Author's Note

Wow. That's really the one thing I can say. Wow. 1k Likes, as a new story. when novels far better than mine (Life Finds a Way, for example) took years. I'm both shocked and surprised.

Editor: Dat_Random_Fur <--- Send love, or guns, or something American-ish.

And, uh, with that I hope you enjoy the next chapter. Hopefully this one isn't the one to kill the story. XP

4. Rainbow Pride?

(October 19th: 5th Day Since Capture)

Bulk felt conflicted for the first time in a long time, and the source of it was centred around his current assignment.

He was more than willing to admit that he had no idea what was happening when he volunteered for the position. His sense of right and wrong might have been called simple by the more... incorrigible nobles of Canterlot. Still, accident or not, he'd harmed Neil that cold rainy night. It was Bulk's responsibility to undo the damage and help the poor stallion back onto his hooves the only way he knew how.

Besides, so long as the stallion, a legitimate, honest to Celestia Alicorn male was in the castle, he would have access to every available resource he'd need for a full recovery. Right? And Bulk would be right there, getting those resources to him like a good logistics specialist.

Captain Buckler had seen things very differently the morning after Neil's recovery. She didn't go into details, but the Captain saw The Unknown Alicorn Male as a threat to be contained. Calling him a wildcard and a possible threat that needed to be thoroughly assessed before he was given access to the castle. Why she thought that when all he did was run from the guard, he didn't know. Either way, she denied his request to join Neil's guard detail.

That didn't sit well with Bulk or his sense of right and wrong. Which was why he drummed up the nerve to petition his case before Day Court. Had he gone around the chain of command? Definitely. Was he terrified about speaking his case directly to the Princess? Very much so.

But his Papa always told him to do right, even when it was easier to go with the flow. The same advice led him to leave the farm, despite his Mama's worries, and join the guard in the first place.

When Bulk's turn came up to explain his position to the Princess and his thoughts and feelings on the matter, he expected to be admonished for going around the Captain. He was sure he would be reprimanded. At the very least, he would be ordered by the Princess to report to the Captain so she could assign an adequate punishment for his breach of protocol.

Amazingly, the Princess did nothing of the sort. Instead, the passive smile she used when dealing with the nobles grew radiant as he laid out his case as if she was channelling the sun she was in tune with. When he finished, the Princess praised his desire to help and gave him her full blessing. She would personally reassign Bulk to Neil's guard detail, and he would report to the newest Alicorn at noon that day, on one condition.

Neil had to agree to the assignment as well.

Bulk thought the hard part was over after hearing her stipulation. And in the procedural sense, he had been correct. On the other hoof, it didn't take long for Bulk to learn Neil wasn't a traditional stallion in any sense of the word.

Neil wasn't charming, homely, or even all that friendly. He was abrasive from the get-go in an aggressive, almost mare-ish manner. The stallion also had the worst mouth Bulk had ever heard on a pony. Even griffons held back from using the harshest cuss words, yet his new charge threw them out like cheap flowers. Only his training to be an immovable guard kept him from wincing every time the Alicorn uttered a new curse.

Bulk could only imagine what his Mama would do if he uttered a single cuss word in front of her. She would likely break out the soap and wash his mouth out every morning for a month.

Still, Bulk persevered. After a little miscommunication about the amount of guards following the Alicorn, he was officially a part of Neil's detail.

His first official assignment from Neil was a very nice change of routine. It was definitely better than standing at attention all day. Bulk had to shop for clothes in Canterlot and find something that fit Neil's unique taste in garments. Obviously, Bulk went to the expensive shops on the upper shelf; anything less would be a disgrace to his new Alicorn charge. He even had the chance to cut back a little, modelling himself in fancier garments he couldn't even dream of owning on his current salary. At the end of his shopping trip, Bulk felt that if things continued as they were, it would be a mixed but positive assignment overall.

And then The Dinner Disaster happened.

In hindsight, Bulk desperately wished he remained steadfast and waited in the hall with the other guards. Life would have been much more straightforward. Instead, he allowed his charge to invite him in and received one shocking revelation after another behind those closed doors. Not only from Neil, either, but the very rulers of Equestria itself!

None of the revelations were good.

Before they were seated at the table, Bulk learned that Neil threatened suicide in a note just to avoid his rightful crown as a Prince. It pulled at Bulk's heartstrings while also hinting at some pretty deep issues lurking under the surface. Then, instead of being chastised by Princess Celestia's lecture, Neil was confrontational with her. How anypony could act that way with Princess Celestia boggled his mind.

Until Bulk's training kicked back in. Even with his confrontational bravado, Neil's body betrayed his genuine remorse when the Princess brought up the trauma he put two separate nurses through. The Alicorn's body was almost foal-like in that regard and very easy to read with his ears pinned to his scalp.

The next major revelation came with the Princess' lesson on pegasus magic. Neil clearly knew what a cloud was made of, physically, but he made his confusion and doubt about pegasus magic clear. His outright denial of Bulk's ability to make a proper cloud also hurt a little. Still, Bulk felt his words came from ignorance instead of genuine malice. It was almost as if Neil had never heard of magic before, which felt absurd for a pony.

When Princess Celestia asked him to touch the cloud, Bulk quickly reassured his charge that it was safe. Neil's shock and dismay were clear to see when his hoof made solid contact. However, Bulk still caught the hint of elation that every pegasus held when discovering the softness of a cloud for the first time. It was an excellent first flight into the world of pegasus magic in Bulk's mind since the Alicorn continued to push his hoof against the soft cloud instead of pulling it away in fear.

Unfortunately, the cloud reacted to Neil in an unexpected way after roughly a minute of exposure. Bulk quickly urged his charge to remove his hoof as the cloud slowly darkened into a thunderstorm. An accidental lightning discharge wouldn't do any actual harm to the ponies in the room, but Bulk didn't want to damage any of the expensive furniture.

This brought about a very colourful question-and-answer session between Neil and Princess Celestia, which was the final straw for Princess Luna in her tired state. She did not like Neil's cussing in the slightest and demanded him to stop.

But as Bulk was quick to learn, Neil preferred to fight fire with fire instead of backing down. This is when the next shocking revelation happened. Princess Luna, Princess of Equestria and an Alicorn ascended by Harmony itself, used corporal punishment against a stallion. Worse, she used corporal punishment against a newly ascended Alicorn stallion. It was unimaginable.

Before Bulk could fully wrap his head around it, Princess Celestia leapt into action on Neil's behalf. Just not in a manner Bulk was expecting of a Princess. She cast a localized silencing ward to prevent Neil and himself from hearing what came next. It was still evident as the Princess of the Day began to bicker with Princess Luna. They were supposed to be Paragons of Harmony, standing side by side to represent everything an Alicorn should be! Not... acting like a pair of squabbling siblings.

And the final cherry on top? Instead of reacting to the spell like an average stallion would, Neil immediately tested the limitations. Bulk could only watch as the Alicorn inflicted pain on himself, and there wasn't a thing he could do to help!

After their brief but prominent display of disharmony between the rulers of Equestria, Princess Celestia dropped her silencing spell. Both rulers were calm and composed, and Princess Luna led with an apology. However, Bulk felt it was lacking given the severity of her spell.

And what did Neil do? He ignored her apology and inflicted even more pain on himself just to make a point!

Bulk felt like Eris must have been pulling at the strings alongside this little drama. He even subtly looked around the room in an attempt to spot the errant Spirit of Chaos. But Luna relented after a brief stare down as if from a snap of the Spirit's fingers. How things deescalated so quickly after the build-up was strangely surreal, leaving Bulk feeling on edge and a little jumpy.

At least the food was delivered by that point. And while the castle staff outdid themselves, the food didn't calm him down. Looking back on the final revelation that day, it was a small blessing.

After everypony finished their food, Princess Luna surprised everypony in the room by inviting Neil to participate in the changing of the sun and moon. It was a great honour to be chosen to participate, and Bulk felt like this was a legitimate apology for her earlier use of magic, unlike her statement.

During the ceremony, however, Bulk reevaluated his thoughts as he watched Neil's reaction. His stormy blue eyes slowly transitioned from confusion at the missing moon to manic terror when it finally rose from his chosen direction. The sight tore at Bulk's heart.

Bulk knew a panic attack when he saw one, as Neil's gaze rapidly jumped between himself, Princess Celestia, and the moon. It happened once or twice with every new group of recruits in basic training. As the Alicorn stallion started hyperventilating, Bulk slowly closed the distance between them.

Then the stallion's legs gave out, and Bulk instinctively dove to catch him.

Princess Celestia had been watching the moon, but after she heard Neil fall and Bulk's metal armour scraping the stone, she acted. She was obviously worried about both of them, as she used her magic to lift the stallion's limp form off of Bulk. After ensuring he was okay, she left, heading towards the castle infirmary. Bulk followed in formation, along with the four other guards.

All of that had happened three days previously, giving Bulk plenty of time to think things over.

The morning after Princess Luna's powerful display of magic, everything changed. Any rapport Bulk built with Neil in their short time together vanished into thin air. He may have only shared a conversation or two with Neil, but they were conversations all the same. Now, Neil ignored almost every pony that entered his room.

Nurses entered and exited his room at regular intervals, either to offer help with a shower or to ask Neil what he would like to eat. He stonewalled all of them. Nothing changed when they left meals for him or picked up his empty dishes. Even Nurse Rose, the pony that managed to shower him with only minor difficulty, couldn't get through his expressionless reading.

When the first guard was sent with an invitation from Princess Celestia the morning after, Neil ignored the poor stallion. Ultimately, Bulk was forced to decline the breakfast invitation in Neil's stead and dismiss the private. Every single invitation afterwards received the same treatment.

That seemed to earn Bulk a small amount of trust because he was the only exception to Neil's self-imposed silent exile.

It wasn't often, but when Neil finished a book, he asked Bulk to return it. If he felt generous with his words, he would also tell Bulk to bring back other books that usually followed a theme. Every biography written about the Princesses made an odd amount of sense after Luna's horrible treatment of him. But every book the library had that focused on Roam, whether history or myths? Bulk couldn't make heads or tails out of that.

Unfortunately, the only book Bulk couldn't bring Neil had also been one of Neil's first requests. Given the state of Neil's horn and his inability to use magic with it, all spell-books were deemed unavailable until later by word of Princess Celestia. This included all the tomes written about protective mind magics.

That was the only time Bulk had to actively ignore his charge after informing the Alicorn about Celestia's decree. Neil let loose a potent string of venomous curses directed at both Princesses, which Bulk dared not to even think about.

He dreaded the thought that he might suffer another severe cussing as he left this morning's debriefing.

Princess Celestia herself had shown up near the end looking for him specifically. Every single invitation she previously offered to Neil had been an informal affair, as Bulk knew. It was the only reason he felt it was okay to deny the request, as his charge wasn't in any state to accept them. This morning, the Princess had tasked him with delivering a formal invitation to Neil, requesting his presence in Day Court at Princess Celestia's earliest convenience.

Bulk could only imagine why the Princess wanted to see Neil in the throne room, but he couldn't think of any reason that would help the poor Alicorn.

Celestia's missive flashed through his mind for what must have been the twentieth time over these last few days. 'It was my pleasure, honestly. I believe Neil will need as many friends as he can make in the coming days...' The question was, what could Bulk do?

Neil had no friends, and he clearly wasn't doing well in the castle. Every day that passed, the Alicorn became even more of a recluse. And who could blame him with Princess Luna's nearby presence stressing him? Bulk felt he was failing them both...

As he continued to trot towards Neil's infirmary room, Bulk narrowed his eyes. There wasn't much he could do, that was true. But he could do something to meet both objectives. He just had to hope it was enough to get Neil out of his room and meet with the Princess...

~~~***~~~

History books, biographies, and every other genre was fair game if they related to the Alicorns in power. Neil tore through book after book, looking for a check against their power. And yet, after two days of searching, the only answers he could find pointed to a single being, Eris the Spirit of Chaos. The only being that made even less sense than the Alicorns, given her ability to warp reality at a whim!

He couldn't think about that now.

Shaking his head, he forced his eyes to focus on the current book suffering under his baleful stare. At first, he had ignored any books focused on the Princess of Love due to her title. He focused on the two Princesses staying in the same castle as him. But if he really thought about it, Mi Amore Cadenza's power was no less substantial than the others.

Thanks to this recently updated biography, he knew that the Princess of Love had used her powers to enhance her husband's shield to repel a full invasion force of changelings. Even more impressive was her ability to activate another powerful artifact from the Crystal Empire and enhance its properties. Using it, she did something the other two Princesses couldn't accomplish. She dispelled Sombra's shadow form so thoroughly that he ceased to exist by all accounts.

The thought of Cadenza enhancing Luna's or Celestia's already insane abilities terrified him. His only saving grace was that she was currently ruling another country, so the chance of running into her was slim to none.

With one last chapter in this book, he looked forward to the next one. It was a detailed history text focused solely on the first battle for the Crystal Empire one thousand years ago. Hopefully, it gave some insight into how Alicorns fought, even if it was one thousand years out of date.

Two quick knocks at the door broke the silence of his room.

Neil tensed as his ears automatically swivelled towards the wooden door. The nurses had yet to arrive with his morning breakfast, but they usually didn't knock. Was it another guard with a breakfast invitation? Usually he could count on Bulk to send them away. A quick look at his recently added clock told him it was five minutes before eight. Bulk's shift usually started on the hour.

After a few moments of silence, the door swung open. The sound of metal hooves entering the room told Neil it was a guard that entered the room and was coming up behind him. He could almost imagine the pony closing the distance, only to stop one body length-

The firm tap of metal on stone was a second or two earlier than expected. He also didn't expect Bulk's voice to be greeting him. "Mornin' Neil, I hope I'm not interruptin'?"

He was, obviously. These books were his only source of information on the Princesses, and he only had a limited amount of time before he was forced to confront them again. Still, he nodded toward Bulk before he flipped to the next page.

"In that case I have to apologize again," Bulk said solemnly. "Princess Celestia sent another invitation, one you can't ignore."

Neil continued to skim the following pages as he simply asked, "Why?"

A few moments of silence passed before Bulk officially asked, "Permission to speak freely Neil?"

The fact that Bulk asked his permission when he could already speak his mind made Neil pause. Slowly, he marked his spot on the page before turning to see that Bulk was clearly concerned about something. "You already have it, Bulk."

"I can tell you're goin' stir crazy. I would be too if the mare that hurt me was in the same buildin'." He started as his wing unfurled, revealing a rolled-up piece of parchment with an official-looking wax seal. "But I can't let you ignore this official summons. You'd be doin' somethin' dumber than pettin' a wild rattler if I did." After his warning, Bulk was nice enough to walk up to the table and place the scroll on the surface.

His technique was messy, but Neil dug through the wax with his hoof. The scroll itself was as Bulk described, very official looking. It was also to the point, summoning him by name to appear before Celestia in Day Court.

After looking it over, he pushed it aside to the smaller pile of books that needed to be returned to the library. "Why exactly do I need to go?"

"Because, unlike the others, this ain't just a request. It'll look bad if you don't show," Bulk paused, trying to find a way to explain what he meant by bad. "As in, guards might be sent to escort you there, bad."

He was right; that did sound like a bad idea. Bulk was also a guard, which prompted Neil to ask, "Including you?"

"Listen Neil," He said, trying to shore up his position, "It isn't much, but Princess Luna won't be there. And, well," He paused, as if trying to find the right words.

After a few seconds of silence, Neil asked, "And?"

"If you go, I'll take you outta the castle after my shift." He conceded, doing his best to sell the offer. "Music, drinks, and no mares... With or without Princess Celestia's approval."

Neil couldn't help but look at Bulk in a slightly new light. Without Celestia's permission was a bridge too far for the castle guard on principle. And drinks? Were they the sugary drinks he'd seen in the market or the proper ones that made a person absolutely shit-faced? "You're actually bribing me?"

"No," Bulk countered immediately with conviction. "I promised to help you. That includes makin' sure you don't go stir crazy in this castle. And the best chance of gettin' you outta here includes talkin' to the Princess like she asked."

"What kind of drinks are we talking about?" Neil asked after a few seconds, considering if the concession was worth it to face Celestia.

Bulk seemed to be both confused by the question and hopeful that Neil was considering his proposal at the same time. "The kind of drink a guard needs after a hard day's work?"

The beginnings of a plan blossomed in Neil's mind. He would need to know the limitations, but if he could slip away? Great. If he couldn't, for one reason or another? He could get wasted, at the very least. And if ponies were lightweights when it came to drinking? He could get the best of both worlds, buzzed and free all at the same time. "...Fine."

"Whew," Bulk gave a relieved sigh, "You had me worried for a moment there." He then placed a wing on Neil's shoulder and coaxed him out of his seat and towards the bathroom. "C'mon, let's get you washed up for your visit. You're smelling a little ripe after two days."

"Really?" Neil snarked as he reluctantly hopped off the chair. "First you bribe me with beers, then you say I stink?"

What little concern that remained on Bulk's muzzle faded into a small but noticeable smile. "You told me to speak my mind, so I'm speakin' my mind. You smell." He was kind enough to hold the door open for the Alicorn with his other wing.

Once inside the bathroom, Neil fought once more to remove his cloak. He refused to take it off the easy way by undoing the clasp. He would require help to re-clasp it later since he couldn't do it himself with his clumsy hooves. When dealing with his cloak, he preferred to slip his head through the collar, a strategy that generally came with mixed success. Yesterday, he managed to slip his cloak on with relative ease that morning. Slipping into or out of his cloak took multiple minutes every other time, with his horn constantly getting caught.

This time, he managed to get his cloak halfway over his head before it caught against the slight grooves in his horn. After a minute of fighting, Bulk chose to step in and help. With a quick flick of his feathers, the clip came undone, and he deftly swept the cloak off of Neil and onto the sink.

Neil just gave him an annoyed look before heading towards the shower. He half expected Bulk to follow him in, just like the nurses did previously. Instead, the guard collected a few brushes and towels off a shelf with his wings and sat down. He was considerate enough to sit with his back turned as well, giving Neil some much-needed privacy. It was a welcome gesture, even if it clashed with what he knew about ponies so far.

With the prospect of a semi-private shower in front of him, Neil bit down on the knob for hot water and turned. Warm water immediately showered him from his wings to his back end, and the temperature rose quickly. He immediately twisted the cold knob, allowing the temperature to shift too far in the cold direction before he adjusted both taps towards his preference.

Once that was complete, he did something he couldn't do with the nurses. He plopped down in the centre of the cascade, eyes closed, and just let the heat of the water transfer into him. Whether a minute, five minutes, or even longer, he didn't know. This was his time, and he would wash away all his pains and worries under the relaxing barrage of water droplets...

At least, that was what Neil tried to do. An imaginary clock tick kept nagging him in the back of his mind, reminding him that he was scheduled to speak with Celestia. He stalled for as long as he could before relinquishing his relaxation. He scrubbed every place within reach with only his hooves and warm water. By any stretch of the imagination, he did a lacklustre job at best. But it was the best he could do considering his inability to pick up shampoo. Once he finished washing, he quickly bit down on the hot water knob, closely followed by the cold water one. If he wasn't awake before that, he was now as his back end was doused in freezing cold water.

As he exited the shower, Bulk quickly faced him with an unfolded towel. Was it demeaning to have Bulk dry him off? Yes. But he already suffered through that with the nurses. And with Bulk, he didn't have to worry about leering eyes molesting him or wandering hooves brushing against some inappropriate regions. That didn't stop Neil from drying off his tail and butt, even if he had to sit on a towel to do so.

The one thing Bulk didn't budge on, however, was grooming. "I don't care if you'll be wearin' the cloak. We'll be walkin' by the line and meetin' the Princess. You need to be at your best."

Neil couldn't see the point. Celestia obviously didn't care; otherwise, she wouldn't have invited him to dinner while drenched in sweat that first day. And who gave a fuck about the nobles? Only one reason made any sort of sense. "This is a bullshit military thing, isn't it?"

Bulk narrowed his eyes slightly at the slight against the guard, "If it gets your mane brushed, then yes. Yes it is. Now stand up."

Neil rolled his eyes, ensuring Bulk saw the gesture before following the command. Compared to the nurses who treated him like a delicate vase, gently brushing over the same spot multiple times, Bulk was rough but efficient. He pushed against Neil's sides with enough force to make him readjust his balance constantly.

The only exception to Bulk's not-so-gentle touch was Neil's mane and tail, which the guard left until the end. It was odd to see Bulk giving him an appraising look, but after a few moments, he asked, "Are you sure you want me to only straighten your mane? I could do somethin' nice with it."

The stallion's sudden desire to mess with Neil's hair caught him off guard, allowing his mouth to quip automatically, "Like you've done with yours?"

"You ain't seen me without a helmet as far as I know?" Bulk questioned, looking at Neil weirdly while his one free wing also felt along the edge of his neck plating for a loose strand of mane.

"Exactly my point," Was all Neil needed to say with a slight grin and a shrug.

"Are you questionin' my ability to style a mane?" He asked nicely enough, though Neil felt there might have been an underlying threat hidden in there.

Either way, if there was a chance that poking the sleeping dragon delayed or even made Bulk forget about doing his hair, he was willing to poke it. "What do you think?"

"I'm thinkin' of givin' you the bounciest mane curls you've ever seen," He offered seriously as his wing reached for something on the shelf that looked vaguely like a curling iron.

"Fine," Neil conceded his joke before Bulk could grab the implement of his desired torture. "I won't question your stylist abilities if you only straighten my hair and tail."

Bulk's wing stopped mere inches away from the device... before shifting a few inches to the right and grabbing the feather rake. He gave Neil one last offer, "Not even a few decorative knots?" But when Neil shook his head in the negative, he relented. "Alright, it's your mane..."

Neil was thankful that Bulk took his time during this aspect of grooming. He had been a little worried that the guard would tear through any tangles with the same amount of force used on his coat. Instead, Bulk worked through them with as much skill as a professional barber.

Once that part of the process was finished, he helped Neil don his cloak again by hooking the clasp to complete his look. "Dependin' on the line, we'll be there for hours. One book or two?"

As they exited the washroom, Neil already had his next book lined up. His eyes locked onto a thick, dull-coloured tome in his unread pile. "Battle for the Crystal Empire should be good enough to pass the time."

Bulk dutifully picked out the book from the unread pile and the opened scroll while Neil was forced to wait by the door.

Once the pegasus lined up on his right side with the book on his back, Neil exited his room for the first time in three days. The overall aesthetics of the hallway remained the same, but the length felt normal, unlike the way they were during his escape attempt. Regular length or not, Neil still needed help to find out where the throne room was.

Thankfully, Bulk was an expert guide when traversing the castle and pointed Neil towards the right path. The first ten minutes were spent walking around the section of the castle Neil was accustomed to. They even passed the main library doors before continuing to one of the main exits of that particular wing.

Neil found himself outside for the first time since his capture, though still within the walls on the castle grounds. The sudden burst of cool morning air left him feeling refreshed and strangely vulnerable as he exited. Now that he was outside at least twenty guards were patrolling the grounds, and if they all deigned to look, they could see him just as easily. Inside, he had a thick stone wall to obscure himself from the many armed guards, at the very least.

Despite his misgivings, he followed Bulk's directions down the yellow cobblestone path and towards the main keep, as Bulk called it. Apparently, the central palace structure held the throne room and all the other amenities required by the public. Whether that be one of three ballrooms, multiple banquet halls, a wedding chapel, public guest quarters, and other services offered by the crown, and some of the earliest government functions.

When confronted with a minor fork in the road, Bulk directed him to veer off to the right onto the slimmer cobblestone path. This apparently led to a servant's entrance just outside the castle gardens, or the Princess' prized hedge maze, to be more specific. When asked about the bigger path, Bulk quickly told him it led toward both the central courtyard and the public entrance to the palace.

Once inside, Neil was struck by the difference in opulence. The side wing of the castle he had been living in was barren compared to the striking checker-board tiles, the plush red carpet with detailed stitching that his hooves sunk half an inch into, the tapestries that covered almost every square inch of wall, and the excessive amount of golden accents. To put it bluntly, it felt over the top and gaudy, precisely what he would have expected from a long-lasting monarchy.

But he couldn't stand and gape at the decorations for long as Bulk pointed him west towards the main entrance hall. Another stark difference was the number of guards stationed every thirty feet as if they were statues for the public to gawk at. Not that there was much of a public presence this early in the morning. Neil could only imagine how much of a headache this place could be if only he showed up a few hours later.

Soon enough, he exited from a side passage into the main entry hall with a grand, golden staircase and stained glass windows. At that point, he also ran into his first non-guard and non-staff pony inside the castle. Thankfully, the purple on light-purple pony, who was also wearing a very Canadian red and white dress, was walking away from him. Unfortunately, according to Bulk, that was the same direction he was supposed to go.

So he followed the mare reluctantly. It was a little slow going at her sedate pace, but it allowed Neil more time to look at the stained glass windows as they passed. He even recognized a few of the ponies and the events depicted due to the history books he read. Celestia and her sister were prominent in the first windows. But afterwards, Twilight and her group of ponies dominated the glass panes.

After the hallway of stained glass history, Neil and Bulk entered another large chamber. It wasn't as cavernous or grand as the main entry hall, but its aqua-blue stone walls were shrouded in tapestries, and each stone pillar was flanked by a pair of guards. Another two unicorn stallions stood by the immense, sky-blue arched doors that presumably led towards the throne room.

Most of the room was taken up by golden poles with red rope woven between them to create an overlapping barrier. Judging by the winding back-and-forth path and the seven ponies already lined up near the large doors, the petitioner line could grow to extreme lengths on a busy day. The purple mare they followed quickly entered the rope maze without hesitation, and Neil followed her at his sedated pace.

Bulk placed a wing on Neil's shoulder, stopping him before he entered the queue. "The Princess wants you to wait in a private chamber as she works through the line." Neil just gave a shrug and allowed Bulk to lead him to this mysterious chamber.

The pegasus immediately skirted to the right side of the room, completely ignoring the rope barrier. Whether he liked it or not, this deviation from the norm drew the curiosity of the petitioners already waiting in line. Neil did his best to ignore the eyes on him as they passed one pillar after another.

Hidden behind the last pillar was a small wooden door painted to match the room. Instead of going through it immediately, Bulk extended his wing to the unicorn guard closest to the door. Held within his feathers was Neil's invitation, which the unicorn guard quickly nabbed with an attention-gathering lime green aura.

The unicorn guard looked the scroll over, and after verifying its authenticity, he slipped the scroll inside his breastplate. His horn flickered for only a moment, before the door was covered in the same telekinetic aura, and opened, inviting Neil and Bulk inside.

From what little Neil could see, it was a cozy-looking sitting area decorated in rich reds and purples. There must have been a torch or a fireplace inside because the warm light inside the room flickered noticeably. Either way, Bulk walked into the room, and after a quick glance back, Neil followed. Once he passed the threshold, the door closed behind him and the aura vanished, cutting off the stares from the petitioners much to his relief.

Once he was inside, the light source turned out to be a large stone hearth, with a relatively small-looking fireplace carved into the deep purple marble. Despite that, the merry little fire burned brightly. Throwing out more light than Neil would have thought possible onto the large, rich red sofa sitting in the centre of the room and its two matching love seats that flanked each side, let alone the rest of the room. Bulk was already standing at attention beside one of the love seats.

The Alicorn was quick to claim that particular seat, and without a word, Bulk offered Battle for the Crystal Empire with his wing. Neil managed to pincer the book clumsily with both hooves without pinching Bulk's feathers and half-placed, half-dropped it onto the armrest. It worked in the end, and that's all that mattered as he flipped the cover open with his snout. "There's plenty of seats available, you know that right?"

Instead of taking up Neil's offer, Bulk simply acknowledged his question with a "Yep" As he made his way to the other door in the room and took up his post. "I can't sit while on guard duty."

"I'm pretty sure standing for twelve-hour shifts is some sort of workplace violation," Neil quipped. Either that or pony endurance in this scenario was insane. Instead of answering, Bulk gave him a subtle shrug, then froze at attention like all the other guards they had just passed.

Knowing he wouldn't get anything else out of Bulk without it being a direct request, Neil settled down with his book. This was going to be a long wait, apparently...

~~~

Another day, and yet another book that over-promised and under-delivered. He had been hoping to read about the battle for the Crystal Empire itself. A play-by-play of the tactics, weapons, and abilities used by the Princesses of the time, at the very least.

Instead, it appeared the author scrounged up every single after-battle report, from foot soldier to officer, and transcribed them all alphabetically by name. There wasn't any chronological timeline or discussion of tactics. Only 'Infantry Soldier X was ordered to march into battle, and defeated Y mind controlled conscripts before they all vanished in a bright light', or something similar to that effect. And the worst of it all? Every report was written in Ye Olde English, which made Celestia's sister sound modern, forcing him to translate as best he could from Shakespearean to modern English.

It felt like every single second he spent on the book dragged on for a full minute, so Neil wasn't surprised that he lost track of time. Still, he managed to get a fifth of the way through before his ears picked up a door opening. His two furry radar ears perked up in curiosity before they focused on the source of the sound. Unfortunately, it was the door leading back to the queue area, not the throne room.

That wasn't the only sound they picked up, as he quickly noted an annoyed, almost raspy-sounding mare near the door. "...know I'm awesome, but if this is another noble trying to get a Wonderbolt to teach their foal how to fly, I'm gonna buck them off a cloud."

Just as she finished her little promise to thin out the Canterlot nobility, she walked into the room. She had just enough time to ruffle her wings agitatedly, then move them back into a resting position before the door closed.

After his brief glance, Neil couldn't decide what her most striking feature was. Whether it was the windswept rainbow hair and matching tail, the blue skin-tight body suit with yellow lightning bolts that showed off her lithe yet muscular body, or her focused off-red eyes that were staring right back at him. There was just something about her that struck him as familiar.

Once the mare figured out she wouldn't be waiting alone in the room, she immediately posed with her wings flared as if she were mid-dive like a falcon. "You want an autograph or something?" She asked, finishing the pose with a roguish grin.

Was that it? Had he seen her photo in a scrap newspaper or a magazine? Neil gave her a disinterested shrug, then turned back to the report in his book. Thankfully, whoever this Iron Shoe was, she kept her report short and to the point. He heard, more than saw the new pegasus hop onto the larger couch nearby.

"So, what are you doing here?" She asked out of the blue, pulling him away from his dry history book again.

"The Princess wanted to see me, and I was told it was a bad idea to no-show." He stated bluntly, debating only momentarily whether he should return to his book. Given how tedious the wait was before this mare showed up, he noted page 88 and flipped the book closed. "How about you?"

"I was in the middle of formation drills when Captain Spitfire pulled me out of practice," The mare told him, sounding quite smug about her profession or the position she held within the Wonderbolts. Or both. "She received a message from the Princess and chose me to fly over, so here I am."

"Ah," With the mention of Captain Spitfire, it was clear enough these Wonderbolts were part of the military. 'Just my god damn luck to skip over her unit in that book,' Was what he thought as he asked, "You get called in often?"

"Every now and then," She boasted, puffing up a little. "Normally, me and the girls go right in and talk to the Princess. I wonder if they're still on the train?"

Her and the girls? As in, more mares coming to barge into the waiting room? And Celestia called them often... Stained glass flashed in his mind of a scene he'd glanced over just that morning. A scene with six mares cleansing an ancient Alicorn enemy, one of them with wild rainbow hair, "Oh, the Elements." Neil felt his hackles raise unconsciously at the thought of six super-weapon wielding mares in the same city as him. "So, what world-ending catastrophe do you have to deal with today?"

"Don't know," She said with a shrug. "But whatever it is, me'n the girls will kick its flank back to whatever cave it crawled out of." Given her track record in the most up-to-date history texts, he could somewhat believe it if they were accurate.

Neil turned to his only other source of information, "You wouldn't happen to know anything about this Bulk?"

"No idea," Was all he said without moving from his position.

That didn't stop the mare from appearing in front of Bulk within a blink of an eye, looking somewhat impressed. "Whoa! You can get the guards to talk? I've been trying to get them to do anything but stare for years."

"He's part of my guard detail," He told her, spooked at her sudden shift. He only saw a blur when she moved. "Goes where I go, answers questions, that kind of stuff. Maybe ask the Princess for a few?"

"I can't. You have to be somepony important staying in the castle to get a guard detail," She told him absentmindedly before sticking her tongue out at Bulk. When he didn't react, she flapped her wings and lazily returned to the couch. "Speaking of, who are you? I haven't seen you before."

"No one important," He said, perhaps a touch too quickly if her perked ears were anything to go by. "Just a stranger in an even stranger country."

"Strange?" She asked, looking at him as if he was the strange one. "What's strange about Equestria? It's awesome!"

"You need to stop a world-destroying threat every few months," He pointed out bluntly. "Does that really sound awesome?"

"Buck yeah!" She cheered, clearly boasting once more. "'Cause me and the girls always win in the end."

Neil was quick to point out that falsehood. "From what I've read, Princess Cadenza defeated the changeling invasion after you were captured."

Her only counter was to stick her tongue out at him. "Bah, we just needed some time to get free. Then we would have kicked the bug's flank."

Neil didn't believe her claim, but he also couldn't refute it with the information he had available. So, he kept silent on the matter.

Rainbow must have taken his silence as a win because she stretched lavishly on the couch before circling back to a previous topic. "You still haven't told me your name."

She was right, he hadn't. "You haven't told me yours, either."

The mare just shrugged before puffing out her chest as much as her skin-tight suit would allow. "Rainbow Dash, fastest pegasus in Equestria and Wonderbolts reservist." She said with as much pride as she could summon.

She was also looking at him with a keen eye. After a few moments, he gave her the same information he gave Celestia. "My name is Neil. Pronounced like knee-ill, not kneel."

"Okaaay," She dragged out, sounding somewhat unimpressed. Was she looking for a title or a job description? "So Neil, what do you do around the castle?"

"I read," He told her honestly, given that was his sole focus over the past two days.

That was the wrong thing to say as Rainbow groaned, "Not another Egghead."

Neil was just about to correct her assumption by pointing out he was more than a simple egghead, when the door Bulk was posted at slowly opened with the faintest creak. A guard stallion without wings or a horn stood there, his hoof pulling the door open. "Princess Celestia will see you both now."

Just the two of them? Or would the other Elements be waiting in the throne room? And if they were, why was he brought in with the group? It didn't make sense to Neil why he'd suddenly be thrown into the mix with them of all ponies.

Rainbow was the first to speak out between them as she hopped off the couch. "Are the rest of the girls already waiting in the throne room?"

"No," The guard told them bluntly. "This is a matter between the two of you and the Princess."

The answer given felt both ominous and confusing. Why would Celestia request a meeting between the three of them? He wasn't connected to this mare as far as he could tell. He couldn't remember stealing anything that wasn't Skyport crates or garbage, so it couldn't be that. Right?

After she passed by his seat, he hopped down and followed Rainbow into the throne room. He also noted, thankfully, that Bulk fell in line before the door closed so he wouldn't be entirely alone.

Looking around the throne room, it felt diametrically opposed to the rest of the castle, at least with its theme. Whereas the main halls were whites, purples, golds, and reds, the throne room was graced with shades of blue and grey and accented with much darker reddish purples. Specks of golden yellow also dotted the ceiling but as interpretive stars instead of gold inlay. If not for the golden throne with a sun, upon which Celestia sat expectantly, as well as the stained glass sun mural behind her, Neil would have thought this room would have been Luna's private throne room.

As they approached the multi-tiered dais, Neil fixated on the built-in water fountains. He could see the water overflowing from one tier to the next, but he couldn't hear it for some reason. It was unsettling, but soon enough, the earth pony guard leading them veered away and took up a standing position in front of the lowest fountain basin on the right.

Both Rainbow and Bulk were quick to bow before their Princess. Neil didn't know what he was supposed to do. He didn't want to bow to the monarch of a foreign country, but this was an official meeting. Also, given Equestria's position on Alicorns being royalty by default, was he required to bow? After glancing quickly between his companions and Celestia, who watched all three of them, he shrugged and gave her a slight nod.

Apparently, that was enough as Celestia nodded in return. That was all it took for the other two ponies to stand up again, though he caught Rainbow sneaking a look back at him with confusion.

"Good afternoon, my little ponies. I'm glad you both could make the trip in such a timely fashion." She officially addressed them as she stood up from her throne and slowly traversed down the steps. "Rainbow, I see you've kept to your training regimen with the Wonderbolts. I apologize for removing you from your practice drills, but I feel you are uniquely suited for this assignment."

Given Rainbow's wide eyes, giant grin, and vibrating wings, she was excited because she was singled out for this assignment, whatever it was.

And then, Celestia turned to him. "It's also good to see you out of your room, Neil, though I regret it had to be under the premise of a summons. Due to your current injury, I felt it was only right to start training your passive magics first. So, without further delay, here's the reason I've brought you two before me. Neil, you'll be learning the basics of flight with Rainbow Dash as your instructor."

Neil had been expecting quite a few scenarios. The two main options were a reprimand about locking himself in his room to avoid her or a lecture about how he somehow wronged Rainbow before his capture. Sudden flight lessons never crossed his mind, leaving him flabbergasted.

However, Rainbow gave him a quizzical look after Celestia revealed her assignment. "Uh, Princess... He kind of needs wings to fly. So, unless you plan to use a spell to give him wings..." Rainbow pointed out before something clicked in her head, and her pupils dilated as she looked between him and Celestia. "Or is he...?"

Neil could hear the unspoken question as clear as day and quickly blurted out, "No." At the same time, Celestia answered her question with an encouraging "Yes."

It didn't matter though. Celestia's answer seemed to hold far more weight than his own as the excited mare immediately zoomed in front of him. Her muzzle almost touched his own as she exclaimed, "You're an Alicorn and you didn't tell me? That's so awesome! Is that why you're wearing a cloak?"

Neil quickly stepped back from her sudden appearance, accidentally bumping into Bulk as he did so. "No. I wear it because I like cloaks," He told her somewhat sarcastically, now that Celestia told another pony about him.

"And speaking of your cloak Neil," Celestia chimed in, her horn starting to glow. "It needs to be removed; otherwise, it will hamper your flight lessons."

A quick flash of light sparked from her horn before Neil could even get a word out in protest. The warmth of his cloak vanished from his back, leaving only the cooler air of the throne room to caress his now exposed wings. After frantically glancing around the excited pegasus before him, Neil spotted his cloak hanging off of the decorative golden waves set behind Celestia's throne.

Celestia chose that moment to sit in the centre of the carpet, conveniently blocking the stairway up to her throne and his cloak. "I will ensure your cloak is cleaned and waiting for you in your room by the time your lessons are done."

Doing his best to ignore Rainbow's not-so-subtle 'Oh my goshs' with her eyes glued onto his wings, Neil narrowed his eyes at Celestia. "Or you could give me back my cloak, Rainbow goes back to her practice, and we all forget about this."

"Neil, as much as you might doubt me, you need to learn how to control your own body. While I would prefer to start with your magic, we might as well start with your wings due to your injury." Celestia informed him with a stern, motherly tone. "Rainbow Dash previously taught my former student Twilight Sparkle when she ascended. She's more than qualified to teach you as well."

Apparently teach was the trigger needed to release the excitement inside the pegasus mare, as one firm flap of her wings sent her feet into the air. "I get to teach another Alicorn how to fly? Buck yeah, I'm awesome!"

This drew the Princess's and Neil's attention onto her. It may have been a pony swear, but the fact that she was willing to swear in front of Celestia raised his opinion of her just a bit. A small part of him also noted how slowly her wings flapped to maintain her hover.

It took a few moments for Rainbow to catch onto what she said before the blue of her uncovered muzzle turned a bright red. She was clearly embarrassed by her outburst and promptly landed on the carpet again.

Celestia seemed to be more amused by her outburst than anything else. "And it would be best to start this lesson sooner rather than later. I can only hold Day Court up for so long."

Seeing how the winds were going, Neil took a deep breath and simply told Celestia, "No."

Celestia had stood up from her sitting position and was just starting to return to her throne when he gave his answer, which caused her to stop mid-way up the stairs. She took just enough time to look into his eyes with a look of disappointment and say, "If that is your choice, I cannot force you to learn how to fly with Rainbow Dash," Before she returned to her throne. "You are more than welcome to leave this chamber whenever you wish, but I must resume my duties sooner rather than later."

"And my cloak?" He asked, pointing his muzzle in its direction. He did his best to ignore Rainbow's look of shock as if he denied her a Wonderbolt's promotion.

"I promised it would be cleaned and waiting for you on your bed." Another quick flash of her horn, and his cloak was no longer hanging from the back of her chair. In fact, it wasn't in the room at all, as far as Neil could tell as he looked around. "It's currently waiting for you in your bedroom."

"Or You can bring my cloak back right now," He outright demanded, "Otherwise, how the hell am I going to leave this room without your asshole nobles seeing me?"

"You could go through the main entrance or the side room, respectively," She informed him. Both options would have him walking in full view of the ponies waiting in line, making them useless from the get-go. "Or you could go through either set of curtains behind me. Those lead to the balconies overlooking the garrison training grounds."

Which meant he would need to learn how to fly just to get off the fucking balcony. Or jump and maim himself, at the very least. His eyes narrowed. "Fine," He growled, not in the mood to have another drawn-out fight as he stomped around the fountains and towards the curtains. "And a happy fuck you to you too!"

With his back turned to the throne, Neil didn't notice the small muzzle gesture Celestia gave to both Bulk and Rainbow, telling them to follow before she dismissed them with a nod. Thanks to his training, Bulk gave her a crisp salute and trotted towards his charge now that he was dismissed. Rainbow stayed for a few more seconds, looking towards Neil, then Celestia, before she made up her mind and took off after the male Alicorn with a flap of her wings.

Princess Celestia sat on her throne, looking as regal as she always did while watching over the retreating forms of her little ponies. Once all three of them were through the curtains, she gave a nearly imperceptible sigh and whispered to herself, "Perhaps in a decade or two, if you've forgiven me by then."

~~~

After passing through the throne room curtains, a warm autumn breeze caressed Neil, confirming the hours wasted inside the little side room. But he paid little mind to that as he immediately went to the railing. By his guesstimate, this particular balcony was an easy three stories high, perhaps even four from the grounds, so jumping without injury wasn't an option. On top of that, there had to be fifty ponies at least doing various training activities down there. Even if he managed to land with only a minor injury, he would be mobbed almost instantly by worried ponies and likely shipped back to the infirmary.

He was so caught up in his thoughts that he missed the loud flap of wings and the ripple of the heavy waterproof curtains. It was much harder to ignore the pair of hooves that suddenly pushed him against the railing, keeping him pinned. "Who the hay do you think you are, talking to the Princess like that!?"

"Oh, I don't know. How about the pony that had his cloak stolen by a petulant Princess?" He snarled back, quickly repositioning his hooves to find better leverage. Even then, he couldn't find enough force to push back against the mare even though she was hovering in the air.

Thankfully, he was quickly reminded that he wasn't alone. Before Rainbow could respond, a third body forced its way between them. Breaking her hold against Neil but also keeping him pinned against the railing by proximity. "Both'a you calm down now!"

If that wasn't enough, a fourth booming voice was added to the chaos. "Day Court shall now recommence! Bring in the next petitioner."

Seconds ticked by as Neil watched the irate mare flap her wings. She didn't say anything but didn't move to do anything else either. After some time passed for them to cool off, Bulk was satisfied enough to remove himself from Neil. Giving him some much-needed breathing room to stand up.

"Now, both of you have to work together," He told them both, looking at Neil first, then at Rainbow. "So I want both of you to apologize to the other."

"Apologize?" Neil blurted out, slightly confused. "I haven't even done anything to her."

"Neil. I don't fully understand you feuding with both Princesses," Bulk explained calmly, "But spoutin' off about it in front of others ain't right."

Neil was quick to snap back. "What's not to understand? I've been captured and forced to stay in the castle! You were there that night, if you remember," He added as a more personal snipe.

"I do." He agreed, visibly deflating a little. "I also remember a stallion in excruciatin' pain that needed medical help that night. I had to hold your flailin' limbs to stop you from hurtin' yourself even more. And I'm still here doin' my best to help you," He stated in a heartfelt manner, "But sometimes you make it really hard Neil."

... First Celestia outdoing his Dad with the disappointment gig, and now Bulk. Something about these ponies made him feel like an absolute capital-A Asshole. He took half a minute to calm down before telling them both, "I'm sorry about fighting in front of both of you."

"Apology accepted," Bulk told him right away, before turning to the mare. "Right?"

"Yeah," Rainbow offered as she slowly descended onto the balcony. "And I'm sorry for marehandling you. It's just nopony speaks to the Princess like that, so..."

"Yeah. Stranger in a strange land, remember?" Neil reminded her as he extended a single limb towards her as a peace offering.

She quickly crossed the space between them and accepted, her hoof clacking against his own before she shifted back to the main reason they were there. "So what do you know about flying?"

"If you mean flying with these things?" Neil asked, moving his hoof back to poke at his useless wings, "Absolutely nothing."

That answer confused the mare as she looked at his wings, then at him. "Nothing? Don't they teach you the basics about pegasi where you come from?"

"Besides myths and legends? Nope." He answered with a shrug. "We don't have pegasi or unicorns where I'm from."

"No pegasi? Then how do you-" She stopped herself before adopting a slightly more stern look, almost like a discount drill sergeant. "That can be later. I guess I'm starting with the basics, so do you mind extending your wing?"

That was going to be a problem. "Uh.. how?"

"By... extending your wing?" She answered as if the answer was obvious.

"Yeahhh. I haven't been able to move the stupid things since I woke up with them." He told her honestly.

This earned him a small moan of despair as the mare's hoof met her forehead. "Even Twi wasn't this bad. Okay, before I start, I need to know if I can touch your flight muscles."

"If you need to, I guess?" He asked, unsure as to why she even had to. "Why are you asking?"

"Because it would be inappropriate otherwise," Bulk said from the sidelines. "My Ma and Pa are both earth ponies, so I had to have my Schoolmarm teach me. It can get, uh, pretty intense." He admitted, looking over the balcony railing.

It was hard, but Neil still caught the blossoming red on Bulk's muzzle despite the helmet and the angle he was looking. Rainbow also had a hint of red along the uncovered portions of her muzzle for some reason, though he couldn't understand why. As far as he could tell, this was just a massage.

"Yeah, what he said. Just, uh, if you want me to stop, I'll stop," Rainbow promised before hopping a few feet into the air. "You might want to get on the ground while I do this."

Shrugging, Neil followed her instructions. Once on the ground with all four legs folded underneath him, he looked at Rainbow. "Okay. Ready when you are?"

"Okay. I know about all of this," She boasted as she flew over to him and positioned herself behind his wing joint. "I'm a wonderbolt for a reason. But I can't really remember the long names, so just focus on my hoof."

"Now, this is the something-dorsi muscle," She told him as her hoof pressed down against his back, a few inches away from the joint. Neil immediately tensed at the sudden, weird sensation that spontaneously erupted from her touch. "It's the muscle that keeps your wings held against your sides. You need to relax it so your wings can move." And as she said that, her hoof started to move in a circular motion, coaxing out a different, almost... pleasurable sensation.

After roughly half a minute, he was drawn out of the daze she put him in when a mild pain shot up from his... elbow? He swung his neck around to look, but his leg was perfectly fine. Instead, his partially unfolded wing was flopped onto the ground.

Rainbow removed her hoof from his back. "Your wing is released. Now tense the muscle to pull your wing back into a resting position."

This took far longer, a few minutes at least, as he tensed and strained various back muscles. It was odd, trying to flex something he never knew existed a minute ago. And more than once, he simply tensed a muscle he was used to, like his shoulder. Almost by mistake, he stumbled upon the newly discovered dorsi muscle. With a faint swish of feathers against stone, which felt uncomfortably coarse, his wing was by his side again.

"Awesome," She congratulated him as she moved her position to his shoulder. "Now release it on your own this time."

It took less than a minute this time, and Rainbow was there to gracefully catch his wing with her own. In fact, the feeling of feathers against his own reminded him of the feather comb, but more... Something. Enough to send a slight tremble down his wing, at least. She then took a few steps away from him while keeping hold of his wing. Extending the appendage to its full length.

She even gave his wing an appreciative look, though Neil could only guess why. Perhaps they were a good size for flying? Or did ponies find wings attractive?

"Next, I'm going to focus on the muscles to keep your wing extended and off the ground." And that's how the next half an hour was spent.

She switched from her hoof to her own feathers for the muscles in his wings. Apparently, the nerves in the wing had to be sensitive enough to feel the wind currents flowing over and adjust to any changes without conscious thought. He was skeptical, at first, until she brushed what she called a flexor muscle. His whole body was left shivering from a single stroke.

Bulk had been right. That was intense.

After that, she started from the tip of his wing and moved inwards. As the lesson went on, it became harder and harder to concentrate as she told him to tense and relax this muscle and then the next muscle. Despite that, he managed to catch another flexor and some muscles he recognized, like the triceps and biceps (though wing variants).

She moved back to his body once he could hold his wing out on his own without touching the ground. She placed a hoof against his side, underneath his wing. "This is your flight pectoral, the muscle that pulls your wing down to generate lift. Don't tense unless you want to slap your wing against the balcony."

After all the other sensations she gave him from a simple feather, that was the last thing he wanted to experience, "Got it," He told her, trying not to picture the pain from his horn enveloping both of his wings. However, it did raise a related question. "Uh, while we're on the topic, how painful would it be to break a wing?"

"It's not that painful," She told him with a shrug. "I've broken my wings a few times over the years."

That didn't make any sense to him after what he just experienced. "How does that work, given how sensitive they are?"

"Instinctual flight magic," Rainbow told him as if it were obvious. "Don't get me wrong, it still hurts like hay. Just nowhere near as bad as a cracked horn," She added, her eyes flicking toward his plastered horn.

"Now, there's one last muscle you have to know about. This is the supra-something, and it pulls your wings up." Just her touch against his wing joint sent a jolt up his back, forcing his wing to twitch upwards by a foot at least.

"Okay, you need to stand up now!" She ordered while also prodding him in the shoulder. "Once we get those wings flapping in sync, you'll be hovering in no time." To prove her point, she gave both of her wings a single, light flap that sent her up about twice his full height into the air. She lazily flapped her wings after that, keeping her position stable without any vertical change.

As he retracted his one wing, a stray but intense thought came to him. How bittersweet was it that out of the billions of people who dreamed of flying under their own power, he would be the one doing it? He always dreamed of flying for as long as he could remember. How could he not when his Dad was a S.T.A.R.S. helicopter pilot? And here he was, about to live the dream.

A dream he would have to give up if he ever wanted to go home.

He tried to force the thought out of his head as he positioned his front legs underneath himself to sit up. He succeeded in a roundabout manner as he started to stand up. He gained six or seven inches off the ground, with his back just starting to curve upwards like a cat before a new sensation caused him to stop. It was both familiar yet unfamiliar at the same time, as he felt skin rubbing against weathered marble and skin being brushed by his soft belly fur at the same time.

Confused, he glanced underneath himself to see the mottled black and grey head of an alien equine cock nestled into the fur of his belly. Multiple words flowed through his mind in an attempt to describe it. The primary descriptors were strange, wrong, national geographic, and hung like a horse. Yet he knew it was just as much a part of him as the rest of his mutant equine body. He also knew he was outside, nude, and staring at his own barely hidden hard-on.

He immediately flattened himself onto the ground, doing his best to ignore the sudden pressure and the burning warmth on his face.

Rainbow also picked up on his sudden change in direction as she called out from above him. "Hey Neil? I said stand up, not lay down."

Given his current predicament, he chose not to look up on the off chance she shifted into a more revealing position. "I heard you. I just have to... rest for a bit first."

"Really?" She asked, obviously unconvinced. "We don't have time for that. The faster you get hovering, the faster you get to flying. So up!"

"And I said no, so back off for a minute." He countered, still staring at the marble in front of him.

Bulk jumped in at this point with a comment directed toward Neil. "There's no need to be snippy with Rainbow over that Neil."

'Snippy with Rainbow over...' And then it occurred to him. With Bulk standing off to the side and facing the way he was, he had a clear view of everything between Neil's front legs. What little of his face that wasn't set on fire burned a bright red. Even his ears radiated heat as he processed the fact that he accidentally flashed Bulk.

"Over what? Is this some sort of stallion thi... Oh," Rainbow caught on from the sounds of it as she landed lightly beside him a few paces away. "Uh, I know I don't come off as the most gentlemarely, but I can, uh, help you with that. If you want, that is."

"Really? That's what passes for gentlemarely in Equestria?" He snarked as he covered his muzzle with his front legs. Of course mares offering to give free blowjobs was considered polite here. "Just... Give me a bit to settle things."

Rainbow awkwardly shuffled over to Bulk, giving him plenty of space to lay there and wait out his problem. That helped, probably, but Neil still caught whispers coming from their general direction. He couldn't make out what they were saying, but the fact that the mare kept giving him not-so-subtle glances his way told him he was the main subject of discussion.

That didn't help his embarrassment of the situation at all. But after a couple of minutes, he felt the unusual sensation of his cock slipping into his sheath. He took an extra minute to allow his blush to die off, but it never did. So, still red in the face, he slowly stood up again. He also took a second to double-check and ensure things were put away while feeling Bulk's and Rainbow's eyes watching him before fully standing.

"So what's the deal about flapping?" He asked, doing his best to divert the subject.

In a blink of an eye, any lingering awkwardness on Rainbow's face vanished as she did her best Flash impression and reappeared in front of him. "First you need to extend your wings."

He did so slowly. It was odd, not only feeling the weight of both appendages as they extended out from his body but also how they both felt balanced against one another. He imagined a tightrope walker with a pole likely felt a similar sensation.

With his newest objective complete, Rainbow spun around so that her tail was facing him and extended her own wings.

"Next, I want you to look at my wings and copy what they do. Alright?" At which point, she mimed a wing flap's entire up-and-down cycle in a prolonged, easy-to-follow manner.

For the first cycle, Neil never took his eyes off her wings. He picked out every obvious pull and release of her muscles under the skin as they lowered and raised. By the third cycle, he did his best to imitate. It wasn't even a close comparison. Where her movements were fluid, perhaps even caressing the air, his were janky and stilted.

Which led to the next ten to fifteen minutes of Neil glancing at her wings, then at his own. Rainbow had to stop to give her own critique every couple of minutes, whether he was mixing up steps in the pattern or his wings were falling out of sync. But eventually, he improved enough in her opinion to finally move on.

"Your wing beats aren't smooth at all," She pointed out, watching him go through another slow, stuttering wing flap. "But I can tell you have more power than Fluttershy, at the very least. With practice they'll even out, so let's get to practising already!"

Neil didn't match her cavalier attitude, but she was the trainer. "And how do I do that?"

She trotted right in front of him, looking him in the eyes as she told him, "First, I want you to close your eyes." That was an easy step, but the next steps he needed to follow weren't so cut and dry. "After that, focus on your wings. Every twitch of your muscles, every ruffle of your feathers, the blood pumping, all of it. Then I want you to feel the desire to fly, to flap your wings and go!"

With each step he completed, he gave her a small nod. At which point she moved to the next. However, while focusing on his wings, he felt a subtle anomaly. He thought it was a sudden spike in blood pressure the first time he felt it. But it continued, every thirty to fourty seconds as his blood pulsed throughout his wings... and his ears too, now that he was focused on it. He thought about mentioning it for a moment, but it didn't hurt, so he continued with the lesson.

Rainbow had one last thing to say when he psyched himself up to fly as she instructed. "Good. Now I'm going to count you down. Three... Two... One!"

Her forcefulness on the last number surprised him as Neil jerked his wings downwards. A small part of him expected to be met with a painful slap of his wings against the stone. Instead, he no longer felt the weight of his body resting against his hooves. Had he really done it? He felt no sudden, upward momentum like a roller coaster against his body. Though he felt a light breeze against his wings. As he contemplated this, a small but essential piece of advice from his Dad fluttered to the forefront of his mind. 'Flying blind is an easy way to get yourself killed'.

He opened his eyes at the perfect time to see the last of his upward momentum bleed away and for gravity to pull him back towards the solid-looking stone balcony. Before he could even think about flapping his wings again, his body tensed as all four hooves slammed into the balcony, and his front legs buckled. Surprisingly, by the time everything stopped, he wasn't in any pain. But he ended up in a very submissive-looking position with his face down and ass up.

He quickly rectified that, doing his best to ignore Rainbow's snorts of laughter. "Yeah, laugh it up. What's next, almighty Wonderbolt?" He snarked, flapping his wings a few times to return to the cycle he'd been practising.

After a few minutes, he regretted asking that.

~~~

Mini Author's note at the end of the chapter:

I'm proud to present:

An artistic rendition of Neil's first attempt at flying off of the palace 'balcony'.