The Fairytale

Chapters

Chapter 2: The Edge of the World
Chapter 3: The King and the Peasant
Chapter 4: Judge, Jury and Executioner
Chapter 5: To Defy the Lord
Chapter 6: Nothing But the Truth
Chapter 7: Life's Crossroad
Chapter 8: Intertwined
Chapter 9: Sunlight
Chapter 10: There Be Monsters Here
Chapter 11: Foxfire
Chapter 12: All's Quiet on the Western Front
Chapter 13: Calling in Reinforcements
Chapter 14: They Come From Below
Chapter 15: Heart of Darkness
Chapter 16: Light it Up
Chapter 17: And Burn It Down
Chapter 18: The Other Side of Darkness
Chapter 19: Skin and Bones
Chapter 20: A Princess Made Humble
Chapter 21: The Gods and the Mare
Chapter 22: The Final Piece
Chapter 23: Taking Something Precious
Chapter 24: And We Go On
Chapter 25: The Long Road Home
Chapter 1: The Night to Remember

Chapter 2: The Edge of the World

Jet Stream and Aurora wasted no time ditching the party and he led her through the streets of Canterlot until they stood at the cities’ edge, staring out into the great beyond. They leaned against the railing, letting the wind run their manes. Jet had found this place when he was still a child and had spent a lot of his time there, just sitting and staring out into the seemingly endless expanse that was Equestria.

Aurora’s eyes were wide in awe, never had she been given the opportunity to see such a breathtaking view. “It’s, it’s so incredible, amazing,” she said, unable to keep her eyes away.

“I know, I remember as a little colt thinking that Equestria just never ended, that it continued far beyond the horizon,” Jet replied and looked at Aurora.

She then gently laid her head against him, still watching the landscape. After a few more minutes, Aurora got up from the railing and laid herself down on a patch of grass behind them.

Jet froze at that moment, not entirely sure what to do, but not wanting to appear like a jerk to her. He stepped down and walked to her and she immediately pulled him down next to her until they sat side by side, looking up at the stars.

“You know, out of all the colts that my father has paired me up with, none of them have come close to being such an upstanding pony as yourself. None of them understand that I don’t care about money; all I want is somepony who cares about me and protects me, who will treat me like I matter, that my feelings and dreams mean something. To all of them, I’m just a pretty little ornament to wear out in public,” she said, breathing softly as she took in the cool night air.

“Why do you put up with it all?” Jet asked, looking towards her.

Aurora let out a sigh and looked at her hooves. “I guess I don’t really know, deep down I want to say something, I want to throw it all back, but when I stand in front of him, I can’t do it. He barks orders at me and all I do is stare and the floor and say yes.” She went silent after this, not sure what else she could say. As much as she hated how her father treated her, something stopped her from standing up to him. Much of her time was spent going through the motions, doing whatever it was that her father asked her to. Her heart told her it was not right, her head forced her to do it anyway.

“What is it you want, then?” Jet asked, giving her a gentle nudge.

“Honestly, I just want to be allowed to be myself, nothing more. I am an artist, I love to draw ponies, landscapes, anything really, but nopony knows that, nopony is ever allowed to know that. I’m just supposed to be the quiet, submissive young lady… just like my mother,” Aurora replied and at that moment she realized what she had just said. Somehow she had never noticed, maybe because she never thought it out so thoroughly before, but the way she was supposed to act, it was exactly how her mother acted. The most she had ever talked was when she would read her stories before bed, she certainly never said anything to her father, and did whatever it was that he told her to do. But that was exactly what her father wanted, that is how she was supposed to act…

Aurora stood up and looked over at Jet, who shortly after stood up as well. She glared down at the dress she wore and proceeded to rip it right off her body. “I can’t do it, Jet, I can’t end up like that,” she remarked and spat a piece of fabric from her mouth.

Jet didn’t actually know what to say at thing moment, all he had expected was a simple evening watching the stars, not all of this. But he didn’t stop her, it seemed this had been something building for a long time and he didn’t want to stop her.

“Sixteen years, Jet, and I spent every one of those years as my dad’s pretty little doll, doing everything he wanted me to do, and for what? He doesn't treat me like I actually matter, all I am is some bargaining chip in his elaborate power game. But I am better than that, I have value and I deserve to be treated fairly,” she took a deep breath and smiled as the cool air hit her body. She looked at Jet with a mischievous little smile and pounced on him, knocking them both back to the ground. She gently laid her head down on his chest and closed her eyes at little. “What about you? What do you want the most?” she asked softly.

Jet looked at the sky and smiled a little before he answered her. “Well that’s simple; all I want is somepony to fight for. I want to know that when I come home, there is somepony who will be waiting for me, who loves and cherishes me. that is what I want in life.”

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Jet and Aurora sat together for at least an hour, not talking, just enjoying the view and each others company. Remembering the advice Shining Armor had given him over the years, he made sure to walk Aurora back home, all the while talking about his own family and everything. “So then my grandfather goes off on the waiter and starts yelling that he’s the descendant of Commander Hurricane, demanding a full refund, making this massive ruckus and getting us kicked out by the manager,” he explained, waiving a hoof in the air in a comical manner.

“Is it true?” Aurora asked, trying to hold a laugh.

“He likes to think so, but bear in mind, he also says we’re half-dragon, so I wouldn’t take his word for it,” Jet answered and Aurora couldn’t help but laugh at that. She had just the cutest laugh he had ever heard, even more so than Cadance’s.

“This is it,” Aurora said, stopping at the stairs leading up to a massive building.

“It is? Doesn’t look particularly fancy,” Jet remarked, stepping next to her.

“It’s not supposed to be, we only stay her during the week while my dad mingles with the other wealthy ponies, we have an estate close to the castle where I spend most of my time,” she replied, a frown forming on her face. “Would… would you like to come in?” she asked, turning towards him.

Jet lowered his head slightly and shook it. “I can’t, I’m already half-an-hour over the academy’s curfew, if I stay longer I will get in some real trouble,” he said.

“I understand, I’m sure my father with complain to me for being out late as well. But Jet, I really did enjoy myself, and… I would like to see you again,” she said, a blush on her face.

Jet’s eyes brightened up at the comment and he gently touched her cheek. “Then I’ll make sure that happens. Have a goodnight Aurora,” he remarked and watched as she stepped up towards the door.

Something then suddenly hit him and he quickly ran back up to her. He gently took her head and led Aurora into a kiss and once she realized what was happening she wrapped her hooves around his head and closed her eyes as her heart fluttered. For what felt like hours the two were locked together, but Jet had to gently separate them. He gently looked her in the eyes, his hoof gently running down her cheek.

“Goodnight Aurora,” he whispered to her and started walking back down.

Aurora stood and watched as Jet walked away, her head in such an amazing daze and her heart seemingly stopped. This colt, he was different, so very different from every colt her father had introduced her to, and she liked it so much. For that moment, she couldn’t care less what her father wanted, what anypony else expected from her. She wanted that colt; she wanted to finally be loved.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

It was already one in the morning when Jet finally reached the academy and sneaked his way back to his and Shining’s dorm. He was actually a little surprised to find Shining asleep in the room, normally on weekends he spent the nights with Cadance. So he tried his best to enter without making any noise, but shining must have been waiting for him because he awoke the minute he entered.

“Where have you been?” he said in a sleepy daze, yawning as he looked at the clock hanging on the wall. “It’s one in the morning, you’re really going to get it,” he pointed out.

“Yeah, I know, but I don’t care, it was worth it,” Jet set as he took his uniform off and tossed in on a nearby desk.

“Really? What’s really worth doing five laps around the campus?” Shining asked.

Jet smiled slightly as he sat on his bed and looked at Shining. “A girl,” he said simply.

That revelation made Shining Armor jump out of bed, actually excited that, after so long, something had gone right for Jet. “Now that’s what I’m talking about, Jet! And to think, you didn’t want to go,” Shining responded.

“Yes, it seems you were right, for once,” he replied and ducked under his covers, feeling tired from the evening activities.

“So, what’s her name?” Shining asked.

“Aurora, and she wants to see me again,” Jet said and laid his head down on his pillow. Shining Armor said something afterwards, but Jet didn’t hear it, he was too focused on that pink pony and about seeing her again.

Chapter 3: The King and the Peasant

One month had already passed since Jet had first met Aurora and the two had firmly cemented their relationship. After their third date they started spending as much time as they could together and Jet introduced her to Shining Armor and Cadance. It wasn’t an easy thing to pull off, Aurora had to be extremely cautious about when she left home and make sure she returned before anypony noticed she had been gone. Up until now, she had been hesitant about introducing Jet to her father. It wasn’t that she was afraid of what her father would think, she was afraid of what he would do. She was walking on thin ice, but she hoped that somehow, some way she might get him to understand. She finally pulled her courage together to just do it, no matter what the consequences were. She needed to stand up to him; no matter how difficult it was, because otherwise she’d never be her own individual. She’d remain her father’s doll for the rest of her life.

Jet himself didn’t know what to make of the situation, not even Shining Armor had any good advice on how to manage such a delicate situation. From the way Aurora put it, her father, a wealthy businesspony named Upper Class, was extremely strict and had a very rigid structure to his life and the life of his family. It was something seemingly passed down his family, as every marriage from five-generations forward in some way increased the family’s social standings and wealth. Aurora never met her grandparents, so she had no idea how they had operated, but she was positive that what her father was doing was still wrong, even if it was tradition.

Aurora eventually set a date with Jet for him to come to her home and planned to meet him at the same overlook they had spent their first date at. Jet and Shining Armor arrived as the sun was setting, dressed in the best outfit they owned. Aurora immediately embraced Jet and the two kissed for a short moment before her attention turned to Shining Armor.

“I know what you’re thinking, and I just thought that maybe it would help to have someone like Shining Armor along, maybe the opinion of the brother to Princess Celestia’s apprentice would hold some sway,” Jet explained.

“I don’t know, I guess it can’t hurt,” Aurora’s voice trailed off, and fairly overt indication her anxiety over the situation. She certainly didn’t look very good; he knew she had been stressed by the whole situation, but up until now she hadn’t really showed it. Now she just looked so exhausted and worried.

Jet gently held her against his and rubbed her shoulder, trying to comfort her. “Let’s just get it over with, that’s all we need to do,” he told her and she smiled a little.

“Alright, let’s get this over with,” she said and began leading the two away. But while Jet had managed to comfort her, deep down Aurora couldn’t help but feel dread emerging and her insides felt all twisted into knots.

For whatever reason, the walk to her home felt like it took forever compared to all the other times he’d walked her home, but there also was a sense of anxiety hanging over the three of them. They stopped at the stairs and could only look at each other, not sure if they were really going to do this.

Aurora started up and opened the door, poking her head inside to see if anypony was there. With the coast clear, she motioned for them to follow her and slipped inside. The place was a complete contrast of how it appeared on the outside.

While looking like just a random brick building, the rooms inside clear boasted the wealth of the occupants. Be it elaborately decorated carpets to numerous paintings depicting the family and Princess Celestia, there was nothing here that wasn’t expensive. Aurora pulled them along, bringing them into some kind of grand ballroom and into a small foyer adjacent it. She sat Jet and Shining down on a couch and disappeared into the next room to retrieve her parents.

“Makes you afraid to touch anything, doesn’t it? I bet those drapes alone cost more than our tuition,” Shining remarked as the two looked around at the room.

“You never had anything this fancy, did you?” Jet asked.

“Not really, sure we had a few things that were nice, but I can’t say we had anything as grand as all this,” Shining replied and the two sat in silence after that.

The wait was certainly agonizing, mostly since by this point Jet knew it was not going to go well. As hard as Aurora may try, it was clear what her father valued the most and it certainly wasn’t her. It was almost sad, really, wasting your entire life amassing all this money and completely neglecting those closest to you. For the first time Jet actually felt glad he had been rich, he couldn’t imagine everything that Aurora has had to go through during her life.

Minutes passed before the sounds of somepony descending the stairs echoed in the halls and some barely-audible voices accompanied them. Jet and Shining sat up just before Aurora appeared with a larger male unicorn, who immediately stopped and glared at Jet. He was thoroughly intimidating, for even though he was at home, he looked like he was just about to step into an important meeting. His mane was slicked back, he wore a very expensive tailored suit and his hooves were spotless. You couldn’t imagine this guy ever once played in the dirt when he was just a colt.

“So, dad, this is-“ But before she could finish he raised his hoof to demand her silence.

Maybe it was just from a habit, but Aurora immediately and obediently went silent.

“I know who he is, Aurora, believe me, I know exactly who he is,” he said, eying Jet slightly before he looked towards her. “Were you so arrogant to think that you could keep this hidden from me?” he asked, pushing his face almost right up against hers. At that point you could almost visible see all of Aurora’s confidence fail her, already her body seemed to be shivering from fright and you could see tears forming in her eyes. “My reach extends all across Canterlot, Aurora, and I have plenty of eyes to watch what goes on and they are more than willing to let me know when they see you with filth like this,” Upper Class said, pointing towards Jet.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Jet asked, standing up, but Shining Armor pulled him back down.

“You, you have no right to speak to me, so keep your trap shut you inbred mongrel!” he yelled at Jet and turned his attention back to Aurora. “Now, Aurora, I want to know what the hell you think you were doing with this rabble,” he said and stepped back.

Aurora stood there, her eyes down on the floor, barely able to bring herself to say anything. She had seen her father upset plenty of times before, but nothing to this scale before. Never had he so thoroughly yelled at her before, up until now he maintained a calm, but stern voice of disapproval whenever she had misbehaved. What he was doing now was nothing she had encountered before.

Jet looked at Upper Class and then looked towards Aurora. “You can do it, Aurora,” he said to her, and she looked up towards him.

Her eyes met with Jet’s, just like at the party over a month ago. Something about him brought her courage back to her and she soon felt like she could do this. She took a deep breath, stood up straight and turned to her father. “Because he cares about me, dad, he cared about me, more than you ever have! Ever since I was born, you have had to control every facet of my life, never once considering how I felt. All you cared about was your own ego; you could not see anything beyond that! But I will not end up like mom; I will not let myself be some pawn in your stupid games for money and power! Jet Stream cares about me, about who I am and treats me like I really matter and I don’t care what you think about him. Jet Stream has treated me better in one month that you ever have over 16 years,” Aurora said as tears came down the side of her face, but maintaining a very stern look on her face.

Her father stood there, seemingly stunned at everything that was just said. For minutes the room was silent as everypony waited to see what would happen. Finally he approached Aurora, stood there for a moment and then did the unthinkable; he hit her across the face with his hoof.

Jet and Shining both jumped to their feet at the moment, but neither knew what to do.

Upper Class grabbed Aurora and pushed her against the wall. “How dare you, after everything I’ve provided for you, you have no right,” he said, each word laced with anger. “Everything you have here is because our family has continued its march to power; right now we are almost as powerful as that idiot Fancypants. I will not allow you to throw everything away that our family has worked for; I will not let you destroy everything I’ve created!”

At that point, something in Jet just snapped; seeing Aurora, seeing the way her dad was treating her, some just broke in him. He jumped up over the couch and down next to him and landed his own hoof into Upper Class’s face. He reeled back, clenching the side of his face where blood was now flowing and glared at Jet. Jet took a defensive position in front of Aurora and stared right back at him.

“You piece of trash, you dare attack me?” he asked, stepping back slightly.

“No, I am protecting Aurora from the likes of you!” Jet yelled back, his own anger matching that of Upper Class.

The stallion’s own anger was almost visible and he gave Jet a look that could kill. “You get out of my house, right now, or I will have the guards arrest you!” Upper Class demanded.

Jet ignored the demand; he helped Aurora back up to her hooves and held her protectively.

“Jet, please, just go,” she whispered to him. “I’ll be ok, just go.”

Shining Armor walked over and nudged him also. “Jet we really need to go, now, you don’t need to get yourself arrested,” he said with a nervous tick in his voice.

Jet look down at Aurora, not wanting to leave her, not after what had just happened, how could he leave her with him? But, whether he wanted to admit it or not, they were both right, he had to leave. So he gently leaned in and gave Aurora a kiss, wiping some blood off her nose before he turned and followed Shining Armor out of the house. The last time he saw her was as she stood at the door, next to her father.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

“Ok, explain again what happened?” Cadance asked as the three of them say in a restaurant, recovering from what had happened.

“All I know is her father hit her and something just told me that I had to defend her, so I hit Upper Class back,” Jet replied, staring down into a cup of water before him.

“Cadance, what that guy was doing, that wasn’t right, she didn’t deserve any of that,” Shining Armor added.

Cadance looked at them and shook her head a little. “So, what happens now?” she asked.

“Honestly, I have no idea. Upper Class could press charges, but I doubt he will do so; all we’d need to do is prove he was defending Aurora and his case would collapse,” Shining replied and leaned back as a waiter brought them their food.

“In any case I think that’s it for me and her, after what happened I don’t think I’ll ever see her again,” Jet said and rested his head against his hoof. “I just… I just don’t know what went wrong,” he added.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Aurora sat alone, her eyes trained on the sky just outside of her window, tears cascading down her face. Everything had just gone so wrong, so fast; she could almost barely get a grip on what had just happened. But now she knew she was not her father’s pretty doll; she was his prisoner, trapped in a cage of money and power. In all her dreams she had never imagined he would ever hit her, but he had shown just what he thought about her.

“Aurora?” her mother called in from behind her door.

While Aurora was not in the mood to see anypony at this moment, the fact that her mother came to consoled her was enough to change her mind. “You can come in,” she called back and got up from her seat at the window and walked towards the door.

Her mother, a pale yellow unicorn with graying hair entered and gently took Aurora into her arms. “Aurora, I can’t tell you how proud I am of you,” she said softly and wiped the tears from her face.

“What are you talking about?” Aurora asked, slightly perplexed by her mother.

“Well, my daughter, you did what I could never do. You stood up to your father, you are the first in the family since this damned tradition started who stood up and said this is not right,” her mother explained and took a seat on Aurora’s bed. “I still remember how my father treated me, not as bad as Upper Class, but close enough that I still despise him. But I never had the courage to stand up to him, I never had the courage to stand up to your father,” she explained.

“Well, that’s good and all, but I just destroyed everything I ever wanted. Dad will never let me out again and I’m positive Jet Stream will never want to see me again,” Aurora said and sat down with her mother.

“Do you really think that, or is that your father talking?” her mother asked.

“I… well, I don’t know,” Aurora said, unable to come up with a response.

“Aurora, that young stallion risked a lot to protect you. Tonight, he showed you just the kind of pony he is, one who will protect and cherish you. I’m almost certain he won’t forget you anytime soon,” her mother said with a smile and Aurora couldn’t help but smile as well.

“But what do I do now?” she asked.

“Well, my daughter, you must do what you have to,” her mother replied and looked towards the window. “Say, just hypothetically, if I were too, I don’t know,” she started saying and went over to the window. “Accidentally unlocked this window,” she said and used her magic to gently open it. “Would you have somewhere to go?”

Aurora thought for a moment, but it didn’t take long for her to come up with an answer. “Yes, I believe so, there’s this one, I think she’s the fillyfriend of Jet’s friend, we got along very well when I met her and I think she’d help me,” Aurora said and got up. She quickly then grabbed her saddlebag and whatever few things she might want to bring with her, knowing that this was her one and only chance to leave.

“Well Aurora, then in think I will give you some privacy,” her mother said and walked back to the door.

“What about you? How will you handle dad?” Aurora asked, approaching her.

“You don’t worry about me, daughter, my time passed a long time ago. What matters now is allowing you to avoid the mistakes I made,” she said and the two embraced each other for what could be the very last time.

“I love you mom, and I promise I will do better,” she said and gently pulled out of her mother’s hooves. She turned and went to the window, stepping up until she had a hoof resting on the frame. “Goodbye,” she said and slipped out of her room for the very last time.

Chapter 4: Judge, Jury and Executioner

Jet Stream awoke the next morning feeling awful, the worst he had felt in a long, long time. Although he and Shining Armor had returned to the academy fairly early and he had gone to bed hours before everyone else, his entire night had him tossing in his sleep, thinking about what had happened, thinking about Aurora. He felt guilt for leaving her, he should have taken her with him, not leave her at the mercy of her father.

“You finally up?” Shining Armor asked, walking in the room with a sandwich floating in front of him. “You’ve been asleep for over twelve hours now, you already missed breakfast and morning drills,” he added and took a large bit from his sandwich.

“Ugh, yeah I’m up,” Jet murmured a little as he pulled the covers off and got up.

“You can’t stop thinking about her, can you?” Shining asked and walked over to him.

“That scene, leaving her at the door, leaving her with that disgrace of a father, I just can’t get it out of my mind,” he said and shook his head slightly.

“I understand, believe me, it was just awful what happened, but there wasn’t anything more you could have done. Aurora stayed on her own choice and if you had done anything, you’d be in jail right now,” Shining replied.

“I know, I just, I wish I could have done more,” Jet remarked and headed towards the door. “But I guess it doesn’t matter anymore.”

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Jet and Shining walked across campus, not a word passing between them. While he wanted to try and help, Shining knew there wasn’t anything he could really say at the moment to help Jet. He’d practically lost everything last night, that was not something you could wipe away with a few words. All that could help him right now was time, time to heal and to move on.

“Cadet Jet Stream!” Suddenly one of the Overseers of the academy, Brute Force, appeared seemingly out of nowhere and stopped the two in their tracks.

“Overseer, uh, good morning, sir,” Jet and Shining bother said, saluting him.

“You can cut the formalities, Jet, I need to speak with you,” Brute said and looked at Shining Armor. “You can go on your way Shining Armor, but I might need to speak to you later.”

Shining Armor shrugged at Jet and stepped around the Overseer. Brute Force looked back and motioned for Jet to follow him. They ended up in one of the administrative offices, though not the one belonging to him. They were accompanied by another Overseer, the mare Morning Dew, who was sitting at her desk. Jet was direct to take a seat in front of her while Brute Force blocked the door. Morning Dew was the overall disciplinary of the academy, so the fact that she was involved was a clear indication that Jet Stream was in trouble. It was a little funny, because of her demeanor you couldn’t get upset with her, even when she’s telling you that you’ve been expelled. She could somehow make you feel better while ripping you a new one all at the same time.

“Jet Stream, I think you know why you are here,” she said in a rather calm voice, leaning back slightly in her comically oversized chair. It had actually belonged to the previous Overseer, a minotaur named Iron Will, who left the academy a year ago because he wasn’t receiving the pay raises he wanted and thought he could do better elsewhere. They all figured they shouldn’t waste the furniture, but now it was hard to take anypony seriously when they sat in it.

“This has to do with last night, right?” Jet asked, though he was fairly certain that was the case.

“Indeed, we received a complaint filed against you for engaging in violence with another pony, in this case against Upper Class and his daughter Aurora, resulting in injuries for both parties,” Brute Force explained.

Jet jumped up from where he sat, outraged as such an outlandish accusation. “That is a damn lie, I did not hurt Aurora!” he yelled back, not having a care to give proper respect to authority.

“The report we received indicated you were at fault for her injury,” Morning Dew replied, gently opening a folder and laying some files in front of Jet.

“Never! Upper Class is the one that hurt Aurora, not me!” Jet shot back, extremely angry at this point. He had already lost Aurora and now he was being blamed for her injury. Never in his life would he even think about hurting her. “I could never hurt Aurora, I… I love her, I love her with all my heart.” Jet sat back down and just stared at the ground. He had never said that to her, they had only been a month together, right? How could he love her so fast? But that was the only word he had to explain it, the only word he could use to explain why he did what he did last night. That feeling, it was more than a gut reaction, he had acted out of love for Aurora.

“Do you admit then to attacking Upper Class?” Brute asked.

“Yes, but I only did so to protect Aurora. I thought he planned on hurting her again, so I hit him and put myself in between the two of them so I could stop him,” Jet explained. “I did attack him, but only to protect the filly I love, and I certainly did not attack Aurora, you can ask Shining Armor, he will tell you.”

Morning Dew and Brute Force looked at each other, not entirely sure what to make of the situation. “Well, no charges have been pressed and since you willing admitted to one accusation you won’t be expelled. As for Aurora, we will talk to Shining Armor and make a determination based on the information we have from him and from the authorities. For the time being, you are being placed under probation for four months and are forbidden from leaving campus,” Morning Dew explained. “And if an incident like this is repeated, harsher consequences will follow.”

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Aurora stared up in amazement at the building; while her home was certainly fancy, this place looked like an entire castle, albeit one smaller than the one Princess Celestia resided in. Strangely enough, it wasn’t that well known; she had spent all last night trying to find it. She only had a name to go by, Cadance, and while she was well-known; few actually knew where she lived. She wanted to go to Shining Armor, but it was not a good idea. Her father had fabricated a lie to the Royal Guards and blamed her injury on Jet Stream. She wanted to tell the truth, but she was not allowed to say anything and was locked up in her room. If that story had made it to the academy, then Jet Stream and maybe even Shining Armor would be in big trouble; it’s doubtful she’d even get close enough to say anything. What she needed right now was help and the only one she thought could help her was Cadance.

The pink unicorn stepped up to the door and knocked her hoof against it. She waited for maybe a minute before the door opened and Cadance appeared. Aurora was actually surprised it was her, she thought she’d have some servants or something, though maybe that was only because that’s how her family did it. Cadance was far more down-to-earth than most other important ponies she had met.

“Aurora? What are you doing here?” she asked, a look of genuine surprise lining her face.

“Cadance, I’m sorry to disrupt you, but I need help and you are the only one I could think of who might help me,” Aurora replied.

Cadance gave her a warm smile and opened the door up more to let her inside. “It’s alright, I’m more than happy to help.”

Aurora went inside and was amazed at how… ordinary everything looked. Now, granted, there was a certain amount of class to it all, but it was not so overblown like at her home. She certainly didn’t have shelves filled with random junk that just sits around and do nothing. Cadance led Aurora up to her personal room and allowed her a chance to collect herself.

“Just make yourself comfortable, how about I make some tea?” Cadance asked.

“No, it’s alright, I’m fine, I just, I don’t know,” Aurora said, more as a random rabble than an actual answer.

“Jet Stream and Shining Armor told me what happened, I’m so sorry about what happened,” Cadance remarked, sitting down next to her and gently laying one of her wings across the unicorn in a comforting manner.

“You saw Jet Stream? Is he alright?” Aurora asked.

“He’s, well, he’s not good. He was really distraught by what happened last night, we only talked for half-an-hour, Shining took him back to the academy shortly afterwards. I haven’t seen them today, but I have a feeling I won’t be able to,” Cadance remarked with a sigh.

“Why is that?” Aurora asked, slipping the saddle bag off of her and setting it aside.

“I’m guessing that the academy will be notified about what happened and some kind of punishment will be doled out to Jet and maybe even Shining, I’m not entirely sure. From what Shining has told me, something of this magnitude could result in an expulsion, though he didn’t think it would come to that. If they know that he only hit your father just to protect you, they might be more lenient,” she explained.

At that point Aurora’s heart sank and she lowered her head to the floor. “Cadance, my father told the Royal Guard that Jet had attacked me.”

“What? Are you serious?”

“Yes, he locked me up in my room, but I could clearly hear him downstairs, telling them how Jet just flipped out and attacked both of us until he got him out of the house.” Aurora couldn’t help but start crying at this moment; somehow her father just kept making worse and worse. All she wanted was to be with Jet and even that seemed a distant fantasy.

Cadance used her wing to wipe Aurora’s tears, and hugged her. While she had known Aurora only a month, she wanted to do whatever she could to make her feel better. She couldn’t stand seeing another pony so upset like she was. “Well, if that is the case, then we need to bring this to the attention to the authorities, your father can be allowed to just blatantly lie like that.”

“It’s not that simple, Cadance, because, well, I ran away. Last night, after the guards had left, I ran away. I knew there was nothing left for me there, so with my mother’s help I was able to leave before my father did anything else. That’s the real reason I am here, until my father gives up, I don’t know if I’m safe anywhere. Somehow he knew about me and Jet, somepony, somewhere saw us and told him,” Aurora explained.

“I understand, so for now we will do whatever we can. But for the moment we can only be patient until Shining is able to tell us what happened to Jet. We can then figure out how to reunite you two, because the most important thing he needs is to see that you still care about him.” Cadance watched as Aurora seemingly just feel asleep on the floor next to her, apparently quite exhausted from everything that had happened. But she was safe, for the moment, and that’s all that mattered. Here her father could never reach her, here she had the protection of a princess, and nothing could defy that, no matter how much money Upper Class threw her way. She wouldn’t betray the trust of a friend, especially not to him.

Chapter 5: To Defy the Lord

“I’m so sorry, Cadance, I’ve wanted to come spend time with you, but I’ve been so caught up this week with the investigation into Jet’s incident. I’ve had at least half-a-dozen interviews from numerous academy staff and members of the Royal Guard. Finally I just told them that I’m done talking and that I want to spend some time with my fillyfriend,” Shining Armor explained as he walked in through Cadance’s home. He certainly looked worse for wear, the stress of the situation had worn on him and he had barely gotten much sleep.

“What about Jet Stream?” Cadance asked as she walked with Shining.

“I wish I could say, but they moved him to a different room and I haven’t seen him much around campus while all this junk is going on. Already some of the other cadets are spreading rumors that he nearly killed Aurora and I just can’t even eat in the lounge anymore without that story popping up. I don’t even want to fathom what this is doing to Jet. He lost the girl he cares so much about and now he’s being painted as this maniac who nearly killed her,” Shining replied, shaking his head in disbelief.

“Actually, Shining Armor, that is something I wanted to talk to you about,” Cadance replied, but froze suddenly.

Standing at the entrance to the next room was Aurora, staring at the two of them. Shining noticed her and nearly lost his breath. “Aurora? Is, is that you?” he asked, hardly able to believe it. After what had happened, he figured she’d be locked up at home.

“Yes, Shining Armor, it is,” she replied and went silent, preferring if Cadance explained the situation.

“She came to me the day after the incident, she had run away from her father and need some help. I was more than willing to give her protection and she has been here ever since. We don’t know if her father has started looking for her, but we decided it would be too risky to go to the authorities at the moment,” Cadance explained.

“Well I don’t think there is a need to, as far as I can tell they don’t believe that he attacked Aurora, too many witnesses have painted him in a good light. It’s the attack on Upper Class that is causing the delay. Although no charges were filed, I’m guessing Upper Class wants Jet humiliated as much as possible,” he said and walked over to Aurora.

The unicorn looked a lot better now, having been taken good care of by Cadance. But she was still worried about Jet and his situation. “What’s going to happen to Jet?”

“He’s on probation at the moment, for the next four months. He is not allowed to leave the campus.” Shining said before and idea popped in his head. “But, there is nothing against sompony visiting him, so technically you could go to see him.”

“Is it possible?” Cadance asked.

“Yes, but we would have to be very careful. The campus is still flooded with guards at the moment, but they mostly leave by evening. I can ask around, figure out where Jet is and maybe we can sneak you to him,” Shining replied.

“What happens if she gets caught?” Cadance asked.

“Then I tell them the truth, no, I will tell them the truth. I can’t let this get out of control. Let me spend the night with him, and in the morning, I’ll march right to their offices and explain to them exactly what happened.”

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Jet stared up at the blank ceiling, bored out of his mind. For a week now he had been stuck in this dorm, the only time he was allowed to leave was to attend drills or class and even them somepony was monitoring him. The situation had spiraled out of control, and he figured Upper Class was at fault. Normally this would blow over after a few days, but it had been a week and still he was being bombarded by questions and swarmed by detectives. He was becoming the academy pariah and it was now being said he hadn’t just attacked Aurora, he had killed her. In all of this Jet himself was unable to do anything to stop it, no matter how many times he explained what happened things got worse and worse. All the colt could do now was sit here and wait for things to move on, or at least hope they move on. He wished Shining Armor was at least here, he could then have some king of conversation instead of starting at the walls and ceiling.

The clock on the way note it as nine in the evening; while not late at all for a weekend, when you had nothing better to do, sleeping at least meant you didn’t have to be bored while conscious. So Jet turned out the lights and dug himself under his covers. Even now he couldn’t keep Aurora out his mind, though with all these rumors it was becoming hard and hard to keep her in a positive lite. He had started having nightmare where he did indeed kill her and it was like driving a nail into his head. If this is what Upper Class was trying to do to him, then it was succeeding. He flipped on his side and stared out the window and up at that moon.

It what was the most random and unexpected thing ever, Shining Armor suddenly popped in through the window and hit the wall. “Ugh, damn, that hurt,” he murmured as he rubbed his head. “Why did they stick you on the third floor? You’re a pegasus, the height wouldn’t change anything,” he complained and got up.

Jet got out of bed and helped him up. “What are you doing here?” Jet asked, not even sure how he got up here, but pretty sure he didn’t want to know.

“Oh, I have a surprise for you,” Shining said and walked over to the window.

Jet followed him and looked out, his heart stopping the moment he spotted her. Down on the grass below them, standing next to Cadance was Aurora, staring back up at him. He didn’t even hesitate to jump out the window and landed himself right in front of her.

But it would be Aurora to act and, just like their first night, she pounced on him and tackled him to the ground. The two kissed passionately, both crying from pure joy of having the other back in their embrace. “I’m so sorry, Jet, I’m so sorry for what happened! You didn’t deserve any of this!” she said after breaking their kiss and laying her head against his chest.

“You didn’t do a thing, Aurora; you have nothing to be sorry for. I am just glad to know that you are alright.” All at once, everything that happened was wiped away and forgotten, all that mattered was this filly in his arms and the fact that they had been reunited. “Aurora, I have missed you so much, I was so afraid of what your father would do to you. I… I love you Aurora, it’s that simple, I love you.”

Aurora lifted her head and looked at Jet, not expecting him to say that, but not rejecting it either. During the time she had been with him, she had certainly cared about him, but she never knew if that was love. But now, she knew, she loved this colt, she went through so much to be here with him, only love could drive her to go that far. “And I love you, Jet,” she said softly and they kissed again.

After a minute they two got up and composed themselves, they couldn’t, after all, just lie in the grass all night. “So, how did all of this happen?” Jet asked, joining Cadance and Shining, who had apparently came back out from his room in a rather… painful way.

“After she ran away from her father, she came to my home and asked for my help. After what you had told me happened, I couldn’t possibly deny her that and she’s been staying with me for a week now,” Cadance explained. “Once we knew your situation it was just a matter of figuring out how to reunite you two.”

“We don’t know what Upper Class is up to, so we haven’t gone to the authorities or anything yet, we want the heat to die down,” Shining Armor said.

“It won’t, at least not until Aurora can tell her side. I have a feeling Upper Class is paying off the authorities to perform this stupid investigation just to humiliate me as much as possible. But if Aurora sets everypony straight, they won’t have anything left to investigate. While I know that would give him some idea of where she is I highly doubt Upper Class would dare oppose the authority of a princess who can easily get the backing of Celestia herself. We then just wait until things die down and the two of us can start building a new life for her,” Jet explained.

“Are you sure about that, I wouldn’t want to put her in any more danger than she already is,” Shining remarked.

“I’m sure, Jet is right, this won’t end as long as my father can keep this story alive. Only I can kill it and once it’s dead my father won’t have anything he can use again Jet and hopefully he’ll give up,” Aurora replied.

“Do you really think he’d just give up?” Cadance asked.

“I don’t know, maybe he will and maybe he won’t, it doesn’t matter. I’ll do what I have to do,” Aurora replied.

“Well then I think we’ll take our leave, don’t want to get caught out here after curfew, do we?” Shining remarked and turned to leave with Cadance.

Jet moved over to Aurora and gently pats his back. “Here, grab on,” he told her. Aurora nods and gently climbs on onto Jet’s back and wraps her hooves around his midsection. He spread out his wings and launches himself up into the air, but instead of heading right to the window of his room, he just continued to climb higher. “Just hang on, I want to show you something,” he told her. With each flap he brought them up higher and higher until he suddenly stopped and just hovered. “Ever seen Canterlot like this before?”

Aurora peered over and her eyes widened at the sight of Canterlot, looking like it was nothing more than jumble of fancy blocks and lights. “That’s incredible,” she said, moving slightly until her hooves were around Jet’s neck and her head up next to his. “It’s so beautiful,” she added and rested her head against his.

“To think, down there, thousands of ponies are all tucked in bed. Shining Armor, Cadance, Fancypants, even Celestia… up here they all look like equals,” Jet replied.

“Even my father,” Aurora added and smiled slightly. “If I didn’t know him, I’d almost feel sorry for him. He spent his life consumed over getting ahead that he’s missed the most important part, the company of dear friends,” she said and kissed Jet on his cheek.

“Then I think you and I are far richer than he ever could be.”

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

“You know this isn’t going to work, right?”

Upper Class didn’t even turn to acknowledge the question; he just remained in his chair, staring into the fire in the hearth. If he could ever say he had a friend, it would be Captain Phalanx, and that itself was a stretch. Phalanx was the calm, level-headed leader of the Royal Guard and seemed to only hang around Upper Class to watch the stallion scheme. He found a certain amount of entertainment in watching him operate, waiting to see when all his work would fall apart on him. Upper Class tolerated him since he could at least bounce ideas off him.

“Aurora isn’t as weak-minded as you think she is, this whole stunt won’t destroy her love for that young stallion,” he added, taking a sip from the cup of tea that sat nearby.

“I know that, idiot. I need to get that damned colt out of the picture, in whatever ways I possibly can,” Upper Class replied, glancing over at the other unicorn.

“Yes, well this won’t work. You’re pursuing him based on falsified information. If Aurora speaks out about what happened, you’re finished,” Phalanx pointed out.

“It won’t matter; once I know where she is I can retrieve her. It’ll become a kidnapping, won’t it? Then I can get the authorities to bring her back to me,” he explained.

“Do you really think they’re that stupid? That story has rubbish written all over it,” Phalanx replied and took another drink. He could tell that Upper Class had lost his edge; now he was in panic mode, afraid to lose everything he’d managed to pull together after all these years. It was almost comical to watch as this stallion resorted to the most insane schemes just to get his daughter back under his hoof. But that was the fun of it, watching him at the mercy of his daughter and her lover. And Phalanx had no plans to prevent this stallion from hitting rock-bottom; the time had come for him to learn why Fancypants was top stallion and why he would never be able to compare, no matter the money he had amassed.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Jet gently stepped in through the open window and dropped down to the floor. He folded his wings up and allowed Aurora the chance to climb off.

“That was just amazing, Jet, thank you,” she said and nuzzled him.

“It’s my pleasure, Aurora,” Jet replied and gently turned aside. “And, I, I was wondering, I only have one bed in here, so if you want it, I can sleep on the,”

But Aurora didn’t let him finished, she immediately took her place on the bed and patted her hoof next to her, telling Jet Stream to join her. The two had never slept together before, mostly because Aurora always had to return home before anypony suspected her of being gone. But now, with nothing to stop her, she wanted to feel his body up against hers, she wanted to sleep under the protection of her stallion, she wanted to physically feel what love was.

Jet himself knew what she was getting at, but he was hesitant, a little nervous about slipping into bed with her. Yes he loved her, but he’d never slept together with a female, though he had seen Shining and Cadance together a few nights before. He closed the windows before approaching his bed and stopped as she stood before her. He moved himself so that Aurora would be pressed up against his chest while his from legs wrapped around her waist and shoulders. He went and laid down on the bed and gently pulled his blanket up over their two intertwined bodies and gently kissed Aurora before relaxing to allow sleep to overtake him.

Aurora held onto Jet’s arms with hers and pressed herself up against his body until she was able to feel each breath that he took. She felt so wonderful, so protected by her stallion and so relaxed that it took her no time at all before she was fast asleep. This was her world now, one that was better and completely cut off from the world of her father; one that she would do everything possible to maintain.

Chapter 6: Nothing But the Truth

Morning came far too quickly for Aurora, it felt like she had only just fallen asleep only to be awaken by the light flooding in from the window. She stirred a little only to find that she was alone in the bed and Jet was gone. She yawned and crawled out of bed, still a little tired and too tempted to just go and lie back down. She took a moment to orient herself and was able to see just the kind of depressing room they had stuffed Jet into. It was small, much smaller than the room he shared with Shining Armor, and the only furnishing besides the bed was a table where Jet had left his uniform out.

“I see you’re awake, that’s good,” Shining Armor remarked after entering the room.

“Oh, hi Shining, where’s Jet?” Aurora asked, turning to look at the white colt.

“He’s being grilled, again, by Overseer Brute Force and I can tell you, he’s not in a good mood. It’s no longer about Jet, it’s just this entire situation has disrupted everything here at the academy. Everyday we’ve had new ponies come in to do independent investigations and I think we all know that it’s Upper Class just paying off whoever he can to mess with Jet. In any case, Jet has already told them you are here and I’m here to bring you to them to finally get the story from your mouth and put an end to this,” Shining Armor explained.

“I see, well then I better not keep them waiting,” Aurora replied.

Shining Armor brought Aurora down to the room where Jet was being held, but by now there was a crowd of numerous ponies filling the room. Before them stood Jet and Overseers Brute Force, Morning Dew and Administrator Streamline, the egocentric unicorn that managed the military academy.

“And here we have her, young Aurora, completely fine with barely a mark on her,” Streamline began, pointing to the slight bruise that remained on Aurora’s nose. “Already we can see that she was not the subject of extensive assault, just look at Jet Stream, he’s almost twice her size, and anything coming from him would have left this poor filly seriously banged up.”

Aurora couldn’t help but blush a little in embarrassment at how Streamline pointed out her size, especially since she’d never really noticed how much bigger Jet was compared to her. She looked at Jet slightly, who at the moment stood at attention and couldn’t acknowledge her. She now could see just how bad he really looked, Shining Armor hadn’t been looking good, but the stress had really hit Jet badly. You could just tell he was exhausted, every movement seemed to have an added layer of struggle and his eyes looked so dull and lifeless.

“Just because there is nothing visible doesn’t mean nothing happened!” One of the random ponies blurted out.

“You were not given permission to speak, at this time no questions are being accept and random outbursts will not be tolerated,” Brute Force shot back.

“If you don’t believe the visual evidence, then let the young filly tell the story straight from her mouth.” Streamline then waved her over and Aurora obediently stepped forward, but instead of standing in front of him, she stood right next to Jet, who couldn’t help but break his stance.

“To everypony here, I will say this loud and clear, so even the soldiers in Stalliongrad can hear. One week ago, I invited Jet Stream, my coltfriend, to my home to meet my father, Upper Class. During that meeting, my father hit me across my face, giving me the bruise on my nose. Jet Stream stepped in and hit my father back to stop him from hurting me again. Not once did Jet ever harm me, not once did he attack me. I was hit by my father, not by my coltfriend. In addition, to dispel any rumors, Jet has never hurt me, injured me or abused me in any way over the course of our relationship,” Aurora said and to seal her explanation, she grabbed Jet by his head and the two kissed.

The crowd all started talking, but Streamline quickly regained control and demanded that they disperse from campus once and for all or he would request Command Phalanx to bring in soldiers to disperse them. “Now, Cadet Jet, I can see this young filly is deeply in love with you and because you acted only in a protective manner against Upper Class, I have decided to pardon your offense and lift the ban from your leaving campus,” he told Jet. “You may also return to your quarters with Cadet Shining Armor.”

“Thank you, sir,” Jet said, bowing in respect before he and Aurora left the room and met up with Shining Armor outside.

“Well, I must applaud you Aurora, not many ponies could stand up to such a crowd and practically call their father a liar,” he remarked and gave her a little applause with his hooves.

“Well it’s not that big of a deal, he is a liar,” Aurora said and turned her head towards Jet. “But that’s neither here nor there. My father can moan all he wants, he’s done. For now, I think this colt just wants to spend a few hours sleeping with his filly,” she added and gently licked Jet on his cheek.

“You think this is over?” Jet asked; a little weary of anything else being dragged up at this point. For an entire week his entire life was under scrutiny for no good reason and he was tired of the same questions being asked over and over again. One thing they made dug hard at was his life in poverty, trying to position that as a motive for attacking Aurora and her father. It couldn’t be farther from the truth, he didn’t hate rich ponies, he loved Aurora and he had liked Fancypants, he just got very nervous around them.

“I certainly hope so, for your sake. But I’ll leave you two to go back to sleep, maybe tonight we can go and celebrate the end of all this,” Shining armor remarked and started walking off.

Aurora and Jet made their way down to his and Shining’s room. Inside Shining, or more likely Cadence with Shining ‘supervising’, had cleaned up the room after it had been ransacked by detectives. Even the drawing of the two of them Aurora had made had been set in a new frame after some clueless reported dropped it. Jet collapsed on his bed, yawning slightly and pulling Aurora down on top of him. He held her close and gently started to rub her across the back. He extending his wings out and draped them over his lover, wrapping her in an embrace of feathers. He was so happy, after everything he’d been through; it was amazing to just have her back in his life again. If there had been any doubt about Aurora being the one, it had been squashed the moment he’d seen her last night, just seeing the lengths she had gone to defy her father and be reunited with him. “I love you Aurora,” he softly said to her, but she had already fallen asleep against his chest. He gave her a kiss and gently laid his head back down.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

“Who the hell is Cadance?” Upper Class asked, starting up at Captain Phalanx from his favorite chair, a cup of wine floating before him.

“Of all ponies, I’d figure you would know. She is the niece of Princess Celestia, the presumed heir to the throne of the Crystal Empire,” Phalanx replied as he approached Upper Class and set some papers down on the side table next to him. “Aurora is said to have been in her company, probably since last week. Unfortunately, this means that Aurora is completely out of your reach. You try to defy her and the hoof of Celestia will squash you like a bug.”

“You are right, Aurora’s smart, she won’t leave the company of either Cadance or that damn colt.” Upper Class leaned back and rubbed his forehead as he tried to analyze the situation. His money ended at royalty, no matter how much money he threw around, nopony would dare stand up to Celestia and in turn Cadance. But that didn’t necessarily mean he didn’t have any options. “When does the next batch of cadets graduate?” he asked.

“At this point, five months,” Phalanx replied.

“Then I know what I need to do. Jet Stream has to be taken out of the equation by whatever means necessary, as long as he can be with Aurora, she will be too stubborn to come back. If we can get rid of Jet, then Aurora will crumble back into her submissive self once more and she’ll be mine again,” Upper Class remarked, glancing over at Phalanx.

“Stalliongrad?” Phalanx asked.

“No, you would think that would be perfect, but Captain Blizzard has completely overhauled operations there so fatalities have sharply fallen. I won’t take my chances that he might die there; I need something quick and more certain than Stalliongrad.”

“Then Captain Sunburst, I take it?”

Upper Class took a drink of his wine and smiled. “Yes, Captain Sunburst, the one officer with enough disregards for the life of a pony to have a fatality rate of over 70%. We’ll send him Jet Stream and watch as that fool gets slaughtered by any number of monsters out beyond the southern border.” He chuckled to himself as he stared at the opposite wall where the picture of his father hung. “Then he will finally approve…”

“Are you sure this will work? If he survives, then he makes a name for himself as a survivor, that would only make it harder for you to get rid of him,” Phalanx pointed out.

“Are you kidding? Manticores, Dragons, Chimaera, gangs, criminals, there are thousands of ways that pony will die, it’s all a matter of what ultimately does him in,” Upper Class replied. “Mark my words, Phalanx; Jet Stream will not survive the Frontier Battalion.”

Chapter 7: Life's Crossroad

The next five months passed without incident; Aurora’s father, seemingly accepting the inevitable, had not reared his ugly head once and she was able to finally start developing a life for herself. With Cadance’s help she was able to start selling her artistic services and after three months was able to move into her own place, a small little house only a mile away from the military academy. Due to the close proximity, Jet was eventually allowed to start staying with her during the week. A month later Jet and Shining Armor graduated from the academy; Shining Armor ended up as the top student. Jet, although showing promise over the few years, had never been quite as capable as his friend and was lower on the rank. Nonetheless, he was at least positioned for a recommendation to the Canterlot Royal Guard, though not as an officer like Shining Armor. It would be a week before the finally assignments would be made, so for the time being they had nothing else to do but celebrate.

“Are you sure he even remembers?” Jet asked as the four of them sat around a table, enjoying their brief spat of freedom from regulations with a few rounds of drinks, with Aurora abstaining due to her age.

“Hey, I could tell, when he said your name there was a noticeable twitch,” Shining Armor replied, referring to Administrator Streamline during the ceremony last evening. “I think in all his time managing the academy he had never faced such an, incident like that and it’s left a mark on him.”

“It doesn’t matter, that’s all done and over, no need to bring it back up,” Cadance remarked.

“She’s right, time to let it go and move on,” Aurora said and lifted up her glass. “So, a toast then, to great friends, putting the past behind us and moving forward in our lives.”

The four of them tapped their glasses together and took a drink. “Hey, remember what Brute Force said to us that first day we arrived?” Jet asked.

“You mean, ‘You maggots, you all think you’re so special, so damn great in your own ways? But you’re all nothing and most of you will always be nothing. We get hundreds of saps like you every year and most never make past the first month. Here you won’t be able to get by with the bare minimum, only those who truly show promise and commitment will ever be able to earn their rank, the rest of ya’ will be sitting in ditches as part of the faceless military. If you want something better than that, then you have to give something better than your best.’?” Shining replied, giving his best impression of their former Overseer.

“Yeah, there were 100 of us that day, right? Only five of us ended up with officer commissions,” Jet remarked, putting a hoof around Aurora and holding her slightly.

“We know why my uncle called it ‘The Grinder’, you need bones of steel to survive there.” Shining replied.

“How long before you know your assignments?” Cadance asked.

“Sometime within the next week I’ve heard, though some rumored it once took a month for the notice to be sent out and this poor guy who was supposed to be assigned to Stalliongrad lost his position due to the delay and got stuck in the rank-and-file.” Shining replied and took another drink. “But I wouldn’t worry too much; Administrator Streamline has done a fantastic job cutting out much of the bureaucratic run-around that plagued the system in years past.”

“You’ve probably got a shot for Phalanx’s position,” Jet remarked.

“What are you talking about?”

“You don’t know? Phalanx announced yesterday he plans to retire within the next year once he finds a suitable replacement. Apparently he’s moving away from Canterlot to raise his family away from the hassle of the city. Maybe you impressed him so well he wants to get out of your way,” Jet explained to him.

“I certainly wouldn’t want to force him out, he’s done a lot to maintain Canterlot’s stability,” Shining remarked.

“Well he has been in command for five years now and married for three of them, it sounds like he plans on focusing on having and raising a foal. In any case you stand the best chance of getting that position, you do have royal ties,” Jet pointed out.

“I highly doubt the fact my sister is Celestia’s apprentice is enough to make me Phalanx’s replacement, if you remember she was fairly fond of him over the years. More than likely one of his current subordinates is prepped to replace him.”

Jet leaned back lightly and took a drink. “I don’t know, Shining, you’ve certainly impressed the right ponies.”

“Be that as it may, I’m not going to count on it, I’ll be happy just being assigned to the royal guard.”

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Administrator Streamline sat in his office, a small pile of folders at his desk as he worked through the files for the five ponies who had recently graduated. Upon graduation he would give recommendations based on each individual’s performance over the year for the military superiors to take in consideration when making final decision on where to assign them. The other 95 who failed to make it all the way were automatically sent into infantry, most either to Stalliongrad or Fort Clover. Of all his responsibilities, this was by far the easiest one, since he already had plenty of input from various Captains on what they needed.

At the moment he was just finishing the recommendation for Shining Armor, one of the brightest students to ever graduate under his tenure here. He was more than a capable leader, but also had extensive magical ability, a rare combination these days. With the last war over two decades gone, fewer unicorns had developed military-useful abilities and those few who did were not quite impressive. Shining Armor combined impressive magical ability with the strategic mind needed to lead troops, something that was in dire need. Phalanx had specifically mentioned his need of a strong pony to serve as his apprentice; with his retirement coming he had determined that none of his current subordinates were capable enough to take over. With that in mind, then, Streamline had no second thoughts about recommending Shining for that position.

The next was the pegasus Jet Stream, Shining Armor’s close friend and the pony who had been the focus of the dumb-ass investigation some months back. He wasn’t on par with Shining Armor, although he was quite a capable flier and had his own leadership potential, he was extremely incapable of developing basic strategies. He always, always stretched troops too thin to account for every possibility, resulting in a weakened overall defensive or offensive force. He did, however, shine during battle itself, able to take into account the current conditions, organize his thoughts and then implement strategies that, despite his bad preparations, did get the job done, albeit not as cleanly as Shining Armor could. It was hard to say what Jet could actually do, although he had potential for a higher command post, Streamline wasn’t sure he could handle such a load at the moment. But he had too much potential to waste in Stalliongrad or Fort Clover. Some had suggested sending some ponies to Appleloosa due to rumors of trouble with the natives and maybe Jet could develop his strategic planning capabilities there while commanding only a small group, though Phalanx had yet to commit to anything related to the Buffalo situation.

There was a sudden knock at the door, but Streamline didn’t have time to entertain any guests and didn’t even look up from his work. “Whatever it is, it can wait, I’m busy,” he called towards the door.

Ignoring the comment, the door opened and the wealthy Upper Class entered into the room. Streamline looked up and immediately a look of disgust formed on his face. “What the hell are you doing here?” he asked, getting up from his chair and walking out in front of his desk. “Of all the ponies who think they can just waltz right in here,” he remarked.

“Mr. Streamline, I apologize for my unannounced visit, but I have a need to speak with you,” Upper Class replied.

“And why would I do that? Do you think I forgot about the circus you stirred up here months ago? You cost us a week of instruction and nearly threw our academy into disarray. My academy is not some stage to work out your family drama!” Streamline looked at Upper Class, but after a moment he started to calm down a little. He turned and went back to his seat.

“I apologize for the mess that I put you through and I certainly hope we can put such things behinds us,” Upper Class replied, approaching the desk. “But I am in need of your assistance and I’m more than willing to, properly compensation for such assistance.”

Streamline gave Upper Class a disapproving look, but he knew he wasn’t going to get out of this. Despite his dislike of the stallion, Upper Class was not a pony whose bas side you wanted to see. “What is it?” he asked rather reluctantly.

“I am aware that you are responsible for giving recommendation for the new recruits to the military officials, who will then decide where to assign them. I need you to give a certain colt a certain recommendation,” Upper Class explained.

“Don’t play coy, Upper Class, this is about Jet Stream. I know it, you know it, so don’t try to dance around it,” Streamline remarked.

“Fair enough; what I need for you it to simply give a recommendation to have Jet Stream sent to Fort Clover, that’s all,” Upper Class replied.

Streamline leaned back and pressed his hooves together. “And why would I do such a thing?”

“Simple,” Upper Class replied and pulled a folded piece of paper from his saddlebag and set it in front of Streamline. “Because of this.”

Streamline slid the paper over and opened it up, losing his breath at the sight. Upper Class was offering him 1.5 million bits, all for this one simple task. That was far more money than he had ever seen in his entire life and already he could imagine what he would do with such an amount.

“I take it that pleases you, correct?” Upper Class asked with a bit of a conniving smile. “Well it is all yours, all you need to do is this one little favor.”

“I, no, I, we’d be caught,” Streamline remarked, his mind aflutter right now.

“No one needs to know, once that pile of garbage is in Fort Clover, he’d get killed by some random beast out in the wild and no one will ever know. His memory will die out there with him, just like with so many others who never return,” Upper Class replied. “Trust me, this is foolproof.”

Streamline sat there in silence, putting his thoughts back in line. “It’s only Jet Stream; no one’s going to care about him. Even if he dies, he’s still dying for his kingdom, that’s an honorable death. Maybe the officials won’t even take his recommendation into consideration.” These thoughts ran through his head as he opened up Jet’s file and, almost without thinking, he started to write something down.

Upper Class couldn’t help but smile as he watched Streamline sealed Jet’s fate and put into motion his plan to get Aurora back. He couldn’t care less he was sending an innocent colt to his death, he would not let everything he and his family had built go to ruin because of his daughter’s mistake. Yes, once Aurora was back under his hoof he’d be able to throw his money around and finally, finally overshadow everything his father had done. He will be the most powerful stallion in Canterlot; nothing was going to stop him.

Streamline let out a long sigh as he stamped Jet’s file with his Seal of Approval and sat it with Shining Armor’s file, ready to be sent to the authorities. “There, it’s done,” he remarked and looked at Upper Class.

“Then I thank you for your cooperation and I will take my leave,” Upper Class said and headed back towards the door. “Oh, and don’t worry, I won’t forget what you’ve done here, Administrator. Once I have all the power, there might be some room left for you.”

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Jet Stream and Aurora walked together, heading back to Aurora’s home after finishing their meal with Shining Armor and Cadance. “It’s a beautiful night,” she remarked, nudging Jet with her nose.

“Reminds me of the night we met, sitting and watching as the sun passed beyond the horizon, thinking such a night could never end,” Jet replied and gave her a smile.

Aurora stared at the ground and frowned a little. “Jet, I’m so sorry for everything you’ve been dragged into. You didn’t deserve any of that crap that was loaded on you,” she said.

“Aurora, you don’t need to apologize for anything, you did nothing wrong. I love you Aurora, I love you so much. I’m willing to go through everything your father throws at me because of how strongly I feel for you. You should never have to apologize, you’ve done nothing but reciprocated my feelings,” Jet stopped and raised her head up to look him in the eyes. “You mean the world to me, don’t you ever forget that.”

Chapter 8: Intertwined

“This can’t be right! There’s got to be some mistake!” Shining Armor remarked in outrage. He, Jet, Aurora and Cadance were sitting at the booth at a local restaurant after both Jet and Shining Armor had received their assignments in the mail. Shining Armor had received the most prestigious assignment possible: apprentice to the Captain of the Canterlot Guard, Phalanx. Despite the fact that he had graduated at the top of his group, Shining hadn’t thought he would have been given such a position, especially when Phalanx had plenty of capable stallions under his command with far more experience than he ever had. But that wasn’t the problem here, the problem was Jet. Despite how hard he’d tried to improve himself, despite being one of only five to graduate after all three years, he was being sent to Fort Clover and into the Frontier Battalion.

It was the worse assignment any soldier could ever receive; if you ended up there you either failed out of the academy or were recruited out of your hometown. It did not pay very well, but that was only because only about 1 out of every 3 ponies who arrived there would ever survive their first year of service. Some liked to blame Captain Sunburst for the problems and while he certainly did not make a positive difference, he was not the root cause. The frontier was a dangerous place, full of monsters and criminals of all shapes and ferocities. The ponies who were assigned here were lacking the necessary skills to properly deal with those threats. After all, these were the rejects, the skilled leaders and soldiers were always picked up by either the Canterlot Guard or by Stalliongrad. Sunburst had tried to remedy that problem in the only way he could: through sheer size of numbers. He threw dozens upon dozens of ponies upon whatever problem he was facing and waited for it to be fixed. Although it resulted in a huge body count, it did manage to deal with a lot of the creatures that prowled the barren wasteland he was in charge of monitoring.

“I can’t believe this, I can’t believe they would do this to you,” Shining Armor remarked, slamming his hooves against the table. “You deserve better than this!”

Jet didn’t answer; his mind was far too preoccupied at the moment for him to pay attention to what Shining Armor said. He just sat there, staring down at Aurora’s hoof that he gently stroked. For three years, he had worked hard to avoid this death sentence, even when he didn’t have Aurora he still refused to let himself fall to such low levels. After all the stories he had been told, he had made it his goal to get through all three years and get a position as far away from Fort Clover as possible. Now, with one letter, everything he had worked at had been for nothing, all these years had been a complete waste.

“Jet?” Aurora asked, gently leaning towards him and tried to comfort him, but deep down, she was just as scared as he was. There was no way around it, this was a death sentence.

“Look, let’s go down to the military offices and straighten this out,” Shining Armor suggested. “I’m sure they can tell us what is going on and how we can fix it.”

“No,” Jet remarked and looked up at them. “Look, if I go there and beg for some kind of re-assignment, how do you suppose that would make me look? I, just, just give me some time to think about it, ok?”

Shining glanced towards Cadance and she just lowered her gaze to the ground. “Alright, but please, Jet, think seriously about it.”

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Days went by and Jet spent most of it alone, thinking to himself. He didn’t have a lot of time as they wanted him shipped to Fort Clover as soon as possible. Apparently the rail line leading to the fort had been under attack in the past few months and only recently had a break been achieved so supplies were being shipped down as fast as possible. Ultimately Jet decided not to try and argue his case; he didn’t know just what the reason were, but whatever it was it wasn’t likely he could successfully get his assignment changed. It wasn’t something that happened often, mainly due to the massive headache such a reassignment would cause. Already the military was a complex bureaucracy, mostly due to it having very little else to do in, what, over 300 years? No one talked about it, but everypony knew that the military was far more bloated than it needed to be, but that wasn’t entirely its fault. Even without a war occurring, you still got ponies with military skills growing up who had little use in the civilian sector.

Aurora was amazingly calm about the decision; Shining Armor was far more shocked than she had been. But deep down, she probably knew that Jet wouldn’t decide to go. In some ways, this was an opportunity to prove his capabilities. A normal, cushy job in Canterlot would have just left Jet as another face among the crowd. This, however, was the kind of assignment that could put you on the fast track to a career. With such a low survival rate, those who survived in the frontier were often highly desired to lead military units in other areas of Equestria; after all if they could survive the monsters beyond Equestria’s borders, what challenge could some petty thief be? Jet did have the added prestige of being one of the very, very few graduate of the military academy to station in Fort Clover, something that could would give him a bit of authority there.

The complicating factor in all this was Captain Sunburst, the stallion who was responsible for overseeing Fort Clover’s operations. Unlike Captain Phalanx or Captain Blizzard, Sunburst was completely apathetic about the situations outside of his little world. He cared not about how many ponies were dying under his command or what kind of living conditions they had to endure; so long as the beasts were dealt with he didn’t concern himself with the minor details. This was considered the major contributing factor of Fort Clover’s staggering death rates; Sunburst cared not for actual strategic planning and instead just threw large amounts of soldiers at the problems. Under any other circumstances this would have led to him being discharged, but because no other pony was willing to take over for him, he was allowed to remain in command.

Jet was actually not that concerned about it either, amazingly enough. Truth was, he had decided he wasn’t going to worry about what ‘might’ happen and instead made sure to spend as much time as he could with Aurora before he left. He had already arranged for most of his pay to be sent straight to her, he wouldn’t need any lavish amounts out in Fort Clover, since you’d be hard-pressed to find anything to buy down there anyways. Both Shining Armor and Cadance had promised to keep an eye on her for him to make sure she was properly taken care of. While at this point he didn’t think there would be any problems, Jet could never be too diligent about watching out for her father. Although he hadn’t reared his head for months now, Aurora still got nervous when the two of them were out in public.

By the night before his departure, Jet Stream had tightened up all his loose ends, except for one very important thing. The young colt stood in silence as he gaze out at the horizon, letting his mind calm itself from the flurry of activity he’d been a part of since he found out about the assignment. Shining Armor had wanted to get together for a farewell party, but tonight Jet wanted to just be alone with Aurora. This would probably be the last time he saw her in a good long while and he wanted to make the most of the time.

“Figures you’d bring me back here, such a fitting location,” Aurora remarked once she spotted Jet and began to approach him. “Sometimes it still feels like that first night.”

Jet turned and faced Aurora, revealing that he was dressed in his ceremonial uniform.

“You’re quite dressed up, you weren’t kidding when you said this would be a special occasion,” she remarked and gently nuzzled his neck.

“Aurora, I asked you to meet me here for a very specific reason, there is something very important I must talk to you about,” Jet told her, his voice calm and confident. He turned his head towards the horizon and stared at it. “Aurora, the day I met you is probably the most significant day I have ever lived or may ever experience. You’ve been nothing but loving and understanding towards me and I have done my absolute best to treat you the same way. We’ve certainly gone through things that would tear other ponies apart, but not us. Not even the petty actions of your father have been able to separate us permanently.” He paused and then turned to look back at Aurora in her eyes. “Every day I am with you is a day fully of joy and happiness and I want to experience that for the rest of my life.” Jet paused again, stepping up to Aurora and kneeled down in front of her, he muzzle just barely clearing the ground. “My dear Aurora, will you be my wife?”

Aurora’s heart just skipped a beat as Jet bowed and proposed to her and she couldn’t help but begin to cry. “Jet, yes… yes I will be your wife,” she said before Jet scooped her up and hugged her as she cried into his shoulder. But unlike so many other times before, this time she cried from pure joy. “I love you so much Jet,” she said, now holding tightly to her stallion.

“I thought long and hard if I should, but there’s never been any doubt in my mind who I belonged with. And I promise you, right here, that I will come back to you, I will survive and when I return we will be wed together, forever.” Jet gently let her go and pulled out a small box from his front pocket. “I bought these with my savings, so that no matter what, there will be always something to remind you of my promise.” He gently pulled out a small golden right attached to a chain and put it around Aurora’s neck. Aurora followed suit and gently placed one around Jet’s neck before the two entered into a deep kiss. From this point on they belonged to each other and nopony could change that fact.

Chapter 9: Sunlight