//------------------------------// // For Whom The Sweetie Betta Toils, Part 1 // Story: Twilight Gets a Puppy, Season 4 // by TDR //------------------------------// Twilight Gets a Puppy Season 4 By TDR For Whom The Sweetie Betta Toils, Part 1 [Canterlot] Princess Celestia looked out the window over looking the courtyard and down at the small collection of guards escorting three fillies into the castle. Celestia smiled softly it had been a while since the Crusaders had stayed over. Usually it was planned well in advance, though the message she gotten from Spike earlier mentioned this time it was a random string of events that lead them to show up, almost as a surprise with how quickly it had been arranged. One of these days she was quite certain Hondo and Cookie would retire for good. Perhaps that would happen when they finally managed to put Quayle away for good. That griffon was a constant thorn in the sides of S.M.I.L.E. and only those two seemed to have any success against him. Still, it was their constant 'trips' that likely had them sign off on Luna adopting Sweetie as her little sister. Not many of their enemies would be willing to target a daughter under the protection of some one far more than willing to ax their entire plan, literally. That Rarity was part of a group that took down Discord, Nightmare Moon and a number of other large threats kept her off the 'revenge on their family's' list. The Thieves Guild was not that stupid. Celestia let out a sigh. In truth she was rather glad things worked out this way. Luna had a habit of adopting random individuals that impressed her or she thought were cute. She hadn't done it before the nightmare incident, though she was nearly always depressed since the death of her first son. Though once she had come back, in the course of the three years since, she had adopted at least thirty two individuals. Everyone from a few foals on the street, to the Sparkles, to a maid she particularly liked. There had been a statue, a full grown chimera, whom none of the heads knew what was going on, a few Guards, a trio of balista, that had been weird even for her, a couple of ambassadors and Pony Joe at one point. That was nothing to say of all the Neightendo characters she took on in her games. Thankfully all of them refused, were inanimate objects,or were other wise talked out of joining the royal family. Well, all save Rahs, that malformed rat of a cake stealing familiar she had, and Sweetiebelle. Rahs just shrugged and went along with it not really caring beyond the fact he had a bit of a clingy grandmother now. That damn rat of hers loved it and did everything he could to torment Celestia and steal her cakes. He was up to forty and that was terrible. Sweetiebelle had actually been seeking out something like it and was more thrilled with having a doting big sister than any royal nonsense that came with the adoption. It didn't take a psychologist to understand why Luna did this. The guilt over what happened with Sombra weighed on her even if she wasn't in full control of her actions. Sombra might be back, but he was neither a foal, nor interested in anything involving his mother. By comparison she and Sunset were getting along quite well. And by quite well, Sunset hadn't tried to set her on fire lately, or lobbed a flame strike at the palace from Ponyville. She was quite proud of the range her daughter had, but the guards and clean up crews were far less impressed. What had surprised Celestia was that when the same offer was given to Rarity once she and Sweetie made up, Rarity had refused. She claimed she would prefer that ponies chose her clothing lines for her skill, not because she was related to royalty. With Sweetiebelle still excited to see Luna every time she could, it seemed to ease that particular issue her sister had. Luna hadn't adopted any one or anything else lately, though she had tried to knight Pony Joe twice, both refused. Celestia had been trying to do that for years herself so didn't see it as an issue. She would see him be the Duke of Doughnuts yet. Still the solar princess took note of the foals entering the castle and then went about her business. While she had no issues interacting with them, they were here for Luna, not her and she had no plans to interrupt whatever they were going to do short of blowing up the castle. She would badger Applebloom for all she could about Sunset's progress at dinner though. [Las Pegasus] “Please?” the mare asked. “No.” Sombra replied. “Pleaseee?”the second mare added to the request as the first repeated it. “No.” Sombra frowned. “PLEEEASE?” three other mares joined in. “No.” “PLEAAAAAAASE!!” More of the background dancers, and a few of the stage hooves chimed in. “No.” Sombra growled. “PLEEEEEEAAAAAASSSSEEEE.!!!!” The same group asked along with Sapphire Shores which made the whole thing far more like a rehearsed song chorus than it had any right to be. “What part of ….” “PLEEEEEEEEEEEEAAAAAASSSSSSSSSSEEEEEEEEE!!”Rarity joined in with the others and one of the stage hands turned the mics back on so the askance reverberated in the theater nearly knocking Sombra off his hooves. Sombra growled. ”I never should have let you hear me singing along to that damn song.” “But you have such a lovely baritone.” Sapphire Shores chimed in. [Ponyville] “I warned you this would happen!” Spike shouted. ”But you didn't believe me! WHY DIDN”T YOU BELIEVE ME!?” “Calm down Spike, this is just a small error. What we thought was a decimal point was just a cookie crumb that got stuck to the paper.” Twilight offered. “We can fix this easy.” “BORK!!!” Rahs shouted clawing and biting at the mass of black tentacles that emerged from the basement and were trying to envelope everything in the house. “BWAHAHAHHAHAHAHA!!!” Sunset cackled burning everything that came her way to ash. "̵ͩ͗̎̀̚҉̹̩̼G̴̦͎̤͖̈̏ͫ́͋ͨ̃͛̉̕͡L̹̹̼̜̇ͦ͒́ͯ̑͑̿͢Ụ̴̼͕͉̎ͪ̈̈̈̀͟ͅB̿ͨ̾͏̻͈͈ ̸͎͔̮̫͉̖̬̔̃ͯ̈́̌̈̇̈̕ͅG̗̯ͣ̐̍̅̌͛͗L̨̯͈͎̟̼͎̭̋͗ͅU͇͓͇̪̠ͮ́̿̄̄̎̊ͮ̚̕ͅB̪̙͇̙̯̺̍̏́͟ͅ ̦͎͉̓̒̈D̡͔̹̱̩̙͚̮ͦͮͪ̀Ĕ̷͈̞̻̫̑̊̊́M̷̲̩̝̙̼̖ͯ̔A͙̟̖̒ͭN̦̩͍̰̪̆̓̑̓͑D̲̲̮̘̩̼̮ͧ̊͌S̡̳̬̤͈̪̲͎͒̒̋̌̋͒͐ͬ͘ ̛͙̦͆́ͫ̀̇ͤF̸͕́ͧͦ̉̀͜Ȉ̡̛͖̣̩̻̯̏ͯͥ͗S̷̷̩͙͓̙̗̲̺͔ͮ͆̾͘Ḧ̸͙̳̈́͛̊̉͠ ̡͓͎͚̭̮̪̊̏͑̐ͮͮͯ͢F̴̜̦̪̞̣̣̓͑͡L̶͍̦͍͎̙͕͋̄̀̂̾̏́̚͡Ä̵́̑҉̰̬̘̻͙̗̜̪K̷̴̳̃̈́E̡̪͇ͩ̚͟͟ͅS̼͔̟͔̰̰̬ͯ̆͌̆̕ͅ!̵̧̱̟ͬ͢!̛̫̤̤̮̝͒ͨ̈́̅̅ͯͧ!̵ͥ̇͌͂̃͋ͨ͏͉̜̺̼"̲̬̳̳̻͛͂͊ “Now why does this thing sound so familiar?” Twilight muttered as she looked over her notes. Luna yawned pushing herself up out of bed a few hours earlier than she preferred. She offered a nod to the maid that had come to awaken her and collected the big gulp of coffee that had been brought sipping it as she made her way to the window squinting out at the late day sun outside. It had been a bit of a surprise to hear her little sister Sweetiebelle was coming to visit, but it had required little change to her schedule. Fridays were usual swamped with cases for her to oversee in her Night court, but her bailiff , Bull, had told her there were very few cases scheduled for tonight when her court had concluded this morning. With luck she would be done in a hour or two tops, then she would be able to hang out with Sweetiebelle and her friends until they dozed off. The girls were getting better at staying up with her, but they had not mastered it fully yet. Luna smiled. Unless there was a sudden crime wave or a riot this should be a relatively calm night, a few cases and then she could spend the rest of the night with the Crusaders. [Canterlot bar and Grill.] “Hey you!” A blue horned reindeer called out pointing a hoof at another patron of the crowded bar. “Ehh?” a burly looking cow with a red bandana uttered glancing back at the other patron who shouted. “Uppercut, jab, jab, roundhouse, body blow!” the reindeer shouted back. “Hey!” the cow shouted. “Them's fighting words!” The bar then exploded into a brawl.