The high pitch ringing caused him to smack his rather large skull on the shelf above the bench that he had been working on, a particularly delicate piece of jewelry that nearly fell off from the sudden jostle, was barely caught in his giant hand. He had been getting more and more orders for the garish wear that was ordered to be produced. Rumor had it that many nobles believed the skill to enchant was a subscious thing, only capable of being leaked out through work not intention. Thus the items he had been hired to manufacture varied in size, style and purpose.

It was annoying. But while he could afford to just reject such requests, he saw them as practice for when he got older and could no longer swing a hammer. In that time, delicate intricate work would still see him working in the forge, his second home for years to come. By then his daughter will have taken over the main work.

He was proud of his little calf, who wasn’t so little anymore as her height was just shy of his own now. Duula Stouthorn was growing into a fine smith. At the moment she was more prone to the weapons and armor than anything else. It was expected, young calves at that age are always trying to show their metal in being about to forge fearsome equipment.

A second and third ring prompted him to set down the fanciful cage and look for that blasted crystal. He found it buried under discarded pieces that didn’t make the cut of the master craftbull.

“Hello, is this blasted thing working? I swear if this is another one of your ‘butt dials’ Orion, I will be very unhappy!” He had suffered more of those then what should have been. Waking both he and his daughter in the early hours of the morning, on more than one occasion.

“No, it's not one of my freakin’ butt dials you old goat. Tell me? Did you get a couple of shipments in? One from Neighbon, the other unlisted?” Forager blinked. He had indeed gotten two shipments. One of which confused him because he had no idea Diamond Dogs even knew where his forge was? The other, was filled with Adamantine. A useful material but could only take so much abuse before it breaks. It is why he and others never committed to more than design work that was not critical components to the various creations that they produced.

Until he had opened up the first crate he had no idea why it had arrived, buried under the ingots, was a note from the colt himself. Explaining why the rare material was even there. The second shipment, while he was sure it was for Orion, had a weird note in it as well. Not written in the young stallions hand at all.

‘Not look. Pony eyes only.’

That note too was found at the bottom of the crate. Defeating the purpose of said note. He got the purpose of the message however, and hid both crates in the floor of his shop at night.

“Aye, I do. Got them somewhere safe. Not that the guards are following me about anymore. I’m sure you could swing by and pick ‘em up if you wanted to and nopony would be the wiser.” He hated that he had gotten used to the way the ponies spoke, it's one of the reasons why he liked the young pony so much. His flat refusal to debase himself with the exclusionary way of speech that was so common for his kind.

“Nah too risky….” The crystal went silent once again.

“Well then lad, not sure what good these materials are gonna be if you can’t use ‘em.” He sat back down on the stool in front of the bench much to it’s protest of his weight and knuckling his back, not for the first time he thought about getting the roof increased in height.

“No...tell me, is your shop still set up the exact same way as before?” That was an odd question.

“Aye, that it is. What are ya thinkin’?”

“Make sure the space is clear. Place the walkie talkie on the ground in the center away from everything. I’ll give you five minutes.”

Forager blinked and stared at his own walkie talkie. He was unsure of what the young stallion planned, but ultimately he just shrugged his shoulders, and did what he was told. Then waited. And waited. He was beginning to think whatever Orion had planned was not going to work when suddenly a blinding flash and the colt in question dropped to the floor holding his head.

“Ah fuckin’ Christ that hurts!” He leaned over and pressed his head into the stone floor of the shop.

“By the forgefires of the first ones, lad how did ye do that!?” Some of his old tongue peaked through in his astonishment.

“Oh God that hurts, I-I followed the magical connection between the two devices.” A sharp intake of breath as he went on. “It was a simple matter of tracing the path, but what I should have done was widen the connection. It feels like I was squeezed through a goddamn garden hose!” He groaned in pain rocking on his knees. “Just gimme a minute to sort myself o-ut, oh God.”

It took more than a minute. After nearly half an hour Orion had finally stopped groaning, though he still held his head, grimacing in time with the blood pumping in his veins, he stood. In that time Forager had really taken a look at the colt.

He had gotten much taller than the last time they stood in the same room. He damn near came up to his chin. Other than Celestia herself, Orion was quickly becoming the second tallest pony he knew. The scars were a new thing, though not unknown to him, for some time back he had been plastered all over the Canterlot papers. His adventure in Ponyville was still a topic of speculation in the bars some nights.

His shoulders seemed to have finally found muscle not from some gym, but from labor. Good honest labor. Which meant the rest of his frame was sharing that muscle under all those baggy foreign clothes.

The beads in his mane were new, made of bronze, but he could tell there was something more inside them, not understanding what they were for mattered little to the old bull. He was just happy to see he had not slackened off in his own craft.

He had to snort derisively to the weak attempt at a beard slowly growing from his chin to the cheeks. He was not old enough to be wearing a beard. It was an ugly thing.

“Okay, okay okay okay. I think it's over. Holy shit did that hurt.” He looked up at the smith. “It's good to see your ugly ass mug after so long. How ya been, bud?”

Forager could only snort in laughter. “Ugly? Me? Lad have you seen the travesty that is that fuzz on your chin? It’s a crime against nature it is.” Chuckling softly. “Aye I do be doing well. Though I wish I was getting less orders from ponce nobles that changed their minds every other day. Because of you, they all think I don’t consciously enchant, that it be a subconscious thing.”

Both colt and bull got a chuckle over that.

“Sorry man, I didn’t mean to actually cause you so much trouble” He hopped up on the workbench, sitting down in front of his old teacher. “So what's been happening here while I have been away?”

Over the course of the next hour, they engaged in a back and forth. For Forager, much of his time, not trying to smuggle materials to Orion, was spent doing the same thing he always did. The various nobles coming to grill him under the guise of actually being interested in his work becoming less and less over the last few months. The pick up in orders from them instead attempting to prove his ability in otherways had become a mainstay. Not that he was complaining, the money made was going into the savings for a new forge, one possibly away from Canterlot entirely.

For the young pony, life had been interesting to say the least. The various stories of his misadventures were something he wished he could put to history with quill and scroll. However, the topic of Griffonia brought him up real short.

“You did what, lad?”

“I said I revolutionized the farming and forging capabilities of the birds up north.” The dark look from the Forager got a questioning one from his. “What?”

“Orion, the griffons have no love for Equestria, you giving them a leg up means they could start a new war, and they certainly won’t make the same mistake as last time. Ponies will die when that happens.”

“Oh, OOOHHHH. You think Bloodbeak is as war hungry as his predecessors.” It was the bull’s turn to have a confused look on his face as the colt laughed. “No, dude. That guy is WAY more concerned with feeding his people then he is starting a war that will, no doubt, turn out against him. He is actually not that dumb. Practical actually. Last I heard he was using the steel they were making to shore up crumbling foundations temporarily so that real work crews could begin next year putting in the actual patch work. Plus I think that wife of his, runs the country more than he does. She is one smart cookie.”

That prompted a new round of questions. Questions that had Forager wanting to hug the colt something fierce. Then beat the living tartarus out of him. The helping of not only the griffon people, but of Diamond Dogs was incredible. To forge a symbiotic relationship between the two races was an incredible feat of negotiation and patience. There had been bad blood between the species for so long that nopony really knew how it had even started.

“Listen we can talk till the dawn shines, I don’t have school tomorrow and I am itching to do some work with an old teacher.” He grinned. “What say you? Care to see how I have improved?”

The grin he gave back was all the indication the other needed.

“Well, that’s not gonna work.” Orion was more than a little upset.

After clearing the bench, they had gotten started with the actual forging of two new arm bands. They looked beautiful considering the blend of gold and black material that he fused together in an amazing pattern like the seas, as if they swirled with one another. On the side that contacted fur and skin was the new lines with ruins carved into them. It was all an amazingly beautiful piece of work. Which is now useless after running magic through it to test the connections.

Suspended in the air, with his own magic being channeled through them, the problem was readily apparent. The adamantine was glowing, not like with one the crystals, but as if someone had held a candle behind a smokey green glass.

“Aye lad, that isn’t going to work. Not at all. It’s beautiful, but while it might not be seen in the day, at night. Oh at night it be a beacon that something be up.” Forager had a speculative look on his face, stroking his own beard. Well this put a damper on his plans, that was for sure.

He still went and created near copies of his current enchanted set up, but then he and the old bull decided to pack them away, stowing them under the stone floor, for they day he had to leave Canterlot.

He did however take time to improve his old equipment. Replacing the amethyst gems for blue diamond ones instead. Not only would it allow for a better connection, but the blue diamonds had flecks of gold embedded into them at his request for the dogs. It was crazy how useful their skill at working with precious gems was.

The gold flecks, including the new foraged equipment, was incredible to say the least. It meant that while not as strong as the adamantine equipment set up, the new equipment he would wear was a moderate increase over the old. They had smelted all the old equipment down, and Forager had kept the material to be forged into something new at a later date.

In payment for storage and help, Orion offered choice gems from the Iron Dog shipment. What he neglected to tell the old bull was that King Bloodbeak had begun a tax of sorts on anything coming out of the mines of Avery. The King was not satisfied with just a thank you. He was determined for him to have some type of reward. Thus a hidden account had been created in the treasury of Griffonia, one that only he and his wife were aware of. So instead of the promise of cash, he just paid the smith in something more substantial.

With a man hug and a promise to visit in the future, he headed home to bed, to sleep in and be a layabout for the rest of the weekend, while he thought about alternatives to his glowing armband issue. He did want to kick himself after a while thinking, he never tested them on himself. Oh well.

Late summer made it’s slow ponderous way into fall, early fall was a lot more wet this year than the last. The weather ponies, or as he like to affectionately call them storm horses, called for rain nearly all month. Something about low water levels in the lakes for this time of year.

For Orion, it meant he spent a lot of time indoors. Which was just as well for him, though he did miss classes that were sometimes hosted outside for a change of scenery.

One of his new teachers, Mrs Ivy Dream, came in with a huge grin on her face. To him she was kind of adorable. With the rare freckles that one does not often find on anyone, Her green fur always seemed a bit messy, though it was likely from forgetfulness then anything like laziness. As always she had her lighter green striped mane with an aquamarine base bound up in a ponytail. Her light purple eyes practically blazed with excitement.

“Class I have a very exciting announcement for you. For the first time in ten years, we have a culture exchange program for early January!” That got a lot of them talking excitedly, on the same level as their teacher. Orion thought it best to curtail some of that enthusiasm. In his experience cultural exchange meant either someone was visiting from another nation, or they would be watching many dull ass videos that one was expected to remember at the end of the week. He raised his hand.

“Yo teach, who's coming here to put up with all the rich snobs?” He gave a grin as he got a few glares. Fancy just chuckled as sat beside him. Finding that the guy shared the same mindset as he on the nobles and their children was a surprise, he was slowly realizing that he had a real friend in the colt.

“Now now Mr Falls. That is no way to speak about your classmates.” She didn’t harp on it, she apparently listened to the memos about him. He was positive they had a dossier on him hidden somewhere listing all his annoying little habits. So other than rebuking him mildly, she often ignored what he said when it was not involved in classes themselves. She went on.

“We, along with one other class, are going to be traveling to Prance the first week of January! We will still be studying, but in their auditorium. We will be able to visit the various museums, plays, and historical landmarks in the nation. It is a rare opportunity.”

He had tuned her out. It didn’t matter, Celestia was not about to allow him to go across an entire ocean just to visit some fru fru ponies. Not to mention he absolutely did not want to go. Not yet at least.

As far as he had read, the nation of Prance started out as a colony of upper noble unicorns that had wanted to get away from Equestria after the Princess had united the tribes under one banner. She was apparently all too eager for them to leave, as many were dangerous to her tentative control over the stumbling steps of the new nation. Getting rid of them would make her happy, and them happy that they never had to deal with common mud ponies.

They established the first colony, La Hoofevre, in the southern tip of a massive peninsula, south and across the waters of the ever reclusive nation of Minos. That colony nearly fell apart its first tentative years.

Thousands of workers and nobles alike died in the first one hundred years after it had been established. Mostly due to cooperation issues. After that they slowly built up, making new cities and towns. One city that had been planted on a particularly good crop of land eventually became, what amounted to Orion as a very weird parallel, Paris.

Since then the nation has enjoyed an extremely wealthy shipping industry, many of its port cities catering to shipping between Equestria and the other nations. At exorbitant prices. They had their own industries, and crafts. But the shipping business was still a national powerhouse for the nation as a whole.

As the excitement died down he could not help getting a jab in again. “So instead of suffering from our version of snobbery, we have to suffer theirs?” Fancy nearly smacked his head into the desk trying to stifle, and failing, his laughter.

He got a stern talking to by Mrs Dream after class.

“I’m surprised you're not going Twilight.”

The young mare had somehow managed to coerce Orion out to tea in a new cafe he had not bothered to memorize, the tea was freakin’ awful. He blamed Celestia for his taste in teas, bland with no uplifting flavour whatsoever. They should be ashamed.

“No, I have too much to study up on.” She shook her head sadly. “Besides, I don’t do very well on those kinds of trips. I almost always get air sick. Last time I went anywhere the turbulence kept me in my cabin and holding onto a wastebasket most of the trip.”

Turbulence? What turbulence?

“Wait, I thought all the airships got mothballed? How would everyone be flying there?” His quizzical look got her to giggle.

“There are only a few airships. To hear the way the Princess tells it, they are clunky and ungainly in the air. Still faster than to go by ocean sail. The school is fortunate to have one of its own. In the past it was enchanters that powered up the engines and anti-gravity drives. Thus incredibly powerful ships could move quickly from one side of the nation to another in times of crisis. Now, the ships have balloons and sails attached to them. They are often too expensive to use because of the cost of the repairs and upkeep to maintain the vessels.”

Orion could only stare at her. Not about the fact that they had any airships at all. “Anti-gravity drives?” He decided not to ask. He likely couldn’t handle the explanation, and him trying to rationalize the fact that the tech was possible made his brain hurt. He would be looking into that subject later on.

“So why does the school have an airship if it's so costly to operate?” Safer question.

“Oh that's because Princess Celestia personally donated her old model to the school. She has a team of retired royal guards to operate the vessel, as they have the most experience. Often when ponies retire out of service to the crown, they seek similar work they have done before. In the case of the airship sailors, they take up a career with the school to manage the ship they own.” Wow, he was learning so much today.

“So those idiots plan to fly across the ocean, to visit F-Prance in a leaky old air tub? Yeah that makes me soo glad I’m not going.” He sat back, pushing the absolutely awful tea away from him. He had tried to drink it, really he had. But it made him sick.

“Wait? Why are you not going? This is a class trip you are obligated to go.” She was understandably confused, he supposed Celestia had not told her student about his house arrest. It's not like it's an easy thing to bring up in casual conversation.

“Oh I’m on house arrest, well more like city arrest for the stunt I pulled over the summer. You know, leaving to Griffonia for almost three months?” He chuckled, an unintended boon if he did think so himself. And he did. “Besides, I’d rather not have to put up with a whole new level of snobbery, thank you. It's bad enough that the ones here have their noses so high in the air that it ends up buried in their own backsides.”

That earned him more than a few offended looks from those sitting around him. He just chuckled and went back to nibbling on the biscuit. It was slowly removing the taste of that tea from his mouth.

“You have been restricted to the city?” She stared back in shock.

“Well yeah, come on Twilight do you honestly think I was going to get away with that? Even I knew some type of punishment was coming. As far as those go...this one is rather effective. It means I have to ask for permission if I wanted to visit Ponyville for the holidays coming up. That sucks. Not to mention if I should get that permission, I have to go with an escort. To make sure I don’t do anything stupid like run away.”

She was quiet for a while after that. When she spoke up her voice was muted, almost as if she was feeling sad about something. “What’s in Ponyville?”

Orion put his biscuit down and looked at her. She was idly stirring her tea, looking at the table and not him. Was she jealous of something? It couldn’t be. He decided to be as tactful, and half honest.

“There’s an apple farm down there. I am good friends with the family. They cook bomb ass meals and I get to eat actual meat when I head on down there. Last year, I didn’t really get to enjoy it. Other things came up as you know. So I am hoping to get a chance to head back down there, ‘sides, Big Mac said the cider should be ready by this time and I wanted to try that drink out.”

It had been a surprise last month when Granny Smith had sent him a message asking if he could come back down for the holidays. It was nice, and would have loved to have looked forward to it. But if he went down there now, with a guard no less and anyone mentioned that spot on the hill. Some uncomfortable questions would be asked, and he wasn’t sure if he could answer them satisfactorily.

So he sent a letter back apologizing and saying that he was trapped in Canterlot for the foreseeable future. He was honest with the old mare, and he was rewarded with a strongly worded reply on how he should not be breaking the law as he seemed to always do. He just laughed and shipped the souvenirs he collected back with a final response of ‘yeah yeah yeah’.

He got a message back not two days later, from Rarity thanking him profusely for the book on clothing styles from Neighbon, and the near ton of various silk cloth he had shipped down. Applejack hadn’t sent a message back. That bothered him.

Pulling himself back to the present he spoke again. “So it’s gonna be a lonely holiday season for me this year. That's okay, I got shit to study up on myself. And I have been doing a lot of running around this year. I could use the downtime.”

Twilight seemed to fidget with herself a moment, and then nodded. Must be arguing in her own head. “Or, you could, you know, maybe...um have...or no…” She was really struggling with the words, but he had a suspicion.

She stopped, took a deep breath. “Youcouldspendtheholidayswithmyfamily!” And then she clammed up. Breathing hard. He had to appreciate the effort. It took a lot for the girl to go out of the way for social interaction. Even with him sometimes. To ask this took more courage then he believed she realized. Sucks for people who suffer social anxiety.

The more he thought about the more it didn’t seem like a terrible idea. Spike was cool, and she spoke about an actual older pony brother. It also wouldn’t be the first time her parents had asked about him. Maybe putting a face to whatever crazy stories she had attached to him, and toning those stories down with actual truth would be fun. Besides. No one was going to be at the orphanage, and the new kids seemed to treat him with either disdain for not having yet been adopted. Or as a god-like figure who went on adventures and saved the mare.

“You know what Twig Spriggles, I think I’d like that.” The smile he got back was nearly blinding.

Celestia stood at the window of her study. It faced out to the poorer sections of her city. She had had the window placed there as a reminder that the little ponies whose lives were not steeped in wealth and opportunity. A reminder that she still had work to do to elevate even the poorest of her citizens to comfortable lives. Though she did sometimes have the foreign thought that it was impossible and that she should force them all out and build a park or something. That always bothered her and she chastised herself more than once about thinking it.

Today however, she was not plagued by thoughts of the needy in her nation. But again, by one colt. One colt who seemed to defy all logic.

Orion had come up in her head after she got a recent request from her school on availability of the ship, she had long since donated to them, being taken out of storage and sent on a trip to Prance. A wonderful idea in her opinion. Her students needed more exposure to different cultures and this was truly a unique opportunity. Mostly due to the fact that the nation itself was largely independent, and successful at it despite the early rough start, a feat few nations had the ability to accomplish outside of her influence.

But this also brought up a wrinkle. The colt had been restricted from leaving the city, by her own order and word. That meant in order for him to go, she would have to send somepony to watch him, to make sure he stayed out of trouble. This also made her ask herself, did she want him to leave so soon? It was a school approved trip, and with the aging airship, the trip would be short going both ways. A month gone and then back, two days travel time for one way wasn’t that big of a deal.

Twilight had already opted out, and for once the filly was putting her hoof down. She had gotten behind in some of her studies, and to be fair she had been getting some rather large assignments from her mentor lately. In Celestia’s opinion, she wasted too much time on Starswirl’s old book of prophecies. But that meant that once again, Orion and her would miss out on bonding time. But she could see no reasonable way to force the issue without being too obvious about it.

As she mulled over in her mind on how best to proceed, she thought of what happened not too long ago. His physical examination had brought light to a problem she did not realize was even there. He had no Cutie Mark.

Cutie marks arrived shortly before puberty really set in. Sometimes they came early, sometimes a little late. But it always came before their thirteenth birthday. The fact that his had not come yet, and he was nearing his sixteenth bothered her. He had no purpose in life. Nothing that truly was him. It made her sad. On a logical level he was right. Not having a cutie mark meant he was not yet bound to a certain future. But she knew from a societal standpoint, that if he didn’t develop one by the time he graduated, his future looked grim.

She did not want that for him, she had become a bit of a fan of Orions’. Through his failures and triumphs, he had shown himself to be a young stallion of remarkable talent and humbleness. Not to mention his potential political career was not to be overlooked. She still chuckled over how he boxed Jet Set into that trap. It happened so quickly, but seemed to take forever.

Still, no cutie mark meant no future. Even if he became an inventor it would be hard for him to find somepony to go in on manufacturing partnerships. There would be no way for the other to validate his skill and knowledge despite the schooling. She sighed, at this point she could only hope. She couldn’t force a mark on him.

A knock at the door broke her away from her sad thoughts. Turning around she quickly sat down in her chair, adjusted herself and bid the knocker to enter.

Not a surprise was her student entered. What was a surprise was the smile on her face. It wasn’t the normal smile where she was happy to see her teacher. No this was a smile because something good just happened. It was rare on her Twilight’s face, normally she carried a frown as she studied some tome or scroll she had found in the library. To see a smile on Twilight’s face lifted her own sour mood.

“Good afternoon Twilight. What has you in such a good mood?”

She could not be more proud of her student. She had solved a problem that Celestia was having difficulties in solving herself. Orion was going to be spending the holidays with her and her family. This was an excellent turn of events.

This also freed up her worries about allowing him to go on the school trip. And just like that, she knew just who to send with him.

He had a long way to go, but worrying about what can only come naturally would do her no good. But that didn’t mean she could not try and create conditions to improve the odds of a pair between two wayward foals.

Orion was doing rather well in his new studies. The three electives he had applied for last year were going excellently. Advanced Alchemic Theories 103 was amazing in his opinion. Instead of using the typically normal regents that were the normal mainstay in any lab, he had access to magically infused material. The effects of some potions were altered in different ways from what the original intended ingredients had. He was also apparently the first ever to make magnesium. The magically infused material had to be dispatched with a void spell because nothing was able to snuff out the flames. He had nearly destroyed the lab.

Rather than being upset Professor Rock Metal, whose name was totally metal to him, was excited. Asking a dozen questions about how he did what he did and what regents were used. What followed was a three day break down for both teacher and class as he explained the concept behind the burning material and its effects. It was weird to be a teacher for that short amount of time but he enjoyed it nevertheless. Maybe when all was said and done he would get into teaching. It wasn’t like he was going to live forever after all.

To him, the class on Modern Applications of Magic Fields and Their Effects was the most useful he had had by far. He had knowledge, learned from the borrowed books he had relieved forgetful students of. But learning what it meant to those around him allowed him to branch out his own ideas. There was only so much you can learn from a book after all, and although he did develop his own detection spell, a truly ingenious design if he said so himself. He had completely bypassed the mana drain issue after all.

He had learned that could set up a subtle field that would be very difficult to detect unless someone was actually looking for it. With the spell up and running, he was calling it a detection grid, he could not only see the details of someone standing in the field, but also create a sort of magical recording. Thinking back he now realized how Celestia had known what went on that night in Ponyville. She, or those she employed, had set up a kind of after detection system to see what happened by reading the magical fluxes in the air. Kinda like looking at a time stamp on Youtube live. His set up was made to be done in advance, like a security system. One he immediately set up in his room, the basement, and even the library.

He had used black crystals to both record and be hard to see. He could finally have his own closed circuit television. He looked forward to seeing if anything changed in the building, and how Mrs Evergarden went about her day. He regretted that later and had to carefully view and delete hours of footage, despite having had children, her husband still came by for some rather vigorous visits. He felt like a child having caught his parents having sex and not knowing what to do about it. After that incident he had decided to add a second layer of spells to the system, one that passively identified okay targets and shut down recording till their departure.

Then he smacked himself and went back to alter and add a third layer spell, one that programmed the shut off only to happen when certain conditions were met. He didn’t want to run the risk of someone, who was okayed for visits, that was accompanied by a person not okay, and not knowing what might have happened. In truth he felt like a creep but his paranoia after that nightmare had made him cautious. Though now he wanted to beat the noble that funded the orphanage with a shovel.

It seemed Mrs Evergarden had to beg for everything so her wards could have the appropriate food, clothing, and a proper roof over their heads. Currently she was trying to get him to okay funding for another matron to help her with the kids. Which made sense, if there was a second employee watching the kids they could take turns and have some actual time off. If Orion was being truthful, he thought there should be at least four of them.

Mr White was being rather resistant to the idea, but seemed to be giving it some serious thought when she spoke about how many orphans had been appearing since adults had been going missing on the roads near the Everfree. He resolved to look into that later.

Another bonus was he was able to watch his own sleep patterns. It was a little weird to see his own body sleeping away, but he learned that he had not gotten rid of the nightmares, but removed his memory of ever having them. It seemed he had some work to do on ‘Dreamcatcher’, but it was good to find out then and not later.

The last class was the biggest disappointment. For the fillies, they actually got training on various spells to use to subdue an attacker, the colts, they got to learn how to delay and run away. Even after he had subdued the instructor three times. He got an D on his assignment because he didn’t do what a ‘proper colt should have done in that situation’. One visit of tea and cookies later, and Orion was leaving the school in the last hour to study combat with someone who actually wanted to give you a fighting chance. Straight A’s from there bitches.

That was not the first time he experienced sexism. As he was growing older, the antics that normally made him quirky and weird, was now being viewed as improper and he had a million and one mares AND stallions telling him so. In which he would tell them to stuff it, and have afternoon detention for it.

The biggest aggressor had to be his Principal herself. Often detention was spent alone with her. Her just staring away as he worked on his homework, every now and then he would catch her slouched in her seat, and had heavily lidded eyes. But she never looked away from him. Talk about creep-y.

Other than the general courses that still covered history, math, and economics, not much was going on for him. Even the visits with Celestia seemed to decrease the closer time got to the holidays. It was nice, but he was missing the good tea.

Speaking of holidays, he finally got to celebrate Halloween. And promptly was arrested and held in jail for eight hours.

“AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH”

That had to have been the sixth teenager that had dropped their candy and bolted down the street in panic. The night was going great.

He had set up shop in an alleyway between the school and the orphanage. It was not a super high traffic area at night, which meant students and kids walked through as a shortcut to get to the richer sections of town. It was the perfect ambush spot.

His costume of the evening was the grim reaper, he was affectionately calling the outfit ‘Death Horse’ and he was having a blast. Instead of the normal human head he was familiar with, he swapped it for a unicorn skull design. He made sure to have lots of ‘bones’ exposed as well as creepy patterns of red flashing throughout the outfit like something evil and ethereal was churning inside. To be able to recreate his outfit from when he was a kid back on earth was amazing. Making it ten times more terrifying was incredible.

Back then he had to use a fog machine to set the ambience. Here all he had to do was create a spell that churned fog out like a factory. The spell had the added effect of alerting him to who was coming into the fog field, he had opted to leave the leather band on his wrist at home because it was getting in the way of the bone gloves, and would increase the amount of fog that would be created to make it harder to see. That was his mistake. Leaving behind that leather bracelet. He would have seen the attack coming.

What he hadn’t realized was that apparently the students and foals were going to the guard. To report of an actual monster lurking in the alleyways. That last screaming teenager was what tipped the local forces off to his location. And that night, he learned why Celestia had so much trust in Errant Strikes. The mare was a monster in combat, though he would have likely won had she not had a team of four others with her. At one point during the battle he had the surreal feeling of being the final boss monster in a video game, and had to laugh. The laugh was augmented by the creepy voice spell he had concotted. So while he heard himself, everyone else heard Satan incarnate. That only seemed to piss her off even more. Things got confusing after that and he doesn't remember much of that part.

In the end, three of the five members of that strike team were down, and so was he. Somewhere in the battle they had gone from trying to catch him to straight up trying to kill him. He had managed to break their weapons, which was really only a matter of luck he believed. And they ended up beating him into submission.

Only heavy breathing could be heard as he laid up against the brickwall to a mason shop, groans from three of her soldiers could be heard.

“Any-” breathing raggedly she took another gulp of air “pony got something sharp I can stab this bucking monster with?!” Errant was slowly approaching him, grim determination on her face.

“No, no the thing broke them all. The Princess will want this creature examined. Ma’am, it is subdued, we likely can’t get away with killing it now. It may be a-a new type of lich.” Was that? No it couldn’t be...but it was Pale Water, she had completely changed since the last time he saw her. The fight would have likely gone his way had she not been here. The two had worked amazingly well to bring him down. The mare herself looked like she hit the gym more than Big Mac.

Then he thought about it. Why in the fuck had he fought. Initially he thought it was a bunch of street toughs, once he realized it was the royal guard, he could have just called for a stop, ripped the head off and gotten the confusion out of the way. Instead he fought back all the harder. The only thing he could chalk it up to, and this was later in which he figured it out, was the sheer panic of having police of a sort apprehending him again. The last time had him ending up becoming a guinea pig, and being brought here.

“I don’t think that will be necessary, Cap.” The voice they all heard was likely still satanic as all hell, but the dawning realization on Errant’s face was a mixture of shock, and anger. “Can….someone help me get this helmet off, I think one of you asses broke my left arm.” It hurt like hell and he was trying to be manly about it.

No one said anything as Pale Water slowly pulled the mask off his head.

“Hey guys, I can explain everything.”

For the second time he found himself in chains with a null ring strapped to his horn. He might need to get a punch card if this was going to be a regular thing, maybe he could get a free sundae out of the whole deal.

Celestia herself sat aghast as the charges were being laid out against him. Scaring a bunch of kids was one thing, but property damage and assaulting royal guards was another. He sat there, unsure of how to feel, he felt it unfair that he was being attacked for scaring on a holiday meant for fright. At the same time he was ashamed that he had gotten into the altercation to begin with. All he had to do was take the helmet off, or at least speak up.

Done with the charges, Errant Strikes spun around and glared at him. He had lost a friend in her it seems. Stupid.

“What I wish to know is why did you fight back Orion?” Celestia had schooled her face behind the mask of hers again. But the look in her eyes was massive disappointment. Shit, now he felt worse somehow. She should weaponize that look, would be less fighting.

“I...shit I have no idea, at first I thought they were a bunch of thugs. It was only about halfway through the fight that I realized they were guards. By then I was worried what they would do when they caught me.” He rubbed the back of his head, or as best he tried with the chains that bound him. There was a knot there that he had received from the Captain after his helmet came off. “Then the sharp and pointies came out, and I might have gone beyond panic by that point. Thus I fought all the harder.”

This got a chaste look from Errant, and a considering one from the Princess.

“I just wanted to enjoy Nightmare Night. I didn’t think scaring the pants off of a bunch of people was going to result in a conflict like that. I am actually sorry.” And he was damnit, though he was a little proud of the fact that he had made something they all considered horrifying. From the reports that had been read outloud earlier, his costume was seen as some sort of evil Lich.

“So if I am to understand this correctly, in the spirit of Nightmare Night, you decided to scare little ponies with an absolutely terrifying outfit,” she looked at the costume that was laid out in front of the dais and shuddered, “and engage in combat with my guard, all because you wanted to scare ponies.” She shook her head. “Two weeks with the nullstone ring, eighty hours community service, and you WILL apologize to each and every pony you scared tonight. I can’t believe you. This was utterly absurd. Do you have anything else to say?”

Oh she was pissed. “Okay Orion, let's play this cool and be chaste about it all.”

Instead what he said was: “Hey do you think if i keep coming back here I get a hole punch card with a ‘ten visits and you get a Get out of Jail for free’ card. No one laughed.

The worst was not the horn ring, again. Though he did expect someone from the 405th to be up his way by the end of his sentence, it was almost a ritual at this point. It wasn’t even the community service.

No, it was the apologies he had to make. The kids he happened to scare, well, many of them were the rich asshole elitist dickwads he would normally tell to piss off. With the ring firmly in place many of the kids, of which more than a few went to school with him, thought they could make him grovel as some sort of retribution. What made it worse were the parents who encouraged it and demanded the guards assist their child in making him. That thought process was short circuited when he proceeded to punch the kid in the mouth, and then the father for good measure.

There was never any mention of it in the guards report. Though it was likely Celestia had heard about it in any case. After that mild little assault, the rest lined up and fearfully accepted his apologies. The sooner it was over the better.

The moment his horn was free he had to play major catch up with the rest of the class, before he knew it, classes were on holiday till after the new year and he was still behind. Shit. My how time flies when one is having fun.

He was nervous. It was like meeting Applejack’s ginormous family members all over again.

Twilight had arrived at the orphanage early that morning. The plan, that they both agreed to, was to get shopping early so he had something to gift her family. He had already had done Spike, a bowl of ruby red gems. Who knew dragons liked to eat stone like that. He had a very long argument with the sister on whether it would be okay for him to give the little guy some well cooked meat.

She argued that he was a vegetarian, he pointed out that was only because she never fed him anything else. This got the retort that he had never complained, which earned the snide remark from him that she never gave him the option. Needless to say, the little dragon was getting cured meats in a basket. Miss Stick-up her ass thought it was a waste of bits, that her little brother would never eat them. He grinned at her, and asked if she wanted to make a bet on that. Sadly she declined. Pity.

Her father was easy, though a surprise. Like his eldest son, Night Light was a guard as well, retired, but a guard. He was also heavily into military history literature. A few queries were made to Twilight, and he had gotten the older stallion ‘Hooves and Saddles’. It was an interesting read from the widower of General Lily Custard. The story seemed vaguely familiar to something he read back on earth. The strange parallels between words only seemed to grow with time.

Her mother, one Twilight Velvet, was a famous novelist. That made it more difficult as it's hard to figure out writers. He bit the bullet and ended up buying a rather expensive typewriter and ink set. He hoped it would go over well, he had no idea what writers actually needed.

The older brother, well, he was nervous about. He knew him, at least of him. This was Shining Armour, the poor bastard that had gone chasing after him across most of Griffonia, only to return home empty handed. He had been told by Twilight that he had been punished severely for his failures. A book was gotten for him as well. ‘Conserving Magic in the Field’. That one was more toward easing the burden on shield craft. She had told him his shields were incredible, but very taxing. So he figured the stallion could use a lesson or two in how to manage his own magic use. He hoped it didn’t get him killed.

So there he was, all gifts from both her and him securely in his hands, though she insisted on carrying them. And he was sweating bullets. One very pissed off dude was in there, and knew he was coming.

Before he could work up his courage Twilight knocked quickly on the door. In three seconds a very tall and smiling Shining Armor had pulled open the door. The stallion only had a couple of inches on Orion, but it seemed like he had strained for every inch as he smile glared at him.

“So that's how it's going to be, eh?”

He resolved not to get into any altercations with the guy. Truthfully he knew why he was pissed. Just, how long would it be before he got the business he didn’t know, and was not eager for that. It was not going to be that nice.

“Twilight! It's so good to see you!” The big brother swept her into his arms and spun her around, every single rotation got a glare from him. “I see you have brought a friend.” He was smiling, but he definitely was not smiling.

“Yep this Orion Falls, he’s a friend from school and since he is an orphan and has nowhere to go this year I thought he could join us for the holidays!” She was completely oblivious to hostility.

“Oh! Interesting, I believe I have heard of you somewhere before.” He was being overly dramatic. That is enough of that.

“Twilight this past summer your brother was sent chasing my ass across Griffonia. I never even knew he was doing so, but he seems hell bent on being an ass.” Turning to the now gaping Shining Armor, “listen you little turd nugget, this is the holidays. A time in which no one is supposed to be a dick to another. So how about you pull on your big boy pants, and act like the adult you are supposed to be.” He shouldered past the stallion, leaving both ponies with a strangled look.

As he set the packages down on a nearby entry table, it was a rather beautiful piece with the swirl of patterns that he couldn’t make sense of, fierce whispering and arguing cropped up behind him. He didn’t want to stir up trouble right from the moment he stepped into the door, but Orion was most certainly not going to put up with this beta male passive aggressive attack. The fact that his little story was only half of the truth. But they didn’t need to know that.

“You will apologize Shining. He didn’t know, and you’re being rude!” She was really tearing into him. So odd to see, well hear her in such a dominant position. He could see a hidden dominatrix under all that bookworm.

By the time the two were done arguing with each other, he had stripped off the thick overcoat made of leather and hung up his scarf. Turning around he came face to face with a blushing, and chastised Shining Armor.

“I’m sorry, that was...unworthy of me. I suppose I ended up villainizing you after chasing your ghost all through Griffonia. I didn’t realize my chase was over till I got the message about you being in Canterlot. I have been a rude host, again, I am sorry.”

As far as apologies go, that was a pretty good one. He could tell that there was still some veiled anger in the stallion, but that was to be expected. He couldn’t really blame him. If it had been him he would have likely marched off and punched someone, or the person who he was assigned to retrieve.

“Apology accepted Captain Armor.” None of his usual snark was in evidence. He didn’t want to stir up even more trouble and ruin the night further.

As Twilight disrobed and Orion picked up the packages, a hand fell on his shoulder. It was the big brother again.

“Whats up?”

Shining was not looking at him, but at his coat. The very same coat he had ‘bought’ in Arber. The sick look on the stallion’s face could not be ignored. “You kept that?” He almost sounded like he was going to vomit.

“Um yeah, why waste a purchase. It’s warm on the inside with all the fur lining. And the leather makes a great water repellant. An excellent purchase, and as long as I take care of it, the leather will last for years and years. One of the best coats I have.”

Twilight was no longer oblivious to the true nature of his coat. Her own face had paled upon hearing and really taking a look at it. In truth he would have worn something else, but after careful consideration, he needed to show that he was most certainly in those places that he claimed he was. If there was ever a doubt, everything would be called into question.

“Orion, why do you keep such a coat, it's a tragedy that some animal had to die. Why carry it’s corpse on your shoulders?” That question irritated him. Made him angry actually.

His grandfather had always told him that a true hunter uses as much of the animal as he possibly can. That no matter the reason for that animal's death, one should honor that kill by making it mean something. In this case his survival. Now that didn’t mean he approved of fur farms or the like, in fact his grandfather would often rage at the idea of animals of any kind being kept in cages for the purpose of only their fur. He wanted to freerange everything, and have a reduction in the human population to lessen the impact they would have.

Later on in life Orion understood the purpose of farms better, and while he liked what his grandfather preached, ultimately he could not side with the man on account that without the industry, many would starve and not be able to survive. Not everyone has survival instincts.

Hearing Twilight ask a question like that had anger flash across his eyes. Time for a lesson in accepting others.

“Ookay, let me answer your question with one of my own, Twilight. You understand that griffons have to have meat in their diet, right?” A nod and he spoke quickly. “Good, that wasn’t the question. The question is, would you have that same griffon, after hunting and killing his meal, waste the fur that might keep his chicks warm the coming winter? Would you rather that animals' death mean nothing else but food and rot? Would it not be better to allow for everything that can be used, to be used so it's not a waste?”

Both siblings were quiet for a moment.

“He’s right Twily, as much as it makes me uncomfortable, many creatures out there do not eat as we do. To use all of an animal is actually rather kind. Considering I have heard of poachers in forests sawing off the tails and horns of animals.”

Twilight didn’t seem to want to argue, she too had a pensive look on her face as she mulled over his words.

“Well I couldn’t have said it better myself!” The masculine voice boomed out from behind them startling all but Orion himself. “Thank you detect movement, I love you.”

Turning around he was met with a lanky stallion, only an inch or two taller then himself, in a blue sweater vest and green pants of an indeterminate texture. The golden hue in his eyes twinkled merrily. “You must be the ever elusive Orion Falls!” The sudden hug was expected, parents and hugging anyone and anything had become a staple for him.

Releasing him, they both took in the other. Blue was all Orion, could think of as he noted the strands of grey in the old guy’s mane. Blue in fur and darker blue for the mane. The stallion seemed to bubble with joy and enthusiasm. That could have just been the holidays though.

“When you described him to me I didn’t quite believe you, my wittle Sparkle. But you weren’t kidding, he is a big colt for his age, Shiny I think this one is gonna be taller than you!” Both of them exploded with protests over the affectionate nicknames their father belted out. He was so keeping ‘wittle Sparkle’. And judging by the look on her face as she looked to him, she knew it.

After that, the night just kept getting better and better. At least for him. Twilight’s mother was an absolute delight for him. She spoke of the most embarrassing stories for all three youngest family members, Spike was there too of course, be he didn’t seem to last as long after stuffing himself full of gems, and the meat he had been gifted. That earned a grin from Orion and a pouty frown from Twilight.

Twilight Velvet noticed apparently. Adjusting the thick cotton blue dress she wore, she looked at her daughter. “What's with the frown my dear, tonight has been a good night!” She was likely meaning him, but he refrained from making a comment. Thus began the conversation from earlier this morning. Turns out, dear ma and pa Sparkle had been feeding the young dragon meat whenever Twilight was at school or with the Princess.

Even Shining new of the hidden arrangement.

That started an argument over what was appropriate for the slumbering kid. It ended with Twilight conceding to her parents that it was important that Spike get his full dietary needs.

Seeing the little tike tuckered out, she took him upstairs to put him to bed. Orion was roped into helping do the dishes with her mother, the inevitable had come.

“It is so nice to see Twilight finally bring a colt home.” Oh Jesus, she wastes no time. “For a while I was worried she would bring home a book named Roy, and say they were getting married.” She giggled to herself, her purple and white striped mane shaking with mirth. “Can you imagine her trying to have sex with a book?”

Orion’s eyes had steadily gotten wider and wider, cleaning dishes was on autopilot as he wished he was anywhere but there. She didn’t stop.

“Though one time I did catch her in a rather salacious act with one of her larger books…” The Mad World began playing the back of his skull. What in the hell is wrong with this lady. “Why I remember when I was young and still working for the palace library, that's where I met Night Light. I remember him in uniform, oh did he look stunning, we would often get together behind the bookshelves in E section because it was just secluded enough for a little romp and play.”

And she went on, and on. What was wrong with this mare. It didn’t help when the husband decided to chim in.

“Oh I remember taking you behind the barracks on that stormy day. Talk about intense, I was worried about getting caught, but I was also worried about getting struck with lightning.” He laughed. It was then that Orion spotted Shining Armor, eyes very wide, sneaking out the kitchen door. “Don’t abandon me you prick!”

Thankfully a knock at the door stopped the onslaught of lewd unwanted images parading through his head. Twilight Velvet smiled, dried the gray fur of her hands with a towel. “I wonder who that could be at this hour?” She proceeded to practically dance out the room to the foyer. Orion was left wondering who the hell these people actually were.

“Don’t let her get to you my young stallion, my wife, believes in a healthy relationship. That a healthy relationship needs….healthy adventures.”

“Oh you better not ask if I swing for older mares you cuck fuck.” He was interrupted from those dangerous thoughts. It was unfair to call, even in his own head, the older stallion as a cuck. The dude was just trying to be funny and fun.

“Honey, we have a guest.” Came from the foyer. It did not carry her usual playful voice, it was stiff and formal. That alarmed both Orion and Night. He quickly dried his hands and followed the older male out of the kitchen

There stood Celestia, in a thick white dress with a just as white overcoat perched gracefully on her shoulders. Behind her were four guards dressed warm and in plate armor and thick fabrics in the royal colors of her station.

“I am sorry to intrude. But it has been so long since I last visited with you. I thought it would be nice to see you all. Oh and Orion too.”

Author's Note

I DID IT! I am back on top and back on schedule Baby! WOOOOOO

Seriously it feels good posting on time. Thank you all for tolerating the delays.

I hope you all really enjoy this chapter and all it has to offer.

If you liked it, leave a like. If you have a comment, please by all means leave it I love hearing from you guys. Share with your friends, if you would.

As always, Thanks for reading.

Peace!