There I was, waiting at the train station. It was a beautiful day outside. Birds were singing, and flowers were blooming. On days like these, most would take their time to take everything in.

Sadly, I wasn't. My thoughts were stuck on the dream from last night. I was still contemplating the consequences of my actions. The price I paid for survival and the abomination that came into creation as a result.

My thoughts were interrupted by the sound of the train's breaks as it came to a stop in the station. Getting off the bench, I levitated my spell tome and ticket with me as I approached.

When the conductor stepped out, I gave him my ticket. Nodding his head at me, I boarded the train. When I was out of view, I teleported into the royal train car.

"Welcome, Spirit," I heard somepony greet as I finished materializing. Looking over to the table in the middle of the room, I saw Luna occupying the seat on the opposite side of my own.

"Either you like to make an entrance, or you really do go out of your way to give no suspicion of your status as an alicorn," Luna added, giving me a kind smile which I returned.

“I thought you would be trying to get some sleep right now," I told her, taking a seat and placing the book on the table.

"Usually, I would be, but I wanted to talk to you before Tia gives you her lesson," Luna said, winking at me when she said 'lesson.'

"What lesson would that be?" I asked.

"I'm sorry, but I was told not to tell you," she answered.

If I didn't know any better, I would have thought she was poking fun at me. Lighting up my horn, I levitated some tea out of the minifridge over to the table. Cold tea isn't that good in my opinion, but it'll suffice.

"Thank you," Luna said.

"No problem. So what did you want to talk about?" I asked, hoping for the love of God it wasn't about the night before or anything associated with it.

"I wanted to talk about Infinite," she replied.

"Shit!" I thought.

"I used to think that you might still have hope avoiding something like him happening," she told me. "But now that I know that you already have Infinite inside you, I'm not so sure."

"Could you please elaborate?" I requested. She shook her head rather hesitantly.

"On second thought, it's fine. I can tell that you bare no ill intents. So I'm sure you're fine,” She said, trying to reassure me.

"Whatever you say," I responded, deciding not to press for more.

"Also, I'm hoping you have found out anything that could be used as a lead on the missing pony cases," she added. Slowly, I shook my head.

"Sorry, Luna, I haven't seen anything strange," I reported. "I haven't noticed any magical abnormalities either."

"That's...very unfortunate. Thanks for letting me know anyway," she muttered, obviously upset by the news.

"Hey, cheer up," I told her. "I said I haven't noticed anything. You know what that means?" Luna shook her head.

"Please, do enlighten me," she requested.

"Gladly. It means that no pony else has disappeared," I informed her with high hopes. To my luck, it worked.

"That is good news," she agreed with a smile. "However, that could mean a few things. Whoever it was had probably given up. They could also already be done. However, that's not even the worst possibility that I fear."

"What is?" I asked nervously.

"They could just be biding their time," she answered.

"Fucking hell!" I thought. I noticed Luna eyeing the spell tome I brought.

"Isn't that the spell tome of electricity from the royal library?" Luna asked.

"Yeah. I borrowed it from Twilight," I replied.

"Are you returning it?" she asked.

"Actually, I was expecting to be alone while on the train. So I was planning to study this here, but it seems it will have to wait," I explained.

"Why wait? I can help teach you," she offered.

That's what we did for the remainder of the ride. Luna surrounded us in a protective field to contain any fuck-ups that might happen. After all, playing with electricity is dangerous. We were done practicing by the time we heard the train's breaks attempted to kill my hearing once more. From the looks of it, Luna was well used to it.

"Your ability to learn new magic so quickly is quite impressive," Luna complimented. "I haven't met many who can learn a new type of magic as fast as you seem to be able to. Rather consistently, might I add.”

"Thank you, Lulu," I returned in kind.

"Could you close your eyes for a minute?" Luna requested.

The sudden request caught me off guard, but I greatly trusted Luna and compiled. I heard her use her magic for a moment before she spoke again.

"You may look now." Her voice called out to me.

When I opened my eyes, I saw she was levitating some rather stylish custom made saddlebags. The straps were black, and the material of the bags were the color of gold. The snaps that closed the bags were made in the shape of a shield bearing the image of my cutie-mark, only they were a light blue color. Overall, they looked expensive as hell.

"I had these made just for you," she informed me.

After she strapped it onto me, I noticed they felt a little heavy for saddlebags.

"I also put a few spell tomes in there for you," she added as she levitated the electricity spell tome in one of the bags for me.

I turned and tried to better adjust the satchel.The straps for the bags felt weird on my wings. Something I’d have to get used to.

Pleased with how her gift was fitting me, Luna was ready to depart. "For now, let us proceed to the castle," She insisted.

"Alright, I'll meet ya outside," I told her before teleporting myself out of the train.

After materializing, I heard a familiar voice.

"Spirit," I heard some pony call.

Turning to face the street, I saw Shining Armor making his way over.

"Man Spirit, long time no see," Shining greeted as he came to a stop. "Nice Saddlebags," he complimented.

"Thanks, Luna just gave them to me," I told him.

"Luna?" he asked.

"Yeah," I told him. "She should be off the train any moment-"

"How are you faring, Shining?" I heard Luna ask as she approached from behind me.

Shining instinctively straightened his posture and saluted."I'm doing fine Princess," he answered.

I let out a small chuckle."No need to be so formal," I told him.

"Yeah, you're right," he agreed, rather bashfully.

"May I ask what business you have here?" Luna requested.

"Celestia sent me to escort Spirit to the castle," he deadpanned.

"Well, if that's all, then let's get a move on," I told him.

"Yes, Sir," he responded before taking the lead.

When we reached the castle, Shining took us straight to the throne room entrance. That's when it was apparent that Luna wanted to alter the plan a little

"You two wait out here. I have to make a request to Celestia in private first," Luna instructed before entering the throne room, closing the doors behind her.

"So, any idea what Luna's up to?" Shining asked, sounding doubtful.

I shook my head in response. "I thought as much."

So we stood there waiting. The only noises to be heard being the indecipherable muffled voices from the other side of the door. Shining and I were highly tempted to spar to pass the time, but we both knew better.

It felt like at least thirty minutes had passed before Luna came back out.

"Well, how'd it go?" I asked her.

Luna looked at me with an unusual expression."It went exceptionally," she answered. "I'll see you again soon," she added.

I wasn't too sure, but for a moment I thought I saw her blush. I just shrugged it off as she left, thinking nothing of it. Shining gave me a suspicious look.

"What was that about?" he asked.

"Honestly, I don't know, but I'm sure that I'm bound to find out," I answered before heading in.

"Okay, see you later," Shining added before closing the doors behind me.

Entering the throne room, I noticed that there wasn't a single guard around. I don't know why, but I took comfort in that. After a few moments, I stopped just a couple yards in front of Celestia.

"Good morning, Tia," I greeted, her smile going softer.

"Good morning, Spirit," Celestia replied, returning the greeting. "I hope your trip wasn't too boring," she added as she stepped off her throne and approached me.

"Boring or not, I did say that I would visit again. Did I not?" I asked.

Instead of answering, she just hugged me with a wing. "It is good to see you again, my little prince," she teased before releasing me from her wing.

"Tia, you know how I feel about being addressed as prince," I reminded her. "I don't want others finding out."

"Speaking of others," she sighed. "I wanted to address your… social status in Ponyville, as it were. I'm concerned about how anti-social you've been."

"Tia, trust me. I'm fine," I told her.

She dropped the fake smile she forced, her face now showing a mix of sadness and concern.

"Spirit, I'm not an idiot," she began. "When Discord showed up at Ponyville, I knew Twilight and her friends weren't ready yet. What I didn't know was the reason Discord didn't stick around for any longer than an hour. Shortly after, I found that residents of Ponyville had already evacuated.”

Her expression shifted slightly, as if she was studying me. “So, after reading some of the reports, I discovered that you were the one that issued the evacuation. Though, at the same time, I had also found that you were the only one that was still missing, even after Twilight's late arrival. Of course, I couldn't afford to waste any more time, so when Twilight and her friends were ready, I sent them to capture Discord. Regretfully, I just wish I could have sent them sooner."

"Why is that?" I asked, feeling like I had just asked something stupid.

"Because not only of how horrified the girls looked upon their return, but the condition you were in when they brought you," she answered. "Eventually, I got Twilight to give me what little information she had. Said information being the note you left her before you went after Discord," she continued.

"Fuck me," I thought.

"I'll be honest, I was surprised that you knew of Discord's return. However, what I still don't know is why you still went to confront him alone. Even when you knew your chances were slim.” She narrowed her eyes, looking down at me with a look of disappointment or regret from her own inaction. “Was it Loyalty? Stupidity? A sense of what was right?" she asked.

I was going to answer her, but she continued. "That's only for you to know, I guess."

In some way it felt relieved that she had decided to be so dismissive with expecting an actual answer from me. Yet, there was something else that didn’t give me comfort from knowing we both knew I wouldn’t have given one. Perhaps it would be best not to make note of it and simply move on.

"Then why do you mention this only now?" I asked.

"To prove my point. I understand why you thought you needed to keep a distance from others," she answered. "Though I want you to know that you don't have anything to worry about now. So please, make some friends. It'll help."

"Fucking hell," I said in defeat. "After all you've done for me, you know I can't say no to you, So I'll try."

"That's all I ask," she said, letting out a giggle. "Oh, and before I forget, Luna asked me to let her teach you the lesson I had planned for you."

"So that's what she was doing," I thought.

"She said you can visit her for it after she raises the moon," she added. "I would recommend you get some rest before then. You can use your old quarters if you please."

"Sure thing. See you again sometime," I replied before leaving to get some rest. Though, I couldn't help but wonder what kind of lesson was in store for me.

Author's Note

Here we are again with another chapter. To be honest, a few months ago I didn't think I would go this far with the story but I did. Again, Thank you EmptyPlotFiller for editing the chapter. Also, I am working on a few pieces of art if anyone is looking forward to that.

Drop a like, leave a comment, and I hope you enjoyed.