in her voice.

I gave a defeated sigh and nodded. "Well, if this is going on, then there is one pony that we need to visit before we get this started. Though I'd like for Moonlight to come along." I stated, before sitting down on the floor beside of Moonlight.

"Ok, but where too?" Twilight asked.

"My mamaw. She's the one to come to about anything like this." I stated then turned to look at Moonlight. "As I've told Twilight, my mamaw is the one who helped me out through a lot in my youth. Plus she's told me that when mom becomes too out of hand, to come talk to her." I said, resting my head on Moonlight's lap.

Moonlight and Twilight both nodded softly. "When are you wanting to head out?" Moonlight asked.

I scratched my chin. "She's probably getting ready for bed right now, and seeing as how it's an hour flight by myself, by road it'll take about two, so if it's ok with you, we'll head out tomorrow morning." I said, looking up at Moonlight.

She gave a small nod. "I'm not much of a morning person, but ok." She said with a gentle smile.

Cycles

"Wake up!" I hear call out, waking me from my dead sleep. I cracked open my eyes, groaning out softly before rolling over.

Moonlight huffed out before crawling on top of new, now nudging me to try and get me up. "Wake up! Wake up! Wake up!" She called out, shaking me each time.

I pulled the blanket over my head, still half asleep. "Five more minutes." I groaned out, trying to get comfortable again.

I felt her crawl off of me and her stepping out of the room. I rolled back over on my back, sprawling out on the bed once more to get comfy.

I then heard footsteps coming back into the room a few minutes later as well as the sound of something sloshing around. "Wake..." She paused before the sound of the sloshing can't back. "UP!" She called out, the feeling of coldness suddenly hitting me.

I shot up from the bed, clinging on to a chandelier that was hanging over the bed, my fur now soaking wet and cold. "W-what w-was t-that for?" I asked through chattering teeth, my body now shivering.

She smirked playfully before tossing the bucket aside. "It's morning time! Rise and shine!" She said in a chipper tone.

I looked down at her before gliding back to the ground. "That's not fair." I stated, gathering up my clothes, still slightly shivering.

I felt her jump up on my back, her arms wrapped around my shoulders. "You love me, though" she hummed out, nuzzling into my back.

I grinned and nodded softly. "That might be true, but that doesn't mean I can't be mean right back." I stated, walking over to the bed and laid back down with her still clinging on to my back, now laying in the puddle of ice water that she caused.

A high pitched shriek was heard in the room as she began to thrash around underneath me. "You asshole!" She cried out.

I smirked and sat back up with her jetting up behind me. Her mane, fur, clothes, and tail now soaked. "But you love me." I teased, watching her dart past me and frantically searching for dry clothes.

"You're so meeeaaaan!" She whined, getting undressed in front of me, her back turned towards me.

I couldn't help but to blush seeing her petite and slim figure. She finally grabbed a shirt of mine which was extremely baggy on her. "Now I have to get ready all over again." She huffed, her cheeks puffed out as she pout.

I smirked and walked up behind her, wrapping my arms around her and held her close to me. "I think you're perfect the way you are." I hummed out softly.

She blushed and turned to face me once more. "If you weren't so charming, I would hate you so much." She teased playfully before resting her head on my chest.

"Are you two ready?" I heard a new voice call out from behind us. I turned around only to see Twilight and Sunset both looking at me in a rather confused manner, both of them blushing slightly.

I tilted my head to the side, slightly confused myself before I felt a cold draft quickly crawl up my leg. I glanced down only to see that I was still running around in boxers.

I felt my face turn several shades of red from sheer embarrassment as I quickly darted into the bathroom on the other side of the room. "Sorry! Sorry!" I called out, mortified that they saw me in my boxers.

I then hear them both laughing on the other side of the door. "I will say this much, he does have a really cute butt." Twilight teased.

"Mother!" Moonlight called out.

"And he does have a really nice build as well." Sunset chimed in.

"Mom! Not you too!" Moonlight whined.

They both began to laugh again before Twilight cleared her throat. "Oh, we're just picking on you two. We have to have our fun as well." Twilight admitted.

I gave a sigh of relief to know that they weren't mad at me for running around practically naked, but still embarrassed nonetheless.

I poked my head through the door and looked at the three of them. "Hey, Moonlight, when you get the chance, could you grab my clothes for me, please?" I asked before shutting the door, still extremely embarrassed.

I turned and went into the shower, trying to get my mind off of what just happened. As I finished up, I heard the door open up. "Here's your clothes, Sweet pea." Moonlight called out.

"Thank you, sweetie." I said, stepping out of the shower, paying no mind that she was still in the room with me as I began to dry off.

I looked up to see her whole face a whole new shade of red as she bit her bottom lip. "Oh wow, I really did luck out." She admitted.

I paused and looked at her to see that she was looking at me, but her eyes was looking south of where my eyes were.

I blushed softly and wrapped a towel around my hips. "Sorry, sweetie, but the free peep show is over." I teased.

"Awww." She whined out, her cheeks puffed out as she began to pout.

I chuckled, walking over to her, and kissed the top of her head. " We'll save that for another time." She nodded softly and gave a frustrated sigh.

As I got dressed, she was in front of the mirror, finishing up her makeup and mane. "I still can't believe that mom and mother saw you in your boxers." She teased.

I blushed once more and looked down at her. "Yeah, it was kind of embarrassing to say the least." I say with a slight chuckle.

"Which it could have been worse." She admitted.

I paused and cocked my head to the side, slightly confused. "How so?" I asked, kinda curious at what she was getting at.

"Well, they could have walked in on us on a more intimate moment." She admitted, sounding kind of disappointed.

I nodded softly and leaned back against the sink. "Yeah, which I'm pretty sure that if that were to have happen, they would either have Discord or your uncle to come and hack off my stallion bits." I said, rather happy that we weren't caught doing that. Which, now that I think about it, we may have slept together, we haven't actually been intimate yet.

"Well, they wouldn't go that far, but I'm pretty sure that you would rather have that happen to you rather than what they'll actually do to you." She stated, finishing up the last of her makeup.

I froze, looking down at her in slight panic. "What do you mean?" I asked, rather worried in what her response was going to be.

She looked up at me and smirked. "Well, there is a torture chamber in this castle that's been waiting to be used." She stated with a devious grin.

I felt the color wash away from my face, now slightly starting to panic. "They saw me in boxers..." I said to myself. "They probably think that we..." I paused, different thoughts of torture running through my head.

She looked up to me and began to laugh. "Don't worry. If they had a problem of us even sleeping in the same bed together, then you wouldn't be here." She said before leaning against my arm.

I gave a sigh of relief and nodded softly. "Well that's good to know." I stated before wrapping my arm around her to pull her close to me.

She nodded, nuzzling into me. "Yup! Though, to be honest, I'm kind of waiting until we have our own place before we do that." She admitted, now resting her head on my chest, though began to grin, placing her hand on my belly, her hand slowly crawling down. "Though, I wouldn't object if we were to have a bit of fun before hand." She teased, her finger tips tracing along the top of my pants.

I felt my face light up as her hand went into my pants, her finger tips getting awfully close to my stallionhood. "W-wait." I protested, to feel her hand now grabbing at me.

She had a sly grin along her lips. "Awww, c'mon. We still have some time before we leave." She objected in a sultry tone, her hand now moving back and forth along my member, teasingly.

"Are you two almost ready?" Came Sunset's voice from the other room as she entered.

Moonlight quickly let go, frustration clearly plastered on her face. My own face was several shades of red. "Y-yeah, we'll be out in a little bit." I called it, trying to clear me head.

"Well, I actually need to talk to you regarding your trip." She said, now walking up to the bathroom door. She looked at Moonlight before drawing her attention to me. "Would you mind if I could speak to you in private for a brief moment?" She asked.

I nodded softly, now able to focus on the world around me again. "Yeah, that's fine." I said, walking out if the bathroom, following Sunset out into the hallway.

As I shut the door behind us, she turned towards me, her face showing a slight discomfort. "There's something that I need to talk to you about Moonlight that you might have to deal with." She said, still distraught on the subject.

"OK, what is it?"

"Well... If she tries to make any advances on you, do you best to ignore them because within the next couple of days she is expected to go into her...um...her cycle." Sunset admitted.

It suddenly hit me as I realised what was going on in the bathroom. "W-well, is there something that you and Twilight do to possibly combat that." I asked, already expecting to deal with it on the way.

She laughed slightly. "Well, if all wise fails, a cold shower ought to work. Though, there has been times when she was younger that we have had to lock her away in a room that she couldn't teleport or escape from because she ended up trying to get on any passing stallion. And if she goes into that, well... Good luck!" She stated before walking off.

I gave a defeated sigh before walking back into the bedroom to see that Moonlight was still getting ready in the bathroom, hunched over the counter with her tail up in the air. Her hips swaying side to side.

Ohhh, this is going to be a looooong trip.

Author's Note

Sorry that it took so long to get a new chapter out and sorry if this isn't up to my usual expectations, I had to use my phone to write this rather than on a laptop. My laptop kinda died on me sadly enough. I know that there is typos that my phone's predictive and autocorrect decided to put in while I wasn't paying attention, so if anyone wouldn't mind, if you come across any, please bring them to my attention.

The Journey

About 30 minutes has passed onto our little journey. The road quickly devolving into a small dirt path the further into the mountains we go.

I look over at Moonlight to see her face coated with frustration as she stared out of the window.

I gently nudge her, snapping her back into reality. "Everything ok?" I asked, trying to take her mind off her thoughts.

She groaned softly, her legs rubbing against each other. "Yeah, just frustrated." She groaned out, he face flushed.

Sunset was not kidding at all. Moonlight is actually showing great restraint, despite the fact that we have our own cart. Aside from our driver.

I placed my hand on her back, softly rubbing it. She instantly melted into my hand, her body almost scorching hot. I sighed and pulled away as a slight whimper escaped her lips.

"I'm gonna go and check on something." I said, opening the cart door, stepping off and onto the side skirt of the cart, my wings spreading out.

"Wait, what?" She asked, still lost in her head. "Where do you think you're going?!" She growled, grabbing the back of my pants and pulling me back in before I had the chance to take flight.

I fall back and onto her, my head landing on chest. She quickly wrapped her arms and legs around me, a devious grin curled on her lips.

She leaned down, her breath tickling my ear. "I want you." She softly said with a new sultry voice, her warmth growing even more.

Oh no. No. Nononono. I stood back up, her still clinging on me. "Moonlight, sweetie, you need to let go of me. I need to talk to Twilight." I said, doing my best to pry her off of me.

I suddenly feel a soft bite at the base of my wing. Frozen as my own body ignites in warmth. "Oh, what do we have here?" She asked with curiosity and joy, finding a sensitive spot on my body

She began to kiss and nibble at where she had just bit. It was taking everything in me not to collapse. "W-wait, please." I pleaded to only receive the same treatment to the base of my other wing, eventually causing me to fall to my knees.

She finally got off of my back, sitting back down, pulling me in front of her, still kneeling. I look up at her, my own head now in a fog.

She propped her legs over my shoulders, wrapping them around me and pulling me closer into her.

I looked down to see exactly where I was, which was with my face almost buried in her. She grinned, running her fingers through my mane. "Inhale!" She demanded in a soft whisper.

Without thinking twice, I swallowed a big gulp of air. A scent that made every hair stand on end quickly filled my nostrils. This haze only getting worse.

Something in my body is wanting let loose. This carnal urge is driving me crazy. "And freeze." I hear a new voice suddenly before feeling a sudden jolt of cold flood my body.

I come to, freezing and shivering. With a very annoyed Twilight arguing with a even more so frustrated Moonlight.

"Doing ok?" Sunset said, kneeling down beside me. Her own face showing annoyance.

I laid there for a moment before sitting up, completely confused at what had just happened before suddenly remembering I was buried face first in Moonlight's crotch. "I would ask what happened, but I think I know what happened." I said, the fog finally clearing my head.

Sunset laughed and shook her head. "Yeah, I was afraid this was going to happen." Sunset said before standing back up. "Moonlight is excellent at trances and I'm guessing she's gotten into Twilight's library because that spell she was doing to you, she shouldn't even know."

"I was under a spell?" I asked, slightly shocked at the fact. I finally stood up, shaking what little bit of fog is left out of my head.

Sunset nodded, crossing her arms and looking over at Twilight and Moonlight who are still arguing. "What am I going to do with these two?" She exclaimed with a slight laugh after.

"Sunset, I do apologize. I really am sorry for this. I should have had better control over myself." I said, feeling ashamed for allowing myself to get caught up.

Sunset laughed even louder. "We saw what happened. You tried to jump out, but you were dragged back into your cart. When we saw that it started glowing, we figured what was going on." She stated.

"It might be a good idea if I fly around for now, at least until we get there." I admitted, with Sunset nodding in agreement.

As I spread out my wings, I can feel the mountain air pass over me. I smile, jumping off of the cliff side, quickly taking flight. As I turn upwards, a gust picks me up, allowing me to sore easily around the mountains.

I turn back and head back towards the group, catching back up to them. I fly closer to the carts.

As we make our way, the path only gets more and more narrow with a rock wall on your right and a cliff to the left. I glide to the side of Twilight's cart, grabbing onto the side and landing on the side skirt.

"We have two choices, either we can start hoofing it the rest of the way, or pray you have competent drivers. Walking there from here will only take about 10 minutes. The carts, 2 minutes, but you'll risk life and limb." I stated bluntly.

"Alright, looks like we're walking the rest of the way." She begrudgingly said, stepping out of the cart and immediately almost falling over the edge.

"See what I mean?" I said.

She froze, slowly stepping up to the front, Sunset getting out as well, being careful with every step. "The fact you and Two have wings is so unfair!" She pointed out, glaring at me as I was flying a short distance from her, doing what I can to assist.

I turn to go back to help Moonlight, only to hear a panicked shriek going down the cliff. In a split second I was descending down after her. I finally catch her, quickly pulling up, the both of us inches near the ground.

I feel a pain shoot through my left wing as I continue to fly, with each flap, the pain gets worse. I finally make it back to the top with the others, struggling with each flap, the both of us coming in for crash landing.

I embrace for it, but don't feel it happen. I open an eye to see a purple aura surrounding us. "I got you two." Twilight said, aiding us in our landing.

I gave a sigh of relief before looking down at Moonlight who was still terrified and crying into my chest. "We're ok, we're fine" I stated, trying to convince myself, more so than her.

She was quivering, almost afraid to open her eyes. She finally looked around to see Twilight and Sunset, and then back down to me. "What?" She asked, trying to come to terms with what just happened though quickly began breaking down. "I-I thought I was going to die!" She cried out, bawling into my chest. I laid there, doing my best to comfort her.

"Smokey, you uh, you're bleeding." Sunset pointed out, before a sharp pain returned to my left wing.

I flinched, almost tossing Moonlight off. I look back noticing a crook in my wing. Not just a crook, the thing is broken in half. ....huh.... "Did I just fly back up with one wing?!" I exclaimed, slightly in shock.

"This isn't good."Twilight admitted before casting a healing spell on me. Sunset casting her own magic to hold my wing up for it to mend back to one piece.

Oh cool, they all know healing magic. "So is it good as new or...?" "No, there is still a clean fracture, we just reattached skin and muscle. You hit the side of a cliff, you're lucky it didn't rip off completely" Sunset blatantly pointed out. "so no using it for a while. Got it."I added on.

"We really need to get a splint on it though." She said. I sighed in defeat, but looked over at Moonlight who was still shaken up, but was now more focused on me.

"Well, we're only 10 minutes out, so we'll be able to one for me. Seeing that we're going to the land of pegasi." I say before 4 shadows appear over head, with one landing.

"Everything alright wich y'all folks?" Asked a older greying red male pegasus wearing overalls, with half his teeth missing "We was down the hollow and heard someone hollering, wantin' to see if everythings alright."

"You folks wouldn't happen to have a splint on you, would you?" I asked, my wing now throbbing in pain.

Author's Note

Surprise post after several years.

Surprise folks!

Returning Home

We finally made it to the village. Sunset and Moonlight helped me to the doctors while Twilight made contact with the village leader.

After they had dropped me off, Sunset went on to catch up with Twilight leaving Moonlight to keep an eye on me.

"Are you ok?" She asked, her voice riddled with guilt, her cheeks still stained from earlier.

I laughed softly and nodded. "I'm fine, just a little beaten up." I said with a reassuring smile.

She reached out, taking my hand in both of hers, her hands shaking. Her nerves still getting to her.

I reached over with my free hand and placed it on top of her head before ruffling up her hair. "You don't gotta worry about me, I should be asking are you ok." I said before receiving a quick punch to the chest, knocking the breath out of me.

She glared at me, our eyes locking. "Of course I worry! Why wouldn't I worry about you?!" She snapped at me, her eyes tearing up once more. "Don't you ever dare say that I don't have to worry about you!" She growled at me, anger locked in her eyes.

I sat there, slightly bewildered by this sudden change in personality. "I'm not the one who decided to walk off a cliff facing. I just saved the one who thought that would be a good idea." I joked.

The glare in her eyes only increased as she stared down at me, making me feel incredibly small. "Y-yes sweetie, I won't say that again." I said, hunched over, slightly terrified of her, still sitting on the bed in the doctors office.

She wrapped her arms around my head, pulling me into her chest. "You're my hubby, I have every right to worry about you." She said, running her fingers through my hair.

I blushed softly, nuzzling into her, though paused, glancing up at her with a smirk. "Hubby?" I asked, only to see her face light up.

"S-shut up." She stuttered, looking away from me.

"Well, it is only a matter of time before you two get married. Her calling you hubby isn't to fair from the truth." Twilight chimed in happily. Both, me and Moonlight blushing heavily.

"Mother!" Moonlight whined out, letting me go to turn towards Twilight, glaring at her.

"What? Since you two have started dating, you two have already slept together, we found him buried face deep in your crotch on the way here." She bluntly stated, both of our faces lighting up again.

"To be fair, I was under a tra-" "To be fair nothing." Twilight interjected, starring at me. "Yes you may have been under her trance, but it doesn't grant full control to the user. You willingly done as she said and followed her command. Only thing it does is drive your libido through the roof and makes you foggy headed." she added on, crossing her arms, still starring down at me.

I froze, unable to produce a counter argument, eventually hanging my head in defeat.

"I wonder what we could do if I had full control" Moonlight chimed in, biting her bottom lip, a slight grin forming.

"No!" Twilight and myself shouted, the both of us glaring at her. "Pretty sure Twilight and Sunset don't want grandchildren just yet." I added on, looking up to Twilight in hopes that she'd agree, only to see her thinking.

"Hmmm, the thought of grandchildren actually hasn't crossed my mind yet." She said, scratching her chin in thought. She grinned quickly after and looked at the both of us. "I wouldn't object to it and you two would have beautiful children." Twilight admitted.

"Not you too." I whined, hanging my head in defeat. I look back up at Moonlight, already seeing the gears turning in her head.

"I'm only joking, but I'm all seriousness, you two may wanna sleep in separate rooms for the next few days." She stated before turning to leave. "Oh, Smokey, when you leave here, the village elder wishes to see you." She added on before stepping out of the rooms.

An hour passed before I finally was seen by the doctor and received a splint for my wing. Moonlight was holding onto my arm, her hand tightly grasping mine. "So where to now?" She asked, looking up at me.

"Well, Twilight said the village elder wanted to talk to me, so I guess we're going there." I said, pointing towards a house on the peak of the mountain.

"I wonder what they're wanting." Moonlight said looking towards where I pointed.

I shrugged softly. "Not a clue, kind of surprised they even remember me." I admitted as we made our way up the path.

As we walked along we came across a small group of kids playing, she paused for a brief second before looking up at me longingly. "You said it yourself, you wanted a place of our own before we done anything, and if kids come into the picture, we would definitely need our own place." I stated, looking down at her.

She began to pout, annoyed having her own statement being used against her. "B-but" she whined

"No buts, little miss." I objected, waging my finger in front of her.

She glared at me, biting at my finger as I pull it away, pouting even more. I chuckled softly, leaning down and kissed the top of her head. "Meanie" she huffed out before we was interrupted by someone clearing their throat.

We both look up to see a tall older stallion pegasus starring at us. "Pardon me Mr. Trails, but I am here to escort you and your wife to the village elder." He said, his face, mane, and beard sprinkled in grey hairs.

"Wife?" Moonlight paused, her face lighting up. "Yep! I'm his wife!" She chimed in happily, her cheeks lit up.

I rolled my eyes and shook my head before looking at the stallion. "Please, lead the way." I asked, following after with Moonlight still in bliss, being confused for my wife.

We finally arrived with me carrying an exhausted Moonlight on my back. The stallion walked up to the house that is a wooden cabin up on closer inspection. He went to open the door for us, standing aside, allowing us in. "After you, please."

I walked in to see Sunset and Twilight already there waiting on us, sitting at a round table in the middle of the room "You're spoiling her, Smokey!" Twilight stated, her attention brought to Moonlight.

I look around the room some more to notice the inside was rather small and quaint. Different items strung along the wall, different carpets and rugs on the floor with a solid black rug under the round table.

"Ridiculous. He's doing exactly as I taught him." A familiar voice came from the head of the room. A old grey pegasus mare with jet black hair, wearing a old tribal dress.

"Mamaw!" I cheered out seeing my grandmother sitting at the head of the table. I paused, realizing that she was at the head of the table, raising a brow. "What are you doing here?" I asked

"Well, if you can't around more often you'd know." She snapped. "I'm the village elder now. She added on, removing her glasses to clean them off.

"Yes, and there is also a matter that we all need to sit down and discuss." Twilight said, in a rather uncomfortable tone.

I let Moonlight off my back before sitting down, Moonlight sitting beside of me. "Ok, what's up?" I asked, looking over at Twilight, across the table from us.

"The chieftain passed away a few months ago. Since then we have been looking for someone to take the mantle." Mamaw stated.

I sat there, confused at what they were getting at. "Ok, and?" I asked, still oblivious.

"They're wanting you to take the mantle, Smokey." Twilight said, slightly annoyed at my obliviousness

I sat there for a moment, unsure what to say before feeling a slight nudge in my side. "Well? Aren't you going to say something." Moonlight interjected.

"Could I get a chance to think it over?" I asked. Suddenly overwhelmed at everything being presented.

Mamaw said heavily before shaking her head. "Well, what brought you up here. You usually don't show up unannounced unless something is wrong or my daughter is acting a fool." She said, pouring herself a cup of tea.

"Yeah, about that. Mom's starting up on her shit again." I stated. "I don't know how, but she found out that I was in the castle hospital and decided to pay a visit and made a whole ass out of herself."

"Why were you in the hospital?!" She asked, panicking now. I turn to show her my newly acquired scar running along my right arm. She brought her hand over her face, giving an exasperated sigh, "Smokey Trails! What in the world happened?!"

"I was working at that security job and got attacked by a manticore." I admitted, looking the scar over before receiving a cup to the head.

"Child! You are going to be the death of me,scaring me!" Mamaw belted out, her eyes narrowed on me.

"Not to mention the fact he died for a brief moment while in the care of Ponyville doctors." Moonlight added, Twilight and Sunset shooting a dirty look at her.

Mamaw sat there in disbelief. I couldn't tell if it was anger or fear on her face. Her attention was quickly brought back to me. "So you're telling me that you died, and didn't think to let me know what happened?!" She snapped out. "I had to find out from your wife."

"They're not married, yet." Twilight interjected, looking at the two of us.

Mamaw looked at her and smiled softly. "I'm sorry sugar, I don't think Smokey has introduced us yet." She said looking at Moonlight.

Moonlight stood up and bowed, trying to make a good appearance. "Moonlight Sparkle, ma'am." She said, introducing herself.

"Hun, there's no reason to be so formal with me, we're all family here. My name is Midnight Sky" Mamaw said with a soft laugh.

Moonlight smiled as she sat back down. "It's nice to meet you Midnight." She said, Mamaw passing her a cup of tea.

"And it's a pleasure to meet you as well, but pushing the pleasantries aside, if you want your mom to finally get off your back, become the chieftain, you'll have to move here, but that'll shut her up in the end." Mamaw said, looking back at me.

"Wait, we just got him moved into the castle. So does that mean we'd have to move everything here then?" Moonlight asked.

Twilight shook her head. "No, but it would be an l issue because he's currently our personal body guard, mainly focusing on Moonlight." She said.

Mamaw shrugged, "He can do both. If his main focus is to be Moonlight, we move her in as well. Your castle is only an hour away by flight." She stated.

Twilight paused before looking over at sunset for support. "W-well, what if an emergency happens and we need his assistance immediately." Sunset stammered, trying to make a counter argument.

"If there exists something that's able to take down the two strongest magic users and the strongest military force in Equestria, then we got bigger problems at hand." Mamaw fired back, silencing both Sunset and Twilight.

"Besides, if you were to have enemies, they'd be more likely to attack the castle rather than hike all the way out here." Mamaw added on, putting the final nail in this.

"Ultimately it is up to him, I just hope he makes the right decision." She said before standing up, her height matching Moonlight's. "You all are welcome to stay in the village for the night or as long as you want. We have two houses ready for you" She finished, opening the door for us to leave.

The stallion from before was standing there waiting for us as we step outside. "Please, follow me and I will take you to your houses." He said, turning around, leading us back down the mountain path.

A Loving Embrace

We arrived to two houses with the stallion turning to face us. "Smoke and Moonlight will be in the chieftain's cabin on the left here and the Queens will be residing in the manor on the right." He said before walking off.

I walk up to the cabin, it having an arched roof lined in thatch. Stone walls built by master stone smiths. Beautiful glass stained glass windows.

I open the door to see the inside lined with furniture, a wood burning stove in the middle of the room with a giant bed sitting at the end. "Huh, it's all just one big room." I said to myself.

I look over in the corner to notice a trap door leading to the basement. I open it, heading downstairs to see a wall lined with different weapons, armor stands with multiple armor sets on them.

Over in the corner of the basement, I see an anvil, forge, there's a whole blacksmith set up down here.

I go back up the steps and look to see Moonlight looking around the inside of the house. "I've never been somewhere where you have everything all in one room. This looks like something you'd see from mother and Mom's youth." She said, looking around.

Her attention quickly went over to the bed, a sly grin forms along her lips as she ran over and jumped on bed, sinking in. "It's so comfy." She cooed out.

I laughed, walking over to the stove, tossing a couple logs into it. "Yeah, it's probably made completely out of pegasus feathers.

She froze and shot up. "Wait, pegasus feathers?" She asked, her face slightly pale from being worried.

"Don't worry, when they preen their wings, rather than throw them away, the use them to make ultra comfy beds." I said, sparking up the stove, allowing a fire to get going.

I walk over to the bed and sit down at the foot of it. "Unfortunately they got electricity going a couple years back, so sorry there isn't a TV or anything to keep us busy." I said, stretching out.

I felt her chest press against my back, her arms resting on my should as she pulls me into her. "I could think of something to keep us busy." She softly hummed out into my ear.

I felt every hair on my body stand on end, her lips gently caressing my neck, making her way to the other side. Occasionally nibbling, leaving small marks on me.

I froze, tilting my neck aside, exposing it more to her. She giggled a little bit, her fingers tracing slowly along my wing, that warmth slowly creeping back into me.

I see her pants fly past me and land on the floor as she crawled to my front, sitting on my lap, my stallion hood pressing into her through my pants.

The scent returned, stronger than ever, the urge returning. She pushed me back on the bed, removing her shirt, leaving her only in a set of black bra and panties.

I couldn't help but blush, seeing her at her most vulnerable. Pure beauty radiating from her. I look into her eyes, seeing a soft pink sparkle flicker. It finally dawned on me that I was under her trance again, but I didn't care.

She leaned over, going back to work on my neck. Her hands traveling down to undo my belt and pants. I was completely caught by her like I bug in a web and the spider is hungry.

I feel her grasp my member, her hand going along every bit of it slowly. I couldn't help but to let out a small gasp, feeling her hand stroke me.

A bit of clarity was running through my head as a slowly reach up, but was quickly pinned down by her. "You're mine big boy, and nothing is going to stop me." She growled at me. Her eyes filled with determination.

Her horn lit up with me suddenly being pinned down by her magic. I watched as she ripped my shirt open before standing up, removing my pants as well revealing a very erect member.

She looked, biting her lip in excitement before she climbing on me, before leaning down, kissing me softly, a giddy smile on her lips as she mounts me.

She quickly removed the rest of her clothing, her scent flooding me, causing a flare up in energy. She positioned herself in excitement, slowly sitting down, my entire length now in her.

A small moan escaped her lips as she tightly grasp at the fur on my chest. Her arms violently shaking as she tries to support herself over top of me.

I feel everything, the warmth, the absolute heat engulfing my member. Her scent, it's driving me crazy!

She caught her bearing before slowly bouncing on my member, her restraints getting weaker the faster she went.

Finally I feel them release. I reach up with my hands on her hips, guiding her as she went faster and faster. A gentle moan escaping her as she bounces.

I suddenly feel her tighten around me, her hands tightly grabbing into my chest before she collapsed into me.

"Don't get to comfy, there's still more to come." I said, before rolling over pinning her down, my fingers interlocked with hers as I began to thrust into her. Louder gasps and moans coming from her.

I let loose of her hands, gliding my arms under her, leaning over and going faster. She quickly wrapped her arms and legs around me as she buried her face into my neck to muffle herself. "Ohh fuuuuck~" she moaned out. "Don't you dare stop!"

I laughed before standing up, now carrying her around. "Oh, you're mine little princess and I have no intentions of letting you walk free." I teased.

I wake up to a ray of light shining in and hitting me in the face. I bring my hand up over my face to block it out, my eyes trying to adjust.

I look down to see Moonlight still asleep on top of me. I chuckled softly, leaning down to kiss the top of her head. She hummed out softly, before stretching out and pulled the blanket over her shoulder, nuzzling into me.

I pet along her back softly, everything that happened last night playing through my head. There's no doubt about it. We went at it, but when did we finally stop, because I know the sun was just starting to go down when we started, but was it coming back up when we stopped?

She groaned out softly, trying to rub the sleep from her eyes. She sat up, the blanket gliding off of her, the sun coming in from behind her, lighting up her silhouette, her naked body glowing almost, her hair looked like a birds nest, but it was cute.

She looked at me and smiled. "Well good morning, handsome." She said, leaning down, with a soft peck, snuggling back up to me.

"Good morning to you too, beautiful." I hummed out, my hand resting on her back, softly petting along it, her back arching into my hand.

Our blissful morning was interrupted by a knock on the door. We both sat up, realizing we're both still naked and now have to desperately search the room for our clothes. "Hold on!" I called out, as we both shot out of bed, frantically searching.

A moment passes as the knocking only got louder and more impatient. "Coming! One second!" Moonlight shouted out, getting dressed completely, still leaving me shirtless.

I finally find my shirt and pick it up to see that it was ripped clean in half. I look back at Moonlight who was rushing towards the door.

"Wait!" I called out to her, but she was already pulling the door open. There stood the old guy from yesterday who looks exhausted. "The elder wishes to see the both of you, but if I may suggest, a change in clothing and maybe cleaning up before." He suggested, looking at both Moonlight and myself.

"Also if I may ask a personal favor. Please, do be more quiet next time." He said, stepping aside and into his own house which was next to ours.

She turned to face me, slightly nervous. "So, the Butler guy may or may not have heard us." She said, slightly alarmed at the new information.

I shrugged, going through a nearby dresser, finally finding a shirt big enough to fit me. "Well, can't change anything about it now. Next time, we'll have everything sound proof. Besides, I wasn't the one screaming 'faster' or 'don't stop' being called out every few seconds." I teased.

Choices

As we walked into the cabin, I could suddenly feel someone staring at me. I look up, to see not just one, but three sets of eyes, glaring at us. Bags under all their eyes.

"Sounded like you two had a rather eventful night." Mamaw pointed out, stirring her cup of tea, still glaring at me.

Meanwhile Moonlight has the other two sets focused on her. "She shouldn't have stayed in there to begin with." Twilight added on.

"She's in heat and he was in rut. There would have been no stopping him once she started. So unless we were there to actively intervene, then it's nature taking its course." Mamaw added on, her eyes now on Twilight.

"You two did at least use protection, right?" Sunset asked, looking at the both of us. We couldn't help but to remain silent. "Oh for the love of..." Sunset growled out, bringing her hand to her face in annoyance.

"Anyways..." Mamaw said, breaking the silence. "We are still waiting for an answer from you Smokey. You need to look into your future, especially now, and decide what would be best." She added.

Moonlight, Twilight, and Sunset went into another room, leaving me and mamaw. I sit down across from her, having fully considered everything. "By no means am I a chieftain of any sorts, and I am thankful to be considered for the role." I say, running my hand through my hair in thought.

"If I was to say yes, I need to be shown what is expected of me. I want to be allowed to come and go as needed. Even if I may do this, Moonlight and her mother's have brought me in as family, they will be my main priority with Moonlight reigning above all." I state, refusing to budge from my stance.

She looked at me with skepticism. "Of course you'll be taught what to do, there's a challenge ritual you have to do before you'll be officially accepted. Secondly, you can't be given free reign to just up and leave whenever you please. What happens in the event that we get attacked?" She retorted, wanting an immediate response.

"Then we have a trained militant force. We could potentially have royal guards train the pegasus who are interested in becoming guards. Besides, in the event of an attack, it would be more beneficial to have that, rather than one lone fighter in a blood rage."
I answered, still not budging.

She sat there for a moment, unsure what to say, eventually giving a defeated sigh. "I will consider you terms, but it will also depend on if Princess Twilight will be fine with leasing us a few of her soldiers long enough to train a competent fighting force." She admitted, her eyes coming back up to meet me.

"I will talk to Twilight about." I suggested, finally reaching a middleman.

"I want to address something now." She chipped in, her eyes locking on the door Moonlight and the others went through. "What of Moonlight?" Mamaw asked, worry in her voice.

"If I have my way about it, she will be part of my future. I will go to the gates of tartarus and back just to see her safe." I admitted full heartedly.

"Do you really have full intentions of spending the rest of your life with her?" She asked, finally cutting to the point.

"Absolutely. Without her, you will not have your chieftain." I snapped back.

She sat there for a moment, contemplating everything said. She brought her cup up, taking a sip of tea before sighing out. "You'll start your training at the start of next week. I'll get in contact with the carpenters to let you remodel the chieftain's cabin how you want. Get some rest while you can." She ordered.

I nodded before standing up, letting everyone back in and taking their seats. "So what has been decided?" Twilight asked, looking between both me and Mamaw.

"I'll do it on the grounds of I'm still working for you, though I have a favor to ask so i can do both. I wish to train up some guards here, so could you lend a few guards to train guards for here." I asked, seeing her furrow her brow.

"Please understand, i know this is a lot to ask, but it would allow me to leave here and come do whatever you may need." I add on, hoping for the best.

Twilight sat there for a moment, her finger on her chin in thought. "I should be able to send my brother and Rainbow Dash to train you a group of soldiers." She said, pulling out a book from thin air, going through the pages.

I gave a sigh of relief upon hearing this. "Thank you. I do have one final bit of business to address, but Twilight,I would like to ask you that one on one." I sighed out..

Twilight looked up at me from her book, slightly confused. "O...k? What is it about?" She asked.

"I'm not at liberty to say, but it is good news depending on how you look at it." I assured her with a smile.

She nodded slightly, even more confused now. "Well, if it's something important, shouldn't it be discussed regardless of who is in the room?" She asked, not allowing me to be subtle.

"It's uhh...about Moonlight" I eventually confessed, Moonlight, Twilight, and Sunset all look up at me in confusion.

Seeing no way out of this, I hang my head in defeat "I have training I have to do myself before even being able to be chieftain. After I get done, I want to ask her to be my bride." I admitted.

I look at Moonlight, seeing her face light up instantly, her expression showing pure shock. Twilight and Sunset look at one another before laughing softly. "We joke that you two are already married. Besides, if you didn't plan on marrying her after what you two did last night, I'd see to it you're castrated personally." She said with a diabolical grin

A chill ran down my spine upon hearing her. I nodded softly before looking at everyone. "Well, if anyone doesn't have anything else to add, I guess everyone can head on out."

The Invasion

As we made our way down the path back to our house, I look over to see Moonlight still lost in her own little world. "Moonlight?" I called out, watching her snap back to reality.

She looked up at me, a blush still visible on her face. "Yes?" She chirped out.

"Are you ok?" I ask, slightly amused at her reaction upon finding out what I've got planned.

"Yes! Perfect!" She shouted out, still in shock, blushing immensely.

I laughed softly. "Are you sure, because for some reason you're acting rather strange." I say with a smirk.

She huffed out, playfully pushing me. "You are so mean." She said, her cheeks puffed out as she pouts.

I chuckled softly, "Oh, I'm so terrible. The absolute worse. How dare I rub your legs and back any time you ask. A princess such as yourself should not even have to ask! How uncouth of me. Please forgive me, my liege." I joked, sarcastically bowing before her.

She rolled her eyes, picking me up with her magic and flipping me upside down. "You are such an asshole." She huffed out before grinning, placing her hands on my cheeks to bring me in for a kiss. "You're lucky you're cute." She hummed out softly, my own cheeks getting flushed.

"Come on, let's get you home." She said, still levitating me behind. "You shall prove your loyalty to your princess by giving me a back rub!" She added, a smirk on her lips.

"Oh, absolutely my lieg-" I get cut off as I get launched through the air by her, crashing into a nearby tree.

As the night passed, I laid in bed thinking about everything that I had just agreed to. Will I actually be good enough to be the chieftain? Will I be good enough to prove myself to everyone and surpass expectations.

I looked down at Moonlight as she is nestled up to me, her head resting on my chest, a soft smile on her face. Will I be a good enough husband for her is what I'm more concerned about.

I looked back up at the ceiling, the feeling of worry hitting me harder and harder. I suddenly feel her hand on my chest, gently tugging at my fur. " Are you ok?" She asked, still partially asleep, her eyes still closed.

"Y-yeah." I stuttered out.

I see her eyes shoot open before sitting up and looking at me dead in the eyes. "Don't lie to me." She demanded before narrowing her eyes on me.

I gave a heavy sigh before looking up at her. "I'm scared." I said sheepishly before hanging my head, ashamed.

"Scared? Of what?" She said, now completely confused, though with her stare easing up.

"I'm scared of if I'm going to be good enough for all this and be able to not only meet expectations, but surpass them. And most importantly,"I said, my throat getting tight, my eyes slightly beginning to tear up. "Will I be good enough for you." I said, my throat feeling tighter with each passing word.

She paused for a moment before cradling my head in her arms and pulled me close to her. "Now you listen here, you need to stop thinking like that. You especially need to stop beating yourself up." She said softly, her hand combing through my hair.

I felt a warmth as she pulled me close to her as well laid back, my head now resting on her chest. I hear her heart beating. "And most of all, you are absolutely everything I could every ask for." She said, softly petting through my hair still.

I nodded softly, wrapping my arms around her, tears now flowing freely. She placed both hands on my cheeks to pull my face up to hers.

I see her eyes, those beautiful diamond eyes. "I love you, Smokey and don't ever forget that." She assured me before kissing me.

I felt all worry suddenly wash away, a smile quickly replacing the frown that I had. "And I love you, Moonlight. I shall never forget that." I hummed out softly.

She booped my nose and smirked. "Good!" She chirped out, before giving me another kiss. "Now, how about we try to get back to sleep?" She yawned out.

I chuckled softly, and nodded. I go to lay beside her, but was held down by her. "No, you stay here." She said wrapping her arms around my head again and pull me into her.

"I am twice your size, are you not worried I'll accidentally crush you in our sleep?" I replied, my face smooshed against her chest.

"Nah, besides, after last night, I figured out I'm a little more durable than I had originally thought." She joked, her fingers combing through my hair again.

I nuzzled against her, the sound of her heart echoing in my ear again. I was out within a matter of seconds.

[Moonlight's Perspective]

I continue to stroke his hair, yawning occasionally. I was tired, but didn't want to go back to sleep just yet.

I look around at the house, different ideas popping into my head on what to do. Though it pops back into my head what he said earlier. Making me his bride!

I feel myself getting giddy again, but try to calm down. After a few breaths I look back down at him. He might be a jerk, but he's my jerk. I lean down to kiss him on top of the head, before getting comfortable myself.

As I begin to doze off, I hear a shriek come from outside. Smokey's ears perked up, before he quickly pushed himself up. "What was that?" He asked, before a sudden explosion rips into the village.

Aside from glass being destroyed, we're ok. "Get your mother's and get in the basement, now!" He shouted, before grabbing his pants and pulling a big hammer from under the bed.

I grab his shirt and put it on before running outside, running over to the manor. As I make it to the front door, another explosion goes off, but was closer.

I feel the gust from the shockwave. More screams ripping through the night. I feel someone pull me inside,

I open my eyes to see mom and mother standing over me. They're talking, but the only thing I can hear is a loud ringing.

I begin to panic and look up to mother. "I can't hear anything." I said to only see their faces turn pale.

They look at each other in worry before helping me back on my feet. The ringing still apparent in my ears.

I shake my head, bringing me back to my senses. "Smokey said we need to get to the house and into the basement." I said, though received doubting looks.

I feel the ground shake again. They both look at me and nod, Mother quickly casting a shield around us.

As we go outside, we see carnage, destruction, death. I froze, my mind knowing what to do, but my body refusing to budge.

I suddenly feel mom shove me, bringing me back to reality. I follow behind mother and into the house and into the basement.

Mom's horn began to light up, using it to light up the basement. Mother turned to me, quickly taking her hands and pressing her fingers into the side of my head, her own horn lighting up.

"....fully this isn't permanent damage, I won't be able to fix that." I hear mother say as the ringing slowly faded. "I-I can hear!" I shouted, thankful to have not lost my hearing.

As she removed her hands, though the ringing came back, causing me to cover my ears to no avail. "It's permanent..." I barely hear mother say.

"No, I can still hear you, it's just really difficult." I say, rubbing the side of my head. "What in the world is going on?" I ask as another explosion going off in the distance.

"We don't know. The last time a war like this broke out was with the changelings." Mother admitted, snapping her fingers, a phone appearing in front of her.

She quickly scrolled through it and brought it up to her ear. "Discord, get everyone available and warp to my position. There is an emergency." Mother said before hanging up.

A second passed before multiple discords appear, each carrying a separate very exhausted, very confused individuals. Rainbow Dash, Uncle Shining Armor, Aunt Cadence, and two Discord's carrying Spike, who was still asleep.

"He wouldn't wake up." Discord said, plopping Spike down. Spike huffed before sitting up. "What's the kids doing, Rarity?" He said, looking frantically around only to see us.

"So, what's with the surprise summons?" Yawned out Rainbow Dash as she stretched her wings out.

"Well" she was interrupted by a sudden explosion. "...that." she added.

Their looks went from worry to determination in a mater of seconds, though our faces quickly went to fear hearing a scream of pure carnal rage.

"SMASH!" Shouted out something monstrous off in the distance. "I SMASH ALL!" it shouted again before the ground violently shook beneath that.

"What is that?" Rainbow Dash asked.

"I don't know." Twilight said, scared to see what's above us.

Uncle Shining grab a sword of the wall, quickly rushing upstairs with Spike, Dash and Discord following behind shortly after. We followed behind them to see the house in utter ruins around us.

We suddenly hear that roar again further up the mountain, only to see this monster of a stallion chasing a group of pegasus, his back glowing in blue marks in the shape of mountain side.

"CRUSH ALL!" It roared out, echoing harshly against the mountains.

"What's up at the top of at mountain?" Discord asked.

"Smokey's grandmother, also the village elder." Twilight said as we all began to chase after it.

"So do we hurt it a lot or take it ou-" "Absolutely not! We are to do little, to no damage at all to him, am I understood." Twilight demanded, her eyes locked on Shining, as we made our way up.

As well closed in, we hear another explosion go off at the top of the mountain, the stallion coming to a complete stop.

As the smoke settled around us, we see that stallion standing still, though we hear a low rumble coming from it. The rumble gradually gets louder until it falls into a loud bellowing screaming from the monster.

We watch it leap into the crowd of pegasus, all of them lunging towards it, but were brutally ripped to shreds, only leaving one alive.

As we rush up to them, Mother quickly casts her magic to freeze him as he begins to charge the final pegasus.

The pegasus goes to take off, but is stopped by Dash. "Now where do you think you're going!" She said, grabbing a female pegasus in a solid black uniform of sorts.

We all gave a sigh of relief, though hear a crack in the ice with a loud rumble coming from it. "Dash, take her to the dungeon. Everyone else, get ready!"Mother said, rolling up her sleeves.

The creature was quick to break through the ice. As it does so, it turned around to face us. It roared in roared in our faces before turning back around to chase after Rainbow Dash.

Mother froze it's leg, it quickly to collapse. "LEAVE ALONE!" It shouted out, slamming his legs together to break the ice.

"Let me try." Discord said,flying by mother, snapping his fingers, the creature slowing sinking into the ground.

It was quick to notice as he spread a set of mountains wings, almost covering the valley. Discord snapped his fingers again causing the creature to now be stuck in the ground.

Each flap causing huge gust as her tried to take off, though as he falls, he collapsed into the ground, Discord locking him further into earth.

"Smokey!" Mother called out, almost in a scolding manner, the creatures ears folding back.

"Wait, that's Smokey?!" Everyone asked, in shock.

Mother nodded, all of us following her as we step around Smokey to get in front of him. "I figured it was when I saw it's react to seeing that explosion near his grandmother's home." She said, before turning to look at Discord.

"Go check to see if she is ok. If she is, take her immediately to the castle infirmary. Shining, you and Cadence check the rest of the village. Spike, you help them."

They all nodded and take off, only leaving Mom, Mother, Smokey, and myself. I walk up to him and reach out to him, only for him to flinch and pull away from me.

I look at him to see terror, pain, anger, and sorrow in his eyes. I quickly wrap my arms around his head, as he began to trash around, but was quick to calm down.

I began to pet along his head again, resting his head on my chest. Smokey began to shrink down to his normal self, Discord letting him loose from the improvised trap.

"Are you ok?" He finally said, his voice weak. As I look at him, his body is covered in cuts, holes, and other various wounds.

"I'm fine, but you're injured." I said as the reality began to hit me.

He shook his head. "I'm fi-"

He was interrupted as I flicked his ear. "To hell you are!" I said, grabbing him by his cheeks to face me.

"I...guess I should see...doctor." He yawned out, leaning against me before exhaustion hit him. I gave a defeated sigh before cradling his head against me.

"So, now we just gotta figure out who done the most damage, them or Smokey..." Spike said with all of them looking at Smokey hesitantly.

Mother looked at him with another type of glint in her eye. "What could have caused that type of transformation?" She asked herself, scratching the bottom of her chin.

Discord popped back in front of us with a sigh of relief. "She's hurt, but she's going to be fine." He said in his normal cheerful tone.

We all gave a collective sigh of relief upon hearing the news. "Discord, would you mind taking Smokey and I to the hospital as well?" I ask.

"Why certainly, if that's ok with your mother." He said, all of us looking at her.

"Yeah, besides, if he wakes up and goes into another rampage, you can actually calm him. I'm going to help in recovering others."

"I'm gonna go with them, just in case she needs help with calming Smokey down." Mom said, coming to stand with us beside of Discord as we warp back to the castle infirmary.

Author's Note

I wanted to try something new by giving us a look into Moonlight's perspective. Hopefully, y'all will like it.

Broken

I finally wake up to feel my entire body ache, slightly struggling to breathe. I look to see new bandages, stitches and scratches running along my body.

As my vision clears upI look around the room, I see Moonlight sleeping in a chair beside of the bed with Sunset asleep beside her as well.

I go to sit up, but feel something tug at the left side of my chest. I look to see a tube connected to me and inserted into my chest and running into some device hanging from my bed side.

As I lay back on the bed, I hear the door open as a nurse came in and looked at me, seeing that I was finally stirring. "Good morning, Mr. Trails." She said while carrying in multiple different syringes, some empty, some fill with different fluids.

I look over to hear, weakly waving. "Morning.." I groaned out, my arm plopping back down beside me.

"Why do I have this tube in my chest?" I ask, slightly confused at everything.

She looked at her stack of papers she was carrying, feathering through it. "Seems like your lung collapsed due to some shrapnel hitting and cutting into your chest cavity. The tube is connected to an air lock that will force any gases out of your chest cavity." She said before looking back at me.

I laid there for a moment, unsure of what to say. I look over at Moonlight who was still asleep, guilt flooding over me almost instantly.

"Is she ok?" I ask the nurse.

She nodded softly. "She did suffer some damage to her ears due to a shockwave, but she's perfectly fine." The nurse said, assuring me.

"Though we need to talk about what happened to you." She said, flipping my blanket over. "Your lung collapsing was just one of the things you came in with."

I look down, seeing my right leg gone from the knee down. "W-w-what happened? Where is my leg?!" I ask, panicking instantly upon noticing my limb missing.

"When you were brought in, your leg had taken such damage that there was no saving it. That's not including the fact that you now have several chunks of metal that's part of your anatomy." She went on to say.

I reach out at where my leg should be, trying my best to grab at it something that's now non-existent. The destruction replaying in my head.

I suddenly feel a soft touch on my shoulder, making me jump and pull away. I look over to see Moonlight, her eyes stained with tears. Sunset was awake as well, her own face riddled with worry.

"It's just me and mom, you're safe." She softly said, cradling my head against her chest.

The panic melted away, though this feeling of guilt remained. "I'm sorry." I choked out, trying to hold back everything.

She sat down, pulling me back into her as she combed through my hair. "You're fine. You didn't do anything wrong." She said, trying to assure me.

"I'm sorry to interrupt, but I do need to draw blood from you. As well as give you your medicine." The nurse said, going through her collection of syringes.

"I understand, do what you need to do." I said, before sitting up, letting the nurse do her thing.

As she finished up, she looked up at all of us "I just gave him a very powerful narcotic, so he may end up being extremely emotional here in a few. Though, it could also put him straight to sleep. I just want to let you know and give you two a heads up." She said, looking between Sunset and Moonlight.

Sunset nodded softly. "It's alright. She's got him taken care of, so I'll head back to help Twi and the others." She said while trying to stretch out.

"Wait, I need to go to." I say, trying to sit up, but was pulled back down by Moonlight. "They need me!"

"You're not going anywhere, Smokey Trails!" She demanded, her voice sharp and stern. I look at her, shocked at hearing my full name used.

I nodded softly, sitting there. Realizing that I couldn't do anything even if I went. "Yes, Moonlight." I sheepishly said, lowering my head.

She reached back up and pulled me back to her, my head resting on her chest again. "You can be terrifying when you want." I say with a chuckle. Slowly feeling my body sinking and my head feeling foggy.

I look back up to her to see her eyes meet mine. "You are so beautiful." I hum out, almost in disbelief.

She blushed and began to laugh. "Aww, look at you being sweet." She said, kissing the top of my head.

"But you are!" I whined out, the blush getting bigger. "And caring, and gentle, and beautiful." I stammer on, looking up at her.

"And you're eyes. And you're cute little freckles. An-" She interrupts me by covering my mouth, her face all shades of red.

"Ok! We get it!" She said with Sunset doing her best to refrain from laughing.

I reach up, gently grabbing her hand , bringing it to my lips, and kissed the top of it. "All I want to say is, I love you. With everything in me, I...love...yo...."

[Moonlight Perspective]

He finally passed back out, still holding onto my hand, nuzzling into it. I couldn't help but to laugh, my free hand combing through his hair.

"There is absolutely no denying it, this stallion is absolutely in love with you." I hear mom say with a big smile. "Just the way you two look at each other. I'm sorry, it's just adorable seeing it from the outside." She said with a soft laugh.

I couldn't help but blush, hearing her. "I love him, Mom. No one has ever meant so much to me, and the fact that he's laid up in a hospital bed, connected to several machines to keep him alive..." I say, my throat getting tighter with each passing word. "It terrifies me." I choked out, looking up at her, tears flowing from my eyes.

Mom walked over to the side of the bed and sat back down. "Moonlight, I do understand what you're feeling right now." She admitted.

"Mother was laid up in the hospital bed like he is?" I asked, shocked to hear this new chapter of their lives.

She nodded softly. "It was the last battle that we had with Tirek. He managed to steal all the magic throughout the world. It was down to Twilight, her friends, Discord, and myself." She admitted, sorrow quickly filling her eyes.

"Everyone was down, only leaving me and Twilight. I was trying to heal everyone as Twilight fought him off. Suddenly there was a huge blast of magic that went on for miles, destroying everything in it's path. I look at the center to see Twilight falling from the sky." She went on, tears forming in her eyes now.

"When I found her, she was barely clinging to life. She suffered several broken bones, her lungs didn't collapse, but were were damaged from the explosion. She also suffered from a severe concussion." She said, the tears now flowing freely.

"When everyone else began to wake up, I was already doing what I can to heal her. She was dying and there was nothing I could do, except prolong it." She was trembling at this point.

"As everyone came up, I call out to Discord to teleport us to the hospital only to find out, he 'only has enough juice for one." Mom said, mocking Discord's voice at end.

"I do not sound like that!" Discord chimed in, appearing from behind the door with a doctor's jacket on. "Though everything else you're describing is spot on." He admitted, snapping his fingers the jacket disappearing.

"As I was saying, before being interrupted." She said, glaring at Discord. "I asked him to take her and immediately see to it that she's taken care of. He did as asked thankfully without any sass." She said, still glaring at him.

He responded by sticking his tongue out at her before rolling his eyes. Mom smirked and shook her head.

"Well, when we finally got back into Canterlot, the first thing I see is Twilight on a breathing machine, IV after IV coming from her just to keep her alive. A week went by without no response coming from her. After we hit a week and a half, I began to fear the worst." She said, her voice getting shaky again.

"I was told that if she was to pass, I'd be the successor to the throne. I didn't care. The only reason I came back to Equestria was to be with her. I told them that they can shove the crown and the throne up their ass. If Twilight wasn't the Queen, then they won't have a queen so either heal her or do without." She added on.

"Oof, Celestia was not happy with that." Discord said as he inspected his claws.

"No, but I insured that Twilight was ok." Mom said, looking back up at Discord. "The point is, don't stress over something you can't help. You're doing what you can by being here and nurturing him." Mom said with a gentle smile.

I nodded softly, returning the smile. "Thanks, mom." I say before lowering my head to Smokey's, nuzzling into his hair.

"Oh, right, before I forget the whole reason I'm back." Discord chimed back in, floating in front of Mom. "Twilight will be back soon. We've recovered everyone that we could and buried the dead. We were surprised that with the amount of damage there was, there weren't more casualties."

"How many passed?" Mom asked.

"A total of five. Only off thing would be their rituals for the dead that they wanted us to follow thoroughly." He said, shaking off a shiver.

Mom looked at him, an eyebrow rose in curiosity. "What do you mean?" She asked.

"Well, instead of a graveyard, they have an open burial ground that they leave their dead, open to the elements. Their reason for this was to allow their souls to return to the spirit of the skies." He added on.

Shock appeared on Mom's face upon hearing this. "That's disturbing, but slightly interesting." She said, before walking out of the room, not saying another word.

I look up at Discord, slightly confused. "Where is she going?" I ask, only to see him shrug.

Reviving The Flame

A month has passed since I was admitted into the hospital. Still laid up in this bed. Thankfully, I no longer have a tube in my chest, but after multiple successful surgeries and everything, I still don't have my leg.

Good news is everyone from the attack is better. All of them visited me, some happy to be alive, others furious that I couldn't save their loved ones.

Moonlight sat with me through all of it. I look over to where she usually sits, seeing her chair empty. She ended up sick this morning and Sunset took her to see one of the doctors, that was about an hour ago and they've yet to return.

I hear a knock on the door as one of the doctors came in. "Good morning, Smokey! How are we doing today?" He asked.

I shrugged, "I'm still laid up in a bed with a missing leg. So same old." I joked.

"That's what I wanted to talk to you about! The doctor who does prosthetics finally arrived. He should be coming up to your room here in an hour or so." He stated with a hearty smile.

"Well, it's not the real thing, but at least I'll be able to walk again." I said, giving a sigh of relief.

"You're absolutely correct. Unfortunately, you will have to undergo anoth-"

"I don't care if I have to go through another 20. As long as I am able to move freely around, do what you have to do." I sternly said, looking him dead in the eyes.

He nodded, before looking at his stack of papers. "Now to find Moonlight and let her know what's going on with her." He said, before turning to leave the room.

"Is she ok?" I ask, leaning back on my bed again.

"Oh, she's fine. I just got some news to tell her, but I'll let you get back to resting." He said as he walked out of the room.

News? What type of news does he have? I begin to rack my mind, my head thinking of all possible outcomes.

A few minutes passed before I hear the door open with a eccentric Moonlight entering the room. I smile softly and sit up in the bed. "There's my love." I say, grabbing her hand to pull her to me.

She sat on my lap, nuzzling into my chest. "Look at you being sweet." She said, leaning up, kissing me softly. "So, got some news to tell you!" She cheered.

I tilted my head, slightly confused. "Ok? What do you got for me?" I ask.

"A baby!" She fired back cheerfully.

I froze, slightly unsure I heard her right. " Wait...so... you're?"I ask, pointing at her stomach.

She nodded happily, grabbing my hand to place it on her belly. "I'm pregnant. You're going to be a father!" She said, looking up to me, still smiling.

I froze entirely trying to process what she had just said. A mixture of joy, fear, worry flooding me. "I-I'm gonna be a dad?" I ask as I felt a smile slowly forming.

I wrap my arms around, pulling her as close to me as possible as I begin laughing. "I'm gonna be a dad!" I cheered out.

She smiled and nuzzled into me. "We're going to be parents, Smokey." She hummed out, grabbing my hand.

I leaned down and kissed to the top of her head. "I know, it's just hard to believe. It feels unreal almost. I just... Thank you!" I said, holding her close to me.

"For what?" She asked, looking up at me, slightly confused.

"For everything. For being so amazing. For staying by my side throughout all this. Most importantly, thank you for being you." I say, kissing her softly.

She smiled and shook her head. "If you keep acting like this, we might definitely end up with more than just the one." She teased.

I smirk, leaning down, pressing my head to hers. "Is that a promise?" I teased back.

"Ok! That's enough out of the two love birds!" Twilight chimed in, snapping both of us back to reality. "Moonlight, I need to have a talk with Smokey." She said, glaring at me.

Moonlight looked at me, slightly worried before getting up and walking out the room. I look up at Twilight, slightly worried. "Yes, ma'am?" I ask.

She stood there a moment, eyeing me, her arms crossed. "I'm going to tell you this only once, especially now seeing that my daughter is now pregnant with your child. If you EVER hurt her or that baby she's carrying, I will unleash a certain hell that only that you will never escape from. I knew this was going to happen eventually, but it should have waited until after your wedding." She growled out.

I sat there, slightly annoyed. "I understand you're looking out for Moonlight. I understand that you're here mother and you're doing what mothers do." I stated, slowly pushing myself up to stand to be eye level with her.

"What I don't understand is even after risking life and limb you still doubt me. I love her more than anything. I would die for her. I will crawl through that hell you have just to see that she is happy and taken care of." I growled back, staring her down.

The room fell dead silent as we stared each other down, neither of us willing to budge. "I did not come into this with any ill intentions, Twilight. When she first came up to me and I saw her, I saw the world and everything else vanish. She was and still is my entire world." I said, choking up mid sentence.

Her ears pinned back a little as I refused to stand down. "And the fact that she's carrying my first born, the depth of hell couldn't hold me back from protecting them. What happened to me is only a setback. I will be fine so long as they're alright." I added, finishing up before sitting back down on the bed.

She held her head in defeat. "I do apologize if I may have came at that rather aggressively. I do believe you, but I worry because I saw what you became. What if-"

"Hold it, think about what happened when you all saw 'him" I mentioned, referring to the night of the attack. "He tried to get you all to run away, albeit he screamed in your faces, but if he wanted to hurt anyone, then they're going to get hurt." I pointed out.

"Why do you keep calling that side of yourself 'him'?" She asked.

"Because, him and I are not the same. We share bodies, but when I'm in control, he sees and hears everything that I do. When he's in control, it switches to where I can see and hear everything that he does." I state, doing my best to explain.

She just nods softly, "So, do you have control of switching." She prodded more.

"Not really. He only comes out in life or death situations. After a while, he finally gets tired and I'm able to take back over, but will not stop until whatever brought him out is no longer breathing." I admit.

"That does worry me that you don't have control over it. Also, something else I wanted to ask is this 'Spirit of the Skies." She prodded even more.

I shrugged. "That's something you'll need to talk to mamaw about because I've yet to learn about it." I say, slowly beginning to get irritated by all the questions. "Anything else you need answered or I can put your mind to ease with?" I ask, my face blatantly showing annoyance.

She shook her head. "No, that's all I can think of." She finally said.

I gave a sigh of relief and nodded. "Sorry, by the way for being rude. It just kind of hurts when those you consider family thinks that you're a monster. Especially seeing that you have had so much faith in me." I admitted.

"No, it was called for. You're right and I do apologize for my actions. I know you can't understand it now, but as a parent you worry about every possible scenario." She said.

"You're right, but coming from the perspective of that she is the mother of my child and my bride to be, something that you can fully understand, I want nothing more than to do no less than the best for them." I replied.

She finally looked up with a smile and nodded. "I understand. I guess that's everything I needed to ask. I'll go and get Moonlight and let her know she can come back in here." She said, opening the door to leave.