Hit the Ground Running

Chapters

One Day At A Time
The Tailor
Early Autumn Days
Side Quest Pt.1
Side Quest Pt.2
Side Quest Pt.3
The Calm Before the Storm
Nightmare Night Pt.1
Nightmare Night Pt.2
Preparations
Intermission
Three Days
A New Quest
Do sheep count wolves to wake up?

One Day At A Time

"Luis, wake up," Noctis said poking my face

"Faiph mor minutts," I managed to slur out

"Oh, no mister! You messed up my natural sleep schedule, you suffer the consequences"

"U chous dat, Ah dint forse yu," I rolled to my other side, then Noctis got on top of me and grabbed my face, "Wat ar yo-," I was cut off by Noctis's lips

"Better?"

I blinked a couple of times, any resemblance of tiredness completely gone, "A lot," I pulled her for another kiss, "I love you so much. You have no idea"

"I think I do," she tapped my nose, "Now, come on! You're going to be late," she flew off the bed, "Get ready"

Ready for... RIGHT! The presentation, I pulled up the pip-boy and got dressed, "I win," I turned to Noctis still getting her blouse on

She gave me a disappointed look and said, "You always say that," then went into the bathroom

*knock knock*

I turned to the window and see a pegasus silhouette on the curtain, Okay... this is new... I opened the curtain to see RD waving at me. I awkwardly wave back as I open the window, "Hello, Rainbow. What brings you to the second floor window of my house?"

"Just that it's rain season, so we need every able pony to help today since, you know, a certain dragon accidentally squeezed our schedule," she sighed pinching the bridge of her nose, "I really would like to avoid a torrential rain like a few months back"

"I know what you mean. That day they closed the train lines going in and out of Ponyville. I was stuck in Canterlot for the night"

"Yeah. Could you give Noctis the schedule for today?" she handed me a piece of paper, "Thanks," she flew off

"Aaand she's gone... okay then," I went into the bathroom, "Red, the weather team needs you"

"Already??" she said fighting with her brush, "Fine, but could you give me a hand? My mane isn't cooperating today"

"Braids? Or just straight today? Or...?" I asked grabbing the brush

"Just straight, I still need to make breakfast"

After I finished brushing her mane, I told her I would get breakfast ready and left her the paper. When I entered the kitchen, I was truly surprised. Blueblood already was finishing breakfast with Nimble, and he seemed to be enjoying the work. Noctis came down not too soon after and was as surprised as I was

After breakfast, we went our separate ways, Noctis to her assigned area, Blueblood to town hall to look for more odd jobs, and Nimble and me headed to the school. We found Scootaloo along the way and, of course, they had a scooter race

We finally got to the school, and the two foals were talking up a storm about scooter tricks and the best places to go, I stopped them to say one thing, "You kids have fun, okay? I have to talk with miss Cheerilee first"

"Okay, dad, See ya," he flew up to me and extended his arm expecting a fist bump

Aww, no hug today? I gave into his demand, "Don't do anything you shouldn't do, okay?"

"Don't worry," he landed next to Scootaloo, "Come on, let's go before the bell"

They both ran inside, I wonder why he- Scootaloo was with us... is he... Nah... I looked at the two of them run into the class room smiling at each other, Uhhhh... Maybe...

"Prince Luis"

I held back a scre- manly yell of surprise, and turned around to see Cheerilee, "Hi!"

"Glad you could make it," she said putting her hands together, "Now, I know this is the family appreciation week, but I was wondering if you could talk a bit about your world instead. Only for a while, if that's okay with you"

"Yeah sure, no problem. I was going to talk about my world and some human family things for this presentation," I could probably get a projector... "One quick question. How good are the curtains in the room?"

==[POV - Noctis]==

"What do you mean this is the biggest shipment of rain clouds you could get us? I put the request days ago!," RD yelled in desperation

"I'm sorry, but there are other cities that needed the extra clouds today," the hardhat pony said

RD sighed quite hardly, "Fine. Fine. Just make sure we get at least fifteen percent more clouds two days from now"

"We'll try," the pegasus flew back to Cloudsdale

"I swear, those ponies want floods," she rubbed her temples, and then spotted me, "Oh! Noctis, what do you need?"

"My team needed more clouds"

"Sorry, can't give you these, they're needed on the southwest... Just get ready, the storm starts in fifteen minutes"

I saluted, "Yes, ma'am," I realized what I did, "Sorry, force of habit"

"Meh, I'm getting used to it," she started to fly off, but stopped, "Before I forget, our clouds were modified for the bigger storm, so be careful, they're heavier and pack a bigger punch. Might want to spread them out a bit"

"I'll keep that in mind," I headed back to my sector

==[POV - Luis]==

"So, what is it?" Cheerilee curiously asked

I turn it on, "It's a projector. It projects things," I begin to line it up with the standing screen, "Okay... there we go..." I plugged the laptop to the projector, and focused the image, "I'm set up"

"The stage is yours, prince," she motioned for me to start

"Alright, where to start? Hello everyone, my name is Luis- and for right now forget the formalities," I took a deep breath, "Okay, so as many of you might already be aware, I'm not a pony, I'm a human..." a light rain started as I went along my presentation, "...and that's why the MagLev can go that fast. Any questions?" Diamond Tiara raised her hand, "Yes, little filly?"

"When are you going to talk about your family? This IS family appreciation week after all"

I passed my hand along my scalp, "Right... I got a bit excited about the differences in technology, didn't I? Hehe, oops," I straightened up, "Okay, so human family dynamics actually depe-"

Diamond Tiara interrupted me, and very condescendingly said, "I meant YOUR family"

You little bastard... "Right... Okay... Let me start by saying, my mother, my real mother, is a teacher as well, social studies in high school, and my father a computer engineer, and my brother an automobile mechanic. Now, my parents got divorced, and before you ask what that means, let me explain..."

==[POV - Noctis]==

"We need to land! NOW!" I said, the lightning getting worse by the minute

"A'ight everypony! Once you touch down, stay low, keep away from trees and streetlamps, and head straight home! Dismissed!"

"I need to get to the school..." I whispered to myself

==[POV - Luis]==

"...basically, he fixes those," I said pointing at the car on the screen

"Thank you, prin-" lightning struck just outside the window barely drowning out the sound of the bell, "It appears class is over. Now what do we say class?"

"Thank you for coming!" everyone said in chorus

"Well, thanks for having me," I gave a little respectful head bow

"Alright everypony, please pack up and wait inside while I go get your guardians to come pick you up," Cheerilee said heading out the door

I stopped her, "Wait, let me give you something," I took out a rain jacket and gave it to her, "Here"

"Thank you," she put it on, said, "I'll be back soon," and went out the door

I just hope Noctis is okay in this storm... I start storing my stuff away. Nimble pulled on my sleeve, "Got everything ready?" he nodded, "Okay, let's wait until miss Cheerilee gets back, sound good?"

"Yeah"

"Hey, everyone, I have an idea. How about we play a game while we wait?"

So we played several games while we waited, slowly the amount of foals became smaller. Noctis came while there were still quite a handful of them waiting, and she decided help entertain the foals with me

"And then there was one..." I whispered to myself as the last foal left with their parents, leaving my family with the teacher, My family... I felt a small smile break through my lips

"Thank you for keeping an eye on the foals, Prince," Cheerilee gave me a small bow

"Don't worry, I actually wanted to be a teacher at some point. It was my pleasure helping out"

"If you don't mind me asking, what is your special talent?" the teacher inquired

"If you're asking about cutie marks, humans have none. If you actually mean a talent, then... I don't think I have a special talent," her face scrunched up in a bit of regret, "'Jack of all trades, master of none' you could say. Most of us don't have a special talent, so we work on what we like... Me, well... I haven't found that yet," I looked out the door at Noctis talking with Nimble with a smile on my face, "But I think I'm getting close"

"Thanks for the insight, have a nice day," Cheerilee waved as I made my way with my family

I waved back, then turn to Nimble, "I hope your old man didn't bore you half-to-death"

"Are you kidding?! Human inventions are awesome! And you're not old, you're only..." Nimble started to count on his fingers, "Ten years older than me!" his face scrunched up, "...maybe you are old..."

I couldn't help but chuckle, "Not that old," I sat him on my shoulders and took Noctis's hand, "Now let's go before Miss Cheerilee kicks us out"

We made our way back into town, but something felt off, I couldn't put my finger on it... until I noticed the smoke coming from our house. I placed Nimble on the floor and ran to the house, I got to the house in record time

Thankfully there was no fire, but I investigated anyways. I jumped to the roof and examined the hole, Probably lightning... I thought, then I realized on what part of the house it struck, The gate! I jumped into the hole. The gate was intact, and nothing around it suffered any damages, electric or otherwise, but that left me wondering, Did the naquadah absorb all of it?

"Luis, are you in there?" Noctis called out

"Yeah, in the workshop," I answered, looking around for a second time, Even the power armour is intact and it's right next to the ring!

"What happened?"

"It appears that lightning struck the stargate, that's not the surprising part though. Nothing, and I do mean nothing, got damaged... like, at all," I looked back up to the ceiling, "Well, apart from the roof anyways"

I was woken up in the middle of the night by the sound of the stargate dialing. That was a third lock... my eyes snapped open, I turn to see Noctis looking at me with concern

"That's not supposed to happen, is it?" she whispered

"No," I sat up and equipped my armour, "Stay here," I said as I walked out the door. As soon as I entered the workshop, I took out my sword, And there goes my wall again in three... two... one... ... chevron eighth got locked in, "Uhhhh... What?" Nine locked in... I stood there in complete bewilderment as the gate locked in fourteen symbols, "Sooo... What n-"

Electricity started arching in the middle of the ring, the center started to fill with electric bolts, when suddenly, the electricity jumped to the dialing computer. I stared in complete confusion as the matrix took a small trip through the pc's screen, and after a couple of seconds, the screen the screen came back to normal

"I'm going to guess that's not supposed to happen?" Noctis said from behind me

"No. It isn't," I put the weapon away as I approached the screen, "Did it wake up Nimble?"

"Let me see," she said stepping out of the room

I popped off the pannel to check for any major damage, thankfully there was nothing, "Good"

Noctis came back not to soon after, "Thankfully no, it didn't," she said with a bit of releive

"Blueblood?"

"I don't think even getting struck by lightning would wake him up," she said playfully

I reattached the panel and had a sigh of relieve, "Now, let me check if-"

"Are you coming back to bed? I want to sleep," Noctis said, finishing her sentence with a big cutesy yawn

I can check that tomorrow... I changed back into my pijama pants, "Yeah," I started walking to her, but stopped, "Let me do something..." I turned off the generator with my magic, and uplugged it from the stargate for good mesure, You never know... "Now, let's go befor- *yawn* yeah, that"

As soon as we got to bed, we snuggled up together. There was something very soothing about how soft her fur felt, one of the few reasons I stopped wearing a shirt to bed. So soft, and warm, and... nice... I fell asleep mid thought

The next moring, Noctis got up early and got 'good enough' ready and headed out to bust as many leftover clouds as possible. A cloudless sunny day was scheduled all day, so getting that out of the way quickly left her with the whole day free. I had breakfast ready by the time she came back

After breakfast, Noctis took Nimble to school and Blueblood headed into town. Me in the other hand, went into the workshop and checked for any damage to the generator, and thankfully there was none. I then started adjusting the room, moving the stargate forward just enough so it didn't burn the back wall, as well as expanding the room to be flush with the front of house, giving the initial vortex enough space to not destroy anything. I also changed the front wall into a large door, turning the room into an actual garage

I wiped the non-existent sweat from my brow, "Nice!"

"What is that?" Noctis asked as she came into the room pointing at the door

"Well, you see, Red, this is a garage door," I activated it, Gotta love the interaction radius, "It's automatic too," I throw her a small contoller, "Here"

She barely catches it, "Hey! Watch it!"

"Sorry... Now, press the button and the door will close"

The button is pressed and the door closes, "Neat," she said a bit impressed, but then her expression got confussed, "If you were going to change the wall for a door, why did you still expand the room?"

"...Because..." I gave her and innocent shrug

She facepalmed, "What am I going to do with you?"

"Got to Sugarcube Corner?" I suggested

"If I get fat is your fault," she said giving me a kiss on the chin, "Why do you gotta be so tall?"

"Two things, I'm tall because that's how I am, and if you ever get fat, it would be a cold day in hell. I mean, your job is all about excersing you wing, legs, and stuff, then if AJ needs help around the farm, you are the first one to volunteer us, and you help Fluttershy when the bigger animals need a bit of thrashing, AND you help Pinkie and the Cakes when the get large deliveries of ingredients and with their large home deliveries and even their catering. So no, it's kind of an impossible task, even if I wanted to"

"Jeez, I was joking..."

"And I was giving you a very convoluted passive-aggressive complement. Sorry, I vented a little there too..." I said rubbing my nape

She grabbed my arm and smiled politely... then flipped me over to the floor, positioning herself on top of me, "I think we're even now," she said finishing with a small peck on my lips

"Let me think..." I pushed off the floor and flipped us over with me now on top, "I don't think so," I said with a sly smile, she smiled back. Then I felt her hooves on my stomach, Oh fu-, my thoughts were short-lived when my feet left the ground, and air left my lungs as I hit the ground, and she stood victoriusly over me, "Okay, you win," I said a bit winded

She helped me get up, "Come one, let's get some cupcakes"

==[POV - Noctis]==

We sat down and started eating, "I have to tell you something"

"What's up?" he said, taking a bite out of his cupcake

"I was invited to the guards pre-gala party, and I can have a 'plus one'. Mind joining me?"

"When is it? It might interfere with my 'very busy' schedule," he said with air quotes

"A week before the Grand Galloping Gala," I took a big sip of my milkshake, Mago... he giggled at something, Did I moan?!!

"Sure, but I would have to find this 'Elusive' guy that Rarity recommeded for a formal suit"

"Why is that?"

"She mention him when I said her suits might be a bit too feminine for my taste. Something of an 'opposite' to her apparently"

What is that supposed to mean? "How... 'opposite'?"

"Rarity makes dresses with suits to go along, Elusive makes suits with dresses to go along, that sort of thing"

"Oh! That's nice, maybe I should pay him a visit too," Rarity is a great designer, but...

"Why is that?" the curiousity in voice became very apparent

"Don't get me wrong, Rarity's dresses are great, probably the best. But... they're just so..."

"Frilly, extravagant, flamboyant?"

"Yes... Too much for my taste. If this Elusive guy is more... restrained on the dresses, then he might be a better choice. For me at least"

"Well, then. When I go to the exercise this month, do you want to come with? Elusive lives in Canterlot"

"When is that again?"

"Literally whenever I feel like going, but this month. So any day within the next... week and a half"

"Why is it not on a schedule again?"

"Because if someone wants to infiltrate Canterlot, they'll have a very difficult time timing it with the guard exercise"

And I thought I was paranoid as a guard... "I don't know if Nimble should come with us, I usually stay behind with him, but... it feels to soon to go back to the city he left," I looked down at my now empty plate, If we take him... what if he feels like we might taking him back to the orphanage while there?

Luis gently placed his hands on mine and said, "Don't worry, we'll think of something," I looked up to see his smile, "It'll be fine"

==[POV - Luis]==

Okay okay, keep calm! DON'T PANIC!! Nimble won't mind, right? RIGHT? He knows we love him... Yeah, he won't think... but what if he does?! We can't take him! It might be hard on him. WHAT CAN I DO?!?!

==[POV - Noctis]==

How can he be so calm? we just stared at eachother for a few seconds

"Anyways, like I said, we'll figure it out," he stood up and grabbed my plate and cup, "Let me take care of that"

"Such a gentlecolt"

"Of course," he said with a smile as he walk over to the counter

What if we can't think of something tho? I looked down at my hands, gathering my thoughts

"Noctis?" Luis asked with worry in his voice, I turned to him, "Are you okay?"

"Aye. I was just thinking-" an idea popped into my mind, "-what if we go another day? For the clothes I mean. There's still almost five months to the party," It'll give us more time to plan

"I guess..." he gave me his hand, "Want to take a stroll through the park for a bit?"

"That sounds lovely," I stood up and held his arm like I always do as we headed out

Author's Note

Chapter name "One Day At A time"
Chapter content: two days
Profit

I'm publishing this chapter earlier than planned because I think it's good for that, also I'm close to graduating from college, so I'm feeling nice

The Tailor

Noctis and I stepped out of the stargate and headed to Canterlot's shopping district

"We didn't even need a foalsitter, see?" she said with glee

"I can't believe I forgot about the gates... I mean like, I reprogrammed them and everything!"

"Also Blueblood, but sure, the stargates..."

"I know what you meant, it's just that, instant travel. We'll be back before Nimble is off school. And yes, if we get back late we'll pay Bluey-boy"

"*giggle* That's a new one"

"You know me," I spotted the sign for Elusive's store, "Oh, there it is"

We stopped to look at the suits displayed outside. There was a varied selection of suits, more-party-but-still-formal suits, one with a duster, and a couple that reminded me of Don Cherry. But all with some sort of medieval or fantasy aspect to it. All I could think was that they had too many buttons

"They're... something alright," Noctis said with skepticism

"We'll have to look at more. After you," I opened the door and let her through

"Such a gentlecolt"

"And such fame!" A voice squealed, "I cannot believe the prince is in my shoppe! Please, your majesty, say the word and it shall be done"

Standing by a rack was a white unicorn stallion in a very blue, very shiny suit. This is Elusive, the locals called him eccentric, flamboyant and very, very 'squeaky'

And oh, god... he really is... "Please, treat me normally. I'm not much for vanity or titles," He didn't even bat an eye to Noctis. Interesting...

+0008 XP

He takes a glance around the empty store and clears his throat, "Like I said, your wish is my command," he said but this time his voice was more like RDJ, the change in pitch felt a bit jarring

What the hell?! "Uhhh... Hi, your store was recommended by a friend of mine. I need a suit for the upcoming Gala, and she needs a matching dress"

"Ain't you a little early for said Gala?"

"Aren't you a bit too casual all of the sudden? I mean, you are from Canterlot, no? It's weird someone from here saying 'ain't'"

"Meh. Was never good with all that self-entitlement this here ponies have. I wouldav moved to Ponyville, but they have quite the seamstress already," Elusive said with a bit of resentment, "Anyway, what type of suit and dress are you lookin' for?"

"Something for the GG Gala. Just not too extravagant, we prefer simple. Kind of like..." I do a quick scan of the displays, when a suit caught my attention, "Like that, but more modern if possible," And less buttons, please

"What are you sayin'? That's the most modern, albeit more royal design I have!"

"Sorry, for a second I forgot where I was. Human design is, how should I put it... simple. I mean, suits like this stopped being popular about... 200 years ago? For humans that is"

"Would you, by any chance, be responsible for Miss Rarity's sudden new dress designs?"

"...maaaaybe..."

"..."

"Could you give me some as well?"

"It only seems fair. Noctis, I-" she was no longer next to me, When did that happen?, I looked around and found her looking at some dresses in the corner, "Noctis, did you find anything you like?"

She walked up to us a bit defeated, "Not exactly, the colours clash with my fur, and the ones that don't clash too much are way too bulky"

"She does have quite the unique coat colour..."

No luck... Oh! I know! "I guess I'll have to give you a dress design as well"

"I'll be honoured"

"Wait, how is the design of this dress?" Noctis intervened a bit worried

"Oh, you'll see," I turned back to Elusive, "Let's go. By the way, will we get a discount?"

"If they're as good as the one you gave Miss Rarity, then it'll be on the house, bro!"

"Rookie, I gotta say, I'm impressed," I said, taking the trainee's hand and standing up

"Thank you, sir. Just trying my best"

In front of me was the newest member of the Royal Guards, Rookie. A pale dark blue coat with navy hair, pretty average until you take him in combat, the guy is a protégé!

"Do or do not, boy, there is no try," I say with a bit of a smirk, I should try following my own advice, I managed to suppress a chuckle

"Were you going easy on me?"

"I go easy on all of you, don't think I think less of you"

"Let's spar at full force. I want to see how much I can still improve," he said with a lot of confidence

All the guards who heard him immediately stopped what they were doing and stared at Rookie

I am going to destroy him... should I do it? "I mean, I don't want to hurt you"

"It's okay, if you don't want to, sir"

Is that mockery?! Ohhhhohohoh boy... I took out my sword now dubbed 'Achilles' and handed it to him, "Here, I'll use the practice sword"

He passed his hand along the blade and the tiny smirk he had vanished, "W-w-wait a moment! This is a real sword!"

"I know..." I took a few steps back and assumed the ataru stance, "Just say the word"

"Uhmm..." he glanced around, taking in the expressions of the other guards. After an audible gulp he said, "Go"

I dropped the sword, force dashed to him, jumped over him using his shoulders as a pivot, grabbed his arms, dropped to the ground and, quickly rolling him over me, had him face down with his arms behind his back

"Lesson two: never underestimate an opponent. Learn to read their strength since not everyone will fight full force at the beginning," I helped him up and continued, "Assess the situation that way, it might just save your life"

"I... I... Thank you. I needed a lesson in humility as well," he dropped to his knees and bowing 'offered' me back my sword, "I will get better, sir"

I stored my sword away and lifted him back to his hooves, "Don't do that... It's weird enough that I'm royalty"

"Luis, you need to stop doing that," Noctis said from behind me, "You're going to scare the new recruits"

I turned to her and said, "If I wanted to scare them... weeeell..." I looked down at my arms remembering all the powers from Prototype, "Anyways, -" Since I got the full control version, I might be able to come up with my own powers... That's terrifying... "- I got stuff to do. Keep practising, guys"

"Ready?" Noctis asked

I gave her a quick peck on the lips, "Give me a second, I need to do something," she nodded and I went to Shining, and whispered to him, "Keep an eye on Rookie. There's something odd about his... skills. Might be my paranoia, but please do me that favour," he nodded, and I made my way back to Noctis, "Let's go! I'm sure he did a fantastic job"

Elusive came from behind the curtain, "Get ready, bro. It's an amazing improvement on the design you gave me, I think you'll appreciate the changes"

Oooh! Getting creative, are we? "I can't wait!"

"Lady Noctis! We're ready!" he shouted

Noctis came out from behind the curtain with a black body-hugging dress, and a small tilted hat. The dress had some rose designs from bottom to the middle of the dress, and a slit going from her mid thigh all the way down on the right side. The hat had a vibrant rose on it's small-ish bow

"How do I look?" Noctis asked, a hint of insecurity hanging in her voice. All I could do was stare, she looked beautiful. "Luis, if it's too much you can say so"

"I- No- It's- You- I mean- Wow..." that was all I could say

"I think he likes it," Elusive stated before turning to me, "Now, your turn, prince"

"Uh huh..." I shook my head to get my thoughts back in order, "I mean... Yeah, my suit," I followed Elusive but stopped with Noctis, "You look gorgeous, like always, but the dress give you a boost," I winked before heading behind the curtains

"Luis..." he pulled a rope and the suit was revealed, "Your suit"

The suit was a simple black tuxedo, black bow tie, black jacket, black pants, white shirt, you know, the classic

"Looks good!" It's James Bond time, yeah! *James Bond theme*

"Sorry I couldn't think of anything to improve upon it"

"This is the classic, come on! Don't sell yourself short! It's awesome!" I encouragingly said, he just sighed, "Okay, fine... how about you add a... red vest and handkerchief?"

"Why a handkerchief?"

"For the breast pocket"

He took on a thoughtful stance, "... yes... Yes. YES! You know quite a bit about fashion, my friend!"

"Not really... just observant," It also helps that that was already an existing style, but I digress

"Now who's selling himself short? I'll be right back," he went into the back of his store in a fast walk and came back not even a minute later with the items, "Here you go, I'll be outside," he said stepping back through the curtains

"Okay, let's see how it fits..." I put on the suit and it was a perfect fit, "Nice!" I said before stepping through the curtain

"Wow..." Noctis managed to say, her mouth hung slightly

"How do I look?"

"I... Dear Celestia give me strength... You look great! Very handsome..."

"Hey! What do you mean 'dear Celestia give me strength'? I don't look that bad do I?" I jokingly said with a smirk

She signalled me to get close, so I did, as soon as I was in front of her, she pulled me for a long kiss

She finally broke the kiss after a small while, "I guess she didn't give me enough strength"

I was just there, mouth half open, smirking to myself, "Hehehe..."

"OH! Prince! Lady Noctis! Please, come!" Elusive said returning to his squeaky facade

I did a small scan of the room to confirm my suspicions, and I was right, there were other people inside now, Elusive has a very human attitude, it's weird

He stopped in front of a wall mirror, "Would you take a look at the royal couple! You look simply divine!"

Noctis and I took position before the mirror, and he was right, everything went together exceptionally well. The designs complementing each other's attire, "Fantastic! How much?"

"Oh, prince, please follow me to my office," he took lead to the back of the store into an office and closed the door behind us, "Please," his voice was back to the lower pitch, "The designs and ideas are payment enough. You have no idea how difficult it is to come up with fashion nowadays"

Judging by earth's fashion show, I think I have an idea... "Are you sure, I mean, we don't mind," Noctis nodded in agreement

"Please, it's no issue," he dismissed my attempt once again

"Fine. You win," Ponies. Generous to a fault sometimes...

"Now, Luis, let's get ready. Nimble is about to get off school," Noctis said

"Right! If you'll excuse us..."

"Wait! You adopted Nimble? As in Nimble Gust? HA! The world is such a small place," Elusive said with excitment and happiness

Wait what?! "You... know Nimble?"

"Know him? I almost adopted him!" he gave a hearty laugh before continuing, "I couldn't be a great father though, I barely have time for my wife as it is"

"You're married??" Noctis asked with thick confussion

"I mean, yeah, why wouldn't I- Oh... HAHAHahaha! You though-? It's just a facade! Ponies don't trust a masculine designer in terms of high class clothing"

"Oh, I'm sorry. I guess I'm not used to being outside the castle this much"

"My wife said the same thing. She's a batpony as well, her name is Belle"

"That's a-" something seemed to click in Noctis's head, "Wait! It couldn't be... The Belle??!" Elusive nodded, "I always wandered what became of her"

Awesome, I'm the only one not in the loop... "So, don't mind me asking but, who is this Belle?"

"She's only the most awesome guard pony EVER!" Noctis took a deep breath to relax, "She used to guard Tartarus before I did. Also, about seven years ago, she single handedly stopped an Abyssinian invasion"

Wait a minute! The cats tried to invade?

"Oh, you probably don't know what an Abyssinian is," she said with a bit of regret

"Big, biped cats. I know," Noctis was all excited and was about to continue, but I stopped her, "We have to go, you can tell me another time"

"Right, sorry..."

"Well, Elusive, it's been a pleasure," we shared a handshake, "Maybe we could go out for a drink one day. Meet the only other human in this world too"

"That sounds great"

Noctis and I changed back to our normal clothes, except that Noctis took my hoodie for herself saying she felt cold, Of course... she looks really cute though, hmmm... Fine, she can keep it. Nothing too interesting happened afterwards, we got home Twilight was being persecuted by a mob wanting tickets, you know, the usual here in Equestria, utter madness

Author's Note

"Well... I am a few chapters ahead now" I would love to say that, but I was stuck on the next chapter for a very long time, but I'm moving now. Next chapter should be done soon, but I'm still going to upload very sparingly though (~~probably 2-5 months, may be less than 4~~ Actually I've change my mind, it's going to be when I think they're done), just giving myself time to read and re-read each chapter. I want to catch spelling mistakes and story thing and stuff

Early Autumn Days

The night were starting to get colder, but apparently I was the only one who could feel it. Everyone else still noticed, but I was the only one closing their jacket, I won't get to wear my hoodie again am I? I guess its Noctis's now...

I stepped outside the house and felt the cold air lick my neck, which encouraged me to lift the neck of my faux leather jacket, "What can I do today?" I said to my self as I wandered towards town hall

As soon as I got to town square, the PKE chimed, It's been a while... I though as I took it out, "Nice! Blue, maybe I won't get a repeated holotape this time," I whispered following the peak. Soon I was standing at the doors to the Mayor's office, SERIOUSLY?? "Ughh... Okay, fine," I reluctantly knocked on the door as I put the PKE back on my belt

"Come in," said the Mayor

I opened the doors and stepped in, "Good morning, Mayor Mare, how are thing going?"

The mayor stopped rummaging through the filing cabinets and hopped over stacks of files, "Oh! Prince! We didn't have an appointment scheduled, did we?" she started to panic and hastily looking through her desk trying to find something, "Oh dear Celestia..." she whispered

"Oh, no! Nothing like that. I wanted to ask you a question, but I see you already have a lot in your hands... Mind if I help?"

"Please! *Ahem* I mean, that would be very much appreciated," she went back to the filing cabinets, "Start ever on the other side. I need to find the file on Twilight Sparkles household. This morning she decided to register an owl of all things as a pet!"

"Honestly, that doesn't surprise me," Apart from the fact I already knew this was going to happen... "Is this document about the library or Twilight?"

"The library"

I stopped in a position where I could see all the cabinets and the files on the floor, Let's see... Any second now...

One of the cabinets turned to a CRT green, like VATS, as the check succeeded. I approached it and looked through the drawers until... "Found it!" I took out the folder with 'Library Living Quarters' written on the lip, Got to love scrapper 2

"What?!! Let me see," I handed her the document, and immediately she went through it, "You did find it! How??"

"My special abilities"

"Thank you. Now what was it that you needed?"

"Before we do that, let's clean up a little," I said looking over all the files on the floor

"Oh, there is no need to worry," she glanced at the floor, "I don't suppose you abilities let you organize this in an instant?"

"No, but a little work never killed anyone," I said as we began to clean

After we fixed up the room, she asked again,"What was it that you needed, Luis?"

I took out the PKE, "I found some readings on this, I was wondering if you would let me look around and see if I find anything"

"Of course, there is no issue"

"Thank you," I began to follow the signal again, and found a smoke grenade behind one of the cabinets, "There you are..." I threw it up and caught it, "Nice"

"It seems every time you are in town those things start appearing. What are they?"

"They are... something only I can make a use of... they hav- give me abilities I can use"

"Like what you used?"

"To find the file? Yes, I got that from one of these," I tossed the nade once more, "Anyways, thank you for letting me look for it"

"I should be thanking you, it took me all morning to go through all those files... Thank you, prince for your assistance"

"I already told you don't need to call me 'prince', anyways, it was no bother, enjoy your day," I started heading towards the door

"I will, and thank you, Luis"

I stepped out of town hall, Where can I go use the nade... Oooh, I know... I fast travelled to the entrance to the Everfree

"Here we go," I said throwing the grenade. After it generated, I opened it, "Two holotapes... it's been a while since I got more than one"

-Quest: Rewards
Allows the spawning of better and unique loot as quest rewards
-Quest: Radiant
Adds a chance of a timed quest activating without interaction with quest giver

"Not bad. Now, what else do you bring?" lifting the foam, I uncovered a box of .38 ammo and an ink cartridge for my pen, I was actually running out of ink, how convenient! Of course the box of ammo only had fourteen bullets, but whatever, it's not like I have a gun to use them

"That's the last one, everypony!" AJ yelled as she finished stacking the barrels

"Awesome!" I said walking up to her, "You know, I've never had genuine apple cider. Anyways, it was fun helping. See you later, gotta go back to the family"

"Sorry, sugarcube, but Ah can't let you leave," she produces a mug of cider, "Not without some genu-ine straight from the barrel Apple family apple cider!"

I took the mug, "Try saying that five times fast," raising the mug, I gave my thanks and bottoms up, "Ahhh, that's a fantastic drink!"

"Eeyup!" Bic Mac said with approval

"I was fun helping you guys, I'm heading hom- Woah!" A bag of bit was tossed at me, "What's this?"

"Payment, of course. We wouldn' have you doin' no jobs with no compensation, now would we?"

"Guess not... Anyways, uhm, see you later!"

"Thanks Luis!!" Yelled Apple Bloom from the barn

I waved at her and made my way down path. Granny Smith was finishing the sign for their stall, she seemed to have no trouble even though the sun wasn't even out yet, "Goodbye Granny, it was fun, and thank you for letting me help"

"Thank you, Sonny Jim. We might have enough cider this here season and all thanks to you," She then eyed me suspiciously, this has been a common occurrence since we met, "I still say you look mighty similar to a gentlecolt I met when I was but a young lady"

Again with this? I sighed, "No... I don't... I'm not even a po- oh nevermind. See you later, Granny"

"Now you take care," she said with a wave

I wasn't really paying attention as I walked pass the fence, I turned a right and immediately tripped over something, "Ow! What the-!" I looked back at whatever just broke my stride, a tent, just a simple tent, Oh, right. Super cider machine episode, I lied on the ground finally realizing that doing the physical excursion I did all night long might have drained me, and I promptly fell asleep on the side of the road

Something stirred me from my slumber. I could tell the sun was out even with my eyes closed

"Luis?!!" exclaimed a familiar voice

"...Hmm... five more minutes..." I turned to my side tucking my hands under my head

"What?? NO! You can't sleep on the ground!" Noctis said a good bit exasperated

"Ugh, fine," I slowly sat up, wiping the sleep from my eyes, "You know, anything is comfortable if you're tired enough," I looked at her and gave a two finger salute, "What's up, Red?"

She wiped some dirt off my face, "How did you end up sleeping outside our tent?"

"'Our' tent?" I said with a raised eyebrow

"HI, LUIS!!!" shouted a pink face VERY close to mine

"AH!"

"I'm with Pinkie"

"I noticed," Wait a minute... "Where is Nimble?"

"He's with Rumble and some other colts from school. They had a sleepover, remember?"

"Oh, right," Pinkie's unusually quiet... I look at the earth pony only to see her sitting excitedly staring at the cider stand, tail wagging lifting some dust. Turning back to Noctis I asked when we had to pick him up, and then made my way home to sleep on an actual bed

==[POV - Noctis]==

I watched him as he sluggishly made his way down the road until he was out of sight, What am I going to do with him...

"Alright everypony! Cider season will open on a few minutes!," AJ yelled, "Please take this time to pack up! Thank y'all kindly!"

Without missing a beat, Rainbow came out of her tent, "OH YEAH! I'm gonna drink so much cider," she looked at me, "Noctis, thank you so much for giving me this idea!"

"It was Pinkie's idea"

"True. But you told me"

"I couldn't leave my boss friend hanging after she talked about cider nonstop for the past week"

RD rubbed her neck with embarrassment, "Hehe, thank you"

Fluttershy came out RD's tent, "Uhmmm... thank you for inviting me, Rainbow..."

"Thank Noctis. If it wasn't for her, we've wouldave been at the end of the line, and dear Celestia I could not stand to not get cider on day one. Not this year"

"By the way Fluttershy, is somepony taking care of your animals this morning?"

"Oh... no, Angel helps me on days like this," she said with glee

"That's good to hear, I was worried we dragged you here and left your animals without food"

"Oh, no. Angel knows what to do"

We then proceeded to pack up our tents, somehow Pinkie stuffed them into her mane... Still not sure how she does half the things she has done. Not too soon after we finished, cider season was officially opened and so we got ourseflves mugs of the ember gold. It was so good I couldn't help but to get a second mug. As soon I was done with my mug, I heard something mechanical in the distance, so I flew up to see if I could manage to identify it. Some sort of machine was approaching the farm but it was too far to know what it was, it would probably take it a couple of hours to get to the gate, probably less. I rocketed home to get Luis, thinking that maybe he'll know about this

==[POV- Luis]==

I yawned while being dragged along by Noctis back to the farm, Flim and Flam... great... Maybe I could do what I've seen some people write in their fanfics and hire them for something... nah. You can't tame a conman, specially two. I should've set a trap or something, automate the process... oh, well

"Are you listening to me?!"

"Huh? Oh, no sorry. I was thinking what to do with them," I said while coming up with more ideas

"With who? The ponies using the machine? So you do know!"

"Yeah. We're here, let's wait by the post over there," I pointed to the fence post next to the stand

"Hey there, Luis. What ar' you doin' back? I thought you'd be sleepin' by now. What can I do you for?," AJ asked a bit surprised

Guess she thought I couldn't take the physical exhaustion, "I'm just here on, uhm, 'patrol'. Noctis here thought she saw something or, actually, someone approaching the farm and got worried, and asked me to give some insight"

AJ waved at Big Mac to man the stand, and approached us, "What in tarnation is coming our way?"

"Not much, just a couple of conmen," Fun fact: conman is short for confidence man, they make others trust- ... Why am I thinking this to myself?

"Wait. Are you tellin' me Ah'm supposed to get scammed?!" AJ got really worried

"Nah. They lose in the end..." And then you act really cocky, AJ... "Anyways. I've noticed some major differences from the version of your world I know and this one, I'll make sure things don't go south here. I'm not going to do much ortherwise, unless you want me to"

"Luis, why won't you do much?!" Noctis nearly left me deaf with her exasperation

"Believe me, I don't like it either, but... what if... what if I make things worse if I intervene?"

"Still on that?" she asked with disappointment hanging in her voice

"I... ... Yeah... I just..." I reached across and held my arm looking down at the ground

"If this is about savin' mah farm, Ah don't care what changes"

I looked up to face again, This isn't about you... too many variables. I want... It feels good to know what's coming for once. To have control, "Fine..." I said as the sound of the super cider machine began to get closer

"Here they come," AJ said with angst

I turned around to look at the approaching conmen, Flam was lying on his side on the couch at the front of the SSCS 6k and Flim was leaning on the podium. Their blue barbershop quartet clothing didn't look that bad

Maybe I should get myself some, in case of an acapella musical number... that magic is still weird...

The machine started to come to a stop, but it still seemed like it was going to hit the fence, so I did what I could and used the force to shift the Super Cider just enough to leave a few inches from the fence. The sudden jolt cause Flim to fall completely off the platform

Flim got up as casually and inconspicuously as he could, and both noticed that the cider was still flowing like water, which caused the brothers to share a weary look

"Well, stage one worked," I whispered to myself

"What do you mean stage one?" Noctis asked after hearing my whispers

"There is enough cider for everyone"

"Is that the only reason you helped me?" she asked with a hint of betrayal, "Just to stop them?!"

"Nah, I helped because I wanted, it also helped that more people would enjoy the cider. The thing against Flim and Flam was just a plus on top of the other things," I said with confidence causing some experience points to come my way, So close to level up...

"Oh, I see... Sorry, sugarcube"

I turned my attention back to the brothers, who have been huddled over the couch, planning, for the past minute or so.

Then, Flam got up to the podium and started a speech, "Citizens of Ponyville! My name is Flam, and this is my brother Flim. We are the Flim Flam brothers. Now, now we have come to offer you a better option in CIDER!! We realize that the cider you have is in abundance, but I must ask: is it of quality? And is it the most stupefying flavour?!"

I took a step foward, "As a matter of fact: yes. It is of the utmost quality"

He then looked at Flim with confusion for a breif second before returning to me, "And who might you be my coatless fellow?"

I was not expecting that question... "Umm... I... what??" I stared at their faces expecting them to realize, but they still looked confused, "Holy sh... I've been in this country for over- what? Four months? Three? Something like that. And not only that, I was adopted into the royal family"

They shared an other glance, "Brother..." said Flim in a bit of confused realization, "This might be the one we heard about in Vanhoover..."

"The hue-maann, you say? Hmmm"

"It-it's human actually," But they seemed so well informed in the show... The- the friendship university and the- and the... oh, never mind

Flim took a step foward, "Whoever you might be, we are not here for any trouble"

Flam, "Indeed, we're here for a simple reason"

Flim, "We would just love some simple competition!"

Flam, "What we have here is a simple machine"

Flim, "The Super Cider Squeezy 6000!"

Flam, "We offer a spectacle!"

Flim, "A battle of wits if you will"

Flam, "Industry versus tradition!"

I took a step foward with my hand up, "I'm going to stop you right there. Industry isn't as good as you might think, believe me, I know. Sure, mass productions sounds great, automation! But... it just creates overstock, so much waste! The great Pacific grabage patch, it's bigger than some countries. Don't you enjoy the clear blue skies? There are some counties where the air is literally toxic some days. Do you want that?" I sighed, I blew up, didn't I..., Flam tryed to say something but I stopped him, "Nope. Just go. Just... go..."

The brothers shared a look of concern that then turned to the SCS 6K, but then they turned back to me, "It's just cider," said Flim condescendingly and a bit of a grin

I turned to AJ and suggested, "They are in YOUR private property. You could, you know, kick them out and by law they would have to comply, otherwise... you could act in self defense"

"Technically it's Granny's land, sugarcube"

"She let's you manage it, right? If that doen't work, tell them I'll carry them away myself or something"

"I see where yer goin'," she winked and walked towards the brothers and gave them a piece of her mind

I took this time to sneak around the back of the machine till I found a panel. Before doing anything, I made sure I was still unnoticed and managed to spot the brothers' slighty scared look, That's funny... I popped open the panel to reveal some wires, Now: Sabotage I activated my skill check ability to try to ruin the machine, I'm not intelligent enough, well that's embar- I'm so dumb!! I have a magazine! I quickly activated the magazine in the pip-boy, And there we go, one 'Magic Weekly' magazine used and plus 2 INT gained. Just enough, after sabotaging, I snuck back into the crowd and to the entrance of the farm by AJ

"So, what did you do?" Noctis whispered

Not surprising that she noticed me, apparently she can pay attention to me sneaking if, and only if, she's in my party, "I made sure that the machine is useless from now on, can't be repaired without dismatling everything," At least that's what the prompt said

"Wasn't that a bit mutch?"

I noticed her glasses bing a bit crooked, so I adjusted them, she blushed a little, "Nah, just insurance," I turned back my attention back to the feud just in time to catch the end

Flam, "I guess we'll just have to come back when you are in a more agreeable mood. Brother?"

"Indeed, brother. Besides, it's not like that coatless hue-man can do anything without a horn"

I guess AJ used me as a threat

They hopped back on the SCS and tried to turn it on to leave, "What the...!!!" smoke started pouring out the back

"I told you he scammed us, brother!"

"That coocky old-! Flam I told you to be careful of his offer!"

"You were the one that inspected this thing!"

They continued their bickering for a little brief moment, but I interrupted, "Let me help you there," I lifted the brothers and the machine using my force powers and started heading for the outsides of town, As much as I would like to see them figth... they're just a nuisance at this point

Author's Note

After another wave of writer's block, I finished this chapter

Best part? I'm finally a couple of chapters ahead!

Side Quest Pt.1

I approached the bulletin board rubbing my hands, It's starting to get colder now, just browsing all the miscellaneous tasks others need help with, then, "What... the..." I spot a paper that has a green CRT filter over it, examining the task and the reward I notice something unique about this one, it was written by a kid, I chuckled and thought, It's like my handwriting

``` EMERGENCY: need help finding my ball I was playing with my ball and the wind took it to the EVERFREE when i kicked it too hard

Reward: Cool stick i found while looking for my ball and 2 00 000 0 bits (Auntie told me that's all i can give) -Scootaloo ```

"Scootaloo, huh? And 'cool stick'... I'm interested," I said to myself and thought Maybe somehow my powers brought some sort of rifle here, then someone crashed with my leg

"Ow"

I turned to the source of the voice, only to see Scootaloo on the ground next to her scooter. Kneeling down, I asked, "Are you okay, Scoots?"

She shook her head and looked at me, "Oh. Hi, Mr Luis. Yeah, I'm fine!"

"Scoot, what did I tell you?"

"Not to call you prince or mister? Yeah, yeah, I know. But you're the dad of one of my best friends, it would be weird not adding the mister"

"I... can't argue with that. Okay, fine"

"Scootaloo! Are you okay?!" Nimble came barreling down th road on his scooter and came to a stop in front of us, "Oh, hi, dad"

"Hello, um... What are you guys doing?"

Scootaloo got up and dust herself off, "We wanted to see if anypony took my request"

I bent down and showed her the paper, "Oh, you mean this?"

"*Gasp* Yes! That one!" She jumped in joy

Nimble grabbed my arm and very enthusiastically said, "Can I go?!"

I ruffled his mane, "Yeah, no. You can't convince me otherwise"

"Aw, come on dad," he whined, "Why not?"

"Too dangerous for a little foal like you," Did I really just use foal? *mental sigh* Never mind...

He crossed his arms in annoyance, "I'm grown pony!"

"I'm I grown pony too, can I come?" Scootaloo interjected

"Not quite. Yes, you both have grown sure, but... haven't quite grown up yet. It takes time and most importantly: experience. Before you ask me 'how am I supposed to get experince if you won't let me?' Well, let me tell you that you first need to walk to learn to run," I stood up, "I guess you could come with me to the edge of the Everfree though"

"We can?!!" they both asked with very subtle squeeks

"But on one condition"

Both, "Yes?"

"Let's go get Noctis," I said turning my body

"What do you need me for?"

I finished my turn and was face to face with Noctis, HOLY SHIT WOMAN!!

"What is it?" Noctis asked again

"You... actually..."

"Why do you need.. me?"

Nimble ran up to her and gave her a huge hug, "We're going to the Everfree forest!"

Noctis gave me a death glare, "What?!?!"

"Wait! Wait! Wait! I didn't say that!"

She raised an eyebrow at me, "Then what did you say?""

I took a deep breath, Relax... "What I said is that the could come with me to the EDGE of the Everfree. The reason I wanted to find you was to make sure they didn't followed me nor gone into the forest on their own"

Noctis eyed me suspiciously before turning to Nimble, "Is that true?"

"I don't know. Dad said we could come with him to the edge..."

Scootaloo jumped in, "Yeah! Then he said we needed to find you"

"Yeah, see?" I said with relieve

Noctis winked at me and then turned back to a small scowl, "Why do you need to go to the Forest in the first place?"

Is she toying with me?? "Well, Scoo-"

Scootaloo jumped in excitedly, "I lost my ball the other day and he took the comission I left here," she pointed at the bulletin board

Noctis nodded, "Alright, lets go so he can get your ball"

"Yeah!" Scootaloo did a small air punch, "Follow me!"

And so we followed the little pegasus down to the park south of Ponyville, past Rarity's boutique, and then took a small path to a clearing bordering the Everfree

"I was playing here and then kicked my ball high in the air. There must've been some wind because it just went flying into the forest very fast,"

I put my hand under my chin, It couldn't have gone very far, "Scoots, quick question, how heavy is your ball? Is it light like a beach ball? Or more like a hoove ball?"

"Definitely like a beach ball"

I ruffled her mane, "Alright, I'll be right back," I turned to the forest, I need perfect timing for this... Jumping up as high as I can, I activate a perception check for the ball, Over a kilometer away??! What the hell? I do a quick superhero landing and turned to the trio, "It's a bit further than I was expecting," I directed my gaze to Noctis, "Why don't you take them for ice cream? This is going to take a while"

Noctis sighed, "Sure, why not"

"Yay!!" both foals exclaimed

They all started heading back to town after a quick 'see you later,' but I grabbed Noctis by the arm and whispered to her, "If I'm not back tonight, tell him I had to leave for royal business"

"Is it that far?" I nodded unsurely, "Just... Please come back safe"

"I will, don't worry," I looked as she caught up to the children and went out of view, then turned back to the forest, "Why am I getting a bad feeling? I literally hunt in there every other week..." I whispered to myself as I headed into the foreboding shade of the trees

Author's Note

Your eyes aren't deceiving you, this is a short chapter. Mostly to make up for the previous chapter being somewhat filler episodes, not the full reason though

I wonder, what am I planning?

PS
In case you didn't read it, I'm going to be uploading the chapters as I 'finish them' (Grammar is fixed and stuff). Although, I'm still going to have the next chapter almost finished before releasing a chapter

Side Quest Pt.2

I stopped in front of a ravine and looked down into it, "That's quite the fall..." Okay, the ball should be around here, I knew that the ball was somewhere around here because every once in a while I would walk somewhere my objective would change to 'go to the search area' but for the life of me, I couldn't find the damn ball

After a while a thought crossed my mind, What if the ball fell into the ravine... I then looked up to the trees, In the other hand, the ball got here by air, hmm. Decisions, decisions... I shrugged, "Not really. It's easier to come down from a tree," That being said, I found myself an opening in between the tree tops and jumped through

I landed on one of the strong branches and looked at the lowering sun, then started jumping from tree to tree, Now I just need the nine tails... I thought with a smirk on my face

After a while, I was next to the ravine on one of the trees when I finally spot the ball on one of my adjacent trees, "Got ya!" I jumped towards the branch and stuck the landing, then proceeded took the ball into my inventory, "Now to go ba- *CRACK* shit..." The branch gave way under me and I fell into the ravine. Last thing I remember was my head making contact with the ground after a long fall

==[POV - Noctis]==

"Mom?" Nimble asked a bit concerned

I shook my head, getting my thoughts in order, "Yeah?" Why did I feel weird like that?

"You just stopped. Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I just remembered I have to pick up some lettuce later this week," Did something happen to Luis? I grabbed his hand, and we continued walking home, "Come on, it's getting late"

I went to bed worried that night, he didn't come back

Waking up alone in the bed was something I was not used to anymore, and I definitely didn't sleep well. I got out of bed and headed downstairs to make breakfast and not too soon after Nimble came down, ready for school that day

"Where's dad?" Nimble asked

I froze up for a second before remembering what Luis told me, "He... had an emergency summons to Canterlot. H-he left a little while ago," I gave him my most convincing smile I could, "Let me finish breakfast, you don't want to be late for school"

"Yeah! I heard we might get something awesome today," Nimble then put on a skeptical face, "Diamond Tiara said there would be, but I don't like her"

That comment peaked my attention, "Oh... This is the first time I'm hearing of this"

He plopped down on a chair and rested his head on his arms, "I dunno... She seems to act differently with me around"

"How so?" I asked as I passed the pancakes to plates and place a plate in front of him

He straightened up and started eating, "She kinda seems to tease the other crusaders when I'm not around. I once heard her call my friends 'cutie rejects' because they don't have their cutie marks, but I don't have it either, and she's friendly with me," He pouted a bit, "I don't like her"

Smiled at him, "Don't worry about her, I'll talk to her parents," Hopefully it's a big enough distraction for me... "Anyway, how has your crusading been going?"

"Still no cutie mark... But today is the day, I can feel it!"

His expression made me chuckle, "I'm sure it'll be"

After breakfast, we headed to the school but not before Blueblood came down and said goodbye to Nimble and me. Scootaloo joined us in the walk to school, they raced all the way there of course

After I dropped the foals off, I found some sort of servant with Diamond Tiara. I started friendly conversation with the stallion, but no luck, so I told him to give Diamond Tiara's parents a message because apparently they're 'too occupied' today

That didn't distract me as long as I would've hoped...

==[POV - Luis]==

I woke up with the second worst headache I've ever felt in my life, the far away light of the sun barely illuminating my surroundings mostly because it was morning, and I was about 50 meters in a hole. I sat up and looked through my inventory to see if I had a painkiller, but no cigar

I stood up and got ready to run up the wall, "Blacklight virus, don't fail me now..." I sprinted up the rocky surface, but no more than 5 steps in I discovered that it was too uneven and unstable to run up it as I tripped, fell and got a face full of rocks and dust

"Bleh ptf! I got dirt in my mouth, mlegh"

*Distant whimper*

"Huh?" I heard the whimpering again, "Hello?" It sounds like a dog fell here, I then proceeded to turn on the light feature of the pip-boy, it was enough light for me to see that there was no cave or anything connected to this ravine near me except for some small cracks in the wall, Probably why this isn't flooded, I thought before focusing back on the whimpering coming somewhere on the east

Is that... is that a dog?

I slowly made my way towards the noise, keeping the bright side of the light pointing forwards. The silhouette of a large canine became apparent in the distance. I slowed down, after all, I didn't want to sneak up on a hurt hunting animal

==[POV - Noctis]==

"Thank ya kindly fer helping on this here last harvest, Noctis! You'" AJ said with enthusiasm

"No problem, I'm happy to help"

"About what I said earlier. If anything a botherin' you, I'm here"

"I- Luis... went into the Everfree yesterday"

"Doesn't he go there every week?"

"Well, yes. But this time something seemed to be bothering him. I don't know what it was. But nevermind that, he'll be fine," ...I hope...

"If yer feeling the need, Ah can get the girls together and go lookin' for Luis," she said with a wink

"I'll keep that in mind, thank you," I smiled back and went back into town

==[POV - Luis]==

I finished fastening the bandages around the pup's foreleg, "There you go, better," I gave the pup a smile as I let go of the splint, but then I looked back to the corpse of its mother, I'm sorry, poor gal...

The mother seemed to have died on the fall, but the branches impaled on the body could mean they were thrown through the trees or were attacked by timberwolves. I turned to look up to the mouth of the ravine and thought to myself, At least the timberwolves can't get down here without falling to pieces... I looked back at the pup, Which begs the question, how did you only get a broken leg? I know the mother probably absorbed the impact, but it's such a long fall

The pup then limped up to me and placed its paws on my lap, tail wagging happily, "I'll talk to Fluttershy when we get back, she'll be able to help you better than me," I said while scratching him behind the ears, Thanks to the cartoonish nature of this world I can just tell by the facial features. Still, not completely used to it, but whatever

I took the piece of meat from the fire I had set up, and took a bite, "Could've used some spice," I turned to look at the wolf pup, who already had a cleaned bone, "Having fun there?"

He tilted his head and looked at me, I smiled and in return he did a quiet 'woof' and returned to her bone, which made my smile get bigger, "Glad to hear," Weird, it almost sounded like a yes

==[POV - Noctis]==

I can't believe he isn't back yet... Is he okay? I stopped in front of Ponyville's gym, I need to unwind

The community funded gym had always been well-equipped, while they didn't have top of the line equipment like the training grounds' gym, it had everything anypony would ever need. Everything from electric and kinetic treadmills all the way to a flight tunnel and weights

"Yo! Bat girl!" said the scratchy voice of a certain gryphon

I turned to where the voice came from and noticed Gilda turning off the flight tunnel, "Hey there, Gilda! I didn't know you were visiting"

"Meh, I'm not much for attention. What are you doing gym though?"

"I come here every once in a while, you know. Besides, Luis is out for a while and I have a couple of days off starting today," I wonder how she'll react if I tell her he went to the Everfree? I thought as I had a flashback to the time Luis dared her to spend a night in the forest. She ran out after a few hours and Luis ended up staying two days

"You should try to break Apple J's record on the bucking bag," she then looked at the machine with determination, "I'm not letting a pony out strength me," she whispered to herself with a hint of anger, or maybe rivalry, I couldn't tell

Luis did say he was slowly helping her with her attitude... It does seem to be working...

"I'm going to hit it," Gilda then fast walked to the machine and got in line

...quite well... "Wait for me! I wanna try too!" It'll be a good distraction for a bit. Although, Nimble gets off school soon, can't be late for that

==[POV - Luis]==

I snapped out of my force meditation due to a weird feeling. Turning to make sure the pup was okay, I asked him, "How's your paw lil' fella?"

"Woof! *Whimper*"

"Better, but still hurts? Got it," I said back with a smile, The only way out is up, unless we could turn into water... I sigh, "The paw is not good enough for a lot of movement, is it?"

He gave me a bunch of sad sounds, almost as if telling me that the pain got worse with sudden shifts

"No worries, just tell me when you feel better, so I can get you to someone who can help more sooner," I looked up to the darkening skies, "Hopefully, that'll be tomorrow morning"

"Woof!"

"Hmmm..." I lifted my arm to eye level and saw my hairs standing on end, "The feeling is getting worse?" I don't remember having spidey-sense... Peter-tingle, hehe

*Whimper*

I refocused on the pup and saw him glowing white, "What is going on?" I reached for him and noticed the same glow from my arm, "WHAT THE FU-"

*WOOSH*

I reopened my eyes and all I saw was white, "Where- where am I?"

"Woof woof!" the little pup barked as he walked up to me

I bent down and petted him, "You're here too, huh?"

"Sorry for bringing you here this way," said an ethereal voice

"Uhhhh, no... worries?" What's happening?

"Arf?"

Suddendly a prismatic Twilight wearing a toga materialized infront of us, "I am the Tree of Harmony"

Author's Note

Pam-pam-pammm

Tree of Harmony? What is that doing here? Why was Luis and the pup called here?

Tune in next time to find out

I hope you enjoy my story so far because I'm enjoying writing it

Side Quest Pt.3

"I am the Tree of Harmony"

"Why?" I said very confused

"My seed was created by the Pillars-" She started

"Sorry for interrupting, but I know that part. I meant why are we here?" I said while motioning between me and the pup

"The pup was too close to you to not bring him here. As for you, I have a job that only you can accomplish"

"Wait! Is this some seventh element bullshit?!" I exclaimed, If this is that, I'm going to be very pissed!

"There will always be six elements"

"Oh, thank god! That's a relief, you have no idea how ridiculous those stories can get"

"Your story has been ridiculous as is, there is no need to make it even more so"

"I feel personally attacked," I said with sarcasm

"Sorry, I did not mean to offend you"

"I... that was sarcasm... I-I didn't mean to confuse you"

"We need to get back on track as there is a time limit on you being here"

"Right, sorry. Go ahead"

"Chaos will been released and this, along with your existence here, has started a cascade of events that cannot seem to be prevented. I do not know the specifics, but I do know you will need these," she said opening her arms and making five pip-boys materialize, "I do not know the reason, but you need to create a team and train them with your weapons from the universes you draw your powers from. These devices will give a copy if your own powers to whomever puts them on, be mindful of who gets them as they will be permanently linked to them until their demise"

"That's... dark- Wait! Why would I need a team?" What the hell is going on?!

"I do not know"

"Why video game weapons then?"

"I only know they will be effective, not the reason why"

"Okaaay... In what way would my 'team' get my powers?"

"They will not get the full range of abilities you possess, the reason is that your own power are a mix of harmonic and chaotic magic, and some other force impossible for me to identify. The only abilities they will receive are the storage, progressive strengthening and the universal armour fitting you possess, nothing more"

Universal armour-? "Oh..." They've probably never got my measurements correctly... Now it makes sense...

"I also have specific abilities I need you to have," She made the same hand motions as before, but holotapes appeared this time, all white. She then picked one out, "This one will allow you to have the team size you will need," She then picked another, "I can not tell you what this one does, but know this, Harmony itself wants you to have it"

"Why the secrecy?"

"I, myself, don't know its effect either. Let us start with it"

==[POV - Rick]==

I started to choke on my coffee as I read a part of the letter from Celestia

"Are you okay?!" Quick asked freaking out

"Yeah *cough* yeah, just... Luis... He went missing a week ago"

"What?"

I downed the rest of my coffee and started heading out the door, "Let's go, we're joining search team"

Quick got up from the table and took the dishes to the washing machine, "Let's go," she grabbed my hand, and we walked out of our house

==[POV - Celestia]==

"Thank you, my little pony. You may go," I dismissed the pegasus guard as he went on his way towards the Everfree

Before he reached the door, it slammed open, "Celestia! Why didn't you tell me he went missing?!" Rick demanded as he entered the throne room

My guard was startled, but he kept going on his way. Quick Study place a hand on Rick's shoulder and whispered something to him, which caused him to relax

"He said to not tell you, or anypony for that matter, if anything happened to him for a week. I was simply respecting his wishes"

Rick seemed to want to retort, but something clicked in his mind, "That... does sound like him..."

"See? I told you there was a reason," Quick Study said confidently

"He's still paranoid as ever, I see" He sighed, "Just so you know, I'm heading that way"

I smirked, "You don't even know where it was. The letter did not say"

He smirked back and took out a piece of paper and started to do his magic

==[POV - Rick]==

I brought up the screen that my programming power bring up and started making the piece of paper into a homing paper plane. Within a minute I had the program ready, Compiled first try! I'm getting better, nice! I closed everything and looked at the floating piece of paper, "Run program"

The paper started to fold itself into a paper plane and started to make its way out of the throne room

"Thanks, Celestia, for waiting, but we gotta go"

==[POV - Celestia]==

I just got out done by somehuman again...

A smile slowly crept itself onto my face

"Sorry about him Princess, you know how he is," Quick study said with remorse

"Do not worry, my little pony," I happily replied

Quick Study bowed and ran out to follow Rick, "Wait for me!"

My smile became slightly bigger, "Every day I love those two humans ever more," My smile retreated, "Luis, in the name of Faust, be unharmed"

==[POV - Luis]==

I looked down at the pup, "At least she returned us outside the ravine"

"Arf!" he happily replied

Beast Master Level 1
+0005 XP

That was... unexpected... "Well, I least I know with 'Sims Life Skills' do *sigh* make everything into a skill," I finished my sentence a bit disappointed

*Ding*

"Makes everything into a skill... that gives xp... huh, found another loophole"

"Woof? {What?}"

I snap my focus to the pup, "Did... did I..." I stammered out, confused as hell

"Woof?! {What?!}"

"I did... understand you..."

"Arf! Arf! {Me too! Me too!}," the pup... said?... I guess, with a happy dance

I open up my pip-boy and looked through my skills and perks, and as it turns out, being a werewolf allows me to understand any canine with the beast master skill at any level above or equal to 1, Oddly specific, and also, another overlap of powers. I've honestly lost count of how many there are. Even if I'm not allowed to do exploits, the amount of games altering other powers is getting ridiculous

*FOOWSH FOOWSH FOOWSH (many more)*

Letters started appearing in front of me. One, five, ten, twenty, and I lost count

I guess that place didn't have cell service... wait! "How long did we... How long were we in there??!"

I started to grab the letters, thankfully they were titled 'Letter (Celestia/Noctis) #'

"{What are those?}"

"Letters... It's going to take a long, long time to read them all... *long sigh* Okay, no time like the present," I take out the first letter from Noctis, but before I started reading, I said to the pup, "Let's start going this way to Ponyville, just tell me if I'm going to hit a tree or something, okay?"

The pup tilted his head, "{Why can't you for yourself?}"

"I'm going to be reading"

"{What's reading?}"

Oh boy...

==[POV - Quick]==

The elements of Harmony, Noctis and me were on our way to the checkpoint. We might have only been friends with Noctis for a few months, but even I can tell she's suffering, no amount of guard training can make you emotionless

As soon as we got to the checkpoint, she took command

"Stone Guard," she called

A guard walked up her and saluted, "Yes, Lady Noctis"

"How's the search going? What teams are out? And what's their ETA?"

"His magic trail is getting weaker, it will be completely gone with in the next couple of days. Still no sign which way he went. Teams 1 and 3 are out right now. Team 3 will be back in less than 10, team 1 just left, team 2 will leave as soon as team 3 comes back"

"Thank you," she said, and turned to us. Her expression, her mask, quivered for a second before she started to make her way to where we were

Twilight stood up and went to Noctis, Twi placed a hand on Noctis shoulder and whispered something to her

==[POV - Noctis]==

"We'll find him, I'll make sure of it," Twilight reassured me

I just weakly smiled in return as she started to walk towards the forest behind me. The other girls were looking at me, no, past me wide-eyed, I then felt Twilight grasping the air trying to grab me. I turned around and saw Luis walking out of the forest reading a scroll. I gasp as I started walking faster and faster to him

As I got close to him, he stopped and looked up from the scroll. He didn't look worried. He wasn't worried?! That... Th-that BASTARD!!

I stopped in front of him, waiting for his excuse, any excuse, "Are you okay?" he asked nonchalantly

For a few seconds I stood there, processing what he just said, repeating it in my head. And then...

I snapped

A slap that rang out for miles as my hand made contact with his cheek. I was holding back every emotion I had while in the verge of tears thinking, He disappears for ten days and that's all he has to say??!!! 'Are you okay'?!!!

Time stood still for what felt like an eternity, made even longer by the deafening silence. He was just staring into the distance, I was staring at him

He slowly turned to me with a defeated expression as I realized what I had just done, I had slapped him. I hurt him, He must hate me... I turned tail and ran away, tears rolling down my face as I ignored every call for me, I didn't even try to hear him out...

==[POV - Rick]==
Meanwhile

"We're almost back at the checkpoint," said the guard leading the rest of us as we made our way out of the forest

"Damn it!" I yelled, "God fucking damn it!" I yelled again punching a tree, Where are you Luis...

"Hey, Rick, we'll find him," Thunder Guard reassured me, "Don't worry. I highly doubt anything in this forest can get him"

Lightning Hooves jumped in the conversation, "He did have an over 500% improvement in his physical test on his first month alone, and then a 143% improvement the month after that"

A loud bang of sorts rang out

"That came from the checkpoint!" the lead said as he started to pick up speed, "Let's go! There's no time to lose!"

After a minute of running we got to the checkpoint. As we came out of the tree line, I saw Luis crouching down picking up something off the ground

We all stopped. The main six and Quick where on the side looking at Luis with worry

"What happened..." I whispered as I slowly walked forwards

Suddenly Luis started clutching his chest as he fell to his knees

"LUIS!" everyone yelled as he went limp and ended face down on the dirt

Author's Note

The fact that I'm publishing this now means that the next chapter is on its last stretch, enjoy!

The Calm Before the Storm

I was standing in the throne room, it had been hours of the three princesses and me discussing a few things actually, but mostly what the Tree of Harmony told me. Budgeting and management took most of our time during the discussion, actual personnel was another issue. With only five pip-boys, we would have a six person strong action team, but I suggested just keeping that as the special task force. The biggest problem was why we needed this task force, not even the Tree of Harmony knew why it was needed, just that it felt like it was

"We know the Tree almost inside and out, but do not see enough evidence to needing this 'task force' of special forces"

"Besides, with the upcoming festivities, such a large project might cause the populace to panic. It is the first Nightm- Ahem, sorry, Night of candy offerings since Princess Luna came back"

"It is quite fine, dear Cadence. Prince Luis's, what did you call it? PR campaign? Yes, that has done wonders to lessen public fear of my... my past. It is still a sore time of mine, but Nightmare night and Nightmare Moon are names I can... stand now. So, please Princess, don't change the name for me," Cadence smiled back as an answer

"Getting back on track, I guess we can keep this aside for the time being"

"That would be best"

"I just hope this doesn't come back and bite us in the... rear"

All three princesses giggle, "Let us hope that does not happen"

"Thank you for your time princesses. I'll take my leave," I did a bit of a bow

"Day court is adjourned for today," she said giving a sigh, then she turned to Luna "Sister, the throne room is all yours"

"Aunt Luna, I can stay with you for a couple of hours if you want"

"There is no need, Cadence. We can handle night court"

Cadence and Luna kept talking, but Celestia came up to me, "You did quite well in your first court discussion," she said with a small chuckle

"I was nervous. Did I use the right language? Like the right words and stuff?"

She smiled at me and placed an arm over my shoulder, "For the most part. Try avoiding things such as 'I guess' and 'I'm not sure'. Though, it does depend on the context," as she finished, we stopped at the door, "I suppose now you'll be returning to Ponyville for the night..." she said with a hint of sadness at the end

The door opened and on the other side was Noctis, Nimble and even Blueblood, the latter who kept avoiding everyone's eyes at the castle the whole day, "Actually, Nimble wants to see what kinds of costumes we could find in Canterlot for Nightmare night," I turned to Nimble, "Speaking of which, how was costume hunting today?"

"We only found costumes for fillies... or pirate costumes..." he mumbled

"Hmm... I see..." I said while scratching my chin, "How about something from my world? How does that sound?"

His eyes lit up, "Really?!" he started jumping a little, breathing a lot faster, "Is it a space ranger? An alien?! OOH! OOH! Some sort of human guard?!!"

"Uhhh... Maybe?" Now I have to think of something... Maybe... Indiana Jones? Since he's basically Daring do... "Depends on what we have time to make, you know?" Yeah, Indiana Jones without the whip, I turned to Noctis, "How was your day? Picked out a dress yet?"

"I actually think Rarity might be the best option for that, surprisingly," she said with lopsided smile

"In that case, I guess I'll get my suit from Rarity too. You know, to match"

She stifled a laugh, "It's going to be so frilly"

"That's the second time someone said that to me. She's still demanding for me to commission her a suit since the first time she offered too," I laughed slightly into my hand

"H-h-hi aunt- PRINCESS!! Princes Celestia...!" Blueblood said very shaky

He's losing his nerve! Are you kidding me?!

"It's okay, Blueblood. We talked about this quite a while back, although, I can assume you don't feel quite comfortable in the castle yet," Celestia said with an air of understanding

I jumped into the conversation, "You know, the next step of your 'training' is to come back to the castle, but you won't get your title of prince back. You'll find out why once you get your title back," I gave Blueblood a thumbs up, "Congratulations, you graduated phase two of my reformation program! Phase three starts when you move back here, so if you don't feel ready yet, you can stay with us in Ponyville for a while longer"

"Don't worry, Blueblood, Luis and I talked about it. You have our full support," Noctis reassured him

I turned back to Blueblood. He was petrified, his eyes glued on Celes- no, his vision was unfocused, filled with fear, shaking all over, "I... I... I don't think I'm ready," he ripped his gaze off and down to the ground, forcing his eyes shut, "I'm sorry..."

I had asked Elusive to help me make Nimble a costume, but he was far too occupied with commissions. Apparently he followed my advice to act more natural with customers, surprisingly, even more ponies were willing to buy from him. Trust goes both ways more than I thought I guess

Anyways, with Nightmare Night just around the corner, and me running out of time to get costumes, I had to resort to Rarity. I really didn't want her to do her own spin on the costume, but I already promised myself to trust more, so here I am

I knocked on the door of the boutique, Come on, she wouldn't do that right? I mean she's a professional... but her ideas... I shuddered a little thinking of her first design idea for me

"Oh! Luis! Darling, what brings you here tonight?" Rarity then put a bit of a manic look, "Are you finally getting that suit I promised to make? Hmm?"

I recoiled back a little, Maybe this wasn't such a good idea... swallowing my pride, I spoke, "Uhm, no, sorry. Just came to ask if you could help me with a costume for Nimble"

"Certainly, darling. What kind of aunt would I be if I didn't" she said in a somewhat deranged tone

"Uhh... he's not-"

"Darling..."

"Yep, your nephew!" I should have just let her make me a suit... she gets so creepy with me since I said no, I thought following her inside. Her shop was as pristine as ever, You're just here for Nimble's sake... His costume... Costume! "Rarity, speaking of a suit-"

Suddenly she was right on my face, with a smile that would make the Cheshire cat think twice, "YEEEESS, DAAAARRLIIING??"

I have opened Pandora's box... I gulped, "I have and idea for costume for myself... It's kind of like a suit. How would you feel about it?"

"What I feel?"

Goodbye cruel world...

"That sounds splendid!" she said, her attitude becoming normal again, "Sorry for making you uncomfortable, Luis. I don't know what got into me"

"I-i-it's fine... hehe"

"Sorry about Nimble. I don't feel like... I just-"

"It's fine, no one has ever refused your generosity and then I came along and did. You just had a minor case of a serious mental breakdown. I understand," Is she... fine now?

"About your costumes? What did you have in mind?"

"Something from my world actually," I took out my laptop and put up a picture of Indiana Jones, "Out of all the ideas I showed Nimble, he liked this one the most. He's the human version of Daring Do, you see? And he loves those books. So the idea of a different and unique version of her, kind of resonated with him. And you know how little colts are, seeing this guy be cool and all. He was... inspired to say the least"

"I can see why a young colt like Nimble might like him. He looks even better than Luis," tha last part was obviously for herself, but that didn't stop my ears from hearing it

Did she just... I don't mind losing to Harrison Ford, "Compared to him, how do I look," I asked as casual as I could

"If he's a ten then- HEY!! That was impolite to ask a lady that, Prince," she said, mocking me with the tittle

"I tried..." I shrugged, "Am I close to looking like him though? Serious question"

Rarity blushed a little, "You are certainly not far behind, if that's what you mean"

I nodded with pride, I look almost as good as he does? Not bad, not bad at all...

"Although..."

Please don't call me ugly after that...

"I cannot make the whip. Not my business, you see. Nor do I have a license or knowledge to make such a thing"

I sighed, Thank god... "Oh, that? I was going to tell you 'no whip' but I guess I don't have to"

"Now for your costume, darling. You said it was similar to a suit?"

"Yeah," I changed the picture on the computer to what my costume was going to be, "This is what it's going to look when fully assembled"

It was a few days after my little encounter with Rarity, who thankfully was now more stable around me, and just yestarday I got in contact with Cutting Edge for an update on our project and to ask him for a piece for my costume. He agreed

We left Nimble with the CMCs at Rarity's not too long ago, Sorry Rarity... and Noctis and I went on a walk around the outskirts of town fairly far away from town in fact. The dirt was soft, only animal tracks around, and a lake in the distance. This lake, by the way, is the one we usually go to for picnics with the girls. Funny enough, even Blueblood has become part of the posse, and Spike has kept him in check with Rarity. I chuckled at the memories of Spike giving Blueblood the stink eye

"What are you thinking?" Noctis said, snapping me from my thoughts

"Just remembering the... what's the word...? Problem? I guess? The problem Spike has with Blueblood over Rarity"

She giggled too, "I don't think Blueblood is even interested in Rarity"

"I know! He's oblivious to all the flags Rarity raised"

"Yeah... So, why did you want to come here?" her curiosity seeping in her words

I sat down just before the shore of the lake prompting my torso up with my arms, "Just to relax," I turned to her with a heartfelt smile, "With you"

Noctis joined me, resting her head on my shoulder, "That sounds nice"

I laid my head on hers and just enjoyed the cold afternoon air

I slowly woke up feeling quite well. Judging by the sun, I'm guessed we slept for about an hour, Probably more...

Noctis in the other hand was still sound asleep, drooling a little bit, "She must feel really comfortable," I whispered to myself while pushing some hair off her face. I simled as I gave her a look over

She had returned a bit to her habit of suits, kind of. She was indeed wearing dress pants again with button blouses this time and no vest. Not bad if you ask me

Me? I now use the faux leather jacket everyday with plain t-shirts and jeans, also my hair was very much similar to the 'colonial' from FO4, quite a bit longer actually. In other news, denim has actually started to become more popular here, it used to be just used by farmers and other labourers, but more ponies are using them more often, even in Canterlot. I wonder if I had something to do with it. It at least made the royal advisors think twice about my wardrobe, so my clothes are my choice. As long as I don't look like I live in a dumpster anyways

I started scratching Noctis behind her ears which she started to enjoy quite a bit, leaning into my hand. Then she woke up, our eyes connected as she started to blush very brightly in embarrassment

"Don't do that... it's demeaning..." she said, clearly trying not to enjoy the feeling. I stopped petting though, just to 'test the waters' as it were

"Sleep well?" I finished with a kiss

"I... yeah..." she gave me an innocent look, "Can you... can you, you know, continue?"

I smiled back, scratching her ear again, "Of course I can"

Suddenly there was a low grumbling noise which made me stop. Noctis looked up to me, "Are you okay?"

"Did you hear that? Like a low grumbling, barely audible," Was that my imagination?

"I didn't hear a thing," she shot a sly smiled at me, "Are you hungry and not want to admit it?"

"Not really..." Maybe it was nothing... hopefully...

"By the way. How's your little stargate system going?" she asked as I continued to pet her

"Just have Cloudsdale and Stratusburg left. The two cloud cities in Equestria... Hmm... You know, I haven't tried to walk on clouds yet... Not without a spell, so maybe I can"

"Do you want me to bring a cloud over?"

"Sure, I guess"

Noctis then proceeded to snuggle up closer to me, "Nah. Maybe later"

I hugged her tighter, "I think I can wait"

Author's Note

While writing this chapter, I actually creeped myself out with Rarity's manic phase. Who knows, maybe I've just inspired a new creepypasta

Oh god, I hope not

Nightmare Night Pt.1

Author's Note

I've been having a lot of trouble writing a fight scene, writer's block and all, so I'm splitting the chapter into 2 to give me a little more time. I need this to be good, in my previous storry, the fights sucked

Yes I am still going to finish cleaning up my other story. My only excuse is my new job being a night shift, I feel drained anytime I'm awake, sorry guys

Nightmare Night Pt.1

I wiped my brow as I finished setting up the last decoration at our house. Jack-o-lanterns, banners and the sort were carefully placed around the building by none other than me

"Luis, dinner's ready," Noctis called from below

"Coming!" I yelled as I took one last look at my work. Satisfied, I jumped down from the roof and land in front Noctis, "What did you make?"

"Your favourite," she said giving me a quick peck on the lips

"Oh, you didn't...!" I tried to hold back my excitement, but Noctis giggled, which told me everything I needed to know, "Red, you're the best!" I pulled her to a deep kiss, and as soon as I was done, I basically ran to the dining table and sat down, eyeing the covered dish in the centre

Noctis gave me a playful roll of the eyes as she leaned in to uncover the dish, revealing lasagna. Vegetarian lasagna, but delicious nonetheless

My mouth was pretty much watering, but got distracted by Mars, the pup I rescued a little while back, "Hey, Mars," I said while petting the pup

"{Why is everybody outside wearing creepy stuff?}" he asked

"It's Nightmare night, and it's tradition to dress up"

"{What's tradition?}"

"Basically peer pressure from dead people. Now go eat your food," I pointed at his bowl to make my point clearer. When I looked back at the table, everyone was staring at me, "What?"

"That was... an interesting way to describe tradition," Blueblood said as Noctis handed him a plate of lasagna

"You know me, I don't take things too seriously"

"Thanks, mom," Nimble took a big bite out of his lasagna, "Hey, dad," he added looking at me

"What's up?"

"What are you dressing up as? I haven't seen it yet"

"Glad you asked," I said while Noctis passed me my plate, "Thanks, Red. I'm dressing up as..." I said with an air of suspense as I took out my pip-boy and equipped my costume, which is also a functional armour set, "The Minuteman General. I asked Cutting Edge and Rarity to help me make the outfit"

"Wow, dad. You look so cool!" Nimble exclaimed

"If a bit outdated," Blueblood added

"How outdated exactly? I'm curious," I asked, I wonder if the style is older or newer than on Earth

"A few years before I was born"

"You know, I never asked how old you were... I feel bad now..."

"Twenty four, so not that much older than you actually"

"Huh. Cool"

"Red, that was delicious!" I said excitedly

"Glad you liked it," she giggled out

I turned to Nimble, "Excited that your birthday's coming up?"

He stared at me, I wasn't sure what to think, but then he got up and hugged me as hard as he could, "Yes..." he happily whispered

My heart hurt to say the least, so I gently began to run my fingers through his mane as he began to cry happy tears. Noctis got up and joined the hug, "You know we love you right?" she asked

He nodded, "Thank you..."

Noctis and I stayed hugging him for a good while, just letting himself feel happy in silence. We kind of were interrupted by the sound of cutlery on dishes. I turned to the sound and it was Blueblood finishing his dessert, so I gave him a 'do you mind' look

"What? The brownies finished. I couldn't leave them there"

Nimble immediately perked up and wiped the tears off his face, "The brownies are ready?!!" he proceeded to give Noctis and me pleading eyes

"Yes you can..." I said with a playful head shake and a smile on my face, then shooting a knowing look at Noctis, which she returned

Noctis and I both got up, "I think I'll get a piece too," she told me

I was about to say the same, when there was a knock at the door, "Were we expecting anyone?" I asked Noctis, she shook her head, which made me look at Blueblood, who just shrugged, "Okay then..." I whispered as I walked to the door

Rick and Quick were standing outside, "Hey, Luis!"

"Hi Luis," Quick meekly said

Rick was dresses as Obi-Wan from the clone wars and Quick as Clover the Clever, How I remember that... I will never know

"Luis, why you dressing up for the 17 hundreds?"

"Har har. No, it's from Fallout 4. You know? The Minuteman General?"

"I thought that game was retro-futuristic atom-punk, not... historical?"

"Well, yes. But this is a museum recreation that then was restored and made into armour. In the game, the minutemen are a militia that [...] and so you may or may not be a synth in the game-" I looked at Rick who, was already done with his second piece of brownie, How... how long did I talk for? "Ahem... uhm... anyways..." I looked down at the time, "Oh! I have to go," I got up and headed to the kitchen to leave my dishes

I was almost to the door when Rick stopped me, "Where do you think you're going?"

"To Twilight's, I promised to help her with some... things," I hope everyone likes what we have planned

Rick turned to Noctis, "Hey Noctis! Do you know what he's doing?" I didn't hear the rest as I made my way to the library, but hey, Noctis knows all about my plan

I hummed to myself as I went over everything I needed for the show. The song was already selected, and then Vinyl Scratch would be the DJ for the rest of the event, just a small one-hour party in the middle of town. Still hasn't said a word. She's the sole reason my charades skill at level 3 now... I mindlessly shook my head as I knocked on the door of the tree house

Spike opened the door, "Sup, dude?"

"Are we ready?"

He smirked, "Pretty much, although..."

Twilight came around the corner, she was definitely surprised to see me"Oh! Luis, aren't you early?"

"Who's that, Twilight," another voice came from behind Twi. Then another pony came from behind her

"Moon Dancer?!!" As soon as her name left my mouth, I rushed to cover it

"You- you know my name??!"

"Honest slip up," I looked at her expectantly, "You don't buy it do you," she shook her head, "Well then... I guess I have a bit to explain, don't I?"

"Girls, what's taking so long?" a voice came from the dinning room

"The others are here too, aren't they?" I sighed knowing the answer

"Everypony happy with the explanation?" I said almost wanting to facepal- Did I just say 'everypony'? ... My slip ups are becoming more frequent. But... Do I really care that much?

"I guess it's fine," Moon Dancer said reluctantly, "But were you going to let Twilight forget about us til then?"

I shook my head, "Nah, I was going to mention something after the festivities, aka tomorrow. I just decided that worrying about the timeline is not worth it. Too much stress, and me just existing here already changed quite a bit. So... yeah," suddenly a thought entered my mind, "How long have you guys been meeting up for? If you don't mind me asking"

"Since you moved to Ponyville actually, more or less. Remember when I caught you writing to Rick when you first started building your house? Since then"

"Lyra moved to Ponyville after graduating, and we've coming here quite a bit too, but somepony didn't notice," Minuette mocked

"Sorry girls. I just got caught up in the moment and just... forgot," Twilight said with self disappointment

Lyra pipped up, "At least you didn't forget us for two years, right?"

"It could've been worse," I said, catching what Lyra was trying to do, "Rick and I lost contact for almost a year, yet here we are," I hope this helps

"Yeah, but you two have a weird friendship..." She sighed

I pinched the bridge of my nose, "Jesus Christ... Twilight, have you ever read about sarcasm? Because that's what Minuette used," said mare nodded in agreement

"Good to see you never change," they all shared a good laugh

"Sooo... Prince," Lemon Hearts said

"No need for 'prince', really, just Luis," I groaned

"Oh! Uhm, Lui?" she addressed me again

Close enough

"'Luis' actually," Twilight said before becoming embarrassed, "Sorry..."

"Pri- Luis, may I ask what your costume is?" Lemon asked

"It's from a game, the minutemen general," I said. Hitting the chest plate I added, "It's also actual armour"

"Can you guess what I'm dressed as?," Twilight excitedly questioned

"Groundline the Clean-shaven?" I tried my best to stifle my laughter as Twi's face contorted. As her face settled on wide-eyed and mouth hanging open, I couldn't hold my laugh anymore, "Starswirl the Bearded! I know! I know! Oh my god, Twilight!" I doubled over in pain, "Ow! Ow! My sides! I can't stop laughing!!!"

Meanwhile
==[POV - Noctis]==

As soon as Luis left, Rick turned to me, "Hey Noctis! Do you what he's doing?"

"Of course I do," I said as I continued collecting dishes

"Well...?"

"Sorry, it's a surprise"

"For me? How thoughtful," He said with a small hint of sarcasm

"For everypony actually," I corrected him as I entered the kitchen

"Hehe, too bad," even I could hear his smile. I came back into the living room and Rick was happily petting Mars, "Who's a good boy?" he cooed as Quick sat down next to him

"Noctis, young Gust and I are going to be hitting the turn early, as it were," Blueblood said opening the door, letting Nimble through

I stifled my laugh, "You better be a good butler, Blue"

He has confused for a second before looking down and realizing what I was talking about, he was indeed dressed as a butler, "Oh, haha. Don't worry, he's safe with me," he waved a final goodbye before leaving

"I'm liking this new Blueblood," Quick pipped up

"I'm not sure how he was, but at least he doesn't sound so... How would Luis put it? ... 'fresa' anymore," Rick added

Both quick and I looked at him, "Fresa?"

"Fresa is a very Mexican term. Uhhh... Valley girl, that's the accent I guess," he then looked around, a bit confused, "Where did Mars go?"

"Oh, he leaves every once in a while. Fluttershy's orders," I added

"Makes sense. He's not domesticated, right?"

"That's weird. How did Luis even tamed him? Anyways..." Quick stopped for a second to think, then added, "So what's he up to? He said he was doing his own experimenting, but that's it. He hasn't mentioned anything else"

"Well... we have three basements now. I have no idea how he made them, but he built them in a day. His powers are weird," I admitted, "The third basement is full of machinery and conveyor belts, he called that a factory. The second just has his workbenches, which he, uhm, upgraded. Apparently he can just tell them what to do and they'll do it, no idea how that works. The first basement is just for storage, we have extra chairs and other stuff there"

"Wait a minute. He has a factory in the basement?"

"Aye, but it's inactive right now, something about not having the right materials. Whatever. In the workshop, he made a research table. Again I have no idea how it works, he did explained it, but... what's a reseach tree?"

"I don't play that many video games, but I know. Basically he reaserches something and it unlocks the ability to reseach something else, usually branching out to similar, yet more advanced things. Therefore 'tree'," Rick stated almost matter-of-factly

"So he has some sort of hands-off research?" Quick asked

I shrugged, "I guess, he was researching a basic... something or other for abilities, or vehicles, I think"

"Oh my gosh! Human transportation sounds incredible..." she almost cooed

"I hope he's investing on electric, because you guys don't have fossil fuels," Rick remarked, "Don't get me wrong, that's good. I was surprised how clean the air smelled when I got here, and I went camping often back home"

"I think he said something about using fusion cores, the thing he uses for the big armour"

"I thought he only had one fusion core?"

I was about to respond, but Quick had a glimmer in her eyes, "I wanted to study that armour since I saw it..." she hummed

"Sorry, but he is very skeptical about anypony studying things he calls 'tools of war' and that armour classifies as that"

"Yeah, I know... oh well. It's not like the first time I've been told not to about the armour"

"The armour is also behind a three ton steel door that only he can open, so is not like I could show it to you"

Ricks expression started to turn into amusement, "That sounds like something he would do in a video game... That's so hilarious..."

==[POV - Luis]==

I stood leaning on the library next to the door, everyone else were getting changed to their costumes. Except Twilight, she was already in hers

"{Hey!}" I heard

"Huh?" I very elegantly responded as I looked down, "Mars, what are you doing here?"

"{Just seeing where you went!}" he happily responded

I crouched down and petted him, "I'm here. And if you go around town tonight, don't get in trouble"

He got on his hindlegs putting his front ones on my knees, "{I don't get in trouble}"

"You tried to eat one of Applejack's chickens like a week ago," I deadpanned

"{It's not my fault their made out of food}"

I sighed pinching the bridge of my nose, It's like talking to a five year old... "Just don't try to eat any other animal in the town, or around Fluttershy's house or Applejack's house," Mars flinched when I mentioned Fluttershy, She did use the stare on him after all

"{Nope!! No no nonono!! I learned my lesson!}" he had a terrified expression, ears folded back

I'm going to take a page out of Fluttershy's book, "Look, you're not bad, okay? Just made a bad decision. Fluttershy knows this. She might seem scary but she was just worried about the chickens. And remember, she has come to apologize to you every day since"

"{I know...}," he seemed a bit unsure

I petted him, "Anyways. Go have some fun!" I stood up. Mars was very much excited, tail wagging and happy dancing to boot, "Don't get home too late, okay?"

"{l won't!}" he exclaimed before running off

"Weird to think he's a dire wolf..."

In front of me stood a white mare with blue two-tone electric hair, and the only reason my charades skill leveled up fast in the past week: Vinyl Scratch. Of course she wore black leggings and a neon blue with black lightning designs torn-sleeve t-shirt. I had been helping set up the stage a little, mostly with the lasers and smoke machine

Okay, this should be good, I thought to myself before turning to the DJ, "I'm set here! Need help over there?!"

She messed around with the turntables before wiping her brow, then she came up to me and patted my shoulder and gave a thumbs up. She was good, everything was set

"Alright, if you say so," I started to make my way backstage, but stopped and turned back to Vinyl, "If there's anything else just tell me, okay," she responded with a lazy salute, I nodded and entered the backstage area, "Aunt Luna?" I called out

Nightmare Moon slowly walked from behind some barrels and meekly stood in the middle of the open area. Her armour as impressive as when a first saw it a few months back. "Nephew, I still don't believe this is a good idea..."

"Just trust me," I said as I appreached the disguised princess of the night, Princess of the knight, hehe... I got my thought back in order and hugged her, a sentiment she returned, "How are you?"

"Apart from looking like my biggest shame... I could be better," she said with a hint of regret, "How did you ever manage to convince me of this arrangement?"

"I don't know," Mostly because it wasn't even a speech check, "Maybe you wanted to put this behind you, and what better way than to face your fears head-on," I wonder if this is going to prevent the Tantabus...

"I suppose you are correct..."

"Hey! Prince! Are you in here?"

I turned back to the entrance to see Thunder and Lightning, the latter holding up a sroll, "Is that for me?"

The pale yellow stallion walked up to me and handed me the scroll, "This is important enough to make the captain not use our secure mailing system"

I nodded and broke the seal, then began to read in silence

Classified Official Report

Responsible Officer: CAPT SHINING ARMOUR
Report to: Prince C. LUIS G. D. of Equestria (name signed as per request)

Entry Dated 30th of October, 1094 After Discord

Changeling has been apprehended and charged with appropriate felonies
GEN Knight Spark status set as missing

Entry Dated 31st of October, 1094 After Discord

Private Rookie cleared of suspicion and given compensation (200 bits) as for the inconvenience

I slowly look up from the paper, one single thing echoing in my head, Knight Spark is missing...

Both brothers were looking at me expectantly, this time thunder spoke up, "Are we allowed to know what's going on?"

I rolled up the scroll and bonked Thunder, "Everything is fine," the brothers shared a look, They know it's above their paygrade

The show went without a hitch. Obviously Nightmare Night was the first song to play, then a few songs that fit with the times until the music devolved into more childish music, but you know? Life's good

Mayor Mare took the stage as soon as the music ended and called for everyone's attention. Luna, still disguised as Nightmare Moon, came back into the crowd with her own following of, basically, every kid in town, "Now children, the Mayor has an announcement. Play time will have to wait," she said with with a heartfelt smile. The children responded with an amalgamation of yeah's and okay's

I smile at the sight, Luna enjoying herself was awesome. I felt warn and fuzzy inside

Blueblood and Nimble, who were among Luna's posse, broke off from the group and walked up to me, "What's up?" I greeted them

"Why don't you show your dad how much you have gathered, Mr. Jones?"

Nimble extended his arms holding and overflowing pumkin basket, "Look!! We went to every house in town!" He then dug his hand into the goods and took a small chocolate bar and began to eat it

I patted his head, "Don't eat too much"

"No promises!" he said shoving the rest of the bar into his mouth

I chuckled to myself, "Don't worry," I said while slowly extending a tendril from my back, down behind my leg, and stealthily grabbed a small chocolate snack bar, "I can help you with that," I grabbed the bar from behind me, taking a big bite out of it

Nimble looked down at his bag and realized where I got the candy bar from, "Hey!! That's unfair!"

Noctis smacked my head, "Ow! Red! Why?"

Nimble grinned, "Mom, it's okay. I was going to give him a bigger bar, but I guess he already chose one," He then extended his bag to Noctis, "Want one?"

At that moment, something felt off. My senses went into overdrive, sounds were muffled, ponies were blurred. I looked around trying to find what it was. No enemies, not bad weather, no electrical issues. No one looked supisious or out of place. But the feeling was still there. Then, throught the noise, I heard it. A sound I heard just a few days ago, but this time I was IN the town not a half hour walk from it. I felt shivers slither their way down my spine

NEW SKILL
Detect Bloodthirst
lvl. 1

"Oh uh..."

Nightmare Night Pt.2

Okay, that's bad. Think fast. Guide then and don't let them pa-

ROAR

-nic, "... ... Have I heard a roar like that somewhere before?"

Noctis shook my arm snapping me off my thought, "What in the name of Equestria was that?!"

First a rumble, like at the lake, and then a roar... a familiar roar... I went into my pip-boy and equiped my good armour and Achilles, my indestructable sword, "I'm not sure, but it's certainly trouble," I did a quick scan of the area and noted everyone in town was present and terrified. Another thing I noticed was that a good section of my compass was red, and a misc. quest appeared 'search the area for enemies', which was not a good sign, Get everyone to safety... I jumped from the crowd and landed on stage

"Prince, what was that?!" Mayor Mare panic-whispered

"Guide everyone that way," I said pointing away from the marked area, "I'm not sure what it is, but it ain't friendly," I turned to the crowd and took the microphone, "Okay everyone, I need you to keep a leveled head and follow Mayor Mare's guidance," I then spotted Lighning and Thunder in the crowd, they were putting on their armour. That raised a few questions in my mind, but I couldn't worry about that, "Please stay quiet and orderly, I'll take care of things," I nodded at Mayor Mare

She didn't hesitate to take command, "Okay everypony. Follow me"

I stepped off the stage and made my way to Noctis and Nimble, noting Blueblood helping the kids find their families. Both Luna and the brothers walked up behind me as I told Noctis to go with the others and take care of Nimble. I honestly don't remember what I said, my mind was still racing. First Knight, then the noise from the lake, and now the roar... That familiar roar

Anyways, Luna and the twins were armoured-up and armed, the former with a big halberd-like scythe. No idea we had those... While Lightning and Thunder had a greatsword and warhammer respectively, with some added pouches to their waist, Wonder what's in them. As I looked over my equipment one last time, the low groaning happened again but closer, a lot closer. Then, another sound, well, sounds, almost like clicking. I looked back at my pip-boy and focused on a single piece of armour: The Minuteman General. I know what we're fighting... Then, another roar. "I hope I'm wrong..." I whispered, "...Please..."

Walking to the front of the formation, I informed everyone else, "I think I know what that is, well, those two are," I readied Achilles. I felt them look at me, almost as if wondering if something changed in me. To be fair I was terrified. Terrified of the implications of those things being here

Suddenly something came crashing through one of the far buildings, it had some blood on it's scales, but it got up nearly unphased. My mind raced even faster, I was right for the roar. This thought was solidified even further when the creature roared back from the direction it came from. And through the dust and rubble came a creature more than twice the size of the first one

"Fuck"

"What in the name of Equestria is that?!"

I felt a hand on my shoulder, but I didn't react, I was too confused and alarmed, ... Did I do this?!! Was it a module I installed?!! ... where just a couple of thoughts that kept repeating, it was my fault they were here, even if indirectly

Next thing I know, I was spun around and slapped across the face, hard. I saw Luna's face, I didn't even focus on her expression, her moving mouth, anything. We were FUCKED and it was my fault... somehow... it had to be. I was frozen, not in fear, but guilt. Something I had done had caused this... it had to be... there was no other way these could be here

I was on my hands and knees, What... just... happened... There was blood dripping from my mouth, my teeth felt fresh from surgery. I turned back to see Thunder waving his hand, trying to relieve pain, Right... get my head on straight

I got up and immediately Luna wrapped her arms around me and scowled at the pained stallion, "Who does thou think-?!! What do YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING??!!!" she growled out

I noticed the creatures turn their attention to us, "SHHHH!!" I stepped back from Luna keeping my eye on the enemy group, both seemingly ignoring eachother now, Shit... "Thunder's right, I need to get my head in the game," I said still staring at the mutated animals, "Let's do this... before they decide to team up," I pointed at the former sparing partners in the distance

"Okay..." Lightning stepped up to me, the creatures on the background now both looking our way, "So, what are th- DANG!!" he noticed the oversized animals looking our way and jumped into a defensive position

"Small one, Deathclaw. Big one, Mirelurk queen," I focused on them for a second, Stars... fuck... "Small issue, they're legendary variants," I picked up my sword and got ready, "When they hit half health they'll get stronger and will fully heal"

Luna picked up her scythe-berd and got ready too, "We shall follow your lead"

I let out a nervous chuckle, Too bad I never made a melee build... "Okay... The deathclaw, it's weak spot is it's stomach. The mirelurk, anywhere that isn't armoured. Otherwise go for the legs, they can't get us if they can't reach us," stepped up to the front of the group, "Another couple of things. It's very possible they're both immune to magic and the mirelurk can spit acid. Well, it actually has some acid spouts at the to of it's-"

I got blasted with enough sand to send me off my feet, and as soon as I realized that the deathclaw got close and no one cared to tell me, the large lizard had already grabbed me and thrown me towards where the other guys were. I slowly raised to my feet and dusted my self off, "I would've loved a heads-up, you know?"

"Sorry. There was no time," Luna said while shrugging

So... both over and under reacting... interesting attention dynamic, I reached for my sword, but got nothing, "Uhhh... right..." I turned my attention back at the deathclaw and down towards its feet, "Shit"

"Language," Both brothers droned out

"Get used to it," I think these two should be on my team... Now, if only I knew how to shapeshift my hands into blades... I turned my right arm into a whipfist with the single purpose of getting my sword back, after all, it had a better DPS. Besides the fact that the whipfist has poor piercing damage

I was the first one to make a move. I ran full speed at the deathclaw, and planted my feet into the ground transfering all my momentum into my arm. The deathclaw managed to dodge my attack, and by that I mean it swatted my whip while moving out of the way. Luna took the opportunity to gain a bit of the element of surprise as she dived down from the skies and swing her massive blade onto the lizard's head, missing it my mere milimeters as it ducked

While she did that, I retracted my arm with the sword in tow. Turning to the brothers, I told them, "Help Luna with that one, I got the big guy," my only thoughts were on ways to minimize any future damage, Go for the legs

I sprinted toward the mirelurk, as fast as I could. Gaining as much momentum as possible, I had to maximize the force for my attack. As I got close, I took one last leap foward with the sword by my side as I slashed as the overgrown crutacean's legs. The sword felt like a warm knife through butter

I was sorely mistaken on the amount of damage I had done though. The queen turned my way, unfazed by any damage I might had done, "Video game logic is it?" I got ready to attack the same set of legs again when it hit me, FUCK

I turned to the other battle sceene, Thunder and Lightning had just been bashed out of the way, but Luna took the opportunity to attack

Her scythe went cleanly through the deathclaws leg, but was taken off guard when no wound appeared only a blood splatter. The deathclaw seemed to notice Luna was confused and grabbed her from the air and threw her away like a ragdoll

"Goddamn it!" I yelled as I rushed the mirelurk again, Just die!!, this time I jumped as soon as I finished slicing through and aimed my pip-boy at the mirelurk, shooting a grappling hook at it to attach my self right on it

*Stab Stab STAB*

"God DAMN YOU!!"

*STAB STAB STAB STAB*

"WHY?!! WHY THE FUCK ARE YOU GUYS HERE?!!"

*STAB STAB STAB*

Acid Spouts Crippled

Immediately, the mirelurk cried in pain and started to shake trying to get me off. I just kept stabbing and cursing it at the top of my lungs. That is until the hook slipped off its shell and I tumbled down, getting a faceful of dirt

I managed to roll away as a giant claw came crashing down on the ground. I jumped, and with as much force as I could do, I thrusted my sword straight into its mandibles

Enemy Has Mutated

I hanged there for a small while, punching its thorax, chipping at its health bit by bit, "FUCK YOU YOU GODDAMN CRUSTACEAN!!"

Meanwhile
==[POV - Lightning]==

I managed to get up in time to see Princess Luna get snatched out of the air and tossed aside like a dirty rag. My blood boiled at the sight. The disrespect!

I reached into my pouch and grabbed the potion I had in it. As soon as I downed it, I felt the effects. Dry mouth and tunnel vision were side effects, but they let me know the potion was working, and I needed the strength

"Really? A potion?" Thunder yelled

I tightened my grip around my sword as I felt the potion reach it's peak, "At least I use my brains to fight," I rushed towards the giant lizard and jumped into a spin, If weapons can go through without resistance... As I went over the monster, I felt my sword connect several times with little loss in speed

Perfect landing, I jump over its tail as it turned to swing at me, "Pony feathers!" I barely had time to manouver my sword to block the hit. I went flying backwards and came to a halt next to a smirking Thunder

"Imagine if those brains of yours had been smeared all over the ground"

"Oh yeah, laugh at your brother's pain," I tried to sit up, but the pain had other plans, That thing can hit hard...

"With pleasure," He smirked just before he rushed the lizard. I managed to get back on my hooves as Thunder slid next to the lizard and swung his warhammer at the creature's legs, but it turned around and slammed it's tail into my brother's chest. He came to a stop next to me, his chestplate was caved in. He dug his fingers into the top of his plate and ripped it off, taking a deep breath, coughing hard, "How's that for using your brains," he said in between breaths

I was about to scold him when I noticed his pouch was opened, immediately taking my attention back to the lizard

*FOOSH*

A fireball engulfed the creature's back side, "You never use your scrolls..." I said in disbelieve

"Your potions usually make quick work of EF's," He said getting back on his hooves

Wait... I looked around, Where is she?! "Bro... the princess..."

He realized the same thing as he began to look around

The fire on the creature started to die down and it got back to its senses. My arms were sore, and I could barely move my right, looking over my brother- Holy Shhhhh-!! Even with his underarmour, I could tell his ribs were broken, I couldn't tell how many, but it's bad, very bad

I turned back to the monster, its panic stopped and it was looking at us. "Brother..."

"Yeah?"

"We don't have time to use it, do we?"

"Even if we did... imagine the teasing"

"I know," I sighed, "I'm sorry"

"I'm sorry too. *Chuckle* You weren't the favourite"

"Maybe, but at least I was the smart one"

"Maybe"

*FOOWSH- PFFF*

Suddenly something fell in front of the creature, creating a giant cloud of dust. Without warning, the lizard went flying upwards, something following it at blinding speeds

Moments earlier
==[POV - Luna]==

I opened my eyes, feeling the pain of the hit. The speakers on the stage were on me, It threw me aside!! I got up, moving everything on top of me aside. Getting up close, I saw my little ponies risking their life. Lightning Hooves blocked the claw of the large creature and he was sent flying backwards, But my halberd went straight through... Maybe. Maybe thought matters? I flew up high into the sky, overlooking the battlefield. Thunder Guard rushed in, "No!" I yelled into the air as he got slammed by the lizard's tail

I started to dive when a fireball erupted from behind the creature. The magical signature was a familiar one, it was a rune I created oh so many years ago, modified with a vortex but mine nontheless. I've got ten seconds... I got ready, If I want my weapon to catch... thought might matter, I started to dive down, as soon as the spell wore off, I gave a powerful flap of my wings speeding up more, I'm sorry little ones. I'm sorry for using you as pawns, I thightened my grip on my halberd, holding back tears of remorse

I noticed hope leave my ponies' faces, my blood boiled even harder at the cause of their dispair. I increased my speed, I might not be able to withstand the impa- NO! My subjects are in trouble! My well being comes second!

With a forceful landing, I swung my halberd into the creatures stomach, hoping for it to catch on its sternum. I felt my blade catch, I have you now, pushing with all my strength, the creature felt as light as a feather just before throwing it high in the air. I jumped at the creature, ready to cut its neck, then I noticed something, Why is the creature smoking?

==[POV- Luis]==

That sounded like an explosion! What was it? I kept punching, Thinking about it now... I'm doing virtually no damage. I really need to get myself in check, fuck, I hoisted myself up and pulled the sword out of it's gullet spraying blood on me, "Oh fuck me! That reeks! FUCK!"

Enemy Has Mutated

Wait wha- "Ugh!" I got smacked by the mirelurk, sending me tumbling backwards

"Hi, prince. Nice of you to drop by"

"Lightning-" I stood up, "-there's no need to-oly shit..." I noticed the damage they had recieved, Lightning's arm was visibly bent and Thunder's ribs were most definetly broken, I have three stimpacks left... Fuck it, I took the stimpacks out on each hand, and injected them into Lightning's arm and Thunder's chest, "This will hurt a little"

"How much exactl-" Thunder managed to say before clutching his chest

I know the feeling, "It's going to take close to a minute for you guys to heal as much as they can," I said picking up the bothers and my sword and taking the ponies to the edge of the town center, "Don't try to help. Sorry", they game me an nod, "Rest up", I jumped back into action and returned my sights back on the mirelurk, "As for you..." I started to rush the crustacean

Suddenly the deathclaw came crashing down on the mirelurk, I stopped dead on my tracks, speechless. "Nephew," Luna greeted me as she landed next to me

"Aunt Luna" was the only thing I could think to say

"I must ask, why are the creatures releasing this... vapor?"

"They mutated. They're stronger now," Luna nodded in response, How do we kill them... "I don't like that we're barely doing damage, our swords aren't cutting it... ... Cutting..." Prototype arm blades... "Tia, I have a request... Can you cover me, I need to try something"

"I shall give you as much time as you need"

"Thanks," I jumped back next to the brothers, Thunder had passed out from his ribs healing. Lightning in the other hand seemed drozy, I still have one stimpack, it has to be a last resort, "Lightning, don't worry, we got this. Rest up"

"I have to help," he tried and failed at getting back on his hooves

"It's fine, I still have an ace," If I can take it out that is, I started to concentrate trying to match the feeling of the tendrils forming but adding a blade to it. I opened my eyes and looked at my arm, Looks ok... I drove the blade to the ground, "ARGHH!!" I yelled as pain shot through the blade, Not strong enough!! FUCK! I tried again

==[POV = Luna]==

I shot forward, ready to slice the bigger one as the lizard got in position to flank me. The crestacean blocked my halberd with a claw, the blade deflecting off its exoskeleton. Wasting no time, I jumped back focusing this time on the lizard, bringing my weapon directly on its head. That is, if it hadn't dodged. My blade came crashing down on its tail, pinning it to the ground

"I have you now" I whispered as I charged a magic burst. They creature tried to claw at me, but given our positions it couldn't reach me. The crustacean was to far away to worry about, so I made my move. The blast was more powerful than what I had intended, but it was expected given my current mood

The force of the impact threw the creature off its feet. Then it did something I would have never thought any creature would do, it saised its sharp claws and brought them down on it's own tail, cutting it off completely

==[POV = Luis]==

Arm blade hasn't work, and the claws should be easier to make, I sighed, "One more time, come on," I whispered as I started to change my hands again, Come on, COME ON... I looked up to see how Luna was doing. Her seemingly lifeless body flew by me, crashing through the stage as it all fell on top of her

I snapped, stopped thinking. Everything faded out of focus. Nothing mattered. Nothing but the mutants

"AAAAAAAAAAARRGGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHH," I let out a guttural scream. Something enveloped me, a layer of black biomass curtasy of the blacklight virus

I rushed the enemy, they had to pay for what they did. I dropped to the ground, sliding at max speed directly towards the deathclaw's legs. Then grabbing them, digging my own claws into its flesh hitting bone in the process. I planted my feet firmly in the ground, using my momentum to stand up and pull the lizard off its feet. And before it even had a cahnce to touch the ground, I was already pulling it over me. It hit the ground with as much force I could give

I didn't let go, though. I started pulling it again, swinging it around directly into the mirelurk's center of mass making it slide backwards a couple of meters

The deathclaw stumbled trying to get up but it seemingly couldn't. I stepped over to gawk at it before the mirelurk regained its balance. But before I could do anything, the deathclaw grabbed me, smashed me to the ground while getting up and threw me halfway across the town center into the remains of the stage. Groaning, I got up, God damn it... pushing my self up, my eyes snapped open. Blood. I was on blood. It wasn't mine, where the trail led told me as much. Luna was under the rubble, her own blood was covering most of her face, thankfully she was breathing. I don't remember much after this moment, my brain just stopped, all I remember is rage. Pure. Unadultarated. Rage

==[POV = Lightning]==

My body was shocked awake, jolted by my own instincts, THE EF'S!!! I tried to stand up, but pain stopped me. "Ughh. By Celestia..." I raised my right arm, "The prince wasn't lying," my arm looked as good as new, but the pain said I was still ways to go for a full recovery

I painfully crawled my way to my brother, he was breathing, "That's good"

*BOOM*

Prince Luis came crashing through the wall next to us. His hand bloodied the wall as he climbed out of the rubble. He looked completely different, his face resembling that of a wolf, his body was bigger, more muscular. But most importantly, the armour that had suddenly appeared on his body was broken and outright missing in some places with thick fur soaked in blood

I've heard rumours of the prince turning into a wolf hybrid and losing control, to think that those rumours were true... But with him losing control? I doubt it

He let out a gruesome roar

Or maybe he did... "Oh no..." If he isn't thinking tactically... Those EF's are stronger than him, without tactics he's going to- I couldn't even finish my though as the prince got grabbed by the legs and whipped around like a ragdoll

I took my helmet off, "I'm never going to hear the end of this," I ripped the padding off it, revealing a small scroll. I took it, 'Emergency only' written on it. I sighed "Let's do this" and ripped the paper, releasing the stored spell high up into the air

The prince once again crashed next to us, the black armour was gone on half his face, He's unconscious!! I frantically looked around for a weapon, tool, anything! The creatures were closing in. I painfully stood up with a rock in hand, "Don't get any closer!" I looked back at the prince, his body was back to his normal size, but still covered in fur with a wolf face and tail. The creatures were less than 15 meters away, my legs buckled as I took a step back falling on my rear, Darn it! WHERE THE BUCK IS MY BACK UP!!! 10 meters! "Oh dear Celestia... Fuck me..." The lizard lunged at me, "We're dead..."

A hoove connected firmly with the creature's jaw chaniging its course by almost 90 degrees

"Lady Noctis!" I shouted in hald joy, half worry, "You shouldn't be-"

"Lightning, I didn't earn the title of Specialist for nothing," her voice was stern, but kind

"But you don't have any weapons!" Her response was just to give me a smirk

==[POV - Noctis]==

That was too close, I ran directly at the large lizard before it ragained its balance, taking a leap and thrusting with my wings into an axe kick. Using the creature as a springboard to direct myself at the crab-looking monster which swung it's claw at me. I dodged down and aimed several kicks to it seemingly hurt legs as I slid under it

Planting my hooves on the ground and kicking myself back to the air, I aimed once again at the lizard, driving both my hooves at the base of it's neck, not letting it regain its balance. Not letting my movements go to waste, I returned to the crab and made a similar move as I pushed it as hard as I could, driving all my energy to the side with its already damaged legs

"Move in protect the prince! Medics, to the wounded!" I heard the General from behind me

Several gaurds surrounded the two creatures as Rookie approached me, "Lady Noctis, please leave this to us," I nodded as I made my way to Luis, Rookie followed me, "He's alive"

All there was around me was the shouts and orthers, muffled by my worry. My heart stopped for a second when I saw him. Luis was being lifted onto a strecher out of a pool of blood. The black substance that he had was falling off. I pushed past the medics and caressed his cheek

"We found the princess!"

Luis's eyes snapped open, he was unfocused. He stumbled out of the strecher, "Luis!" He slowly crawled away

"Prince, please stop," one of the medics said while trying to grab him, Luis used him as leverage to stand up and continued limping his way to where Princess Luna was found, "Prince, you're not well," this time Luis pushed the medic away. Other medics tried to get to Luis, but the first medic stopped them, "He's still unconscious," he dusted himself off, "Let's follow him"

I followed behind. Slowly, Luis approeached the strecher with the princess, "Let him through," the medics sround Princess Luna let Luis through. He reached into a pouch and took out a syringe which he delivered just above Luna's collar bone, then he collapsed, "Did anypony bring the strecher?"

"Behind," I moved aside as another medic brought the strecher

"EF's are under control!"

I walked up to the group of guards, "What's going to happen to them? I've never seen anything like this before"

"They'll be processed and send to the lab, research will catalogue them"

"The prince knew what they were, sir," Lightning stated as he joined in, "We did not get a chance to hear much"

"Rookie!" the general called out, "Inform Princess Celestia the emergency has been dealt with"

Rookie saluted, "Yes, sir!" and was about to take off, but the General stopped him

"Also inform the princess that we have encountered new creatures. Even unknow to a Tartarus guard," he pinched the bridge of his nose and sigh, "Tell the Princess Princess Luna suffered great injuries as well"

"Princess Luna will be Okay," I intergected, both guards looked at me incredulously, "Luis used his... a potion on her"

"What type of potion exactly?"

"The kind that can fix anything but a disease"

==[POV - Luis]==

I woke up to a familiar ceiling, "Canterlot infarmiry," I panicked for a second before almost passing out again, Wait! If I'm in the hospital... Then the deathclaw and company were dealt with, right? my leg was in a cast, and I was almost fully covered in bandages. I raised my pip-boy to look at my stats, Less than 60%?!! I souldn't even be conscious!

Noctis was sleeping on a chair next to me with Nimble in her arms, I smiled to myself. "Glad to see you awake," Luna stepped out of the shadow in the corner. She had bandages around her head and probably around her torso too judging from the creases on her dress

"How long was I out?"

"Just one day," she said, sitting down on an open chair. I swung my legs over the edge of the bed to face her; a bunch of letters flew out of the bed with my movements, "The citizens of Ponyville have been very grateful of your actions," she chuckled, "'The Town Prince' is one of the titles you have earned"

I reached for one of the letters, but stopped, the whole night hitting me like a train, "What about the houses?! The damage?!! I have to-" I tried to stand up but Luna kept me down with magic

"Do not worry, my dear nephew. Everything has been taken care of," she said with her very own version of a motherly tone, and it was just as relaxing as Celestia's. It did wonders for my nerves

"I'm still going to-!"

"Luis, shhh," I turned around to see Noctis running her fingers through Nimble's mane, "He's still a growing colt, sleep is important for him," she whispered

I turned around completely and caressed both their cheeks, "I'll be more careful," I noticed my hands, Great, I'm a furry again

She returned the gesture with a lovning smile, "You know? You have very soft fur on this form"

"Are you telling me you want me to stay like this then?"

"Depends," she said with a sly smile just before kissing me. "Maybe"

"If you do decide to stay like this, you might want to announce your decicion"

"Oh, but where's the fun if that?" she chuckled, I felt my tail get grabbed, "Hey hey hey! Watch the goods!"

Nimble hugged my tail tightly, still fast asleep, "It seems the decision has been made for you"

"God, you're turning out like Celestia. Both of you," This is going to be a long day, isn't it? I sighed

"Once you are ready to leave, head to the war room. We need more information about this 'deathclaw' and 'mirelurk' creatures"

Noctis put a hand on my shoulder, giving me a sympathetic smile, "I surely don't miss debriefings"

All I could do was sigh even harder, A very long day...

Author's Note

Since I gave Luis a few powers I never made him use, now I'm definetely making him use them, like the grappling hook

And before you say I used the wrong name, 'tia' means aunt in Spanish so Luis calling Luna just 'aunt' means he's getting serious

In other news, I think I'm getting better at writing action

Preparations

Author's Note

So... It's been a while. Let me tell you between work, finding a better one, and my current boss's boss (My boss is awesome), I've been hitting a writer's block like you couldn't imagine. But finally it's here! The newest chapter of the story

As for me not continuing to edit the other story,I've got no excusses, it's pure lazyness and wanting to finish this story... I just gave an excuss didn't I?

ANYWAYS

Enjoy!

Preparations

"Any more questions?" I asked. I really wanted to be annoyed at the amount of questions, but now I was more worried of what game enemies would come next, "No? Okay. Everyone is dismissed"

"Luis? I'm supposed to say that"

I pinched the bridge of my nose, "Sorry, sorry. I'm just..."

"Worried?," asked Luna

"Sure, yeah, I guess," There's still Knight Spark's issues... and... "Actually, Princess Celestia, Luna. Mind staying a little bit longer? We have something else to discuss," I looked as Shining, "Captain Shining Armour, you too, but first I need you to bring Lightning Hooves and Thunder Guard. They're now involved with this matter"

He saluted as everyone else started leaving. Not too soon after, the six of us were alone in the room, "Is this about the team you proposed a couple of weeks ago, prince?"

"Yes," I turned to the brothers, "Look, I'm not going to beat around the bush. You know what's happening first hand," The princesses tried to butt in but I continued, "Look, I really don't want to sound rude, but I'm stressed, worried, and overall way over my head. Let me get this out," they nodded, "Thank you," I sighed, "Sorry. Look, I'm saying all of this with the assumption that the team is basically approved," I turned back to the brothers taking out two of the pip-boys the Tree of Harmony gave me, "The team would be mostly like me"

"Would we... would we have the same powers as you?" Thunder asked

"More like the same potential. I've been collecting powers for a while, that's why I can do what I can do. You, at the begining, will be able to visually see and improve your physical capabilities," I said, showing them my stats, "One thing to note, the SPECIAL stats are an exponent of you actual abilities. From what I've been able to learn, if you do strength training, without powers, to actually train your body, the powers will be affected. Some powers ovelap too. I have one that increases my strength, and I can lift like 5 tons for about half a minute," Everyone was flabergasted, even Celestia was wide-eyed, "Without any powers I can only lift about 80 kg for just as long, it's not like I go to the gym every day, you know?"

"Do you use your full strength when you lose control?" Lightning asked, I flintched

'Lose control' *sigh* I need to get myself in order, "Probably..."

"Then why didn't you take down the deathclaw and mirelurk quickly? It would seem that being able to lift 6 tones would give you a mighty punch!"

"Gameplay balance," I sigh, "Basically there are different... things controlling different parts of my life. My hand to hand is a different ability to my ability to lift and carry things, so I can only to about 10 damage points per punch, even at full strength. 20 if I use a power attack. At least with Fallout creatures anyways... I did punch that maticore to mist that one time," I snapped out of my thoughts and saw everyone staring at me, "Sorry"

"I'll join this task force," both brothers said simultaneously

"Wait. There is one thing you need to know. This decision will be final, no backing down, no giving up. Once you put one of these on, it won't work on anyone else," I take my pip-boy off, My pip-boy is scoffed to hell, jesus, "If you take it off, you will still have some powers, only physical changes though," I said, showing my point by turning back into an anthro wolf and then back to normal, "So no magic or special abilities," I re-focused my attention on the brothers as I put on my pip-boy, "One last-" They already put on the pip-boys... I sigh while rubbing my face, "You guys... You do realize you never discussed the decision with your captain? Or, you know, your literal leaders?!" I half-yelled returning my face into my hands

"It seems we have no other choice other than approving this. Wouldn't you say, sister?"

"It's not like we have new unknow creatures to deal with and a method that has had simulated tests proving it to be effective," sarcasm dripping from her words with a smirk plastered on her face

"Well, that's settled," Shining Armour said, "Princesses, with your permission, I'll take my leave," he then turned to the brothers, "It appears I am no longer your commanding officer. It was a pleasure"

"Wait wait wait wait! You're taking this too well" What's happening right now??

"With all due respect. Prince, you were out for over 24 hours. AND, the princesses brought this matter to my attention last week," Shiny answered, "I will get off you mane, princesses and prince"

As he was going out the door, a thought crossed my mind, He hasn't anounced he's with Cadance yet... a grin grew on my face, "Tell Cadance I said 'hi'!" he stumbled and somehow managed to smack his face on the door frame, and left without a word. "Since now you're part of my team, we already have a mission," I turned to the princesses, "Do we have permission to go on a rescue mission? A quick extraction of Knight Spark from Changeling capture"

"But prince. We don't even know where their hive is," Lightning stated. I kept looking at the diarchs, "Wait, do we?"

Celestia turned to me, "I am going to assume we do"

"I know it's west of here, I don't know how far, I don't know if exactly west, southwest or northwest," I went over the few episodes with the changeling kindom in my head, then a thought crossed my mind, "Don't we have a changeling in custody?" they nodded, "I've got an idea"

The guards closed the cell behind me, "Hello there," I said to the changeling who was hiding in the corner, mentally wishing my light saber worked, But I need Force Affinity level 7. Damn you meditation! "I'm not going to do anything, if that's what you're wondering," I said dropping a table and a couple of chairs from my inventory, and setting them up, "At least join me for tea," I took out a hot kettle and two cups

"What do you want from me?" he hissed out, his green eyes glaring at me as if trying to pierce me

"I'm going to be honest, I want to know where your hive is so I can go get my friend back"

"And why would I help you destroy my home?!" he yelled, still covered by the shadows

"I won't destroy your home at all. All I want is to get my friend out," I poured the tea into the cups, "Look, even if you don't to talk, join me for tea at least"

He slowly walked out of the shadow, confusion slathered his face, "Why are you not pushing me more? I'm a changeling, you're a- you're a... whatever you are, you are a pony prince"

"Well, you've been here for over a week. I'm sure you've been... 'interviewed' by the guards enough," I took a small container filled with sugar, "Sugar?"

"I've... never had tea," he took a seat

"Watch out, it's hot," I put three teaspoons of sugar in my tea. He gagged as he took a sip, This tea is a strong tea for sure

"Three spoons please," I complied. After stirring the tea, he took a sip, "That's sweet"

"I like my tea sweet. That's why I put three spoonfulls," I took a sip of my tea, "So why did you replace general Knight?"

"You really think I'm going to say what the plan was?"

"Fair enough," I took a thoughtful sip, "Before this, you know, espionage, what did you do for fun?"

"I- ... Fun?"

"You know, stuff you enjoy to do. I like to play some games, go for walks, that sort of stuff"

He took a long expectant yet unsure sip from his tea, "I don't think I was allowed to do that sort of stuff"

"That sucks," I know!, I turned to the door, "Wind Sprint"

The guard on the right leaned in, "Yes prince"

Holy shit! I was right?! "Could you bring us a snakes and ladders board game with two pieces and a die?" he saluted, "Thank you"

The changeling looked at me, probably wondering what my plan was, "I won't tell you anything just because you act nicer than the rest"

"I know," I took another sip, "So, what's your name? I'm Luis," I extended my hand, not really expecting to get the same treatment

He scoffed, "You're just going to forget about me anyways"

"I mean, I won't even remember it if you don't tell me it"

"Prince," Wind said from the door, holding a box through the gate

I stood up and grabbed the box, "Thank you," That was fast

Before I could move away, he grabbed my arm, "With all due respect, I hope you know what you're doing"

I nodded before sitting down again, "So, this game is simple. All you have to do is get to the last space, number 100 and if you're close but roll more [...] Sound good?" I asked after explaining the game

"Why are you doing this?"

"Well..." I exended my leg and pointed at the cast, "I got some time to kill before I can do much," I chuckle, "Not because I can't. I just want to get my leg healed up completely"

He looked away with a somber aura, "If you can't serve the Queen, then you'd be exiled and-" His eyes widened and the air around him went cold, "I'm exiled... no no nononono..."

I wanted to say something, but I decided that wasn't going to help. He stood up and sat on the cot in the cell, face in hands. I followed, sitting down with him and placing my hand on his shoulder

"Tarsus"

"What?"

"My name is Tarsus"

"Hey, I know getting exiled can't be tough. But how do you even know you've been exiled? Don't tell me your name just because you gave up!"

"Look! I didn't want to admit it, but the connection I hav- I had with the hive disappeared three days ago," he sunk further into his hands, "I truly have nothing now..."

"Look, Tarsus. You still have something"

He peeked his eye, "And what would that be your oh so knowledgeable majesty"

I can aknowledge the sarcasm. Nice, "You can choose where to go from here"

"Go where?!" He yelled, "This is rock bottom!"

"It helps that you think you can't go lower. Because guess what?"

"What?"

"You can't go anywhere else but up, right?" his face moved to a thoughtful expression

==[POV - Rick]==

What was he thinking?! I continued running down the hallway, Come on! COME ON!! I reached the stairs leading down, I hope I'm not too late! My shoes didn't have enough traction for the sharp turn as I slid past the door, I caught the doorway and pulled myself into the dungeon's hallway making sure my things didn't fall out of my hand

I reached the door and stopped infront of it, panting hard, "How *pant* dare you..."

Luis turned around on his chair to look at me, "What?"

"You were going to play snakes and ladders without me?!!"

The chageling leaned to look past Luis, "You... want to play with me??"

Luis nodded at the guard to let me in, "Sure, why not?" I said, probably more nonchalantly than I wanted

"I'm a changeling? I mean your a pon- I mean- wait! There's two of you?"

"Yeah, two humans fresh out of the oven," Luis said, then stopped, "That sounded a lot better in my head"

"So..."

"So," Luis responded

"Can I join?"

He turned to the changeling, "Mind if he joins?"

"I- sure"

Luis turned to me, "We don't have enough seats. You know that right?"

I looked around the room, and got an idea, "I could just sit on the bed," I walked over to the small, very basic bed and moved it closer to the table, and sat on it. Setting the game piece and energy drink I brought on the table, Maybe a little short but-

Luis lifted me and sat me on the chair, "There," He sat down on the bed, "I'm taller"

"I'm never going to get used to your super strength"

==[POV - Luis]==

"What can I say? It's certainly different," I moved all the pieces to square 0, "Anyways, shall we begin?" Tarsus had been staring at me for a bit now, "What's up?"

"Are you really okay with giving him your seat?" he said, baffled

I looked over to Rick for a second, as if asking him 'is he serious?' "Well, yeah. Why wouldn't I? I'm taller, it's easier for me to see the board while sitting on the cot, so it only made sense"

"How do you do it at your- Wait. Sorry. My name's Rick," he extended his hand for a handshake

Tarsus hesitated for a relatively long while before meeting Rick's hand, "I'm Tarsus"

"You have a cooler name than any pony I've met," The guards did very horse-like exhales, "Hey, fellas, I don't know your names! Stop complaining"

"But, Luis, wouldn't you want to keep the best you can get?"

"How do I explain it? Yes? But I kind of prefer to help others than to just myself"

"But... what if you can't get that good thing again?"

"Just find something else, I guess. Does it matter?"

"I guess not..."

"Can we play now?

The two guards were escorting us to the throne room, Tarsus was getting more nervous by the second. Every step we took closer to the throne room made Tarsus more and more uneasy, "I changed my mind," he whispered

I kept looking forward, "Too bad. We're almost there"

"How did you even convince me that this was good idea?! Yesterday I thought I lost everything and now I'm risking what little I actually have?!!" he said, still as a half yell whisper

"I'm here to make sure this goes smoothly, okay?"

We stopped in front of the massive doors, the guards opened the doors and saluted, "The princess is waiting"

"Thank you, gentlemen," I said as I guided Tarsus into the middle of the throne room. The guards at the door closed them but stayed within the room, Vigilant indeed I thought as the guards kept a close eye on Tarsus

"Prince Luis..." the tone of her voice told me everything I needed to know, she really didn't like the idea, "Tell me, what do you think this changeling can offer that may compensate for his crimes? Imitating, and outright replacing a member of the royal guard is a serious crime"

I looked at Tarsus, he looked at me, I nodded, he stepped forward, "Po- *Ahem* Princess, if I may... I believe your son has convinced me of something. Something I thought... I was taught impossible, wrong..." he gulped, loudly, almost painful sounding, "He somehow has given me food... Love... I think. Without giving me it or me taking it forcefully..." He sighed, took a deep breath, and sighed again, "Our peoples can live in peace, but I can't convince mine alone"

"And how would you suggest I help? Your queen will never listen to anypony other than herself"

I stepped forward, "I go talk to her"

"I cannot allow that"

"I'll go with hi-" Tarsus said before being interrupted

"SILENCE CHANGELING!"

Tarsus instinctively tried to use his transformation, but the inhibitor on his horn didn't like that, "AGH! Ouch. Forgot about the darn ring..."

"MOM!" My voice echoed across the room more than hers, I then sighed to calm myself down, "Sorry. Mom, look, let's hear him out"

Celestia stayed almost frozen for a brief moment before talking again, "... I guess... That was an inappropriate response," she sighed, "Tarsus, was it? Tell me, what's your idea? You go with Prince Luis to your hive, and then what?"

Tarsus looked at me, almost asking for permission, I nodded, and he said, "We cannot convince my hive on our own... We need numbers. I know of a changeling who will find this proposition alluring," I raise my eyebrow as my attention was more than piqued, Celestia seemed to share my stance as she shifted in her throne

"Who would this changeling be? Name? Personality? I would like to know who this changeling is before letting them into this city," a small scowl grew on her face, "As you may know, your hive has made hostile moves against this fair nation"

Tarsus recoiled back, "I was following orders- I didn't have- I didn't know... I-I-I-I..." He was most definitely holding back some fairly strong emotions as he sighed, "I have now realised my leader has done things that are less than peaceful, while I just followed orders, blindly believing everything I was told... I know more than I did yesterday, my whole world has-"

I interrupted, "Sorry, really sorry for interrupting. But, can you get to the point? I know I sound like an ass, and am indeed acting like one right now. But I looked at the schedule for court today and it's packed. Again, I'm really sorry for interrupting, but the Princess is too nice to tell you otherwise," I glanced at Celestia and she nodded in agreement

"I guess I was monologuing a bit, hehe... There is this changeling I know of who's been known as too docile to be a drone. His name is Thorax," My eyes widened a bit as he mentioned the name, "But he's been very close to his broodmate Pharinx, the head of patrols, second in command for the army," He sighed, "Thorax might be able to convince Pharinx to help us. And that will make other changelings follow, and- and..." Tarsus looked down at the ground, his whole body shaking, eyes looking wildly at every direction

"... consequences..." He held his head, his breathing became frantic, "She'll kill me! No no nonono!! I can't go back! I have to wait! YEAH WAIT!!"

"Tarsus-" I grabbed his shoulders, "-Tarsus! Stay with me"

"Death... war... no... it won't work.. NO!!"

"Tarsus! Come on, everything is fine," I am going to hate myself so much... I thought as I slapped him across the face

He looked at me, "The queen... she- but- no... She w-won't listen. Too much hate..." He stammered out

"Well, then let it be her undoing agai- Shit, I didn't mean to say that..."

"Prince Luis, you seem to know something about this"

I slowly turn to her, "Well, I was expecting Thorax to not exist in this version of Equestria, specially after I learned a few ponies aren't... 'around', as it were." At least Scoots still has her aunts, I thought before continuing, "Anyways, yeah, I can say with certainty that, if Thorax is the same, he's good. Pharynx... trusts his brother quite a bit so... Maybe we could convince him... maybe..."

I noticed Tarsus staring at me, "You... know... how much do you know? How do you know??"

"I have my ways," I simply replied

"I do believe we have come to an agreement then," Celestia stated

Tarsus was obviously confused, looking between me and Celestia, "Wait... Can you, umm, elaborate, please?"

"I believe you have earnt a pardon," she said in her oh so motherly tone. Turning to one of the guards, she said, "Please sent our guest to the VIP suite, make sure he feels at home"

The guards saluted and one of them walked up to Tarsus, "Please follow me sir"

"And Spear? Please wait outside," The other guard followed the other duo out the door. As soon as the door closed, Celestia started some questioning, "Now, Luis... How much do you actually know about changelings?"

"How changelings look now is nothing but a shade of what changelings are," I said, "And if Chrysalis doesn't change her ways of hate, Thorax might become King of the changelings even in this universe," Celestia was baffled, I guess I could try finding... No, that's a no go in time travel isn't it?" I said to myself

"Is that something you're not willing to discuss about the future?"

"No. Just... I don't exactly want to be the cause of a universal collapse," I also-, "I've had a weird feeling for a little while. We've got an acquaintance that might know more about this, but I don't want to bother him just yet. I need to make sure"

"I guess that's fair. Now, about your plan. What is it?"

"I get to be the bait," I said with a grin, "God, I'm going to regret this so much," I chuckled

I took another sip of my cider, "Ahh. I'm so happy The High Horse has Apple family apple cider"

"You're starting to sound like an ad"

I decided to strike a pose showcasing my mug, "The Apple family prides itself with high quality apples for their cider. With a fresh cup of cider from the Apple family, you can enjoy your evening with friends and family, and we know all about family. Remeber to drink responsibly," I sat back normaly and took another sip, "How's that?" Rick facepalmed

Lightning and Thunder both sat down next to us, then Thunder said, "I don't even want to know. How are you guys?"

"Good, how about you two?"

The brothers looked at their pip-boys, and Lightning said, "I don't know... my clothes feel like they fit, uhm, better? I guess, somehow"

Thunder then followed, "I almost ripped the door knob off on my room... but I did put a point into the strength thing. This is some incredible power you have"

I chugged the rest of my cider, granting me a charisma boost, "And if you get the right modules, sorry, if you get the right additional powers afterwards, you'll be even stronger. Otherwise you'll be locked into a max of 10 for your SPECIAL stats, without boosts of course"

Lightning, "So, what's next?"

I looked at Rick, he nodded in return, so I turned back to the brothers, "What's next is training, you've already have some levels stored because of your experience as guards, and I'm going to help you understand what perks can help you with the way you fight. And Rick has a little of a special arena we've been working on for about a month to train in some scenarios"

"And you guys better make use of it because I had to read way too many books about magic theory and geomancy for this arena," Rick said with a hint of authority, "Magic sucks just as much as scripting, so much troubleshooting...," he sulked out

"After dinner, we're heading back to the castle. I'll be getting your asses up to speed"

Someone cleared their throat. Barkeep, the bar keeper, looked at me with a grin as he lifted a large jar with 'Prince's swear jar' written on it. The jar was nearly 3 fourths of the way full, "You know the rules." I looked at him with a playful scowl and dropped two bits into the jar, "It's one per swear..." he said a bit confused

"Fuck. You." I answered. We both paused for a second before both of us bursting into laughter

"Now you need to sing something," he said, Wha...? That was sudden! I thought as he continued, "You always seem to enjoy our piano, how about something new? You never sing!" he exclaimed

The some of the regulars joined him, "Yeah!" "Come on prince" "Do it!" "Sing something!" "Bet you humans have some cool songs," Why do the guards have to come to this bar... And now I have to sing don't I...

I looked over the instrumnets, That reminds me... I turned to the brothers, "Since you guys have pip-boys now..." I took out a couple of holotapes, "Here, have some duplicates. They are music modules"

"That's actually not a bad idea" He took a sip of his newly ordered cider, "Holy smokes! That IS good.Equestrian magic only let's you play instruments you have some knowledge on how to play"

The brothers just kept staring at their holotapes, "Guys?"

They both looked at me and Lightning asked, "How do we use these?"

"Right! I never showed you, did I?" I pressed on the top of my pip-boy causing it to open the holotape slot, "Like that. Then just insert the tape long-ways with the circle on the left away from you," They did so, meanwhile I took a bass and guitar out of my inventory, and gave them to the brothers as soon as they were ready

Lightning gave the bass to Thunder, who then passed the guitar to Lightning, I guess they know how to play them then, "Are we going to need a drummer?" Thunder asked

"I can play the drums"

"What? Since when?" The most he played was clarinet in junior high...

"Since I had to compile and troubleshoot about 2 million lines of code for the past month. Fun little game, wouldn't recommend it tho"

"Really?" I stoically asked

"It was more like half a million, but my point still stands. I had a lot of free time"

"I don't have a drum set though," Barkeep said

I looked at him, "Don't worry, I have one." I didn't even wait for an answer as I set up the stage

"So where did you even get these?"

I turned to Rick, who was already sitting on the stool for the drums, "I've done a few favours for Vinyl. She's got two music stores, here and Ponyville, so, yeah." I clapped imaginary dust off my hands as the brothers joined the stage, "There we go. Oh, and Rick?"

"Yeah?"

"All you have to do is-"

"Follow your lead. I know, I know. I know full well how Equestrian magic works. Thank you. God, the book was huge..."

"Well then..." I exhaled as I sat at the piano, "Before I start, I want to dedicate this song to my fiancé and son, who are not here at the moment. But they mean the world to me, so, yeah. Thank you," Here we go

"So I wasn't the only one right?" I asked the brothers as we made our way down to the lab

"I know I'm not in the club-" he tapped his wrist, "-But, what happened again?"

"We had a burst of EXP. All three of us. Which means..." I opened the doors to the laboratory. The lab looked as it always did, except for the fact that there was a couple of dead mutated creatures in the center, "The three of us fought those, and them diying triggered the experience"

"They're dead. Why were you in such a hurry to see that?" Thunder asked

"Yeah, what gives? We were having fun, you know?" Lightning added

"Because of a word you'll become very accustomed to. They were legendary variants after all," I said reaching into the carcass, much to the dismay of Thinker and Quick. I pulled a legendary pipe pistol out of the creature, "'Loot'"

Rapid Pipe Pistol

"Huh. That's... ok, I guess"

"What is wrong... with... HOW??" Thinker exclaimed, "What?!"

"You're right. I should've just used the interface," I shook some blood of my hand as Thinker kept having trouble forming sentences, "Why did I 'Kalima' the deathclaw? Gah, disgusting... Anyways. Rapid is a very disappointing effect I have to say. Although... more common ammo in-game...but then again, I could mass produce ammo too and- Sorry, I'm talking to myself." I approached the mirelurk, I wonder what you have... and reached towards it, making sure to use the interface this time

Cavalier's Leather Right Arm

From what I remember from training, either brother would benefit from this more than me... I always played as a tank after all, "I've got an idea. Guys, training just became a bit of a competition. Winner takes this," I said showing the armour piece

" What about that?" Rick asked while pointing at the pipe pistol

I handed it to him, "Here, I'll get some bullets later." He just stared at me as if asking 'are you serious?' "Seriously, take it. Trust me"

"I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but I'm not taking that"

"There's literally monsters that have similar abilities to their video game counter parts out there, and you're refusing a gun? Like seriously, they are probably here because of me! Take it!"

Rick looked aside for a breif second, something was certainly on his mind, "No, thank you"

"Suit yourself. If you want it, just tell me, okay?"

"Trust me. I don't need it"

"Fine," I turned back around and grabbed the rest of the loot, I've been craving a steak for a while. Wonder what deathclaw tastes like... "Now, Storm Brothers, follow me. I have one more surprise for you guys"

"Wait, Luis!" Quick ran up to me and handed me a potion, but something felt off. "This should help Noctis. I've managed to neutralize the side effects of that other potion from the train incident"

"Really? Wow, that's awesome!" I then looked at her and said in a serious tone, "How much?"

"Oh, nothing"

"Please, how much?"

"It's for a freind, seeing her better is good enough for me"

"I insist"

"Trust me, making the potion was a fun little gam- challange! Hehe..." she said with an air of uncertaintly, maybe regret? I wasn't too sure, Maybe Rick is rubbing off on her? I thought, almost raising an eyebrow

"Fine," I'm still going to pay her back somehow. "See you later guys," we said our goodbyes and headed out the door. As my little group walked away, I took a glance back and saw Quick seemingly soothing a headache, Odd

We rounded the corner and headed towards the new forge. As soon as we walked through the door, I saw Cutting Edge was with a pony I've never seen before. A grey unicorn with a blue-ish mane. She was dresses almost steampunk-like, black pants with a white buttoned shirt behind a brown apron, and a pair of goggles with magnifier lenses on her right eye. The mistery pony seemed to be working with small pieces of metal that almost looked machine-made, springs and the like

"I had to hire a watchmaker for our little project, sire," Cutting said pointing at the mare, "Care to say hello?" the mare was too engrossed in her work to even acknowledge anyone talking to her. Cutting cleared his throat, but nothing changed for the grey pony, "STEELE!"

"AHHH!!" she screamed jumping further than anyone I've ever seen, hitting her head on the awning above her worktable. Steel stood up clutching her head, "Why did you do that?!!" Cutting Edge simply nodded my way, "OH MY GOSH!!" she dropped to a kneel, "Prince! Good health to you my prince"

I facepalmed and groaned, "No titles. Please? Just Luis." Sighing, I turned to Cutting, "How's the work going?" We started moving outside the forge area and into a new building on the training grounds

He smirk, "I've got five done. Field tested and very well used. No problems, sire. They are beauties. As for the smaller, more complicated ones; I have only two ready, unfortunately"

"Wow, you work fast!"

"'Always have pride in your own work' I always say"

"Not what I pointed out, but okay!" I said happily, "Anyways, shall we?" I asked as I held the doorknob for the newest addition to the training grounds. On the other side of the door was a space ready to test the new- who am I kidding, you probably already figured out it's going to be a shooting range anyways. Yes, I made Cutting Edge make modern weapons, woo hoo. Shooty bang-bang stick, hand cannons, whatever you want to call them

"Here they are, sire," the previously mentioned stallion said while lifting a cloth and exposing the weapons. A quad of AK-47's glistened under the sunlight along with a duo of metal-framed glocks, "I could not find this 'polymer' the instructions you gave me called for, but I did as any blacksmith would and came up with an alternative. This is hardened, light-weight steel from one of my previous projects. Still heavier than the instructions, but not by much"

Then Steele steped forward, but second guessed her decision and looked at Cutting, who just nodded. "I was the one to work on the smaller componest of the weapons. I was also in charge of making the casi- Oh my gosh!! I forgot to introduce my self!!"

While she was having a mini panick attack, I looked back at the brothers to see what they thought. I honestly didn't mind, and seeing Thunder and Lightning shrug at each other told me they thought the same, so I turned back my attention at Steele, who was now bowing and repeating 'I'm sorry' over and over again. Cutting was just pinching the bridge of his nose, I bet this happens often, I thought. "Steele was it?"

She immediately took me hand and started shaking it vigorously, "YESMYNAMEISSTEELE,I'MSOSORRYFORNOTINTRODUCINGMYSELFPROPERLYBEFOREIGOTDISTRACTEDBYMYWORKANDYOURVISITCAMEASACOMPLETESURPRISEANDIAMSOSORRYREALLYREALLYSORRYAND-"

I tuned her out for the time being as her attitude was distracting me more at the moment, Is she just like a mix of Pinkie and Twilight? Or is it just me? Because I don't think that's a good combo; ADHD with OCD, I feel so sorry for her. Like Jesu- Oh, she stopped talking... Wait did she ask something? Shit, fuck, got to think of something... uhh, "Sorry, I didn't hear the, uhm... question?"

"Oh..." she let go of my hand with her ears flattening against her head in a very dejected maner

Shit! CODE RED!! I REPEAT, CODE FUCKING RED!!! "I didn't mean it like that!! I just got distracted in my own head and forgot to listen! It's just, you remind me of a couple of friends I have in Ponyville and- Sorry, that's no excuse. Can you repeat what you said? Please?"

Her expression became more stoic, but I could see a hint of relieve in her eyes, "My name is Steele, Nice to meet you, prince," she said, extending her hand

I returned the gesture and answered, "My name is Luis, nice to meet you, Steele. And please, don't use titles. I'm just like anyone else," suddenly she started... squeaking? Squeeling?... producing a high pitch noise of exitement? Sure, let's go with that

"OH MY GOSH! YOU'RE AS COOL AS EVERYPONY SAYS!!" she fangirled out. Not even five seconds later, she was back to being compossed, That just gave me whiplash, I thought as she continued, "Like I was saying, I was in charge of the smaller components and the ammunition casings, the primers being the must difficult to make. But anyway, I'll stop boring you with the small details and show you this instead," She reached to the lid of a very large trunk, inside sat a whole bunch of small ammo boxes, some labeled 9mm and the rest 7.62mm

I looked back at the brothers with a grin, "Each of you, grab a glock. I'll teach you a thing or two about pistols," They both did as instructed, "Now, there are some rules about handling a firearm that must never be ignored. Number one: Always treat the weapons as if it's loaded, and by always I do mean AT ALL TIMES. I don't want to see an accidental discharge. That means number two: Finger always off the trigger until you need to fire. Number three: Never aim at anything you aren't willing to destroy or kill. And lastly, number four: Know what your target is and what's behind it. Yes, guns slash firearms will penetrate most things, and even go completely through some, so be careful of what's on the other side. Do I make myself clear?" I instructed with an authoritative tone

The two pip-boy-wearing earth ponies saluted, "Good."

Not too soon after we started target practice, Rick walked in, "Hey!" I greeted

"I can tastes the gunpowder, geez. How long have you guys been shooting?" he took a glance at the ammo crate, noting it was nearly empty, "You know what? Don't answer. I just came to test something"

"Test wha-" I took note of the bandolier around his torso, with crystals instead of magazines or bullets, "Nevermind, I think I know. I guess that explains why you didn't want the pistol," I couldn't help but chuckle as I noticed what was on his hip, a revolver looking weapon with rune inscriptions running on its surface, "I just remembered, I also had a custom order," heading towards the door, I turned to Rick, "Could you keep an eye out on these two? Thanks"

"Sure, no problem. I'm guessing you already filled them in on the 4's of gun safety?" I nodded, as he loaded a crystal into a large chamber in the cylinder, "That's good," he shot and missed, "Damn..."

"Nice shootin' there, Tex," my sarcasm ever present in the comment

He chuckled and shook his head, "Just go get your things before I load a real crystal and shoot you, I know you'll survive"

"Ooh, promise?" a magic beam impacted right next to my head leaving a smoking scorch mark on the impact zone, That's a low power crystal?!! "Hehe, on second thought..." I walked out and to the new forge area

I opened the door and Edge just gave me a side eye from his desk, "I was starting to wonder if you had forgotten"

Chuckling nervously I answered, "Maybe..."

He gave a chuckle of his own, "Figures! Ha!" He walked up to a large safe and opened it, "Made with the schematics you provided, plus a little extra flare. For both"

"Hope it wasn't soo much trouble"

"Trouble?" He dropped a long rifle wrapped in some cloth along with a small ammo box on his counter, "With technology like this, I'd prefer to call it a challenge, sire"

I rubbed my hands together in excitment, "Good to know you think that," Come on... show me the goods...

"Don't worry, sire. I am about to get to the good stuff," he chuckled as he unwrapped the rifle

The 'Fusil Porfirio Diaz' was one of my favourite looking rifles. Although, like everyone else, I didn't care for its actual name, prefering just Mondragón. The Mondragón rifle was made to be able to be switched between bolt-action and semi-atomatic firing modes on the fly, as well as being able to be use with stripper clips or magazines. Of course, I went with magazines for this one. A few things I noticed was that the crest just above the bolt wasn't the eagle eating the snake like it would be on one from earth, instead having the Equestrian crest. The other thing was a flag tied around the stock of the gun, the Mexican flag to be exact. Kind of like Paciencia in Fallout New Vegas, except it was new and not burned

"Since you mentioned the country you came from design this, I decided to contact miss Twilight to recreate the flag. It ended up quite nicely," he grabbed the gun and presented it to me, "I want you to give it a name, sire. It is yours after all, and no other like it will be created"

"El Patriota," I just muttered. Having both the Equestrian and Mexican flags attached to it, it only seemed natural, "It mean 'The Patriot'," I clarified as I grabbed the gun

El Patriota
Deals +25% damage and limb damage, but has +25% more recoil

Violent effect... Fitting. Considering the rifle's history

Edged then reached back to another safe and grabbed another weapon wrapped in cloth, this time a pistol, "Well, sire, I do have a question for ye"

"Shoot"

"Why did you want this weapons, firearms, specifically? The others seem to be more reliable," he asked, still holding back the pistol

"They are very rare guns in my world," I began, starting to look over the rifle, the bolt, profile, and the like, "Of the Mondragón, there were four thousand ever produced, with only a fraction still in the market," I stopped playing with the rifle, "And the other one-" I pointed at the pistol still covered, "-while I don't know the exact number ever produced, I know it was less than a thousand. Even a smaller number are even in circulation anymore"

Edge slowly started to unwrap the pistol, "Then I must congratulate you! You have the only ones in existance here, Luis!"

I looked at the- My brain stopped for a second. Cutting Edge called me by my name... "W-who are you? And what did you do with Cutting Edge...?"

"I do owe you more than you'd know. I've never seen Noctis this happy for this long, ever. I may not be her father, but I've been with her since she was a foal," He stopped to reminisce for a moment. Letting out a small chuckle, he continued, "Her mother thaught me everything I know about smithing, and her dad? That crazy old bat was who I had the pleasure of repairing and reforging the armor of the most for practise. So reckless... Heh... She definetely took after him the most, that's for sure, but took some of her mother's skill with the hammer and turned it to her hooves," Edge's little smirk was most certainly contagious as I found myself smilling at little, but a little thought crossed my mind: Why do I suddenly want to test that?

But if I'm being honest, I was very curious to know what happened to her parents, but it really didn't feel like the right time to ask. After a while of nostalgic silence, Edge finished unwrapping the pistol, "Here you go, Luis, your handgun"

In front of me was a Sistema Obregón, also know as just the Obregón 1911, or just as 'siete chinos' like all colts are usually refered to in Mexico. The gun itself looked like pretty much a regular Obregón, with a thicker slide for the rotating barrel which was just about the only difference from a regular 1911. Of course, this one was also custom, a sun and moon with some stylized lines were engraved on the sides of the slide and a sweetheart grip with a picture of Noctis

"If I remember correctly, on your request, you asked for it to be called 'Amor' specifically," I just nodded in response as I took the gun, "Please be careful, with the grip, I would hate to see it go opaque"

Amor
+33% V.A.T.S. hit chance, 25% less Action Point cost

"Take care of both of ‘em, got it?" Edge said with a commanding undertone, "And I don't mean the weapons"

"With my life"

I was approaching the main stairway of the castle and stopped right next to the banister to talked to the twins, “Rick went on ahead to get some things started, well, ‘ready’ would be a better word actually, Rick’s getting things ready for our little training exercise. I hope you like wave based survival games,” I said as I activated the hidden button. The secret mechanism sprung to life, dropping the stairs and showing the secret tunnel into the Canterlot caves

Thunder was the first one to pick up his jaw from the ground, “How long has that been there...?”

“Probably close to a millennia, I forgot to ask”

Lightning shook his head as we walked in, getting his thoughts back in order, “Wait, what do you mean ‘wave based survival games’?”

“Oh, you know, the longer you survive, the tougher the enemies get, and the more you’ll have to fight each round. You’ll go till you can’t, but don’t worry, death isn’t possible. Rick’s powers can get weird like that,” I finished by pulling a chain causing the wall to split and open. We stepped into a big dungeon chamber where Rick was standing near the edge of the ‘stage’ the room had, he was fiddling around on a terminal adjusting some settings

I couldn't help but feel anger in this room. Every single time I entered it I remember Asmodeus and Noctis... That bastard... I sighed

"I hate that we need this much preparation," Rick said, turning around, "Nice of you to show up. Are you ready?"

Then Faunia dropped from the ceiling, "Luisss, tisss been a long timesss"

"Uhmm, we talked like acouple of days ago. And a week ago too..."

"Sssarcassmsss," she jovially hissed

"Ahh! I get it. You're getting better. Anyways, getting back on business"

"My sschildren are ready," concern graced her face, "Do not harm them"

"Don't worry, within the arena, nothing can get hurt unless they got powers like Luis's. Even then they can't die"

"So, this arena..." Lightning started, "Where is it?"

"And what would we be facing?" Thunder asked

"Well, firstly, some stalkers, thanks to Faunia and her spider," the brothers seemed confused, "The star spiders can use their silk to animate armour, I call those stalkers. Simply because if you are in an abandoned castle they could be in any piece of armour," my explanation pleased the ponies, "Anyways, there's also going to be some golems in there too, kind of like stalkers but a lot more resistant to damage. Plus... a, let's say, a surprise..."

"Seriously? Hehe, sure, let's leave them in the dark about... that. It's going to be fun," Rick got the same grin on his face as I did. He then continued, "Anyways, thanks to the crazy amount of magic trapped with in the cave system, you'll be able to replenish your ammo at the crates we placed all around the area. Just note, you won't be able to carry more than what you entered with, so if you enter with three arrows, or in this case bullets, you'll only be able to go up to three, no more, no less"

"One thing to point out about this little system is that it is attached to a little point system. Couldn't make it too easy, you know? Anyways, your HUDs will display your points, and you get points by dispatching enemies. There is also boosts, or perks, you can buy with those points, as well as upgrading your weapons and armour. Sound good? Think of it like a game," Yes! We recreated CoD zombies within a magical cave in Equestria. Fight me

For those who didn't catch on. Remember the entity that is supposed to live in the caves? Well, using the crystals imbedded in the stone, Rick managed to, well, capture it in a way. The console is there to change the frequency of the crystals, and in turn make the entity have different effects on the cave, like, say, making enemies stronger? Or making ammo appear out of thin air, pretty neat, huh?

Anyway

After a few hours of training, and me showing the ponies how it's actually done to get to high rounds, we stopped. They got very good at handling their AKs and glocks. I still have my doubts with giving ponies guns, but... desparate times call for desparate measures, and video game enemies being around raises quite the concerns

After taking a quick power nap, we went to the station, boarded, and headed towards Ponyville. With Tarsus of course, he's kind of an important VIP at the moment, being the only one to know the actual location of the hive and all. Speaking of Tarsus, he seemed distracted the whole trip, wandering in his mind, but... I wanted to say something

"We'll be arriving in Ponyville shortly. Thank you for riding in the Friendship Express," the intercom said

I turned to Tarsus, "You okay? Something seems to be bothering you"

"Huh?! Oh... It's... It-It's nothing" He stammered

I was less than amused at his very much unsuccessful attempt to hide his true feelings, "You know? You haven't really expressed your feelings enough to know how to hide then, like, at all. Seriously, what's wrong? I'm trying to help"

"I- I- I..." He suddenly tried to avoid all eye contact, "I'm going to die in three days..."

What... "I... didn't quite hear that..."

"IAMGOINGTODIEINTHREEDAYS!"

His yelling managed to wake up Lightning, who somehow managed to actually process what Tarsus said, "Uhh... Wait! What? What do you mean??!"

I have the weirdest sense of déjà vu... Wall-E? Is that your world building? "Did Chrysalis tell you you'd die if you were ever exiled from the hive?"

"Yes..." Tarsus brooded

"You know how many times that has been used as a framing device in stories?" I said, but thought about it for a second, "Well, I only remember the one in Wall-E, but... Wait, did 'The Giver' have something like that too? I don't remember"

"But this isn't a story!"

"You'd be surprised Seriously though, don't worry about it. And if it happens, you'd have enjoyed that time"

"You are too optimistic"

"I've been learning," I said a bit more somber than I intended, "Anyways, get ready, I got you a welcome committee"

The train screeched to a halt, "Welcome to Ponyville. Please be clear of the doors," the intercome said as the doors opened, "And please watch your step while unbording. Thank you for riding on the Friendship Express"

This was the first train out of Canterlot today. It was now just about 6 AM, and because it was now winter, it was still very dark out. We walked out of the train, and the first thing I noticed was Noctis asleep on a bench. I had an evil idea

I jumped and grabbed on one of the beams. Shifting closer to Noctis, I hung upside down, face to face with her, "NOCTIS!" She leaped foward, pass me, and kicked me on the side of the head. I flew to the other side of the station, fully clear of the platform and into a lone tree. I relocated my jaw with a painful pop, I knew her kick were strong, but fuck, Cutting wasn't lying

Noctis ran up to me, "Why are you so STUPID?!"

"Me? You're the one who fell in love with me!" I caressed her cheek with a shit-eating grin and all

She then gave me a quick peck on the lips, "And I don't regret it... often," I chukled, "But seriously, are you okay?"

I stood up, wrapped my arm around her and leaned both of us in to a deep kiss, "More than okay"

"Oddly enough, I don't want to take that love... I feel... satisfied" Tarsus said as the trio walked up to us

Noctis looked at the changeling, "I have never seen a changeling before," she slowly examined him, "Oh, sorry... My name is Noctis Umbra, nice to meet you!"

Tarsus looked at her hand, then to his. He did this about three times before grabbing Noctis's hand and, very unsure of himself, looked at me, almost asking for approval. I nodded to which he seemed to almost smile to in response, "M-m-my name i-is Tarsus..."

"That's a cool name," Noctis said without thinking, "Are you staying with us?" Then she noticed the twins behind Tarsus, and turned to me, "Are they staying with us?"

"Specialist Noctis Umbra," Thunder started, "Who knew you were so cold as to not offer shelter to some old colleagues. My word!" he finished with an exaggerated flare

Lightning smacked the back of his brother's head, "Don't be a jackass," both Noctis and Thunder looked at him as if he had just turned into a fountain, "What?"

"Why are you cursing like the prince?!" Thunder exclaimed

Lightning thought for a brief moment, "I guess... because we were almost killed a few days ago. I was the one conscious for that, so brother, you were the lucky one," he then got a goofy grin on his face, "It's certainly not why Luis curses though, it's more cultural for you, no?" I kind of nod, kind of shake my head, unsure on how to respond, "Anyway, don't worry about it. It's kind of liberating honestly"

Thunder looked at me, "Welp, whatever is going on broke my brother. But if he turns to anything like you, Luis, then it should be fine"

"Wow... so rude," Lightning retorted jokingly

Thunder sighed, "Truly like the prince," he whispered

"Soooo..." Noctis got my attention, "Where are they staying?"

"In the basement," I started, "Just give me a few minutes after we get home, and I'll get their rooms built"

"You'll make our rooms?" Tarsus startled me, "The hive creates it's own rooms when needed. Building something is so weird... Well, at least to me"

"Later I can show you the wonders of buildings, sound good?" The changeling nodded, "Ok then, time to go to the house"

It didn't take that long for me to get the basement ready, so we spent the rest of the day coming up with a plan. It's so stupid it might just work, and like I said to Celestia, I'm the distraction. Tarsus, Lightning and Thunder, will sneak in while I go into the hive and talk to Chrysalis, and hopefully distract a lot, if not almost all of the drones and workers onto the main chamber

After dinner we all went to our rooms. But before going to bed, I had to talk to Noctis

I was laying under the covers in bed as Noctis came out of the bathroom "Hey, Red?" I called her, "Can I ask you something?"

"Sure. What is it?"

"Well, Quick thinks she's found a way to reverse the effects of the poison from the train," I said, trying to hide my doubts, "You know? Your vision"

"Oh, really?" She sounded a little disappointed, "That's... nice..."

"You... you don't want it?" I asked a bit confused

"It's just..." She started, "I..." she sat on the bed with me and looked down, "I don't know... There's a- it's just... I'm..." she looked at me with her glasses a bit crooked, I readjusted them, "I love it when you do that..." she said blushing

"And I love doing it," I said while a smile of my own, "But..." I got serious again, "Are you sure? You'll get your perfect vision back. Your eyesight won't continue to get worse. I don't want you to hurt yourself just because of a trivial thing, ok? I want the best for you, and you heard the doctor, you could go completely blind within the next decade or so. I... I shouldn't influence your decision," I took the potion out, "Here. Just say the word and I'll give it to you or throw it out the window"

Noctis stared at it for a few minutes, just thinking. She gasped and took the bottle from my hands, "I'll take it," she then proceded to down the entire thing, "I can just get glasses without zoom"

I smirked and chuckled out "That's true"

"Now," Noctis took off her glasses and set them on the night stand, "Where were we?"

I devilish grin made itself know on my face, "I think I have an idea..." I grabbed the bed sheets and thew them over both of us, pouncing on Noctis. We looked into eachother's eyes as I sat on top of her, "Honestly... I don't know where to go from here"

Noctis, blushing even harder, gave me an innocent smile, "First time too, huh?" I nodded, copying her reddened facial tint, "Do you still want to?"

"I just thought you wanted... and, well... I guess we're both okay without it, right?" she nodded, "Not every ralationship has to be that active..." I said as I got off Noctis, "Besides..." I hugged Noctis into being my little spoon, "This is so much better"

She reached behind to caress my cheek, "I second that"

I'm glad... A hug is such a better way to get warm than exercise anyways

Past Midnight
==[POV - Unknown]==

I stood looking down at Luis sleeping with his little pony, "My little toy has gotten busy, haven't you Eagle?" the feeling of the holotape in my grasp was intoxicating, "I'm going to have so much fun with this," I couldn't hide my smile. The pip-boy opened easily, letting me slip the holotape in, I chuckled almost too hard, "Let the second act officially start," I opened a portal behind me, and turned to it "And now that I'm here..." I stepped through, "Ha ha hah... HAHAHAHAA... Let the games begin anew!!" My yell breaking through the buzzing

Intermission

Author's Note

Now, I know it’s been a while but that’s what happens when you have too much on your plate

I made myself too many projects and have not that much time for them, so I got rid of the ones I’m not that invested in but it still leaves me with a handful. Unfortunately that means that my story is currently on the back burner, simmering slowly

I’ll try to check on it as often as I can, mostly because I’m actually enjoying writing stuff. Reason as to why one of my projects that survived my purge is writing my own story, fanfics are basically practise

In another note, the chapter I was working on before this filler? Well, I’ve decided to rewrite it entirely, it wasn’t flowing right and too many things felt forced or out of place. So that’s another thing that is going to slowdown this a little bit

I’ll still save what I have just in case, but I will do my best to make it a better story. And if the rewrite works, I might use what I have now as the basis for another, later chapter

Thanks for taking the time to read this! I really appreciate that

Now onto the chapter

Intermission

==[POV - Luis]==
I woke up that morning feeling... odd. Not in a bad way, but not good either. Just odd

Anyways, I couldn't think about that now. Too much to do, too little time

First thing I noticed, appart from my odd feeling, was Noctis not in bed and the smell of bacon in the air. Jumping from bed and getting dressed with a click I thought to myself, Breakfast is the most important meal of the day after all

My outfit today, which I wasn't planning on changing since we start the mission later today, was my armour's chest piece over a shirt with some ballistic weave in it plus jeans with no ballistic weave, since I didn't have enough ballistic fiber, and my armour's shin guards to compensate, as well as an honest to goodness dark brown trench coat over my leather jacket. Hey! Trench coats are awesome. On my thighs, I just have a holster for Amor and pouches, and in my hip, my sword Achilles. Turning visibility for both weapons off. El Patriota was also invisible already equipped on my back, since I left it like that last night. Maybe that's why I feel odd... meh

Bacon pancakes are always, without a doubt, delicious, and with videogame powers, useful. Red: "Okay, Nimble, ready for school today? Just two weeks before winter bre-eak," she sang the last sentence, then, after getting a nod from Nimble, she turned to me, "Be careful, okay? I probably won't see you for more than a few days"

"When am I not careful?" She raised an eyebrow, "Don't answer that"

"While the assembler finishes with the car, we have about an hour and a half to spare, so let me show you a neat trick, courtasy of your new powers," I said as I opened the door for the brothers

"You know... I never thought I'd be intrigued being dragged into the spa," said Thunder

"If this powers made mudane things actually useful... I'll be damned"

I turned to the brothers, still walking backwards to the main desk, "Have you guys ever heard of buffs?" I turned to the desk and rang the bell

Alloe basically matterilized behind the desk, "Oh Prince! Good to have you back. Same as always?"

"Not this time Alloe, instead could you get me and my companions here the 'muscle relax delux package' please?" We need the damage resistance more than the EXP boost

"Of course, of course, Prince. That will be 129 bits," one exchange and 129 bits later, "It will be 5 minutes of wait time, thank you for your concurrent patronage"

I could feel the stares of the twin warriors as I took a seat, "Video game logic is quite the contradicting... thing. I was trying to sound wise, damn it"

"So..." Lightning sat next to me, "You come here way too often from the sounds of it"

"I hope this isn't something that will make me hand in my proper stallion card," Thunder joked, leaning of the wall

"Trust me, 15% damage resistance is no joke"

"Nice of you to show up," I said to Rick, giving him a freindly slap on the back

He wiped some ice of his shoulder, "I fucking dialed CLOUDSDALE!!" he finished with a shudder, "Why didn't you program the IDs to be really different from one another?!"

I gave him a stupid smile, "Well... I needed science 4 and intelligence of 10 to reprogram the gates... Or, science of 1, idiot savant 1 and 10 luck," I put my hand on his shoulder as I walked past him, "Take a guess which one I used"

"I guess? He answered, “But I’d prefer not reaching halfway to terminal velocity before realizing ‘Hey… This isn’t Ponyville’”

I put the PIN on the new door to open it, “Well… I could probably enchant the gates to cast the cloud walking spell on anything that goes through it,” I opened the door and said, “Hey guys! Look who decided to drop by?” Giving a mischievous smile to Rick

"Hey, Rick!" Thunder said from the couch, taking another sip from some nice herbal tea, I need to thank Rarity for that, he looked at me, "I still don't know what 'RAD Resistance' is, but if helps against magic, I'll take it"

I sat down next to him, “Let give you-“ I pointed at both brothers, “-both of you a little lesson in these resistances. First you have your physical damage resistance, self explanatory, right? The higher that is, the less punches and even swords hurt. Energy damage resistance protects you against fire, ice, and the like. Elemental damage if you will. I’ve noticed it even helps with feeling the weather less too. And finally, rad resistance, that’s your defence against radiation, which seems to activate with magic. You guys are already immune to it, but with some experimenting, I discovered that rad resistance helps with the effects of magic too. If someone tries to levitate you, you’d feel heavier with a higher value”

“So if we somehow managed to get our rad resistance high enough, we’d be effectively immune to magic?” Asked Lightning

I couldn’t help but chuckle, “Not exactly,” I said taking another sip from my tea, Who would’ve thought there was tea this good in Ponyville?, “You still have to worry about the other effects of the spell that hits you. Remember, even magic has friction, so even if your armour can block the magic, it doesn’t mean it can block the hit that comes from it. Trust me, aunt Luna hit me with a very powerful spell while I was testing this. I flew hard,” I finished my tea

Side Quest
Wait for the Assembler
Complete

“On that note,” I got up, “Car’s finished. Now I just need to see if I didn’t forget that minimize spell mi tia taught me,” Otherwise I can’t get the car out of the basement

Three Days

==[POV - Noctis]==

"Promise me you'll be careful, ok?" I grabbed his hands, "Please"

"Of course I will be," Luis kissed my cheek and gave me a tight hug, "I love you"

"Hey Luis, we're losing sunlight!" Lightning yelled from the other side of the car

Luis turned to him, "I'm going!" he said, then turned to me, "I'll be back before you know it," He surprised me with a deep kiss that let me blushing. He walked to the car, got stopped by Nimble who said his goodbyes and happily ran off with Scootaloo to school, he got in it and drove off

I couldn't help but just stand there, happy yet worried, "Please do..." I whispered to myself. I steeled myself, He can take on a full beam from the Princesses, I smiled

"Don't worry, he can handle himself," Blueblood said as he walked up to me

"I know he can, but I don't kn- nevermind, it's fine, it's going to be fine," Blueblood place his hand on my shoulder and nodded, "Anyway, we've a busy day"

He retracted his hand, "True, I'll be with Cheerilee if you need me. It's politics today at the school," he said cheerfully

"And I've got groceries"

"Noctis? Is that you?" I turned around and spotted Twilight behind me, "It is you!" She grabbed a bunch of apples and loaded them in her cart, "Doing groceries too?" I nodded, "Could I pick your brain about Prince Luis's diet some more? Seems fitting. Considering..."

I looked down at my own cart and looked at the chicken in it, "You already know he eats more protein than even the biggest guards"

"I know, but I still don't know how much is enough. He won't let me run any tests," Twi crossed her arms and pouted a little

"Not a lot of ponies like being test subjects"

"I know, I know, but he was so happy to answer questions before, but they can only get us so far in research"

"And I doubt I wouldn't just be repeating what you already know"

"I guess," she said a little deflated, but then perked up, "Can I ask you about his mating habits?"

I almost choked on air, while also getting notably warmer around my face, "Twi, you know you're a great friend, and I love you for it, but not only is this NOT the time or place, but that is also a very personal question," I took a deep breath trying to calm down

"But I read in a book that stuff like that is just 'girl talk'," She took on a pensive stance, "Unless *gasp* Are we not good enough friends?"

I placed my hands on her shoulders and shook her a little, "Look, we are friends, great friends, but your book should also mention that not everypony is okay with talking about everything," I sighed, "This is just something I don't like discussing outside the relationship, okay?"

"I see..." Twi then took out a book and skipped to a specific page, she started blushing almost immediately, "Oh... Oh! Oh my... I am very sorry. I have to go"

I watched as she bolted to the cashier and out the store, "That pony needs to get her nose out of her books and into real life more often as well as actually finishing her chapters," I said to no pony in particular as I returned to shopping

Day 2
"Love you mom" Nimble said as he rushed into the schoolhouse

"Love you more!" Best decision I made since Luis, I thought to myself

"Boo!"

I turned around and almost choke slammed Rainbow Dash, "For Celestia's sake, stop doing that! You don't overcome years of guard training when startled"

"Hey, I live on the edge," RD said with a cocky smile, "Besides, you didn't touch me this time. It's the little victories that actually show progress"

"Not really, I just expect you more on workdays. Remember yesterday?" I said as we both took flight

She then touched the bandage on her nose, "You caught me off guard, I could've dodged you"

"They had to re-plaster the wall to get rid of your face imprint," I deadpanned out

"Don't remind me, I had to pay out of pocket"

"Now, work. What's the rundown for today?"

"Like always, keep an eye out for stray clouds, we also have a shipment coming in for winter next week, and some rainbow for tomorrow afternoon"

"Rainbow? What for? We don't have any more rain for before winter"

"Don't know, orders came from above and couldn't ask"

"Weird"

Day 3

Nimble had just left to go crusading and I had the house all to myself, so I went to the 2nd basement and into the little gym Luis made for me

As I trained, curiosity got the better of me about the workbenches and research table he had set up. Walking up and sown the isles he made, I took notice of how similar yet so different each table looked, some had what I could only assume to be electrical versions of drills and hammers, while others had rods that didn't make sense and monitors. I guess those are the automated ones

As I walked past one with monitors, it turned on. I wonder what it says...

Last researched project

Weapon maintenance and condition

Description:

Allows for easy maintenance of world weapons, but it adds conditions to game weapons

-Increases the maximum damage output, but drops with condition from 80% and under

Components used:

...

That was an interesting read, I thought, I guess he can make his own powers now too, as long as he has the components for them

"That was enough snooping," I said to myself, I'm actually getting a little hungry, so I headed up the stairs

Getting the lettuce out, I started preparing a salad

"NOCTIS!" Blueblood burst into the house panting and wheezing, "It's Luis...!"

I immediately dropped the knife and ran outside with him

==[POV - Blueblood]==
Day 1

"Thank you for the opportunity, miss Cheerilee"

"The pleasure was all mine, prince. The kids loved the class you gave today," she said cheerfully

"I have always enjoyed helping you around the schoolhouse," I felt a little warm around my face, Am I blushing? But she isn't a nob- ... "Enjoy the rest of your day, miss," we waved at each other as I walked away deep in thought

I almost went back to being... *Shudder* That again. But, a teacher? I would've imagined a doctor or a lawyer at worst... But then again, I haven't really thought about my future since before I got an attitude readjustment. Maybe I now just aspire to be like her, kind, knowledgeable, wise, cute- CUTE?! That's not me! I'm regal and- and... *Sigh* It's always a fight with me. Old habits die hard, but my new ones... that I actually enjoy. Helping ponies has really been eye-opening, being part of the common rabble has been liberating. No expectations, and being on their level? It's actually quite fulfilling. I love being this, I love being me, being free. I don't need the tittle, that was just a crutch, an excuse I used to not care to-

"AAAGHH!!!"

I ran to the source of the scream, "Rainbow Dash are you... Okay..?" Noctis was kneeling next to Rainbow Dash, the latter had a bloody nose and seem to be in quite the amount of pain, "What happened here?"

Red looked at me, a little misty eyed, "She startled me, and I panicked. Training kicked in and..." she pointed at the wall

"Is that..?"

"My face? Yeah"

"Miss Noctis?" I asked to get her attention, "I see that you have groceries, let me take care of miss Dash, you head on home"

She nodded, "Thanks, Blueblood. And since you're heading that way, could you pick up Nimble from school?"

I smiled, "It'll be my honour," we waved goodbye at each other as I help miss Dash to her hooves, "How are you feeling?"

She kept her hand on her nose, "Could be worse..." she then used both hands to re-set her nose with an audible crack, "I had worse. But I don't want my nose to end up crooked, let's go"

Day 2
"Off I go on my last delivery"

Mr. and Mrs. Cake waved in unison as the latter said, "Take good care, Spoiled Rich can be very..." the pair looked at each other with dread in their eyes, "Special..."

I believe I know what type of special they meant, "Worry not, I presume I have experience with such personality types," with a wave of my own, I left to the Rich state

I smiled to myself, remembering the frivolous old me that only agreed to help the pastry deliveries as to learn the layout of what I thought to be the third worse place in Equestria, just behind Tartarus and Dodge Junction, Only a foalish individual would think that strategy would help me get out of here sooner, "I can't help but ridicule the dunce I used to be"

"Oh darling"

I turned toward the voice, "Lady Rarity, how may I be of service in this wonderful day?" We both then looked at the package I was carrying, "Mind you, I do have my hands full, unfortunately"

"I hope you don't mind just a talk?" She asked

"It would help pass the time"

"Well darling, if you don't mind me asking, who are you taking that cake to?"

"How did you know it was a cake?"

"I have lived in Ponyville my entire life! Of course I've seen the different colours Mrs Cake love using to organize the deliveries"

I looked down at the box, "All the boxes are the same colour, are they not?"

"Oh pft kh th! Of course a stallion would think they're the same colour," She then pointed at the box, "That's orchid pink, darling, their donut boxes are fairy tale pink, and the miscelaneous pastry boxed are cameo pink"

I just stared at the colour swatches that she took out of nowhere, "Those... are the same..."

She sighed with a bit of amusement, "Stallions," She smiled then pointed to a mansion, "Isn't that your destination, darling?"

I smiled back at her, "Why, yes it is. Time flies when you have a nice a conversation, than you for the pleasant talk. It was very... informative"

"I simply need to go back to my boutique," she said, then fanned herself with her hand, "I might be taking too many orders lately, perhaps a nice handsome stallion could help... but who could be such a chivalrious pony to help a lady in need I wonder?"

I smiled at her not suddle hint, This mare can be so dramatic when asking for help... "I might have some free time in a few days"

"Oh Prince! Thank you so much. Ta-Ta!" She then made her way back into town

"If I didn't know any better, I would think she was interested in courting me," I chuckled

I sighed as I reached the end of the stairs, "I might be losing my touch with wanna-be nobles..."

Dear Aunt... why are some ponies so aggravating?!! I reached into my satchel and took out my scroll

"Aha... Bon Bon... did that to... The cakes... I am indeed done," [...] I stood in front of the Ponyville library, I did not have too much today... Perhaps miss Twilight could help me with getting into my Aunts's good graces again

I reached for the door, but a little Twilight popped in my mind, You should always double and triple check any list, plans, requests... I pinched the breach of my nose, with a little smile on my face, and chuckled, "I have been hanging out with her a little too much"

Double-checking my list, and it's... I looked down at the parchment in my hands. I stopped. I could have sworn the pastries were last on my- it's not even my handwriting! "'Tomorrow hour past midday, go to Everfree entrance, 30 paces, left, poison joke, right, 46 paces' What is that supposed to mean?"

I carefully plan out my routine days in advance... So who wrote this? It's printed, but not a font I recognize... Intriguing

"I guess I should save this for tomo-" The writing wasn't on the page any longer, "-rrow... What in Celestia's name is going on..."

I stared at the parchment in which ever way I could think of, perhaps it was a trick of the light. But no, it did not matter which way I turn or tilted the page, the message would not reappear. Chills ran down my spine, I believe this is called a gut feeling... I don't like the implications

I had to cancel some of my appointments, but this feel too important

The Everfree forest, the most dangerous place in all of Equestria, not only because of the weather, but the monsters. And I'm about to walk into it alone

"And All because a piece of paper told me to," I sighed, "How have I fallen into such madness?"

I proceeded to follow the instructions, as best as my memory serves [...] About time I found the poison joke, it was so far into the forest... I took a quick look around, "Then it's right... right?" I started walking in said direction, 15 steps, 30 steps, 4...5? I place a hand on my chin, Was it 45? Or more steps?

Suddenly, there was an axplosion in the near distance, I hid as best I could

Peaking over my cover, something was smoldering and... moving? I moved to a different position trying to get a better look

Luis, he was leaning on a royal guard hunter unit, who was just as battered and hurt as he was, both were each holding one of the storm brothers. Their steps were unsteady and forced, they were barely holding on to consciousness, both Lightning and Thunder had already lost that battle

I ran up to them, "Luis! Hunter! Are you alright?!"

"Blue...blood... What are you... doing here?" he forced out, I walked in between them to help them walk better, "Thanks..."

"Anytime," I looked at their wounds, "How did these happen? They don't look like they were made by changelings"

"It... wasn't... cahnge... Ughh! *pant* Tarsus... hurt...with Zacora..." he continued to force out every word as he talked

I then looked at the hunter, "What's your name hunter?"

"Silver... Gleam..." She pained out

I glanced back at Luis, "What went wrong?" I asked as we finally reached the edge of the forest. He then got a paniced look in his face. Dropping Thunder, he tried to run but fell immediately, but he didn't let that stop him as he continued trying to crawl as fast as he could, "Luis! LUIS! What's wrong??!!" This is bad... I turned to the hunter, "I'm going to go get help, sorry for being so sudden about it," I then approached Luis, I hope you can forgive me... I thought as quickly used my satchel to immobilize Luis. I turned to miss Gleam, "Please keep an eye out," she nodded

I ran, faster than I ever had before, I told Fluttershy as I passed her as she left her cottage, yelled at the rainbow mane hanging off the branches of a tree to wake her, caught the attention of the cowgirl as I rushed past, alerted the pink menace of the town as I scurried, notified the protegee as I sprinted, just outright shouted at the fashionista to go with the others

I rushed, rushed to the place where this information was needed the most. I didn't even bother with the door knob as I slammed into the door, nearly taking it off the hinges

"NOCTIS!" I yelled, panting and wheezing for as much air as my lung could breath, "It's Luis...!" I heard the telltale sign of a knife hitting the ground when Noctis ran out with me, I don't know what happened, but it's serious... And for the secound time in my life, I had a gut feeling that things were going to get worse

A New Quest

"So you're giving me land in Ponyville?" I asked Blueblood

"The Princesses are making me do 'nice things', as if I wasn't nice. They said giving you something would be a good start, so take it or I'll tell the Princesses you denied me," he huffed

"Sure, I'll take it," I said a bit enthusiastically, he then shoved a scroll onto my chest

"Take it to the mayor, and they'll show you your land," he walked away

My sight followed him until he went round a corner, "Such attitude..."

"Prince!"

"Ahh!" I turn to the guard, "Don't sneak up on me!" I cleared my throat, "Sorry for, uhmm...yelling..."

"The Princess has requested your presence," the guard continued, unfazed by my manly yell of surprise

"I'll be there in a minute," the guard stomped in attention and walked away, No point in making them wait I guess, I headed to the throne room, Still... Where is my Scottish bat horse GF...?

I pushed the door ajar and lean my head in, "Hello, mum?"

"Hello, Luis, I hope I didn't interrupt anything," Celestia said, making her way down the stairs

"Oh, nothing important. I was just walking around the castle for a bit. By the way, do you know where Noctis went? I haven't seen her all day," We met at the bottom of the stairs with a hug, "How's life? I heard Twilight went a bit bonkers a few days ago"

She sat down on the stairs, I followed suit, "Indeed. She tried to cause a friendship problem to be able to fix it. Not the best way to learn any type of lesson"

"So, what is it that you wanted to talk about?"

"I have a favour to ask of you," she bit her lip in a bit of uncertainty, "You can refuse if you feel the need... Could you teach Blueblood how to behave?"

"Oh... As in morals, conduct, or...?"

"Yes"

Oh, boy... "All of the above, huh? Okay... So... When?" I felt my stress rising, What if I can't teach him properly? What if I accidentally teach him something wrong? All the fault would fall on- relax... breathe...

"As soon as possible, if you can"

Taking a deep breath I accepted, "I'll try, but what makes you think I can do this?"

"I believe you can do this because when he was acting like a 'cactus', as you so eloquently put it, you still gave him a chance"

"I'm not responsible if he comes back with a bloody nose," I said sarcastically, "It's fine, I'll give it a shot"

Celestia wrapped her arm around me and gave my shoulder a good squeeze, "I knew I could count on you"

I sigh, "You know how many variables I have created on the timeline at this point? Because I lost count," Not like it matters if I keep count, new things will happen...

"You mustn't worry now," she stood up signalled to one of the guards, "Would you kindly bring Blueblood, Swift Strike?" the guard head-bowed and headed out

"How do you do to know who they are? They all look the same with the armour"

"Years of experience"

"I guess..." I stood up

The door opened slightly and Noctis popped her head in, "Sorry, Princess, is- Luis! I've been looking for you," she walked in

She's not wearing her usual suit... "So... new clothes," I reached into my pocket and fidgeted with the small box inside, Might be too soon... but...

"You noticed?" she planted a kiss on my lips, "I thought you might like them. So waddaya think?"

Just wait a bit, it's already planned out, I thought taking my hand out of my pocket. Doing a quick scan of her clothes i said, "Nice! I like it, goes well with your hair down like that too," I hugged her and placed my chin on her head, her ears twitched brushing against my cheeks which made me chuckle

"If I look ridiculous you need to tell me!" she moved to arm's length and looked at me, "Honest. Why did you laugh? It's the blouse, right? I shouldn't have gone for red..."

"Oh, no. I'm not complaining about your clothes, they're really nice. it's just... your ears tickle," Noctis pouted at my comment, I moved to kiss her on the forehead, "It's okay... that makes you cuter"

She smiled and said, "I love you too," then pulled me into another kiss

"I got some news too, hehe... I uhm, might be taking Blueblood into 'personality lessons', possibly? He's going to be around me for a while, sorry..." I rubbed my neck thinking, I done goof, didn't I... I should've thought about it a bit more... oh well

"I know where the throne room is! NOW ADDRESS ME AS PRINCE AND GO AWAY!"

Oh, god... what have I gotten myself into... I turned my gaze to the doorway, and Blueblood was pissed

"What do you want, your majesty?" he said with a somewhat mocking bow

"For one, Swift Strike, please inform all the staff that Blueblood shall be treated with the respect they believe he deserves, disregarding his title of 'prince'. Make sure that this information is spread to every staff member of the castle," Celestia stated quite sternly, stepping in front of Noctis and I

"Yes, Princess," Swift went out the door again

Celestia then turned her attention to Blueblood, "As for you... From today until he believes you are ready, you will obey Luis as he will be teaching you the manners you should already posses as a prince"

Blueblood glared at me, I just waved and shrugged, I am so going to regret this... Wait... "What day is it today?"

"It's Wednesday, why- AW BU-!!" she covered her mouth just before 'swearing,' "We're gonna to be late!!" Noctis started to freak out

"Late for what?" We are not to go there for another hou- OH FUCK!! "You're right!!" I grabbed Noctis's hand, and we head out the door, "We'll be back soon! Sorry!" I yelled back at Celestia, I told her an hour earlier for my proposal!!, I smiled to myself as I directed us to the edge of the city, She's gonna love the necklace

That was almost two months ago. Although, I did leave Blueblood in the castle to toughen up for like a week while I got the land and built the house. About a week ago, Spike went full dragon for a few hours, thankfully our house was spared any major damage, and tomorrow I'm going to the family appreciation presentation that Nimble has to do... I happily sighed, "We actually adopted him..."

"Aye, we did," Noctis said wrapping her arms behind me

"Hello! You surprised me. How was your day?" I gave her a quick kiss

"Not too bad. Rainbow is quite diligent about the weather. Even when she seems to be slacking off," she moved a chair next to me and sat down as I messed around with some crystals

"If she gives you any trouble just... kick her or something," the sarcasm came back to bite me as Noctis flicked my ear, "Ow! Why are you so mean?" I stuck my tongue out

"You deserve that"

"Ah, yes, yes I do," I said putting the crystal in place, my project lit up almost instantly, "There we go," I got up from the table and placed the circuit board in the mount on the wall and connected the panel to the computer next to it, then I moved to the stargate and connected the generator to the ring, "And now... To Canterlot," I made my way outside and prepared for fast-travel, Better than that puke-inducing teleportation...

Noctis followed me and asked, "Why do you need to go to Canterlot?"

"To test that," I pointed back at the house

"But the ring is finished"

"It is, but you can't have a coin with only one side," I said matter-of-factly, "Want to come with?" Noctis nodded with a smile, "Then hang tight," She grabbed my arm as I selected Canterlot on my pip-boy

In the blink of an eye, we were in front of the castle

"I'll never get use to that," Noctis said a bit wobbly

"Beats teleportation"

"It really doesn't..."

"It does for me," I grabbed her hand, "Come on, Nimble gets off school in less than an hour"

We made our way to the other ring which was a ways away from the main entrance to the castle, still within the outer walls. As we approached, the guards keeping watch of the ring saluted

"At ease," I said approaching the console, "And move aside," connecting the generator, I made sure that there was no one in the way one last time, "Test number twelve is..." I pressed two of the symbols on the console, "Commencing," with a press of the big red button, the inner ring began to turn, Looking good... "Chevron one..." It locks, "Locked. Chevron two... locked, and soo..." it opens, "Finally!!"

"What was that?!!" Noctis moved next to me, gawking at the gate

"That was a stargate activation. Now test twelve, part two," I made my way up the ramp in front of the stargate and put my hand in it, It doesn't feel like anything... but it tingles... I turned back at Noctis, "Want to test it with me?" I extend my hand, "Otherwise, you might need to ask to be teleported back to Ponyville," she took my hand, "Also, it might not work and we will die"

"What?!!!"

I stepped into the event horizon, I letting go of Noctis before getting pulled through. Immediately, I find myself back in our house, with the other stargate shimmering behind me, I started jumping excitedly, "Yes! Yes! It worked! It finally fucking worked!!" the wall in front of the gate was more or less missing a chunk, "Uhmm... The stargate seems to be a bit to close too that..." it deactivated, I turned around, "It's not too close to that wa- chingada madre..." I noticed a small burn mark just behind the center of the gate, "Welp, I guess I'll have to extend this room a little bit... or I could make a dedicated room for it... Later"

I went to the panel I had finished earlier and started dialing back to Canterlot

==[POV - Noctis]==

"What is that idiot thinking?!!" I made my way to the controls, Which ones did he use? The ring activated again, "Did it work?" I asked nopony in particular

Luis came through, "It works just fine," he stated with a smile on his face, "Although..." he shook some ice of his shoulders, "It's a bit cold"

"Why would it be cold?" How can it be cold?

"Because of the decompression process"

"The what?"

"Basically, when something enters the stargate it gets dematerialized and compressed before being sent into the matter-stream. When it exits the gate on the other side, the particles gets de-compressed and reassembled. The decompression takes energy, so it takes that energy in the form of heat, leaving the item cold"

"And because you went through the other one almost immediately, you didn't have time to warm up again," I walked up to him

"Pr-reci-isely," his voice started to shiver

"Then let me warm you up. But first!" I slapped him for scaring me like he did

"I deserved that," he said rubbing his cheeck

I then hugged him, he wrapped his arms around me as he started to shiver all over

After a small while he stopped shivering, "Let's go pick up little Nimble from school," he readied his pip-boy

I placed my hand over the screen, "We still have over half an hour, why not enjoy ourselves a little?" I winked, "Helps to warm you up a little more too"

"You just want donuts," he said poking my side

I recoiled back, blushing, "N-no...! I just... I mean... Don't tease me like that! You're mean!" we started heading into the city

"To be fair, you do like donuts... a lot"

That son of a- "Are you calling me fat?!"

"Even if you fell in that category, I wouldn't even care," he kissed me very sweetly, "I would love you just as much," he brushed stray hairs off my face smiling

==[POV - Luis]==

I caught Nimble out of the air into a hug, "Hey, Nimble, how was school today?"

"Did you know Granny Smith lived here before Ponyville was even founded?" Nimble said excitedly as he jumped off me

"Oh, really? That's nice, she must have so many more stories"

"Yeah! Applebloom wanted to invite me to help with the zap apple harvest too, can I go?"

"Sure, but I'll come pick you up in a couple of hours, okay?" I petted his head

"Thanks, dad!" he ran to the CMCs, my heart fluttered with happiness at his words

"Be careful!" I yelled back

"I will!" with a final wave, he ran off to the farm

He called me dad... I smiled, "I am so bragging to Red," I whispered to myself as I made my way home

"Hey, Luis, wait for me!" Bluebloods voice called out

I turned to the source to see him running towards me, so I waited for him, "Hello, Blueblood, how was your day?"

He passed me a scroll, "Here is my report of today so far"

I gave it a quick read, "So Bon Bon thinks you were a great help, Vinyl thinks you could use more people skills, and..." I read the rest, "Okay, okay... overall, not bad," I slapped his shoulder, "Good job," I handed back the scroll

"Thank you, and honestly... I'm getting used to living like this. Simple, yet, what is the word... comfortable," He scanned around my legs for a brief second, "Where is young Gust? I had something for him"

A gift?? Extra points are in order... "He's playing with some friends at the moment"

"Well, if you are to collect him, may I come with? I would appreciate the opportunity of giving him my gift personally"

He's improved a lot more than I thought...! "Sure, why not"

"Thank you. Now if you'll excuse me, I have an appointment with the doctor to attend," he walked off with a wave

I'm still not used to him in professional-looking suit instead of that weird royal-ish one...

I made my way home. As soon as I opened the door, I was greeted by the smell of chicken, Oh. My. God... I love her... I walked to the kitchen and leaned on the doorway, looking at Noctis cook. After a bit, I said in my best British accent, "Well, hello there, darling," and hugged her from behind

She was a little surprised, "Luis! Hi, how did it go?"

I leaned down and kissed her neck, "We have the house to ourselves for a little bit, Nimble's with the Apples"

She nuzzled me, "Doing what? Is he 'crusading' with the CMCs again?"

"He's probably in a bunny suit right about now," I let her go and looked over the stove, "Whatcha cooking?"

"I'm making that ceasar salad you showed me a whil- ... Wait, in a bunny suit?"

"Long story, he should tell you!" I looked at her with a shit-eating grin, "He called me 'dad' today too, Red. Jealous?"

Noctis turned around with a somewhat offended expression, "What?! No way! It only happened because it was your turn to pick him up. No fair!" she started pouting

I placed my hand on her head, "Looks like my little wify is jealous"

She swatted my hand away, "W-wha... I'm not jealous! And we're not married yet!!" she grasped her necklace with both hands with a smile, "Yet..."

I grabbed her hands and kissed her forhead, "'Yet', that's the important word"

"Just a few more months," she said as she snuggled up to me

I let go of her hands and hugged her, "And then: marriage"

"I know..."

I let her go and look at my own necklace, "Anyways. I'm going to the store, want anything?"

==[POV - Noctis]==

"No, thanks. I'll just finish preping dinner," I said turning back to the stove

"Are you sure?"

"Aye, I'm sure"

"Okay, I'll be back soon," Luis went out the door

As soon as the chicken was cooked, I chopped it up and covered it to let it rest for a bit, Now what can I do... A hard thud came from the door, I guess there's my answer, "Coming!"

I opened the door, and the mailmare handed me a couple of letters and a small package, "Here you go, Noctis! Have a nice day!"

"I will, Derpy, you too. And be careful"

"I am. See you later," with that, she flew off

I closed the door and set the correnspondence on the table, but one of the letters caught my eye, "It's from the Princess!"

I read the letter, and was very much surprised

"Why am I still invited to the guard's pre-gala party?! It must be a mistake," the stargate activated in the other room, "Wait what?" The 'swoosh' went off

"OH COME ON!!" Luis made his way into the house, "I'm going to kick whoever activated the gate," he grumbled as he made his way into the gate room

I got up and followed him, "What happened?"

"I had just fixed the wall for the night, and now I have to fix it again!" he stood his ground in front of the gate, arms crossed. Then Princess Celestia came through, his whole demeanor changed, "Oh! Mum! Hi... uhhhh, do you like it?"

"Is it normal to feel chills after using this device?"

"Pretty much. If you use it again you'll have to get ice off from you"

"I see. May I ask why you built such a device?"

The gate closed and Luis guided the Princess to the living room, "Let's talk on the couch... And the reason is that I was planning to create a network of stargates to the mayor cities in equestria because not every pony can teleport or fly long distances, and some times they might not have the time to take a proper vacation so the gate will make travel near instant"

I jump into the conversation, "Princess, would you like some tea or coffee?"

"Noctis, you are almost my daughter-in-law, there is no need to address me as 'princess'. And yes, tea would be lovely, thank you"

"Sorry, Prin-Celestia, force of habit," I turned to Luis and asked him to, he just nodded, so made my way to the kitchen

==[POV - Luis]==

Such a device must surely have drawbacks"

"It surely does, it takes massive amounts of energy to actually use, that's why I had to get some naquadah generators, as well as also being a one way trip. If you want to go back to where you came from, you would have to dial back. And the initial vortex is the most dangerous part of it, if you saw my wall... well, put simply: it vaporizes anything in it's way"

"When you say it is a 'one way trip', will it reject anything that may try to go back?"

"No. It will go in..." I looked down at my hands, She might think that it's to dangerous and shut them down...

"But never come back out, I presume," I nodded, "I see... Make sure to place proper, visible and clear warnings"

I stared at her in disbelief, "Really?? Thank you!"

Noctis came back with a tray, "Here we go, tea!"

I glanced at the clock, It's almost time... I stood up, "Well, thanks for visiting, mum, but I have to go pick up Nimble from his friend's"

"I understand. I must ask before you leave, how is Blueblood's attitude developing?"

"A lot faster than I was expecting, honestly," I looked the time on the pip-boy, "Sorry, have to go"

Noctis stood up and gave me a quick peck on the cheek, "Take care"

"I will," I went out the door, Now, where is Blueblood?

==[POV - Noctis]==

"Celestia, I wasn't able to bring this up before, but..." I took out the invitation, "Why was I invited to the pre-gala party? I'm no longer part of the guards"

"Because, my dear Red, everypony wanted to have you as this year's honoured guest," Celestia gave me a graceful smile

"But they could've had Sapphire Shores, or even Songbird Serenade! So why me?"

She waved at me to get closer and leaned into a 'hush-hush' position, "You did not hear this from me, but it appears you have become quite a celebrity among the ranks. An ex-guard engaged to the prince? Imagine the gossip," she sat back up, "Also, they wanted to commend you personally for guarding the gate to Tartarus for as long as you did"

"I was the only one who ever guarded the gate, though. Well, except for when I was needed for missions and... nevermind, that was before my time"

"Nopony ever wanted a creature to escape on their watch"

"True... but Cerberus is such a sweetheart, tho. Him alone made the job worth it," I sighed, "Maybe we should get a pet"

"Is that a wedding gift request hmm?" she bounced her eyebrows

"Oh no, please just a simple gift," I hesiated before asking my next question, "Is... Is anypony looking after the gate now?"

"Tartarus has not caused any trouble in almost a millennia, thus my sister and I have opted to enchant the gate so only unicorns with the skill to cast the opening spell may enter"

==[POV - Luis]==

"...so yeah, I've believe you are worthy of an upgrade," I gave Blueblood a sincere smile, "Congrats, you fall within the rank of 'neutral' now, so no more negative titles for you. Well, unless you stop practicing good deeds and start being a prick again"

Blueblood did a little happy dance before regaining his composure and clearing his throat, "Thank you, I really appreciate your help"

We stopped a few meters from a group of ponies and foals eating toast, Eating zap apple jam toast... I wonder how good it is, "Nimble, I'm here," I called out

"Dad!" Nimble flew into my arms, "Aren't you a little early?" he glaced to the side, noticing Blueblood, "Hiya, uncle"

Blueblood waved in response

I sat him on my shoulders, "Well, I was honestly expecting to have trouble finding Blueblood," I looked at AJ, "Thanks for looking after him, hope he wasn't too much trouble"

AJ stood up, grabbing a jar of jam, and made her way towards us, "Here," she handed me the jar, "Nimble almost forgot his jam," she tipped her hat at him, "He was mighty helpful, hope Ah see ya again lil' guy"

"Of course you will," Nimble said in his most confident tone

"Again, thank you so much, Applejack"

"Any time," she tipped her hat again

I waved goodbye as we headed out the farm, "By the way, grandma's visiting today"

There was a collective gasp from Nimble and Blueblood, but Nimble spoke up first, "Wow! Really?"

All I heard from Blueblood was a groan, afterwads he spoke up again, changing the subject, "Young Gust, I have a gift for you"

Nimble looked at his uncle excitedly, "Really?!"

"As a matter of fact, it is one gift that spans two items," he smiled as he took out a helmet, "Riddle me this, young Gust, what could be the other part of this gift?"

A bicycle? Or...? I mean, it's not a bicycle helmet, so...

Nimble was handed the helmet, he immediately began examining it. After a while he squeed, "Did you get me a scooter?!"

"Am I that easy to read?" he asked with a smile, "Yes, that is the gift. I will give it to you once we arrive at your house"

==[POV - Noctis]==

"...and when I woke up, he was scratching my midrift, still asleep, like, I know I don't have the same workout routine as before, but I haven't gained anything at all. His excuse was 'force of habit,' what type of habit is that?"

"He might act odd at times, but he is a good human"

"I know, kinda why I said 'yes'"

"It's the habit of having a pet, always giving belly scratches"

I gasp, turning around to see Luis leaning on the door way, "I'm sorry, I didn't know you were back yet!"

"Sorry for what? Being honest?"

"Where's Nimble?"

"He's looking at the hole with Blueblood. I really need to expand that room. Anyways, sorry if my weirdness bothers you"

"Oh! No! It was quite..." I felt the blood rushing to my cheeks, I don't wan to say enjoyable, it might be weird..., "It was fine, it didn't bother me... just... nevermind..." I looked down at my hands, face and ears as hot as a fire, It felt really nice tho...

"Mom! Grandma!" Nimble ran from behind Luis's legs and jumped to my arms

He called me-! I turned to Nimble with a smile, "Hi, Nimble! How was your day? Did you have fun at Applebloom's? And why are you wearing a helmet?"

"Hello, my little Nimble"

Nimble jumped from my arms onto the couch, "Grandma, grandma! Did you really give Granny Smith the farm before Ponyville existed?"

"It is true, I gave her father the land of the farm"

"Umm... Hello, your highness..." Bluebloods voice was shaky and insecure, "Don't mind me..." he walked to his room doing his best to avoid eye contact

"Applejack gave us some zap apple jam," Nimble broke the silence, "We should eat it!"

Luis took out a jar of rainbow jam, "I've only heard of how good this thing is," he started to make his way to the kitchen, "Anyone want their bread toasted?"

"OOOH! Me! Me!" Nimble jumped on the couch

"Nimble, be careful!" I grabbed him and sat him down, then turn to Luis, "Me too, if you wouldn't mind, thanks"

"I would love to help you in the kitchen, Luis," Celestia stood up and glaced at Nimble, "I will be right back, little one"

==[POV - Luis]==

I entered the kitchen, Celestia right behind me, "I guess you want to talk a bit about Blueblood?" I set the jar on the counter and took the bread out, "Do you want your bread toasted?"

"Yes, and yes please"

"Okay," I placed the bread on a long griddle and turned up the heat, "Sooo... Blueblood... What to tell you... He's out of the negative points, according to my little formula anyways, so there's that," I opened the jar and took out a butter knive, "Would you like some more tea? I noticed the teapot was empty"

"That would be lovely"

I flipped the bread and took some plates out, "I would probably recommend easing up on the whole 'highness' thing, let him feel like his efforts actually get rewarded," I said as I filled the kettle with water and placed it on the flame stove

I heard a sigh of relieve from Celestia, "Thank you"

"But, and there's always a 'but', you still need to be harsh for the moment, just not as harsh as before. He needs to understand that what he did and his actions will never be take lightly again. Until his good attitude becomes a habit anyways, then It doesn't matter too much, habits are hard to break"

She giggles, "Is this why your house seems to different?"

"Hehe, yeah, pretty much. This is more or less what a modern human house looks like in Canada. Two floors with a basement, except the attic is usually empty space and not an actual floor of the house like this one," I place the toast on each plate on a tray, "Later I might buy land in Canterlot and make a house in a colonial-Mexican style, they're beautiful. Anyways, let's go"

"How may I help?"

"Uhh... can yooouu take... the jam and the knife out? Thanks," we moved to the living room and left the stuff on the coffee table, I grabbed the teapot and counted the cups, We need two more, if Blueblood joins us, "Okay, I'll be right back with the tea," I moved back into the kithchen, the kettle already whistling. I readied the tea and got a couple of cups and went back out

"Thank you, aunt Celestia," Blueblood bowed deep in gratitude, "I hope we can talk more often"

"There is still many things you have to fix on yourself before that is allowed to happen"

"Of course, Princess," he looked up with a bit of a hopeful smile

"See ya later, grandma!" Nimble jumped and gave Celestia a big hug

"Goodbye, mom, see you in a few days," I gave my signature salute-wave

"It was nice catching up, Princess Celestia," Noctis waved goodbye

"Goodbye, my little ponies," Celestia stepped through the stargate, a few seconds later it closed

"Luis, is it okay if I go to bed early today? Her visit was fairly stressful for me," Blueblood said with an expression I knew all too well, he was mentally drained

We moved from the 'workshop' into the living room, "Sure no problem," I took a glance at my pip-boy, "It's fairly late too, rest easy"

"Thank you," he gave a small bow and went into his room

I turn to Nimble, "Don't you have homework or something?"

"Nope, just getting you ready for tomorrow!" Nimble said smiling

For tomorrow? "Uhh, of course the... thing... tomorrow... how could I ever forget," Tomorrow... Nimble getting me ready for tomorrow... instead of homework... oh... "Yeah, the family appreciation week presentation"

Noctis giggled, "You almost forgot didn't you, you huddy?" she gave me a kiss on the cheek, "Come on, lets get you ready"

I stop on my way to the couch, Wait a minute... "Did we even get mail today?" I asked to the air

"Yes we did, you got a package and letter from Rick," she said pointing at the table

"Oh, thanks," I grabbed the letter and opened it, "Do you know what he send?" Wait... it could't be... not this fast anyways! I began to read the letter and sat on the couch

"What does it say?"

I signal Noctis to give me a second as I finished reading, Holy fuck it is! "It's the thing I asked Rick to make for me," I opened the package and inside was a holotape, "Nice"

"Oooh, It's one of those holo-thingies you like collecting, dad," Nimble said over my shoulder

"Yeah, it is," I inserted the tape into the slot and off it went loading up the info, but instead of showing what the holotape has, it gave me a prompt 'Unofficial add-on detected. Install anyways?' Well yeah... I hope it doesn't break... I pressed yes and more text scrolled by. 'Fixing redundancy errors' and 'intalling compatability patch' were among the few lines I managed to read, "Aaaand... Done!"

"So, what does it do?" Nimble sat next to me staring at the pip-boy

"It will make it easier to count my bits," Now I don't have to worry about putting otherworldy money into this economy, I looked over my bits and I had still over a thousand bits that did belong in this world, That's a relieve, "Now, who wants to play uno?"

"Daaad... You have to get ready for your presentation"

"Oh well, I tried..."

Noctis and I laid in bed, she had fallen asleep almost an hour ago. Me, in the other hand, couldn't fall asleep so I laid there stcratching her behind the ears. I passed my hand over her shoulder, brushing her cutie mark, A moon and clouds, so simple yet... elegant... I smiled to myself as I caressed her face, I love you so much... I kissed her forhead, ...so much... I chuckled just as sleep finally took me

Author's Note

This is the start of a small series I'll be starting, just don't expect updates as fast as Hard Landing. There is no set draft at the moment, but I do have a not quite specific but better than general idea of where I want the story to go. I'll have to work out any bugs in continuity, and I'll definitely have to iron out all the consequences of Luis's presence in Equestria

Enjoy!

Do sheep count wolves to wake up?

==[POV - Luis]==

*beep, beep, beep*

I slowly opened my eyes, everything was blurry but I could tell I was in a hospital

A doctor approached me, "Welcome back to the real world. I'm surprised you woke up after what you've been through"

"What happened?" I barely managed to ask just before the doctor walked out

He stopped at the doorway and looked at me, "You survive falling out of a plane," he walked out

"What..."

I rubbed the haziness out of my eyes and frantically looked around, examining everything

Fluorescent lights, vertical blinds, plastic in the bed frames, no pip-bo- ... Noctis. Nimble... No nononononono... But... Th-they are real... they... are real... I... was... with them... Celestia, mom, please... no...

I sat there, things happened, days went by, I was checked out of the hospital. I was numb, emotionally and mentally numb.

I sat in front of the psychologist

"Luis?" she said, worried, "I can't help you if you don't talk"

"There is nothing to help," Noctis... Nimble...

"You survived a very traumatic experience, it is only normal for the mind to try to make sense of everything. Now tell me about the people you met in your coma-"

"I was wide awake"

"It may have felt like you were as awake as you are right now, but truth is, you were in a coma for the past two years," she sighed, "Look, whatever you think might have happened-"

"It did happen!! This is the dream! I know it... I just... know it..."

She took off her glasses and pinched the bridge of her nose, "Look, this is our... third session, is it? I'm here to help you. You've missed a lot AND you've suffered greatly because of that close call. I just-" an alarm went off, "Time's up. At least we made some progress to day"

I stood up and went for the door, "I don't think we did," I went out of the room. My dad was waiting there

He stood up and came to me, "We'll get through this," He said giving me a hug

I didn't even bother with the hug as I looked away, "I'll wait in the car"

I sat down on my new bed, unsurprisingly they sold my bed after hearing the plane crashed along with basically everything else in my room. They turned it into an office almost immediately after the news, it was only until I got released from the hospital that they change- actually, made me change the room back to a bedroom

"I should go see if I can get my job back..." I turned to the folder with my resumes, No one I know might work there now... I really don't think... At least I should try, I got up and grabbed the folder, put on shoes and made my way to the main door, "I'm heading out!"

"Where are you going?" asked my dad from across the house

"Drop off resumes, what else?"

"Be safe!"

I went out and closed the door. I made my way down the street and on my way to the mall

The streets were oddly empty, probably due to the fact that it was a weekday and just past noon

"Luis..."

"Uhh, hello?" I looked around while answering the whisper, but there was no one close enough to sound like that, definitely no one that would know my name, "Okaaay..." I continued my way towards my old job

I opened the door, Definitely don't know that cashier, "Hello"

"Hello! How may I help you?!" answered the chirpier cashier

"I was wondering if you guys were hiring"

"Well... We prefer online applications, but I can take your resume, if that works for you"

I hand her my resume, "Thanks"

She smiled back, "No problem! My manager will be back so- Ah! There she is"

I turned around and saw my old boss, "Hello there, Jess"

"Luis? Holy shit! What happened to you?" she said in surprise

"Plane crash, you know, the usual," I said with a sly smile

"Uh, I see," she said, after a pause she perked up, "Wait! What?!"

"Remember those vacation days I asked for? Yeah, that happened and I woke up from that a few weeks ago"

"Felicia," Jess said turning to the cashier, "Did he come here to drop off a resume?"

"Yeah, he did," the cashier, now know as Felicia, said while handing Jess the piece of paper

Jess then turned to me, "I'll do everything to get you working here again, okay? If you don't get the job, I'll call you"

"Thanks Jess, you're a lifesaver"

"Luis..."

I looked around as I heard the voice again, this time I noticed a shadow outside the door. I turned back to Jess and Felicia, "Thanks for everything. I have something else to do"

"No problem," they both said

I walked out of the store and looked towards where the shadow went, but there was only a wall, What... I put my ear up to the wall and started knocking around it, "I swear... What's going on..." turning around, I was surprised to see my dad

"What are you doing?" he asked

"Nothin- How did you know where I was?"

"You said you were coming here, didn't you? I forgot"

"Uh huh..." I felt something was off, well, more off than hearing voices, but I pushed that thought asaide. At least for the time being

As always, I felt awkward and somewhat ignored as they just talked about their day, not even giving me glance, during dinner. I finished and stood up only for my step-mother to yell at me and tell me it's disrespectful to just stand up and ignore others at the table. Ironic

"Buen probecho," I said venomously

"There you go. It wasn't that hard was it?" she retorted smugly

I hid my annoyed grunt as I went to rinse my dishes and placed them in the washer, then headed up to my room. But not before she yelled at me to not use the internet

I had it, "It's the same fucking thing you told me last time I was looking for a job, you bitch! How the fuck I'm I supposed to get a job if you're like 'Ugh, don't use the interneeet' 'Internet makes you stupid' like goddamn it's the twenty-first fucking century for FUCK'S SAKE! Every motherfucking job has an online application! If I don't used the godforsaken internet, I can't apply ninety nine percent of all the fucking jobs out there! Like seriously! WHAT THE FUCK KIND OF CRACK ARE YOU SMOKING?!! ... Jesus Christ..."

She stood up completely pissed, "Listen here, señorito. If you hadn't just gotten out of the hospital, I would've kicked you out already," daggers shooting from her words, "I would look like a horrible mother if I did"

Then don't act like one! I thought to myself as I glanced at my dad, as always, he did nothing, Pinche bastardo... I slammed my door shut

I stood there, doing nothing, watching the sun set out of my window, "Mom..." locking the door, I threw myself at my bed and buried my face on a pillow as I cried myself to sleep

The next day I woke up feeling like shit, not even a shower nor making myself look decent using some tips I learned from Rarity helped. As I went to the kitchen, the smell of fried eggs hit me, Why would I expect otherwise... I thought disappointetedly as I sat at the table

"Here you go," he said as he sat down too, handing me a plate

I took a forkfull of egg, I almost gagged. Like always, it was drenched in oil, "Can you not make me breakfast anymore? Thank you," I asked for the twelve time this week

"Are you sure?" I nodded back, "Okay"

Same thing he said for the past tewlve times... Not really expecting things to change this time around

After breakfast, I got ready to go out again. As I opened the front door, I yelled, "I'm going out"

"Where are you going?"

"Take a guess," I closed the door and made my way to the nearest store cluster hoping to find someone hiring. A fwe steps from the house, I saw an exacto knife on the floor. This made me stop for a moment, contemplating... it's sharpness... But pushed the thoughts aside, Noctis would kill me if I ever did that. Even if it's a dream... I thought with a sigh and continued on my way

After going around the first corner I saw a couple, not that much older than me, but they had a child with them. The floodgates burts open, heart pain took over as greif washed over me. I took the first backalley and found and hid with some garbage bins. I stayed there for a few minutes, holding back tears, just thinking of Noctis and Nimble. No matter what I did, I couldn't get them out of my mind, Noctis, Nimble, Celestia, Luna!! ... ... I can't...

Then my phone rang. Cleaning my self up, I answered, "Hello?"

"Luis? This is Jess"

"Oh, hi Jess, how are you?"

"I'm good, but you don't sound so hot. Are you okay?"

"I-uh, yeah, just- just allergies"

"I didn't know you had alergies"

"Me neither. So, what's up?"

"You know things are, my managers want me to interview you even though you techincally never left"

"Wait, so I'm back in?"

"After the interview, yes... Probably"

"When..."

"Today, actually. Can you come by in about an hour?"

I stood up, feeling slightly better, "I'll be there in thirty minutes"

"Awesome, see you here kid"

I hanged up, I better keep my promise, and made my way down the street towards the mall

As I came out of the alleyway, a group of girls walked by, but what intriged me was that they were talking about helping someone. I stopped, and when I turned around to look at them, they were gone

==[POV - Noctis]==

Twilight and the others came out of the hospital room with somber expressions, "Noctis... I still can't find the problem..."

"And it hasn't gone away, has it," she shook her head. I buried my face on my hands and began to cry, It's my fault"

"Darling, this isn't anypony's fault. His magic just went out of control and it hurt him"

"But magic... it comes from emotion... I did this... I-I-I broke him..." I managed to say in between sobs. Somepony placed a hand on me

"Shhh. It's okay. Let it all out. We'll get through this. He'll be okay," Fluttershy reasured me as she stroked my back

After while they left, and I was left there, in front of the door, alone. Slowly, I entered the partially destroyed room, scorch marks adorned the wall, the thick glass windows were cracked, and every anti-magic precaution was damaged in some way or another

I just looked at him, slowly taking the seat next to him, I just cried in silence. In his hand was my necklace, nopony could pry it off his hand. I kept blaming myself

*FWOOOSH*

A blast of magic basted past me, barely gracing my disheveled mane

==[POV - Luis]==

"There we go," I said as best I could to the 'special' kind of customer as I fixed the card reader

"Finally!!" He excailmed with an over exagerated tone and throwing his hands up, "Come on, I don't have all day," he grunted crossing his arms

I finished bagging his game and collectable figurine, "Sorry for the wait! Here you go," I handed him the bag with a customer service smile. He just snatched the bag from my hand and grunted away, but as he was about to leave, he stopped. Almost as if he was staring into his reflection on the glass door

He turned around and walked back towards me, "Sorry... It's been a very stressfull couple of months for me... I guess I took it out on you," he apologized quite sincerely, "I'm getting married next week. All the planning, costs, it gets in your head. Sorry. I truly am"

I stood there a bit baffled by the change in personality this guy just had, "Not problem... I hope it goes well," I said after recovering from the whiplash

He smiled, "Thank you. And again, I'm very sorry," He turned to leave but before he left I managed to hear him whisper something vague about waking up, Probably had a bad morning. I know the feeling, I thought

==[POV - Noctis]==

I opened my eyes as I felt the outburst stop, "That... worked?" I asked myself

letting go of his hand, I got up from the floor and looked at him. His face had relaxed, I wonder what's going in that head of yours...

The door burst open and in came the doctor with a couple of nurses, "We got here... as fast... as we could..." he said in between pants, "Dear Celestia... *wheeze* I'm out of shape... How's Luis?"

"He had another episode. But I think everything is fine for now. Although..." I turned to look at the thaum sink-rod, which now layed molten on the floor, "You might need to get another one of those..."

"Alright, thank you, Lady Noctis. We have it from here," the doctor said while nodding towards the door

"Thanks, doc," I walked out of the room and stopped for a second, Am I getting Luis's sense of humor?

I ran down the corridors of the hospital. That morning I had gotten news that Luis was going critical, I left Nimble with Blueblood in case... in case... I didn't want to think about it, I just ran.

As I exited the starcase, I was greeted by a wall of guards. It only took one to see me for all of them to open up and let me through. I couldn't believe my eyes, Celestia was struggeling to keep Luis's outburst in check all the while Luna was trying to enter his head. I didn't care when thay started yelling at me, I ran up to Luis and took his hands. The amout of power his body was releasing hurt like fire from Tartarus, but I didn't care

"Luis! Please! Wake up! You can't leave us- You can't leave Nimble like that! He needs you!" I started to cry my eyes out, "You can't die like this... please..."

"Noctis..."

If I could tell you... If I could be with you... I sat up and looked at Luna, "Take me in there. Use my own life force if you need to"

"Noctis, I don't think-"

"I don't care! Give him my life if you need to!! Just... help him..." Luna wanted to object again, but opted to just nod as she began to work her magic

==[POV - Luis]==

I woke up in the middle of the night, my clock marked just past midnight. My door creaked open, and I saw a figure standing there. It had pointy ears on the top of its head, almost like...

"Hello?" I whispered

The figure moved, but I managed to make out a tail, "Luis..." it whispered, SHE whispered

"Wait!" I jumped out of bed and went out of my room. She was exiting through the front door, so I followed

As I made it out of the house, I heard movement behind me. My parents, they were walking down the stairs, "Where are you going?" they asked in unison

"Out of this nightmare"

I started to walk backwards as they went down the last few steps, their bodies slowly morphing into each other, turning into some sort of smoke, "And go WHERE?" their voices changed to demonic on the last word, "Out there with your precious Noctis?"

I backed away ever slightly faster with every step they took, "Yes, that's the real world!"

It just started laughing, "She ditched you!" I stopped, "Your own fiancé! Don't you remember? She HATES you"

"But... but- but-" I stammered out before being interrupted

"But nothing. We made you see you were never loved, but you had to go and believe you could be. HA! What a joke," it stopped it's two faces inches from my own, "Stay here. This is where you belong after all" it said with a manic grin as his faces merged into one face, my own face staring back at me

Something took my hand and pulled me away from the thing. I snapped out of my trance and saw Noctis, or an apparition of her, "Noctis?" I asked, but got no answer. We continued running, block after block, street after street, as we made our way downtown. He kept yelling, calling for me, trying to indimidate me and making me give in

We stopped in and alleyway after a while of running, "WHERE ARE YOU?! YOU CAN'T ESCAPE FROM HERE!!" the thing yelled in the distance, "This is MY world"

Noctis's shade looked at me and took my hand and balled it up to a fist, but she gave me something. I opened my hand and saw the necklace I proposed with, "Y-y-you really hate me... don't you..." I couldn't believe it, she gave me back the necklace, even in my own mind she still seemed to not want to do anything with me

But then, she took my other hand and made me grab the necklace and hold it in a way where she slipped her head through. She had the necklace on again. She herself put on the necklace again!

The other me found us, "There you are... Time to take back what's mine," he said reaching for me

"Fuck off!" I just yelled back, and surprisingly it stopped

"Beg your pardon?"

"Fuck you. All you are is my insecurities and doubts, aren't you?"

"And the most powerful thing about you! Leave that dirty whore you wanted to marry. She doesn’t even care about you," he said boastfully, not realizing some major changes

We were no longer in the city, but on a field, and most importantly the demon itself was getting smaller. Behind it there were all the ponies I made friends with, Quick Study, Thinker, Shinning armour, Lightning Hooves, Thunder Guard, Elusive, Lyra, Bon Bon, the Mane Six, Luna, even mom and the Royal Guards. Rick too, but he was my friend from before all of this happened, also not a pony, so... Still counts I guess

Noctis took my hand and fully materialized next to me

I payed attention back to his gloating, "... and for all it's worth, I control this... world?," he started to look around realizing everything changed, everything was bright and green. His eyes bugged out as he looked at me again, "Why are you so tall now?!" and then he turned around and saw everyone, "But you... You can't trust anyone! You refuse to trust!!," he said in desperation

I held Noctis's hand ever so slightly thighter, "Not anymore"

The demon ran up to me and started hitting me like a small child when he wants candy, but this little boy barely reached my shins anymore. I just stepped on him, and he banished into smoke

I turned to Noctis, and she turned to me, "I'm sorry..." she whispered looking down at the ground, tears rolling down her face. She almost took her hand off mine, but I held it in place

"I'm the one who should be sorry... " I cupped her chin to look at me, "I messed up. Truly, I messed up. I should've send a letter as soon as I realized I had gone missing for days"

She placed her free hand on mine, "I thought I lost you... After I found out you colapsed... I blamed myself. I shouldn't have thrown the necklace on the floor... I-"

"Shhh," I strted to caress her cheek, "It's okay... you were angry. I didn't tell you-"

"I didn't let you explain"

"I should've explained sooner," I got closer to her, "It's okay..."

"I love you"

I supressed the itch to joke and just said, "I love you too"

We closed our eyes and kissed

I opened my eyes, and was met with Noctis's and her smile

"Welcome back to the real world," she said all choked up. Her mane was as mess and... Turning purple? What?!

"You-your mane, are you okay?! Your not sick are you? Did something happen?" I weakly whispered very worriedly

"Yeah, just... I dye my mane..." her cheeks turning red in embarrassment

"Oh..." I didn't know that. Anyways... Finally regaining my strength, I thightly hugged her, ...Don't leave me...

I looked around the room, and everyone was here. Rick and Quick, Shinning Armour and Cadance, the Mane Six and spike, even the Royal Guards, and Celestia and Luna, the latter who was being prompeted up and looked exhausted, fighting to stay conscious

"He's... awake..." Luna managed to whisper with a smile plastered on her face

"He's awake," a guard repeated, "He's awake!" then another. Not too soon after everyone was cheering, even the guards down the hall

I sat up, "Why is everyone here?" I was confused, very confused

"Everypony is here for you, you daft human," said Noctis, wiping tears off her face, "You've been out for almost a week"

"Darling, you had us all worried!"

"You had a severe heart attack. I was fearing the worst when you didn't wake up a couple of days later"

"I knew you'd make it...," Dash said trying to hide her tears and act all cool, That's cute

"Glad your back, partner!" AJ said with the biggest previously-sad-smile I've seen

"I took care of the little guy for you. He's worried you know?" Fluttershy said somewhat sternly, "I'm sure he'd be more than happy to see you again"

"You know what this calls for? A PART-" Pinkie was interrupted by the muffled sound of crying

Celestia suddenly colapsed onto my lap, crying her eyes out. Everyone went quiet as Celestia continued to cry

"Mum?" she looked at me with the most heartbreaking look I've ever seen, and slowly she moved towards me and gave me a thight hug, cupping the back of my head and everything. I understood then, she didn't want to think of losing me. Returning the hug, I stroked her head lightly, "It's okay. It's fine. I'm fine"

"I thought... I thought I wouldn't see you again... I couldn't lose family... not again... It's too soon... I couldn't take it..." she muttered in between sobs

If this story is still somehow going without Aleksandrs, please skip this... we need our privacy for now, I asked to no one in particular

Two Days Later

I came out of the hospital with Nimble on my shoulders while talking to Noctis and Blueblood, "... so you're telling me that you both helped in the fight against Discord, really?"

"Of course I did. What kind of guard would I be if I didn't"

"And what kind of prince would I be?"

"Blue... you still haven't earned back the title. Buuut... it's the thought that counts I guess, so, good job"

"Hey, uncle," Nimble said to Blueblood

"Yes, Nimble?"

"What did you do exactly?"

Blueblood took a thinking pose, "Well, for one, I took everypony I could find to a safe location. Then I made you no pony was left behind. And lastly, I kept those horrendous clouds at bay," those two kept talking for a while

Meanwhile, Noctis and I had a bit of an awkward tension between us. Seemingly, none of us wanted to break it. I don't know what was going through her mind, but mine was racing. I caused us both a lot of pain, why? Because I was too stubborn to think others wouldn't see the funny of being lost. Too stupid to do what needed to be done. Too-

"Can I? Can I?" said Nimble, interrupting my thoughts

"Sorry?" I said a bit confused

"I invited young Gust here to get some ice cream, and if he can, his friends too," Blueblood explained

I turned to Noctis, who gave me a weak smile and nodded, "Sure, I don't think that's a problem"

"Yay!!" Nimble flew off my shoulders and into Blueblood's arms, "Come on, uncle! We're losing time!!"

"Woah there, Nimble. Not so rowdy!" he said in a playful tone. He then turned to us, "We'll see you in a few hours"

"Wait, before you go," I took out Scootaloo's ball, "Can you take this to Scootaloo?"

Nimble jumped and grabbed the ball, "Wow! You found it?! Cool," he said marveling at the ball, simling to himself

Blueblood smiled and turned back to me, "I'll make sure she gets it"

"Thanks, Bluey-boy"

He chuckled, "No problem"

They left Noctis and me alone, the tension got thicker. We walked in awkward silence, it felt like an eternity

"So..." we both said, "Sorry... You first... Okay... wait, no you," we start to chuckle

"Ladies first," I said

"Sooo... I have to say sorry. I-"

"No, I'm the one who has to say sorry-"

"But I-"

"No buts. As soon as I got out of... wherever the Tree of Harmony took me, I should've send a letter telling-"

"No! I over-reacted-"

"Just kiss already!!" some random pony yelled

Noctis and I both stopped. Somehow we ended up in the middle of the market, grossly overshooting our house. We looked away from eachother in embarrassment

"I guess..." I said looking back at her as she looked back at me, "I guess we can agree we both did, uhm, stupid," I gave her an awkward smile with a small blush

She returned the smile and gave a small chuckle, "I guess we can..."

"Now..." I took a more detailed look around us, "How about we stop at Sugar Cube on our way back?"

"That sounds nice," she said while we started to make our way to the famous bakery. We held hands again. It felt nice

Author's Note

This chapter was heavily inspired by the episode 'The Real World' of Stargate Atlantis, in case you couldn't tell. Obviously, it isn't as long or in depth as the actual episode (I'm not a writer, just someone having fun after all) but the idea behind it is similar, except the ending obviously