Twilight Sparkle was confused.

Shortly after the raising of the moon, just as Luna had touched down, there had been two loud 'boom' sounds that caused much of the crowd to recoil in panic from her, thinking that she had made them. There were shouts of "Nighmare Moon is back!" and worse that caused the crowd to all but run for the hills.

Twilight now needed to find a way to get the ponies to trust Luna again. She wasn't looking forward to that endeavor.

But Luna hadn't been as confused as the others when she heard the sounds, and she hadn't even cared that her subjects fled in terror. Instead, her face betrayed a look of fear and worry, and she had been quick to take flight towards the source of the sounds. Twilight followed her, curiosity replacing confusion, and was joined by Rainbow Dash. The other elements were following further back, unable to fly, and Fluttershy was nowhere to be found. Luna had landed on a rooftop a ways away from the castle, and Twilight could see the shape of Rick standing there as well, with another unmoving shape just in front of him.

What in Celestia's name happened? Twilight asked herself.

Gliding down to the roof, Twilight cast a light spell to illuminate the area, and her eyes fixated on something she thought she would never see.

A dead pony.

Her eyes the size of dinner plates, she nearly fell out of the air. Luna was in a deep hug with Rick, and Twilight could hear soft sobbing coming from him.

Rick? Crying? That's unusual, he isn't one to cry. Could he have....? No, Rick wouldn't have to do that. Would he?

Twilight was in shock. Shakily landing behind Luna, she looked down at the corpse, watching the blood trickle down the poor pegasus's feathers and onto the shingles of the roof. She recognized the pony as the same one that asked for directions after Luna's speech the previous night.

As she stared, she could hear another set of sobs begin from the pair in front of her.

Twilight looked up at the stars, as they dimmed. Something had seriously affected the Princess.

Looking over at her, she could see Luna holding Rick tight, and from Rick's closed eyes tears fell like rain.

What happened??? Twilight wanted to be angry at Rick, for she was sure that he had done this, before Rainbow Dash landed next to her.

"T-T-Twilight..?" She asked in a shaky voice. "I-Is that a p-p-pegasus?"

Twilight simply nodded slowly, a hard look on her face.

"A-a-and is t-that a c-crossbow?" Rainbow continued, pointing to their back right.

Huh?

Twilight whirled around, spotting the scoped crossbow set on a bipod on the peak of the roof. The bolt set in place glowed a dull red, and her pupils shrank to pinpricks.

Why is that crossbow loaded with spell-eater bolts?

Twilight turned to Rick in rage. He had done this. He was going to kill Luna.

Snarling, she looked once more at the dead pegasus, trying to fuel her rage, and her train of thought ground to a screeching halt.

Is that pony wearing a combat harness?

Confusion replacing her anger, Twilight considered the corpse, noting a dull red glow coming from the front of the harness.

Wait a minute, this wasn't Rick... it was This pony that was going to-

Twilight squeezed her eyes shut, shaking her head, trying to shut the thought out, but it weaseled its way into her mind and dug its tendrils deep.

Rick hadn't been planning to kill the princess. He was trying to stop this pony from killing her.

The thought of a pony doing such a deplorable act was too much for the young princess to bear.

Twilight burst into tears.

The sound of galloping hooves reached their ears, and Rainbow looked at the source, seeing Pinkie, Rarity and Applejack coming towards them. Steeling herself, she wiped her eyes with a hoof and fluttered down to the ground, meeting them halfway.

"Rainbow! What happ-" Applejack was cut off by the tears in Rainbow's magenta eyes.

"Don't-Don't. You don't want to see it." Rainbow shakily said.

"Is everypony okay?" Asked Rarity, concern filling her features.

"N-No. Every-pony is not okay. It'd be better if w-we just went back to the castle. I'll t-tell you everything..."

Pinkie's smile faded. She didn't like to see her friend this way. Judging by her tone and her actions, she was really hurt by something. Her mane and tail deflated into a flat, straight style.

"D-Do you know where F-Fluttershy is?" Rainbow asked, the tears in her eyes prominent.

"Last we saw, she was flying the direction of her house." Rarity said, pointing.

"O-okay. Applejack, go get her. The rest of us, let's g-go to the castle." Rainbow's voice was strained.

Slowly turning hoof, the Rarity, Pinkie and Rainbow made their way to the castle, while Applejack went towards Fluttershy's cottage at a full gallop.

She didn't know what had happened, but she hoped her friend was going to be okay.

The Elements had gathered up in the throne room, seated in a circle. Applejack had to practically drag Fluttershy back, as she refused to leave her home. The loud sounds had spooked her.

Twilight had come in shortly after they had gotten there, and told them that Rick was currently in hospice for a wound on the back of his hand. She and Luna had accompanied him, and along the way he had told the story of what happened. The Royal Guard was at the scene of the shooting, keeping it under wraps until Celestia arrived the next day to personally inspect the scene. Luna stayed with Rick, and Twilight returned to tell the girls what happened. Sitting on the floor, she looked at the ponies around her.

Rarity was concerned, and confused. Applejack was stoic, not ready to make a judgement yet. Pinkie Pie was somber, looking at the ground with sad eyes and a flat mane. Fluttershy was meek and afraid, and Rainbow Dash was on the verge of tears. Twilight let out a deep breath, composing herself.

"Alright girls. You are all familiar with Rick's background, right?" She asked.

They all nodded.

"Good. And you all understand the world he comes from, right?"

They nodded once more.

"Good. Okay. So Rarity and Fluttershy will remember that grey pegasus mare that asked for directions after Princess Luna's speech last light, yes?"

The two in question nodded. Rarity spoke up.

"Forgive me, dear, but could you please tell us what transpired tonight?"

"Yes, right, I'm sorry. Okay. This is... hard for me to say.

Apparently this mare, by the name of Light Step, had been following The Princess since she had left the town hall that night, and even watched the two of them through their hotel window. Then, tonight at the party, she had followed them through the party, and Rainbow ran into her."

"I-I remember that." She said, looking at the ground. "She was grouchy and touchy about her bags when I asked her about them."

"And then shortly after that, Rick and The Princess ran into her as well," Twilight continued. "She seemed like she was hiding something, and Rick drew some conclusions. Then, you all remember when he suddenly left. Well, it turns out that he was going to confront Light Step about following them. And well..." She trailed off.

"Twilight, what in tarnation happened? You're startin' to scare us here." Applejack said, crossing her hooves and looking a bit annoyed.

"I'm sorry, as I said, this is difficult for me to say."

"It's not like somepony died!" Applejack said, squinting at her and huffing.

Twilight looked away, drawing in a tedious breath.

"A-actually AJ, somepony did d-die."

The room was silent. Applejack's annoyace faded, replaced with chagrin and worry.

"Rick discovered Light Step on a roof, armed. She had a crossbow loaded with a very deadly type of bolt designed to penetrate magical barriers, like the one Princess Luna has around her when she's raising the moon. Rick confronted her, and she a-attacked him." Twilight started to lose her cool, pausing for a moment and breathed deeply, calming herself.

"Rick was stabbed in the back of his hand, and s-s-s-" Twilight had trouble finishing the sentence. "Shot Light Step fatally, k-killing her on the spot."

Everyone's jaw hung open.

"S-s-s-shot her? L-like with a c-cross bow?" Rarity stuttered her question.

"N-no, with something else. I'm sure h-he can tell you about i-it, if hes c-c-comfortable.." Twilight responded, her ears flat against her skull.

Applejack huffed again, rage boiling her her veins, before getting up quickly.

"Ah'm gonna teach Rick a lesson for doin' something so despicable in mah fair town!" She shouted, turning around and galloping out the door.

"AJ, no!" Twilight yelled after her, but it was too late. The orange pony was too far gone to listen to reason at this point.

Turning her attention back to the group, Twilight sighed.

"Look, I'm sure you all w-want to talk to Rick, and after he's recovered he said that he would be more than w-willing to talk to us all individually about what happened." Drawing in a deep breath, she chased the stutter from her system.

"This kind of thing just doesn't happen around here. Equestria is a peaceful nation, but as you all know, anything can happen anywhere. Although we try to strive for peaceful negotiation, sometimes that just won't work. I think this was one of those times. I'm worried about AJ, but I know she'll see the truth."

Surprisingly, Fluttershy spoke up.

"I've seen this in nature sometimes, when the animals have a disagreement. Although many of my nature friends are very nice to each other, sometimes being peaceful just won't work. I hate to say it, but force needs to be used sometimes to keep the peace, even if it sounds counterproductive. Oh, I'm sorry if I overstepped..." She hid behind her mane once again, shrinking into her spot on the floor.

The ponies all stared at Fluttershy.

"That really made a lot of sense, Fluttershy. Thank you for your input." Twilight said, giving her a small smile.

Fluttershy softly squeaked, nodding behind her mane.

"Does anypony else have any questions?"

Pinkie Pie raised a hoof.

"Do you know of anything that might cheer Ricky up? I think that that this may be harder for him than us, with all he did tonight." She said, starting to gain back her cheerful edge.

Sharing a small smile, Twilight said, "Maybe at another time, Pinkie. Right now he needs some alone time with Princess Luna, I think."

"Okey Dokey!" Pinkie cheerfully said.

Twilight smiled. Nothing could keep her friends down for long. Even Rainbow Dash had stopped crying and was smiling.

"Alright girls, let's go home and sleep on it. In the morning, we can visit Rick. Does that sound good to everypony?"

"Yeah!

"Yes, dear.

"Yeppers!"

"I guess..."

"Alright then. I'll see you all in the morning!"

"That's a nasty cut on the back of your hand, sir." Nurse Redheart stated, looking at the wound on the back of Rick's left hand.

"Yeah, no kidding." He replied.

Princess Luna was standing next to his seated form, holding his other hand in her hooves. Rick was enjoying the feeling, the strange grip that her hoof provided him, and was grateful for the contact. The events of the night had left him a mess for a while, crying like a little girl, before he had been able to relax. Afterwards, he had essentially returned to his former self, even cracking some-in Twilight's apparently expert opinion-poor timed jokes. But to him, they were a coping mechanism. Luna had thought them funny, but been too worried to laugh. At the moment, she was just trying her best to give Rick as much support as he needed.

Redheart pulled on hoof-gloves with her teeth, careful to not let the touch the floor, before removing a small bottle of Iodine from her first aid kit.

"This is going to sting a bit." She said, before dumping a healthy amount of the substance onto the cut.

Rick hissed, sucking in a breath through his teeth, but remained still.

Wiping off the excess with a sterile cloth, Nurse Redheart began to wrap the man's hand with bandages. Using a small amount of medical tape to hold the dressing secure, she removed her gloves and put them in the biohazard container.

"Now, when that does heal, you're going to need Physical Therapy. Thankfully, your hand anatomy is similar to a Minotaur's, so we can have you do some basic Minotaur hand exercises. Can we schedule you for a couple weeks from today?"

"I'll be in Canterlot then..." Rick replied.

"Hmm. We could give you the device and have you do the exercises on your own time, would that work?"

Rick nodded. "That'll work."

Giving him a smile, She said. "Great! I'll go get it."

The nurse left the room, leaving Luna and Rick alone.

The two sat in silence for a few minutes, before Rick broke the ice.

"Y'know hon, I'm really glad that you're safe.."

Luna looked up at him, a small smile on her face.

"Thank you for protecting us..." She uttered, a single tear rolling down her cheek.

"I did say that I wouldn't let our relationship get in the way of things, didn't I?" He shot her a saucy smile, releasing her hoof and wiping the tear away from her eye.

"Don't cry, honey. I'm still here, and the other guy is well... not. And you're still here, which means more to me than my life ever will." He lifted her chin and kissed her, pouring his passion and love into the union. She fought back the tide of tears until it was too much to bear, releasing the dam and openly crying. Rick broke the kiss and pulled her into a hug, comforting the Lunar Princess.

"We-I love you, Rick. I am more than thankful that you are alive, and that such a horrible, disgusting pony is no longer here to harm anypony." She said, her voice straining.

"Don't worry about it. I'm just doing my job." He said, pulling her closer and kissing her cheek.

Keeping the hug for a few more moments, Luna pulled away, a new look on her face. Licking her lips huskily, she said, "If you desire, perhaps tonight we can... enjoy the bedroom together." She flicked her tail, eying him with seductive eyes.

Rick laughed, saying, "Subtle, Luna. So subtle. And maybe, I'll just have to take you up on that offer..." He leaned in, and passionately kissed Luna, which she eagerly returned.

Their kiss was rudely interrupted by the door bursting open, ripping the two out of their tender moment, and switching their attention to the angry orange pony standing in the doorway.

"You! You think that you can strut into mah town, with mah Princess, and do somethin' despicable like up'n killing a poor pony? I bet that they didn't even do anything wrong!" She shouted, pawing the ground with a hoof. "You really think that killin' a pony like you did solved anything?!" Applejack was angrier than she had ever been in her life. Rick looked at her, his eyes cold and calculating, but his mouth closed.

"Well? Answer me, murderer!" Applejack yelled, shaking the room.

Rick's eyes narrowed. Gently pushing Luna aside, he stood up.

"You really believe that I wanted to kill that pony? You call me a murderer, yet you fail to look at the other party. Did you see her, holding the crosshairs of that crossbow on the Princess that I swore my life to protect? " His voice was soft, but cut into Applejack like a knife. With each sentence, he took another measured step.

"I've seen this before. You don't want to believe that your own kin could be held responsible, or even have the will to attempt such atrocities. Yet there they were. Not all problems can be solved peacefully, Applejack, and knowing when to break out the big stick is what defines your character."

Rick wasn't angry; to Luna it was like he was correcting a foal that stepped out of line. Applejack had deflated, and stepped back, but Rick wasn't done.

"You ever shot someone, Applejack? You ever had to deal with the crushing weight of taking a life? The weight that's only alleviated when you realize that if you hadn't killed them, they would have killed you? Or your friends? Or innocent people just going about their day? Taking a life is not something I do lightly, as you so flippantly stated. If I hadn't dealt with that threat right then and there, with lethal force, I would've been dead, and Luna would've been dead, and that pony would have gotten away to take more lives another day. Could I have just knocked her out and apprehended her? Yes. But this was not only more effective, it was also thoroughly justified. Why try to spare one who wouldn't do the same for you? It's not selfish, it's just the truth. My job isn't to apprehend criminals anymore. It's to keep Luna safe."

Rick was standing over the shaking Applejack, who was watching him with wide eyes.

"So next time you decide to come in here and spout half-assed ramifications and try to tell me exactly how I should have done something, remember that you weren't there, and you didn't see what I saw."

Applejack hung her head in shame.

"A-ah'm sorry, Rick. Ah just got really angry after hearing about that and... well I thought that you had done something wrong and... Ah'm sorry."

"It's alright, Applejack. I know what it's like to feel like you need to blame someone for something. Just after one of my fellow officers died, I was angry at the Sherrif's office and almost quit, but realized that they had done everything right, they had tried the best they could to prevent it, and what I really needed to do was accept that it happened." Rick's voice was soothing, and he squatted down and gave Applejack a scritch behind the ears.

"Thank you for forgivin' me, Rick. Ah know that Ah kinda overstepped there..."

"As I said, don't worry about it. Everyone makes mistakes. Ponies too."

Applejack scratched the back of her head with a hoof, avoiding eye contact.

"Plus, it's not hard to forgive one who's so adorable!" Rick said playfully, pinching her cheek.

"Stop that.." She mumbled, pulling away with a grin.

"Make me," He said, sticking out his tongue.

"Ah would, but ah think Twi wants me back at the Castle. Once again, thanks for forgivin' me for my outburst." Applejack said, giving Rick a quick hug and departing. After her came Nurse Redheart with a strange looking hand exerciser thing, much like ones Rick had seen on Earth.

"Okay, here's the exerciser. Once you remove the bandages, use it twice a day, every day for thirty minutes or more. After about two weeks, you shouldn't need it anymore." She chirped, ignorant of Applejack's outburst.

"Thanks, Nurse. Anything else you need from us?" Rick inquired.

"Nope! You're all set."

"Thanks," Rick stood, gathering his suit jacket, and turned to Luna. Redheart left the room.

"Ready to go?" He asked.

"You handled that very well. We thought you were going to be angry with her." Luna said in astonishment.

"Well, I had that same kinda thing happen to me after my second shooting," Rick began, taking steps towards the door and holding it for the blue alicorn. "I was in the hospital for a broken rib, and this lady comes in and starts spouting all this bullshit about how we murdered kids, and how everyone who was involved was innocent. I came really close to exploding on her, but my LT just starts talking to her in that same soft voice, absolutely demolishing her arguments. She stopped and tried some weak rebuttals, but the LT just kicked her out. It was amazing."

Stepping out into the night, the streets were vacant. The couple began their walk back to the hotel, softly chatting.

"Rick?" Luna asked during a break in the conversation.

"Yes, love?"

"If you do not mind our asking, what happened during your second shooting?"

Rick was quiet for a minute before answering.

"Well, It was one of my first few SWAT ops. We got called out at about 4 am, during which I was working, to this tiny little house in the middle of butt-fuck nowhere. Apparently some kid had run away and called 911 about his sadistic father and how he beat him all day everyday and other bullshit like that, right? Well we send a car out to it, and after about 40 minutes we get no reply from him. Dispatch hailed him like 10 times and got nothing. So they freak out and page SWAT, EOD and like half the fucking office about this deputy, yeah? SWAT assembles and we go out on this ninety minute drive to almost the edge of our county, and roll up on this tiny little one story house out there, no electricity, runs off well water. As we turn onto the road, we can see the deputy's car in front, with the door open, and nothing else. So we surround the house and start with call-outs, using the LRAD on our Bear to make sure that everyone and their mother can hear us."

Luna asked, "Whats an LRAD? and you guys have a live bear?"

Rick chuckled. "Well, an LRAD is a really loud speaker used for talking to ships at sea. We don't have a live bear, it's an armored vehicle."

"Oh."

"Yeah. Anyways, we get no response from the house, so EOD sends out their little robot to check out the house. It goes up to the door, and on the way notices a bloodstain on the porch. After EOD sees that, they're freaking out, thinking that our deputy is all sorts of fucked up. And honestly I was a little nervous myself, but I didn't let it show. So the 'bot pushes the door open, and starts looking around the inside of this house; it's freaky. There's like an altar at the end of the room, and there's weird newspaper clippings on the walls, it's like something out of a horror flick. So the 'bot finds this staircase like, leading to hell and goes down it, but when it gets there the signal gets fucked and they lose control. We also hear a gunshot, so we assume that they shot the 'bot."

About 10 minutes later, we make the decision to go in. We bring our shields, we bring basically everything. So we clear the first level, nothing too freaky, aside from the satanic altar and newspaper clippings, and we look at this staircase. It's dark down there, so the LT orders us to put on our night vision, and so we start going down this staircase as carefully as we can. We can't find the bot, but we can smell the cordite and gunpowder from the shot. Half the team is trembling at this point, but we keep going. So our shield guy rounds this corner and suddenly gets hit with a load of buckshot, right in the shield. He pulls back and the guy behind him sicks his rifle around the corner and just fucking unloads. I'm third in line and so when this guy empties his mag, I stick my gun around the corner on full auto and do the same, blind firing. While I'm doing this the guy behind me comes around behind me and pops off a few shots, taking out the guy who was there. The whole team is freaking out at this point, and there's still more to go. Fortunately, we didn't find anymore baddies at the house, but seriously, the whole damn thing was a nightmare." Rick finished, shaking his head.

"...Wow. That sounds... enjoyable." Luna said, incredulous.

"Yeah. It wasn't fun. But hey, we did find our deputy, still alive, in this basement. He was tied up and looked like he'd been to hell and back, but he was alright. After that, we got him out of there and let CSI do their thing. The whole thing was fucking crazy."

"Sounds like it."

The two came to the Halter Hotel, stepping inside and waving to the receptionist. Ascending the staircase to their room, Rick unlocked the door and gestured Luna inside. Once more looking up and down the hall, he closed and locked the door behind him once more.

"Jesus Christ," He breathed. "What a night."

Author's Note

Cliffhangers are my favorite way to end a chapter. Muwhahaha!
Anyways, writer's block is a bitch. Hope you enjoyed.
Perhaps next chapter we'll pick up with Luna and Rick having some quality time together, eh?