The Heart of Pleasure
By Haunter Rayne
Ch 115 - A Trail... But Justice?

"This is preposterous!" A furious mare screamed right after stomping her bright golden hoof down against the floor in Canterlot Castle's Great Hall.

Several ponies were gathered this morning as Celestia sat upon her throne while her sister's seat beside her remained empty. In the center of the room Flash Magnus stood alone with his helmet in his hooves. Off to one side of the room the arrested ponies from the previous evening were seated amongst two rows of pews. On the other side of the room were the majority of Canterlot's social elite as well as a grouping of local citizens picked at random for the proceedings.

What was not called for though was when the doors to the great hall were thrown open by a golden pegasus who stormed into the room screaming angrily. "This is an outrage! I won't stand for it! Flash Magnus is a pillar of what it means to be a good pony! Some of his attitudes may be dated, and sure maybe he can be a little rough around the edges. But he's a military pony and I would stake my career as a Wonderbolt on the line to defend the virtue of his character!"

"Sp-itfire! What are you doing?!" Called an artic blue pegasus who came chasing in after her.

"Yo, seriously!" Rainbow Dash shouted while being hot on Fleetfoot's heels. "I wanna support Magnus too but the Wonderbolts need you! What are you thinking?!"

"Heh, you're one to talk. Acting brash to save another… maybe your bad behavior is starting to wear off on me Crash." Spitfire teased, causing the other pegasus to smile sheepishly.

"Um, excuse me." A regal voice called out to interrupt them all. "While I am greatly moved by the sentiment, I'm afraid that all of this is completely unnecessary. Flash Magnus is not on trial here today." Celestia explained them.

"I'm not?!"

"He's not?!" The other pegasi exclaimed together.

With a smile Celestia was happy to shake her head at them. "Most certainly not." Turning to the winged stallion in the center of the room Celestia said, "From my understanding the only charges against you are for surpassing the authority of your station and perhaps some sloppy documentation. When you took it upon yourself to dispatch three members of the royal guard without informing anypony, no one knew what you meant when all you wrote was an acronym that happened to be a thousand years out of date."

"But your majesty, I-"

"If I could be allowed to finish?" She interrupted him lightly. Magnus straightened up while Spitfire, Fleetfoot, and Rainbow Dash all found proper seats to set themselves into. "Now as I see it, the latter charge hardly constitutes a crime. I believe that a simple refresher course or perhaps passing a modern military academics test would correct the issue. Could I have your word on that?"

"I promise it will be done." He answered with a bow.

"Well that's settled then. And as far as the other accusation goes, sir Magnus could you please remind all us what your given rank was in the Equestrian Legion? And I do mean at the time that you vanished with your friends in order to suppress the Pony of Shadows." There was a murmuring from the crowd for the complimentary way in which Celestia had worded that.

Standing up straight Magnus cleared his throat said, "At the time, I was a Centurio Primi Ordinis…" He announced.

Celestia sat in thought for a moment, resting an elbow against her throne. "Hmm. Just Centurio Primi Ordinis? A thousand years ago is a long time to remember the finer details but not a Tribunus Militum Angusticlavius? I could have sworn I remembered signing that authorization myself shortly before you disappeared."

"Primi...?" "Tribu-...?" Several of the Canterlot Elite shrugged to each other in question, not being familiar with what these older terms meant, least of all how to correctly pronounce them.

Now Magnus looked up uneasily. "Ah-heh, yes well… I turned the position down, you see. I am a soldier and I belong in the field, not sitting in an encampment miles from the battlefield simply giving orders. With no disrespect of course, your highness." He added while trying to not sound ungrateful.

However Celestia, in her grace, simply nodded before she replied. "As you wish then. Now the ranks from the Legionaries of old don't perfectly equate to how positions are designated today… but if I had to compare the positions, I would say that'd put you somewhere in-between a Captain and a Colonel." She announced which drew quite the commotion from the crowd.

"Ahem!" Came a startled retort from Fancy Pants sitting nearby. "Please forgive the interruption, your highness. But can such an exchange of status truly be hoof-waved so easily?"

Celestia just brought her hoof up to her chin in thought. "I don't see why not. I was still the ruling leader at the time of Magnus' disappearance and I am still the ruler of Equestria today." Then with an almost comical attitude the alicorn turned back to the pegasus before them and asked, "And I don't actually recall ever discharging you from your enlistment with the Legionaries, do you sir Magnus?"

"No, your highness." He answered curiously, looking up and wondering where she was going with this.

Sitting up straight Celestia spoke loudly to the entire congregation. "Seeing as Flash Magnus has technically remained in the employ of the Equestrian military, albeit in an extensive MIA status, for the last thousand years then he should still be awarded all the same rights to a modern comparable position. Or at least that is how I see it." There were more murmurings following her decree but Celestia still was not done. "Fancy Pants, would you please make arrangements with the captain of the guard to see Flash Magnus properly reinstated to a current military role? Given his previous rank and personal disposition towards service I feel that Field Commander would be an appropriate choice."

Both Magnus and Fancy Pants looked up in surprise but the unicorn nodded before getting up to leave his seat. "It will be done at once, your highness."

"Now then…" Celestia said to the crowd. "Seeing as Magnus' authority has been substantiated, a Field Commander would be well within their rights to dispatch soldiers of Canterlot if they saw fit to do so. And since there are no other charges held against you, Sir Magnus you are free to go." Celestia announced with a smile.

Magnus bowed graciously before turning back to the three Wonderbolts waiting behind him. "Wow, I guess we really will have to call you Sir Magnus now." Spitfire said with a laugh.

"What ya mean?" Rainbow Dash asked.

Looking over her shoulder Spitfire explained, "I'm still Captain of the Wonderbolts, but we're only one branch of Equestria's military. And Magnus is a Field Commander now. That means he outranks us and even has the authority to dispatch us where and when he feels it would benefit Equestria." Rainbow Dash gave a gulp at the thought as the others laughed along. Meanwhile as they left none of them really paid much attention to a guard who was rushing past them.

Back in the great hall it was announced to the criminals that their proceedings were about to commence. Several soldiers who had been waiting for the proceedings now stepped forward carrying missing pony reports and other evidence of crimes committed that matched the confessions of the accused.

"Please announce the proceedings." Celestia called to one of the guards working as a bailiff for the trial.

"We will now review the list of crimes presented before the court, hear the testimonies of those accused, and review the evidence available for each of the many crimes." However he paused after realizing that their ruler seemed to be distracted. "Would it be alright for us to begin, your majesty?"

However Celestia was leaning down while being whispered to by a castle guard who had just entered the room. When he was finished she nodded before staying, "Thank you for telling me that he has arrived. You may return to your station now." As the guard left Celestia stood up from her seat and addressed the room. "This trial shall proceed after a short ten minute recess. Please everypony take the opportunity to refresh yourselves. Prisoners shall remain in their seats." Then with no regard for the curiosity of those around her Celestia marched from the room without a word.

• -

Rayne stood alone in one of Canterlot's many hallways where a guard had escorted him to wait. "It seems every time I come here this castle just gets bigger and bigger." He told himself absentmindedly.

"And I am afraid that at this moment you are not invited to explore." A voice called with a serious tone from behind him.

Turning around Rayne saw Celestia standing there with a bit of a scowl and holding a small wooden chair in her hoof. "Princess, I-"

"You are here with the intention of picking my sister up for your date, correct?" The alicorn interrupted while being remarkably short with him. Rayne was a little taken aback and simply nodded in response. "And if I were to tell you that she wasn't ready, would that put you off from your desire to see her today?"

"Um, no." He replied simply, trying not to disturb the thin ice that he thought he might be on.

"Good… Then you can wait." She said in an almost scolding tone before setting the chair down harshly with it's back against the wall. "If you intend to see my sister today then you will wait here, in this chair." She told him with authority. "The chair must remain here in this spot and not be moved. And you may not manipulate or exceed these rules or else I can assure you that your date with Luna will not happen." She assured him with finality.

Rayne nodded and slowly sat himself down upon the seat. "How long will I have to wait?" He asked her calmly.

Celestia stopped and looked back over her shoulder at him in surprise. "Well until she is ready to see you, of course." Celestia replied. "I wonder Rayne, how long would it be worth it to wait in a chair for, in order to see my sister?" She asked him from behind an enigmatic smile.

"As long as it takes." Rayne answered immediately, not knowing if he were being tested or not. But one thing above all seemed certain to him as he thought to himself, "Yeah… Luna's not coming down for a very long time."

"We shall see." Celestia stated before slowly stepping away. "The events from last night are not forgotten, Rayne. I would be curious to see if you still manage to get yourself into trouble while sitting in that seat here in the castle."

Rayne felt it safe to scowl at that comment since Celestia was already a few paces down the hall and facing away from him. But he let her leave without remark and then settled back into the seat intent on obeying as he was instructed. "Getting on her siblings' bad side is no way to start a relationship with a new partner." He said to himself. But then giving mind to her words Rayne clicked a heel against the floor sending several of his hounds out along with a message for the other copies of himself to lay low and not draw attention to themselves for the next twenty four hours.

• -

"Before we begin…" Celestia called out causing everyone to look up at her. Turning to address the forty ponies consisting of pegasi, unicorns, and earth ponies alike she said, "It is my understanding that every one of you are pleading guilty to the crimes presented against you. Is that correct?" Some ponies looked around to the others but in time they all nodded to her question. "Is there no pony who would plead not guilty to even a single crime for which you have confessed?" She asked, almost with an air of sympathy to her voice. Again the entire group responded without speaking and just shook their heads.

"It is time to present the evidence of the crimes, your highness." One of the soldiers said from where he stood in the middle of the room. But with a raise of her hoof Celestia stopped him and shook her head with her eyes closed.

"Everypony here is admitting to their own guilt as well as corroborating to the crimes of each other. And you are here to testify that the evidence of these crimes is a match to what they have all confessed?" Celestia asked while staring at the soldier.

With a nod he answered, "Yes, your highness, that is correct."

With a nod she then stated, "Very well. If that is the case then I see no reason for wasting all of our time here with these proceedings. I am prepared to accept the plea of 'guilty' from each of them as they seem to desire it so." Now the crowd broke out into adamant surprise at the proclamation from their ruler. "However…" She called out to silence their whispering. "While I may accept their guilt, I will reserve the sentencing for their crimes until I have heard the reasoning for their pleas." Turning now towards the forty criminal ponies, Celestia asked them, "Why is it that you would allow yourselves to throw your freedom away so easily? Why admit your guilt now when you felt none when committing the crimes you suddenly seek to be sentenced for."

Celestia's tone was calm and steady but her gaze was almost cold from how scrutinizing she had become.

There was a silence from each of them for quite awhile but eventually a slim lavender hoof shakily rose itself into the air. "I-... I have an answer that I would like to say." He almost whimpered out.

"Yes?" Celestia asked him calmly.

"Ahem, well… I think that what most of us want here is atonement." He said while looking over the others sitting around him. "Many of the ponies you see here are guilty of racketeering, smuggling, kidnapping… but I was probably one of the worst of them all."

Crossing her hooves in front of her over the arm of her seat, Celestia steeled herself for what was most likely to be a very dark confession indeed. "Please go on, I am listening."

He nodded and said, "When I was little, what I really thought that I wanted to be was a surgeon." He explained while revealing his cutie mark to be a scalpel. "But as it turned out I wasn't really interested in medicine and my temperament was wrong for actually helping ponies. I just really wanted to cut things. And so that's what I did… until I got myself thrown out of medical school for it. But tuition for studying medicine wasn't cheap so I then found myself with money problems and getting coerced into a gang who was interested in putting my talents to use really wasn't a hard decision to make." Several ponies around the room covered their mouths as they realized he was confessing to being a torturer.

"Please, continue. I assume you are coming to the point of this?" Celestia asked, attempting to placate the crowd.

"In hindsight I've done things that were so terrible. I never wanted this kind of life when I was just starting out and what's worse is I didn't even see at the time that my actions were a bad thing. It wasn't until last night that I realized what I had become, and now I can never look at what I was doing the same way again. I am guilty and it is only fair that I am sentenced for my actions." He said with his head down.

"Allow me to shed some light on the situation." A thick burly unicorn with a blue gray coat announced. "This was my organization. I was the ringleader, the mastermind, the boss!" He said proudly. "I built up a mini empire and not even one of your little pea-brained guards around Equestria caught onto it for years." He shared, causing many of the soldiers in the room to scowl. "I've committed acts of violence, been part of all kinds of unsavory dealings from trafficking to smuggling, and I've moved more money than some banks in Equestria have ever seen. I thought I was living like a king, sitting behind the scenes from Klugetown while manipulating all the crime in Equestria."

"And now you feel differently?" The sour princess asked, sounding much less cordial than a moment ago.

"Aye, cause despite all the power and wealth, it ended up feeling like a pitfall." He explained before pausing to wipe the sweat from his brow. "There wasn't never any end to it. Money and power are a means, but they ain't an end. I had both and I just still wasn't happy. Look here at my cutie mark of two hooves shakin' together. You think I was going to end up as a crime boss when I was a colt? Heck nah, I was just really good at convincing folk to do things as I saw it. Soon I found out how easy it was to take advantage, one thing led to another, and then I was leading a crew of other ponies down on their luck who were willing to cheat the system for their own ends."

Even Celestia had a difficult time keeping her emotions in check as she sat there staring at one of the most unsavory plights to Equestrian livelihood that she had ever seen. "And you came to this sudden change of heart how exactly?" She grimaced, but remained as dignified in her poise as she was able to.

"Uh, how?" He asked while looking disappointed that Celestia had questioned him further. "Really now, what does it matter? It don't change what we did." He answered while gesturing to the others. "Call it an epiphany."

"An epiphany?" Celestia responded, sounding unconvinced.

"Yea, yeah… that's right. And one that spread to all of us, once we all realized the wrong we done." He added, clearly trying to be convincing.

Celestia paused for a moment and narrowed her gaze while noticing that he was sweating while nopony else in the room seemed to be overheating. "And what crime was your organization commiting yesterday? From what I have been told there was a black stallion in your custody who you ordered to be kidnapped. How does he fit into what happened with all of this? And how did the fire start in the warehouse where you were supposedly keeping him." Celestia was fascinated to see that each and every one of the forty different criminals all appeared uncomfortable at the very mention of Rayne.

"Oh, yeah… him. Ah it's nothing you see… eei-owwww ahh!" He suddenly whimpered.

Several of the guards looked around in confusion to his odd sound and Celestia leaned in looking him over even closer. "Are you alright sir?"

"Ah, yea… just a cramp. You didn' let us stretch during that little recess you had earlier." He chuckled as now several of the ponies were either fidgeting or wincing and all sweating quite nervously. However, speaking up with an air of cockiness the leader of these criminals exclaimed, "When you live in the underworld, sometimes you've got to get dirty to make obstacles in your business disappear. And that stallion you mentioned, well he was bad for business so we intended to make him disappear."

"And what made him bad for business?" Celestia asked, now becoming interested in what he was saying.

"Well he ruined a perfectly good base of operations for us for one. You see in big cities that shine the brightest, they also cast the deepest shadows. And we had a prime shady spot in Manhattan that we were doing business out of. Aside from my holdings in Klugetown, this was my center of reach throughout Equestria." He detailed, beginning to lose himself in his story. "And then in comes this smug little entrepreneur thinking he can just buy MY CLUB out from under me and throw out all the 'riff raff' to stop me from doing business there! The nerve!" He shouted while slamming his hooves against the railing in front of him.

"Oh yes, quite inconsiderate of him." Celestia responded a bit mockingly as several guards were alarmed by his outburst.

After taking a breath to settle down the stout unicorn raised his chin to adjust his collar. Then he continued by saying, "So we let some time slide by. We play it safe in letting him think things have smoothed over and that bygones be bygones. But all the while we started watching him. We trailed his routes, followed his patterns… then when he least expected it we nabbed his smug ass and brought him in for our own personal vengeance before planning to take our headquarters back." He growled with conviction, for the first time seeming to act genuine for how one would have assumed for a crime lord to behave.

"I see. Please, go on." Celestia encouraged. Although she seemed almost disappointed when the clearly ruthless individual seemed to return to his calm and influential demeanor instead of letting his emotions fly.

"So then we brought him in. We had a whole slew of violent delights in store for him. Hoof cracking, hide lifting… I'll spare the court the indecency of our more creative torture methods." He said after seeing Celestia regard him disapprovingly. "But I wanted to talk to him first… I wanted to taunt him and let him know why we had it in for him. And to hear his cries for mercy or listen to what he had to say."

"And… what did he have to say?" Celestia asked as everypony seemed to be listening from the edges of their seats now.

"Well…" the stallion began. "At first he didn't say much. He didn't cry and he didn't scream. You see, he just looked up and asked us if we were happy?"

"If you were happy?" Celestia retorted.

"Yeah.. if we were happy." He answered sorrowfully. However then he seemed as if he were sniffing back a tear before acting very gruff. "Ah now don't look at me like that! It wasn't what he said, it was the way he said it! We went on for this whole big conversation about what life was really about… It was a moment, you had to be there to understand!" He argued. "Look, the point is that I decided I wasn't satisfied living how I was. And all these mooks didn't want to live as lackies for all of their lives once they realized there's no real future in getting promoted in a life of crime." He explained while suddenly pointing to the other ponies beside him. With a raised voice and haughty temper now the stallion growled and yelled, "The reasons for us changing don't really matter do they?! The point is, we done the crime, you've got the evidence, we've all confessed… Now are you bozos just gonna play head-doctor with our feelings all day or are you going to lock us up or not?!"

The room was almost deadly quiet as everypony was in shock at how viciously he had just yelled at Celestia. For her part the alicorn was just sitting there staring piercingly forward as if meticulously analyzing every part of his story. "What about the fire?" She asked while ignoring his previous outburst.

"What?!" He shouted while throwing his arms up impatiently.

"If things had become so peaceful as your prisoner somehow talked your entire organization into giving up your ways, then how did the fire start?" She asked him and watched now as several of the other criminals looked up in fear towards the crime lord as if they were desperate for him to have an answer for her.

"Argh, wha-... Ya gotta… Errr!" He growled in frustration before looking up at her suddenly. "It was to cover our tracks, okay?" But Celestia didn't even bother to respond as she waited for him to elaborate. "We always planned to burn the building down from the start. After we tortured him and had our fun it was meant to look like an accident where our dear unicorn pal got trapped in the blaze. We figured the flames would take time to do their work anyhow so we set the blaze long before we started talking. And by that point, we was so distracted that we never bothered setting up the rest of the scene. So we all just walked out and decided to wait for the authorities to arrive in response to the flames."

"And you really expect everypony here today to just believe that?" Celestia balked as she leaned toward the stallion angrily.

"What I expect is for you to help us!" He shouted right back. "We done crimes and now what we want is attornment!" Now the stallion was clearly soapboxing as he stood up out of his seat and shouted while two guards rushed to try to hold him back. "You think we're just over all of our ways?! Of course not! We can't just go home and sleep on it and expect to not fall back into our criminal tendencies again! We need to be saved from ourselves! We understand that once we're locked up most of us will probably never see the outside again for the things that we've done. But we need to be in an environment where we don't have access to do crime no more! That way we can learn new things. They got like classes for that in prison, right?! Peaceful meditation or painting trees or whatever for outlets of aggression? Well sign us up! Now we're all here and you're wasting time. You either lock us up right now or I'm hopping over this rail and I'll show you something to lock me up for!" He threatened to Celestia as several ponies in the other stands quivered at his violent behavior.

Celestia however did not waver. She watched, and she sighed, and she waited for the guards to get things back under control. Then as the crime lord glowered at her angrily, she finally spoke as she turned towards one of the guards securing the prisoners in the room. "All of these ponies have already been checked for mind controlling spells, correct?"

"Yes, you're majesty. As per standard protocol." He answered.

"And they've been screened for potions or poison influence as well?" She added in to be thorough.

"Of course, every one of them." The guard reassured her.

Then to the surprise of everyone Celestia stepped from her throne and approached the unicorn who was being held in his seat by two of the guards. She peered over him carefully and then gazed back at the others. She looked into their eyes and even cast a spell to scan the unicorn once more for magical influence. "Do you still really mean every word that you've said here today?" She asked him.

"Every word…!" He growled while still pressing against the guards.

With a long dramatic pause she eventually lifted her head and said, "Then very well. Take them away."

It was strange to Celestia that as she returned to her seat, so many of the ponies who were just convicted seemed happy or relieved to finally be sentenced. Even the crime boss who had yelled at her so fiercely seemed to have his facial features fall in ease as if a great burden had just been lifted from him. And how little did the princess know how correct she was as behind each of the ponies backs a set of obsidian teeth gently released their grip from within their fur. "I did it…" The unicorn whispered to the other criminals who smiled at him gratefully, each one of them remembering the words that had been immortalized into their memory on the coattails of their nightmares when the brainwashing masks had been removed.

"Convince them of your guilt and do not share the truth about me. For if they come to suspect me in any way, then by the weight of your hides my wolves will make each one of you pay."

• -

Hours passed but still Rayne held fast to his place on that seat. He minded his business quietly as guards patrolled back and forth, each quietly regarding him as they went about their routes. However none of them spoke and he spoke to none of them as all that really mattered was that he waited.

Try as he might to remain comfortable, even Rayne was not immune as time would take its toll on his back making him feel stiff as his bottom became sore. But still he did not move, just glancing back and forth down the empty halls by himself.

"Phew…. This really bites." He thought to himself uncomfortably. "Who knows what Celestia really meant by this. I know her to be kind and understanding, but she's not infallible. She has a temper and every right to be an overprotective sister." He told himself, contemplating her words. "If I stand up just to stretch before sitting back down, do I fail? If I kick my legs and the chair wobbles from its place do I not get to see Luna today?" He pondered and remained relatively still so as to not compromise his chances.

Stretching his neck back Rayne looked up through a glass overhead window. "Geez, the sun has moved that far?" He knew it had been morning when he'd arrived. From his letters with Luna she had originally expressed interest in meeting him early, despite his protests so that she could sleep. But that was also before he had seen her last night, looking stressed and wide awake, in the midst of his kidnapping debacle. "It's no matter. If I get sore then I get sore. I can always heal myself later. But this just means that she's probably getting her rest like I hoped she would." He tried to reassure himself, even as his joints started to burn and his muscles began to ache.

• -

"WHAT DOTH THOU MEAN IT IS AFTER FIVE IN THE AFTERNOON?!" Screamed a frantic mare as she lay upon her bed. "Tia, you promised to wake me up! You assured me not to even worry with an alarm because you gave me your word that you would wake me for my date with Rayne!"

"And wake you I have, dear sister." Celestia said calmly while sitting on the edge of her sister's bed.

"Yes and with barely HOURS of daylight left?! I was supposed to meet with him IN THE MORNING! What kind of date will he give me with such little time left of the day?! Tis not the responsibility of any but I to keep themselves awake through the twilight hours, sister!" Luna growled angrily.

Despite her sibling's temper Celestia seemed quite unmoved by Luna's tardiness. Nor even did she show any feelings of responsibility for the situation either. "Well I'm sorry Lu but the court proceedings ran much longer than expected. You can ask anypony who was there and they'll tell you that I certainly did all I could to help speed things along."

Luna got up from her bed and sat in front of her mirror to brush the sleep from her mane. "No, that won't be necessary. But now I feel just horrible. Our first private date and I stand the stallion up. Surely he must think the worst of me that avoided our rondevu on purpose. I am not quick to forget how I yelled at him last evening." She stated while applying her makeup remorsefully. "I must definitely find a way to sound convincing when I next send him correspondence."

That was when Celestia looked over and stated rather flippantly, "Well if you are so eager to apologize to him then you still can. I would imagine he might still be downstairs waiting for you."

The brush for Luna's mascara clattered from her hoof to the floor as she stared at her sister in the mirror. "Nooooo!" Spinning around in her seat Luna looked Celestia in the eye and asked her sternly, "And why exactly would you think that he still waits for me, when clearly I did not arrive for our meeting time today?"

Celestia looked up as if she didn't see what the problem was. "Oh well because I told him too." She answered. "But I only said that you were not ready when he arrived and that if he had any intention of seeing you today, that he had best wait or else it wouldn't happen. But that was just obvious and to be expected. I didn't mean anything by it."

"AND WHEN YOU SAID THIS… BEING NOT ONLY THE RULER OF EQUESTRIA BUT ALSO HIS INTENDED'S SISTER, DID YOU ORDER IT OR SPEAK IT TO HIM PLAIN?!" Luna shouted in dramatic concern.

"Um, I don't believe I ordered anything?" She replied uneasily, only now beginning to see what the problem was. "I mean, I might have been a bit forceful. But it was a stressful day. And I was concerned because of past night and I-"

Now Luna's voice cracked into a squeal as she frustratedly groaned out, "And tell me dear sister that Rayne did not arrive early as I had originally planned with him. Tell me, that if he is still here, that it's not been all day since he has been waiting for me?"

"Hmm… well I suppose now that I think about it, I guess it has been all day." She said with only sudden realization.

"ALL DAY?!!!" Luna shrieked as if she might as well have been a mouse.

Throwing herself back to her seat Luna rushed in front of the mirror to make sure she looked at least a modicum of presentable and then ran to her door to throw it open and head downstairs even with Celestia shouting out behind her.

• Hardly Minutes Later -

"Rayne…" Luna stood there seeming almost breathless, not able to believe that he really was still waiting for her in the castle. Then to her added surprise she saw what looked like relief on his face as he exclaimed, "Oh thank goodness, there you are. Now I can finally get up." He sighed while clearly attempting to hide a level of discomfort on his face.

Tilting her head curiously Luna asked him, "What do you mean 'now' you may get up." Her tone was deep and inquisitive as she watched the stallion stand and stretch several many times.

Rayne looked up giving an unsure expression as he had no idea she was only now being brought up to speed on the situation. "Oh well, when I got here a guard escorted me to this spot to wait. Then when your sister finally showed up she brought me this chair and told me to wait. She said I was not to move from this spot if I was going to see you today. It came out kind of odd the way she worded it so I figured it was some sort of test." He said with a nonchalant air about him. "Like a sister being overprotective to see if your new love interest really cared about you enough to endure her request. So, I waited, because I'm not going to let a little overbearingness from your only sibling dissuade me from my feelings about you." He added as if having an almost endearing opinion of what Celestia had done.

Luna stood there grimacing now with the most uncomfortable smile that Rayne had ever seen on any ponies face. "Y-you waited, you waited here, for me, all day in that chair… You waited for me here all day long and you never got up or never moved around even once?! Just so that you could go on a date with me?!" She asked him rather manically.

"Well… why yes, I did " He said to her with an exuberant smile.

Some long lost voice of her adolescence screamed at the top of it's lungs in Luna's mind at how much pressure that suddenly put upon her for her date with him. The only thing that brought her out of this sudden trance was hearing the familiar clopping of hooves and knowing that her sister was walking up behind her. "Can you excuse me for just one moment Rayne?" She said before beckoning over a nearby guard. Placing a hoof on Rayne's shoulder she instructed, "Yesss…. Soo, can you please escort this stallion to the kitchens and see to it that he has a glass of water? And allow him to relieve himself and become refreshed from having sat here for so long before escorting him back here?" She smiled while masking an overwhelming amount of frustration. Then as the two stallions stepped away she turned to her sister growling, "YOU!!!"

• -

Rayne had been quick in his refreshment trip away, not intending to make Luna wait for him as he had done for her. However upon his return he worried if he might have been a bit too fast as he and the guard both walked in upon the two sisters vehemently arguing with each other.

"And I told you that I was sorry Luna! I had never meant for my words with him to be taken so literally!"

"Listen, I like him! You hear me?! We may not have gotten to know each other that well yet but I care about Rayne and that extends to how he is treated when he visits me at the castle!"

The shouting continued as Luna seemed to be on a tirade with no end. But showing a little bit of tact for the situation the castle guard shoved Rayne back behind the corner they had just come around and then cleared his throat. "Ahem…" Then he stepped forward to allow Rayne to follow so it would not seem that either of them had been eavesdropping.

The two sisters looked over and took a second to unfluster themselves from their argument. Then Celestia stepped up to Rayne first, taking the diplomatic approach as she said, "Rayne, I feel I have the need to apologize. When I requested that you sit here before, I had never meant to be unkind. What I-"

"What is more important," Luna interrupted before stepping in front of Rayne and looking into his eyes, "Is that I am here now and I am very sorry that I left you waiting for so long. I would understand if you were upset but if you're still interested, I would very much like to still have that date with you?" The look on her face was gentle but sincere.

Rayne didn't feel that now was an appropriate time to tell her that while she was trying to appear apologetic, to him she simply looked to die for. But he kept his romantic feelings in check as he smiled at her while saying, "I am still interested princess, and if it can offer you any reassurance, it is an opportunity that was worth the wait for. May I?" He asked while extending a hoof toward her.

Luna blushed now as with all the excitement she suddenly remembered that she was leaving on a date with him. But she nodded, allowing him to hold her by the hoof and escort her out of the castle walking side by side together.

Staying behind near to the castle gates, Celestia watched amongst several very surprised looking guards at seeing a stranger leave with Princess Luna while walking so intimately together. "Make sure to be safe! Don't take my sister anywhere too dangerous! Be sure to have her back here before midnight!" Celestia called out, frowning as it seemed she was clearly being ignored.

Meanwhile Luna giggled quietly to Rayne and whispered, "Do not worry, you won't be getting into any trouble if you chose not to listen to any of that." She snickered as Rayne laughed with her as well.

"Well I promise I don't intend to put you into any danger during our date. And I will allow you, my lady, to decide when you have finally tired of my company." He responded gentlemanly.

"Oh? And should I decide to not to tire of it for as long as I am with you?" She teased him with a smile.

Without missing a beat he replied, "Then I will call our courtship a success and have to keep you for as long as time will allow."

"Bold!" Luna scoffed as she choked out with a laugh. "Ahem, very bold dear sir." She replied with a smile to him. Then he just gestured to his horn and she nodded with her permission before he teleported them both away.

Author's Note

So we had a nice little introduction with Spitfire taking the stage. I didn't want my readers forgetting about the Wonderbolts because they will be making a bigger appearance in the story again soon. But in the meantime I don't want you stressing out about that Centurio and Tribunus stuff with Magnus' rank as that isn't likely the come up again. I'm no scholar of ancient military history but I did the best with what an internet search would allow. The point I was making is that Magnus would prefer to stay as a 'field grade officer' and not be promoted to a General or higher.

Now I did my best to write Celestia's scene as a misunderstanding. She was mad and understandably so. I don't want to put this lightly, Rayne was in trouble. Getting caught at the warehouse fire caused some serious concerns. And yeah, the excuse given by the crime boss was lame... Because it was a lie. Ultimately I didn't need a better reason for him to explain Rayne's presence there. It was more important to express that he was desperate. Because during that night after Rayne had removed all of their brainwashing masks, he ordered them to keep what they knew about him as a secret or they'd die. Rayne's already expressed he can hide his wolves inside of others shadows for as long as he desires. But ultimately things did go his way, and Celestia really hadn't meant to be so cruel with what she told Rayne. She just didn't want him galavanting through the castle while he waited for Luna, and that was all.

Now for my last note here I'm going to share some insight from the writer. I was really conflicted about this chapter because honestly, this was supposed to be Rayne and Luna's date. But that clearly didn't happen. I had meant to gloss over the majority of the trial. And Luna's comical responses of Celestia not waking her up... I had only planned for that to be a line or two before it jumps to their outing. But when I was writing this, I decided that sometimes the unimportant stuff can be the most important content of all. I thought it might be a cop out to skip over the trial even if it didn't further the plot along. I had way too much fun in writing Luna's reactions and making Celestia's temper more of a problem than it needed to be. Was this chapter filler? Eh, that's for you to decide. But I felt that this was a chapter that the story deserved, even if it wasn't a chapter that it needed.

P.S.
Who else thought that the new Gen 5 MLP movie was great?! I absolutely loved it and now I can't wait for the first season of the new show to begin!