A Villain Gets A Second Chance

Cadance feels herself being drawn in by his sincere compliments but stops herself from developing a crush and says, "You are such a gentlestallion sir Blizzard, but it would be wise if you are mindful of your tongue as I am a taken mare. My name, however, is Princess Mi Amore Cadenza, though I prefer to be called Cadance instead."

You bow your head respectfully and rise back up saying, "I understand and will heed your wise words, I had no knowledge of who you are or if you were involved with anyone. I will be more cautious with my compliments henceforth, as it would be quite evil of me if I were to try to steal another stallion's mare. I am quite surprised to hear of there being a third Alicorn, are you the daughter of Princess Celestia or Princess Luna?"

She giggles at that and shakes her head saying, "No I am not, but they are my adoptive aunts. How do you know my aunts?"

Somewhere at the Grand Galloping Gala...

Spike walks through the castle grounds and sees Twilight's brother, Shining Armor and waves to him, saying, "Hey Shining Armor!" then runs up to him asking, "How are you doing?"

Shining Armor looks at Spike, asking, "I am doing good, Spike, how are you enjoying the Gala?"

The young dragon groans and says, "Ugh, it's terrible, all my friends have ditched me and left me all alone. However it isn't too bad because my friend Blistering Blizzard asked for a tour around the castle, so I took him around and showed him a few things. When I left him at the golden apple tree to go get some food, I came back a few minutes later to see he was gone. So I have been wandering the castle all alone, bored out of my scales.

He cocks his head at the stallion's name and acts casual, saying, "Interesting, so how is Twilight doing, has she made any friends yet?"

As Shining Armor listens to Spike share the story from when they first arrived in Ponyville up until today, he then feels a little concerned for his sister and asks, "Hmm...do you know if he has shown any unusual interest towards anything?"

Spike thinks for a moment and then says, "Well...yeah. He is obsessed with learning new spells just like Twilight, and likes to be by himself most of the time, though he was brought along on a few of the adventures that I've had with Twilight and the girls." He then taps his chin saying, "There was something else too...what was it." then smiles and holds his claw in the air adding, "Oh yeah, he has this mysteriously horrible past that he does not share with anypony, though he has spoken of it a little with Fluttershy who he stays with each night due to bad dreams. He says that when Fluttershy stays close to him, he doesn't suffer those nightmares." He then chuckles as he remembers something funny and taps Shining Armor's shoulder with a claw saying in a whisper, "Wanna hear something funny I heard?"

The captain then lowers his ear closer to Spike's head asking, "What would that be, Spike?"

Spike then snickers and says, "That he kissed Fluttershy with his tongue, which was almost as funny as when he kissed Twilight after he dropped off all those super-old books I later sent to Princess Celestia. Wow, you should have seen how your sister freaked out over that for a whole week before they talked it over."

Shining Armor gets a little protective of his sister as his anger rises a bit and asks, "What did they say, Spike?"

He shakes his head saying, "I don't know, I took off to go help Rarity at her boutique. If you want to know, you will have to ask one of them."

With a silent huff, he straightens and says, "Thank you for catching me up on what has been going on in Ponyville, but I have royal duties to return to."

Spike then nods and waves to him as he walks away saying, "You're welcome, it was fun hanging out with you for a bit!" then starts heading into town to visit his favorite doughnut shop and wait for the others to meet up with him.

Back at the Gala

As you tell Cadance about some of the annoying adventures you had with the girls, at her insistence, you tell her a few of the things that happened at the gala, saying, "Then I bumped into Rarity as she was spending time with a stallion who I later saw to be quite snobbish, rude, and full of himself."

She cocks her head curiously and asks, "Could you describe this stallion to me? I might be able to figure out his name then."

You nod and say, "Well, his coat is a light grey, he has a light amber mane and coat with light blue eyes and a compass rose for a cutie mark."

Cadance groans saying, "Oh...that would be Prince Blueblood, he is my adoptive cousin and a distant nephew to my aunts, Princess Celestia and Princess Luna." Wanting to know a bit more about the stallion, she casts a subtle spell to see his emotional state. What she sees distresses her a little and asks, "Umm...are you feeling alright Blizzard?"

You then nod slightly and say, "I am much better after talking with you for a bit, why do you ask?"

Not willing to lie to him, she says truthfully, "I ask because I have cast a small spell to be able to see your emotional state, which I am sorry for doing without your knowledge. What I saw concerns me greatly, so I feel it necessary to ask why you have such negative feelings?"

Sighing at how she can tell, you then look at her and say, "The reason why is related to numerous events that have happened and choices that I have made in my past that cause me to feel such things for myself. I have only shared vague details about it with Fluttershy though I had her promise not to tell anyone else about what she learned about me, and Princess Celestia, which she shared with her sister, your aunt, Princess Luna. Perhaps I could share some of them with you at another time, as I think this place is unsuitable to mention such dark things."

Cadance nods sadly at not being able to help Blistering Blizzard feel better and tries to lighten the mood a bit saying, "You best be careful when treating my aunts like you did, Princess Celestia can harbor a grudge for a fair amount of time. As for when Twilight kissed you, you best hope that her older brother doesn't find out about it because he is quite overprotective of her."

Curious about that, you ask, "Twilight has an older brother, who is he?"

She smiles and says, "Oh, his name is Shining Armor, and he also happens to be the stallion I am in a relationship with."

You are about to ask her about him when you hear the doors get pushed open roughly and turn to see Applejack trot into the room pushing a huge 8 tiered cake on her cart as Pinkie cries out stage dive. You turn just in time to see her jump from the stage and sail through the air, causing the other ponies to scramble out of the way. As she lands on the edge of the cart, she accidentally launches the cake high into the air. You then hear the doors open and close, making you turn to see who just entered and see Rarity by the door with Prince Blueblood strutting into the room before her. When they both notice the airborne confection, you watch as Prince Blueblood grabs Rarity by the back of her dress and moves her in front of him but hides behind her dress. As you watch the cake splatter all over her, you glare at him as she turns around growling audibly. A moment later, she berates him and whips her head and hair around, splattering cake and frosting all over the spoiled prince, then storms out of the room to be alone for a little while.

You make your way towards the prince as he overbalances, then stumbles backward and falls back, hitting the podium where an alicorn statue sits and causing it to wobble. You use your magic to drag him over to you in the middle of the floor as Rainbow manages to steady it and glare down into the prince's eyes, slowly stomping closer to him and forcing him backward, saying, "Never before have I met a prince so unworthy of the lofty title, a prince is one who cares for those he may potentially rule over, should always put the needs of others before himself, protects them from outside harm if attacked, there are other qualities that a true prince should have but are not really important here. I now see that you have none of these qualities, I view you as being lower than a warm-blooded animal."

Everyone watches as the snow-white stallion with sea-green eyes backs Prince Blueblood into the wall as they listen to him further berate him, hearing, "A prince should not act as if everything should fall at his feet, for it makes him worthless and grants no merits. He should have respect for males and females young or old, be courteous, and a gentleman to them at all times. You are an honorless, disrespectful stallion that has been spoiled rotten. I believe you need to learn a lesson..."

Prince Blueblood quivers against the wall and shouts, "You can't do anything to me! I'm Prince Blueblood and Princess Celestia and Princess Luna are my aunts, I am of royal blood, which means you can't touch me!"

You then smirk darkly at him and chuckle in the same manner, saying, "Oh I can't, you say?" as you draw a bit closer menacingly and say, "That is where you are wrong, you may be of royal blood but that and titles mean very little to me if I cannot respect you." You then feel a strange sensation crawling up through your body as you feel the urge to punish this stallion.

Cadance watches curiously as a deep blue flame covers his horn, causing several of the surrounding ponies to gasp and back away further and says, "You have made your point, Blistering Blizzard, please leave my misguided cousin alone."

Turning your gaze upon Cadance swiftly, you chuckle darkly and shake your head, saying, "Perhaps I have, but the lesson remains to be learned." then turn back to him and cast the hex on him saying, "Heed my words carefully. No magic, potion, nor even the elements can undo this hex, but fret not...there is a cure. The only way for you to turn back into who you were before is to gain an honest kiss from a pony who forgives you."

She watches as the hex takes affect and surrounds her cousin in deep blue flames, lifting him into the air a foot above the ground and swirls around him. When he slowly shrinks down and transforms into a slimy bog toad, she and everyone in the room are relieved that he is more-or-less okay. The funniness of the hex rises up within her, making her fight to contain her laughter after several seconds.

You let your anger wash away and feel the crawling sensation fade away to the depths as you bow to the prince, saying, "By your leave, Your Sliminess." then straighten back up and make your way back to where Cadance is at, struggling to hold back her laughter as everyone else starts laughing their tails off at the prince-turned-frog.

Cadance is unable to keep control over her laughter anymore as her eyes squint shut and tears flow from the corners of her eyes, hearing the others calling out things like, "Hail to the Toad Prince, Bow down to His Toadship!"

As you stand before Cadance, you smirk and then say, "Were you worried I was going to actually hurt him?"

She tries to get her laughing under control as she eventually calms down enough to wipe her eyes dry, saying, "At first, I was but I then scanned the magic with a spell and found no cruel intentions to it, so I let you cast it."

You then take her raised left hoof in your right and then bow lowly to her, saying, "I am pleased that I could amuse you." and then lean your head down to kiss her gold hoofshoe.

Shining Armor enters the ballroom and scans the crowd for the stallion he is looking for, finding him a few moments later. He spots the stallion speaking to his Cadance, kissing her hoofshoe with a smirk on his face. Seeing the stallion making moves on his marefriend makes him angrier than he has ever been in his life, and makes his way down to the dance floor to challenge him to a duel.

Cadance then takes her hoof back and sets it down, saying, "I told you to not hit on me because I am with Shining Armor, who just so happens to be Captain of the Royal Guard."

You stand up straight and cock your head saying, "Wow, I am quite impressed that he was brave enough to ask to court you, Cadance." A smirk then makes its way onto your face as you say, "I wish he were here now so I could test my fighting skills against his..."

Shining Armor stands to the left side of his marefriend and the right side of the stallion and clears his throat angrily, saying, "Wish granted. Blistering Blizzard, I challenge you to a duel, state your desired type of battle. The choices are. Wooden or metal swords, magic battle, or Both."

You twist your head around to see a pony wearing gold and purple armor standing beside you with an angry look on his face and ask, "Who might you be?"

Cadance smiles and says, "Hi sweetie, please don't duel him. I swear that it is not what it looks like."

The revelation that this is Shining Armor, Captain of the Royal Guard, brings a smile to your face as you say, "I accept your challenge, I choose...BOTH." which draws several gasps from ponies around the room.

With a groan, Cadance turns and heads towards the wall saying, "Stallions..." then says to the crowd, "Let's give them a lot of room everypony."

Shining Armor then smiles and removes his armor, then moves it against the wall and summons a short sword saying, "Prepare to be bested, now I shall summon a sword for both of us and dull the edges."

You shake your head and say, "I appreciate the offer but I have one already." then attempt to summon it by closing your eyes and thinking, 'Come to me Spellmourne, I have need of you.'

The captain looks at him, waiting for him to summon his sword, and summons his with magic saying, "Are you going to draw your sword already, or are you getting cold hooves?" which causes a few of the gathered ponies to start chuckling.

Keeping your eyes closed, you continue to focus and say, "I am most certainly not getting cold feet, I am just trying to figure out how to summon my sword to me from where it is kept. When you set eyes upon it...you will be the one getting cold feet." You then think of something else you can try and say, "Come forth, Spellmourne, your master requires your aid!"

Shining Armor watches as a large black cut appears in the air in front and above Blistering Blizzard's head, spreading open as he watches a sword tip slip out of the cut. As more of the dark metal sword becomes visible, he notices that it has glowing runes on it along with being wreathed in blue flames which draws several oohs and aahs from the crowd. When the rest of the sword becomes visible, there is a collective gasp from the crowd, including himself as the sword's hilt comes into view.

Cadance is taken aback by the grizzly appearance of the sword as it has numerous glowing runes including a glowing skull on both sides of the crossguard wreathed in blue flames and thinks, 'Oh no, it's a magical sword...which means that Shiny will have a tough time beating him if he is skilled with that sword.'

You set the sword's tip on the ground gently and keep it upright saying, "The blue flames are just an illusion, so you do not need to fear them. Could you instruct me on how to dull the edge, Captain?"

The captain nods and brings his sword before him, holding it on edge horizontally, saying, "What you do is channel your magic into your hooves as well, it's just like how you grab something and hold onto it. The only difference is that you are actually trying to coat the edge of the blade with magic shaped into a sight oval shape, very similar to how one chooses the shape of a barrier." To demonstrate, he shunts some magic into his right hoof and runs the edge of the blade against the front of his hoof gently, saying, "You run the edge of the sword lightly against the front part of your hoof, not the center or you risk cutting the soft frog and potentially making yourself lame." When he finishes, he holds the blade up and uses magic to extend his tail to the side and swings the sword's edge onto it, feeling it hit and not go through, saying, "And just like that, the edge won't cut anything."

You watch as he returns his sword to the front and lets go of his tail, then lay your own sword the way he did and raise your hoof into the air upside down. Channeling magic into your hoof, you set the underside of your hoof to the base of the blade and start to run it across the front part of your hoof and watch as a blue hue coats the edge of the blade and say, "Interesting way to use magic..." When you finish coating the edge, you hold it up in the air and grin saying, "Ready to dance, captain?"

Shining Armor nods and readies his sword as his opponent does the same, then moves the sword tip to his right and swings it down to the left, which is blocked by his opponent.

As you block a horizontal swing from his left, you quickly bring your sword to the right and angle it slightly as he swings upward. Shifting your angle just a bit causes his swing to go wide, granting you the chance to strike. Moving your tip to the left and bringing it back, you aim to strike his shoulder hard as he summons a barrier.

The captain watches as the sword strikes the barrier and bounces off, saying, "Nice try." then swiftly drops it and thrusts straight forward with the tip for a counter-strike.

You simply hop to the left and turn slightly, letting the thrust go ahead and swing your sword down upon his in an attempt to disarm him.

Shining Armor tightens his grip on his sword as the heavy sword hits his, causing it to vibrate strongly and leaving an opening. He sees him spin his body around and bring the sword back around to strike his side again, and drops down to the ground to avoid the strike.

Your swing goes wide, causing you to overbalance as you see him pull his sword back, no doubt to strike at your neck again. Letting your rear face him, you see him swing from the side and bring your sword tip back and hold it just to the left of your neck. You hear his sword strike yours as you block the strike and chuckle with amusement saying, "You are obviously well-trained, but how will you handle this?" then swing your sword up to cause his to shoot upward, spinning around while moving the sword in a horizontal arc and hit his sword in the middle.

He is taken by surprise by the swiftness of the strike and holds onto the sword as the strike rings out across the room, shifting his angle like his opponent did before which sends him off-balance. At the brief opening he gets, he leaps back and prepares to fire a magical beam at him to catch him off-guard.

You see him charge up his horn and prepare for what his next attack is, watching a blue bolt of magic shoot from his horn toward you. You swing the flat of the blade up and block it while continue to bring it back and thrust it toward him, preparing to fire a blast of frost at him to hinder his movement.

Shining Armor brings up his shield on instinct and gets it up just as it is hit with a blast of frost, watching as his barrier starts to frost over and blocks his view of the stallion.

Still blasting his shield with frost, you take a few steps forward and then suddenly release the spell. Bringing the sword's tip up and back over your head, you then use most of your strength to swing down at the shield.

Cadance hears Blistering Blizzard cry out as he swings down with a lot of force at her lover's shield, and gasps when she sees it shatter, saying, "Shiny!"

You watch the captain be sent backward from where he was standing, wondering if it was due to the spell being overpowered. As you feel victorious at breaking his shield, you set the sword's tip on the ground beside you and hear him cough a few times saying, "Are you almost ready to continue our duel, captain?"

The captain coughs and then returns to his hooves, asking, "Just what did you do, how did you manage to break my shield?"

You chuckle and say, "The frost had done nothing to weaken your shield, though it did blind you to my next attack. Any shield can be shattered if one puts enough strength into the attack. Have you noticed yet that the flames have faded to almost nothing after I channeled magical attacks through it? There is much more I have yet to show you, so gather your strength...this duel isn't over yet..."

Fifteen minutes later...

Celestia overhears a commotion coming from the ballroom and turns to her left, then looks at the line of ponies and says, "Do excuse me, everypony but I must go find out what is going on in the Ballroom." She then looks to her student and says, "Come along, Twilight, let's go see what the commotion is."

She nods and follows her toward the ballroom saying, "I sure hope that everypony is just having a really good time in there..."

When the pair arrive, Twilight looks around to see frost along the floor, along with a light scattering of snowflakes across the floor when she hears a loud metallic clang ring out. Looking up to see her friend Blistering Blizzard fighting her brother, Shining Armor, saying, "What the... Why is Blistering Blizzard fighting my brother?"

Celestia looks around with wide eyes to hear everypony cheering on Captain Shining Armor while a few others cheer on Blistering Blizzard.

Cadence sees her aunt arrive with her student Twilight, whom she used to foalsit and makes her way over to them and huffs in annoyance, asking, "Hi Aunty Celestia, are you having a good time?"

She looks over to her niece and chuckles saying, "You know how tedious I find the Gala each year, Cadance." then looks at the fight, asking, "So, could you tell me how this mess came to be?"

As you parry another magic bolt, you flip your sword upside down and drive the tip to the floor while channeling a wide-area attack. When the tip hits the floor, it creates a small crater as an icy blast shoots out in all directions around you for ten feet.

Shining Armor is hit by the blast before he can bring forth his shield and concentrates on trying to keep his opponent at bay with magic bolt after magic bolt until he can free his hooves from the ice.

Swiftly using your sword to block or deflect the bolts, you block the first two and then move to deflect the next. Hoping to interrupt his attacks, you angle your sword and swing it upward and to the left while also sending forth an attack that makes chunks of ice shoot up from the floor.

He sees the attack racing toward him and hastily summons his shield, blocking the ice from reaching him.

Seeing an opportunity to attack, you seize it and rush forward to the left of the icy path before leaping through the air at him and crying out as you swing down with all your strength.

Shining Armor stops trying to break the ice holding him in place as he uses it to help him in his next attack, feeling the blowback from his shield being broken yet again but is not pushed back as the ice holding him shatters. With a hop to the side, he quickly pushes the offensive and thrusts his sword at the stallion.

You react to his attack by hopping aside while twisting your body to the right and swinging your sword upward to lift his tip up, and watch his tip shoot up like you intended. You rear up into the air and spin around to your right in a full circle while swinging the sword back around, aiming to hit his sword, saying, "Mind your horn."

The captain sees him spin around in a follow-up attack and angles his head down to protect his horn, thinking, 'Please don't hit my horn...'

Twilight watches the swing in slow motion as the sword just misses his horn by a bit, travelling on to strike his sword and gasps in surprise at how it shatters from the strike of the bigger sword.

Shining Armor watches with disbelief as his sword flies from his magical grasp, with the shards skittering across the floor. He watches the hilt soar through the air end over end and hit a column along the wall, sending it teetering back and forth before falling to its left and breaking apart as it strikes another.

Celestia watches with shock as ponies run out of harm's way as a slimy bog toad hops onto her hoof shoe, looking down while lifting her right hoof up as the toad has tears in its eyes and ribbits pathetically. She then looks at the toad as it makes a kissy face and reels with disgust saying, "Sorry, but there is no way that I am going to kiss you."

Cadence sees the toad on her aunty's shoe and giggles saying, "Say hello to your nephew, aunty. That is Prince Blueblood you are holding, if you forgive him for his actions and behavior and kiss him, he will turn back into a pony."

As the Princess looks at her niece in surprise, she looks back at the toad and chuckles, saying, "Still not going to kiss you, dear nephew." then tosses him into the hall to run along.

You watch a column break apart and fall toward you and the captain, reacting quickly and channel a slicing attack you used on Illidan while swinging it at the falling chunks.

Shining Armor watches in awe as the stallion keeps the two of them safe before swiftly bringing his sword close to his neck, sighing as the commotion dies down and saying loudly, "I accept my defeat." He then bows his head down sadly and says in a low voice, "You are the better stallion, take good care of her." he then gets up and starts to walk away in shame.

Confused by what he said at first, it then becomes clear to you as you chuckle, then laugh saying, "Hold your hooves, stallion. Did you honestly think that was what I was after?!" You then see him stop and turn around with a confused, barely perceptible nod and laugh even louder, saying, "Of course I was not trying to gain her affection or steal her, that is just how I treat all of the ladies at certain settings. She may be very pretty and special, but I am not looking for love just yet. All I was after is to see if my training was better than yours, which it is somewhat lacking but you are formidable in your own right."

He sighs and smiles at hearing that and looks up at the tall stallion saying, "I am relieved and overjoyed at hearing you say that, but the real reason I was challenging you is because you kissed my sister Twilight. Speaking of which, I sincerely hope that she knows that you are not looking for romance... If she doesn't, you better come clean with her about it and own up to your trickery!"

You then sigh and shake your head saying, "Neither of us are looking for a relationship yet, but it was her that kissed me first." A grin crosses your face as you say, "If things are serious between you two...you might consider making her yours or someone might challenge you for her."

Captain Shining Armor blushes and looks away, then looks up at him and whispers, "I'm working up to it, could you do me a favor and not tell my sisterI am dating her old foalsitter? I am working on putting a plan together because of how smart she is."

A chuckle escapes your lips as you then say, "Don't worry, your secret is safe with me. It would just be far easier to wait until the last moment to spring it upon her, then you will be rewarded with how happy she will be at hearing the news." You then close your eyes and concentrate on returning the sword to its place saying, "Your service is no longer required, Spellmourne."

Celestia then looks around to see ponies exchanging bits and grins saying, "I never thought that I would see the day that Captain Shining Armor would be bested in a magic and sword duel."

Twilight then sighs and says, "Well, at least it can't get any worse than this." Then watches Arthas return the sword through a split in the air when she hears a low rumbling outside one of the doors, turning to look in the direction when a pair of doors burst open as dozens of animals race through them fearfully.

You look at the doors the animals burst through and see Fluttershy just inside the doorway with an angry look on her face as she shouts for the animals to love her. The absurdness of the sight of the animals running around in a panic from Fluttershy causes you to laugh and shout out, "Everyone run to safety, it's a furry and feathery stampede!"

The princess grins at what is going on and leans her head down to Twilight's ear saying, "You should run." and stands to the side of the door.

As you hear Twilight whistle for her friends to follow her, you turn to Shining Armor and say, "I will leave getting this mess under control to you, captain." then swiftly make your way to where Twilight is. When you see the others follow Twilight into the hall, you stop by the door next to Princess Celestia and say, "I'm having a great time, thank you for inviting me." To catch her off guard, you swiftly move your lips up to hers and give her a quick kiss before hurrying out after the girls.

Celestia blushes fiercely at being kissed in front of a bunch of panicking animals and ponies and looks out the door growling while thinking, 'I am so going to have to get even with that pesky stallion for doing that to me in public!'

You follow Pinkie down the stairs until she skids to a sudden stop, leaving you to crash nose first into her business and back up saying, "Sorry Pinkie, try not to do that without warning okay?"

Pinkie Pie giggles and says, "That's fine, I enjoyed it." then redirects her attention to the glass slipper she found and says, "OOH! Hey Rarity, you lost a glass slipper! Now your prince will be sure to find you!"

You hear a shriek of terror from Rarity as she gallops up the stairs and smashes it before racing back down the steps pulling Pinkie with her, chuckling as you follow them through the castle, saying, "Awe, did things not work out between you two love birds?"

Rarity looks behind her with an angry growl saying, "Oh don't you dare get me started with that stuck up, pompous, uncharming, royal pain!"

As you follow them out of the castle, Twilight leads the group over to a place called Pony Joe's. Watching as Spike asks Twilight how her night went, you can't help but chuckle as she regales Spike with how bad it went. You then hear the bell above the door ring and turn to see Celestia standing in front of the door and hear her say, "That was the absolute best Grand Galloping Gala I ever hosted!"

Twilight then looks to her mentor and says, "Excuse me, Princess Celestia, but tonight was absolutely awful."

You hear Celestia tell Twilight that it is always that way and then nod your head after Twilight asks if it really is like that and say, "The ones I used to go to were always such a bore back in my day." As the conversation continues, you then wait till they finish talking and say, "That really was the best time I ever had at a gala, but the highlights were definitely when I hexed Prince Blueblood into a toad until somepony forgives and kisses him, and of course, who could forget the duel I got into because of a certain baby dragon confusing some important details... I thank you for that small mistake Spike, for I quite enjoyed the duel."

Everypony bursts out laughing as Celestia looks over to the stallion and narrows her eyes at him and asks, "Speaking of my nephew...he isn't in any danger being under that dark hex, is he?"

You shake your head and chuckle, "Not as long as nopony steps on him, but I highly doubt he will stray too far from the castle."

Twilight then looks at Blistering Blizzard and says, "I can't believe that you actually beat my brother in a sword and magic duel, no pony has ever done that before!" Thinking back on the fight she then remembers the sword she saw and asks, "Just what was that sword you were using? I sensed quite a lot of magic coming from it."

Celestia then corners him on it and says, "I am curious about that too, would you bring it out for us to see?"

A sigh escapes your lips as you nod, saying, "Sure." then close your eyes and say, "Spellmourne, heed your master's call and come to me." You hear gasps around the table as you open your eyes and look up to see the sword emerge from the split in the air, quickly realizing that you forgot to remove the magic coating the edge and making it dull. When the sword's tip reaches the floor, you pick it up in your magic and then set it upon the table with the blade facing you, saying, "Feel free to touch it, it is much less dangerous now, even less so with the magic coating the edge and blunting it."

Twilight looks at the sword with a great deal of interest, noticing that two runes aren't glowing like the others and asks, "Are these two runes at the end supposed to glow like the rest?"

You notice how Celestia uses her horn to look at the sword and nod saying, "Yes they are, and the blade is supposed to emit illusionary blue flames that cause no damage when the sword is completely full of mana or magic. When the sword is completely empty, the last thing to lose its glow is the skull crossguard."

Celestia then gasps as she learns from her appraisal spell just how much magic that it currently holds and looks upon the stallion with her appraisal spell, which makes her eyes go wide as she sees the amount of magic he currently holds and calms herself before asking, "Just where did you get this sword?"

With a sigh, you notice that Pony Joe slipped into the back room and say in a low tone, "It is now a relatively harmless replica of my past, but it wasn't so harmless when I found it in another world far unlike this peaceful one. The original sword identical to this one went by the name Frostmourne, and it had a few abilities, but only one of them was truly diabolical. It could steal the souls of those it killed, " you pause as you see Fluttershy wipe tears away as she already knows this bit and then say, "and mine was the very first one it claimed when I took it from the icy plinth it was sealed in. You need not fear that sword as it has been shattered and reforged." You then look back at the sword and say, "This sword here is capable of absorbing and storing magic equal to what Princess Celestia and Princess Luna can wield, it can absorb magic from anything at all magical and I can also cast spells with it." Sensing that Celestia is about to say something, you interject saying, "When it absorbs magic from ponies, it will only make them tired as if they used their magic too much so their lives are in no danger from it."

Spike looks at the creepy-cool sword and says, "Woah...that's so OP."

The princess huffs and says, "Overpowered it most certainly is, which is why I expect you to keep it hidden from other ponies when possible and not to let it fall into the wrong hands."

You then chuckle and nod saying, "Of course, Your Majesty but it is not so easy to use the sword with out having the innate skill granted to me to use it."

Celestia then cocks her head curiously and asks, "You need a certain skill just to use it?"

With a nod of your head, you say, "Mhm. Go ahead and pick up the sword and try to pull some of the magic out of it, Princess Celestia and you'll see."

Doing as he says, she picks it up with her magic and tries to take the magic out. She tries for several seconds before she lightly pants and huffs in annoyance, saying, "You are right...I cannot." She then sets the sword back onto the table, saying, "It is surprisingly very heavy."

You pick the sword up in your magic and nod saying, "As are the foul deeds I have committed using Frostmourne..." then turn it around and return it to where it came from, saying, "Spellmourne, you may return from whence you came." and watch it rise back up into the black slit it emerged from. Seeing the pony return from the back, you then call out, "Good sir, I would like to order a round of hot cocoa with whatever kind of doughnuts that my friends here desire, I'm paying!" You are rewarded by the smiles and happy cheers of the ponies around you, catching even Celestia giving you an appreciative smile as they start to place their orders and look to Spike and remember the last slice of the golden apple you wrapped and pull it out of your pocket saying, "Hey Spike, I must thank you for showing me to the princesses golden apple tree, catch." then tear it in half and toss one piece toward him.

He catches the object tossed to him and looks it over with a sparkle in his eye and says, "WOAH, ONE FELL FOR YOU? COOL!" and then eagerly gobbles it up, saying, "Thanks!"

With a chuckle, you say, "One fell alright, right on top of my head. I believe I'm going to have a bump on the back of my head where the accursed gold apple struck me." As you think about everypony else, you move the last slice to Applejack and say, "Would you mind cutting the rest of that up into equal parts for the others excluding myself, Princess Celestia, and Spike?"

Applejack then smiles and pulls out a knife from her dress and slices it up into bits for the others and passes them around saying, "Here y'all go."

Twilight blinks in disbelief at the golden apple piece before her and looks at Blistering Blizzard saying in surprise, "A GOLDEN APPLE DROPPED FOR YOU TOO!?" then quickly eats it before another pony can swipe it.

Remembering the seeds you took out of it earlier, you say, "I did pull out the seeds when I broke it into four pieces and offered one to Luna to confirm that what Spike told me was true, but I don't quite know how to find them in this dimensional pocket."

Pinkie Pie then bounces around happily and says, "OOH, OOH! I CAN HELP!" then trots on over to him and gets right against his coat, slipping her left hoof underneath his vest and reaches inside the pocket.

You feel her warmth through the suit as she then uses her other hoof to pull the vest back a little and say, "I'm guessing you might have to do a bit of pocket-diving to find them in there."

She pulls her head up quickly, with her lips brushing against his and nods saying, "Yep, I'll be right back in a moment!" then slips her hoof back into the pocket and litterally climbs into it.

Rarity then sighs saying, "Does that mare have any sense of personal space?"

You chuckle and say, "She is definitely in her own space right now." With a look at your pocket, you say, "Oh look, she's my very own pocket pony." which gets everyone laughing at her antics.

A few moments later, Pinkie Pie pries herself out of his pocket with a smile on her face as she hops back to the ground before him. She then pulls a box from her mane and says, "GOT IT! I found all six of those tiny seeds scattered around in that pocket of yours and put them all in this tiny box, so HERE YA GO!" and hands it back to him before pronking back to her spot.

Shaking your head with a grin, you levitate the box to Applejack and say, "Here ya go Applejack, why don't you see what the will grow?"

Applejack beams a wide smile, saying, "Why thank ya kindly, pardner!"

You then nod and look to Princess Celestia, asking, "Your Majesty, do you know if those seeds will grow golden apples too?"

Celestia then shakes her head, saying, "Unfortunately, they will not, though they will each grow a different or completely new type of apple."

The farm pony then smiles and says, "Well ah look forward to finding out what grows from 'em all the same. Whatever they turn out to be, ah'll be happier than a pig in mud."