Aversion decided to be the one to do something nice for Luna, all to show his gratitude at being her coltfriend. He took her out to a bald spot in the wood for a picnic he put together.

"This is a rather nice location you've picked, Avey!" Luna said, gazing around the area.

"Yeah," Aversion said. "Always nice to eat outdoors every now and then, right?"

"Indeed," Luna said.

Aversion unpacked the food he prepared. "I made some honey-glazed hay, lettuce, and tomato sandwiches, with organic artesian bread."

"Hmmm," Luna hummed, "sounds simple enough."

Aversion started eating his right away, while Luna took a moment to open up the sandwich and examine it. After a moment, she took a bite and chewed for a few seconds… but then her eyes shot wide open and her smile faded. While Aversion wasn't looking, she stuck her tongue out and looked at the food, which tasted… well… less-than-favorable to her.

"...Bleh…" Luna uttered inaudibly.

Given that she was accustomed to five-star meals that she ate on a daily basis, cheap food did not really leave a good taste in her mouth. Aversion, however, having eaten it for most of his life, was not bothered by it.

While Aversion still had his gaze diverted, Luna levitated the chewed sandwich bite out of her mouth, and lobbed it away in a random direction, out of sight. There was no way she could get the meal down without gagging, which she feared would offend Aversion. Still, given that it was the best Aversion could do, she appreciated it nonetheless. She knew it was the thought that counted.

"Y'know, Lulu..." Aversion said, "...I can't help but still feel... inferior to you."

Luna tilted her head and narrowed her eyes. "Oh? What ever do you mean by that, Avey?"

Aversion sighed. "I mean, just look at what I have done for us right now. Nothing but a basic picnic with budget food that probably doesn't hold a candle to what you eat on the regular. Meanwhile, you've been going out of your way to do practically everything for me, all through the use of your high rank and noble status. I don't know... I just feel like... like there's not a single thing about me that compares to your ballpark, Lulu."

Luna's gaze fell to the ground for a moment as she allowed herself to get deep into thought. "Well... actually, all is not as it seems, Avey. It just so happens, you have access to something that I shall never have for myself. Something that my sister and I would desire above all else."

"How so?" Aversion said.

"Even though alicorns are the most powerful race of ponies... it does not come without a tradeoff," Luna said. "While we have the magic of unicorns, the flight capacity of pegasi, and the connection with nature that earth ponies have... there is one thing that the lesser races will always hold above even my sister and I."

"Really?" Aversion asked. "What's that?"

"Simply..." Luna began. "...death."

"What?" Aversion spoke. "You mean, you don't like being immortal?"

"It's not like that, Avey," Luna said. "Even though alicorns are biologically immortal and never age to death, we are still prone to death by natural causes, such as injury, illness, poison, et cetera. When it comes to alicorns, upon death, our souls transcend to a place called the Mirror Realm. After a period of spiritual rest and self-reflection, we are then reincarnated into bodies identical to our previous forms, without the conscious memories of our previous life."

Aversion's eyes grew wide as he listened to Luna's lecture.

"In all essence, alicorns are eternally bound to Equus until the end of time," Luna said. "However, when it comes to the lesser races of earth ponies, unicorns, and pegasi, it's completely different. When they die, their souls go to a separate part of the Mirror Realm, but only for a very short period of time. After being judged by the unseen forces of Equus, they will then leave the universe completely."

"Oh..." Aversion uttered, "...and, where do we go after we die?"

Luna's gaze fell to the ground. "...That is something that not even my sister knows. When lesser ponies die, they depart to a destination, outside our plane of reality, completely unknown to anypony living today. But it is because of this that they have it easier. My sister and I... we have lived thousands of years... we have watched civilizations rise and fall... we have had countless friends and family members die after living what seems a very short time to us, taken by the gift that we have not been bestowed with..."

"Gift?" Aversion asked.

Luna looked back up at her coltfriend. "In ancient texts, there have been many references to a so-called 'Gift of the Three Races,' and based on millennia of research, true death is the 'Gift.' "

"Oh..." Aversion said. "...so... when my time comes, I guess that would really be it, wouldn't it? There's no avoiding it for me, since I would age to death while you would live on."

"I know," Luna said, sadness in her eyes. "And I wish not for it to come prematurely, either. Especially now that the demonic entity that has been haunting you has become powerful enough to start siphoning your life energy."

"What?" Aversion said. "How do you know that?"

Luna pursed her lips. "...I had an encounter. The creature was manipulating my fears after it left your psyche, and made me inadvertently manifest another Tantabus, which it absorbed into itself to enhance its power... which I fear could include it's life-siphoning properties, which are harmless to an immortal alicorn like me. Then, it went back into your psyche, where it is now brute-forcing me to stay out."

Aversion's eyes went wide as he listened.

"I assure you, Avey, I never meant for this to happen!" Luna pleaded.

"I know, Lulu..." Aversion said, "...I know you'd never want to harm me, especially after that sincere, heartfelt promise you made after that night you became Nightmare Moon again. But... is there anything you can do about it? Anything I can do to help?"

"Hmmm..." Luna pondered. "...there is something we could try, as well as a method to know how long we have..."

Back at the Castle of the Two Sisters, Luna made the necessary arrangements by getting some artifacts from her personal mages.

"How exactly is this gonna work, Lulu?" Aversion asked.

"All you need to do..." Luna said, "...is try to stay still, and don't let any bad thoughts get to you. It is vital that you are free of any stress for this process to work."

Aversion took a breath. "Alright, Lulu. I trust you."

With that, Luna closed her eyes as her horn illuminated. Aversion's body was outlined with the same glow, as was a transparent, bluish gemstone perched on a golden mount, and both the stallion and stone levitated closer together. After a moment, Aversion felt a warm sensation in his chest, and a beam of aqua-colored light emanated from his barrel into the stone. This continued for several seconds until the stone was glowing on its own, the exact color of his cutie mark flame.

Aversion descended back to the floor, as did the stone to its mount, and Luna stopped her magic and opened her eyes.

"Alright, good," the Princess said. "This aura stone has been attuned to your life energy, Avey. The intensity of the glow indicates how strong your life force is."

"Really?" Aversion asked, stepping forward to look at the brightly-glowing gemstone. "That's interesting... I can see my own energy with this thing!"

"Yes," Luna said. "you now share a sort of 'energy symbiosis' with the stone. And from the look of it, you are still brimming with life. So, we may just have enough time to stop the malevolent being from wreaking havoc on your soul before any irreparable harm is done."

"Well, that's good," Aversion said.

"However," Luna spoke, "actually destroying the shadow pony is going to be easier said than done. The Tantabus could very well be child's play compared to what this being has evolved into."

Aversion bit his lower lip. "That doesn't sound good, now that you mention it."

"Indeed," Luna said. "In the meantime, I will work to survey this being with magical analysis to know precisely where it could have a weak point. All the while, I will need to carry out my royal duties as per normal. After all, I must ensure the wellbeing of all my subjects."

Aversion nodded. "I got it."

"In any case," Luna said, "we have dinner tonight at Canterlot Castle. And Blueblood, having completed his debt to society, will be present."

"Yikes," Aversion said. "Sounds like this could be ugly..."

"No need to worry, Avey," Luna said. " 'Tia and I will ensure that he will not get a drop on you this time around. And the guards have been ordered to ensure he does not behave out of line, either."

Blueblood had served his sentence under Aversion's instruction, and he was allowed to come back to Canterlot Castle. However, the magic-suppression band on his horn was kept on. When he pleaded for it to be removed, Celestia informed him that they were going to keep an eye on his behavior a little while longer, after receiving some tipoffs from Discord about his sneaky behavior. His privileges and monarch power would both be quite limited a little while longer, and he would have to "earn" the removal of the suppression band.

"In any case," Celestia spoke to her nephew, "Luna and Aversion are both going to be present in the dining hall for the evening meal. You are to be on your best behavior, Blueblood! If not, there shall be further consequences."

Blueblood sighed. "...Yes, Auntie."

"And, bear in mind..." Celestia said, "...I shall let your Auntie Luna decide what your punishment will be should you misbehave!"

"Yes, Auntie," Blueblood repeated.

Right about now, Blueblood was truly broken. After a solid month of hard, physical labor, his spirit was broken. His pride was crippled. His narcissism was almost nonexistent. It seemed like the threat of consequences was finally getting through his thick head. He was far more obedient than he had been prior to his hearing.

"Good," Celestia said. "Now, you head on up to your room and clean yourself up for tonight. Dinner will be served in approximately one hour."

So, the reinstated prince made his way up to his room, where he sat on the edge of his bed, leaning forward and pondering.

"How did I end up in this situation?" Blueblood asked himself. "Auntie 'Tia is useless... I'm useless... the whole world is useless! To put me through the agony of physical labor... the uncomfortable firm mattresses to sleep upon... the low-cost, tasteless culinary of Ponyville... where did I go wrong?"

No doubt, Blueblood's lack of power during his sentence really took a toll on his overconfidence. Now, he was really starting to sink inside his shell. He had been overworked, sleep-deprived, humiliated, and on top of all of that... everyone saw him for who he was on the inside. The part of him he wanted nopony to see.

He more or less just absently sat on the edge of the bed until the dinner bell rang. From there, he took the walk down to the dining hall, where he was dreading anything that could potentially go wrong...

Dinner came later in the evening, and Celestia, Luna, Aversion, and Blueblood were all present at the table. There was very much awkward silence as they all ate, except for the occasional question.

"So..." Celestia said, "...how has everypony been in their offtime?"

"Oh, we've been doing quite well, Your Highness!" Aversion remarked.

"Yes indeed!" Luna remarked.

Blueblood said nothing, fiddling with his fork between two hooves, not used to holding it earth pony- or pegasus-style.

Needless to say, it was very awkward, throwing out a question every so often that had almost universal context. Blueblood held his tongue nearly the entire time. After everyone finished their meals, dessert was served, but even then, the atmosphere did not improve a whole lot. In any case, there was somepony there who wanted to try and make things a little bit better.

"Well, I do believe that mayhaps we should all..." Celestia spoke, trailing off for a moment, "...request Pinkie Pie from Ponyville to throw us a party, just for the fun of it?"

"Hmmm..." Luna hummed just before swallowing what was in her mouth, "...I concur, 'Tia! Been quite a while since we've had much excitement!"

"...Excitement?" Blueblood finally spoke. "What 'excitement' is there to be had?"

"Oh, look! He can speak!" Aversion said.

Blueblood glared at the earth pony. "Hey! Do not get sarcastic on me, wiseguy!"

"Blueblood!" Celestia said. "Mind your manners!"

"But Auntie!" Blueblood argued. "You can't let this commoner speak to me in such a way!"

Aversion stood from his seat. "You know, karma is something that is unseen, silent... and she can be a cold, cruel bitch to those who have it coming!"

"You dare threaten me?!" Blueblood said.

Luna narrowed her eyes at her nephew. Alright, Blueblood... I'm afraid you have forfeited this chance to make amends, and now, you shall be punished further... in such a way that I am sure you are quite familiar with...

Luna discreetly charged her horn, before she cast an invisible spell onto the white unicorn.

"I believe you have had more than your say!" Blueblood continued to vent at Aversion. "I will not continue to be tormented in this fashion! As your prince, I demand you to remove yourself from..."

The unicorn stallion trailed off for a moment as an audible bubbling noise sounded. He looked at his hoof, which he was pointing at Aversion, to see that it had noticeably swollen and become slightly reflective. It now looked much like a rubber ball on the end of his foreleg. He brought his hoof in front of his face and narrowed his eyes.

"What the...?" Blueblood uttered.

And then a deeper, sluggish bubbling noise began as Blueblood's neck and cheeks began to puff up slowly, as did the hunches of his forelegs. Feeling a bizarre pressure building up in his belly, the prince glanced down at his torso and barrel to see that they were also bulging out as well. His eyes went wide upon noticing this, and he gasped.

"You..." Blueblood said, returning his gaze to Aversion.

Aversion raised a brow. "Me?"

"You did this!" Blueblood said through his puffing-up cheeks.

"No," Luna said, "I did it! There was no potion involved for this; I simply used an Inflating Spell on you! Now you shall have, as the expression goes, a taste of your own medicine, Blueblood!"

Celestia just stared, somewhat dumbstruck, at the sight of her nephew blowing up like a balloon, her face growing slightly red.

"Hmm..." Aversion said, smirking... and blushing a bit, "...I think I'm gonna enjoy this..."

For the next few moments, there was nothing but the sound of Blueblood moaning and the low bubbling and gurgling noises happening in his stomach as he continued to fill with gas. He became so large, his own body started pushing him in his chair back, away from the table. His neck became so thick, his chestpiece started to rip, before it came off completely and fell to the floor. Once his body was perfectly round, and his limbs quite wide and hard to move, he began to rise up out of the chair.

"...O-oh... dear..." Blueblood uttered, with difficulty due to the pressure inside him making it a bit hard to breathe, "...Auntie... 'Tia... please... do something...!"

At this point, Celestia had her hooves clasped over her muzzle, her eyes closed, and jolting rapidly. It was pretty clear that she was straining not to laugh.

The two guards present in the dining hall, both exchanged confused glances.

"Do you think we should... do something?" One asked.

The other one looked back at the rising, inflating Blueblood. "But... what is there for us to do?"

"I don't know..." the first guard said, shifting his own attention back to Blueblood, smiling after a moment, "...but I think this is kinda funny!"

"Hm, I agree," the second guard acknowledged.

Blueblood bumped into the ceiling, rolling a bit, until his inflation stopped, as indicated by the slowing and halting of the gurgling in his belly. Luna stood from her seat, walked directly nadir to Blueblood, encased him in a levitation spell, and brought him down almost to ground-level.

"And, in addition to turning you into a living balloon, I have planned a sort of... 'part two' to your punishment, Blueblood," Luna said.

The prince began to sweat. "Wh-whatever do you mean... Auntie...?"

Luna narrowed her eyes as a crooked smile appeared on her face.

A short while later, Blueblood found himself floating in front of the castle, his hind legs tethered, by the fetlocks, to a stake in the ground. His mouth had been taped up, and attached to the ropes holding him down, directly under him, was a sign that read: I AM HOLDING A PETTY GRUDGE AGAINST A COMMONER, BECAUSE I AM NO BENEVOLENT MONARCH.

Luna was positive that this would humiliate him further, should anypony happen to see him, which was plausible, as it was still daylight for now. Blueblood himself hung suspended in midair, his eyes narrow, unamused.

Well, this is just silly... Blueblood thought.

There were a few Canterlot citizens walking by who caught sight of him. A few of them just minded their business, some stared in confusion, some started laughing. But overall, anypony who saw him definitely had something to tell their friends about now!

Even though it was not something he found particularly amusing, Blueblood's main concern was swapped to something else, completely out of left-field.

N-ngh...! My nose itches! Blueblood thought.

He tried to reach for his face, but his limbs had become too thick to bend, and even so, the fact that he was inflated had spread them out quite far, and partially sucked into his abdomen.

Ugh... body too big... Blueblood thought, ...can't reach my face...!

The itch on his nose was getting so bad, it was impossible to ignore. Tears started leaking out from his eyelids.

So... was THIS part of your punishment as well, Auntie Lulu? Blueblood thought. Giving me a bad itch, and rendering me unable to relieve it?

Blueblood had been subject to such bad treatment over the course of the past month, his logic had been pretty much reduced to non-sequitur... not that it was any better prior to his punishment. In any case, the inflated stallion, having absolutely nothing to do, and no hope of getting down on the tethers, ended up drifting off to sleep.

Author's Note

Yeah, I know about the month-long wait, but unfortunately, midterms really eat up a lot of my time. Regardless, I am determined to get this fic completed. And now that the show has ended, what exactly does this mean for any future MLP stories I have? Well, the answer is this: absolutely nothing. I won't stop writing MLP stories I've planned, and I will continue to keep working at it. Also, I'm actually quite interested to see what G5 has to offer! I'd be interested to know what you all think of the upcoming reboot! So, thanks for always continuing to follow me, despite how slow I can be at times (life, am I right? )