"KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK"

…

"KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK"

I'll definitely burn that door down or put a hidden detonator in it.

…

“TOC, TOC, T-”

“I HEARD YOU!” Shit! I shouldn't have done that...

Today I feel really bad

My head hurts like I'd dropped an anvil, I practically have no strength in my extremities, and my eyes felt gritty.

Slowly, I crawled out of bed until I fell face first over the edge.

What's wrong with me today? Is it a side effect of using such strong anesthetics?

Unfortunately this doesn't help, I really need to wake up

I could only grit my teeth and charge a spell

It wasn't a spell that would automatically keep me awake, I couldn't do something like that without messing with my brain, something I wasn't ready to do yet, so I went with the second best choice.

"DOWNLOAD"

I shivered at the sudden amount of electricity running through my body. Of course, since it was my own magic, most of its effects were suppressed, but it still served its purpose.

In a jump I recomposed myself with new energy driven by pain

I made sure my disguise was still active and opened the door. “What do you want?”

The guard on the other side of the door took a step back, there was no fear in his gaze, but surprise and... Amusement?

"My apologies for waking you up, but His Majesties asked me to inform you that they have already finished their meeting and are now in the dining room." The guard seemed to be trying hard not to look at me, and covered his mouth with his hoof.

“Okay… I'll be there in a moment.” Don't wait for a response before closing the door.

Just now that the guard mentioned it, I noticed that Luna was no longer here, she must have left while she was sleeping.

I remembered what happened yesterday and immediately became very irritated, but I also thought about what happened before that.

Twilight was kidnapped... that wasn't good, but as much as it bothered me, I couldn't do much. They had me under surveillance at the time they kidnapped her, so I have no real excuse to explain how I saw what I saw, and to top it off, the armors are enchanted to make their wearers look the same so you could put them in front of me and I still wouldn't recognize them

The best thing I can think of to do is wait for someone to ask about her and encourage them to search for her. Hopefully, when they realize she's not at the castle or her parents' house, someone will get suspicious.

There was also that peculiar interference that she had almost forgotten about. What could it be? Maybe Celestia is trying out some new switch spell, which is a worrying idea since, if true, that interference in my hive mind means it's working.

Apparently I had a lot of important things to do, but until then I needed to go to the bathroom

… As soon as I walked in, I understood why the guard looked at me the way he did.

I looked like a giant cotton candy, most of this mane may have been fake, but I have constantly improved this spell to the point where when I electrocute myself, my lion's mane reacts.

It took me 30 damn minutes to clean up that mess, relieve myself, and change my bandages.

By then, the boost of energy gained from the pain was already fading, and I was not about to electrocute myself again and go through that mane hell again.

So I have no choice but to hold on

As soon as the dining room doors opened, everyone turned to look at me more out of reflex than out of true interest, but none of them looked away.

I expected it, I did what I could with my hair, but I couldn't hide the effects of my fatigue. The only way to hide them would be to use makeup, an option that makes me prefer death.

I may have settled for this new body, but first dead than effeminate

“Good morning” Luna greeted me, but I didn't even look at her.

My target was the maid who was serving the drinks

Note that both in the cart and on the table there were traces of typical light breakfast foods, except for Luna who had a main dish, another salad and dessert.

True, for her, this is dinner

“Good morning, Lady Spirit, what can I-”

“Coffee” I interrupted the maid, not being in the mood, she needed the nectar of eternal life now.

"O-of course, just give me a moment to fill-"

The servant had barely managed to put water in the teapot when I again did not give him time to finish and used my telekinesis to snatch the teapot from her paws along with a jar containing a kilo of coffee beans.

I raised my right front paw, which lit up on fire as soon as the kettle landed on the flat part of my paw. As the water began to boil, I dropped the jar to concentrate solely on the coffee beans and squeezed them until they became a ball of just 5 centimeters in circumference

By the time I finished my magic demonstration, the water was already bubbling, so it didn't take long for me to drop the ball of coffee in, close the lid, shake it, uncover it, and drink straight from the pot.

Ah, just what I needed, as black as my soul and as intense as hell

“Um, Spirit, is everything okay?”

I turned to look at Cadance. “Yes, why do you ask?”

“Well… You ignored Luna when you came in, and it looks like you could faint at any moment.”

“Very observant, I give you 10 points, now leave me alone as I convert my blood into caffeine”

I heard someone leave her seat. I looked, and it turned out to be Luna

Luna's seat was behind me, so the quickest way would obviously be to go straight, but when I saw her approaching from behind me, I remembered what happened last night and felt a shiver of repulsion, so I turned away from her.

I tried to hide it by finding a place to sit near Aspen, who was sitting on the opposite side of the princesses, who always sat together.

“Is there anything left to eat?” I asked as she sat down.

“There are some pancakes, toast, cheese and fruit left, but if you like, I could ask them to bring you something that is more to your liking.” As expected, Celestia was the one who maintained her composure the best, she spoke as if my sore and act had been planned

I looked at the pancakes and shuddered again, “No thanks, I'm fine with this” I levitated a banana and started peeling it to take a bite.

“Is this how you eat it?!”

Everyone's gaze went to Luna, who was looking horrified at me, and to the banana they were eating.

I could only raise an eyebrow. “Yes… What did you think it was like?”

“I, well… I don't think it matters.” Luna's face began to turn red.

“That's what happens sister, when you don't accept suggestions and try to pretend that you know everything.”

“I-it's not my fault, those things weren't edible in my time, how would I know?”

"Common sense, maybe?" I suggested taking another bite.

Even Aspen was caught off guard. “How did you come to the conclusion that the peel was the edible part?” There was no mockery in her voice, Aspen was genuinely interested.

“I thought the seeds were there, I thought it could be edible, but I don't like feeling those things in my mouth”

“So you just eat the peel and throw away the rest?” Cadance was incredulous and horrified at the idea of waste

Luna shrugged her shoulders. "I usually eat the peel of oranges too, they don't taste that bad." Well, I can't refute that. I also knew someone who did that and even used the peels for cooking recipes, plus the ponies are herbivores, so maybe they are tastier o- “It's easier to eat than pineapples”

…

Again, all faces went in Luna's direction.

“Repeat that again… please.”

“The pineapples” Luna stopped for a second, realizing how we were looking at her. “You eat the pineapples whole... Right?”

We all stopped looking at Luna and looked at each other as if we were having a telepathic chat.

“Pft, HAHAHAHAHA, sorry, sorry! HAHA” The first to fall was Cadance

“HAHAHAHA” Then, of course, it was me holding my stomach and slamming my face into the table, trying to stifle my laughter.

Even Aspen had trouble containing her smile, and some of her laughter escaped at times.

Celestia remained stoic, but somehow her smile seemed more genuine.

For her part, Luna looked like she had decided to dye her fur red and was covering her face with her front paws.

Oh, Luna, haha, even if I try, I can't get mad at you, but I'm still going to get revenge.

With new energy I got up from my seat and approached Luna with another floating banana.

Luna peeked her head out of hers and gave me a shy smile when she saw that she was no longer in a bad mood.

I placed a hoof on her back as a consolation and said firmly, “You know, Luna, if you want to fuck, I'm willing whenever you want, you just have to ask, but I would appreciate it if you would at least invite me for a walk first or just ask me how.” "It was my day, I don't think it's too much to ask, that's all, goodbye"

I gave her a passing kiss on the nose, as her mouth was wide open, as was everyone else's, whether they were involved in the previous conversation or not.

Taking advantage of the moment as I left, I peeled the banana completely and stuffed it into Luna's open mouth.

“Enjoy it, then tell me how it tastes.” She still doesn't react, I think I broke her. “Aspen remind me that I have something to tell you later, goodbye” As I left the dining room, I didn't say anything, many were still in shock, even Celestia looked disoriented, but my previous call caught Aspen's attention, so I managed to move my lips so that it read, 'It's important'

Or at least I hope he understood that, I don't know what's good about Aspen reading lips

BAM

I kicked the doors shut and left, whistling when I realized something.

Damn, what a good coffee! All the fatigue and headache I felt since the morning disappeared

BAM

The doors closed behind Forest Heart or, as everyone in that dining hall knew her, Spirit Flame.

“Well, I can certainly say that I didn't expect that,” Celestia commented as she took a sip of her tea. “Sister, what exactly did you do to provoke that reaction?” I doubt your peculiar way of eating could be seen as provocative, or was it some kind of Kirin mating ritual?” Celestia wasn't joking, she was genuinely weighing those options.

“Cough, gug” When Luna finally came back to reality, she almost choked on the banana that Spirit had put in her mouth, and as a reflex, she ended up gagging slightly and devouring it in one audible gulp without managing to bite it, resulting in her eyes turning. They became moist at the difficulty of having something so large pass through their throat as they gasped for air.

Aspen and even Cadance looked away at Luna's expression, and the rest of those present only blushed at the face of the Lunar goddess.

“Yes, I think I'm starting to understand it.”

“Sister, stop it!” Luna claimed while she wiped away the remains of slime with notable embarrassment.

“Still, I think it's a good question. What Spirit did came out of nowhere, did you do something to make her react like that?” Cadance asked, trying to calm her own blush.

“Of course not, yesterday was the first time I saw her in weeks, and even then we didn't spend much time together, since we were negotiating all night.”

That left everyone thinking in silence, weighing their options.

“Is it possible that this is her way of dealing with her fear?” Celestia offered, confusing everyone a little before turning to the Stag King. “I understand that Spirit was caught in the crossfire in the… incident, right?” All traces of that welcoming presence left Celestia.

“Yes, that's how she got those injuries.” Aspen did her best to hide her anxiety with a mask of concern for her friend.

“In that case, it could be that such moments of great danger have affected him”

Luna felt deep worry and guilt at the prospect that his lover might have acquired some kind of trauma. “I must admit that I can't be sure, I mostly avoided the topic when I realized how uncomfortable she felt talking about it. I thought it was best to give it some time."

"But what does that have to do with how she acts now?" Cadance chose to ask when she saw her aunt too deep in her thoughts.

“When someone is faced with her final moments, his perspective tends to change; maybe he wants to enjoy the moment while he can?”

“Are you suggesting this was a very direct hint?” To Aspen, the situation didn't make much sense, and they were overthinking things, but that was because she knew Forest Heart much more than those present, and she knew how random she could be.

Especially since she became friends with Discord.

Celestia shrugged. "It's the best I can come up with at the moment with the information I've been given, although I feel like we're leaving something out here, so it's also quite likely that she's wrong."

The admission did little to calm Luna's growing concern.

“But if that is so, what should I do?” Luna looked at her sister, hoping she would share a part of her ancient wisdom with her.

"I don't know," Celestia shrugged, killing Luna's hopes. "She's your consort, you know her better than me. If you want, you can talk to her about her fears and comfort her, or follow her instructions and invite her to dinner."

Luna began to blush at the prospect of what her sister was suggesting. Certainly, that had been her intention in approaching Spirit at first, but as their relationship deepened, her priorities changed.

“I guess I'll see what to do, for now, we have to focus on saving Shining Armor.”

Cadance could only nod in gratitude “Thank you aunt, but as a princess of love, I can't ask that of you. If your special pony needs you, then it is your duty to do everything you can to help her."

“But what about Shining?”

“You don't need to separate yourself completely, you can do both if you maintain a balance between your duties and your personal life, because if you focus too much on one, you could be saying goodbye to the other without realizing it”

Cadance's advice was well received

But there was a problem, something that only one member of the table could detect due to his position at the table and the fact that he was already used to working while the antics were happening around him, so they did not distract him.

For a brief moment, Aspen swore Cadance's eyes turned green.

Then the right and third doors on the left

Damn unnecessarily big castle. Despite all the times I've come here, I don't think I've seen half of the structure, but I think I finally made it to Twilight's room.

It turns out I just couldn't keep waiting. Now that I have my mind renewed, I was able to think more clearly, resulting in me becoming more and more anxious about Twilight's kidnapping, so I decided to speed things up a bit.

“TOC, TOC-”

I didn't even finish my second knock on the door when it was opened.

“Twilight!” Spike shouted, hopefully only to be disappointed when he saw me “Ow!”

“It's nice to see you too, Spike,” I said mockingly.

“Oh, I'm sorry Spirit, I'm glad to see you too. It's just that Twilight is a little late, and she's never late, and when she does, that's when she panics, and that's when everything goes wrong, and when that happens, I have to-"

I stopped her rant with a hoof to her mouth. “How far behind is she?”

Spike stopped and started counting with his talons. “I think about... 11 hours?”

Hell, I know they have to take into account the time it took for Spike to realize that Twilight wasn't coming back and the time it took from when I woke up to when I got here, but I still slept a lot.

“That's definitely not right… wait, you've been waiting here all this time?” Maternal instinct activated

“Uh, yeah, I didn't know what else to do. Normally, I am always with Twilight as her assistant, but lately she leaves me with a lot of free time, she even forbade me to follow her” The dragon responded, who seemed quite bewildered.

“And have you already eaten?”

“Of course, Celestia always makes sure to have a basket full of gems for when Twilight and I come here.” Spike pointed to the small diamonds scattered across the table that I could tell were crumbs.

God, that still hurts to see. If only someone here had the slightest idea what humans would be willing to do, so here it is considered simply a pretty stone that literally grows everywhere and is used for lunches or paperweight

"Later, I'll get you something suitable, I refuse to believe that those stones are balanced food."

Spike let out a sigh. “You already sound like Twilight.”

“Yeah, speaking of, do you know where she could be?” I saw her in the library, but when I left, she was gone. Come on Spike, bite the bullet.

“Isn't she in the library? That's strange."

“Maybe she came home? She's not that far away, maybe she went to visit and fell asleep or something” Thinks Spike thinks!

“Why would she leave without me? "That doesn't make sense. "We're on the right track." But a lot of what she's done lately doesn't make sense, so I guess she doesn't surprise me." Spike resigned himself with visible disappointment.

And… we went back to the beginning

“Do you want to go look for her?” Hopefully, when we don't find Twilight, her family will start to panic.

“Yes, but…” Spike stopped and leaned over to look at a clock that looked like it was from the Victorian era. “It's almost time, and they won't let us see it later.”

I could see his unease in the way his eyes darted back and forth from the clock to the hallway, as if Twilight were going to suddenly appear or the weather would change.

"Who?"

“Shining, we have a very strict visiting schedule, and if we don't go at the indicated time, they won't let us see him.”

Oh! Fuck

“In that case, it is most likely that she is already there waiting for you to arrive… Or not?” I asked, tilting my head, trying to sound credible.

Spike jumped and slapped his face. “You're right, she must be waiting for me!” The short dragon returned to the room and grabbed a backpack before leaving again and closing the door. “Thank you Spirit, sorry, see you later!”

And... she's already gone...

I decided to follow the dwarf

After what I saw yesterday, there is no way I would leave a child alone in this castle, plus his stubby legs didn't allow him to run that fast, so catching up with him was no problem, in fact, for me, it was like walking fast.

I could see how the poor boy was so desperate that he didn't even notice me. For my part I couldn't take my eyes off the guards, I couldn't help but feel suspicious of my surroundings, since I could swear that from time to time I felt the same interference that had been bothering me since yesterday, but it was so weak that I couldn't be sure

Celestia was in the dining room, and she didn't seem to be doing anything... but it's still too early to discard ideas, especially when I have no idea what it could be, although an emptiness in my stomach told me that it wasn't good... that, or he complained to me for not having eaten more just because he wanted to joke with Luna

Anyway, after a while, we finally arrived

It wasn't what I expected, it wasn't an underground dungeon full of rusty chains, dirty walls and putrid smells.

It was a simple room, tucked away in one of the castle towers. I couldn't see inside from here, but I'd bet it was pretty similar to one of the guest rooms I usually stay in when I come to visit, the only difference being that it is guarded by several dozen guards patrolling along the corridor and its surroundings

I guess it's the benefits of having influential friends, and by friends, I mean princesses.

"It's here?"

“AAH” Spike jumped in total surprise for what must have been an instant teleportation for him.

“Calm down Spike, you worried me a little earlier, so I decided to follow you. Alright?" I tried to excuse myself while he pointed to all the guards who were now looking at us with suspicion.

“Everything is fine, don't worry, although next time I would really appreciate a greeting or any warning.”

“I'll buy at a bell, happy?”

“I would appreciate it,” Spike thanked, although he dismissed my comment as a joke.

"But for you"

"That? Because?"

“Because you're so fucking adorable,” he scoffed as he squeezed his chubby cheeks despite his obvious annoyance.

The truth was that, despite what she appeared to be, she was terribly nervous about seeing Shining. He is a direct victim of my actions and would be a threat to me.

I didn't get to see much of Shining's fight against my wolves since I was busy with Celestia at the time, but the fact that I lost connection with all of them right after he deactivated his shield shows how powerful he is when he doesn't have any restrictions. Besides his shield itself, I have no doubt that he could lock up all of Canterlot with that

"AHEM"

One of the guards coughed, likely to get your attention, and I immediately allowed Spike to slip out of my grasp.

“Please come with me, the captain is waiting for you.”

Spike quickly looked around, hoping to find the purple unicorn. “Where is Twilight?”

The guard shook his head. “She's not here.”

“Oh” Spike looked visibly discouraged.

"Cheer up Spike, we'll look for her later, but for now, have fun with Shining, you must have missed her a lot."

Spike forced a smile and tried to look strong when I reminded him why we were here.

Seeing that we were ready, the guard led us to Shining's room and rang three times "Visiting time, a baby dragon and a..." The guard turned around for a second, looking at me and my fake scales, apparently looking for a way to define myself as “…his mother”

My brain shorted out, and I went face first into the floor.

"She is not my mother! And I'm not a baby” Spike claimed.

The guard simply shrugged and scoffed, “How would I know? Neither of them look like a pony."

The guard began to return to his position, guarding one side of the door, but I placed a paw in front of him, forcing him to stop.

"What is that supposed to mean?"

“Do you really ask that when you have those things attached?” The idiot pointed at my fake scales with visible revulsion. “For all I know, you could have come out of an egg.”

I think the guard was trying to sound tough, bad luck because the paw that had blocked his path was now touching the front plate of his armor, and it started to heat up.

“Seeing your face, it is undoubtedly better to be born from a rock than from that filth you call mother.”

The guard looked at me surprised. Apparently not expecting such a response, I could see the anger on his face, but also the doubt as sweat began to accumulate due to the increasing increase in the temperature of his armor.

“D-do you think you can intimidate a royal guard? Beast"

“I don't know, you tell me” I shortened the distance that separated our faces, almost touching our snouts while specks of fire escaped from my mouth and nose “Do you feel intimidated?”

I expected that pony to cower, but surprisingly, he stood his ground, even with some doubt on his face but not fear.

That surprised me. Where did that confidence come from?

Neither of them backed down, and no one said anything, or rather no one dared, any action could trigger a fight...

Now that I think about it, getting into this just because of a passing comment wasn't the best idea... I think the sudden recharge of energy made me a little impulsive.

How the hell do I fix this?

My mind was in a jumble when I felt a surprisingly firm hoof force the boiling paw back to the ground.

“I think what the Polished Shield recruit meant was that he is not familiar with your race and that he would surely strive to learn so that this mistake would never be repeated, right?”

Only one pony dared to interrupt us, and I must say... he was more intimidating than I expected a simple pony to be capable of.

“Captain Shining Armor, or should I say, former captain, weren't you told that he was not allowed to leave his room under any circumstances?”

“Is still captain, and yes, you are right, the princesses ordered me, in the same way that Princess Luna ordered each of you, or should I say warned you that you should never interfere with Spirit Flame.”

Another staring duel, but unlike mine, the guard couldn't maintain his composure and backed away.

“Thank you very much for the reminder, Captain.” Polished said that last word roughly, but he soon disappeared from our sight, to which Shining quickly led us to his room and closed the door.

"That was incredible!" Shining and I jumped without waiting for Spike's startle. "That silly pony came to bother and then Spirt throws his fire. I thought we were going to fight, and then Shining comes and makes him retreat with a look." Spike continually tried to imitate my breathing fire with little success “You have to teach me how to do that!”

Shining and I looked at him and then at each other…

"HA HA HA"

"HAHAHA"

"Don't laugh!"

“What did you expect? "You're so damn cute." I tried to squeeze his cheeks again, but Spike was already expecting that and dodged me.

"I have to agree with Spirit," Shining admitted to Spike's irritation. "But I have to admit, I'm curious, I didn't know you two knew each other."

That puzzled me a little. “Didn’t Twilight tell you?”

A crooked smile appeared on Shining's face. “We don't talk as much as I'd like, and not even Twilight is good enough to add a second recipient to Spike's fire.”

I was surprised to learn that Spike's fire was enchanted with a variant of teleportation, but not too much, in fact, I based [Flame Gate] on that same spell when I found it in one of the many books I stole from Twilight's library.

“And speaking of Twilight, where is she?”

“We don't know, we thought she would be with you.” Spike immediately became discouraged.

“Cheer up Spike, she can still make it.” I tried to comfort him, even knowing that she wouldn't make it through.

“Don't you know where she is?”

“We haven't seen her since yesterday.”

"That's... not normal." I could see concern appear on Shining face, and I think Spike did too, luckily Shining didn't seem to be as clueless as Twilight is. "I guess that leaves the fun to ourselves, huh?" Did you bring what I asked for?” Spike's eyes lit up at the question, and he immediately took off the backpack he was carrying to open it and reveal that a box was all that occupied the large space... an eerily familiar box.

Is that what it is?... No, there is no way, it cannot be

“Ogres and dungeons!” Spike shouted for joy.

Close enough

“I think we have time for a short game.”

Spike looked like he was about to scream like a schoolgirl with excitement, but he stopped suddenly.

“But what about Spirit? "We can't leave her for the next 4 hours while we play with this."

Thanks to Spike's reminder, Shining seemed to remember me, and her face immediately contorted into a complicated expression. Apparently she had planned this game for a while, and my arrival had ruined it.

“Excuse us Spirt, but don't you happen to have some interest in fantasy and tall tales?” Spike and Shining turned to look at me, but by then I had already moved, grabbed the game box, set up the board on a table along with the dungeon master area, and started creating my character and his stats on a sheet of paper. paper

“What are you morons waiting for? 4 hours are barely enough for a small campaign if we haven't created our characters yet, and by the way, wooden dice suck, get some metal ones as soon as you can because I refuse to play with third-rate material."

Spike and Shining gaped at me.

"You play?"

I had to hold back my laughter at that question, and it still escaped me a little “HAHA, if you knew, I don't even know how to begin to describe the games we have at home, I'll tell you, give me a decent game, and I'll teach you how to play Warhammer “Fantasy”

“I don't even know what that is, but I know I need it.”

“The honest truth, but now bring your butts to the chairs and find a comfortable position because we will be here for a while.”

5 damned and most grueling hours later

“There's my back, I can't feel my legs” Shining's faggot complained

“No, what a tragedy! I would feel bad for you... if my character hadn't literally lost them!” I slammed my face into the table with enough force to shake everything on it.

It was a massacre.

In the second hour of play, we realized that we were not going to finish the game before the visiting time passed, so we tried to hurry

Serious mistake, especially when one of the players has a severe impulse of idiocy and decides to shout LEEROY JENKINS at the most important moment of the game

“At least you weren't looted by goblins. Talk about humiliations.”

“I still can't believe that one of those killed you from behind, even having the guardian class, I've never seen such an unfortunate roll of the dice.”

“And I can't believe you abandoned poor Spike like that.” Shining pointed to the dragon, now unconscious and foaming after his brain went into overload, when I decided to make an armor with the remains of a mother dragon and an omelet with her eggs.

“I don't know what you're talking about, I said clearly that I would make sure he stayed in the fight until the end, and that's what I did.”

“But not as an undead!” Shining shook his head in denial. “Of all kinds, why a necromancer?”

“I'm good at managing troops and with magic.” I avoided eye contact, hoping to hide my nervousness. “And before you say “summoner,” their beasts aren't so easily replaceable.”

As with chess, this game also had its discrepancies with its human version, but nothing that I couldn't adapt to.

Shining sighed as he rubbed his red eyes. For a second I thought he was upset, but he soon smiled as he offered me his paw. “Yes, you're right. Good game.”

I composed myself, accepted the greeting, and then helped him put away the board.

“I must say that this was not how I expected this to happen,” Shining commented, managing to catch my attention.

“Sorry for butting in on his visit, I was worried that Spike was alone in this castle, and then we ran into that idiot.”

“Oh no, that's not what I meant. Sorry for that fool. I hope it doesn't taint the ideas you have about the royal guard. Normally, I make sure that the staff that runs the castle is much better trained, but lately we are short of staff, and We have had to fill the gaps with what we have” There was an awkward silence, but it lasted shortly before he returned to the main topic “But what I was referring to was our meeting.”

“You… You wanted us to meet?”

“Of course,” Shining nodded. “I told you that Cadance told me about you, in fact, she was already planning a double date, but then Discord arrived and… other things.”

I noticed some frustration, but for the sake of coexistence, I decided to follow Shining's example and not separate myself from the topic of conversation “At that time Luna and I were not dating yet.”

Shining looked at me with genuine surprise “Really? From how Cadance described them, she would have sworn it was serious.”

"And what kind of things would those be?"

"Oh, nothing, you know, the typical nonsense she says about any couple." Now it was Shining who was avoiding eye contact.

Just wait Cadance, I'm going to make sure I don't forget that.

“It's something quite recent, if I'm honest, I understand why everyone thought the opposite, but nothing happened between us until Nightmare Night.”

Shining was thoughtful for a moment. I wondered what was going through her head when she asked “… Have you noticed that the wings tend to flap when they get excited?”

“Yes” That took me by surprise “And have you noticed that her hair wraps around you like a tentacle?”

"Yeah! "Everyone thinks Cadance's hair doesn't move, but I swear she's trying to strangle me."

“PFT, HAHA” I couldn't help but laugh when I realized the real reason for Shining's interested in me “So, this is what you wanted to see me for? To discuss alicorn oddities?"

“A worthy goal if you ask me, and there are not many who can understand us”

“I agree!” I shook her paw as if I had found a brother lost for years.

"KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK"

I became discouraged as soon as I heard the knock on the door. “I think we're out of time.” I looked at the clock on the wall and was taken aback when I realized we still had time.

“BfFTtfff”

The interference…

“Last visit of the day, her little sister.”

My body failed, and I was petrified as I listened to Shining happily run to the door to receive his last minute visitor. “Hello Spirit, long time no see” They greeted me energetically, and I had no choice but to respond the same. I turned around and saw her “BBFfffF” There was nothing abnormal about her, her body was exactly as it should be. She almost convinced me, and I must admit that if it weren't for me doing something similar, I would have believed her act too.

“Hello Twilight, Spike and I were worried that you wouldn't make it, where have you gotten yourself?” Was I too direct? Does he hide badly? What will he do if he finds out what I know? What will I do in that case?

“Oh, I wasn't doing anything important, yesterday I just decided to go for a walk. I needed some fresh air, you know, with everything that's going on lately, some time alone helps a lot.”

We were in the library... I haven't known Twilight for long, but I know about her. I talked to her a few times, and I can say that there is nothing more relaxing for her than books

Even Shining seemed to look at her strangely, but he dismissed any idea that she was too distracted by the happiness of having a family member present.

At least now I know what causes that interference... and it scares me

“By the way, what happened to Spike?”

“Shining, I don't take good care of him.” I quickly excused myself as she pointed at the stallion.

Fake or not, I don't want to deal with any of Twilight's wrath, or at least for now.

Soon I'll have to do something with this other… hive mind.

Author's Note

Sorry for the slow update. We all know how it is this time of year with testing and that, unfortunately, the next update will likely be delayed for that same reason as well.

By the way, maybe you noticed that the guard let Twilight in even though her “strict visiting hours” had already passed. That happened because Polished Shield guard thought that Twilight had a nice butt… that's all, when they find some slight incoherence in the story, it's because of things like that. It is not necessary to look for greater meaning.