Meanwhile, back with Chloe, Aylene and Stephan, the three best friends, they still shared their special and touching moment together, but once they stopped and calmed down their tears, they broke their hug and so Stephan lowered Chloe and placed her back down on the floor while Aylene let go of Stephan's upper human back and started climbing down from his lower horse back (which she stood on) and went back to the floor as well, and once the three managed to calm down after their special moment with each other, Stephan said "Now let's go and explore the castle, girls.", and then Chloe and Aylene said back to him in unison "Yes, Stephan.", before all three friends - the human, the Pegasus and the centaur - went together to explore the royal castle and have some more fun with each other.

Later, after they explored the inside of the royal castle, Chloe asked Stephan "You like it here in the royal castle?", and then Stephan said back to her "Chloe, this is great!", and then Aylene added and said "And you don't have to worry about anything, Stephan! We'll give you everything and whatever you need!", and just then an idea came up in Chloe's mind, and so she put her own hands in her clothes for a moment to search herself, but before she did so, she asked Stephan to close his eyes and move his arms and hands forward, since the teenage human girl was going to give him something really special, and once Stephan closed his eyes and reached out his arms and hands towards Chloe, she pulled out of her clothes a beautiful shiny red ruby stone, and then she placed it down right in Stephan's hands and then she told him to open his eyes and see for himself what kind of special surprise she just gave him.

Then, when Stephan opened up his eyes and saw the shiny red ruby stone in his hands, he gasped in shock before Chloe gently closed his hands before she then moved his arms and hands very slowly back to himself so not to damage or accidentally break the red ruby stone, and once Chloe managed to place Stephan's arms and hands (with the red ruby stone is still held inside them) against his upper human chest, Chloe said to him "Please take that shiny red ruby stone, Stephan! It's all yours now!", and then Aylene added "It's something really special that we'd like to give to such a special friend as you, Stephan!", and Stephan couldn't help but gasp in shock as he realized that Chloe and Aylene are giving him the shiny red ruby stone as a special gift (which friends rarely receive from those who are rich).

However, Stephan soon shook his head and said to Chloe and Aylene "No, I can't take that beautiful shiny red ruby stone from you! Your mother and your aunt will be so angry at you if they find out that you gave me such a precious treasure!", but then Aylene giggled and said to him "They won't be angry, Stephan! Mother Celestia and Aunt Luna have so many of these shiny stones of all types and of all kinds of colors, and so they decided to give us one of these beautiful shiny stones at their own free will because they actually wanted you to have one, and so they asked us to give it to you when you come all the way here at Nightmare Night!".

When Stephan realized that Celestia and Luna actually wanted to give him a beautiful and precious shiny stone because of his strong friendship bonds and relationships with Chloe and Aylene, Stephan couldn't help but shed some tears of joy before he clutched the shiny red ruby stone very tightly so not to let it fall off and then he placed it very close to his own human heart so to keep his friendship bonds and relationships with Chloe and Aylene alive and intact for many more years to come, before he looked at both Chloe and Aylene who smiled happily at him and then he said to them "Thank you for being such good friends for me! I really deserve to have you two as my friends, for I knew that after everything we've done together and after I saved the both of you twice before from the evil brothers and later on from that disgraced Akeno - this is how you both repay me with your kindness and even give me something special as this beautiful shiny red ruby stone as a special gift!", and then he placed the shiny red ruby stone inside his disguise before he then pulled Chloe and Aylene into a tight and loving friends hug as he was so happy to have the two of them as his best friends which he really needed for the most ever since his father killed his mother and betrayed him and abused him and the twins to the point they ran away from him to find a new place to stay and live and call a new home.

Then, when Stephan pulled away from Chloe and Aylene and broke their friends hug and let go of the both of them, the teenage male centaur said "I promise you two that I will treasure this shiny little red ruby stone, always." while his heart is still warm and melting, but that was before he let out a deep sigh to calm himself down again and then he added "I would like to stay here and eat with you and with your mother and your aunt some dinner tonight. I'm sure that my experience here would be as good as I hope it will, like in when I arrived here in the castle, for an instance.", and when Chloe and Aylene heard what he said, they smiled at him before Chloe said first "Oh, Stephan, I'm sure you will be very happy when you'll be our guest at our dinner tonight!", and then Aylene added "And Chloe and I we both also hope that maybe you could stay here for tonight, and at next morning we'll talk to Mother Celestia and to Aunt Luna about that your worst fear isn't over yet, and also tell them to send Shujaa and all the other royal guards to search all of this part of Equestria so we can find your evil father and bring him to justice for everything he have done to you!", and then Chloe said as she turned to the teenage Pegasus mare "Yes, Aylene! Stephan needs our help after he helped us so much and saved us so many times before!", and then she added as she looked back at him in the eyes with a determined look "We're going to help you and protect you from your worst enemy who wants to kidnap you and take you away from us and from everybody else! We will never let your own father who abused you so many times in your life get you ever again, and we promise you that we will never let him get and have his evil hands on you ever again for everything bad that he already have done to you in your whole life!".

When Stephan heard what Chloe and Aylene both said to him about that they're willing and determined to save and even do their best to protect him from his evil father, the teenage male centaur smiled at them once more and then he said to them "Oh, Chloe and Aylene, I'm so glad that I met you two. You're both the best special friends I have ever had and really needed for the most.", and that is before the human and the Pegasus went up to each side of his larger body and then they held at each of his human hands with a hand and a forehoof of each of theirs, and then the three friends started walking down the halls of the royal castle together while they're holding hands and hooves with each other, and in midway, Aylene even raised up a wing before she slowly placed it right behind Stephan's upper human back, and after a few more minutes of walking down the halls, the three inseparable friends finally made it to the door.

Then, Chloe and Aylene slowly pushed and opened the door together with a free hand and a free hoof of each of theirs, wanting to make this happy moment last for as long as it could (and also for as long as it can), but when they had the door opened wide and they walked right out into the hallway, the moment was ruined as the worst centaur imaginable have finally found them, slowly stalked and approached them from right behind them, before he ended up reaching close enough to them and arrived and stopped right behind their backs, and to make matters worse - he didn't looked happy at all to see his son hanging around and having fun with the human and Pegasus, whom he quickly saw as true threats to his own son's future.

Just then, Stephan, Chloe and Aylene all suddenly felt an angry snort hit the backs of their necks and then it traveled down their spines in the form of hot boiling rage, before Stephan also felt a familiar hot and boiling rush and great fear as his human arms and horse legs began to tremble with fear, while Chloe's hands immediately went into fists and Aylene readied her forehooves and also prepared herself to attack, for they both knew who is standing right behind them and Stephan. Then, Stephan was the first to turn around, and he did so very slowly as he then felt another angry snort suddenly hit his face as he then looked up and saw Howard looking down at him with furrowed brows of deep anger and with boiling rage inside him as he also started bearing his teeth angrily at Stephan.

Then, Howard yelled at his teenage son "Stephan! Would you kindly tell me what you are doing here in the princesses' castle with these filthy Pegasus and infernal human being?!", and then he added "And why you decided to make friends with them and leave Brandon, Biff and their Zebrataurs herd against my permissions?!", and when Chloe and Aylene heard the evil centaur's angry voice yelling at their best friend, the two quickly turned around as well to face him before they both showed Howard a couple of angry and serious looks, as well as a couple of hard stares as they both looked up at him in the face, and that's before Howard continued and said to Stephan "And I thought I told you that you could never see these two crazy and completely insane female creatures again!".

However, Chloe said to him in defiance "Oh yeah?! And who are you to tell him who he can see and who he can't! You're not exactly a good father to be listening to, you jerk!", and then Aylene added in agreement as she growled in anger at the demonic adult male centaur "Yeah! You're nothing but a big old jerk who only abuses your very own son!", but when Howard heard what the two said to him, he looked down at them with an angry face and with eyes boiling with pure rage before he then said "Oh, really?! Is that what you both had learned thanks to your filthy white orangutan and all your other guards investigating my home and finding my wooden club?!", and then he lowered and leaned in very closely to both Chloe and Aylene and added "You two can stop your whole tough act, young girls! All it does to you two is get you into nothing but trouble! You two don't tell me how to raise my own son! EVER!" he roared in anger as he tried to scare Chloe and Aylene, who still, however, kept standing defiantly in front of him and kept their hard stares and angry looks on their faces as they kept staring him down.

Then, Chloe asked angrily and said to Howard up in the face "So what are you going to do about it?! Hurt me and Aylene like you hurt him and the twins?!", and then Aylene added "We both know what it's like having a monster like you for an adult family member! And you, Howard, you're indeed a real monster!", and then the two girls growled together in anger defiantly, much to Howard's shock and displeasure to see a couple of girls daring to mess with him and talking back to him, before Chloe then said "You don't deserve to have your son, and our mother and our aunt will also make sure that you'll never get him back to yourself!", and then Aylene added "Stephan doesn't belongs with you, you evil monster with no heart to share!", and then Chloe called "Shujaa, come here now! Quickly, please!", but then Howard chuckled madly and said to her and to Aylene as he then grabbed Stephan by one of the wrists "It's no use, young girls! I already took care of your filthy white orangutan before I finally found you here!".

When Chloe, Aylene and Stephan all heard what he said about that he managed to overpower and knock Shujaa out cold before he (Howard himself) managed to find them, the three friends gasped in shock before Aylene asked the evil centaur "How did you managed to overpower and knock Shujaa out cold just like that?!", and then Howard used a free hand of his own and lit it up with magic before he surrounded both Chloe and Aylene in the magic's gray aura and then he violently threw Chloe and Aylene against a wall in a brute force, before he evilly said "I used my own magic of course!" and then he briefly laughed evilly as Chloe and Aylene barely recovered and quickly stood up again, only to then see Howard forcing Stephan to go with him by grabbing at both of his wrists, and despite Stephan tried his best to break free from his evil father's grip, Howard managed to have a firm grip on Stephan before he said to him evilly "Everything's over now and no more games, young centaur! You're coming with me back home, Stephan!", and Stephan cried for help as he looked and saw Chloe and Aylene quickly trotting, galloping and running fast and coming back to help him "Chloe! Aylene! Please, help me!".

However, Howard quickly turned tail and bucked both Chloe and Aylene and sent them rolling backwards with his hind horse legs and hooves, and when Stephan saw what his evil father is doing to the two girls he loves as his best friends for the most, he turned to look at his father in the eyes and asked him "Why would you do that to my friends, Father?! What did the girls did to you to deserve being bucked in the face like this?!", but then he suddenly got slapped twice across his face before Howard said to him "Don't you dare start mouthing off to me, young centaur! I told you not to go anywhere except to Brandon's Zebrataurs herd! I told to say no and tell nothing about yourself to those filthy princesses! I am your one and only father! And you will do as I say because you're mine and all mine! Now say goodbye to the two female creatures! You will never see them ever again!", and then he forcefully pulled Stephan away and forced him to go away from Chloe and Aylene and come with him instead.

However, Chloe and Aylene quickly recovered from the attack and then they stood back up and ran towards Howard and Stephan once again, before they stopped behind them and then Chloe angrily asked "Why should Stephan say anything in your name?! Or say goodbye just because YOU say it?!", and then Aylene added "I suggest you should do us both a favor and pick on somepony your own size, you jerk!", but when Howard heard what the human and Pegasus said, he stopped dead in his tracks before he turned around to face them, and then he growled angrily and looked down at the both of them, thus staring them down before he then yelled in anger "DO YOU TWO DARE TO CHALLENGE ME?!", and then Chloe back said to him "You're no real centaur, Howard! And you're not even a father worth listening to either!", and then Aylene added "All you really do is attack and harass your own children because you're not adult enough to fight others your own size! And to be honest...", and then she and Chloe yelled angrily at him together "YOU FIGHT OTHERS LIKE A BABY!".

However, Howard said back to the both of them "Well, young girls, I was just making sure that your MOTHER and your AUNT could not sue me for injuring and/or wounding the both of you! Though, however, I would still love to teach you two a lesson about how to respect and obey male elders like ME!", but then Stephan interrupted him and yelled at him as he expressed his feelings to him "Stop it, Father! I don't want to go back to the Badlands with you! You do nothing but hurt me and the twins just because you want to control everything around you!", and then he added as tears started pouring out from his eyes "Ever since you killed Mother, all you did was hurt me and the twins and try and force me to do whatever you say against my own free will and make me be just like you so you can later use me to avenge Lord Tirek when I become a full grown adult centaur myself!".

Then, Stephan continued and said to his evil father "However, all you did to Mother ever since you two became mates was hurt her and keep her away from all of her good and best friends like if she's your treasure, or better yet to say - your toy! Plus, besides just that, you also treated Mother before and after I was born like a slave, and you continued doing this to her even after the twins were born as well! Well, you know what?! I'm sick and tired of you, Father! You don't really love me or even care about me! I hate you, Father! The only centaur whom you really care and worry about is only yourself!", but when Howard heard what his teenage son just said to him, the evil adult male centaur said back "Oh, Stephan, I worry about you! Sometimes, I worry a LOT!", and with these words being said and roared at Stephan, Howard angrily let go of Stephan's wrists before he then reared up onto his hinder horse legs and yelled down at his son in the face "TIME FOR SOME LIFE LESSON, SON!", thus causing Stephan to cry "No! Please, no!" before he quickly covered his own face with his arms and hands and waited and braced himself for the attack from his evil father to come.