[Thursday, 19 May 2016, The Equestrian 18th Day of Love.]

Why was he having this dream again?

“I can’t imagine loving you anymore than I do now.”

Cadance was pulling him closer to their bed, drawing him in for one kiss after another between baited breaths and loving calls of devotion. Their passions grew to a point he couldn’t process, and his body began to move of its own volition. Her voice, her body, her scent, this incredible moment they were sharing were all coming together, empowering his desires toward loving his wife in a way he never had before.

Then, she spoke the words that all but removed his inhibitions.

“I want to give you more to love.”

As her body turned, flashing her tail high and to her side, Shining was already on top of her with his forelegs around her hips. Such wondrous sensations flooded his entire being; mind, body, and soul.

Even if he didn’t know what it was, it felt incredible, and it was all because of the loving mare he dotted with small kisses up and down her neck.; small kisses that drew larger until he felt his teeth pulling away on her skin as if he were anchoring himself on her for leverage.

“Our love will make this feel beautiful for her,” rang the alien thoughts that invaded his mind.

Those couldn’t have been his thoughts. It was so hard to remember. Nearly impossible to focus when everything felt so wonderful and warm, gripping around his loins.

The sensation was a smothering heat, yet wet, but smooth, though it came with the feeling as though he was relieving himself. Albeit, nothing leaving his body had ever felt so magical as this memory of him thrusting his hips against his wife's backside while hugging her.

That made no sense, not even for the memory of a dream that was growing dark… blurring… hazing… growing louder with moans… thuds.. slaps. splashing-beating-churnch-SCREAMING!

“STOP!”

Something had changed. The pleasure was fading, replaced with the cold numbness of his body disconnecting from his mind.

“SHINING!”

The voice called out again, and it was unmistakable. Becky was in danger, but it was hard to see anything in this unfamiliar space Shining now found himself floating in.

Ting!

Shining’s horn brushed up against something metallic, and he instinctively turned to see what he had bumped into. What he saw was a series of vertical bars stretching up beyond his sight from a point he could not make out and expanding in all directions he could have hoped to bypass.

Beyond the bars were two large ovals cut out of the black space he found himself in. It was no different than looking through a mask that didn’t fit correctly.

Finally, it all made sense, and Shining gasped in terror as he watched his bloodied right hoof rise up in view while his voice rose even higher from outside his new prison.

“YOU’VE RUINED EVERYTHING!”

Another shriek from Becky tore out, along with Shining screaming just as loud, reaching desperately through the bars for the woman out of reach.

“BECKY! SWORD! STOP IT! LET HER GO!”

Another crack of hoof to bone snapped and splurt of blood splashing over the face surrounding the mind Shining was trapped behind painted a film of red over his view of Becky being violently brutalized. He tried again to reach, flexed every ounce of magic into his horn, pressed harder into the bars, though every effort met in failure.

Then, with another drop of Shining’s hoof beyond his reach struck a fear-ridden and bloodied Becky; the two viewing ports outside of his prison blinked shut.

Choking and sputtering bubbled beyond his realm of influence just as the bars wisped away to dust, and he fell forward into empty nothingness.

“BECKY!”

As Shining continued to fall, two strong forelegs gripped tightly around his barrel and jerked him upward to safety.

“Calm thy self, Shining Armor!” Demanded the reassuring voice of Luna, with whiskey on her breath.

In a flash, the empty dark prison was gone. In its place, incredible landscapes of impossible proportions came into view below.

To the south, a bright sun illuminated lush fields of green where deer kin gathered closely around each other. Up to the right in the east, the light dimmed over an empty beach. Then, further to the north, the light glistened over rolling hills of freshly fallen snow and three yaks butting heads. Lastly, to the west was a dark-lit forest, littered with reflective eyes peering out from the trees with glints of polished blades reflecting back the light of the moon.

Shining might have seen it all, but he reacted to none of it. His mind was still on his nightmare, leaving him to flail and swing wildly.

“BECKY! I’LL SAVE YOU!”

The reassuring voice of Luna again spoke up.

“Shining, please! You must—”

Shining’s flailing caused the back of his head to smack into Luna’s lips, and her reassuring voice disappeared, along with her grip.

“Fuck it! Down you go!”

And down he went, barreling straight into a blanketed landscape of white while Luna casually fluttered in place, drawing another pull from her bottle of booze.

Shining quickly hit the snow down below, hooves first, feeling only the cold at first, then the soft cushioning turned to what felt like a thin layer of concrete. It didn't stop his descent. Instead, the crash and snaps came with a splash, and instantly he was submerged in frigid cold water.

He didn't travel too far through the freezing waters until hitting another layer of thicker ice with a hollow thud and echoing crack. The impact knocked a puff of air out of his lungs, and he turned his eyes to see Becky's face pressed up against the transparent sheet of ice.

"Shining, stop!" Becky's voice cried out before Sword's familiar hoof reached behind her neck and pulled her away.

Releasing another portion of breath, Shining screamed, "Becky!"

Determined to save Becky, Shining channeled magic into summoning his weaponized shield. His horn began to glow brighter, constructing his weapon with all its deadly edges, then drove it into the ice where he last saw his damsel in distress.

The ice crunched and cracked; white fractures spidered out from where pieces of ice shattered out and floated up.

Why was the ice so thick? Moments ago, Becky's face couldn't have been more than an inch or two from under him.

Crunch!

Again his deadly constructed shield fell upon the ice, digging in and chipping away toward the inevitable rescue.

Gulp.

He half swallowed a mouthful of the air and tried not to exhale when a burst of bubbles hit him in the face, but it came with a half gulp of freezing water. Now he noticed everything was cold, numbing to his bones cold, crushing his lungs, buzzing with an ache in his head.

"Prince Shining!"

That was Queen Novo's voice screaming at him from deep under the ice.

"What are you doing?! Stop it! You're scaring everyone down here!"

Peering through the thick sheet of ice, Novo raised her trident, illuminating it brightly to see the narrow-driven terror in Shining's eyes. There, in the movements, he withdrew his shield over his head to drive it down again; seeing the blue in his face and last gasp escape his hold, she knew where the problem lay.

She would have to sift through the fallout later.

"Boy, you bet'uh not hold this against me when you wake up."

Light from the trident focused around Shining, sending the water and floating ice pieces into a vortex that swirled around him. Before he could deliver another strike with his shield, the water around him burst like a geyser upward, jettisoned through the previous ice he first broke through, and was thrown into the open air, flying out of control.

“SHINING!”

Suddenly, Shining was caught again, this time held by his face in the grip of the bloody hooves of Sword himself.

The crazed echo’s appearance was paler than before. His severed wings fluttered overhead, detached from his shoulders. Blood-deranged eyes stared madly into Shinings, the eyes of an executioner ready with glee to drop the axe. His muzzle, still split and bleeding from the top as well from under as much from the gashes torn up on his throat, he freely spat as much blood as he spoke.

“Don’t be afraid. Love her.”

Sword pulled his right foreleg back, departing it from his severed hoof still pressed to Shining’s face so he could point to himself.

“It’s what you killed me for. But you didn’t listen! So go on! Love her. Make her yours. Then kill her. KILL HER! KILL AlLL OF THEM! BECOME THE SWORD!”

“ENOUGH!” Came Luna’s Canterlot voice.

Both Shining and Sword turned and looked up in the direction of Luna’s voice, but all Shining caught was a whistling sound from an unknown glistening object was flung through the air, followed by a crashing sound of shattering glass on Sword’s head and a sudden robust scent of alcohol as something wet splashed against his face.

[Back in the Castle of Friendship.]

Shining shot upright from his covers, gasping for air. His hooves were pressed hard into his cheeks where he last felt Sword holding him hostage. He could still feel the icy cold chill of the waters Novo expelled him from as keenly as the odor of whiskey stuck in his nose, but they were all figments of his imagination. Another passing nightmare he had awoken from, alone in his bed, with one thing on his mind.

“Becky.”

There was an order to do things in the Royal Guard, and Shining’s plan was to stay ahead of those procedures. What better way to keep an eye out for danger for the woman who mattered the most.

Of course, typically, the duties he was conducting now would typically fall upon a curator or some other highly appointed assistant to the Princess. However, since he was staying with Twilight and she didn’t care for all the extravagance and overhead of a full staff…

Knock-Knock-Knock.

“Spike?”

From the other side of the door, Spike gave a surprisingly enthusiastic greeting.

“Munuh gunuh sunnuh suh buh muh… Nuuh-yet.”

After all the less-than-stellar changes Spike had experienced recently, Shining new adjusting had been difficult. Adding on one mentor after another taking their leave, getting any type of verbal response from the young drake that didn’t come as a reply toTwilight, Chris, or now Becky… that was enthusiastic enough to Shining’s ears.

“Come on, Spike. You know that no dragon makes breakfast better than you in this castle. Becky and the kids are gonna be up soon. You don’t want to leave them hungry, now, do you?”

From behind the door, the obvious sounds of blankets being pulled into a ball, muffled sounds of grumbles, and other noises alerted Shining of Spike trying to go back to sleep. Normally, that wouldn’t deter his efforts so easily, but the sudden presence behind put him on alert.

“Prince Shining Armor.”

Shining did a sharp turn of his head to see one of the bat pony guards standing behind him. Assuming it had to be something important, he quickly turned to face the guard directly and stood at attention to take the report.

“Yes?”

Without hesitation, the guard continued.

“We apologize for any miscommunication this morning, but breakfast will be delayed by the request of Lady Landon so that the children may sleep in and receive the rest they require. Additionally, Spike was instructed to wake the children after the sun rises and have them assist with making their own breakfast, as well as any and all clean up, as part of their punishment for staying up again to watch a… Kung Fu Panda. ”

Rightfully confused, Shining slipped out of his military composure into a state of befuddlement.

“A what? Last night they were watching a donkey and giant talking green… green thing. How did she know they were watching a different movie?”

The guard, somehow, maintained his baring and answered as best he could.

“I am unaware, your grace. She opened the laptop device and must have used a spell, or their devices have some human magic that we can’t see because she knew they had disobeyed her orders. She knew almost instantly.”

After all the peculiar skills humans possessed, Shining couldn’t rule out that Becky could detect any unauthorized use of Chris’s device. As far as he knew, he thought he had deactivated it by folding it closed, no differently than he would a book.

Then again, he didn’t understand how it worked, as it was Chris who gave the children an explanation of how to operate the device. Shining, on the other hand, had only seen it deactivated once by Becky closing the lid.

Regardless, he now had more time on his hooves than he had originally planned.

“Well… I suppose Becky knows best how to deal with the matter. Is she taking care of the matter now or… Wait? Where is Becky?”

[Over at Ponyville Hospital.]

Evening Aster lay more comfortably inclined in her bed than she had during her previous days confined to the hospital’s care. The early morning hours had been spent alone before receiving her dinner, though it would have been a very early breakfast for everypony else. For this meal, though, once it would be served, she was beside herself with joy at the visitor sitting next to her.

“Lady Landon, you really didn’t need to stop in to visit with me, but I’m always happy to have your company.”

Becky sat contently next to Asters’s bed with her right hand resting contently on the mare’s closest hoof, thoroughly enjoying the positive experience she was bringing to the room. Sure, it was a bit crowded with the other bandaged bat ponies occupying every edge of the wall with wheelchairs or seats they could steal from other rooms to join her. Not to mention the few that had pushed up the panels of the suspended ceiling so they could hang from the support structures above. They all were happy to see her, and unlike the kids before, never had the chance to have a meal with any of the humans while recovering, let alone share one.

She could see how much this meant to them.

“Oh, please. This is the least I can do after all you did for us. I think I lost focus a while ago and started putting more attention on some of my needs, which really got me thinking—”

The entire room erupted in a quiet uproar of bat ponies groaning and giving their disapproval in one way or another. None more than Aster herself.

“Lady Landon? Do you hear yourself? We know full well you haven’t had, but maybe an hour to yourself since that nice dinner the Princesses put together for all of you. We do ourselves right by your instructions to give you no grief so that you might take more than a break or two between our visits when you’re here and not looking after the young delegates we all fought to save. You know you’re health is just as important as ours.”

“No,” Midnight answered from the corner of the room. “Her rest is more important than ours.”

Knowing their audience, Midnight had to keep things professional.

“Lady Landon, as I have told you before, we owe you so much, but you continue to stretch yourself so thin. You must take better care of yourself. We can only do so much for you, and sadly, even less for each other.”

Again, Aster spoke, but it was warm and with admiration.

“That night in the cave. Even though your hands were shaking and your friend needed so much help, you kept me breathing—”

This was another round of praise Becky was all too embarrassed to receive, if not feeling undeserving of. Certainly not when she was hardly responsible for the initial response.

“That was Cerb, Aster. His medical combat training helped him recognize your crushed ribs were collapsing your lungs. I only followed his lead.”

True or not, Aster remembered another life in that cave she helped save.

“And Thunder Glide?”

Again, Becky countered.

“Only after the other Trixie pointed it out. Same with Vogt.”

Both of those were true, but Aster had more than ample supplies of more immediate examples Becky couldn’t escape.

“Lady Landon, my dear… So many ponies and other creatures were busy tending to those in the cave… but who was the only human able to lend their healing hands to the wounded Lunar Guard left bloodied in the mud and rubble outside from Harmony’s warpath?”

Becky looked around the room. Each of the bat ponies in attendance was one she had personally tended to before securing safe travel back to Ponyville and continued to provide care for there after.

Their broken limbs were now healing in well-mended casts. Many had tattered wings that were glued, stapled, or stitched so they could heal. All of them still showed bruises to some degree, if not other clear signs of injury.

Together, though, they were alive, healthy, and happy. Happy to be with the one stuck by their side every day after their horrible nightmares.

“Lady Landon,” one of the bat ponies, wearing an eye patch, spoke up from his wheelchair near the door. “Doctor Horse has been following up with the anti-inflammatories you recommended for my head injury. He said the swelling of the optic nerve has started to go down, a-a-and last night I started to see some of the light he was shining in my eye while examining it. He thinks I’ll recover most if not all of my vision.”

From the ceiling, yet another excited bat pony mare, this one still with much of her face covered in bandages where portions of fur were missing, spoke up, sounding more encouraged than the stallion before her.

“Oh! Lady Landon. After breakfast, you must stop into my room. My squadmate, Bearing Pulse, he’s the one you did the truckuh… treckie, neck-hole—”

“A tracheotomy,” Becky answered.

The term wasn’t important; the news this pony wanted to share was, and her voice bore such excitement.

“Yeah! That! Well, we were all worried about Bearing after had his throat crushed in the fight, but last night he asked for water! He! Finally. Spoke! Isn’t that amazing!”

Becky raised both her hands to her lips and gasped. Everypony in the room could feel the exhilaration pouring out of her as she took in the amazing update.

“No way! He could barely breathe when I got to him. I thought for sure his vocal cords would have been… I mean, hell, yeah. Let’s go see him after this.”

“Ahem,” came a not-so-subtle interruption from the doorway by Doctor Horse. “Miss Landon, while we all appreciate your dedication to the hypocritic oath for our patients, you should apply that oath to yourself.”

Doctor Horse wasn’t walking in empty hoofed. In front of him was a food cart, though that seemed out of place, but at least he owned up to it as he entered the room.

“And yes, normally, one of the orderlies would bring the meals. Buuuuuuut, once I heard Miss Landon would be joining us and wanted to have you all here eating together… Well, I just had to see this new method of medicine for myself.”

Becky rolled her eyes, along with nearly half the room at the doctor’s ever-growing blatant advances toward their favorite provider and caretaker. Not that she thought he was rude or even egregious with his antics, as they were dotingly harmless.

“This is no method of treatment, Doc. My friends here appreciate me, and I want to show that I appreciate them as well. And, since I decided to give myself some extra free time this morning, I thought I’d let the kids sleep in and have breakfast here.”

As Doctor Horse lifted the first food tray, Becky had another thought come to mind.

“Actually, there is something to having a positive mindset and improved health, but the medical staff need to be careful about having unprofessional relationships with their patients.”

She quickly grabbed the plate meant for Aster off the cart, brought it to her lap, and forked a large slice of mango to hold up high enough for all to see.

“Thankfully, I don’t really work here.” She smirked. “I have a lot more free range. Now open up, Aster.

Aster was gracious, as would be expected, and happily took the sliced drupe with a gleeful hum.

Now, while it may have been a bit childish, if not unnecessary to be fed in her condition, it was still it was a delightful experience for the Lunar Guard. Still, as Aster chewed her final meal before sleeping when the sun would rise, another scent rose above the rich scent of mango.

“Mmm,” Aster moaned as she chewed before swallowing, never taking her eyes off Becky’s fingers. “Lady Landon. What is that new perfume you’re wearing? I thought only Princess Luna and Miss Bardwell wore that fragrance.”

Becky pulled her hand back with the now empty fork, very unsure of what she might have splashed on to warrant such a reaction. Though, that would quickly change after a correction from Midnight after two quick sniffs close to Becky’s hand.

“Hm, no. I believe you are mistaken, Aster. That is…”

Midnight’s nostrils flared with an involuntary quick inhale to retake in the aroma, even though the source returned to Aster’s plate. He wasn’t sure why he needed to smell that fragrance again, but on after a second take of its decadence, he noticed how much better it was than Becky’s normal scent of sunflowers and honey.

This time there was something so much more to it. Something that was more distracting than the other times he detected similar scents on others in passing.

“Ahem. Excuse me. Uhm… No. I recall Starlight Shimmer wore something much the same since the day of the first events in the Everfree Forest. Of course, Twilight and the others eventually started to wear their own versions after the Post War-War Party. Though—”

He sniffed again, taking a long and slow, deep inhale over Becky. His nose started near her shoulder but quickly trailed lower to the plate to finish over her knuckles, which she pulled out of reach.

“My apologies,” Midnight quickly stated, readjusting himself and taking a step back. “Yes, however, though, as I was saying. Unlike the others, this… perfume, if that is what you wear, is much more mild than the others.”

Suddenly looking as though he was hit with an epiphany, Midnight jolted slightly, then looked at Becky again differently.

“Is it something you wear at night to help you… Uh… Relax? Like some type of aroma therapy? I noticed you had on a lot more while in your room last night.”

Somewhere in the midst of Midnight’s awkward delivery, Becky managed to start to put things together in a way that gave her some incredibly uncomfortable yet flattering feelings. Sadly, the instant she felt such flatter, she would have been amiss if she didn’t recognize her own shameful temptation to the truth.

Not that she was ready to confront her temptations, of course. Not when there were certain details needing to be worked out.

“Something like that, I guess,” Becky answered with a careless grin. “But I think it comes and goes. Not that I mind, so long as you enjoy it.”

She turned her eyes up to Doctor Horse and noticed the addition of a pair of pants added to his lab coat that would only cover his top half.

“Doctor? After their dinner, you mind if I have a moment with you in your office?”

[Back at the Castle of Friendship.]

Shining teleported up to the rooftop of the Castle, luckily finding Twilight with Starlight going over some training.

“Twilight! Why was Becky allowed to leave the castle without me this morning?!”

Twilight remained seated in front of Starlight sitting across from her and raised a hoof in Shining’s direction, keeping her eyes closed, then slowly levitated her crown down to adorn it atop Starlight’s head.

“Now… Slowly… Let the magic in my crown reach out to the vast depths of the night sky, but don’t try to move anything yet.”

Shining started to march forward but quickly slowed his pace as he realized exactly what they were going over. Knowing what it was, it could be dangerous to interrupt Twilight at this point.

“Now,” Twilight calmly continued. “Before you even begin to try and move anything… feel the pull of the moon. Feel how it can move on its own before you try to alter its course. Feel how the stars shine and sparkle like opening your eyes? And I wish you had wings so I could better explain the colors, but what’s really important is the moon. Now that you have my crown, I want you to first anchor to it like you were going to lift it like any other telekinesis spell—”

Starlight slipped forward slightly, barely catching herself against Twilight.

“Woah, that… That’s not at all like—”

Twilight softly chuckled and helped Starlight to properly sit upright again.

“I know. That’s why I said to first anchor yourself. This kind of magic has some of its own self-governing rules as fail safes. Without enough raw power or properly attuned magic like Luna’s, you can overwhelm yourself and drain your stamina trying to control all of its influence all at once… So now… Now that you can feel it moving, slowly start to draw it down, and picture in your mind the night sky folding back towards the horizon like a pair of wings falling over your back…Then open your eyes, and I’ll help you guide everything into completion with the sunrise, and we’ll be done.”

Shining kept his distance, training his eyes up to the final portion of the night sky fade and give way to Celestia’s rising sun. It was a seamless transition without the spectacle of a crowd or ceremony or the clueless faltering of novice students.

Starlight had only one mild stumble of taking on more than needed but had adjusted so quickly to the rest under Twilight’s instruction. She was even far more stable than Twilight had been after her time at the Ceremony of Power and Beauty only a few days ago.

“Wow, Twilight, that was amazing,” Starlight excitedly raddled off, setting Twilight’s crown down at her hooves. “I’m so glad you’re letting me help you with this. This is a bit much for now, but I’m sure in no time at all, I’ll be able to take over for you when you need me. But, I think Shining needs you for something, and I’d really like to wake Chris up this morning since Prim helped him to sleep last night.”

After an excited squee, Starlight teleported out of sight, and Shining trotted up closer to his sister’s royal presence. The training session had been impressive, but if the moment was over, he had other issues to attend to.

“Twilight, we need to have a discussion about expectations of Becky's safety and my role in overseeing her protection. Did you know she left this morning early this morning to visit the Lunar Guard recovering at the hospital without any planning or scheduling details?”

Twilight lowered her head and returned her crown but remained calm in her response as she answered.

“Shining… You know exactly how sensitive the current situation with every human is. Becky’s security is by far one of our top priorities here, among everything else I’m juggling. She left with Midnight and the rest of the security detail that would normally accompany her in the evening hours.”

Unphased by Shining’s line of questions, or Becky’s actions, Twilight stood up, calm and collected, and made her way to stand in front of her brother, stopping just shy of passing him face-to-face.

“As well as half of the rest of the off-duty Lunar Guards who secretly watch over her, the human embassy, the Apple Farm, and my castle. Not that she doesn’t know they’re always watching over her, but she allows it. She welcomes their help and their attention because they never push or make her feel uncomfortable. They don’t make her choose or act like they own her, nor do they make her feel helpless.”

As calm as Twilight sounded, there was deep seeded frustration and tiredness seeping under her words. Some unspoken threat or anger unmasked that she kept hidden, tucked narrowly below the surface of her words before she stepped away towards the stairs back into her castle.

“It was kind of you to stay behind for Becky’s sake when Cadance took Justin away with her. Out of all of the humans, even if she was one of the most helpful, she was of the slowest to trust us completely and the least accepting of what we had to offer. Now with Rainbow Dash gone, you’re the pony she trusts the most. Even more than me.”

Shining was somewhat amazed at how observant, or at the very least, informed, Twilight had been about Becky. It made him cautious about pressing his luck if she were to pry any deeper regarding anything about him and Cadance in passing. So, to avoid that, he would have to adhere to her instruction for now.

“Okay?” He answered, doing his best to sound agreeable before turning around to follow her down. “So then, what should I do?”

Twilight stopped at the door, the stiffness in her posture giving notice to some added agitation, but again, she answered calmly.

“She wanted time at the hospital with the Lunar Guard. Let her do as she pleases. The children will be waking soon, and so will Spike to ensure Becky’s instructions are followed through this time, unlike last night. I’m sure Becky would appreciate your help with that. Otherwise… When she gets back, let her know that you were worried when you found out that she left without you. You know she’s safe with Midnight and the others, but with Cutter still in Canterlot, you’re currently my Captain of the Guard, and you are to be notified when, and if, she leaves the castle to ensure the proper precautions are taken or she is given as much space as she requests.”

She turned her head back to Shining and gave him a stare with one eye that was unreadable with all that must be weighing on her mind at the moment.

“From there, you give your best advice and protect her as best you can. Otherwise, if you can’t prove that you can help her or… if she doesn’t feel safe around you, she’ll go somewhere else and leave you behind.”

There was something almost bitter, if not cold in Twilight’s response as she finished. It could have been that she was tired, having left late to sleep at Oven’s house in town and coming back early enough to train Starlight. However, if anything, it was projection.

“Now, if you’ll excuse me, Benny will be over shortly with Water Bug. I hope you don’t mind one more foal to watch over while we’re away. I’m not getting enough sleep to manage every problem on my own.”

[Just outside of the Human Embasy.]

“One, two, three, nine. One, two, three, and ten,” Benny finished counting with his young mare mirroring his jumping jacks as he finished. “You know, you could at least pretend to be a little tired during these workouts. And you don’t have to stay in pony form when you're home with me.”

Ocellus, still looking like the young filly she disguised herself as when she first infiltrated Ponyville. The same filly, though now she wore a pair of baggy gym shorts and sported a smile that beamed back brightly in the early morning rays of the rising sun.

“I’m just so full of energy, I can’t help it. Besides, with all the ambient love in the house my future moms keep giving off, it makes my tummy hurt if I don’t burn off all this extra energy I have.”

Benny laughed as he gave his torso another stretch, hoping his little filly didn’t know the half of it about the love those mares could give.

“Yeah, well, they do tend to go overboard with the affection when they have me all to themselves. Can’t have my Little Love Bug waking up every morning with a tummy ache.”

Again, Ocellus mimicked Benny’s stretches, simply elated to be living this life she found herself in. At the same time, she knew she was being spoiled.

“Is that why you said they had to stay at their house in town last night?”

It was far too early into this new father-daughter relationship to have “the talk,” so Benny made the wise decision to agree.

“Oh yeah. I figured since I was going to be busy all day in Canterlot, I’d spend as much of my morning with you, then we can have another movie night together. Then, tomorrow, I’d ask Twilight if it would be okay if you spend the weekend with the rest of your friends and burn off all the energy you want with them.”

Now overly excited, Ocellus broke from the stretching routine to launch herself onto Benny, hugging her forelegs around his neck and playfully kicking her back legs.

This hadn’t been the first outburst Ocellus had grown accustomed to use to show her affection, and Benny had quickly learned how to catch and spin her around in a shared hug. They both laughed and giggled at the silliness of their antics, but there was still a full day ahead of them, and Benny set her down, though she would have stayed in his arms for longer, given the chance.

Instead, she was bouncing up and down, dashing back and forth around him like a jack russell terrier.

“This is going to be so amazing! Training with the coolest dad ever. A whole day with my best friends. Another father-daughter movie night. Then, a whole weekend with the best friends in the whole world in the Princess’s castle! And I don't have to worry about being a prisoner or chased away or anything like that!”

If nothing else, Benny could take pride in knowing he provided an environment that left Ocellus feeling safe.

"That's right. You're my little girl now."

"Little Love Bug," Ocellus cutely corrected him as she jumped up to eye level with him long enough to flaunt her nickname.

That was right, and Benny promptly corrected himself.

"Yes, my Little Love Bug. And no one is going to try and hurt you because of where you come from or what you are. Every Princess and the other kingdoms gave their word, you have all the same protections I do."

Still jumping around, Ocellus landed, and in a fluid transition, her yellow fur began to turn a pristine white, starting from a long white spiral horn that grew from her forehead down, then continued down to the tips of her hooves. When she stood tall and proper, long, majestic feathered wings extended from her once adolescent thin, frail back and shoulders. Where she once sprouted a lazily combed over a teal-colored mane and tail, ethereal strands of hair now freely flowed in the non-existent wind, capturing all colors of the rainbow.

Somehow, without flashing lights or much of a sound, she appeared as the full-sized Celestia, and even stretched out the gym shorts.

"Well, of course, Sir Benjamin Yale," Ocellus replied, mimicking Celestia’s regal voice and tone. "I do recall the dinner where you accepted the brave changeling child as your own. The other leaders were so moved they pledged to defend your new daughter the same as you had for their family and citizens."

Dropping the proud, regal act, she cowered slightly, beginning to tremble.

"Of course, there were the terrifying stories of one pony who dared to threaten the pore, defenseless, scared, little changeling grub while she was barely conscious. But he was forced to back down when not even the Mighty Cerberus was able to stand, and you—”

Having taken a few too many liberties with her abilities, as well as letting her guard down, she felt Benny's hands grip around her back legs and rip them out from under her. With one quick yank, she was laid out flat on her belly with her forelegs stretched out in front of her.

"Oof!"

Before she knew it, Benny had sat down over her lower back, and his fingers were tickling her sides.

"What's one of the rules?"

Horrendously ticklish, Ocellus was forced to submit and shrunk back to her smaller filly form.

"Nah-haha! No posing as royalty-hehe!"

And the fingers ceased their assault, given the quick surrender of Ocellus, which Benny was a little let down to see.

"Yeah… and, sure, that rule doesn't really apply when you're home, and no one else is around, but not in the open like this."

Ocellus tilted her head back and smiled, rolling her eyes back as far as she could, seeing Benny still playfully pinning her down.

"Yeah, yeah. I gotta be smart about not drawing too much attention to myself until the public is ready to accept me."

Benny started to stand up, though he hated the thought of making his new daughter feel alienated or discriminated against.

"No," he cautiously stated. "If I can be accepted, you can be accepted. My concern is keeping you safe from anyone else who still wants to hurt us."

Ocellus shot up, showing no fear behind all her smiles.

"But I am safe! You're safe! We can keep each other safe! I'm a lot stronger now because of Uncle Justin! What happened to me in the cave can't happen again!"

There was no way of knowing that, and none of their new limits had been tested. If anything, Benny was trying to relearn his own.

"I will do anything to keep you safe, Little Love Bug. And I have no doubt you are stronger than anything this world is ready for… But we got a three-mile run to do."

And that's all the distraction Ocellus needed.

"Race ya! Winner gets to drive to the castle!"

Quicker than Pinkie's blood sugar levels rising at a dessert table, Ocellus was off in a gallop. Benny, however, only had two legs to run with and wasn't powered by love magic.

"What?! No! I didn't agree to that!"

There was no telling what that girl would do if Benny let her win.

"Hey!"

He was already way behind and had to take off faster than he would have wanted to pace himself.

"If you win! I might let you control the radio on the way there!"

[Not Much Later, Over In The Crystal Empire.]

Cadance’s throne room had been occupied with her normal staff, as well as the new addition of Rainbow and Spitfire. Although, it was nearly twenty-past eight in the morning. It wasn’t like Cadance to run this late.

Then again, there were talks among the six crystal pony council members of the royal court discussing things that were out of the ordinary for them. Namely the chancellor.

“This is so unbecoming. Friends of the Princess or not, these new guests have degraded the efficiency of our empire. Morning, noon, and night they have her attention divided and her time wasted.”

Another mare, adorned in a black silk gown with long closed sleeves and flapped collars with Cadance’s crown etched over a weighted scale on either scale, added her opinion as well.

“Never you mind them. The legality of the human guest is a quagmire better left as a forfeiture in a political bonfire.”

A groan came from another mare, this one in a half-lab coat and her cutie mark showing a crutch tilted over a roll of gauze.

“Neither of you have it half as bad as I do. Their medical files are impossible to follow. The other Wonderbolt that’s laid-up, I can’t even get a cause of injury, and you don’t even want to know how bad what I did find out was. But the human’s medical file?”

This time, instead of a grown, the medical mare blew raspberries and gave an expression that she was either mocking the report or mentally exasperated by its contents.

“This creature defies all sense of medicine and biology, and that’s if you can even make sense of any of it. I can’t even remember half of what I read the day after, it seems.”

Other comments had been made throughout the morning. Each time Spitfire had to hold Rainbow back and shake her head, if not make a motion of being kicked by bringing her hoof to her temple again. Anything to remind Rainbow that this wasn’t worth starting a fight over.

Rainbow was nearing her limit of having to listen to the gripes and insults carelessly tossed towards their friends, accumulating into hushed words of anger under her breath she shared with Spitfire.

“This is bullshit. We didn’t need to be here an hour early to listen to these ass-hats whine and complain. We should have had breakfast with Justin and come down with Cadance.”

Spitfire groaned and pulled back on herself, not wanting to look Rainbow in the face over her choices that ate up so much of the time that morning.

“We needed supplies if we’re going out in the field with no backup.”

To that set of reasoning, Rainbow groaned like a disappointed parent.

“Oh, come on. We’re doing a weather patrol over the snow, not overwatch in the Everfree.”

Finally, Cadance was announced by a guard posted at the entrance.

“Now arriving, Princess—”

“No. Thank you,” Cadance politely requested as she did her best to hurry her steps in. “My apologies for keeping you all waiting. A bit of a slow start this morning. Let us forgo the usual formalities. Please, begin.”

The court staff members were typically rather humble and simple ponies with not much in terms of fanfare for daily procedures. Still, it was clear that there was some shock that the simple traditions they carried were going to the wayside once again since Cadance had returned after this last adventure. Rather, more honestly, since she returned with her new guests, she was giving their customs less of the respect one would expect.

However, if that were her request, the chancellor would start things off.

“As you wish, Princess. First—”

“Great, I’ll start,” Rainbow blurted out, butting into the start of the morning routine. “Spitfire and I will be heading out this morning to continue the evaluation of the unusual weather activity that’s been causing your local cold factor problems. Currently, the weather systems are far stronger and denser than any I’ve ever encountered before. However, I believe that I am able to combine enough wing power with Spitfire to alter one wind current more than three degrees and sustain its redirected course; it should create a rolling slipstream effect with enough negative pressure behind it to create a vacuum strong enough to alter the course of the receding air currents behind it, but with diminishing returns for each new current it effects.”

And the room was silent, much to Rainbow’s disappointment or embarrassment, as well as frustration.

If not the silence, then the dirty looks and alien looks she was receiving only further set her off after everything else she had to put up with that morning.

“Oh, come on. This isn’t anything like the lame stuff you were bitching about before Cadance showed up. It’s not even complicated egg-head science stuff. This is everyday weather stuff.”

Not wanting to over-explain things and possibly have to show how much she actually learned about weather, she flew up and shoved all the other court members into a line, shoulder-to-shoulder, all facing Cadance, and raised their right hoof up onto the pony’s back next to them.

Maybe she wanted a little payback, too.

“Okay, now hold onto the pony next to you real tight, don’t let go, and imagine you’re all cold currents of air blowing through the mountains. Each one of you are bringing more cold air than what this empire needs right now, and that first air current on the end is the ring leader.”

Without warning or explanation, Rainbow flew overhead and, with one mighty shove, pushed the older pony over. A chain reaction of each pony holding onto the next to pull each other down started until they all fell.

By this time, Cadance made it to her thrown and carefully took her seat, confusedly eyeing the spectacle, but let Rainbow continue while Spitfire facehoofed off to the side.

“Alright,” Rainbow boasted. “Now. As you can see. The pony I first knocked over, he took the worst of it.”

“Geeet off,” the chancellor groaned.

That sounded about right to Rainbow, who then fluttered over to the last pony, already starting to stand up on her own.

“But you there. You didn’t take it so bad. See? Diminishing returns. So, if my theory works, I can submit my results to Cloudsdale, and they can provide us full-sized weather team and help to properly coordinate how much air current conversion would be needed to safely turn away the cold air affecting your empire without disrupting the weather of the other kingdoms and causing them problems. I’m sure you won’t forget that, will ya?”

Clearly, this was not a great start to any pony’s morning, nor proper etiquette for the proceedings of the royal court. One saving grace was Spitfire, safely positioned off to the side, who thankfully caught Cadance’s attention. Why or how wasn’t important to Spitfire, who took the opportunity to make the quick gesture of nodding her head toward the door, requesting an exit, then pointing her hoof at Rainbow, and finally opening her wings only enough to flutter them enough to give the impression of flying away.

So, even if Rainbow made an ass of herself and physically assaulted Cadances’s entire trusted council, she didn’t want to make the others suffer any further indignities.

After all, she could see how this morning was already turning out and would be grateful to let this newly festering issue remove itself before complicating any of the other problems she was dealing with.

“Most impressive, Rainbow Dash,” Cadance proudly announced to the room. “I support the immediate implementation of your theory, post haste. Enough that I would excuse you from the remainder of this morning’s briefing to begin. Are there any objections?”

“No!”

“No!”

“No!”

“No!”

“No!”

“Geeet! AWWFF! MEEE!”

There wasn’t much worse than dealing with politics, but dealing with the politicians certainly was, and Spitfire wanted no part of it now that Rainbow had them dogpile each other.

“You heard the votes, Dash. No time to waste... Princess?”

There was, of course, a process to these things, and Cadance was appreciative that Spitfire would acknowledge it, and thus gave her nod of approval.

“Yes, please. You are both dismissed.”

Spitfire graciously bowed before she backed away towards the door.

“Thank you, Princess. Sunset should be just before twenty hundred hours this evening, and we plan on returning well before then to avoid the rapid drop in temperature. We’ll leave a copy of the mission plan with your curator before we depart. If we are needed before our expected return, the mission plan highlights our projected flight plans—”

“Don’t worry about us, Princess,” Rainbow boldly announced, looking over her shoulder while pushing Spitfire the rest of the way out of the room. “We’ll be back in no time to send off our letter to Cloudsdale, and then your crops will be safe once again.”

With Rainbow and Spitfire out of the room and the rest of her advisors coming back up to their hooves, Cadance wanted to get right into the more important matters needing her attention. Hopefully, she could put a few other things in order as well.

“Well, since most matters will be on hold until this weather anomaly is resolved, the majority of our business can wait until you are all situated. Also, whatever issues you have with my guests or any of the changes that have been implemented with their recent stay, bring them to my attention, and not speak them so freely behind my back that my friends feel the need to disrupt these briefings on my behalf any further.”

The chancellor was finally freed from the bottom of the pile but was in no condition to open himself up to scrutiny. He was humiliated enough as it was.

“My apologies, Princess. Part of my frustration has been attempting to handle all of the Reservist Wonderbolt’s training facility restoration. You originally mentioned Soarin’ would be assisting, and that would be under the supervision of Prince Shining Armor. Now Spitfire has been sent off on weather pattern correction testing? Yesterday you said she would be unavailable, attending to Mister Husk?”

Cadance took a deep inhale through her nose, her agitation now showing more clearly.

“Hmm. Perhaps it was best that Rainbow Dash went first and was excused from the rest of this briefing. This conversation really would have gotten out of hoof, but yes, I did not make Spitfire available to you. Spitfire, just like Rainbow Dash, was brought here to be in service of Mister Husk while I am not available. That was their purpose. It was decided she would assist Rainbow Dash today because this weather anomaly is a potential crisis to the empire as a whole, and they are taking on this task as a favor to me, despite the fact they require their own rest and time to recover. So do not assume any of my guests… are here for your leisure. Understood?”

The chancellor gulped and bowed his head, now seeing how he had overstepped not only his authority but his good graces as well.

“I beg your apology, Princess. I let my ambitions blind me to reason. It won’t happen again, but without experts readily available, there will be delays.”

There were plenty of reasons Cadance wanted to stay angry over this matter. So much of it reminded her of what a terrible morning it had been since leaving her bed.

“We will have time to discuss our options at length if there is good news from the Ministry of Health. Madam Resilience Recovery? Thunderglide has been healing remarkably under far less favorable conditions than Fleetfoot. I was assured that the specialists in this area would be better suited to treating leg injuries… What have I not been told that Fleetfoot knows?”

Resilience Recovery, now silently fretting about the reaction she would receive once she gave her report.

“Princess, our specialists deal with assisting the recovery of ponies with broken bones from hairline and minor-compound fractures. We rarely deal with any major-compound fractures to this degree. The patient Fleetfoot has multiple compound fractures that have damaged the surrounding muscles, and there are many more spiral hairline fractures. Her tendons…hips.”

Sadly, this mare was finding herself at a loss. Most of these issues weren’t supposed to have been spoken out in the open, but she had to address them now. At the same time, she was unsure of how to fully explain them.

“Then there are her spinal alignment issues… Princess… In theory, she may never walk properly again, let alone fly straight. Without going into the details of each injury that I have yet to fully explore and diagnose or review, most of which Doctor Horse has already recorded, there’s not much I can tell you that Fleetfoot hasn’t figured out on her own by now.”

Cadance furrowed her brow, narrowing her gaze at her Minister of Health.

“And what might Fleetfoot have figured out on her own that I haven’t? When Spitfire delivered her to recover with Mister Husk for the day—”

Suddenly, Cadance understood why Spitfire had taken Rainbow away so early this morning and even more desperately, even if silently, requested their removal from the throne room.

“No…”

[Up in Cadance’s Bedroom.]

Still lying in bed, Cerb did his best to coddle Fleetfoot, lying at his side, her head resting under his chest, letting her tears and sobs flow out as if her dreams were bleeding out of her eyes. The shared bottle of whiskey was needed more to calm her now that she was at Cerb’s side, but even that was a struggle.

“I’m supposed to be a Wonderbolt. They’re going to retire my wings! …I gave up everything for this!”

She squeezed tighter around his midsection with her forelegs, hating all the pain in her legs, all the pain she felt everywhere.

“Justin… Harmony broke me… I’m all broken…Now they’re going to send me away… but I don’t want to go… I’m supposed to be here—Justin, don’t make me go.”

On the other side of Cerb, Thunder sat attentively, unsure of what to do or what to say. Her face spoke of all the apologies that did nothing to fix the situation.

Cerb, however, felt like he, more than anyone, knew what she was going through and continued to stroke her neck.

“Maybe they won’t take you back. That’s their loss… But if you want to keep on fighting… Fight any way you can. I got you…. I got you, girl… You’re not going anywhere if I can help it.”

Author's Note

Of note, this chapter was published without the assistance of review of my editor, as... I sadly have too much going on for that. Just the same, the image provided doesn't fully capture what I wanted it to, but it helps break up the text a little, so there's that. Also, it's another AI-generated image that I had to heavily edit because I can't really produce my own art at the moment.

Hecky. Even this chapter was released a few hours late because I couldn't wake up on time with all that's going on.

Otherwise, on the with the chapter review, below.

Well, well, well. Now we get a better view into the mindset of Shining and what's been eating at him, or at least what has him so scared to be close to Becky. Kind of makes sense, though. After seeing all the echos and knowing how many times history must have repeated itself, Shining must be fearing the same thing on some level.

Becky, on the other hand, is having to learn a lot of the old information on her own since she kept to herself most of the time while other Stranded Seven were off fucking around and talking about it. But she's at least taking her time to try and figure things out before... umm... huh...

What exactly is she up to?

Benny! Oh, lord! Wasn't that sweet? Him and Ocellus are getting along just swimmingly. She's happy, healthy, safe... and can transform in a way she wasn't able to before? That's interesting.

She's also not returning to her natural changeling form. That's even more interesting. It seems what Cerb did that Ember never got to finish telling Fluttershy and Rarity has done some miraculous things to our Little Love Bug.

Finally, Fleetfoot is now dealing with the consequences of her brave acts in the battle against Harmony. Spitfire could see the writing on the wall the night before and didn't want to deal with, nor let Rainbow get involved. Really, all she wanted to do was give her fellow Bolt all the care she could. And at the time, all she could do was give her as much of Cerb's attention.

Where will that lead? Find out next time in:

Chapter 09: Chapter pending. Delays may be expected due to medical reasons.

Also, acknowledgments to my story support:

The Fan Without a Face:

Editor for Chapters 01 - 03, 5, 7

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