A Stranger Among Them
Chapter 8: Rest And Recuperation

Music for today's chapter. I could not find a single extended version of either track.

A. Super Mario Galaxy "Wind Garden"

B. The Legend of Zelda Skyward Sword "Romance in the Air"

Well, I'm starting to catch my stride here in the story. Maybe I'm not going any faster, but I have everything starting to work out and fit into place.

Well, On with Chapter 8. This one's going to be a bit more shipping-centric. Just warning you guys now, for those who prefer plot-centric, or action-centric chappies.

In any case, allons-y!


I entered the rather seedy tavern. Why he chose this place to fly to, I'll never know, but at least it's good to know that Tia's monitoring spell works. Last night, she decided to switch the receiver of the spell to me as per my request.

The tavern was mostly empty, but it seemed all the more rundown because of it. The walls had that plastic panel that is painted to look like wood, but they were cracked and depressing. The lights in the room were flickering or out. The only reason I could see is because the windows were open and it was morning outside.

The only other conscious pony in the pub was a purple Earth Pony with three stars for a cutie mark. His mane was a darker purple than his body, and it shimmered like mine did. He looked at me with clear blue eyes as I entered, and he promptly lowered his head a little bit before turning back to a black-coated Pegasus with a red tail, who was slumped over the bar, mumbling an incoherent string of nonsense.

I turned to the other pony.

"May I ask how long he has been here?"

The pony shrugged.

"Since last night," he said. His voice was light, and it had a bit of a singsong tone to it. "Burst in here, caused a huge ruckus, and generally raised havoc around here. The bar's normally not this empty, even in daytime, but he scared everyone off. Of course, that may be because some thugs attacked him and he sent them into the walls easily."

That explained the general shoddiness of the tavern.

It was then that I noticed a strange smell about the air, and it seemed to be coming from Flare. I sniffed down near his face, where it was the strongest, and without a doubt, the pungent odor of alcohol permeated the air. I lifted a hoof to my face and let out a heavy sigh. I won't envy him when the hangover hits.

And I'll have to tell Tia about Flare's spending of the Royal Allowance. That should brighten her day. I'm sure she remembers what happened in Canterbury that one night just as well as I do.

"May I ask your name, citizen?" I asked the other pony. He shrugged.

"I'm Twilight Sky. I help run the place, but I was off-duty last night."

Twilight… Sky? Could he be related to Twilight Sparkle? Well, he has a darker shade of purple for a coat, and his mane shimmers, but that really is about the only difference between him and her.

"Begging your pardon, but you wouldn't happen to have any relatives in Ponyville, would you?"

Sky tilted his head.

"Not that I know of. I do have a few second-cousins in Canterlot, though. My dad's first-cousin lives there. I hear one of them got married recently. Right during that nasty business with the Changelings and all."

Guess that explain it.

"Ah, then you are related to whom I think you are. So, what exactly happened to him?" I asked.

Sky yawned widely. His eyes looked slightly bloodshot, but he seemed rather chipper.

"Well, he burst in a little before midnight, but he mostly kept to himself at first. Only when Strong Arm and his thugs tried to mug him did the havoc start. They tried to get his money, see? And rather than comply, he punched Strong Arm into that wall over there," he gestured to the most destroyed wall of the pub, "and all Tartarus broke loose, 'cause most of the patrons here in one way or another work for Strong Arm, so a bar fight broke out. It was him against everypony else, see? And he whooped all o' them. Quite frankly, I'm glad they got beaten, because I doubt they'll show their faces here again, but I still have to clean the place up. However, I'm kinda surprised. He was throwing punches with lightning in them. I've only seen the military do that."

Flare is so getting a Royal Canterlot Voice lecture. He more than anypony knows not to treat military techniques with such flippancy, given his little bout of fisticuffs with Nightmare Frigoris. If the normal populace learn how to do these techniques, the job becomes harder for the Royal Guards to keep the peace because they soon become common faire. For example, the weather magic was normally not taught to untested ponies back when we still co-ruled Equestria. I come back a thousand years later to find that it is a rudimentary skill. Back then, the ability to control the weather was essential for maintaining order. The Insurrection was kept under control when we were forced to threaten to not send rain to their cities unless they stopped disturbing the peace.

"Anyway, he finishes chasing them off, and he falls on the bar and asks for something called Jack Daniels. I told him, 'We don't have Jack Daniels. We have Buck Daniels, but not Jack.' He's all like, 'That'll do,' and he starts drinking. I gave him one on the house for his impressive display, but after that, he gave me bits straight up. Then he just collapsed after about an hour of incoherent raging."

Well, time for him to wake up. I leaned down by his ear and gently whispered, "Flare, it's time to wake up."

He stirred, groaned, and then promptly hiccupped. He hadn't completely healed from his e encounter yesterday, but one of the medicines he had taken seemed to be speeding the progress up dramatically. His previously swollen-over eye was now almost normal while his other eye had completely healed. His jaw and nose area, however, would still take about a week to fully reform.

"Wuzzapening?" he asked thickly, looking around blearily. While he usually just loves to act like he's out of it, he really seems like he actually is completely off in Wonderland at the moment. His general gait just oozes it. At least right up until he saw me, whereupon a drunken grin worked its way onto his face, though not one of malicious intent.

"Oh hey Lu-Lu! I was just enjoyin' me some Buck Daniels."

He's drunk. His voice was changing pitch rapidly, and his speech was somewhat slurred. And for the first time, I noticed his cheeks were looking a little on the colorful side. It seems he finally found a way to flush his cheeks: get hammered drunk. Sure it's only maybe a shade more red than it was, but it's there.

I facehoofed again with a slight sigh.

"Flare, how many have you had?"

Flare lolled his head and gave a little giggle.

"Just like, like three. Or was it four? Or maybe fourteen? I lost count. Isn't that funny, Lu? I lost count of how many drinks I had."

He fell off his stool, but that didn't seem to slow him down. He staggered to his hooves and started swaying while he worked his way over to me. Sky was enjoying the proceedings considerably from where Flare had just fell. He had in his hooves a small glass filled with what looked like a soda, which he was sipping with raised eyebrows.

"So Luna. Lu, Lu- Luna- Luna, Loony, look. I's just having some fun here. That one really big guy, what was his name? Bong Farm? Yeah, him. He bought me, like, ten drinks last night. Tha's just awesome, right Luna?"

Flare fell over again, and I heard a tinkling as an empty bottle of Buck Daniels rolled out from under the stool. Suddenly, I've gone very cold. There were no shot glasses in view, not even in the sink. So when Flare says he had four drinks, or even fourteen, he drank that many bottles of whiskey!

"He only had four. I offered him a shot glass, but he just waved it off and took the bottles straight. I'll be honest, I've never seen a pony chug an entire bottle of whiskey before."

Flare just astounds me. It's official. He is literally just beyond the limits of my ability to understand. He's very thin for a stallion that can match an average alicorn for height, and yet he took four BOTTLES of whiskey!

Well, time to sober him up. What's something that could possibly-… Oh, I have just the thing.

I cantered over to him. He was swaying rather precariously from his current position on the floor, but he didn't even seem to notice.

"Flare, I'm pregnant. And you're the father."

He blinked a few times in relatively rapid succession, but overall, he didn't respond. I inwardly cursed at this. So drunk he doesn't even "Wh- WHAT!?"

A crashing of timbers brought me back to my senses in time for me to see Flare fall from the rafters to the ground. I looked over to Twilight Sky, whose eyebrows were still raised, and he was still sipping away, but he gestured from the ground, up, and back down.

I couldn't help it. I started laughing. Flare gave me a look of very deep annoyance while rubbing his head around the muzzle.

"Luna, if you want me sober, there are gentler ways to get me there!" he shouted at me in half-pain, half-annoyance. He wasn't slurring anymore, and his voice sounded steady. Guess it's true that a real shock can bring alcoholics out of drunkenness.

"What happened? The last thing I can remember is me getting really mad at Tia and Squall… and then nothing."

He started looking around, as if hoping something would trigger a flashback. However, none came to him, despite his looking around.

"Flare, you completely flew away from Canterlot. That's how angry you were. I had to spend all night tracking you down."

He looked bewildered by this.

"Wha-? Where am I?"

"Flare, you're in Los Pegasus. And I'm pretty sure you're drunk."

His eyes went wide, his irises contracted, and he reacted with total incredulity.

"WHAT AM I DOING IN LOS PEGASUS!?"

Well, if he was drunk when I told him he was, he sure isn't now.

"Well, we Equestria folk have a saying," I told him, the grin working its way onto my face. "What happens in Los Pegasus stays in Los Pegasus."

Flare sat on his flank, buried his face in his hooves, yelped a little because of his broken snout, and generally double-facehoofed. All the way.

"What the bucking hell did I do?" he kept muttering to himself, looking absolutely in panic. "Every time this happens in the movies, the protagonist ends up somehow getting married in front of some foreign minister and all that-"

"Flare, relax!" I said to him. He put his hooves down and fidgeted a little.

"Relax, mate. All you did were fall into a trance and mumble nonsense all night," said Sky, who had finished his drink and had set it in a nearby sink. "It's not like you did anything from The Hayngover or anything. Although, unless the princess brought transportation, you probably shouldn't be flying for the day. Don't need you crashing into the Cloudsdale Weather Factory and causing snow in the middle of the desert now," he added with a little twinkle in his eye, looking right at me.

I giggled. So Twilight Sky did know about that night in Canterbury. It was only a year and a half ago, after all.

"Well, I did bring transportation. The Night Carriage is waiting, and you'll be pleased to know that Nightmare Frigoris is one of the ones pulling it. I figured it would help brighten your day."

Flare laughed, but I wasn't quite finished.

"You know, he wasn't in the greatest of moods when you left. I had to listen to him the whole night. He sounded a lot more er… vicious than usual. Then when I asked if he was concerned about you, he scoffed and launched into a whole spew about how he wasn't. It's sweet, really. You two really are starting to grow on each other."

I led him outside, where sure enough, the Night Carriage sat, with Frigoris and Cognitum at the reins. Under battle circumstances, it would be crewed by four Nightmares, two to fight and two to chauffer, but since it was peacetime, there was only need for two.

Flare climbed in, hiccupped and staggered a little, and soon slumped against the back. I climbed in after him, and he promptly leaned against me, eyes drooping.

"You can sleep when we return to Canterlot Castle, Flare."

He stiffened and opened his mouth to speak, but I magicked it shut. He made a noise of annoyance and gave me his best impersonation of one of my flat looks. I do not exaggerate when I say it is a daily struggle not to start laughing when he's less than happy at something, even if it's something completely serious. However, given his recent drunkenness, coupled with what will undoubtedly go down between him and Frigoris on the way home, and I may very well bite my tongue off from trying not to laugh at him.

But, I have to be serious before the laughing time comes.

"I understand you have a bone to pick with Squall and my sister. Squall you can handle, but let me handle my sister. Trust me on this one."

He rolled his eyes, but he relaxed somewhat, and I released his mouth from my magic grip. He gave a small sputter, then promptly fell against me again, preparing to sleep again. I gave him a soft smile and covered him with my right wing. The moment could have lasted forever.

"Oh gag. Please tell me this isn't going to be the in-flight entertainment. I would rather watch Stepony Meyer's Time-Just-Before-Nightfall Saga again," drawled a certain Nightmare. I let out a heavy sigh and narrowed my eyes, while a half-smile, half-grimace worked its way onto my face.

Predictably, the snark-fest was on, and we hadn't even taken off yet. That had to be a record.

-X-

Canterlot came into sight about an hour into the flight. The barrier I had seen around the castle as I left was still up and running. However, Luna's Night Carriage passed through the barrier as if it weren't there. Rather than fly directly to the castle, the Carriage flew toward a more private landing that I had often flown by on my way to Luna's room for lessons and to generally annoy her.

The garage, for want of a better term to describe the place, was simply a plain round stone area with a wooden archway marking the transition from garage to castle. There were several small cabinets, likely filled with the various tool used for repairing and maintaining the integrity of the Night Carriage. I felt that part of me that liked mechanics start to itch. I mean, who can blame me? I lived in a garage in Boston, where I worked on my own motorbike! Of course I'm going to want to look around!

However, there's someone that I need to speak to that's more important than looking around the garage.

Frigoris and Cognitum took off their reins when the carriage stopped, and the two of them immediately set off for their duties. I, however, went toward the Guardsponies' wing of Canterlot Castle, where I was hoping to find Captain Awesome.

Captain Awesome, however, had an office not too far from where the Night Carriage had been parked. And I spent a good twenty minutes on a wild goose chase, searching fruitlessly for him until a Unicorn Guard by the name of Rapid Fire told me where I could find him.

His office, given his title, was in a rather unbecoming part of the Castle. Why would he be in the Dormitory Wing?

Oh, right.

Prime position to guard both princesses as they sleep.

I knocked at his plain wooden door, which had a nice and shiny plaque that read, "Squall – Captain, Solar Guard" on it.

His voice sounded through it, saying, "Enter."

I pushed the door open slowly and obeyed.

His office was rather roomy. It, like most other rooms in this wing, was merely normal stone. However, most of these walls were obscured by large shelves, laden with books of all kinds. They were organized by subject on each shelf. One shelf was devoted to Equestrian history; another was dedicated two-fold, one half to several journals, the other half to books on warfare, including a copy of Celestia Tzu's The Art of War (named after Celestia? Or Celestia herself?); the last shelf was dedicated to a subject I had never considered: science. Chemistry, physics, biology, and anatomy. Well, in hindsight, since Pegasi can affect the world around them with energy, understanding scientific connections allows for a wider range of things to use to your advantage.

"Flare Dancer," said the older stallion, his voice betraying no emotion at all. It seems he may have been taking a leaf out of Frigoris' book, with the flat, almost apathetic look and tone of voice.

"Captain," I countered in the same voice.

"Please, take a seat," he said, gesturing to a cushion in front of his desk. I had expected a proper chair; parts of my mind still expect to see human provisions in a world of ponies. I shook my head slightly, still a little dizzy, and took my seat.

"So, how can I help you?" he asked, raising an eyebrow.

I let out a long sigh.

"I came to apologize."

He gave a small nod, then looked down at his work, picked up a quill with his hoof and set to writing on a small sheet of paper that already had a lot of small writing on it.

I watched him with amazement. I have to use my mouth to write because I can't pick it up with my hooves. How the buck can he use his?

"Why?" he suddenly asked, not looking up from his writing.

"Why what?" I asked, confused.

"Why apologize?"

I furrowed my brow and gave a little blink. Did he even remember last night?

"Because of what I did last night," I said slowly.

"No. I know what you apologize for. Tell me why you would apologize to me. If you were to apologize to anypony, it would be Princess Luna. You gave her quite a fright when you just took off. She may act like she's got it all nice and together, but I can tell. She gets erratic when she's afraid."

He paused.

"You know what? On second thought, don't even tell me why you would apologize to me. I don't need to know. And besides," he reached over and tapped a small sheet of paper nailed to his wall, "it's one of my rules. 'Never apologize – It's a sign of weakness.'"

"Not even to the Princesses?"

"Princess Celestia expects it of me. She knows that if I do something, I do it because I wholeheartedly believe it's the best course of action. And if I make a mistake, I stand by my decision. My Master taught me that when I studied under him. Take responsibility for your mistakes, but never apologize for them."

A small picture caught my eye on the wall, between Science Shelf and History Shelf. It depicted a young, grey-coated pony with armor I recognized as belonging to an old unit called the Chargers of Helios. It was less streamlined than the current armor, with more flanges and spines. As for the Chargers of Helios, during one of my visits to the library, I had stumbled across the term when reading up on Nightmare Moon, the better to get an idea on Luna's history before she went evil.

The Chargers of Helios were an old guard unit that had one purpose: to protect and serve Princess Celestia. After all, with a reference to the Greek God of the Sun in their name, who else could they be the servants of? However, when Nightmare Moon created the first Nightmares, then called the Shadows, and started her conquest of Equestria, the Chargers of Helios prevented her from advancing farther than the edge of Everfree Province. And from what I read, in on climactic battle, all save for one were killed, sacrificing their lives to destroy the Shadows. It was then that Tia did her magic with the Elements of Harmony, and banished her sister to the moon.

However, it was not the young version of Captain Squall that had my attention. The older, more serious stallion next to him had my eyes. He had a pure white coat, and his eyes were a very bright shade of red. His jaw was very sharp, and he looked very intimidating with his armor on. However, that did not stop him from smiling with Squall in that picture.

"You look upon General Hurricane Fury, the first Charger of Helios, the most decorated General of the Equestrian Army, and my former Master. He taught me everything I know about my duties. It was he who taught me that method I used on you to bring out your ability to use lightning punches."

I made a small grunt to acknowledge him.

"You yelled at me last night for not teaching you so-called advanced Pegasi combat techniques. Well, I do admit, I lied to you about it-"

I snorted a little. So Tenebrae had been right.

"-but before you jump to a conclusion, allow me to explain. There is, in fact, only one really advanced technique. Everything else is simply manipulating the environment using your basic techniques, as I'm sure your encounter can testify to. However, this technique involves creating lightning, and instead of discharging it in the form of a punch, or a stream, you keep it inside you, and let it give you energy. Now, the reason I did not tell you this is because you just love to jump way ahead without thinking, and if used improperly, and many times when used properly, it can kill you an everyone around you."

My interest is now perked.

"How do you know it can kill you?" I asked curiously.

Squall hesitated before answering. I saw his normally-sharp eyes soften considerably, and was it just me, or did they seem to be getting a little bit… watery?

"I've witnessed it. The Battle of Everfree was the most horrific battle of the Pre-Classical Era. We never had to outright battle the Insurrection, the Changelings were nothing more than a force to channel between mountains, and Discord doesn't much like outright killing. However, rather than fight a different species, Nightmare Moon corrupted many of Luna's personal guard and turned them upon us. She augmented those ranks with strange creatures of her own invention, and in a moment of total unpreparedness, she attacked us directly in Everfree. We were caught with our backs turned, and we of the Chargers of Helios were suddenly caught up in a battle to stop the Shadows from reaching Everfree City.

"Never before had there been such carnage, and never since has there been anywhere close. It became clear after several hours of intense battle that we were losing. Hurricane Fury sent me to ferry the last of the citizens out of Everfree, and I got the job done immediately. It took a long time to return, but when I did, I found that all… all of my brothers in arms… were dead."

He took a deep breath, steadying himself.

"Hurricane Fury was being overwhelmed. He turned to Princess Celestia, who had entered the fray, and he asked, 'Princess, permission to abdicate my post?' The Princess nodded gravely, and she grabbed me with magic, because I was starting to fight to get back to him, and she took me with her, away to safety. Hurricane Fury started to glow with energy, and in an absolute flash, he had destroyed every Shadow and had reduced Nightmare Moon's army to nil. However, all that energy has to be discharged somehow, so he flew into the night sky as high as he could. In a flash of light brighter than anything Princess Celestia could ever create, the lightning energy disintegrated him and exploded outward."

He stopped for a long time. Not too long as to say "conversation over," but he seemed to be steadying himself, witnessing the memory in his head.

"The risk you take with this technique is that you're gambling on having a way to discharge that energy immediately after finishing. Shooting off a beam of lightning won't do it, and neither will a punch, because the energy is augmented by your own stores. You have to have some way to release the massive amount of energy, and the results are usually quite… explosive. Even the most elite Chargers of Helios wouldn't have considered using the technique, unless the need was most dire."

I felt a little lightheaded, and I noticed I had been holding my breath when listening to his little story. I knew the outcome, but it was still rather sad and suspenseful. I let it out slowly, feeling slightly dizzy.

"So you understand why I didn't even mention this technique to you?" he asked, raising an eyebrow.

I nodded. I was still not happy that he hadn't told me this, but well, I think I can go without learning this technique.

"Was that the only reason for your visit?" he asked, looking back down at his work.

"Well, yeah. But now that I've seen your rule sheet, my curiosity is perked."

"I'm afraid you'll have to wait. I have paperwork to file. I'm working on getting approval for an entire legion's worth of guards at the Grand Galloping Gala, and I do not exaggerate when I say I will not rest until I am satisfied with the quality and amount of security at this event."

"Aww, not even one?" I asked in a pouty voice.

He groaned.

"Which one?" he asked in a resigned voice.

"Which one do you consider the most important?" I asked, giving a very broad grin.

Squall smirked.

"Rule Number 23: Never mess with my coffee if you want to live."

Seriously? He thinks THAT is his most important?

Wait, there's no way! He HAS to be joking!

"You're joking."

Squall made a "tsk" noise and motioned for me to leave.

"You only asked for one, and I gave you one. You also made the mistake of saying most important without asking in which category was the rule most important. Now begone; I have important work to do."

And in my most irritated mood possible, I got up and left.

-X-

A week passed with no major events having taken place. Tenebrae made no appearances, Flare Dancer progressed rather slowly with his Winter Weather magic, Captain Squall received approval for his legion's worth of guards being present at the Gala, Spike flirted with Rarity, Princess Celestia had to deal with the multitude of nobles calling for the barring of commoners from attending the Gala, Princess Luna and the Nightmares had announced their attendance of the Gala, and best of all, Applebloom got her cutie mark!

Unfortunately, Body Art had to keep his cabinet full of temporary tattoos under lock and key after the encounter with Applejack and Big Macintosh that afternoon, claiming that even a temporary tattoo parlor was no place for a young filly.

Under normal circumstances, Flare would be entirely eager to continue his lessons with Luna, but with all the events that had transpired over the week, he was quite tired. He had finally learned how to make it snow, and he was now trying to control it much the same way as he had attempted to learn how to control the force of rain some months earlier.

That said, Flare planned on playing hooky one fine Tuesday. But it's no fun playing hooky all by your lonesome self, so he conspired to get his marefriend to join him.

So Saturday morning found him flying over to Luna's balcony, their regular meeting spot. Luna was already out on the balcony, waiting for him. He landed with the grace that one would expect from a regularly-practiced move, straightened up, shook his head, causing his mane to fly around, and gave her a warm smile.

"Good morning, Luna! How was your evening?" he asked, to which she herself gave a small smile.

"Eventful. I mapped out some star charts. I'm planning on moving a few stars around. Might make a few new constellations in my spare time. So, ready for more snow practice today?" she asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Mmm… nah," he casually responded.

Luna gave several blinks in rapid succession, clearly not expecting such a response.

"Umm… what?"

"I've decided I want to take a day off," Flare Dancer, his grin going from warm to positively sly. "I mean, I haven't had a legitimate day off in months. Not since the Harvest Festival."

"Flare, you get every Saturday off! What are you-"

"Bye Luna," Flare said as he took off with a rush of air.

[A]

"Flare get back here right this- LUX DAMN IT FLARE! GET BACK HERE!" Luna shouted as she took off in pursuit of him.

She caught up with him about a hundred feet away from where they had taken off. He looked utterly at ease in the air, and she saw a glimpse of satisfaction in his face as he looked back at her.

"Nice of you to join me," Flare said with a wink in her direction. "See, isn't this nice, just taking a nice, relaxing flight for a day?"

She gave a small giggle in spite of herself. He could certainly be somewhat charming even if he was deliberately shirking his daily duties, if one could call them that.

"I'll admit, I could use time off, but really, Flare. You're so close to being able to control snowfall; why not just come back and practice? You've almost got it!"

Flare turned over so that he was flying on his back, similar to the way Rainbow Dash would do. He looked utterly at ease in the sky. To him, it was his escape; the ability to fly anywhere he felt like flying made him feel completely free.

Speaking of flying anywhere he felt like, today, he felt like paying Ponyville a visit with Luna. Despite the sheer size of the Canerlot library, they didn't have a single copy of any books from the Harry Trotter series. And that's terrible.

"Where are we flying anyway?" asked Luna as they flew past a rather strange cloud formation that the Weather Pegasi of the Canterlot area had been hard at work on yesterday.

"Ponyville. I need to pay Twilight Sparkle a visit. She has a book series for me." Flare suddenly furrowed his brow as he said that. "Which reminds me. Race you to Ponyville!" he shouted.

He suddenly shot off, flying up into the partly-cloudy sky. Then he flew back down, gulping down a little mouthful of water he had collected.

While Luna normally tolerated him doing stuff like this, if he wanted to take a day off, he was going to pay for it.

Calling upon a thousand years of flying training, she gave a slight yawn before the only thing left in the place she had been hovering at was a notable absence of mass that had been there not a second before.

Luna flew right past Flare so fast, Flare had a spin out just from the sheer force of the wind coming off of her as she zipped past.

"Hey!" he shouted before flying after her.

She was laughing as she flew just out of his reach while he was busting it to keep up with her. At the pace they were flying, Ponyville was in sight within moments, and the two of them were booking it to the library (pun totally intended).

All of a sudden, a bolt of lightning shot out of one of the clouds above, striking right by Luna, who flinched with a very loud "Eep!" and ended up flailing her way to the ground, her wings suddenly stiffening and clamping back down on her sides.

Suddenly, Flare vanished, and a different Flare flew out of the cloud that had just sparked the bolt, and he landed right in front of the library gracefully, while Luna… not so much.

Now it was Flare's turn to laugh.

"Squall taught me to shoot lightning from my hooves. Apparently, it's easier to channel lightning that's already in clouds than to make your own, so I felt I'd go ahead and fly through big clouds, collecting it. And since my energy was concealed within another mass of energy, you couldn't sense me."

She started to object, but she stopped. That actually was brilliant! Not everypony could fool an alicorn, and she had sincerely thought the Flare who had chased her had been the real one.

"Oh, you. What did I tell you about making a show of military techniques?" she asked, failing to keep a straight face.

/[A]\

Neither of them noticed the door to the library open, revealing Celestia's Faithful Student, but she promptly made her presence known.

"Am I interrupting something?" she asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Oh, hello Twi," Flare said, giving a grin. "Not interrupting much. Just me gloating about having beaten my marefriend in a race here."

Her one raised eyebrow became two.

"Oh yeah, I forgot. We never told you. Yeah, Luna and I, well…" he trailed off at the smile playing across Twi's face.

"Well, it's about time, but I gotta say, Rainbow Dash will be a little disappointed."

Flare suddenly looked confused, while Luna suddenly got more than a little agitated.

"Huh? What's she got to do with anything?" he asked, to which Luna clopped him to the back of the head.

"You're so dense, you know that?" Luna said as she cantered on in to the library. Flare followed suit, and immediately started looking for the fiction section. However, he let out a frustrated groan in seconds.

"Quit reshelving between every time I come by for a visit! Where's the fiction section this time?" he asked, irritated at the prospect of having to find it again.

"How about you find it yourself? It would entertain us to watch you," said Luna.

"'Us?' You slipping back into the Royal We agai-" he noticed Twi, "-duh."

With that, he started working his way through the room, searching for the elusive Fiction section.

"So, how has Canterlot been?" Twilight asked. "I heard you and your sister had a big fight a while back. Something having to do with him," she gestured at Flare, "if I remember correctly."

"Oh. It's water under the bridge now. Tenebrae seems intent on turning us against each other now. He got Flare when he convinced Flare that Tia's been keeping him a prisoner in Canterlot instead of giving him the freedom he had been promised. It had been a lie, of course, but Flare didn't know that at the time. It's a complex bit of magic, putting a spell on somepony so you can monitor them. I'm sure you can testify," Luna added, to which Twilight Sparkle nodded.

"Ponyville General asked me to put that spell on their urgent care patients a month ago, and I still have to come in to use it every so often. At least they pay me quite handsomely for my effort," she remarked.

"Yes, well, you know how the receiver usually has to be asleep, yes?" Twi nodded, "Well, Flare remained unaware that it was being placed on him, so he couldn't refute the claim."

There came a loud crash from upstairs, a very loud hoot soon followed, and Twi remarked, "Sounds like he woke Owlysius. Oh dear, he won't be happy tonight."

Luna allowed herself a little smile before continuing.

"Well, Flare flew off in anger when he confronted Tia about it, and I spent the night looking for him. Well, I found Flare in Los Pegasus-"

"No way!"

Luna laughed.

"You remind me so much of Tia. She had a similar reaction when she found out. Yes, he was in Los Pegasus, drinking himself silly on Buck Daniels. A pony by the name of Twilight Sky was kind enough to help me wake him up."

"Twilight Sky? My cousin?" she asked.

"Yes, him. I asked him about that, believe it or not. He didn't know you had moved to Ponyville, but anyway, I had to get him out of his stupor, so I…" she trailed off, suddenly looking devious.

"Uhh, Princess?" asked Twilight Sparkle, waving a hoof in her face.

"Flare, I have something I need to tell you," she called loudly. There was another crash, followed by a triumphant "A-ha! Got ya!" before Flare came back downstairs, holding a copy of Harry Trotter and the Philosopony's Stone in his mouth.

"Eah?" he asked through the book, his speech somewhat muffled.

Before Luna could start, Twilight Sparkle used magic to pull the book from his mouth, looking irritated.

"That book cost me 12 bits. And you sticking it in your mouth will only make the value go down. Please bring a saddlebag next time to carry it in, next time. I suppose I'll have to provide you with one that you can borrow until you have to return the book."

She suddenly smirked. Flare did not like where this was going.

"And I happen to only have one available right now. Spike!?" Twilight called suddenly, which was met with a frustrated growl.

"Can't a dragon get any sleep around here? I'm still growing!" came Spike's agitated groan as he noisily got out of his bed.

"Spike, can you bring my other saddlebag down here?"

The noise stopped.

"You mean THAT saddlebag?" Spike asked, sounding very much embarrassed. Luna liked where this was going. Flare didn't.

"Yes, Spike. I mean THAT saddlebag."

There came the sound of a drawer opening, something being pulled out of it, the drawer closing, and footsteps coming down the stairs. Spike emerged carrying a very frilly pink saddle-bag with hearts emblazoned all over it.

Luna couldn't help it. She literally fell to the floor, laughing as hard as possible. Flare had blanched completely at the sight of it, and he looked positively mortified.

"I am NOT wearing that in public!"

He suddenly was enveloped in fire as he transformed into a human, the form which the saddlebag would not fit on.

"You are NOT putting that on me, no matter what you threaten me with!"

Luna was still laughing, Spike had set the saddlebag down, and had gone back up in an attempt to get some more sleep. Twilight, on the other hoof, was carefully packing all seven Harry Trotter books inside the various pockets of the saddlebag, complete with the library due date reminder.

"The books are due back in a month, and you had better take care of them. That means don't put them in your mouth!"

The door opened suddenly to reveal Pinkie Pie, carrying a plate of cyan-colored cupcakes with rainbow-colored icing. And several people on the other side of the fourth wall have just closed their tabs or browsers, sickened at the thought of a "Cupcakes" reference.

"Did somepony mention putting things in their mouth? I love doing that!"

She cheerfully popped one of the cupcakes in her mouth.

"Oh, hi Princess Luna! Good morning Twilight! And hello to you too, Flare!"

Luna was recovering slowly, still having little fits of giggles, but she waved a hoof in greeting. Flare on the other hand, while still staying as far away as possible from the frilly monstrosity.

"I'm not even going to ask how she knows that I'm Flare," the eponymous character wondered aloud.

"Oh, it's easy. You have red hair and you're wearing black clothes! Just like your pony self!"

Flare blinked in a way that would make Luna proud.

"Well, okay then," he said, completely filing the ability to comprehend that logic into his "Do Not Touch" portion of his brain. Even with those similarities, how could she tell?

Flare pulled out his iPod for the purposes of playing a good ol' game of Solitaire while Luna and Twilight Sparkle were discussing the outcome of the argument they'd had when Luna brought Flare back ("You should have been there. She knew she was in the wrong, and she had to make sure we were back to normal. 'So, are we reconciled?' she had asked, to which I replied, 'Yes sister, we are'"). However, Pinkie Pie had other plans.

Setting the tray of cupcakes on the ground, she leapt forward, grabbed the iPod from Flare, and followed the on-screen instruction to unlock the iPod.

"Wha- Pinkie!"

"Just looking!" she sang, and with four quick taps later, she had gotten into Flare's iPod, despite the 1 in 10,000 chance of getting the PIN right on the first try. Which she did. But screw logic, she's Pinkie Pie. She does what she wants.

"What are you- HOW DID YOU EVEN GET IN!?"Flare sputtered, half-exasperated, half-incredulous.

Pinkie just smiled as she booted up Angry Birds, and with the skill of a master, set to hitting the pigs with perfect accuracy. After a while of sitting still letting his mouth hang open, Flare just shut it and set to watching Pinkie with amazement. That pony is something, after all.

He became aware of Luna cantering along beside me.

"While we're here, why not get our outfits for the Gala?" she asked. "Tia tells me Rarity is quite the dressmaker, and I'm sure she does well enough with suits as well."

Flare gagged. He hated wearing suits. On Earth, they restricted movement, and he hates restriction! To explain how he knew that, there were a good few black tie events that he and Rory had attended because Rory had done some kindness to a wealthy man, who had invited them along for some event. Still, he had to go to this stupid Gala, so he might as well look his best.

"Ok, fine, whatever. Let's try not to make it too expensive now, shall we?"

Flare retrieved his iPod from Pinkie Pie, much to her displeasure, put it back in his pocket, transformed back into pony form, and set out from the store when Luna called after him.

"Flare wait! You left your new saddlebag!"

-X-

"This is NOT funny," Flare growled as the pair of them made their way to Carousel Boutique, Flare's new feminine saddlebag strapped tightly on, underneath his wings. He was receiving funny looks from just about every pony they passed on the way. Rainbow Dash had been the most egregious example, bursting out in laughter and promptly falling out of the sky into the Everfree River, leaving the thunderhead she had been responsible for moving away from over Town Hall sitting over the river itself.

Cue lightning strike, which caused Rainbow Dash's mane to poof out into a very large afro. And several people on the other side of the fourth wall have just closed their tabs or browsers, sickened at the thought of a more-obscure " " reference.

In short order, they arrived at Carousel Boutique, where Flare knocked at the door. There was a bit of a sigh.

"Sweetie Belle, could you and your friends go and answer the door for me?"

"CUTIE MARK CRUSADER DOOR ANSWERERS! YAY!" came a unified yell from behind the door, followed by the clatter of hooves and the door swinging open to reveal Applebloom, a young unicorn with a white coat and a pink and purple mane who could only be Rarity's little sister, and a Pegasus filly Flare didn't recognize, who had a magenta mane and an orange coat. The three of them were wearing red capes with gold lining, and a blue patch on each flank with a golden prancing pony.

"Uh, howdy Princess!" Applebloom cheerfully piqued. "An' howdy other pony! Nice saddlebag."

Flare groaned as the trio of fillies started trying to push the two of them inside.

Rarity started to come down the stairs at the end of the room, preoccupied with rerolling fabric, which had evidently been undone, likely by the three energetic fillies currently pushing them inside.

"Sweetie Belle, who was at the doOOOR!?" she suddenly let out a scream of panic at the sight of them. "P-p-Princess Luna!? In MY boutique!? Oh this is not good! The place isn't even CLEAN!"

She then frantically started to use magic to start cleaning everything in sight (including the positively sparkling china set, and the Cutie Mark Crusaders), absolutely oblivious to both Flare and Luna attempting to calm her down. The Cutie Mark Crusaders, on the other hoof, had plopped down with a bucket of popcorn that Sweetie Belle had gotten from the kitchen, and were watching the entertainment unfold.

Luna looked at Flare with a raised eyebrow, but not out of confusion. More like, "Please can I use the Royal Canterlot Voice?" to which Flare gave a nod while plugging his ears.

"BE STILL!" the loud shout echoed through the building, to which Rarity froze.

"Y-y-yes, Princess?" she asked, and Flare thought he could literally see her life flashing before her eyes, based on her look of fear.

"Rarity, please. It is no trouble. Flare and I just stopped by wanting you to make us something to wear for the Grand Galloping Gala and-"

"Making a dress for the Princess!?" Rarity squeaked in incredulity. The next thing they both knew, Rarity had fainted, and was lying on the ground in front of them.

"Well, that was fun. Let's go hang out at Fluttershy's!" Applebloom suggested. "Maybe we can get our cutie marks by babysitting Angel!"

"CUTIE MARK CRUSADER BUNNYSITTERS! YAY!" they called, and they were off, a dust trail marking the path they had just sped off on.

Flare looked after them, a mixture of wonder and amusement on his face, but Luna brought him back to the present situation.

"Should we wake her up?" she asked, struggling not to laugh.

"Yeah, probably best to."

Flare went into the kitchen, got some cold water from the sink in a bucket, and splashed it onto Rarity's face. She started, and promptly sputtered her way back into consciousness.

"Wha- where am I?" she groggily asked, looking around.

She saw Luna.

"Oh my gosh! Princess Luna is in my boutique! Must clean! Must clean!"

Luna rolled her eyes. Her horn shimmered and a couple of important things were accomplished at the same time. First, Flare's mouth was clamped shut, much to his displeasure, as he had started to laugh. Having not entirely healed from the broken snout (but 90% of the way there), he winced and glared at Luna. Second, Rarity was contained in an aura of magic, which raised her into the air where she flailed helplessly.

"Rarity, please. We need your expert tailoring abilities." Luna said, causing Rarity to stop flailing.

"You need my abilities? B-but you have access to the best tailors in all of Equestria! Why would you choose a humble Ponyville unicorn like me?" she asked.

"Tia tells me you're good with making dresses. That I have no doubt in, but do you also make suits?" she asked, gesturing at Flare, who rolled his eyes.

"Why, yes! I do. They're generally easier than dresses, because I don't have to add all the frills and the like, but yes, I can do a suit. Could you please step upstairs with me, you two?" she asked, starting to canter toward the second floor.

They followed her into her designing room, and she set about measuring them from hoof to shoulder, around the thickest parts of their hooves, around the chest, and all over, all the while recording the data on a small notepad.

"Tell me, when is the Gala? I heard it was postponed from tonight to sometime in the next few weeks," Rarity commented as she worked.

"We decided upon next week. Is that plenty of time for two sets of attire?" Luna asked.

"Oh, certainly. Now, if I were working on all five of my friends' dresses as well, like I did two years ago, however, I probably wouldn't have been able to do it. Luckily, though, none of us are attending this year. It certainly didn't live up to expectation the year we all went."

She paused.

"That reminds me. Tell Prince Blueblood from me that he's an arrogant little swine," she said, sudden venom filling her voice.

Flare looked at Luna, who gave him another "Later" look.

Rarity was still measuring, but Flare, as usual, didn't want to sit still. Finally, Rarity had to comment on it.

"Flare Dancer, really darling! Sit still! I can't take measurements with you constantly moving around!"

Finally, Luna had to hold him down with magic, which did not help Flare's mood, considering the saddlebag and the mouth-clamping.

When Rarity was finished measuring, she started asking about preference to the color of the outfit, and the general appearance of it, which took considerably shorter than the measuring. When they were finished with that, they could go, and Rarity promised the dress and suit would be ready in about five days.

With that, they thanked her and began to walk around the town, enjoying their time off. They decided upon a walk around the town, just to kill some more time, but before they went very far, Luna stopped suddenly and looked back at her tail.

Flare stopped and looked back as well to see a small Earth Pony colt with a white coat and a brown mane tug on Luna's tail.

"Hello Princess Luna!" he said quite happily, in an accent Flare could only place at Trottingham. This must have been the colt, named Pipsqueak if he remembered correctly, that she claimed had been so adorable on Nightmare Night.

"Ah, Pipsqueak! I was wondering when I would run into you around here." Luna said with a smile.

"Are you coming down for Nightmare Night again this year? Wait till you see my costume!"

"Well, at this point in time, I don't know. Things have been going on up in Canterlot that might not let me go," Luna said with a sad smile. "But if I can, I'll come down! I enjoyed it immensely last year."

"Thank-you Princess Luna! By the way, who's this?" he asked, gesturing at Flare. "And why is he wearing a filly's saddlebag?"

Flare facehoofed. Again with the saddlebag?

"This is Flare Dancer. He's one of my closest friends," she explained.

"Is he your coltfriend?" Pipsqueak asked, causing Flare's eyebrows to fly up near his mane.

"Well, honest answer, yes. I am her coltfriend," Flare said, doing his absolute best to sound as apologetic as possible. Even so, this caused Pipsqueak to look sad. Almost like the death of a pet.

"Aww, I wanted to be Princess Luna's coltfriend when grew up."

Flare had to stuff his hoof in his mouth to prevent himself from smiling too broadly. Luna, however, had a gentle smile on her face.

"I'm touched, Pip. But trust me, you're a little too young for me," she said in a soft voice to him.

"Aren't I too?" Flare asked.

"Not helping things, Flare!"

"Oh, that's okay! You're still my favorite princess ever!"

A mare's voice with the same accent sounded through the town, calling for Pip.

"Oh, got to go. Mum's making daisy pie for dinner tonight! Bye Princess Luna! Bye Luna's friend!" he said, taking off back up the street he had come from.

Flare stared after him.

"He wanted to be your coltfriend when he grew up," he said in a little bit of a teasing voice. "Does this mean I can call you Pedo-mare?"

And several people on the other side of the fourth wall have just closed their tabs or browsers, sickened at the thought of a 4Chan reference.

Luna blinked her usual blink, but rather than say nothing, she got in on the action.

"At least I'm not wearing a pink frilly saddlebag."

Flare stopped smiling.

"Low blow, Luna. Low blow."

Luna stuck out her tongue at him, grinning very broadly now.

"Well, anytime you really get on my nerves, all I have to do is reference the fact that you had a nice, frilly, pink saddlebag on and it'll shut you up and get you off my back. Looks like I have the ultimate counter-troll memory now!"

Flare opened his mouth, but thought better of it. He slumped his head and resigned himself to a long and miserable existence of Luna constantly talking about the time he had to wear a feminine carrying case.

"Well, I must admit, this day has been quite relaxing. I think we both needed today," she said after some time walking around Ponyville. She wasn't lying. She felt great, and dare she say it, she had fun. But she wasn't going to give Flare too much satisfaction.

Flare just smiled at her.

"I'm glad you enjoyed today," he said, giving her a warm smile.

There was still plenty of time left in the day to have a little bit more fun, as it was just past high noon. Luna, however, had business to attend to in Canterlot, and thus she needed to return soon. As fun as it might be to skip the monthly meeting with the nobles, they did need to explain why the Grand Galloping Gala was being postponed to those who were doing a most excellent job of making sure the general public isn't aware of Tenebrae.

For example, Ponyville. Earlier, when Tenebrae wrecked the town, none of the general populace knew who was behind it, and those who did were told to keep quiet if they could, which they were doing. They were told it was an Ursa Major that the guards and the Princesses had to deal with. No one was any the wiser.

Flare, however, wanted to run an errand on the way back. They stopped by Sugarcube Corner, where Flare borrowed a jalapeno from Pinkie Pie. They promptly flew up to Rainbow Dash's house, where Flare began to look for a mailbox.

"Flare, what are you doing?" Luna asked.

Flare found the mailbox and put the jalapeno inside it.

"Flare, why are you putting a jalapeno in Rainbow Dash's mailbox?"

Flare smirked.

"Dashies love pepper. they hate cinnamon. Well, now that my little waste of time is complete, how about we get back to Canterlot?"

Luna rolled her eyes.

"As you wish."

[B]

They began to fly back to Canterlot, doing nothing more than enjoying each other's company. They chatted some more, but overall, they were silent more than they spoke. Rather than race, like they had, they sort of flew around each other, slowly working their way back to the castle.

Canterlot City came within sight shortly after leaving, and they flew from it to Canterlot Castle, back toward Luna's balcony. Nightmare Cognitum and Nightmare Fecunditatis stared up at us from just outside Luna's balcony doors, then promptly marched on inside.

The two of them landed gracefully, and Luna started to head on inside. Before she reached the door, she stopped and turned to Flare.

"Thank you for the day. I had a wonderful time."

She paused for a moment, then promptly leaned forward and kissed Flare on the cheek, causing slight color to rise in both their cheeks.

"Enjoy the rest of your day," she said shyly, kicking at her hooves a little, before turning and heading on inside.

Flare stared after her, feeling the place where she had kissed him with one of his hooves, somewhat unable to comprehend the fact. Then, without warning, he leapt backwards, turning loops, and laughing in giddiness.

While Flare Dancer is usually very goofy, even by standards set by Pinkie Pie, he was acting stranger than usual, but he didn't care. He was on top of the world.

He flew over to the Landing, positively galloped inside, and started to sort of dance his way to his room. Servants, guards, and nobles all stared after him with rather strange looks on their faces, but again, he couldn't have cared less, even if he wanted to.

He passed by Cordon Bleu, who called after him, "I take eet you are having an excellent day, Flare Dahncer?"

Flare gave him a very wide grin and spun around in an energetic twirl.

"I am having an excellent day, Cordon Bleu. And trust me, nothing is going to ruin it."

But when Flare opened the door to his bedroom, he found something that, while unlikely to ruin the day, would certainly spoil the mood. And the thing in question was standing right in front of him, looking him straight in the eyes, a slight frown gracing her face.

Lux immediately held up a hand, stopping him from saying anything.

"We need to talk, Flare Dancer."


And we end the scene there. My oh my this was a fun chapter to write for me.

Hey author!

Yes Flare?

How come you left out two of the preview statements?

Well, you see, I-

No excuses! That's a poor author technique! Why would you get the readers' hopes up on some things and not deliver? You're worse than the Boston Red Sox! Oh yeah, I just went there!

Hey! I take offense to that! I'm a Red Sox fan! And while we're on that topic, how can you even write in the authors' notes?

Hi readers! Pinkie Pie here! I figured since the Rytex was writing in italics, and Flare was writing in underlines, I thought I'd do bold! Isn't bold awesome!? My letters are huge and black! I wish they could be pink, because, you know, pink is my favorite color, I mean, hello? PINKie Pie? And I'm pink and all? But sadly, fanfiction dot net doesn't let you do colored fonts. What gives guys? Can't you tell Rytex wants to make my text pink when I'm talking? But I was at this party once, and Gummy fell into the cake, and the cake had pink icing. So when Gummy came out of the cake, he was pink just like me! You know, speaking of pets, it's nice that Rainbow Dash has a pet like we do. Now all our pets can play together on our pet days, and I can throw parties for the anniversaries of Rainbow Dash adopting Tank! Isn't that awesome!? You know, I'd like to throw a party for all of you readers. Who wants a party? Raise your hands! I see one, two, three, Lyra put your foam finger down, four, hey! Some of you aren't raising your hands! Raise them where I can see them! Now we could have the party over at Sugarcube corner! Why wouldn't it be at Sugarcube Corner? I mean, it's only the best place to have a party in all of Equestria! So anyway-

How'd she get in here?

It's Pinkie Pie. She does what she wants. She brought me along for the ride.

-and I was thinking, maybe we could have green cupcakes with extra, extra , EXTRA sprinkles, and maybe some white icing, and maybe those sprinkles that are like small sugary squares that people put on cookies all the time, and they have lots of different colors, but no pink ones! What's with that? But I'm also thinking we could get Vinyl Scratch and Neon Lights to show up with the music for the party, and maybe even-

Sorry, gonna have to cut you off there, Pinkie. I have some important stuff to get to in this Author's Note. Nice to have you two show up and completely ruin the point of a cliffhanger.

Anyway, here's the preview for next chapter.

You'd better use them all, next time!

Will do.

Preview for Chapter 9: An Uninvited Guest

"The time is coming, Flare Dancer, when you will have to make a choice. You may have to sacrifice your freedom for your happiness."

"Sorry I'm late to the Gala. I trust I won't spoil this evening's activities."
"Tenebrae!"

"Golbez Clad in Dark? Really, Tenebrae?"
"Yes, Flare Dancer. I feel it suits me."

"So, you know that dance we never had at the Harvest Festival?"
"Yeah."
"How about we take it now?"

"What is that music?"
"I do believe it is a musical number. What with all the ponies excited to be coming to the Gala, some of them burst into song."

"Catch me if you can, Flare Dancer."

"Aequivalere!"

Read and review, readers. Have a nice day/night/day tomorrow.

And one more thing. SEASON 3 ANNOUNCED FOR NOVEMBER!

Rytex signing off!