//------------------------------// // Chapter 20: All Coming Together // Story: Black as Sin // by BearstarSeraph //------------------------------// Chapter 20: All Coming Together Luna was straining with her horn lit up. Then she lowered her head, panting. “It’s not responding to my magic…” “Don’t look at me so quickly,” Discord said. “I feel my arm ache even in here.” “Could you at least put me down now?” Cadence asked. “It’s not like he’s here.” Discord unwrapped himself from around Cadence and began rubbing his sore arm. “So, any ideas on what this thing is?” Cadence gestured at the medallion. “It’s a barrier to a deeper part of the mind,” Luna said. “Most likely his sanctuary. His greatest secrets. His most intimate and vulnerable self. Every pony has one, but the lock has never been so incalcitrant before.” “Do you always have to go so deep?” Twilight asked with her ears pinned back. “Not in today’s era,” Luna said. “But a millennia ago, many nightmares came from deep seated trauma, not insecurities and mild dissatisfaction. Untreated, all the suffering gets buried deeper and deeper just to give the illusion of functioning day to day. If the negative emotions reach so far down it touches the magic…” Luna hung her head, “it… is especially dangerous in the spell caster races of Equus.” Celestia went over to place her wing over her sister. Her hoof stepped on the edge of the medallion. The grooves near her hoof lit up purple and spread out a few feet before dissipating. Luna gasped and stepped on the medallion. It lit up bright purple and lit up almost a third of the medallion before dissipating. Pinkie jumped on it with all four hooves. It also lit up a third. “Princess Twilight,” Celestia said softly, nodding towards the medallion. Twilight cautiously stepped on the edge. It lit up as purple fire raced through the grooves as the magic spiraled towards the center. When the magic collided in the center sparks flew with the sound of a large electrical short circuit. Twilight screamed and jumped back. A black line swept the magic from the medallion while a black flame cleared the purple flames from the grooves. Discord’s face fell. “Oh… I got a bad feeling about this…” He slowly looked at Cadence and awkwardly pointed at the medallion. “Would you like to elaborate on that bad feeling before I risk my hoof in an explosion?” “Well… as much as I joke about us being a pantheon, I think in this instance it’s literal. Purple is literally the magic of friendship. Everyone reacted in varying amounts of purple. And when the goddess of friendship touched it, the whole thing lit up and sparked.” He pointed at the ground, “He knows his friends are here in some capacity, but he’s in a place he won’t even let his closest friends in.” “So how do we get in then?” Cadence asked, exasperated. “The goddess of love.” “What?! Me?!” “Look at that design! That’s the side profile of a He-you-man, and I’m guessing it’s his wife.” Pinkie floated up. “Oh! Oh! Yeah! I see it now!” “Princess Cadence,” Celestia said gently. “Go ahead. You’re the only one left.” Cadence rolled her eyes and stepped on the edge. A blue wall of light rose high into the darkness, encircling the edge as the beams of light raced through the grooves. When the grooves finished lighting, the outer wall collapsed and raced to the center. Instead of exploding into sparks, it gently began to swirl and climbed upwards with a tinkling sound. It pulled up the medallion’s ivory material and when the magic finally sparkled away, there was a statue in the center. It was a perfect replica of Bulma in her wedding dress, holding her hand out to receive her ring. “The ring!” Luna’s wings puffed out. She began searching the ground. “Where did the ring go?!” Everyone spread out. “Found it!” Twilight shouted excitedly. She galloped back and went to put it on the statue. “Princess Twilight! Wait a moment!” Luna shouted. But it was too late. As the ring slipped over the first knuckle, the statue lit up an angry red and shot a beam. Twilight screamed as she was sent flying then skidding across the ground. Everyone ran over. “Twilight, your over eagerness to intervene is going to get you hurt one of these days,” Discord said as Celestia helped her up. “I got the ring!” Pinkie said, holding it up. Luna sighed, “Alright… Princess Cadenza, take the ring and place it on its finger.” “And what do you think is going to happen?” she demanded. “Because every time you have been wrong.” “And thou have been deadly!” Luna shouted. “The mixing of our magic has dissolved the line between the dreamplane and reality. This has allowed both healing and injury, and you cast a lethal spell! Doctors could be dragging our unconscious bodies out of the way right now, for all we know.” “Cadence,” Celestia dropped the honorific. “Place the ring on the finger and open the door. I agree fully with Discord. Vegeta might not know who we are, but he knows we are friends. But you are clearly different. He thinks you are his wife, Cadence. And as disgusted as your face says you are, it is clear she is the only one he allows into his heart. You need to let us in.” Cadence's face twisted from disgust to anger. She lifted her nose and huffed as she ripped the ring from Pinkie’s hoof. She clopped over to the statue, the medallion lighting up a brilliant blue as she stepped on it. “Ok,” Luna said, “put the ring on, then step off.” Cadence carefully slipped the ring on the finger. This time the statue did not lash out, but instead began glowing blue with sparkles shimmering in the magic. Cadence stepped off. The magic swirled around the medallion and statue, then it spread out over the ground. As it touched each pony, a ring of flowing magic formed around them. Soon everyone had a circle and the main mass returned to the medallion. The circles brightened and began to move faster. Then a light barrier shot up around them. “What’s happening?” “It feels like a teleportation spell,” Luna said. “He’s taking us down instead of opening a door.” Suddenly everyone else’s circle turned purple then fizzled into black while Cadence’s brightened. Cadence vanished. “No!” Luna yelled and went over to where she stood. She lit her horn and examined any residual magic. “Sister?” Celestia came over, “Can you copy it and get us in?” Luna raised her head. Her face answered her question. “So it’s all up to Cadence now?” Twilight said nervously. “She can do this, right?” “She will have to,” Discord said. He looked at Luna, “Or she’ll never wake up?” “Worse…” Everyone looked at Luna surprised. “If she continues to lash out at him as she has up until now… She will die with him.” ~~***~~ Cadence coughed in the thick clouds. They felt like a thick weighted blanket over every inch of her body. She coughed again as she lit her horn, to little effect. If despair had a taste, she was now intimate with it. “Twilie?! Princess Celestia?!” she looked around. “Princess Luna?! *cough* *cough* Discord?! Pinkie?!” She listened for voices, but heard nothing. No, not nothing… She strained her ears as she moved them back and forth. There was a quiet sound, a quiet whine in the distance. But the more she focused, the more that it sounded like it was coming from everywhere. Cadence had another coughing fit. Then her eyes turned to shock and terror. She lit her horn and did the strongest wind spell she could cast to push the clouds away. It worked, forming a bubble. She was too busy coughing and hacking to notice the walls of the spell were blue instead of the normal green for wind magic. “Oh, Celestia! I was breathing in pieces of HIM!” she shouted as she continued gulping the clean air and trying to clear her insides of every trace of the clouds. Once she was satisfied, she cast a cleaning and disinfecting spell over herself. “Ok. Ok…” she did her breathing exercise. With a calmer head, she looked around. And finally noticed the blue magic. She walked over and carefully poked the shimmering dark clouds. It was thicker, like cotton. But when she poked all the way through, she felt the texture of the original clouds behind it. The sound came back when she did so, but when she pulled her hoof out, it sealed and the noise was dampened to almost nothing. “Great… we need to gather him all over again…” she sighed, coming to the realization. “Well, at least I know what the others are doing.” Cadence lit her horn a brilliant blue and the clouds instantly reacted to her presence. The clouds had stopped being gentle walls of twisting fluffiness to almost staring at her from all directions. She began gathering the clouds as she saw Luna had done. Suddenly the clouds began to bunch up on their own, as if they knew what she wanted. Cadence took a step and suddenly someone’s shirt appeared under her hoof. She backed up, but heard crunching plants. She turned around and saw palm leaves. Wherever she walked, either palm leaves or cloaks appeared on the ground. Cadence sighed at the ridiculousness, then walked forward, gathering any lagging clouds as the main mass rolled back in front of her. ~~***~~ “Princess Celestia?! Princess Luna?! Twilie?!” Cadence continued to call out as the rolling clouds revealed more and more of an endless cavern. She had a sudden thought. “Oh, Sun, Moon, and Stars! Please don’t let me be in here alone with him?!” Suddenly flowers appeared along the walking path and rose petals on the clothes and palm leaves. “Oh… yes… he thinks I’m his wife…” she lowered her head as she thought of nonconsensual scenarios. Suddenly the surrounding area turned into a sea of flowers with cherry trees in full bloom dropping petals everywhere. One side of the path was lined with patio sets full of sweets and steaming cups of tea while the other was lined with street vender stalls full of strawberries. Then it started to rain teddy bears holding hearts with messages written on them. One hit her in the face and got caught on her horn. She took it off and looked at it. She didn’t know what ‘LUVU’ meant, but considering this was a scene out of every filly’s corny Hearts and Hooves’ Day story book, it was probably something worthy of a facehoof. Then another hit her in the head and fell on the ground. This one started to play music and sing with a filly’s voice. “You are my sunshine. My only sunshine…” Cadence picked it up with her magic and chucked both back the way she came. She suddenly heard scared whimpering. She looked forward and saw a litter of chocolate lab puppies with big red bows on them cuddling scared. Surrounding them were small heart-shaped boxes of chocolate with little teeth marks on them. “Oh come on! This is too much!” Cadence stomped her hoof. The puppies ran as fast as their adorable scared paws could take them. Then a wave of frost erupted from Cadence’s hooves. All the flowers instantly wilted and the trees dropped all their flowers and leaves in one loud crash. The furniture rusted and fell apart and the strawberries molded over as the wooden stalls rotted and collapsed under them. Cadence shivered as she could suddenly see her breath. She moved forward, hoping that leaving the area would end the cold. As she walked everything turned to a grayish white dust, but she could not tell if it was snow or ash. She came across a lumpy mound of white. Suddenly realizing what she was seeing, she ran as fast as she could trying not to slip on the clothes and palm leaves ever being placed at her feet. ~~***~~ With that scene of death and decay far behind her, Cadence eventually returned to her normal pace. The cloud was still self-gathering, but its rapid collapse was pulling it farther and farther away. “It’s going to get harder to see if this keeps up,” she said under her breath. Suddenly a ditch opened in front of her and bricks began falling from the sky. They all fell into place and a loud crashing followed the rapidly forming road into the distance. Once she caught her breath from the fear of being crushed, she noticed the color of the bricks. “Wait… Is this all gold bullion?!” She ran to the road but any attempt to touch the bricks themselves were thwarted by the palm leaves that kept reappearing as soon as she would move one out of the way. She sighed and looked at the glistening yellow brick road rapidly disappearing into the distance. Cadence walked on, occasionally slipping on the clothes and leaves covering the smooth metal at her feet. ~~***~~ As Cadence made her way closer to the cloud, that sound from before returned and grew louder. That taste of despair returned to her mouth and her skin crawled as the sound got louder. It was crying, no — weeping. With the distinct undertone of someone about to snap and go mad. She finally arrived at the swirling mass of what could only be described as twisting storm clouds in desperate need of a pegasus. Blue lighting cracked and thundered within. Suddenly the part of the cloud closest to her stopped. Cadence felt like it was watching her like before. Then blue lighting appeared in the spot and formed a circle. It pushed back the cloud and formed a depression that soon reached the ground. Cadence hesitated at the obvious door. The depression was only ten feet at most and only revealed even more sinister looking clouds deeper within. That the sobbing had turned more into a screaming wail made the peril even more obvious. Cadence made a few steps to walk around the cloud when a black tendril erupted from within. It wrapped around her and pulled her screaming inside. The door closed and the road and everything on it turned to grayish-white powder and blew away. Leaving nothing but the raging cloud. ~~***~~ Cadence found herself in a foggy black mist. She held her breath and lit her horn. The fog was a light mist unlike the heavier versions before. But what surprised her the most was the Celestia awful screeching that emanated from this place from the outside, was a realistic pony voice crying within. The clouds reacted to her magic again and the immediate surrounding mist collapsed into a vision. Vegeta was on his knees, kneeling at the side of a partially formed bed. He had his face buried in the covers as he gripped them tightly in both fists. “I’m sorry. I’m so sorry. I messed up and I can’t take it back…” he was saying, muffled by the blankets. Looming over him was the image of his wife. She sat on the side of the bed in a transparent slip. Cold. Unmoving. Even though her face was darkened the sensation of disgust and hatred radiated from her non-existent eyes. “I’m sorry…. I’m sorry….” He continued to say into the bed. Cadence felt no emotion looking at the scene. “Great, I have to convince this bastard that his wife forgives him for something I don’t even know about to get out of here.” Suddenly, the wife spoke. “Are you not even going to tell me what you are sorry for, you bastard?” Cadence took a step back. “I have direct control of her?” she thought. She lit her horn and thought about the wife lifting her right arm. In response, the image lifted its arm roughly, like a marionette. Cadence let the arm drop. “Ok… you can do this Cadence. You’re the princess that rules over love after all.” “Tell me what is wrong. Why are you apologizing?” “Well? I’m waiting?” the wife said. “Why is she still acting cold?” Cadence thought. “You know what I did!” Vegeta screamed into the fabric. “I… I killed everyone… I almost killed you… It’s my fault… everything. No amount of erasing memories can change what I did… I let that bastard in my head. I didn’t fight hard enough… Even though I said no, I did it anyway… Everyone died because of me…” “So this is about the harm he caused under the geas?” Cadence lit her horn. “It wasn’t your fault.” The wife awkwardly put her hand on Vegeta’s head. “It wasn’t your fault.” “Yes, it was. Yes, it was and you know better…” Cadence bit her lip as she was already messing up. She began running the woman’s fingers through his hair, having her lean over and say sweet nothing in his ear trying to reassure him. Vegeta suddenly lifted his head out of the covers. “What the hell are you doing?!” he shouted at full volume, “You don’t mean a single word you say!” Cadence became frustrated and angry. “Just snap out of this!” “Stand up!” Bulma shouted, suddenly standing by herself. Cadence's eyes widened and she lit her horn brighter to regain control, but the woman did not respond. Vegeta stood, visibly scared at the sudden change. The woman wound up and slapped him hard across the face. Vegeta’s eyes widened and he took a sharp breath. The clouds around suddenly went still and Cadence felt the eyes all over again. She tensed, expecting retaliation for her screw up. Instead, the clouds began to fall like rain and the image expanded. Cadence looked around at the expanded image. There was a wall behind her, a huge bed pushed against another wall, and a large section of floor and ceiling visible. The remaining clouds were also acting strange. They seemed calmer, somehow. “Wait… is he responding… positively to being assaulted by his wife?” Cadence risked an experiment. She allowed herself to feel those emotions and spoke “I love you.” His wife slapped him hard across the face again. “I love you, you fucking idiot!” The clouds reacted the same way again, this time a chair and half a table became visible. Cadence focused on her emotions, partially disgusted but also partially satisfied seeing the display of domestic violence in front of her. *SLAP* “I knew who I was fucking without a condom!” *SLAP* “Even if I didn’t know that antibiotics could mess with my birth control, I still did it!” *SLAP* “You think this is worse than everything else you’ve ever done?!” *SLAP* “You died and almost fucked your resurrection permanently!” *SLAP* “You almost left Trunks and I alone!” *SLAP* “You’re an even bigger idiot than Goku half the time, you son of a bitch!” *SLAP* “But you're my idiot, and I don’t regret a single day!” *SLAP* “Don’t make me start now!” *SLAP* She raised her hand one more time and swung. But this time Vegeta grabbed her wrist before she hit him. “Alright…” he said, his voice cracking, “I get it. You can stop slapping me now.” He then took her hand and kissed it, “I’ve done enough damage without you breaking your hand on my face.” Cadence became distracted by a bright light to her right and looked away from the couple. The room was fully formed now with not a cloud in sight. She walked over to the huge wall of floor to ceiling windows. She was on top of some kind of tower looking out over a night scene full of light and crystal. The light on the ground was so bright the stars were a distant shadow of their actual glory that Luna worked so hard for. “This is nothing like what Twilie said was on the other side of the mirror…” she muttered. Behind her, the scene continued without her input. Bulma put her hands on her hips. “So do you finally understand I still love you, you dumbass?” Vegeta sniffled, “Yes…” He went in for a hug, but Bulma turned her back. She walked over to the nightstand and opened the drawer. She pulled out a box of tissues and handed it to him with a coy smile on her face. The blowing of his nose pulled Cadence’s attention from the window. She saw Vegeta toss the tissue over his shoulder and into a waste can without looking. Then he hugged his wife, burying his face into the crook of her neck. A blinding light came from the hugging couple, enveloping Cadence. ~~***~~ Outside, everyone was sitting together watching Luna pace nervously back and forth. “Sister, please sit.” “Yes, there is nothing we can do right now but wait,” Discord said. “It’s only been a few minutes.” Luna spun around to face him, “You know very well the time dilation between levels of the mind, Discord.” Suddenly the medallion lit up, grabbing everyone’s attention. A column of light burst through before expanding, washing over everyone. ~~***~~ Everyone opened their eyes and found themselves unceremoniously dumped in the hallway. As they shook the sleep from their eyes, they heard loud voices coming from down the hall. Discord dragged himself across the floor to the doorway by his wings, breathing hard from the strain. “Vegeta’s not in here!” Luna jumped up and ran, Celestia on her heels. Discord slumped on the ground. His arms cocked and twisted partially under him. “Don’t your arms hurt twisted like that?” Pinkie asked from her bed. “I… I can’t feel them…” ~~***~~ Luna and Celestia found Vegeta exactly where Luna had feared— in surgery for a chest wound. “Doctors, report!” Celestia shouted while Luna was momentarily frozen. The surgeons momentarily looked up. “Nurse Needlework, go,” one said as the others returned to work. A pink unicorn in an apron came out. “Yes, your majesties?” “What happened?” “While you were dreamwalking, a hole opened up through his barrel. It began glowing almost immediately, but the healing spell wasn’t strong enough to completely close the wound. It did stop the bleeding, however, thankfully.” “He is out of danger?” The nurse nodded, “It was a simple wound to close unlike the other. But he will still need rest for it to completely heal. I do not know if it will add to his bedrest. That will be up to the doctors to decide.” Luna fell on her haunches, “Oh, thank goodness…” Celestia put her front leg over Luna’s shoulders. “Yes, thank goodness. Now let’s go tell them the good —" Suddenly Twilight teleported next to them hyperventilating. “Princess Celestia! Discord can’t feel his arms! They are completely numb and limp!” “Find more doctors! Hurry!” Celestia shouted as she teleported away. Celestia appeared and saw Cadence with her horn glowing white over his paw. “Hey Celestia,” he smiled. “Look! I can twitch my claw now. See everything is perfectly fine. So, how’s Vegeta?” Celestia’s wings slumped. “Oh, Discord… must you always turn things into a joke?” ~~***~~ Vegeta found himself placed in a new room when he opened his eyes. He took in his surroundings. His body cast looked like the cleaning spell had been used on it. Then he noticed a new tube with a valve sticking out of his chest area. He grimaced, pressing his eyes shut as a headache ripped through his skull. “Fucking hell…” Vegeta placed his head back on the pillow. “Prince Vegeta?!” Vegeta lifted his head again and saw Luna sticking her head in the door, smiling ear to ear. She galloped the few steps to his bedside as the doctors she was talking to stuck their heads in. “How art thou feeling?” Luna asked eagerly. Vegeta squinted his eyes. “Luna?” “Yes, tis us! Princess Luna.” “My head feels like a spike was driven through it…” Vegeta said. “Doest thou remember anything?” “Remember…” he muttered. His eyes widened. He lifted his head and his whole body shifted slightly. “Pinkie!” he said, panicking, “How is she?” “She is alive,” Luna said solemnly. Vegeta noticed the hanging pause in the air. He swallowed, “… But?” Luna gave a small smile, “The healing was not perfect and hast left internal scarring that cannot be easily treated.” Vegeta clinched his eyes and jaw and leaned his head back. “But she is alive and in high spirits,” Luna said. “And will be even more so now that thou hast finally awakened.” “Finally?” he asked, confused. “Thy mind shredded from the strain of the attempt. It’s been hours, sister will be setting the sun in an hour and a half.” “In numbers, please…” “Tis little past 6 o’clock. But Prince Vegeta, will thou allow us to scan thy head for a moment?” “Yeah… Whatever…” Vegeta put his head back down on the pillow. Luna wrapped his head in magic. Vegeta saw her press her lips together. “That look of disappointment isn’t that reassuring when it comes to my brain.” “We art sorry,” Luna released his head. “It was a great effort to piece thy consciousness back together. But thou art still frayed. If thou were anyone else, we would be startled that thee had awoken in such a state.” Vegeta’s eyes narrowed. “Define ‘piecing my consciousness back together’.” “Thou were in a state not unlike the death smoke when we entered thy broken mind. We gathered thee together, but any attempt on our part to force thee whole always backfired. In the end, all we could do is watch as thou struggled. Thou were shattered across hundreds of specters, some of which did not like each other.” Vegeta sighed and put his head back on the pillow, “So how many more people did I give PTSD to by watching what I assume was a brutal battle royale?” Luna shook her head. “No one. Thou were already pulling thyself together rapidly. The only reason we intervened was because thou were collecting into two nodes…” “Split personality?” Vegeta interrupted. “Yes,” Luna nodded. “The battle between ye two was horrid to watch, but it was necessary.” “Which one am I?” Vegeta asked worriedly. “I’m not fucking Doctor Who.” Luna shook her head, “Neither. Thou came together willingly.” Vegeta lowered his eyebrows. “Now that doesn’t sound like me at all…” “We know thy memories art scattered at the moment, but thy last act before the healing plane disintegrated with Pinkie was to materialize a copy of thy wedding band into reality. When Discord…” “You brought the ring into my head and had Bulma stop the fight,” Vegeta interrupted again. “That makes sense. I do remember dreaming about her.” Vegeta then looked at the new tube. “Can… specters… kill?” “No, thy wound came from Princess Cadenza.” Vegeta jerked his head back around at the bitterness and anger in her voice. “Princess Mi Amore Cadenza is the ruler of the Crystal Empire and was brought in as a witness to dispel rumors of our romantic involvement.” Vegeta cringed, shivering as he stuck out his tongue. “She attacked a specter unprovoked, even though we were invisible to them. The wound appeared on every one of them, then of course you in real life.” Vegeta thought about Piccolo and Kami. He nodded. “I understand the concept… But… I remember Bulma shooting me…” Luna turned awkward, “Tis a reason for that… Princess Cadenza is an alicorn whose elemental magic is romantic love. Thou subconsciously reacted to her mental presence a few times.” “Is she too dangerous to talk to?” Vegeta asked. “I want to talk to her. Just to detangle my head.” “She is currently with Discord helping with his arms. Compassion is the root of all healing spells, so she is a natural talent.” “Did she fail with Pinkie before the doctors turned to Celestia?” Vegeta could tell from her face the thought never crossed their minds. “Being thousands of years older means we have a larger magic pool. Also, being thousands of years older means we fought in the last great wars to sweep this continent. The injuries would be just as foreign to her as the doctors.” “I see…” Vegeta laid his head back on the pillow. “Nice justification after the fact.” Luna sighed, then smiled. “At least thy returned perception means thy mind is functioning well despite the unconstituted frays.” “Luna…” Vegeta took as deep a breath as he could. “WHY THE FUCK DO PEOPLE THINK WE'RE ACTUALLY FUCKING?! WHAT THE FUCK?! WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCK IS WRONG WITH YOU PEOPLE?!” Luna hung her head, her nose almost touching the ground. “We once succumbed to dark magic. Unable to be purified, our sister sealed us hoping for a cure. It took a thousand years. We have only been ourselves for less than three.” Vegeta blinked. “Well fuck…” Luna gave a sorrowful chuckle, “Exactly.” “But what about the person who cast it on you?” “No one cast it on us. As princess of the night, our magic is naturally opaque. It is a simple dance of emotions that separates us from the darkness.” “So, you can’t allow yourself to feel any negative emotion?” “Tis what the public thinks, but the wounds needed art far deeper. Down to the very core where our magic dwells.” “So, you went through a hell full of shit and finally snapped?” he said sympathetically. “How many got killed?” “No one,” Luna said, “Sister drew Nightmare Moon out over the forest and away from the damaged castle and the surrounding town.” “The town was undamaged?” “Yes,” she said, “But sister abandoned the castle and built a new capital here. Only thing left there now is broken stone swallowed by the forest.” “How long were you this ‘nightmare’? —Before the seal,” he quickly added. “Five minutes?” Luna said, uncertain, “Less than ten…” She tilted her head towards the door before hanging it again, “Prince Vegeta, we art being observed.” Then Luna gasped and put her hoof to her mouth, “We forgot this era’s wording in our haste…” Vegeta chuckled before turning serious again. “But Luna, there is a phrase on Earth. ‘No one lasts long in the emergency fields because there is no one to save the rescuers when they need rescued.’ From my understanding you were on the frontline in wars back then while awake, then playing Freud to an entire nation at night. Not even the GODS could handle that type of stress. Hell, I’ve seen the fucking Supreme Kai have a him-damned panic attack and curl into a ball.” Luna chuckled, then raised her head. She wiped the tears from her eyes. “This is another reason no one trusts us. While the public view this through the lens of superstition, disloyal staff hast reported to the nobles how you speak to my heart.” Vegeta narrowed his eyes, “You don’t actually have a crush on me, do you?” Luna blushed. “Oh no! I mean, you are handsome for a stallion, but we know your true state. Besides! You’re married with children! Even if this was your true state, you’re completely unavailable.” Vegeta rolled his eyes, “Great, I’m fucking pony Fabio.” “We assume he is a famous handsome stallion of your race?” “My wife’s, but yeah… … and no,” Vegeta added after a pause, “I’m not particularly considered handsome in my facial features…” Luna giggled, putting her hoof to her mouth. “Well,” Luna put her hoof down, “We think it is time to check on Discord and report your awakening.” She began to walk to the door. “Before you leave,” Vegeta called out. “Have you figured out who shot Pinkie and why?” “We art sorry, but for judicial reasons we art being separated to serve for appeal as sister is involved.” “Then tell Celestia I want to know what is happening.” Luna nodded, “We shalt tell her shortly.” She left the room. “Princess Cadence was the one who almost killed the prince? By Celestia…” Vegeta heard the doctors mumbling. “I can hear you, bastards,” Vegeta called out. “You better not be disloyal with your gossip!” Vegeta heard the sound of people tripping over each other at the door and loud clops going down the hall. Vegeta tucked his head deeper into the pillow and closed his eyes. “Wait…” his eyelids flew open. “There’s only four of them. Celestia, Luna, Twilight, and Cadenc-za…” He thought about the sweet and kind pink alicorn that he had thought was the voice of reason when everyone was still panicking over him. Vegeta looked out the window and saw what looked like a stack of paper crash down. Vegeta chuckled, “Someone must have just quit their job…” The chuckling quickly drifted into a groaning sigh. “Fuck…”