#like this is the only way to get through stormbringer at least kind of well so i know in my heart of hearts they won’t do it

[invidiia]

[BSD] albatross x reader // embarrassing favors

❐ - albatross (bsd) with a reader who got their period

note ; first non yandere post on my blog so far, actually. i just saw the cutest reddit story ever through a tiktok soo here it is!! ohhh, and the people in that story got married by the way!! been married for over 10 years, and i almost started sobbing it was sooo cute!!!

prompt ; the reader realizes they accidentally bled through their pants while a meeting took place.

warning ; crack/fluff, reader in albatross not yet dating, flag!reader, blood cuz of periods and all, afab reader, chuuya's just not mentioned/pre stormbringer??

masterlist - rules - previous work

well.. this sucked.

after quickly excusing yourself from a meeting and rushing into the port mafia's washrooms as soon as you felt what you think you felt, it turned out you were right. not only were you right, but there was blood on your clothing, too.

thankfully no one else at the meeting noticed, but it didn't help a whole lot, considering there was still a red stain adorning your clothes.

there were almost no options. you could maybe go to doc, the medical supervisor of the group, which wasn't that bad of an idea. although, you'd have to go back into the meeting room, and the blood would be obvious. plus, you kind of avoided talking to doc, and the rest of the flags.

not that they were scary or anything.. but they were. lippman and albatross made an effort to speak with you, and sometimes even piano man spoke to you. doc often commented on your words or actions, sometimes annoyingly, but never spoke to you much. iceman never spoke to you or commented on anything, always laying low, but he didn't seem like a bad guy.

but instead of thinking about how you felt about your peers, why don't you think instead about your current situation? maybe it could be worse, because at least nobody saw.

maybe you could ask a female member of the mafia? but no one else was in this part of the building, only the rest of the flags and a few others. you had no idea who those others were, but there was good chance it wasn't a female member, soo..

you were in the bathroom for well over five minutes. you spent most of that time peeking down the hall, waiting for a female member to walk over so you could wave them down and ask for help. after minutes passed by, no one came. maybe it was better none than the worst, right? at least it wasn't someone loud and talkative, or ---

"y/nnnn! helloo?" a voice sang out.

okay, maybe you were wrong. it was someone loud and talkative. albatross. you hid behind the door and got out of his sight, but unluckily for you, the door was loud, and he noticed. "wait, don't close the door! what's wrong? why were you gone so long?" he was a little late, so the door already closed, but it didn't stop him from leaning against the door and yelling out to you. "hello? what's wrong?"

you hid behind the door and spoke, "i am begging you, please go get another girl from the other side of the building." you muttered through the door separating you two. "no way, piano man is gonna get pissed at me if i take any longer! can't you tell me what's wrong?" god, how screwed could you get?

"please? it's really important, he'd probably understand if he knew." not that you had any intention of telling him, but you just needed albatross to call a female member for help. "why can't you tell me? come out!" you peeked your head outside the door again, keeping your lower half hidden for obvious reasons. "oh.. you need that?"

you sighed in frustration and relief, or maybe a mix of the two. a part of you hoped he knew what you were talking about. "what is 'that'?"

"you know! ..that." albatross continued, not being clear with you at all. in a frustrated sigh of annoyance, you nodded rapidly and hoped he knew, because at this point, you didn't care. "okay, okay, hang on, i have one!" you looked at him confused. he had one? he didn't really strike you as the type of guy who kept feminine products on him at any time.

and then he pulled it out. 'it' being a safety pin. albatross handed you the safety pin from his pocket. "...what am i supposed to do with this?"

"...close it up?" he shrugged, just as puzzled as you were. was he serious?? did he expect you to use a safety pin? "with all due respect, how the hell am i going to do that?!" you whisper yelled, trying not to make loud noise down the empty hallway.

"you don't know how to use a safety pin? it's easy..?" albatross looked at you weird, taking back the pin back and messing with it in his hands. "i thought your clothes ripped or something. isn't that what you meant?"

oh. this dumbass.

"you idiot, no! i need something else! not that!" you resisted the urge to smack him, instead facepalming. "it's a girl's thing! that's why i asked you to call a female member!" albatross just watched you facepalm, feeling guilty and clueless for bringing you a safety pin. he actually understood what you needed now - considering the look of realization on his face was priceless. maybe not at the moment, but looking back on it later, it'd definitely be something to laugh at.

"..oh! okay, i'm sorry, i had no idea you meant that!" you could see his eyes widen under his tinted glasses. now he knew. "i'll be right back, i think i know what to do..?" and before you could say another word, he ran off, leaving you in the bathroom by yourself again. you had to admit, you appreciated his efforts.

and two minutes later, you heard footsteps growing louder, and then knocking at the door. "y/nn, come out please, i have your thing!" you laughed to yourself out of relief, and peeked back outside to see albatross with a first-aid kit in one hand and a pad in the other. "i took the whole kit and found it," he explained, his hand shaking while he handed it to you. "here, take it."

"why's your hand shaking?" you asked him, gratefully taking the pad from his hand and putting it in your pocket for the meantime. "i've never touched one before..?" it was funny, seeing him distressed over holding the product. you laughed, turning to go back inside and close the door.

"wait! y/n," albatross stopped you, and you turned around. "here, take this to cover up, you know.." he shrugged off his jacket, handing it to you while looking away. "thank you, albatross." you smiled at him, returning to go do what you needed to.

two minutes passed, and you were about to walk out. it was a little weird, because you never heard him leave. you opened the door, and there he was, waiting. he saw your puzzled face, basically reading your mind and proceeded to answer the question he knew you were about to ask. "i figured i could walk you back to the room..?"

"sure," you smiled at him, starting to walk down the hallway and back to the room where you excused yourself from earlier.

of course, you got a scolding from piano man, but you didn't care all too much. it was hard to focus on his words when your mind was on albatross. and his eyes were on you.

[cousticks]

I saw you talk about the colonel and. Can I ask if you have thoughts on the ability users that fought against verlaine? I find them all so fascinating, despite the fact they really weren't around for long.

I think they're all so interesting!! Let me see how many of them I remember off the top of my head.

Obv we have the Colonel and his earth-moving ability, and we know he survived Stormbringer, but I just think he was a really interesting guy from what little we know about him. Its in the Dead Apple Prequel event from Bungo Mayoi so take it with a grain of salt, but Chuuya and Dazai both seemed a little personally upset that the Colonel was killed. Sure, we didn't see much of him, but I kind of think of him as a jolly great-uncle type of guy that would have had one of those really full-bodied laughs when telling old stories from the Great War to his colleagues in mafia-owned bars. Like, he was certainly a powerful ability user, its a shame we didn't see more of him.

I think the only other ability user from that battle that got a name was Karen, the one with the frost ability. If I'm remembering correctly, she was pretty out of it, and only really did anything when she was told? I'd love to know more about her and why she was that way, only acting when given orders. She has to have an interesting backstory somewhere, right? Right?? And the range of her ability was quite impressive, too. She has to have some kind of personality to her in off-times though, which means she can't wholly be a weapon to aim and not much else, but I understand why she's not an executive if she doesn't really think for herself despite her powerful ability. I think she survived as well? Or at least survived the Brutalization phase, lord knows what happened once Guivre was activated.

I can't mention Karen without mentioning the Time-Wielding ability user, since he died shoving her out of the way of an attack. If he was included in the wet cat poll going around I think he'd have a fighting chance, because god this guy was miserable. Technically we have the most backstory on him, just because he mentions right off the bat that his family was killed by time. Parents, I'm sure this was old age, possibly, but he also mentions the death of a sibling if I remember correctly. I can't help but wonder what that time-related death was. Something running out of time? A terminal disease? Can't be sure, but I feel like its different. I find this guy really interesting even though we only see him for a brief moment, because for one second he isn't so gloomy, and that's trying to save Karen. Despite how gloomy he is, clearly he hadn't given up on forming attachments yet (this is also why I think Karen is more than a blank slate, the time guy saw her as something worth saving!). That, and his ability itself is rather rare, as time-based abilities are incredibly powerful and the only other one we know of is H.G. Wells from 55 minutes, but hers operates completely differently. He had soooooooo much interesting potential and its a shame he died, even though it was protecting someone! What a way to go.

The only other one I remember off the top of my head that we saw any true personality of was the guy with the keyhole ability that died getting sucked through his little viewport. Gosh, his was fun. It also kind of reminded me of Nikolai's ability in passing? I don't know anything about this little keyhole guy off in the control room, but I would bet money that he and Albatross got along fucking great because they were both absolutely ridiculous. I'd like to see what that guy came up with on April Fools day, because he had the personality and ability to cause some real havoc.

That's the really cool thing about these characters. We only saw them for an instant, but in such a short time we saw enough of who they were to remember them and form some opinions. I'd love to someday see Ango-style files written on them as bonus content or something, just to see what's left to say. They all had such interesting abilities and so much potential. And again, in theory, at least Karen may have still been alive. I can't help but wonder if, if she made it, she also had to fight her ability during Dead Apple, and if she survived it (or held it off long enough for the others to defeat Shibusawa). I almost doubt her ability to simply because of her thing with following orders, but there's certainly a chance. If she is still alive, I hope she pops up again some day.

[sparklingchan]

Chapter 3|| Stormbringer- Stray Kids Demigod AU

Pairing : Reader(fem.) X Felix

Word count : 3.3k+

Warnings : A fight scene but it’s just practice XD

Genre : Romance, Demigod AU, fluff, angst.

Description: An unexpected incident brings you closer to Felix, but there’s one person who’s not very excited about this blossoming friendship. 

A/N : Things start getting interesting from here *insert the moon face emoji* Enjoy!

SERIES MASTERLIST ||  Click here for introduction to the story and glossary and here for the Stray Kids demigod diaries!

"A near miss, y/n."  Felix whispers in his deep, raspy voice sending shivers  through your entire body.

You blink awkwardly at him for a few seconds before he gets off of you and offers you his hand to help you stand up.

You hear the Aphrodite girls whispering behind you, giggling.

"I'm sorry, I wasn't paying attention." Your eyes are looking everywhere but at Felix, the heat from your cheeks making your whole face warm.

"It's alright, " he chuckles, "Are you hurt anywhere?" His freckles look even more gorgeous up close, his toothy smiles reminds you of bright skies and beaches and picnics and fresh fruits. And when the warm afternoon sunlight falls on his eyes, his brown orbs turn into a gentler shade of golden. Breathtaking.

"You're beautiful." You blurt out, involuntarily,  loud and clear so everyone hears you. A loud chorus of gasps run throughout the dining hall.

And you decide to run away back to your cabin with the little dignity you had left of yourself.

And there you are, once again thinking back to yesterday's events while polishing your precious arrow heads as you sit on the Zeus cabin's verandah.

You sigh, "It was the Aphrodite effect, right? It has to be!"

You've been pep talking to yourself all morning long, making up excuses for the way you behaved yesterday. You're too embarrassed to face your friends or the other people at camp.

"I mean he is good looking, but why did I say it out loud. Does he have powers? Like that of Hyunjin? Maybe he can charmspeak. Yes! That's probably it!" You mutter to yourself.

(a/n: Charmspeak is a rare type of hypnotic ability that Aphrodite kids possess)

Or perhaps he'd induced a new sense of adoration in you, like how Aphrodite kids usually can. But then again, they cannot actually induce these feelings. They can only manipulate them which means they'd have to exist in the first place.

You put the arrow back into it's case.

"Ugh!" You let out a loud groan, covering your face with your palms.

The image that you'd spent years to portray in front of everyone is all destroyed in the blink of an eye. Now no one's going to respect you as an only child of the Big Three, they're going to see you as a girl who gets smitten easily and not as the headstrong person you always acted like.

All because of that Lee Felix!

(a/n: big three refers to the three major Greek gods namely Poseidon, Zeus and Hades)

You stand up from the floor, not being able to handle the bombardment of thoughts in your mind, and decide that practicing sword fighting is the right thing to now.

So you find yourself making your way from behind the Athena cabin (where you can clearly hear Seungmin and another Athena kid debating over mortal politics) and then through the Jasmine fields that Apollo personally tends to and down the hill to the weapon practice arena.

"Hey, y/n."

Oh no, no no no.

Why is it that when you are trying to avoid a person that exact person is the one who keeps popping up everywhere? Why is it, you tell me, that Lee Felix happens to be in the practice arena just when you arrive there?

The Gods must be having a nice laughter up there, especially your father Zeus.

"H-hey!" You try to reply with fake enthusiasm.

He has his bronze sword in his right hand while he jogs up to you, his messy blonde hair shining like the sun.

"Did you sleep well?"

No, you hadn't.

"Yes, I did." You laugh awkwardly, "Slept wonderfully."

Felix laughs back, eyes hooded with a hint of shyness that hadn't existed till yesterday afternoon.

He tucks his bottom lip in between his teeth, "Hey, um about what you said yesterday-"

"Do you wanna duel with me?"

If you cannot escape him, you might as well divert his attention.

He looks at you like you'd just punched him in the face. His smile threatening to disappear any moment.

And that’s when you realise asking him to duel with you might not have been the brightest ideas, and not to mention how you'd called him beautiful in front a hundred other demigods last afternoon.

"I'd love to!" He replies, with an excited voice, "Swords?"

You open your mouth to reply, but only air slips out so you subtly nod. He doesn't have to know you're a nervous mess that's lowkey about to pass out.

You walk up to the armory and grab the first sword that you lay eyes on. Truth be told, a sword wasn't really the best choice of weapon for you. It's always been a bow and arrow for you. Bows make you feel at control, like you know what you're doing and you'd always been good at archery, without even trying to.

"Do you not have a sword of your own?" Felix asks almost as if reading your mind.

"No, I don't. Actually I'm more of an archer." You admit.

"Ah, of course. I remember how you killed that Cetus in a single shot. I must say, I was very impressed."

Your cheeks heat up at his compliment. It's not like people haven't complimented your archery skills before - they have, in fact they do it all the time yet you wonder why is it so much more meaningful to you when coming from Felix. Has your biggest fear finally come true?

You shake your head mentally, no, it cannot be.

"Thanks. You're not very bad with your sword either."

Felix acknowledges your compliment with a smile. He then stands up straight, the sword in his right and bows gently, a silly smile playing at his lips.

"Oh we're following the courtesies?" You whisper to yourself, copying his actions.

The both of you stand facing each other, a silent understanding flowing between the two of you while you take your dueling positions.

You expect him to attack first but he doesn't; instead he watches you with a smirk, as if trying to make you flustered.

(It was working but you'd rather never say that out loud)

So he attacks first. He aims his sword near your abdomen but you quickly jump to defend yourself, blocking his attack with your sword. The metallic clang of your swords ringing throughout the otherwise quiet arena. He stumbles back, a surprised gasp leaving his lips as your sword brushes swiftly past his neck while he's still catching his breath, barely touching him though. 

Of course, hurting the opponent isn’t the aim here. Disarming them is.

"She's not bad with the sword." He thinks to himself, a little proud.

He then retorts back, swinging his sword right in front of your face, missing by merely an inch.

Your heart does a backflip, both out of excitement and fear.

You don't waste a second, gaining back your balance, thrusting your sword in the space between his arm and abdomen. Your sword clash together as you try to push his sword back with yours, yet this time he resists, putting in all his energy to make you loose your grip on the sword.

And it seems to have worked because the next moment, he sees you losing your strength, your face scrunched in concentration as you let out a few grunts. He takes a single step towards you while applying more force on your sword with his, and there goes your sword, falling onto the ground gracefully, like a martyred soldier.

"Do you accept defeat, miss y/n?" Felix teases through laboured breaths and you only have enough energy to roll your eyes at him, hitting his arm in response.

Felix passes you back your sword, as he walks over to the bench and slumps down.

Your body is too tired to worry about Felix bringing up yesterday's incident, so you follow him and sit by his side. Neither of you say anything, your fanning breaths and thumping hearts and the buzzing of insects are the only sounds in the arena. You'd never experienced this kind of peacefulness in the camp before, at least not unless you were by yourself.

When you recover from your momentary exhaustion, you look over at Felix and softly begin, "I was wondering..."

He glances at you with a smile.

Does he ever stop smiling?

"I was wondering...since Hyunjin already told you about the game, would you like to be my partner for the capture the flag game next week? I usually go with Minho but he's a referee this time." You say.

He is taken aback for a second - mostly because he'd never thought someone as cool as you would ask him to be your partner. Team games are very important in camps and its important  to make sure that the teammates do not turn out to be poor players. It somehow makes Felix very happy that you'd have such faith in him despite having known him for only two days.

He nods, "I'd be honored to do that."

Your heart beats furiously as you suck in a deep breath, "It's a deal then."

Gosh y/n, what has gotten into you!

*

You decide to take the longer route back.

Felix left early after finishing the duel so you spent the next hour practicing Archery alone before deciding to head back to your cabin.

Your thoughts are all over the place as it is, but the quietness of the woods help you to sort things out with yourself. You feel rather uncomfortable, experiencing emotions that you'd not felt in a long time, past insecurities and memories fighting their way back from the dungeons you'd locked them up in. This was ridiculous, wasn't it? How Felix comes out of nowhere and just flips everything up?

The sun rays fall on you from the gaps between the tree branches and as you listen to the birds chirp around you, you start to slowly hum to their tune.

"Wow, who hurt you, y/n?" A male voice calls you from behind, the sound of leaves getting crushed under a pair of hooves indicate the approaching entity.

"No one hurt me, Eden."

Eden is still as handsome as ever, you wonder to yourself everytime you return to the camp, with a sturdy upper body and beautiful grey eyes and two strong goat limbs instead of normal human legs, yet he's so much more alluring than any satyr you'd ever seen. (Then again, maybe you're just biased because he’s also your childhood friend) He flashes you a handsome smile and you immediately pray to the gods that he doesn't see you blush.

(a/n: Satyrs, also known as Fauns by Romans, are creatures with the upper body of a man and the lower body of a goat as well as goat horns, and the pointed ears of a goat. )

"What's up." He stands in front of you and kisses you softly on the head, "I had gone out yesterday so I couldn't come see you. Hope you didn't miss me too much."

You hit his chest, "You're so full of yourself, goat-boy." You continue walking back towards your cabin, Eden following right behind.

"Woahh. Using Minho's nicknames now, are we?" He snickers, "One of the kids told me that you had a little hormonal outburst last afternoon?"

An embarrassed sigh leaves you lips. The camp kids really couldn't miss out on one day of gossip now could they?

"I don't wanna talk about it." You mutter as yesterday's events flash into your mind. Felix, his face, his voice and your words. Oh God.

"Hey, no judgment here, okay? If you like the new Aphrodite boy then I support you. Do you want me to play wingman?"

You turn around and smack his chest once again. "I do not like him." Yet.

"Okay, okay. I get it." His tone falls serious, "Anyway  I heard about Poseidon's trident. It scared me, I won't lie. Something as powerful as that trident has never been forged in a millennia. And I can only imagine how powerful one has to be steal it. Are you sure only nine demigods are enough to find it?"

"It has to be, Eden." You say, "We don't have too many options. It's either this or we all drown and die or get killed by a monster. I'd like to choose the former."

Eden nods at your words, patting your head encouragingly.

You are about to speak up again when your eyes fall on a woman sitting on a log of wood just a few meters ahead of you.

"Is that one of the Aphrodite girls?" You whisper to Eden, only for him to shake his head in response.

The woman sits with her back facing you, a beautiful white dress adorning her small skinny frame and her brown hair tied in a tidy floral braid. Either the woman is a daughter of Aphrodite's or a Nymph, you conclude.

Without thinking much, you approach her, "Um, hello? May I know who you are?"

A startled gasp escapes your mouth when the woman turns around and looks at you with a very familiar smile playing at her lips - you'd grown up seeing that smile on Hyunjin and very recently on Felix. It's the very same smile, a Xerox copy of it.

"Aphrodite?" You mutter and she nods in response.

"Hello, y/n. Mind if I have a word with you?"

*

"So you were out with y/n? Dueling?" Changbin asks for the umpteenth time this morning, his usually playful eyes now focused seriously on Felix's body language.

"Yes, Changbin," Felix groans, lying flat on his fluffy bed, "Can you stop making a big deal out of it?"

Chan chuckles at the conversation, his eyes though focused on the book in front of him but his ears are on his two best friends' conversation. Chan knew Changbin wasn't the kind to trust people easily, especially Zeus' children so it's not surprising of him to be suspicious about you but what does come as a surprise to Chan is how oddly giggly Felix has been since last afternoon. After that awkward encounter with you. Could it be that Felix..?

"Do you like Zeus' daughter?" Changbin asks even before Chan can finish his line of  thought.

Felix's eyes widen, but the tips of his ears are bright red, "Dude I just met her. Can you not act like a love guru out of the blue?"

"Hey, you're the love expert here. Literally. So, I should be expecting a better answer from you, no?"

"No, I do not like her. Okay?" Felix groans, "But she did ask me to be her partner for the game next week and I'm telling you beforehand Seo Changbin, do not say or assume anything that would make her uncomfortable. "

The warning comes off as rather cute to Chan since he’s always seen the Aphrodite kid as his little brother while Changbin finds his words a tad bit alarming. A Zeus kid is not to be trusted this easily.

"Fine." Changbin mutters, his lips pressing into a thoughtful line, "But just be careful because  I - "

"Don't trust the Children of Zeus easily, yeah we know. Come on, Bin. Let him have some fun and make new friends. You should do it, too. We're not on our own anymore." Chan pipes in to save Felix this time and Felix secretly sends a thankful wink to him in return.

"Okay, okay." Changbin gives in.

The door to Felix's room creaks ever so slightly and the three of them turn their heads in anticipation of who it might be.

"Hey. Sorry to disturb you guys but we're being called for dinner." Hyunjin says, still getting used to having three new demigods around in the camp.

Chan closes his book, "Oh, come on, Hyunjin. You're not disturbing us. Come on in."

Felix gets up to greet his half brother with a fist bump and when he stands beside Hyunjin, the two older guys find it hilarious how terribly small he looks. Almost like Hyunjin were his father.

Felix almost as if reads their minds and narrows their eyes at them, "Dinner is ready guys. Can we move?"

"Shortie." Hyunjn whispers incoherently and makes a run towards the door.

"Hey, come back here you piece of -" Felix dashes right after him.

Changbin and Chan chuckle at their tactics, a foreign feeling of calmness settling between them. "This feels like home, Chan. We're finally home." Changbin admits, almost emotionally.

"Yes, Bin." Chan adds, "And I hope we never have to leave again."

*

"Aphrodite said what now?"

You sigh, running your index finger mindlessly along the lines of the wooden dinner table.

"She wants us to take the new demigods with us to find Poseidon's trident. Especially Felix." You look at your friends, "And she asked me to specifically visit the island of Sicily when we go on the quest. I asked her why but she said she doesn't know it herself."

Hyunjin grunts, almost irritated, "Y/n, I don't know how much you can trust my mother. She's known to cause drama for her own entertainment. "

Well, you do agree with what Hyunjin says but you cannot deny that Aphrodite didn't seem like she was purposely creating drama this time.

"Listen, y/n, you have to go to The island of Sicily. It will lead you to the trident, trust me." She whispers as if she is afraid of someone overhearing your conversation, "Take Felix with you. You'll need him. He'll need you."

You shudder at the memory of her unusually spooky tone.

"What do you think, dad?" Jisung turns to Apollo who has ever so naturally claimed a spot at your usual dinner table tonight, "Do you think we should let new demigods on a quest?"

"I don't think Aphrodite is playing this time. We should listen to her." He taps his finger against his chin, deep in thought, "We need as many people as we can get."

"Well, yeah. That makes sense." Minho says and you nod, "Yeah, Eden can talk to the three boys. He's always been good at all that."

The lack of protests from your friends indicate their approval and after talking about the quest for a few more minutes, Apollo leaves your table.

"So," Jisung chimes in as soon as his father is out of sight, "Our Y/n has been dueling with Lee Felix?"

You let out an exasperated growl, "Oh God, Jisung! It was just today!"

Jisung snickers and sticks out his tongue, rendering your words useless. Minho raises an eyebrow at your banter while the other boys giggle, "Eden tells me you are already smitten."

Eden! God, that Eden, you mentally vow to punch that smirk off of Eden's face the next time you see him. Why does he keep pushing ridiculous ideas into other people's head!

"I'm not smitten -"

"Who are you talking about?"

Your blood runs dry.

Please tell me Felix didn't just overhear this one conversation which includes me having a crush on him.

"Hey, Lix." Hyunjin laughs, "Took you three long enough to get here  I went to your room like an hour ago."

Felix rubs the back of his neck, guilty, "Changbin spilled water on my favorite sweatshirt. "

A short guy - probably Changbin - slaps Felix's back. "Ouch!"

"Liar!" Felix rolls his eyes, turning to speak with you, "Anyway, y/n, I'm assuming you're the only to not have met my brothers yet."

"Yeah, i think so." You reply with a small smile.

Felix pats the back of the two boys on his right and left respectively. "Chan, Changbin, meet y/n, she's Zeus' daughter and y/n, meet Chan, he's Poseidon's son and Changbin - Ares' son."

Oh wow that is a new combination.

The guy introduced as Chan has a kind smile and messy brown hair while the Changbin dude has jet black hair and very intimidating eyes. He looks up and down your form, as if checking whether you were worth being Felix's friend - vibe checking, if you may.

"Hi, I'm y/n."

With the introductions done and dinner served, your group of old and new friends enjoy this peaceful evening together. The loud laughs and sassy remarks and friendly banters make you feel somewhat calm, but a part of you knows this isn't for long.

It’s like the calm before the storm.

"So, are we meeting for practice tomorrow too?" Felix whispers into your ears when he finds the others too indulged in conversation.

Your heart picks up its pace but you manage to nod with pink cheeks, "Yes. Same time as today."

A few seats away from you, Changbin overhears your conversation and decides that he doesn't really like you.

*

Taglist: @chogiwow​@ctrlaltfangirl​@blueprint-han​@whattaweeb​@bigskzz​@judewalid​@kpopssuregi​@crispy-chan​@cookielino​@rebelspy​@persassystilinski@stayctday​@charlieshelves​

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[leonawriter]

My Personal Takes on Stormbringer:

Without a full and accurate translation to go through in one sitting, it’s still hard to get a handle on things properly. That said, thank you to everyone who’s working on it. 

Now.

(please note all quotes are my memory of translations I have read, and are not verbatim.)

-Asagiri, please, you do not need to make so many coding analogies with regards to Chuuya and Verlaine. They don’t work.

-It often feels - not just in this book but also in 55 Minutes, where there are tight restrictions on a time travel ability - that Asagiri limits abilities based on how scientifically accurate they are. However, this doesn’t make sense! why should it! Literature should be an expression of freedom. There should be rules - the same way the Page has rules - but in the sense of Magic A is Magic A. You make up the rules and then you don’t break them in future. Why have Kunikida able to create something with a mass heavier than a piece of paper out of a page of his notebook, but then say you can’t do [x/y/z] because it’s scientifically unviable?

-I have no issue with how skk treat each other. they are chaos teens. let them be. like... this is the beginning of their actual trust. they’re also in the mafia, and in a dark time in their lives. it’s fine. (it isn’t, but at the same time, it kinda is.)

-I feel like Chuuya taking things from other people and making that thing “his” fits him as a character? he had nothing before, so when you have nothing, all you have is what people give you. If someone gives him a bike, then that bike is his now. He has to learn to look after it, love it, and respect it, and he’ll remember that friend by it. Same goes for pretty much anything else. Also, it’s a show of how well Chuuya adapts to things, and what things he chooses to pick up.

-The hat. I do not like how the hat was treated. Making it into the key that helps Chuuya be able to activate Corruption cheapens the meaning and weight of having been given the hat as a memento of the first person who told him to live as a human being. Why not have the hat be a reminder of his humanity in a purely sentimental way? I’m going to ignore anything canon about this and just say it’s sentimental. Which, like, it could have been a safety blanket type thing, not pseudo-science.

-The coding in Chuuya’s body is a bit... of a reach? How do you put that in there? I don’t get it. Just say that there’s a possibility he might die if he uses Corruption, or that he’ll never become “Chuuya” again. That he’d lose himself utterly. The log history can be either on a chip (insert Dazai making “lost dog, if found return to the mafia” jokes here) or on something else that could easily be destroyed during the course of the story (or not).

-Dazai living in the shipping container reads to me like an extreme version of “I do not want to be found I do not want to be helped I am worthless trash and what’s the point in having an actual home if I plan on dying any day anyway.” Verlaine asks what drove him there, and Dazai says “you” and tbh that offers up so many questions (like, was the shipping container thing recent, was it temporary, or what). There’s the possibility that Dazai doesn’t always live there, because otherwise he’d suffer from hypothermia and get pneumonia in the winter! But above all, Mori had nothing to do with this. He was probably terrified to go too close in case he got killed. Stop saying Dazai lives here because “poor baby was abused :(” that sure was not it.

-Dazai goes all this way - plotting for ages, since before the beginning of the book, having been number one on Verlaine’s hit list, just to get the truth about Chuuya’s humanity and to preserve it - because “I want to see Chuuya suffer as a human being” is him saying he doesn’t want to see Chuuya become like him, or inhuman, because that’s not Chuuya. (dude, there ain’t a straight explanation for this...)

-following on from the previous, Dazai refusing to just let things be the moment he realises that it’d mean double suiciding with Chuuya. I personally see that as a shippy moment because Dazai had already given up on Chuuya being alive (if I read the translation right) and in that case, dying would just be letting go. But Mori says “yeah but I don’t think he’s dead yet?” and that, along with the “double suicide” thing, makes Dazai go “absolutely NOT.”

OK a related thing - as far as I remember, when IRL Dazai attempted double suicide, right up until his actual death it would result in either a failure or... his partner dying and him surviving. The cold potential of this happening in BSD if Dazai had just given up reminded me of that.

-Regardless of my thoughts on how it was handled, Stormbringer reinforced my previous ideas about how Chuuya basically IS Arahabaki. It also suggests that Arahabaki was more of a sentient ability than a true “god” but... that’s fine. For me, all I cared about was that all those “Arahabaki is an evil being that is constantly trying to take over Chuuya and Corruption is Arahabaki being let out” takes are not true. It’s... basically Chuuya taking the lid off his power. I joked at one point that Corruption is Chuuya going “I’m so pissed off I’m gonna kick the door open and throw away the key” and Dazai going “go for it babe, I got your key.”

-Rimbaud and Verlaine are... very complicated characters? They’re not easy to get a handle on. I sometimes find myself liking them and sometimes find myself disliking them, and that’s something that’ll be easier when I have a full translation available - and one of Fifteen. Rimbaud was held back by seeing Chuuya, at first, as nothing more than an empty vessel to Arahabaki’s power, while Verlaine was so taken over by grief without understanding how to handle that, that he became a monster up until the end of the story. Neither of them were good people. That said, their relationship to each other? It’s very complicated and reminds me of their IRL selves to a point but without the skeevy nature and without it going so far, so kudos to that.

-Adam. Knowing his creator was a ten year old girl makes so much sense when you look at the things he says and does. He doesn’t get so much. He’s very logical, but doesn’t understand that a game of billiards isn't as much of an icebreaker as he thinks it should be. Surprised by bubble gum. Games like “strange things humans do” are very much like the word games kids play in the car. 

-Verlaine being the fifth executive was something I did not predict at all, whatsoever, and I can’t stop thinking about it. Like... how did he get to that point. Only so much can be said in a few paragraphs (it seems) of “this is [x] number of years in the future where Chuuya’s an executive now.” 

The last we see of him, he’s overcome by grief, hatless, and he seems to have only just realised how much he wished he could return what Rimbaud gave to him. (Ironically, by being able to grieve like that, it shows that he is capable of what he thinks he can’t do - same as Dazai.)

But how does he become an executive? Do they come to him slowly at first, and they gradually build up trust? Does he stay in contact with Chuuya? Do they see each other properly as brothers now, or not? I can’t help but feel that as it’s a long time - six years, in fact - between Stormbringer and canon, some bond of trust must have been built. The mafia protects Verlaine from the authorities and from the outside world just the same as Kouyou says that she wants to do for Kyouka, and the same as they’re there for Chuuya, too. So. A Verlaine who trains the mafia’s best assassins not because he’s forced into it, but because he feels the same loneliness as Chuuya, and finds that it helps? A Verlaine who learns slowly that he can care about more people than just Rimbaud and Chuuya? Holy shit yes please. A Verlaine who is loyal and protective and who you should be glad is in a (probably) gilded prison of the mafia’s basement, because otherwise he would actually do so many things to those who would harm his family.

Let’s just say - if I think of Arahabaki as a guardian or protector god who is just plain destructive because it can’t help that, then Chuuya and Verlaine looking and acting in similar ways because they share that same “parent” in a sense, makes sense. They are no longer just Arahabaki, they’re “Chuuya” and “Verlaine” - but they also share traits such as “Papa Wolf” and “lonely” and “violent,” among others.

-At least twice, pre-Soukoku Dazai and Chuuya refer to how they’re constantly thinking of each other. No, they don’t mean in positive ways, but they’re chaos teens and it’s still strong emotion. Chuuya mentions how he’s thought of at least 190 ways to punish Dazai for the things that he does (which also implies how their relationship is equal, and Dazai doesn’t call all the shots, and doesn’t get away with everything scot-free), and Dazai says that Verlaine can’t possibly win against him, because Dazai “spends all of his time, waking and sleeping, thinking of ways to annoy and harass Chuuya,” (quote not perfect.) 

We also have Chuuya having Dazai appear to him first in his hallucinations, which I see as Chuuya’s inner Dazai-voice saying all the worst things, and ironically not actually saying or meaning things that would get across what real Dazai would want him to feel; in other words, that’s Chuuya’s view of him, or his mind searching for the one person he’d believe it to realistically come from.

As well, Dazai saying “there’s no way Chuuya could be an artificially constructed personality, because no one could create a personality that I [hate/that annoys me] so much.” Which, like... sure... you tell yourself that, kid...

Basically, they’re all the kinds of things that teenagers who don’t really get how strong feelings like these work yet, who are still figuring themselves (and their orientations, probably) out, would say if they don’t even like that other person that much, but they’re still attracted to them. A strong “why does it have to be THEM?” haha. And yet, as others have pointed out, Chuuya seems more on the oblivious side than Dazai, since as said, Dazai goes to all this effort and seems fond (but only when Chuuya’s not looking, dumbass) but Chuuya just... doesn’t get it.

A shorter summary of my thoughts and feelings?

Chuuya suffers, but is ultimately happier for it no matter whether he’s one of the clones or whether he’s the original (it’s arguable either way, and I don’t mind either way) as he’s still Chuuya. His bond with the mafia is also stronger than so many people think it is. They’re literally his adopted family. Even if he chose to leave, he’d still see them as family. I can’t see him leaving. He’s just... they’re family... don’t tear them apart...

The skk is strong, no matter what people say, because this is the start and it’s the end of their first year in the mafia and it’s not supposed to be a healthy time, for fuck’s sake. They’re both all sorts of messed up. They’re allowed to be. This is a time when that’s kinda the point of the book. But yeah, the trust and the bond is real.

Verlaine. I am now fascinated by Verlaine. I was so sure before the spoilers and translations came out that I’d hate him. I no longer do. He confuses me but I NEED TO KNOW MORE. 

[thanksjro]

All Hail Megatron #15: Dang Bro, That Sure is a Redeemable Dude Right There

So, before we get into Season 2 of MTMTE, I thought it would be prudent to take a gander at all the stuff Megatron’s gotten done in the IDW publications. Y’know, for plot reasons. And also because of this little nugget of info I found forever ago:

Of course, just jumping straight into the 15th issue of a run isn’t going to give me a proper understanding of what happens narratively, so here is a very brief rundown of the events of AHM #1-14.

First thing I see- cover with Megatron holding the American flag in one hand and Optimus Prime’s head on a fucking pike in the other.

Shane McCarthy wrote several issues of this run. So expect some Empire of Stone vibes.

2009 Josh Burcham appears to not know how to color black people’s skin. I have no idea if he’s improved on this deficiency in his skills, but a person can hope.

Megatron kills a literal skyscraper’s worth of people. (was that allowed in 2009? I thought we were still being weird about that sort of thing back then, with 9/11 and all.)

A fighter pilot looks at a photograph of his significant other. This is how you know he’s going to die.

Megatron slaps a plane so hard it explodes, and then laughs about it. While all this is happening, Optimus is fucking dying on Cybertron. This makes Jazz very upset.

What seems like the entire goddamn US military is called in to deal with this intergalactic terrorist attack.

The Decepticons destroy all the bridges and tunnels connected to NYC.

Los Angeles and San Diego are also under attack.

Estimated 200K people dead. This is issue #3.

Megatron holds all of NYC hostage.

The Decepticons annihilate a destroyer-class warship.

San Francisco and Washington D.C. are overtaken.

Air Force One has been destroyed.

Megatron acts like an asshole to Starscream.

The Decepticons attack all of the United States.

The President of the United States is dead.

Megatron ripped the Matrix out of Optimus’ chest.

The shit that’s happening to America is also happening at all the other Autobot outposts.

This is also about the time that Overlord starts his terrorizing of Garrus 9.

Megatron says that the destruction of those weaker than himself is a “reward”.

Megatron doesn’t believe in the sanctity of life.

Beijing and Israel are destroyed by the Decepticons.

Megatron commissioned the Insecticons as beings of pure torment, for reasons.

Megatron commissions Bombshell to do some really fucked up shit to Hunter O’Nion.

Megatron waits around for Starscream to Starscream it up, then beats the everloving shit out of his employees.

Megatron doesn’t believe in an academic approach to warfare, for some reason.

Megatron’s totally cool with NYC getting nuked.

Megatron was planning on reprogramming his troops into being nice fellas once he beat the Autobots.

Megatron believes in ownership in those beneath him. He’s completely convinced that anyone in the Decepticon forces is essentially his property.

Megatron knees Optimus below the belt. That’s just poor sportsmanship.

The only reason Megatron survives a gunshot to the face is that he messed with Starscream’s head earlier in the day.

Thundercracker caught a nuclear bomb, tossed it into the stratosphere, and shot it. I don’t think he realizes that the fallout is still going to spread across the globe.

The Matrix is still in Decepticon hands.

Starscream’s head is in a friggin’ dark-ass place.

Then there’s some stuff setting up Galvatron and Cyclonus’ whole deal, but who cares about that? On to issue #15!

Motherfucker, that’s a Radiohead song-

The proper story of AHM ended with issue #12, and the issues after were split into two separate stories, written by two separate teams, which detailed events taking place after the main story was resolved. A series of epilogue scenes, if you will. We’ll only be looking at the first story, because it’s the only one that’s relevant to what I’m doing here.

Our official writer for “Everything in it’s Right Place” is Nick Roche, who we’ve run into several times over our journey through IDW. A majority of the story beats will be attributed to him, of course, seeing as Roberts was, at the time, only mentioned as assisting, and also not employed by the publishing company.

Our story opens with Prowl getting socked in the face by Springer, because he’s upset that his grandpa has gone AWOL. Perceptor’s also missing, but this isn’t about him. Prowl, whose shins are looking especially shiny today, lets Springer know that they’ve “got Kup back.”

See, once upon a time, Kup was stuck on a little planet called Tsiehshi, where Shockwave was growing one of his ores. Kup became addicted to the… thrall, I guess, of the crystals, and it drove him mad, making him hallucinate that he was being attacked by ghosts. What was actually happening was he was violently murdering his rescuers with his bare hands. When the Autobots finally managed to get him off the planet, he got shipped to Kimia, where the smartest boy in all the galaxy, Brainstorm, could work his science on him.

Guess they don’t call him Brainstorm for noth-

I’m so sorry.

Springer very much dislikes the fact that some dweebs in a lab are poking around in his Pap-pap thinking meat. He’s even less thrilled when he finds out how exactly they fixed said thinking meat.

Kup’s now a Pretender. The Stormbringer miniseries covered this process, and let’s just say, Springer’s got every right to be concerned, considering that the last time someone tried something like this, Cybertron was made completely uninhabitable. They’ve made breakthroughs, however, as Prowl keeps saying. He says it a lot, actually.

This is because Prowl is a bastard, and is also using the Pretender tech to make Kup into something for his own agenda. Which, I hopefully shouldn’t have to tell you, is kind of a shitty thing to do.

Springer is shown footage of Kup kicking some ass, and notices that he’s got something in his mouth. This is his vape rig, full of medicinal marijuana.

Dammit, Prowl, let me make a weed joke! This is because you’re a cop, isn’t it?

Prowl continues to be a complete and utter fucker in his internal monologue until Springer asks to see Grandpa. They head to the lab to find Kup in pieces, though it’s completely medically sound in this case. Kup has a minor absolutely-horrific hallucination, but he’s okay once he gets his cy-gar back.

We get a flashback to Prowl making sure Perceptor put the nasty, nasty bad-time programming into Kup’s head, because he’s sick of losing the war, and a single old man will surely turn the tides. Or, at least, it will when he’s damn charismatic and folks listen to him way more than they do Prowl.

Back in the present, Springer asks that Kup not be told what happened on Tsiehshi, because it’s kind of a major bummer. Prowl reflects on how only the cool kids get paid attention to, and assumes that the Decepticons are a much more organized machine. Clearly he hasn’t heard about how Overlord lives his life.

Anyway, so Kup is now a mouthpiece for Prowl, and he doesn’t even know it. That’s pretty fucked.

So, what have we learned from this experience? Well, even though Roberts didn’t personally assist on the actual Megatron-related portions of AHM, we can see where the character was, and I think that’s far more important than deconstructing Prowl’s whole deal at the moment.

God, I don’t know that redeeming this bastard’s going to be possible, James, but somehow I think you already knew that, given how you’ve written the guy in the past.

Yeah, you fuckin’ thought I forgot about Literally Hitler Megatron, didn’t you?

Well I didn’t.

[sword-dad-fukuzawa]

13, 20, 22 for skk (or skk/sigma if that's your otp!)

YOOO HELLO :D AND YEAH MY OTP IS SIGMA/CHUU/DAZOO BECAUSE I'M ONLY CAPABLE OF RAREPAIR SHIPPING EHE.

Thiiiis is my fic series for them, which I've recently started working on again ;) And oh boy this ask got long, sorry in advance.

OTP Asks

13. Name something they would never do for the other person.

*head in hands* the angst section. It pains me (as it's supposed to, but still.)

Chuuya: Leave the Port Mafia. This man's loyalty is ingrained down to his bones. While I can certainly see him possibly opposing the PM (like freeing Sigma if he got captured, or doing his job badly on purpose if he was ordered to assassinate Sigma, or sabotage if someone else was ordered to assassinate Sigma) I can't see him outright leaving the organization if they asked him to. Note that all those exceptions are for Sigma because he knows Dazai can damn well handle himself (and he also does not believe Dazai can die.)

Sigma: Skip his morning glass of orange juice. He would rather commit a war crime. Sigma's actually a wild card! The one thing he wouldn't do would be to work for Dostoevsky again, but he's very dead in my AU. Sigma's in the very unique place of being willing to do anything for Chuuya and Dazai.

Dazai: Rewind his recovery. He's been through a whole lot to become less of a terrible person, and he's not going back there for anyone. If saving Sigma or Chuuya involved, for example, rejoining the PM, he would find another way.

20. What is a promise they have made to each other?

Dazai and Chuuya have a separate promise that they won't forget the terrible things that they did to each other in the past, but rather, would move on from them. It's kind of an unspoken thing that neither of them use any of those things in fights. I can only see Chuuya breaking this rule if he got very, very drunk and was already incredibly upset. Honestly this was the only way I can see any pairing involving SKK to work oops

The three of them made a promise that they would take things slow though! They're very attached to each other. None of them want to "mess things up."

22. If their lives were what was originally intended at birth, would they have still fallen in love?

This is interesting, considering...Dazai might have been the only member out of the three of them to have been born the normal way. Haven't read Stormbringer though, so I can't say for sure about Chuuya.

Regardless, I can't see Dazai and Chuuya not falling into each other's orbit, not in any universe. There's too much dichotomy there. And Sigma's key personality trait (at least how I interpret him) is that he's deeply curious about the world--and Dazai is the sort of person who has more secrets than sense. I think that they would have still fallen into each other--Dazai and Chuuya with each other, and Sigma with Dazai and then, by extension, finding he and Chuuya get along really well.

Honestly, the reason I really like this rarepair despite me writing a fic for it as a comedy exercise was because I think SKK needs a buffer. They're just really aggressive people who clash a lot and I like their dynamic a lot more when Sigma's there to balance them out with his more mild personality, even if he gets in his own head and can be neurotic.

Anyway, thanks for the ask! I've never gotten a chance to ramble about these guys so I appreciate the opportunity :D

[mischiefiswritten]

10 Questions Tag!

Shout out to @awrenthatwrites for keeping me so well-supplied with tag games! I’ve loved having them waiting for me when I get back to my blog.

1. How did you come up with your WIP’s title?

The Calm Before actually went without a title for quite some time, including the entirety of its first iteration (which is quite different from the current version). That was pretty unusual for me because I’m one of those writers that needs things to be named, even just with stand-ins, before I can proceed with it. 

And honestly... I can not claim any kind of cleverness when it comes to TCB’s title. With the prevalence of the Stormbringer in the story’s plot, the phrase “the calm before the storm” just popped very quickly into my mind. I chopped off the end of the phrase et voila! A working title. I don’t know if it’s going to stay, but I’ve loved it for what it is.

The story for Here There Be Monsters is much the same. But that one’s staying.

2. Do you title your chapters? If so, what’s your favorite?

Typically I have not, but recently I’ve felt like I wanted to. I don’t think it’s right for TCB, but it does fit nicely into HTBM.

Since HTBM is episodic in structure, I get to title each “episode” as well as its chapters. Potentially, I could even get to title “seasons” or story arcs, if the project continues long enough. This project is still really new, so it’s only got one episode title at the moment:

“A Lost Little Wisp”

3. What’s a recent line you really like?

I have to admit I actually really like the whole opening scene to HTBM. Here’s a tiny bit that I’m proud of... 

This takes place during Gael’s desperate and foolish maneuver to escape her pursuers. Essentially a high speed ship chase.

           It was not until the ship was tipping nose first into the maelstrom that Gael realized the man in the public house had been lying. The Maw seized the ship like a demonic spirit, threatening to rip the wheel from her hands, or simply her arms from her body. Now it was the dark thing hiding at the bottom of the sea that chanted, “Give it up, give it up.” It wasn’t just hungry; it was possessive. Everything and everyone on its surface belonged to it. There was nothing it would not take for its own in the end.

           Something primeval was calling from the murk and the foam. Its voice, sonorous and terrible, slid through Gael’s very blood. It slithered along the planks beneath her feet, caressing everything in its way with oily, formless tentacles.

4. Are there any writing-related quotes you really like?

There are so many good ones! But I feel like no one is more quotable than Tolkien and Lewis. These quotes aren’t so much about the craft, but they do speak to me about the art, passion, and joy of storytelling.

“Since it is so likely that children will meet cruel enemies, let them at least have heard of brave knights and heroic courage.” (CS Lewis)

“It simply isn’t an adventure worth telling if there aren’t any dragons.” (JRR Tolkien)

5. Do you have an idea for a cover design for your story?

I don’t! I find this sort of thing so difficult, whether its book covers or faceclaims or castings.

6. What sort of AU can you imagine your story being?

Do you mean, if there could be one AU that would fit best with my characters what would it be? Or what kind of AU trope is my novel? <-- This was Talya’s question, and I have to repeat it! I’m also going to answer the same way.

If I were picking an AU to see my story written as, I think a The Greatest Showman AU would be a fun one for  the Here There Be Monsters cast! That iconic scene when Philip and Anne see each other for the first time would be perfect for the primary protagonists.

And if my novel was going to be an AU trope, it’d probably be a Friends-type setup where they all live in the same building and are overly involved in each other’s lives.

7. Which OC would be the most angry with you as the writer?

Are any of them likely to be very happy with me?

8. If you had to tell the story from a different POV, which character would you choose?

This is tough because I gravitate toward 3rd person limited omniscient POV. In TCB I have four proper POV characters (Rys, Hale, Aldrich, and Neja), which I feel like adequately cover all the angles I want covered for that story. If I could add one, however, I think Vidri’s perspective would be a fun one! 

In HTBM I don’t use POV characters, but rather choose whose thoughts/knowledge gets shared at any given time. If I were to pick a POV character for the story (beyond the obvious) I would probably go for the Collector. It seems right up his alley to be relating this story!

9. What would be your OC’s taste in music if they lived in our world?

Wow, this is unexpectedly difficult to answer! I’ve got nothing for the characters, but I do have a theme song chosen for HTBM! “Deep Water” by American Authors

10. What’s one personal goal you want to achieve by the end of the story?

My goal for TCB is to complete the project in a way I can feel proud of. In a way this is related to my goal for HTBM (and its very existence) because I’ve never completed a novel. I don’t know that HTBM will ever properly end or what that will look like, but my hope in starting it is that it will teach me to write without fear. One of my biggest hurtles as a writer has been that I’m so often paralyzed by perfectionism, pulled in a hundred directions because I don’t want to make a misstep. HTBM is designed for me to simply write without the fear or expectations that go with a project like TCB that I’ve become so invested in over the years. It’s an exercise in letting go.

Thanks again for the tag! I’m going to tag @pen-of-roses, @coffeescribles, @writing-for-the-stars-and-moon, @inscrutable-shadow, and @thewrittenpost if you want to!

[greetingsfromrivain]

All Things That Are Left To Do

There was still smoke in the air two days after the archdemon was slain.  

Alistair could see it, sitting at the sill of a palace window, as the smoke turned already grey Ferelden skies shades of greyish-brown.

Somewhere below, his companions were spread around the city still in crisis.  Leliana had gone to the chantry, no doubt, likely offering kind words to go with rations of food and blankets.  The Queen’s army had requested Sten, Oghren, and Shale for help to round up and kill remaining darkspawn near the city, an offer they took with enthusiasm.  

Alistair had been requested as well, but he was needed elsewhere.

He took a deep breath, the smell of ash and death still in the air, intermingling with the slow but valiant attempt of the sea to bring the taste of salt and life back to Denerim.  And yet he prefered it to the smell of the room, a guest room repurposed for healing, the stale smell of balms and medicines, and the lingering static of healing magic.  

He turned around and looked back at the bed where Luna lay, still unconscious as the moment after the final blow.  It played in his head whenever he shut his eyes: she deals the final blow, there is an explosion, she’s bleeding, it’s so much blood, if Wynne hadn’t been there....

He shook his head.  Wynne wasn’t there now, which was only a good sign.  “She just needs rest,” she said just that morning, “But there are more wounded to be tended to.  Watch over her, Alistair.”

Alistair made his way back to her bedside, sitting in the too-small chair at her left.  “Wynne said I’m supposed to talk to you,” he started, “But I don’t know, I think you deserve a little peace from me talking after saving the world, don’t you?  Least I could do.”

Luna laid there still, the gentle rise and fall of her chest the only sign of her still living.  The thick braids that normally framed her face had been taken out, as well as the ones keeping half her hair up, leaving her dark, fluffy auburn curls fanned around her head.  Her skin, bearing many small scrapes and scars, no longer had the greyish tint it did on the battlefield, with reddish color slowly returning to her reddish-brown skin.  Her neck had a large bandage over it, the biggest parting gift from the killing blow. 

 He took another deep breath of the stale, medicinal air and continued.  “You’d chide me for saying that if you were awake.  You like when I talk.  And you think I should like when I talk.  And I do, when I’m with you.  That counts for something, doesn’t it?”

The room is too still, it’s why he had gotten up to look out the window in the first place.  

“I think it’s why Wynne wanted me to stay.  Play to my strengths, and everything.  I think she knew that I wouldn’t want to leave you anyway.  It’s always ‘save the world, Alistair!’ but you-”

He laughed a little at himself.

“You know, I was just about to say something very sentimental, and I bet you would have woken up right when I said it.  You’d never let me hear the end of it.  There’d be no winning an argument with you ever again.”

She laid there still, no expression to give any sign of waking.

“Ah, to the void with it.” He took her hand in his, limp though it was.  “It’s funny, we’ve only know each other for about a year.  And yet...I can’t imagine a world without you.  Is that strange?”

Only silence answered him.

“Ah, well.  I half hoped you’d wake to tease me.  That’s how it happens in stories, right?  I guess I’ll have to think of something else.”

He went on, anything that would come to his head.  He told her about their friends pacing and griping at each other while she was being healed, until Wynne came from the room, bloody with her silver hair escaping ponytail, but with only a look of relief on her face.  He told her about how Queen Anora somehow managed to look both relieved and disappointed at news of her health.  He told her about how Zevran kept watch outside of her room, how he was unsure if the man ever slept.  

He told her about how brown and grey skies seemed almost warm and welcoming when compared the the blood red of the sky during the battle, and how even the smalled scrap of blue seemed foreign and almost wrong, as if somehow there could be blue skies, even after all of this.  

The shadows of the room shifted, his throat become more dry, but he barely paid those details any attention.

“And then of course,” he went on, “I’ll have to figure out how to tell you about poor Stormbringer. I’m sure Wade will be happy to make you another one.  Herren, on the other hand...”

“Mmmm...”

“Yes, he can be a little touchy, if you ask me-” Alistair did a double take.

Luna’s brows were furrowed.  She began to turn her head towards him, and then winced in pain, her hand grasping his reflexively.  Relief welled up in him, a feeling of overwhelming warmth and gratitude to the Maker or to Andraste, but most of all to Luna.

“Hello, love.” he choked out, unable to care how he sounded.

Her eyes were only barely opened, but she smiled gently.  “Alistair,” she whispered, her voice raspy and light.  Her smile faded, and she closed her eyes again while taking her hand from his.  Before he could ask, she put her hands against the blankets and gripped them, taking a deep breath, then another, then a third.  She put her hands on her chest, as if to feel a heartbeat, and then to her bandage, where she winced in pain again despite the attempted ligthness of her touch.  He remembered then; he’d seen her and other mages do this before.

“I...” she took another deep breath, “It’s real.  I stabbed the archdemon, and it fell, and then I fell, but...” she opened one eye, it seemed it was all she had energy for, “but it’s real.”

“Yes, love.”

“Are the others...?” Luna closed her eyes again, as if steeling herself.

“They made it.  All of them.”

A sigh of relief.  “Thank the Maker.” she whispered, putting her hand back out for him to hold, which he gladly took.  “And...Morrigan?”

He shrugged.  “Gone, it seems.  Haven’t seen her since we left the gate.” 

Luna sighed, but said nothing else about her.  She took another deep breath, and squeezed his hand.  

“What...” She moved her head to face him again, more slowly this time, and only winced slightly, “What were you saying before?”

Oh, Maker. 

“Saying before?” he said airily, almost too innocently.

She opened both of her eyes to a squint.  “You were saying something when I was waking.  I...I think you mentioned Herren?”

He sighed.  “Well, best to get it over with.”  He gently placed her hand back on the bed and reached behind the bedside table for Stormbringer.  Or, at least, what was left of it.  Though the hilt was mostly unscathed, the blade itself had been broken, leaving less of a blade and more of a jagged edge.

Luna frowned, then closed her eyes while taking a deep breath.  She opened her eyes again, along with her mouth to speak, but before she could Alistair started to laugh.  

“What-” she frowned more, “Why are you laughing?”

“You’re pouting,” he said, his voice more sing-song then he intended.

“Excuse me, I do not pout.” Luna, said, her eyes narrowing, and her pout growing more pronounced.  When he laughed more, he looked over at her, where she was valiantly trying and failing to not laugh, her pout twitching almost into a smile.

“Either way,” she attempted to lift up her chin in the lofty way she did, but the pain of it seemed to stop her, “Much to be done.  I’ll need to talk to Wade.  We’ll also need to send some sort of missive to other grey Wardens, won’t we?  And then-”

“Whoa whoa whoa,” Alistair shook his head, moving his arms widely in front of him “What you need to do is rest.  You can barely even move properly.”

“But-”

“No buts,” he countered, “I’m immune to your pouts, woman, and your Mabari eyes.”  

Luna snorted.  “You’re just lucky I can barely keep my eyes open.”

“You’re proving my point, dear.”

She turned to him slightly, eyes dreamy and gentle, smile filled with warmth.  He cleared his throat.�� Maybe not so immune after all.  He rubbed his temple before running his hand through his hair, chuckling and shaking his head as he stood up.

“The others aren’t here, but Zevran’s outside.  I’ll go tell him you’re awake.”  

Halfway to the door he heard Luna’s voice. “Alistair?”

He turned around, and she was still smiling.  

“I love you.”

He could feel his ears turning red.  It wasn’t anywhere near the first time she said it, and yet...

“And I you.” he said, rolling his shoulders as he left, the tension in them all but gone.

On the other side of the double doors lay a long, drafty pallace hallway.  To the right of the door was Zevran, not-so-casually sharpening a blade.  To the left was Sunny, who sat still and at attention, making him look like one of the many mabari statues spread across Ferelden.  

Zevran looked at him, alert, but with telling bags under his eyes.  Sunny stayed still.

“She’s awake-” Alistair said, but before he could say anything else Sunny’s whole demeanor shifted.  He barked, wagging his tail, and ran past Alistair, nearly knocking him over.  

“Sunny!” he heard Luna exclaim, before the telling thump of a large dog that believes himself a lapdog, and an undignified groan from Luna.

“Good...boy...” he heard her murmur.

Alistair snorted, shaking his head.  “As I was saying, Luna’s awake, but she’ll probably need some more sleep soon.”  He watched Zevran yawn and stretch, blade still in hand. 

“And she might not be the only one.” Alistair added. “Not to sound ungrateful, but I don’t think she was in much danger.  At least, she wasn’t alone in there.”

“Two are better than one, yes?” Zevran said, putting his knife back in its sheath, “Besides, we have a saying in Antiva.  ‘The more the light shines on a man, the more shadow he makes for a blade to hide.’”

Alistair wrinkled his nose.  “Really?  That’s a thing you say regularly?”

“Well not regularly,” Zevran said with a shrug, “But it is known that many people benefit from the end of the world, even if only in the short run.” 

Alistair laughed bitterly.  “Well, if the blight has taught me anything, it’s that that’s true in Ferelden too.”  

“That’s the spirit.” Zevran patted Alistair on the shoulder.  He peaked into the room, watching Sunny lick Luna’s face.  Alistair watched the man, how much younger he looked now than when they had first met.  It seemed it took less than a year for Zevran’s world to shift entirely too.

Alistair put a hand on Zevran’s shoulder, “I’ll take your place on watch. Go ahead.”  

Zevran smiled, a small expelling of breath that was either faint laughter or a relieved sigh.  “Thank you, my friend.”  

The last thing he heard before the door closed was Zevran’s overly chipper voice, “And so our lovely warden wakes!”

With the doors shut, the pallace hallway became silent, leaving Alistair alone with his thoughts.  He thought of Luna, awake but barely, already making plans and to-do lists.  What had she mentioned, a missive to the nearest wardens?  Perhaps if I could get started on that, he thought, she might actually rest. 

He began to write it in his head.  How would Duncan have written it?  Letters Duncan wrote tended to be casual, perhaps because Alistair was his subordinate.  Besides, he didn’t know the name of the Warden-Commander of Orlais, anyway.

“’To whom it may concern...’ yes that will do,” he muttered to himself, “Equal parts respectful and passive-aggressive.  The true warden way.”  It was a start.

Much to be done, after all. 

DA100 #13: The End (?)

[eringeosphere]

Had to have high, high hopes for a living

Jason Grace and Percy Jackson are raised by wolves (1/?)

I wrote a thing, based around the thoughts started here.

On Ao3 here

i.

In one tapestry the three Fates weave, the thread of Percy Jackson’s life remains tangled around West Coast of North America, bound there until he is dragged into his heritage by way of a car crash and an unexpected encounter with a Minotaur. In this tapestry, Jason Grace is left by his mother, separated from his sister and is raised by Lupa’s wolf pack until such a time as they leave him to find his way to Camp Jupiter. He grows up as a member of the Roman Legion, but never quite seems to call the camp home.

But the thing about mortals is that they’re unpredictable. Certain events might be prophesied, fixed points in the fabric the Fates weave, but the events that lead to them and the participants in them - well. Who’s to say things can’t shift around a little bit, with just a slight slip of a hand?

ii.

So maybe Sally Jackson is tired. Maybe she’s scared. Being a single mother is hard, and she can’t honestly recall the last time she managed a full night’s sleep. She loves Percy more than anything, but two weeks ago she got a call from the nursery saying that her three year old had managed to strangle a snake that had gotten into his crib, and one week ago a strange old lady with claws instead of fingernails had followed the two of them around the park for over an hour before Sally had slipped into a group of runners and lost them. She doesn’t know what to do.

Percy is brilliant and clever and Poseidon’s blood runs so very, very strong. Sleep eludes Sally most nights from the fear that she’ll look away and her son will have been snatched from her.

So maybe her boss notices how stressed she’s been and tells her to take a long weekend.

“I’ve got a plane ticket Portland that I can’t use,” they say. “I was supposed to go this weekend but my cousin’s getting married. I’ve got a cabin up there - take your kid and go take a break.”

And Sally knows it’s a risk but - she needs out. What finally makes her mind up is that the summer solstice falls over the weekend - Zeus will be distracted and unlikely to pay attention to one very young demigod boarding a plane.

It’s not the seaside cabin in Montauk that she’s taken Percy to a handful of times already, but it’ll do. And so she goes.

iii.

The state of Oregon and the small cabin by the remote lake that her boss owns is a breath of fresh air. She already misses the sea, but the rugged edges of the mountains are a different kind of beauty. Besides, Percy is more than happy paddling around the lake. For the first time in a long time, Sally sleeps soundly and doesn’t dream.

The calmness doesn’t last. The next day, Percy disappears. Between feeding Percy breakfast and telling him not to go out of sight of the cabin and Sally doing the washing up - he’s gone. Sally tears through the forest looking for him, but it’s not until dusk that she finds him.

When she does, gasping and shaking from exhaustion and fear, Percy isn’t alone. Sally bursts into a small clearing, muscles aching, following the faint sound of her son’s voice chattering away. Percy beams at the sight of her, then runs in her direction, dragging a blond haired, blue eyed child by the hand behind him.

"This is Jason!” Percy informs her gleefully, waving the hand still holding onto the other boy’s at her. And Sally nods, and smiles, absently noting Jason’s slightly ragged clothing and distinct lack of shoes. Most of her attention is captured by the wolf pack lounging and watching the two boys with warm amber eyes.

“Hullo,” Jason greets her, his voice soft like he hasn’t used it for a bit.

Sally knows deep in her bones that this is no ordinary child, just as she knows that this is no ordinary wolf pack.

iv.

Sally Jackson may have fallen in love with a Greek God, but that doesn’t mean that she’s unaware of all the other myths and legends of the ancient world. So when the leader of the wolf pack, russet coloured coat gleaming in the dappled sunlight, pads towards her, Sally bows her head and greets her with, “Lupa.”

The wolf’s lips curl upwards and Sally is gets the distinct impression that the wolf is pleased by her recognition.

Greetings, Sally Jackson. You are a long way from home.

Sally nods, then says carefully, still kneeling in the carpet of leaves on the forest floor from where her legs had given out on her, “We intend to visit, only. A few days, no more.”

Lupa’s head tips to one side. You need not worry about my pack whilst they are here. Lupa’s eyes flick to where Percy and Jason are crouched by a log, peering at intently at something crawling on the mossy surface.

Your son’s scent is … noticeably strong.

Sally very deliberately does not wince. Her next words are a risk, but oh - hasn’t this entire venture been one long risk after another? And if the stories are anything to go by, Lupa has rarely shown an interest in the affairs of other gods beyond whether or not their children have the strength to survive what life throws at them.

Sally takes a breath. “The children of Poseidon often are.”

Lupa snorts. The ocean cannot pretend to be anything else. Better to be Greek, than Roman, as one of the Stormbringer’s get. The Romans only ever feared the sea.

Sally hmms thoughtfully. “Jason seems to like him well enough.”

At that, Lupa’s face shifts into a sly smile. Well, lightening often goes hand in hand with a storm.

v.

The wolf pack lingers for two more days. Two more days of Sally looking at her son playing rough and tumble with his cousin. It’s such a short period of time, yet Sally can see a choice stretching out before her with astounding clarity.

Her return ticket, an evening flight out of Portland International Airport, burns a hole in her pocket as she makes her way towards the wolf pack gathered on the pebble beach on the edge of the lake. Jason and Percy are splashing around in the shallow water, their shrieks of laughter clearly audible over the gentle swoosh of the waves.

Two of the wolves lift their heads as she approaches, but Sally only has eyes for the leader of the pack.

“Lupa,” Sally calls in greeting, then, steeling herself, continues with, “I would ask a favour.”

At that, all of the wolves turn to look at Sally. Lupa rises to her feet and pads towards her, even as the pack shift and move away, giving them a little privacy.

Speak, Lupa demands.

Sally breathes out through her nose. “My son already attracts monsters to him, and he is but three. I do not know what differences may lie between those of Greek descent and those of Roman, but I would ask as a mother who wishes only to protect her son, will you take my son and train him?”

Lupa considers her for a long moment. I care little for the games the gods play. If you are strong, you live. If not, you die. It is the way the pack survives.

Sally squares her shoulders. “Will you take him? The same way you have taken Jason into your pack?

Lupa lifts her head and locks eyes with Sally. It’s more than a little terrifying, matching the gaze of a wolf’s who has seen more death, fought more battles, spilt more blood than Sally can possibly imagine. Sally refuses to blink.

Weakness is the enemy.

He cannot go to Camp Jupiter, Lupa states, unyielding.

“I’m not asking you to take him there,” Sally replies, equally unyielding.

If we take him, I cannot guarantee his safety. You will not see him again until he returns to you of his own accord, alive, or he will die.

Sally’s mouth tightens. She could turn around and walk away. Take Percy back to the other side of the country and try to find some way to hide him from the monsters that will continue to come after him. But this will give him a chance. It will give Sally time to find a way to hide her son’s scent.

“If Percy chooses to remain, then I can accept that.”

That seems to have surprised Lupa, if the way that her ears flick back are any indication.

If Percy chooses?

Sally smiles, teeth bared. “It’s my son’s life. Of course I’m going to let him choose.”

At that, Lupa huffs out a laugh. I think I can see why He chose you, Sally Jackson.

vi.

“Boys?” Sally calls, walking down towards the shoreline of the lake, fixing the scene in her memory - the light reflecting off the water and the brightness of Percy’s smile as he turns to face her and breaks into a run. Jason follows behind a moment later.

Percy barrels right into her, wrapping both arms around a leg and latching on. Jason is a little more hesitant, but darts in for a quick hug before letting go again. It’s then, as Jason leaves a slight damp patch on her shin, that Sally realises that although Percy had been wading in the water just moments ago, he’s perfectly dry from head to toe. A shiver runs down her spine - Percy’s showing signs of demigod powers already?

“Mom - we found so many crabs!! Like at least 5!” Percy holds up one of his hands to demonstrate.

“Is that so?” Sally asks, smiling.

Jason nods, staunchly supporting his cousin. “We saw fish, too, Aunt Sally.”

At the slightly unexpected title, Sally blinks.

Percy grins up at her. “Lupa said our dads were family, which means that you must be Jason’s Aunt!”

At that, Sally crouches down and draws both of them into a hug. “You’re absolutely right.” Focusing on Jason, she reasures him, “I’m honoured for you to call me Aunt.”

Jason smiles shyly, and Sally thinks, had things been a little different, she might have managed to make room in her home for a second child.

But Sally can delay no longer. Gently, she places both hands on her son’s shoulders and meets his eyes, so similar to his father’s.

“Percy, love. I’ve got a choice to make, and I’m going to need your help to do it.”

Percy frowns but nods, taking in her solemn tone.

“Do you remember the lady at the park last week?” Sally begins, wanting to give Percy some sort of explanation for why she’s even considering this choice.

“The scary one?” Percy asks.

Sally nods. “The scary one. I’m afraid she’s not going to be the only scary sort of person who’s going to be coming after you soon. Not because of anything you’ve done, but because of who your father is. The scary people don’t like him very much, and unfortunately that gets passed on to you.”

It’s a gross simplification, obviously, but there’s more important matters to be discussed here.

“I haven’t worked out a way to stop them finding you, yet.” Sally continues. “I will, but until I do it’s going to be dangerous for you.” This is the hard part. “Lupa and her pack have agreed to train you, away from the monsters who already know you, if you want, but I can’t go with you if you stay with them.”

Percy swallows. “What about you? Won’t the monsters go after you?”

Sally shakes her head, because isn’t it so like Percy to worry about everyone aside from himself? “The monsters won’t be interested in me,” she tells him gently. “They won’t notice me, I promise.”

Percy is wide-eyed, shifting from foot to foot. Sally doesn’t know what he’s thinking about, exactly.

“You can come back with me,” Sally tells Percy, because he needs to know that that is an option. She doesn’t want Percy to think that she doesn’t want to keep him. “We can find a way to hide, but I can’t teach you to fight them.”

Percy chews on his lip, hands fiddling with the hem of his shirt. Then he looks away, back over his shoulder. He looks at Jason, whose shoulders have slumped slightly, and is looking at them with a faint sheen in his eyes.

“What about Jason?” Percy asks, and Sally wonders why she thought there was going to be any other outcome.

“Jason is staying with the pack. He’s got somewhere else to go, once he’s strong enough,” Sally replies.

And Percy nods, then flings himself forward and wraps his skinny arms around her neck.

“I love you, mum,” he whispers in her ear, and Sally grips him a little bit tighter.

“I love you too, Percy. So much. Don’t ever doubt that, understand?”

vii.

Sally’s final memory of her son from that weekend is this:

Percy stands outlined against the shimmering surface of the lake, one arm flung over Jason’s shoulders. Lupa’s pack circles around them, restless. They’ll be leaving as soon as she’s gone. Jason is a little red-eyed, from when he’d cried after Percy had told him that he wasn’t leaving. Percy’s face is calm, but it’s the sort of calm that hides a riptide and Sally has never been more proud.

Sally turns around and walks away and doesn’t look back.

viii.

Sally Jackson doesn’t see her son again for three years.

[thetygre]

30 Day Monster Challenge 2 - Day #16: Favorite Evil Weapon/Object

1.       Stormbringer (Elric of Melnibone)

The Black Blade. Daughter of Arioch. The Stealer of Souls. One of the single most legendary swords in all of fantasy, present in every universe in at least one form or another. A demon of chaos bound by the Lords of Law into the shape of a weapon. Whoever wields it can drain the souls from whoever they stab and sustain themselves with it, but is driven by a terrible hunger. The Black Blade has a will of its own, and it howls for blood as it is swung. In short, the definitive evil weapon.

What makes Stormbringer stand out from its later imitators, and even previous legendary evil weapons, is how it affects its primary wield, Elric of Melnibone. As an albino, Elric is sickly, and usually uses medicine and dark magic to stay alive. But abroad in the Young Kingdoms, Elric has to rely on Stormbringer to survive. Even as Elric connects with people outside his home kingdom, they are bound to die whenever he needs to stay alive, no matter how much Elric tries to fight it. Stormbringer is essentially a manifestation of Elric’s burden as the Champion of Balance, but also his greater isolation that distances him from being able to make connections. Elric makes it clear that Stormbringer isn’t some kind of ultimate weapon, it’s a crutch, a drug that ultimately consumes its user. And in the end, that’s what happens to Elric; when the entire universe is consumed by chaos, Stormbringer finally turns on Elric before disappearing into the apocalypse.

2.       Soul Edge/Soul Calibur (Soulcalibur)

So this is honestly cheating, but I just can’t pick between the two swords. Soul Edge is the clear Stormbringer descendent and looks rad as hell to boot. Even more that Stormbringer, Soul Edge looks like a living, breathing monster. It can even shapeshift into weapons that aren’t sword, and it had an entire life cycle in Soulcalibur 2. But Soul Edge never really stopped being the ‘bad’ sword. It’s counterpart, Soul Calibur, on the other hand, started off as the ‘good’ sword. But as the series went on, Soul Calibur began to change. In Soulcalibur 4 it was hinted that Soul Calibur might have a mind of its own as well, and it might not have the purest intentions. By Soulcalibur 5, the plot hook came to fruition; Soul Calibur is just as dangerous as Soul Edge and wants to trap the world in a perfect unchanging state. The swords have become the embodiments of Law and Chaos; the Michael Moorcock reference comes full circle. All we need now is a game where Soul Calibur is out of control and the only thing that can stop it is Soul Edge.

3.       The Terror Mask (Splatterhouse)

The Terror Mask has sass, the Terror Mask has a personality. Half these evil artifacts are just kind of generically malevolent; they won’t yell at you in Jim Cummings’ voice and call you a pussy when you notice one of your arms is missing. There’s a surprising amount of lore invested in the Terror Mask. An entity from the space between spaces, it fled the cosmic horror gods until they bound it in a bone mask. Now it’s out to settle the score, and whoever is wearing it just happens to be along for the ride. Granted, the wearer of the mask turns into a hulking slasher ogre that is almost impossible to kill. The Splatterhouse games are a gateway into the video game id, replete with monsters, ultra-violence, and a hero so buff he puts the ‘masculine’ in ‘toxic masculinity’. The Terror Mask, like in the game, is just a way to get to that special kind of hell.

4.       The Necronomicon Ex Mortis (Evil Dead)

The Necronomicon Ex Mortis is probably the most famous evil book in the world, probably more so than Lovecraft’s original Necronomicon. (Frankly, I could do an entire list on favorite evil books, but we’ll get there when we get there.) The Ex Mortis really doesn’t have a lot to do with Lovecraft besides the name, other than that they are both old, sanity-rending, and bodies of literature. But, being honest, the Ex Mortis is just the more fun of the two. The Ex Mortis is the party-boy of evil books to the original Necronomicon’s Ivy League scholar. It’s such an embodiment of Sam Raimi horror; gory, campy, with a bit of slapstick thrown in, and its mere presence causes weirdness to happen. The Necronomicon Ex Mortis contains knowledge of things man was not meant to know, and it knows it. It’s mischievous, and it’d almost be lovable if it wasn’t also full of immensely powerful black magic.

5.       The One Ring (Lord of the Rings)

I’ve always been interested by the concept that the One Ring can think for itself. The One Ring is, ultimately, an incredibly loyal evil artifact, and is only interested in new yielders insofar as they can deliver it back to Sauron. The Ring really is an apt counterpart for the hobbits; a little thing, defenseless, almost useless at first glance, but capable of changing the world. The Ring also has a pedigree, of course. It shares more than few traits with the Ring of Nibelung from the Wagnerian cycle of operas of the same name. The Nibelung Ring, like the One Ring, can grant the wearer power over the world, but only if they renounce love. In time, the covetousness of men and gods for the ring destroys the world and brings about Ragnarok. The One Ring is a reflection of the Ring of Nibelung, but also vastly different in many respects. It brings about the end of the gods and immortals, but only because they were staying to try and destroy it. The end of the Ring and of Sauron grants the world the ability to move into the next age, the age of mankind, which reflects not only Tolkien’s notions about divinity and its place in human existence, but I think also his faith that people can rise to their best in the changing times.

6.       Rubilax (Wakfu)

Rubilax is the only evil weapon here to have a character arc. Granted, that’s because he’s actually a demon bound to a sword, but whatever. Rubilax starts out as your typical evil sword, trying to possess the (idiot) paladin bound to guard him. Not to make it a contest, but he gets pretty far, to the point that said paladin has to release Rubilax and fight him in a bare-knuckle fist fight into submission. After that, things get kind of complicated. People die, souls are displaced, there’s a colosseum death match, and Rubilax has to make some calls about his moral character, so to speak. In the end, Rubilax decides to side with the good guys, and even gets along with the paladin’s kids. So he’s less of an evil weapon and more of just a demonic one, but he’s definitely the most nuanced character here.

7.       The Event Horizon (Event Horizon)

The Even Horizon is pushing the definition of ‘evil object’. It’s really more of an evil place, which might also be worth a look sometime, but for now a ship counts as an object. There’s plenty of sci-fi stories that try to do the cursed spaceship deal, but I feel like Event Horizon is the only one that really captures the gothic horror aspect. I think we tend to forget that architecture, aside from its practical usage, is also meant to convey ideas and thoughts as much as any other form of artistry, and was one of the more important forms of public communication before the spread of reading. The architecture of the Event Horizon is the words to a spell, the three-dimensional incantation that opens the gates of Hell. It was a morbid, dark temple to man’s ignorance even before it went into other dimensions. Once it returns, it hungers for more; a cursed ship bound to always return to its home port on the other side. Something about the Event Horizon reminds me of the Rime of the Ancient Mariner; the way the ship is warped and changed by sailing through strange waters, and how the survivors are bound to relive the curse over and over again. That’s why the Event Horizon is my favorite ghost ship in science fiction.

8.       The Marker (Dead Space)

The Marker draws directly from Event Horizon, and they both share the concept of wordlessly communicating a kind of madness to the people who view them. The Marker, though, takes it to a new extreme, in that it has a literal insanity aura that causes hallucinations, paranoia, and aggressiveness. An interesting way that the Marker is more ‘alive’ than other evil objects is that it is self-propagating; part of the madness it transmits is the formula necessary for its replications. But what I find most fascinating is how the Marker can transmit information that changes DNA, altering people on the cellular level to turn them into Necromorphs. That kind of power, to change biology through information, is nothing short of magic in most other settings.

9.       The Berserker Armor (Berserk)

You can’t fight demons if you ain’t cute. The Berserker Armor was forged by dwarves for the explicit purpose of fighting demons and monsters. It draws on the rage and negative energy inside a person to give them incredible strength and agility, but at the price of slowly draining their senses. The Skull Knight originally made it for himself, but even he was scared off by the armor’s power. Now Guts has it, and he has a lot of rage to give. I think the most fascinating thing about the armor is how it changes and molds itself to how Guts’ uses it. It didn’t start off with a giant wolf helmet; that’s just Guts’ personal totem representing his inner darkness. But when the armor drew on that, it changed shape, and when Guts holds himself back, it stays restrained. Still, the armor takes a lower spot because it itself isn’t evil, it just draws on a person’s internal negativity; it’s all up to the wearer on how much they use it.

10.   The Gonne (Discworld)

Discworld is full of anachronistic magical devices, and they’re all usually cause for some kind of concern. The Gonne was at the center of a fairly elaborate murder plot involving the Assassin’s Guild and the Night Watch, but was finally put a stop to. Like any good evil weapon, it whispers promises of power to whoever happens to be holding it at the time, and is also a little trigger-happy. But the Gonne and its metaphor for firearms gets kind of overshadowed by everything happening around it, and it even gets acknowledged as a powerful and worthy weapon in its own way by the end.

[tessatechaitea]

Cerebus #4 (1978)

Elrod! So soon? Be still my quivering loins!

I may not have understood a lot of Dave Sim's historical references when I read began reading this series in my early twenties but I sure as hell got all of his Looney Tunes references! I read the Elric books the summer after my first year of college. I was eighteen. I would have begun reading Cerebus a year or two later. I was definitely reading it by 1992 when I was volunteering with the Santa Clara Junior Theater helping backstage because I passed the first Cerebus phone book around to anybody I could convince to read it by telling them about the characters stowing away on a ship and hiding in some barrels where one of the characters says, "Nobody here but us mice!" and Elrod pipes up with, "Squeak, I say, squeak!" Goddammit that still makes me chuckle. That was my long-winded and autobiographical way of saying that I understood the Elrod/Elric parody! I sometimes think of the first 25 issues of Cerebus as being less than the rest of the series. I suppose because they're a lot of individual stories coming just before the huge 25 issue High Society story arc, they can seem trifling and inconsequential. But we're only on Issue #4 and we've already been introduced to Red Sophia and Elrod of Melvinbone, two of the series most iconic characters. And examples of what Dave Sim does so well: characterization, parody, and mimicry. Sure, Red Sophia is basically just an exaggerated mash-up of Red Sonja and Pepé Le Pew. Of course, Elrod is just a blend of Elric and Foghorn Leghorn (mostly Foghorn Leghorn with an outer glaze of Elric). But he does their voices so well and makes them completely his own, fitting their foibles and eccentricities into Cerebus's world. And Dave Sim is funny. He can be absolutely hilarious. And is it next issue already that we'll get The Roach (it is not. Next issue is Bran Mac Muffin!)? I mean, can you name a comic book that got off the starting block faster without any actual planning?! Deni Loubert announces that she and Dave have moved in "A Note from the Publisher" and not much else. Well, she does exclaim how she forgot to write her editorial. I'm getting the feeling she doesn't really give a shit about these notes and just wants to get on with the real work of getting the stupid comic distributed. In his Swords of Cerebus essay, Dave Sim admits to having never read an Elric story so I guess I probably never had to bother with it either! Although knowing the author's name, Michael Moorcock, helped score some pretty good points in Scattergories on occasion. Speaking of Scattergories and not Cerebus, I once played the game with Sam Adams (ex-Portland Mayor and also my Uncle-in-Law. He also played the assistant to Kyle MacLachlan's Portland Mayor in Portlandia). The category was "type of dance" and the letter rolled was an "L". So my answer was "Lap". Sam sneered and said, "Classy." At least it scored me points and I didn't have to cheat the way Sam and his mom did! That was the Brush with Greatness story I would have told on David Letterman if time and experiences and space were different.

I realize a lot of you are living your worst online life because you view everything on a phone so, really, don't bother trying to read this. Although maybe it's actually easier to increase the size of on a phone! Stupid laptop. I hate you now!

In this essay, Dave Sim mentions how someday he's going to write an issue with Elrod, Lord Julius, and Cerebus locked in a closet. I'm pretty sure that eventual story is the one I mentioned earlier about the mice. I believe the story takes place between High Society and Church & State, maybe Issue #50/51 or something weird like that? When they're fleeing Iest after Cerebus's run as Prime Minister ends? Anyway, it was a great idea and a well executed and hilarious sketch. The issue begins with some guy dying mysteriously to some cursed gem he stole. But never mind his story. It's over and it probably wasn't very interesting anyway. The gem, however, continues on until it winds up in Cerebus's clutches. Cerebus has arrived in Serrea to spend the last of his gold (remember, he never keeps his riches for long) gambling and drinking apricot brandy. I called it Peach Schnapps in a previous review because, have I mentioned, my memory is utter shite? This is also the first appearance of Cerebus's vest. Dave Sim says so in that essay I scanned. But I'm sure I would have commented on it without the prompt because he's so fucking adorable. Plus his snout is nearly to its regular shape and size. That means he's maturing into an adult Earth Pig. After picking up the gem, some strange shit begins to go down.

Cerebus could have been meeting the stripper love of his life but instead he's battling weird magic figments of his imagination.

Remember that thing about my terrible memory? I can't remember if Death was an imaginary character brought on by the aardvark's strangeness mixed with the gem's magic. But I do remember Elrod was some kind of illusion created by this confluence of events. One of the saddest moments in this entire series for me was when Elrod blinks out of existence. I can't say how long I was in denial about that but, month after month, I kept hoping that he'd come back in another of Dave's retcons to make sense of past stories that didn't fit his vision of Cerebus's current world and story. I kept hoping that a bedraggled Elrod would wander into Cerebus's bar in Guys having once again somehow eluded death or capture or nonexistence through his strange blundering overconfidence. Maybe my hope in the reappearance of Elrod was what really kept me reading until Issue #300! Death's plan is to have the Crawler (that's the squiddy, octopus, vagina-stand-in thing) drive Cerebus into Death's clutches. But Cerebus has a knack for winning battles by knowing when to retreat and when not to retreat. Previously, he would have died in the wizard's tower while hunting the flame jewel if he had attacked the skeleton; this time he realizes that if he keeps retreating, he will lose the battle so he presses the attack. Four issues in and I now have total confidence in Cerebus's strategic mind. He can't be defeated even by what amounted to a Great Old One! At least according to Death's description of the beast. I'm not sure Death is the most trustworthy of narrators though. Also, is he really Death? Seems like a crazy character to introduce four issues in. How many issues was Gaiman's The Sandman on before readers were introduced to their next huge comic book crush, Death? Death realizes he can't manipulate Cerebus to force Cerebus to bring him the gem. So he searches for somebody he can manipulate.

Or does he create one? I suppose that spark is the moment Elrod comes into existence.

The first half of this issue was lacking in, as Dave says, "Ha-ha." And true to form, it wasn't that great. Standard sword and sorcery fare with Cerebus battling a monster and magical forces intervene in the barbarian's life. Death isn't much of a character and the monster wasn't much more than any of the listings on a typical wandering monster chart. But then Cerebus wanders into the market to meet one of the top three characters in the series! No wait. Maybe top four because I just remembered another character I love. Whoops! Make that top six. No, no, top seven maybe? Top ten? Christ I forgot about all the characters in Guys who read that Wankerman comic book which puts Elrod in, what? Top twenty, maybe? And do we count all of The Roach's incarnations as one character or several?! Anyway, he's a pretty good character.

Is this the most iconic entrance for a character ever? You know what? Don't answer that. I already said that I hate debating other comic book nerds.

Oh man. I'd completely forgotten about how Elrod refers to Cerebus as the kid in the bunny suit. Which provides for some great imagery later when we see their first encounter through Elrod's eyes. It must have been tough living in barbarian times and also this fictional world because, once again, Cerebus finds himself drawn into a sword fight for practically no reason. I mean, there were probably more reasons for every other fight he got into, like the one against the shadow beast and the one against the skeleton and the one against the wizard and the one against the Boreleans and the one against Klog and the one against the army hypnotized by the succubus and the one against the succubus and the one against Red Sophia and the one against Thugg the Unseemly and the one against Feras and the one against the Crawler. This fight happens because he just tries to ignore Elrod and Elrod is all, "Look at my hat! It's tall and pointy!" Remember that joke from Dave's essay where he said it made him laugh a lot? Yeah, it was pretty good.

Elric's sword was black but it was not called "Seersucker." It was called, um, Black Razor? No wait! Stormbringer!

Speaking of Black Razor, does anybody remember the names of the other two magic weapons that could be found in S2 White Plume Mountain? If so, I'd like to steal your lunch money and give you a swirly. A minor bit of explication happens on the next page which describes Death's motivations for seeking the gem currently in Cerebus's possession. It's the Chaos Gem and would be the 13th magic gem in Death's collection. That would enable him to kill even more people than he presumably already kills. I figure he's eventually going to kill everybody anyway so what's the hurry? Elrod's sword shatters when Cerebus blocks his first blow and Elrod decides maybe they should team up instead. Cerebus has yet to say a word as Elrod talks enough for the two of them. Also, it's a Foghorn Leghorn parody and Foghorn's foils usually have little to say. Half the character is in the bluster and overblown confidence. Elrod gets them both in trouble with the guards and hauled off to prison.

Maybe I loved Elrod because he reminded me so much of my gaming group's role playing encounters.

Cerebus breaks his chains in prison and escapes while Elrod continues to shoot his mouth off. He's useless for anything but talk, evidence, I suppose, that he's nothing but an illusion. I'd like to believe Dave Sim retconned Elrod into being some kind of magical, illusory creation because I don't like to believe that any writer plans that kind of stuff. Why even consider if he's a real being or not this early? But Dave Sim has that bit in the Swords of Cerebus essay where he says, "He always pops up, seemingly from nowhere, with no explanation of how he got out of the fix we left him in (Aha! You hadn't noticed, had you) and an entirely new vision of the best direction for his life to take." It's almost like he's winking at us and nudging us with his elbow, daring us to guess that there's something not right with the character. Maybe Dave Sim only came up with the "Elrod is an actual cartoon character" after a few more Elrod appearances. Cerebus throws the gem in a well, figuring it must be bad luck, and Death walks off dejected that his plan failed. Who's he going to manipulate into climbing down a well?! I mean, The Roach would probably do it. But it seems like Death's heart wasn't really into killing everybody quicker anyway. He probably realized it was just too much extra work. And that's it for the story! Not much in Aardvark Comment except for this list of creatures Cerebus has fought which I did not know existed before I wrote out my list earlier or else I would have simply used it and missed out on some of them.

Also, Frank Thorne wrote another letter.

Cerebus #4 Rating: B+. Dave Sim was correct in his essay about not much really happening in this issue. It's a lot of Death hoping for some gem for some reason which he never gets and nobody ever notices he's even trying, and Elrod going on and on and on about himself. It's a good first appearance by Elrod but he's definitely better utilized when he has actual dialogue with other characters. I loved this issue so don't take it the wrong way when I say my favorite part of this issue was probably when Dave mentioned of Wendy Pini. Elfquest was my favorite thing from 6th to 9th grade. Wendy Pini and Dave Sim have this thing in common: they're two of three comic book creators whom I went out of my way to get to sign my books. The other one was Terry Moore. And I guess you could include Richard Pini but I just think of him as a subset of Wendy.

[cousticks]

Can you expand on Rimlaine in your zombie au? 👀

oh i sure fucking can. warning for self destructive behavior a little greater than canon because i did some rather messed up things to make them work!

I kind of gave them a bit of a "you're the only person in this town crazy enough to handle me" dynamic but more of as a quarantine measure because nobody else wanted anything to do with either of them. My explanation of how I translate their abilities and dynamic into this universe is kind of long so I'm putting this under a cut!

so, i spend a lot of time in this au trying to translate everyone's abilities into an ability-less zombie au. rimbaud's ability in translation kind of got broken down into two main parts: compartmentalization and control. in an ability, this is his ability subspace, and the manipulation of the rules within it.

now. we know rimbaud is kind of nuts. we also know that in canon he's used his ability to keep himself "alive" when he should have died.

you're probably reading this going okay cou, that's cool and all, but where's the zombie apocalypse part? well, resistance to death, compartmentalization, and control? rimbaud is going to survive several zombie attacks. in the most fucked up way.

i've mentioned my zombie virus's function is, among some other diseases, based upon rabies. rabies spreads pretty slowly in the body, through nerves. so if rimbaud gets bitten? he's not going down so easy. compartmentalization and control - he just fucking cuts off a solid chunk of whatever part of him just got bit before the wound has a chance to spread then carries on. (note: i do not know if this would work with real rabies nor do i recommend it. this is science fiction! i do what i want!)

so we've got rimbaud, who just lops off chunks of himself when he gets attacked to survive. he develops a bit of a reputation for this. after all, in canon, he's a powerful ability user. why wouldn't he be of high reputation (with people a little afraid of him) in this world, too? he's known for having ways of "dealing with" zombies.

now, verlaine. he, like chuuya, is an experimentally "cured" zombie (not cured. still zombie. just... staved off.) he's still dangerous and unstable to a point. the experimental cure is rather miserable and not super effective (most just die when its attempted). he's still very much infected with the zombie virus, but it won't be getting much worse, save for occasional "slips" of fun zombie brain moments (not fun in the slightest). shoutout to @/squidsandthings for giving me another virus type to look into for ideas on how these slips work!!! i love taking inspiration from real life diseases to make this work.

so after verlaine gets essentially thrown to the wolves after the zombie treatment, he gets passed off into the care of pretty much the only guy who can put up with someone that's just a zombie with a still functional brain, aka rimbaud.

yes, verlaine has bitten rimbaud a few times. this is fine though. remember how rimbaud literally gives himself up for verlaine at the end of stormbringer? i'm carrying that over, here, with rimbaud literally being willing to chop bits of himself off to keep verlaine around. and in return verlaine is the only person around not dismally horrified of rimbaud... Doing That.

i wanted at least someone to be kind of happier than in canon somehow in this universe so i'm allowing rimlaine to at least get to stay together without that separation they have in canon. but also one constantly runs the risk of killing the other either accidentally or out of necessity.

i also really wanted to create the rimbaud & dazai parallels of "immunity" of a sort, though rimbaud's is a distinctly different flavor of immunity since its very self-wrought.

so there you have it! that's the rimlaine zombie au dynamic. they're both miserable and having a bad time but at least they're having a bad time together. (fun fact! they can't like. kiss or anything. because, like rabies, the zombie virus can be spread through mucus membranes ((like mouths!)) i can make them as canon as i want and it still doesn't do either of them any good! <3)

[ask-the-phan-site]

Phan Cam: The Phantom Thieves of Kaijudo?

>San Campion, California, United States. We came here to change the heart of a new target. Queen, Noir, and Crow are not with us as they have to study for their college finals. But Duke, Ape, Visor, and his robotic companion will be filling in for them.

Okay, according to this message, the person who sent the request should be meeting at someplace called “The Five Paths”. I looked it up. It’s some kind of martial arts studio.

Really? Like what? I know some Kung-Fu.

Oracle: It doesn’t say. There’s no other information about it.

It’s like this place doesn’t even exist. Now that’s just weird.

I think that’s it over there.

Oracle: Well, it does appear so.

Let’s take a closer look.

Let’s be careful though. There’re some kids here.

Oracle: The message said to meet them in the back. Let’s see if we can find a way there.

>We manage to find a way to the back. While that was happening, I couldn’t help but hear what the kids at the front were saying.

Have you noticed that Tareq’s been acting weird lately? More than usual.

Well, it has looked like he hasn’t slept in a while. I tried asking him about it and just told me to get bent. I know Tareq hasn’t been the nicest to us, but this is just getting ridiculous. Ray, what does your uncle say?

I asked him and he said, “Just give it time. Everything is still new to him.”

Ginger-haired girl: I see. Well, if your uncle and the other Masters say it, I suppose we can try... So anyway, how was your winter break?

...

>We were now at the back of the studio.

I don’t see anyone here.

Maybe it was just a prank. Sometimes people will troll you like this.

Well they sure went through a lot of trouble just to bring us here.

Don’t let your guard down just yet.

Well, it don’t look like we might be jumped anytime-

>The sound of a door opens.

OH SHIT! SOMEONE’S HERE!

>We quickly turn to see someone come out the backdoor of the studio.

What the- Who the heck are you people!?

Wait, this is just some misunderstanding!

Young man in gee: (shocked) A Creature!?

>He quickly puts on some glove and we are surprised to see it change into a green glove that looks like it was made of leaves.

Wait! What on earth is that!?

Young man in gee: Three-Eyed Dragonfly!

>The young man shouted this as he did some martial art move and was surrounded by what looked like flowers. Then, the flowers all converted in front of the young man and a portal with a symbol on it opens.

>Then, to our shock and horror, something comes out of it.

Violet: (shocked) What is that thing!?

Oracle: It doesn’t look like any Shadow I know.

Young man in gee: (confused) Shadow? Tch, whatever, I have to do this. Three-Eyed, attack!

??-??: Tareq, please stop!

Young man in gee: (shocked) Huh!? Th- That voice.

>Suddenly, the symbol on the portal changes.

>Then, something else comes out with the portal closing behind it.

Young man in gee: (still shocked) R- Ra-Vu? You’re here?

Glowing Creature: (telepathically) Yes. I am. I ask you not to attack them.

Young man in gee: Why not?

Glowing Creature: Because, these people... are the Phantom Thieves of Heart.

Young man in gee: (shocked again) What?

Mona: (also surprised) It knows who we are?

>Then, the glowing creature projects some kind of screen. On the screen is the request.

Young man in gee: (confused) My request? But, I thought I deleted it and never sent it.

Visor: You’re the one who sent it?

Young man in gee: I wrote it, yes. But I deleted because I chickened out. I’m sorry, I just haven’t been getting any sleep lately and I don’t think I can handle this.

Joker: So you’re Tareq.

Tareq: How did you know?

Aside from that creature calling you by name, it was also a lucky guess.

Tareq: (groaning) You probably over heard those three in the front. They probably saw my request and sent it.

Glowing Creature: You are wrong, Tareq... I sent it.

Tareq: (surprised) You!?

Glowing Creature: Yes. I secretly went into the temple and saw the request you made. I took an screenshot and saw it was about Master Brightmore. So, I recreated the request and sent it.

Tareq: But... But why?

Glowing Creature: I was advised to come to the temple... By a young girl in a blue dress and a large book.

>Why am I not surprised?

Tareq: I don’t think I want to know about a girl you suddenly found in the Creature Realm. Still, why did you sent it?

Glowing Creature: Because... I too am worried about him.

Tareq: ... A Light Creature never lies. Yes, I’m worried about Master Brightmore. I know I shouldn’t be calling him that anymore because of all the things he’s done when he joined the Choten, but still, of all the Kaijudo Duel Masters, he was probably my favorite. How he only just wanted to keep things orderly and calm. And now look at him, a wanted criminal in the eyes of those he worked with. Since then, I’ve been having a hard time getting used to it. And lately, I keep having this recurring nightmare.

Glowing Creature: I am no expert in dreams, but what kind of nightmare?

Tareq: I... I don’t know. It just felt like... Like something dangerous was chasing me and I had to get away... By climbing something... And I think sheep were also in it.

...

Tareq: I don’t have that dream anymore, but since then, I just can’t seem to sleep. I tried everything to relax. I even asked Master Kimora for advice. He said to take some time off, but that’s not helping at all.

>Then, Tareq did some bow-like move in front of the giant bug. Then, he did it again and the bug disappears.

Tareq: See? I can’t even send my Creature back properly. I’m just so worried about Master Brightmore. I...

Glowing Creature: You can say it.

Tareq: I... I miss him.

Glowing Creature: But is that not why you requested the help of the Phantom Thieves? To change his heart so he may turn himself in and he would at least return to the temple?

Tareq: Well, yes.

Then that’s what we’ll do.

Tareq: You will?

Panther: We don’t know much about what happened, but we’ll help you anyway we can.

Fox: We Phantom Thieves do this so we can give courage to others. That includes you.

Tareq: I see... Thank you.

Glowing Creature: I am glad to hear that... So this is what “glad” feels like.

Ape: Well, it does look like you don’t much about emotions, uh...

Glowing Creature: Forgive me, I have not introduced myself to you. I am known as Ra-Vu, Indomitable Seeker of Lightning and Stormbringer. I am a Creature of the Light Civilization in a hidden world known as the Creature Realm.

Tareq: And you probably already know I’m Tareq: I’m an acolyte in the ancient art of Kaijudo.

Joker: I see. I’m not so sure about what you just said.

Tareq: I’ll explain while I take you to where you need to go... I’ll just ease your memories after this anyway.

>With that, Ra-Vu takes off to the air and we leave with Tareq... We didn’t see that someone was spying on us.

Ray: I knew something was up.

Round Boy: I guess Panopter got something good.

Ginger-haired girl: Think we should tell the Masters?

Ray: (grinning) Have we haver told them about the stuff we do?

Round boy and ginger-haired girl: ... Naw.

>Later after being told everything about the world of Kaijudo, we were now standing in front of a convenient store.

Tareq: I got word that he was back in town. He took up a job here as a clerk.

>We take a peek through the window. Ra-Vu sent us a telepathic message that he can connect us so we can hear what’s going on inside.

What is this I’m looking at?

>He was holding an instant ramen bowl.

It’s instant ramen. Anyone can see that.

Yeah, boss. I thought we were the dumb ones.

Nigel Brightmore: (irritated) I am aware that it’s instant ramen. What I was asking was why I found this in the nacho aisle?

Boy in Sweater: Because the instant ramen is next to it. C’mon, it was just one mistake.

Nigel Brightmore: (still irritated) We are trying to make the shoppers’ trips here easier! Unlike life. You better think twice before making such an error again!

Hat-wearing young man: Whoa, boss, relax, it’s fixable. Geez, and we left Carny just for this?

Boy in Sweater: It can’t be helped, Nickles. Carny had the dough. And now that he’s spending more time with his old man, we gotta make cash somehow.

Nickles: I hope yer right, Driggs.

Nigel Brightmore: Then perhaps you should have thought about that before deciding to work here. Now quit flapping your jaws and get back to work!

Nickles and Driggs: (scared) Yes, sir!

>Back outside with us.

He must really miss being a Master.

Tareq: It’s making him so frustrated he’s taking it out on his employees. And they don’t even know anything about Kaijudo or Creatures. It’s pathetic, but at the same time, sad. I can’t stand to see him like this anymore.

Ra-Vu: (telepathically) Meet me at the back of this shop.

>We go to the back where Ra-Vu was waiting for us.

Ra-Vu: Now you see how far my former master has fallen. How his misery has turned him from a once honorable man into a disgraced figure of sloth and anger. He might as well, how would humans put it... Made a prison of his own heart. And he is even the warden.

Skull: That sounds like it fits.

>Skull takes out his phone and enters the words we hope are the keywords. Nigel Brightmore... Convenient store... Prison...

Nav: Results found. Updating guidance system.

Ape: Bingo!

Tareq: So, you go to this Metaverse with an app? How does that work?

Just trust us.

Skull: Well, with all that done, all we gotta do now is go into his Palace and-

???: Palace?

>We are surprised by three new people with us. It was those kids from the studio.

Tareq: Ray? Allie? Gabe? How?

Allie: Never underestimate the power of Stalker Spheres.

Gabe: And was that Nigel in that store?

Tareq: ...

Ray: Tareq, you knew? You knew all this time he was back in town and hid him from the Stalker Spheres?

Ra-Vu: He knew, yes, but it was I who hid him from the Stalker Spheres. Tareq had nothing to do with that.

Allie: Can we really believe that?

Gabe: This wouldn’t be the first time a Light Creature lied.

Ra-Vu: Princess Sasha only did what she must to do what is right. But I am not lying to you now.

Gabe: ... Fine. But what’s going on here? And with these guys?

Allie: Hold on... I thought I recognized you.

>She was staring at Skull and Duke.

You do?

Allie: You’re Ryuji Sakamoto from KUROFUNE. The other kids at school just wouldn’t shut up about it since your official debut last year. And you, you led those Joes after you were framed.

Duke: Fine, you caught us.

Ray: Actually, I think I do recognize these two. I think I even recognize the rest of you from the Dream Festival.

>We just stared.

Ray: My cousins were competing in the Top Three.

Skull: Hold on. Okamoto...

Oh, as in Nobu and Ichiro Okamoto!

Ray: They’re my cousins.

Skull: I see. You know, I heard they were dropped from their Unit because their leader that they were the reason they didn’t make it. Now that I’m a True Idol and can make my own Unit, maybe I can recruit ‘em.

Ray: Really? That’s good, I guess... But that still doesn’t answer what’s going on here.

Tareq: (sighs) You might as well tell them.

Ra-Vu: Actually, I think it best simply to show them.

Allie: (unconvinced) Show us?

Ra-Vu: But before we do so, I suggest you first summon your creatures.

Gabe: Right here? Right now?

Ra-Vu: I shall explain later.

Ray: Okay, I guess.

>The three adepts take out their gauntlets and empower them with what Tareq called Mana. Tareq does the same.

Ray: Tatsurion the Unchained!

Allie: Scaradorable of Gloom Hollow!

Gabe: Reef Prince Glu-urrgle!

Tatsurion: What is...

>The Creature known as Tatsurion, or as he as known as “Bob”, sees Ra-Vu and quickly makes a fighting stance.

Bob: (not looking happy) What is he doing here?

Ray: (trying to calm the situation) I’ll explain soon, Bob. Right now, we should hear what he has to say.

Bob: (a bit disappointed) Fine.

Ra-Vu: I am glad to hear that. Now, you may begin.

Joker: Alright, he we go.

Nav: Beginning navigation.

>With that, the familiar red wave passes over us. When it ends, the convenient store had now been replaced with a prison that looks like something out of Avatar the Last Airbender. More specifically, The Boiling Rock.

(Insert song: Price)

Ray: Holy...

Ra-Vu: That is precisely the right thing to say in the situation.

How don’t see how it is. Care to explain?

Allie: First, explain something. A couple of things... Where the heck are we and what’s with the outfits!?

Gabe: Hold on, those masks... You’re the Phantom Thieves, aren’t you!? The Phantom Thieves of Hearts!

Hey, shush! I don’t think the Shadows heard us.

Tareq: Shadows? You talked about that.

Yeah, in the Metaverse, enemies attack us.

Allie: I think it get it. But what does that have to do with summoning our Creatures before coming here?

Ra-Vu: Because it is unknown what effects may occur from opening the Veil within the Metaverse.

Gabe: (worried) Now you tell us.

Oracle: Right, so until we can be sure it’s safe...

No Summonings.

Gabe: Right. Opening the Veil in a place like this could cause a Butterfly Effect so massive, it might cause great damage.

Well, shall we go in now?

Right, I’m just itching to cause some damage.

Then let’s get to it.

>I use my Third Eye a spot a hole in the mountain big enough for all of us to go through.

Joker: You think we can fly up there?

Bob: I can.

Oracle: I can also use Necronomicon carry us as well. Persona!

Ray: (surprised) That’s definitely not the kind of Creatures we’re use to.

>With Bob and Necronomicon’s help, we managed to get inside the prison without fail. Inside, there were young men getting pushed around by Shadows dressed like prison guards.

Tareq: How does those guys get here?

Mona: Their just cognitions. They’re based off of people in the real world. It’s those guards you have to worry about.

>We secretly land near what we can only guess is the front door. We enter what we assume is the lobby which looks more like a courtroom. Then, we see two cognitions dressed like guards escorting a young man with a bag over his head. The two guards look like the two boys from the store.

Allie: Why are Driggs and Nickles here?

It’s not really them. Like Mona said, they’re just copies that exist only in this Palace.

>Then, someone arrives on the judge’s podium. It was Nigel Brightmore dressed like that warden from The Boiling Rock. However, it looked like it was made of gold... Including his eyes.

Shadow Nigel: Read the charges.

Cognitive Driggs: Yes, sir.

>Then, Cognitive Driggs removes the bag...

Ray: (shocked) It’s... It’s me.

Cognitive Nickles: Raiden Pierce-Okamoto, you are charged with defying the ways of the Kaijudo Order. You have touched Creature after Creature, made forbidden trips to the Creature Realm, causing much chaos, and worst of all, cost the warden his job. How do you plea?

Cognitive Ray: (looks like he’s crying) ...

Shadow Nigel: We will take your silence as your confession. So, for your crimes, I sentence you to be “reeducated”.

Cognitive Ray: N- No!

>With that, the cognitions leave.

Bob: (now getting angry) They will pay for that!

>With that, Bob runs out of hiding.

Ray: Bob, wait!

>Too late. We’ve been spotted.

Shadow Nigel: (a malicious smile on his face) So, the real one comes to my presence. And I see you brought your friends as well. And what’s this? You’ve become friends with those annoying fools from Japan?

Well, guess what. These annoyin’ fools are gonna take you down and steal your Treasure!

Shadow Nigel: I am not scared of you. This prison in impenetrable. Nothing is coming in or out. Ever.

Tareq: You can’t be serious. Master, I know you have fallen, but this isn’t going to make things any better.

Shadow Nigel: Doesn’t it? I lost everything because of these children. The Masters have left their ways and are now weak. Our mission to protect the people of the Human Realm will fail this way.

Ray: That’s not true. The Order didn’t become weak, they grew. Now, they’re stronger than ever.

Shadow Nigel: I refuse to believe it. Being a Kaijudo Duel Master was everything to me... And I intend to take it back.

>Then, a large Shadow appears.

Tareq: Please, Master Brightmore, it doesn’t have to be this way. Just turn yourself over to the Masters and I promise that I’ll make sure that their punishment is something light.

Shadow Nigel: ... No. It’s too late for that.

Ra-Vu: It is never too late to redeem yourself.

Shadow Nigel: (getting angry) You dare speak back to your master? Fine, if you wish to defy me further... Then you can just die here. Guards, seize them!

>With that, Shadow Nigel runs off and the large Shadow changes shape.

Allie: (surprised) I don’t think that angel is here to save our souls.

>Necronomicon scans the Shadow.

Oracle: I’m not sensing any weaknesses. It’s real strong. And avoid using Bless Skills.

Joker: But maybe Curse Skills can give us the edge...

Maybe even stronger.

>I go Third Tier.

Joker: PERSONA!

Skull: I’m in, too. You might need the extra muscle.

Mona: You’ll need a healer, too.

Fox: And me.

>Skull, Mona, and Fox all go Ultimate.

Skull, Mona, and Fox: PERSONA!

Ray: We’ll fight, too. I know it may look like you’re full up, but you might need us.

Joker: Alright. I don’t think this will be an ordinary fight this time.

Gabe: Ready to do this, Gargle?

Glu-urrgle (aka Gargle): RFA. Ready for action, G Ablriel!

Skull: Glad you can join us. I like that RFA thing.

Allie: Let’s snuff this guy out, Squeaky.

Scaradorable (Squeaky): *squeak*

Mona: I’m not much of a gentleman if I keep a couple of ladies waiting.

Tareq: Shoot. I knew I should have summoned a Creature before coming here.

Ra-Vu: I shall fill that role for this battle.

Tareq: Thanks, Ra-Vu.

Fox: Good. Time for the beauty of art to be illuminated.

Bob: Then let the brawl begin!

Tutorial

The Kaijudo Adepts’ assistance is the same as a regular assist. Sometime, if you can’t knock down all the enemies, they will assist in knocking down the rest of them.

Which Adept assists depends on the character.

Joker = Ray and Bob

Skull = Gabe and Gargle

Mona = Allie and Squeaky

Fox = Tareq and Ra-Vu

>Uriel Summons three Shadows. We’ll tell you that they’re Angels since we can’t show you pictures of them. All the Angel use Buffs on Uriel. Raoul uses Heat Raiser on Mona. Seiten Taisei uses Matarukaja.

Oracle: This one! Defense up!

>Necronomicon uses Marakukaja. Mercurius uses Masukunda. Kamu Susano-o uses Masukukaja. Uriel uses Bloodbath. Luckily, we all dodge it. Angel 1 uses Kouha on me. It knocks me down. Angel 1 then attacks me. Angel 2 tries to use Makajama on Mona. Luckily, he dodges it. Angel 3 looks scornfully at Skull. I get back up and Raoul uses Maeigaon. It knocks down all the Angels. I pass the baton to Mona and Mercurius uses Miracle Punch on Uriel. It didn’t knock him down. Seiten Taisei uses Charge. Mercurius uses Miracle Punch on Uriel again. This time, it was a critical hit.

Mona: Quiver in fear!

>After the attack, the Angels were gone, but Uriel was still up. Kamu Susano-o uses Tempest Slash. Uriel uses Megidola. Raoul uses Eigaon. Seiten Taise uses God’s Hand. Mercurius uses Mediarahan. Kamu Susano-o uses Bufudyne. Uriel uses Myraid Slashes on Mona. Raoul uses Concentrate. Seiten Taisei uses Matarukaja. Mercurius uses Miracle Punch. No knock down this time. Kamu Susan-o uses Masukukaja. Uriel summons another Angel. The Angel looks scornfully at me.

Joker: Alright, Raoul, it’s showtime!

<With that, Uriel and the Angel are both fast Asleep. Seiten Taisei uses Charge. Mercurius uses Masukunda. Fox defends himself. Both Uriel and the Angel are still Sleeping. Raoul uses Maeigaon. It was technical hit on both of them and the Angel was knocked down. Seiten Taisei uses God’s Hand.

Gabe: Me and Gargle are ready when you are!

Skull: Go for it, man!

Gargle: LOL! Happy Hour!

>With a few shots of his Potato Gun, Gargle knocks Uriel down.

Skull: All right! Time for some pain!

>After the attack, the Angel was gone, but Uriel was still up, but a little more weaker. Mercurius uses Miracle Punch. It was a critical hit.

Mona: Time for some bloodshed!

>After the attack, Uriel was still up, but now more weaker. Kamu Susano-o uses Brave Blade. Uriel uses Myraid Slashes on Fox. Luckily, he dodges it. Raoul uses Eigaon. Seiten Taisei uses Matarukaja. Mercurius uses Garudyne. Kamu Susano-o uses Masukukaja. Uriel uses Bloodbath. Both Skull and Mona fall under fear. I use Relax Gel on Mona. Skull is too Scared to move. Mona uses Harisen Recovery on Skull as Mercurius uses Miracle Punch. No knock down.

Allie: I think we’re good to go, right, Squeaky?

>Squeaky nods.

Mona: Then be my guest.

Allie: Alright! Squeaky, show them your real dark side.

>Squeaky uses her Fear Gaze and attacks Uriel. He’s knocked down and falls under Fear.

Mona: Too late for apologies!

>After the attack, Uriel is still up, but now even weaker. Kamu Susano-o uses Brave Blade. It’s a critical hit.

Fox: This is the final blow! Now! Let us strike!

Oracle: And to finish it off!

>With that, Uriel was gone.

Allie: That definitely wasn’t like any Duel we’ve been in. This is just crazy.

T-Bob: Crazy? You haven’t seen anything yet.

>Gabe goes over to the podium Shadow Nigel was. He begins looking through some files.

Gabe: These files are on all three of us. Ray, me, and Allie. It’s like he really does see us as criminals.

Bob: Now I just want to get him good.

Panther: He’s suppose to be the Master of the Light Civilization, and yet he’s willing to hurt others just to make sure others follow the rules?

This is totally the opposite of who he should be.

Gabe: Hold on, there’s another file here.

Gargle: (scanning it) It doesn’t seem to be on anyone. No viruses, no worries.

Oracle: Let me see.

>Oracle looks in the file.

Score! It’s a map of the prison.

Skull: Cool! This Palace will be a cinch.

Tareq: (looking down) Yeah.

Violet: Is something wrong, Tareq kun?

Tareq: It’s just... Is this how Master Brightmore really is? Some tyrant who just want to control everything?

Violet: Pretty much. But that’s why we’re here. To change all that.

Tareq: Can we?

Joker: Tareq, you truly believe that there is some good in Nigel and you might be right. You know this. I know this. We all know this... And we want the Masters to know the same thing. That’s why we’re ding this. We’re going to do more than take his heart...

We’re going to save him.

Tareq: ... Thanks. You know... I don’t think I’ll be erasing your memories after all.

Gabe: (a little worried) Really? ... Then again, a chance to ally with the Phantom Thieves? When will have another chance like this? A chance to know more about this Metaverse and how it might effect Mana.

Allie: Just be careful not to get over yourself.

Oracle: Then I’ll just lend you a hand. I know a thing or two about how cognition works here.

Gabe: I think that will be great.

Tareq: Then it’s settled. You help me with this and I won’t erase your memories. I might even help you in some places most people can’t. So, will you help?

Alright then. It’s setled. We’ve got ourselves a deal.

>We shake on it. I think this deal might work in our favor.

I am thou... Thou art I...

Thou hast acquired a new vow...

It shall become the wings of rebellion That breaketh thy chains of captivity.

With the birth of Storm Persona I have obtained the winds of blessing that shall lead to freedom and new power...

Confidant: The Duelist

Arcana: Storm (This Arcana is made up for this Confidant.)

Rank: 1

Ability: Acolyte

Allows you to enter the Kaijudo Temple.

Panther: Well, we’ve done all we can for now. Let’s regroup for today.

>With that, we leave.

>We return to the real world. Ray, Gabe, and Allie send their Creatures back to their realm.

Ray: It looks like things are about to get more complicated from here on.

Joker: Most likely. But not right away, though. It’s only the first day.

?????? ??????: The first day of what?

>We were shocked by who was now with us.

Ra-Vu: It appears there are some Stalker Spheres I forgot to ask to keep us hidden.

What was your first guess, mi amigo?

This could be bad. Real bad.

Tareq: Master, wait, I can explain.

Master Chavez: I suppose you can.

>Suddenly, something flies down to us.

>Then, it projects a screen... It shows us disappearing into the Metaverse.

Now we really have to explain.

Tareq: Then please, hear us out.

>The Kaijudo Temple. We came here and explained to the other Duel Masters and even Ray’s parents of what had transpired. Hopefully, they will listen to us.

So, Nigel Brightmore is back in San Campion. This is startling news.

And you two have been hiding him from us the whole time? Are you so loyal that you would protect this traitor for your masters?

Ra-Vu: He is not a traitor. He merely, as you humans would say, made a mistake. One that is atonable.

Master Isao: You only say that because he is your master and he probably ordered you to hid him from the Stalker Spheres.

Ra-Vu: That is not true. I am hiding Master Brightmore of my own volition. Even those of the Light Civilization are not above compassion and empathy. A feat that our Princess Sasha proved possible long ago.

Gabe: He has a point there.

Either way, I am still not so sure about how your plan will work. I understand how much the Phantom Thieves of Hearts has done for the world. I must admit, even I was impressed by what they did in New York. Not to mention what happened in Auradon and with that general. But still, to change his heart?

Tareq: I just want to see Master Brightmore do the right thing. This is the only way I can do it. Please believe me. I don’t want him to be punished so harshly if he doesn’t turn himself in.

And what punishment did you think we would give him if he didn’t?

Tareq: I don’t know. Banishment to the Creature Realm without his gauntlet? Or worst of all... You’d erase his memories. A fate far worse than death.

Master Chavez: And what punishment do you wish for us to give him if he does turn himself in?

Tareq: I guess maybe tending to the Creature Pens? Helping Master Toji in his workshop since Fingers isn’t around anymore. Even help Master Kimora in his garden or the studio upstairs. Just please, don’t erase his memories.

After everything he did to us, to my son... To me. He deserves such a fate. To have to go through the same ordeals I had to go through.

Ray: (a bit shocked) Dad!?

Ken, no.

Saguru: (as he wishes to be called, only his family can call him Ken) However, to do such a thing... We would be no different than August. So even though I’m no longer a Duel Master... I wish to favor Tareq’s request.

Master Isao: Ken chan, are you sure?

Saguru: Please, Uncle, you know that this might work.

Master Isao: ... Very well. We will vote on it. All those in favor of allowing the Phantom Thieves take Brightmore’s heart so he may turn himself over to us?

Master Kimora: Well, I suppose we could give it a try. I think Nigel really wanted to do the right thing.

Master Jaha: I also agree. Nigel was consumed by the order of Light. This might be a good chance to help him come to his senses.

Master Chavez: I’m curious to know if this would really work. So, I agree as well.

Master Nadia: (still doubtful) Fine. But only because Hector thinks it might be a good idea. However, I also propose that we give them until the end of the month to change his heart. If they fail to do so, then we must step in and take Nigel ourselves. Are we all in agreement?

>The Masters agreed.

Mona: Alright then, the deadline is January 31. So we have to establish a route to the Treasure and send the calling card no later than two days prior, the 29th.

Ray: Luckily, we’ll be helping you.

Janet: (a little worried) Just be careful, Honey. It sounds like this Metaverse is nothing like the Creature Realm.

Ray: It’s okay, Mom, the Phantom Thieves will be joining us and they know more about the Metaverse than we do.

Saguru: For their sake, they better. (looking intimidating) Because if they so let as much as a cut on you...

>Something crawls out of his eye.

Ape: I have a feeling that bug is more than it appears.

Visor: (a little worried) You can say that again.

Then it’s mission start. Time for Operation: Save the Light!

Violet: That sounds a little taken.

Joker: Well it was either that or Attack the Light. Maybe even Unleash the Light.

Allie: (confused) Too many Steven Universe references.

Tareq: (also confused) Steven Universe?

Violet: You don’t know about Steven Universe?

Allie: The only channel the Temple gets is San Campion 24/7. They don’t even use the Internet much here.

Oracle: Which makes me wonder. How did you managed to write your request?

Tareq: Well, it all happened when Gabe stayed the night here to take a break from those brothers of his. I sort of... Borrowed his phone while he was asleep.

Gabe: (upset) I thought it was odd that slightly more used data!

Tareq: (a little embarrassed) Sorry.

Gabe: (sighs) It’s alright. Just ask next time.

>With that, we prepare for the heist ahead of us.

[songlordsbug]

Blood Calls

She's not expecting them when they come.

She's sixteen and she's lived at the Children's Home her whole life.

It's not that she lost hope, it's that she never needed it-- Sergei tends the gardens and he's all she's ever wanted. He's her first memory.

Her toddler self had managed to sneak outside one early morning and had looked around in wonder at the way the plants danced in the dawn glow. She'd followed their dance to its source and found a small, sprightly man with earthstained knees and hands.

He'd turned and found her with warm brown eyes and laughed.

"Well this is a different kind of plant I've called," he'd said. "Hello Little Sprout, what's your name?"

So she'd never thought about the day that might come-- the day one of the Houseminders calls out "Daria come in here please."

She steps into the room and there they are.

A man and a woman, married, dark hair gone mostly grey, dark, sharp eyes in wrinkled faces.

The Tester steps forward to test their bloods.

Power comes through the blood and everyone knows that only those who share blood can properly train another in their power, after all, blood calls to blood.

She'd only asked once about the testing.

She'd been very young still, helping Sergei with the weeding, when she'd turned to him and begged "Couldn't you have a test done between us? I want to go home with you."

"Oh Little Sprout," he'd said, brown eyes gone soft and a little sad, "even if I had the spare coin for a test, there is no one whose blood would call to mine, not even yours."

She'd never asked again.

Now the Test flares blood red proving she and these strangers had matching blood.

The woman smiles and she thinks it's meant to be warm but there's something sharp and brittle about it.

"We've been looking for you," the woman says.

"We want you to come home with us," the man says.

She doesn't say anything-- it wouldn't matter if she did. They are a match and they want her and so the Home will send her off with them.

The Home says that every child is wanted. That blood calls and there is an answer. The Home says every child is reunited with their family. If that were true, then Katka wouldn't be here.

She's a Stormbringer-- it rains when she cries, the sun shines when she smiles, the wind's blowing matches her joys and frustrations. There are only three branches of Stormbringer left and they guard their lineage carefully. Little Katka doesn't talk about it, but one of the branches put her in the Home, and the other two have no interest or they would have claimed her within days.

She doesn't understand how anyone could not want bright, caring, inquisitive Katka.

The younger girl had latched onto her and refused to leave her alone. She'd reluctantly decided to share her garden time with Katka, who flitted about asking questions until Sergei was laughing.

"Land here, Little Wren, and let's see if you can water my flowers," he said.

She'd wanted to be jealous but couldn't be in the face of Katka's joy.

The Home says that every child is wanted, that Katka is wanted, but she isn't, and they aren't.

Nevertheless these people say they want her and their blood matches, so she leaves with them.

***

During the trip the woman who has told her to call her Grandmother asks "What do you enjoy, my dear?"

"Gardening," she answers.

The man she's meant to call Grandfather chuckles and says "You'll be able to explore your actual interests with us."

She thinks of her fingers dug into damp crumbly loam while the sun shines warmly and the breeze plays with her hair, and doesn't say anything.

***

Just before they arrive at the estate that is to be her new home they pass through a village. She notices because everyone they pass stops what they're doing to stand and stare, fear naked on their faces.

It is afternoon when they arrive, she is shown to a room and they tell her to settle in and rest a bit before supper. The room is lavish and dark, and her belongings are dwarfed by its size. But when she tugs the heavy brocade curtains open, sunlight spills into the room and for a moment things feel all right. The grounds are untended and wild but at least they're green.

When Grandfather comes to collect her he raises an eyebrow and sniffs.

"Good evening, Grandfather," she says.

He looks at her then, with his sharp, dark, eyes.

"In this household, you'll find, we tend not to waste greetings and such on words when our Power is so much more effective," he says. "Like this."

Her breath catches as her blood ripples against her pulse, but her speech is steady.

"Such things weren't exactly encouraged in the House, but I'm sure I'll catch on," she tells him.

"Good," he says, sweeping out.

She follows silently, remembering.

She'd been distraught when she'd realized what the pulsing patterns she could feel were, when she'd realized she could touch them. She'd run out to the garden and hidden herself under a bush.

Sergei had found her later, settling himself next to the bush and asking "What's a Little Sprout doing hiding away from the sun?"

"M'ot a sprout, m'a monster," she'd said with a sniffle.

"And here I thought monsters were fearsome creatures with terrible claws and fangs," Sergei said.

"Dhampir aren't, dhampir look like people until they hold your heart in their hand," she'd said.

"And where did you hear about dhampir?" Sergei asked.

"The older children tell stories," she'd answered.

"Ahh," Sergei hummed. "But such stories are rarely accurate. Shall I tell you what I know of dhampir?"

She'd nodded, feeling hope sprout in her chest.

"Dhampir look like people because they are people, Little Sprout. They just have a misunderstood gift," Sergei said. "They can sense and manipulate Lifeblood. But that's not so different from what the Testers can do."

"It's not?" she'd asked, breathless with hope.

"Not at all. In fact once they were from the same Line," Sergei said, smiling at her. "Now, why do you think you're dhampir?"

"Because I can feel... and I can touch," she'd said, lowering her eyes as she remembered the dizzying horror of the moment that had led to her running outside.

"Ah," Sergei said, "there are many ways to use such a gift-- you might use it to heal, or to guard, or to find truth. And of course, people aren't the only ones with Lifeblood, animals have it too, and even plants in their own way."

"Plants?" she'd asked, fascinated. "Of course. It's thin compared to creatures, but it's there, carrying life through the plant from the roots upward," Sergei said.

"Can you show me?" she'd asked, begged, demanded.

"I will teach you," Sergei agreed.

Over the next few months she'd learned to feel the not-there pulse of a plant's heartbeat. Learned how to use the gentlest of gentle touches. And while the plants would never dance for her like they did for Sergei, he taught her the how and the where and the why so that she could tend them with him.

Now, she thinks that the trick will be keeping her touch firm enough for these others to feel it.

As she follows Grandfather into what is clearly the dining room, her eyes catch on Grandmother. Instead of saying anything, she sends a ripple across Grandmother's pulse. The woman immediately turns to look at her.

"Grandfather said that was the proper method of greeting," she says.

"Quite right," Grandmother says. "You have an interesting signature."

She's more prepared for Grandmother's touch and only responds with a nod.

They take their seats and supper is soon served by a pair of pale and trembling village girls. As they eat, Grandmother speaks up.

"You mentioned some interest in plants, but you needn't worry about appearances here. Our Power is made for controlling others and we certainly won't be squeamish about it," Grandmother says, before smirking. "After all, it's ever so satisfying to make people do as they ought."

"Or you may be more interested in getting information from them, there are many ways to obtain it," Grandfather says.

"I... really hadn't thought about it, as you say, people can be so squeamish. I'm not really sure what my options are," she says.

"Then have a look in the library," Grandfather says. "It's full of spells and skills and specialties."

He and Grandmother continue to praise the library while she listens in silence and her thoughts wander.

While she'd been learning to redirect the flowings inside plants, and Katka was learning to apply miniature weather, Gregor had come creeping into their lives.

Gregor who had a surprisingly quiet and calm presence for someone so big and strong. Gregor who was so still and gentle that wild animals would creep out to sit with him. Gregor who watched them with silent wonder until Sergei sat back on his heels and called "Come out LIttle Whisper and let's see about transplanting these bushes."

Gregor whose gentle nature was completely at odds with the fierce warriors of the Earthshaker Line he came from. They'd finally come for him about a year ago and he'd written sporadic miserable letters ever since.

Everyone knew that you fit best with your Line, that shared power brought shared interests.

Everyone was wrong.

Gregor was never happier than he was carefully shaking dirt from a transplant's roots or gently tamping down the earth around a plant. Pushing him towards weaponry and fighting, on the other hand, was quietly destroying him.

She was not going to let her grandparents' beliefs destroy her. She had no interest in hurting or controlling others and no intention of learning. She would see what this library had to offer and move on from there.

As their meal comes to an end and their plates are cleared, a pitcher and several goblets are brought out. Grandmother carefully pours a thick, dark liquid into two of the goblets.

"Would you care to try some, dear? It's our favorite after supper treat," Grandmother says.

"What... is it?" she asks.

"An acquired taste," Grandfather answers.

"Maybe some other time," she says, disturbed by the similarity of the liquid to blood.

***

The next morning, after a stilted breakfast, she is relieved to be shown to the library.

She finds the most prominent books distasteful-- all about the best ways to cause pain with discussions on minimizing or maximizing damage, or all the ways a person could be convinced, coerced, beguiled, or confused into doing what the caster wanted. But as she moved deeper into the shelves the subjects became more varied and more pleasant.

There was a shelf on animals, both training and breeding. She found a number of shelves on healing. And in the back, gathering dust, she found a handful of books that seemed to date back to before the Tester and Dhampir lines had split.

Wary of observation, she leaves them to their dust for now and goes back to the basic healing shelf. She finds several techniques that she'd discovered while gardening with Sergei and many more that seem worth learning both for people and possible applications to plants.

They meet again for supper and she endures the spine-shuddering feeling of their touches in her pulse. She keeps her own touches fumbling, trying to gauge what they can and can't sense.

After the food is served, Grandmother turns to her.

"You picked an oddly philanthropic subject to look into today," she says, disapproval showing in the pinching of her lips and the tightening of her eyes.

"I thought it made sense to study the basics before getting into the interesting subjects," she says, thinking fast. "The anatomy pictures were... informative."

Grandfather snorts.

"There's time, she can explore as it suits her," he says.

"There's just so much," she says as earnestly as she can, "I'd never considered most of these options."

Grandmother sniffs but doesn't argue.

***

Three days later she decides to explore at night, hoping to avoid observation. She's out of her room for less than five minutes when she comes nose to nose with Grandmother.

It's the first time she's seen either of her grandparents unexpectedly.

"I... couldn't sleep," she says, eyes wide.

"A common problem among our Line," Grandmother says.

"I thought I would go to the library... since I wasn't sleeping," she says, willing her heart to stop racing.

"I had a similar thought," Grandmother answers. "Shall we?"

She nods and follows Grandmother to the library where they read for several hours before she feels she can claim sleepiness.

Back in her room she decides it's time to take measures.

Carefully, cautiously, she unclenches her grip on her powers until she can sense the other two pulses in the building. At the Home it had been dizzying, nauseating, to feel everyone, so she'd learned to close off that part of herself until she stopped getting headaches. But the only way she is ever going to get access to the books she wants is to know when her grandparents aren't paying attention. And that meant knowing where they were and what consciousness level they were at.

She finds that they are much more active at night, and that in the middle of the day they are very likely to be hidden away from the sun, sleeping.

She tries taking several books outside, including one off the back shelf, to read in the sun.

At supper Grandfather asks "Why on Earth were you reading outside?"

"It was always so much calmer on the grounds at the Home that it became my habit. And now I find I focus better," she answers.

This earns her a bemused glance, but nothing more is said on the matter and she settles into her illicit reading.

***

Her reading teaches her that the split that created the Tester and Dhampir lines was caused by different focus points. The Testers learned to sense the components and make up of blood, while the Dhampir learned to sense the rhythms and movements of blood.

The book has several exercises that overlap both abilities- including one that uses the bloodsense to find someone. Unable to resist, she pulls up her memory of Sergei's heartbeat and follows the instructions.

She's not expecting the immediate pull, and with a cautious check that her grandparents are still at rest, she gets up and follows it. She slips off the grounds and makes her way through nearby wild land until she comes to a mass of teeming vines.

Her breath catches in her throat- she knows these vines and their dance, though she's never seen them spiked like this or moving so angrily. She must make a sound, because the vines freeze and a young man appears, looking at her with familiar brown eyes.

"You're the new Dhampir," he says, eyes hard. "I didn't know your lot came out in the sun."

"I like the sun. And plants," she says, her Power pulling her towards him. "Wh-who are you?"

"Jakob," he says, a strange light in his eyes. "You like my vines?"

She nods dumbly, dazed by the familiarities and differences.

"Where did you come from?" she finally bursts out.

"Where did I come from?" he laughs. "I live here! My house is just a little ways away. Where did you come from, Dhampir-girl?"

"The Children's Home," she says. "I grew up there. Until they came for me."

"So that's why you're different then?" he asks, a thoughtful twist to his lips.

"Must be," she says, then shivers- Grandfather is waking up. "I have to go."

"So do I. Work to do," he says. "Perhaps we'll meet again."

"Tomorrow?" she asks.

He smirks and walks away.

She hesitates a moment longer before rushing away to gather her books and return them to the library.

***

The next day she races outside as soon as her grandparents are at rest, not even sparing time to collect any books. Today her only guide is the subtle dance of the nearby plants, but she's been watching this dance since before her Power awakened and soon she's coming to the clearing full of writhing vines. Jakob is in their midst, something gleeful and vicious and alive in the expression on his face.

"Hello again," she calls, a little breathless.

"Dhampir-girl," he says, face smoothing into wary blankness. "I wasn't expecting to see you again so soon."

"There's nothing to do this time of day but read, so I thought I'd see if you were here again," she says.

"Nothing?" he asks.

"They sleep during the brightest time of day," she says. "And... besides them you're the only one who hasn't been afraid of me."

"There's good reason to fear," he says, eyes cold.

"So I've gathered," she says, nodding softly. "But there's no need to fear me."

"And how can anyone know that? What makes you different, Dhampir-girl?" he asks, something hard and amused in the curl of his mouth.

"My name is Daria!" she snaps. "And I didn't even know them until they came and took me from the only place and people I had ever known!"

"Alright then," Jakob said thoughtfully. He considers her in silence while she tries not to fidget.

"Why aren't you afraid?" she asks, finally breaking the silence.

"They might be able to touch me, but they can't touch my vines," he says, smiling darkly. "I figure I have an even chance if they come for me."

She blinks and almost tells him, but something makes her hesitate.

"You might," she murmurs.

He smirks, then cocks his head.

"And it's back to work for me," he says, startling her with a warm smile that brightened his eyes. "Be seeing you."

And then he's gone before she can say anything.

***

The next day he looks over at her when she slips into the clearing and snorts.

"Almost got me expecting you," he says wryly.

"Oh, umm," she mumbles, ducking her head and blushing. She finds a seat against a tree and quietly watches his vines. After a while she asks "What's your work?"

"Tending the fields. Planting and growing," he answers. "S'boring, but they let me be to play with my vines during the midday rest so long as I'm out of sight."

"Why out of sight?" she asks, sitting up and frowning at him.

"They're scared," he says, eyebrows twitching.

"Of what?" she asks, shaking her head slightly.

"...my Power," he says with a twitch of his shoulders.

"What?" she exclaims. "But surely they've-"

"Nah," he says. "They're nurturers, tenders, but they don't..." he twitches his fingers and a vine wraps around them.

"Oh," she says quietly. "But..."

"Them that raised me aren't my blood," he says, smiling wryly.

"Oh!" she gasps. "That's... kind of them."

"Yeah," he agrees.

"Can I meet them?" she asks.

"Could probably arrange that," he says, glancing slyly at her.

Their conversation lightened after that, delving into plants and giving her a few chances to surprise him.

***

Several days later he asks "D'you still wanna meet people?"

"Yes!" she says.

"C'mon then," he says, walking towards the other side of the clearing, "now's as good a time as any."

Scrambling to her feet, she hurries after him.

It isn't a long walk- through the other side of the tangled growth, skirting the edge of the fields- to get to the little house.

A group of people sit around an outdoor table, eating. They startle when her and Jakob's footsteps became audible, looking over and then stiffening. The looks on their faces make something cold settle in her stomach.

"You're back early," one of them, a man a few years older than Jakob, says hesitantly.

"Yes. And I brought a friend," Jakob says, smirking.

"She's the new Dhampir," says a young woman, after darting a glance at her.

"She's fine," Jakob says sharply before they could do much more than stiffen and flinch.

"I'm sure you're right," the man says soothingly. "Welcome, Mistress, what brings you here?"

"I-" she says, mind racing. They're scared of him, she realizes. They raised him and they fear him more than my Line. The cold feeling in her stomach tightens into a knot.

"I just wanted to meet the kind people Jakob was raised by," she says, realizing that Jakob had never called these people family and that judging by the look on his face, he knows how much they fear him... and enjoys it.

"Well, well met Mistress," the man says uncertainly. "We'd best be back to work."

The others immediately rise, leaving their meals half eaten.

"I should go back," she says, "my grandparents don't like it when I wander too far."

"I'll walk you," Jakob says, smirking again. "Wouldn't do for you to get lost."

She nods but doesn't say anything until they reach the wild growth.

"Jakob, they fear you," she says, shaken.

"I'm Powerful," he answers with a shrug.

"You hate my Grandparents because everyone fears them!" she snaps.

"Your Grandparents use your Power to hurt people for their own entertainment," he snarls back. "I would only hurt them if they were doing wrong."

"What you think is wrong," she says, feeling sick.

"Yes," he says, frowning and searching her face.

"Thank you for the introduction," she says, smiling weakly. "I really do need to get back now."

She's shaking by the time she gets to the clearing full of vines. She wants to tell herself that Jakob's vines are not that similar to Sergei's, but in spite of the thorns, the leaves are the same shape and color and the flowers are similar shapes, even if Jakob's are smaller and paler.

She remembers the year she and Gregor and Katka had declared one berry bush superior to another because the fruit tasted better. Sergei had laughed at them and had them help him start new bushes from each, but swapped in location. The next year they'd been astonished to find that in the new location the 'bad' bush had even better fruit than the 'good' bush.

"Many things can change how things grow," Sergei had said, "we must be careful what we judge."

She stares at the vines and bites her cheek until it bleeds- a salty copper tang bursting onto her tongue. The vines are the same but these grow in Jakob's land and he makes all the difference.

She shakes herself, it's time to get back to the house before her Grandparents come looking.

***

That evening, lonely and doubting her own judgment, she says yes to Grandmother's nightly offer of an after dinner drink. She picks up the small, elegant glass full of dark red liquid and dares to take a large sip. The tastes of wine and honey and spices burst across her tongue, all overlaid with a salty copper tang. She swallows with a shudder, staring with wide-eyes into her glass.

"I- Th-that was very strong, I-I don't think I can finish it," she says, feeling shaky and as though there were a fire in her stomach.

"Fair enough," Grandfather says, looking amused as he reaches out a pale hand to take her glass. "Perhaps you'll have some more tomorrow."

She mumbles her excuses and flees. By the time she gets to her room the fire has moved from her stomach to her veins and she feels positively strange.

She doesn't sleep.

She tries, but she can't. Her blood is burning, she's dizzy with it. Moonlight and candlelight glow like the sun. She wants- she needs- she's not sure what but she does.

By the time the sun rises she's shaking with exhaustion and still can't sleep. And the dawning sunrays hit her eyes with a force that has her scrambling to close the heavy curtains for the first time since she opened them.

She spends the morning sweating and shaking before finally falling asleep around noon.

She wakes in the late afternoon.

The fire in her blood has finally burnt itself out, leaving her trembling with cold and hungering. She thinks to herself that a sip or two of her grandparents' drink would satisfy her hunger and warm her. Then she shudders and thinks that another sip would take her down a path she couldn't return.

She makes it to dinner, though she doesn't have much of an appetite, at least not for food.

Halfway through the meal an ache sets into her bones.

When Grandmother offers her a glass she wants desperately to say yes. It takes all of her willpower and all of her fear of becoming like them to say no.

This earns her surprised looks from both grandparents, but they don't comment.

She slinks back to bed and falls into a miserable, exhausted sleep.

***

The next morning she feels somewhat better, though still wan and aching.

Even though the sun is still burning her eyes, she refuses to stay inside and makes her slow, cautious way to Jakob's clearing.

He starts when she gets there, turning to her with a scowl.

"Didn't see you yesterday," he says, an accusing note in his voice.

"I was sick," she says, trying not to show her sudden caution.

He scowls at her uncertainly, something wary and suspicious in his eyes.

"I'm still not feeling all that well," she admits, letting the tremble in her limbs show as she sits against a tree. "But I thought it would be nicer to come sit with a friend than to be miserable by myself."

"Hmph," he grunts, calmer. "What happened?"

"Sometimes my grandparents' food doesn't agree with me," she says with a thin, wry smile. "I might fall asleep."

"What do I care?" he says dismissively, but goes back to his vines quietly.

She closes her eyes, but instead of sleeping, she reaches out very carefully and starts familiarizing herself with the lifeblood of his vines.

***

As the days pass, she spends less and less time reading and more and more time integrating herself with Jakob's vines. When he has work she sometimes slips closer to the town to watch.

When her grandparents ask where she goes she says "To watch the little people."

She says it with a smirk and they leave her alone, looking pleased.

When Jakob talks about her grandparents' abuses, she quietly agrees with him and answers his questions.

"Will you unlock the main entrance for me tomorrow morning?" he finally asks.

"They will sense you coming," she says hesitantly.

"The old fools are curious, they will come and see me for themselves before they do anything," Jakob scoffs.

"You're probably right," she admits.

"Will you do it?" he asks, looking at her with solemn dark eyes, "for me?"

"I will," she says quietly but firmly, eyes locked on the fists she has clenched in her lap.

"It will be better this way," he says with a pleased smile, reaching out to pat her shoulder.

***

It's not unusual for her to wander the house an hour or two after dawn, and if the front latch is undone, well her grandparents can sense her pulse not her actions.

She settles in to wait in the library, keeping her heartbeat as steady as she can. Jakob comes a couple of hours before midday, around the time her grandparents head to bed.

She feels the strong, bold, beat of his heart as he strides up to the front doors and throws them open, and the quiet susurrus of the vines he brings with him.

She starts to move after her grandparents do, slipping into the entrance in time to hear Grandmother say in her most dismissive voice "And what do you think you're doing here, young man?"

"Bringing change," Jakob declares, a dark glitter in his eyes.

"What makes you think we'll allow that?" Grandfather asks, amusement on his face.

"You can't stop me!" Jakob says, a fierce grin on his face.

It happens in moments.

Jakob's vines have been sneaking around the edges of the room, but now they surge forward.

Grandmother reaches out for Jakob's heart but her grip loosens as she is distracted by the vines wrapping around her.

Grandfather draws in a sharp breath and makes his own grasp for Jakob. Before he can do anything, they are engulfed in vines and suddenly she can't feel their heartbeats anymore.

Jakob turns to her, an ugly look of victory on his face.

She flexes a grip she's held for days and the vines wither and collapse. Jakob's face crumples with shock.

She reaches out and clenches and he collapses.

Her heartbeat, the only one in the house, pounds in her ears as she gasps in reaction.

***

The house is silent as she packs a bag with clothes and food, refusing to claim any of the contents of the house. She hesitates at the door of the library before taking one of the abandoned books at the very back.

She walks out the open front door without looking back.

She feels the crowd before she sees it- every person in the village is gathered in the center, waiting.

The fear on their faces is plain, they know what had been planned.

She stops in front of them.

The only one who meets her eyes is the young woman who called her the new dhampir.

"They're dead. All three of them," she says, looking into the other girl's eyes. "I'm leaving."

An uneasy murmur runs through the crowd.

"You're free now," she says. "Stay, go, do whatever you like. The lands, the house, they're yours."

The young woman straightened in the silence that fell, a fierce light starting in her eyes, an almost smile curling her lips.

"Just... leave the library?" she requests. "I might need it. Or at least some of the older books."

The other girl nods her acceptance.

"And if there's a recipe-" she hesitates, remembering the shock of flavor, the fire within. "Burn it."

"We will," the other girl says, approval in her eyes.

She nods once, awkwardly, and starts forward. The crowd parts for her and soon she is leaving the village. She can sense the villagers splitting up, but she doesn't look back.

She has every reason to keep her eyes on the horizon- a brother to retrieve, a sister to claim, a father waiting for them.

[thanksjro]

More Than Meets the Eye #7- Just in Case You Forgot Decepticons Were a Thing

While the Lost Light gets all of Rung’s appointments in order, our narrative is going to take a little shift, so we can get to know some pretty neat dudes.

And by “neat dudes” I mean completely morally and ethically reprehensible bastards.

But first, here’s a brief history of the Phase-Sixer known as Black Shadow.

Very limber, Mr. Shadow. Also, note the abstract sort of Decepticon insignia shape going on with the panel. That’s just neat.

Now, Black Shadow’s kicked a lot of keister in his long, storied career as a ‘Con, which makes his current situation all the more bleak, as he’s in the final throes of a visit with the Decepticon Justice Division.

The guy with the arm-mounted cannon that’s clearly compensating for something is Tarn, the leader of the DJD. His main character trait is he’s sapiosexual, but only for Megatron. He’s so devoted to the Decepticause and its rhetoric, he wears a mask of the insignia at all times.

Behind him are Helex and Tesaurus, who turn into a fondue pot and industrial-sized blender, respectively, and Vos, who turns into a sniper rifle, and was once fired by Megatron himself. I assume he’s only part of the DJD for the clout.

And then there’s Kaon, who turns into a wheelie chair.

Black Shadow’s looking pretty rough, but the boys haven’t killed him yet, and there’s a reason for that; the DJD’s sole reason for existing is to punish any Decepticon who stalls the glory of Megatron’s vision of a better tomorrow coming to fruition, no matter how slight the infraction, and simply killing their victims doesn’t exactly drive the point home, now does it? They’ve got to make an example, you know?

But really it’s so Tarn can pontificate. See, he considers himself a bit of an intellectual, as shown in his quoting of Megatron’s autobiography, Towards Peace.

Ugh, He’s a fanboy. It’s enough to make you want to puke. Which Black Shadow does. It’s mostly blood. Or is it? Hard to tell, energon is everything for these guys.

The DJD have had their fun, so now it’s time for them to say goodbye to Black Shadow. This is where Tarn’s special talent comes into play, and it’s a nasty one.

Tarn has a unique voice, one that, when matching the timbre and frequency of another ‘bot’s spark, can be used to affect said spark, even making it give up the ghost. This is exactly what he does to Black Shadow, but not before making him apologize for selling out the Decepticons for a butt-ton of money.

Speaking of unique voices, Tarn’s characterization is almost completely in his. It makes sense, given his power, that he have a way of speaking that stands out from everyone else. It’s smooth, and cool, and seems well-rehearsed; this is not a guy who stumbles on his words. He sounds like a Bond villain.

Roberts has admitted that he wrote these characters with English accents, and while I can’t say that I buy it for everyone in MTMTE, I certainly do for Tarn.

But maybe that’s just because I’m American, and a lot of the media I consumed growing up had the whole “the villain sounds British/camp gay” thing going on.

Anyway.

Black Shadow explodes, because we haven’t had one of those in a while.

With another tick put on their List, the DJD get ready to move on to their next target. We don’t get any names, but whoever they are, they’re about to have a very bad day.

Then we take a quick jump back to the Lost Light, since things were kind of a massive mess when we last saw everyone.

Rung’s not dead, by the way. I guess Swerve really is just that bad of a shot. Still, he’s not much more than a brain on a rope, and that means that Rung’ll be out of commission for a good while.

Poor Swerve. He feels so awful about this whole thing, even brought Rung one of his little ships to keep him company. The worst part is, now that Swerve’s shot the therapist, who will he talk to so he can work through having shot the therapist?

Speaking of guys who need therapy, Red Alert comes visiting in the dead of night, after visiting hours and in cover of darkness. He tells Rung about the little surprise he found in the basement, and bids him farewell, as he will surely be killed now that he knows about Overlord.

Who the hell programmed that drone to be so menacing?

Red Alert, again showing that this ain’t his first paranoia rodeo, slips a data slug full of Overlord bondage footage into the hole where Rung’s thumb should be- guess it got lost in the helter-skelter when he got shot- then walks out of the medibay, presumably to die.

Anywho, that’s enough of the Autobots for a little while. Let’s see what the Decepticons are up to.

On a planet far from wherever the Lost Light is faffing about, a Decepticon wakes up to a bunch of dudes hovering over him, insulting his looks, and stealing his organs. He reacts accordingly.

This is Fulcrum. No, not the Decepticon medic from Eugenesis, different guy. This Fulcrum’s primary function is probably about as removed from healing as it gets.

The guys trying to harvest him are the Scavengers, and they’re pretty surprised that he’s not dead, because, well…

Yeah.

Misfire- the dude who got kicked in the face a second ago- does both Fulcrum and the reader a solid by introducing all the members of this merry band of assholes, starting with the surliest of their ranks.

Crankcase was first introduced into the IDW run in Stormbringer #3, where he shot at Thunderwing and spouted off a couple lines ripped straight from a porno.

Stormbringer is really just… something else.

Spinister, who can and will shoot anything that meets his unpredictable criteria of being a threat, is the only other Scavenger who isn’t debuting in the comics with this issue. He was in Stormbringer #4, not that he really did anything of note there.

There’s Flywheels, who can’t tell a lie without transforming, and is a born-again evangelical. His character is a removal from his previous iterations, as he’s a triple-changer instead of a Duocon, a robot that only exists if two separate sentient vehicles combine. So, in his case, tank + plane = giant robot. Transformers is weird.

Then there’s the leader of this group, the ever-stressed, glorified babysitter, Krok.

Krok takes the opportunity to save Fulcrum from the verbal barrage, explaining that the Scavengers are expropriation specialists, meaning that they take people’s shit for their own benefit, and that includes bodily fluids. Misfire was supposed to be siphoning energon from the corpses in the area, but accidentally got high on another dude’s supply in the process. Misfire may be hopped up on drugs at the moment, but he’s only a bit more put-together sober, so this really is roughly par for the course with him.

Back on the Lost Light, Chromedome pays a visit to Brainstorm, who is currently hanging from the ceiling. Not in a suicidey way, mind you, just in a Brainstorm way.

He wants to be noticed so badly.

Chromedome’s here because he managed to steal Skid’s weirdly forgettable gun back in issue #4, while Skids was busy harassing that bar drone. He handed it off to Brainstorm to try and figure out what the deal was. Problem is, the gun blew up the moment Brainstorm cracked it open, only allowing him to get a quick look at the internals thanks to his super-futuristic robot eyes. All he can really say is that it looks like something that came from The Institute. Back at it again with the ominous proper nouns.

Getting back to the Scavengers, it looks like the boys have set up a little campfire for the evening. It’s a gorgeous night.

In love with the colors this issue.

We get a very brief history lesson that shows us why reducing your workforce to a spreadsheet instead of living, free-thinking creatures isn’t a super great idea, and then Krok drops the bomb on Fulcrum about the war being over. This is pretty wild to Fulcrum, probably because after 4 million years of that nonsense, you don’t really expect it to ever actually end.

Of course, when the impossible turns out to be possible after all, there’s only one question to really ask: who won?

Now, none of the guys really know how everything ended, only going off of the pulse wave that Vector Sigma shot off during the reformatting of Cybertron. They figure it was probably the Autobots, because they’re at least a little genre savvy. Bummer for them, considering they’re technically part of the bad guys. Just ask the campfire.

You know, I don’t think this is what President Roosevelt had in mind when he started doing fireside chats.

And so our location is finally revealed to us- this is the planet known as Clemency. Hey, wasn’t that the place Tarn said their next target was? Man, that really sucks for these guys. Hope they’ve got their wills in order.

Meanwhile, in the medibay of the Lost Light, Rung has another late-night visitor. This guy takes the data slug from inside his thumb hole, thus removing any hope of Red Alert’s fate being found out. Well dang.

Back on Clemency, the boys have made it through the night, and are using the light of daybreak to start scrounging up parts for their super sweet ship, the Weak Anthropic Principle.

Hold on to your butts, because this one’s a doozy.

The Anthropic Principle is based in the school of philosophy, and states that any and all observations about the universe- or any universe, really- have to be fed through the filter of realizing that said universe is only observable because it allows for sapient life to exist and observe it. There are two flavors of this principle; the strong anthropic principle states that the universe has some sort of compelling force which dictates it be able to house life which can observe it, while the weak anthropic principle basically says that the only reason we’re even considering the strong anthropic principle is because we live in a universe where we can.

Now, why exactly Roberts decided to bring this philosophical idea into the fold completely escapes me, unless he decided to, in a roundabout way, poke fun at the fact that we are currently observing a universe we don’t exist in through the magic of fiction- that theory doesn’t hold water, though, because there are still sapient creatures populating the universe of the IDW comics, and even humans at that. I’m curious where he even learned about this. What an odd, confounding tidbit of information this is.

But enough about that, because Misfire’s just seen a cryptid.

He transforms and blasts past Fulcrum and Krok, interrupting Krok’s explanation of what the device he keeps hidden in his fist is for, trying to catch up to the Necrobot.

The very same, Fulcrum, thank you.

Misfire is a firm believer in the Necrobot, while Krok is firmly not. Misfire’s tried chasing down this guy several times now, but he’s not caught him. The Necrobot is kind of like Bigfoot, if he were also a Catholic priest. This go doesn’t prove any different for poor Misfire, though it’s not all bad.

Flywheels’ only purpose as a character is so that Roberts had a stand-in for the word “fuck” for this issue.

Misfire’s found something very exciting, and he immediately calls Krok to bring everyone over.

Everyone’s super jazzed about finding this thing, and they break out the flashlights and break in to see all the fun stuff that’s inside this obnoxiously large ship.

Of course, this is a Roberts story, and we haven’t yet had any sort of scientifically experimental horrors yet, so we’re honestly a little overdue at this point.

But wait, there’s more!

Aww, it’s nice that Fulcrum and Krok already have each other’s contact info.

Everyone regroups and they weigh their options. Misfire fucking hates this ship, and wants nothing to do with it. Fulcrum however, isn’t so quick to throw this entire nightmare bus off the cliff. Fulcrum’s a little weird, and not just because he looks like he’s got a military pack on and no shirt.

Oh honey, you got a storm coming.

As if on cue, Krok starts hearing music, and asks around for a phone. He picks up a transmission from a familiar masked face. Tarn lets the fellas know that one of them has done a big no-no, and if the others hand the transgressor over, he’ll let them watch, because Tarn assumes that that’s something other people are into. Tarn is bad at people. The transmission ends, leaving the boys to panic, and also wonder where the leader of the DJD learned to count, until they find a very special friend deep within the bowels of the ship. The extra life signal, and the only other living thing on the Worldsweeper- Grimlock.

[authoralicesprings]

Twilight’s Love Volume Three: Scootaloo’s Love

by Stormbringer

This story is a sequel to

Twilight’s Love Volume Two: Rainbow’s Love

Eight years have passed since our last visit and joy has found three of the CMC.  But Apple Bloom is still alone with an embarrassing secret.  

Meanwhile, Diamond Tiara has determined to never be burned by another pony again.  So she tries to lead her son to a normal life with the help of her mother and father.  But they can't heal the pain of a yearning heart that still stings from abuse and rejection.

Two rivals will find that the pony they needed was always in front of them.

And a destiny that was put on hold for about ten years is revealed.

PART ONE: Scootaloo And Silver Spoon

“Scootie, are you going to sleep all day?” said Silver Spoon, climbing on her lover’s chest.

“Yes I am,” said Scoot then pretending to snore.

“Then you’re going to miss this.” Said Silver, moving forward and grasping the headboard of the bed, hovering her marehood over Scootaloo’s muzzle.

“Sil, what if we’re caught?”

“Who’s going to catch us?” asked Silver Spoon.  “We’re in our home, in our room and on our bed.  After eight years of having to hold back...”

Silver paused and got an odd twinkle in her eye.

“But then again, there was the time in the clubhouse when we were fourteen, after our friends had left,” said Silver with a giggle.  

“Or the time when my Mama T found you with your muzzle under my tail,” replied Scootaloo.

“You know she knew the real reason,” said Silver with a sly smile, “she’s too smart to believe I was looking for a splinter in your bum, and too cool to have really said anything.  I think any other of our parents would’ve gone through the roof.

But that aside, I would’ve thought you’d be over that stuff by now.  We’ve been married for six months today and you’ve had your muzzle in my marehood more times than I can count.”

“About as many as you’ve had yours in mine,” said Scoot with a giggle.

Before Silver could say anything, Scoot had reached out and pulled Silver close enough so Scoot’s tongue could pleasure her wife.

“Oh Darling,” said Silver moaning, “Mrs. Dash, you’re so good at that.”

“Thank you, Mrs. Dash,” came Scoot’s muffled response.

Scootaloo worked it good and Silver climaxed in no time.  Silver collapsed and held Scoot close and kissed with all her might.

“Good girl,” said Silver, “for that, you get an extra special dessert tonight.”

“I’m already hungry,” said Scoot with a smile.

After a few minutes of kissing and heavy petting, they decided they had to get the day started.  They showered and then walked into the kitchen.  Silver started making breakfast and Scootaloo made the coffee.  Soon they were sitting at the table eating.

“Remember, Dad is celebrating our six month anniversary at the restaurant tonight.”  Said Silver, giving Scootaloo a small kiss.  “Your moms will be there, along with our friends and their parents and families.”

“I don’t know,” said Scoot with a smirk, “Chez Pony has kind of gone downhill ever since they got that new Sous Chef.”

“And what if that Sous Chef makes sure all you get to eat at home is grass from the backyard?”  Said Silver, giving Scootaloo a love tap.

Scootaloo hugged Silver.

“You know I’m only kidding My Sweetness,” Scoot said, “I’m so thankful I fly with magic.  I’m sure between yours and your father’s cooking, I’m going to get so fat wings wouldn’t get me off the ground.”

“And I’m sure I’d give you enough exercise at night you wouldn’t get fat,” giggled Silver.

“I’m the luckiest mare in Equestria,” said Scoot, looking lovingly in her wife’s eyes.  “I have a wife with intelligence, can cook better almost anypony else and she has a face and body to die for.  

How anypony could’ve ever called you homely is beyond me.”

“We don’t need to bring that up,” said Silver, looking a little sad.

“Sil,” said Scoot, “I think she got what was coming to her.  The first year Diamond came back from boarding school for Hearth Warming vacation, it was obvious her activities had caught up with her.”

“Don’t say that Scootie,” said Silver, “having a foal at her age was devastating to her and her family.  Di told me her father said he’d pay to have the pregnancy terminated.  But her mother threatened she’d terminate Filthy if he made her do it.

Besides, motherhood took Di’s attitude down to a normal level.  Not only hers but her whole family changed to be supportive and attentive.  She’s now the friend to you and me she should’ve been in the first place.”

“I know,” said Scoot, “I’m thankful she finally became the pony we all wished she’d be.  Plus Emerald is one neat kid.”

“Yes he is,” said Silver smiling, “I think he looks up to you like you looked up to your mom, Rainbow.”

“I actually didn’t know back then that Spinner was a Pegasus,” said Scoot.

“Yes,” said Silver with a disgusted tone in her voice, “and of all the Pegasi I’ve ever known, he and his family have to be the worse Pegasi who ever flew.  To totally turn their backs on the foal, saying there was no proof it was Spinner’s.  

It forced her to put ‘Father Unknown’ on the birth certificate.  As if Di was some kind of a whore.  In spite of the way Di had treated us in the past, I could’ve kicked them the first I heard of it.”

“Honey,” said Scoot, “I think everypony in Ponyville felt the same.  It’s no wonder they moved to Las Pegasus.  Ponyville is all about respect and tolerance.”

“And love,” said Silver kissing her wife deeply.

The happy couple finished the breakfast, washed, and put away the dishes.

They’d just left their house, about to go their separate ways to work when Scootaloo stopped.

“Hey Sil,” said Scoot, “if you see Diamond today, invite her to dinner as well.”

“I already did,” said Silver with a wink.  “Your little coltfriend would be so hurt if he didn’t get to go to a party for you.”

“I married such a wonderful mare,” said Scoot.

“Besides my love for you, that’s one thing in life you can always count on.  So don’t ever forget it.” Replied Silver, giving her wife a kiss.

Silver started trotting off to the restaurant as Scootaloo stood there watching Silver’s flanks.  After all this time, the sight of Silver Spoon’s flanks still made her tingle ‘down below’.

“Why don’t you take a picture,” said an all too familiar voice, “it’d last longer.”

Scootaloo turned to see Rainbow Dash land beside her.

“Mom!” said Scoot, giving the older Pegasus a hug and exchanging kisses on the cheek. “What brings you by?”

“I was out for a fly before I had to get to work,” said Rainbow, “and I wanted to see if my favorite daughter had left for work yet.  And if not, then we could fly together.”

“I’m your only daughter, and I’d be happy to fly with you mom.”

“Well,” said Rainbow with that smirk of hers, “if you look at it that way, I guess you must be my least favorite daughter.”

“Ha Ha, mom” said Scootaloo, “leave the jokes to Pinkie Pie.  At least she’s funny.”

“Hey there,” said Rainbow in mock indignation, “you’ve been hanging out with your other mother too much.”

“Are you going to stand there and rank me down,” said Scootaloo, a shifting red, yellow and blue light starting to show in her eyes and a similar aura surrounding her.  “Or are you going to fly?”

“Just try and keep up,” said Rainbow, spreading her wings.

“I was just about to say the same thing to you, old lady!” said Scoot, spreading her diminutive wings.  Scootaloo took off like a shot.

“Hey there!” said Rainbow, but it was doubtful Scoot heard her, Rainbow followed fast.

Scootaloo didn’t need her wings to fly because she used levitation, taught by Rainbow and perfected with Twilight’s tutelage.  But she found she could still use her wings to fine tune her flight and make maneuvering easier.

Quickly the two were high over Ponyville.  They just meandered the sky chasing one another for a while then hovered and looked at each other and smiled.  

“I’ll see you later mom, love you,” said Scootaloo as she headed to Golden Oak Library.

“Love you too, and tell your other mother I’ll be there for lunch,” called Rainbow as she climbed and turned toward Cloudsdale.

Scootaloo landed at the library and went in.  

“Mom? You here?” called Scootaloo.

“I’m here Sweetheart,” said Twilight, coming into the front room.

The two ponies hugged and kissed a mother/daughter kiss.

“Mama R told me to tell you she’d be home for lunch,” said Scootaloo.

“I’ve always said the one thing you could always count on your mother for,” said Twilight with a smirk learned from years of living with Rainbow Dash, “is she’ll always be in time for one of my meals.”

The two mares laughed as Scootaloo went to work assisting her mother with the Library duties.

After some time, Twilight came levitating a box of papers into the main part of the library.

“Scootaloo Sweetie,” said Twilight, “would you mind taking these up to the store room?”

“Sure mom,” said Scoot.

Scootaloo’s aura formed around the box as Twilight’s dissipated.   But Scoot just stood there as if lost in thought.

“What’s wrong Sweetheart?” asked Twilight.

Then the thought struck her.  The ‘store room’ was Spike’s old bedroom.

“We all miss Spike,” said Twilight.

“I know,” said Scootaloo, “but he was like a brother to me, and I loved him like that.”

“I know,” said Twilight, “I hatched him, but I was always more like a big sister than a mother to him, as well as his best friend.  But we knew one day he’d have to take a ‘dragon nap’.”

“I know Spike liked to sleep in,” said Scoot, “but a hundred years?”

“It’s part of their nature so they can grow correctly,” said Twilight looking into her daughter’s eyes, “your Aunt Cadence sends guards into the Crystal Mountains to check to make sure he’s okay and not disturbed.  They see him as a hero in the Crystal Empire.

But know this, my lovely daughter, with Spike gone; I’d be completely lost without you.”

The two hugged, and then Twilight loosened the embrace and looked into Scootaloo’s eyes.

“Now get your flanks upstairs and put the papers away,” said Twilight, “we’ve got work to do before the library opens.”

“Okay mom,” said Scootaloo trotting upstairs.

Silver Spoon came through the back entrance to Chez Pony.  She went to her locker and quickly put on her chef’s jacket and toque then entered the kitchen.  As she’d expected, the rest of the kitchen staff hadn’t arrived yet and her father was seated at a small table, drinking coffee and going over the day’s menu.

“Hi daddy,” said Silver coming up and giving her father a kiss on the forehead and taking a sip of his coffee.

“Silver,” said Soup Spoon, “good morning.  How are you and Scoot this morning?”

“We’re good,” said Silver with a sly smile, “but you know my wife, it took a little extra motivation to get her up.”

“Baby,” said Soup, “I know you’re now a married adult.  But you’re still my little filly; I’m uncomfortable knowing about your shenanigans.”

“Oh daddy,” snickered Silver, “you know I say these things to get a rise out of you.  And I know you’re happy Scootie and I are happy.”

“The happiness of my little filly is number one in my world, along with your mother and that ‘mare that took you away from me’.”

“That ‘mare that took me away from you’,” said Silver, “looks to you as a father as well.  You’re the only male parent figure she’s ever known.  And I’m glad you treat her as such.”

“Honey,” said Soup, a tear playing in his eye, “Scootaloo is the most wonderful pony you could’ve ever married.  She treats you like Celestia.  And your mother and I are happy to know no matter what, she’ll be there protecting and loving you.”

He wiped the tear off his cheek.  Then he continued:

“Now get to work, we’re featuring butternut squash soup for lunch.  And you know the Potager(1)  doesn’t cut the squash like I like it.  So if you don’t mind would you take care of the squash before you and I get down to today’s main courses?”

“Yes Chef!” said Silver in mock professionalism.

Silver Spoon was soon chopping the squash, her father watched from his seat.  He was thinking of how proud he was of his daughter.  

At one time, Soup thought Silver was becoming just another snooty brat because her family didn’t lack for bits.  Plus she was always with Diamond Tiara, another snooty brat from a family with bits.  But Silver turned around one day when she discovered a pony who changed her heart.  Soup Spoon had grown up in a family who had to scrimp and scrounge just to meet the bills.  So he worked hard so he could make sure his family lacked for nothing.  Unfortunately, this often leads to spoiled kids with friends who are either equally snooty, or worse, sycophantic fair-weather friends who’re there for what they can get.

But when Silver Spoon started seeing Scootaloo in secret (not as secret as they thought), he was concerned this might be the latter kind of friend.  But to his great delight, Scootaloo never once tried to use Silver Spoon for any type of gain, save emotional.  

His sister Golden was so proud of her younger brother when he told her about Silver and Scootaloo.  She was impressed because he had no problem with her niece dating another filly, unlike how their parents had reacted.  But even during Golden’s time of discovery, Soup was always there for her.  His only complaint, jokingly, was her marefriends were always more attractive than his.  

Now Silver and Scootaloo were married.  Soup had told the couple the Spoon mansion was large enough and they were welcome to stay there.  On turning the offer down Soup tried to set the couple up in a furnished house and offered to cover their bills.  

Once again, Soup was surprised Scootaloo wanted nothing of it.  She wanted to work and earn her living, just like her mothers.  But Soup did make sure they knew he was there for them if they needed anything.  

He, as did all Ponyville citizens, knew Twilight, Rainbow and their friends were responsible for the protection of Equestria by using the Elements of Harmony.  But it was brought home to him how important his daughter-in-law’s parents were when they were planning the wedding and he’d mentioned he’d be honored to pay for the wedding.  Twilight told him it was Princess Celestia’s request to have the wedding at Canterlot Castle with the princess performing the ceremony.  

A request from the princess was as good as a command.  Soup had to admit it was a better venue than he could’ve provided.  

Then after the wedding, something happened to show just how much the princess was now family.  

At the reception, Princess Celestia sought him out…

Six months earlier...

“Mr. Spoon,” said the princess as she and another pony approached him.  

“Your Highness,” said Soup with a small bow.

“Apparently I don’t have to introduce myself, but this is my secretary Raven,” said Celestia with a smirk, “I don’t know if you are aware of this but Scootaloo is, by marriage, my niece.  We’re so proud of the pony she’s become, my sister and I.  And her happiness is paramount to us, as I’m sure your daughter’s is to you.”

The princess turned to go, but then she stopped and turned back to address Soup Spoon.

“By the way, I also heard from Twilight Dash, you in your generosity, had volunteered to pay for the ceremony.”

“Yes Your Highness,” answered Soup.  “nothing too good for the couple.”

“I’m so glad to hear it.  Therefore, my secretary has something for you,” said the princess actually offering her hoof.  “And congratulations, your daughter is an absolute gem.”

“Thank you, Highness,” said Soup as he shook the princess’ hoof, then the princess turned and went off to mingle.  

“Congratulations, sir,” said Raven as she levitated a parchment to Soup Spoon and walked off.

Soup opened the parchment, started to read, as he did he became faint:

Use Of Canterlot Castle Throne Room:                    B(2) 500,000.00

Honor Guard And Security:                                     B     250,000.00

Use Of Canterlot Castle Ballroom For Reception:      B     500,000.00

Catering By Castle Kitchens:                                   B     750,000.00

Serving Staff:                                                        B     300,000.00

Cleaning Deposit:                                                  B     200,000.00

Her Grand Royal Highness’ Services:                       B  2,500,000.00

Subtotal:                                                               B  5,000,000.00

(OVER)

Soup was about to pass out, where was he going to get five million bits?  Then he noticed the ‘over’ at the bottom.  He gingerly turned it over and read.  A smile spread across his face.

Subtotal From Front:                                                  B   5,000,000.00

Royal Family Discount:                                               B -4,999,999.00

Grand Total:                                                             B               1.00

Soup Spoon looked up from the parchment, not far away stood the princess, Raven, Rainbow and Twilight Dash, Scootaloo and Silver and Tea Spoon.  They were all looking at him and laughing.

The present...

*************************************************************************************

(1) Prepares soups in a full brigade kitchen. In smaller establishments, this station may be handled by the Vegetable Chef.

(2) B is used for Bits.

*************************************************************************************

PART TWO: Diamond, Emerald And Apple Bloom

“Mommy!” shouted the green Pegasus colt, “I can’t find my Crusader cape!  We have a meeting after school.”

“Emerald,” said Diamond Tiara walking into the colt’s room, “you’d lose your tail if it weren’t attached to your rump.  It’s right here in your closet, where it’s supposed to be.”

“Oh yeah,” said Emerald blushing, “I’m just excited about the party tonight.  Do you think Scootaloo Dash will let me sit by her?”

“She’ll probably have you sit in her lap,” said Diamond laughing.

“Do you think so?” said the colt.

“No,” Said Diamond still chuckling, “but I’m sure she’ll show you all the attention she can.  But it’s her and Sil’s party, so you’re just going to have to share her.”

“Do you think I can wear my cape to the party?” asked Emerald.

“I’m sure Scootaloo would be honored if you did.” Said Diamond, “The Cutie Mark Crusaders may be an Equestria wide organization now, but she, Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle started it, and at my cute-ceañera.”

Emerald had never heard that part before, his eyes lit up.

“So you were a Crusader too?” asked the colt.

Diamond’s face turned a little sad.

“No Honey,” said Diamond, “you might say I was the reason they started the club.  Unfortunately mommy wasn’t very nice to them back then.”

“But they’re your friends,” said the colt, “aren’t they?”

“Yes Emerald, they and Sil are my best friends,” said Diamond, “they tried to be back then too.  But your mommy had a lot of growing up to do before she realized the value of real friends.

Enough of this for now, you need to get your things together.  Windy Daze will be here any moment to walk to school with you.”

“Do you think Windy’s aunt will be at the party,” asked the colt.

“Yes, I’m sure Shady and Sweetie Belle Daze will be there,” said Diamond, “and before you ask, I think Apple Bloom wouldn’t miss it either.

Now get down stairs and make sure Randolph has your lunch packed.”

“Yes mommy,” said the colt giving his mother a kiss, then rushing through the door.

“Emerald!” shouted Diamond, “your cape!”

It wasn’t long before there was a knock at the door; Emerald was there in a flash.  There stood a pink Unicorn filly with white and gray mane and tail and wearing a CMC cape.

“Windy’s here,” said the colt, “see you after the Crusader meeting.”

The two walked together down the path toward the school.

Diamond stood at the door watching as the kids walked out of sight.  She was regretting, once again, the fact she had to face the issues of her past without the support of a ‘significant other’.  Not necessarily a father for her son, but a pony she could share the responsibilities of guiding her son to a normal life.  It wasn’t that her parents weren’t supportive.  But somepony that’d be closer to her than her parents, a pony she could love in more than the physical aspect of the emotion.

However, after the way she’d been used in the past, she was in no way open to another stallion coming into her life, using her only to cast her aside when he got what he wanted from her.  

Never again.  

She wasn’t so closed minded to think all stallions would treat her as such.  But the past pain was enough for her to decide she couldn’t take the chance in case she chose wrong again.  

Nevertheless, she wasn’t quite sure if she could accept a mare as a partner.  She didn’t see anything wrong with it anymore.  She was just uncomfortable trying to wrap her mind around being intimate with another girl.  She also knew sex was sex, and she could just as easily be used and dumped by a mare as she could be by a stallion.

She’d built a wall around her heart to protect her from a repeat of the massive pain she’d gone through once.  ‘Once but never again’, she swore to herself.

But the tradeoff for all this guardedness was a hurting heart yearning to be loved.  Longing for somepony to ease the pain of the certain loneliness which wasn’t cured by being with family and friends.  

So it appeared her longing to feel the embrace of a special pony would never be.

“What’s wrong Honey,” asked Spoiled Rich, Diamond’s mother, interrupting Diamond’s thoughts.

“Every time I have to talk to Emerald about my past with my friends,” said Diamond, “I feel so awful.  I think how different things would be now had I just pulled my head out of my flanks and been the friend Silver Spoon needed.  Not to mention Sweetie Belle, Apple Bloom and Scootaloo.  

But then I think if I had, then I wouldn’t have Emerald.  I can’t even imagine that, I love the little guy so much.”

“We can’t undo the past,” said Spoiled, “we can only make the best of now and try for a better future.  Don’t begrudge the past.  I know I wouldn’t want to be without my grandcolt.  And your friends love him as well.  

All in all, I think you turned out alright.  And the choices you’ve made were because you learned your lesson from the past.  It’s what’s made you, you.”

Diamond looked at her mother, a small tear in her eye.

“Thanks mom,” said Diamond, “I needed to hear that.”

“That’s what moms are for,” Said Spoiled giving her daughter a little hug, “now you need to go to Sweet Apple Acres.  Your dad says the Zap Apples are due anytime now, so he wanted you to go and make sure his standing order of Zap Apple jam is still in place.”

“I’m sure it is,” said Diamond.

“So does he,” said Spoiled, “but it’s a respect thing to the Apple Family.  He wants to make sure they know he doesn’t take them for granted.”

Diamond walked the distance to Sweet Apple Acres.  When she was younger, she would’ve demanded Randolph to pull her in a carriage, but now she valued the time in the fresh air and meeting ponies along the way.  

She really had a hard time coming to terms with the way she’d acted as a filly.  

Apple Bloom was doing her chores, pulling a wagonload of apples to the barn.  The heavy wagon wasn’t a problem.  After all these years on the farm, she could pull, push, buck and lift as well as Applejack or Big Mac.  

The load which was bothering her was the thought of the party tonight.  

She was looking forward to being with her friends and celebrating Scootaloo and Silver Spoon’s happiness.  Sweetie Belle will be there with her husband as well.  Yet another reminder of the happiness she knew she could never have.

It hurt to know, through no fault of her own, she couldn’t be in a relationship others could celebrate.  Fate had dealt her a hand she had a hard time coming to terms with.

She was told by all her friends and many other ponies, she was a very attractive pony.  Stallions were all the time asking her out.  This had to be the cruelest part.  Stallions clamoring over her to go out with them and her knowing she couldn’t take the chance of accepting any of their offers.  

Scootaloo, Sweetie Belle and Silver Spoon knew her ‘issue’ and so they did understand why their friend didn’t go to many parties and outings.

She could deal with her own hurt, but she was sure the disappointment and scorn which would be the result of her taking the chance would be beyond any heartbreak she could handle.  If she was laughed at or considered a freak because of something she couldn’t change, there was no way she could deal with it.

It was the reason Apple Bloom hardly ever went to social gathering anymore.  She’d even find a reason for skipping the annual Apple Family Barn Dance.  But with this being for Scootaloo and Silver Spoon, she couldn’t let them down.

She also felt bad because her sister and Rarity would try to ease her discomfort by having herself go out with them, as if she was still a little filly who needed to have chaperones.  Her condition shouldn’t stand in the way of her sister and Rarity’s time together.

As Diamond came up the lane, she saw Apple Bloom pulling a wagonload of apples.  Apple Bloom saw her and called out to her as she waved.  Diamond waved back as Apple Bloom slipped her harness and trotted over to meet her friend.  As always, the hug Apple Bloom would give was warm and honest.  Diamond thought what a friend she would’ve been in school.  So much could’ve been different.

Many of Apple Bloom’s school chums were jealous of how the filly had ‘grown up’.  She was prettier than just about any mare around.  She never wore any makeup except when her sister’s partner made her wear it for important occasions.  But most ponies agreed she really didn’t need it.  Even the ‘cowpony’ hat she wore now instead of her old trademark bow was slightly more girlish than her big sister’s.

“Diamond,” said Apple Bloom, “what brings you by?”

“I’m here for my daddy,” said Diamond.  “I need to talk to Applejack.”

“She’s in the house,” said Apple Bloom, “got lots of paperwork she has to take care of.  Big Mac ain’t so hot when it comes to fig’ers.  I’ll walk with you, if’n you don’t mind.  I need a break anyway.”

“Sure thing Apple Bloom,” said Diamond smiling, “I’m glad for the company.”

They made small talk as the two strolled to the house and went in.  There at the table was Applejack and a stack of papers, she looked up and saw her sister and Diamond.

“Howdy Diamond,” said AJ, “what can I do you for?”

“My daddy says the Zap Apples should be here soon and he wanted me to make sure his order was still in place.”

Applejack gave a short chuckle.

“I’ve learned Filthy Rich askin’ ‘bout the Zap Apple harvest is as much a sign the Zap Apples are comin’ as the timber wolves howlin’ at night.  You can tell Filthy our best customer’s one hundred jars always comes off the top.” Said AJ, “but he knows it.”

“Yes but he wanted to let you know he doesn’t just take the Apple Family for granted,” said Diamond.  Apple Bloom and AJ both smiled at the sentiment.

Then Apple Bloom got quiet and had a sad look on her face.  It didn’t go unnoticed.

“What’s wrong Apple Bloom?” asked Diamond.

“It’s the first year I have to make the Zap Apple jam by myself, now that Granny’s gone,” said Apple Bloom.

“I forgot about that,” said Diamond, putting a foreleg over Apple Bloom’s shoulders.

“I really miss her,” said the younger Apple.

“We all do,” said Diamond.

“Well,” said Applejack, “I’m glad she’s gone.”

“Really?” asked Diamond.

“Yeah,” said AJ, “her rheumatis’ had been botherin’ her quite fierce.  The doctor told her the dry desert air would do her good.  In her last letter, she said Braeburn and all the Apples in Appleloosa were happy to have her help out there.”

“Well I guess it would be better,” Said Diamond, “and because the jam will be all Apple Bloom this time, I’m sure it’ll be the best Zap Apple jam ever!”

Apple Bloom smiled at Diamond, she knew here was a friend who really understood her.

“Well I got to get the wagon of apples into the barn,” said Apple Bloom, “so if’n y’all will ex-squeeze me.”

“I’ll go help,” said Diamond, then looking at Applejack, “I’ll tell daddy what you said.  Have a good day; hope to see you at the party tonight.”

“Wouldn’t miss it,” said Applejack.  “See you there.”

The two walked out to the apple wagon.

“You really don’t have to help,” said Apple Bloom.

“It’s okay,” said Diamond with a smile.  “I’m not in a rush to get back to the store and we never get time to talk.”

Apple Bloom smiled, nodded and slipped back in the harness while Diamond helped push from the rear.

It didn’t take long for the two friends to get the wagon unloaded.  Apple Bloom went and got some cold cider and the two sat under a tree in the shade.

They talked for a while about little things which weren’t of any importance.  Then Diamond asked a question of Apple Bloom the Apple was hoping wouldn’t come up.

“So, are you going with anypony to the party tonight?”

“No,” said Apple Bloom, “I’ll be there, but I ain’t goin’ with anypony.”

“Why?  Hasn’t any stallion asked you out?” asked Diamond, “I really can’t see why they wouldn’t.”

“Yes,” said Apple Bloom, looking uncomfortable, “plenty have.  I just ain’t wanted to go out with any of ‘em.”

“Is it that you like mares,” asked Diamond, without the prejudice of the past, “like your sister?”

“No,” said Apple Bloom, blushing.

“Okay,” said Diamond, “I can see it’s none of my business.  I’m sorry I asked.”

“It’s ‘kay,” said Apple Bloom, it looked like she was going to cry, “it’s somethin’ I ain’t talked to anypony outside the family.”  

“I understand, something’s are just too personal to share.  Celestia knows, I’ve had my share of them,” said Diamond. “Forget I said anything about it, I didn’t mean to make you uncomfortable.”

Diamond put a foreleg around Apple Bloom and gave a friendly hug of comfort.

Apple Bloom looked at Diamond oddly.  Perhaps with what Diamond went through, here was a pony she could talk to, plus they had ‘history’.  She’d held it in for so long, it’d be nice to get it out.  Apple Bloom took a deep breath and let it out slowly.

“I need you to promise you won’t laugh,” said Apple Bloom.  “Or say somethin’ ’bout it to anypony.”

“I promise to be silent, and I wouldn’t laugh at a personal problem,” said Diamond, then trying to lighten the mood she continued, “at least I haven’t for some time now.”

Apple Bloom did smile then she decided just to come out with it.

“I don’t go out with anypony because...

I can’t”

“What,” asked Diamond, “your brother or sister won’t let you?  Aren’t you a little old for that?”

“No,” said Apple Bloom, “that ain’t it.  Of all ponies, you should understand.  If’n you go out with a pony, it doesn’t matter stallion or mare, eventually there’s kissin’.  Then if’n there’s kissin’, eventually it can lead to… Somethin’.  

Well, I can’t do the somethin’.”

“You afraid to get involved?”

“No Diamond,” said Apple Bloom a little frustrated and embarrassed, “I can’t have sex.”

Diamond just looked confused; Apple Bloom took another deep breath.

“The doctor calls it Vaginal Agenesis.  I was born without a vagina or a uterus.”

Diamond sat there with an open mouth.

“Don’t take this wrong,” said Apple Bloom standing up.

She turned her flanks in Diamond’s direction, moved her tail aside and with a fore hoof she spread one side of the closed lips of her marehood.

There was nothing between the lips except the small hole Apple Bloom peed through.  But no vagina, no clitoris.

“I have ovaries inside.” Said Apple Bloom, turning back around and sitting back down, “so I am a girl.  I got the normal mare’s nipples; I got a mare’s voice and muzzle.  But other than that, I ain’t got any of the equipment a coltfriend or marefriend would want.  I guess I could do that oral stuff, but what’s in it for me?  And forget the ‘back door’!  There ain’t enough hard cider in Equestria for that.”

Apple Bloom looked down; a tear was running down her cheek, so she didn’t see the one going down Diamond’s cheek.  

Diamond thought about it.  Could this really be the answer to her prayers?  Could her loneliness come to an end?  

Here was a pony who wouldn’t want to use her for their self-gratification and then leave her to deal with the consequences.  A pony with honor and heart.  A pony who wouldn’t expect anything but, to Diamond’s mind, what was really important.  

Diamond thought hard about to say next.

“Look Apple Bloom,” said Diamond, “Emerald is beside himself because you, Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle will be at the party tonight.  It’d be a bigger thrill to him if you were to go to the party with us.  I’ve no desire for sex myself.  I don’t want to go out with any stallion because I’ve been used before, but I’ll never let it happen again.

And I’m not of the mindset to try mares yet either.  I don’t see anything wrong with it anymore, but I’m not ready for that.  

But I’d be happy to go out with a pony I’d feel completely safe with.  You can be sure I’ll be completely safe for you.  No expectations, no pressures.  

All I want in a pony is one who wants to be together and supportive, maybe a cuddle once in a while.  But I know most ponies would, like you said, expect more eventually.  I’m not for that at this time, if ever again.  I think you’re a pony who could understand all of that and be alright with it.”

Apple Bloom was finding in Diamond’s words the kind of pony who wanted a relationship which wouldn’t be in conflict with her condition.  A pony she could be comfortable with.  A pony, if true to her word, would be the kind of pony she could feel good with.  Not having to expect she’d have to ‘perform’ at a later time.  Apple Bloom could just scream!  

And after all that had happened in the past, who’d have ever thought it’d be Diamond Tiara.  

Diamond then continued:

“It’d also be okay with me if you or anypony else called it a date.  You’re my friend and I could deal with it.”

Apple Bloom smiled even more.

“Plus me being with the best looking mare in Ponyville,” said Diamond with a sly smile, and sounding like the ‘old’ Diamond Tiara, “it’ll make ponies jealous!”

Apple Bloom finally laughed.  

“’kay Diamond,” said Apple Bloom with a smile, “it’s a date.”

Diamond and Apple Bloom hugged. Diamond didn’t know what came over her, perhaps the joy of her heart in finding a pony that so closely fit the kind of pony she wanted in her life.  A pony she’d convinced herself didn’t exist.  

Diamond felt in her heart an urging to do something she’d not done for years.  Diamond kissed Apple Bloom, a respectable kiss.  No girly peck on the lips, it was a kiss Diamond had longed for, for so long.   Diamond was also thrilled Apple Bloom didn’t pull away.  The rush inside was at such a deep level.  It put the kisses of the past into perspective, this was real.  

Apple Bloom felt it also.  She’d never allowed herself to kiss another pony; yes there were family kisses, and the girly kisses between friends, but never a kiss like this.  The feel of Diamond’s tongue made her feel something she’d never felt before.  And she was doing her best to return the kiss in kind.  For the first time in her life, Apple Bloom allowed herself to feel ‘normal’ as far as this kind of stuff went.

They broke the kiss and embraced again.

“I’ll be by to pick you up this evening,” said Diamond, “okay?”

“See you then,” said Apple Bloom with a smile.

They shared another quick kiss and then Diamond turned and happily trotted down the lane.

Apple Bloom returned to her chores.  But her mind wasn’t on what she was doing.  She’d just had her first real kiss, tongue and all!  And who’d ever thought it would’ve been with Diamond Tiara.

After a bit AJ came out and walked over to her sister.  

“Apple Bloom,” said Applejack, “I’m so glad you’re goin’ to the party.  Rarity wanted me to see if’n I could talk you into wearing a dress.  I know you won’t be with anypony so you can go with us so you don’t feel left out.”

“Sis,” said Apple Bloom, “tell Rarity I’d be happy to wear a dress, and even makeup.  But I ain’t goin’ with y’all.  

I’ve got a date.”

“You do!” said AJ genuinely surprised.  “Who’s the lucky pony?”

“Diamond Tiara,” said Apple Bloom.

“Diamond Tiara?” questioned Applejack, “as in the pony who was just here, Diamond Tiara?  The pony who used to give you and your friends such a hard time,   Diamond Tiara?  The pony who tried to embarrass Silver Spoon because she liked mares, Diamond Tiara?”

“Yes sis,” said Apple Bloom, “that Diamond Tiara.  Do you know of another one?”

“Does she know... ’bout you?”

“Yes sis, I told her all ’bout me.”

“And she’d be ’kay with it?”

“I don’t know,” said Apple Bloom snickering, “she didn’t say much, she just kissed me after I told her.”

“Huh?” said AJ a bit confused, her entire preconceived notion about a pony had been shattered.  “And are you sure she’s ain’t goin’ to be wantin’ anythin’... Sexual?”

“She said she’d been used in the past and she couldn’t go through it again.” Said Apple Bloom, “she said she wasn’t ready to go out with mares either.  But with me, she’d feel safe and she guaranteed I’d be safe as well.  No expectations, no pressure.”

“Really?” said AJ, “no expectations?  That’s a lot to ask of a pony.”

“Well she did say one thing which could have been an expectation.”

“What’s that?”

“She said all she wanted was a pony who wants to be together and supportive.  And cuddle once in a while.”

Applejack started to have tears rolling down her cheek.

“What’s wrong sis?” asked Apple Bloom.

“It sounds like my lil’ sis has finally found a pony who could really understand her.” Said AJ, “I’m so happy for y’all.”

PART THREE: Getting Ready For The Party

Diamond went back to Rich’s Barnyard Bargains.  Her dad was busy with a customer, so she decided to put some stock on the shelves while he conducted his business.  When done, Diamond approached him.

“Daddy,” said Diamond, “I’ve a favor to ask.”

“What is it Sweetie,” said Filthy.

“I haven’t done this for years,” said the daughter blushing.  “But I wanted to know if I could get some extra bits.  I’ll work extra to pay you back.”

“What do you need them for?” asked the father, slightly afraid Diamond might be slipping back into old habits.  However in the past there was never any mention of working for it.

“I’d like to get a new dress for the party tonight,” said Diamond.

“You have dresses,” said Filthy.  He was becoming more concerned.  Diamond had a good supply of dresses.

“I know,” said Diamond, “you and mom have been quite generous to Emerald and me.  I thank you for all the times in the past I didn’t thank you.”

Diamond kissed her father and hugged him.  Then she started to blush and couldn’t quite look her father in the eyes.

“But I’ve got a date tonight.”

“A date?” said Diamond’s mother coming out from the back room.  “Sweetie, I’m so glad for you!”

“Who is he,” said Filthy, “he better know if he sets one hoof on you wrong, I’ll rip his hoof off and shove it up his flanks!”

“You don’t have to worry about any of that,” said Diamond slightly amused, “and he isn’t a ‘he’.  It’s Apple Bloom.”

“Did Applejack make you do this for the Zap Apple jam?” asked Filthy.

“No,” said Diamond, “I asked her.”

“But we thought you didn’t want any relationships,” said Spoiled, “you said you were afraid to get burned again.  What changed, did you decide you like mares?”

“It has nothing to do with liking mares,” said Diamond, “it isn’t the reason I asked her out.  I discovered Apple Bloom has as much if not more reason to not want those kinds of relationships either.  

I asked for the money to buy a new dress because this is the first date Apple Bloom has ever had, and I wanted to make it special for her.”

It was so good to hear, after the way their daughter was in the past, she wanted to do something to make somepony else happy.

Spoiled went to the backroom and returned with a small bag.

“What’s that?” asked Filthy.

“It’s my ‘mad money’,” said Spoiled.

“Mad money?” said Filthy with a smile, “if you left it with me, it’d be happy.”

“You see why your father didn’t go into show business,” said Spoiled, Diamond snickered and Filthy smiled a goodhearted smile showing he wasn’t serious.  “Now come along Diamond, we should have just enough time to find something at Carousel Boutique and have it fitted before you and Emerald have to go to the party.”

Carousel Boutique was just down the block from Rich’s Barnyard Bargains so they were at the dress shop in no time.  The bell rang as they entered.  Rarity was at the sewing machine, there were all sorts of dress making items, such as scissors, measuring tape, marking pen and different spools of thread, floating around her inside of a blue aura.  Rarity looked up from her sewing and smiled.

“Spoiled Rich, Diamond Tiara, what can I do for you today?” asked the white Unicorn.

“Diamond has the first date she’s had in years and we want see if we could get something stunning and fitted in time for Scootaloo and Silver Spoon’s party.”

Rarity looked a little sheepish.

“I don’t know if I could have anything fitted by then Darling,” said Rarity, “Not with all the party orders I have.  And I also have a very important customer expecting their garments ASAP.  I’d really like to help but business is business, you understand.

Rarity felt bad, Spoiled and Diamond looked let down.  

“We’re business ponies also, and we understand.  Thanks anyway,” said Spoiled, the two headed to the exit.  “Come on Diamond, I’m sure Apple Bloom won’t mind what you wear.”

Suddenly from behind there was the sound of items crashing to the floor.  Rarity bolted to the two mares and skidded around in front of them, a grin from ear to ear.

“Apple Bloom is your date?” said Rarity looking at Diamond and sounding excited.

“Yes,” said Diamond, “I asked her today.  I understand this was too little warning.”

Rarity, being the same as family to the Apples, knew about Apple Bloom’s condition and she felt sad for her partner’s sister.  For one so young to choose to live without the possibility of love was heartbreaking to Rarity.  Now Apple Bloom had accepted the offer to go out with a pony.  She could hardly stand still.

“Why didn’t you say so Darling,” said Rarity smiling even harder.  

“What about your other customer?” asked Spoiled.

“Pbbbt!” said Rarity blowing a raspberry, “Sapphire Shores’ Comeback Tour can wait.  Business is business, but family is family.  

Let’s make you look fabulous!”

All three mares smiled.

The Dash family was finishing their lunch; Rainbow didn’t mind the fly from Cloudsdale to Ponyville as long as she could have Twilight’s delicious cooking.

“So Squirt,” said Rainbow, still using the nickname she’d given her daughter years ago, even though she was now as tall as her mothers.  “You excited for this evening?”

“Mom,” said Scoot, “Sil and I are just so happy.  It’s like it’s always new every day!”

Twilight and Rainbow looked lovingly at each other.

“We know exactly what you’re talking about,” said Twilight, “it’s how a true love feels.  Just ask your grandparents.  We hope you’ll always feel that way.”

“Well,” said Rainbow, “we hope you’ll be able to share some joy tonight.  All your friends will be there.  I just hope you can spare some time for us when your little coltfriend is around.

I know all too well how much of a kink in your life it can be when some snot-muzzled little brat wants to hang out with you all the time and not share you with anypony.”

“Hey!” exclaimed Scootaloo.

“Yes,” said Twilight, “the only way I could get any time with my wife was to adopt the knee-biter.”

“Even then,” said Rainbow, trying hard not to laugh, “we had to push her off on some unsuspecting filly.  Where did you learn the spell you put on Silver Spoon, Lover-Pony?”

“Wait! What?” said Scoot.

Rainbow and Twilight couldn’t keep it up.  They both broke down in sidesplitting laughter.  Scootaloo couldn’t help but join in the mirth.

Their moment was broken with the entry of another pony.

“Silver Spoon,” said Rainbow, “we were just talking about you.”

“Is that why you were laughing so hard?” said Silver Spoon, trying to act offended.

“No,” said Twilight, “we were just having fun with our gullible daughter.”

“They said Mama T used a spell to get you to like me,” said Scoot.

“How else do you think anypony would like you?” asked Silver, and then turning to Twilight, “I guess it’s too late to remove the spell.”

“Sorry Silver,” said Twilight snickering, “you just missed the cutoff.”

“Darn!” said Silver, “and there’s a new mare who moved to Ponyville last week.  She sure is a cutie!”

“Hey now!” said Scootaloo, “I think it’s my turn to get offended.”

They all laughed and rushed to hug Scootaloo.  Silver gave her wife a large kiss.

“I brought some desert from Chez Pony,” said Silver, taking the basket off her back.  “Fresh raspberry tarts.  I even wrapped one separately for Mama R to take to Cloudsdale with her.”

“Speaking of that,” said Rainbow, “I need to get back to work.”

Rainbow kissed Twilight a deep kiss, then a motherly kiss to Scootaloo and Silver Spoon.  Then took the tart from the basket.

“See you at the party tonight,” said Rainbow as she went downstairs.

“And speaking of the party,” said Silver, “I need to get my wife over to Carousel Boutique to pick up our party dresses.  

And don’t make me have your mom put a spell on you to keep you from kicking and screaming to keep from going, Sweetheart.”

“I’ll go,” said Scootaloo, “I’ll see you tonight mom, love you.”

Scootaloo kissed her mother and turned to go.

“See you, love you too, both of you.”

“Same here, see you later Mama T,” said Silver exchanging a kiss on the cheek with her mother-in-law.  Then Silver and Scoot descended the stairs.

The couple arrived at Carousel Boutique as Spoiled Rich and Diamond Tiara were leaving.  Diamond had a garment bag draped across her back.

“Hello Mrs. Rich, hi Diamond.” Said Scoot, “can’t wait to see you at the party tonight.  Is Emerald excited?”

“He’s probably more excited than you,” said Diamond with a smile. “he even asked if he could wear his CMC cape and asked if you’d appreciate it.”

“Diamond,” said Scootaloo, “I’d be honored.  I know with Sweetie Belle being the director of the Cutie Mark Crusaders International, will be as well.  And if Apple Bloom comes, I’m sure she’ll be too.  But you know Apple Bloom; she almost never goes to parties anymore.”

“Oh she’ll be there alright,” said Spoiled, “right Diamond.”

Diamond had a slightly embarrassed look on her face.

“Apple Bloom will be there,” said Diamond pausing, “she’s my date.”

“You have a date?” said Silver surprised.

“Apple Bloom is your date,” said Scootaloo just as surprised.

“Yeah,” said Diamond, not really reading her friend’s reactions.

“Why that’s the most marvelous news ever!” said Silver.

“It’s about time both of you got out and did things.” Said Scootaloo, “with it being the two of you together makes it even better!”

Diamond smiled as Scootaloo and Silver hugged her.

“See you tonight girls,” said Spoiled.

The Rich’s walked off and the Dash couple entered the boutique.  It was the first time either pony could remember Rarity singing to herself.

“There’s the couple of the hour,” said Rarity.  “Let’s see how your couture fits.  I made them especially for tonight.”

“Okay,” said Silver Spoon, “we’re sure they’ll be amazing.  But you know how hard it is to get Scootaloo to wear a dress.”

“Don’t I know it Darling!” said Rarity, “with that partner of mine, you almost have to hog-tie her to get her to put on a dress.  And I won’t go into what I have to do to get her to wear makeup.”  

“I think I have a good idea of what it is,” said Silver, giving Scootaloo and bump with her flanks.

“Maybe she’s like that,” said Scootaloo, “just so she can get the ‘persuasion’.”

“I figured as much,” said Silver.

“I’ve always known that,” said Rarity.  “Perhaps we can get together, Silver Spoon Darling, and compare notes.”

“I think Applejack and I are in trouble,” said Scootaloo.

The three broke out in laughter.

Apple Bloom was so excited.  Maybe it was because it was to be her first date ever.  And maybe it was because of the way Diamond Tiara had kissed her.  Either one was something she hadn’t ever expect to happen to her.  And with a pony eight years ago, the news of would have two fillies die laughing, perhaps literally.  But after telling Diamond Tiara about herself, Diamond had explained she was almost in the same predicament, but hers was self-induced.  Because of what she went through with being abandoned by the father of her child after she’d given him everything at a young age, she had determined never to be burned again.

They found they were two ponies who were lonely and didn’t have or didn’t intend to give what other ponies would want in a regular relationship.  But as they talked, both found something in their hearts was telling them this could be an answer to loneliness they might not have realized the depth they were experiencing.  

And perhaps it would now be safe to open up to another pony.

As the time approached for her date to come by, Rarity was thrilled that Apple Bloom was so insistent to have Rarity help her get her makeup perfect and to make sure she was wearing the dress properly.

Applejack stood in the doorway watching her sister and her partner working together.  AJ was trying to hide the tears in her eyes.  She knew how badly her sister had taken the news of her condition and what it meant, when she was old enough to understand.  

It had been a dream of Apple Bloom’s to have a family including foals, like the stories Rarity would read her.  But after a biology lesson at high school, Apple Bloom realized that there was something wrong with the pictures in the books and what she knew about her own ‘private parts’.  When it was explained to her, the news broke her heart.  

But she’d adjusted and made sure she never got close enough to anypony to have to be embarrassed by having another pony let down or even face ridicule.  But with what Apple Bloom had told her about Diamond, plus remembering Diamond’s past, AJ was so happy for her sister and Diamond.

“I don’t believe I’d ever be sayin’ this,” said Apple Bloom with a chuckle, “but do y’all think Diamond Tiara will like how I look?”

She’d thought if eight years ago, Diamond knew about her condition, it would’ve given her frenemy ammunition to make her life in school a living Tartarus.  But now it was something which bound the two lonely mares together.  She could just scream.

Rarity and Applejack both smiled.

“Darling,” said Rarity, “when Diamond and her mother came by the shop to get a dress for Diamond.  Diamond was beside herself wanting to look good for you.  This means as much to her as it does to you.”

“We’re happy for both of y’ns,” said AJ, “do make sure you or she don’t try to go too fast.  It’s new for you and she hasn’t been down this road for a while.”

“But don’t let the moment pass;” said Rarity, “I think if everything works out, you two are a couple of ponies who could be made for each other.”

“Thank you sis,” said Apple Bloom, “thank you Rarity.  I’m just so excited!”

Apple Bloom actually gave a little jog in place and squealed almost like Sweetie Belle.  AJ and Rarity couldn’t keep the laughter in.

“Well I know two ponies who are probably as excited,” said Rarity, “and I see them in a taxi coming up the lane.”

After a few moments, there was a knock at the door; Apple Bloom was so shocked and excited.

“Will you get it?” asked Apple Bloom, “I need to run to the john, I’m about to pee myself!”

Rarity and AJ giggled as Apple Bloom took off to the bathroom.

“I’ll get it Sugar Cube,” said AJ giving Rarity a kiss, “make sure Apple Bloom doesn’t hurt herself before she gets to go on her date.”

Rarity laughed as AJ went to answer the door.

“Diamond Tiara, Emerald,” said AJ, trying not to laugh, “what brings you by here?”

“Is Apple Bloom ready,” asked Diamond.

“Ready for what?” said AJ.

“Darling,” said Rarity coming up from behind, “do you really want to sleep in the barn for the rest of your life.  You know there isn’t anything to keep me from moving back to Carousel Boutique.  At least Rainbow and Twilight, not to mention Scootaloo and Silver Spoon had the good taste to get married.”

“Rarity!” exclaimed AJ.  She sounded hurt.

“Sorry Darling, I was only kidding, and you know how much I love you,” said Rarity, she must have struck a nerve and hadn’t meant to.  After giving her partner an apology kiss, Rarity spoke to Diamond.  “Where are our manners?  Please come in, Apple Bloom will be here in just a moment.”

It wasn’t long before Apple Bloom entered the room.

“Wow!” said Diamond seeing Apple Bloom so thoroughly transformed. “You look beautiful!”

“You’re pretty,” said Emerald.

“Thank you both,” said Apple Bloom.

Apple Bloom came up to Emerald and gave the colt a hug.  Then she hugged Diamond and shared a fairly passionate kiss, which made the colt to giggle.

“You look very nice too,” said Apple Bloom looking in Diamond’s eyes.  Then at the colt, “And you look very handsome.

But that cape, somethin’s wrong with it.”

Emerald looked confused; he had worn it to honor the original CMC.

There was a glow from Rarity’s horn and from a small table by the front door, a cape floated to Emerald.  

“Try this one,” said Apple Bloom, “it was my original Crusader cape.  Your new ones ain’t got the gold silk Sweetie Belle lined ’em with, much to the chagrin of Rarity.”

Rarity smirked at the memory.

“Can I really wear your cape?” asked the colt.

Apple Bloom nodded her head, before the colt knew what was going on, Rarity had used her magic to remove his cape and carefully put Apple Bloom’s on him.  It was faded and crude in its design.  Not like the mass-produced ones of today.  But to the colt, he wouldn’t trade it for Celestia’s crown.

“Thank you Miss Apple Bloom,” said Emerald, “I’ll take good care of it.”

“I know you will,” said Apple Bloom.

Diamond looked at Apple Bloom; such kindness to her son was so nice.  And after all the pain she’d caused Apple Bloom in the past.

“You know Apple Bloom is the one who named the Crusaders,” said Diamond.

Emerald just looked at Apple Bloom with stars in his eyes.  If not careful, Scootaloo would be pushed aside for a new hero.

“Aw, go on,” said Apple Bloom, “don’t make such a big deal of it.”

“Well, I have something for you to wear, Apple Bloom,” said Diamond.  “If you’d do me the honor.”

She presented a box for Apple Bloom.  Rarity levitated it to Apple Bloom.  Apple Bloom opened it and there was the tiara Diamond hadn’t worn since she left years ago for boarding school.

“I’d hoped you might be my princess tonight,” said the pink Earth Pony.

Rarity and AJ smiled at the tenderness being expressed.

Rarity levitated the tiara to Apple Bloom’s head.

“What do you think?” said Apple Bloom.

“It looks so much better on you than it ever did on me,” replied Diamond.

The two embraced and kissed deep and long.  Emerald just giggled.

“Okay you three,” said Rarity, “you better get going, you don’t want to be late for the party to start.”

“Yes, the taxi is waiting,” said Diamond, and then to AJ and Rarity, “we’ll see you there.”

“Have fun y’all,” said AJ.

“We plan on it,” said Apple Bloom kissing Diamond again.

“I’m sure there’ll be time for that later,” said Rarity giggling, “you two and that handsome young colt need to be going.”

“We’ll see y’all there,” said AJ.

There were hugs all around then the three left turned and went out the door.

“I don’t think I’ve ever seen Apple Bloom so happy,” said Rarity.

“I know,” said AJ, Rarity heard a tremor in her voice.

“Are you alright Darling?” asked Rarity.

“My lil’ sis,” said AJ, tears streaming down her cheek, “I never thought she’d allow herself to be open to anypony.  To see her kiss a pony like she did, well I’m just so very happy for her.”

Applejack walked to the window and watched as the taxi went down the lane toward Ponyville.

“She’ll be fine,” said Rarity, “you can ask her all about it tonight when she comes home.”

AJ looked at Rarity with a little smile.

“As Granny used to say, ‘I’d bet hooves to hindquarters’ we won’t be able to talk to her about it until tomorrow some time.”

AJ started to cry, she was so happy for her sister.

“I really hope so,” said Rarity as she put a foreleg around AJ, pulled her close, and let her partner get it out of her system.  

Then she said:

“Okay Darling,” said Rarity with a sly smile, “you don’t want you face all wet when we put your makeup on you.”

“Makeup?” said AJ, “do we really have to?”

“You do if you want what I’m planning for tonight,” said Rarity with a look that would arouse a sleeping pony.

A smile returned to Applejack’s face as the two headed for the stairs.

“You didn’t have to get a taxi,” said Apple Bloom, sitting close to Diamond and holding her hoof.

“Yes I did,” said Diamond, “if I didn’t, then Emerald would be all sweaty and tired by the time we would’ve gotten to Sweet Apple Acres.  Plus I didn’t want to get my dress dusty before you saw it.”

“You really dressed up just for me?” asked Apple Bloom with a large smile.

“Certainly,” said Diamond, “I need all the help I can get if I’m going to convince the prettiest mare in Ponyville to be my marefriend.”

Apple Bloom blushed and smiled.

“It ain’t goin’ to take much convincin’.  But I really like your dress,” said Apple Bloom, “you look so nice in it.”

“So do you,” said Diamond, “yours is as beautiful as yourself.”

The two kissed again, as they traveled to Chez Pony, Emerald just snickered.

PART FOUR: Party

Rainbow and Twilight Dash greeted ponies as they arrived.  They were so proud of their daughter and their daughter-in-law.  So much had happened in less than ten years.  

Going from two best friends to being married and then mothers of a daughter they were extremely proud of and just as proud of her choice of wife.

Scootaloo and Silver Spoon were inside mingling with well-wishers.  Up to the happy couple came a couple of familiar ponies.

“Shady, Sweetie Belle,” said Scootaloo. “we’re so glad you could make it from Manehattan.”

“You look great,” said Silver to Sweetie, “when’s the foal due?”

“We have another four months,” said Sweetie Belle, “I don’t know if I can make it.”

“Don’t be silly,” said Scootaloo, “you’ll make it, and you’re going to be a fabulous mother.  You’re the one who was always playing with foal dolls.”

The four shared hugs.

“Okay Sweetie,” said Shady, “the doctor said you should be off your hooves as much as possible.”

“You and Shady are at the head table with us,” said Silver, “there are place cards but you’re by me, Scootie’s ‘shadow’ and Diamond are by Scootie.  Then, next to them are Apple Bloom and her date.”

“Date?” said Sweetie.  

The CMC had been the only other ponies outside the family who knew about Apple Bloom’s condition and they had been sworn to secrecy by a Pinkie Pie Promise, the most unbreakable of oaths.  So they knew why Apple Bloom never went out with anypony.

“Apple Bloom has a date?” asked Sweetie Belle. “Who is he?”

“We just heard she had a date,” said Silver.  She and Scootaloo just smiled a knowing smile.

They walked to the head table and saw at the center a place for Scootaloo and Silver Spoon Dash.  Next to Silver was the reserved spot for Shady and Sweetie Belle.  And then Rainbow and Twilight Dash.  Beside Scootaloo there was, as expected, Emerald then his mother Diamond Tiara.  Next to Diamond was a spot for Apple Bloom and then Applejack and Rarity.  But no spot that Sweetie Belle could see for a date for Apple Bloom.  

“Perhaps they canceled,” said Scootaloo trying to keep the secret to excite Sweetie Belle, she so loved mushy stuff.

“I hope Apple Bloom still comes,” said Sweetie Belle.

As Rainbow and Twilight were greeting guests, they saw a taxi stop in front.  Off it climbed Diamond Tiara and her son, then Apple Bloom.  It was noticed that the two mares were dressed very nice.  Perhaps not unusual for Diamond Tiara, but to see Apple Bloom in a dress was one thing, but such a fancy dress was another.

Diamond paid the taxipony and then she and Apple Bloom kissed.  They walked to the entrance.

Rainbow and Twilight smiled.

“Diamond, Emerald, Apple Bloom!” said Rainbow, “so glad you could make it.”

“Yes,” said Twilight smiling at the mares a most knowing smile, “Scootaloo was afraid you wouldn’t come Apple Bloom, it being a social gathering.”

“I wouldn’t miss it for all the tea in Canterlot,” said Apple Bloom, another Granny quote.  “Plus I was asked out.”

Apple Bloom took Diamond’s hoof.

“Mrs. Dash,” said Emerald snickering, “mommy and Miss Apple Bloom have been kissin’.”

“Oh they have, have they?” said Rainbow looking at the couple with a smile.

“Well, we’ll just have to have a talk with them later.” said Twilight, and then to the couple, “are congratulations in order?”

“Not yet Twilight,” said Diamond, “Apple Bloom and I have some things to talk about.”

Diamond and Apple Bloom kissed a quick kiss.

“See!” said Emerald.

“We see,” said Rainbow, “all your friends are waiting for you.  Go on in and have fun.”

“Emerald Sweetheart,” said Diamond, “I know you’re excited, but let mommy and Apple Bloom tell ponies about us, okay?”

“’member, a Cutie Mark Crusader always does what their parents ask of ’em,” said Apple Bloom.

“Yes ma’am,” said Emerald.  He was excited to tell ponies, but with an original Crusader reminding him of one of the rules.  It was the same as an order.  Plus he was wearing her cape; he didn’t want it taken away because he couldn’t keep his muzzle shut.

Rainbow and Twilight watched as Diamond and Apple Bloom entered together walking very close, Emerald in tow.

“Didn’t see that one coming,” said Rainbow to Twilight with a chuckle.

“You and me both,” said Twilight giving Rainbow a kiss.

The ponies were nibbling on the fantastic hors d'oeuvres.  Scootaloo was telling her friends with the way she’d mastered levitation, she and her moms were looking into other things she could do.  Then everypony saw Apple Bloom and Diamond enter along with Emerald.  They couldn’t help but notice how nice the two were dressed.  They also noticed a familiar tiara but it was on Apple Bloom’s head.

Emerald came trotting up to Scootaloo and exchanged a hug.

“That’s so special of you to wear your CMC cape,” said Scootaloo.

“We appreciate it,” said Sweetie Belle.

“Thank you,” said Emerald, “but it isn’t my cape.  Miss Apple Bloom let me wear hers.”

“I thought I saw a gold silk lining,” said Sweetie Belle.  “My sis was so peeved at me for that.”

Diamond and Apple Bloom walked up.

“Hi girls,” said Silver Spoon.

“We heard you had a date, Apple Bloom,” said Sweetie Belle. “Couldn’t he make it?”

“My date is here,” said Apple Bloom giggling.

“Where?” said Sweetie suspicious.

“Her date is, here.” Said Diamond, who took Apple Bloom’s hoof and kissed her a very passionate kiss.

“Well butter my flanks and call me a biscuit!” said Sweetie Belle in a pleasant shock.

“You’ve hung around the Apples too long,” said Shady to his wife.

All the ponies laughed and then hugged Apple Bloom and Diamond.

“Well Di,” said Silver with a wink, “I guess I’m just going to have to make an announcement,

Diamond Tiara…

Likes girls!”

All the friends laughed so hard they got side cramps.  Sweetie Belle was almost afraid she’d go into premature labor.

“Well,” said Di, getting her laughter under control, “that’s not quite accurate.  The only girl I like is Apple Bloom.”

“And y’all know I’ve never allowed myself to like anypony.  But now the only pony I could like is Diamond Tiara.”

The new couple kissed again.

“And to think,” said Sweetie Belle, “after all the trouble and grief we gave each other and with us not wanting to be around the other.  Now look at us.”

There was a group hug just a few years prior, would’ve been unheard of.

“Ponies,” called out Twilight, “It looks like all the guests are here, everypony have a seat.”

They all sat and had a great meal.  Many ponies looked at the affection being displayed between Diamond and Apple Bloom.  Emerald asked if his mother and Apple Bloom would switch places so he could sit between Scootaloo and Apple Bloom.

No pony could’ve guessed years ago Diamond Tiara would have a son who’d be so proud to be a Crusader.

When done they all demanded Silver’s father come out to receive their gratitude.

Soup Spoon came out and there was a standing ovation for the chef.

Then there was mingling, dancing and just having a good time socializing. 

Everypony noticed how close Diamond and Apple Bloom were keeping to each other.

When dancing, especially the slow ones, Diamond and Apple Bloom had the most content of looks on their faces.

Soon it was announced to return to their seats for the cake.  Afterward the crowd called out for the couple of the hour to open the anniversary presents.  It’d been expressed gifts weren’t necessary but close friends felt they had to bring something.

Rarity and Applejack volunteered to bring the couple the presents.  They would take turns and bring gifts to the couple one at a time.  They’d have the couple read who it was from and then open it.

Applejack brought the last gift to the couple, a small box. Then AJ stood there as Scootaloo read the tag.

“This gift is from Applejack,” said Scoot.  Rarity looked lost; they’d already opened the gift from herself and AJ.  “But it says it’s for Rarity.”

“Me?” said Rarity and timidly came forward.

Scootaloo levitated the box to Rarity who took it with her aura.  She opened it and there was a sparkling diamond ring, Rarity gasped.

Applejack sat back on her haunches and took one of Rarity’s fore hooves.  The gathering went silent.

“I’m so sorry this was so long in comin’,” said Applejack, a tear rolling down her cheek, “but would you honor me by being my wife?”

Tears were streaming down Rarity’s face.  For a moment, in her mind, there were no gathered friends, just she and Applejack, the love of her life.

“Of course I will Darling,” said Rarity lovingly.

Applejack stood, they embraced and kissed as the ring floated to Rarity’s horn.

All the ponies stood and applauded again.  But Rarity and AJ didn’t hear it.  They just heard their hearts beating while holding the most special pony in the world.

“I love you, my beautiful pony,” said Applejack.

“I love you,” said Rarity, “and I guess you’re going to get an extra helping of what I planned for tonight.”

Scootaloo and Silver came around the table and were the first to congratulate the two.

“What a wonderful anniversary present,” said Silver Spoon.

“It was the best we received,” said Scootaloo.

All the other ponies came up and congratulated the two as well as Scoot and Silver.

Apple Bloom and Diamond came up to the two.

“I’m so happy for you sis,” said Apple Bloom, “and you too Rarity, I’ve always thought of you as another sister.  Now you’ll be for real.  I don’t know if’n I’ve ever told you enough, but I love you.”

Rarity hugged Apple Bloom and kissed her on the cheek.

“And I’ve always thought of you as a sister too Darling,” said Rarity, “and I love you too.”

Then Rarity drew Diamond and AJ into the hug.

“I guess this is a special night for all of us.” Said Rarity.

As the party was breaking up, Rainbow and Twilight came to AJ and Rarity.

“Congratulations,” said Rainbow.

“We’re so happy for you,” said Twilight.

“Thank y’all,” said AJ, “I’m so sorry I didn’t do this sooner.  Rarity’s been more than patient.”

“I was more than happy to wait,” said Rarity, “we’ve been happy living together so far.  And it wasn’t necessary, but the thought and the commitment are appreciated.”

“You two have been an example we’ve tried to be like,” said Applejack.

“And because of that,” said Rarity, “we want you two to be our Best Mares.”

“We’d be honored,” said Twilight.

“We can’t wait,” said Rainbow.

PART FIVE: After The Party

There was a taxi waiting to take Diamond, Emerald and Apple Bloom home.  Emerald was yawning so much; he was worn out from the party and being excited to have been around the original CMC.  Because of this they decided to go to the Rich home first.

Diamond dismissed the taxi, telling Apple Bloom she could arrange to get her home.

There, Apple Bloom helped Diamond to get Emerald to bed.  He’d fallen asleep with his head in Apple Bloom’s lap.

The two mares put the colt to bed and kissed him on the cheek.   As they closed the door, they looked at each other and smiled.

“This dress is nice,” said Diamond, “but I really want to get out of it before we take you home.  Would you mind helping me?”

“No problem,” said Apple Bloom with a smile.

In Diamond’s room Diamond turned on the lights.  Apple Bloom helped to pull the dress over Diamond’s head.  To tell the truth, it felt nice being undressed by this pony.

“Might as well take mine off too,” said Apple Bloom, “don’t wan’a get it messed up goin’ home in the dark.”

Apple Bloom took the tiara off her head and handed it to Diamond.

“Sorry,” said Diamond, “I gave it to you.  As I said, you look so much better in it than I ever did.”

Apple Bloom smiled and kissed Diamond again.

Apple Bloom had Diamond help take the dress off her; she felt the same arousal Diamond had felt.

When Diamond had set Apple Bloom’s dress and the tiara aside, she turned to see Apple Bloom looking intently at her.

“I haven’t had anypony undress me in such a long time,” said Diamond, “I forgot how nice it could feel.  

Sorry, I know we said we wouldn’t talk of such things.”

“I felt it too,” said Apple Bloom, “I never knew.”

Without any more words being spoken, the two embraced and kissed perhaps the most passionate kiss they’d shared yet.

When they broke the kiss, Diamond was a little timid.

“I know it might be forward of me,” said Diamond, “but would you spend the night with me?  I haven’t had a pony hold me in so very long.”

Apple Bloom’s answer was a small kiss then taking Diamond’s hoof and leading her to Diamond’s bed.

“Are you sure?” asked Diamond.

“Di,” said Apple Bloom, “I’d like to know what it’s like to be held at night by a pony who really likes me.”

They turned out the lights and climbed in the bed.  Just holding each other closely.  They could feel the other tremble with excitement and trepidation.

Diamond had all but forgotten what it was like to have a warm body close to her and against herself.  Apple Bloom’s forelegs were lightly holding her while her head rested against Diamond’s chest.  In spite of being held by a mare, the strength of the farm pony’s chest and legs could be felt in the muscles Diamond could feel just under Apple Bloom’s skin.  It was almost like being held by a stallion but for the softness of the skin and the pheromones Diamond could register in the back if her mind.  Diamond was sure if she’d just went to bed with a stallion, there would’ve been ‘advances’ already, but Apple Bloom was content to just hold and be held by Diamond.

Apple Bloom had climbed in the bed with Applejack on many occasions right after a particularly bad dream, or a storm which produced loud thunder and the winds made the old house creak.  Applejack would hold her little sister close and help to relieve the fears.  But this was nothing like she’d ever experienced.  The softness of Diamond and the warmth she was feeling was so awesome.  Apple Bloom had read books about couples making love, even some of Rarity’s mare with mare books.  But there wasn’t anything in any of them about just holding their partner, drawing strength and comfort by lying near, and just feeling the other’s heartbeat.

Diamond looked down at Apple Bloom’s head just resting against her chest.  Diamond had never seen such a beautiful smile before.  Di leaned over and kissed Apple Bloom on the forehead.  

Apple Bloom was almost used to getting kisses from Diamond by now.  But for whatever reason, with Diamond holding her in this most private and intimate of settings and kissing her on the forehead, it was like nothing ever felt before.  Her entire body was calling out for more than just kisses.  But Apple Bloom knew this wasn’t the time for it.  She wanted to enjoy the pure bliss she was feeling now.  Apple Bloom looked up at Diamond and kissed her deeply.

They broke the kiss and just looked into each other’s eyes.

“Di,” said Apple Bloom, “I’ve never felt anythin’ like this before.

In fact, if’n I was to die right now, I’d know there’d be nothin’ in life could’ve made me happier.”

“I feel the same way,” said Diamond Tiara, “I’ve been held before, but never like this.  Or at least it’s never felt like this.  And it has nothing to do with being held by a mare.  It has everything to do with the mare who’s holding me.”

The two just held each other close and closed their eyes.

After a while, as the cobwebs were starting to gather, Apple Bloom spoke quietly.

“Di,” said Apple Bloom, almost in a whisper.

“Yes Apple Bloom,” replied Diamond as quietly.

“What does love feel like?”

Diamond was surprised by the question, but she was thrilled Apple Bloom was asking it.

Diamond had thought she was in love with Spinner in the past.  But as she became more mature, she realized it was only a crush and a silly school filly’s fantasy because an older colt was paying attention to her and treating her like an adult.  

She later realized she was only being used for sex and was only being treated like the gullible fool she was.  

It was the most un-adult thing ever.

Now here she lay in bed and in the embrace of a mare she’d been around all her life.  A pony who at one time was her biggest adversary, now Diamond had discovered she shared more in common with her than anypony else.

Her heart felt so good just in the embrace of Apple Bloom.  No demands, no expectations, only a wonderful pony who only wanted to be with her.

The answer to Apple Bloom’s question was clear, but Diamond thought it too early to commit to it.

“Really Apple Bloom,” said Di, “I thought I knew at one time.  But I found out it was just an infatuation and it lead to abuse.  

To tell the truth, I don’t know.  But I hope to Celestia it feels just like I’m feeling for you right now.”

Apple Bloom understood Di’s meaning.

“Me too,” said Apple Bloom.

Diamond caught the reciprocal meaning.

Apple Bloom turned over and snuggled her back to Diamond in the classic ‘spooning’ position.  Diamond held Apple Bloom close, Apple Bloom’s forelegs held the forelegs wrapped around her.  The joy for both mares was overwhelming.

“Whatever this feeling is,” said Apple Bloom, “thank you for feeling it with me.”

“Good night my sweet Apple Bloom.”

Apple Bloom turned her head and kissed Diamond.

“Good night my darlin’ Diamond.”

The two drifted off to sleep happier than either had ever been.

Emerald was happy it was Saturday morning.  He was going to meet with his Crusader friends for a day in the park.  He went down stairs for breakfast; Gram and Papa were at the table.  But his mother, who was now an early riser, wasn’t there.

“Papa is mommy already gone?” asked the colt.

“I haven’t seen her this morning,” said Filthy.

“Miss Diamond came home late,” said Randolph.

“She must’ve had a good time and just got over tired,” said Spoiled.  “I’ll go up and check.”

Apple Bloom was having ‘Her Dream’, the one where she could be like other ponies.  She could love and be loved just like everypony else.  It warmed her heart, it warmed her soul.  But never before had it actually warmed her body.  But then she realized she was awake, she just hadn’t opened her eyes yet.  But like the dream, there was a warm chest pressed against her back and a warm foreleg holding her close.  

She opened her eyes and saw she wasn’t in her own room.  It wasn’t a dream.  

“Di,” whispered Apple Bloom.

“Yes Apple-Love,” whispered Diamond in reply.  Diamond, only after it left her lips, notice the endearment she just called Apple Bloom.  Diamond didn’t care; it was what her heart was telling her to say.  And it appeared Apple Bloom liked it too.

“So I didn’t dream it?” asked Apple Bloom.

“No Apple-Love,” said Diamond, tightening her embrace, “but if it’s a dream, then I don’t ever want to wake up.”

“Me neither,” said Apple Bloom.

Apple Bloom was about to turn over and continue the kissing from last night, but there was a knock at the door, it creaked open.

Spoiled went up the stair to her daughter’s bedroom door.  She knocked but the door wasn’t closed all the way so it swung open a bit.  

“Diamond?” said Spoiled, “are you going to sleep all day.”

Too late she noticed Diamond wasn’t in the bed alone.  She was lying with her back to the door.  Diamond appeared to be spooning with somepony.  Her daughter turned over and sat up a bit.

“What’s wrong mom?” asked Diamond.

“I’m so sorry to disturb you,” said Spoiled embarrassed.

“It’s okay mom,” said Diamond with a smile.

At that moment Apple Bloom sat up too.

“We don’t mind what pony knows,” said Apple Bloom.

Apple Bloom then turned and gave Di a little kiss.

“Come down to breakfast when you’re ready,” said Spoiled, still looking sheepish as she turned to leave.

“Mom,” said Diamond, “are you upset at me?”

Spoiled turned back; there was a smile on her face and tears in her eyes.  

“No Sweetheart,” said Spoiled, “I’m just so happy for you, both of you.”

Spoiled left and closed the door behind her.

“I hope I didn’t speak out of place,” said Apple Bloom, “I hope you don’t mind what I said.”

Diamond kissed Apple Bloom hungrily.

“Apple-Love,” said Diamond, “I want everypony to know.  I want the world to know I have the best pony in the world as my marefriend.”

The two smiled but they knew they had to get moving.  Apple Bloom was sure AJ, Rarity and Big Mac might be concerned she hadn’t come home last night.

They took a quick shower (together), and then went downstairs to breakfast.  As they enter the dining room, Spoiled, Filthy and even Randolph smiled as Diamond and Apple Bloom entered the room.  However, Emerald was taken aback.

“Miss Apple Bloom!” said the colt, “you came back this morning?”

“Emerald,” said Diamond, “Apple-Love stayed with me last night.”

“Apple-Love?” said Spoiled with a knowing smile.

The two blushed.

“Like a slumber party?” asked Emerald.

“Sweetie,” said Apple Bloom, “your mother and I like each other a lot.”

“You mean you’re in love?” asked the colt.

Di and Apple Bloom looked at each other, then back to Emerald.

“Emerald,” said Diamond, “we like each other a whole lot.  But we’ve only just started to like each other; love is something we’d have to discover.  

But be happy for Apple Bloom and me.  We’re so happy!”

“I am mommy, for you and Miss Apple Bloom,” said the colt, giving each mare a hug and kiss on the cheek.

“Well,” said Filthy, “we’re so happy for you two.  Diamond, it’s about time you let go of the past and open yourself to others.”

“Yes,” said Spoiled, “and we don’t think we could name any other pony better to open yourself to.  

And Apple Bloom, you’re welcome here in our family.  You and all the Apples are an honorable and wonderful family.  Just know Filthy and I are here for you anytime you need.”

“Thank you, Mr. and Mrs. Rich.  We don’t know how this relationship is goin’a go.  But I promise I’ll never hurt Diamond, and I’ll be there to support her and Emerald.”

“We’ve no doubt of it,” said Filthy, “now sit and eat before breakfast gets cold.  Randolph, please bring Miss Apple a plate.”

“Gladly sir,” answered the butler with a smile.  It was clear he was just as happy for Diamond as anypony else.

Randolph retrieved a plate and Apple Bloom sat between Diamond and Emerald, much to the colt’s delight, and ate breakfast.

PART SIX: After The Party Deux

Applejack woke up stiff and a bit sore, but the afterglow she was still experiencing was well worth the discomfort.  Rarity wasn’t kidding about having something special planned that evening.

Rarity came into the room levitating a tray of food.

“Sugar Cube,” said AJ, “you didn’t need to bring me breakfast in bed.”

“It’s the least I could do after last night,” said Rarity.

“Thank you,” said AJ, “it looks and smell so good.  I can’t wait to eat it.”

“Then go ahead,” said Rarity.

Applejack just looked at her with a strange look.

“I would Sugar Cube,” said AJ, “but your goin’a have to untie me first.”

Rarity giggled and her horn glowed. AJ’s legs came free from the ropes which secured her from the four corners of the bed.

“I do have one question for you Darling,” said Rarity, her horn glowing and a fork of food drifted to AJ.  “I only made the comment about being able to leave at any time yesterday.  How did you get a ring so fast?  I don’t think you were out of my sight for very long.”

Applejack looked a little embarrassed but she smiled.

“Sugar Cube,” said AJ, “that was my mother’s engagement ring.”

“Oh Darling!” said Rarity, but then something struck her.  “But it’s a Unicorn ring, and I remember your mother was an Earth Pony.”

“Rarity my Love,” said AJ looking into her fiancée’s eyes.  “I had it converted, with Big Mac and Apple Bloom’s permission, about a year ago.  I’ve been waiting for a right time to ask you.  

Then when you made your comment, it got me thinkin’.  I didn’t want you to think I took you for granted.  I love you and I couldn’t live now without my beautiful Rarity.  So I fig’erd I should do somethin’.  I wanted you to know just how important you are to me.”

Rarity had tears rolling down her cheeks.  Her horn glowed and from her dresser floated a gold chain with a Unicorn ring suspended.

“Darling,” said Rarity, “I’ve thought about it too for some time.  This is my mother’s engagement ring.  I too have been waiting for the right time to give it to you.  You beat me to the punch, but it doesn’t mean I love you any less.  After all, you’re a mare as well, and we shouldn’t treat either of us like a stallion.  So here it goes...”

At that moment there was a sound from in the hall.

“Applejack, Rarity are y’all here?” said Apple Bloom’s voice.

“It’s okay Sugar Cube,” said AJ, “maybe she’d like to see this, if’n you don’t mind.”

Rarity smiled and opened the door with her magic then called out.

“It’s okay to come in.”

Apple Bloom entered, but the surprising thing was, she was being followed by Diamond Tiara.

“One moment Sugar Cubes,” said AJ, “I think Rarity was ’bout to say somethin’.”

The two saw the ring and chain suspended in midair and realized what was going on.

“Applejack Darling,” said Rarity, “my life would be nothing without you.  Will you marry me?”

“It’s what I was born for,” said AJ with a smile and tear on her cheek. “It’d be my honor.”

The chain floated around AJ’s neck and the two kissed.

“How wonderful,” said Diamond, “so romantic!”

“I think it’s just awesome,” said Apple Bloom.

AJ and Rarity kissed again.  Rarity motioned her head toward the newcomers, AJ understood.

“I don’t ’member hearing you come home last night young mare,” said AJ trying to sound stern, but not doing a very good job.

“That’s because Apple-Love spent the night with me,” said Diamond.

“Apple-Love?” said Rarity with a smile.

“Yes, it’s Di’s name for me and I adore it,” said Apple Bloom.

“And you spent the night?”  Said Rarity, she was smiling from ear to ear.  “As in sleeping together?”

The two nodded their heads.

“You did?” said AJ, not sure if she should be happy or embarrassed.

“I just knew you two were meant for each other.” Said Rarity, hugging Apple Bloom and Diamond, “this is beyond great!”

“We’re goin’a have to have a talk Miss Diamond,” said AJ, raising an eyebrow. “Corruptin’ and deflowerin’ my lil’ sis.”

“We only slept together, no sex,” said Diamond, “And I don’t think I’m answerable to any pony but my marefriend Apple Bloom.  She’s an adult and free to make her own choices.”

“Marefriend?” said Rarity excited.

Apple Bloom glowered at AJ in disapproval.

“Calm down you two,” said Rarity laughing, “Apple Bloom, you should know your sister’s sense of humor by now.  Or I should say lack thereof.”  

“And y’all know Rarity,” said AJ laughing, “she’ll be askin’ for all the intimate details.”

“Later Darlings,” said Rarity with a wink.

Apple Bloom and Di relaxed and laughed with the two older ponies.

“I hate to break this up,” said Applejack, “but we’ve work to do Sugar Cube.  Last night the timber wolves were howlin’.”

“The Zap Apples!” said Apple Bloom, “they’ll be here in four days!”

“Yes Darling,” said Rarity noticeably timid.

“What’s wrong?” said Apple Bloom.

“We all are goin’a be super busy,” said Applejack.

“I think they’re saying there isn’t going to be time for us to see each other,” said Diamond sadly.

“But that’s not fair!” said Apple Bloom, almost in tears.

“I know Darling,” said Rarity, “and as much as I’m all for actions of the heart, the Zap Apple harvest and Zap Apple jam production is one of the largest sources of income for our family, right after cider sales.”

“I know, it’s a big deal for my family’s business also.” Said Diamond, then turning to Apple Bloom, “Perhaps we’ll be so busy, we won’t have time to notice.  And we aren’t going anywhere.  And I’m not going to feel less for you, Apple-Love.”

The two younger mares embraced, and then kissed a long kiss.  So long AJ and Rarity started to feel uncomfortable.  They broke the kiss and looked into each other’s eyes for a moment.

“I guess I need to let my daddy know,” said Di, “we need to make room for the jam.”

Apple Bloom nodded her head and turned to talk to her sister.

“I’m goin’a walk Di to the end of the lane if’n it’s ‘kay.”

“Sure Sugar Cube, you don’t need permission.” Said AJ, “take your time.”

The two younger mares left sadly.  After they heard the door close the older mares went to the window and looked out.  They watched as the two young mares walked slowly.

“Talk about bad timing,” said Rarity.

“I know Sugar Cube,” said AJ, “but what can we do?”

“Apple Bloom is old enough to know what needs to be done,” said Rarity.  “And if what’s happening is really real, then there’ll be time for them to figure out what it is they’ve discovered.”

“What?” asked Applejack.

“Love Darling,” said Rarity, giving AJ a quick kiss, “love.”

AJ smiled as they looked out the window and watched as Apple Bloom and Diamond embraced, kiss and then went their own way.

The next three days were filled with hard work for the Rich’s and the Apple’s.  

The Store had to be rearranged to handle the coming jam.  Filthy had enough professional courtesy to not sell the Zap Apple jam while the Apples had their stand at Sweet Apple Acres active.  In fact he’d wait two weeks after the Apples were out to feature it in his store.  But there was still the job of preparing the storeroom and figuring how they were going to display the sweet and magical treat.  

In the past, Filthy had made a deal to use Granny Smith’s image on a label.  But with Granny in Appleloosa, and to the thrill of Diamond, he had labels made with Apple Bloom’s picture on them.

With the Apples there was the job of setting out as many baskets as possible, they didn’t want to waste a second of the short day the apples would be there.  Plus there was having to make room to store the apples until they could be made into jam.  

It was kind of funny; the Zap Apples were so good in cakes, pies, jam and other treats.  But to eat one, there wasn’t much difference from the regular apples.

Both families worked hard to get ready for this time which actually bound them together as it had since the days of Filthy’s grandfather and Granny Smith original production.  The families took great pride in this.  The Apple’s Zap Apple Jam was the origin of the settlement of Ponyville, and the Rich’s family was the cornerstone of what became the business aspect of Ponyville.

It was the evening of the day before the coming of the Zap Apples.  Diamond was sitting at the dinner table with her family.  Her aunt Ruby was visiting and was busy talking to her sister and brother-in-law.  But as she had for the last few days, Diamond’s mind was on a very special mare.  

Apple Bloom had managed to stop by Rich’s Barnyard Bargains to pick up supplies.  Diamond would have Apple Bloom come into the back room to help collect what she needed.  Both Filthy and Spoiled knew not to go into the back while the girls were back there.  They knew there wasn’t any time for hanky-panky, so they allowed them time to get in some much needed kissing.  It’s was what kept the two going through this hard time.

Now Diamond was just sitting and looking at her food.  Emerald didn’t understand why his mommy was so quiet, so he tried to get her to talk.

“You wan’a know something cool,” said the colt to his mom. “I was talking to Scootaloo today and guess what!”

“What Sweetie,” said Diamond, trying not to let her funk interfere with her relationship with her son.

“I asked Scootaloo if Mrs. Rainbow or Mrs. Twilight was her mother.  And do you know what she said?  Scootaloo said they both were her moms,” said the colt excited. “How lucky is that?  To have two moms!”

“I guess it would be special,” said Diamond.  “I know all moms are special.  My mom sure is.”

Spoiled smiled at Diamond’s remark.

“Well my mommy is too,” said Emerald.  The colt got up and hugged and kissed Diamond.  

“I really love my mommy.  But I still think two mommies would be fun,” said the colt.  

Then he got a strange look on his face.    

“You know, I think it’d be nice if Miss Apple Bloom was my mommy too.”

Diamond sat stunned.  Emerald excused himself and went to play before he had to get ready for bed.

“Out of the mouth of foals,” said Ruby.

“Beg pardon,” said Diamond.

“Come on,” said Spoiled, “it’s plain enough your son sees it, it’s obvious enough a blind pony could see it.”

“Hold on, this is girl talk,” said Filthy, “and here I sit without a uterus.  Randolph, come with me, I think we need to let Emerald beat us at a board game.”

“My pleasure, sir.”

The two stallions left the room, in spite of her mood, even Diamond chuckled.

“Spoiled told me about this Apple Bloom,” said Ruby.  “As thrilled as I am your mind has changed, why a mare, why now?”

“Aunt Ruby,” said Diamond, “it has nothing to do with mares.  Apple Bloom is special; she has more reason than I do not to go out with stallions.  Without saying too much, it could be argued Apple Bloom isn’t really a mare, nor is she a stallion.”

“I see,” said Ruby somewhat understanding what Diamond was hinting at.

“She’s incapable of sex,” said Diamond, “and that’s fine with me.  When we spent the night together and just held the other, it was Elysium.  I found a pony who only wants to be with me.  Nothing more and I so want to be with her.”

Ruby and Spoiled looked at each other and smiled.  Ruby nodded her head.

“Hurts not being around her,” said Spoiled, “doesn’t it.”

“Yes mom.”

“Can’t go five minutes without thinking of her kiss,” said Ruby.

“Yes Aunt Ruby,” said Diamond.

“All you want to do is run out the door and find her,” said Spoiled.

“You want more than anything to hold her close,” said Ruby.

“Yes,” said Diamond, a tear running down her cheek. “More than anything.”

“You want to take her to bed and make love to her all night long,” said Spoiled.

“Yes…

Wait! No!

We promised each other we’d wouldn’t want that kind of relationship.” Said Diamond, looking sheepish, not knowing how much she should say.  “Besides, Apple Bloom can’t.”

“Born without the equipment,” said Ruby.

“How’d you know?” asked Diamond.

“I didn’t,” said Ruby, “until now.”

Diamond thought with this much out, she should share the rest.  If she couldn’t trust her mother and her aunt, who could she trust?

“Apple Bloom says the doctor calls it Vaginal Agenesis,” said Diamond.

“Ah yes,” said Ruby, Diamond had almost forgotten her aunt was a nurse.   “How severe?”

“She said she was born without a vagina or a uterus,” said Diamond.

“Ovaries?” asked the aunt.

“She said she has those.”

“Clitoris?”

“She didn’t say, but she showed me herself briefly when she was explaining it.  I don’t remember seeing one,” said Diamond.

“I thought as much,” said Ruby.  Then the aunt smiled, “so what’s the problem?”

“She said the doctors have told her she couldn’t have an orgasm because of the condition.”

“Horse-apples!” said Spoiled, “a mare doesn’t need to have ‘down there’ penetrated or even stimulated to have an orgasm.”

“What?” said Diamond.

“It’s called sensual stimulation.  I’ve known mares who have climaxed just by having their nipples kissed and rubbed.”

“Really?” asked Diamond.

“Yes,” said Ruby, “and oh Celestia, was it awesome!”

All the mares giggled and blushed.

“Listen honey,” said Spoiled, “when you love a pony, you’ll do anything to please them.  And when they love you, they’ll do the same.”

“Love?” asked Diamond.

“Yes,” said Ruby, “it is obvious how much you feel for this Apple Bloom.  What is it Spoiled said you call her?”

“Apple-Love,” said Di blushing.

“And has she said anything to hint at something?”

Diamond thought for a moment.

“When we were in bed,” said Diamond, “just holding each other.  Apple-Love asked me what does love feel like.”

“How did you answer her?”

“I said, I don’t know, but I hoped it felt like I was feeling for her right then.”

“And she said?” asked Spoiled.

“She said she hoped it felt that way too.  And then she thanked me for feeling it with her.”

“And why do you think she asked it?” asked Spoiled.

“Well… I…” stammered Diamond.

“Diamond,” said Ruby, “she was being as cautious as you are, but she was telling you she loves you!”  

Both Spoiled and Ruby looked intensely at the younger mare, eyebrows raised.

“She loves me?” said Diamond, starting to look happier than she had in days.

“And…” said the two older mares together.

“And…

I love her!” said Diamond, her face lighting up.  “I love her!  I love Apple Bloom!  I want to tell her now!”

“I bet you do,” said Spoiled, “but aren’t the Apples getting ready for the Zap Apples.”

“Yes,” said Diamond, becoming disappointed.

“They need their rest,” said Spoiled, “it doesn’t mean you can’t tell her tomorrow.”

All the mares smiled.  Diamond hugged and kissed her mother and aunt.  

But when they all went to bed, Diamond could only just lay there, thinking and imagining what the morning would bring.  She turned on her light and started to read.  

Much later, Diamond was almost asleep when she heard a knocking at the door downstairs.

“Who in the hoof could that be at this hour?” she asked to nopony there.

Diamond quietly went down stairs.  She noticed her mother and aunt were following her.  It was a relief, no telling what kind of pony would be out this time of night.

At the front door, Diamond moved the curtain enough to peek out.

Apple Bloom was exhausted.  Getting ready for the Zap Apples plus getting all the supplies for the jam.  Not to mention painting the pink polka dots in the kitchen and giving the jars ‘a talkin’ to’.

Luckily, the school kids could be counted on to sing to the water.  She now had gallons of ‘sang to’ water ready for Zap Apple Jammin’.  This was fortuitous because Diamond escorted Emerald to and from Sweet Apple Acres so she got a few moments with Diamond.  Also seeing her and getting a little kissing in as she collected supplies at Rich’s Barnyard Bargains helped.

Some time spent with Di was better than none.  She still was amazed at how much she wanted to be with Diamond Tiara.

She now had a mountain of highly motivated jars and she had taken the bees all their favorite flowers so she had collected some of the sweetest honey ever.

But because of the Zap Apples, she hadn’t seen enough of Diamond and her heart was breaking.

In spite of how tired she was, she was surprised she was still awake.  All she could think of was the most wonderful night being held by a most wonderful mare.

Apple Bloom tried to think of anything to get her mind off the pain she was feeling right now.  

Then something humorous struck her, she was thinking how she and Diamond would’ve reacted if some pony from the future came back to them when they were in Miss Cheerilee’s class, and told them they’d be ‘involved’.  

****************************************************************************************

In an imaginary past in Apple Bloom’s mind…

Apple Bloom, and Diamond Tiara were sitting in Miss Cheerilee’s class room.  The rest of the class had went home.  But due to a shouting match which had turned into a shoving match at recess, the teacher told the two they had to meet with her after school was out.

Cheerilee had two chairs side by side and they were instructed to sit by each other until they made up.  Now they were in the classroom alone.

“This is your fault Diamond,” said Apple Bloom.

“Is not,” replied Diamond.

“If you weren’t such a pain in the flanks,” said Apple Bloom, getting more cross.  “You should just shut your muzzle and leave me and my friends alone.”

“I wouldn’t even talk to the likes of you except I don’t want to go to the boarding school in Manehatten.  So I’m stuck here in school with you,” said Diamond.  “If you and the rest of the Cootie Mark Crybabies would learn your place and leave your better ponies alone, there’d be no problem.”

“Yes there would be,” replied Apple Bloom, “the problem is you thinkin’ you’re better than anypony else.  At least Silver Spoon has come to her senses.  Makes me sick thinkin’ there are ponies that can even think that way.”

“You just keep thinking that way,” said Diamond, “but you’ll see.  When we’re out of school, I’ll be living the life of luxury and you’ll still be digging in the dirt.”

“I don’t care,” said Apple Bloom, “at least I won’t have to see you ever again!”

“Same here,” said Diamond turning up her nose, “if I never saw you again, it’d be too soon!”

“Well, at least we agree on somethin',” said Apple Bloom, starting to shout, “I don’t care what Granny Smith says about hatin’, ’cause I don’t think I could ever hate a pony more than YOU!”

“ME TOO!” shouted Diamond.

The two turned their back on each other, both wanting Miss Cheerilee to hurry up so they could get away from their adversary.

Suddenly there was a flash followed by a cyclone of dust, papers and smoke.  When it cleared there stood a green Pegasus stallion.  He looked as if they should recognize him, but they couldn’t place him.  Diamond and Apple Bloom were shocked.  

The stallion looked closely at the two fillies.

“It is you,” he shouted, “it really worked!”

“Who…

Who are you?” said Apple Bloom in a frightened voice.

“It’s me, Emerald…

Emerald Ritch!

Oh! of course you wouldn’t recognize me,” said the stallion chuckling and facehoofing, “I haven’t been born yet!  Twilight Dash gave me the chance to come back in time to see my parents when they were little.”

“Who’re your parents?” asked Diamond.

“That’d be you…

Mom.”

It struck Diamond, the stallion did have some of Spinner’s features.

Apple Bloom could see the resemblance to Diamond Tiara.

“You’re Spinner’s and my son?” asked Diamond starting to smile.

“Sort of,” said the stallion, “Spinner was my father, or at least he was the pony that made you pregnant.  But the bum and his worthless family turned their backs on you as soon as they found out you were pregnant.  You didn’t find out until you were in Manehattan at the boarding school.  

We don’t talk about him because he and his family never acknowledged me or did anything to help you.”

Emerald looked disgusted at the subject of his biological father.

Diamond was shocked at this revelation.  Apple Bloom snickered knowing how much Diamond didn’t want to go to boarding school.

“But that school is for elementary school ponies, that would mean…”  Said Diamond, almost not wanting to hear the answer.

“That you’re probably pregnant with me now,” finished Emerald.

“So if Spinner left me,” said Diamond rubbing her abdomen, “then who’s the other parent you came to see?”

“You’re both here together just like the spell was cast.” Said the stallion, “she was a pony that took you into her heart and loved you like no pony else would.”

Diamond was shocked at the revelation that she would have a ‘her’ as a mate and partner.

Emerald turned his gaze to Apple Bloom and said:

“It’s so good to see you too mom.”

Apple Bloom and Diamond looked at each other.

“Mom?” The fillies said together.

“Yes, I can still remember the wedding,” said the stallion walking up and hugging the fillies.  “I love my moms so much!  Almost as much as you two love each other.”

Then he looked at them and blushed:

“I’ll never forget the look on your faces the night I had a bad dream and walked in on the two of you having oral sex with each other.  Boy, were you two embarrassed!  And the cockamamie explanation of what you were doing still makes me laugh today.  I believed you then, but I was only nine.”

The stallion kissed each filly on the cheek, then the stallion got an odd look.

“Sorry moms,” he said, “my time is up.  But I’ll see you soon, we’re having dinner at Scootaloo and Silver Spoon Dash’s home tonight.”

The stallion stepped back and then vanished in a flash.

“Scootaloo and Silver Spoon Dash’s home?” they said together.

“Weddin’?” said Apple Bloom.

“In love with each other?” said Diamond.

“You and me,” said Apple Bloom.

“Oral sex!” said Diamond.

“Ewwww, yuck, yuck, yuck!” said Apple Bloom shuddering and spiting.

“I think I’m going to be sick,” said Diamond trying not to throw up.

Then the two looked at each other and burst out in the most spasmodic fit of laughter.

“Us in love,” said Diamond still laughing, “could you imagine?”

“You ‘n me kissin’!” laughed Apple Bloom.

They both looked at each other and made fake kissy faces.

Not sure why they moved closer, their lips unexpectedly met.

Then their tongues were soon exploring the others.  Their forelegs wrapped around each other.  Everything was forgotten, they were lost in the kiss and in no hurry to stop.

Miss Cheerilee walked in and nearly fell over.  

“Girls?” said Cheerilee.

The two fillies broke the kiss and were looking in each other’s eyes.  The largest of smiles on their faces.

“I guess you two have made up,” said Cheerilee most confused.  “You can go home now.”

“Wan’a see if Granny Smith has any fresh apple pie?” said Apple Bloom to Diamond.

Diamond just nodded and the two left.

“I think I like the name Emerald,” said Diamond.

“Me too,” said Apple Bloom.

“That worked better than I thought,” said Cheerilee as she just stood there scratching her head and watched the girls leave hoof in hoof.

****************************************************************************************

Apple Bloom’s thoughts returned to the present…

Apple Bloom had the smallest of smiles at the humor of her thoughts.  She then turned on her side and soon noticed her pillow was wet.  She hadn’t realized she’d been crying.  Somehow, knowing she’d been crying made her cry even harder.  

Apple Bloom had never let Diamond know, but Diamond had made her cry in the past, but not like this.  She was crying to be with Diamond.

Apple Bloom reached out a hoof to the empty side of the bed, all she could think of was how lonely and cold her bed was now.  Even with family there, she’d never felt so alone.  

She was trying to be quiet about crying, but apparently it wasn’t working.

There was a knock on her bedroom door.

“Yeah?” called out Apple Bloom, trying to get the crying under control.

The doorknob glowed blue and the door opened.  Rarity stuck her head in.

“Are you alright Darling,” asked her sister’s partner.

“Yeah” said Apple Bloom, not too convincingly.

“Oh Darling,” said Rarity, coming into the room and sitting on the edge of Apple Bloom’s bed.  “You’re not alright; I could hear you crying in Applejack’s and my room.  Your sister could sleep through a timber wolf attack, but I heard you.”

“Rarity,” said Apple Bloom, “I can’t stop thinkin’ of Diamond Tiara!  I close my eyes and I can feel her holdin’ me.  I want to see her and kiss her so badly.  What’s wrong with me?”

Rarity just smiled and gave a short snicker.

“It’s obvious Darling,” said the white Unicorn, “you have it bad.”

“Am I sick?”

“No you silly filly,” said Rarity smiling, “you’re in love.”

“Love?” said Apple Bloom starting to smile.

Rarity nodded her head.

“I’m in love!” said Apple Bloom, Rarity smiled even larger.

“I’m in love with Diamond Tiara!” said Apple Bloom excitedly as she was starting to get out of bed.

“Where’re you going?” asked Rare.

“To tell her,” said Apple Bloom putting on her hat.

“But it’s the middle of the night,” said Rarity laughing.

“I don’t care,” said Apple Bloom looking happier than Rarity had ever seen her.

Apple Bloom bolted down the stair and Rarity returned to her bed.

“What’s goin’ on Sugar Cube?” asked AJ groggily.

“Love,” said Rarity snuggling close to her fiancée.

“What?” asked AJ.

“Your sister just realized she’s in love,” said Rarity.  “Now you remind me just how much you love me.”

Applejack smiled and pulled the beautiful Unicorn close and kissed her with all her heart.  AJ soon felt a hoof at her marehood.

“Ho Doggies,” said Applejack rolling Rarity onto her back.  Rarity giggled while kissing.

Soon the two were deep into their lovemaking.

Apple Bloom galloped down the lane toward Ponyville.  All the fatigue of the last couple days was gone.  All she could think of was telling Diamond how she felt.  Soon the Rich mansion was in sight and the gate was open.  She noticed despite the late hour, there was a light on in a window.  

Apple Bloom recognized the window, it was the room she spent the most special night of her life (so far).

Apple Bloom went to the door and knocked as hard as she dared at this time of night.  It wasn’t long when she heard hoof steps approaching; a curtain was drawn back enough for a pony to peek out.  

Then the door exploded open, Apple Bloom was tackled to the ground and kissed unmercifully.

“Apple-Love!” said Diamond excitedly, “it’s really you!  I couldn’t sleep thinking of you!”

“Me neither,” said Apple Bloom, “I’ve got somthin’ I need to tell you.”

“I do too,” said Diamond.

“I LOVE YOU!” said Diamond and Apple Bloom together.

Both looked at each other with wide-eyed excitement and then kissed the most passionate kiss yet.

“Diamond, you two need to take that up to your room,” said Aunt Ruby from the doorway.

“The front yard is no place for that,” said Spoiled.

“You and your partner will be more comfortable inside,” said Ruby.

“Plus,” said Spoiled, “we don’t want the neighbors to talk.”

“Partner?” said Apple Bloom and Diamond looking into the eyes of their now declared love.

The two smiled and hugged deeply then they got up and walked into the house.

Inside the two mares were followed by the older mares.

“Why’d you say partner?” asked Diamond.

“You aren’t going to lose sleep like that over a simple crush or marefriend,” said Ruby.

“Now get up to your room and don’t wake up Emerald,” said Spoiled.

“Or keep us awake,” said Ruby as the two older mares went up to their rooms.

Diamond and Apple Bloom went up as well.

In Diamond’s room they quickly put out the light and slipped under the covers of Di’s bed.

PART SEVEN: Apple Bloom, Diamond and Love

As the two lay there it was again the greatest feeling ever.  Diamond thought about the talk her mother and aunt had with her.  She really did desire Apple Bloom, and in more than just what they were doing now.  But her promise kept her from acting.

Apple Bloom lay there with her head resting lightly on Diamond’s chest, Diamond started to stroke Apple Bloom’s mane.  

What Diamond didn’t know was Apple Bloom was fighting the same thoughts as well.

Apple Bloom looked up at Diamond, put a foreleg around Di’s neck and drew her close.  They kissed a kiss of innocent hunger.  It was like nothing either had felt before.

As they kissed, Apple Bloom reached a hoof to Diamond’s hoof and gently moved it down to her nipples.

They broke the kiss only for a moment; Di looked into Apple Bloom’s eyes.  Apple Bloom nodded her head as to say it was alright to touch her intimately.  The kiss continued.

Apple Bloom’s hoof reached to Diamond’s nipples, which she stroked gently.  The after a few minutes of this and to the thrill of Diamond, Apple Bloom moved her hoof down to Di’s marehood.   Apple Bloom’s hoof was barely entering her and it was the most awesome thing she’d felt in her life.  Diamond now wanted to touch Apple Bloom as well.  As she reached Apple Bloom’s love organ.  Apple Bloom moved her hips so she was pressing against Diamond’s hoof.  Despite the lack of all the parts, Apple Bloom was enjoying what Diamond was doing.

Both mares were finding if they were to stay to their pledge, they had to quit now, if they could.

“We probably should stop this,” said Diamond, reluctantly breaking the kiss.  “I know what we promised each other, but I’m finding it hard not to want to make love with you.”

“I don’t know what I can do for you,” said Apple Bloom, “and I don’t know what you can do for me.  But I’d really like to find out.  And I’d only would want to be doin’ this with my partner.

Would you make love to me, as much as possible?”

“Apple-Love,” said Diamond, “I’d truly like to try.”

“By the way,” said Apple Bloom, “I don’t know if’n I told you, but I really like you calling me Apple-Love.  It feels so good.  

So much better than blank-flank!”

Both mares got a good laugh.

They started to kiss again, tongues exploring the other.  They were in no hurry and were taking their time to make sure of themselves.  Diamond was experienced with sex, but only with colts, and it had been years.  For Apple Bloom, it was all new.

Apple Bloom started kissing down Diamond’s cheek then on to her neck.  Diamond reached out her hoof and turned Apple Bloom’s face towards hers.  Their eyes locked for a moment.

“Are you sure,” said Diamond.

“I want this,” said Apple Bloom, “I want you Di.”

Diamond let Apple Bloom continue.  At Diamond’s navel Apple Bloom stopped and licked deeply.  Diamond was starting to moan, her hips were moving on their own.

The reaction made Apple Bloom happy, she was unsure of what she was doing and had only read some books and had seen some movies.

Apple Bloom then moved down to Diamond’s nipples.  Her breasts and nipples were enlarged because of nursing a foal in the past.  They were kind of sexy to Apple Bloom and she took her time licking and sucking on them.  Then she moved down, but as she reached Diamond’s marehood, she stopped.

“Di Sugar,” said Apple Bloom, slightly embarrassed “can I look at you?  I’ve seen pictures at the doctors and I’ve seen mine in the mirror.  But I’ve never seen a real one up close, a normal one.”

Diamond looked at Apple Bloom; there was a tear in her eye.

“Of course Apple-Love,” said Diamond, “just be gentle.”

Apple Bloom looked between Diamond’s legs, and spread her marehood with her fore hooves.  There before her was all she didn’t have.  It was all so new to her.  As she got closer, something told her what to do.  She started to kiss at the outer lips, and then she worked her way inward, feeling every crease and crevice with her tongue.  It was exciting.

She’d said to Diamond before she could do the oral stuff for a pony but she didn’t believe there’d be anything in it for her.  She was finding now she was wrong.  Apple Bloom couldn’t believe the thrill she was getting from this.  Something in her would grow with every moan and movement of Diamonds hips.  

Then she decided to go for it, she stuck her tongue deep in Diamond.  Diamond gasped, her hips thrust, Apple Bloom got such a thrill from the reaction.  She worked her tongue around in Diamond and then finally started to lick and suck on Diamond’s clitoris.  This produced ever more hip grinding and moaning.

“Don’t stop Apple-Love, don’t stop!” called out Diamond.

Apple Bloom had no intention of stopping, her own marehood, in spite of being deficient of all the proper parts, was tingling in a way she’d never felt before.  As she had just found out with Diamond rubbing her love organ, it was alive and it could feel arousal.

Then the first orgasm in many years hit.  And truth be told, when she was with Spinner, the orgasms were few and far between.  Diamond cried out, in the back of her mind she was hoping her parents; her aunt or Randolph wouldn’t hear her.  But they were on different floors.

“AHHHHHH!!!! APPLE-LOVE!”

Apple Bloom knew from books to continue until the orgasm was done.  Diamond relaxed and was breathing hard.  Apple Bloom looked up at her.

“Come up here please,” said Di.

Apple Bloom moved up and kissed Diamond passionately.

“I’m not just saying this,” said Diamond, “but that was the best I’ve ever had.  If I’d known how good you were, I wouldn’t have picked on you so much in the past.”

The two laughed and then kissed some more.

After just holding each other for a while and enjoying the contact, Apple Bloom spoke:

“I guess we should get some sleep, it’s getting’ late and I’ll have to get home early for the Zap Apples.”

Diamond was shocked.

“Without me getting to make love to you?  that’s not right.”

“But what can you do?  I ain’t normal.”

There were tears in Apple Bloom’s eyes.

“No,” said Di, kissing Apple Bloom, “you’re not normal, you’re special.  And more than that, you want what’s important and not just self-gratification.  I’m going to make sure you know how seriously I love you.  And truthfully, how much I want you.”

Diamond resumed kissing Apple Bloom.  The unexpectedly she turned Apple Bloom over to her stomach.

“Just relax,” said Di.

Then Diamond reached in a drawer in a bedside stand and took out a bottle of lotion.  She removed the top and squirted a little on Apple Bloom’s shoulders, and started to rub the lotion in.  

Working slowly, Di would rub the tight muscles she could feel under her yellow/orange coat.  She’d work an area and then put a little more lotion on Apple Bloom’s back and work it some more.

“That feels so good,” moaned Apple Bloom.

“I took massage classes at the boarding school,” answered Di.

Apple Bloom never felt her body so relaxed; Di’s touch was firm but gentle.  Plus there was something sensual about it.  Especially with Diamond straddling Apple Bloom’s back, her marehood, warm and wet slowly was sliding down her back as Diamond worked her magic.  When she was over Apple Bloom’s dock, Di whispered.

“Raise your tail a bit.”

Apple Bloom understood, the solid part of her tail was now rubbing against Di’s marehood.  The moaning from Apple Bloom was matched with the heavy breathing of Diamond.

Then when Di was finished with the small of her back and was at her croup.

“Please trust me now,” said Di.

“I do,” replied Apple Bloom.

Di lay between Apple Bloom’s hind legs, her face Apple Bloom’s ‘bottom’.  Di started to massage Apple Bloom’s flanks in a circular motion.  It would spread her ‘cheeks’ as Di’s hooves went forward.  Then after a while, Di stopped with her hooves forward.

“Raise your tail,” said Di, “please.”

As Apple Bloom raised her tail, she felt Di’s muzzle between her flanks.  The biggest shock was she was now kissing and licking her anus!  With Di’s tongue entering her, it felt weird but good.

“You know that’s my ass,” said Apple Bloom with a chuckle.

“No,” said Di in absolute seriousness. “You’re my partner, so it’s my ass now.”

Apple Bloom didn’t argue, again it felt like nothing she’d ever experienced.  A pony claiming her for their own, not property but partnership.  

“You know,” said Apple Bloom giggling, “I can’t think of how many times I wanted to tell you and Silver Spoon to ‘kiss my ass’.  I guess I win!”

“I wanted to tell the three of you to ‘eat my marehood’,” snickered Diamond, “I guess we both win!”

“And I love that we have,” said Apple Bloom.

“Me too, My Love,” said Diamond getting back to work.

Di didn’t stay long but she continued her massage down Apple Bloom’s legs.  At her hooves, Di instructed her to roll over, Apple Bloom complied.

Di worked back up her legs again.  Then at her ‘bottom’ again, Diamond looked up at Apple Bloom.

“Will you trust me again?” asked Di.

“With my life,” said Apple Bloom smiling at Di.

Di lay herself back down on her belly between Apple Bloom’s legs.  She moved Apple Bloom’s hind legs apart; there was Apple Bloom’s marehood at face level.

Diamond had thought about this.  She’d said she had no problem with the concept of mare-to-mare intimacy anymore.  But she’d also said she wasn’t ready to try it either.  But she was finding this had nothing to do with making love to a mare.  She was now certain of her love for Apple Bloom and wanted to be her partner in more than just words.  

She approached Apple Bloom’s marehood and started kissing.  Then she inserted her tongue to the inner aspect, between the lips.  Di tried her best to stimulate what Apple Bloom had, she’d lick between and suck on the lips.  It turned out the lips of Apple Bloom’s marehood were as sensitive as anypony’s else.  She soon noticed Apple Bloom was breathing hard and her hips were starting to grind.  This made Diamond happier than anything she could remember.  Diamond then started to lightly rub Apple Bloom’s nipples.

Apple Bloom trusted Di, but she was sure what she was about to do would be a waste of time.  But it appeared to make Diamond happy so she let her.

But then...

As Di’s tongue entered between the lips of her marehood, something happened.  The feeling of Di’s tongue was doing something to her deep inside.  Di now reached up and was lightly rubbing her nipples.  She didn’t know such a little act could feel so good.

As she continued, there was a feeling growing.  She hadn’t noticed her hips were moving on their own until they were grinding heavily.  

The next thing she found, there was a feeling, it was growing, spreading, then it hit.  It was like a balloon had burst inside her and there was unexpected bliss flowing to every part of her body.  She found herself calling out like Di had done.  She didn’t even realize it until she was done.  When the feeling subsided, she hadn’t any strength.  She felt weak but she’d never felt so good in her life.

As the hip grinding intensified, Di was thankful what she’d hoped for happened.  She knew she was successful when Apple Bloom cried out:

“D I A M O N D!”

Apple Bloom lay there panting, as Diamond crawled back up and kissed her deeply.

“What was that?” asked Apple Bloom.  Apple Bloom suspected what it was, but she was told it couldn’t happen to her.

“You came,” said Di.

“Came?” asked Apple Bloom.

“You had an orgasm.”

“But I didn’t think I could.”

“For mares,” said Diamond remembering what her mother and aunt had said, “sometimes being stimulated sensually but not sexually can produce an orgasm.  

It looks like you aren’t as defective as you thought.  

I wanted to try to see if I could do that for you.  I told you that I need all the help I can get if I’m going keep the prettiest mare in Ponyville as my marefriend.”

Both mares thought that this pony had really made her life complete.

But then Apple Bloom started to cry.

“Apple-Love,” said Diamond, “what’s wrong?”

“I can’t believe I really can feel sex like other ponies.  So now you ain’t goin’a want to be around me because you said you didn’t want any relationships with sex.”

“But this isn’t just any relationship.” Said Di, starting to cry as well, “just as much as you’ve discovered you can have sex, I discovered I could be in a relationship with intimacy, and be safe.  That’s if you wanted to be in that kind of a relationship.”

“There is only one reason I’d want to be in that kind of relationship,” said Apple Bloom.

“And what’s that My Sweet.”

“It’d be with you,” said Apple Bloom, “my marefriend.”

“Sorry Apple-Love, I don’t want to be your marefriend,” said Diamond.  Apple Bloom looked hurt.  “No My Love, I want to be your partner.”

“I love you so much,” said Apple Bloom.

“And I love you as much!” said Diamond.

The two kissed a kiss they never expected to feel.  A kiss with a pony who understood the other.  And wanted the same things.

And a pony who instructed the other that there could be love and passion in ways they’d never believed was possible.

“Can we see if something else works?  I read it in a book.”

“Apple-Love,” said Di, “anything you want.”

Apple Bloom smiled and kissed Di quickly.

They kissed again and then Apple Bloom slid down the bed, turned and meshed her hind legs between Diamond’s, like two pair of scissors.  Then she scooted up until their marehoods touched.  It was as if Diamond’s hips knew what to do.  They rubbed together and the feeling was to die for.  To both mares delight Apple Bloom climaxed again as did Diamond.  

The two made love on into the night.

Apple Bloom awoke, once again, in the forelegs of Diamond.  It was early and she knew she’d have to leave for Sweet Apple Acres soon; the Zap Apples were probably already ripe and ready for buckin’.  

She felt a sensation in her body, mostly ‘down there’.  She’d later find it was called ‘afterglow’, up until now, it was something she’d only read about.

“Di?” said Apple Bloom quietly.

“I’m here,” said Diamond, pulling Apple Bloom closer, “and I swear I’ll always be.  I can’t be away from you for too long.  I’ve found I love you so much, I don’t want to waste any time we could be together.”

“I think that’s what partners are supposed to do,” said Apple Bloom turning over and holding Diamond as well.

Diamond gave a little laugh.

“What?” said Apple Bloom.

“It’s something Emerald said yesterday,” said Diamond giving Apple Bloom a little kiss.  ��He said he was talking to Scootaloo and found out Rainbow and Twilight were both her mothers.  Then he mentioned it must be really special to have two moms.”

“That would be special,” said Apple Bloom, “one would be nice, I really have no memory of mine.  And with my condition, I’m sad that I’ll never get to be one.”

“Perhaps there’s another way you can be, so this might cheer you up,” said Diamond. “What he said next spoke volumes.”

“What was that?”

“Emerald said after that;

‘I think it’d be nice if Miss Apple Bloom was my mommy too’.”

Apple Bloom smiled as she basked in the love she was seeing in Diamond’s eyes.

“I guess we can’t disappoint the little colt now can we.” said Apple Bloom.

“As soon as the Zap Apple jam is done,” said Diamond, “We can get our friends to help you move in with me.  I think it’d make Emerald the happiest colt on earth!”

“I think it’d make me the happiest mare on earth,” said Apple Bloom.

“As happy as it’d make me,” said Diamond then kissing Apple Bloom.

The two smiled and looked deep in the other’s eyes.

Apple Bloom’s and Diamonds friends were ecstatic for the couple.  They’d never seen either of their friends so happy.  The two were almost always together when not working.  It was a dream come true for Emerald, his mom and Apple Bloom playing with him, helping him with homework and tucking him in at night.

The biggest adjustment was for Apple Bloom.  

She had a hard time getting used to having a pony around whose job it was to do for her.  Diamond had to explain to Apple Bloom even though Randolph lived there, and was mostly treated like part of the family, he got paid (and paid well) to do things for the family.  

Eventually Apple Bloom got the message and her friends were amused when they would get invited to come over to the pool.  They’d find Apple Bloom and Diamond lounging side by side at the pool, wearing matching sun hats and sunglasses, holding hoofs and being served cold drinks by Randolph, while Emerald splashed about in the pool.  

Being rich suited Apple Bloom quite well, but she never let it make her snooty or somepony she wasn’t.

PART EIGHT: Final Destiny

Six months later:

“And so, it’s my great pleasure to declare you wed,” said Princess Celestia.  “You may now kiss your bride.”

Diamond and Apple Bloom embraced and kissed with all the joy in their hearts, as did Applejack and Rarity.  Neither couple heard the cheering and ovation of hoofs.  They only feel their partner’s lips and heard their hearts beating harmony with their mate.

“May I be the first to introduce Mrs. Applejack and Mrs. Rarity Apple and Mrs. Diamond Tiara and Mrs. Apple Bloom Rich.” Said the princess with pride.

Rainbow and Twilight Dash, AJ and Rarity’s Best Mares and Scootaloo and Silver Spoon Dash, Apple Bloom and Diamond’s Best Mares hugged the brides.  

Emerald was beside himself, he ran up and hugged Apple Bloom and Diamond, he really had two mommies now.

They were joined by Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie, Shady and Sweetie Belle Daze.  Along with Rarity and Sweetie Belle’s parents and Filthy and Spoiled Rich.  They all surrounded the couples and congratulated them.

It had been a small private ceremony for immediate family and friends.  Sweet Apple Acres main barn had been borrowed for the ceremony.  

As the couples mingled with their families and friends and were headed to the sideboards where the food and drink for the reception were, Twilight and Rainbow hung back with Princess Celestia.

“The two of you have been such a big influence on this community,” said the princess.  “Perhaps more than you know.”

“Thank you, Your Highness,” said Rainbow.

“We haven’t been that much of and influence,” said Twilight, “we’ve just lived and loved and tried to be there for our family and friends.”

“Believe-it-or-not,” said the princess, “it was all it took to guide these to the happiness they have now.

Through your example, Applejack and Rarity’s love was shepherded.  Through your parenting, Scootaloo beat the odds of a foal lost in the foster system.  Your love for her caused her to reach out to a pony who was once her adversary, love was found and it was based on your example.  That example was passed on to Apple Bloom and Diamond Tiara.  

That’s six lives whose destiny would’ve been much different.”

“Thank you, Highness,” said Twilight.

“That isn’t all,” said the princess smiling even more.  “The lives of two other ponies were changed as well.  A destiny was put on hold by the smallest yet greatest of acts.”

“What was that?” asked Rainbow.

“Twilight,” said the princess, “fate was diverted one fateful night because you did something even the wisest couldn’t foresee.  You broke through you insecurity and pronounced your love to Rainbow.  

Rainbow, you went against your normal instincts and felt compassion for Twilight and weren’t scared off.”

“How could that have made anything different?” asked Twilight.

“Because,” said the princess with a grin, “you weren’t home the next night to receive a package.  I had sent you Star Swirl the Bearded’s spell book.  In it was his unfinished spell if you had solved it, it would have proven you worthy to continue on to your next level.”

Twilight looked shocked.  Rainbow nodded her head, she remembered the talk years ago with Cadence that Twilight had a destiny.

“So when I found out why you weren’t home, and Rainbow’s feelings were real, the test was changed,” continued Celestia, “you were to be a family and be an influence in the community.  It took longer, but I’m happy to tell you finally passed.

You need to tell your friends that you two have to go somewhere and you will see them soon, both of you.  Then meet me outside.”

Twilight looked happy to pass a test by her mentor but confused as to what this all meant.

Rainbow was happy for her Lover-Pony, but she was slightly worried about what this would mean for herself.

Twilight and Rainbow had congratulated the couples and told them what Celestia said and they would be back as soon as they could.

Everypony waved as they two left the barn.

Outside they found Princess Celestia waiting, along with Princesses Luna and Cadence.

“Are you ready?” asked Celestia.

Twilight nodded her head, the princesses stood around the couple.  Rainbow started to get out of the way.

“No Rainbow,” said Cadence, “you need to see this.  Remember what I told you about being there to support Twilight.”

Rainbow nodded her head and went and stood by Twilight.

Suddenly three horns glowed and light enveloped the two mares.

The next thing Twilight and Rainbow knew was they were no longer in Ponyville or Equestria.  In fact, they probably weren’t even in the realm of earth.  The stars were all around, and they were as if they were in deep space and standing on an invisible floor.  

Around them, as if on a multitude of movie screens, events in the life of Twilight and Rainbow played out.  Most embarrassingly, some of their special lovemaking sessions.

Then they saw Celestia approaching, she was looking at the scenes, and even stopped and chuckled at one of the more intimate events.

“I told Luna, two mares could do that,” said Celestia, not really to anypony.

Then Celestia looked at Rainbow and Twilight.

“My most beloved student.” Said the princess, “I knew you could do it.  From the first day I saw you, I knew you’d make it this far.”

“Where are we?” asked Twilight.

“Here is the realm of magic,” said Celestia, “and only here can the magic you have earned be given.”

“What magic?” asked Twilight.

The princess only smiled and floated up, spread her wings.  She was bathed in an almost blinding light.  Twilight floated up also, a purple glow escaped from her chest and started to orbit around her at a quicker and quicker speed.  Light started to flow from every part of Twilight.  She felt herself being stretched; her sides felt as if something was breaking through.  Then in a flash, she was gone.

Celestia settled down, the light was gone.

Rainbow had tears running down her cheeks, Celestia looked at the Pegasus and smiled.

“What troubles you Rainbow,” asked Celestia.

“This is harder than when you tested me,” said Rainbow.  “I’m so happy for my Lover-Pony, I really am.  But being around Twilight all these years I’ve learned things.  I looked it up not long after Cadence told me this would happen.  I found out Alicorns, all Alicorns are immortal.”

“And what’s the problem?” asked the princess.

“Maybe not now, but in forty or so years, I’m going to be an old mare and Twilight will be evergreen.  Then I’ll eventually be gone and Twilight will continue.  

I’m okay with that.  

But I know Twilight loves me so much when I finally die, she’ll be devastated.  I’ll bring pain on her which might possibly last forever.” said Rainbow, tears streaming from her eyes.  “I can’t be responsible for that, I love her too much.”

“So you’re more concerned for Twilight’s happiness than for your own mortality?”  asked the princess.

“We’ve had this conversation once before, Celestia(1) ,” said Rainbow looking oddly at the princess.  “If I remember correctly, both of us were in tears.”

Princess Celestia smiled and walked to Rainbow Dash then embraced her.

“My Dear, Dear Rainbow Dash, I’m so pleased with the way you’ve helped, supported and loved Twilight.  I was correct when I told Twilight you were the best pony she could ever love.  Thank you my friend.

The other destiny would’ve been less complicated, but I’m glad things went the way they did.  

You may not know it, but the test I put you through, it never ended…

Until now.  

You Rainbow, have passed and proven yourself worthy as well.”

“Worthy of what?” asked Rainbow.

As the reception part was breaking up, everypony accompanied the two couples to the barn doors.  They were about to toss their bouquets when they stopped and stood looking in the sky.

Everypony gathered to look as well.  

There in the sky was a large pink six-pointed star superimposed over a white six-pointed star, There were six smaller stars surrounding it.  It was headed slowly their way.  When it landed there was a flash and there stood Twilight Dash.

Everypony could tell she was taller and she now had wings.

All the ponies gathered around Twilight as she tried to come to terms with her new form.

There were many comments.  But the one which stood out the most was when Fluttershy said:

“You look just like a princess.”

“That’s because she is a princess,” said a voice.

All looked and saw Princess Celestia land close by.

“A princess?” asked Twilight.

“Yes,” said Celestia, “but that’s not all.”

There was a flash of red, yellow and blue lightning beside Twilight, all the ponies gathered gasped.   There stood Rainbow Dash, she was as tall as Twilight was now.  And it wasn’t the only difference.

“How do you Unicorns get used to this weight on your heads?” asked Rainbow.

She too was an Alicorn.

“Please welcome Princesses Rainbow and Twilight Dash!”

Rainbow now knew she’d always be there for her Lover-Pony.  Her heart was singing as she embraced Twilight as all the gathered cheered.

“I love you forever Princess Twilight,” said Rainbow.

“And I love you Princess Rainbow,” said Twilight, “forever.”

Fin.

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(1)Rainbow purposely left off any honorific to make a point of them sharing the same concern for Twilight.