"Oh, I'm walking on sunshine, ~woooah-a-wooo-oh! I'm walking on sunshine, ~woooah-a-wooo-oh! And I'm feeling real good!" Twilight did her best impression of 'dancing' in the lazy afternoon summer sun, frolicking through verdant fields of amber grass. Why even the sun bobbled and jigged to the beat of her singing as her mentor listened to her. Carefree, and deep within what she knew to be a dream, she bounced her flank and carved a happy path through nearly head-high foliage towards a mighty old gnarled oak tree. And thank Celestia that it was a dream, with the blissful lack of Pinkie Pie that came with the territory.
Breath whoofed from her lungs as she lazily flopped into the shade of the old tree, rolling to her back. Idle hooves continued to twitch in mid-air to her mental beat, twirling little patterns in the lethargic light. All of it just a relaxing dream at long last, her sleep uninterrupted for once. All just a dream, her world reduced to herself, the midsummer light, the cool bark scratching against the fur of her back, the creepy giant Blueblood-woodpecker...
Wait.
"Oh HAY no! Shoo! Shoo! This is my first pleasant lucid dream in the past month, and you are not going to ruin it!" Twilight hopped to her hooves and fired off magic bolts into the canopy to rid herself of her pest. She knew it had to be the obnoxious representation of somepony in the waking world trying to steal her away from her dream, and she was having none of that.
Rap! Rap! RAP!
Twilight flinched, ears folding against her head to drown out the noise. Glaring upwards, she had the unfortunate luck to watch as it smugly grinned at her. Before her eyes it began vibrating, fissioning into two, TWO! Blueblood-woodpeckers.
Rap-RAP! Rap-RAP!
Twilight looked up once again, seeing to her horror that the creatures had begun to multiply like mad. "Oh no. No-no! Stop that, stop that right now!" A cacophony of noise answered her, mocking her declaration with an unholy racket.
Rap-Rap-Rap-Rap-Rap-Rap-Rap-Rap-RapRapRapRapRapRapRapRapRapRAPRAPRAPRAP!
Twilight's world spun under the noisy assault, making her press her hooves over her ears. Purple eyes widened as one of the abominations flew down and inspected her body. Hooves waved at it, trying to ward it away as the twisted thing hopped closer. It croaked her name in a parody of birdcalls as she stuffed her face under the concealing protection of a leg and prayed that it would leave her be.
"Twi-light!"
A hard, angular muzzle poked into her soft gut. "Twilight!" Poke! "Twilight! Snap outta it!" POOOOKE!
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"Twilight, Twilight! Snap outta it!"
Twilight woke with a slight gasp as Spike shook her. Trying to move out of his grasp demonstrated to her that she had wrapped herself into her blankets like a mummy; folds of her blankets twisted about each and every one of her limbs tightly enough to prevent even the slightest hoof-wriggle. Magic flickered around her horn, untangling the knots with sleepy difficulty.
Spike hopped from her belly to the floor, looking up at his big sister figure with concern. "Are you okay, Twi?"
The mare in question fixed him with an exhausted stare of utter fury. Not one wink of sleep had been allowed for her over the past month, and she could feel it in every one of her bones. Her bloodshot eyes and ruffled, ragged mane lent a wild look to her face as she contemplated whether she should go directly back to bed, or if she should use her new trick number 36 to transmorgify Spike into a pillow for the night so that she could get an uninterrupted night's sleep.
Twilight's words were unnaturally calm as she spoke, though her eye twitched every few syllables. Sleep beckoned to her, begging her to rejoin her restless dreams. "Spike, this had better be important. Everypony in town seems to relish the thought of waking me up every night. I get about three hours of sleep a night if I'm lucky, and I'm starting to go a little Cra-ZY!"
RAP!RAP-RAP-RAP-RAP-RAP-RAP!
Spike pointed downstairs, towards the front door. A resigned look in his eyes hid the relief that Twilight would have somepony else to take her frustrations out on. As Twilight growled with the anger of an insomniac, he hastily filled her in. "He's been out there for thirty minutes, Twilight. He just keeps knocking on the door. I try to get him to come in so he'll stop making noise, or go to the inn. But then he just ignores me, or stares blankly, or asks for you and begs that you'll save him from having his soul eaten or something like that."
Twilight groaned, throwing her pillow on her face in an attempt to block out the world as she flopped backwards back into bed. The cacophony of knocks upon her front door began again, mocking her desire for sleep. For a moment she felt like she would win the battle of wills, before she grew restless and launched her pillow into the ceiling with her magic. Twilight rolled to her hooves and fell out of bed as gracefully as she could as her pillow bounced back to the floor.
"Spike, stay here. I'll deal with whoever it is, even if I have to send him to the inn myself." Twilight's mind ignored the anxious look on her number one assistant's face as she stomped towards the stairs and complained all the way. Her mind analyzed who might be outside trying to frustrate her. It was probably Pokey Pierce, or that crazy Doctor Hooves, or somepony else from the humble town of Crazyville.
Twilight stalked down her stairs, listening to the panicked whimpers outside and the frantic staccato of knocks against her door. Her eyes twitched with frustration, her scowl vibrating at its corners with the happy thoughts of sending somepony on a magic teleport ride out of her mane. A mantra built within her, quietly recited with each step. "All work and no sleep makes Twilight go crazy! First Sunbeam, then Pinkie, then everypony else..."
RAP!RAP-RAP-RAP-RAP-RAP-RAP!
Twilight stomped across her home's lobby towards the front door as Spike watched on from the balcony. Her horn lit every candle in the room as she warmed herself up, preparing to teleport whoever it was at the door to someplace, anyplace but her front door. "Spike, take a note! I need to put a sign up. Just because we run the library and handle most of the messes doesn't mean we work after hours! From now on, unless the town's burning down, everypony can wait until morning. The business hours are there-"
Twilight yanked her front door open mid-sentence just as Blueblood leaned into yet another knock. The noblepony wobbled without balance as the surface he expected to rest against was swept from under his hoof. She yelped as he fell over onto her in the entryway, awkwardly sprawled atop her like a big arrogant blanket. Blueblood grabbed her up into a hug as they laid there and wildly looked into her eyes.
"Twilight! Please, you have to help me! I've turned into such a horrible pony that The Demons are after my soul!" Blueblood wildly shook Twilight beneath him as he begged. As she started getting nauseous, she teleported him far enough away from her that she would have time to get her eyes to stop wobbling.
Twilight held a hoof to her head as she tried to steady her woozy world. The pretty chandelier on her ceiling seemed to be spinning round and round, dragging the edges of her vision with it as Spike suddenly loomed uncomfortably large in her vision directly above her. She flinched, until he helped her by taking one of her hooves and pulling her back into a sitting position. That left her with two Bluebloods spinning around each other in a dizzying circle by her table, but it was the thought that counted.
Twilight took a moment to gather her thoughts, squeezing her eyes shut as Spike waddled to the kitchen to get her a glass of water. The words came difficultly to her, hesitantly emerging past the nauseating dizziness. "Blueblood, The Demons are myths; old pony tales only. Even if they were once real, they've been long gone for centuries."
"Says the pony who Whap!-Pow'ed-FizzaNNNNEEAAMMER!~" Spike stopped awkwardly as Blueblood and Twilight glared him down, their irritation with his sound effects plain to see. "Err, right. Says the pony who beat Nightmare Moon." As he nearly died of embarrassment, Twilight saved him the trouble of coming over and picked up the glass of water from his paws and dragged it over to herself with magic. At least she didn't know about his cool new 'Twilight Sparkle, HERO OF EQUESTRIA!' figurine.
Blueblood pointed a trembling hoof at Spike, nodding his head frantically as he did. "Almost three months ago! You beat a myth come to life with another myth come true. You beat Nightmare Moon even though everypony laughed you off, and completely failed to believe you. And you call ME crazy?" Blueblood's eye twitched as he waited for Twilight to answer him.
Twilight did her best to avoid putting a hoof to her face; instead studying the bottom of her glass intently until she could ignore Blueblood no more. Idly, she wondered if having frozen to death in eternal darkness would have been better than the price of her newfound fame. She weighed a thousand courses of action within her head as Blueblood patiently, pleadingly waited. "Fine. I'll come by your manor and investigate tomorrow. But if there is any truth to this silliness, get Princess Celestia to help you, she'd be the one with actual experience on the matter."
Blueblood perked up eagerly, his eyes shining with an unhealthy interest as he did. His horn glowed for a second, kicking the door gently shut as he asked one further question. "Thank you, can I stay here for the night?"
Twilight groaned, and once more shot a glare across the room to Spike. Her number one assistant gave her an uncertain shrug and threw his blanket around his shoulders, ducking back into the kitchen to hide from Twilight's gaze. Her hoof ground itself into the floor as she considered the chances of Blueblood having reformed himself from his old, irritating ways. "Fine. You can stay, but you'll take the floor. No whining, and we'll leave in the morning."
"Oh thank Celestia! I was worried I would have to stay up in some peasant hovel all night driving myself mad with worry!" Blueblood turned tail and dashed for the supposed safety of Twilight's room.
"Oh Spike?" Twilight's voice was deceptively cheery as she lured her number one assistant from his kitchen lair. Her magic flared forth, extinguishing every candle and light downstairs in one single burst of magenta light as Spike stuck his head out from the kitchen door. "Would you be my very best assistant, and put up a sign out front? We don't want any more visitors in the middle of the night now do we? Business hours are from seven in the morning until six at night, and friends can come over until nine'o'clock at night. ESPECIALLY Pinkie. Got that?" Twilight shot Spike a warning smile as her twitchy gaze fixated upon him and her mane fluffed out in a disturbingly familiar way. She waved him goodnight as a sign found itself floated up from downstairs for him to paint. "Good-Niiiiiiiight!"
"Alright, Twi. I got it, I should stop answering the door at all at night so the town will stop using you as its sole nighttime emergency resource, okay. Go to sleep, you look like you need it."
Twilight's growl was enough for Spike to shut up and find a paintbrush. She stomped up her stairs in an adorably angry fashion and all but marched into her bedroom for some sleep. Her eyes narrowed as she found no sign of her slimy unicorn noble guest in her bedroom. "Where are you, Blueblood?"
Twilight's bed shuddered as the faint reflective gleam of a pair of eyes glinted beneath it's frame. Blueblood's voice was slightly child-like as he curled up deeper under her bed after having somehow stuffed himself down there without upsetting her bed any more than it already had. "You said the floor, Sparkle. Not where on it. I'll be safe if they have to go through you first."
"Wow. Uhh, okay. No shivering. I want sleep, or else." Twilight crawled up into bed, tiredly re-cocooning herself in her blankets at last. "Princess Celestia doesn't have to deal with this. She's probably fast asleep, dreaming of happy bunny land, or monopoly or-"
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"-Go! And I get six million bits!" Scootaloo smugly looked over the top of her towering pile of money at the victim she was draining every last bit out of. It felt good to win, sometimes.
Her opponent's snowy-white hoof slowly and irritably counted out the enormous amount owed. With a flourish of her lengthy leg, she stuffed the fake bills of currency into the loose golden shoe on Scootaloo's hoof. "Oh, don't worry, I'll turn this around. Just you wait."
"I've been waiting, Mom. If I wait much more I'll turn all old and wrinkly. Ew." Scootaloo took off the golden shoe she had temporarily won from her mother, dumping the game money in it into her messy 'slush fund' pile. It wouldn't be much longer until she had completed her set of 'borrowed' jewelry from her mother. To say that she was all too pleased with her luck wouldn't even begin to describe her attitude.
Her mother suspected it was more than just 'luck'. The 'invincible' Celestia Invicus Morningstar had found herself consistently the victim of the single most vicious beatdown that she had ever faced. First, it had been a simple game of checkers when they had gotten home. That, well it wasn't what somepony would call a resounding success for her. And she had lost her neckpiece in a bet with Scootaloo.
So, she decided to up the ante, and fought to get it back in what she expected to be the single most lopsided game of chess she had ever played. Surely, Scootaloo couldn't play the great game in something that could be remotely called proficiency, or competency. She thought that right up until she found her Princess to be her last piece on the board, with Scootaloo's rooks, knights, and prime minister surrounding it, checkmating her in a single fell swoop. That little performance had won her little filly rival one of the diarch's golden shoes and added insult to injury.
Celestia decided to cut to the chase and broke out her Majong set, daring Scootaloo to beat her. It was about then that Celestia gained the sneaking feeling that she was completely and utterly outmatched. Surely nopony besides Luna could be good enough to consistently win against her. It had to be luck. But not even Battleclouds, or that one ridiculous trap game seemed to stop Scootaloo from taking the rest of her shoes and aiming for her golden crown. With nothing left to lose, not an ounce of mercy left to pity her child, and her crown on the line she had done the unthinkable. A game of Monopony seemed like the perfect way to bore her down and win everything back.
Yeah, that hadn't exactly gone according to plan.
Celestia at last reluctantly rolled, and visibly flinched at the number displayed upon the dice. She slowly and resignedly pushed her piece along and took off her last ornament of office as the game token came to a rest beside Scootaloo's most expensive and built up piece of property. She floated it over to her victorious foal, holding it in the air over Scootaloo's head.
Scootaloo precariously snatched the crown from the air and placed it on her head, where it wobbled on her smaller skull. "Victor- Yaaaaaawwwn- ry!"
"Bravo, Bravo! We want to see it again!" Luna stomped out her appreciation of the spectacle from where she had emerged from Celestia's office. As she slid the rest of the way from where she had esconced herself, she floated out a mighty stack of papers as tall as she was, letting it crash to the ground with a floor-shaking thud. She smirked at the look that Celestia gave her, flicking her tail as she did. "Oh, Tia. Pouting like that is unbecoming of you. What if your face got stuck? Scootaloo won that game fairly."
"A six game winning streak is hardly 'fair', Luna." Celestia grumbled out her words, sourly reflecting on how she had been beaten. The pieces of the game found themselves swept up into a whirlwind of motion that fitted the contents of the game back into it's box.
Luna shook her head, admitting that Celestia had spoken the truth. "Yes, it does seem rather lopsided. And yet, Scootaloo performed her mighty winning streak with a sleep handicap. Your gaming session has lasted the entire night, it's nearly dawn." Luna's hoof pointed to the western horizon, where her moon slowly dipped out of sight.
"Guess I'm -yaaaaaaaaa~wwwn- just too good for you, Mom." Scootaloo shook her head violently to break the hold of her sleepiness. Her mother's crown nearly slipped off her head in the motion; held in place only by one of her ears before she could press it back up. She almost wanted to collapse on the spot and let the snores come.
Celestia grumbled once more, before a wicked idea came to her and spread her lips wide in a knowing smile. She leaned in close to her daughter and hummed the first few verses of a tune. At the gentle sound, Scootaloo dropped like somepony on a remote controlled trap door. As she laid on the ground, her deep sleep quickly slipped down into a snore-filled snooze. Celestia leaned back, pumping her forehooves into the air, silent chanting "Victory!" as she did.
Luna nodded, smiling bemusedly as Celestia floated Scootaloo up just long enough to slide a pillow under the filly's peaceful form. As Scootaloo twitched at the movement fitfully, Luna joined Celestia and wrapped a blanket over her Tia's youngest daughter. Luna nudged her elder counterpart, slyly whispering into her ear. "Oh, yes. Bravo. You defeated the sleepy filly with the power of song. Most worthy of prize and laud."
Celestia took a mock bow towards Luna, basking merrily in the friendly verbal sparring. After she rose, she walked across the room with the game set to stuff them back into their cabinet. "Oh, Luna. So naive and unaware of the dangers of a bored and 'unsleepy' filly. Why I bet you could bore yours to death, couldn't you?" Celestia remained cheerful and upbeat even though Luna made several silly faces behind her back.
She chuckled and turned to the massive stack of forms beside her at the door to her study. Luna had done a great deal, and had somehow mastered her own signa- Celestia twitched as she realized that Luna had developed some form of signature copying spell. "Hmm, I see you've lightened my load by quite a bit Luna. This can't really be all of them."
"Yes. It is all of them. Honestly, Tia, it seems as though you spend more time bellyaching about your work and eating comfort foods than you do actually working." Luna scolded her elder lightly, rolling her hooves in circles as she spoke to ease their cramps. "And you could lose some weight. Especially in the hips of birthing and those... generous curves."
Celestia raised one of her eyebrows; slowly stalking towards the lunar diarch as she did. "Oh, is that so, Luna? I'd love to see you run a country and raise a filly at the same time in separate lives. That'll drive you to comfort eating in a second."
"Tia, we managed a magic show and cared for our own Trixie little foal at the same time. With a few small tricks, all things are easy to handle." Luna dismissively waved a hoof as she spoke, unaware of Celestia's proximity. Luna blinked and rubbed her own eyes as she stared out across the castle towards her moonset even as Celestia crept up to her side.
"Oh. Tricks like this?" Celestia hummed the same tune that put Scootaloo to sleep quietly into Luna's ears. The lunar diarch stumbled, fighting her sudden fatigue. She blinked her eyes rapidly as the strength left her magic and legs in the face of a reminder of her childhood nights. She at last slipped off rapidly to sleep, slumped out laying out flat on her belly on the floor.
Celestia carefully levitated Scootaloo's bundle over next to Luna, spreading it out to comfort Luna's legs as she did. A further blanket and pillow found themselves wedged under and around Luna, quieting her discomforting dreams.
No matter, best to just let Luna sleep. She had plans to make, after all. From what paperwork she had read Luna had set the ceremony to retake the moon at the same time that the solar diarch was set to go home to Ponyville in three weeks time. "Oh, Luna. I know how much you just want to be loved, and noticed. But you never have to prove yourself. Especially not to me, so why start now?"
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Twilight poked the patch of dead grass before her with a magic detecting crystal, frowning at the results it gave her. She had already sent a sample of the affected vegetation and soil to Applejack via a jar of dragonfire, but until the farmer got back to her via Spike she couldn't tell what had killed it. Whatever it was, the grass had just withered up and died in under six hours. Possibly even instantly.
"Tell me, tell me it wasn't them!"
Twilight wished that she could tell Blueblood that it was all just a dream. She really did, as it would keep him from bugging her again. Unfortunately she couldn't just discount Blueblood's tale out of hoof. The three trails of dead grass matched Blueblood's description of what had happened that night to the last detail. Too closely for the chance of mere coincidence. Something else was going on. So, she grimly looked at Blueblood, shaking her head and keeping quiet.
"Oh."
Blueblood paced behind her on the front porch, afraid to enter his manor alone. He was restless, worried that Twilight might uncover his alternate profession. Or worse, there was the chance that she might decide him to be pure evil for having dragged her away from Ponyville and back into the den of snakes known as Canterlot. Or, maybe he was just nervous for his soul given the fearsome old tales of the Demons.
He cleared his throat, deciding to take the chance and called over to where Twilight stood with a compliment. "You know, being the bearer of the Element of Magic seems to have done wonders for you. Its almost as if you're just glowing with their majesty."
Twilight sighed in frustration. She spared a glance for the castle hanging off the mountain high above, silently asking the Princess how she put up with the suitors and yes-ponies that likely surrounded her every single day. Knowing that Princess Celestia couldn't answer her, she finally answered her client and old school-hood friend to get him off her back. "The Elements don't make us glow, Blueblood. You're imagining things. Let's go inside since we aren't going to learn any more out here."
As he opened his mouth for a remark, Twilight stuck a hoof up at him with a slight glare of disapproval. "And no comments about how you can't imagine the radiance of the sun coming from me, or some other wishy-washy flirting. I'm not dating you, or any other pony. Especially not you. I still remember the jerks you called parents. And I remember what they said about Princess Celestia taking me on as her student."
As she stepped through the open front door, she failed to notice how Blueblood deflated and flinched back like a kicked puppy. "But- but I would never..."
Inside, the decor seemed untouched. As far as Twilight's eye could see everything seemed to be in order. If tacky and overdone. Twilight gave Blueblood the glance of somepony who didn't even need words to describe how gaudy and overdone something was. He nodded, extending out a hoof in invitation to tour his home, letting Twilight lead the way in her inspection. He said nothing as she passed him, afraid of what she might say.
Twilight grew puzzled as the opulence she remembered from the few times she had visited the manor faded away, with bare walls replacing the gaudy furnishing of the 'public spaces'. Her interest grew as tasteful minor touches showed themselves in the house, humble in their strange way. "What happened? I seemed to remember this hall being filled with family portraits. And a bunch of really expensive sculptures."
Blueblood cleared his throat hesitantly, stepping up beside her as they continued to look at every inch of the manor. "Sold, mostly. Some was put into storage. I'm not proud of what some of my family did. Unicorn supremacists, greedy, wasteful. I sold quite a bit for charity causes. They reminded me too much of my father."
Twilight snorted, disbelieving what she was hearing. "Oh, right. I seemed to recall you liking what they had to say." She took a quick look into the kitchen of the manor, noticing old takeout boxes piled in a corner. In fact, that seemed to be the only thing in the kitchen other than the furnishings.
"Well, sometimes we do know better. Reality has a way of being somewhere in between. I mean, really? Do we need to pander to those pegasi warrior ethos types? Or what about the Fillydelphia iron workers trying to undercut unicorn smelting shops? They can be right, but its so dreadfully rare." Blueblood rambled as his thoughts worked back to his secret study, hoping he had remembered to lock it before he ran screaming.
Twilight restrained herself from calling him out on how crazy he sounded. If she did, they would be there all day trying to sort fact from fiction. But it did seem oddly convenient that he would have all the signs of somepony trying to live down his wealth, on top of apparently renouncing his parent's views.
"Strange. You know, I am rather envious of you." Blueblood didn't notice how Twilight froze slightly at his words.
"Why?" Twilight trotted quickly to catch up to him as he led on back through one of the public spaces where the old decor was still intact. The old lounge had been a spot where they had met on several occasions when he had brought her home to hang out in their early school years.
"Here I am, marinating in everything that my parents considered 'right' and 'just'. I want to be better than them, but I can't help but feel like I'm becoming no better than they are. And then, there you are, down in Ponyville learning about what society should be like. You and your friends." Blueblood wistfully explained himself as they moved back into the private sections of the manor, still seeing nothing out of place. He hoped nothing was out of place. If he had to explain to the leader of the Order that he had lost his head and let plans fall into the wrong hooves, it would be a rather bad day.
"I- I didn't know. After the way your parents banned me from being your friend, I thought you would end up like them. But I-" Twilight trailed off as the sounds of her hooves clip-cloping across hardwood and marble floors ceased; replaced by the familiar crinkling of abused paper underhoof. Her gaze fell to the floor, where it traced a veritable flood of paper across the hall. They all looked familiar, like the documents Shiney would often bring home from work.
Her magic field picked up the first page she could find beneath her hooves, holding it up to her eyes. She didn't notice Blueblood's choked expression of horror as he realized what Twilight was reading; the mage not noticing as she read around the warped and creased areas where her hoof had crumpled the document. "Celestia suffers breakdown over missing and/or heartbroken student?"
Twilight read onwards, her puzzled gaze turning into a righteous fury at the implications she read into the document. It mentioned nothing about how she would go missing, filling in the gaps after events had begun. She snorted as she read various plans for how to convince Princess Celestia to forget about her faithful student and focus on the needs of the moment, and presumably the unicorn nobility. Twilight turned her fierce gaze on Blueblood, watching him wilt under her eyes. "I cannot believe you! I was about to trust you, and here you are planning on doing something to me?"
Blueblood shook his head in horror as he realized how he had been played. The Demons had been busy in his empty home after all, and his one chance to make things up with Twilight was about to go up in smoke. "No! It's just a contingency plan! We- I would never hurt you! I couldn't do that to Auntie Celestia!" Blueblood scrambled to figure out how to explain himself as he saw the mounting disgust on Twilight's face.
Her mind busily tried to fit the pieces of what she had discovered together, filling in the gaps with what she presumed to be the truth based on how his family had reacted in the past. Slowly, she began to stalk towards him, grinding each hoof into the floor as she marched towards the backpedaling prince. The use of the word 'we' drew a great deal of her ire, implying that there was an actual conspiracy at work. She turned without another word, marching for the front door. As far as she was concerned, Blueblood could go and stone himself.
He ran to catch up with her, knowing he had to say something, anything to convince her to see reason; sticking close to her side. Twilight cast a sound muffling spell on her ears before he could start talking, dampening down Blueblood's voice into a level that she couldn't understand. She didn't want to understand after she put away the page that she had read in her backpack.
"-light, please! I- ave to -en to me! I never w-"
Twilight stopped to whirl on Blueblood, irritated that he was still making himself heard. "No! No more! I don't know what you're up to; but I will be telling Princess Celestia about this. And I do not want to listen to one more thing from you, and I want nothing more out of you. Goodbye, Prince Blueblood." Twilight teleported from the manor suddenly at the end of her angry tirade, determined to go somewhere, anywhere other than the Blueblood family property.
Blueblood stood there, staring in shock. He hadn't meant for that to happen. Why had she picked up that sheet out of any of them? He had just wanted to do something nice for her...
His trembling hoof reached up into the remaining swirl of wind, letting the papers picked up into the air current gently slap against his fur. He tried to wish her back, tried to understand why the universe seemed intent on hating him so much. He tried to find words that wouldn't come to him, begging her for forgiveness, for her terms or anything to give him a chance. "It's only to keep Celestia happy..."
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Celestia greeted the late morning light with a toast of her teacup and her outstretched wings rising into the air. The morning's glory spread through her blood like a song in her heart. Soon, it would be time to go home. Just two weeks until she could drop most of her paperwork on Luna, and spend more time than she ever had before with her precious Scootaloo. Two weeks until she could let Luna spread her own wings and soar; until the lunar diarch could begin laying the foundations of her own age.
The duet of snores behind her continued unabatedly, making a merry melody. The two of them had slept for hours already, snoozing gently in the dawn light. Luna had curled protectively around Scootaloo, hooves wrapped around her small charge until the little filly could barely be seen. The pegasus's ear flicked with each deep and languid breath the lunar diarch took next to it. Stellar mane had become Scootaloo's blanket, wrapped tightly about her by her sleepy motions.
Celestia sipped her tea once more, enjoying the bitter brew as she contemplated the world. The peaceful morning almost made her horn tingle with happiness at the thought of having no work at all for the first time in over a hundred years. Unfortunately, as somepony overly optimistic often does, she failed to realize that the tingle in her horn was due less to happiness and more to the teleport field outside.
Twilight tapped the thick, sound-dampening glass before her, trying to get in and warn her teacher of Blueblood's plot. Celestia drank on calmly behind the glass, unaware of the unicorn banging against the other set of windows across the room. Twilight hopped up and down, screaming at the glass and hoping that Celestia would hear her. With the sliding doors locked and the royal suites teleport-warded, it was her only hope of stopping whatever nefarious plan Blueblood was about to unleash on her.
Celestia took another slight sip, wondering where in Equestria the faint tapping she was continually hearing was coming from.
Twilight pressed herself against the sun-heated glass, shouting even harder at Princess Celestia until her coat started turning blue from the lack of air. She slumped down to the pleasantly warm marble in exhaustion from the workout she had given herself. Mmm, warm and toasty marble. It almost made her want to just get some sl- NO! She had to warn Princess Celestia!
Twilight struggled to her hooves, swiping the sleep from her eyes as she rose. Groggily, she spat the pillow she had bitten into out, gagging slightly at the taste of dyed fabric. Magic charged in an aura around her horn as she prepared to amplify her voice and try to catch the Princess's attention again.
Wait. Spat... pillow... out? Twilight looked down, seeing the sun-print pillow coated with her sleepy saliva. Uh-oh.
"Oh, I was wondering when you were going to wake up, Twilight. When I found you like that you seemed so exhausted. I felt it would have been almost criminal to wake you up, so I made you comfortable so you could sleep. You still make that adorable little snore." Celestia's wings gently draped themselves around Twilight's form from behind. Their warm feathery forms dragged her deep into the cuddle of Celestia's embrace.
Twilight tried to break free from the hug, looking up past Celestia's surprisingly bare body to stare her in the eyes. "Princess, I need to tell you of a terrible plan to overthrow you!"
Celestia jerked back, irritably musing as to whether or not she had taunted the gods of bad luck. The day had started out so nicely, after all. She fixed Twilight in her stare, feeling acutely uncomfortable doing so without her symbols of office on. "Twilight, this is a very serious crime you are accusing somepony of."
Twilight dug into her saddlebags, pulling out the page she had stolen from within. "Prince Blueblood has concocted a scheme to kidnap me or do something to make me go away in order to destabilize you!" Her worried explanation came out in a massive rush of words, disturbingly close to how Pinkie Pie talked on a regular basis.
Blinking, Celestia took in Twilight's wild statement and tried to make sense of it. Thankfully, she was still awake enough for the mental 'Pinkese to Normal' translator to work. Her lips quivered and twitched with displeasure as she considered her faithful student's words. Even the sun seemed to grow a little brighter and harsher as she steeled herself for whatever possible revelation was to come.
"I brought the copy I found." Twilight held the crease-infested scrap of paper higher pleadingly as she saw the slight hesitancy in Celestia's eyes.
The solar diarch took the sheet into her own telekinetic field. Her violet irises seemed to darken slightly as she held the document before her eyes, twitching back and forth as she read each line in turn. And then, she laughed. She laughed with relief and self-depreciation as she realized that she had forgotten the most obvious answer.
Celestia's voice gained a gentle and motherly lilt to it as she began to lay out how her faithful student had mistaken a royal order for treason. "Oh, Twilight. I'm afraid you have made a dreadful mistake. This isn't a plot against me."
"It's not? But Princess-"
"Blueblood is a part of a group that I founded, Twilight. They're called the Order of Celestia." Celestia was glad that they were outside the muffling glass, as Twilight was sure to-
"You WHAT? Why?" Twilight's initial shout of shock turned into broken confusion as her mind tried to make sense out of the idea that her beloved mentor would plot her own downfall.
Celestia bowed her head in shame, sad that her student's faith was being so rudely shaken by her newfound knowledge. She sweetly and tenderly nuzzled against the top of Twilight's head, calming Twilight for what she was about to reveal. "Twilight, if Luna could fall, why can't I? Twilight?" Celestia drew a hoof up her student's leg and chest, at last cupping Twilight's chin to bring their gazes together and let their eyes meet.
Twilight's eyes glimmered with the faintest tears, watering as she tried to blot out what Celestia was about to say. "Twilight, I did fall. After I... banished Luna to the Moon I was in a horrible place, and discovered even more horrible things. I- ulp, why and what I did isn't important anymore. After-" Celestia had to steel herself to continue, and forced herself to go on for Twilight's sake. "After the mare who became my first faithful student stopped me and picked me back up, I founded the Order to keep my weakness from happening again."
Twilight shook her head, unable to believe that Celestia, her perfect teacher could be wrong. She wouldn't believe that her mentor had hurt somepony badly enough to force herself to forever plot against her own interests. "Princess, maybe they've already brainwashed you! I- I can fix this."
"There is nothing to fix, Twilight. You're as much a part of this as anypony else. You're one of many things to keep me from falling like Luna did. This plan is one of many, meant to be something just in case the worst happens. It's an emergency checklist, just like one of many you make for your own planning." Celestia reassured Twilight once more, raising a hoof to her student's face. A hoof that beeped Twilight's nose with sudden ferocity. The horrible, horrible 'Beep!'ing...
Twilight jerked and giggled, recovering as she remembered what she had came for. "Princess, please. At the least he's-"
"Plotting out how to save both of us, should something bad come to pass. He is far kinder and more loyal to both of us, especially you, than he lets on. Give him a chance. And believe me, he would never harm either of us. I would know before the thought even crosses his mind." Celestia cuddled Twilight a little tighter to reassure both of them. With her warmth drenching Twilight from all around, the young unicorn began to be drowsy once more. "Give him a chance. He wants to be like you. He's envious of you, and your life in Ponyville."
Twilight didn't know if she could.
---------------------------------------------
Captain Eaglehoof glared at the list on his hotel room's counter. Twenty theaters spread across six cities in less than two weeks. That he had checked, anyway. Luna forbid that this showmare went to more. And the irritating thing? He had missed his target every single time. He didn't know how a showmare could manage six different shows in a day and still find a way to get to the next city by daybreak. Or hay, find time to eat, sleep, and drink in the middle of that marathon.
He leaned back in his chair, manefro bobbling about his head as he considered the possibilities. The likelihood of Trixie being an alicorn in disguise who could fly around with her coach and show props was minimal. Nonexistent, even. Every image he had of her showed a pony without the slightest hint of an earth pony. So... Oh! Oh!
He shuffled through the notes on his table as an image of what had been happening formed in his head. Repeated phrases like 'vanished the second I took my eyes off' and 'she got in before I could unlock the door' and variations to such effect plucked at his mental strings. A teleporter, she was a teleporter that Celestia's School hadn't caught!
No. No, well... maybe. Somepony should have caught the magic surge of a pony teleporting an entire wagon, right? Unless it was a new class of teleport, or-. No, he was getting paranoid again.
"Trixie. Yeah. Tricks ME is more like it."
He turned to the list once more, looking of what he had collected of Trixie's itinerary. First a stop in Shady Hollow, followed by Dodge Junction, then Ponyville. And then? Canterlot. Why was she in such a hurry to go back to Canterlot?
-------------------------------
A week of relative peace passed; no rampages, no fillibusters in the court or the parliament, not even a sick hiccup from Scootaloo.
And as far as Celestia was concerned? It. Was. BORING!
Celestia found herself lounging in her pillow-nest in the main suite of the royal rooms, sprawled out flat on her back with her wings splayed to either side as she tried to figure out what she was missing. She had gardened for the week, played around with Scootaloo's crazy idea for a space habitat, she had even hiked twelve miles through the Everfree three times over out of boredom. Was there anything left to do in Canterlot?
Thop! Thop-THOP!
Celestia opened her eyes, blinking away the drowsiness of somepony who had nearly fallen asleep. Nearly directly above her, Luna hovered about besides Scootaloo, supervising the filly as Scootaloo practiced her ceiling-walking. But, where were Scootaloo's suction shoes, and why was that orange glow surrounding her hooves? Wait...
Scootaloo's birthday was today! Celestia rolled to her hooves with a slight cry at her realization. With the sudden noise disrupting her concentration, Scootaloo lost her balance and grip. She fell the twenty feet from the ceiling to the thick pillow nest, bouncing off of it as she landed.
Celestia snatched the filly out of the air as she rebounded, floating her next to herself. Luna swooped down next to them as Celestia began applying the web of spells that hid her within her Sunbeam persona. At the curious tilt of Luna's head, Celestia perkily spoke up to explain. "I almost forgot between packing up, the paperwork, and your revival! Today is Scootaloo's birthday!"
Scootaloo's head whipped around to look at the wall calendar in shock. She just as quickly turned back to her mom with wide eyes and eager hopes.
"Oh." Luna looked between them, her smile deflating slightly and the bright joyous light in her eyes dimming. "Well then, go on. We are more than able to entertain ourselves for a few hours. We have doted upon your daughter enough to last for years these past two months." Luna nudged Scootaloo onto her mother's back with a poke of her horn into the magic field. Luna let a small chuckle escape her lips as Scootaloo flailed in the sudden collapse of her mother's field, falling awkwardly onto the elder diarch's back. "Could we borrow your compass as well, Tia? We need it to track down somepony to help with our guard's armor."
Celestia nudged a pillow aside to reveal the compass in question, letting Luna snatch it with a hoof. Mother and daughter shared hesitant grins as Luna backed away, grins that slowly morphed into wider and wider smiles as the last of Celestia was hidden under Sunbeam. The now pegasus mare galloped for the open balcony door and lept into the summer skies beyond, leaving Luna alone in the royal suite.
"Go. Go on, you don't need somepony like us tainting Scootaloo's day."
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"No, Mom. I don't want another telescope." Scootaloo shook her head at her mother's eager pointing. Undeterred, 'Sunbeam' shifted her hoof as quickly as she could to the nearby bookstore, earning an exasperated eyeroll from her unscholarly daughter. "And no books! I I learned any more, I'd sprout a horn, my mane would go straight, and everypony would start calling me Twilight Sparkle!"
'Sunbeam' reached over and tussled Scootaloo's mane until it kind of-sort of remotely resembled Twilight's own precision cut mass of hair. "Hmmm... nah. Though if you did sprout a horn, quite a few ponies might think that you're Princess Celestia's secret lovechild."
Scootaloo paused in the street, looking up to her mother irritably in the middle of the square. Her mother just smugly smiled back, as if bemusedly challenging Scootaloo to pull off a better joke. Pint-sized hoof met shin as Scootaloo wondered how her mom had gotten so crazy. The lightly-bopped elder mare rubbed her stinging shin and tussled Scootaloo again in retaliation. "I take it that it might be too soon?"
"Nah. That would be the joke about getting our own pet Luna." Scootaloo shook her mane back into it's normal messy state, hoping that her mother wouldn't take the obvious punchline.
"Aww, but I just found the perfect one! She's housebroken and sweet, and she just wants some love." 'Sunbeam' looked into a pet store across the street, wondering if a puppy would be just the thing to keep Scootaloo out of trouble. After all, Philomena had to stay on the other side of the castle since she had last met Scootaloo. The two weren't exactly a good combination.
"Mom, if we need another pet, Fluttershy would give us way too many." Scootaloo sighed with amused resignation as they walked down the street. Part of her was wondering if Luna was alright back at the castle. She knew her mom had noticed the mopeyness the lunar diarch had been displaying. She hoped it wasn't a repeat of the last millennium.
Hmm... Scootaloo smiled widely as she galloped ahead into the center of the plaza, sing-songing at the top of her voice as she ran. "Help! Help! My Mom is a DORK!"
'Sunbeam' tisk-tisked as she walked up behind Scootaloo more sedately. She had a grin on her face like that of a shark who just found an all-night buffet. "What's that? A filly too sick to have her traditional birthday ice cream cake with quadruple fudge and cookie-dough center?"
Somewhere behind them a mare cried out in shock. "The horror, the horror!"
"Was that Daisy?" 'Sunbeam' blinked as she looked back over the crowd.
"Yes?" Scootaloo shrank down and tucked her tail between her legs at the thought of not getting her special birthday cake. Onlookers chuckled slightly as she hopped off the fountain ledge she had climbed on to rush back to her mother's side. "I mean, 'Yes! My Mom is the most awesome pony in the world!'"
"Hmm. Not feeling it." 'Sunbeam' held back her giggles as best she could while Scootaloo jumped onto a taller bench to try and shout it out louder.
"My mom is the most awesome pony in the world! She's so cool that every bath she takes turns to snow after she gets out!" Scootaloo pointed her hoof into the heavens, shouting as loud as she possibly could.
Ponies snerked at the absurd proclamation. Its loud tones echoed off the storefronts in the wake of the crowd's chittering and chatting. 'Sunbeam' had the oddest sensation nagging at her, like she might have already pushed the joke too far already. But... it was just too good to let it stop at just that. "Louder."
"My Mom is the-"
"Louder!"
"-Most Awesome Pony, IN THE WORLD!"
"Louder!"
"Why, She's so cool, she's cooler than Princess Celestia AND Princess Luna at the same time!" Scootaloo's shout vibrated the street with its power, nearly blowing the manes off the closest ponies. Even 'Sunbeam' seemed slightly dazed from its force.
Scootaloo wobbled nervously and from a slight dizziness as 'Sunbeam' seemed to deliberate. The little pegasus looked up to where the sun was dipping behind the edge of the roofline, nervously watching the day slip by.
"Well, Scootaloo, that all seems rather silly. I can't possibly be cooler than Princess Celestia."
Scootaloo wilted at the suggestion, rolling over slowly onto her back in resignation. It seemed like her mom wanted so much out of her sometimes. Her one chance to completely and totally pig out, and she went and blew it...
"Scootaloo? Are you okay?"
The little filly shook her head, unable to see what her mom was doing with her eyes closed. 'Sunbeam' nuzzled her slightly, realizing that she really had overdone it. "You know I was just joking, right?"
Scootaloo sadly sighed, moving like she was trying to shrug. 'Sunbeam' squirmed mentally, realizing how much her approval meant to Scootaloo, and just how badly the hint of rejection hurt her daughter. The crowd in the square edged away and returned to business as normal as the awkwardness fully set in.
"That wasn't cool, Mom." Scootaloo's depressed and lifeless voice startled 'Sunbeam'. She had never heard Scootaloo so... flat, so emotionless. Not even an immediate application of feathers to filly belly seemed to perk her up.
She knew she had been harder than normal on Scootaloo, reprimanding her for being a pest to the palace staff and a general nuisance over the past two and a half months. She'd never considered the chance that Scootaloo had been looking for attention. With Luna taking up so much of her time, Scootaloo had been looking to steal some back to be with her mom. So that was what Luna had meant when-
"Scootaloo? I'm sorry. I've been ignoring you, and I didn't realize that I would hurt your feelings with that. I can see what she meant earlier, and can I make it up to you by helping you find your present? Okay?"
Scootaloo's slow sigh whistled out of her like the last teeny puff of air from a train. Her scalp ground against the polished marble of the bench as she shook her head, not very interested in her own birthday anymore. So much for having a nice day. She had made her Mom mad, then sad, and there was no way she was getting what she wanted. After all, what if she was a bad filly again? Then she would get grounded, and her present taken away, and-
"Scootaloo? C'mon, please? Let's go and get you something."
"Nah." Scootaloo tried to hide the pessimism in her voice. "Let's just go home. I don't want to get my hopes up."
'Sunbeam' jerked back, looking around for something to break Scootaloo's funk. She had to love going fast, right? And fun, lots of moving and doing! Scootaloo loved being active, outdoors, at the forefront like she had a rocket strapped to her back keeping her there. 'Sunbeam' kept turning around, running through her mind all the possible- Oh. No... No. She had banned Scootaloo from getting one of those because she had never found a helmet that she felt was good enough to protect her poor filly's head.
But that wasn't true anymore, now was it?
"Scoots? Mope right there. I'll be back before you can say 'Magic Hiccup'." 'Sunbeam' started dashing for the sports store behind her daughter, and the perfectly sized item in the window.
"Magic Hiccup." Scootaloo laid still, contemplating whether or not she was going to turn all black and 'grr'-ey from the incident. After all, Luna had fallen from something stupid in the end. And she was just a foal, what did she know? Always breaking things by accident, not listening to her mom, slacking off on homework, wanting a-
Beep-Beep!
Yeah, one of those. Her mom was right, too. She was always plotting out crazy stunts that she could do one day, like a triple axel off the castle walls, or loop-de-doops, and just generally thinking of creative new ways to break her head.
Beep! Beep-Beep-BEEP!
Ow. Her imagination was... loud? Scootaloo opened an eye; the sight of a pair of handle bars propped up by another's orange hoof greeting her sight. She must have fallen asleep and into a dream, her mom would never buy a scooter for her. The obnoxious horn beeped once more next to her ears as the hoof pushed the scooter forward. Cool metal lightly tapped against the tip of Scootaloo's nose where she had partially hung her head off the edge of the bench.
Beep! Beep!
"I finally get you a scooter, and you fall asleep on me? Oh, you silly filly."
Scootaloo's squeak of excitement could only be heard by the dogs as she flopped off the bench and scrambled back to her hooves. "Oh. My. Gosh! But you said you'd never get me one because I would hurt myself and you were always fussing about my safety and where did my helmet come from and why is it on my head?"
'Sunbeam' bit the cloth tab on the end of Scootaloo's chin adjustment strap and tugged, listening to her daughter's soft 'oof!' as the helmet squeezed tightly to her head. The powerful lunar magic woven into the helmet had transformed it into something that resembled a normal child's helmet; if there was one out there that gleamed in burnished steel.
'Sunbeam' chuckled as she finished going through what her child had said, stepping back from her. "Well, if I had know you were going to babble like Pinkie, I would have brought her to translate." She picked Scootaloo up by the scruff of her neck after a moment's admiration, plonking the filly down upon her new mount. Everypony around felt a strange chill and a sense of dread as the filly took hold of the handle bars for herself.
Scootaloo smiled widely towards 'Sunbeam', as if asking if she could ride home.
"Oh, head on back to the castle. I've got to find your cake. And try not to run over anypony." Sunbeam gave her daughter the initial push, feeling the new wheels on the scooter struggling to turn for the first time.
Scootaloo pushed with a hoof herself to try and get going. Wheels squeaked once as her developed momentum carried her a measly foot. It was all Scootaloo could do to keep from moaning in disappointment; her wings buzzing with pent up energy as she started to lay against the handles of her defective scooter.
Squeak-Squeak-Squeak!
Heads turned as inquisitive ponies all around them tried to figure out where the noises were coming from. 'Sunbeam' stood back with an anxious smile as she gave a shooing 'go on' wave with her hooves. Scootaloo pulsed the buzzing of her wings again, purposefully trying to drive herself forward at the encouragement from her mom.
Slowly, the scooter built up momentum as the dust and grease in its moving parts properly distributed amongst the bearings. The squeaking of its wheels faded away as Scootaloo began to slowly pass the trotting ponies in the streets. Wind from her movement began to tickle at her mane, gaining power as she pushed herself. Scootaloo let her wings rest for a moment as she became comfortable with her ride. Turning back gave her the sight of her mother hovering over the crowd, shooing her with a wave of her forehooves once more.
"Alright. Wings up, let's do this thing! Yeeaaahh-haww!"
And upon the wildly buzzing wings of a filly, Canterlot discovered the fear of being run over.
And 'Sunbeam' facehoofed. "Luna is going to kill me. I already know it."
"My mom is the most awesome pony in the world! She has made me into the Scoota-GOD!"
------------------------------------------------------
"Okay, checking off: Sheets!"
"Packed 'em!"
"Helmet and Scooter!"
"Wearing and packed!"
"Cake!"
"Ate it."
"You WHAT?"
"Mom! It was mine anyway."
"Oh, fine. Schoolwork?"
"Loaded into the trunk. And it's all done. Luna's awesome like that."
"Ignoring that last part, clothes?"
"I wear clothes? Oh, wait. Yeah, sorted into the luggage."
"One Mom Class Alicorn?"
"Hugged!"
"One silly-filly class pegasus, also hugged!"
"What about the sister class alicorn?" Luna poked her head into the room, looking around at the mess Celestia and Scootaloo had made of their belongings as they packed up for the journey back to their home in Ponyville. Her family's strange and silly sorting and packing rituals were hard to take seriously. The lunar diarch's black-shod hoof found itself draped before her muzzle attempting to hide her smirk in vain. Celestia and Scootaloo each had a clipboard that was nearly about to pop with all the listings of all the things they needed to check before they left the next day.
As if noticing a sudden discrepancy, the solar diarch mock-frowned and tapped her chin while tut-tutting to herself. Scootaloo joined her in making a mock frown, bunching up her face adorably. The little filly spoke first, dropping her checklist onto a convenient piece of luggage. "Nope, no listing for that. Guess we don't have one."
Celestia pointed a hoof to the doorway where Luna stood. "But there's one right there. Hmm." The solar diarch made a great show of checking and rechecking her checklist, pulling out a pair of fake reading glasses. Golden magic slowly and almost imperceptibly moved a few pieces of luggage around to clear a path towards Luna. From where she had burned her nose into the checklist, Celestia at last cried out in triumph, flipping Scootaloo's copy to a random page. "Here we go! Supplementary instructions for 'In Case of Luna'!"
Luna pushed off of Scootaloo's doorframe, stalking in to see what instructions could possibly handle her. As her magic nabbed Scootaloo's checklist, she failed to notice the sly looks that Celestia and Scootaloo passed one another as they tiptoed backwards. Dark purple eyes darted back and forth as Luna read down the list, finally finding the contingency sublisting under her own name.
She mumbled, frowning at the odd instructions within it, unaware that she had started to read it aloud. "-st handle with care. Luna/Sister Class Alicorns are prone to mood swings, unnecessarily over-acted proclamations, 'emo' tendencies, attempting and/or succeeding at taking on terrifying behavioral habits, and in general being a lonely and depressed type of pony. The only known control mechanism is sustained and unrelenting Harmony-Grade hugging until pony ceases complaint."
Luna's eyebrows twitched with irritation and confusion. Looking up from the borrowed checklist only furthered that as she found that Celestia and Scootaloo had vanished. Whipping around to the door yielded more bad news, as a golden glow pushed a stack of luggage into place to block it off. "Everypony? Where did you-"
"HUGS!" Scootaloo tackled Luna from behind, trapping the diarch's wings against her back.
"HUGS!" Celestia swept Luna up into a more gentle, but no less firm hug from the side. The near tackle-glomp nearly knocked Luna off her hooves and trapped her within a tight cluster of warmth and love.
Grumbling in their grip as they hugged her even more tightly, Luna gloomily pouted at the undignified treatment. A few squirms proved to be completely ineffective, hardly budging either fuzzy hanger-on. "Ah, yes. Hugs." Grumble.
Celestia leaned around Luna's shoulder, looking down to where Scootaloo clung with all her might. "Quick! The hugs are ineffective! We need more love to save the subject, begin the tickles!"
Luna's coat instantly stood on end as the hooves began to rub at her sides in all her weak points. The lunar diarch redoubled her squirms to break free, knowing she had only a few moments before the- "Eeeip! Noo! Stoo-op it! Ti-i-iiiiaaaa! Eeeip!" The tickles to the withers always worked.
-----------------------------------------------------
The powder blue tip of the compass spun lazily as Luna glided above the expansive Whitetail Woods. Tia's compass had lead her to the woods in her private search, and with her quarry close she prayed that it could lead her the rest of the way. Trixie was somewhere in the dark underbrush, camping along the route back to Canterlot. Luna couldn't understand why she was back so soon. Did Trixie understand that her mother had returned, or was it just business?
Compass-point whipped about as Luna flew, its wielder hastily shedding momentum and shifting course to follow. Cloudy skies hid the stars and darkened the night until only the glow of the compass-tip and Luna's own magic illuminated the way. Wind moaned in her ears, rustling the trees not far below. Luna banked and twisted into the wind as she smelled the slightest signs of a fire below her. The gagging stench and fumes of the smoke column caught her off guard all the same as she flew through it.
Solid matter transmuted into mist for a moment as Luna spun out of control and down into the treeline. The lunar diarch only transformed back once she reached a clearing on the ground, pulling back from the sparkling cloud she had become into her imposing form. Luna shook every last inch of her form out quietly to rid herself of the wiggy and creepy sensation the transformation had left her with.
A loud screech of frustrated rage burned through the air, with the electrical fizzle of lightning joining it from somewhere nearby. Luna wanted to swear that she heard the sounds of battle nearby, setting her on edge. The Compass of the Loved found itself open once more as Luna consulted its guidance to find her quarry, pointing firmly towards the target of the hunt.
When she had heard from Eaglehoof that her Trixie had somehow been teleporting or at the least moving far faster than should have been possible, Luna had been ecstatic. And she had been terrified. It meant that Trixie was on the cusp of alicornhood, if she had found a way to teleport that no unicorn could detect. Her foal was doing what Starswirl had refused to entirely by accident, doing what she suspected Scootaloo had only just begun. Trixie had to be taught and warned of the dangers of her power.
Pieces of a training dummy suddenly rained upon Luna, breaking her train of thought. Forehoof paused in midair, holding just out of sight of the furious showmare within the clearing. Luna inched back with all the stealth she could muster as she listened in. Caution and horror reigned in her heart as she heard Trixie's angry ranting.
"How DARE she!" Fire wreathed a makeshift dummy, courtesy of a flaming fireball from Trixie. "How dare she profane the dead!"
Lightning poured forth from the showmare like the bursting of a dam; crackling at the ground and melting dirt and sand into heated glass. Trixie raggedly panted, closing her eyes with either pain or anger. Lower and slower she continued her vitriolic cursing, angrily trembling upon the ground. "How dare she take the form of Trixie's mother, and then dare to confront Trixie with it!" A dummy of sticks and leaves exploded in a show of telekinetic force, scattering debris across the encampment.
"How dare she remind Trixie!" The showmare struggled to rise to her knees, pounding on the ground with a hoof in anger as she tried to hold back tears. "Momma... Why were you so foalish? Why did you mess with those stupid shards you found, even after Trixie wanted you to stop? Why, why did you leave me?" Trixie's anguished cries scared away what little wildlife was left in the area, causing them to scatter to the four winds.
Luna reached out with a hoof as some fear she couldn't fully comprehend snuck into her heart. Her hoof that she had outreached for forgiveness froze in place, just out of the light. Her little Trixie was furious. Not at some random mare on the street, but at her. Luna couldn't remember ever hearing Trixie talk about the shards of her soul, but somehow Trixie knew. She knew, and blamed her for having disturbed them. Hay, Luna couldn't remember messing with the magic necessary to find them in her last life, how had Trixie known?
More importantly, how would Trixie take it? If she didn't prepare Trixie for the shock, any number of horrors could be inflicted if Trixie lashed out instinctively. Trixie might accept the truth. Or, she might descend into a rage that she could never escape and never believe her. All that power, churned up by the potential emotional crisis and looking for a place to get out. It was already hurting her! Trixie was flat on the ground, clutching her horn and moaning in pain from her exertions.
No, Trixie had to hear the news that her mother was still alive from somepony else... Tia! Tia would be in Ponyville at long last. Tia would finally get home at the same time that Trixie was scheduled to arrive.
But what story could Tia tell her? It had to be something that was relatively truthful. An argument for spinning it so that herself as Moonstone had been kidnapped by Nightmare Moon came to mind, something just close enough to the truth. Honesty gave her no grief on the matter, since it was the truth from a certain point of view. It would work. Had to work.
She shouldn't be there, she should-
Luna teleported away, unable to face the sorrowful anger of her daughter anymore. Magic pulsed through the clearing, jolting Trixie back to her senses. The realization that she had been watched sent a brief chill down the showmare's spine as the wind whispered, seemingly sizing her up.
"Trixie doesn't like this." She looked all around her campsite, seeing not a trace of eyeshine or other hints of wild animals. Hay, with the wind dying away she couldn't even hear insect life. Something that utterly unnerved her. "Ponyville isn't that far, right? Trixie could be there by morning..."
A gush of magic extinguished the campfire, and within an hour nopony would have been able to tell that there had ever been somepony staying in the deserted forest clearing.
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With night approaching, the family air-carriage was nearly packed to the point of bursting. Scootaloo eyed her mother's work and prayed silently that it wouldn't collapse on her if she climbed aboard. "Mom, maybe we could take a few minutes and let 'Moonbeam' pack this thing. You know, so we won't die."
"Nonsense! Urf! I've got this." 'Sunbeam' tugged down on a strap once more in defiance of the ominous creaking coming from the stack it held together. Stepping back, she stamped her forehooves against the ground and rubbed them into the rough stone of the Canterlot landing area to clean the slight patina of grease and dirt from the packing straps off. "See!"
"Yes, I do. I see a spontaneous explosion waiting to happen, 'Mother'." 'Moonbeam' stepped out of the shadows of the office complex behind them uncannily. She had somehow appeared from the very shadows without any sign of her approach. "Perhaps a second carriage is in order?"
'Sunbeam' turned away from her counterpart, shaking her head ruefully at the suggestion. Who had heard of using two carriages to transport the family goods home? She wasn't some hoity-toity Canterlot noble! "No, no, we're fine."
"Uh, Mom? Maybe we should listen to 'Moonb'-"
"We'll be fine." 'Sunbeam' slid under the harness pole and shimmed into the pulling harness for the carriage. A brief shake shimmied its way through her form as she got rid of the sensations of being rubbed wrong by the material. "Say, isn't it time for the moon to rise?"
"Yes, yes it is." 'Moonbeam' looked up to the tower balcony where the first moonrise presided over by the lunar princess since the banishment would soon be taking place. "It's being saved for when you leave."
'Sunbeam' grunted as the unicorn yanked her straps tight with a burst of magic. "You don't have to impress and prove yourself to us of all ponies." Half-heartedly, she wondered if one of the other soul-shards in her companion had taken up certain risque pastimes with the way that her straps had been tightened to the point that they nearly squeezed the life out of her.
"Ah, good. I wasn't trying to. Ponyville is your home, not here. The least that I can do is insure that the way back is properly lit." 'Moonbeam' eased up on the straps. A few gentle tugs loosened several strategically to ease the pressure on the alicorn in disguise.
Scootaloo shuffled up into the carriage, making room for herself in the midst of the badly packed luggage. "Wow, that's pretty cool. Thanks."
'Sunbeam' more subduedly thanked 'Moonbeam', nuzzling against her tenderly. "Thank you. Thank you so much." A few tender caresses at each other's necks was more than enough, and 'Sunbeam' broke away so she could prepare to take off.
'Moonbeam' nodded, not needing to say anything more. Well, one more thing. "Before I forget, I need you to pass a message on to Trixie." 'Moonbeam's ears splayed back as she thought back to the miasma of emotional pain and turmoil she had found the showmare in.
"You found her?"
"She shall just be arriving in Ponyville when you do. Look for the overly decorated travel wagon, she will be there." 'Moonbeam' stepped around the harness poles, resting a hoof on 'Sunbeam's shoulder pleadingly.
"It should be you." 'Sunbeam wondered why her counterpart had found it so difficult to confront Trixie. She loved the showmare, or so she thought. The hint of worried fear in 'Moonbeam's eyes concerned her. 'Moonbeam' leaned in close, whispering into the orange mare's ear to keep Scootaloo from hearing the bad news.
The little filly did her best to wait patiently, something worrying her as she fidgeted. The pained gasp from her mother startled Scootaloo slightly; as did the sudden and awkward hug at the front of the carriage. The adults of the family whispered things into each other's ears, comforting and hugging each other. Scootaloo tuned it all out, looking down across the edge of Canterlot to where Ponyville sleepily laid.
Something was off. She swore to herself that there was some kind of movement down there, something that should have been impossible to see at a distance. There was something that her subconscious noticed that the rest of her hadn't caught up to yet. "Hey, Mom? I hate to interrupt, but I think we need to go."
'Moonbeam' nuzzled once more before she broke contact and began walking back to the shadowed overhangs of the offices behind them. Calling out over her shoulder, she gave a few last words of encouragement. "She's right. The moon is about to rise. Go on, I'll be here tomorrow for court. Find her please, and bring her home."
"Alright. Then I'll see you at the morning light." 'Sunbeam' perplexedly watched as her lunar companion finished stepping back into the shadows and vanished into the darkness without a trace. "You know, one day I am going to figure out how she does that."
Scootaloo shook her head at her mother's antics. Great. Her family now could add magic envy to its long list of problems. At least she was just fine with being a pegasus. Hard to get more awesome than that, but somehow her family managed to pull it off. "Mom? Less talky, more 'lets get home'-ey. You've got work tomorrow, remember? And I've got school..."
The massive wings at her mother's sides snapped open with a thunderous WHOMPH! and prompted Scootaloo to dig down into the luggage as 'Sunbeam' broke into a run as part of her takeoff. Gravity squeezed at her stomach and drained some of the blood from her head as they shot into the skies. Scootaloo hung onto their luggage for dear life and watched the clouds shoot by overhead as they ascended and put distance between them and Canterlot. It took her a moment to struggle back to her hooves so she could look back at the city of her birth with the faintest sense of longing.
Her mother slowed to a halt, looking back with her daughter as a small figure began to rise. Wind rippled out from the mountain-side city to push away the scattered clouds, revealing the glory of the star filled skies. The first rays of the moon peeked out from behind the horizon to fall upon the duo and coat them with a radiant glow. Faintly, the tiny figure floating above the castle rose high into the air, dragging the moon up with her power.
"Scootaloo? I think its time to go home." 'Sunbeam' flapped steadily to hold them in place as she spoke. She could barely see past the faint tears of pride in her eyes.
Scootaloo found her voice again, quietly and awedly replying. "Yeah, let's go Mom." Scootaloo watched for as long as she could, just barely able to witness the figure disappearing behind the towers of the castle. Her mother's massive wings swiped at the air once more, propelling them towards Ponyville like Pinkie chasing a cupcake; their force nearly jerking the filly off her hooves.
Down they flew, sailing high above the woods and plains that formed the gulf of empty lands between Canterlot and Ponyville. Scootaloo couldn't turn her head about fast enough to take it all in as her mother picked up the pace.
Faint noises echoed up to them, like the roar of a dragon or bear. Scootaloo could tell that her mother heard as well, watching her turn her head to better catch the sounds for a moment. Sweet Apple Acres zipped by below, their swift passage swinging the barn's wind vane around as 'Sunbeam' eased them towards a landing on the road. The little filly puckered up as the ground rose up to meet them, anticipating the impact that shook the cart tremendously.
'Sunbeam' flared her wings one last time to kill their velocity; her hooves clip-clopping on the gravel of the road to slow herself to an easy canter for the last few miles of the journey home. "You know, I don't know what it is. Every time we come home it always feels like there is something different about the air in Ponyville, Scootaloo."
"You're not getting philo-whatsical again, are you? You always get all goofy when you do." Scootaloo took her helmet off gingerly, basking in the sounds of their journey and those of the night creatures all around them.
'Sunbeam' shook her head and cantered on, cresting the hill outside the Apple's farm. "No, I think its more about how relaxed everything in town seems to be. Maybe I feel like I can be myself out here."
"Okay, so? Quit. Luna can handle the job, Mom." Scootaloo looked up at the skies filling with stars, wondering how Luna managed to make lighting up the night skies seem epic.
'Sunbeam' shook her head in denial. "She isn't ready to handle the nobles yet. She would probably do something crazy. Why, she might even turn Equestria into a republic!" 'Sunbeam' sighed as she trotted along, listening to the babbling brook by the road and the crunching of the wagon wheels. "And if I quit, who says I would get to stay who I am?"
Scootaloo rolled her eyes, feeling a headache come on as she turned around to try and find her scooter in the mess. "So you're saying that everypony else gets more of a say in who you are than you do? That's glum. You're the Sun, Mom. If you're letting somepony else tell you who you can and can't be, you're doing it wrong." Where was that stupid thing? Did she leave it with her sweater? Ooh! Scootaloo yanked her sweater out from the box and wriggled into it with gusto.
"Well, yes. Society is formed by the mutual partnerships of everypony involved. There must be compromises, give and take." 'Sunbeam' did her best not to reach over and snatch Scootaloo up for a surprise hug as the sound of rubber-lined wheels on gravel reached her ears.
Scootaloo enjoyed the slight burn in her wings as they buzzed like doom itself, skidding out in front of her mom to play around for the rest of the way home. "Yeah, but you can't be all give and no take like you have been, Mom. Sometimes there comes a point when you have to take back. You can't be generous and give to somepony else when you have nothing left of yourself."
"I know, Scootaloo. But some things a pony should never take back."
"Like what? When was the last time you took time for yourself, for who you wanted to be before I was born? Centuries, right?" Scootaloo swerved and cut across 'Sunbeam's path quickly, trying out the gravel of the Ponyville roads.
"Decades."
Scootaloo slowed down, falling back into formation with her mother and buzzing along steadily. "See! You're still gloomy and serious. How are you supposed to run the happiest place in the world if you won't force everypony else to stop and leave you alone to do your own thing every once in a while?"
'Sunbeam' looked up, seeing Ponyville through a trough between two hills as she did. Almost home. Almost to her own private realm away from the realm. Somberly, she whispered back to Scootaloo, hearing something she had never really considered in her urgent dash to keep control of the country over the past few centuries. "I... can't."
"And how are you supposed to find joy and happy-sappiness if you won't give yourself that bit of 'me! ME!'? You'll end up like Luna did, Mom." Scootaloo could feel sleep coming on as they came around the bend, her eyes drooping even as she stayed awake for her Mom.
'Sunbeam' turned to her foal, wondering when Scootaloo had become wiser than she had. Why, that had been a fairly well thought out argument for selfishness. The smell of sawdust reached her nose, prickling her senses as they trotted down into Ponyville. When had they expanded the main street?
"Well, Scootaloo... If you start making any more sense, I might just stick this crown on your head. You'll be the new Princess Celestia! When did you start thinking so much?"
"I blame it on Luna." Scootaloo's rueful words convinced 'Sunbeam' to laugh heartily at her foal's discontent. "I'm serious, Mom! Don't you laugh at me! I know where to find liquid rainbow, Twilight will be writing letters asking why Dash is fangirling over the new Rainbow Sun!" She pouted half-heartedly at her mother, trying not to laugh with her right up until a wisp of green fire arose from Ponyville and morphed into a scroll before them.
"Well, speak of Tirac, and he shall come." 'Sunbeam' released the spells upon herself in a burst of sunlight, cheerfully opening the letter to read what her student had to say for herself. Celestia frowned at a phrase and began to read at a more urgent pace as she stopped dead in her tracks.
"Mom?" Scootaloo skidded to a halt, wondering what had her mother so worried. "What is it, Mom?"
"No. No, no, no, NO!" Celestia teleported straight out of the wagon harness in a horrified burst of energy, letting Twilight's letter flutter to the ground as she departed for Ponyville.
Scootaloo buzzed over to the wagon, hoping her mom would remember to come back for it as she hopped off her scooter to pick up the letter. Words immediately stuck out in her mind, like 'Ursa Minor' and 'Trixie' and 'Ran into the Everfree'. She didn't know much about the member of the family they had been trying to keep secret from her, but she knew something horrible must have just happened. The Everfree? After an Ursa Minor? Luna was going to be horrified.