>Looking down now, you saw Rainbow angrily fighting with Celestia, verbally. It was hard to hear, her voice being no more than a whisper to you from atop your high platform.
>”Celestia, please! Anon is one of the best friends I have ever had, even if we only met a little while ago. He helps me out, just like I do with him! You can’t do this, this isn’t right! Nop0ny deserves this!”
>The sun princess raises up a hoof politely, stopping Rainbow from going further. “It is too late, Rainbow Dash. This has to be done, too protect all of my little ponies.”
>There goes your last, little ray of hope.
>Dash slumps onto the ground, looking defeated. At least you were the one dieing, she was going to take this harder than you were.
>Celestia signals to the royal guard next to you and he nods. The guard walks over to the switch next to you, getting ready to pull it with a hoof.
>Well, here it goes. You were going to die for a second time, and, most likely, for the last time.
>Time seemed to freeze as you took one last look at the world around you.
>You looked down at the mane 6, all of them giving you a horrified and shocked expression. The royal guards and Celestia were regarding you with cool, straight faces. Had they done this before?
>Taking one last look into the bright, blue sky above you, you raise your head high in a last stance of defiance. It didn’t matter though.
>The guard standing beside you takes one last look at you with his never-changing straight face and pulls down the lever.
>You hear a quiet click, and then the floor falls out from beneath you.
>Yeah, you were fucked. The only relief you had about this was that your neck might snap on the way down.
>…
>…
>Still alive. You struggle against the tight binding around your neck, trying to uselessly shove a hoof through the rope to get some air.
>You can feel your eyes bulge and blood pumping in your face as the little oxygen you have is slowly leaving you.
>Looking down to see the other ponies expressions, you’re..shocked. The mane six are running toward you right now, knocking guards out of the way to reach you.
>Were the going to save you? Not that it mattered though; you were going to die before they could even get you down.
>Your eyes started to roll in the back of your head, starting to black out even as you faintly saw a green flash around you.


>You let out a gasp of air, trying to suck in as much oxygen possible as the tight rope around your neck is loosened and dropped to the ground.
>Only minutes later do you stand up, examining the scene around you.
>Everything went to hell pretty fast. Around you were a circle of changelings, fighting off royal Canterlot guards from reaching you.
>You saw the mane six staring at you with a wide-eyed shocked expression, even Celestia was doing the same.
>..No, not at you..
>Spinning around, you spot the tallest changeling of them all. When she speaks, you instantly remember her voice; she was the one from your nightmares, the one that had been in your mind, watching you the entire time.
>Queen of the Changelings, Sillis. She looked down at you with caring eyes and the most loving voice you had ever heard.
>”Here, come here. Come to your mother.”
>That voice was so..calming. A warm feeling rushed through your entire body as you slowly walked toward her.
>The mane six were yelling at you to get away from her, but you could barely register anything as Sillis wrapped you up in her wings, hugging you tightly against her.
>”Oh, how I have missed you, my little changeling. There there, everything will be alright now. Mommy saved you. You’re safe from those scary ponies now.”
>She swayed back and forth with you in her arms, silently crying into her side. It just felt..right.
>Sillis looked down at you, smiling. You couldn’t help but feel that it was a little sinister, but shrugged it off and smiled back at your..mom.
>She lightly wiped away your tears with a hoof. “Are you ready to go back to the hive now? We have very big plans coming up..and you are apart of them.”
>You looked back into Sillis’ eyes, struck by a lot of confusing emotions. Would you stay with the ponies that tried to kill you..but also tried to save you?
>Or would you go back with the changelings? They did save you, and you wouldn’t have to fear about being executed by royalty again.


>You let go of Sillis, slowly backing away from her.
“I..I can’t. I’m sorry.”
>Sillis stares down at you, open-mouthed, not quite sure what to say. “You..you would choose the ponies that tried to kill you..over your own mother?”
>It was weird to you, but your heart felt heavy with sadness as you backed away from her.
“They’re my friends..and this is my home. I..I feel like I can be happy here, let all of my worries go. I’m sorry but..I just can’t leave them. Not now.”
>Sillis glares at you, fiery anger bright in here eyes. “Fine, stay here with these murderous ponies. I’m sure they’ll backstab you as soon as they see a chance.”
>The Queen hisses at the changelings around her, all of them circling around her instantly.
>”We will meet again..be sure to stay out of our way, or we will harm you.”
>Sillis disappeared in a bright flash of green fire. You felt immediately better, being around her put your mind in a sort of hazy fog..but now you could think clearly.
>It must have been the changeling side of you, was all you could think of.
>Was she really your..’Mother’, though? It baffled you why she would actually say that. Maybe..had she been the one to bring you into this world, gave you a second chance? Why?
>All these thoughts circled around your head, the shock of everything hitting you all at once. You saw the mane six running over to you, Celestia following behind them, but it only seemed like they were getting farther away.
>Your eyes began to drift up into the back of your head as you fell backwards, blacking out for the second time today.


>You jolt awake, slamming into a sitting position as you look around the room, eyes heavy with sleep but full of adrenaline.
>The ponies around you jump, startled, but quickly rush to your side to calm you down.
>These dreams you were having were getting increasingly fucked up, Celestia trying to murder you this time..
>Taking a second glance over of the place, your brain registers that this..is the Canterlot hospital.
>You slump back into your bed, quickly recalling the events that happened earlier in the day.
>Taking a small mirror next to your bedstand, you take a good look of yourself in it.
>There were deep, dark marks cut into your neck from the rope that Celestia used to strangle you earlier that day.
>Okay..but why were you in a hospital? If anything, you should be back on top of that execution platform. What was going on?
>A couple of the nurse ponies exit out of the room. You can hear some words being said, and a couple seconds later a rainbow blur is smacking into your chest, the air in your lungs escaping you.
“Ugh! Fuck, Rainbow don’t do..that..”
>Dash grips you in a tight hug, quietly sobbing into your shoulder. You silently return the hug, patting her on the back. Did you really worry her that much?
>Even though you had barely known her for a short time, she must really care about you..
>Dash’s friends shortly walk in afterwards, along with Celestia. You smiled at all of them, but glared towards Celestia.
“What do YOU want? Here to finish the job, Princess?”
>She smiles down at you. You swear you can spot a hint of sadness in her eyes, but you ignore it.
>”..No. The ‘execution’ was merely a..test of sorts, harsh as it was, for all of you.”
>A..Test?! She tried to fucking hang you! She DID hang you! You angrily stare back into the sun goddesses eyes, pointing at the scar around your neck.
“’Harsh’ is not the word I would use.”
>Celestia wraps your neck wound in a magical glow, slowly making it disappear. “I am quite sorry, Anonymous, but I had to be certain you were not working with the changelings.”
>You sighed, rubbing your forehead with a hoof. You understood she was just doing what she thought best for her ponies, but you were still angry.
“I..understand. But what do you mean by a test for..all of us?”
>Celestia paused for a moment, thinking up the right words to tell you.
>”Well, the time might come when my little ponies might have to fight against me, to do what is right. And they did. Just as you made the right choice to stay with us, Anonymous.”
>Now you understood perfectly. She was like a mother, protecting her kids, making them stronger. Kind of like..well, you.
>”Me and my sister apologize for our behavior against you. Whenever you want, you’ll be allowed in and out of the castle, and if you want something just ask, and it will be delivered to you. We shall..leave the two of you alone now.”
>You waved goodbye to the rest of the ponies, still having mixed feelings about some of this, but that went away when you looked down to the sobbing Dash in your arms.
“I’m the big baby, huh?”
>You chuckled even as you felt a cyan hoof punch you in the side. You stayed like that for the rest of the day, holding Rainbow in your arms as the day melted away.


>”You ready for this, Anon?!”
“Buck yeah I am Dash, let’s do it!”
>Nodding at each other, you started your final stunt with each other for the evening.
>Both of you were holding a small cloud in your hooves, spiraling around each other, leaving behind a line of cloud.
>You were headed toward the ground, flying off to the left after you ran out of cloud, but Rainbow kept going, heading straight for the ground.
>She banked hard, inches from hitting the ground, and flew straight up into the spiral you two had created.
>Dash blew the clouds away in the tunnel after she passed through it, leaving a small rainbow behind. She flew up to you afterwards, while flexing her muscles. “Aww yeah, still got it!”
“I’m surprised the Wonderbolts aren’t tripping over each other to get a mare like you on the team.”
She rolls her eyes at you, but grins. “They’re probably just busy. So Anon, you still going to the Gala? It’s coming up pretty soon.”
>You both landed on the ground, having finished your little show.
“The Gala, huh? I never gave much thought to it, but yeah, I guess I have to go. Rarity did make a suit for me. So..uhh, how DO ponies dance?”
>Rainbow gave you a giggle, but then started to lightly rub the ground in a circle with a hoof. What was she nervous about?
>”I..I know a few moves I could show you..?”
>Wow, you never figured Rainbow was the kind of girl that liked dancing. You guess she tried to keep up a tough masculine appearance in front of her friends. Except for you.
>She trotted over to you, laying her head down on your shoulder and a hoof on the other. You repeated the same thing with her, trying to keep up with the slow hoof-work she was doing.
>What were your feelings for Rainbow? You loved her, but more of a friend, or as a daughter.
>Hers were probably the same for you, a friend, but she probably just acted nervous around you because you were a stallion.
>You stayed like that for the better part of the night, dancing with the friend you cared most about in the world against the background of a shining moon and starlight sky.