With Only the Stars to Cradle Us

by Lone Innocence Zevalhua

Chapters

1) Hello, World
2) On the Day the Shovel was Named Invincible
3) Silent Solitude
4) Light Your Heart Up
5) You Say Run
6) The Crisis at Hand
7) Pretending to Say Goodbye

1) Hello, World

And the world was opened for me

The sky was no longer a strange, faraway blue

The forest was no longer a tempting lush green

and the smiles of the people were no longer imaginary

For the first time in my life, I finally felt free

- The Last Shrinemaiden, Act 1, Wordsmith

A number of cadets, and even a few officers of the Royal Guard, believe that being put on scrubbing duty is a humiliating task.

After all, the reason why a pony enlisted as a cadet is because he wants to learn how to fight, to protect... And maybe climb up the ranks and become captain of the guard like Captain Shining Armor, or is it Prince Shining Armor now that he's married to Princess Cadence?

King Shining Armor?

Not really sure...

But as I was saying, cadets like me have the expectation that once we enlist, we would be forced through nonstop grueling training with lots of shouting, running, magic, and whatever heroic things we had fantasized that a royal guard cadet would have to go through so that they can earn the privilege of becoming an official member of the E.U.P.

For the most part, yes, we do go through a lot of training and drills but...

Most of the time, we're placed on cleaning duty ranging from mopping the floor or polishing or cleaning the armor of an officer that we fancy to grab an apprenticeship under.

The last one was if you were really, REALLY lucky though. Chances are, the officers would get tired of your flank-kissing and send you off embarrassed and with a potential mentor out of your list.

Thankfully, I have never experienced that sort of embarrassment.

...

Okay, fine! YET.

I have YET to experience that sort of embarrassment.

But I still plan on keeping my embarrassment streak at zero.

Suffice to say, while my fellow cadets were trying their best to find a mentor, I am dead set on keeping to the 'regular' training regime and earn my rank even if it means staying in the castle all my life guarding some corridor or room that no one has entered for like... A bajillion years.

It may sound boring, but if doing that meant eating three meals a day, a clean and warm bed to sleep in, and a steady wage, then I'll take it.

Considering my options, which consists of... Uh... Being somepony that doesn't have ANY of those, and maybe worse, I think it's a good deal.

So here I am, cleaning the barracks as the other cadets leave one by one for the 3-month semestral break now that our first bout of training had already finished, hoping that my request to stay here for the duration of the break to work as a custodian, or helper... Janitor maybe? Gets approved.

I'm not really that picky.

The immediate assumption from others was that this was just my way of showing that I'm 'dedicated to show that I'm willing to grab my full potential by staying and learning what it means to be part of the Royal Guard during my free time' so that I can catch the eye of a knight and land an apprenticeship.

In a sense, yeah, that's part of my reason why I sent in that request to my supervising officer.

But the truth is, I just really don't have anywhere else to go-

"Hey, Tender Heart, you okay, dude?" asked Bottleneck, a blue-and-greencoated unicorn, staring at me with a confused expression as I kept on mopping the floor with both of my hooves.

From the looks of it, he was just about ready to leave as well with how jampacked his satchel was with his personal effects.

"Yeah," I replied before putting the mop on the half-filled bucket of soapy water "Why'd you ask?"

"It's just... Um..." he cringed, looking at me then at the mop.

Turning my head towards the object as well, I tried to see what was wrong with it.

"Never mind, General Armstrong asked me to tell you that he wants to see you in his office though-"

Rude as it may be, I didn't bother waiting for Bottleneck to finish his sentence and dashed out of there to get to the general.

Usually, running through the halls was forbidden, especially if you were just a mere cadet and didn't have anything important to say or do to permit it.

But with all rules temporarily suspended to account for the influx of parents picking up their kids who might crack for the first time after being put through a lot of stress and strict routines for more than half a year, I think I'm in a position to disregard everything that the instructors hammered into my mind just for today.

So despite the disappointed stares that I got from senior cadets and other guards who were scattered all over the corridors doing their respective tasks, I continued through the halls and up the stairs to the third floor, excited and partially scared of what was the general's decision on my job request.

What was that proverb again?

'You don't want pain to last, so whatever you do, do it quick, like ripping off a band-aid.'

Screeching to a halt right in front of the general's office, I smoothened out my uniform as best as I could and wiped off the sweat off my forehead while drawing in a lot of breaths from all the running that I did.

Once I was no longer panting, I steadied my nerves and approached the door, knocking three times on the wooden door of the office at the acceptable force that the cadets were trained to do since day one.

"Enter," said a deep voice from inside the office.

At the confirmation, I opened the door and go inside before closing it gently behind me and giving the general a salute.

"Cadet Tender Heart reporting for duty, sir!" I exclaimed.

"At ease," replied the general who was seated on his upholstered chair behind a large table that was filled with piles upon piles of documents, most of which didn't seem to be even done in the slightest.

Relaxing, I ended my salute and waited for what he had to say.

"So, I took a quick look at your request. Very prompt and to the point if I may say so, something that I wish the logistics department would do..." the brown-colored earth pony began saying as he leaned back on his seat.

"And, well, since it's not every day that someone is asking to help in the kitchen or any other cleaning-related duties in the guard, I guess providing you with food and lodging in return for your hard work is the least that we can do for you." explained the general, causing me to smile and sigh in relief.

Awesome, now I don't have to worry about having to sleep out in the cold or-

"If er... Someone else doesn't want you."

Wait, what?

"I... Don't think I get what you mean, sir...?" I inquired, confused as to who this 'someone else' is.

Sighing, General Armstrong leaned forward and gestured for me to sit on the chair in front of him, an offer I immediately accepted.

"It's a bit complicated," he muttered.

Now, praise was something that I've gotten slightly used to ever since I began my training. But when a general of all people was the one giving ME praise, it's a bit hard to believe.

"The reason why I'm not sending you to the helpers right is because I... Hrm... There's this former cadet of mine in Hooverheim. Very bright, somewhat cynical, but still bright." General Armstrong said.

As he continued, I learned that during the Changeling Siege of Canterlot, this former cadet of the general he was one of the first responders even though he had already resigned from his post as lieutenant many years before the incident to pursue his own interests.

"He saved a lot of lives and allowed us to keep the casualties to a minimum until Shining Armor and Princess Cadence were able to drive out those... bugs completely. Unfortunately, he was heavily injured during the struggle and was bedridden for half a year. He recovered, but..." the general suddenly stopped, holding his breath as if trying find the right word to say or describe what needed to be said without sugarcoating the truth.

"But?" I asked.

"... He will never be the same pony he once was prior to the attack, and I think he blames us for it," sighed the earth pony, leaning back against his seat in a slump. "He's turned down all of our offers for aid and benefits, limits communication, and chose not to attend his own awarding ceremony."

"That's why I need your help. I want you to go to Hooverheim with my recommendation and ask for him to accept you as his apprentice so that you can monitor his condition and report to me immediately if something alarming occurs."

Okay, this is getting way out of hoof.

"Now hold on," I said, interrupting the general without asking permission to speak.

"First of all, I'm just a cadet, and I've barely even gone through the basics, and you want ME of all ponies out there, to go and provide aid to this ultra important hero of yours that I DON'T EVEN KNOW OF when there are others out there that are obviously more qualified when healing and emotional support is concerned."

"See what's wrong with that? I am all for breaking my limits but this is just too risky." I added, cringing inwardly upon realizing how much of an overreaction that was on my part.

To make things worse, the general himself stayed silent for a few seconds with his eyes trained on me.

Aw poop, looks like I'll be having a prolonged date with the sidewalk then.

"You see, I've been tracking your progress ever since you arrived, Tender Heart, and although most of your skills are average at best for a first-year cadet, you exhibit high empathy, and I think that's what he needs the most, someone who can show genuine concern for him so that he can willingly reach out to us if he is still in pain and perhaps even find a new purpose," answered General Armstrong.

Empathy? Really? That's a noteworthy skill?

But that can't be right, it doesn't matter if you mean good if you're not capable of doing it in the first place.

"You show concern almost immediately when something bad happens, and most of all, you act accordingly even if it means setting back your results during time-based tasks just so that you can assist others. I don't think you enrolled to be a cadet for fame and fortune, Tender Heart. I think you really just want to help," the General continued.

"All those healers and people that I've sent? They were the best at what they do, but I had to pull every string I had just to convince them to go and be 'mere aides' for a broken pony. That lack of empathy and sincerity on their side, even if help was offered, is something that somepony who lost his future doesn't need," he added.

I stayed silent in my seat for a moment, trying to digest everything that General Armstrong said.

"But what if he rejects it?" I asked, managing to find the very reason why I was so reluctant to this task. In order for this to work, this pony will have to accept me as an apprentice first, if not, then I have no choice but to return empty-handed and possibly disappointing the general who might think that I didn't try hard enough.

"Well, you can always return and work here like what you originally wanted," chuckled the earth pony, "The offer to work here as a custodian will still stand even if you fail to reach an accord so you don't have anything to lose other than a possible apprenticeship."

Sighing and rubbing the side of my head now that it was apparent that I have no legitimate excuse to turn this down, I finally gave a nod to the general.

"Alright, general, I'll do everything I can." I affirmed.

Smiling and giving a sigh of relief of his own, the general reached for a drawer and pulled out an envelope that had a red wax seal on it bearing the insignia of the Royal Guard before sliding it to me.

"This contains your letter of introduction, show it to him and he'll know what to do. Pack up your bags and meet me at the courtyard in an hour, I'll be heading to the treasury to request your initial stipend," he explained, drawing his hoof back afterwards.

Picking up the envelope, I blinked a few times when it felt rather heavy just to contain a letter of introduction.

If I had to guess, it had more than five pieces of paper inside of it and the general must have pressed real hard on it for a long while in order to compress it in a single letter.

I only had a few seconds to contemplate the possibility that I may have bitten off more than I can chew before I decided to tuck it into my uniform's pocket carefully. Whatever this letter contained, it was surely not just a piece of paper that states 'Hey, there's this cadet that wants to you to be his mentor, accept him please?'.

Oh well, I've already offered my help so it would be terrible of me to suddenly back out at the very last second.

"By the way, general? What was the name of this pony again?" I inquired, just realizing that he hasn't mentioned the name of the former royal guard that I needed to look after yet.

"His name is Buddy Guard, recipient of the Celestial Cross, Grand Order."

Author's Note

Hey guys, thanks for reading this fic of mine, it's the very first one that I've written for any fandom.

I'd like to point out that this fic will be a canon-divergent AU where there will be some differences from what has happened in the MLP:FiM universe but will still follow the chronology of the series except for a few.

These will be revealed as the story progresses and will feature mostly OC characters although there will be a number of canon favorites appearing somewhere along the way.

In either case, I can't thank you enough for reading this and I hope that you'll enjoy how the story unfolds!

2) On the Day the Shovel was Named Invincible

Dearest Mother,

I got so done with guarding a stupid vase yesterday that I decided to cast a trapping spell around it so that no one can steal it while I took a nap.

I woke up to discover the entire Section B trying to steal the vase after being dared to do so by General Armstrong.

Suffice to say, I stared for like five seconds, got bored, then went back to sleep.

The idiots didn’t realize that it was an illusion spell that I cast on the entire room and they’ve been ramming into a pillar for the last three hours while the real vase was on the other side of the room.

Sincerely, Swansong

50 bits…

I now have… 50 bits in my possession.

This is the largest amount of money that I have ever had in my entire life.

What does anypony need 50 bits for anyway?!

‘This should cover your personal expenses for a month and you’ll receive another 50 at the end of the month. Full discretion is granted to you by the treasury under my name, so if you need to buy a new satchel, uniform, or even a book that you fancy, do not hesitate to use it.’

Fifty. Bits. And I can use it on nearly anything I want.

This must be a fever dream that-

*SLAM!*

Ow…

As if providing immediate proof that this is in fact real, I realized that I had accidentally walked into a tree while walking through the White Tail Woods on my own, causing a bit of a sting to linger on my snout from the mild impact.

Shaking my head, I continued on my way to Hooverheim.

Situated at the end of the White Tail Woods, it acts as a bordertown or stop-over between Vanhoover and Los Pegasus, and serves as the final gateway to the Undiscovered West for explorers or adventurers where they can stock up on supplies or plan their journey one last time.

I walked through the deep green trees, taking in the sight of the area as much as I could.

I have never been through these parts before, and although I could have taken the train from Ponyville to Hooverheim after disembarking from the Canterlot line, I thought that walking towards my destination would give me a better understanding of the place that I’ll have to live in for the next three months.

That’s IF this Buddy Guard accepted me as his apprentice of course.

Should he not? Well, Canterlot’s just two train tickets away and I can get to work in the castle all the while returning the DANGEROUS amount of unspent bits.

There is just no way I can sleep at night while in possession of such a large amount of money. Nopony should ever have this much money on their person at any given time.

I mean really, what am I supposed to do with 50 bits? It’s like I can buy… At LEAST 3 apples.

That’s already more than what I can eat in one sitting too.

In either case, I emerged from the White Tail Woods to see the quaint bordertown of Hooverheim where multiple rows of houses and establishments sit beside a sizable two-story mansion on top of a hill.

Taking out the letter from my pocket again, I checked the address written on the envelope: ‘Whinnychester Mansion, Hooverheim’.

Seeing as that’s practically the only mansion present on the town, I think it’s where I have to go.

Unless of course I took a wrong turn and ended up in a different place…

Putting back the letter back inside my pocket, I continued towards the town, watching as a number of pegasi flew in from above from the direction of Ponyville.

While most of them were civilians, a number of the pegasi wore a version of the Canterlot cadet uniform.

Some of them had the grey and non-decorated version of the uniform which signified that they were first year cadets but others had a lot of badges or pins to signify their achievements during training.

*BUMP!*

“Oof!” I reeled back after hitting something that I was sure that wasn’t a tree or a pole or a wall, my mind entering a panicked state as I came to realize that I had bumped INTO SOMEONE due to my carelessness.

“S-sorry! I-I wasn’t paying attention!” I explained, keeping my head low to prove that I regretted this easily avoidable collision.

The pony that I had bumped into however, whose coat was that of a mossy-greenish color and had thick hooves, didn’t say anything but was facing me nevertheless.

Gulping, I didn’t dare to see the stranger’s face, much less make eye contact with him.

Good job, Tender Heart, you haven’t even started with your apprenticeship and yet you’re already making enemies. Or at least people that’ll hate you. Worse… Enemies that will hate you…

Closing my eyes, I waited for a barrage of harsh words or insults to be thrown my way, expecting a lengthy and angry lecture about how much of a waste my eyes were for not using them as intended.

While it has been quite a while since those words were said to me, replaced with pseudo-mocking ones that the drill sergeants spout during training back in Canterlot, the expectation of being told that I’m practically useless could not be shaken off.

At least in Canterlot, praise was given where it was due whenever I showed improvement in the obstacle course or magic proficiency or even with just remembering the core values of the Royal Guard.

But as the seconds flew by, there was only silence, and maybe a bit of confusion in the air.

Upon opening my eyes, I saw that the earth pony that I bumped into, who I finally discovered to have a brown mane, was staring at me.

His face held no animosity or even any level of annoyance towards me. Though I could discern from his eyes that there was some semblance of worry towards me, his neutral expression made me unsure of my assumption.

The more I looked at him, the more I realized that I can’t read him at all! Whoever this was, he had a really good poker face.

“Haymakeeeeeer!” called out a mare from behind me from afar.

Turning around, I saw a lilac-colored unicorn with a purple mane wearing a simple but elegant purple shawl around her shoulders running towards where I and the Earth pony was with a basket full of flowers trailing behind with her magic.

“Did you get what you needed?” asked the colt once she arrived.

“Of course, but what are you doing out here? Did Buddy send you out on patrol?” asked the mare.

I blinked when the name ‘Buddy’ was mentioned. Were they talking about the very same ‘Buddy’ that I needed to talk to?

“No, I came here to wait for you so we can go home together, who knows when I need to leave for the cities again,” he said before moving to take the floating basket in his mouth to carry it himself, prompting the lady to disengage her spell.

“We should really ask Buddy to let us go on a vacation, I don’t think he’d mind,” she said before nuzzling into the underside of the colt’s chin affectionately.

“However, it seems that you’ve been making friends for once,” giggled the mare before turning to me, causing my heart to drop for a split second while the earth pony sighed and rolled his eyes. “What’s your name, young colt?” she inquired.

“O-oh! It’s Tender Heart, ma’am!” I immediately answered, giving a salute to her and the earth pony.

“Argonia would suffice, Argonia Free is my name,” replied the unicorn before turning towards her partner. “And this is Haymaker, he’s an agent of the Rays of the Sun, it’s a bodyguard company here in Hooverheim. May we ask what business you have here in our town?” she asked.

“Oh, well, it’s a bit of a long story…” I said before sharing the reason why I came here, at least the one that General Armstrong wanted me to use as a false story so that the Royal Guard can monitor Buddy’s condition.

When I finished, both Haymaker and Argonia stared at me with a bewildered expression on their faces before looking at each other and then stepping away a little from me so that they can talk to each other in hushed tones after Haymaker set aside the basket of flowers on the ground for a while.

“Should we tell him?”

“We could but maybe he can handle it?”

“But he looks like a nice pony, Buddy will obliterate him!”

Whatever these two were talking about, they weren’t really all that discreet about it…

Just what sort of pony was Buddy in the first place to be able to supposedly ‘obliterate’ me if he was disabled like how the general described him?

After a few more seconds, the two finally ended their conversation and turned back to me after Haymaker picked up the basket once again.

“W-well, since we’re both heading in the same direction, why don’t you come along with us?” Argonia offered with a shaky smile while Haymaker looked at me now with visible worry.

“I think I’d like that…” I said before nodding.

With Haymaker lead the way, I followed him and Argonia through the town proper, and as the two walked side by side, I couldn’t help but look at the earth pony who didn’t scold or get angry at me for bumping into him a while ago.

At first I thought that this was only something that occurred in the guard, a small proof of understanding from the officers towards the cadets because they’ve been through the same path early in their lives and it would be hypocritical of them if they didn’t return the favor when a recruit or cadet makes an honest mistake, allowing the latter to do the same in the future once they’ve become a royal guard as well.

Taking a deep breath and letting myself calm down, I continued walking with Haymaker and Argonia, my surroundings steadily being filled with ponies of various backgrounds interacting with each other or going on about their daily routines.

There was a notable number of travelers that were sufficiently packed for a long trek to the west, carrying provisions, foldable tents, foodstuffs and other supplies loaded on carts and carriages.

A few of these groups were enough to comprise a caravan, and it wasn’t long before the ringleaders began to discuss their routes and/or destinations, offering to merge their numbers to make the journey safer if they traveled together in a combined group.

Not far from these ponies were the various store owners peddling their wares ranging from fruits to medicine to passersby.

One of the stores was a pastry shop and on display was a piping hot pineapple pie that I was horribly tempted to buy just from how deliciously golden the crust looked.

For the price of three bits, I can have that ENTIRE PIE for myself.

Fifty bits…

Surely the general wouldn’t mind if I used three bits? Right?

And he did say that I had full discretion on how I wanted to use it…

But what if he has officers watching me right now?

Blinking at that thought, I turned and looked around to see if there were any strange figures observing my actions, evaluating my character, and preparing a report or letter to the general to say that I’ve been squandering funds from the kingdom for buying a pie.

Nope! Not gunna risk that!

Then I realized that Argonia and Haymaker were staring at me the entire time.

“Hm? Would you like that pie, Tender Heart?” asked Argonia all of a sudden and I realized that she had caught me staring at the freshly baked pie.

“I-I do but, uh, I think I can do without it, the money I have right now is property of the royal guard so-“ my explanation was cut short when the unicorn suddenly headed towards the shop and pulled a few bits out of her shawl to buy a slice.

“Here you go!” smiled Argonia, waiting for me to accept the slice by using my own magic to take it from her levitation spell.

Why was she…?

“But… It’s yours… You bought it so…” I said, unsure on what to do. Was this a test? A way to see if I was low enough to take what wasn’t mine.

“No, silly, I bought it for you! I heard from Buddy before that cadets usually have to abide by unwritten rules and that there are evaluators always watching their moves. It doesn’t count as you using the money from the royal guard if I used my own.” Argonia explained with an understanding smile.

Cautiously, I looked towards Haymaker to see if he had any sign of disapproval for the unicorn’s gesture but again, instead of anything negative or aggressive, the earth pony gave a sincere nod, telling me that it was alright for me to accept the food.

Tilting my head down a little, I reached out for the pie with my own magic, my pinkish aura engulfing it while Argonia released it from her bright purple aura.

“I… Thank you, this really means a lot to me.” I smiled before taking a bite out of the pie after bringing it closer. “Mmmmmm.”

“Don’t thank me yet, you still have Buddy to deal with,” chuckled Argonia before resuming our walk towards the mansion but this time in a slightly slower pace so that I can enjoy the pastry that she had so generously bought for me without any sort of hesitation.

I’ll have to pay her back somehow, I need to…

After a few minutes, we finally arrived at the Whinnychester mansion with Haymaker opening the heavy wooden doors of the entrance for me and Argonia.

Once inside, Argonia led me towards the second floor from the dual staircase in the foyer while Haymaker continued further in the first floor, entering what I believe was the kitchen after catching a glimpse of the door that he opened as I headed up the second level.

The place was filled with numerous antique-looking furniture, some of which… Oh Celestia, not some… MOST OF WHICH ARE COVERED IN DUST AND COBWEBS.

Out of curiosity, I lifted a hoof and traced the handrail of the staircase, my eyes widening in utter shock and disgust when there was a significant amount of DUST on it.

Okay, even if I didn’t manage to get an apprenticeship under this Buddy, I will fight for the right to get rid of all this dirt and put this mansion in a squeaky clean and homey state.

There are just things that I cannot ignore, and one of them was leaving a good, well-furnished estate in a state of neglect.

When we were on the second floor, Argonia took a right and led me to the end of the hallway where a reception area with a coffee table and three sofas, ALL OF THEM NOTICEABLY DUSTY, were located.

Stopping right in front of the door in front of us, the mare turned to me and told me to wait for a moment while she briefed Buddy, prompting me to nod and gulp a little.

After knocking on the door a couple of times, Argonia entered the room once permission was given, closing the door behind her before I could get a glimpse on the appearance of the unicorn that I have to study under as an apprentice, hopefully.

Taking a deep breath, I straightened my uniform as much as I could and fixed my mane to look as impressive, or at least as decent, as I can be.

A few seconds later, Argonia opened the door and nodded towards me before gesturing for me to enter.

“Break a leg,” she whispered once I was inside, leaving and closing the door afterwards.

“So, General Armstrong sent you, huh?” asked a deep voice from the other end of the room, and upon turning my head, I could see that it came from a unicorn with a golden brown coat and pearly white mane wearing a pair of purple aviation sunglasses in a dimly lit office sitting behind a table that was similar to the one on General Armstrong’s office.

The only source of light in the room was the warmly lit fireplace to the right…

However, a stark difference between the two was that this one was the fact that there was only two piles of paperwork on Buddy’s table and were neatly organized.

“Yes sir, Cadet Tender Heart, reporting, sir!” I said with a salute before continuing.

“And I have his Letter of Introduction with me,” I added, taking out the letter from my pocket and placing it on the table before stepping back a little so that he can read it, however he can do that with how bad the lighting is? And with him wearing heavily tinted sunglasses? I can never know.

Staring at the envelope, the unicorn didn’t say anything for a moment before reaching over to take it, staring at it again once it was on his hoof before looking at me.

“This is suspiciously heavy for a Letter of Introduction,” he said in genuine confusion.

“I know!” I said loudly in agreement, glad that I wasn’t the only one who thought that it couldn’t possibly only have a mere letter of introduction, wincing when I realized that I broke formalities like that.

Buddy, on the other hand, didn’t seem to mind my outburst as he had his gaze back at the letter as if contemplating whether or not should he open it.

After a few seconds, the unicorn finally went ahead and broke the wax seal that held the envelope shut, but instead of taking out the contents, Buddy instead placed it back on the table and pushed it towards me.

“Alright kid, I’m going to trust you,” said Buddy before leaning back against his seat with his eyes trained on me. “I want you to read the Letter of Introduction to me.”

“Excuse me?” I inquired, confused at the request.

Can’t he read it himself? What if I stutter and make a fool of myself?

“Well, you won’t really be any of use to me if a simple task such as reading a letter is something that you can’t do if you want to be my apprentice. If you can’t do that, what more can I expect from you if I give you precise instructions to follow and a person’s life will be on the line if you fail to execute it?” he answered coldly.

Noticing his annoyance, I immediately complied and went for the letter, taking the folded pieces of letter and unfolding them, blinking however when I noticed what the very first page contained.

“The first page…” I began.

“Yes?” asked Buddy in a sort of an expecting tone.

“It’s… There’s just a winking smiley face drawn on it…” I said, showing him the piece of paper containing a badly scribbled ‘>;)’ on it.

Suddenly, Buddy groaned and stood up from his seat before opening the curtains behind him, causing an influx of light to fill the room, forcing me to squint a bit to adjust my eyes from the sudden change in brightness.

“Congratulations, kid, you’ve been strong-armed by General Armstrong,” grunted the unicorn who proceeded to approach me to take the letter with his hoof.

“I… Don’t understand.” I said in confusion, staring as Buddy went to examine the other pages.

“It’s the general’s talent, he has a thing with words to persuade, and sometimes coerce, people into doing what he wants, we’re only lucky that he isn’t using it for selfish or evil purposes. He also tends to exaggerate things and pull on your heartstrings to make you accept requests or tasks immediately,” explained the unicorn.

Well, come to think of it, Buddy doesn’t seem to have any sort of disabilities, and as he walked around the room while reading the rest of the content.

Furthermore, I don’t seem to feel any sort of pain from him either…

Was I really fooled by the general? But for what purpose?

“Look at this,” added Buddy, showing the smiley face again at me. “Look at how menacing and threatening this scribble of a smiley face this is. It just reeks of ‘if you don’t accept this cadet as your apprentice, I will make your entire life miserable, you still owe me one, Buddy.’ I have no doubt that this actually came from that annoying, silver-tongued general.”

Now that he mentioned it, it… Does look, no, it FEELS threatening. Like there’s this impending sense of doom the more you look at this lazily drawn smile as if the general knew deep down that whatever he planned will succeed and so he didn’t have to actually have to put any effort in making it look good.

“Setting this aside for the moment, there’s something that I need to know, Tender Heart,” said Buddy who went back on his seat and placed the letter on his table.

“Why me?” he asked. “I’ve already cut ties with the Royal Guard so my word is worth virtually nothing to the other officers, surely there are those who are more qualified who can take you in.”

Ah, well that’s the catch isn’t it?

“I could but, you’re the only one who the general recommended.” I answered while cursing inwardly.

I don’t like to lie, and even if may have exaggerated the condition of Buddy, I don’t think everything he said was a lie.

As far as I can tell, there was some hatred in how he described his affiliation with the Royal Guard. If he had just merely left the army, Buddy would have just said ‘I’m no longer part of the Royal Guard.’

Instead, he said he cut ties with them as if he wanted nothing to do with them anymore.

So maybe there was some truth to what the general said.

“There are other knights,” he pointed out.

“And there are other candidates. All of which have… A better background than I, sir,” I replied. “If there were someone else that would give me fair consideration, I’m sure that the general would have led me to them. I don’t know why, but General Armstrong chose to send me to you specifically.”

For a moment, Buddy didn’t say anything, choosing to instead stare at me as if carefully assessing whether or not I was lying or twisting the truth, and I can feel the suspicion emanating from him.

“Clarify what you mean by ‘a better background.’” he requested.

“Not everyone wants to take in an orphan, sir,” I sighed. “I don’t have a family to give them favors in return for their teachings. When compared to other cadets, I’m not as bright or strong, but I’ll work hard just like the rest of them, I just need this one chance to prove it.”

The last part was something that I never realized I could say to someone. I was just supposed to use the apprenticeship as an excuse to monitor Buddy’s health and report back to General Armstrong to rebuild his trust in the Royal Guard after all.

But with General Armstrong seemingly having twisted my arm into accepting this task under false pretenses, maybe it wouldn’t be so bad if I decide to use this as an opportunity to actually land an apprenticeship under Buddy even if he’s… Rather odd with the mood switching.

The other unicorn on the other hand, looked at the scribble that General Armstrong made as a Letter of Introduction before looking back at me and then giving a small breath of submission.

“He really knows how to play his cards…” muttered Buddy before taking the other pieces of paper from the letter and showing them to me, revealing that they were evaluation forms.

“Well, two can play at this game,” he added before opening a drawer and taking out a quill and a bottle of ink and proceeding to fill out the evaluation forms.

Intellectual Ability: A+
Magical Proficiency: A+
Communication Skills: A+
Honesty: A+

Wait a minute…

“Uhhh, Sir?!” I asked in a panic, watching as he continued writing A pluses on the other categories in the most casual manner as if he was just filling out a crossword puzzle.

“In a minute, Tender Heart,” said Buddy without looking up from the evaluation forms.

Potential as a member of the Royal Guard: Exceptional
Potential as part of the Honor Guard of Celestia: Exceptional

Now, although this means that I am now practically ahead of the other recruits with the grades that Buddy was giving me, if General Armstrong, or heck, if ANY of the other knights or officers decide to test me if I actually had these skills, I’d be humiliated!

A few seconds later, he signed the document and sealed it up in a new envelope with a spell before turning back to me.

“Now as far as I’m concerned, you don’t have to worry about your future anymore now that I’m personally vouching for you by grading you upfront,” said Buddy in a casual tone. “Now, the only issue here is, what are you going to do about it? For all I care, you can just take your leave and do whatever you want. With the evaluation form filled out and sealed, your future is secured. However, will you take your chances and hope that the Royal Guard won’t find the grades suspicious or will you work hard to prove that you in fact earned it as my student?”

I stared at him for a moment, dumbfounded for the drastic course of action that he took just to get back at General Armstrong. I was about to voice a strongly worded complaint of my own when my mind finally caught up on the totality of what the unicorn said.

“Wait, did you say ‘as your student?’” I inquired, my mind already forgetting about the downsides of what Buddy did.

“Yes,” he stated with a roll of his eyes.

“Then, that means that I’m-“

“You’re officially accepted as my apprentice, yes.”

Silence…

“… Can I hug you?”

“No,” answered Buddy with a deadly glare that caused me to inch back a little.

“Alright, alright! No hugs! Jeeze!” I cringed.

“But since I wasn’t really planning on taking an apprentice in the first place, me teaching you will have to take a bit of time, whatnot when lesson plans, fieldwork, and magical theory is concerned… Not to mention the fact that you’re just a cadet right now so I can’t send you on field missions with the other members of the Rays of the Sun for practical immersion in protecting civilians… During your free time here, would it be acceptable for you if I made you do housework? Maybe clean the place up every now and then and help Argonia-“

Without hesitation, I straightened up and gave Buddy a salute.

“Give me a broom and I will clean EVERY. SINGLE. INCH. OF. THIS. DUSTY. SPIDERWEB-INFESTED MANSION. ALL OF IT,” I declared.

I was given the chance to rid this place of the dirt that had layered itself for only Celestia knows how long and I’ll be damned if I didn’t take advantage of it.

“You sounded more interested in cleaning the mansion than studying…” commented Buddy who had a bit of a disappointed look on his face.

Grimacing, I lowered my salute in shame and tried to apologize “Y-yeah, sorry, it’s just that-”.

“I guess you’re going to sweep my expectations.”

…

Wait a minute, was that a pun…?

My mind suddenly drifted back to Haymaker and Argonia walking away for a moment to whisper things to each other…

Oh no…

OH NO!

THIS IS WHAT THEY WERE TALKING ABOUT-

“Don’t worry, Tender Heart, I’m sure you didn’t mean to give me that impression, why don’t we…” Buddy continued, a sly smirk steadily growing in his face as he stared at me gleefully. “Start over with a….”

—

“Clean slate.”

Author's Note

Beware the pun connoisseurs

3) Silent Solitude

Ma,

If ya could just get Sun Rider to tell Wordsmith to stop yapping in rhymes, I’d appreciate it. Nine times out of ten, I ain’t got no idea what the buck he’s talking about.

Also, Swansong brought that angry bird of his to the barracks again.

Send help.

Dreamchaser

When Buddy accepted Tender Heart as his student, he expected the worst from the newbie.

Exploding spells, summoning eldritch creatures, killing someone? He expected it all.

Thankfully, the first week that he spent mentoring the cadet ended up without incident in the very least.

He found the young colt receptive to his instructions, never proceeding unless given approval though it did feel a bit annoying at times when Tenderheart wouldn’t go through the next phases until he gave the go-ahead.

Either way, Buddy found this experience with the younger unicorn pleasant.

The only problem that he found was that Tender Heart seemed to have more enthusiasm cleaning the mansion than learning advanced spells.

From sweeping the floor to cleaning the chimney, not once did he hear the young unicorn voice out a complaint. Not when he was too engrossed with cleaning every nook and cranny that he could find.

Buddy didn’t even need to tell Tender Heart which part of the mansion he should clean. The colt just automatically did it every single day without fail and without having to ask him to do so.

However, there was something that Buddy couldn’t wrap his head around, and he was sure that the other members of the Rays of the Sun, especially Argonia, noticed every time the cadet was cleaning something.

“… Why isn’t he using his magic?” asked Argonia, placing a hoof on her cheek as she attempted to figure out why the cadet was mopping the dining room floor by holding the mop with his hooves instead of using a telekinetic spell to perform the action.

“I’d say he’s angry, like how we unicorns would do things without magic, but with that proud grin on his face? I don’t think he finds anything wrong with doing things ‘manually’,” muttered Buddy before taking a seat beside Argonia who proceeded to fill his cup with tea by lifting up the brass pot with magic and tilting it slightly, allowing the hot, fragrant beverage to flow out into the white ceramic cup.

“Do you think he knows?” asked Argonia, placing the pot down on the table as Buddy dropped two sugar cubes on to his drink and stirring it a couple of times.

“Know what?” asked the groggy unicorn before sipping at his tea.

“That he can use magic to clean?”

“Don’t be ridiculous, Argonia, of course he does,” answered Buddy, turning his head to watch the cadet continue his mopping, seemingly unaware that they were talking about him.

Both of them stayed silent for a while, staring at Tender Heart who still didn’t use magic to assist him in his task even though doing so would have allowed him to finish much earlier.

A few moments later, Buddy and Argonia looked at each other as if realizing at the same time that MAYBE Tender really didn’t know that he was allowed to use magic for mundane tasks.

“Hey, Tender Heart,” Buddy called out, causing the cadet to perk his ears up and turn his head towards him.

“Yeah?”

“Why… Aren’t you using magic?” inquired Argonia.

Tender Heart’s brows furrowed in confusion as if he didn’t get what she was talking about.

“Using magic… For what?” he asked.

“Cleaning!”

Tender Heart stared at them, looking as if he was waiting for both Buddy and Argonia to give the punchline to him.

“Nope, he doesn’t know,” groaned Buddy before placing his hooves on his face.

“Wha? Why should I use magic for cleaning?!” asked Tender Heart who turned to Argonia in an attempt to get her to side with him since the idea of using magic on mundane tasks seemed needless.

“Tender Heart… You really don’t know?” asked a cringing Argonia in disbelief and worry, wondering how long did the colt manage to survive without using his magic frequently to hone his skills.

Buddy watched the cadet turn his head back towards his mop then back at the two unicorns.

After a few seconds, Tender Heart’s horn glowed green and the mop was subsequently encased in the same color, staying in mid-air after he had let go of it, showing that the unicorn was now holding it with a telekinetic spell.

The mop then moved downwards, stopping right at the tiled floor before moving about left and right as if an invisible pony was mopping the floor.

Buddy swore on that very moment that he saw a light bulb turn on above Tender Heart’s head as if he had just discovered the answer to he greatest mystery in life before chuckling to himself.

“… You alright there, kiddo?” asked Buddy as he took another sip from his tea.

Instead of replying, Tender Heart opened the nearby closet using his magic with an excited look on his face and took out another mop… And cleaning soap… And another bucket… And a broom… And a feather duster… And a rag… and a can of floor wax.

Without responding to his question, the cadet left the dining room followed by floating cleaning equipment, his chuckling turning into slightly crazed laughing when he closed the door behind him.

“We unleashed a cleaning gremlin…” commented Argonia with worry as she listened to Tender Heart’s laughing fade in the background.

“Well, at least now our group now has someone who willingly does dirty work,” replied Buddy nonchalantly, his lips quivering as he tried his best not to laugh as Argonia beside him suddenly went silent and he could feel her gaze burning a hole through his skull.

“Will you please just betray me already so I can stab you in the face?” asked the mare beside him whose voice was seething with anger.

“Sorry, your highness, puns are not a crime,” chortled Buddy.

“They should be.”

“Why? So you can give me a punishment?”

It was as if I woke up for the first time in my entire life.

Using magic to clean? Just think of all the things I can do all at once! I’ll have so much time to spare that I can clean the other rooms today, or better yet, the entire mansion!

Followed by my protégé of cleaning items and utensils, I entered Buddy’s office and was immediately greeted by the the dusty air that seemed to have lived there for far too long.

When I arrived at the Whinnychester Mansion, the dustiness of the place wasn’t this pronounced, but now that I have the proper gear to rid the place of this foul, sneeze-inducing particles, my target couldn’t be clearer.

The other rooms were easy to clean since they were mostly vacant or unused, but Buddy, unless he was eating with Argonia and Haymaker, rarely left his office, hence why I couldn’t start with that area.

I asked him a few days ago if I could do a quick sweep on his office and he gave me his permission to do so when he was not in the room.

While that was a good thing, I made sure to ask him if I should stay away from anything, like certain bookshelves or items that he didn’t want anypony to touch, or if there were any sensitive or classified documents that a cadet like me shouldn’t look at.

His response?

‘Depends, do you have enough knowledge to understand the basics of condensed high-speed multi-layer spell casting?’

The mere fact that he said that to me with a straight face before returning to his paper after two seconds told me that he wasn’t lying.

Even if his office was filled with valuable books or documents, what were the chances that I, a mere cadet, could understand their contents? Much less use them for my own personal gain?

But he couldn’t be THAT careless, right? There was no way that all of his magical secrets were all easily accessible in his office like that. Sure, a mere cadet like me couldn’t begin understand his concepts right away, but what if someone smarter than me came into the room?

No, it was probably just a test of character, Buddy wouldn’t just leave important stuff for anyone to take, he’s definitely trying to see if I’m brave enough to take initiative.

For now, however, I had other things to take care of.

“HEAR YE! HEAR YE! YOUR TIME OF TERROR, RESPIRATORY PROBLEMS, AND SLIPPERY FLOOR BOARDS HAS COME TO AN END, FOR I! TENDER HEART! HAVE RISEN BEYOND THE CONSTRAINTS OF MY OWN ABILITIES!” I shouted as I prepared all of my cleaning equipment with my magic, guiding them beside me like a legendary knight bringing forth every mystical weapon he had acquired in his journey to face his fateful adversary.

“No longer will you caution others where they step, for they will no longer fear of slipping, nor will you catch them off guard with puffs of dust the moment they sit, and no longer will you give these walls a ghostly and haunted aura… For I will turn them once again… into a CLEAN place of dwelling!”

The next few minutes, or perhaps hours, were a blur for me.

Windows were opened, book covers were cleaned, floorboards were waxed and shined, vases and trophies were polished, and rugs and curtains were dusted out.

I think Buddy or Argonia might have opened the door slightly and peaked in at one point but I was too busy with my work to find out who it was or if it was just a figment of my imagination.

My mind turned back to the barracks and the academy, just think of all the work that I could get done now that I know I can use magic to help me with my tasks! I’ll be able to clean up the place in no time! Maybe even General Armstrong’s annoying, disorganized, messy, and trash-riddled office.

Oh god, all those documents that I have to sort through.

Alphabetically…

Or by date…

OR PRIORITY!

I just CANNOT wait until I return from this mission to get started on that place!

Meanwhile, although Buddy’s office seemed neat enough, there was actually a lot of dirt hidden under the furniture as though he did try his best to make the room look like it was being tended to but not much effort was given. It was an ‘okay’ job at best, but the surprising amount of dust and dirt under the rugs and sofas proved told me otherwise.

If there was someone whose definition of cleaning was sweeping things under the rug or furniture and then calling it a day…

No, Buddy can’t be that lazy, he probably just had too much stuff to do prior and that’s why he could only do the bare minimum and that’s why he’s put so much faith in me to clean up his mess without judging him.

As his apprentice, I HAVE to do this unconditionally, and unconditionally I will.

As I went to put back the numerous volumes about spells and alchemy back to their respective bookshelves, making sure that they were perfectly aligned and by order I noticed a hole on the right side on the middle row shelf.

I thought that perhaps termites managed to eat through the lacquered wood but upon closer inspection the hole was neatly cut, and on the wall was a neat recess that housed a number of items.

If this was a trash bin then it certainly wasn’t a convenient place to use.

Curious, I reached out for the contents of what I thought was a hiding spot with my magic, causing five items to glow green before floating towards me.

One was an opened box containing a stylized eight-ray golden sun medal with a sword and quill crossed against each other with a jeweled staff standing upright in the middle as a background while the words ‘Others Above Self’ emblazoned in shiny fancy gold letters were written below inside an inverted chevron.

No doubt this was the Celestial Cross that Princess Celestia had granted to Buddy after the Changeling Siege of Canterlot.

The very same one that he was supposed to get in a ceremony that he chose not to attend.

But why would Buddy hide it in a hidey hole instead of displaying it on his desk or on a pedestal? Or heck, if it bring him that much prestige to have a general worry after him, then wouldn’t it feel more at home being worn by him to show how much he’s given in the service of Equestria?

The next item was a faded sepia picture depicting three young ponies comprised of two unicorns and one pegasus standing in front of a school somewhere. Of the three, two had their faces blocked out hastily with ink, leaving only one unicorn staring in the camera.

This unicorn, even though he lacked the aviator glasses that is almost always on his face, was undoubtedly a much younger Buddy Guard, only here, his eyes were filled with sadness.

I turned the photo around to find clues about when or where it was taken but the backside of the picture had no writing present, causing me to sigh as I went to check the other items.

A part of me wanted to put these items back where I took them but I’ve already gone this far to wuss out. At best, maybe this would help me understand Buddy more.

I mean, the general couldn’t have sent me here for no reason, right? Sure, Buddy seemed to be fine and well when I arrived, much better than what General Armstrong described him to be, but surely there was a reason why he was picked for this particular mission instead of the more capable cadets or knights that he could send.

The other items were: a purple book with a thundercloud insignia on the cover that I couldn’t open for some reason, probably locked with a spell or something; a small potion bottle filled with a glowing bright red liquid; and a scroll with a broken red wax seal of… The Captain of the Guard?

“Oh, you found my stash,” said Buddy behind me, causing me to jump in place and let go of the scroll before I could unfurl it and read its contents.

“S-Sorry! I shouldn’t have poked through your things-”

Buddy stopped me with a shake of his head before I could finish my sentence, approaching me and picking up the scroll from the floor with his magic, the object covered in a light blue aura that was the same color of the glow of his horn.

“You’re fine, Tender Heart, I was worried because you suddenly went silent after all the… Uh…”

“Racket that I was making?”

“Evil laughing and monologuing, yes.”

Okay, a bit rude, but believable.

“You are seriously eager to clean the dirt off this place, huh? I thought it was just you trying to look good on your first day,” he commented before putting back the scroll on to the recess on the wall along with the other items.

“It helps me keep my mind off things, otherwise I’d go berserk from boredom.” I replied, moving to take all of the books that I had put on the side with my magic, carefully placing them back on the shelves in alphabetical order.

“Have you tried practicing your spells instead?”

I chuckled a little at my mentor’s question. Although the sarcasm was there, I’m sure he still meant well.

As a unicorn, there seemed to be a lingering expectation that I should be practicing my magic or spells as much as I can to improve my grasp on it.

For a cadet or future unicorn Royal Guard, being able to utilize a variety of offensive and defensive spells in response to a situation was a must.

Spells to stun, to blind, to slow down, to speed up, to shield, nullify… You name it. I did what I can to learn every spell that I was required to cast and sustain to a certain standard.

But to cast something as ‘perfect’ as Prince Shining Armor’s anti-Changeling spell, where the range was the entirety of Canterlot and yet only affected his targets without needing them to be in his line of sight to ensure that no innocent pony was hit…

It’s beyond my reach… Not unless I cheat…

“I can only do so much, Buddy.” I replied after a few seconds before moving away from the other unicorn and closing the windows of the office since the room was sufficiently aired out of dust now. “On my own, I can cast rudimentary spells that you’re required to learn and master as a cadet sufficiently, but beyond those things, I’m pretty much bland. No matter how much I try, I’ll never be as talented as Miss Twilight Sparkle, or better yet, I’ll never be of the same caliber as former Captain Shining Armor.” I admitted, huffing as I went to fix the curtains and adjust the lighting of the room to Buddy’s liking as he listened to me.

“I mean, yeah, I can try and be like him, I can work hard to be as reliable and hard working as him, but no matter how I try, I’ll never come close to the real thing. At best, I’ll just be an imitation” I continued.

Buddy was silent, his head turned towards the row of books where his stash was hidden.

After a few seconds, he went towards the sofa and slumped down on it casually with a sigh.

“Who knows… You could be better,” he said nonchalantly.

On that moment, it was me who stopped and turned to look at him. Buddy said that so casually that it could be considered as an off-hand comment or innocent musing. However, I could feel that there was a tinge of real sincerity underneath that carefree mention of it.

I was about to open my mouth to say something but the audible sound of the windows rattling stopped me. From where I stood, I could see through the transparent glass of the windows that the sky dimmed considerably as a thick sheet of clouds rolled over the mansion and a strong wind caused the windows to rattle louder.

“What the heck?” I muttered as I approached the nearest window to check on the weather. Behind me, I heard Buddy prop himself up from the sofa and take a few steps towards the windows as well, the clip-clopping of his hooves being muffed slightly from the freshly dusted rug beneath him.

“Tender Heart, step away from the windows,” said Buddy, no, rather, he ordered me to do so with a stern tone that demanded my obedience immediately.

But against my better judgment, I ignored him and opened the window with my magic and poked my head out, furrowing my brows when I saw that the town proper was free of clouds while a thick sheet of clouds was only present above the entire area of the Whinnychester Mansion as a powerful strange wind engulfed the place, causing a lot of leaves and small debris to fly around with a few of them entering the office that I had just cleaned.

“Uhh, Buddy? I think we have a bit of a problem-?!” My sentence was cut short as I gasped loudly in shock when a powerful wind blew into the office, pushing me and Buddy off-balance, before that very same wind moved outwards, lifting me off my hooves and sucking me out from the windows as books from the bookcase, among other things, were tugged out of position by the vacuum.

Without a moment’s hesitation, I enveloped myself in magic in mid-air, stopping myself from falling down to the courtyard with a levitation spell.

In my upside down state, I tried to look around to see where was Buddy, worried that maybe he got pulled out as well and maybe fell to the ground. Thankfully, when my eyes returned to the opened window, I saw the golden brown-colored pony standing back up, seemingly uninjured.

Sighing, I readied myself to change my position as the blood was already rushing towards my head and the pressure that was building up was becoming uncomfortable.

But before I could rotate myself upright, I saw a fast-moving winged figure blast through the clouds right above me, crashing into me and knocking the air out of my lungs.

The tempest that followed caused the windows on Buddy’s office to slam shut on the hinges as I landed forcefully on a haypile on the ground, causing the stringy material to burst all over the place while something hard and sharp pressed against my throat.

When I regained my bearings and adjusted my vision, I saw that enumerable hay was falling everywhere while a night blue-colored pegasus wearing a full set of armor that was similar to the Captain of the Guard armor that Shining Armor wears, minus the helmet, but with the coloration being lavender and silver instead of the iconic purple and gold was standing over me, keeping me down by pressing his greaved hooves against my forelimbs.

On the chestpiece of the armor was a silver crescent moon that seemed to be that of Princess Luna’s cutie mark.

As I tried to catch my breath and assess my assess situation, I discovered that this pegasus had his wings crossed against my throat, his feathers as hard as steel with the longer ones digging through the soil like sturdy daggers instead of being soft and fluffy like they should be.

Looking up, I saw the pegasus scowling down on me, his eyes filled with unrestrained hostility as though warning me that he wouldn’t think twice about cutting my throat if I tried anything funny.

“Ah don’t know what or who ye are, boy,” said the pegasus without taking his eyes off me, pressing the feathers of his wings a little harder against my throat, stressing out that he had full control of the situation.

“But any funny movements, anythin’ at all, an’ it’s a new breathin’ hole fer ya,” he hissed.

Oh no… Did I get found out?

Author's Note

Hey guys, sorry for the really long gap between the new chapter and the last, work and life has been a bit hectic for a bit and I rarely had any motivation to continue the story but I somehow managed to muster a bit of strength today to do this in one go. I hope you liked it despite being practically a 'rushed job' while I'm in the zone. Once again, constructive criticisms/reviews would be greatly appreciated. Later!

4) Light Your Heart Up

These times of silence where no blood is shed,

These days where one need not fight for thy life,

Should be treasured, indulged, and yearn for.

For when the hour to draw thy blades come,

Only yonder in thy daydream will it return for certain.

- The Last Shrinemaiden, Act 2, Wordsmith

Buddy and his puns were insufferable.

If there was an opportunity for him to drop a ‘crowdkiller’, or even if it was just one person present, he would, without hesitation, take the chance to ruin everything.

And yet that was the only bad thing that Argonia could say about him right now.

When she arrived in Equestria a few years ago after being convinced by Haymaker to flee her home, the mare expected to earn her keep, to find a job and pay rent or food so that she’d be able to stay in the Whinnychester mansion.

Argonia couldn’t leave everything to Haymaker despite his promise to do everything in his power to convince Buddy to let her live in the mansion.

Even if they couldn’t get his permission, there were always other places to choose from.

Although he was more than capable to sustain both of them with his salary as one of Buddy’s agents, one that was highly prized for his sheer ability to intimidate others into keeping away from his clients with a look, the mare didn’t want to take advantage of his kindness.

During that fateful day, when she was introduced by Haymaker to Buddy, Argonia was ready to offer every bit of knowledge she had in return for board, lodging, and protection.

But instead of haggling on the terms of her stay, the former knight, upon being asked if she could stay, merely gave Haymaker a casual ‘Sure.’ and told him to prepare one of the rooms for her to occupy.

There was no mention of payment, not even an off-hand comment on if she could help in minor tasks like cleaning or cooking.

When Argonia asked him if there was anything she could do in return, Buddy asked her in kind on what she can do.

“I-I can brew a lot of potions!” she answered, specifically pointing out that she had the knowledge and skill to make rare and complicated concoctions that were not easily-accessible in Equestria, maybe ones that weren’t known in the region yet.

She argued that if she was given a few weeks to grow and replenish her stock of her native herbs to sustainable levels, she would be able to gain a good profit from selling the potions made from them.

Argonia believed that with the profits. and the fact that the Rays of the Sun would have an in-house supplier of potent potions in case of serious injury, disease, or curses, she would be able to prove that she had some worth to them.

But once again, instead of discussing the terms on how they would split the profits, Buddy instructed Haymaker to guide her to the White Tail Woods so that she could peruse his old atelier there which had a complete set of potion-making instruments and an unused garden where she could plant her herbs.

From there, things only went for better.

She was able to continue her craft, learn new potions that were common in Equestria but not in her homeland, and she was even given a shop in the town proper to sell her wares and earn a steady amount of bits.

It was all thanks to Buddy that she didn’t need to sell any of her beloved jewelry or heirlooms, all of which had a lot of sentimental value to her because most of them were passed down to her from her mother, who in turn inherited them from her own mother, and so on.

And yet, every time Argonia offered some, and other times: all, of her profits to Buddy, the unicorn always declined.

At first, the mare was slighted, thinking that the other thought little of how much she was able to earn in such a small amount of time. But when she did offer him all of her earnings, more than 700 bits in total, Buddy still refused to take it.

Either he thought that such an amount was still too small in his mind or he was just that stupid not to take it without any explanation.

When she asked Haymaker about this, the earth pony merely answered that that was how he was.

“Buddy is the sort to lend a hoof to anypony who needs it while never expecting anything in return, if you deserve it. The inverse, however… He’ll never believe that there’s anypony out there who will willingly help him without wanting anything in return,” he explained.

“Well that’s dumb!” she exclaimed, perplexed at how jaded the other’s view on the world was.

While Argonia didn’t ask him or Haymaker as to why he felt that way, the mare decided that it was time to slowly ease Buddy into discovering that the world wasn’t as unkind to him as he believed it to be.

When Haymaker returned from a one-off contract from Manehattan, Argonia went to Buddy’s office the and dropped a chest of golden bits in front of him and told him specifically that it was all of her profits for the last month.

Before Buddy could once again decline her, Argonia cut him off and told him that this was an advanced payment as she was going to hire Haymaker for a longterm contract as her bodyguard.

“Surely you won’t deny a client, right?” she asked with a stern tone.

Just when she thought that she could get away with him to accept her money via proxy so that she can help him with the costs of his business, even though she had no idea how much the Rays of the Sun was earning, Argonia was told, in a sincere and somewhat defeated tone, by Buddy that he doesn’t charge ponies that truly need his help.

Although she was initially flattered, something told her that this was just a ploy of the unicorn to make her withdraw her gift, and thus she was forced to draw her treasured jeweled dagger from under her cloak and ‘threatened’ him with it.

“Okay, look here, bucko, I’ve had it with that self-pity show and hero complex that you’ve been doing. You will TAKE my money and you will assign Haymaker to me so that he and I can work our flanks off to get you to stop being a mopey little bastard cooped up in this room and enjoy being a pony living in a mansion and swimming in money, you hear?!” she threatened all the while Buddy held up his forelimbs and pressing against the back of his chair with a cringe to stay away from her dagger.

“Okay! Fine! I see your point!”

Fast forward to the present and Argonia wished that she had actually stabbed Buddy in the face.

The mare had chased Buddy through the mansion with the same dagger after being given a number of unwarranted puns about cleaning, stopping only when they agreed to check up on Tender Heart who seemed to have suffered a possible slippage of sanity with the creepy laughing and evil banter that he was doing in his office.

When they quietly opened the door and peeked through the gap, they saw a massacre.

Brooms were everywhere, sweeping mounds of dust and dirt that had accumulated through the years that Buddy left the room untouched; the rugs were being beaten with mops and scrubbed with brushes outside the windows, puffing out thick clouds of dust and revealing the finer details and colors underneath; and each and every single book had its cover wiped clean personally by the cadet who was laughing maniacally as he proceeded with his task.

Buddy and Argonia then carefully closed the door and stepped away from the office as quietly as they could, fearing that if they disturbed the young unicorn from his… ‘Hobby’, Tender Heart would probably ‘take out’ the trash.

Permanently.

After their discovery of how ‘eager’ Tender Heart was to cleanliness, Buddy and Argonia parted ways, the former deciding to go out for a walk, commenting that there are other areas in the house where he can mope around in and be all mysterious.

Argonia on the other hand chose to head back to the kitchen to clean up the teapot and cups that they had used, blinking when she saw La Keyes, a cream and red pegasus, placing a number of letters on the slot where Buddy’s name was written on a gold plate on the vintage oak cabinet that looked more at home behind a hotel reception’s desk.

If she remembered correctly, La Keyes was one of the founding members of the Rays of the Sun and was responsible for the day-to-day operations of the organization including its finances and management as its vice president.

Instead of helping Buddy at the mansion, not like he was doing much other than be in his office and look like a stereotypical villain near the fireplace, the vice president usually stayed in Manehattan where the Rays of the Sun’s satellite office was located.

In fact, the Manehattan office was practically the ‘main office’ with how close it was to its target demographic, the rich and powerful. Mostly the first one though.

Even then, Argonia found it weird that someone so high up in the organization would go out of his way to deliver Buddy’s letters personally when he could just send the letters via the postal services.

“Staring at me like that is bad, Ms. Free, I’d hate to get on Haymaker’s bad side,” said La Keyes, his posh accent being thick as ever.

“W-WE’RE NOT A COUPLE!” whined Argonia, blushing heavily as she hid behind her hooves.

“Uhuh, and Buddy isn’t blind,” replied La Keyes before turning around to finally face the mare that had been observing at him for a while now. “I heard Buddy finally got an apprentice. It’s a bit unusual since he’s turned down a lot of candidates from more… ‘Desirable’ backgrounds, especially ones that came to him after the Canterlot debacle.”

Huffing and forcing herself to calm down a little, Argonia cleared her throat and straightened herself up before approaching the pegasus so that they won’t have to raise their voices to hear each other well.

“Maybe that’s the thing,” said Argonia “Perhaps it only took an orphan like him to get through his cold exterior and accept the colt as his student.”

La Keyes was about to say something but stopped when a loud noise from above occurred, causing both him and Argonia to look up as they heard loud sounds of furnitures being dragged around upstairs.

“THOUGHT YOU CAN HIDE FROM ME, DID YOU? I’LL RID YOUR KIND OFF THE FACE OF THE LAND IF IT’S THE LAST THING I DO!” shouted Tender Heart from above, his voice a bit muffled but was distinct enough to know it was him.

“… Don’t ask,” sighed Argonia as she facehoofed herself.

“Uhuh. Well, considering how much progress this place has been experiencing, it’d be best if you stay on your guard from now on,” said La Keyes before walking towards the front door.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” asked Argonia, frowning as she readied to draw her dagger with her magic.

The pegasus stopped and turned back to her with a neutral expression. “That colt up there? I don’t think he’s some random pony,” he said, pointing upwards with his left wing.

“Tender Heart? That’s ridiculous, he’s done nothing but be a sweetheart and clean-”

“Just like how he allowed a refugee from the western lands who just happens to be a potionmaster to live here without rent or obligations?” asked La Keyes with a raised brow. “Look, Ms. Free, Buddy may look like an idiot, and act like one too, yes, but he’s a brilliant idiot. I may not know who exactly is the unicorn that he took in but I’m sure he didn’t take him in just because they share a common background. In fact, how did a random pony even manage to get a letter of introduction from a GENERAL to get here? Either said unicorn is just that lucky or Buddy himself asked the general to send him here.”

Argonia didn’t like what La Keyes was insinuating but there were some grounds to what he was saying.

But Haymaker couldn’t have snitched out on her, as she had already willingly revealed her true status and abilities to Buddy when she arrived.

Sure, he might have found some use for her skills as a potionmaster but not once did he ever ask for a free handout and most, if not all, of the potions she supplied for the usage of the Rays of the Sun were always reimbursed.

No, Argonia was sure that La Keyes was just over-thinking.

“Buddy attracts all sorts of ponies, both good and bad,” said La Keyes when she didn’t respond, grinning a little to himself at the word ‘bad’ before spreading his wings as if to hint that he was talking about himself. “His only saving grace is that he has a thing for making them like him, but that doesn’t mean they all feel the same to one another. So we go out of our way to make sure that, well, we don’t get too confrontational with each other,” he chuckled.

Argonia stopped for a moment as she processed this information. Perhaps that was the reason why there were little to no pony living in this mansion? She’d never really heard of Haymaker talk about the other agents that much. Then again, Haymaker didn’t really talk that much to begin with.

Without waiting for her reply, La Keyes went towards the front door and opened it, stopping half way as he looked up at the sky. “Hrm… I don’t like the look of those clouds, best be on my way before I get caught in the rain, or something. Heed my words, Argonia, something is about to happen,” he muttered before spreading his wings and flying away off to the distance.

Curious, Argonia stepped outside to take a look at the sky as well, noticing that the area around the mansion had gotten rather dim due to a blanket of clouds rolling through the sky above the mansion proper. Although the town of Hooverheim was still clear of them, the mare believed that it won’t be like that for long.

Sighing, the mare turned back and closed the door with her magic, thinking that it would rain hard later so it was probably best if she made sure to close all the windows around the mansion preemptively, blinking when she saw Buddy go back up the stairs.

She was about to call out to him but then noticed something strange.

There wasn’t any noise from above anymore.

“Who are ye and what are ye doin’ 'ere?” asked the pegasus knight, pressing his feather blade things more against my neck as if thinking that doing so would make me answer him when I’m too worried of slicing myself if I so much as breathed or spoke.

Thankfully, my attacker lifted the pressure slightly from my neck so that I could respond.

Emphasis on ‘slightly’.

“T-Tender Heart, my name is Tender Heart, and I’m Buddy’s apprentice.” I croaked, wincing as the pain of landing on a rather insufficient amount of hay from two stories high finally caught up to me.

I winced again however when the pegasus pressed his feather blades hard against my neck again.

"Yeah, no, I don't think so, Buddy doesn't take apprentices ya see. So what are ya, really? Zebra in disguise? Con-artist...? Changelin’?"

“Will it even matter? You pushed your freaky feathers against my neck anyway when I answered so why should I even say anything?” I asked as I adjusted my vision to look around.

Above us were five unicorns clad in armors that were similar to the one that was pinning me to the ground, hovering in place as they flapped their batwings idly while watching me get interrogated by someone who doesn’t have batwings like them.

Pretty sure that was against the regulations.

Whoever this pegasus was, even if he was Captain of the Moon Guard or whatever you call it, he should also have the bat wings like his subordinates. It was just a minor illusion spell that was automatically cast by their armor to make them look the part since that was reportedly what Luna wanted her royal guards to look like so it’s not like he couldn’t do the same with bat wings.

Or could he?

“Me patience is wearin’ thin, nitwit, ye’d better start takin’ this seriously or else-”

“TENDER HEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAART!” shouted Buddy whose head was poking through the windows “WING BIND! PUSH! KICK HIS FLANK!”

“What the?! HEY! BUDDY! I’M ON YER SIDE!” shouted back the pegasus, turning his head towards where Buddy was.

Without asking for more instructions from Buddy, I immediately mustered up the strength to conjure a band of green light around the knight’s wings, compressing them to free my neck from the threat of being sliced off, before moving my hind legs so that they were right below the knight’s underbelly and kicking him off me as hard as I could, causing him to be thrown a few feet away with a grunt as I scrambled to my hooves.

But before he could hit the ground, I used my magic so that the band around his wings expanded to cover his entire body, giving me full control of him in a telekinetic hold.

Gritting my teeth, I focused as harshly swung my head to the left, causing the knight to be violently thrown in the same direction, crashing through the wall.

It was an action that I immediately regretted.

“AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!! WHY DID I DO THAT?!” I shrieked as I placed my hooves on the sides of my head, cursing myself for not realizing how much of a bad idea that was.

“Captain!”

“You little-!” said one of the knights as he and three others tried to lunge at me from above, leaving one hovering in the sky as if trying to keep her distance, but changed course when purple beams of light shot at them in quick succession.

On the front door was Argonia, her horn glowing brightly as she fired more shots at the pegasi who did their best to avoid them.

And she looked really miffed.

“THE NEXT ONE WHO LAYS A HOOF ON THE COLT WILL GET THEIR FIRST HAND EXPERIENCE ON WHAT IT’S LIKE TO BE SWISS CHEESE!” she screamed angrily as Buddy brought himself down to the ground using his own magic and went to my side.

“You alright?” he asked.

“I did that…” I whispered, biting my lip afterwards.

“It was self-defense, you don’t have to worry about-”

“No! I’ll have to clean THAT UP!” I clarified, pointing at the hole in the wall with all of the bricks and plaster and debris that fell inside of the mansion because I impulsively decided to throw the knight on the wall instead of the gate.

“THE COURTYARD TOO! AND YOUR OFFICE! EVERYTHING’S A MESS! THIS WAS SUPPOSED TO BE A NICE CLEANING DAY AND ALL OF YOU RUINED IT!” I screamed hysterically.

I snapped out of it however when Buddy lightly hit me upside the head and gave a disappointed sigh.

“Magic, Tender Heart, you have magic.”

“Oh. Right. Forgot about that…” I said, shrinking away slightly in embarrassment as Buddy shook his head and turned to the others.

“Alright, ceasefire, ponies! Let’s not make ourselves look even stupider,” commanded Buddy, causing Argonia to stop shooting at the other knights, allowing them to land.

Her horn was still glowing, however, so if they tried to attack me again, I’m sure she’d start shooting once again.

“All of you, rank formation, now!” he shouted to the knights on the ground who stiffened up and immediately scrambled to stand side by side in front of him, ignoring the one that was still in the air and didn’t get into formation like the others.

Was she deaf?

While this happened, the pegasus with the freaky feather wings stepped out of the hole in the mansion, grumbling angrily as he dusted himself off with his wings which now acted like normal feathers now.

“When I said you’re free to drop by anytime you want, I didn’t mean ‘try out a surgical strike’ too,” huffed Buddy towards the captain who merely chuckled though I could hear and feel the irritation coming from him.

I mean, who wouldn’t be if they had a colt slam them through a wall with their magic?

“Gotta play it safe, can’t have it end up like it did to Shinin’,” replied the pegasus to Buddy before turning his head to the one pegasus in the sky and gesturing for her to land.

When she did, she stood by the captain’s side instead of joining the formation.

What is she? A new recruit?

“Ha, I’m not as important as Shining,” sighed Buddy.

“Eh, still a pal, if any of us did our job better we could’ve had Chrysalis jailed up the moment she appeared. So… This yer apprentice? Really?” asked the captain, turning to me again, his eyes still filled with suspicion.

Argonia, who was still standing near the front door, charged up her magic, causing her horn to glow brighter, emphasizing that she wouldn’t think twice about firing at them again if they tried to harm me.

Buddy sighed at the scene before him, shaking his head at Argonia who then finally disengaged her magic but still kept a close watch at us.

Once he was sure that Argonia wasn’t going to fire a magical projectile, my mentor finally turned back to me and the pegasus.

“Boon, meet Tender Heart. Tender Heart, meet Boon… Also known as Alcohol Poisoning,” responded Buddy, not even bothering to answer Boon’s question.

“Hey, that’s CAPTAIN Alcohol Poisoning to ya, Buddy!” chuckled Boon, poking at Buddy’s chest with his wing feather which was thankfully soft and fluffy during that moment or else he would have stabbed him a number of times now.

Huh, so he IS a captain…

“Captain of the Luna Guard! The very first one to be called as such too!” added the pegasus before standing straight and flaring his wings to show himself off. “And these here idiots are MY idiots, the Roughnecks! Air Raid and Air Strike, they’re twins,” said Boon as he pointed at two certain guards that were in formation before continuing to the others.

It’s not like we could differentiate them from one another with how similar everyone looked with their required coat color, bat wings, and armor.

“Then there’s Sidewinder, Windshear and uh… Well…” the captain stopped and looked at the remaining pegasus beside him that he hasn’t named yet.

Whoever this was, she was going to get her flanked kicked for not getting into formation immediately, I just knew it.

If she was part of the Luna Guard, then she should have had enough training and experience to land her current position.

But then again, this was the first time that I’ve ever heard of there being a Luna Guard, or Luna’s royal guard or whatever you wanted to call it so maybe they’re just filling up the ranks with ponies of various backgrounds or experience for now and adjust it as they go.

Still, I’m wondering why she wasn’t trying to fit in with the other members of the unit.

“Is that with a K or no?” inquired Buddy to Boon.

Oops, I was so distracted by my own thoughts that I didn’t get to hear Boon say her name.

“B-both I guess????” asked Boon in kind.

“You don’t know if her name is spelled Night Vision or Knight Vision with a ‘K’?”

“Don’t sweat the details! Yer nickname was Raincloud back in basic because you make everything depressing, sheesh!”

Looking at Night Vision, or Knight Vision, I was able to get a closer look on her features.

Apart from the Luna Guard uniform that she wore, her wings were also feathered like Boon’s, though I’m not really sure if she had the ability to turn them into freaky feather blades like the captain's.

I mean… I sure hope not…

One pony with freaky feather blades was already a life-or-death situation for me and I don’t know how well I can fare against two.

“And what’s with the wings? I thought every Luna Guard has to put on the bat wing aesthetic?” inquired Buddy, to which Boon answered that him being in his ‘all-natural’ state was one of his demands to Princess Celestia before he agreed to take up the post.

“These wings,” Boon answered, spreading them proudly and making them flutter, “Are the product of me not getting killed by an old. Annoying. GILDED ARMOR-CLAD. INSUFFERABLE CRONE. And I'll be damned if I can't have them in their natural state as proof of me survivin' her 'training'”

It might have just been my imagination but whenever Boon listed a description of somepony, Buddy winced more and more as his ears began to lower.

I think he even took a step back when the captain finally got to the ‘insufferable crone’ part.

What’s worse, Buddy and Boon didn’t move nor say a word for a few seconds with the latter darting his eyes from side to side as though expecting somepony to suddenly attack him.

“… Okay, before we get killed by golden thunderbolts, can I just ask what are you even doing here?” asked Buddy after a while, sounding like he wanted to get this over with so that he won’t get in trouble.

“Oh, well, two reasons really,” grinned Boon before whistling to the four Luna Guards in formation, causing them to salute and fly off in a flash only to return not a few seconds later carrying large barrels or casks with them and taking them inside the mansion after Argonia stepped to the side to let them in, still wary of their actions.

“You got me beer?” asked a confused Buddy, lowering his aviator shades a little to see if his vision was playing tricks on him.

“And wine, mead, and ale! A full month’s salary’s worth of alcohol just for ya to drown yer sorrows,” Boon proudly said before putting a hoof over Buddy’s shoulder and hugging him close as the Luna Guards brought in a second set barrels from somewhere, their faces straining from how heavy they were.

“Are you trying to kill me by attracting ghosts to my mansion?” grumbled Buddy though he seemed to have welcomed the contact between him and Boon.

“Wha? Ghost? How the heck am I gunna kill ya with ghosts? A dead liver probably, but-”

“Because look at all the booze.”

I didn't even have to guess, Captain Boon and I were absolutely furious at Buddy for that pun.

It didn’t matter if the former tried to cut my throat earlier with his freaky feathers. When Buddy drops a mean pun like that, especially when he wasn’t even hiding that triumphant grin of his in knowing that he killed two birds in his blast range, all I see is an evil that needs to be sealed.

Argonia was lucky to be far enough not to hear anything, but based on the disgusted look on her face, she probably had a good idea on what just had happened.

It didn’t help that she receded back inside the mansion, most definitely in an attempt to make sure that she won’t get hit by a follow-up pun.

While I was absolutely thankful to my mentor for giving me an opportunity to prove myself, and for saving me from his slashy-happy friend by breaking up the encounter, I could only take so much puns for one day.

Turning away from Buddy and Boon, I approached one of Boon’s knights and offered to help them with their delivery so that I can get away from both freaky feather dude and the punisher.

Author's Note

Whew, this took a bit of a long one.

Anyway, this chapter is supposed to be much longer than what it is right now but I decided to cut it off at a suitable point.

If all goes well, I'll be able to post the next chapter tomorrow or the next few days.

5) You Say Run

To Prince Shining Armor

Given the recent increase in notable incidents over the past few months, the need to activate all preventative measures against catastrophic threats has never been more vital. Although we can depend on the wielders of the Elements of Harmony, and the wisdom of your sister, it would be better if we also make sure that our ace in the hole is still up to par. As a result, I hereby request that you grant me authorization to test Plan B.

For your information,

General Armstrong

Boon wanted to strangle the life out of Buddy.

It had been more than five years since they went on their separate ways with him continuing his career in the royal guard while Buddy left to go out adventuring only for the latter to return just after a few months and establishing a bodyguard company with a ragtag group of ponies of varying backgrounds.

Then, there was-

“Heeeeeeeeey!” piped Boon, his thoughts stopping immediately and taking a different course when he noticed the pair of shades that Buddy was wearing. “Are those the sunglasses that I gave ya years ago? Never thought ye’d actually wear them!”

Boon was easy to anger, but it didn’t also take much to lift his mood.

“They grew into me,” chuckled Buddy weakly before adjusting them. “They were picking up dust and I thought it’d be a waste to keep them in the dark.”

“Well, whatever makes ya feel better,” chuckled Boon as well before patting his friend in the back a couple of times and withdrawing his hoof.

“… So, what’s the other reason why you’re here?”

“Oh, right, yep, the other reason, hehe, um… It’s uh… It’s Knight Vision’s… F-first… Day off…” he stammered before looking at the knight who didn’t join the others in bringing in his gifts to his friend, glaring at her when she was about to open her mouth, which caused the mare to give him a look in return that basically said ‘Are you serious right now? I’ve been standing here for five minutes.’

“A royal guard’s first day off, huh?” asked Buddy, turning his head to look at Knight Vision. “And that warrants the presence of the Captain of the Royal Guard-”

“Luna Guard,” Boon corrected him.

“Luna Guard, along with four other pegasi that are training under him?” he added, the disbelief in his tone as obvious as a dead tree in the middle of a desert.

“A-As the CAPTAIN of the Luna Guard, I have to make sure that she doesn’t get in trouble, right? Since she’s… Under my care????” responded Boon before giving Buddy another look that practically begged him to go along with it and not press any further.

“…I see,” sighed the unicorn before shaking his head. “You could have given me a heads up, else I would have had Haymaker prepare some refreshments. Would she like to go into town perhaps?”

“We would appreciate thine offer!” gasped Knight Vision excitedly only for her to place the tip of her wings on her mouth when Boon glared at her for speaking.

“And she speaks olde englishce too,” groaned Buddy. “I never expected anyone to even be willing to learn that considering your experience with Wordsmith. You frequently forgot to speak normally when you trained under him. Just, don’t go a bit overboard like what he did to you,” he continued before watching one of Boon’s knights return while carrying Tender Heart who in turn used his magic to bring in the rest of the casks and barrels of booze that the captain of the Luna Guard bought for him.

If it weren’t for the younger unicorn voluntarily offering to help them, they might have taken all day to move all of the booze and would have been dead tired to do anything afterwards.

Boon, on the other hand, could not express his relief when Buddy seemed to have caught on what he wanted to imply and merely nodded to Knight Vision, giving her the ‘okay’ to relax and speak freely.

“Thanks, bud,” smiled Boon, watching as Tender Heart carefully brought the casks inside under the guidance of his knights, seemingly having gotten over how he greeted him already with how cooperative he was with the others.

“Don’t mention it, anything to make your job easier.”

“We hath heard of thy deeds done during Cadence’s wedding. Thou hath given much when no pony required thou to do so. We humbly asketh thy forgiveness for not being able to assist thee. Boon hath… Forcefully taketh us away the moment my sister fell,” said Knight Vision as she trotted towards Buddy and Boon, standing beside the latter.

“I hold no blame nor grudge towards you, ‘Knight Vision’. Chrysalis caught everypony off guard and it would have been a more dangerous situation if she managed to capture more hostages while being empowered by then-Captain Shining’s love. You might not like Boon’s decision to keep you safe, but I’m sure it was the best option he had at that time,” responded Buddy.

“SEE! I TOLD YA IT WAS THE BEST THING I COULD DO AT THE TIME! YA WANNA BE CHANGELING FEED? BECAUSE DOING OTHERWISE COULD HAVE TURNED YA INTO CHANGELING FEED!” Boon exploded as if he had found definite proof that what he did was right.

“He is thy friend! Thus his opinion is biased towards thee! Do not test us! We could have fought and pushed back together!” Knight Vision shot back.

“And that wasn’t what Princess Celestia told me to do! Ya want me to go against the princess’s orders? That’s treason! Treason is the word yer lookin’ fer!”

The bickering between Boon and the mare continued with both of them flaring their wings at times to emphasize their point.

Although it looked like they were about to throw hooves at each other, in reality this was nothing more than a simple ‘contest’ on who had the better argument on the matter.

This was affirmed when the Roughnecks finally returned with Tender Heart to the courtyard only for them to stare at the two ponies that were still arguing, not moving a muscle to try and separate them from each other or calm them down as if they knew that it’ll end well without their intervention.

For them, it wasn’t the first time that this happened.

In fact, it was a rather common sight.

“ENOUGH! WE HATH GROWN TIRED OF YOUR STUBBORNNESS, WE SHALT HEAD INTO TOWN BEFORE WE WASTE MORE TIME ARGUING WITH YOU!” declared Knight Vision with a harrumph at Boon who only grumbled in place and followed the former as she began to trot towards the opened gate of the mansion.

“Fine by me, princess!” groaned the pegasus as he began to follow her “Even though yer wrong,” he whispered under his breath, snickering when the mare shot him an annoyed glare.

Noticing this development, Buddy told Tender Heart to find Argonia so that they can accompany Boon and his group.

When the colt tried to persuade him to let him stay so that he can clean up the mess that he made, the unicorn told him he’d have all the time in the world to do that later, among other things if he wanted.

The mere suggestion of him being given free reign on which areas or what else he could clean was enough for Tender Heart to cooperate, darting immediately back inside the mansion to get Argonia so that all of them could follow Knight Vision into town.

Normally a crowd would usually attract unwanted attention, especially when there were six royal guards of Princess Luna, this wasn’t an uncommon sight for Hooverheim which regularly saw armor-clad adventurers and other knights or soldiers that patrol the Undiscovered West on a daily basis.

As Knight Vision began to converse and interact with the locals, who were perplexed with her manner of speaking but simply passed it off as a new requirement for ponies that guard Princess Luna, Boon and his Roughnecks kept their distance but still paid close attention to the mare, ready to jump into action should something odd were to happen.

Soon after, Haymaker approached them, having returned from watching the potion shop owned by Argonia, and was briefed by her on what had transpired at the mansion.

This caused the Earth Pony to give Boon a quick hostile glance as he put himself in front of Tender Heart and the mare.

Fortunately, the glare was blocked by Buddy who stepped to the side to obstruct the Haymaker’s sight just as he inquired for Boon’s reasoning why this security detail was modest at best.

As the pegasus watched Knight Vision turn her attention to a traveling musical troupe that began to play for passersby, Boon answered him.

“Truth be told, the Roughnecks are all what I could muster for her. But I guess this lack in numbers isn’t all that bad, ya know? At least she’ll get to enjoy a bit of normality,” he said. “It’s not everyday that she gets to head somewhere without her presence bein’ announced and having ponies bowing down to her or walking away from her in fear.”

The captain added that her current situation was no better than a thousand years prior. The circumstances were different but the situation was the same.

“Bein’ in Equestria and surrounded by ponies who don’t want to interact with her is no different to her bein’ locked up in the moon for a thousand years with no pony to talk to. As long as what she’s doin’ is safe, I’ll allow her to do what she wants,” said Boon, his eyes focused on Knight Vision as she applauded with the others for the performance of the troupe before throwing in a few bits of her own.

That had been their relationship not long after Boon was assigned to her.

For the captain, he was not her jailor, and he refused to be one.

Boon also admitted that him being the ‘Captain of the Luna Guard’ was practically an empty title or token position.

Apart from the Roughnecks, the pegasi couldn’t find anypony that wanted to be transferred to her.

“She’s got such a bad rep that the ‘Voluntell’ method doesn’t work at all. If it’s not mass resignation, ‘unreasonable endangerment’ is their go-to phrase and all of the other officers would write up a strongly-worded letter or complaint stating how they can’t spare personnel. And that’s where we are right now, five pegasi tasked with protecting the princess. It’s a bad composition no matter how you look at it,” he huffed.

“And you accepted the post of being Luna’s Captain of the Guard despite all of that?” asked Buddy before adding, “Actually, let me rephrase that: How come you haven’t quit yet?” asked Buddy.

“This isn’t the peg that'll take me down,” grinned Boon “If command thinks that this’ll sway me away from my ‘rockstar’ status and ask them for help by kissin’ their flank, they’re sorely mistaken,” he added before turning his head to the unicorn beside him.

“After all, if I’m the only pony around who can lend a hoof to somepony who truly needs help, what right do I have to deny them?” asked Boon before giving Buddy a wink.

“…I see,” replied Buddy who turned his head to the side as he began to bite his lip, quivering lightly before exhaling loudly. “But still, it’s a little ironic to know that the only way for her to have a little bit of happiness is to become somepony she’s not.”

“Yeah… Still, baby steps, bud, baby steps,” chuckled Boon as he nudged the unicorn. “I’ll figure something out. Fer now let’s just let her enjoy bein’ ‘Knight Vision’.” he added, blinking as the mare in question approached them with a curious look.

“Uh… Buddy?” asked Tender Heart in the background.

“… What? Got dirt on my face?” asked the captain as he began to instinctively rub his nose just in case there was dirt there.

“Nay, but prithee explain to us what that poster is about?” asked Luna, raising her hoof to point behind them, causing both Buddy and Boon to blink and turn around to see the poster that the mare was pointing to.

It was of a tearful pink mare with a chocolate-brown mane in front of the moon on the upper right corner of the poster with her hoof reaching downwards to a golden-maned purple stallion reaching out to her with a desperate expression.

The title ‘The Last Shrinemaiden’ was written on the bottom part of the poster.

“SWEET CELESTIA, WHY IS THAT STILL THERE?!” screamed Boon in panic as he ran towards the object in question, standing on his hind legs, and spreading his wings to obscure the poster as much as he could.

“Huh, I thought we took all of those down?” asked Buddy, sounding as if he had learned a new fact about puns with how casual he was compared to Boon’s reaction.

“Buddy, I think we have a problem,” Tender Heart called out again from behind but the stallion was focused on Boon and Knight Vision to listen to him.

“APPARENTLY WE DIDN’T! IT’S BEEN YEARS AND THIS STUPID THING STILL LOOKS BRAND NEW! SWANSONG’S STUPID SPELL SHOULDN’T HAVE LASTED THIS LONG WITH PRESERVING IT!” shouted Boon, moving from side-to-side as Knight Vision tried to get a better look on the poster which was such in a pristine condition that one would think that it was only placed there the day before.

Having enough of Boon’s shenanigans, the mare stopped and used her magic to take the poster off the wall, the silhouette of a horn glowing on her head even though one wasn’t physically there, bringing it to herself successfully even as the captain tried to grab it with his mouth.

“This is a play?” asked Knight Vision with the poster in her hooves, moving to the side casually as Boon tried to take it away from her frantically. “What kind of play is this? It looks nice.”

“A nice one,” agreed Buddy with an eager nod, not moving a muscle to help Boon.

“A CURSED ONE, YA MEAN!” retorted the captain to the unicorn. “JUST GIVE IT HERE, PRINCESS, AND SAVE YASELF FROM DESPAIR!”

“Oooooooh, we would most definitely love to see a nice tragedy,” said Knight Vision, her eyes sparkling with curiosity as she began to wonder what the plot of ‘The Last Shrinemaiden’ was based on the poster though she mostly assumed that it was a sappy romance of sorts that didn’t end well.

But given Boon’s attempts to protect her from it, maybe it wasn’t as bad as one would initially think.

“No, ye most definitely DON’T want to see a ‘nice’ tragedy.”

“Why of course! WE wouldn’t want to see one, but perhaps… Princess Luna herself would like to see one. Actually, WE would request her to have this play performed in her honor!” Knight Vision grinned much to the chagrin of the captain while Buddy merely watched the scene unfold in amusement.

That was until Tender Heart began to tug at his tail to catch his attention.

“Buddy! Someone’s about to commit a terrible crime!” whined Tender Heart, causing everypony in their group to look at him.

This in turn also ceased Knight Vision and Boon’s arguing.

“You sure it’s not just your imagination, Tender Heart?” asked Buddy, half-serious and half-sarcastically, because while he trusted his pupil with housework and a bit of his spells, he wouldn’t just vouch for him immediately just because he cried wolf out of nowhere.

“No, someone is about do something really, REALLY malicious nearby! I don’t know where exactly but it’s extremely close,” stated the colt as he began to look around nervously.

“Ya sure it’s not this poster right here? Its play traumatized a lot of-” Boon stopped when the air felt wrong all of a sudden, causing everypony to stop in their tracks, silent as they began to look around as well as an ominous feeling spread throughout the town.

Even the birds in the sky fell silent and flew away.

No pony dared to make a sound as this ominous air transformed into that of dread and fear.

“Tender Heart, how did you…” whispered Buddy as his eyes scanned their surroundings, watching as a few brave ponies huddled together with very little motion as they can.

“Empathy… I can sense the emotions of others…” he answered, shrinking towards his mentor in fear while Haymaker pulled Argonia close to him, his expression stern.

Beside them, Boon had placed Knight Vision behind him so that she was against the wall while the Roughnecks covered their flanks.

“And what emotion did you sense…?” asked the unicorn, his horn already glowing in preparation of casting a spell.

“Resentment… Absolute resentment, towards everything, every pony.”

Then, the colors of the world were inverted for a split second, causing everypony to widen their eyes, confused and afraid as this unfamiliar phenomenon occurred.

CRACK!

All of a sudden, a large tear in the sky appeared as its natural colors and that of the surroundings returned, making it look like it was made out of shattered glass as it revealed a pulsing red kaleidoscope and a loud roar emanated from it before a bipedal monstrosity made out of a red crystalline material descended to the town from the tear.

“MOVE!” shouted Buddy to the others as he grabbed Tender Heart and dove away, Boon doing the same with Knight Vision as his subordinates tried to keep their formation while Argonia was pulled away by Haymaker, using himself as a shield when the creature crashed to where Buddy and Boon once were, destroying the building that the poster of ‘The Last Shrinemaiden’ was on and roaring loudly as the tear in the sky closed up like a severe wound healing in mere seconds, leaving no trace of it being there in the first place.

Looking up, Buddy and Tender Heart saw that the creature was over three-stories tall and had huge stumps at the end of its arms while its legs had a flat underside to give it some form of stability for walking.

If any, it looked more like someone wanted to make a carving of a diamond dog using a semi-transparent house-sized crystal but stopped half-way, giving it a rough and crude look.

“Is that… A golem?” asked Buddy before widening his eyes as the creature raised its left arm and brought it down towards him and Tender Heart, forcing him to grab the colt with his forelimbs and dive to the side to avoid being crushed.

Before long, the sound of screams and running filled the air as every pony ran away from the hostile giant.

Knight Vision, despite her protests, was taken away by the Roughnecks with Boon shouting at them to keep her safe as he spread his wings, his feathers stiffening and glowing gold as he winced in pain.

“Unhand us! We can fight with thou! We need to protect our subjects!” she shouted at the knights holding her back but none of them complied.

Instead, they intensified their efforts to pull the mare away.

“Don’t make our jobs more difficult than it already is, yer highness! Two thirds of the Idiot Three will be enough to take care of this! We got this!” shouted Boon before making throwing motions with his wings as the other knights pulled Knight Vision away even further, doing so until they were at least a hundred meters away from the fight.

FWIP! FWIP! FWIP! FWIP! FWIP!

Like arrows released from a fully-drawn bow, Boon’s feathers zipped through the air with amazing speed, flying towards the crystal golem and embedding themselves through the target’s back but stopped a third of their length as Buddy and Tender Heart once again avoided another strike from the creature.

“Right, rocks, no pain receptors, good job, idiot, you wasted feathers for zero damage,” hissed Boon, eye twitching at the discomfort of his feathers regrowing almost immediately to replace the ones he fired at the golem.

Fortunately, the creature stumbled back when Haymaker jumped and landed a punch on its chest, cracking it slightly, while Argonia fired a number of beams at it as well, small cracks appearing on the areas it hit, allowing Buddy and Tender Heart to put some distance from the creature with the latter hiding behind the former.

Boon rushed over to Buddy’s side once his feathers were fully regrown, shuddering as he felt a strange presence in his head while the golem was being held back by Argonia with her magical projectiles and Haymaker’s punches.

“You alright?” asked a voice in his head that was unmistakably Buddy’s.

“Fer cripes’ sake! Warn me when ya do that! It’s freaky!” replied Boon, just realizing that Buddy had cast a spell to allow them to communicate telepathically.

It was one of Buddy’s staple spells when he was still part of the royal guard both to improve communication between posts and also to keep morale up by allowing guards to have conversations with their assigned partners without having to speak, alleviating boredom while on duty.

“Freaky?! Your feathers are freaky!” said Tender Heart telepathically.

“Say that to my face and see what happens-”

“Will you two knock it off?!” said Buddy, Argonia, and Haymaker.

“The kid was pushin’ it!” argued Boon before shaking his head and snorting before turning to Buddy “Alright, bud, ya seem to know what this creature is, how do we make it kick the bucket?” he asked while Argonia and Haymaker tried to keep the golem pre-occupied with.

“If it’s the same as the ones that I’ve studied, then we’ll have to destroy the its magical core. The problem with that is…” Buddy trailed off.

The golem was semi-transparent, and although you can see through it, there was no sign of an object or structure that was different or installed inside of it to look like a core.

It could be located at the very center of its chest but it might as well be in one of its legs or arms.

“Whoever made this was crafty, we’ll have to try our luck with finding it.”

“Not if we cut everywhere we don’t,” declared Boon before spreading his glowing wings completely, wincing as more than two dozen of his feathers were ejected from his wings and floated beside him, their sharp points aimed at the golem that Argonia and Haymaker were preventing from attacking by constantly keeping it in a stunned state.

“Stand back unless ya want to get turned into sliced bread!” he said to everyone before placing his left front hoof in front of him and lowering his body as his right hind leg stepped forwards.

All of the captain’s hooves dug into the soil hard as if he was getting ready to launch himself into a dash. While he performed this, Boon was already beginning to regrow the feathers that he removed.

With a nod, Buddy had himself and Tender Heart distance themselves from Boon as he relayed instructions to Argonia and Haymaker to jump out of the way at his signal.

Boon then closed his eyes and took a deep breath as he began to concentrate all of his energy into his limbs and wings.

“Lowering physical limiters, ten percent threshold…” said whispered the pegasus to himself, the glow of his wings and his feathers glowing brighter as electricity began to crackle around them.“Target distance…?”

“Thirty meters, straight ahead. No civilians, Argonia and Haymaker can jump off from your path in time,” replied Buddy.

“Five seconds, keep that blasted thing there for five seconds and jump away as far as you can,” said Boon, a command that Buddy relayed to Argonia and Haymaker.

Little by little, the air around the pegasus began moving towards his wings, seeping into his feathers and compressing it through some unknown means.

“Consider it done,” replied Argonia as she stopped firing magical projectiles at the golem before conjuring a magical seal on the ground which caused thick thorny vines to shoot out and latch on to the crystalline giant and restraining it in place.

“Four…”

Haymaker roared as he struck the left leg of the golem, breaking it and bringing it down to one knee as the vines tightened even more around it.

“Three…”

Upon landing, he and Argonia jumped away from Boon’s target, before being engulfed in a protective dome that the mare conjured to protect themselves just in case.

“Two…”

Grabbing the still-frightened Tender Heart, Buddy ran and hid behind the nearby wall, hugging the colt close as he created a protective dome around them as well.

“One…”

Within a split-second, Boon opened his eyes and shot through the air with incredible speed with the floating feather blades that were levitating around him, leaving behind a powerful explosion of pressurized air, causing dirt and debris to be thrown back from the force of his launch.

All of a sudden, the golem was bisected horizontally.

The top half about to collapse along with the vines that were cut only for both halves to be segmented cleanly in various chunks and sizes as if it was a massive piece of jelly that was forced through a net made out of sharp blades before finally falling into a pile on the ground.

Behind the pile of crystals was a trail of Boon’s feather blades with only around a tenth of each sticking out of the soil with how hard these projectiles or weapons struck the ground while the captain dug his hooves hard to slow himself down spreading his wings again to create more drag so that he won’t crash into his charge and his subordinates, stopping just right in front of the Roughnecks and Knight Vision who had to step back a little more when it was apparent that the captain had little control over his momentum.

“See!” panted Boon. “I told you we got this!” he added before turning around shakily, hoping that the telepathic link between him and Buddy was still open.

In the meantime, he chose not to regrow the feathers that he had to use for the attack.

“I think we got em, bud, no way that thing’s core ain’t sliced and diced.”

On Buddy’s side, the unicorn waited for a few seconds before finally undoing his protective spell and releasing Tender Heart from his hold.

“Stay here, I’ll check if it’s neutralized,” whispered Buddy to the colt who only nodded to him.

Standing up, the former royal guard got out of cover to see if the golem was truly eliminated, seeing nothing but a pile of crystals on the ground that was once the hostile that tried to squash them.

“Haymaker, Argonia, status report,” he called out to his two companions.

“Shawl’s a bit dusty, but nothing Tender Heart can’t fix with a good washing.”

“No injuries here.”

Buddy gave a small sigh of relief before walking over to the pile of crystals that was once a mobile golem, wondering just who could have made it with a single slab of crystal.

The cheaper and better alternative was to use granite and use a small crystal core, around the size of an apple, where a pony can magically ‘inject’ the instructions on how the golem would behave.

In Buddy’s mind, this was just a waste of good materials.

A core made out of the red crystal.

Sighing again, the unicorn cut off the telepathic link between all of them, watching as Argonia disabled her protective dome around her and Haymaker before running towards him and hugging him, causing Buddy to chuckle.

He stopped however when he heard the crystal pile suddenly move, and before he could react, the pieces rose up and ‘melted’ into each other to form a single entity before solidifying or hardening into the same appearance as the golem that Boon had just cut up not too long ago, the feathers that Boon had shot to it falling uselessly to the ground with audible ‘clinks’.

Buddy was about to shout for Argonia and Haymaker to run away as they were the closest to the golem, fearing that they’ll get rushed with a swift swing to the side.

But instead of doing so, the golem instead rushed over to where he was and raised its arm while ‘staring’ down at him.

Although confused, Buddy then realized the reason behind all of this: He was its target.

If its purpose was to rampage and cause mindless destruction, it wouldn’t have acted the way it did earlier.

It could have avoided all of their attacks and destroyed the town within minutes when it was apparent that Boon’s feather blades did not cause any significant damage while Argonia and Haymaker’s attacks could only make it stumble at best.

Even before being trapped in the vines that the mare had summoned, it had the opportunity to flail around to make every pony keep their distance while still damaging the nearby buildings but it still focused on him.

Buddy weighed his options.

If he was the golem’s only target, then once he died, it should theoretically cease all functions once it has accomplished its objective.

But then again, he had no assurance that he was its only target. For all he cared, he could just be priority number one for it.

As the gem-like creature raised its arm once again, Buddy took a small breath and closed his eyes.

It was a terrible gamble, but right now, he was out of other options. If he were only in his prime, Buddy may have taken this as the chance to return to the spotlight as a hero.

But he wasn’t.

He was a mere blind crippled pony that cheated death twice.

If everything comes to worse, Boon will just have to get serious for once.

As Buddy waited for his life to end, he gasped and opened his eyes when he felt somepony from the side push him as hard as they could, pushing him a good few meters away.

Upon turning his head, he saw that Tender Heart was now on the very spot where he was supposed to be and the golem’s arm was crashing down upon him.

The world is shrouded in darkness

Now you’ve gone and done it, Tender Heart.

But there is a light just beyond my reach

The plan was to live as long as you can, even if it meant eating scraps or living in the cupboard.

Always there but never to be held

And now that ‘live’ part got cut short all thanks to you pushing away this mysterious dark lord-wannabe whose powers revolve around mentally torturing people with puns.

No matter how much I yearn, it cannot and will never be mine

He could have jumped to the side like how a normal pony would!

However, I can bring others to this light…

He literally had like… Ten or so more seconds to do just that and he chose to stay still like an idiot!

To give them joy, to give them hope, to give them love

But… Maybe it wasn’t too bad…

This gift was never meant to be mine, it was never meant to be coveted by one single pony

The entire ‘You can live in this mansion in a nice room, be treated like family, and eat real food’ mind you, not getting crushed by some freaky angry rock thing that came out of the sky…

Hence, I let go of it, and turn to the night sky…

Yeah… It was short, but maybe it wasn’t all that bad. As the golem’s arm was about fall upon me, I closed my eyes and accepted my fate…

With only the stars to cradle us…

[A Knight in Shining Armor]

Suddenly there was a blast of magic. I opened my eyes and saw that the golem had been pushed back while that I was enveloped in an armor of light, a semi-translucent shell of gold that covered every part of my body.

On my sides were wings of the same material as the armor covering me that moved around naturally as if I had been born with them my entire life.

Curious, I spread them around and folded them with ease, with no hesitation or confusion. It all felt so natural.

It was as if my life as a mere unicorn was just a midday daydream that I had forgotten, that this winged form was what I was supposed to be.

But I.. I still have my horn… So does that mean that right now, I’m an Alicorn?

Apart from that, I felt… this incredible sense of euphoria… No, not euphoria… Fulfillment? Contentment? No, it… It was the feeling… It was the feeling of being loved after being starved by it, of yearning for it. At first only being able to imagine what it feels like but now there was definite proof that it exists, that after so long, I was able to find it.

And there was no more need for me to be afraid…

And with this power…

I can save everyone…

Almost by second nature, I fired a beam of magic at the golem that had tried to crush me once again, pushing him a few good meters away.

While I wanted to be astonished by this feat of mine, I knew that I couldn't waste any second and so I flapped my wings and took to the air, soaring and flying around the golem while hitting him with more beams of magic, preventing it from attacking by keeping it on a stunned state.

Normally, I wouldn't know how to do this, nor would I think of being capable of executing these skillful maneuvers while attacking with magical projectiles efficiently. All without breaking a sweat.

Everything that I needed in order to use this form as I saw fit, the knowledge and experience that was required to utilize this body in this current state, merely appeared on the back of my mind, supplied by my subconscious.

At the corner of my eye, I can see Buddy with his horn glowing, standing where I pushed him to, watching me, placing his faith in me as if telling me that everyone in this town, not just Argonia, not just Haymaker, not even Boon and his knights, were depending on me to save them.

With no time to waste, I reconfigured my wings, changing them to be sharp and sturdy before soaring towards the golem and mimicking Boon’s aerial attacks. I slashed at the hard crystalline material easily, cutting its legs and arms and letting it fall down to the ground with a crash.

Landing in front of it, I spread my wings and put my front hoof forwards, but instead of angling it so that I was in the ready position of a sprint, I dug deep as much as I could and followed suit with my other limbs, anchoring myself to the ground.

Steadily, I began to accumulate magic from my surroundings with my wings, absorbing it and redirecting it through my body and storing on my horn which began to glow brightly with an orb of magic surrounding it.

These thoughts, these ideas were not mine to begin with, but they came to me naturally with a guiding voice at the back of my mind. In my normal state, I wouldn’t be able to process this much magical energy at all and would have broken my concentration immediately, but there seemed like a voice kindly reassuring me. I just needed to ‘do’.

Just as the golem had managed to re-attached its limbs back together and was about to stand up, I had already accumulated enough energy to do what I had to do.

All that was left was for me to…

Give it a name…

“Emerald… FIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIRE!!!!!!” I shouted as I fired a destructive beam of my green-colored magic at the golem with an upward angle so that I can avoid destroying the town. The beam that I ejected from my horn was so strong that the sheer force of it gradually pushed me backwards in the very few seconds that I maintained it.

In front of me, the golem was obliterated with unimaginable force that not even dust remained of the crystal creature.

As I expended the last of the magic that I had stored, the beam dispersed harmlessly in the sky, transforming back into neutral magical energy into the environment.

After confirming that the threat was no more, I huffed and relaxed my muscles, folding my wings as there was no more need for them to absorb magic or stay in a sword-like state.

Turning my eyes towards Capt. Boon and his ponies, I saw that they were just amazed as I was, especially Knight Vision who looked perplexed as if she was astounded to see a mere unicorn like me to suddenly fight and fly efficiently like an Alicorn raised for battle since birth.

Haymaker and Argonia seemed to be amazed as well but they didn’t look as surprised as the others.

Before I could call upon them and say that we’re safe, I heard a thud to my left.

“Buddy!” shouted Argonia as she and Haymaker ran, causing me to turn my head see my mentor had collapsed and was breathing heavily, his body twitching.

The blue aura around his horn vanished after a few seconds and with it, the shining armor that encompassed by body faded away as well.

What focus and battle-readiness that I had soon disappeared along with the magical concepts that I used in order to be able to cast my ‘Emerald Fire’ spell. Just as how quick it was for me to learn and utilize the knowledge that appeared out of nowhere disappeared just as quickly.

I turned to my side to try and examine my left wing but it was no longer there, not even the sensation of having that extra limb, and being able to use it naturally, remained.

It was as if everything that I had managed to do just a few seconds ago was nothing but a mere daydream of mine, that I had imagined what it was like to be an Alicorn and fought the golem with the powers of an Alicorn.

What remained, however, was the lingering sensation of being loved. Sure, it was not as strong as when I was in that state, unlike everything else, it was the only thing that I was sure wasn’t ‘imagined’ or ‘part of the daydream’ of me being an Alicorn.

But as it diminished to a certain point, my entire consciousness was flooded with the feeling of somepony being in intense pain and agony, causing me to shiver and snap out of my dazed state.

No, it wasn’t just somepony, it was Buddy who was in pain!

Shaking my head and cursing myself for being distracted, I rushed over to the groaning and whining unicorn that Argonia and Haymaker tried to prevent from hurting himself by hitting the ground as he lashed and contorted in pain.

“I-It hurts…! I-it hurts…!” cried out Buddy as tears fell from his glossy, no, milk-colored opaque eyes.

How the buck did he get injured?! That golem was miles away from him and it didn’t even hit him once!

I tried to raise a hoof to try and check the state of his eyes, hoping that I was just imagining the severity of Buddy’s injuries and hoping that I wasn’t the one that caused it. Argonia calmly placed a hoof on me shoulder and shook her head while Haymaker took my mentor into his limbs, carefully cradling him so that he wasn’t rubbing against the rough soil.

“It’s not your fault,” said Argonia solemnly “This is… This is what Buddy’s real state is. Blind, crippled, and in a constant state of pain from drinking numerous ‘instant-curative’ potions to remove his injuries during the Siege of Canterlot.”

Argonia explained that if he had only taken two, or three at most, he would have been fine, but Buddy drank at least a dozen bottles to ensure that everyone around him was safe.

But that didn’t make any sense!

“That’s impossible! Buddy would have been completely invulnerable and unstoppable! He wouldn’t need these potions that you’re talking about with that spell that he used on me!” I insisted, thinking that Argonia was lying to me.

Instead, she shook her head again.

“That would be true, but… That spell, I’ve only heard about it from Haymaker, but…”

“The Shining Armor spell only works on others…” continued Haymaker.

It… Only works on others? He can’t use it on himself?

“During the Siege of Canterlot, Buddy used this spell on every capable pony he could find within the vicinity, civilians and knights alike,” he explained.

The spell, A Knight in Shining Armor, shortened to Shining Armor, was Buddy’s greatest spell, invented with inputs from Earth Ponies and Pegasi to supply him with the knowledge of their abilities to mimic what an Alicorn can do.

With their enhanced abilities and with a telepathic link to him, Buddy directed them to save as many ponies they could and bring them to the designated safe zones that the Royal Guard has in case of an enemy attack.

Haymaker explained that casting the spell makes him completely vulnerable, and that in hindsight, he could have had two ponies protecting him while the others rescued civilians and gave orders to other detachments of the Royal Guard so that they had a clear set of orders during that chaotic attack.

“But Buddy chose not to, he didn’t know if the ponies that he had put under his spell were enough and so he ordered them to save others, leaving him completely exposed. He never said the reason why he chose not to order those who were under the effects of the Shining Armor spell to just begin exterminating the Changelings the moment they arrived, but our guess is that the need to save lives outweighed the need to retaliate immediately. We would have killed so many Changelings, yes, but at the risk of losing innocent lives,” sighed Haymaker as he took a quick glance towards Boon and his team who seemed to be working already to calm the crowd and have messengers sent to Canterlot to report he incident.

During the siege, the Changelings eventually caught on to what Buddy was doing and swarmed on him, injuring him severely. But instead of stopping his spell to defend himself, he chose to hold it and healed himself as much as he can with his potions. Only when he was sure that most of the Canterlot was safe did he call for backup.

For abusing those healing potions, the pain from all of his injuries lingered and his eyes were healed from being damaged so much that the potion had a side effect of causing his body to think that thought that him being blind was his ‘normal’ state, as was his damaged limbs…

The only reason why he was able to function normally was because of the help of a few friends of his who created a spell that Buddy has to cast on himself continuously to stave off the pain and regain use of his limbs and his eyes.

While Buddy could now somehow live normally after knowing how to maintain that spell to the point that it’s undetectable to others and that it’s as natural as him breathing, he will never be able to cast anything beyond the simplest of spells ever again as it would break his concentration and his supply of magical energy to the one that maintained his body.

After hearing this from Haymaker, I came to realize that General Armstrong really wasn’t lying nor exaggerating Buddy’s condition.

And even after everything, he chose to seclude himself in his mansion and refuse help and companionship except for a trusted few like Haymaker and Argonia.

But then, there was also him choosing to stay still when the golem was about to…

No…

He couldn’t, right?

Shaking my head at the thought, Argonia, Haymaker, and I decided that it would be best if he tried to get Buddy home as soon as possible.

As we attempted to carefully pick up Buddy so that we can take him back to the mansion, the colors of the world around us inverted once again and the familiar crack occurred once more, this time almost immediately after the colors returned to normal.

A loud crash, followed by the very same roar of the golem that I had disintegrated with my Emerald Fire, then happened behind us.

Turning around, we once again saw the crystalline creature that wasted no time in walking towards us with its heavy footfalls.

Once more, we needed to destroy every bit of our adversary, but this time with Buddy incapacitated.

Boon jumped before us, spreading his wings and converting his feathers into blades with its golden glow, ready to face the golem for the second time in a row.

“Take Buddy back to the mansion! I’ll-”

“ENOUGH! YOU WILL HARM OUR SUBJECTS NO MORE!” shouted a voice that boomed throughout the town before a great pillar of midnight blue light descended upon the golem, disintegrating it completely like what my Emerald Fire had done and leaving a small crater on the ground.

Looking up, we saw Princess Luna flying above us with a determined look on her face, her horn glowing brightly as she carefully watched the area.

Nightmare Moon or not, I couldn’t describe how thankful I was that the princess had arrived at Hooverheim at the very last minute to save us.

Right now, it didn’t matter if you were a royal guard, a captain of the Luna Guard, a talented mage or a strong earth pony. When it came to threats such as this, the vast difference in power that an Alicorn had compared to normal ponies was like day and night.

“Oi! What the buck are you doin’?! You were supposed to stay in disgui-” Boon however was cut off when ponies from around us called and cheered for the princess, offering her their thanks for saving them from the second golem that arrived.

An indescribable sense of relief and contentment emanated from the Princess as she descended and was promptly surrounded by ponies that went to thank her even more.

“We were really scared, your highness!”

“Thank you so much, Princess Luna, we thought we were done for!”

“Can I have your autograph, your highness?”

Although the Roughnecks wanted to break up the crowd so that Luna won’t be swarmed, Boon prevented them from doing so with a shake of his head as he turned his wings back to normal and decided to watch the princess from afar, letting her enjoy this precious moment where she was finally seen as one of their rulers.

In his eyes, maybe this was the very first time that she felt loved in so many years.

Who was he to deny her this small piece of happiness?

With the crowd focusing on Princess Luna, which was increasing in size as more and more ponies got more curious as they now had proof that she was no longer Nightmare Moon or malevolent, Argonia, Haymaker, and I were able to take Buddy back to the mansion so that he can recuperate.

Author's Note

Well, this took quite a while.

This chapter was originally part of the previous one but I decided to split it into separate chapters, and even then, this one ended up with nearly 8,000 words by the time I was done.

6) The Crisis at Hand

Hey Buddy!

Guess what? Cadence and I are getting married soon! Boon made me do a lot of stupid stuff just to set the mood for my proposal but she beat me to it when I nearly choked on something hard in my donut.

Turns out Cadence had Donut Joe bake the engagement ring into my food…

Actually, that sounds wrong.

Cadence had Donut Joe MAKE a donut and put the engagement ring INSIDE of it.

There we go!

Also, not to worry or alarm you or anything, but Hannibal is kinda wandering around the castle a lot more lately.

And I mean A LOT MORE.

That feathered demon keeps trying to get in to the mess hall and we've just had a surplus of cucumbers come in last week after the farmers found out that they’ve got an overabundance of them and thus donated them to the castle.

As much as I love the free snack, I really don't want a repeat of the library incident.

I swear, that swan is going to commit a nasty crime soon.

I already talked to Swansong about this but he just lets him roam around anyway saying that swans need their exercise. Sure, like attacking cadets and officers if they so much as tick him off or look at him weird for SOME REASON every other day wasn't exercise enough.

Anyway, can you visit Canterlot soon? Cadence is excited about the wedding and she really wants you to be our best colt, Twily will act as best mare and we've already requested her friends' help with the wedding too.

I know you hate talking to people and giving speeches but can you please accept? I know there are others, and that there’s Boon but he’ll already be passed out drunk before the reception even starts.

Just think of it this way: There will be a lot of ponies there, Celestia even, Princess LUNA even, a lot of nobles, and a lot of our friends from the Royal Guard. I am literally giving you the chance to commit mass murder with a pun-infested speech.

Side note: Cadence is definitely not sitting beside me while I’m composing this letter and glaring at me with her hooves crossed, nosiree! Definitely not being threatened by my future-wife because I just offered both her aunts to be victims of a ground zero pun bomb just so that you can attend! Nope!

Also, speaking of Boon, he left a few hours ago to resume his training with the Valkyrie unit, poor guy will probably get his wings soon. But he’s a tough colt, no? If he can survive Sun Rider’s training, then getting his wings replaced should be a walk in the park.

And I gotta cut this letter short. Red Ink is getting really annoyed with waiting for the documents that he wants me signed. He's really giving me a nasty stink eye as I write.

Do visit me when you can, I have to talk to you about something important, I can’t say too much because I haven’t ironed out the arrangements yet, but… Um… Let’s just say the Royal Guard will need you again, but this time… It’ll be your turn to be looked up to.

Sincerely,
Shining Armor

P.S.: By opening and reading this scroll/letter, you are now lawfully obliged and bound to attend my bucking wedding or else I will drag you here to Canterlot myself! YES. THIS IS ME, BUDDY, SO YOU BETTER TAKE THIS THREAT SERIOUSLY!

P.P.S: This is me, by the way, that passage above was from Cadence. Also, a biiiiiiiiit of a quick request from me? Well, not me, mostly from the other generals and other officers but… Can you please not steal too much of our ponies into working for your bodyguard company? We do appreciate the lesser workload since we don’t have to babysit every single noble but our retention rate is reaaaaaaaaaaaally terrible and I’m getting chewed out by General Armstrong real bad because La Keyes keeps on tempting soldiers with better stuff ;(

“You put the princess in a very dangerous situation, just what were you thinking in leaving her without a charge?!” said Col. Buckstack as he slammed his hoof of his table while glaring at Boon who was at the other side of the room sitting with his allies, or at least those that shared his views for the current matter.

“Oh, now yer suddenly concerned for Princess Luna,” retorted Boon sarcastically in the Chamber of Commons of the Royal Guard of Canterlot Castle as he and other officers continued to argue with each other and the topic at hand was becoming less and less more about the golem attack at Hooverheim and was more about their mutual dislike for the respective officers.

“Don’t give me that tone, Boon, you may be captain of the Luna Guard but you’re still wet behind the ears compared to me. You’ve taken up the job so act like it!” shouted Col. Buckstack.

“Oh, then I’ll take that as ye offering ponies from yer squad then so that the security detail of the princess will be satisfactory according to yer standards?” grinned Boon, twisting the other’s words to get back at him while at the same time testing the waters if the colonel was proud enough to give him guards.

Upon hearing that, the older stallion froze and shivered in place. “W-what? N-no! That’s not what I was talking-”

“Yeah, I thought so, what else can we expect anyway from somepony who couldn’t set his hoof even once in the battlefield,” added Boon, earning a number of chuckles from the attendees, even from Col. Buckstack’s side of the hall as his face went completely red in anger.

*SMACK! SMACK! SMACK!*

“Alright, I think we’ve had enough about whether or not was it right for Capt. Boon to leave Princess Luna unguarded, on a day off, that Col. Buckstack forced him to take, thanks to a memo he sent to Princess Celestia with terrible implications about rest day regulation violations, most of which are unfounded as none of you seem to want to give him the extra hooves needed to fill in the ranks of the Luna Guard, hence him being always performing overtime for the past year,” said Adjutant Red Ink as he lowered his gavel.

Although Boon and Buckstack had a lot to say to each other, they knew better than to challenge Red Ink now that he wanted to get on with the next agenda.

They were free to do so. Heck, everypony in the room was free to challenge Red Ink’s decision, but none of the ponies, experienced officers or otherwise, didn’t want to mess with Princess Celestia’s personal assistant.

If it was an issue that didn’t need the princess’s direct attention, then chances are the issue would be handled personally by the Adjutant in her stead.

Although the black-coated and white-maned unicorn’s true job was the ‘Treasurer of Equestria’, Red Ink held an unbelievable amount of power in the chain of command and the entire Equestrian Government, with some ponies believing that he is on par with Celestia with how much he can get done if he just wills it.

His talent, after all, was the handling of money, and on a whim, squads, departments, or even public officials or cities would not receive a single bit from the Equestrian Treasury without his approval.

But everypony knew otherwise.

His real talent was knowing if somepony was worth getting anything from the treasury.

Sighing, Boon got seated and Buckstack followed not long after.

However, before Red Ink could proceed, his attention was diverted as one of the bailiffs entered the chamber and poised himself to make an announcement.

“I would like to call upon everypony’s attention to announce the arrival of Prince Shining Armor-”

“Shit…” hissed Boon under his breath as he noticed the displeased, if not utterly disgusted, look on the faces of a number of officers in the chamber after Shining’s name was mentioned.

For Boon, this was not the best time for Shining to take his first public appearance in Canterlot.

It may have been a year and a half but the Royal Guard’s memory of him ‘failing’ them for being easily swayed by Chrysalis was still a fresh wound to a lot of officers, and for those who wanted to drag his reputation to the mud and so that they can take the title of Captain of the Guard ever since, the siege may as well happened yesterday.

“Where the hell is Flash Sentry and Spearhead when you need them?” asked Boon in a whisper to no one as he looked around, not really comfortable with having Shining enter a room where 90% of the ponies present wanted him gone.

There should have been news of Shining coming to Canterlot, a small announcement of sorts sent a few days in advance at least so that he would be properly greeted and so that the ponies that actually still respect and like him would be there to receive him and Princess Cadence but this was all just too sudden for his first public appearance since the Changeling attack…

As Shining proceeded take a seat, the officers near the bench that he was about to pick suddenly stood up and moved to a different row without a hint of hesitation.

Since there were no rules in the seating arrangements and that no pony can be forced to sit with those who they don’t like, and although this was personally disrespectful to somepony who was now considered a monarch, there was nothing Shining could do to the gesture.

Once Shining was seated, Red Ink waited for a few seconds to see if there was anypony that was stupid enough to cause a scene. When there were none, he slammed the gavel once to signal the resumption of the meeting.

“As I was saying, now that we’ve finished with Capt. Boon’s alleged violations of rest day regulations, let’s move on to the next agenda,” said the Adjutant who then took out a file from under his table with his magic and opened it without looking.

Instead, what he did was turn his head to the direction of Boon.

“Capt. Boon, I want you on the stand please.” He ordered, earning a number of low snickers from Col. Buckstack’s side of the chamber when they realized that the next agenda was still centered on Boon after all.

Groaning from frustration as he had just sat down a few moments ago, Boon stood up from his seat and went on the stand as was requested of him by the Adjutant.

If he didn’t know better, Boon swore that he was on trial.

Turning his head to the file that he had, Red Ink read through the document briefly before turning back to Boon who was now in the middle of the chamber on the raised platform that served as the stand so that the pony on it can be questioned by all of his peers.

“As our scholars and wizards are still trying to identify which organization or group, or who, could have instigated the golem attack on Hooverheim based on the magic used to deploy the creature, we will take a different approach. And since former Lt. Buddy Guard is still bedridden, I will have you answer my inquiries based on the fact that you are his brother-in-arm, more than anypony in this room, apart from one other pony. Do you find this demand fair?” asked Red Ink.

“I mean, I’m not a unicorn to know of anything about how the golem works or how it was sent there to Hooverheim, but I can guarantee ya that I’ll at least answer as honestly as I can,” replied a confused Boon.

“Very well then. For your first question… Scenario one: What are the chances that the attack on Hooverheim was instigated as a PR stunt so that Princess Luna will gain favor from the public?” asked the Adjutant as an uproar from the officers occurred when a number of them realized that the scenario that he presented was highly plausible.

“HEY! YA CAN’T JUST ACCUSE THE PRINCESS LIKE THAT! WHO THE HELL DO YA THINK YA ARE?!” shouted Boon angrily as he slammed his hoof on the desk of the stand.

This was followed by Red Ink hammering the gavel on the block a number of times to silence the furor that the question caused, steadily silencing the officers who were obviously displeased with the notion that Princess Luna had artificially manufactured a crisis to make ponies love her once she saved the day.

“Based on that strong reaction from you, I’m sure you have a good explanation debunking this claim?” inquired Red Ink, not bothered at all with Boon’s shouting at him.

“Uh, yeah! And that’s ‘Why wait until now when there were other stupid shits that she could have appeared in to save the day in one fell swoop like Discord or that stupid shit that is Bixie or whatever her name is or even the Changeling Attack’!” retorted Boon.

“Any of those events could have made her a big bucking hero if she were allowed by Princess Celestia to act on her own! And besides, why pick a town in the middle of nowhere where there’s barely any important ponies to effectively spread her heroism through word of mouth?” he added, turning to all of the officers present to see if they had a good reason against that.

Despite the displeased look on a number of ponies, including Col. Buckstack, what Boon said seemed to make sense.

If Luna wanted to engineer a fake crisis to make ponies love her, there were better scenarios and locations that she could have picked to do just that. Going to Hooverheim where nothing important was located, even with its paltry population since it was more of a border town than anything, just didn’t make sense.

When no pony voiced their opinions to deny the validity of Boon’s explanation, Red Ink brought down the gavel once and that was the end of that.

“Then we’ll move on to the second scenario: the attack is a PR stunt of Buddy’s Rays of the Sun so that they’ll entice more officers to join their ranks,” Red Ink read from his document before looking at the officers in the chamber.

This time, there was barely any reaction from them.

“Highly unlikely,” answered Boon. “If this was made by Buddy’s company, then it would only make ponies more hesitant from joining since ‘fighting deadly golems’ will be added to the list of threats that they’ll have to face once employed.”

Once again, Red Ink waited for anyone to argue against Boon but every officer seemed to find merit in his words. The Rays of the Sun may have more benefits and see more action but at the cost of them possibly facing something, like a golem, that they can’t handle on their own.

With a smack of the gavel, that was the end of that allegation.

“That would be all from you, Capt. Boon, you may return to your seat,” said Red Ink, a command that Boon gladly took now that he wasn’t the center of attention.

“Scenario three…” began the Adjutant before stopping for a moment as he read through the document carefully as if trying to make sure that he read it right before relaying the contents. “This is an act of terrorism from an extremist splinter griffon group.”

Once Red Ink had finished his sentence, the officers of the Royal Guard present could barely restrain the intense hatred they were feeling now that someone pointed out that this attack was possibly orchestrated by griffons.

Equestria and Griffontstone had never really been on the best of terms with each other with a number of skirmishes occurring within the questioned borders of the two lands, specifically in the areas of Trottingham and the Griffish Isles though it was not uncommon for Griffon nobles to lay claim to the border areas of Manehattan, such as the northwestern area even though the land wasn’t all that fertile to settle in.

“I hate to be the partypooper,” said Col. Buckstack whose voice was seething with anger. “As much as I want to put the blame on the griffons, why the hell would they attack a town in the middle of nowhere instead of going directly for Canterlot if not Manehattan or Baltimare where they could do more damage?”

“… Because of ‘Plan B’.”

Shining Armor felt the eyes of all the ponies in the room turn to him when he finally spoke, and although a number of them, especially Col. Buckstack, felt and looked annoyed with him suddenly participating in the discussion all of a sudden, nearly everypony in the room widened their eyes when they finally realized what he meant.

“’PLAN B’ AS IN ‘PLAN BUDDY’?!” roared Boon as he stood up and slammed a hoof on to his desk angrily, breaking it apart easily with a loud crash.

It did not take more than a second for the other officers to shout angry comments and suggestions to each other and at Red Ink, and although they were different in wording and intensity, everypony was calling for one thing: war.

*SLAM! SLAM! SLAM!*

“I WILL HAVE ORDER IN THIS CHAMBER OR I WILL HAVE THE LOT OF YOU THROWN OUT!” shouted Red Ink at the officers who barely settled themselves now that there was a credible threat to put their attention to, afterwards, the Adjutant pointed his gavel threateningly at Boon. “And you, Capt. Boon, I’ll have your pay docked directly for the repair of that table, labor, materials and all,” he declared before turning back to the assembly and Shining.

“That’s a rather harsh allegation you’re implying, Prince Shining,” the Adjutant pointed out. “Would you care to explain why would you even imply such a thing that could lead to a massive conflict without any evidence?”

Sighing, Shining stood up and took to the stand to give his explanation.

Even if he was no longer the Captain of the Guard, and even though many of the officers no longer regarded him in high esteem, he was still loyal to the Royal Guard and so he took it upon himself to participate in its affairs now that he had more power as a ruler of the Crystal Empire and had some sway over Celestia through Cadence.

“The report specifically stated that the golem exclusively attacked former Lt. Buddy Guard,” he addressed to the officers and Red Ink.

“According to Boon’s statement, which was corroborated with the border and town guards that were present during the incident, even though there were easier or closer targets, or that it could have gone on a rampage to do as much damage to Hooverheim, the creature acted as if it was made to only target Buddy. The same however could not be said for the second golem that appeared because Princess Luna immediately destroyed that. Based on the statements given to our investigators, however, the second golem, before it was disintegrated, was observed to be approaching Buddy and his companions,” explained Shining which prompted the officers to talk to each other in whispers, silently agreeing with what the monarch said.

“And who has more beef with Buddy than the idiots that lost a war on the first battle thanks to a spell of his,” added Boon whose words were greeted with agreements or nods from the others as the pieces seem to fall in place now.

“Again, I hate to be the partypooper, I really do, but are griffons even capable of deploying such creatures? Are they even magically capable enough to make such a thing?” asked Col. Buckstack who seemed to be doing a good job with playing devil’s advocate.

“Or if Griffonstone even has the bits to pay for one, much less two,” said one of the officers on Col. Buckstack’s side of the room, causing nearly everypony in the chamber to laugh at the notion that Griffonstone was too poor to even pay for the golems.

And considering the short-lived war of theirs with massive casualties…

“Remember, the main force that Plan B destroyed was a coalition, it wasn’t just 'Griffonstone' soldiers that we faced that day, there were troops from much better off-to-do griffon clans with the bits and resources to give funding for a localized attack like this,” explained Shining much to the dread of the others now that they’ve realized the grave implications of that scenario.

If the attack on Hooverheim was orchestrated by a private individual, or even just sponsored or funded by one, Griffonstone can deny any involvement…

Which would mean that a similar attack in the future were more likely to occur… Or attacks…

Suddenly, Col. Buckstack stood up from his seat.

“Excuse me, Adjutant, there are things that I will have to attend to,” he said before moving to exit the chamber after Red Ink gave him permission.

Not long after that, other officers began to follow his lead, and from what Shining can gather from their worried looks, it seemed like they wouldn’t waste any time to prepare their troops for another attack.

With barely any pony wanting to stay now that there was a possible threat from the griffons, Red Ink adjourned the session and allowed everypony to leave.

“Okay, what the buck are ya doing here without an entourage?” asked Boon after flying over to where Shining was, earning a smile from him now that he knew that there was at least one pony that wanted to interact with a failed captain.

And that was ignoring the fact that Boon of all ponies seemed concerned for his wellbeing.

“I’m pretty sure ‘doing what I want’ comes with the ‘prince’ before my name.” Shining chuckled before patting the Captain of the Luna Guard on the shoulder.

“Oh yeah, sure, let’s go with that, because if anythin’ happens to ya, Cadence will definitely not ask for my head,” groaned the pegasus with a roll of his eyes.

“But you don’t answer to Cady…”

“Not directly, I don’t! But one complaint to Luna from her and it’s technically the same!” he explained with another groan. “But seriously… Ya shouldn’t really just stroll in here like that, prince or not, a lot of the stallions still hate you for… Uh…”

“Being Chrysalis’s plaything that nearly brought down Equestria in one fell swoop, yes.” Shining sighed before shaking his head.

They didn’t have to beat around the bush about it. It was what happened and the ‘warm greeting’ that he got from the assembly was proof that the officers of Canterlot had barely any trust for him.

“How’s Buddy?” he inquired to the pegasus to try and brush off the atmosphere of awkwardness that his earlier response created.

Although the reports gave him a general outline of the events that transpired, Buddy was only described as ‘incapacitated’ and Shining found it vague at best.

“Eh… I guess ya can say he was doing rather well until he was forced to use the ‘Shining Armor’ spell,” answered Boon as he rubbed the back of his neck. “Really, I thought he was incapable of casting that ever again considering-”

That was all that Shining needed to hear.

Before Boon could finish his sentence, the former captain of the guard moved to leave the Chamber of Commons.

“What the? Hey! Where ya going?” asked Boon from behind.

“I’m going to play partypooper for once.”

Shining didn’t usually trust his gut instinct, not unless there was somepony that he could turn to to verify his hunch, but after the Changeling Siege of Canterlot, the unicorn realized that it was better to be paranoid to an extent than complacent to risks and dangers.

Walking out of the chamber, Shining headed to the office areas of the higherups at a brisk pace to confront a certain general, ignoring the stares that he got from other guards that had just seen him for the first time in a year and a half.

Normally he would feel terrible that the ponies that he once served alongside with now viewed him as a threat but right now there was something that he needed to know.

Upon arriving at the door of the office that he needed to go to, Shining opened it and helped himself in without bothering to knock.

“… Did the throne of the Crystal Empire make you forget how to knock?” asked a visibly displeased General Armstrong as he leaned back in his seat so that he can address the monarch properly but nothing more, not even a salute nor standing up to greet him.

That, Shining could ignore.

“Did you have a hoof in it?” asked Shining as he closed the door to the general’s office.

“Whatever are you talking about, your highness,” replied General Armstrong sarcastically, “I have a hoof in everything, from payroll stuff to duty rotation.”

“A few months ago, you sent me a letter asking me to give you ‘authorization to test Plan B’.” The prince growled, noticing the other blink in confusion before rubbing his eyes as if he was wondering if his eyes were playing tricks on him. “I don’t remember giving you the go signal to ‘test’ a civilian to see if he’s still viable for service.”

“Oh those are rather grave implications you’re giving, your highness. You may now have the privilege to speak out your mind without fear of legal repercussions but I don’t think this is the place for you to do that when the majority of ponies in the Royal Guard would rather have you as far away as the Crystal Empire than be here.” General Armstrong smirked as he placed a hoof on his cheek.

“Then let me be more blunt, General. Did you or did you not have a hoof in the attack by anonymously leaking information about Golem Wizards to the Griffons so that they can assassinate Buddy just so that you can see if he can cast ‘A Knight in Shining Armor’ again?” hissed Shining as he readied to fire a spell at the general, his horn glowing green as he charged up the shot.

Whether it be lethal or just a stunning spell depended on the general’s answer.

“… You give me too much credit, Shining, you’ve always been the hotheaded one of the Idiot Three,” chuckled General Armstrong. “And no, I had no hoof in the attack, not even indirectly. I had a different plan in mind to see if Buddy can cast it again but not to the extent of an assassination attempt. That would be rather counterproductive if you ask me.”

Shining took a moment to gauge the earth pony’s response carefully but he couldn’t feel any hint of lying or maliciousness on him, perhaps a hint of ‘playfulness’ or ‘I proved you wrong because what I said was true’ but he couldn’t feel any emotion of deceit from the general.

Either Armstrong was saying the truth or he was the best liar in Equestria. No matter which of the two was true, Shining didn’t like it.

Scoffing, the prince let go of the shot and dispersed the magic back into his body.

“You really are Moondancer’s apprentice… For a second there I thought I’d have my brains blown out, and I’ve ticked her off for faaaaaaaaaar less than being accused of planning a convoluted test disguised as an assassination.” General Armstrong chuckled before sighing in relief, acting as if the entire situation that happened a few seconds ago was just a mere joke.

“So, what? We blame no pony? That your reports on the griffons are just fearmongering or hearsay?” asked Shining to the general.

“… And that’s when you don’t give me enough credit, your highness,” sighed the earth pony as he rubbed his brow a little. “No, as much as I’d like to try and downplay this, the griffons are stirring. I don’t know why, but my informants insist that the clan leaders are talking to each other again, and these griffons dislike each other more than we dislike them as they dislike us. For them to suddenly shove aside their backstabbing nature to each other so that they can discuss things… That’s definitely not something to be relaxed about. And we both know what occurred the last time that happened.”

"Besides, with or without my influence, the griffons would have discovered the Golem Wizards anyway," he added.

Just as when Shining thought that he could finally relax now that he knew that General Armstrong was not behind this, the unicorn now felt nothing but worry in the coming days for Equestria.

Although he did not serve in the Pony-Griffon War, as he was already Captain of the Guard by that point and Cadence had pulled every string she could to keep him away from the frontlines, Shining was still the commanding officer that granted Buddy the approval to use his forbidden spells against the griffons, which of course… Led to where they are now with Buddy being recognized as their most hated enemy.

But with him now crippled and unable to use anything more than a simple telekinetic spell…

“I’m… I’m gunna go and visit Buddy,” said Shining as he turned around to open the door of the general's office.

“You shouldn’t underestimate Buddy too much, your highness,” began General Armstrong with a hint of pride in him, causing the prince to stop midway from stepping out. "If worse comes to worst, Buddy only needs to cast ONE spell. One spell, and we’ll have an army of Alicorns,” he grinned.

Turning back to look at General Armstrong one last time, Shining stared at him for a few seconds before deciding against commenting on what he said, choosing to leave instead as he mulled over his words.

An army of Alicorns… But ‘A Knight In Shining Armor’ doesn’t turn targets into Alicorns… Not necessarily…

Sure, it enhances a pony’s capabilities to have Alicorn-like traits but…

Shining didn’t like how the general worded that, not one bit…

Author's Note

Whew, this took a while to be written.

This is my first time trying to write something revolving around courtroom or military-setting drama so I don't know if the manufactured tension that I wrote was evident or even effective on top of it being a liiiiiiiiiiiittle too exposition-heavy.

Again, now's the time for me to remind you that this fic is heavily canon-divergent so the events/histories don't align with what happened in the show with some events occurring earlier or later than they should.

In either case, I do hope that you enjoyed reading this chapter and any sort of constructive feedback will be appreciated as it will motivate me with writing more chapters!

Edit: Oh yeah, I just wanted to point out that I prefer to use 'Cadence' instead of 'Cadance' for personal reasons.

7) Pretending to Say Goodbye

Author's Note

Whew, this took quite a while. Had a bit of a retcon while making this chapter, I changed the name of Buddy's bodyguard company from "The Grand Order" to "The Rays of the Sun" as it sounds much closer to what a former royal guard would pick if he decided to form his own group and still has loyalties to Celestia. In either case, I hope you enjoyed this small update!

7) Pretending to Say Goodbye

A royal bed chamber…

A loving father’s lullaby…

A loyal and affectionate maid’s embrace…

Hushed whispers and betrayal…

The queen has noticed…

Running… Running…

An empire’s downfall…

“The time we had together was short…”

“But for your sake, you must be cast away…”

“Your journey will be hard, and for a time, you will be alone…”

“And there will be nights where you will yearn for us, and days where you will scorn others for being more fortunate…”

“But despite all of this, remember that you are loved…”

“So… Wherever you may end up…”

“May the ponies you meet be kind and gentle…”

“Until then…”

“Please wait for us…”

It’s that dream again…

Turning to my side on my bed to face the window of my well-furnished room, I saw that the sky was still dark, moonlight shining through the glass a bit of dust flew about in the air.

To my left, a clutter… Well, not really a clutter, but a mountain of books comprised of various subjects from magical theory to cookbooks.

Argonia had gone out of her way to make sure that I was reading up on the basics while Buddy recuperated, but I knew that this was all just an attempt to distract me from worrying too much about him, it didn’t really take all that much to discern her need to make me focus on something else other than being Buddy’s caretaker and feeling, sometimes sharing, the pain that he felt.

Holding my breath for a moment, I listened carefully to the ambience of the night, hearing nothing but a bit of the wind outside rattling the window and the crickets making noise from indiscernible places

I tried to go back to sleep, but as the minutes flew by, my drowsiness had instead melted away and I spent the good portion of an hour changing positions and flailing about in bed only for me to grumble in annoyance, get up, and start my day.

When I first arrived at the Whinnychester Mansion, the entire estate was quiet and dreary, almost in a state of disrepair with only very few rooms being used.

According to Argonia and Haymaker, if it weren’t for them spending most of their free time there whenever they could, one could easily think that it was abandoned with how Buddy spent most of his time alone in his study.

That, of course, began to change in the past few days…

“Guys? Tea and snacks are ready,” I said after poking my head through the front door of the mansion where two royal guards, an earth pony and a pegasus named Rocky Road and Meadow Breeze respectively, stood guard adjacent from each other.

“You go on ahead,” said the mottled earth pony to Meadow, gesturing for her companion to take a break first with her head.

“Now that’s mighty kind of ya! I’ll try and not to eat your share then!” teased Meadow before stepping out of his post, earning a groan and a roll of eyes from Rocky.

Once Meadow had trotted inside, I gently closed the door on Rocky who moved so that she was now standing in front of the door now that there was only one royal guard to ‘greet’ visitors.

When they first arrived and went on duty to act as the stationed guards of the Whinnychester Mansion on General Armstrong’s orders the day after the golem attack, neither of them would budge from their post as they kept on insisting that the other should take their break first.

While this sentiment had some amount of courtesy, their unwillingness to take their break together mostly stemmed from them knowing that there should be at least one pony guarding the front door at all times.

I offered to guard the door so that they can rest after standing all day, but this only led to Rocky taking charge and ordering Meadow to say ‘just get inside, you feathered buck’.

To which, Meadow responded ‘Make me’, basically, what he really said was something along the lines of… Uhh… A string of words that I am pretty sure would cause Argonia to wash my mouth with soap if I dared to utter them.

What happened next was Meadow being picked up like a sack of potatoes and thrown inside the foyer unceremoniously.

Having both of them in the Whinnychester Mansion definitely livened the place up a little as Haymaker had already left for Manehattan a few hours before this interaction to receive his next assignment at the Rays of the Sun HQ while Argonia tended to her potion shop in town, practically leaving only me to take care of a still-delirious and pain-paralyzed Buddy.

At first, I felt rather overwhelmed as there are two ponies working directly under General Armstrong now working at the mansion, two ponies that may or may not be secretly evaluating me on how I’m doing with what ‘secret task’ of his, but not long after they had arrived, an hour at most, the pain and anguish that Buddy felt…. Somehow lessened.

Not entirely of course.

It was a small reduction of pain from what I could sense, like around… 2% out of a hundred had melted or faded away.

I didn’t think much of it as it could have just been my imagination, or that Buddy was recovering, however slightly, but when a group of ten ponies arrived the next day to visit him, all of them introducing themselves to me as friends of his and former royal guards, my mentor’s state began to improve more significantly.

Previously, he was groaning, whining, crying, and sometimes screaming in pain, but upon their arrival, this was reduced to heavy breathing and the occasional groaning.

The state of pain that Buddy felt, for reasons that I did not know, steadily began to melt away the more visitors came to the mansion.

Some of them took residence in the many vacant and unlocked rooms of the mansion while others preferred to stay in the many inns of Hooverheim.

The ones that did stay, however, acted as additional guards, allowing them to patrol the perimeter in shifts, allowing Rocky and Meadow to rest by sundown.

And here I am a week later, ushering in Meadow to the dining room which was converted into a makeshift canteen or chow hall of sorts where five other ponies were already helping themselves to the cupcakes, scones, bread, and tea that Housefold, a brown and red pegasi, made with the help of two other Rays of the Sun bodyguards.

And me.

I helped with making those.

I insisted.

Because that is housework.

And housework is my domain.

Nopony but me has the right to clean this mansion except for-

My thoughts were suddenly cut short when I noticed the apron-wearing pegasi leave the serving table to approach me.

“You, go and take a break yourself” he said in a scolding voice, like that of a father getting annoyed that his kid was focusing too much on playing.

“I still have to sweep the yard-“

“Leave that to me”

“Okay, but then the dishes-”

“Everypony hasn’t eaten yet, I can do that later once we’re all fed, including you”

Okay, not a father, but a mother scolding her child, for the wrong reasons.

“…. The hole that I made from throwing Capt. Boon through the wall???”

“Nope! We’re all set here, just gotta find the wallpaper for this to match the rest of the wall once we’ve smoothed it out and put the primers on” said one of the members of the work crew that got together to fixing that little ‘oopsie’ that I did.

It might have been my imagination, but I think I saw Housefold smirk slightly now that it’s decided that he’s taken responsibility over nearly everything that needs to be done.

Fine, you win this time, Housefold, but once you’re out, I’ll be the king of housekeeping once again!

Begrudgingly, I went to the dining room, stopping as I passed through the entryway when I sensed a hint of… Deviousness? Playfulness…?

Scheming…ness???

Is that even a word?????

Well, whatever it is, there was something in the air, like somepony was about to play a prank. What it is, however, I did not know, only that it felt like it was… ‘Coordinated’.

If I had to guess however, this was all Housefold’s doing, he probably told everypony to do the other chores so that I won’t be able to do them…

Yeah…

I’m sure he’s not above such trickery…

That scheming meanie….

Shaking my head, continued towards the table and took a few cupcakes and banana bread from the trays before grabbing the nearby teapot with my hoof so that I can pour myself a cup of tea-

However, as I was about to tilt the large teapot, I was slammed with the emotion of utter confusion and bewilderment, and when I turned to look at the others, I saw the confused look in everypony’s face while staring at me.

Meadow, who was sitting alone, did so as well while in mid-bite to his cupcake.

Seriously, all of them looked like as if I had dropped a Buddy-grade punbomb all of a sudden.

“… What?” I asked, hooves still on the teapot that was holding in a slightly tilted position but not enough to pour its contents into my cup.

“What are you doing?” asked Housefold with a grimace as if I had just broken a piece of fine china that was only used whenever guests came over.

“Pouring myself a cup of tea?!”

“Ding dong!”

“Yeah, we know that, but why are you doing it like that?!” asked Meadow who had lowered his cupcake back into his platter before placing a hoof on his cheeks as if trying to discern if I was playing a prank on them.

“How else am I supposed to pour my tea?!” I asked, demonstrating it by finally pouring a healthy amount of the fragrant liquid into my cup before taking it with my hooves and showing it to them to prove that there was nothing wrong with what I’m doing.

“I said ‘Ding dong!’!”

That mere action only caused them to cringe and grimace even more.

“What is wrong with you guys?! Have you never seen pony pour a cup of tea before?!”

“Tenderheart, what are you?” Housefold asked in a very annoyed tone.

“I’m a-“

“DING BUCKING DONG!!!”

“Ding dong???” asked all of us at each other, wondering why was somepony shouting ‘ding dong!’ at the front door as if trying to mimic a doorbell even though it was unlocked and that Rocky would have allowed them anyway if they were a visitor.

Or you know… They just could have KNOCKED.

“LET ME IN, YOU DING DONGS!”

“I’ll get it” I groaned, downing all of my tea in one swig before heading to the front door while Housefold, Meadow, and the others followed behind me to see what the commotion was about.

Placing my hoof on the doorknob, I twisted it to discover that it was really unlocked and whoever was outside could have just let themselves in.

“The door’s unlocked, you know? Also, Rocky could have let you in-“ I said, pushing the door outwards slightly only for me to be pulled forwards with such force when a hoof hooked itself on to the side and opened it with such strength that I was lifted off the ground.

Instead of crashing into the soil, however, I was instead caught by somepony and turned around so that I was facing Housefold and the others.

“GRHHK-!!!”

Not more than a few seconds after that, my vision began to darken around the edges as pressure was applied around my neck when a limb snaked around it expertly while another moved to push my head forwards, pushing me close to the point of losing consciousness.

I wanted to struggle, to use my own hooves to pry myself out of the chokehold that I was in, but my limbs instead fell limp on my sides as my body refused to move as the world went darker and darker.

In front of me, Housefold and the others just seemed to stand there, watching, showing no intention of helping me out.

If this was an elaborate kidnapping then they surely went out of their way to knock me out even though they could have done this a few days ago.

Buncha meanies…

“… Alright, Sweetcheeks, I don’t think he’s a changeling”

“Damn, there goes my 10 bits…”

Suddenly.

AIR!

My vision cleared and I gasped and inhaled loudly for air, falling to the side as the pressure in my head gradually vanished.

“I told you morons he wasn’t a changeling,” sighed Household who FINALLY went over to me and tried to help me up much to the resistance of my limbs which were still in a state of jelly.

“Yeah, but you still agreed to us to make sure”

"YOU GUYS THOUGHT I WAS A CHANGELING?!" I screamed at them as I tried to stand up only to fall to my side when the lightheadedness caught up to me, fortunately I was caught by the very same earth pony, who was wearing some sort of blue uniform but it didn’t look like something out of the royal guard’s official uniforms, that put me in the chokehold… For whatever it was worth.

"To be fair, you don't exactly act all that normal to begin with. ‘Empath’ can be another word for their ability to sense and feed on emotions" explained Red Velvet, a cream-colored unicorn with really baggy eyes wearing a red wizard's cloak, his pipe floating beside him idly.

"And you do most of your chores without using magic" added Housefold nonchalantly.

"Most unicorns utilize their magic in everyday tasks almost by second nature, but you on the other hand rarely do so, only doing so with hard to reach areas like the ceiling… To an extent, we can ignore that, but the fact that you open doors with your hooves, and other times with YOUR MOUTH, something just doesn't add up" he added.

"Also, are we just going to ignore the fact that he could have used magic to easily pry my hooves off his neck to get out of my sleeperhold?” asked the butter yellow-coated and red and white-maned earth pony with the blue uniform as he went to stand beside Red and Housefold.

“That didn’t need explaining, Sweetcheeks” said both Red and Housefold at the same time, pointing it out since the scene did happen in front of them.

“And what’s wrong with all of those?!” I inquired, not really caring that I was arguing against three stallions that could kick my flank easily.

"YOU'RE NOT AN EARTH PONY!" they argued back with different intensities with Housefold being the most disinterested while Red Velvet and Sweetcheeks seemed to be more passionate about why I had allegedly acted in a way that was only normal for earth ponies.

"Oh yeah, sure, because not using magic to escape a sleeperhold is proof enough" I grumbled, my voice still a bit coarse from the hold while my vision has yet to completely return.

"If you were a changeling, your disguise would have collapsed when you were about to pass out. Either that or you would have morphed into an earth pony with enough strength to throw Sweetcheeks off," explained Red Velvet before taking a few puffs from his pipe.

As the unicorn went on about his lecture and enjoying his pipe, I saw Rocky in my periphery leaning against the wall beside the entrance, watching the scene unfold.

“Oh come on! You were in on it too?!” I asked to the earth pony who was supposed to be guarding the entrance from any sort of threats.

“Sorry, kiddo, those three are my seniors so I had to obey orders,” she shrugged “I would have stopped them but I also wanted to make sure you’re not a changeling,”

Well… I guess it’s fair… But I’m sure as heck ain’t happy about how they did it.

Wait, seniors?

“Seniors? They’re royal guards?” I inquired, turning to the three stallions who didn’t look like they were part of the royal guard, like, at all. Sure, it already goes without saying that they’re part of the Rays of the Sun but I don’t think you can be part of the two organizations at once.

“Former royal guards, yes,” answered Sweetcheeks “But I left the moment Buddy went to make his bodyguard company with La Keyes while Red Velvet steered away from the military and took up a professorship at the Canterlot Magical Academy,”

“And I regret every minute of it…” grumbled Velvet through his pipe.

“I stayed, however” Housefold chimed in “And now I’m one of the quartermasters of the Cloudsdale Special Aerial Forces”

“It’s really strange that you were allowed to leave Cloudsdale all of a sudden” Velvet pointed out.

“I haven’t had a day off for the last 8 years, I have, at the very least, around 210 days of paid leave since I also work during special non-working holidays”

At the mention of how many days of Housefold had at his disposal, Rocky; Velvet; Sweetcheeks; and Meadow, who was at the doorway in mid-bite on his cupcake, stared in bewilderment at how long he can leave Cloudsdale and be paid for it.

“C-… Can I have three of those? Please?” pleaded Velvet, his pipe dropping to the ground, never mind the fact that you really can’t transfer day offs from military to civilian.

To be fair, he did sound and look like he needed a day off… Or three… Or seven.

“No.”

“Fold, please, I’ll do anything, I just need three days of sleep”

“… Anything?” asked Housefold as he finally turned to look at Velvet.

I don’t know why, but I could feel a murderous wave of emotions emanate from the Pegasus, and with how he sounded like he wanted to make sure that Velvet would do anything to get three days of rest, I wouldn’t be surprised if he asked the unicorn to do something really dangerous or drastic.

“Yes, anything!” Velvet affirmed.

Housefold went silent for a moment before giving Velvet a nasty stare.

“Then perish”

Ouch, I actually felt Velvet’s heart break from that.

“Okay, before you guys go at each other for days off, quick question though: just what’s your relationship with Buddy anyway?” I inquired.

Since they seem to be very… Friendly with each other and that they seem to have worked with Buddy or served under him at some point, I guess that would make them my seniors as well, right?

“Oh, us?” asked Sweetcheeks, turning to both Velvet and Housefold before looking back at me “We’re his apprentices,”

…

“Buddy doesn’t take apprentices,” I pointed out flatly.

“He doesn’t” said Velvet, Housefold, and Sweetcheeks at the same time in an ‘as a matter of fact’-ly tone.

“Then how are you three his apprentices?” I asked, squinting my eyes a little.

“He accepted us as his apprentices” answered Velvet as he picked up his pipe, cleaned it by wiping the mouthpiece with his cape before putting it back on his mouth.

Okay, somepony is clearly lying here

“Is this a hazing? Am I being hazed? It feels like I’m being hazed”

“Oh heavens no” answered Housefold to my question, giving me a bit of relief even though I’m still annoyed with them. From what I can tell, none of them were lying, their emotions were clear as day whenever they answered me with no hint of reluctance. Usually, when somepony lies to me, I can feel that small piece of hesitation and alarm as they look for a suitable answer.

Again, that element wasn’t present in these three ponies.

“We’re going to do that to you much later” he added.

…

That is when I wished that Housefold was lying because the ‘intention to do something’, the emotion of being excited for it, emanated from the three of them at the same time like sharks pinpointing the source of blood from a mile away.

“You know what, screw you guys, I’m gunna go check up on Buddy” I grumbled before heading back inside.

“… So… We’re really going to make him meet Hannibal?”

“We have to be really, REALLY sure”

“Yeah, but… Hannibal? That stupid chicken doesn’t even like us”

“If you have any better ideas, Sweetcheeks, we’re all ears”

“How do we even get Hannibal over here anyway? I’m sure he’ll murder us if we so much as tried to pick him up, much less be carried all the way over here in the middle of nowhere…”

“… What if we lured him back to Canterlot instead and have HIM go to Hannibal?”

“… Sweetcheeks, this is the only time I will excuse you for hanging out with your marefriend, she may have bucked us over dozens of times, but she finally got you to be devious for once”

“Hey, that’s meeeeean, she’s more than just a thief, you know”

“He already called her your marefriend, Sweetcheeks, and that’s saying something coming from Fold”

“… Is it because he’s still having trouble with Gem Burst?”

“Shut your kisser before I put poison in your cupcake”

Buddy didn’t know when or how, but somewhere along the line, the state of indescribable pain that he was trapped finally vanished.

Finally taking notice of his surroundings, the unicorn saw that he was laying on a valley of white stargazer lilies with his head resting against the side of a blue-uniformed cream-colored and braided brown-maned mare, her ruby brooch glistening in the middle of her uniform’s collar in the soft glow of the cloudy twilight sky above them.

“… I’m not truly with you yet, am I?” asked Buddy to the mare, turning away from her and resting his head on the flowery ground instead.

“Fortunately,” she answered, teasing him a little “What gave it away?”

“If I was dead, my parents would have greeted me, and they would have explained why they dumped me in that orphanage”

“Is that really how you think the afterlife works?”

“If the power of love can repel a city’s worth of changelings, if the power of friendship can free Luna from her state of being Nightmare Moon, then I think it isn’t too much to ask for” Buddy explained before giving out a sigh, his voice muffled a little from the grass and the flowers.

“Do I at least go into the tier of consolation prizes if those two aren’t possible?” she inquired playfully.

“Do you have almonds?”

“… Buddy, they’re not ‘almonds’” she muttered with a tired expression on her face, looking as if she had to lecture him about the almonds not being ‘almonds’ for the 283341313475th time.

“YES THEY ARE! They’re tasty almonds and Argonia hogs them and keeps them away for her stupid potions and I need a snack every now and then!” whined Buddy before rolling to lay on his back.

“I can’t even die properly: The griffons did a shit job at killing me, the changelings couldn’t finish the job, the recovery period was a success, and now even being crushed by a stupid golem that appeared out of nowhere to assassinate me got all bucked up when that apprentice of mine just had to play hero,” he grumbled.

The mare went silent for a few seconds, but after that, she began to chuckle, prompting Buddy to blink and to her in confusion.

“Why are you chuckling?”

“Well, for one, he reminds me of you” she smiled before standing up and moving so that she was laying beside him.

“Our similarities begin and end at being orphans, nothing more” he huffed, closing his eyes.

“Perhaps, but… You saved me, you know” she said, easing a little closer to Buddy and resting her head against his cheek, and although he knew that this was nothing more than just a very strange dream, a spell of sorts, or some mental failsafe to keep himself from going insane from the pain, he couldn’t help but return the gesture and lean his head back against hers.

It may not be the afterlife, or an afterlife, but Buddy would settle for this illusion.

“I couldn’t save you in the end…” he admitted, his lips quivering.

“No, but I saved you… And in a way, we saved each other, even if it meant parting forever,” she whispered tenderly “I found my ‘treasure’, Buddy, you helped me, but you… You still have yet to find yours,”

“But what if you are… Were my ‘treasure’?”

“I’m flattered that you’re now wondering if I was your ‘treasure’ if I couldn’t even let you eat almonds,” she chuckled before nuzzling into Buddy “I may be ‘one’ of your treasures, but I’m not the one that you’re searching for,”

“There’s nothing out there for me, Equestria is in an era of peace, Luna has been purified, the Elements of Harmony are functional… There’s nothing else that I can do”

“You’re a genius, Buddy, but sometimes, you overthink things” she explained before placing a hoof on his cheek gently.

“Hm?”

“It’s right in front of you, Buddy… It has been for a while, you just don’t know it yet, you just haven’t realized it yet, but it’s arrived…” she hinted as a strong gust of wind blew over them, causing Buddy to finally open his eyes and look around, seeing petals of the stargazer lilies and some grass fly into the air as the wind picked them up and swirled everywhere in strange and unconventional directions.

“… It’s time, isn’t it?” he asked, slowly standing up from the ground, his companion following suit.

“Unfortunately…”

“Hmm…”

Breathing in deeply, Buddy looked up at the cloudy twilight sky, watching it slowly clear up to reveal the natural blue colors that it should have had in the first place.

“… Is there any way I can conjure something in here?” he inquired with a weak smile “I mean, I know it’s a little late, but I’d like to give you something just to lift your spirits up now that we’ve met again…”

“… You do know that making puns at dead ponies is very disrespectful?” she asked with a very disgusted face as she crossed her hooves at Buddy “But you know what, fine, I’ve been waiting for a long while for you anyway, just do the ‘hammer space’ routine and I’m sure you’ll be able to conjure the object that you wanted to give to me when I was still alive” she huffed.

At her behest, Buddy turned slightly and did a rummaging motion as if trying to find something from a dimensional pocket, grinning when he got hold it of it and turning back to his companion before giving it to her.

It was a pair of spectacles that was haphazardly tied to a saw with dozens of rubber bands.

“You should really learn how to wrap things properly” she sighed and looked over the strange object “What is this, exactly?”

With that question, Buddy finally grinned evilly.

“It’s a seesaw”