Chapter 21: Getting Back on my Hooves

Medical wing, Canterlot Castle
Local time: 1700
One month, twenty-five days since arrival

It's been a week since I regained consciousness and I've told Celestia and Luna everything I know about Shadow Steel. They didn't take the news well, Luna was just happy that he didn't take control of my body like Nightmare Moon did to her… seeing me in a coma was torture enough, I don't want to think about how she would react to losing me like that. A few other important things happened in the last week but I think it's best if I break it up.

Three days ago the girls released Discord and apparently reformed him, personally I still don't trust him. Upon his return to Canterlot Celestia questioned him about the entity that became Shadow Steel. He said he didn't remember creating him, but I don't blame him it has been over a thousand years, actually I think it's closer to two thousand. All across Equestria there have been minor attacks on every major city except Canterlot, I guess the princesses presence is enough to keep them away… at least for now. From the reports I've read these attacks seem like tests, like he's probing our defenses trying to find a weak point… or maybe he's trying to get them to spread their forces to thin, but I digress. Thinking like that would drive me insane, there is just too much we don't know. Now, onto the things that directly affect me.

The girls have been sending me letters every day, one from Pinkie and one or two from one of the others. Apparently Spike can send letters to more than just Celestia with his flame breath. It pains me knowing what Celestia did to them, I understand why she changed their memories but messing with someone else's head… it just doesn't seem right to me. Anyway, Luna's been visiting me every day and I think I've officially destroyed her normal sleep schedule, she has to be getting about five hours of sleep a day. We've had two dates since I awoke, but there isn't a lot we can do since I've been confined to my bed. Secretly I've been having Shinning build a Paintball arena somewhere around the castle, how he's kept this a secret from the princesses I'll never know. It should be finished in two and a half to three days which is around the time I'll be released from this dreadful place it's so boring. There's not a lot to do here, so far I've read five complete books, watched about thirteen hours of movies and the extended editions of the Lord of the Ring trilogy, in one sitting, which is one of the four things on my bucket list, now to finish it. I'm pretty sure I can skydive here, if anything I'll invent the sport for every other pony, same with scuba diving, the last thing will be difficult though. Meet John Taffer, if I'm lucky there's a pony version of him here in Equestria. Anyway the only relief I get is when one of the nurses takes me outside for my allotted half hour of fresh air. It took forever to convince them to even get me that much, they wanted me to spend the week in the bed only leaving it to use the bathroom.

Well that's been the past week, my wounds are healing normally and there are no complications although my body will feel sore for a week, twelve days at most. Tonight is the first time I'll be out of the room for an extended period of time. Luna has invited me to a dinner with representatives from the Gryphon Empire, for them it's tradition to start and end all diplomatic talks with a feast and since Celestia is busy dealing with Shadow Steel there is an empty seat that needs to be filled. It would be considered disrespectful for the nurses to looking over my shoulder during the meal so two of them will be stationed outside the room in case there are any complications to my health. If the dinner goes well I'll be allowed to go visit Vinyl and Octavia like we planned. They made it clear that whatever they have planned is a surprise, but it will be nice to actually see some of my friends. The only ones who have visited are Celestia and Luna, and Celestia's only visited twice.

A knock on the door stopped my quill from continuing. "Come in," one of the many ponies that work here, servants maybe I never really found out, walked in levitating the suit I'm supposed to wear tonight behind him. "Just put it on the chair." I motioned to the chair that guest would sit in if they planned on staying for a while. I quickly finished my journal entry and put it away only to see the unicorn standing next to the suit. "You're still hear?" He nodded, "Princess Luna informed me that you have never worn a suit before and asked me to help you." I really wanted to tell him that I didn't need his help and that I could do it on my own, ever since I've been here everyone's treated me like a colt no older than four, but I knew he was right "*sigh* Fine, let's get this over with." As he helped me into it the only thing I could think was, "I'm glad this isn't one of those old fashion suits with the powder wigs." Which is a somewhat valid concern considering that Equestria today is equivalent to the US around 1780, maybe earlier. After a good ten minutes of struggling I finally got the suit on and he led me and the two nurses to the dining hall, lucky for me one of the nurses is Redheart. After once again walking, with a slight limp that should go away in about a week, through the labyrinth that is Canterlot Castle we arrived to see Luna waiting outside for me. "Steel, good you're on time."

"You say that like I'm never on time." She glanced at the nurses, "No I was just worried that something might happen on your walk. Anyway everypony else is inside, there are a few things you need to remember. When we enter the gryphon ambassadors will stand and bow, it is expected for us to bow back and when they stand to leave we will bow first. Also, at least pretend to pay attention if you lose interest in the conversation, it's considered disrespectful if anypony loses interest. It's also expected for everypony to eat some of the food from the Gryphon Empire." She looked slightly uncomfortable at mentioning the last part. "You mean meat?" She nodded, "No problem. Shall we?" I said gesturing to the door.

Upon entering the dining hall I noticed that those from the Gryphon Empire were on one side of the table while everypony invited was on the other. Another thing was that there was no food on the table, clearly I kept everypony waiting. The final thing of importance I noticed was that one of the gryphons next to who I believed to be the leaders of this diplomatic envoy, considering they were sitting across from the two empty chairs in the room, looked a lot like Gilda but I have no way of knowing until we are introduced. Walking over to the two empty chairs we did the customary bows and I pulled out Luna's chair like a gentlecolt. Using quick estimation as I sat down I believe that Luna's chair is exactly in the middle of the table. "Steel, allow me to introduce you to our guests from the Gryphon Empire." She gestured to the one sitting across from her, "This is ambassador Swift Wing," Swift Wing looked, well I guess like every other gryphon, since except for their colors and any scars or birthmarks they all looked the same, he had white face feathers and a caramel coat for the lion part of his body along with three scars on his chest, which looked like they were made by another gryphon, that at a casual glance would not be noticed. Luna moved on to the gryphon to his right, "This is ambassador Light Feather, Swift's wife." Light Feather had white face feathers with light grey spots and her body was an amber color. Looking at Swift, Feather and the gryphon to Swift's left its highly likely that the unknown gryphon is their daughter or at least related to them. "And this is their daughter Gilda," Luna said addressing the unknown gryphon. Well she looks like Dash's old friend and has the same name but it could be another gryphon, I don't want to jump to conclusions and embarrass myself and by extension Luna. Before I came to Equestria I had a big problem with the episode with Gilda, while Dash learned a lesson in the end Gilda was the same ass she was in the beginning of the episode. I guess only time will tell if it's the same Gilda. She went on to introduce the remaining gryphons and a few ponies of importance. After that it was time to introduce me, "Swift, Light, Gilda this is Flamingsteel." I could hear some muttering from somewhere on my left, apparently my existence, or more specifically the existence of a male alicorn, is known in the Gryphon Empire or maybe they've just been in Equestria longer than I thought. "Well it's an honor to meet you Flamingsteel."

"Please just call me Steel, everypony else does. It's also an honor to meet you and your family." Unsure of what to talk about I sat back and responded when talked to but otherwise stayed out of the conversation. We talked about many things while we ate the appetizers brought out, eventually the topic of the discussion focused on me. "So Steel, where are you from? Where do you live? What do you do for a living?" I was about to respond when the waiters came back out with the main course. The chefs had made everything, there was steak, rips, pork, salad, pasta, vegetables, but I couldn't stop thinking something was missing. Taking a quick looking around I saw almost everypony looking at the meat dishes with hesitance, even as they took some. I also noticed that every unicorn silently cast a spell on themselves and every other pony discreetly. Taking some food I was about to begin to answer Light's question when the unicorn next to me started to whisper. "Steel, would you like me to cast an anti-gag spell on you?" Anti-gag spell, well I guess that's how they're able to eat meat. "No, I'm good." He looked at me like was crazy so I ignored him and began to eat.

"Well Light, I'm from a small island far out to sea, unfortunately its exact location has been lost to me as I was just a young colt when I came here. What… is there something on my face?" By now everyone else had stopped eating and was staring at me. Swift cleared his throat, "No it's just, well everypony I've met before has been hesitant to eat meat. Everypony here had a spell cast on them so they could eat our traditional foods, even Princess Luna." I looked over and she rubbed the back of her head nervously, "But we have never met a pony who could actually eat meat."

"Yeah well, there's a story behind that. I won't bore you with it unless you want me to. "He nodded, "The island I was born was half volcano and we could only live on the fertile area which affected how much food we could grow. When the first ponies came to the island there was plenty of room to grow food but as time passed and more ponies were born we needed more room for houses so we cut back on the farm land. Eventually there was barely any room to grow anything anymore so we were forced to find other sources of food. The only option we had was to eat the non-sentient mountain goats whom we shared the island with. By the time I was born my people had gotten smart and used the savanna of the nearby desert island to grow our food but by then meat had been a part of our diet for so long nopony wanted to go back to the old ways, it had just become part of everyday life." Everyone, except Luna, was amazed at my story. Luna was the only pony in the room who knew it was just that, a story nothing more. Who knew I could create a story where meat and vegetables were in harmony… "That's it."

"What's it, Steel?" asked Luna. "Oh well I felt something was missing from this feast and I just figured it out. Now, if you'll excuse me everyone I must go speak with the chefs." Walking into the kitchen I immediately sought out the head chef, "Are you the head chef?" he nodded. I quickly wrote down the recipe and hoofed it to him, "Make this as quick as you can and in bulk." Returning to my seat Light asked what I just did to which I responded, "You'll see." I just waved off the rest of their questions about it. "So Light, you had more questions about me?"

"Yes, I wanted to know what you did for a living and where you lived." I nodded, "Of course. Currently I'm unemployed unless you consider being an Element of Harmony a job and since I have a good sum of bits I'm in no hurry to find one. And I live in a town called Ponyville." When I said that Gilda slightly choked on her food before swallowing and continuing on like nothing happened. "Hum, Ponyville I think I've heard about that place before." Said Swift, "Gilda was that one of the places you visited when you were studying abroad?" She started to get nervous, she is defiantly the same Gilda who was once friends with Dash. "Uh, no I don't think so."

"Really, because of how you reacted when the town was mentioned indicates that you have." I could see her shift uncomfortably, "Reaction, what reaction?" By now everyone was interested in our conversation. "Well you almost chocked on your food when I mentioned the name. Now that I think about it, I do remember hearing about a gryphon coming to town once. She was a friend of my friend Rainbow Dash." She knew I was toying with her, "When I first saw you I wasn't sure if it was you but now I'm sure of it. A lot of ponies were displeased with how you acted, especially how you acted towards Fluttershy. Luna and both her parents looked at her with narrowed eyes. Luna's really protective of Fluttershy, I'm not sure if it's because she was one of the first friends Luna made since she was freed or not, at her birthday party somepony bumped into Fluttershy causing her to drop her punch and I was sure Luna was about to lose it, luckily for that pony she didn't. Under the gaze of the three most powerful beings in the room Gilda lowered her head in shame, "Yeah that was me. If you want to yell at me go ahead I deserve it for how I acted."

"I'm not going to yell at you, honestly I just wanted to know you've changed since then. I can see that you've become a better gryphon, a gryphon I'm sure Dash wouldn't mind having as a friend." She looked up at me, "Why would she want to be my friend after the way I acted. I doubt it will ever be the same between us." She just poked at her food, "No, things will never be the same between you two but everypony can change. But friendships change for better or worse and I know Dash will forgive you, she is the element of loyalty for a reason." Gilda looked like she was about to cry, "Thanks, I'll go see her as soon as I have time." Just as we finished having our sappy moment the waiters brought out the food. "Ah excellent timing. Everyone behold one of the dishes from my home, shish-ca-bobs." The ones we had contained sirloin steak, onions, green peppers and chunks of potato. After that the meal continued with nothing of great importance happening, except for me giving Light the proper way to make shish-ca-bobs. After the meal most of the gryphons and ponies returned to their home or other lodging. Only Luna, Swift, Light, Gilda and I remained, they were going to the garden to talk about how things have been since they last saw each other. I was going to go with them but the nurses, who I forgot about, were adamant about me going back. Swift and his family all looked at me waiting for an explanation but Luna said she would tell them later. So with much distain I walked back to the medical room I've been living in for the past two weeks where they proceeded to give me a full checkup because eating is apparently so dangerous to my health. After they gave me a clean bill of health they said I was allowed to go visit Vinyl and Octavia tomorrow.

Somewhere on Swirl St., Canterlot
Local time: 1300
One month, twenty-six days since arrival

At long last I'm on my way to visit Vinyl and Octavia, the doctors refused to let me leave any time before lunch and even then they had one of the nurses escort me. Needless to say walking through Canterlot with a nurse with me made me like less of a pony. I, an alicorn, had to be followed by a nurse because of medical concerns, it was humiliating. Neither Celestia, Luna, nor Cadence have ever need to be treated like this, alicorns are supposed to be practically immortal, unable to die of old age or any medical issues. As we walked I could hear ponies whispering about me as I past. I doubt Celestia and Luna every told anypony else what happened, so I couldn't tell if they were talking about what happened or just speculating. Finally we made it to Octavia's mansion, I knew she was a well know cellist but damn. Her house had to be worth more than everything I had. I knocked on the door and somepony I never met before opened it, either I'm at the wrong house or she has a butler. "Um, is Octavia here?"

"No, not at the moment, she had something to attend to. I take it you're her friend Steel?" I nodded, "Well I'm Fortissimo a friend of Octavia's. I have to thank you for the music you gave Octavia, it's been a big hit in my store, sales have gone way up."

"You own a music store?" He nodded, I could tell he was the kind of pony who could talk for hours about his passion, which is defiantly music. "Yes, one of the more popular ones. I met Octavia when she came in for her first cello and she's been coming to my store ever since. Oh, come in we don't want the ramblings of an old stallion keeping you outside." Octavia's house was surprisingly plain considering the size, there was everything somepony would need but they weren't extremely expensive, actually I think I have a few similar things in my house. "Surprised that she has furniture that the average pony would buy?"

"Yeah, considering the size of her house I assumed that she would have top quality stuff. Actually I think I sold some identical tables when I first moved into my new house." He moved over to one of the cabinets and poured a glass of what appeared to be whisky. "Would you care for a drink?" I nodded and he poured me one as well, it was defiantly whisky. "I can understand why you would be confused, you have to know Octavia's childhood to understand. She grew up in a below average family, they didn't have the money to spend on things they didn't need. When she became famous it carried over, except for the house the only thing she spends her excess bits on is her collection."

"Collection?" He motioned for me to follow him to the next room. The entire room was filled with musical instruments, flutes, violas, even a piano. "I think this is her greatest achievement, the single largest privet collection of historical instruments. She'll tell you her greatest achievement is her music and it might be true, but seeing these instruments and knowing their histories. For instance that piano was owned and used by one of the greatest composers of the post discord era." I gave a small whistle in response, "The average pony would never know that just by looking at it, they would just see a piano. Actually the only reason I know that is because I've spent a lot of time repairing and restoring them, I also helped her track some of these down." I had walked away and now looking at one of the violins. It was intercity detailed and very old, he defiantly spent a lot of time restoring it. "Ah, I see you have an eye for craftsmanship. Do you play?" I chuckled, "Not since high school, even then I wasn't that good."

"Ha, I told you he played something Vinyl." Turning around I saw Octavia and Vinyl walk in. "You owe me twenty bits." In response Vinyl muttered something I couldn't hear. They lead us back into the main room, at this point Fortissimo took his leave after informing Octavia that he had located another historical instrument and that if she was interested to talk to him some other time. "So, why does Vinyl owe you bits?"

"Well during the party after my concert almost a month ago, Vinyl and I got into a small argument. I said that you had to play an instrument because of the songs you recommended were picked to impress while she said that you had just picked good songs since you've listened to them so many times." I nodded mostly because while I did play the violin I picked the songs because I thought they sounded the best. "So what did you two want to do today?" While I'm out of that damned room the medical staff have me on a very short leash. If I so much as leave their sight for more than a minute the docs will be running test on me all night and keep me in Canterlot even longer. "Well first we planned on showing you the city, since you've never just walked around before. After that we'll go to lunch somewhere, then we will do whatever you want until sunset."

"At which point I get to go back to that wonderful room." Vinyl started to laugh, "Nope, then we're going to a club until eleven. I would love to stay later but they want you back no later than eleven thirty. So the three of us will be partying for as long as we can!" Wait three? "Octavia she talked you into this?"

"Yes, apparently when we get together we always do something I like so we're doing something she likes… no matter how much my instincts are telling me it's a bad idea." For the next few hours we walked across Canterlot, Octavia pointed out the important places in the city. Vinyl stayed quiet since Octavia knew the city better than her. She did point out the places Octavia missed or skipped over that she thought were important. Eventually we stopped at one of the cafes and had lunch. "Damn, Canterlot's expensive. You're sure you're okay with paying for me?"

"Yeah Steel, I'm a famous DJ and Tavi's a famous cellist, we have more than enough money. Besides would we bring you someplace that you couldn't afford?" I laughed, "No you wouldn't. But you're right, if I wasn't staying at the castle I doubt I would be able to afford a hotel room for the time I've been here. It's not every day an unemployed pony stays in Canterlot." We all laughed at that. I may be unemployed but I should be able to live for a hundred years off the money I have, assuming that I became immortal when I was turned into an alicorn.

"So Steel, how have the princesses been treating you?" I snorted in annoyance, "I'm grateful for everything they've done but their treating me like a little colt. They only let me out of that room to bathe and piss." Octavia chocked on her water slightly at how blunt I was. "So how's Luna?" asked Vinyl with a suggestive eye gesture.

"She- She's fine." It felt my face heat up, my coat was not dark enough to hide the blush on my face. "So… have you two done it yet?" I spat out the water I was drinking and Octavia gasped in shock. "Vinyl you can't just ask somepony something like that!" Octavia yelled, if I hadn't been embarrassed that Vinyl asked that question I was defiantly embarrassed by how much attention Octavia just drew to our table. While Octavia glared at Vinyl I did my best to hide myself while trying not to look like I was. "What, it's an honest question. Besides don't you want to know, she is one of Equestria's hottest single ponies not to mention a princess. Every other stallion would kill to be in Steel's horseshoes, unless of course they'd prefer Princess Celestia." Octavia looked like she was ready to slap or strangle Vinyl, all while her face looked like a tomato. Lucky for Vinyl our food arrived before Octavia could do anything. Octavia had gotten some fancy dish that's name I could not pronounce, Vinyl got some pasta, vegetable, rice dish and I got soup, a salad, some pasta dish that Octavia recommended, and some cake for desert. Vinyl and Octavia watched with open mouths as I ate everything I ordered, not even one crumb was left. "What? The food they give me is crap, I can barely stomach it. Most of the time I toss most of the stuff out the window. The best part is it's a vertical drop to the base of the mountain from that window, there is almost no chance anypony will find out what I'm doing until I'm long gone. I don't know if you can see it but I'm defiantly a lot skinnier than when they did the operation." Vinyl laughed at that while Octavia looked concerned, "Steel, you have to eat. Starving yourself will only slow the healing process, plus it might put you back in the hospital. Besides the food can't be that bad."

"I take it you've never been in the hospital for an anything longer than a day." She shook her head, "Trust me when I say that the military MRE's I used to have to eat were a lot better than hospital food." The rest of the meal consisted of me and Vinyl trying to convince Octavia that hospital food was one of the worst things anypony could be served while she denied it. In the end I had given up trying to convince her while Vinyl and her were in a stalemate, neither willing to give in but neither had anything left convince the other. I guess it's just one of those things you just have to experience to understand. "So Steel, what do you want to do? There's the theater, the park, the shopping district."

"The sculpture garden, the hiking trails, and as much as I detest going there the library. No offense Steel but your magic is behind anypony who went through magic kindergarten." I chuckled, they didn't even think of what I'm going to suggest. "No, I've got something else in mind. Besides you would never get me to go to the sculpture garden. As far as I know Discord has gotten over his time as a statue so he spends all his time there." They shuddered at the thought of spending anytime near discord. I led them back across Canterlot to the one place I really wanted to go. When we got there Octavia was shocked and disappointed while Vinyl rolled on the ground laughing, they must have some pretty clean roads if she even thought about doing that. "Out of all the places you could chose you choose an arcade?"

"Yeah, back home I was quite the gamer. I want to see how your games stack up. I also want to see how far along your gaming technology is." After Vinyl composed herself we went in. It was like going back in time, they had the old arcade machines and in the back they had a small store, something I should checkout if I'm going to keep getting hurt and confined to beds. Looking around I saw a lot of familiar titles. Snake, Pong, Dig Dug, Space Invaders, Pac-man… the classics, they were all there or at least the pony equivalent. Personally I've never been to an arcade being born in the console age. Taking a moment away from looking at the games I just listened to the sound of colts and the occasional filly laughing with the sound of games in the background. "So Steel, you wanted to come here, what now?"

"Well first I'm going to that small store in the back. Then I'll find out if the games run on bits or tokens. After that I'll just wing it." Walking to the back I saw an older stallion manning the counter. He had a green coat that was faded and graying with a gold mane that faded to white at the end. When he saw me approaching he smiled, "Well if it isn't Equestria's newest prince come to my humble establishment. I have to say it's a surprise to see you here." I rubbed the back of my head nervously, "Actually I'm not a prince, I'm not royalty." And I thought I hear Vinyl mutter "not yet anyway" but I couldn't be sure. "While I was walking around town I saw your arcade, truth is I was an avid gamer back home, so I decided to check this place out." He chuckled, "Sorry about the prince thing, an alicorn not being royalty is unheard of and I mostly keep to this place so I don't read the paper that much. Here take these, the first few games are on the house." He placed a few dozen tokens on the counter and pushed them towards me. "Oh no I can't."

"Don't worry about it, consider it a trade. If word spreads around that you were seen playing some of my games, ponies all over Canterlot will come here to see why you came. Trust me I'll make five times what I'm giving you. Hey I'm having a promotion if you beat the high score on that Pack-pony game you'll win the prize package over there." Looking at the display there was a hoof held gaming device similar to a game boy with about a dozen games for it, about six of those old one game joysticks that plugged into a TV, a TV that looked like it was from the 90's, about three dozen tokens and what looked like a hundred bits. In total it was a big fucking prize. "Are you sure about that prize, all that stuff has to be expensive."

"Yeah I'm sure, most ponies don't buy the games for the TV considering only the ponies that have about a thousand bits lying around can afford a TV. And the only ponies who buy the hoof held games are the hardcore gamers who save up all year and then some to buy one. You see most ponies just come here to play the games, it's a lot cheaper for them so most of that stuff would just sit behind the counter anyway. Besides that Pac-pony is the first game I bought for the store, I set that high score almost twenty-five years ago and nopony has ever beaten it. There have been a few over the years that have gotten close but after losing they lose any hope of winning, can't say I blame them spending almost five hours in front of that machine only to lose… it real depressing." Looking at the machine I saw it showed the wear and tear of being used by so many ponies for so many years, it had be repainted and repaired so much I didn't think any of it was still the original thing. He clearly cared a lot about that machine just like any other gamer would in his position would, you never forget your first system. "Are there any rules?"

"A few, I have to watch you for the entire game, you have to play continuously, and you can use no more than three extra tokens. Plus an old friend of mine works at the local new paper so you'll get your own column in that. Why, you thinking of taking the challenge?"

"Not today, I've been stuck in the hospital for over two weeks today is about relaxing but I'll take on your challenge one day." I turned to walk away but then stopped, "You know I never got your name." He chuckled, "Just like an old stallion to forget to introduce himself, I'm Inner Workings but everypony calls me System because of the arcades name." I smiled and left to find Octavia and Vinyl who had taken some of the tokens and walked away while System and I were talking. Eventually I found them playing Pong, not something I would have recommended but at least they were having some fun. For the next two hours we played the various games until we ran out of tokens. As we left I thanked System for the tokens and as we were walking away from the arcade I looked back and saw its name "Game Systems Arcade". We decided to spend the remaining time until we headed to the club by hiking one of the trails on the part of the mountain above Canterlot. As the sun started to set we found ourselves on a small plateau about twenty feet above Canterlot, it was one of the most beautiful sunsets I've ever seen. But as the sun set I couldn't help but notice that Vinyl and Octavia were a little closer together than normal but I held my tongue because I didn't want to ruin their moment. Once the sun had set we walked down the rest of the trail to the city, luckily the cities lights lit up the path for us otherwise we could have gotten lost or fell to the city below. I've been in the hospital too long the last thing I need is to be stuck there even longer or for one of my friends to be stuck there with me.

As Vinyl led us through the streets I could hear the wubs of the club getting louder. Where ever we're going is defiantly Vinyl's type of place. As we got closer Octavia seemed to get nervous, "You okay Octavia?" She shook her head, "Not really, I've never been to a club before."

"I understand, I've only been to clubs three maybe four times and I've only been to one Equestrian club. Hopefully this one won't be too different. Stay with me and you'll be fine." Turning the corner I finally saw the club. It was a three story building made of white marble with gold trimmings but that's where the similarity to the rest of the city ends. Embedded in the gold were neon lights of various colors and strobe lights on the roof. The windows had some kind of glass that only allowed the ponies outside to see colored lights and the shadows of anypony near the windows. The door was about a meter thick and made of steel, I guess if anypony got passed the two bouncers, who rivaled Big Macintosh in size and stature, somepony inside would close the door keeping them out. I guess the same could be said if a fight broke out inside that door would keep it contained until the guards showed up. Vinyl led us past the line of ponies that stretched around the block and walked up to one of the bouncers. "Hey guys, how's it been?"

"It's been fine, a few fights and some drunks you know the usual. What about you, haven't seen you around here in a while." She chuckled, "Yeah well I've been busy with my new friends. You know how it goes." They laughed, "Yeah we know how it goes. Go on in." Vinyl and Octavia walked past but they stopped me, "Whoa where do you think you're going?"

"He's with me guys." The bouncer on the left shook his head, "Sorry V, boss' new rule, VIP's only get one extra guest." Octavia gasped in surprise while Vinyl stood there with a shocked expression. "What!? Since when?"

"Last week, you remember that insufferable prick Blueblood?" She nodded and I grimaced at the mention of his name, "Well he brought three of his friends with him plus a guard for each one of them, eight ponies in total. So they're sitting at one of the booths when one of the other ponies in there accidentally falls of the sage into the booth causing all the drinks to spill onto them. Naturally the pony apologized and offered to buy them all replacement drinks but Blueblood didn't think that was good enough. So he got his guard to drag the poor pony towards the door with the intent to throwing him out." The bouncer rubbed his face in annoyance and his partner picked up the story. "Luckily the pony's friend saw this and came to get us, one thing led to another and things spiraled out of control. The pony that spilled Blueblood's drinks remained in the club, Blueblood and his group were asked kindly to leave. When they didn't we tried to 'remove' them and the guards attacked us. So, him and his friends have been band and now he's suing us for harassment. The boss is pissed to say the least, give it a few weeks and things will be back to normal." Vinyl was not happy, "I've been coming to this club for over a year, you guys know I'd never bring anypony who would cause trouble here. Can't you make an exception?" The bouncers shook their heads, there was nothing they could do.

"Its fine Vinyl, you two go have fun I'll head back." As I turned to leave one bouncers stopped me. "Wait… go get the boss, I'll wait here." His partner nodded and went inside. We waited outside for a good five minutes, Vinyl glared at the bouncer the entire time. When the other bouncer came back out he was followed by a pony in a suit. "This better be important I'm still putting the final touches on our defense, court is tomorrow." The first bouncer just motioned towards me, "Yes I see him, and?"

"Well, it's your new rule sir. V wanted to bring him in but you said only one guest per VIP and she has another guest." I saw the pony, who I assumed was the club owner, was about to facehoof but just rested his hoof on his head instead. "He's an alicorn, that makes him not only an exception but also a VIP. Honestly I don't know why I put up with you." The bouncer grunted, "Well sorry for taking my job seriously." The owner shook his head and motioned for the three of us to go in. Instantly I knew that this would be different than the club in Ponyville. Before I even looked inside I could smell some type of alcohol and looking around at stallions and mares that could barely stand only confirmed my theory. Since I'm not familiar with the laws of Equestria either Ponyville has a law against alcohol at clubs and Canterlot has more lax laws or special requirements or a permit is needed to sell alcohol which the club in Ponyville doesn't have. Either way this was going to be an entirely new experience for both me and Octavia. "You should see the looks on your faces." I glared at Vinyl but it didn't get rid of the smug look on her face or keep her from chuckling. Following the still chuckling Vinyl we were led deeper into the club. A few times I would have lost Vinyl if it hadn't been for the fact that practically tower over everypony. I'm pretty sure the only reason we didn't lose Octavia was also my height. Vinyl led us to the VIP section of the club, this place was one of these clubs where the VIP section has its own dance floor. She led us to one of the booths, "So now that you've seen the place, what do you think?"

"Well, it's defiantly going to be different to the club in Ponyville." Octavia just shrugged, "I've never been to a club before but this defiantly looks like something you'd enjoy." Vinyl just laughed, "Don't worry you'll get the hang of it after a few minutes. If you're lucky maybe you get some stallions to buy you some drinks. Hey, waitress let's get some drinks over here!" A round of drinks later Vinyl went off to talk to the DJ leaving Octavia and I with two options. One, stay in the booth and wait for something interesting to happen or two, head out onto the dance floor. Once we were on the dance floor I tried my best to stay close to Octavia but even with my height I lost her. I danced for a while and drew the attention of more than a few mares. I'm pretty sure I even saw a mare twerking, for the sake of ponykind I hope I was wrong, that evil should never come to Equestria. I was with being surrounded on all sides by mares but when they started rubbing up against me I decided it was time to head back to the booth. Once I was off the dance floor a few of the mares asked me to go with them back to their booths but I declined. Back at the booth I saw Vinyl with a large smile on her face, "What's wrong Steel, isn't it every stallions dream to be surrounded by mares that want him?"

"Did you forget Vinyl, I'm in a committed relationship." She pouted, "You're no fun. So what happened to Tavi?" I shrugged, "No idea." Vinyl didn't seem too concerned, "Eh, we'll find her before we leave. Besides I know the nopony who would be a problem so it's not like we have to worry." Normally I would disagree but this is Equestria so if Vinyl says she'll be okay I guess its fine. I looked around trying to find a clock but couldn't find one, "Hey Vinyl, you're supposed to bring me back by eleven thirty right?" She nodded, "Well I don't see any clocks. How are we supposed to know what time it is?"

"Don't worry about it Steel. I talked to the DJ he's going to play a specific song at eleven. Once the song is over we grab Tavi and leave." I had to admit it was a good plan. The only problem is that the whole thing depends on the DJ, "You're sure we can trust the DJ?" She just waved off my concerns, "Yeah I've know this guy for a long time. He worked at the club that gave me my first DJ gig. He was the pony who taught me the basics of working at a club. Well that's enough reminiscing let's get back to enjoying ourselves." A few drinks later my vision was slightly blurry, Vinyl seemed fine but I know appearances are deceiving. I went back to dancing for a bit but quickly decided to stop when I tripped over myself and landed on Vinyl. I was in the middle of a drunken conversation with her when Low by Flo Rida started playing. "Okay Steel, that's the song lets go find Tavi." After a few minutes of searching I found her in a booth with four stallions. "Come on, you'll have a great time?"

"I said no." I saw her wobble a bit in her seat, "Did you put something in my drink." She nearly toppled over and two of the stallions moved next to her and started leading her to the door. "Hey what do you think you're doing?" Their apparent leader looked over at me, "Nothing that concerns you… unless you want a piece of her, there's plenty to go around." Scum like them make me sick, "That's my friend and you're not taking her anywhere!"

"Who are you to tell us what to do!? Let's teach this guy a lesson boys!" Even in my drunk state I'm more than a match for four stallions, especially if they're intoxicated. The first was an earth pony who tried to use his strength against me, tripping him combined with a few well-placed jabs was enough to leave him on the ground writhing in pain. The second and third came at me in a tag team, one was a unicorn and the other a pegasus. By now the crowd realized we were fighting a moved off to a safe distance while some ponies fled the club all together. The unicorn attacked with a combination of his hooves and short ranged magical attacks. The unicorn charged his hooves with a small amount of electricity, not enough to cause me to lose feeling in my limbs but it still hurt. The pegasus used hit and run tactics, charging at me then retreating to a distance. A few hits from the unicorn to my rear left leg rendered it useless and the pegasus was lucky enough to dislocate my right wing. I managed to lock my hooves with the unicorn's and while we tried to overpower each other the pegasus moved behind me. Unfortunately for him I saw this coming and used my magic to take a bottle off a nearby table and smash it into his head causing it to shatter and just to make sure he was unconscious I threw him out a window. The sound of breaking glass distracted the unicorn long enough for me to overpower him and land a crushing blow to his face possibly breaking his nose. Turning around I saw their leader, who was an earth pony, trying to escape with Octavia on his back. "Get back here!"

"Stop!" Looking past him I saw about a dozen royal guards moving in to surround us. "By order of the princesses both of you are to surrender." Knowing that fighting the guards would only make things worse I got out of my fighting stance and laid down on the floor. The earth pony wasn't so smart, he tried to run past the guards with Octavia still on his back. One guard tackled him just another guard levitated Octavia off his back. Behind the line of guards I saw Vinyl, her muscles were so tense I thought they would snap. Clearly she want to beat the shit out of that pony for what he did and what he planned on doing to Octavia. The guards put hoofcuffs on my forelegs and hind legs along with some sort of magic suppressor on my horn and some sort of cuffs on my wings. They led us to a dungeon or at least a holding area somewhere near the castle. Once I was in the cell and the hoofcuffs were removed I went over to the bed and collapsed on in and promptly fell asleep as the drinks from before and the loss of adrenaline took their toll.

Holding cell, near Canterlot Castle
Local time: 0900
One month, twenty-seven days since arrival

As I woke up before I even opened my eyes I was aware of some rather impatient tapping coming from somewhere in the room. Opening my eyes I saw I was still in the holding cell, I had hoped last night was a dream. Rolling over so I was facing the part of the cell with the door I immediately regretted waking up. Outside my cell stood a very unhappy Luna, "Look I can explain."

"EXPLAIN, THOU HAVE THE GAUL TO ACT LIKE ENDING UP IN HEAR WASN'T THINE FAULT!" The Royal Canterlot Voice, I really fucked up this time. "Wait!" I heard somepony, or maybe it was two ponies, running down the hall towards my cell. When the pony came into view I was surprised to see not only Vinyl but Octavia as well, I was sure she would be at home recovering. "Princess please don't be mad at Steel, it wasn't his fault. If it's anypony's fault its mine.

"No Octavia it wasn't your fault. Sure I started the fight but if its anypony's fault is the jackasses in the other cells." Vinyl shifted nervously on her hooves, "Actually, there's only one other pony in here with you. The other three are in the hospital. The earth pony who was foolish enough to take you head on has at least four broken ribs, the Pegasus has a concussion and a dislocated wing," Looks like I threw him out that window harder than I thought, "The unicorn has a broken nose and some missing teeth. The pony in the other cell got lucky, he only has a bruise from where the guards rammed into him." Just then I heard a groan coming from the cell next to mine. "It looks like he's waking up." I heard him grunt in annoyance, I guess he got a look at his cell. "Oh, hey there babe, you here to take me up on last night's offer?" I really wanted to beat the shit out of him. Vinyl stood between his cell and Octavia, "Oh, you brought a friend, so you want to share me huh?" That's it I'm about to find out how thick these walls are. I bucked the wall between our cells with everything I had, either these walls aren't strong enough or I'm stronger than I thought. As soon as I was through the wall I just started hammering him. I heard Luna gasp in shock, somepony ran down the hall and somepony, I think it was Vinyl, snorted in a way that suggested he deserved what he was getting. I hit him until his face looked like a bloody pulp then I grabbed him by the neck and pinned him to the wall. "Now I want to make something perfectly clear. If I ever hear that you were treating them or any of my friends like that again I will find you and I will fucking end you. Do you understand me?" He didn't respond so I shook him. "I said, do you understand me?" I heard him gurgle so I let go and he collapsed, "Close enough." The guards finally got to the cells just as I got back on my bed. Six of them pinned me to the ground while the others checked on the other pony.

So apparently before coming to visit me Vinyl and Octavia had talked to the guard assigned to my case about what happened last night. He decided I acted in self-defense and in the defense of Octavia, so after Luna was done talking to me I was going to be released. The keyword being was. After attacking that stallion I was put in a solitary confinement cell, Luna, Vinyl and Octavia told the guard that the stallion harassed not only Octavia but also Vinyl. Although I acted in the defense of another he deemed that I went too far, so they kept me in my new cell for three hours and decided that I needed to pay for that stallion's medical treatment. Once I was released Luna and I walked back to the castle, Vinyl and Octavia had gone back to Octavia's house earlier. The walk was a little annoying since my hind leg was still sore from the fight last night. As soon as we got inside the castle Luna forced me into one of the bathrooms, I had washed most of the blood off of myself before we left but some of it was still on my coat so I had to take a bath. It was relaxing to have a nice calming bath, since I was in the hospital I wasn't allowed to bathe myself, which I think is utterly ridiculous but they were probably just being careful. While I was washing myself Shinning came by and informed me that my surprise for Luna was ready. I told him we would be there soon and he left instructions on how to get to it. Once I was clean I led Luna to the place Shinning had instructed me to go to. Looking at it I'm not surprised nopony stumbled upon him making it for me, although I still don't know where he got the funds I know I didn't pay him. Anyway the place was an old guard training facility at the base of the mountain on the opposite side Canterlot was on, I guess they got a new one, this place is kind of small. Sitting in front of the building was Shinning and as soon as he saw us he walked over. "Glad you made it. I was afraid you'd get lost."

"Why, I was in the military, I can read a map." Shinning laughed and motioned for us to follow him. As he led us inside Luna decided to continue our conversation from before we left. "Steel, you still haven't told me what we're doing. While I do enjoy the mysterious nature of our date I'm not entirely sure I want to do anything in the old abandoned training facility."

"Trust me Luna, even if you don't like it, it will be an experience you'll never forget" Finally inside Shinning led us to what I'm dubbing the gear room. I gave Luna one of the full body suits and a face mask. The mask was basic black with a clear visor and the suit was grey color with spots of green all over it, clearly it was designed for urban and forest combat. "Here, put these on." She was confused but put them on anyway. "So Shinning, we can't do this with only three ponies who else did you bring."

"They're in the next room finish gearing up and meet me in there." Putting on my own gear witch was almost identical to Luna's except I had Shinning put some personal touches on my mask. Instead of the basic black mine had my cutie mart painted on the forehead over the forest camo pattern. It also had a midnight blue colored visor, it makes everything darker but it looks cool. Once we were both ready I had Luna follow me into the next room. There were another nine ponies in there with Shinning. All of them were unicorns, something I found a little confusing but didn't pay that much attention to. "So these are the guards?" He nodded, "And they all have basic training on hope to use the gear?" Another nod, "Good, this would be no fun if everypony was an FNG."

"FNG?" I laughed, "Fucking new guy. Okay Luna lest get you through the basics." Shinning brought out two paintball rifles, they had been modified to resemble crossbows most likely to be more practical. "Luna, were about to play a game called paintball. I used to play this back home. The rules are simple, stay in the designated zone, you get hit once you're out, it only counts as a hit if the pellet breaks, and no physical contact, magical attacks, or flying. We're playing three rounds, six pony teams. Now this is yours." I gave her the basic black rifle while I kept the one that was painted white and had the assassin's symbol. This is where Shinning took over the briefing, since I had never used these before. "Okay, to load it pull the small tab on the lower part of the front. To reload the propellant, which you probably won't need to do, pull the tab in the back and replace the cartage. To fire pull this small handle on the side back, you only need to do this the first time, then just point and pull the trigger." I pointed at the trigger just to make sure she knew what it was. "And that's it, you ready to play. Think I forgot anything Shinning?" He shook his head, "Good, now how are we picking teams, premade or on the spot pick?"

"Premade, your captain of team one and I'm captain of team two. You have Luna and these four on your team and I have everypony else." He gestured to the ponies standing to the right of him. "We have three different arenas, the indoor, the outdoor and the forest. Indoor is four rooms and one room is two stories and has a balcony. The outdoor is a single level cover on both sides with a small stretch of coverless area between the two sides. The forest is just that, a forest. A small part of the forest has been cordoned off for guard training. There is no extra cover only the trees and any ditches. Now… let's get started.

The next few hours were extremely fun. I felt bad for Luna, the first round she was hit in the forehead almost immediately. But after that she had a great time, it took her awhile to get the hang of things though. Granted I was the last one standing on my team most rounds, but we all had fun. After the last round Luna got out of her suit with a smile on her face and I asked Shinning how he funded this. Apparently when he asked for money from the budget for training nopony questioned him. He also told me that as of right now the only ponies who can play paint ball are unicorns, since nopony else had a way to hold the rifles. But he said that he would find a way to make it work for the other ponies. After that Luna and I headed back to the castle. We were too tired to do anything else so we headed back to our rooms, I slept until dinner, ate, and then went back to bed.

Train station, Canterlot
Local time: 1000
One month, twenty-eight days sine arrival

At long last I can finally go home. Sure I'll miss seeing Luna on a daily basis but there's always been something about being in my own home. I don't know what it is but I've always felt the most comfortable in the place I called home no matter where I was or who I was with. Luna came with me to the station and we met Octavia and Vinyl there. We all said our goodbyes, "Well, I guess this is it. Octavia if you're ever in Ponyville don't be a stranger, come visit. Vinyl, well I'll see you when you get back. Luna, visit when you can, my door is always open for you." I then kissed her, luckily everypony was too busy with their own things to pay any attention to us. As the train pulled into the station Vinyl decided to ask me something. "Hey Steel, how come you always call us by our names? I mean I have a nickname for Octavia, so why don't you give your friends nicknames?"

"Well, it's from my time in the military. In basic we gave each other nicknames but it was always something the pony constantly did or something we were good at. I haven't found anything that would be a good nickname for any of you… yet. I better go find a seat, bye guys." After finding a seat I waved at them as the train left. The trip itself was uneventful I grabbed a snack from the dining car but that was it. In Ponyville Twilight and our friends met us at the station they we all happy to see me. Pinkie even wanted to through a party, but after what happened and being in the hospital I just wanted to go home, so she agreed to wait for another time. Walking back home was more eventful than the train ride, most ponies waved or said hello some even stopped to talk a bit, it seems me being in the hospital is common knowledge. Just outside my house I ran into Derpy who apologized a few hundred times for being away during what happen in the Everfree and then for not visiting me in the hospital. I don't hold it against her, everypony has a job that needs to be done or somepony to take care of. After she left I finally got to go into my house, unfortunately my relaxation will have to wait. The unknown stallion on my couch takes top priority. "Who the fuck are you and what are you doing in my fucking house!?"

Authors note: Well there you go a nice long chapter for all of you. The next chapter will be much smaller and, if everything goes as planned, should be posted around Nightmare Night… also known as Halloween.