We made it to the edge of town just as the sun was setting in the west horizon, bidding us goodnight. Fortunately, we all couldn’t go to sleep just yet because some kumiho’s out and about, and might kill a few ponies if we don’t immediately see the fucking thing. Once we reached our destination, we just waited. It wasn’t anywhere in particular, just a spot away from the downtown area so nobody got hurt. Personally, I think I’m gonna get obliterated the very moment I raise a hoof to this kumiho, should it be violent.

It probably will be violent.

“Where is it?” Shining asked before doing a full body shiver. Everyone that had a horn did the same, whereas Blaze looked unfazed, and I had no clue as to what the fuck was going on.

“Something powerful just showed up, and we cannot see it,” Chrysalis growled.

“I know where he is,” Blaze noted. “It is natural to be overwhelmed by a kumiho’s presence; most kitsune and kumiho are just magical creatures; we have more magic to spare than the average, living being comprised of blood and flesh.”

“So uh…” I scratched the back of my head. “How likely is it that your ex-”

“He is not my ex, he tried to court me, I was not interested at the time.”

“Okay… How likely am I gonna die if I try stabbing this guy?”

“Immediately.”

“Cool. I am useless then.”

“Worry not, he will not harm you. I believe. If he is here for the reason I believe he is here, he will know how soul bonding works, and should know if he kills you, he kills me as well.”

“...What?”

“You will live as long as I, and I will live as long as you. So long as neither of us are injured, we should be immortal.”

“Huh. Neat.” I shrugged. “More time to fix my broken brain, eh?”

“You are not broken, just hurt. But yes, that is just more time to heal you. And more time for you to spend with Chrysalis; like us, she will be leading a rather long life.”

“Cool…” I nuzzled Chrysalis, despite her being on edge, she did take the moment to plant a kiss directly on my nose. I would’ve mentally broken had I not remembered why we were here.

Something jumped down from the trees, something roughly the size of Blaze. Like Blaze, it had nine tails and was very fox-like. Unlike Blaze, however, it was a bit bulkier and was clearly a male. Blaze’s eyes were blue, whereas this guy had blood-red eyes, and looked more akinned to a silver fox, whereas Blaze’s creamy coat, so she was much lighter in color. This guy was a lot darker, because I guess it’s more of a dark silver rather than a light silver.

“I see that you go by Blaze, now.” The kumiho said calmly. I think I could only hear it because I was bound with Blaze. “And have found yourself a pony for a master….” It shook its head with a stupid grin. “I find it cute, honestly, Blaze. You were such a proud female as a pup, and then you found a pony and befriended him instead of eating him. I respect it though; having something that massages you whenever you ask seems nice.”

“Shut up, Murk.” Blaze grinned. “It is good to see you.”

“It is good to see you as well, Kurama. Or Blaze as you go by. It has been a while since we’ve last spoken, correct?”

“Yes it has.”

“...What the fuck is going on?” I asked.

“Murk, this is Ostri, my soulmate. Ostri, this is Murk, my puphood friend, and suitor, apparently.”

“Hey now, you said you had an interest in me, just that you didn’t want a mate immediately upon reaching maturity, Blaze. You’re still a wondrous sight, even after a thousand years.”

“You’re quite the sight yourself, Murk.”

Everyone else was kinda in the dark, so I explained what was going on. “So Blaze, this big, dangerous thing you were hyping up… was your childhood friend?”

“We were best friends, thank you, Ostri.” Murk smiled. “We played together, slept together, not in that way. Get your mind out of the gutter, we were pups. We even ate together back when we needed to eat physical food more than once every four months.”

“Huh… That is pretty cool.” I started walking forward. “You won’t bite my head off, right?”

“And risk harming Blaze? If I wanted to do that, then I would be going against the Kumiho code.” I raised an eyebrow. “We are very loyal to those we care about. We may be a little violent, but we can be friendly.”

“A little violent?” I asked.

“Okay, so some of us do like torturing other creatures… if they tried hunting us first. Whoa there, pony, why are you so close?” I was within arm distance of this guy now. It was probably a bad idea to be this close to something I know could kill me, but also, I don’t care. I’m flat out of shits to give, and if I die, oh well! Besides, like any reasonable person with their well-being in mind, I like approaching wild animals because…

“You look fluffier than Blaze is.” I could hear Blaze mentally huff at that. “I wanna pet you, but I need your word that-”

“I’m not going to hurt you, you imbecile. I would’ve bit your head off by now, and I’ve seen Blaze’s memories just now. Petting seems delightful.” Murk laid down on his stomach to give me easier access to the top and back of his head. “Go on.” I did as said, and as expected, he was fucking soft. Blaze trotted up to us and gave us both a few lovely licks in the ears. “Blaze, I may claim your master while I claim you as my mate. This is delightful.”

“He is mine, Murk, but if we become mates, you may borrow him.”

“What the buck is going on?!” Shining Armor asked.

“They’re discussing custody over me, Shining. Also, they might have babies at some point in the future.”

“Oh… Wait. You…”

“Yes, you weird stallion that this one seems to like. He now owns two magical creatures because we like being petted and massaged at a moment’s notice.” Murk cooed. “Oh, to think I was going to murder somepony before coming out here. No no, I think I will refrain so that this one does not get in trouble by some arbitrary system based on another arbitrary system called ‘morals’.” Muk rolled his eyes, licked my cheek, and pulled back. “Go pleasure Blaze; she’s getting jealous.”

Oh. She definitely is.

“How dare you say a male kumiho is softer than I am,” Blaze said when I made my way over to her. I reached up to cup her cheeks in my hooves, despite the lack of fingers to do so. “No, I am not soft according to you.” I lowered my hoof. “Did I say you cannot pet me? No, do not touch me, but you may pet me.”

“What the fuck kinda logic-”

“You’re on thin ice, Ostri. Don’t make me make you sleep on the mattress of the wagon tonight.”

“...Please no.”

“Then pet me. I demand to be pampered.” I happily complied with that while Murk just stood there, slowly waving his tails as he watched us. He nodded, walked over to me, and picked me up. “HEY! That pony was petting me, you asshole!”

“And I want to go to sleep. I swam across the ocean and have been walking nonstop for weeks; I would like some rest. You can have him back once we get back to this wagon of his. I may not need sleep like a mortal would, but how can one hate sleeping?”

The next day, I woke up after being tugged out of the pile of kitsune and kumiho by Chrysalis. I knew what I promised her yesterday, so I didn’t object even if I would’ve liked five more minutes. I’m gonna be spending the day with Chrysalis. I think Blaze stayed behind to keep watch of her new… friend. As in they were probably gonna run into the woods, and do whatever magical fox things do to make more of themselves. With that said, I don’t think me or Chryssy wanted to stay and figure out how, or hear them do the things of unspeableness to each other(sex. I could see Murk staring at Blaze’s ass before I went to sleep).

Well, before either of us could actually sneak off, it turned out that Blaze and Muk had woken up and followed us off the wagon, to where Cadance and Shining Armor were sitting around the campfire. Cadance had… pancakes going. Pancakes, syrup, butter and various other things to top pancakes with. Included were various berries. The four of us blinked at the sight, before we all sat around the fire.

“So…” I pointed to the campfire. “How?”

“I said I could cook. So I bought things to make pancakes this morning.” Cadance gave me a smug little grin. “I figured some pancakes would help lift your spirits, plus we need to figure out what our new friend wants out of coming to us. Because he may have claimed that he just wanted to mate with Blaze, but… we aren’t sure of why else he’s here. There should really be no reason for him to immediately warm up to you, given what you’ve said about kumiho.” She then levitated a plate of pancakes to me and Chryssy, and a stack to the two fox things that I apparently own now. “Don’t worry Chrysalis, I made these pancakes with love, so you’ll get actual nutrients out of it, rather than just enjoying the flavor of the food you eat.”

“Thank you, Cadance.” Chrysalis nodded, sat down regally as any gorgeous Queen should, and practically laid on top of me.

“How the heck did you three get along so quickly anyways?” I asked.

“We both understand the value of love, even if it’s for different reasons.” Cadance admitted. “And Shiny and I usually try not to hold grudges; Chrysalis had a good reason to do what she did… at first, and we understood why she did those things. With that said, Chrysalis can be a decent pony when she wants to be, and can be friendly; she claims its so that she can maybe convince us all to form a herd by the end of the journey though.”

“You two are rather attractive for ponies; I would not mind forming a herd.”

“...That herd’s gonna include two stallions and two mares if we all agree?” I asked.

“It would,” Cadance nodded. “Are you opposed to that?”

“...Mmm. Honestly, if we do form one, I’d be hard pressed to find a reason for any of you to do me like Luna did. Cadance is literally love incarnate, Shining’s a bro, and Chrysalis is pretty… well, pretty lovely.” Chrysalis swatted me with a hoof for that. “Meh. We’ll cross that bridge when we get there. For now… Blaze, how are you feeling about Murk?” I asked. Both canines had just woken up and crawled out of the wagon.

“I am excited to have an old friend back… and excited to have kits of my own.” She squealed. “Oh you will love seeing kitsune-kumiho hybrids. You’ll find them adorable.”

“I am simply here to be with Blaze, and since you’re her soulmate and your companions are your friends, I won’t harm you or anyone in your group. I do like you, Ostri. Good choice of soulmates, Blaze. I also won’t harm anyone unless they try to hurt me first. Or Blaze given that she will be my mate come this mating season. As much as we Kumiho love a good fight, or violent when it comes to seeking revenge, we are relatively peaceful unless provoked. So far, none of you have given me a reason to believe you wish me harm.” He nuzzled Blaze, who was snuggled up into his side. “We will definitely spend some… time together alone so that we may mate, and we will be doing so while you are still in town. Once you are ready to go, Blaze should be carrying our pups.”

“...Huh. How does that work? Y’all are literally magic.”

“We’re also animals. We mate the same way most creatures do. Through sex,” Blaze nipped her new mate. “I am looking forward to seeing Murk’s prowess in that field-”

“Okay, not while we are eating, Blaze,” Cadance shook her head. “It’s nice to see love in the air, but please reserve ‘den talk’ to when you two find a den to mate in, alright?”

“But you and Shining Armor have a foal,” Chrysalis pointed out.

“We don’t talk about having sex at every turn though,” Shining pointed out.

“You sapient races and your stupid need to dance around reproduction,” Murk shook his head with a smile. “It amuses me sometimes. Especially now.”

“I wouldn’t refrain from speaking about sex,” Chrysalis said, sipping on some tea that Cadance just poured for her. “It’s perfectly natural. I only refrain from doing so because Ostri isn’t sure if he would like to mate yet, and we were supposed to go on a date together, while I am in disguise, today. That way we can actually partake in some of the attractions that this city may provide for us, and grow closer as a result.”

“We can try a double date,” Blaze pointed out. “I heard some ponies speak of it, and always wanted to try it.”

“Blaze, my friend,” Murk nipped her. “You spent too much time with mortal races.”

“So I like seeing how others live their lives and would like to try it. Cry me a river, mate.”

“I will… However, I am not opposed to that idea. However, tonight I would like to mate, mate.” Murk and Blaze giggled. “We already know each other, we might as well skip to the good bit, correct?”

“You are correct. We will try it one time though, with Ostri and his mate.”

“Agreed.”

With that we ate breakfast in silence. Like me and Chrysalis, Shining and Cadance wanted to go explore the city. And probably find Twilight and her friends and chat with them. It only made sense, after all, with Twilight literally being family. By extension, her friends should have some sorta history with Twilight’s brother and Twilight’s sister in law, given their importance to the kingdom as living superweapons or whatever. Chrysalis finished her plate first and I soon followed. Before I could even blink, Chryssy thanked Cadance for cooking, and turned into what Celestia looked a thousand years ago, just smaller and with just wings. She then carried me downtown on her back.

“So, what shall we do first, hmm?” Chrysalis said. While we were walking around, we walked onto the boardwalk that seemed eerily empty. There was a ferris wheel, empty stalls where various vendors used to be, and… nobody was here. “Phewy. Everypony fled the downtown area,” she pouted. “This date is going to suck then. How the hay do we enjoy ourselves if there are no ponies to operate the rides on the boardwalk?” All of one. There were bumper cars, surprisingly. I hummed and looked around after sliding off her back. Along the sidewalks leading up to the boardwalk were tons and tons of storefronts.

“I know some Equestrian intelligence said that Baltimare is gonna be a target, mainly the downtown area.”

“Manely, hmm?” Chrysalis asked.

“That was terrible and you should be ashamed of yourself for saying that.”

“I know…” Chrysalis’s ears drooped. “‘Tis a shame that you do not enjoy puns.”

“No, I love shitty puns. I was just saying, ‘that was a shitty pun.’” I nuzzled her. “Good attempt at least. Say, wanna break into a clothing store, since they’re all empty, and try on a dress or two? In your natural form; there is no point in keeping the disguise up if you aren’t wearing anything.”

“Mmm. Alright. I will have to magically grow any dresses to fit into them. I’ve always wanted to be a proper queen and dress up for my stallion in Shining Armor…” I rolled my eyes at the pun, but I knew where she was coming from. “A mare does always like to feel beautiful. Perhaps I can find a suitable wedding dress should we get to that point in our relationship, Ostri?”

“...I’d be honored if you deemed me worthy enough for that. I can commission more wedding necklaces, and hopefully, this time, I can use them.”

“I still want to break Luna’s neck for that, you know,” she said as she nonchalantly threw a table into a store’s front door, shattering the glass it was made of, before moving all the glass out of the way into a nearby corner. We had hooves, so we weren’t in any danger of actually hurting ourselves if we stepped on the glass. We wouldn’t even feel it. It was just annoying to walk with something jutting out of your hoof. While Chrysalis looked around, I noted that she chose a few suits for some reason.

We spent a majority of the morning trying on dresses, in Chrysalis’s case, and suits in my case. Sometimes I would manage to get Chrysalis to get into a suit, and I must say:

“Chrysalis, if you ever wear that to a date of ours in the future, I will drag you to the nearest hotel room and fuck you so, so hard.”

“...I will look into keeping a suit or two.” I know we were basically stealing a bunch of clothes we didn’t need, but they were just gonna get blown up by the Storm King’s forces anyways. We only ended up taking a suit each, and a couple dresses for Chrysalis. I needed to point out that I wore my suit, while Chrysalis wore one of the dresses throughout the rest of the day.

“If you make offers like that, perhaps I will put on a snazzy looking suit. I know stallions tend to like mares who can pull a suit.”

“You don’t just pull the suit, you’d fucking kill other stallions in it.” Chrysalis actually started blushing. “You seriously look wonderful, regardless if you wore clothes or not, but if you wear that suit… Again, dragged by the tail, hotel room, hot, love filled sex.”

“I love a stallion that is upfront with what he wants… sex.”

“You and I both know that ain’t how I roll, Chrysalis. If I just wanted that, I’d be a slut.”

“I know,” Chrysalis giggled. “But ultimately, a relationship does often lead to sex. Even if we do form an emotional bond first.”

“Yeah, that’s true. However, we are dating, we might as well smell the roses along the way. Enjoy the moment and all that, y’know?”

“I know. This will be my first proper relationship as well. Well, I’ve had relationships, but that was while pretending to be somepony else. This will be the first relationship I’ve had while being me. So far, I’m glad you’re a stallion that doesn’t run at the very sight of me. Instead, after being told that I was originally going to kill you, you ended up hugging me. What kind of crazy stallion hugs a crazy mare that wants to kill them?”

“Me. I love a crazy mare. Just please don’t kill me. I would very much like to stay alive while we’re dating.”

“...I wouldn’t do that, you know.” We walked past another store, which we promptly broke into, and walked out with some candy bars. Our stomachs growled, well, mine did. Chrysalis just emulated the sound after hearing me. “Perhaps we should go somewhere to find something more substantial?” We quickly found the diner I ate at before Twilight and her friends rudely interrupted my day yesterday.

I’m still a little upset about that, but what the heck am I gonna do? Nothing.

We were interrupted when a cannonball whizzed past my face. Well, it woulda hit me in the head had Chrysalis not grabbed me and pulled me back. The cannonball flew right into the diner, causing a lot of screaming… likely the employees inside. I didn’t even hesitate, I started running towards the diner and peeked inside. It… Oh dear fucking god. It blew a hole right through the building. First, and foremost, it broke through the glass window, which then slammed into the front counter, making a huge hole. Then it kept going into the kitchen area… Some poor stallion, who didn’t look any older than twenty, was sadly where the cannonball ended up.

“Holy fuck!” I shouted. Oh. Mmm… I winced, imagining if that were me. “Everyone okay?” I asked, despite knowing the answer. Luckily, the waitress that served me yesterday was unharmed, mostly. She caught some debris in her right foreleg, which wasn’t anything substantial, but it was enough pain for her to not walk properly. She had climbed back up from her spot. “C’mon, get moving! I don’t give a damn about how much your boss is paying you, get the hell outta here!”

“Our boss… left yesterday,” the waitress noted. That… dickhead.

“...What did he tell you?”

“To stay and work, or we’d get fired.” She cried. She yelled when she saw the poor kid who took the brunt of the attack. “Oh dear Celestia!”

“You heard my coltfriend,” Chrysalis said. “Get moving. Get as far away from downtown as you can.”

Everypony blinked, seeing Equestria’s biggest villain a few weeks ago, actually telling them to do something that would keep them from getting killed. “RUN!” She shouted in something that almost sounded like the Canterlot Royal Voice. Almost immediately, another Cannonball damn near hit us, if Chrysalis hadn’t caught it with her magic. “Just one, bucking day with my stallion is all I ask for…” She growled.

“Chrysalis, can you teleport?” I asked.

“I can.” We watched as the diner’s employees started helping each other towards the back of the store, where it’d be safer to exit from than the front. “You want your fireworks?”

“No. Go get everyone in our group, find Twilight and her friends, and I want you guys to get outta here. If I’m lucky, Blaze and Murk will come to help me. If not, oh well. I’m gonna buy y’all enough time to get outta here.”

“...Okay. If you die, I will bring you back from the grave to kill you.” That told me she wasn’t gonna listen; she was gonna get everyone, come here on foot, and try to help me. She walked towards the back of the diner before teleporting, likely to wherever the wagon was. I immediately pulled my knife out and hid. There were people coming in. I laid right next to the cannonball that hit the poor fucker that was currently dead. It was doing me no good, mentally, to be so close to somebody who just died.

Somebody who didn’t deserve to die.

As soon as the first few yetis walked up to us, it was just a small group, maybe four of them, I sprung to action. Using my wings, I slammed into the first fucker, driving my knife into his skull, an audible crunch could be heard. I grabbed the crossbow that he happened to be wielding, before aiming and shooting it into the second fucker. I used the first asshole as a meat shield, yanked my knife out of his head and stabbed the third one in the heart. I stabbed the last one in the arm.

This all happened in about a minute.

“Now.” I said, panting slightly. “What to do with you?” I asked. I yanked the knife out of his arm, earning an audible scream. “I know you probably have a similar anatomy to humans, so I probably just stabbed you in the elbow. So tell me, why the fuck did you and your buddies shoot a cannonball into this diner?”

“...How’d you move so quickly?” he’s a lot more together, mentally, given that I just stabbed his elbow.

“I’m pissed off. You interrupted my date and almost killed a bunch of civilians. You did kill a civilian. You know, back on Earth, there’s laws against that.” I got in his face. “Wanna live?”

“Uh…”

“Yes or no. Tell me. Do you want to live?”

“Yes!”

“That’s a shame, then. In your next life, don’t target innocent bystanders.” I started bashing his head into a table until I heard more footsteps. In a heartbeat, I finally stabbed the yeti in the face and ducked and hid in the corner of the room. I grabbed the crossbow I fired, and grabbed the quilt full of arrows from the first yeti I had killed. Some yeti, wearing a shitload of badges and whatnot, and overall just looked like he was in charge stormed in.

“WHAT HAPPENED HERE!?” He asked, shocked at the sight of four of his men who were in various degrees of mangled corpses. I cocked the crossbow. Man, I was hoping to buy one of these. I’ll have to modify it to make using it easier; it was made for something with opposable thumbs. Luckily, wings, with enough force, can substitute for a thumb. I shot a bolt into the ‘captain’. Right in the eye as soon as I had the bolt locked and loaded. I loaded another one before breaking off the handle; now I can just slam my hoof on the trigger to shoot it.

I checked if the bolt was okay, before diving into the back of the building, and outside. I took to the air, and saw a shit ton of yetis. Well, it wasn’t that much. It was just an airship’s worth, I think that’s anywhere between thirty and forty yetis in the crowd below. I immediately slammed down onto the side of the roof that was facing away from the approaching yetis. While it wasn’t a lot of them, I was one guy, against forty guys. I only had one crossbow, not that many bolts, and none of my usual gear… as in my fireworks.

Maybe I shouldn’t have sent Chrysalis away. Then again, if she ends up coming back here with the crew, this might actually be a winnable battle. Instead of doing that though, I let the yetis storm the building while I tried to sneak away. I know Chrysalis just teleported off, but those diner employees can’t; none of them were unicorns, and if they were, I doubt that magic research has progressed enough for the average unicorn to be able to teleport. I shot a random yeti in the back of the group with the crossbow.

“HEY!” I shouted, slamming down behind the yetis, getting in between them and the warship. “OVER HERE!” I waved and jumped like a dumbass. I could hear somebody try and load a cannon behind me. Thank god for pony ears; I don’t think I woulda noticed that if I were still human. And luckily for me, nobody got the memo of ‘if your guys are in the line of fire, and the enemy is between them and your cannon, don’t shoot your cannon’. I was also thanking whatever god existed for allowing me to move as fast as I could. I flew towards the ship under the first volley of cannon fire, and turned around. The group of forty yetis… Mmm.

I just got a whole army killed. I’ll say that much. God I am going to feel that when I try to get a goodnight sleep.

I wasn’t allowed to ponder upon what I just did since Blaze came out of nowhere and tackled me. “WHY THE FUCK DID YOU TRY TO TAKE ON ANOTHER ARMY?” She shouted. “YOU COULD’VE DIED!”

“But-”

“I know… you thought you could help people run away to live another day. But think, Ostri, think. What if the-” she was cut off by Murk who just hopped onto the deck of the airship. From the sounds of it, he was letting that more violent and animalistic side of him loose on the crew aboard. “If the people you fought weren’t stupid, you would be dead. Do you understand that?”

“I know… But I watched a poor dude, probably not even past the age of twenty, get blasted by a cannon. More people would’ve died if I didn’t try something… I’m just really lucky that Jesus decided to stick a horseshoe up my ass, I guess.” Chrysalis soon walked up to us, noting the amount of mangle corpses she walked past on her way to get us. Behind her was Shining Armor, Cadance, and Twilight and her friends. On Chrysalis’s back was a set of fireworks.

“I was assuming you needed these,” she said as Murk, now covered with blood, hopped down from the airship. “I see that-”

“That nobody on this planet has gotten any better at warfare since my disappearance. Seriously, why would anyone shoot a cannon in the same direction that their men are standing in?” I asked, trying not to focus on the dead bodies behind Chrysalis.

“...I was going to say you surprised me, but I suppose that also works. I hate to admit that even my own Hive never improved upon open battles as we’ve never had to fight an open battle. Though, may I inquire why you sent me away?”

“Didn’t want you getting hurt. And before-”

“I know, those ponies in the diner needed time to get away. From the looks of it, they will be able to get away because you decimated an army.”

“Good.” I sat on my ass. “Can we get away from here? The smell of blood and the sight of dead bodies really ain’t doing me any good right now.” Luckily for me, Blaze was already moving us to the park she had me sit in after my encounter with Twilight. Unfortunately, Twilight and her group of friends had followed us, with Rainbow prancing.

“Oh… I bet it looked completely awesome… Even if the results were kinda brutal.”

“They attacked civilians, Rainbow,” I pointed out. “You know, something so fucked up that most humans agreed that doing so was fucked up. To the point where it became illegal to do so during warfare.” I pointed out. “Oh fuck me…” I held my head in my hooves. “I killed forty fucking people!”

“...You also saved everypony who hadn’t managed to flee Baltimare before the invasion, you know,” Twilight said. “That was the only airship, as the Storm King has started growing… cocky. Most cities, save Manehattan, fell or gave up as soon as yeti forces showed up. Canterlot hasn’t given up yet either because of you, you know… I am starting to see why Princess Celestia and Princess Luna wanted you to stay and help fight the war. I don’t think I’d use my enemies on my enemies like you did.”

“Still not happening,” Chrysalis spoke up. “Nor will it ever. Ostri is remaining quiet and hasn’t paid much attention. Even if it did serve its purpose of helping others, I can tell that he is still coming to terms with the fact that he just killed yet another group of people. As such, myself and Blaze shall be saying ‘no, he will not help your country fight a war.’”

“I’m not trying to! I know how broken Ostri is. Look!” Surprisingly, Twilight was ignoring how I had two magical fox things. “Blaze and that other kitsune haven’t let go of Ostri since we got here.”

“Kumiho.” Murk corrected. “I’ve just become ‘soulmates’ with Blaze, and by extension, this little horse… What the fuck did you ponies do to him to break him down so badly? He is damn near an empty husk of a creature that’s barely hanging by a thread. If not for his mate and my own mate being here for him, Ostri would’ve killed himself a long time ago.”

“...Princess Luna and Princess Celestia,” Twilight shook her head.

“Deary, you do know that he broke Princess Luna’s heart, right-”

“AND SHE BROKE HIM!” Everypony present yelled at Rarity. They all blinked.

“Rarity,” Cadance said. “As the Princess of Love, Ostri loved Luna. He loved her so bucking much that he apparently slaughtered dozens on her behalf because they wanted to kill Luna. Heck, for whatever reason, there is something in him that still loves Luna. However, nothing romantic can ever, ever happen because of that love. That love is probably the only reason he hasn’t gone to the Storm King and asked if he could help burn down the very country that my aunties love and care for. Luna… never loved him. There was never love present. Perhaps she did in the past, but that was… y’know, in the past.”

“And my own opinion may not matter,” Chrysalis said. “But he was noticeably happier when we had our little day out before… whatever happened happened. As far as I can tell, as long as Ostri is spending time with somepony, or somebody he cares about, he is happy. Especially when it’s either me being his marefriend, or Blaze doting on him like she would with her own offspring. Ms. Rarity, you may think that this may end like all fairytales end, with love and the villain defeated, however…

“Nevermind. Ostri, I hereby sentence you to snuggling with Blaze until you feel better. No questions asked. I will help you snuggle with Blaze when I get the chance.” Before I could even argue, Blaze picked me up by the scruff of my neck and carried me off. Murk followed…

You know, being buried in two magical fox things’ fluffy set of tails is really nice. It doesn’t do much to stop nightmares, or stop dreamwalking ex girlfriends.

Author's Note

I was originally going to tack on the invasion scene in the last chapter, but figured having more of a chapter dedicated specifically towards it and the new appearance of Muk fit better. Lemme know how it was, if it sucked, if it sucked butt, or if it was good. thank you for reading...

Next chapter, two assholes may or may not use dream walking to try and pinpoint where Ostri is.