Wish Gone Awry. Enter Equestria! Enter New Life!

"Welcome back," a castle servant welcomed as the group returned to the castle. "Julius, you are expected in Princess Luna's tower," the servant told him as the group entered the castle.

"Ok, any reason, or," Julius asked as he trailed off.

"None that I was told. When you returned, I was told to direct you towards Princess Luna's tower. From Princess Luna's voice, it isn't anything too serious, but it still sounded important," the servant responded. "I was also told that he was to enter the tower alone," the servant said as they looked at the group.

"Sounds like we are relieved of duty for the time being," the lead guardmare said as she was given an official letter from the servant. "Alright, guards! We are to go back to standby orders!" She commanded as she read the letter.

"Hey! What about us?" Rainbow Dash asked as the guards entered the castle.

"Sorry. But it was requested that he enter alone. I honestly know nothing beyond that. That whole tower is still quite a mystery to many of us. Given the relationship between Princess Luna and Julius, he should be fine. Maybe she just wants to talk with him or something like that," the servant offered.

"I doubt it," Twilight flatly commented. "If Princess Luna wanted to talk about something, she'd be ok with us being there. There was never a problem with that before; I can't imagine there would be one now."

"That's just my guess," the servant responded. "Princess Luna is still a mystery to most of the castle staff. Her guards and attendants seem to get her, but they're drawn entirely from thestrals. To the rest of us, we mostly guess. Sometimes, we might overhear a thing or two, but most information about her, or the things she's involved in, is second-hoof at best. From what I've heard, Princess Luna has plans for Julius, but beyond that, it's all rumours," they said as Julius looked at them.

"Rumours?" Julius asked as he perked up a bit. "Please, do go on," he insisted.

"Well, it's all at best second-hoof, but we've heard that you are to be trained in what we have no idea. You are going to be kept as a stallion-toy; used as a diplomat to dragons, griffons, and minotaurs; some think that you're going to be made a full prince-regent, but honestly, at best, you'll probably only be a prince-consort. The most outlandish was that you're going to be trained to assassinate Princess Celestia so that Princess Luna can fully take over, but that was after a lot of drinks," the servant said through chuckles.

"Oh yeah, that's definitely it," Julius laughed. "Look, tell the crazy drunk pony that I'm here to fuck Celestia, not to fuck her up," he laughed even harder. "I'm sure that I'll be fine. Whatever Luna wants, I'm sure it's in my best interest. Knowing her and how things are going, it's probably some political training, or martial training or something like that. Or maybe some alone time. It'd just be nice to know ahead of time what to expect," he suggested as he started to walk towards Luna's tower. "I'll see you around," he calmly said as he walked away.

"Well, the rest of my day is free," Rainbow Dash sighed. "Where's Pinkie Pie? She's usually up to something interesting?"

"Uhhh," the servant muttered, "Pinkie Pie is missing. We have no idea where she is, no idea where she could have gone; we searched the castle, checked around Canterlot, but nothing," the servant insisted as Pinkie Pie awkwardly walked out of the castle.

"Hi Rainbow Dash, hi Twilight, hi Rarity!" Pinkie Pie happily sang as she saw the three ponies. "You really are a pegasus and unicorns, I guess I wasn't lying. Wait, is it pegasus or pegasi, maybe pegasee, pegasuses, pegasussy," Pinkie Pie asked as she trailed off and the others just stared at her.

"Ok, I know the bar is set really high, but does anypony think that Pinkie Pie is acting odd?" Rainbow Dash asked.

"Where did you come from?" The servant asked. "We searched literally everywhere for you."

"Oh, you know, I came from my own world," Pinkie Pie sang.

"Uhhh, you're Pinkie Pie, that's not helpful," Rainbow Dash flatly responded.

"What are you hiding? What do you know?" Twilight asked as she looked right at Pinkie Pie.

"Hahaha, hiding? I'm not hiding anything! And I know a lot of things; I know things that you don't know and things that I don't know. Hahaha," Pinkie Pie nervously laughed as she pulled a full-sized wedding cake out of her mane, ate it and started to walk inside the castle.

"That's not helpful," Rainbow Dash huffed.

"Agreed. It's just standard Pinkie Pie nonsense. If it wasn't for that whole cake thing, I'd think she was a spy," Rarity said in agreement.

"Maybe we should take it at face value," Twilight shrugged.

"Yeah, sure, Twilight," Rainbow Dash laughed. "That Pinkie Pie is from a different world. She and our Pinkie Pie switched places because why not," she laughed.

"Oh indeed," Rarity laughed. "In that world, we all go to secondary school, and we aren't friends," she commented, joining Rainbow Dash in mockery. "The princesses wear awful clothes, and ours are somehow worse."

"I'm just saying, it's Pinkie Pie. If anypony were to find a way to another world, it'd be her," Twilight huffed.

"Well, I think Princess Celestia should have some free time during supper. You could ask her then if there's any way that could be a different Pinkie Pie," the servant suggested.

"Good idea. What is Princess Celestia doing right now?" Twilight asked.

"I believe that Princess Celestia is meeting with some countesses and marchioness to discuss some regional matters. There were a few important-looking mares in the castle waiting for an audience with Princess Celestia. Beyond that, I have no idea what they're talking about. Probably another stupid argument about regional taxes, tariffs, petty feuds, you know, things like that," the servant told Twilight.

"I see; I guess I'll wait until supper then," Twilight sighed as the ponies entered the castle.

"Hey! It's Julius! Open up!" Julius commanded as he banged on the door to Luna's tower.

"You could at least say please," a voice sighed as the door creaked open.

"I could," Julius slowly said. "I could have also been told why I'm being summoned here. I guess we both get to be disappointed today. Huzzah!" Julius mocked with laughter.

"You are a glib one, aren't you," the thestral sighed.

"I can be. Some see it as a curse; I prefer to see it as a gift," Julius chuckled as the thestral led him through the tower.

"You're going to be both a prince and a king; could you at least try to act refined? Glibness will not benefit your future station," the thestral told Julius.

"I could try, but for now, I'll get it out of my system. Wait. I am to be made prince and king? I thought those were just rumours! When did this happen?" Julius asked in surprise.

"Officially, it hasn't. But most of the ponies and thestrals agree it's just a matter of time. Granted, you'll be a consort, not a regent, but it's still an extremely important station. Your actions, behaviour, requests, and whatnot will reflect on Queen Luna. You will be in a position to give her great honour or great shame," the thestral explained.

"Queen Luna?" Julius asked.

"To us, she is not merely a princess but our queen. Furthermore, to many of us, she is our goddess. Should you officially become her stallion, you'd be in a position that many would greatly envy; it'd be the most prestigious position in our society that a stallion could obtain. Even among mares, in all but on paper, you'd greatly outrank them. Many eyes would be on you, and your every move would be scrutinized. Until you reach an acceptable level of decorum, an official marriage would be out of the question. Being simply being used for sex? That's fine; mares have always done that; there is nothing scandalous there. But a proper spouse? If nothing else, you must be able to act according to your station," the thestral firmly stated.

"Yeah, I suppose that's fair. Still, it'll take a lot of time for me to learn all that court stuff and longer to get used to it," Julius sighed as the two reached a door.

"They're expecting you inside, enter," the thestral told Julius as he opened the door.

"Rather big, empty room," Julius whistled as he walked inside.

"It's used for training," Aloysia told Julius from up on a balcony. "That's partly why you're here," she told him.

"Neat! What kind of training?" Julius asked as he looked up at both Aloysia and Luna.

"Aloysia has asked one of the best of my following to train you in all matters. Having met the stallion, I can confirm that he's extremely well-versed in many matters related to both the court and the battlefield. However, he's rather taciturn in who he'll train," Luna told Julius.

"Indeed," Aloysia nodded. "In the past eight hundred years, he's only trained four beings. They've all gone on to do great things, so great expectations will be placed on you. You're here to be tested to see if you can achieve those expectations. Honestly, you won't end up meeting all the requirements to be trained by him right now, but he'll get a good feeling for you, and if it's even possible."

"So, I'll be fighting him?" Julius asked, making Aloysia laugh.

"No," Aloysia laughed. "He would not hold back against you; he has never held back. If you were to try to fight him, he'd completely destroy you. You'd have no chance."

"Instead of fighting him, I'll use my magic to animate your shadows. You'll fight your shadows until you're either defeated or give up. Remember, you're fighting to impress," Luna advised.

"Alright," Julius said as he looked around the room, spotting a few assorted weapons lying around. "Will the magic hurt or anything?"

"No, but it will draw upon your energy. And the shadows will be able to hurt you. If it gets bad enough, we will step in, so you won't be in much real danger. Still, the fighting will be very real, so brace yourself. When you're ready, I'll cast the spell," Luna said as someone walked up behind her.

"No," a dignified voice quietly said from behind Luna. "Cast the spell right now. If the boy has any potential, he'll be able to defend against such a surprise. Training him would be a waste of both my time and his if he can't," he calmly stated.

"Alright, just going to," Julius started to say as a dark blue light enveloped him, "wait, what the hell?" He asked in surprise as his shadow came out of the ground. "Oh? Ok? It's going to be like that? Bring it on!" He commanded as he swiftly backpedalled towards one of the weapons. Reaching back, Julius grabbed a quarterstaff and charged the still-forming shadow.

"Swift and decisive action, a good mentality to have. Still, a bit too much preparation for him," the stallion behind Luna stated.

"Ever the stern teacher," Aloysia sighed as he poured himself a glass of red wine.

"In my experience, training a student strictly benefits both the teacher and the student. To the teacher, it allows them to grow in their position. To the student, it better prepares them for what they can, and will face in the real world. Sweat now spares blood later," the stallion stated as he sipped some wine.

"Agreed. But it can be off-putting to many to be so strict so quickly," Aloysia commented.

"Perhaps. But rather than train a legion of fools, I would train an elite select few," he firmly stated as Julius destroyed the shadow. "Make two shadows for him to fight at once. If he beats them, then make three, and so on until he breaks," he commanded as he carefully eyed Julius.

"A bit extreme," Luna responded as she made two shadows come out of Julius's shadow.

"Maybe I've known others like him. If he's worthy of my time and my attention, he should be able to exceed my expectations. Push the boy to the edge of the abyss; if he won't jump in, push him in. As we fall, we learn if we can fly or not. So fly, boy, fly high. You already have great expectations on you. What's a few more? Soar to the heavens and claim what's yours, or fall in disgrace and lay down with the rest of the rabble," the stallion firmly commanded as his eyes gleamed a deep blood red.

"High expectations indeed," Aloysia chuckled as Julius frantically fought off the shadows. "Need some help?" She mocked as she yelled down at Julius.

"Screw you!" Julius yelled back as he dodged the shadows. "I can take at least five times this much!" He shouted as he powerfully struck a shadow on its head.

"The boy has quite some bravado," the stallion smirked. "Humble him," he commanded.

"What do you mean?" Luna slowly asked as she turned to look at him.

"He said he could take at least five times as many. There's only one shadow now. If my math is correct, two times five is ten. So, make nineteen more shadows for him right now, give him an even twenty. Humble the boy," the stallion commanded.

"Are you insane?" Luna spat. "Twenty? Twenty shadows? Even if they're weaker than him, the sheer numbers will be too much!"

"Cry me a river," the stallion firmly said. "Let the boy earn his place, earn his words. Twenty-to-one odds? I've faced down much worse. If the boy wants to talk a big game, let him play a big game," he sternly said. Sharing a look, Aloysia nodded at Luna.

"If he looks like he's in danger," Luna firmly said as her voice trailed off and as she started to cast the spell.

"Why is this happening right now? There's still a shadow. Stop casting the spell!" Julius quickly said as he blocked a hit from the shadow.

"You said that you could take at least five times as many. So we're obliging," Aloysia told Julius.

"I! Was! Exaggerating!" Julius yelled as multiple shadows surrounded him. "One, two, damn! You must suck at math; two times five is ten, not twenty!"

"You said, at least. Talk a big game, play a big game," Alyosia told Julius.

"Damn me and my big mouth," Julius sighed as he tried to avoid the shadows. Julius desperately tried to lure the shadows into a line by ducking, dodging, and rolling, but they kept him surrounded.

"Is this all he can do? Run and cower? I expected more," the stallion huffed.

"There's twenty; he's alone," Luna firmly told him.

"His magic is still undeveloped, and even if it wasn't, this would be incredibly difficult for anyone," Aloysia said, backing up Luna.

"Do you have a point?" The stallion asked. "Julius was talked up; he talked himself up. I know my history quite well. There have been battles where one side has been outnumbered twenty-six to one, and the outnumbered force won. He wants to think that he's a big boy, that he's some great hero, then let him prove himself. Let the boy earn his spurs," he firmly stated.

"If nothing else, he's lasted far longer than I thought he would," Aloysia sighed as Julius rolled on the ground, dodging several attacks and knocking a few shadows down.

"Indeed, he's managing to take a few out, but at this rate, he won't last," Luna commented as Julius firmly swung through a shadow.

"Why'd I have to open my mouth?" Julius asked himself as he panted. Looking around, Julius spotted Luna and looked at her horn. "I don't care if it's dangerous; I have no other choice," he said to himself with a smirk.

"You've done well, better than most. Just give up. Winning isn't everything!" Luna shouted down to Julius.

"You're right. Winning isn't everything," Julius conceded. "It's just the only thing that matters," he tiredly smirked as a dark aura enveloped him.

"The boy has finally decided to spread his wings. Good. Now fly. See if what you've been gifted with is a blessing or a curse," the stallion smiled.

"This is dangerous; he's had no training in controlling magic, let alone dark magic," Luna quickly said.

"Agreed," Alyosia commented. "We should stop this."

"No," the stallion quickly told them. "Let him continue, let him flourish," he smiled. "Should the worst come to pass, we're in the best place to cure him."

"I'm firmly against this," Luna flatly stated.

"Noted," the stallion said as Julius gave a powerful swing, crushing through multiple shadows.

"Yeah, I like this feeling," Julius growled slightly. Awkwardly channelling the magical energy through his body, Julius focused on making himself faster and stronger. Rapidly moving through the shadows, Julius swiftly struck down the shadows. Julius lay on his back as the last shadow fell to the ground, panting heavily as the magical energy left him.

"Most impressive," the stallion smiled. "Continue," he calmly said.

"Julius is clearly exhausted; he cannot continue!" Luna firmly stated.

"He is not yet beat, nor did he submit. So continue," the stallion firmly said.

"This is madness," Luna sighed as she walked to the balcony's edge, standing at the edge, ready to jump down.

"Oh, what's Luna doing?" Julius panted as he saw her horn light up and a familiar light envelope him. "Oh, hell no!" Julius quickly said as his eyes shot open, and he promptly kicked up.

"This is such a bad idea," Luna angrily said as she looked at the backing-up stallion. As Luna turned back around, Julius threw the quarterstaff at Luna. "AH!" She yelled as Luna ducked out of the way. "What the, AH!" She yelped as Julius jumped onto the balcony and grabbed Luna's horn.

"I. Beat. Twenty. At. Once," Julius very heavily panted. "I. Win," he firmly stated as he fainted from exhaustion.

"Going for the head took him long enough to recognize what he should have been doing from the start," the stallion clapped as he walked up to Julius's prone body. "For all your potential, in a stressful situation, you go for the direct approach and lose your head. Your skill with magic is nonexistent, but you were willing to do what needed to be done. I can work with this. During his magical training, try to get him to keep his head in stressful situations. After he's finished his magic training, I will meet with the boy," he said as he turned around and started to walk away.

"The whole point of this was for him to come at me?!" Luna spat.

"All warfare is based on deception. Battles and duels are no different. Even a fight like this is just a deception from the real goal. Any fight where the fight itself is the goal is not worth entertaining. Knowing him, he should have seen through this," the stallion calmly stated as Luna fumed.

"Let's... let's just get him to my bed," Luna sighed as she lifted Julius onto her back and started walking to her bedroom.