The royal dining hall was oddly quite as the royals ate their respective dinner/breakfast. Because of conflicting schedules during the work week, the only times Celestia, Luna, and Blue Blood managed to spend time together were during the two shifts between night and day. These times were usually put to good use as official business was strictly banned from the dining table where they spent their time telling stories, sharing gossip, or even the occasional food fight. Tonight’s change from day to night, however, seemed to be a more somber affair.

Luna and Blue Blood would stick with focusing on their food in an attempt to ignore the gloomy atmosphere aside from the occasional sharing of worried glances directed at Celestia before looking to each other and going back to their meal. Celestia, normally happy to take advantage of every free moment she had with family, ignored the others in favor of poking at her uneaten cake with a fork while giving the occasional despondent sigh. Blue Blood and
Luna regarded each other with desperate glances at yet another sigh from the solar diarch as they tried to think of something to say.

Celestia had fallen into a deep depression since the Summer Sun Celebration. She gave up most of her hobbies and interests, started spending her all of her time in her room, and displayed a severely frayed temper not normally shown in court. It didn’t take a mind reader to guess any of the numerous reasons that would have caused it: her son’s many injuries and tragedies, the near war caused by the Dragon Lord’s arrogance, and of course the news of Spike’s nearing rutt cycle stabbing at her maternal instincts with all gentleness of a rusty butter knife.

Luna opened her mouth to ask Blue Blood about the coming opening of the Baltimare hotel only to quickly close her mouth with a snap as she realized bringing up the trip for Spike and the girls may worsen Celestia’s mood. Blue Blood opened his own mouth but closed it quickly for similar reasons as he had planned to share some gossip only to remember all the chatter in Canterlot seemed to be based on the various scandals and uproar from the Celebration. The silence was eventually broken, but not in any way Blue Blood or Luna would have liked.

“Am I a horrible mother?” Celestia asked morosely.

The other two royals gaped in shock at the question before seeming to speak over each other.

“Sister! Why would you even think such a thing!?”

“Auntie, there isn’t a mother alive who could match how much you cherish young Spike or any young one you took under your wing! You are loving, compassionate, and-”

“I can’t stop thinking about what the Dragon Lord said,” Celestia interrupted quietly. “About how I ruined him.”

Luna’s and Blue Blood’s faces exhibited pure shock before the former’s twisted into outrage, “You can’t be serious! You are actually giving weight to the words of that worthless blowhard!? Just look at that petty harlot he raised! He is the absolute last being to talk of child rearing!”

“Dragon scales have been known ignore any physical threats and weapons short of ballistae bolts, yet all it took was a common knife to put him in intensive care. The female wore a mark that seemed to alert male dragons at a mere glance that she was taken, yet he never had a clue or even knew to ask about said mark. Despite being gown, other dragons, Tartarus, even an unhinged unicorn with no combat ability had him at their mercy. His health, his knowledge of the world, and his ability to stand on his own. All of these things are the parent’s responsibility to foster.” Celestia snorted before finishing bitterly, “Who else could be blamed for these failings if not I?”

“Sister, please,” Luna spoke comfortingly. “You couldn’t know-”

“‘Couldn’t know?’” Celestia repeated softly, glaring hard enough at Luna to make the lunar diarch flinch. She slammed her hands down, shaking the table as she stood. Her eyes blazed with magic and her Royal Canterlot Voice threatened to shatter the windows as she yelled in pure fury, “I COULDN’T KNOW!?! I KNOW THAT I AM SURROUNDED BY A LITERAL ARMY OF OFFICERS THAT COULD HAVE TAUGHT HIM BASIC DEFENCE!” Tears of frustration and anguish streamed down from her glowing eyes. “I KNOW THAT I COULD HAVE APPROACHED ANY NUMBER OF DRAGON CLANS OR EVEN SWALLOWED MY OWN DAMNED PRIDE AND GONE TO THE DRAGON LORD TO ASK ABOUT DRAGON CULTURE AND BIOLOGY!! I-” She stood a few moments with her mouth open before her blazing anger snuffed out like a candle. The glow left her eyes and she slumped back into her chair where she buried her face into her hands to sob softly, “I know my son only wanted to find love and have a family. I know it took you everything to convince him to not simply give up and die, Luna. I know that all of this is my fault and there is nothing short of turning back time that can fix this.”

Nothing could be heard in the dining room aside from Celestia’s despondent sobbing. Luna felt frustrated tears sting her own eyes as she tried and failed to think of anything that could comfort her sister. The scene remained until a delicate throat clearing drew the attentions of the two sisters to Blue Blood. “While it might not be time travel, I believe I have something that might be as likely to help,” he hesitated before muttering, “and possibly just as desperate.”

Dead eyes regarded Blue Blood from over her hands before Celestia answered dully, “Go on, nephew.”

Once again, Blue Blood cleared his throat before answering, almost as if delaying before giving unpleasant news. “It was something that came up during one of my talks with our…friend. From Special Research Division?”

“No!” Celestia barked as she slammed her hands back onto the table. “Absolutely not! I do not trust anything that comes from that lunatic!”

“You know, I never did appreciate that term,” Luna said in annoyance. Celestia had the grace to look embarrassed at slipping out that little term for mental issues that caught on some time after Luna’s banishment. Luna took the opening to look back to her nephew. “And who exactly are we talking about? For that matter, what is this Special Research Division?”

“Ah, yes. The S.R.D. was founded fairly recently. It’s an organization that explores new avenues of science, magic, and investigation that offered potentially high reward but came with such risk that it requires constant surveillance and oversight prevention.”

“If you can call one crackpot inventor an organization,” Celestia muttered darkly.

“He’s eccentric, Auntie,” Blue Blood said delicately.

“The entire division is a prison designed to hold him after we learned he invents doomsday weapons for giggles!”

“He only ever invented the one and never planned on using it. Just making a proof of concept model. And he isn’t imprisoned, just placed under protective custody. For his safety and others.”

“Emphasis on others,” Celestia snapped. “And since when does ‘protective custody’ involve a cell designed by the architect of Tartarus? It’s made with fifteen feet-thick walls layered in concrete, mythril, umbra stone, and adamantine!” She hugged herself and shivered violently. “Even then, I don’t think it actually holds him. I think he just hasn’t gotten bored enough to try leaving yet.”

“Can we get to the point please?” Luna asked archly, hoping her cool countenance was successfully hiding how nervous she was at the idea of somepony, some being, that could make Celestia react so badly.

“This friend of mine is a unicorn who possesses a remarkable intellect at the cost of being…slightly off,” Blue Blood explained.

“Translated: he makes Twilight Sparkle look like a dullard and Discord like the model of a healthy mind.”

“Aunite! Will you please let me finish!?” Blue Blood exclaimed, raising his voice to Celestia for what may well have been the first time in his life. In answer, Celestia huffed and placed and elbow on the table and her chin in her hand while motioning carelessly with the other.
After waiting for a few moments to be sure he wouldn’t be interrupted, Blue Blood went on, “We typically call him the professor or doctor. On weekends, I visit him for tea to provide him with some company. More often than not, this involves lending an ear to his latest theories and projects or offering him a new problem to solve. Many of his solutions tend to be…well, I’ll just say unorthodox to the extreme.” This got a snort from Celestia that he pointedly ignored. “Sometimes though, he comes up with a solution that I keep in mind for later in case the need should prove great enough. I remember one time before Spike met,” Blue Blood grimaced at the idea of mentioning the dragoness who started the mess, “her that I jokingly asked him how we could find the perfect mate for Spike.”

“You cannot be serious,” Celestia said flatly.

“I do not know enough about this professor,” Luna began slowly, “nor am I sure that I entirely trust such a pony based on the little information I received. That said,” Luna turned and looked Celestia directly in the eye, “if you had a chance to twist time itself for young Spike, I doubt you would hesitate. If you truly believed this professor was irredeemably dangerous, I doubt you would have settled for a cell, however well-built it is. Can you honestly say the risk this venture offers is too great? Even if we can heal your son and help him find what he wanted?”

Celestia stared back at Luna as she warred within herself. On the one hand, she wanted neither her nor her son to be anywhere near such an unstable mind. Tartarus, some days she thought being on the same planet was too close. On the other, she knew that, despite his obvious insanity, the doctor had become something of a legend amongst the scientific community for achieving the impossible. If anypony could pull something like this off, it would be him.

“…Alright,” Celestia sighed in as she lowered her head in defeat. She turned back to Blue Blood. “So, nephew. What does this miraculous, mad scheme of yours require?” she asked tiredly.

“Well, we’ll need some blood and tissue samples, some from Spike and the other dragons we’ve had visit over the last few days should still be available in the hospital, we may need Cadence to visit before the actual trip, and we’ll need a lab fully equipped with whatever medical technology is available as well. We may also need to link into the Canterlot City magic grid,” Blue Blood scratched the back of his neck awkwardly, “and maybe, possibly, the Las Pegasus, Manehattan, and Vanhoover grids also. And maybe Baltimare.”

“Of course,” Celestia groaned exasperatedly. “This wouldn’t truly be one of his experiments if there wasn’t at least enough power to blow a hole in the continent.”

“It’s also likely I’ll need your authorization for some actions that may…um…skirt the boundaries of morality.”

“Hardly surprising,” she huffed and rubbed her face tiredly.

“Also, Autnie Luna?” Blue Blood turned to Luna. “I believe we will be in need of your expertise as well as power for the next few days.”

“……I’m going to regret standing up for you in this aren’t I, nephew?”

“……Quite possibly. I apologize in advance.”

Two weeks later

Spike was leaning against a tree at Sweet Apple Acres as he contently gazed over the serene surface of the lake. It shined with the lights of the moon and stars in the clear sky above. Every once in a while, the lights would flicker as the pond rippled from occasional breeze blew by before reaching him. He lay there in only cotton bottoms borrowed from Big Mac and savored the feeling of the refreshing breeze caressing his warm, bare scales. In the dead of night, he felt something he wasn’t sure he would ever feel again: contentment.

When Amethyst came into his life to break his heart for the third and possibly final time, considering how close to death that encounter turned out for him, he didn’t think he could survive the broken heart, body, and spirit that he suffered that night. It only seemed to go downhill from there as he was tormented by Stargazer and his temp cronies, the second encounter and dismissal from Amethyst, and seemed it would come to an end at the hands of Stargazer in a psychotic rage. Even so, he managed to get through it all, thanks to his mother and especially his friends: the girls, Blue, Big Mac, Cadence and Shining, Princess Luna, even Dizzy who had once been one of Stargazer’s flunkies. One in particular, one who was with him from the very beginning, helped those last few scars to close. She gave him the hope of a future he longed for so long. A gentle squeeze to his left arm and sigh quickly brought his smiling attention down to that one who now rested against the tree beside him with her head on his shoulder.

Moonstone.

Moonstone had been born a wingless dragon like himself. They grew up together, her the brains and him the brawn, first under Celestia’s wing at the school then with Twilight. Spike used to endure no end of grief as she often talked him into all sorts of trouble. Of course, she also made sure she showed up in time to get him out again or, if not out of trouble, she would be there to take the fall with him. She held him through Rarity’s and Sweetie’s rejections when he needed to have a cry in private. She even warned him about Amethyst being suspicious, but he ignored her believing that he was in love. Moonstone didn’t bother with ‘I told you so’s when the horrible truth came out. She just sat beside him at the bed along with all of the other girls as he cried. Moonstone had given him his greatest shock at the hospital after Stargazer’s attack when he confided in her that he feared he would be alone. She smacked his good shoulder, called him stupid, then leaned forward and tenderly kissed him before whispering ‘How could you be alone when I’ve been waiting here the whole time?’ To say he had been shocked would have been an understatement as he had always seen her like a sister. As he looked back to consider their time together in the past, however, he realized that she had been everything he hoped for simply waiting for the time he let the idea sink through his own thick skull. Over the three days he rested, no attempt was made for romance aside from loving touches and chaste kisses as she waited for him to sort things out. Spike had been so sure he had ruined everything after that odd moment with Twilight at the hospital. Once again, however, Moonstone managed to throw him for a loop when he admitted what happened and she answered by smiling sadly and kissing his cheek saying, ‘Yeah, tough guy. I know. Things are complicated there. We’ll work things out later.’

Tonight, she wore only a simple, yet elegant, white sundress that seemed to complement her body’s blue scales. The dress managed to hug her generous curves while still managing to somehow leave something to the imagination. Three semi-transparent fins, a large one in center with smaller ones on either side, draped down the side of her head covering one side of her face like a familiar mane style. Her claws as well as the horns that started from the sides of her forehead to sweep back along her scalp were pearl white and when she looked into his face those eyes, Celestia those eyes! Reptlian eyes with grey iris flecked with white. All of this would have driven him wild before factoring in the source of her namesake. Like the stone, her various colors reflect light, particularly ambient light like that of the moon and stars tonight, creating the effect of a visible aura. The blue scales on her body surrounded the area with a cool glow and her head fins filtered light to give the illusion of a halo about her. Her eyes would shimmer grey with flashes of light from the flecked colors which always gave Spike the impression of two storms churning in the distance with lighting dancing across the surface. Moonstone’s innate magic took this effect a step further by altering it with her mood and projecting those moods outward. Times of agitation or anxiety would cause the auras to emit a harsh glare that could intimidate while moments of peace and quiet, like now, generated a soft glow that seemed to comfort and soothe anyone in its presence.

“Take a picture, tough guy. It’ll last longer,” she spoke softly. Any bite that might have been in the words was drowned in the affectionate tone in her voice and the intensity in her eyes.

Spike chuckled and pulled her back against his chest, “Yeah, sorry. I guess it’s just easy to get lost in that view.”

That got a snigger from Moonstone. “You dork,” she mumbled. “It’s a good thing I love you already, otherwise I might have tossed you in the lake for that one.”

“Well, it must have had some effect,” he said with a smirk. “You’ve tossed me in for less, yet here we are.”

“Don’t push it.”

They both chuckled a moment before sighing and settling back against the trunk. Moonstone stroked her hand against his chest softly and sighed deeply. Oh yeah, thought Spike, Sighs, dumb dialog, touchy feely. A blind pony could see we have it bad. After letting her trace a finger along his body, he gently grabbed her hand and looked into her eyes as her head lifted back up. “So, Moon…Does this mean you’re ready?” Since the confession, neither of them had made a move beyond loving words and caresses.

Moonstone looked deep within his eyes. He could see hints of longing, a smoldering heat and…regret? She smiled sadly and inhaled deeply before letting it all out in one exhale, “More than you know, tough guy. But I need you to do something first.”

Spike lifted her hand to his lips and gently kissed it as he looked into her eyes. “Anything,” he promised.

The dragoness closed her eyes and leaned forward until their foreheads touched. A tear trailed down her eye as she whispered lovingly, “Wake up.”

Spike blinked, “Huh?”

Moonstone pulled back to look into his eyes as she cried softly, “Wake up.”

“Moon, you’re not making sense,” Spike said nervously.

“Wake up, Spike!”

**

“Gyah! Whu-huh?”

Twilight leaned back into her bench as Spike jerked awake and started to look around. They were in an oak paneled room of the passenger car on the way to Blue Blood’s hotel in Baltimare. The other girls had rooms with their own loved ones while Twilight and Spike shared this one. Twilight was dressed in a simple white blouse and black capri pants while Spike had gone with jeans and a loose T-shirt.

Twilight waited until Spike woke up enough to direct his groggy regard to her before she shrugged and smiled sheepishly. “Sorry, Spike. I know you could use a little more rest, even as much as you have recovered already, but we’re about thirty minutes from the station and I thought you might want to get ready before then.”

Spike blinked blearily at her before shrugging, propping an arm on the window, and resting his chin in his hand as he watched the passing scenery, “Meh, that’s okay. I’m already packed but it’s probably good to be up by now anyway. Thanks.”

“Oh, good. I’m glad..uh…Yeah, that’s no problem,” She finished a little lamely, sitting back with crossed arms as she started looking around the room to occupy herself. “So, uh, Spike?”

“Hmm?”

“I just wondered,” she started hesitantly, hoping that she wasn’t making a mistake broaching this subject now. “Um. If you wanted to talk? You know? About…what happened at the hospital before-”

“You really don’t have to,” Spike interrupted quickly as he shrugged uncomfortably while maintaining his gaze out the window. “I’m fine. And we should probably get settled at the hotel first.”

“Right! Yes, settled!” Twilight babbled quickly, latching onto the excuse a bit too quickly. “We’ll get settled, relax, and…talk then. Sure,” she muttered dejectedly towards the end of her agreement and went back to staring at the wall. And the hallway door. And anything else aside from Spike.

Things had gotten awkward between the two after their make out session at the hospital when Spike had been recovering from Stargazer’s attack. She didn’t hesitate to help in his therapy or listen to him vent, of course, but any free moment they experienced in between therapy and comfort was dominated by averted gazes, fidgeting, and awkward silences. Much like now, in fact.

Unbidden thoughts of their moment at the hospital flooded her mind. Where she had been lying beside Spike in his bed to offer comfort, she now straddled his waist while staring down through half-lidded eyes showing undisguised lust. Moments before she feared for his life, but now her senses eagerly observed all the evidence of his good health: the soft scales her hands touched as they slid up his shirt, the warmth of his body radiating through her clothes and his thin hospital gown, the sensations of her quickly dampening panties as she grinded against his massive, thinly covered bulge sending shivers up her spine. She looked into his eyes and noticed them take on a faint glow as he started to growl hungrily. She could just imagine her number one assistant giving into his hunger and flipping her in the bed, pinning her down with his draconic strength. He would tear her clothes to shreds and ravish her body for his pleasure as she screamed in a mixture of shock and arousal. Nothing could stop him from claiming her before the world as he plunged that massive dragon co- NO! No, bad Twilight!! Heel!! This is not helping!!

Twilight shook her head to dispel those thoughts and bit the bottom of her lip as she tried to think of something useful to say or do to remedy the situation, but all her mind could dredge up were piling doubts. It seemed so right at the hospital but now? Was it just her relief to see him alive? Did she simply feel sorry for him? Did they both have feelings or were they simply catching each other on the rebound? She turned back to Spike hoping she could at least come up with some change in conversation to dispel the tension but paused at what she saw.

Spike no longer stared at the scenery or looked to be in embarrassment anymore. Rather, he seemed to be staring beyond the landscape with an intensity that startled Twilight. She thought back the past few weeks when she noticed this and other odd behaviors: searching through photo albums, staring off into space, sleeping even heavier than normal. In fact, she remembered seeing a rather intense expression on Spike’s face just before she woke him up. A thought occurred. “Spike,” she said reluctantly. “Have you been having those dreams again?” She feared it may have been about her again.

Spike frowned before slowly nodding.

“Oh, Spike,” she sighed, sadly. “I’m so sorry. I know it isn’t easy.” Twilight put a hand on his knee and tried to give a comforting smile. “But don’t worry. You’ll get over…Amethyst,” she spat the name out in disgust before continuing, “Just give it some time.”

“Huh?” Spike turned toward her from the window with a baffled look on his face. “What are you…? Oh, her,” Spike waved a hand dismissively, “Nah. Haven’t actually bothered thinking about her for the last couple of weeks.” He turned back to the window.

“Oh,” Twilight said, taken aback. “That’s…uh, good?” He didn’t seem to be putting up a front. It would obviously be a good thing, but…Amethyst had broken his heart and left him to die by the violent beating from her mate. That wasn’t something you just got over in a few weeks. Further, if he actually did move on from that ordeal, then what was bothering him so now?

“When was the last time you heard from Moonstone?”

The seemingly random questions startled Twilight from her ruminations. “Who? Oh! Moondancer?” she clarified. “Well, despite my mistakes, we’ve managed to maintain a habit of writing each other. We even held a nice conversation when we ran into each other at the last Canterlot Arcane Arts Expo-”

“No, not Moondancer,” Spike corrected, “Moonstone.” He looked up to see Twilight’s uncomprehending look and sighed exasperatedly. “You know? Moonstone? Female dragon with blue scales? My age? Lacks wings just like I do?” Twilight’s unchanging look seemed to upset him. “For Mom’s sake! She was hatched in the room across the hall from where you hatched me on the same day! We grew up together in Ponyville with you!”

“Spike, listen carefully,” Twilight said slowly, watching him very worriedly now. “I know for a fact you are the only dragon hatched that day. We’ve never even met another dragon without wings. There is. No. Moonstone.”

“Yes, there is! I remember!” Spike argued. “She got hurt helping me and the CMC getting away from timberwolves. We had that daytrip at Canterlot while you, Rarity, and Applejack tried a sleepover party for the first time. She stayed with me and kept me from panicking all of those times you had to leave me at home during your trips with the girls.”

“Spike, stop it!” Twilight pleaded desperately. She wanted to see him get over his tragedies, but this wouldn’t help. It wasn’t healthy. “None of that ever happened. Your mind is trying to cope with fantasies-”

“SHE’S NOT A FANTASY!!!” Spike bellowed in a first fit of rage. His eyes blazed with light as he glared at Twilight, but the glow quickly faded as his anger gave way to confusion and nervousness as he noticed her expression. Her hands were clasped over her mouth and her eyes were wide as she stared at something to the side. Spike followed her gaze and his own eyes widened in shock. He had smashed his fist into the windowsill hard enough to warp it, crack off flakes of wood from the paneling beneath, and sent cracks spider webbing across the glass pane above. He looked at Twilight, then guiltily turned from the scared expression he saw and went back to staring at what scenery he could past the damaged window. “Sorry, just…never mind,” he sighed sadly.

Twilight sat frozen with her mouth covered as her mind started working overtime. What happened? Things were awkward enough dealing with his traumas and the possibility of his rutt cycle kicking in. But this? Where did this ‘Moonstone’ character come in? How deeply were these fantasies ingrained if he’s getting this angry over having them called into question? What could she do?

She brought her hands down and crossed her arms beneath her chest as she thought of some possibilities. And then it hit her. Luna! Of course! She knows the mind better than anypony. As soon as she Celestia get to the hotel, I’ll talk to her and see what she thinks.

Her thoughts and Spike’s brooding were interrupted by a loud bam! that drew their attention to the hallway door opening. Dizzy stood in the door way looking less like the dorky stallion he normally was and more like a desperate animal. Bloodshot eyes with heavy bags under them scanned the room wildly. His clothes were rumpled, his yellow mane disheveled, and his fur coat seemed matted and smelled musky like…Well, frankly, it smelled of activities that neither dragon nor mare really wanted to think about at the moment. He quickly slammed the door shut, slid to the floor where he assumed a fetal position and rocked back and forth as he stared ahead.

Twilight took in the strange sight before sharing a look with a bemused Spike who simply shrugged. She turned back to Dizzy. “Umm, Dizzy? Are you…Are you alright?”

The question was answered with silence as the stallion continued to rock back and forth. Twilight wondered if she was ever going to receive an answer before he mumbled, “T-too much…Too much sex. Too much. Gonna die at this rate.”

The fearfully uttered response drew another shared look of confusion between Twilight and Spike. “Wait, hang on,” Spike said with a shake of his head, “Estrus ended over three weeks ago. Why would-”

“Not estrus,” Dizzy whimpered pathetically. “Angry sex. So much angry. Too much. Taking it out on me. Sooo much angry.”

“Huh?” Spike grunted. “Why would Pinkie be-?”

“Party supplies!” Twilight interrupted desperately, “I remember now! Somepony used up some of Pinkie’s party supplies without asking and it put her behind on some parties!”
No such thing happened. Weeks before, Amethyst had shown up during the Summer Sun Celebration and managed to hurt Spike a second time by brushing him off when he had asked if anything she had said to him during their time had been real. What Spike didn’t know was that, after he had left in tears, Twilight and the girls got into a massive brawl with Amethyst in retaliation of her callous actions. Rarity had even broken Pinkie’s party cannon over the dragoness in the fight. Despite being in the heat of the moment, Pinkie had taken it very personally that Rarity hadn’t hesitated to damage something that held so much sentimental value. The pink mare had refused to talk with Rarity since. Twilight and the girls had agreed to try and keep the drama from Spike as they suspected hearing the two friends possibly falling out over an incident involving his problems would have added more grief. They especially didn’t want this to come out during the trip where they were trying to cheer him up.

Thankfully, Spike seemed to buy the last-minute excuse. He winced, “Yeah. That would do it.” He turned to Dizzy with a sympathetic look one might expect to see from others who heard somepony’s house burned down with all of their savings in the mattress. “Sorry, dude. Maybe she’ll get over it during the trip.”

No response was given as Dizzy simply continued to rock back and forth as his thousand-yard stare looked ahead into the void. He seemed to be experiencing a very special kind of despair reserved for those few chosen by fate to see an end that millions dreamed of having: death by copious amounts of snu-snu. His body and mind were locked between the instinctual fear of inevitable death and the rapturous joy that every sexual fantasy, known and unknown, would be realized. Twilight’s heart went out to the poor stallion, first the horrors of estrus and now this, but she couldn’t help feeling very relieved that he couldn’t answer and dispute her story.

Before any further action or words could be decided by the three, the whole car seemed to shake from a distant slam and a demonic roar. “DIZZY! WHERE ARE YOU?!?!”

The stallion’s eyes widened and, in a display of acrobatic prowess that shocked Twilight and Spike, leaped from his spot on the floor to the overhead storage compartment and slammed the panel shut. Twilight’s and Spike’s dumbfounded faces were drawn from the compartment to the hallway door as it was violently pulled open. Their hearts seemed to stop as one at the sight before them.

Pinkie Pie stood with her hands braced against either side of the door. Her clothes looked as if they were thrown on in a rush. She breathed heavily, her searching eyes showed red pupils, and the curls in her mane flailed about much like a nest of raging serpents. Her bloodshot eyes focused on the room’s two visible occupants. “WHERE IS HE!?!” Pinkie’s normally chipper voice resonated deeply with the unholy wrath normally reserved for those few foolish enough to break a Pinkie Promise.

Deliberately avoiding the overhead compartment, the two terrified friends gave the only answer they could in the form of a shrug and shake of their heads.

This caused Pinkie to groan in annoyance, “Honestly, what is his problem!? Seven or eight times and he’s already trying to call it a day.” Not waiting for an answer, she slammed the door shut with a growl and could be heard stomping toward the other end of the train. “DIZZY!! GET YOUR BALLS OUT OF YOUR PURSE AND GET BACK HERE!! I NEED A GOOD FU-” The rest of her speech was cut off by a slam from the outer door she exited through.

The room remained silent as its occupants wanted to be sure of the pink demon’s absence before making any unnecessary movements or noises that might draw her attention. Eventually, Spike and Twilight slumped into their chairs with relieved sighs as their fight or flight response released its grip on them. Twilight’s horn lit up and the latch to the overhead compartment was gripped in the same light before being gently pulled to the side. The open panel revealed the shivering form of Dizzy holding a blanket he somehow pulled from the luggage up to his chin. He whimpered, “I see horny ponies.”

Twilight shared a look with Spike that seemed mixed between uncertain and pitying before she turned back to the shivering stallion. “Uh, hey Dizz? Would you like to stay there until we get to the station?”

“…yes, please.”

“Okay then,” Twilight said in forced cheerfulness. “We’ll…uh, see you later. I guess.” The panel was gently shut with a blink of magic. Twilight and Spike shared a last uncomfortable look before going back to their respective activities of worrying and brooding. Well that was a wonderful start to a relaxing vacation, Twilight thought sarcastically. Hopefully, though, things should calm down when we get there. “At least things couldn’t be any crazier than what just happened,” she mumbled quietly to herself.

The hall door slid open once more. This time it slid open gently to reveal a plain looking stallion with brown fur and a black mane. He wore a grey business suit and stared into the cabin through delicate, black rimmed reading glasses. He said nothing choosing only to regard the room’s occupants with a stern glare and frown. A glare that seemed particularly focused on Twilight.
After a few moments nervous fidgeting, Twilight finally chose to break the awkward silence. “Umm. I’m sorry. Can I help you?”

The stallion turned to regard her with his stern glare causing her to squirm. The stallion didn’t seem threatening, per se, rather his gaze seemed to hold an intensity and surety of a soul who had seen into the future and knew it to be a dark, grim thing. Eventually, the stallion gave way of an answer by taking a card from his suit pocket, proffering it to the baffled princess, then gently sliding the door shut. His departure from the car was marked by the slow, deliberate steps that faded down the hallway.

“Well, that wasn’t weird,” Spike snarked. He turned questioningly to a confused Twilight, “So, what’s on the card?”

“That’s something that makes this even weirder,” she answered disquietly. “There’s nothing on here. At least, nothing besides what I guess is his name.”

Murphy Law

Author's Note

A bit of a change off the bat. A while after finishing a decent amount of planning for this, and much to my embarrassment, I rediscovered that the original story's antagonist had a goon already named Moonstone. I liked the character set up I had here and I really couldn't think of a more fitting name. Therefore, this one will remain the same and the original antagonist's goon shall be dubbed 'Sir Not Appearing in this Fic"