"Come on Devin, what's taking you so long?" Luna asked as she knocked on the door with her hoof.
"One moment" Devin replied, but his voice sounded slightly muffled.
Then the door opened and Luna stepped back to make sure she wouldn't get hit, but what she saw surprised her.
Devin was now back in his pony form, his black fur was brushed and his flame-like mane was flowing around him just as Luna and Celestia's manes did.
He was also wearing a rather interesting looking tuxedo, complete with a bowtie. The tuxedo was midnight blue and the buttons along the center were moon shaped and has a sparkling aura around them while the bowtie was completely white and was decorated to look like the surface of the moon.
"Wow...were in Equestria did you get that?" Luna asked as she gazed at Devin's suit outfit with a look of wonder and happiness.
"Well, saving the Crystal Empire has its perks" Devin replied happily as he stood beside Luna.
"Well, as long as you didn't bribe anypony" Luna said with a small smile.
"Nope, a tailor overheard my conversation with Cadence and Shining Armor and he whipped this suit up for me after he heard that we're together" Devin said happily.
"Well, he certainly did a good job with it" Luna said as she ran a hoof over the fabric.
"Indeed, and it's incredibly comfortable" Devin said with a grin.
"So, you're all dressed up and ready to go, but where are we going?" Luna asked.
"You'll see" Devin said as he led her out of the castle.
They walked on for some time, until Devin turned them onto a small dirt path that lead up to the side of the hill.
"What are we doing here?" Luna asked, gazing around at the barren hillside, looking for some sort of indication of their intended location.
"We are here for this" Devin said as his horn lit up and a nearby boulder slowly moved to the side, revealing a large iron door in the ground.
"But that's the gateway to the doors in the EverFree. What do we need that for?" Luna asked, curiosity taking hold of her.
"I found something awhile back during my mission, and I thought it would work quite nicely for a date" Devin said as he opened the door magically.
Luna didn't even ask him how he had broken through her magical seal keeping the door closed. She followed him through the door and into the EverFree, then the door closed swiftly and silently.
"So, what now?" She asked as he examined the nearby doors.
"That door across from us is the one to that leads to a mountain a mile off from The Crystal Empire if you ever want to make a sudden stop there, but we shall be going through the door to the right of it" Devin said as he pointed his hoof at the two doors.
"I looked in through a few of these doors and I think you will enjoy where this one leads" Devin said as he opened the door and bowed to the princess, allowing her to enter first.
Luna walked through and once she was through total shock and disbelief as she gazed upon their destination.
Devin walked through the door and closed the door behind him as he walked over to her and asked, "What do you think?"
She was speechless as she continued to look around at the landscape, then she responded quietly, "How is it possible that there was a doorway that leads to the moon?"
Around them was nothing but gray rock and dust particles floating about. Below them was the Earth, large green landmasses and just as large amounts of blue water were visible to them.
"Does this mean I could have escaped at any time?" She asked Devin quietly, looking up into his face with a sad expression.
"No, the door was not here during your exile. As the EverFree grows on, more doors appear at random and lead to different locations" Devin explained to her.
"How did you know that?" She asked, her tone reminiscent of her not trusting his knowledge.
"Double D and the other two informed me of this as we were treading through the snow to reach the mountain" Devin replied, and Luna, sensing his honestly, believed him.
"This is remarkable though. The door has to have sprung up in the last two or three years" Luna stated as she continued to gaze around at the place that had been her home for a thousand years.
"Why did you think I would like this place? There is nothing here but desolate wastelands of rock" Luna said unhappily as she gazed about before glaring at Devin.
Devin however, wasn't even looking at Luna, his attention was focused on a dark shape a short distance away.
"Come along Luna, are final destination is up ahead" Devin said as he walked towards the dark shape.
"What in Equestria is that?" Luna asked as they approached it
The thing before them was building-like in nature, but it had odd protrusions around the top and as they got closer Luna noted that it had a strange blue symbol with a red ring around it and the letters NASA in the middle.
"This my dear, is a lunar outpost left over from the time when some of my race sent explorers to the moon" Devin said with a smile as he approached a circular door.
"Wow, how didn't I know this was here?" Luna asked, clearly astonished.
"I am still working on some theories, but I think the moon acts as a barrier between our worlds" Devin said as he messed with some panels next to the door before it finally opened outward.
Devin pulled her in through the door and closed it behind them, then he began working on an inner door in front of them.
"Why is there two different doors?" Luna asked as Devin struggled with the door.
"The human race doesn't possess magic as far as we know, so we generally need to keep oxygen locked into place when we aren't on earth" Devin explained as he finally managed to open the inner door after a few swift kicks and a horn shoved into the lock.
"Wow, what a sight" Luna said as she gazed about at the simplistic furniture in the middle of the room and the computers that lined the wall.
"I don't remember it looking like this last time I came here" Devin said as he walked over to the computer.
"What do you mean? Is something out of place?" Luna asked him as she gazed at the objects about them, nearly all of them covered in large layers of dust.
"No, this technology is entirely different. Ugh, stupid hooves" Devin said as he struggled to type on the computer's keyboard.
Devin stepped back from the computer and lit his horn, and after a bright flash of red light, Devin stood in his human form once more, already going to work at the computer.
"Luna, feel free to look about or make yourself comfortable, this may take a bit" Devin said, sounding flustered at his attempts to make the computer work properly.
Luna walked away slowly, taking in the styles of the furniture and some of the pictures hanging on the wall. She found one photograph on the wall that caught her eye, and she quickly walked over to it.
"Dang it! Why can't I access these systems!" She heard Devin yell from across the room.
"Devin, you might want to see this" Luna said as she continued to stare intently at the picture.
"What is it? Something wrong?" Devin asked as he walked over.
"The picture…" Luna stuttered as she pointed with her hoof.
The picture seemed normal enough, but what Devin saw deeply disturbed him.
There was Luna, but dressed in black and blue armor, standing beside a pony who looked exactly like Devin in pony form, but the pony was wearing the liquid armor currently in the bottle hanging from Devin's neck.
"That's disturbing, is this a picture of you and The Lord of Flame?" Devin asked as he turned to her.
"No, it can't be. Cameras didn't exist in his time and we never posed for a painting of any sort" Luna said quietly.
"Then is it a picture of us in the future?"
"I don't know, but either way don't you think its strange that its here of all places?" Luna asked quietly as she turned to him.
"I think we should leave" Devin said as he turned away quickly.
"It's a bit late for that, don't you think?" A deep voice asked.
Having chased Cory through the streets of Canterlot for the better part of an hour, Celestia was quite tired. This meant that once Cornelius finally figured out that Celestia was no longer on his tail, he went looking for her, which leads us to his current predicament… Giving a piggyback ride to the sun diarch of the kingdom of Equestria while trying to keep track of the bouncing pink terror known as Pinkie Pie and friends… JOY…
"You do realize… That if you had just stayed still and let me glomp you… We wouldn't have been in this situation in the first place… Right?" Celestia tried to speak coherently from Cornelius' back, but was having trouble getting words out around her barely contained laughter.
"Yes… And let you get two points? I think not!" Cory snapped haughtily, though humorously, as he hiked her up on his back more with a sudden jump, this also let his hand slap over her flanks, making a slightly muffled 'CRACK' as her fur muffled the intentional ass slap.
"EEP!" Celly cried as the feel of her Human friends hands clamped onto her flank cheeks once again, making her turn tomato red as she shifted her weight around on his back, rubbing certain anatomical things around, which in turn made HIM blush like a tomato… "Cornelius… let's not mention this when we get there…"
"Deal…"
"Mention what?!" Suddenly a BRIGHT FUCKING PINK ASS PONY JUMPED OUT OF A FUCKING CRACK IN THE ROAD AND SCARED THE SHIT OUT OF CELLY AND CORY!
"HOLY SHIT!" "AHH!" The two love birds screamed as they were faced with the sudden appearance of Pinkie Pie, in all of her fourthwall mind/physics/reality bending glory.
"High Cory! High Princess! High Harby, Devon! How ya guys doing?" … WTF?
"Pinkie… What did we talk about?"
"No bringing you guys up in the story?" She said sheepishly.
"Yes… Didn't you get the memo?"
"Um… I remember the talk… But didn't get the memo…" She scratched the back of her neck sheepishly as she then began rummaging around in her mane for said memo, and coming up with nothing. "It seems I didn't get it Harby-Barby…"
"Call me that again and you die…. Painfully… In a Volcano…"
"Righty-tidy Harby-larby…!" Pinkie just smiled up at the sky at where the mysterious voice had been coming from, getting no response back she shrugged and looked at her two victims, both of which were now hopelessly confused and owl eyed.
"I don't know, nor do I want to know, what the actual FUCK just happened here…" Cornelius deadpanned right as Pinkie was about to go into a rant about the fourth wall and its properties and how somepony can break/fix it at will.
"Hear, Hear… Let's move on shall we…" Celestia said as she shook herself from her Fourth wall break induced stupor.
"Eh, suit yourselves, I'll just talk to the guys later!"
{Pinkie's mind verse…}
{Speaking room only, lest thee be the Joker…then you're allowed to look around}
{Bold is Harby, Normal is Pinkie… Good luck ye who enter here!}
[Damn you Pinkie…]
[Nope-Dopy, not going to work this time Cranky-wanky!]
[Seriously… What's up with you and the suggestive nicknames… Its ungodly amounts of annoying and you know it…]
[You know you love it!]
[I hate you with a passion you crazy pink meness… But I do love you all the same for your devious ways… Gotta love'em.]
[See, my point!]
[Yes… Now I must go, the story calls my name!]
[Later-Tater! Good luck!]
{Exiting the mind of Pinkie… Brain trauma expected…}
"Who and where are you?!" Devin yelled as he backed up next to Luna.
"I shall not be revealing my location, but I WILL tell you my name. My name is Silver Slash, Commander of the troops you took from me" the voice said, dripping with hate.
"Ah, so that means you're also Silver Star's father" Devin said while a small smile flickered over the corner of his mouth.
"Don't even mention that traitor! She is no longer my daughter" the voice growled.
"That shows how good of a father you are, just about as good as your commanding skills" Devin said, a small grin creeping onto his face as he continued scanning the room for the source of the voice.
"I am a great commander! You took the loyalty of the faction stationed in the forest with your meager promises. They were the very least of your problems" the voice replied.
"Is that so? Well I hope you aren't referring to yourself, because right now you're too scared to even face me" Devin boasted as his grin spread from ear to ear.
That's when Luna finally understood that Devin was using The Commander's pride to draw him out so he could fight him. It was an ingenious plan, if only the Commander would fall for it…
"Ha! You think that you can beat me! You are sadly mistaken!" the voice boasted. Then, a silver Unicorn with a deep blue mane and tail stepped out of the shadows, his eyes red with hate.
"Let's dance" Devin said as he and the Unicorn ran at each other, quickly beginning to pummel each other wherever they could land a blow.
Devin took a few hooves to the legs and one to the midsection, but he only smiled as the blows hit him. The Unicorn had taken several to the gut and two to the face, but he seemed only to smile just as Devin was.
Luna stood there watching the whole ordeal, she could tell this wasn't going anywhere but she also knew there was no way to stop it from happening, so she sat there and watched, hoping that Devin would gain the upper hand.
Then, the Unicorn pulled out a knife, and Devin was forced to back off while the Unicorn was catching his breath.
"Now, it's going to be like this. You're coming with me and the princess is free to do whatever, but she can't come along" the Unicorn said as he advanced on Devin.
"Yeah, and what makes you think that that's going to happen?" Devin asked as he pulled a large, two hand sword of of his inner coat pocket.
'How in Equestria did that fit in there?' Luna thought to herself and the question was clearly on the Commander's mind as well.
"Well, I don't know, but there's always a way to get a job done" the Commander replied as he stared closely at Devin, clearly looking to exploit any weaknesses.
"Indeed, but for you, there won't be any more jobs, justice shall be served" Devin said. Then he lifted the vial containing his armor off his neck and uncorked it before dumping it onto his head.
"Non est… where did you get that vial?" the Commander asked as he stared at the vial, his face contorted with anger and recognition.
"That's none of your business, but I'm surprised you're speaking Latin" Devin replied as he lifted the visor on the helmet.
"Latin? I speak Nocturnial, the language that belongs solely to me and my brothers in arms!" the Commander said proudly.
"Yeah well, you said 'it's impossible' so I'm pretty darn sure that you're speaking Latin" Devin replied.
"You could have easily guessed what I was saying" he replied, clearly rejecting the idea that Devin knew what he was saying.
"Oportet igitur dicere, ut ego suspicor" Devin replied.
"No! Te lingua non conceditur!" the commander cried out sharply.
"I will speak as I wish, you hold no power over me" Devin replied sternly with a look that froze the Commander in his attempts to advance at the moment.
"You...you...you are far too similar to Him" the Commander said as he backed away slowly.
"And who might 'He' be?" Devin asked as he slowly walked closer to the Commander.
"I shall not tell, I am sworn to secrecy" the Commander said with whatever courage he had left.
"Oh please, why can't you just give up and make things easier on yourself" Devin said as he rolled his eyes and got closer to his enemy.
"Ha, you think I'd let you defeat me?!" the commander screeched as he charged his horn for another attack.
Before the commander could even shoot his spell, Devin launched himself at him and tackled him to the ground, one hand holding the commander's horn to dissipate his magic and with the other he held his sword against his throat.
"How dare you!" the commander yelled indignantly, struggling under Devin. "That is far beyond the rules of engagement and isn't permitted!"
"Yeah? To bucking bad" Devin replied calmly, staring deep into the commander's eyes.
"Luna, would you do me a small favor and use your magic to whip up a horncuff and a rope to bind this idiot with?" Devin asked of her.
Luna quickly summoned the items with her magic and Devin took them and put the horncuff upon the commander's horn to cease his magic. Then, he proceeded to tie the rope around the commander's midsection and legs in a harness like fashion.
"There, that'll do nicely" Devin said as he inspected his work.
"Now what are we going to do with him?" Luna asked, worry etched onto her face.
"I would like to know as well" the commander said through gritted teeth.
"First, I'll do this" Devin said as he used his magic to summon a muzzle and strapped it to the commander's mouth, ensuring that he wouldn't be able to talk.
The look of fierce hatred towards Devin burned in the eyes of Silver Slash as he laid there, unable to move and unable to speak. Devin stared down at the Unicorn, a mixture of pity and loathing on his face.
"First, we're taking the trash to the dungeon in Canterlot for interrogation. Once we know who it is he's taking orders from, we're gonna go after the bucker and take him down for good, and take any forces he has with him" Devin said flatly while he used his vial to restore the armor to its liquid state.
"Do you have any recommendations as to who could question him?" Devin asked as he turned to Luna.
"Well, there are a few guards I could recommend, but I think you'd have the best chances at quick results honestly" Luna said with a small, knowing smile.
"Alrighty then, back to Canterlot we go!" Devin said as he teleported the three of them away.
Walking the dirt roads of ponyville, Cory and Celestia were in much better moods after having dealt with Pinkie's craziness. Even if it was a shot from left field, the pink mare had lifted their spirits and shifted their minds from the previous conversation. Cory, being the mischievous man that he was, found that the random mare had also intrigued him… Her brand of magic being entirely different from anything he had seen in the whole of Equestria.
"So, what do we do now? We're in this wonderfully small town, surrounded with countryside, and we got nothing to do…" Cory stated randomly as he stretched, interlocking his fingers behind his head as he walked next to the white form of Celestia, her white, downy fur radiating the radiance of the sun in all its glory.
"Hmm… We could fetch the others and have a grand picnic… Then again, we could just go and it be just us…" The blushing alicorn mumbled as she shot Cory a furtive glance.
"Oh?" Cory says, raising a brow in her direction as a seductive smile begins its journey across his lips, making our local alicorn blush at his waving brows. "I didn't think you wanted to go there yet Celly. What, is the fire between your nethers glowing today?" His brows were now waving up and down at her like a cheesy cartoon villains as he smirked seductively at her.
Spluttering, Celestia just opted to shut up and glare at her traveling companion. Granted, she was just too embarrassed to admit to the fact that he was right. "I so~ want to stab you right now… And I do have a horn… So don't tempt me…" She growled at him as her face turned bright red.
"Buwahahaahahahaha! You really think I was-! Oh my goodness graces! Buwaha! I was just teasing you Celly! No need to get all defensive about it." Cory exclaimed as he held his hands up in surrender to her threat. "But if you really want to, we can go and have a picnic, I know it would be more than relaxing enough after everything else we've done the past few days…" Smiling genuinely at the wrathful alicorn Princess.
"I'm going to kick your but later Cory…" She barked while scowling at him, her face rather flushed while he shot her a winning smile.
"Yeah, and I'm the king of the scots!"... "Oh…"
"Picnic… Where. Now."
"Um, the park just outside of WhiteTail Woods. I had planned on stopping by the market and grabbing a few things… Unless you want to just grab a meal to go from one of the restaurants in town…" Cory trailed off as he saw Celly look at him like he was the dumbest thing there.
"Market it is then…" Sweating up a storm as Cellies glare turned benign he let out a sigh.
"Still going to buck you upside the head…"
"Dammit…"
The two royals could now be seen walking lazily through PonyVille's marketplace; looking through the myriad different stalls as to their wares and produce. They picked up lettuce, tomatoes, a few bins of mushrooms, some firewood and a skillet, three bundles of kale, a large bottle of wine and a basket.
They stopped by a little shop towards the end and were able to find a large enough sheet for the two of them to share, it also had the stereotypical red and white checker pattern to it.
The entirety of the market was more than a little flabbergasted that one such as the princess would stroll through their place of business, let alone with another creature… It was a heartwarming sight for most once they saw their Princess with such a wonderful smile plastered to her face. Those that did not find the situation agreeable were quickly reprimanded by those around them, making them turn up their noses and walk away.
The two pleasantly found their way through the crowds of ponies as they perused the stalls the vendors had set up for their customers. Cory picked up a half dozen apples, two bannanas, a head of lettuce, two roma tomatoes, and a water mellon. Along with his produce, he picked up a short line of fish, only three across, and a pair of knives.
After that, he even dug up a few different herbs that he recognized form back home, though it was a bit of a challenge to get them from their vendors, as they were overly convicted with throwing them away because they were weeds. It was with a bit of finagling and Celestial intervention (aka, the princess stepped in and helped them avoid a fight), that Cory was able to get the needed herbs for his own food.
"I do hope everything turns out as well as it is in my head Celly…," Cory admits to his date.
"I hope the same… Though You will be tasting them first just in case," She teases him with a smirk.
"Is that a threat?"
"It might be?"
"Oh, really then?"
"What are you going to do about it?"
"Do you want to know?"
"Maybe, maybe not," Celestia laughs, her bell like voice brought an evil smile to Cory's lips. He shook his head and thought up ways to get back at the alabaster mare. But for now, they had a picnic to be getting to.
A/N Devonbronyboy & Luna:
Thank you guys so much for reading New Royalty. We know it's been awhile since we've added a chapter, but y'all know how life happens and stuff.
"Devon, don't forget to tell them the surprise"
Why should I do that Luna? It's not like our followers don't know anyway.
"Because as your princess I demand that you do so"
Eh, fine. To all my dedicated fans I announce that I'll be working on my stories in a part time fashion so I can actually start posting some chapters again.
"Was that so hard"
Yes, yes it was.
"You're so silly sometimes"
"Good lord… It's been too damned long… Celly! What the hell have you been doing! You should have dragged my butt out of the books long before now!"
"It's your own fault Cornelius… You kept throwing books at me every time I tried to get you out of there… Now Devon and my sister have been kept waiting long enough!"
"True, I am sorry for the long wait Devon… I seem to have been … Unduly kept. So apologies!"
"Much better. Now, everyone, WE hope that you enjoy this piece… Even if it took us so long to publish it."
