Canterlot
3:00 am

Dakota POV

We finally made it back to the castle after 7 hours of driving. It was a long and interesting day to say the least. First, I learned that my "Hostage" had feelings for me, Second, We became a couple, Third, 3 more friends of mine showed up, fourth, I broke Celestias heart when I came out of that hotel with an armband that showed who I belong to, and I almost died as well before all of this so it was a pretty crazy 2 days to say the least.

I was super tired but I had Aqua to keep me awake as well as the AC, radio, and good old caffeine. We were finally back in the city and were on a straight away to the castle gate. I flipped the switch to use the Jake brake and gradually slowed down the truck until we came to a stop about 10 feet from the entrance. If the whistle of the turbo charged 12.7L detroit diesel 60 series engine hadn’t woken up the city of canterlot, this did. The truck had no mufflers on it whatsoever and it had bigger pipes as well. The night guards opened it up once they saw me and let us through. We all pulled off to the side and parked our cars while I was shutting down the truck. I had apperantly hit the break/clutch pedal too many times because a warning alarm started sounding indicating that air pressure was too low for the brakes to work properly but I didn’t care at this point. I just put the truck in park and applied the hand brake and used what little air was left.

Aqua had to help me into the castle because I was too tired to even walk straight. When the door to the palace opened up though, Princess Luna was waiting for all of us. “Clearly you need some rest after everything that has happened in the past 2 days. I will give you a pass on tonight but I expect you to make things right with my sister tomorrow night because she is not handling this new relationship between you 2 very well.” That was all she said before she walked off. “Um Dakota, What the hell is she talking about?” I heard Trevor ask. “Don’t worry about it bro. I’ll explain everything tomorrow morning. If I wake up when it’s still morning time that is.” I said back to him. “Come on Dakota, lets get you to bed.” I heard aqua say next to me.

It wasn’t a long walk from the entrance to where my room was but I still wouldn’t have made it if aqua wasn’t there to help me. I could see just how tired she was as well. She had bags under her eyes, her eyes were pretty bloodshot, her mane was rather messy, and she was having some trouble herself trying to stay awake. We finally made it to my room after about 10 minutes and went inside. I took of all my clothes except for a pair of boxer briefs and a tank top I was wearing under my shirt. I didn’t bother to take of my dog tags and just got under the covers.

“Thanks Aqua. I really appreciate this, but I know that you are just as tired as I am. So, being your new lover that I am, I insist that you stay here with me for the night because it’s too long of a walk back to the barracks and you would pass out on the way just like I almost did on the way here. So take off your armor and climb into bed. There is no point arguing it.” I sort of demanded while slurring through have of it. That seemed to make her happy as she didn’t need to be told twice and removed her armor and set it off to the side and got into bed next to me and got close. We kissed each other good night and fell asleep in each other’s embrace.

I found myself in some sort of galaxy looking dimension after a while. I noticed how I felt like I was standing on solid ground but at the same time there was nothing beneath me. This looked like the dream scape from the show from when twilight was taking a litteral trip down memory lane right before she became an alicorn. I also noticed something unusual as well, I was wearing only my underwear and tank top when I fell asleep but now, for some reason, I was wearing a full set of US marine fatigues from the Second World War along with all of the gear and armor as well. I even had a battle pack on my back as well and a helmet on my head. Suddenly the dream scape started shifting rapidly and I soon found myself suprisingly at the invasion of Iwo Jima but this was right before the Japanese had started attacking. I had a Thompson SMG in my hands and ducked down as soon as the MG fire started. I was watching hundreds of people die right before me. An artillary shell landed close to me and at that moment time seemed to stop. Everything was frozen in place and things got very quite. I knew that I had lived past lives before but I just didn’t remember much about them. I was just looking around, confused as hell and kind of nervous until I saw Princess Luna and she was walking right towards me.

“Forgive me, but I did not know that this was a memory of yours. I thought you were having a nightmare and tried to intervene and stop it.” She explained. “It’s fine. In a way, this a nightmare because this may have been a past life that I lived through but I can still remember some of this stuff like it happened just a couple of hours ago.” I said.

“I understand but that is also not the only reason I’m here. It’s been almost 7 weeks now since you arrived here and I know how worried your family had been about you.” She said. “I know that they would be. At this point, I would be presumed dead. There has probably already been a funeral held for me and everything.” I replied to her. “That is where you are wrong. A funeral has not been held yet but one is scheduled soon but that is beside the point. I’ve found a way for you to contact your family and physically be there with them and give them the news that your not dead.” She responded which left me somewhat speechless. “Really!? How? I gotta see them and tell them I’m ok!” I said somewhat frantically. “I’m able to open a portal which will allow you to temporarily cross over from here in the dream realm to the the real world and your home. But it is only temporary and you would only have 30 minutes during each visit.” She explained. I knew that I couldn’t fully be with them again but this was better than nothing and I desperately wanted to see them again. “We are able to see them right now if you wish to do so” that was all I needed to hear. I frantically said yes and she lit up her horn as both of our bodies became covered in light.

The first thing I saw was that it was around mid-morning to noon, the air was unbelievably humid, the ground was beyond soaked, and tree branches were down everywhere. We were now standing outside of a building with a sign that said “St.francis Catholic Church” I’m guessing that a funeral for me was happening right now. “They are inside. Go to them, comfort them with the fact that you are alive and well.” Luna urged me on and followed me in shortly after. I could see in the main area that hundreds of my family members were gathered around and were all crying as the priest was reading his script. I was about to make my presence known until I noticed that I was still wearing the WW2 uniform and would have to try and explain this to everyone.

Luna was right beside me for this and would vouch for me In case anyone tried to call bullshit about what happened. The time had come for me to blow their minds and I did so by entering the room and saying something out loud.

“Is it weird if you show up to your own funeral and your still alive? Or is it just the mushrooms talking?” I remarked as the whole room fell silent and everyone’s head darted towards me and just looked at me silently in shock. “Man, tough crowd. I thought you all would be overjoyed by the fact that I’m still alive.” I said once again as I adjusted my helmet and removed the Tommy gun from my shoulder and held it in one of my hands since it felt like it was about to fall off.

At that moment, I got swarmed by my relatives and could see my parents running towards me at full speed. This was only the second time that my biological parents and step-parents had been in the same place at the time. All four of them reached me and pulled me into a tight hug as I returned the gesture. I explained everything that had happened ever since the storm and had Luna to back me up on that. I even told my parents that I was now in a relationship and that I was going to take my new lover on a date as soon as I could. We also had to explain the reason why I was wearing an airborne uniform from WW2 but they seemed to somewhat understand. The time had come for me to leave and say goodbye to everyone but I told them that this would not be the last time they would see me. Luna had told me that I would be able to visit home once every week if I choose to do so. With the final goodbyes taken care of, I and Luna exited the church with my family following behind as they watched our bodies become covered in light and vanish into thin air.

I was now back in the dreamscape with Luna but now, everyone else was here as well. Gerson, Brian, Kevin, Natalie, Manuel, and Trevor were all here, Even Aqua was here. "What are you guys doing here?" I asked them all. "That's what we want to know." Trevor replied. Luna decided to explain everything of why we were all here by saying that there is a way for us to temporarily see our families again and that we would be able to do so once every week. She also said that since there is no true way for us to go home, she would begin the process of making us citizens of Equestria. After that, she said that since this was technically my dream, I could change the scenery to whatever I wanted. Upon hearing that, I changed everything to the Las Vegas strip.

If we were gonna be here in this dreamscape for a few more hours then we might as well make it interesting. Trevor had challenged me to a drinking contest while everyone else watched. Luna decided she would be a sort of coach to this contest and kept track of how many shots both of us had taken. He was drinking some honey jack daniels whiskey while I was drinking this nasty shit called Oddka, which was a literal spinach and cucumber vodka. Even though my stuff was stronger, Trevor ended up blacking out first since he didn't drink very often and he was still a lightweight. Luna used her dream altering magic to make both of us sober again and wake him up and get rid of his hangover. We then proceeded to have some more fun in the casinos. I played Brian at Blackjack and beat him while Gerson, Trevor, and Kevin were all playing roulette. Natalie, Manuel, and Aqua were playing the slot machines and were getting really lucky.

After about 2 hours, Luna said that we would wake up soon and ended the dream. One by one, everyone started to disappear into nothing. I was the last one to go but Luna reminded me one last time that I need to make things right with Celestia. After that, My vision went black and my body felt heavy. My eyes were still heavy, My body felt stiff and I had the overwhelming urge to stretch out and pop my joints. I felt a weight next to me on the king size bed that I was sleeping in. I opened up one of my eyes and saw Aqua's sleeping form next to me. She had a small smile on her face as I knew that she must have slept well last night. I rolled over and looked at my phone and saw that it was currently 2:45 in the afternoon. We were asleep for a whole 13 hours but after everything that happened yesterday along with a 7-hour drive straight back here without breaks, it was well deserved. I got out of bed and went into the bathroom and got straight to taking a shower to wake myself up fully. After I was done and had put some fresh clothes on and left the bathroom when I saw Aqua getting up and putting on her armor. "Morning Aqua. Did you sleep well last night?" I asked her. "Yeah, I did. These beds are way comfier than the cots we sleep on in the barracks" she replied. "Well if that's the case, then you are more than welcome to use my bed anytime you want. besides, since we're lovers now, I might ask you to move in with me at some point." I said somewhat jokingly. "I might have to take you up on that offer someday then. Who knows, maybe someday we might even get married." She said.

That got me thinking. I'm still only 17 years old and I never even finished high school, but if I was to get married at this age, that would really be something special. I put on the armband she gave me, texted everyone and told them to meet up in the dining hall, and headed out. It was no more than a 5-minute walk to the dining hall and we would have to figure out how the rest of the day would go. On the way there, we had to pass the throne room and it looked like day court was still in session since there were noble's lined up outside and I could see Celestia inside sitting on her throne as she had a tired expression on her face, But when she saw me walking by, Her expression changed to one of sadness as she was still upset about yesterday. As we walked past and out of her sight, The guard in front of the throne room entrance had announced that day court was over and that everypony could come back tomorrow at 10:00 AM. Damn, she is really upset about this whole thing between me and aqua. I knew that I would make things right with her later tonight.

We finally arrived at the dining hall and everyone else was already there and eating something good. We talked about what we needed to do today and if anything else needed to be done today. I needed to help Natalie and Manuel fix their cars since they had taken some pretty decent damage once they got here. When we got outside where the cars were at, I grabbed some spare tools out of my Ford and got to work. Manuel had a 2013 Toyota Tundra crewmax, Natalie had a 2011 Ford Crown Victoria P71, and Trevor had a 2015 Chevy avalanche. Natalie just needed some new headlights while Manuel had a Dead battery and failing alternator and needed both of them replaced and Trevor had a broken drive train which would be a real bitch to try and fix. I got the headlights I needed out of the black void in my weatherguard and made sure they were LED lights since they were much brighter than regular halogen bulbs and proceeded to install them and test them to make sure they work. I did her a favor and replaced the spotlights as well with LED lights and got to work on Manuel's truck. I decided that replacing the battery instead of recharging it was the best course of action and got to work.

It took roughly 6 to 8 hours to finish up since I had to take apart part of the engine in order to remove the alternator. Once I did get it though, I decided to do what I would do with broken, useless, or stupid stuff in the game my summer car and flip off the alternator as I through it over the wall. I put a higher output alternator in for him and a new battery. I had to put the engine back together and make sure his truck would actually work. After that, I got to work on Trevor’s SUV/Truck crossover. I did the best I could since I didn’t have a lift to raise his truck off the ground so I could get underneath and work on the drive train. I did the best I could welding it back together and would continue on it tomorrow. I finally finished up and put my tools away and jacked his car down. I was very sweaty and sore but I didn't care, An honest day's work is a good day's work, And since I preferred to do manual labor instead of a desk job, I could actually be happy while I worked. I went back inside, Gave them back their keys, Got showered, grabbed a quick snack, and made my way to Celestia's chambers. I can't bear to see her like this any longer and seeing her like this made me feel like a real asshole for doing what I did. I finally made it to her chambers and it was now time to make things right with her. The guards let me by and I knocked on her door, No response. I knocked again and once again, no response. I checked to see if the door was unlocked and it was. I slowly and quietly opened the door and entered her room. It was dimly lit inside and I couldn't see inside very well since it was only candlelight. I could see Celestia laying her bed quietly crying to herself. It was now or never, and then I made my move. "Tia"

Celestia POV
8 hours earlier

I was not in the mood to handle the day court today since I just wanted to be left alone with my thoughts. I would not be able to get over the fact that I missed my chance and lost Dakota to another mare, One that is within my royal guard no doubt. I wanted so badly to tell how I felt about him but now I will never get to tell him at all. The day court was going slowly, as usual, My thoughts had drifted to him again since I had not seen him in almost 2 days now. I was told that he had returned last night with 3 more humans with more of those so-called "vehicles". One of them was massive and had to be parked on the grass in the courtyard by the gate because of how long it was. I wrapped up with the pony that was speaking to me about some funding problems in his town. When he left, I saw Dakota walk by the throne room with the mare that he was now dating. He glanced at me and had a look of guilt on his face and looked like he wanted to say something but he just kept walking. I could also see the armband that mare had given him to wear on his arm. I ended the Day court early and had everypony leave as I went back to my chambers. I wanted so badly to tell him but I couldn't since he has already found a mate. I don't want to hurt him by trying to separate them, That is not who I am. If he is happy, then I will leave him be and let him enjoy his new relationship with her.

7 hours later

I was in my chambers for a while now and I did nothing but quietly cry, I wanted him to be mine, and for me to be his. That was only a dream now as I continued to cry over him. It was only an hour later now but I heard a knock on my door from the other side. There was another one and then it stopped. I couldn't be seen like this and just hoped that the guards had told whoever it was to go away. "Tia" A very familiar voice called out; one that I was surprised by.

"Oh, Dakota, I didn't hear you come in. What brings you here at this time?" I said to him as best as I could. "Tia, I came by to say that I'm sorry for everything I did in the past 3 days. I originally left because of the heat season and I planned to ride it out until it was over, only that plan went to shit. I almost died fighting some changelings, caused a small town to have a little mini civil war on if they are fighting to protect my friends or not, took a hostage, and broke your heart." He said as he started to get a little teary himself. "When I saw that you started to show feelings for me, I thought it was the heat that was talking which made me leave and not say anything about it." He continued as some tears started to fall from his cheeks. "Then I started dating another mare that has feelings for me even though you liked me. I'm so sorry that I did this and I feel like a real shitstain because of it. When luna showed me in my dreams what you did for me when I was passed out in the everfree, I didn't know what to think about it and then I turned and tried to run away again." He finished as the flood gates opened and tears were now freely falling from his eyes as were mine.

"It's alright. I'm not mad that you are dating another mare, I'm mad that I didn't tell you how I felt about you sooner. I feared that you would reject me for coming on too strong and then everything else happened." I replied to him as my own tears started falling again. "When Luna told me that I had a way to visit my family, I was overjoyed and forgot about everything else. I wanted so badly to see them again and tell them that I was alive and well. I wanted to tell you that I had feelings for you as well but I lost my chance once I escaped the castle in the forest. I may be seeing another mare but I still have feelings for you as well." He said once more. His face was red and I can tell that he needed to be comforted, he needed somepony to listen to his issues.

"How do I know if you still like me? that mare that you are seeing now had some feel-MMPHPH!!" I was cut off as he quickly pulled me into a deep and passionate kiss. He kissed me intensely as I squirmed a little bit, unsure how to react to this. Eventually I gave into my crush on him and returned the kiss. I prodded his teeth with my tongue, asking for entrance and to make this kiss one to remember. He parted his teeth slightly and slid his own tongue forward and met my own. I turned my head sideways to lock lips with him as he put his other hand around me and pulled me into a tight hug. I did the same as I put both of my hooves around his torso and brought him in tighter with my wings. We stayed like this for what felt like hours until we finally parted mouths, a single strand of saliva still connected us together. “Tia, I’m sorry I didn’t do that sooner. I want to start a relationship with you, but I also can’t just leave Aqua like that. She would be devestated if I did.” He said while still catching his breath. “Don’t worry about that one bit. I’ll talk to her and see if something can be worked out. Remember that a herd is okay here in equestria, and I don’t think she would say no to being in a herd with both of us.” I said to him as well as used my magic to remove his clothing. “I want you to stay with me tonight, I want to cherish this night forever.” I told him as I scooted over to make room for him as we got under the covers and got close to me. He used both of his arms to pull me into a close hug as I did the same. He kissed me goodnight as I returned the gesture and we fell asleep together in each other’s embrace.

Dakota POV

I found myself back in the dreamscape again but this time Luna, Aqua, and Celestia were all here with me. Luna had informed aqua about the possible herd but, to my surprise, she wasn’t mad or angry in the slightest. Aqua told me that she always wondered what it would be like to be in a herd, the fact that she would get to experience that with me and Celestia was pretty much a selling point for her. We talked about this for a while when the dream scape was morphed into a bar. We continued just talking about random stuff afterwards, seeing Luna and Celestia drunk at the same time was quite something. Me and aqua both challenged them to a drinking contest, since this was technically my dream again, I made them sober and grabbed numerous different bottles from behind the counter. I grabbed many different things like jack daniels, Oddka, Smirnoff ice, southern comfort, bud light, Kirin beer, and a whole bunch of different things.

Me and aqua were on probably our 40th shot now. We had the bartender keep track of how many shots we all took. Celestia looked like she was about to pass out while Luna just kept giggling like a Japanese school girl. We won the drinking contest when Celestia blacked out. The bartender had placed a bucket close by just Incase. I took the bucket and told him to do something to make me throw up so I could get somewhat sober. He punched me in the gut and that did the trick. I nearly filled the bucket all the way with vomit and I felt much better afterwards. We all continued to have fun in the bar until we were about 5 minutes from waking up. Luna thanked me for making things right with her sister. After everything went black again, I finally woke up and it was still dark outside. The first thing I saw was Celestia’s sleeping form next to me and she had the happiest smile on her face; I had a similar one since I had made things right with her and now have 2 ponies that I could call my lovers. I’m only 17 but I already know that this would probably be the most interesting part of my life. If I was to marry Aqua and Celestia, I wonder how it would work out, would I marry both of them at the same time or would I have two separate weddings? I just pushed it off and would figure it out when it happened. For now, I just wanted to take care of the two mares that I now call my marefriends. I could tell that I would have a good life and this was only the beginning.

Author's Note

Written in the middle of a tornado warning. This chapter was a little lengthy but it was worth it. I gotta go and put some eye drops in my eyes because pollen sucks but enjoy the story. Next chapter jumps ahead to winter time