“What do you mean, ‘Luna is gone.’ How does Luna just disappear? Is she okay?” Maeve asked in a somewhat whiny, groggy, annoyed voice. “Why did Luna leave? Is she coming back? Did I do something to upset her?”
“My sister went with Princess Twilight Sparkle to the Crystal Empire. I do not know why they departed.” Princess Celestia paused. “At least, I am not certain.” The noble white alicorn thought about what Twilight Sparkle had mentioned, a wand. The Crystal Empire would be a good place to start looking for the right kind of crystals.
“Well… fudge.” Maeve slumped down in her chair, her bandaged arm propped up on the arm of the chair. She was itchy all over, covered in hives, groggy, frustrated, and now, on top of everything else, Luna was gone. Maeve felt a pout coming on. “Why can’t Red keep me company?”
“Maeve, I told you, Red has started his lessons to learn about tea, alchemy, and basic herbology.” Princess Celestia summoned her patience, reminded herself that Maeve was drugged, and that Maeve was not herself right now.
“Well, why can’t I learn with him?” Maeve asked.
“Because, right now, you are injured and you need rest.” Celestia lifted her head higher. “Also, Red needs to be able to concentrate upon his lessons. A lot is expected from him. He will only be in his classes for a few more hours. You must be patient.”
“I’m trying to be patient… I’m so alone though… so alone it hurts. And I’m bored.” Maeve’s face contorted into a sour scowl and her lower lip protruded. “I’m not trying to be bratty… I’m just miserable.”
“Bored are you? Is that a good reason to harangue the maids?” Princess Celestia frowned at Maeve, giving the girl the full brunt of her disapproval.
“I don’t need rest. I can’t spend another minute in the bed, and the moment you leave this room, I swear, I’ll be out of this chair unless you chain me down… but you wouldn’t do that because you’re nice.”
“Try me.” Princess Celestia’s eyes narrowed.
Maeve gulped and stared upwards at the angry, alicorn matron. She heard Princess Celestia cluck her tongue and what little bit of courage Maeve had dissolved. After staring for what felt like hours, Maeve averted her gaze and stared down at the floor, sighing in defeat.
“Get up,” Princess Celestia commanded.
“What? I thought I was supposed to be resting… what are you going to do to me?” Maeve asked in reply, looking fearful. She dared a glance into the alicorn’s eyes.
“Perhaps you do not need as much rest as I thought.” Princess Celestia smiled a soft smile. “I am going to put you to work as my assistant. You are going to help Raven and I with daily administrative duties, Sorceress Maeve.”
“Oh no—”
“Oh yes.” Princess Celestia nodded with such vigour that her ears flopped around. “Now get up. I am going to help you get dressed into something more presentable. A bored sorceress is a hazard to my castle and a menace to my maids. I prefer a productive, working sorceress. Now put a chipper smile on that face, Sorceress Maeve.”
Following along behind Princess Celestia and her personal assistant, Raven, Maeve felt herself being tugged on by the warm tickle of magic to help her keep up and it helped to prevent her from falling over.
It was approaching the autumn quarter; the first year students for Princess Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns were now arriving in batches, each week a new batch arrived. There was now the time consuming process of enrollment.
The only consolation for Maeve was that the little foals, the littlest of the little foals, were adorable. Maeve wobbled after Princess Celestia, waving with her good hand, smiling, and tried her best not to be terrifying, as she tended to be to most ponies.
“You’re doing a fine job, Sorceress Maeve,” Raven said in a cheerful voice. “You are being quite helpful to the students… learning magic, they need to learn how to deal with terrifying things that spook them, and you are doing an excellent job of causing them alarm.”
“Great!” Maeve mumbled as she almost toppled over and then lurched forwards like a rag doll, yanked upright by Princess Celestia’s telekinesis. “I’m taller than Princess Celestia… that makes me scarier!”
“Princess Celestia?”
“Yes, Raven, what is it?”
“I think that Sorceress Maeve is more susceptible to opioid painkillers that we equines are,” Raven said as she cast a glance over her shoulder at the staggering girl behind her.
“What might give you that idea?” Princess Celestia asked and then began to titter.
“I’m hungry,” Maeve said as she leaned off to one side and then was pulled forward.
Laughing, Princess Celestia kept Maeve upright as she trotted forward, moving with perfect, regal poise. “It is not yet time for lunch. Do try to keep up, Sorceress Maeve.”
Reaching a long table, Princess Celestia lowered Maeve into a chair, nudged her upright, and then sat down in a chair herself. Beside her, Raven climbed into a chair and got comfortable. The table was covered in useful materials for new students, including a map, a dining schedule, a list of names for each of the instructors, enforced bedtimes, the time one was expected to awake, and a whole plethora of other useful facts.
“I feel light headed.” Maeve’s head tilted back and she smiled. “By the way, I am still hungry. I just thought you should know.”
“Oh dear, there is going to be a big crowd beyond the doors.” Princess Celestia cleared her throat, took a drink of water from a glass she summoned, set the glass down upon the table, cleared her throat a second time, and then said to the guard, “Release the stampede!”
Sitting in her chair, Maeve watched as Princess Celestia and Raven worked to greet the new students. For the most part, she just sat there. That was all that was expected of her. She would wave on occasion, and a few brave ponies came up and talked to her.
The drugs were wearing off a little. Maeve could feel pain in her arm now, as well as her hand, it was dull, it stung, but Maeve was glad to feel something other than grogginess.
“May I please get a map?”
Maeve peered over the table at the colt. He was small, not very big at all, a soft shade of purple, had glasses, and a single, long eyebrow that stretched across his forehead. Smiling, Maeve reached out with her right hand, grabbed a map that was sitting in front of her, and passed it down to the colt.
He took it in his telekinesis, rolled it up, and stuffed it into his bookbag. He cast one final glance at Maeve, narrowed his eyes, and then backed away, never taking his eyes off of Maeve. As he departed, Maeve lifted her right hand, smiled, and waved goodbye.
A quiet voice in the back of Maeve’s mind reminded her that she should be having a shy-girl meltdown right about now. It nagged for a few seconds and Maeve, in a stern internal voice, told it to shut up.
“I beg your pardon?” Raven asked.
“Oh… what?” Maeve blinked and looked around.
“You just said ‘shut up’ in a very cross sounding voice,” Raven replied.
“Oh, I wasn’t talking to you… something in the back of my mind reminded me that I was shy and that I should be freaking out right now. I told that part of my mind to shut up. I said it inside of my head. It’s rude to intrude on a girl’s private thoughts… stop that.” Reaching up, Maeve rubbed her cheek and gave Raven a smile.
A wry smile appeared on Raven’s face and she returned her attention to the students.
“If you will excuse me, I need to go find a little fillies’ room,” Maeve said in a hissy whisper to Raven. “Don’t worry… I feel much more steadier. I can walk just fine, just you watch.”
Coming out of the bathroom, Maeve leaned up against the wall for a moment, feeling the cool stone through her various layers of clothing. She was sweating now, feeling itchy, and in some pain, but she didn’t let it bother her. She was also a little shaky, which worried her. Maeve could deal with everything but shaky; feeling shaky caused her to feel as though she had lost her confidence.
She had splashed water on her face in the bathroom and she could feel the cool dampness on her face now as a faint breeze blew down the hallway. She was far, far away from the students, off to a small, private restroom intended for castle staff and other residents.
As Maeve stood there leaning against the wall, enjoying the most pleasant cool sensation, she heard the sound of muffled crying. Maeve, being a good-hearted sort, lurched away from the wall, tilted her head, and tried to focus on where the sound was coming from.
Her walk had an almost drunken swagger to it. She traipsed down the hallway, her ears straining, trying to figure out if she was getting closer to the sound of crying. Each stifled sob stabbed Maeve through the heart. She didn’t like it. Nope, not one bit.
She turned the corner, headed down the hallway, moving at a slow, cautious pace. The sobbing was louder now. She was near the Hallway of Antiquities now, or at least she thought she was.
“Hello?” Maeve called out. Maeve heard a gasp, and she assumed it was done out of fear. “Hi… I’m Maeve… Sorceress Maeve. And I’m a really, really nice girl. I’m silly and not someone you should be afraid of.”
Maeve waited, her ears still straining.
“I got lost… the others moved too fast,” a squeaky voice said.
“Can you come out?” Maeve asked. She looked around, trying to find the voice.
“No!”
“Okay, fine… you just stay where you are and we’ll talk. Like I said, my name is Maeve. I am… Princess Luna’s… well, I don’t know what I am. Kinda a student.” Maeve smiled and sat down on the floor. “Do you have a name?”
“My name is Fuschia.”
“Hi, Fuschia, nice to meet you. Would be nice to see you, too. But you’re invisible. How do I know that you aren’t an imaginary voice in my head?” Maeve asked in as serious of a voice that she could muster.
“I dunno.”
“Hmm.” Maeve rubbed her chin with her right hand, missing the use of her left hand. “Why are you here, Fuschia?”
“To come to school… I have scary magic. Scary, scary magic. My parents are scared and I’m scared and I don’t want to get hurt,” Fuschia replied from her hiding place.
“I have scary magic too. I’m still learning. I got burnt pretty bad because a fire spell went right. That’s why I look so ugly.” Maeve looked down at her bandaged arm and felt a pang of loss for her missing fingertip.
“Ouch.”
“Yeah, ouch.” Maeve frowned. “And now I only have one eyebrow, and I’m scared that everypony I see will tease me.”
A small purple-pink filly emerged from behind the drapes that hung down on either side of a massive window. She had a dark green mane and curious blue-green eyes. She stood there, trembling afraid, staring at Maeve.
“Oh my… you’re just a yearling… you’re so tiny and cute… come here, I promise I won’t hurt you,” Maeve said as she looked at Fuschia.
“What are you?” the filly asked in a small, squeaky voice.
“A girl.” Maeve reached into her pocket and then pulled out a few baby carrots. She held them in her hand, but extended one outwards between her right thumb and index finger. “Want a carrot?”
Fuschia licked her lips, but did not move.
“I always keep a few carrots around for Red. He’s an earth pony. He’s my best friend.” Maeve waved the carrot around. “He can do a neat trick. If I throw a carrot, he can catch it. Princess Celestia is worried that other ponies will think I’m treating Red like a pet. He’s just my best friend and we like to play.”
The earth pony filly moved a little closer, her eyes now locked upon the carrot in Maeve’s fingers. “The others moved down the hall too fast. I got left behind. I didn’t mean to wander off, I wasn’t trying to. I don’t want to be in trouble.”
“Hmm, I can help you with that. I can take you back to Princess Celestia, and then I can look really, really sad, and Princess Celestia will lecture me about being a con artist, and she’ll forget about you and you won’t get in trouble.” Maeve grinned and waved the carrot around a little more.
The filly, overcome with desire, came forward, snatched the carrot out of Maeve’s fingers, and then backed away. She crunched it up and watched as Maeve extended a second carrot. Realising that she wasn’t about to gobbled, she came up and sat down in front of Maeve, still chewing. Reaching out, she touched Maeve’s skirts and felt the girl’s leg.
“I have two more carrots here. You eat these, and then I will carry you back to Princess Celestia, and we’ll work on making sad faces together. Deal?” Maeve smiled down at Fuschia and stared into the filly’s eyes, which were wide-eyed and filled with wonder.
Wobbling a bit, Maeve regained her balance. Fuschia was now held in one arm, and the filly’s little forelegs were around Maeve’s neck. Maeve found that she rather liked holding the filly. Fuschia was teeny tiny and adorable. Fuzzy. Snuggleable.
“I don’t know why I thought you were scary,” Fuschia said as Maeve began to walk down the hall. “You’re really nice.”
“I’m kinda surprised, actually.” Maeve smiled. “Normally, huggy stuff makes me panic. But this is nice. Real nice. I’m not squeezing too hard, am I?”
“No, I’m good.” Fuschia looked up into Maeve’s eyes. “You are missing an eyebrow.”
“My magic got me.” Maeve was tempted to press her nose against the filly’s.
“How can you do magic? You’re not a unicorn.” Fuschia reached up with one hoof and touched Maeve’s cheek, brushing her hoof over endless number of freckles. “Are you a giant?”
“I’m not that big, as far as humans go,” Maeve replied as she strode down the hall. It was getting easier to walk now and the pain in her arm was increasing. “It’s tough coming to school for the first time. You don’t have any friends. I guess it is even harder for you, you have to live here and stay at the school, and I bet that’s scary.”
“Uh huh,” the filly agreed.
“Well, you made your first friend. If you get lonesome, you talk to one of your teachers, or one of the guards, or whoever it is that looks after you, and you tell them that you want to come and see Sorceress Maeve. Now you don’t have to be scared or lonely anymore, okay?”
“Okay,” Fuschia replied.
“We’re almost there… those doors just ahead. Quick, try to look scared and sad!”
Stepping through the door, Maeve felt a bit nervous walking into the crowded room. There were lots of little faces looking up at her right now. Lots of larger faces too. Teachers and guards were all looking at her. And one very important face.
“I found one of your students.” Maeve, unable to read Princess Celestia’s mood, decided that drastic measures were in order. “One of your teachers didn’t do a very good job of looking after all of her students. This one got left behind. I found her crying her eyes out near the Hall of Antiquities.”
“Oh dear… I shall have to have a word with whomever is responsible.” Princess Celestia’s brows furrowed. “You seem to have won her trust, Sorceress Maeve.”
“Maeve said I could come and visit her any time,” Fuschia said in a low, squeaky voice to Princess Celestia. “She was really nice and she gave me carrots.”
“Carrots you say… what a lucky filly. Maeve only shares her carrots with her friends.” Princess Celestia beamed and her eyes glanced up to meet Maeve’s. “You did good. I am very proud of you. I treasure those who look after my students. Thank you, Sorceress Maeve.”
Blushing, Maeve kicked one foot against the other. “This is Fuschia, by the way.” Maeve paused. “Fuschia, this is Princess Celestia. She’s really very nice.”
The filly extended one hoof and waved. “Hi.”
“Sorceress Maeve, how would you like to look after our yearlings? There are only a few and they all need to be taken to their quarters. I suspect that with you looking after them, all of them will get there and be accounted for. Will you look after my yearlings?” Princess Celestia tilted her head to one side and gave Maeve a hopeful expression.
“I’d love to… I can do that. I don’t think I can carry them all at once though…”