Heroes travels

Did you know that ponies have the habit of waking up quite early in the morning? No, we’re not talking about how early Applejack awakens, being that she is required to do so since she lives on a farm. Ponies like to wake from their slumber in between around seven in the morning to nine in the same morning.

Unfortunately, Ashley did not know that. Callum need not have to worry about ponies waking up at that time slot since the two that were also in the library had also witnessed the glorification of an alcoholic’s nightmare, the very thing that stops people from drinking alcohol twenty four-seven.

That’s right. We’re talking about the best thing in the world.

The dreaded, yet amusing to make use of on those who have one… The hangover.

Oh, how the mighty have fallen to this curse after a night of enjoyment. Noises are intensified; beings become bed ridden unless they find the will and strength to crawl out of their beds to grab some much needed food…

…Or to find the nearest, cleanest area to vomit in.

As it turned out, Ashley didn’t have to worry about vomiting, well, not at the moment. Grey Ink’s rather loud yawn alone was enough to awaken the human next to her, grimacing when she saw him clutch his head. She had forgotten that he was still there.

“Sorry!” She whispered, quiet enough so it wouldn’t cause Ashley any discomfort, all he did was grab the pillow he rested his head on and shoved it into his face, holding the sides down over his ears.

Ashley tried to respond, but unfortunately, his voice was muffled by the pillow.

“Um… Excuse me?”

Lifting up the pillow, he repeated. “It’s fine. I need something for this headache.”

“Oh, why didn’t you ask?” She mocked with a smile. Ashley however was not in the mood for this. Before he could say anything witty back to her, she had hopped off the bed. Her feathers, mane and tail were ruffled, but nothing a quick brushing session couldn’t fix. As she passed Ashley’s side of her bed, she glanced at the footwear that the human owned.

How can he wear those so much?

Shaking the random thought out of her head, she trotted over to her bathroom. Her hooves hitting the tile floor surface would not be heard from her bedroom, she knew this from past experience.  Gazing upon the mirror above her sink, she placed her hoof onto the reflective surface and slid it to the side, opening the cabinet. The contents were various bottles and unopened toothpaste, alongside a couple of new toothbrushes that had not yet been pried from their cardboard boxes. On the top shelf were a few orange tinted plastic bottles with white caps. You know, those ‘push down and turn’ ones? Well, it isn’t one of those, being that it would be hard for Pegasi and Earth ponies to open them. So in this case, they are simple ‘stick the lid in between your top and bottom set of teeth, bite down hard and twist the bottle with your hooves, rotating the bottle in a simple anticlockwise direction’.

Hovering herself to grab the bottle she wanted, she continued her low flight back to the bedroom with the pill bottle in between her two front hooves.

“Here you go.” She said in a hushed tone, giving the human a caring smile as she set herself down on her bed, sitting where she slept.

“What’s that?” He asked, moving the pillow back to the spot where he could rest his head on it.

“It’s medicine, duh.” She replied with a sarcastic tone “Do you have medicine back where you’re from?”

“Of course, otherwise I wouldn’t be here today.”

“What?” Her eyes widened a bit, raising an eyebrow of concern “Why?”

“Story for another time.” He waved her off, wanting to change the subject. His vision switched from her face to the bottle in between her hooves. “Is that some Ibuprofen? Or…”

“Nope.” She grinned “It’s a painkiller that totally gets rid of the headache in six hours. You’ll only need to take one pill.”

“Really?” She nodded “Bloody hell. That would’ve been really useful back home.”

“Good to know.” She placed the bottle on her pillow “Now, this stuff is really hard to come by. In fact, I’m really lucky to even have any at all.”

“How’d you get this stuff then?” he asked.

“Story for another time.” She smirked, narrowing her eyes slightly.

“Fine, don’t tell me.” He said with a cocky tone, reaching over for the bottle, only to have his hand slapped away by the Pegasus next to him, to which he shot a scowl at her.

“Since they’re so rare to get… I plan on getting something in return.” A mischievous grin had revealed itself on her muzzle “Can you guess what I want?”

“Hug?” she shook her head “I give up.”

“Awww, you quit so soon.” She pouted “I guess I’ll just have to rise up your side of the bargain to be breakfast…”

“I could do that.” He shrugged.

“…and I get to show you something special.” She turned her head away as she quietly said this, trying to be nonchalant.

“…What?” Ashley sat himself up, taking his time so that he wouldn’t regret it if he had done the action too fast. “Did you just ask-“

“You to make me breakfast? Then yes.” She interrupted.

“...I don’t know…”

“Pssh, you’ll only be making breakfast, not a candlelit dinner under the stars.” She tapped her right cheek with her right forehoof. “Is Ashley, member of Luna’s guard, human with enough strength to protect Ponyville from a Diamond Dog attack by himself afraid of cooking a single breakfast for this poor, defenceless and hungry pegasus mare?”

“…Yes.”

“Wow.” She deadpanned, not thinking he would respond like that. She was actually hoping it would raise him out of bed immediately. “Really?”

“Nope.” He styled a toothy grin “Last time I checked, you’re not a spider, so I’m not afraid of something like that.”

“Then get to it then.”

“Nope.”

“And why not?” she asked with a raised brow, becoming a little bit peeved.

“Because I didn’t get an apology hug from you waking me up so early.” He replied with a smug tone, curling his fingers whilst bringing them slightly closer to his face to examine them. There was no particular reason as to why he did this, except to annoy her a little.

Rolling her eyes, she laid herself down next to the human, hugging him. Using his index finger, he lifted her chin, gaining a puzzled look from her. It wasn’t what he was doing that made her fell weird, it was the fact he was completely silent while he was doing whatever he was doing.

“I-uh...”

There wasn’t much he planned on doing, well, not that he could think of except to stare into her luscious brown eyes, clearly seeing the hint of confusion inside them. Of course, it wasn’t long until Grey started to blush lightly from this.

“I think you have the most gorgeous brown eyes I have ever seen.” She smiled, nuzzling his neck from the compliment. It was a shame that she had once again gotten comfortable with the human, comfortable enough to not want to get back up.

“I don’t feel like getting up right now…”

“Do you have work today?” He asked, she shook her head in disagreement. “I think we can sleep for a few more hours then.” He said as he grabbed the bottle that still remained on Grey’s pillow. However, the Pegasus was sharing his pillow, making it harder to reach but he still managed to do so. Bringing the bottle in front of him, he undid the lid, pouring a single lilac pill onto his palm before swallowing it, putting the lid back in its place when he was done, dropping the bottle next to his boots.

“Wait.” She looked up to him, gazing into his half open eyes “Don’t you have work today?”

“Shockwave said this morning that I could have the rest of today off because of last night… I think that you holding me here against my will made him decide to let me spend the day with you. Either way, I want to give him my thanks.”

“You should.” She returned to nuzzling his neck “Shockwave has always been good to those I like a lot.”

“…”

“Ashley?” She looked back up, only to find he had fallen asleep, totally forgetting that since the medicine is fast acting, its drowsiness side effect is almost instant. Shaking her head, she got comfortable once more, falling asleep to the human’s warmth. After all, she would want some breakfast in a couple of hours, the perfect time for Ashley to fill the other part of the bargain.

**

Ponyville guard station Time: 10:28am

It was around 10pm that Callum had awoken, alongside Spike who was basically yelled at to make breakfast by Twilight for the inhabitants of the house. Of course, Callum decided to make it a little easier on Spike and ditched the library. Night of drinking taught him many things, only a few however would always be remembered when he woke up the following night.

Rule number one: If you’ve got a hangover, get Ash to make breakfast.

Rule number two: If you can’t find Ash to make you breakfast, hunt him down to do so for a couple hours, give up, go home and make your own god damn food.

Rule number three: If Ash gets a girl into bed... That is, if he lets himself to do so, be as annoying as possible. Heck, try to cock-block if possible.

Seeing that he couldn’t find Ashley anywhere, even after hunting for a measly twenty minutes, Callum gave up. Knowing that he could just grab something to eat from the station’s cafeteria, he ventured off to the building. Receiving nods from passing guards, alongside a few glares, he waltzed through the cafeteria doors, his eyes scanned the area like a hawk for its next victim. His vision instantly shot towards where the food was served. However this time, the mare behind the counter was different from the last time.

“Hey... Uh...” Examining her features, she seemed to be an Earth pony wearing a white apron, clean as if it just came out of the washing machine. The mare wore a light green coat, lighter than Ash’s when he was turned into a stallion for a day. Her mane was wrapped up in a bun with a hair net in order to prevent strands falling into the food. Her eyes were a dark yellow, alongside a smile that Callum had seen many times before, not on her but on other people.

“Hey! What can I get ya’?” She asked, leaning a hoof on the counter.

“Uh...”

“You going to hold the line any longer there, sweet cheeks?”

“...Sweet cheeks? Really?” He asked with an annoyed tone, bringing back a small trickle of memories to pop up in his head and they weren’t ones he was proud of.

“Would you prefer hun? Or babe? Your call.” She shrugged. “You’re just holding up the line and I dislike people who do that.”

“...Right.” Callum replied with the roll of his eyes “I’ll just take some oatmeal with slices of apple, banana and orange.

“Well, we ain’t got any oatmeal left.”

“Yes you do.”

“No, we don’t.”

“Yes. Yes you do.” He pointed at a large pot behind her, sitting on the flames from the stove “Oatmeal that has been done for the past twenty seven seconds.” He leant over the counter a bit “You shouldn’t try to lie to me. I can find ways to make you talk.”

“Oh... I bet you could.” She replied with a sultry smile, turning away to get his order.

“Sheesh.” A guard said next to him “That’s the first time I’ve ever seen her like... Well, that.”

“How is she normally?” Callum asked, turning his head. However, the stallion he was now conversing with had seemed to be hypnotised by the swaying hips of the cafeteria mare.

“Hey dude.”

“...What?”

“You might want to conceal your throbbing dick. I know that guys like a nice ass when they see one, but damn, control yourself, bro.”

With that in mind, the stallion immediately hit the floor with his stomach. Once doing so, the human beside him was already laughing at him, as were nearby guards. Once he actually realized he was joking, the stallion stood back up with a glare that could almost rival Fluttershy’s stare.

Almost, but not it would never be enough, mind you.

Not to mention he was blushing like crazy.

“That was uncalled for.” He stated through gritted teeth.

“Look, mate.” Callum bent over slightly, hands on his hips “I’ve got a hangover, I’m still waiting for my stuff from the princesses, I’m getting testy, my friend didn’t make me breakfast this morning since he was probably sleeping with Grey Ink or on a tree. The last thing you want to do is to have a hissy fit when I’m around.”

“Oh yeah!?” He bellowed out “I bet I could take you on!”

“Pfft, you and I both know you wouldn’t survive against him, Brick.” A stallion said from a nearby table, in fact, it was Shockwave enjoying his morning tea and newspaper.

“What makes you say that captain? I can take him on, no problem!”

Shockwave turned his head to the side “Remember that whole guard versus human fiasco a couple days back?”

“Yeah, heard it was a lie though.”

“It wasn’t a lie. Go to the hospital to see some of the stuff they did, be warned, it isn’t very pretty, especially if you’re a pegasus. Also, don’t speak to a higher ranking officer like that, otherwise you’re outta here.”

“Higher rank? Him?” He pointed at Callum

“Hoof picked by Celestia herself. Same goes for Ash being picked by Luna. Not to mention they’re both good friends with the princesses.”

With that final sentence, the stallion immediately decided to shut up. Another guard, a mare in fact, yelled out “You just got told!”, gaining laughter from the group of mares near her, as well as stallions across the room.”

“Here you go hun!” The mare behind the counter cheered, balancing a bowl with the contents Callum ordered on her back, with a tray in between the two. She spun to the side, looking back between the counter and the human.

“Well, go on then! I won’t bite...”

Callum went to reach for the tray.

“I’ll only slowly nibble my way down...”

“Reminds you of someone, doesn’t it Callum?” Shockwave chuckled, turning his gaze to the cafeteria mare “You like a stallion in uniform, don’t you?”

“Nah.” She waved her hoof in disapproval “I like to try new experiences...” She made a pursed her lips for a split second at Callum before lip-synching the words “Come to me for a good time.”, finishing the sentence with a wink and a soft chuckle before she turned to Brick. Her attitude immediately went to a slightly serious one.

“... One of the disadvantages of a hangover for me.” Callum said as he set down at the table, taking a position opposite Shockwave, keeping the mare his line of sight.

He didn’t want to lose sight of her, not because of what she said, but to remember her face in case he saw her in the streets.

Nobody gets away with stuff like that.

“And what’s that?” Shockwave asked, levitating his mug of tea to his lips. It was still quite warm, half finished.

“Can’t make innuendos as well as I can sober, nor drunk, although, the best are sober.” He shook his head in disappointment, taking a spoonful of oatmeal which had a banana slice sticking out.

**

Canterlot Castle’s dining hall 12:49PM

**

“Welph...” Luna slid her head on the table once taking the last bit of her omelette, forgetting to chew and swallow her food.

“Auntie Luna...”

With a loud gulp, Luna shot an annoyed look at the pony across the table from her.

“It’s gone Cadence.”

“Good.” The pink alicorn giggled. She recently arriving from an important event in Stalliongrad which lasted an entire week due to train difficulties to return home, Cadence had heard rumours on her trip about a new species, well,  it was not hard to hear about the rumours since they were in the newspapers.

“Now tell me about these claims about a new species and how they beat some of our best guards, not to mention what has put your mood down.”

“Fine.” Luna grumbled “Species are called Humans, blah blah blah, now they’re part of both guard regiments for Tia and I, blah blah blah.” She waved her hoof as she said this.

“Uh-huh... That was a wonderful story!” She commented with thick sarcasm, followed by a short chuckle. Luna couldn’t help but smile at her niece’s antics. “Guess I’ll have to ask aunt Celestia about this another time.”

“Or I could ask one of them to come and meet you in person.”

“You could do that!?”

“Of course.” Luna sat up straight, raising a hoof to her chest in pride. “After all, did I not say that one of them was in my guard? Well... I’m not so sure about him being a part of it later...”

“Ah, right.” Cadence laughed a tad, although it seemed to be a bit awkward once she realized what Luna just said. “Is that what has you down?”

Luna let out a long sigh “Promise not to tell anypony?”

“I promise.”

“Princess promise?”

“Yes... I princess promise.” Cadence rolled her eyes with a dry tone

“Okay, well...” Luna trotted herself next to her niece, bringing her muzzle to closer her ear, beginning to whisper the story to the pink alicorn. After many nods from Cadence, it was at the end that her mouth turned agape.

“You broke his trust!?” She yelled, quickly covering her mouth with her hooves before Luna could do anything about it.

“I know, I know!” The princess of the night pressed her upper body on the table “And I feel absolutely terrible! Both Tia and I couldn’t find any way to fix this mess, all because we were careless and now Ashley will want to quit my guard!” She finished her sentence with a loud sob.

“...Ashley?” Cadence asked.

“The human who is in my guard.” Luna sniffed “I asked him if I could examine his weapon during my night court... Because, you know...”

“Nopony shows up?” Luna nodded. “Don’t worry.” Cadence began to rub a hoof on her aunt’s back in the attempts to comfort her “I’m sure he wouldn’t be that mean enough to want to leave! You’re Luna! Princess of the moon, ruler of the night! Look at what this has done to you! You’ve become a wreck!”

“... You’re right.” Luna sniffled “It’s time I took responsibility. I helped cause this mess, I shouldn’t be like this, Ashley even said he loves my night more than the day!”

“He said that?” Cadence raised an eyebrow.

“Yes.” Luna turned her head to the pink alicorn, her facial expression started to harden, as if a nerve was struck. “Is there a problem with somepony loving my night?”

“No, no, of course not!” Cadence let out a soft awkward laugh “I’m just surprised somepony said that to you! I think it is a wonderful compliment. After all, I don’t think anypony has said that towards you.”

Luna sighed “You’re right on that one...”

A couple knocks on the door echoed throughout the entire hall, grabbing the attention of both princesses.

“You may enter.” Luna stated, quickly shifting herself into a standing position, as did Cadence. The large doors opened slowly, revealing a concerned princess of the sun.

“I think we should get going.” She stated, staring at her sister. Luna nodded and began to walk towards Celestia, although she was stopped by Cadence sticking a hoof in front of her path. Cocking an eyebrow, she awaited why she stopped her.

“I hope this goes well for you.” Cadence said, giving the sweetest smile she could muster. Luna gave her niece a quick hug.

“This is why I prefer being around you more than Blueblood.” Cadence and Celestia laughed, both of them couldn’t blame her.

With that said, both the princesses of the sun and moon had left the hall. Cadence decided to go and check up on the guards.

**

Ponyville streets   4:54PM

**

After searching for many hours, Callum did not find Ashley. This started to drive him up the wall. If his feeling was correct about his friend sleeping with her, he didn’t know what he would do. Mostly likely either yell or beat some sense into his friend. He still waited for his weapons back from the princesses. Impatience drove him to asking Spike to send a letter to her. Of course, Twilight was groggily making sure it wouldn’t lead to a prank of some sort. Rainbow Dash was in the bathroom at the time, from the groans and splashing of water, she was most likely vomiting into the toilet.

Spike wished he didn’t have to clean up any mess she made, although, Twilight would probably make him do it. However, Callum secretly whispered into the dragon’s ear that he would sneak him out so that either Rainbow or Twilight would be forced to clean it, otherwise it would produce a sickly stench.

Straight after lunch, Callum gave the Apple family a visit. Applejack was showing less signs of a hangover than Twilight and Rainbow Dash. Although, the apple farmer said that Granny Smith and Big Macintosh always make a special stew that perks you up and that it is an Apple family secret that has been in their family for generations, with the minor change over time. It still didn’t mean that she didn’t have the hangover, she would have a migraine once in a while, but there was no nausea or anything else for that matter. Asking everyone at Sweet Apple Acre’s about where Grey lived had come up negative. Applejack and Big Macintosh were curious as to why the biped would be asking that question.

His answer was that he had a feeling that his friend slept with her, gaining a fit of laughter from the red and orange earth ponies. Applejack mentioned something about that Ashley wouldn’t seem to do something like that. Giving the two thanks as he left, Callum went to Carousel Boutique, but quickly left shortly after, getting told by Rarity that she needed her beauty sleep after last night.

Next was Fluttershy’s house. Seeing that she didn’t drink, he didn’t have to worry about the symptoms of a hangover from her. But even so, she didn’t know where Grey Ink lived either. The human still spent half an hour at her cottage, helping her feed her animals to save her a bit of time to go and check up on her friends. They parted their ways when they walked past Rarity’s. Fluttershy thanked Callum for walking with her into town, to which he said it was no problem.

There was still a pony he could try, well, two in fact. One being Shockwave, but he was busy training and didn’t want to be disturbed. The other pony was Pinkie Pie. Amazingly, when Callum went to Sugarcube Corner to visit her, she was as hyper and energetic as she usually was. He asked if she felt a hangover in the morning, but she replied with a simple “Nope.”

Telling her his problem, she obliged to lend a hoof. She didn’t listen as to whose house they were trying to find, seeing that she kept on getting side tracked. After a while, Callum managed to get her to listen.

“Sooooo.” Pinkie began “You’re telling me you can’t find Ashley because you don’t know where Grey Ink’s house is?”

“I’ve been saying that for the past half an hour Pinkie.” Callum replied. “I’ve checked all the streets, asked ponies on said streets but no luck.”

“Did you ask Shockwave?”

“He was busy.” Callum grunted, it would have taken the captain only a few seconds to tell him, but Callum knew that Shockwave was denying telling him what he wanted to know.

“Well.” Pinkie looked around, immediately pointing a hoof at a random street “Take a left down this street, then a right, then a right again, then proceed down until the second left, and you should reach Maple road.”

“...How do you know this?” Callum asked, cocking an eyebrow.

“I’m friends with everypony, I know this stuff.” She beamed.

**

“Captain Shockwave?” The name was accompanied by two knocks on the office door of the unicorn.

“Yes?” the captain replied, sweating from the two mile run he had just finished. Right now, he was writing down his time from the exercise, seeing that over the course of the past month, his time was slowly trickling down.

Hmm... Tomorrow I’ll do some magic training, haven’t done that for a while...

“Princess Luna and Princess Celestia are at the main reception for you.” A mare said from the opposite side of his door.

The princesses? What would they want? Just as he was about to rest, his heart quickened a bit. The princesses wanted to talk to him?

“Ah, alright.” He called out from his office “Can you tell them I’ll be out in a second?”

“Of course.” Hearing the sounds of trotting getting quieter and quieter, Shockwave now know that the mare was gone.

Alright Shock, let’s do this.

Opening the door, he barged right into Princess Luna, who had her sister alongside her. Shockwave immediately bowed down.

“I’m sorry princess.” He apologized “I’m afraid I didn’t see you there.”

“That was quite alright, captain.” Luna smiled warmly “I should have waited in the reception with my sister.” Her smile faded, switching to a serious demeanour “I’m... We’re in search of Callum and or Ashley. Do you know where they are?” Secretly, Luna wished that it would be Callum that they would see first, seeing that he might be able to calm down his friend when they tell them the news.

Callum is on the search for Ashley... So he could be anywhere. It is best I show them to Grey Ink’s, maybe Ashley is still there.

“I think I know where Ashley is, but not Callum. If you care to follow me, I can show you.”

Luna’s heart skipped a beat.

“A-ah... Very well then, show us the way.” Luna ordered. Her voice almost shaken but she managed to compose herself so that the captain wouldn’t pick up on her problems, although Celestia noticed and she too was worrying almost as much as her sister.

**

Ponyville, Grey Ink’s house.

**

Meanwhile at Grey Ink’s, the pegasus and human had barely left the bedroom. The only time they did was when Ashley made breakfast, offered to make lunch and he already offered to make dinner. Even though the mare objected, he still offered, saying that she had done so much and he wanted to repay her.

Of course, breakfast was for the medicine, which worked only a little for this human. Although, mixing food with the medication that day did make the human need to vomit twice, which Grey told him to proceed to do so in the bathroom. With the taste of vomit plaguing his mouth, and his breath which Grey couldn’t help but comment on, she offered him to use a spare toothbrush she had, telling him to keep it since he hadn’t been able to work his guard job and get paid yet.

Of course, the second part of Grey Ink’s deal had come to fruition only ten minutes ago. She said that she had a special surprise that she had been meaning to try months ago but it was a tad bit too tight on her, so she started to exercise more. Now would be the perfect opportunity to try it on and get an honest opinion on it.

Of course, what Ashley had in mind was a formal gown or something. However, his mind was blown when she entered the bedroom once more. No, not as in she was wearing a gorgeous dress that would be best for a fancy party or event. This was much, much different.

In a nurses outfit and a very faint blush on her face, most likely from embarrassment. The outfit did actually come with stockings, but Grey Ink didn’t want to make it weird, nor did she like them.

“Well, Nurse Ink is ready to take care of her patient!” She cheered, obviously trying to make a joke but it flew right over the human’s head.

“W-what!?” Ashley yelped, his eyes were wide open from shock “Why in the hell are you wearing that!?”

“Because I need it for Nightmare night later this year and I want your honest opinion on it.”

“It looks... Eeeeehhhh... Looks... Not that bad, nice touch with the hair in a bun.” Grey Ink took that as a success, beaming with pride. “Also, when is this ‘Nightmare night’?”

“October thirty-first. Which is still quite a long time away but I wanted to make sure this fitted me.” She gestured to the costume with her hoof, how she got the zipper up both amazed and confused Ashley, but he left that question to lie on the ground.

“Do kids go around knocking door to door and ask for sugary treats?”

“Well, yes.” Ashley gagged, the thoughts of candy wanted to make him vomit again.

“So basically it’s Halloween.”

“If that’s what Nightmare night is like from where you’re from, then yes.” She chuckled lightly “I’ve been trying to fit into this thing since I got it, and now that I can, I want to test it out a bit.” A smirk emerged on her muzzle as she slowly got closer to the bed.

Ashley gulped.

“... Test?”

“Don’t worry.” She cooed “We’re just going to have some fun.”

**

Meanwhile, in the streets of Ponyville.

**

“That is the residence of Miss Grey Ink?” Celestia asked, pointing at a house down the street.

“Indeed princess.” Shockwave answered.

“Tia.” Luna began “Look closer to the individual in front of that house.”

Celestia cocked an eyebrow, but done what she was asked. Narrowing her eyes, she focused on the figure approaching the front door.

It was Callum, and he looked infuriated.

“It’s Callum...” Celestia said before she teleported herself. Within the space of less than a millisecond, she appeared in front of the human who had his eyes covered.

Waiting for the bright light to die down, Callum uncovered his eyes, immediately gazing into Celestia’s eyes.

“Hey Celestia.” Callum smiled with a light wave of his hand, although Celestia could still hear the anger in his voice as he spoke. “Can you mind me a second?”

*pop!*

Another bright light and a covering of the human’s eyes, Luna appeared next to her sister. Both them had the expressions of worry on their faces, although Callum ignored them. In fact, he snuck around them both, sneaking into the house.

“Callum!” Both princesses whispered loudly “You shouldn’t walk into houses unannounced!”

“Sssshh.” He put an index finger to his lips as he began to sneak up the stairs “I can hear Ash.”

“Should we follow him?” Luna whispered to her sister

“I guess so, we will be talking to them in a second. By the way, do you have their belongings?”

“I thought you had them...”

Celestia face-hoofed. Of course... “I’ll go grab them, please wait here until I return.” Luna nodded as Celestia teleported herself to her chambers to grab the human’s bags.

“Pssst, Luna.” Callum said quietly from the top of the stairs. The princess of the night immediately looked up toward him, raising a brow.

“Yes?”

“Come up here.”

Luna looked around, not wanting to ignore what her sister asked her to do, but she was curious and she could always go back downstairs. She quietly trotted up the stairs, taking her place next to Callum, who was beaming like a child.

“Listen closely.” He pointed towards one of the doors. Luna put her ear next to the door, hearing muffled giggling from most likely a mare.

“Time to bust his ass.” Callum mumbled, immediately swinging open the door.

“Callum, no!” Luna tried to stop him but she was too late.

Upon opening the door, Callum did indeed find the source of the laughter. Upon the bed, he saw Grey Ink in a nurse’s outfit with Ashley’s face on her stomach.

Of course, both human and pegasus immediately looked up to see a disgusted, yet rage induced Callum at the doorway, with Luna behind him.

“I thought I asked you to wait Lu-“ Celestia began with a frown. She turned her head to what was going on, seeing Grey Ink on a bed in a nurse outfit, and Ashley’s head near her stomach. Both of their faces were as red as roses from embarrassment.

“... I knew this was a bad idea.” Ashley said, Grey Ink basically fainted from embarrassment at this point. “Aaaaand thanks for ditching me there, Grey.”

Of course, what the intruders didn’t know was that Ashley was actually tickling Grey Ink since she mocked his soft side. Looking at it from a different perspective, he noticed what it must look like.

“...THE FUCK IS WRONG WITH YOU!?” Callum yelled.

“What is right with me?” Ashley smirked, the blushing was fading away as he sat himself next to Grey Ink’s unconscious body, stroking her mane. Next to her head was the little nurse’s cap from the outfit.

“Don’t be a smart ass.” Callum ordered through gritted teeth. He was fine with them hugging and all that stuff, but this was going too far. “Tell me what the fuck is going on.”

“Callum, you should calm down.” Celestia said, although the human either didn’t hear her or was ignoring her.

“... How about we discuss this over some tea?” Ashley asked. Callum’s expression softened a bit.

**

After ten minutes of explaining

**

“So... You weren’t going to do what I thought you were doing?”

“Nope.”

“Huh...” Callum held the mug of hot liquid between his hands. Luna, Celestia and Grey Ink were in the front room, talking about the outfit. Celestia admitted that it looked superb on the pegasus, trying to steer away from the awkwardness of the situation earlier. The next thing she knew was that they were discussing costumes for Nightmare night later this year.

“Why are the princesses here?” Ashley asked, taking a sip from his mug.

“Beats me.” His pal shrugged. He still felt like a total jackass from earlier, but both Grey and Ashley said that they forgive him since they realized what they were doing did seem to be rather odd. Well, that and Ashley threatened to talk about a girl from London that Callum met if he didn’t just let it slide.

“Look man. Again, I’m sorry about bursting in on ya.”

“It’s cool.” Ashley waved him off “Do it again though and I’ll cut off your dick, spoon out your one of your eyes and shove your dick into your brain so you skull fuck yourself.”

Callum laughed.

“I’m serious.” Ashley looked up to him, staring at him for a few seconds before joining the laughter. After the moment passed, he spoke once more “I’ll only cut off your dick... That’ll be the first offence though.”

“Heh, and if you have sex with Grey without my permission, you’re getting a spanking young man!” Callum teased with an old man’s voice. “Back in mah day, you only had sex with the one you were married to!”

“Pfft, I’m a couple months older than you. Also, coming from you? The irony is so thick, it’s almost as stupid as you. So, I do what I want.” Both human’s tapped their mugs together before gulping down their contents. It was just like old times, get in argument and then pave over the problem like it was nothing at all.

“Well, put it this way, how the heck was I supposed to know you tickling her stomach with your mouth? Not to mention that she was in a nurse’s outfit.” Looking back, it was already funny to him. “That only made me jump to conclusions faster!”

“Are you two ready to talk?” Celestia asked from the doorway. Her glance switched between the two humans, her hooves shifted slightly from being nervous.

“Is that why you’re here?” Callum asked. She nodded.

“Alright, where’s Luna then?”

“She wants to speak to Ashley in private.”

“Oooooo.” Callum began “Someone is in trouble!”

“And I want to speak to Callum in private. It was going to be one matter but due to what happened earlier, it is now two.” She glared at him, although the smirk plastered on his face wasn’t budging.

Getting up from his seat, Ashley walked into the front room. He was greeted with a smile from Grey Ink, who also gave flew up and gave him a quick hug.

“I’ll let you to talk. I’m going to go tell Shockwave about this whole mess.” She looked down at her chest, realizing she was still wearing the costume. “...Once I get myself out of this.”

“Sure, see you soon.”

“Farewell Miss Ink.”

“Thank you princess Luna.” Once she was on the floor again, Grey made a quick bow and left, closing the front door behind her.

“So.” Ashley began “What’s up?” He sat himself down on the left end of the couch Luna decided to sit on the right.

“Well... I don’t really know how to tell you this...” her wings twitched as she shifted her hooves nervously.

“Take your time.” He said as he leaned back, resting his left arm on the rest beside him.

Remember Luna. Celestia’s voice played through her mind Try to be as subtle as possible, we don’t want to infuriate them

Subtle... Subtle... Luna closed her eyes, taking a deep breath to calm her nerves. She set her body to relax a bit, a huge improvement in her opinion. Remain calm Luna. Don’t think about him quitting your guard once you tell him. Don’t think about how much he will hate you...

...

DARN IT! I thought about it again... What if he does hate me? Would he curse my name in vain? Would he begin to form trust issues for everypony, all because of my period of becoming a selfish pony? I can’t blame him if he goes into a rage, but, I’ll try my best to restrain him if he gets too out of hoof...

“You okay Luna?” Ashley asked, sitting up “You look like something’s bothering you.”

Luna let out a long sigh, he was right. There was something that was bothering her and it was about him. How was she going to tell him that both she and her sister gotten careless and betrayed his trust? Her mind shot out ways to tell him in a rapid fire notion but even so, it was all useless. Her paranoia was getting the best of her. Her heartbeat was getting louder, up to the point it was all she could hear besides his voice.

Ba-dum Ba-dum Ba-dum

Sweat was already beading down her forehead, her chest began to tighten. Telling the truth was never easy, nor will it ever be. Her breathing was already starting to become more frequent and became louder as each breath went through her nostrils, which flared with each exhale.

“Woah, Luna, calm down.” Ashley started to feel a bit uneasy around her. Was she really angry at him? What did he do wrong? Memories began to shoot through his mind, only the ones of his time in Equestria.

Luna was too deep in her out thought track. The paranoia was taking its toll on her, like it was during the night.

Remember Luna, he said he loves the night more than the day. How many ponies have ever said that, even within your presence? None. Nopony has for as long as you have been alive. If he likes your night, then he must like you as a friend. If he wasn’t your friend, would he be sitting next you now? Stroking your cheek in the attempt to break you out of this silly charade?

...Wait, stroke my cheek? Shaking her head to defuse all the explosive thoughts in her mind, she did see in the corner of her eye that the human beside her had his hand out near her, watching him retract it back.

“Heh, sorry if that voided your personal space.” Ashley rubbed the back of his head, grinning like an idiot “Trying to get you to snap out of your daydream.”

“It’s fine...” Luna muttered. It’s make or break... “Ashley, the reason as to why I wanted to talk to you is because of your handgun.”

“Oh.” Ashley’s expression changed to a more puzzled one “What about it?” An idea burst into his head “Need me to show you how to take it apart, clean it and put it back to working order again? Need to learn all the names of the parts?”

“No, no.” Luna shook her head in disapproval.”Thank you for the offer, but I’ll have to decline, for you see... I.. We... UGH!” Luna released a loud groan of annoyance, all she wanted to do right now to both get it over with and hope that everything would be fine. “I’m going to need you to do something for me Ashley.”

“Sure, what is it?”

“Please, do not become mad when I tell you that both my sister and I used your weapons without your permission, gotten carried away in doing so and eventually using up all your ammunition...”

Wait... Did I just say that!? Luna immediately covered her mouth with her hooves. Oh no, no no no no no! I was supposed to be subtle! Oh father, what have I done? She slowly turned her head to the human beside her, expecting him to go into an almighty fit of rage.

“HOW DO YOU FUCKING DO THAT!?” A voice roared from the other room, obviously being Callum’s. Luna knew that Celestia must have told him about their deeds.

“Please Callum, calm down!” Celestia called out but it was too late, Callum was already in the front room.

“Ashley, grab your shit, we’re leaving. Now.”

Expecting his friend to get up and do what he was asked, Callum awaited his friend to move.

“Ashley!” Callum snapped his fingers in front of Ashley’s face, still not getting a single response. Luna was already fearing that he was bottling up the anger he felt, feeling that he would be ready to explode any second.

But he didn’t. He just sat there, motionless.

That was, until everyone, including Celestia and Grey Ink (Who darted downstairs to see what the ruckus was all about) saw a single movement. It was quick, but Callum knew it well.

It was an eye twitch.

“Ashley.” Luna began, guilt washed through her body, alongside worry and impatience for his reaction. “Please, don’t hate me...”

“There is nothing to like about you...” Ashley mumbled “There is only hatred that will be towards both you and your sister for what you have done...”

Hatred... The word was like knife through her heart.

She had done it.

She knew it would happen, as did Celestia.

The trust that was built between the humans and the alicorns had crumbled instantly.

“Y-you don’t mean that.” Luna tried to hold back her tears, but the wall of restraint had broken once one tear escaped from the corner of her left eye.  Through her cracked voice, she leant a bit closer to the human, holding out her hoof but he simply moved off the couch. Retracted her hoof back, her face had buried itself into the arm rest. Celestia sat beside her sister on the floor, bringing the head of the moon princess to her chest, trying to soothe her. Celestia had an apologetic on her face, ears drooped, looking as sorry as possible but it was ignored.

As Ashley walked upstairs to grab his boots, he yelled down the stairs.

“I want my fucking stuff back!” Each footstep up the stairs was a loud thud. Each one sent shivers down Luna’s spine as she cried into her sister’s chest.

Grey Ink immediately followed him. Callum remained in the front room, disgusted at the sight of the princesses so he faced away from them, arms crossed. Even with Luna’s sobs, he didn’t care. They knew what they did, they should’ve thought about what they were doing at the time.

“Please Callum, we-.”

“I don’t want to hear it.” Callum snapped, interrupting the princess. He turned around, his hardened stare was bone chilling, even to Celestia. “What the hell were you thinking at the time? What did you think you would accomplish? You’ve got guts to tell us up front about what you did but that doesn’t help. Do you really think that this is the first time we’ve been lied to by those we worked for?” Before Celestia could even respond, Callum continued “Maybe if you knew what happened exactly what happened before we came to your country, maybe you would understand our reaction to this news a lot more. But, I don’t even trust you with my birth date than tell you about our past.”

Celestia couldn’t say anything, even though she wondered what happened to them both before they came to the country both her and her sister ruled, her words would most likely be ignored.

“Callum...” Celestia began “Don’t you see how much this means to Luna? Just look at her.” She looked down at the sobbing alicorn, as did Callum. “Normally, if somepony was to make my sister cry like this, I would show them the errors of their ways... But not this time, it was our entire fault and both you and Ashley have the right to be mad at us... But please... Don’t make Luna feel worse...”

“And how would we make her worse than she already is? Hmm!?”

Celestia released a brief sigh as she started the stroke the back of her sister’s head. “Please, I beg of you, try your best to convince Ashley to not resign from our guard. My sister has been a wreck ever since she first thought that would happen.” She stared into his eyes. “I know that asking you to do something like this ridiculous as of now is being... Pathetic of me, but please, spare my sister from this.”

“...” Callum took a deep breath, rubbing a hand over his forehead. “I can’t promise that he might do something like that or that I will do the same thing to you... But, I guess if I somehow feel that I should care about you two, I might put a word in to get him to stay.” He took several steps closer to Celestia, his figure towered over both her sister and herself.

“But I wouldn’t get your hopes up.” He spat “But, I figure that we’ll still be part of your guard, well, only time will tell if we plan to stay. But as of now.” He held out his hand “We want our stuff back. Handguns, knives, anything in the bags when we gave them to you and the bags themselves.”

Celestia nodded. Her horn began to glow as the two bags materialized out of thin air, levitating onto the end of the couch where Ashley was sitting. Luna’s muffled sobs were all that could be heard as Callum made his ascent up the stairs.  Meeting Ashley at the top, he gave him his bag. Both humans checked the contents, finding empty magazines, their guns and knives while Ashley’s still had the crystal inside, however, in one of Callum’s magazines there was one bullet remaining.

Grey Ink didn’t say anything as Ashley put on his boots and pocketed his MP3 player. He told her not to get involved, giving her a long hug to reassure her that everything was going to be fine. She wasn't a foal, she knew it wouldn’t be. Before Ashley left the room after their hug, whispered one thing into her ear.

“Please, try not to get involved too much. Comfort both of them if you want to when we leave. I’m not going to hate you if you do... I’m sorry about what is going on, but don’t expect me to just forgive and forget right away. I’ll tell you someday about my past, especially what happened before we got here since it may help clear things up a little about our reactions.” He brought her into a quick hug, giving a peck on her forehead, stroking her mane a couple times to which she enjoyed greatly, despite current situation.

Callum made his way to the door, opening and leaving the house first, waiting outside for his friend. However, Ashley walked into the front room, a small twitch of his right eye went unnoticed as both Luna and Celestia stared up to him. The fur on Luna’s cheeks and Celestia’s chest were stained with tears.

“We do not trust you, we don’t respect you.” Ashley began. His voice was cold and merciless, as if he had no emotions whatsoever “Trust? That is gone. Respect? Remember these words since I won’t be repeating them.” He lowered himself down next to Luna. She could barely even breathe between her sobs, so she knew her cracked voice would not do any better.

“Respect is earned, not given.”

With those words, he turned and left, shutting the front door behind him. Grey Ink went downstairs to help comfort the princess of the night, to which both princesses were being thankful for.

Note, this A/N would be long and I didn’t want to put it into this chapter. You can view it in the first comment for this chapter. I will be doing this for later chapters if the A/N will be long. Also, there will be some editing to this chapter later, mostly centering page breaks and stuff. If you find any errors, please go ahead and point them out.