Notice: Looking for some one to make a cover for the story, PM me if interested

Chapter 17: Listen to Your Heart

Canterlot Castle, Canterlot
Local time: 0645
One month, seven days since arrival

I woke up after yet another nightmare. As I tried to calm myself by taking deep breaths, I felt something wrap around me causing me to panic. "It's alright, Steel. It was just a nightmare. You're fine," Luna said. I looked over to her and saw her concerned face looking down at me. I also remembered that I was in her bed, blushing from the implications somepony else might think of, I got up and walked over to the window. I sat down in front of the window and opened it allowing the cool early morning air to enter the room. Luna also got up and sat next to me, "Steel, do you want to talk about it? It helps."

"No… I don't want to worry you with my problems." She must have noticed that I was still a little shaken from my nightmare because she pulled me into another hug. "Steel, I'm your friend. You can talk to me about anything, a friend listens to another friends problems. Also I'm a princess of Equestria, it's my duty to keep everypony happy. So what was your nightmare about?" I knew she would try and get me to talk about it, so I just kept staring out the window. "Come on Steel, tell me." After my continued silence, she nuzzled my neck causing me to blush slightly from the contact. Subsequently her mane tickled my nose and I could suppress a chuckle. She heard me and got a deviant smile on her face, "Luna, wait…" She magically held me in place and began rubbing her main around my nose; I couldn't keep myself from laughing, "I'll only stop if you tell me." I tried to escape, but since she was more proficient with magic I couldn't break her hold on me. "Alright, alright, I'll tell you. Just stop." She stopped, but held me in place so I couldn't leave without telling her.

"I was in a graveyard, in front of the graves of everypony I got killed. Just looking at the graves brought back the memories, it was hard to just stand there. Then… then, they rose from their graves. All of them, each and every one of them, crawled out of the ground. They all looked the same as the day I got them killed. I started to run, but before I ran I heard them utter one word, "Why?" They didn't have to say anything else. That one word was all I needed to hear to know that they blamed me for their deaths. To confirm what I already knew, it was all my fau-fault." I broke down and cried. Luna hugged me while I continued to cry and offered comforting words, but I couldn't hear them. I don't know how long we stayed like that, but when I stopped crying the sun was up. We stared out the window for a few more minutes until Luna spoke up. "Hey Steel, why don't we play a game of chess?" I absentmindedly nodded, still depressed about what I learned from my nightmare. As she set up the board, I remembered that yesterday I thought all the pieces were the same, upon close inspection I noticed that, aside from one group being black and the other white, they were all the same. "Uh, Luna?"

"Touch one of your pieces." I did and I couldn't believe what I was seeing. I watched as each piece took on its own form. The pawns became marines and the other pieces were more tools of war (Planes, ships, tanks, etc.). Luna's pawns became royal guards with other guard related items for the remaining pieces (Helmets, swords, castle towers, etc.), however the most surprising piece she had was the queen; it was Nightmare Moon. "Uh, Luna… any specific reason your queen is Nightmare Moon?" She lifted up the piece and examined it from all angles, "No… this piece has changed since the last time I used it." She looked at me and saw my confused expression and explained. "The pieces are enchanted to take the form of the player's homelands army. The queen is usually the strongest pony in the army." I looked at my queen, a nuclear missile, "Maybe not… my queen is one of the most dangerous weapons in my world. Perhaps the queen is the most dangerous thing the player knows of."

"This is too confusing Steel, let's just play." I nodded, "I'm warning you now, when I play I don't hold back." We played for awhile, Luna won most of the games, but in my defense, she had centuries of experience and I only had about ten years. I had just lost again when somepony knocked on the door. I reset the board while Luna went to the door. She opened it revealing Celestia, Cadence, and the girls. "Are you alright, sister?"

"I'm fine, Tia… why?" I was confused as well until I looked at the clock, it was noon. I face hoofed and they all looked at me. I chuckled nervously as I walked over to them, "So, who wants lunch?" Luna was confused or shocked I couldn't tell. "Lunch? What are you-" She stopped talking when she looked at the clock. "Were we really in here all morning?" They all nodded, "Steel, how many games of chess did we play?" I shrugged, "I don't know, I stopped keeping track after you beat me five times in a row. So… lunch?" Celestia was about to say something when we heard a rumbling sound. As everypony looked for the source of the sound, I saw Luna look at the ground in embarrassment. I started laughing when I realized that the sound came from her stomach. Everypony was confused about why I was laughing until my stomach cried out for food as well. Now it was Luna's turn to laugh, and eventually everypony figured out what the noises were and started laughing too. As we walked to the dinning hall Cadence motioned for me to walk next to her, "Hello Steel its good to see you again." I nodded in agreement, "Have you thought about what we discussed last time you were here?"

"Yes and after thinking about it I made my decision. I don't think Luna would want to be with me, especially with all my problems… but, I'm willing to give it a shot." She smiled when I told her that, like she knew that would be my answer. "So, when are you going to ask her out? And what changed your mind? Last time you were here you were against even thinking about it."

"Well, I remembered something I once read, 'How can you know what will happen if you never even try?' I still don't think it will work out, but I might as well try." She shook her head and I thought I heard her mutter something about me being a pessimist. "As for when I'm going to ask her out, I'm not sure. But it's definitely going to be before I leave the castle and before I lose my nerves." She nodded in agreement. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Dash glance back at the two of us. When I looked in her direction, she looked away and tried to look inconspicuous, which means she just overheard our entire conversation… great. When we got to the dining room, the castle's staff just finished setting up the table. While we waited for the chiefs to finish preparing lunch I started thinking about when I should ask Luna out. "Not during lunch," I thought t o myself, "I don't want them all to know if it doesn't work out. Also, I want to avoid asking her when other ponies are around, too awkward." While I was thinking, I didn't notice Dash trying to get my attention. She got annoyed that I was ignoring her, unintentionally of course, but she didn't know that. She went outside, brought in a storm cloud and hit me with a lightning bolt to get my attention. I must have jumped three feet in the air causing everypony else to start laughing. "Ha ha ha, very funny. I'm going to remember this, Dash. What do you want?"

She walked over next to me and whispered, "So, thinking about Luna, huh?" She looked at me with a suggestive look. I blushed and my wings extended slightly; I couldn't tell if it was because of how embarrassed I was or because of the natural reaction wings have to 'those' thoughts. "That's none of your concern." She started laughing, "Knew it." The others laughed at my embarrassment even though they didn't know what caused me to blush. I was about to try and make Dash blush in retaliation, but the chiefs came in with the food. After lunch, it was time for us to return to Ponyville. As we walked to the carriage the princesses were providing, Cadence nudged me and gestured to Luna. As everypony else boarded the carriage, I walked over to Luna. "Hey Luna, can I talk to you for a second?" I saw Celestia watching us, "In private." We walked away from everypony, as we were walking, I could feel three sets of eyes following us. Looking back I saw Celestia and Cadence watching us and Dash quickly looking away from us. "So Steel, what did you want to talk about?" This is it, "Well I was wondering if you wanted to hang out sometime… just the two of us." She narrowed her eyes and had a playful smirk on her face, "Like a date?" If my face didn't look like a tomato before it does now. I tried to say something, but my voice chose this moment to abandon me so I just nodded. "Sure," I must have visibly relaxed because she chuckled. "Well princess, how does Friday at eight sound?" She giggled when I called her princess and nodded. "Perfect and not to sound rude, but could you come to my house? I know the stallion usually picks up the mare at her home, but I really don't think we want any rumors about us being spread around the castle or Canterlot." She nodded again and we walked back to the others, smiling. I gave Luna a hug and she surprised me by kissing me on the cheek. As I boarded the carriage, I saw Cadence give me a knowing wink.

For the first few minutes of the ride, we all sat in silence with Dash staring at me the entire time until she finally said something. "So… did you ask Luna out on a date yet?" The others gasped in shock and I think I saw the guards glance back at me. "Um… I… ah…" I could feel myself blush so I looked down at my hooves. "Ha! You did and judging by the smile you have on your face, she said yes." I wanted to say something, but with them all watching me I panicked and absentmindedly nodded. They all gasped again and asked various different questions relating to my relationship with Luna or the date. They asked everything, where I was taking her, what I would wear, and if this would be our only date or would there be more. I couldn't even say two words before I was cut off by another question. Eventually, they calmed down and Rarity was the only pony still talking, if she keeps talking I'm just going to tune her out. "Darling, I simply must make you a smashing outfit. You need to dress your best for your date with Princess Luna, first impressions are everything." I sighed, "Rarity, Luna and I already know each other. I don't think first really impressions matter. Besides I'm not going to wear a suit." She tried to convince me to wear a suit by giving me that cute eye look. Good thing battle hardened soldiers are immune to it. "Nice try." She wasn't happy that I wouldn't wear a suit but she dropped the topic… for now. They started asking me more questions and this continued and continued… "Enough! If you're all so worried about me messing up on my date, just help me set everything up!" They all agreed and I was left wishing I hadn't said that as we arrived at Ponyville, more specifically my house. "There goes any chance of me having my first date with Luna, how I want it." I muttered as the girls disembarked the carriage. When I exited the carriage, one of the guards motioned for me to come over to him, "I would recommend being on your best behavior during your date with Princess Luna. Princess Celestia is very protective of her sister and I'm not sure what would happen if you hurt Princess Luna in any way." After giving me that 'comforting' advice, he and his fellow guard began the trip back to Canterlot.

Ponyville
Local time: 1200
One month, ten days since arrival

Nothing really happened in the past three days. The girls all helped me prepare for my date tonight and I secretly bought the dyes for my revenge prank on Dash. During the party last night, which I asked Pinkie to throw, I slipped a sedative into one of Dashes drinks. It knocked her out and the girls, who offered to help, and myself dyed her coat the colors of her mane and dyed her mane cyan. After we finished, Pinkie hid the left over dye, Dash was still asleep on the floor. We waited for another ten minutes, at least. "I'm starting to think the sedative was too much." Twilight was about to say something when Dash started to move. "Uh… my head, what happened?" The sedative must have still been affecting her because she hadn't noticed the changes we made to her body… until she went into the bathroom of course. She screamed, flew down the stairs, and crashed into me. She looked at us with a panicked expression, "We have a major problem; I think somepony rubbed poison joke on me. My mane and tail they've… switched colors!"

"We… we can see that Dash." We were all failing miserably at keeping ourselves from laughing; Pinkie was the worst of us all. Dash continued her panicked rant about how she was going to find the pony who did this to her until we all fell to the ground laughing. "Why are you guys laughing, this is serious!" Still laughing, Pinkie reached under the nearby table and pulled out the box containing the leftover dyes. When she hoofed over the box to Dash our laughter died down to the occasional giggle from Pinkie. "You did this?"

"Originally, it was only going to be me with Pinkie helping by throwing the party, but after the others found out, they wanted to help. Don't worry the dyes should wash off by tomorrow, Sunday at the latest." She groaned and left muttering something about getting back at me. I followed her for awhile and I noticed that she rushed through her weather duties. After Dash fled to her house to avoid any further embarrassment, I left to get the supplies for my date. Using the money I had 'earned,' I got everything I needed and it didn't even put a dent in my funds. After dropping off the supplies at home, I went to Rarity's boutique, she wanted to talk to me about something. "Hello Steel."

"Rarity, it's always nice to see you." She let me inside and I got a good look at the boutique, I think this is the first time I've actually been inside. "So, what did you want to talk about?" She motioned for me to follow her, "Well, I did say I would help you on your date with Princess Luna. I know the others said they would help too, but I doubt they were much help. I would suggest ignoring any advice Dash or AJ gave you. I don't think they've had any experience with romance, same with Fluttershy. Twilight probably recommended a book, and Pinkie is… well Pinkie." Right on all accounts, except I avoided asking them for advice, "I know you wanted to plan out the night so I decided not to interfere with your plans. I still wanted to help so I took the liberty of making you a suit." She pulled on a rope opening the curtain she had led me in front of. Behind it was on a ponykin (you know, a manikin but for ponies) was the suit. I know she put a lot of effort into it but being the pony I am, it just looked like every other suit I've ever seen. For the next hour, she went over the details she put into the suit. I tried to politely tell her that I didn't want to wear a suit, but she wouldn't take no for an answer and eventually I gave in and said I'd wear it. After having me try it on and making sure it fit properly, I said goodbye to Rarity and headed home for some relaxation before my date. As I sat in my house I looked at two of the jewels I had picked up during my trip into the Everfree Forest. After taking all the jewels, I headed to the town jeweler where she told me that these two were extremely rare. She also put me in contact with a museum curator who is willing to offer me a large amount of bits for just the one that looked like copper mixed with quarts and a yellow sapphire. The other one I was more reluctant to sell, it looked like some pony had turned fire into a stone. It's probably selfish of me to keep such a rare stone to myself, but it reminds me so much of my mane. Okay, I'm selfish, sue me. I can afford it. Looking at the clock I decided it was time to start getting everything ready and put on my suit.

While I prepared the dinner I planned, the girls came over to make sure I had everything I needed. Rarity refused to leave until I put on my suit. She also convinced, definitely not forced, me to let her style my mane and brush my coat. When she finished, my coat looked like somepony buffed a piece of metal, my mane looked like how I used to style when attending fancy parties, and my tail just looked neat, nothing special. She also brought over some cologne for me, personally I think she used too much. Fluttershy was kind enough to pick me a bouquet of flowers and AJ gave me an apple family pie. Her pie recipe is the one thing in Equestria I would do anything to get, but she's made it painfully clear the recipe is not for sale. After everything was ready and the girls left, I still had half an hour until Luna was supposed to arrive. As it got closer to eight I started getting nervous so I put on some calming music. Once I was calm, I turned off the music. Just as I sat down somepony knocked on the door and the nervous feeling I had returned. When I opened the door I saw Luna standing there. Her mane looked like the night sky, her coat was like polished ebony and for the first time I noticed how pretty her eyes were, considering she wasn't wearing any of her royal regalia which reflected light and was distracting. In other words she was, "Beautiful."

"Thank you Steel, you look quite handsome yourself." I blushed when I realized I said that out loud. "So, what did you have planed for our date?" Realizing she was still standing outside, I moved out of the way so she could come in. "Well I planed on taking you out for a picnic under the stars. I also have secondary and tertiary plans if you don't like the picnic." She seamed a little surprised that I had three things planed. "No, a picnic is fine but, wouldn't your suit get ruined?" I nodded while I tried to adjust the collar into a more comfortable position, "Yeah, Rarity 'convinced' me to wear it." Luna giggled at my discomfort, "She also had me wear this cologne and, based on your reaction, she used too much, just like I thought." Luna rubbed the back of her neck nervously while trying not to breathe through her nose. "Well, I'm going to get out of this suit and try to think of a way to mask the smell of this cologne." A few minutes later, I came back out into the living room without the suit and smelling like lemons instead of cologne, "Ready Luna?" She nodded. I grabbed the picnic basket and opened to door allowing her to leave first like a gentlecolt should. I led her over to one of the hills near Ponyville. It was perfect, there were no trees, shrubs, or bushes to block the view, no roots or rocks to make sitting or lying down uncomfortable, and I cleared the sky of clouds. I had just finished setting everything up when I saw a lone cloud heading in our direction. After double checking that the cloud was indeed moving against the wind I decided to take action. "I'll be right back Luna, it seems that somepony's gotten too curious for their own good." She gave me a questioning look, "That slow moving cloud is moving against the wind, somepony is pushing it." I took off in the opposite direction of the cloud. Then I flew up higher than the cloud, turned around, flew towards it and hovered near it. The cloud was obviously hollow on the inside considering the view ports on the bottom and 'door' on the top. Looking inside I saw Dash and Fluttershy pushing it from the inside, how that works I'll never know. Also inside were the rest of our friends including Vinyl and Octavia who I thought were still in Canterlot. Using the impressive power of my wings I moved it, at least five times faster, back to Ponyville. By the time they realized they were going in the wrong direction I had positioned them over the library. When they finally decided to investigate I was already flying back to Luna, "Don't even think about trying to spy on us again."

When I got back Luna had an amused look on her face, "So are the 'spies' gone?" I chuckled, "Yeah, all eight of them." Seeing that she was confused, I elaborated, "Our friends including Vinyl and Octavia, honestly I thought they were still in Canterlot." She chuckled and shook her head. We started to eat, I wasn't sure what I should eat considering all I ate since I came to Equestria was vegetables, fruits and baked good. I never tried anything with flowers. In the end I took some salad, dandelion sandwiches, daisy sandwiches, hay fries, and of course AJ's pie. I was never good at small talk so we spent most of the meal in an uncomfortable silence. After we finished eating, we saw the girls attempting to spy on us again using a green tarp to cover them. I was about to get rid of them when there was a flash and they were gone. I looked over to Luna and saw the glow from her horn diminish. We stared at each other and then we burst into laughter. When we finally finished to tension in the air was gone and we lay down next to each other and looked at the stars. She pointed out the constellations in the sky and I told her about the constellations from my world. I played her some songs on my guitar and she played me one from Equestria, it's nice to know that she learned something I didn't teach her. Eventually we ended up talking about the stars themselves and space travel. "So you've been able to send somepony into space?"

"Yes, unfortunately not everypony can go into space. It's expensive so only the rich or ponies funded by the government could afford it. Personally, I don't see the big deal. I know the view is supposed to be beautiful and the stars look even better there but it just takes too long to get there and there's not a lot to do up there. Maybe I would like it more if I could afford it and it only took a few minutes to reach the moon or another planet. Maybe I would think differently if I actually went up there… and I just realized it must be incredibly boring for you to listen to me ramble on about this stuff." Luna giggled, "No it's fine, Steel. I agree with you the view is beautiful, but there's not a lot to do up there." I've noticed that with all the time I've spent with Luna, she's finally letting go of the past and look toward the future. "Steel…?"

"Yeah," Luna looked over at me, "I had a great time." I looked over to her and smiled, "That was the point." She laughed and I was only vaguely aware that we were getting closer to each other, and I only really noticed when I felt her breath on my face. As we got closer, my heart was fighting my mind. My heart wanted this, but my mind told me it would never work. When our lips connected, I made my decision. Fuck my mind, I'm happy and she's happy. When she pulled away she saw my blank expression, frowned, and looked at the ground. I lifted her so she was looking at me, smiled, and kissed her. She was surprised, but kissed me back. This kiss was more passionate than the last one because I had finally decided I wanted this. The kiss lasted until we had to breathe and when we pulled away we stared into each others eyes.

But I should have known this moment wouldn't last, suddenly there was a bright flash of light originating from my chest. When the light receded there was a silver piece of armor on my chest, a breastplate if my limited knowledge of medieval armor is correct. It appeared to be pure silver with what appears to be a yellow sapphire in the shape of a bullet in the center, "Shit…"

Authors Note: Well, there you go another chapter for you guys. *IMPORTANT* For those of you who may have figured out what happened at the end of the chapter DO NOT post it in the comments, give those who haven't figured it out yet the chance to do it on their own or wait for the next chapter, also I will explain why I put that in at the end of the next chapter.