Games for the Kingdom

The gates of the palace were torn down by raging changeling soldiers. After they attacked the palace again and made sure there was no resistance, the soldiers made their way to the higher sections of the palace. They tormented anypony that was left until Chrysalis walked inside to issue harsher orders.

"We have told thee to stop fooling around! This ist war, and we art to act accordingly! Thou wilt not shame the name and honor of the Changelings!" She smacked the head of one soldier with her hoof and then glared at the other minions that flew around her.

"Thou art to secure the area of the palace. No creature in here goes unchecked, understand? They shalt be our prisoners as soon as they art found!"

The changelings hissed in acknowledgment of the orders and flew upwards. They quickly swarmed the halls and trapped the few ponies that tried to escape.

Chrysalis chuckled and pointed to another hall for the changelings to follow. She turned around and walked after them while they checked every room and corner. "Do not be fooled. Do not show any mercy!"

They stopped when they came across Wilder, who ]stopped as well to stare at them.

He wore a yellow bathrobe and held a coffee mug in his claw. His expression seemed blank except for a quiet, curious look that he gave the glaring insect-like creatures.

He let out a sigh and combed the tuft of mane back with his paw. "Hmm... What do we have here..."

The changelings gave him a puzzled look, then stared at one another in confusion.

Wilder raised an eyebrow when the changelings did not let him move aside too far before they hissed menacingly at him. "Okay, then… I don't suppose you're the breakfast ponies. The threatening hissing rules that out. So..." He smiled a little as the creatures continued to eye him suspiciously.

Chrysalis walked to the front of her army. She gave Wilder a look and tapped her hoof sharply on the ground so that the changeling soldiers would surround him. "Who art thou?!" She spoke with a loud, demanding tone. Her wings fluttered a bit while she glared at Wilder fiercely.

Wilder snapped his fingers and teleported himself above Chrysalis while he led them just outside of the palace. He twirled his fingers in her mane, despite her objections.

"Heh. You're the cutest insect I've ever seen, you know." He eyed the holes in her legs and raised an eyebrow. "My, you seem to be into really odd stuff. I assure you, though; it does not get any stranger than me! I'm the king of that, but I just don't feel like showing you yet."

He laughed and floated around the Queen and her army. He completely ignored their glares, hisses, and alarmed expressions while he had his fun.

Chrysalis narrowed her eyes while the playful creature continued to taunt them. "We asked who thou were! What dost thou wanteth here?! In case thou failed to notice, this place ist under our attack, blundering fool. If thou sideth with those weaklings, thou shalt fall with them!"

She tried to blast him away with her green magic, but growled when her attacks continuously missed.

Luna groaned and pushed herself up a bit from the ground. Her eyes widened when she saw Wilder. "W-Wilder! There thou art!"

Wilder chuckled again when he looked around at the changeling soldiers and saw their confused looks when they saw that they could not take his form, no matter how hard they tried. "Harder than it seems, huh? I really do love things like those. They prove to be quite a fun challenge."

He then snapped his fingers and appeared a yellow magic shield that blocked them when they decided to attack physically. He blinked after hearing Luna's voice and looked around to spot her. "Luna, hi! Look at all of this, isn't it amazing? Oh... What happened to you? You look-"

Luna resisted the urge to glare and snap at Wilder. "Wilder, we art in the middle of a serious attack-what dost thou thinkest happened to us?!" She was about to say more, but screamed when Celestia hit her with her hoof again, and left her trembling in pain.

Wilder looked up at Celestia with a puzzled expression. "Celestia? Hey, what do you think you're doing?!" He looked aside when he sensed Chrysalis' attack coming near him.

He flicked his hand and vanished the attack, which merely made him blink. At the moment, he was more concerned about Celestia's strange and violent behavior. Think I'll let you get away with messing Luna up like that? Only I can do the teasing for her. You've got another thing coming!

He shook his head and looked at Chrysalis after he gave Celestia another glance. "Hold on. I can understand the battle. I can understand your thoughts, and what you want. One thing I can't understand… What have you done to Celestia?"

Chrysalis narrowed her eyes and hissed while she stood on guard. "We know not what thou meaneth."

"And I'm being very, very calm. You want to be aware of that. Very, very calm. And the only reason I'm being so very, very calm is that the body is a delicate thing, you know. Can't handle so much interfering, not even Celestia's body. Whatever you've done to her, I want it reversed."

Luna grunted and tried to push herself up again. She winced when throbbing pain came to her right wing as soon as she tried to move it. "Ngh... Wilder... Thou... Thou hast to help our sister. Celestia ist...!"

She screamed again when Celestia kicked her down. "Sister!" She glared up at her while her horn glowed. However, she did not get to cast a spell because Celestia knocked her down again.

"Silence, fool! We shalt rid the world of thee once and for all!"

Wilder narrowed his eyes and lowered his arms at his sides. His expression was serious, he was ready to get down to business. And when Wilder was ready to do that, then his opponents had better beware.

Not that he would give them any chance to become aware of that.

He did not need Luna to tell him that Celestia had been possessed-it was obvious, and he spotted it the moment he heard Luna's first screams. He did not need to sense the other presence within her either, though he did, just to be sure of what he was up against.

Her behavior alone was all the sign he needed to figure out such a lowly play.

"Celestia hates using the fancy pansy little formal talk... Though I guess he wasn't trying to fool anypony… Not to mention that ponies are getting hurt out there. A lot. Many are scared, trying to get help. Many are even dying, and Celestia would care."

He smirked and caught Chrysalis' bright blast of magic power. He curved it into a ball in his claw and began to play with it. "Heh. Hey, Celestia, catch!"

He threw the green ball at her, and watched as the attack picked up speed while approaching the possessed princess. "Careful with that long pass!"

As the attack hit Celestia, it pushed Sombra out of her body without harming her. Sombra crashed against the wall of the palace while Celestia fell on the ground limp and out cold.

Sombra growled and glared at Chrysalis. "Ugh, Chrysalis, thou art such an useless imbecile! What art thou and the rest of thy minions... What... What ist... that...?!" He glared at Wilder as the mismatched creature took Chrysalis' horn and popped it off her head. "What?! What art thou doing-"

Chrysalis growled and tried to hit Wilder with her hoof, though he disappeared from her reach. "Cad!"

Wilder appeared in the air and played the horn as a flute; the notes came out of Chrysalis' holed legs.

"Thou wilt pay...!" She glared at Sombra and waved her hoof to get his attention. "Stop stammering like an idiot. Possess the Sun Princess again-do something!"

Who dost she believe that… Sombra frowned and was about to object, but was quickly interrupted by Chrysalis, who spoke with a sharper tone.

"Listen, We should not have to lecture thee, fool! Her light magic ist strong, he wilt not be able beat it!" She stepped forward and commanded more of her changeling army to attack Wilder. "Hit him with all thou art worth! We do not want to see him standing! Bring him down!"

Sombra leaped forward towards Celestia. "That should be no trouble at all… Did it once, easy to have it done again..." However, he gasped when he remained suspended in the air due to Wilder's magic.

He squirmed and thrashed in the air, and even tried to use his horn, but could not teleport or move anywhere. "Another spell…!"

"Ah, ah, where do you think you're going now?" He lifted Chrysalis as well, then levitated them both in front of him. "As the saying goes... 'The more the merrier', right? So how about we play a little game?"

He snapped his claws and chuckled. All the lifeless crystal soldiers disappeared from the kingdom. The few crystal ponies that were part of Sombra's living army were suspended in the air, along with the changelings, whose wings all vanished.

"Okay, there we go… Pity that the shiny ponies were so bad. I would've liked to hang around with them some more. But oh, well… We all want to have fun with this, right?"

"What art thou doing?!" Chrysalis screamed and tried to struggle free from the levitation spell. "Let us go! Release us! Thou hath no idea who We art-set us down! Thou wilt regret this-"

Luna stumbled forward and stared at Wilder while he effortlessly entertained himself with the evil royalty. "Th-That ist..." She remembered when Celestia had first commended Wilder's magic. Thou were not wrong at all, sister… Oh, how glad We art...

"Release us at once!" Chrysalis glared at Sombra and hissed with annoyance and indignation. "Art thou not going to do something about this?! Destroy him! He ist not to humiliate us like this!

Sombra grunted and tried to cast another dark spell, but he was unable to break free, either. "That creature... He continues to block our magic power somehow! Quiet, do not scream at us like that! Thou cannot do anything to get out of this either! At least We do not bellow for help!"

Wilder popped off Sombra's horn as well to quiet him. "Now, since manners dictate, Chrysalis shall go first."

"What?! What art thou talking about?!" Chrysalis looked at him while he floated up in front of them.

"Oh, you'll see when we get there. It'll be quite fun! I'm sure you and your little minions will love it. It'll be refreshing to say the least~" Wilder laughed and ignored Sombra and Chrysalis when they tried to protest.

Before they could say anything, he snapped the fingers of his claw and vanished with all of them in a flash of white light that blinded them and made them scream.

~~~

Wilder teleported the three of them, plus the changeling army and the crystal pony soldiers, hundreds of feet up in the sky, above a clear, undisturbed, and very deep lake. However, something appeared beside the lake. It was an old, empty well that was dry and deep as one could imagine.

He tossed the crystal ponies into the well and snickered at their long fall. He peered over the well even though he could no longer see the soldiers. "Your only chance of escaping will be a narrow tunnel around there somewhere… You'll have to feel through it. And it's as dark as darkness can be! 'Cause, you know, no magic's allowed in there. As always, adds more to the challenge."

He rubbed his claw and paw together before he laughed. "Good luck getting out of that anytime soon! Even I don't know where it leads-I just made it up ten seconds ago! Well, well, I actually do know, of course… But revealing that would be no fun…"

"Let our soldiers go! We wilt show thee-"

"I don't think you should be throwing empty threats into the air... Um, Sombra, was it? Your soldiers will be fine out there. Not that you care much about them to begin with. But the game isn't with them now…" Wilder folded his arms and turned to give Chrysalis a smirk. "It's with you all."

Chrysalis grimaced as Wilder floated closer to him. She grunted and tried to float away from him, then yelped and hissed when he grabbed her face in his paw. "Let us go! Filthy, malformed creature!"

"Whatever. Now, your game is simple. All you have to do is catch your insect things as they fall into the water, without missing a single one." He lifted a finger to prevent her from acting immediately. "However, the rules consist of this: no flying to get them; you will only be able to hover over the water and nothing more. And of course, no magic for you. Ready? Go!"

The changelings began to fall while Wilder snickered, then laughed out loud. During their fall, he kept them from even trying to transform into something with wings. He freed Chrysalis so she could save as many of her minions as possible, then laughed some more while he watched the queen run around.

He admittedly admired her sense of adherence and loyalty to the lowly insect soldiers, since he could see that she was sincerely trying to save each that fell. However, he said nothing to commend that trait of hers and instead kept watching, amused to no end.

He shook his head at them while sitting in the air. He actually appeared a glass of pink lemonade to drink while watching. "Hey-hey, Chryssie! I-heh, heh! I really do hope those holes all around their bodies don't trouble their swimming skills! I mean, as a rightful, caring queen, you must have made sure to secure that little worry and disadvantage at one point, right?"

Chrysalis growled and quickly hovered aside to catch a few small changelings. "We wilt not let thee get away with this!" She grunted when some more of her soldiers landed on top of her, then shot Wilder another hateful glare. "Thine allies shalt pay for this!"

She gasped, then screamed when the weight of her minions began to sink her into the water. She found it more difficult to keep herself afloat while at the same time rescue what minions she could save. "No!"

Changelings screeched by the hundreds as they attempted to transform into some creature that could fly. Their attempts were foiled, however, by Wilder's magic, over and over while he laughed at them.

He snickered and teleported Sombra to the lake's edge. Though Sombra's horn was returned to him, Wilder still prevented him from using magic. "As for your game..."

Sombra glared at him and snarled. "Thou shalt receive all the wrath of-"

"Yeah, yeah, been there, heard that. Now, don't interrupt me! I was talking!" He snapped his fingers and appeared a giant marshmallow, with which he toyed for a few seconds. "Ooh, heavy."

He placed it over Sombra's head. It was as heavy as a giant boulder. "There. You have to carry that for about ten feet from here. Oh, and without getting squashed or dropping it, of course. Otherwise the game will be over and boring, right? Okay, then, glad you understood!"

Sombra grimaced as a loud horn played right by his head, and Wilder held in laughter.

"Look at the time! Go, old boy! That's your cue!"

Sombra sweated and growled while he carried the enormous burden that was suddenly placed onto him. "Damn thee...!" He was soon out of breath, and tried to focus on taking one more step, one at a time.

"Oh, you guys are so entertaining…" Wilder waved his claw at them while he watched them all struggle under his 'games'. "C'mon, don't be sour pears! Or… Whatever, I like pears. Pears are good. Bananas… not so much. Anyway! You should come around invading the kingdom more often!"

~~~

Meanwhile, Luna dragged herself over to Celestia. She gasped when she touched her and felt Celestia's cold and pale body. "What ist happening…?! That possession spell... Oh, no... Sister...!" She spoke in a tone barely above a whisper from the worry, and immediately began to search for a doctor. However, her own injured state did not allow her to move too much.

Wilder returned to Celestia and Luna shortly after. He sat down next to Celestia to observe her, and frowned with worry when she did not move at all. "Hm. That won't do..." He circled his body around her, like a dragon over gold, and cast the only healing spell that he knew.

Luna looked at her sister with tear-filled eyes. "Wilt it work? Sombra drained so much of her energy when he possessed her. Oh, Wilder, we cannot lose her...! Our kingdom… We..." She started crying again.

Wilder used his magic to restore Celestia's energy to normal. He held her tightly in his arms and waited for her to wake up. "C'mon, Celestia... Wake up, this was nothing..." He whispered and looked down at her with a worried expression on his young face.

He then glanced at Luna and tried to seem confident as usual, for her sake. He even put on a small smile. "It was nothin'. She'll be fine in just a bit, you just wait. Before long, she'll be prancing around her pony servants with you, giving them nice talks while everypony fixes this place. Won't be long now..."

Celestia groaned weakly and opened her eyes a bit. "Ungh... W-Wilder? You..."

Luna gasped when he saw her wake, up, then smiled brightly and ran over to both of them. "Celestia! Oh, sister, thou art well! She ist alive, Wilder!"

Wilder nodded. "Told ya."

Celestia groaned again when she tried to move. "Sombra... That... creature..."

Wilder hugged Celestia closely nearly as soon as she awoke. "Yes!" He called out triumphantly, relieved that she was safe and alive. Then he smirked when he acknowledged her weak statement.

With a chuckle, he patted her head and gave her an easy explanation. "Heh, heh. I think they've been taken care of." He smiled again and looked over his shoulder while Celestia frowned with confusion.

Chrysalis and Sombra still struggled against his magic challenges in the distance. It did not look like they would be a threat to the princesses' kingdom anytime soon.

Celestia looked over at the direction where Wilder stared, then gasped softly with surprise. "Wilder… Oh, goodness… You... You beat them yourself...?"

Luna limped over to them with a proud, relieved smile on her face. "He certainly did." She looked at Wilder and nodded at him. "We art quite surprised with thy magic, Wilder. It handled in a few moments what we could not solve this whole time. Not to mention the healing of our sister... Oh, sister, We art so glad thou art safe! We were so worried about thee!"

She nuzzled Celestia, but quickly let her go when her sister groaned, and when Luna herself winced from her own injuries. "Ow… This… This ist fine, sister. Do not worry thyself."

Wilder chuckled and blew the tuft of mane on his forehead away from his eyes. "Oh, no need to thank me like that, Luna. Don't be so surprised, either, Celestia. It really was nothing." He looked at them with a cocky grin that they could not help but chuckle at.

Celestia spoke weakly while looking up at him with a grateful look and a small smile. "You... saved my life, Wilder… Thank you… So… mu-ngh..."

Wilder blushed, trying to hide it with a smirk. "Eh. It was worth it, you know." He then grinned at Celestia again and patted her head. "Heh. It's not like I could do anything else, is it?"

Sombra snarled and yelled as his head ached with tremendous pain from the heavy marshmallow. Despite the distance, his screams were perfectly audible, as were the screeches of the changelings. "Ch-Chrysalis... Our forces art defeated. Argh, we must retreat!"

Chrysalis glared at him hatefully. She crawled over to Sombra's spot, followed by a few rescued changelings that whimpered behind her. "No. Hath thou just figured that out, idiot?!" She grunted and glared around with frustration, feeling as though the ground beneath her would crumble away.

Her wings fluttered a bit, but they did little to carry her weight when she tried to fly. "We thought thou had prepared everything before the attack! Thou said that this wast thoroughly planned!"

She huffed a bit when Sombra tried to protest. "No, listen, blundering idiot! We hath no idea what maketh thee a king; thou doth not deserveth the title! We told thee to attack them and then retreat. We should have retreated so that they would follow our armies into thy kingdom, where we would be best prepared and have greater advantage! But no, we had to do as thou decided. No one listens to the Changeling Queen!"

After she ranted at Sombra, Chrysalis flew away from him and left him to protest and scream out at her and her army of changelings. She did not turn back while she put more distance between them.

"Chrysalis! What art thou-"

"Silence, fool! We said that as soon as We saw no gain in this ridiculous plan, We would pull back. Did We not say that? Look at this!" Chrysalis fixed Sombra in his place with her glare while she pointed at the fallen changelings. "We have lost minions because of thee, minions that matter to us! We have made our decision, Sombra. We wilt not lose anything else in thy worthless name!"

Sombra snarled and glared at Chrysalis. He tried to insult her, but she quickly moved away from his sight to threaten the princesses and the kingdom. "Chrysalis!"

"Hear ye, pathetic, forsaken kingdom! Hear ye, Princesses! No matter what We must do, We shalt make thee pay! Someday thou wilt be surrounded by love again. It wilt be love unlike any other-and we shalt take that for our kingdom. No other strength will lay around thee to protect this kingdom again!"

Wilder raised an eyebrow while Luna and some of the Royal Guard soldiers glared at the queen. "Wow. She really doesn't know when to give up, does she?"

Chrysalis smirked and dodged the attacks of two unicorn guards. She glared at them and shocked them with a spell of her own. "Thou want the queen so much, have a piece of her!"

Luna gritted her teeth and stomped her hoof forward. "Leave them alone!"

"Thou art no one to command us!"

"We art the princess and ruler of this kingdom, and We command thee to leave our subjects alone!"

Chrysalis backed away in the air while she growled a bit. "We, the changelings, shalt strike that fateful day or thy disadvantage. We shalt end thy pathetic kingdom and existence ourselves! Mark our words!"

Luna frowned and stepped forward again. "That last statement was a warning. Thou did not take heed."

Before the Night Princess could attack her, Chrysalis pulled back while her changelings created a last-minute diversion for them all to escape

Luna glared at Sombra, who still tried to pull himself together to fight. "She has left… But an enemy still lingers upon our grounds. We shalt deal with him." She walked towards the shadow king.

Sombra looked up and hissed. He grunted when he saw that he still could not cast a spell against her.

"Do not move. We have a declaration for thee as well." Her horn glowed bright blue with her magic energy, her eyes turned white as she focused.

"A lecture that We art not interested in, pathetic excuse for a princess! Thou hath no right to-"

Black clouds surrounded Luna while she summoned power that she could barely contain. "Silence! For endangering our sister's life, thou shalt pay the worse!" She surrounded Sombra with her magic and raised him in the air while he flung his legs at the sides. "Thist shalt be thy sentence."

"Let us go! We wilt not listen to thy pathetic words-they art useless! If anypony will be doomed, princess, it is thee! Thou faileth to see what is to come, doth thou not? We could show thee…"

"Thy manipulating games art as of now over. We wilt never heed thy words again. Instead, thou wilt hear ours. Thou wilt receive thy punishment once and for all."

"We shalt see about that, princess… We still have a kingdom that is far more developed than thine! When thou least expectest, we shalt be here, breaking down your little piece of land, taking possession of your savage villages!"

"THOU ART TO STAY AWAY FROM THE CRYSTAL EMPIRE. THY REIGN IST NO MORE, SOMBRA. FROM THIS DAY, WE BANISH THEE TO THE WASTELANDS AND PUT THAT KINGDOM AND OURS AT PEACE!" As she screamed, her magic aura glowed brighter from the intense power.

Sombra focused his whole magic power to destroy Wilder's spell. As he did, he attempted to flee the night magic that Luna summoned. "The Crystal Empire ist OURS! It shalt always be ours!"

Surrounded, his eyes glowed bright green with purple, and a black spell was cast away from the princess' kingdom, all over the Crystal Empire.

Luna frowned and lowered her head while he tried to back away from her. "Thou art beaten, Sombra. Yet thou refusest to admit thy defeat? We shalt show thee better. We have no tolerance now."

Sombra roared and an enormous black explosion sealed the entire empire away, though of course the others were not aware of it. "Thou cannot defeat us! Thou wilt see; darkness wilt return to this land, as Chrysalis said. We wilt return! All shalt bow to us! Princesses, thy reign wilt be no more. Neither will thee, when We art through with it all." He glared at the dark blue glow of magic that closed in on him.

Luna shut her eyes closed and concentrated more while her spell began to make Sombra vanish.

"L-Luna..." Celestia whispered as she looked up at her sister, still in Wilder's arms.

Luna encouraged and cheered herself on when she felt that her power had reached its limits. "We can do this… This ist the last defense move for the kingdom!"

Her blue magic turned darker around Sombra when the spell was almost complete. After a few seconds, she succeeded, and banished the shadow king from her and Celestia's land, all the way to the Wastelands.

She cried out and nearly fell back once the spell was over. A few soldiers from the Royal Guard quickly arrived to aid her while she pushed herself up.

"Princess Luna!"

"Princess Luna, art thou alright, Thy Highness?"

She panted and sighed. Then she smiled at the clearing skies and the villagers that hesitant and cautiously made their way back to the kingdom. "We have done it… We art safe once again."

Celestia smiled a bit. "She did it..."

Wilder smiled and nodded. "Oh, yeah, she sure did! Who would've thought or known she had that kind of magic in her? Geez, I'm not challenging her to a magic duel again!" He smirked, then chuckled.

"She banished Sombra on her own... Oh, Wilder, she has grown so..." She leaned her head against Wilder, and started to drift off to sleep.

"Easy, Celestia. You sound like an old lady. Like a mom or something."

"Well… I'm the one who takes the most care of her… after all…"

"Right, right. Hang on a second." Wilder turned his attention to Luna while she approached them. "Hey, Luna! Not so little anymore, are you? You sure showed some magic potential there."

Luna stared forward a bit longer before she limped over to Wilder. She acknowledge his comment with a bit of a dull look. "Well, yes. We have tried to tell thee that for a long time."

She watched Wilder snicker, then smiled at him. "We believe it fair that our kingdom recognize thy deed and thank thee personally, Wilder. It ist but the least that thou deservest." She winced, then looked at her injured wing. "Well... That would be done as soon as all ist recovered, of course..."

"Heh. You'd do that?" He patted her head with his paw, then nudged her slightly. "Oh, thank you, Luna." Then he looked at Celestia again, and smiled a bit. "But, you know what? Let's leave that for later. Celestia needs to rest right now. She'll be out cold before we know it."

Luna nodded and watched him stand up. "Fine. Take care of her, and do make sure that she gets her rest."

"Oh, I won't have to do much about that…" He teleported inside the castle in the blink of an eye.

Wounded soldiers approached Luna while the shadows and clouds dissipated from the palace and the grounds completely. The captain bowed his head respectfully to Luna, then spoke cautiously once she turned his attention to him. "What ist thy command now, Princess?"

Luna stared at him for a few seconds, glad that once again she was to be so involved with the kingdom. "...Our masters and teachers should be back with all of our civilians shortly. Make certain that the civilians and the servants alike art properly accommodated. We want the wounded treated well, including the royal guards. They art priority over us, We want that well understood."

The captain nodded and continued to listen to the young princess' instructions while she spoke and walked around the disturbed grounds with her head held high.

"We believe that will be all." She nodded at the guards that had followed her and turned around to make her way back to the palace. We certainly do need our bit of rest… It almost feels as though We wilt fall ov…

A dark green unicorn with a sky blue mane caught Luna on his back before she fell over asleep. He smiled down at her, then looked at the group of ponies that he had led before he encountered her. "Follow Master Saffron. He wilt take thee back to thy homes."

"Yes, Master Jade Spark." The ponies looked at one another, then bowed their heads and walked after a dark red unicorn.

Jade Spark shook his head and walked inside the palace. "Thy deeds were truly remarkable, Thy Highness. We art all proud of thee and thy sister. The power thou showed earlier… Quite a force to be reckoned with. Starswirl has done his very best work with both of thee. We all have." He smiled and stared ahead while Luna snored softly in her, for once, peaceful sleep.

~~~

Celestia groaned while Wilder carried her. "...If it had not been for you, we would be long gone, Wilder... I feel so... so useless. We could barely do anything." She sighed as her eyes started to fill with tears. "...I very nearly died, too." Though she was still quite weak, she felt frustrated and disappointed with herself.

Wilder kept quiet and serious while she spoke, and entered her room without saying a word about it. He listened without interrupting her, then sighed and looked up once she was done. "The way I see it, Tia… Your sister would be the one to now be gone if you hadn't defended her. Everypony would be doing so much worse, too. So stop whining about it, okay?"

He laid her in her bed and caressed her cheek, then smiled encouragingly as he dried her eyes. "You fought with all you could and now thanks to your courage, Sombra's gone, and those insects vanished. You did great if you ask me! I'm sure no princess would've done better. All your teachers were proud."

Celestia looked down. "It was not thanks to me, Wilder. Luna did more than I did. She ended up effectively banishing Sombra. You were the one who saved us all. I just... I nearly just die-"

"Because Sombra took advantage of when you were weak to possess you. And how did you get weak like that? That's right, by standing up for your sister. I don't have any brothers or sisters, but I'd say that's heroic enough. And Luna sure appreciated it. Listen, quit pitying yourself, alright? It's not like you. You fought like a true princess and gave your all for your kingdom. You've done your job as a ruler."

"...Thank you again, Wilder..." She looked aside and smiled, with a slight blush on her face. Then she glanced at him from the corner of her eye. "Honestly, I do not know what we would have done without you. You were a true friend, and a hero to our kingdom."

Wilder chuckled, scratching the back of his head. "Oh, c'mon… You don't need to go out of your way to say that, really. I mean, it was just-I was pretty amazing, wasn't I? Heh, heh. It was nothing!"

She touched his claw with her hoof. "I know you have already said that you will stay, but..." She looked aside worriedly and rubbed her leg with her other hoof.

"But, Wilder... I do not want you to leave, ever. Even if... Even if we cannot find information about you, I still would really, really like you to stay with us... You are already part of our home, to everypony else... and to me." She smiled hopefully at him while he stared at her with surprise.

He smiled a bit nervously once he clearly saw the worry and concern in her eyes. I really proved her Council old ponies wrong, didn't I? I really did. I was useful to the kingdom, and…

It did not occur to him that Celestia had genuinely shown that she did not care about whether or not he was useful to the kingdom. He kept thinking elaborately about the points that he had 'validated' to make his stay in the kingdom legit and completely allowed, unjudged by bitter, distrustful ponies.

Then he glanced at her again and saw that she was actually waiting for his answer, while his thoughts had drifted off somewhere else. He raised an eyebrow and patted her head while he kept thinking for a few more seconds. But… She knows I'm not leaving... I'm not leaving, ever... She shouldn't be worrying like this...

"Wil-Wilder…?"

He let out a laugh and ruffled her mane while giving her a nervous smirk. "Come now, Celestia. You worry too much." He tried to change the subject with his light, dismissive response, though immediately realized that he had failed. She seemed nearly as worried as he had been before.

"But… But Wilder… It does not really-"

Wilder sighed and shook his head. "Guess it's my turn to comfort you, isn't it? Well, it happens, so what am I even complaining about? Happens to anypony. Okay, no worries."

He kissed her forehead and held her hoof while trying to keep himself from blushing or nervously stuttering silly things that would only embarrass and make a fool of him. "Listen…"

He smirked when he noticed that she had blushed a bit more, and more brightly than he had while she stared into his eyes. He quickly looked away in a thoughtful gaze to gather his ideas. "I... I don't think I wish to leave, not the kingdom, not you. Ever. That's how good this place and the folks are."

"Oh, Wilder…"

He winked at her, relieved to see that he had managed to calm her down. "Now that we've gotten that out of the way, how about you get some rest?" He snapped his fingers, and fluffed out her pillows to sit her down.

"Oh, you're so kind... I knew you would stay with us, Wilder, I did...!" She laid her head on her pillow, but tried to keep her eyes open to look at him. "Thank you. I... I would not leave you, either, Wil... der..." She snuggled against the pillows once she fell asleep again, wearing a soft smile on her face.

Wilder scratched his head and sighed. He stood up from the bed and covered Celestia with the blankets a bit more. "Goodnight, Tia." He chuckled at the new nickname he had just invented for her. "That sounds like a good one, wouldn't you say?" He heard her sigh in her sleep and chuckled again. "I'll take that as a yes. Alright, then, see ya tomorrow~"

With that, he disappeared from the room, back outside.

~~~

The royal guards kept scouting the city. Under Luna's orders, they helped soldiers and civilians alike. They worked slowly but diligently, repairing the damaged buildings of the villages around the kingdom.

Jade Spark, the stallion that had taken Luna to her bedchamber, watched the guards as they worked. He had been appointed by Luna, as had been the other instructors, to oversee the work were the princesses too exhausted to do it themselves. He had no problem at all, liking construction himself.

Just as he busied himself with a few schemes and drawings of planned buildings, he looked aside to see Red Feather flying to the castle by his side. "...Red Feather. It ist quite good to see thou art safe."

Red Feather blinked and looked aside. "Um… I do not believe we have met…"

Jade Spark shook his head. "No, we have not had the pleasure, young hero. I am Master Jade Spark. Like Master Starswirl and the others, I train the princesses in many subjects that wilt help them become greater rulers. I wast not here when the battle occurred, as I escorted the citizens away with the others, but the Royal Guard did commend thy bravery and assistance. I must say in the name of this kingdom, we are much obliged and thankful for thy help."

The crystal red pegasus bowed his head a bit. "It is I who must be grateful to thee!" He looked down as his ears lowered a bit. "I am ashamed to say I wast not of much help during the attack… I apologize for that profusely, sir… I… I really did try my best."

Jade Spark smiled. "Well, what else couldst thou have done? Thou assisted in the ridding of that terrible storm, and allowed our flying forces more territory to defend. Red Feather, thy work was excellent."

"I-I assure you, sir, I certainly wilt help in the reparations of thy kingdom. I shalt not leave until everything that happened due to my appearance ist fixed and solved."

Jade Spark waved his hoof and chuckled. "Now, now, I do not believe our princesses would want to hold thee back like that. Thou hast a kingdom of thine own to look after, correct? Thou should go make sure they art indeed safe and free. Thy work here ist done, and we art all happy it hast ended well. Just-"

He stopped and gave Red Feather a surprised look, then stepped back as the pegasus bowed before him.

"Master Jade Spark, please do know this, and inform the princesses of my words. I honestly know not how to thank thee… Because of thee, we… The Crystal Empire, all of us… We art very much obliged, sir! I am sure I speak for everypony when I say that we shalt always be indebted to thee, at thy service!"

Jade Spark closed his eyes and smiled nervously. "Oh, no, no, no, there ist no need for such a thing, Red Feather. We art glad simply of having been able to help thee and thy ponyfolk, please."

He looked around as other master and mistress unicorns gathered around them, curious about the conversation. Then he looked back at Red Feather. "We believe the Crystal Empire shalt be safe for thee all now. That ist enough payment for us." He looked at the villages that were still to be repaired. "For us all."

"Lord Jade Spark, I wilt do my best to help thee rebuild thy villages and the palace grounds. It... It wast because of me that this started, so the least I can do ist-"

"No. It wast bound to occur, Red Feather. However… There is nothing to worry about now. Our enemies have been defeated. They art no more, so we wilt be able to rebuild in peace. It wilt be okay now. We think it best that thou returneth to thy home, to reassure thy ponyfolk, and perhaps even help lead it. They wilt be looking forward to somepony to look up to."

Red Feather blushed a bit. "Oh, Lord Jade Spark, I don't think I-"

"With the courage that thou showed today, We believe thou wilt be capable to lead thine empire until a new leader ist found. After all, this battle wast no simple thing, and thou endured well."

Wilder appeared above Jade Spark and Red Feather. He greeted the red pegasus with a grin. "Hey…" He then turned his attention to the taller, green unicorn with glasses. "Who's this guy?"

Jade sighed with a small smile, then pushed his glasses up. "My name ist Jade Spark, sir Wilder. I am one of the princesses' instructors."

"Oh, yeah, you guys! There's a bunch of you. So many unicorns, then a couple earth ponies, and a few other pegasi! Geesh, they sure got a lot of teachers. Almost as many as their servants!"

Jade chuckled a bit and held a hoof over his mouth. "Thou really do have good amusing attempts…"

Wilder stretched and smirked while Jade Spark stepped away from him. "Well, well. That was something spectacular indeed, wasn't it?" He slightly nudged Red Feather to get his attention. "Tell me, Feather… With Sombra gone, will you go back home?"

Red Feather looked up at him. "W-Well, yes, of course... Like Lord Jade Spark said, I... I must get back to the others, and make sure they art alright..."

He looked over his shoulder at the palace and watched the servants and doctor ponies that moved about. I wish I did not have to go, though... This place ist just so... He shook his head and looked at the other two.

Jade Spark nodded. "We wish the best of fortune for thee and thy folks, Red Feather."

Red Feather bowed to them. He smiled, then nodded his head. "Thank thee for helping us. We would not be free without thee... Oh, we wilt always remember it!"

Jade smiled a little as he watched him open his wings to fly. "No need to thank us, really."

"I shalt go get some supplies from the infirmary, my lord, and then wilt be gone. But do not worry-I shalt send the princesses a letter as soon as I arrive at the Crystal Empire. I wilt do my best." He bowed his head again, then began to fly away.

"Bye-bye! Bye, everything is fine now, see ya! Bye!" Wilder waved at him as they watched the red crystal pegasus go. Oddly enough, Red Feather's coat had not recovered the shiny shimmer he had claimed to have been possessed by the crystal ponies before Sombra's rule. Then again, Wilder did not consider that fact too much, already having grown distracted in one of his random games.

"That shiny pony sure put us through something. Phew! Took quite some effort to get rid of those troublesome guys he brought along. Let's not let any strangers in for a while. that will be a great idea."

Jade sighed a bit and gave him a small smile. "Funny thing for thee to say."

"Well, about that…" Wilder glanced at Jade. "So, who exactly are you?"

"I am Jade Spark, sir Wilder, as I said-"

"I know, I know. But who are you?"

"Well, that ist rather a confusing question, heh. I teach the princesses about the magic contained in all things around this world, not only within incantations and spellbooks."

Wilder raised an eyebrow. "That's a subject?"

"It certainly is, it is necessary to learn such a thing. Only then will thine understanding of magic grow and increase thy power."

Wilder rolled his eyes. If that's what it takes to get a teaching career around here, I could be an instructor too! If this guy teaches such a phony subject, I could teach the girls about… About the Science of Fun! I should get paid for that, too! He laughed and shook his head. Nah, that's troublesome…

Jade Spark raised an eyebrow. "Is something wrong?"

"Not really. Where's Luna, then? It's almost night…"

"She rests in her chambers, for she ended up quite exhausted from the fight."

"Oh, tell me about it. Celestia did, too."

"She should be up in no time to raise the moon, though. Princess Luna never fails in her duties." Jade sighed and smiled as he looked at the villagers. "It wilt be safe now that there art no suspicious strangers here to torment us…"

Wilder blinked and smiled as he got an idea. "Or, you know, maybe we should let strangers in as soon as they appear. I love exciting stuff like this, it's gonna make the kingdom so much better! So much more fun, and adventure-filled. You guys are gonna have a blast with me!"

Jade shook his head and chuckled at his hopeless comment. "Speaking of Lady Celestia… How ist she?"

"Oh, she's nice and peachy. You know, sleeping in her room. She'll be feeling like new by tomorrow." He rubbed his claw against his chest and smirked again. "Guess my healing spell did help after all. Go me. Don't worry, she just needs to rest."

"Oh, do we all not… I best go speak to the other instructors and make sure that Lady Luna ist up to raise the moon after all. It wast already delayed long enough because of this attack…"

Wilder shrugged. "Yeah, got that right."

Jade looked aside and watched the royal guards that remained scattered across the city to work. "There ist quite a bit of work to get done… It wilt be quite a busy week. Quite some busy months!"

Wilder chuckled. "Not if I'm around to help. Don't worry, the place will look just fine when I'm through with it tomorrow!" He watched Jade Spark walk away.

"Well… Princess Luna will be busy for the rest of the night, Sir Wilder… What wilt thou do?"

Wilder thought for a bit while he bounced on his tail. "Well, Celestia spoke of the library…"

"The Royal Library? So she spoke of that to-"

"Yeah, I found her there this morning, studying. She read quite a lot, but passed out, so I got her out of there. I think… Anyway! I think I'll go to there and try my luck finding something about myself."

"About thyself? Oh, yes, Lady Celestia spoke of that to me before…" Jade tapped his chin with his hoof and frowned a bit. "She tried to get me to help, but I am afraid I possessed no sufficient information on your species… I am truly sorry, Sir Wilder."

"No need to worry about. It's me. If it's me, who better to find information of me than me!"

"Dost thou need any help?"

"Oh, no, Jadey, I'm fine. You take care of… whatever it is you and your teacher buddies need to do. Be sure to get some rest afterwards, 'cause things will be pretty hot and festive tomorrow."

Jade chuckled. "Yes, I can imagine. After a battle like this…"

"We'll see you later, Jadey! Maybe. If you're lucky, heh, heh!" He waved at him, then teleported back towards the palace.

Jade Spark sighed and walked away to meet with the other instructors. "Very well… Art we all looking forward to tomorrow, everypony? We must be ready…" He nodded at the ponies and began his conversation of events planned for the next day.

Meep. Went and posted Chapter 15 before posting this one. How derpy is that. One of the longest chapters I've posted; fourteen pages on Google Docs ! FOURTEEN PAGES?! That's got to be... either the longest or definitely one of the longest chapters I've posted so far! Jesus, I didn't expect it to be that long at all... What the heck made it so long?!

Anyway! Yay! Wilder saved Equestria after all! And Celestia's life, no less, ooh. How cute. It was his turn to comfort Celestia. And, he still wants to find out stuff about himself. Why do I have a feeling it won't end well...?

EDIT! I made another edit, yeah! Too many edits... _ And this one took me an awful lot of time, too... Only made the chapter that much longer, it seems... But I think it ended up better than before! For some reason I still cannot identify, I decided to introduce a new minor character into the chapter, Jade Spark. He seems kinda cute... I replaced Luna speaking to Red Feather and Wilder at the last of the chapter with Jade Spark. Again, I've got no idea why. I added more text, some more dialogue, fixed some minor stuff to flavor it up... You know, the works.

If only getting a teaching job was as easy as it was a thousand years ago... T^T It seems like you could teach anything! Like Wilder exclaimed. I think at some point they had a teacher whose subject was mud, back when the princesses' parents were in rule... But they dismissed him when the Queen had enough and deemed the irritating, pointless subject absolutely useless. The King did the same for Divination lessons, which was when he founded the Royal Council.

Oh, and minor Doctor Who references, everyone. Kudos if you can spot the two. 'Cause I've become such a major Doctor Who fan.

You guys! I'm thinking about making Chapter 15 a goodbye chapter between Red Feather and Nurse Pureheart. As you may have noticed if you read over the edits or earlier chapters, I am getting more fond of Red Feather, trying to give that background pony more 'background'. More depth. So, what better way to give him more depth than romantically connecting him to somepony! And the poor guy doesn't wanna leave Equestria... So tell me, would busting myself over a goodbye chapter between them be worth it? I need to know before I go ahead and get myself into that. It would be an entirely improvised chapter that I would have to work on from scratch. No RP stuff to base myself off, since in the RP we just kept this guy as a very distant background pony. Seriously, he just disappeared. So... Help? Hopefully you read over this update.