//------------------------------// // Chapter 17 // Story: Discord Did It // by DarkMasterofCupcakes //------------------------------// (Regular POV) (Sugar Cube Corner) The six hybrid foals were gathered together underneath a snack table, happily eating treats given to them by their was a party going on, and Sugar Cube Corner was absolutely packed. This was mostly because of the fact that the party was being given to welcome Princess Cadance, niece of Princess Celestia and Princess Luna, and her husband, Prince Shining Armor, captain of the royal guard, to Ponyville. Parties involving royalty always had a huge turnout. It seemed like nearly every resident of Ponyville was gathered in the bakery, partaking in the treats laid out by Mr. and Mrs. Cake and engaging in conversation, both with each other and the guests of honor. From their spot beneath the table, the foals were able to listen to plenty of conversations. They heard discussions about the candy that had appeared after last night's storm, ranging from theories of pranksters with too much time on their hooves, a horrible last minute mistake with the weather company, and even a few half-joking suggestions that Discord had broken free, given by some of the teenaged colts and fillies (this last theory was dropped as a conversation topic when the youngest foals who could still remember the Discord Incident started bawling at the prospect of an encore this year and had to be removed from the party until they could calm down); a topic that, once their father was no longer being mentioned, became rather boring to the ten-month-olds. They tuned out discussions about the weather as well as simple small talk, and tried to see if any-pony was talking about something interesting. At first, nothing really caught their attention. At one point, Twilight had told the other Element Bearers that she needed to talk to them about something that had happened that morning, but it quickly became clear that the conversation was going to have to wait until they had more privacy. So, there was little hope of hearing any part of that conversation, at least for the time being. However, after what seemed like forever, the six hybrids were finally able to picked up on an interesting conversation, though perhaps it would be better described as an argument, even if the ponies talking were clearly keeping their voices as low as possible as to not bother anyone else at the party. One of the voices was only vaguely familiar, but the other voice, the one that sounded the most passionate, the foals quickly recognized as Ocean Breeze. "You know what has to be done, Tsunami" she told her partner, who looked at her for a moment in silence, as though unsure of how to respond. "Bronze Medal noticed the events of last night before I did, so he was the one to send the message to Canterlot. If he does not receive a response by tomorrow morning, I will send a message of my own." The light blue mare narrowed her eyes. "You know what I mean" she told him coldly. "There is no need for that, and you know it" Tsunami responded in an even quieter voice than before. "It is an absolute last resort, to be used only if the situation is dangerous and restraint is impossible. Neither applies to this situation." After this, both ponies lowered their voices to the point where the foals could barely understand them. By this time, the foals beneath the table were extremely curious, wanting to know exactly what Ocean Breeze and Tsunami were talking about. They even abandoned their position beneath the table, deciding that having the chance to listen to the rest of the conversation between the two unicorns was worth the risk of an inattentive party-goer stepping on them. The six hybrids were almost close enough to hear what was being said, when Twilight literally appeared out of nowhere, blocking their path. Twilight nervously looked at Tsunami for the briefest of mornings, before realizing that her teleportation had caught the attention of everyone else. "Sorry every-pony, but I just realized what time it was, and they really should be going down for a nap" she said apologetically, receiving nods from most of the other adults, especially those with children of their own. The only parents who didn't agree with what the purple unicorn had said were Ocean Breeze, who moved so Crystal Lake (who the hybrids had not seen from their place beneath the table) was blocked from the view of the younger ponies, and Tsunami, who briefly smiled at the young toddlers, but seemed dejected when they appeared frightened by the grin. By this time, the other Element Bearers had come over and grabbed their children (who were very confused by what was happening, something that, judging by the looks on the mares' faces, they shared with their mothers). "You're leaving the party?" Berry Punch asked, specifically addressing Pinkie Pie. It was one of the very few times anyone could remember Pinkie leaving a party if it wasn't an absolute emergency. Actually, it was the only time any of the guests could remember the pink pony leaving a pony when she didn't have to leave for some reason. "Don't worry. We're just gonna make sure they're all nice and cozy, then we'll be right back. Pinkie promise" the pink party pony said with a smile as she helped her daughter onto her back, quickly performing the motions necessary to make a Pinkie promise. This seemed to satisfy every-pony, and the mothers and foals headed towards the stairs, the mares occasionally excusing themselves in order to get past other ponies, and trying to quiet their offspring, who were all whining about having to having to go to bed, either by just moaning, or by shouting "Don't wanna sleep", over and over again. As they came up to the stairwell, Cadance approached, relatively alone for the first time since the party had begun; Shining Armor was at the snack table, grabbing some refreshments while he chatted with Spike. The foals all stopped their protesting, staring at the pink alicorn with wide, frightened eyes. Cadance frowned for the briefest fraction of a second, but quickly recovered. "Sweet dreams" she said to her young niece, giving the filly on Twilight's back a hopeful smile. Taking Velvet's now relaxed posture as a good sign, Cadance smiled a little more. Hesitating for a moment, she leaned her head towards Velvet, presumably to give her a quick nuzzle. This quickly proved to be a bad idea, as the moment Cadance's muzzle came within six inches of her body, Velvet panicked. She flattened her ears against her head and twisted away from the alicorn's touch before burying her face in her mother's mane and sobbing loudly. Still hiding her face, the filly began rapidly waving her foreleg in Cadance's general direction, shouting, "Go away" over and over again as she did so. "Velvet, calm down. You're okay. Just calm down" Twilight spoke over her shoulder to her daughter, trying to speak loudly enough so the blue filly could hear her over the sound of her own crying, but softly enough as to not draw even more attention to the situation. As the filly stopped her flailing and her sobs became quieter, Twilight looked to her sister-in-law."Cadance…I'm sorry" Twilight said softly, her voice full of regret. Before responding, Cadance (who had stepped back at the start of Velvet's tantrum) morphed her expression from a sort of stunned pain to one of understanding sympathy. "No, no…It's fine." She offered the unicorn a smile, as though to prove that she was telling the truth. However, the fact that there were unshed tears gleaming in her eyes made it crystal clear that she was hurt by the event that had just transpired. Seeing this just made Twilight feel even worse. She wanted to say more, something to ease the emotional pain that Cadance was clearly going through, but all she could do was basically repeat what she had already said: "I'm so sorry". By this point, both Shining Armor and Spike had arrived at the scene, though they were somewhat confused due to the fact that they had missed the start of the incident, thanks to something of a blockade of ponies; a common occurrence at one of Pinkie Pie's parties. The young dragon approached Twilight, wanting to know what had happened, and wanting to know if Velvet was alright; after all, the filly had basically screamed like she was being attacked moments earlier. "She's alright, Spike. Just a little scared" Twilight answered the second question, pointedly avoiding the first. Spike frowned at this, but decided not to insist on an answer…for now. Meanwhile, Shining Armor was quick to try and comfort his wife, draping a foreleg over her shoulder and bringing her close before gently nuzzling her cheek. As the Princess returned the gesture, Appejack walked over to Twilight. Her son trailed behind her, being one of three foals-and the only non-pegasus-to reject the idea of being carried upstairs. Once she was close to the purple unicorn, the orange earth pony said, "I'm thinkin' we should get these little ones upstairs, 'fore somethin' happens to get every-pony lookin' this way." At the end of her statement, many of the party-goers looked embarrassed; they suddenly began avoiding looking at the scene, pretending to whistle as they tried to act like they were never watching to begin with. Twilight agreed, and the twelve ponies (plus Spike, who was still wondering what had actually caused Velvet Star to panic like she did) went upstairs, with Pinkie Pie pausing once on the stairs to again promise the party guest that they would be back, and cheerfully order them to keep having fun while they were gone. Considering the fact that the music (which had stopped playing for some reason around the time Cadance approached the group of young mothers and foals) started up again as the thirteen of them reached Pinkie's room, it seemed like the ponies downstairs decided to follow that order. "So…we can stop pretending to be stupid now, right?" Firestorm asked in a low voice, hovering over from beside his mother's head to in front of her. Rainbow Dash smirked at the question, but confirmed that the suspicion was correct. The young colt sighed in what seemed to be relief, before ceasing the rapid beating of his wings. This, of course, resulted in him dropping, and only avoiding slamming his head onto the wooden floor thanks to his mother catching him in her forelegs. "Okay, here's some flying advice, Hothead" the rainbow-maned mare said, placing her son on the floor. "Don't stop flapping when you're still in the air. Usually doesn't end well." After a moment's consideration she added: "Unless you're trying to pull off a dive." Firestorm nodded, then looked around the room, apparently trying to figure out who would be the most fun to play with at the moment…or, if no-pony wanted to play, who would be the most fun to annoy as punishment for not playing with him. Normally, he would immediately think of Roxbury as the ideal playmate, mostly because he was the only other colt out of the six hybrids. The girls weren't necessarily bad to be around, but it was hard to imagine them as being too fun to play with. That, and the fact that Scootaloo would sometimes bring Firestorm with her when she went to visit Apple Bloom at Sweet Apple Acres during the times when his mother had weather duty for the day, resulted in the half-brothers spending a decent amount of time playing together. Unfortunately, because they played together so often, it became almost routine, and therefore, boring. So, the cyan colt decided to switch things up and try playing with the girls, at least for now. The issue was figuring out which of the four fillies would actually be worth playing with. Twilight had decided to talk to her daughter about how she had behaved downstairs. "Velvet," she began, turning her head to look at the filly that had hopped off her back, "You know the way you acted down there wasn't right." The blue filly refused to look at her mother, choosing instead to glare at the wooden floor. Or, at least, Twilight assumed she was glaring; it was hard to tell, since the upper part of her face was obscured by her hair. "Velvet Star, look at me when I'm talking to you" the purple mare said in a soft but stern voice. Velvet did lift her head at this. Sure enough, the filly's eyes were narrowed in what seemed to be anger. However, they were also full of unshed tears, though whether these were tears of frustration or fear was not clear. Velvet didn't speak, but Twilight had a feeling that she knew what her daughter was thinking. After crouching so she was about level with the filly's eyes, Twilight spoke to her again. "Look…I know you got scared down there," she said. "But, I promise that Cadance wasn't going to hurt you. She would never hurt any-pony." At this revelation, Spike's jaw dropped nearly to the floor; if there was any explanation for why Velvet had been scared down at the party, that wasn't it. However, despite her mother's assurance, the filly didn't seem at all comforted. In fact, she seemed determined to completely ignore what her mother had just said, opting instead to move closer to Spike, pressing her face into his belly. For a moment, the young dragon seemed unsure of how to respond. He then did what he assumed Velvet was silently asking for and began to gently comb his claws through her mane; a gesture that she found very comforting. Spike mouthed an apology to his best friend, but Twilight just shook her head and quietly said, "It's alright"; though her expression betrayed her feelings of sadness at being unable to relieve her daughter's fear of her sister-in-law. 'Aw, Velvet's not gonna be all fun' thought Firestorm, pouting. Seeing that his first choice for a playmate (not counting Roxbury, of course), wasn't available, the cyan colt decided to try and find Butterscotch. Libby and Meadow Lark were his last options; he'd only play with them because the only thing lamer than playing with those fillies would be playing alone. Surprisingly, however, Butterscotch was nowhere to be seen. Firestorm ruled out the possibility that she had wisped away, due to the absence of the faint scent that usually accompanied the process. So, she was still in the room; the question was where? Even Pinkie Pie apparently had no idea where her daughter was hiding, if the fact that she was lifting toys and saying, "Butterscotch, you can't start playing hide and seek without telling me; that's cheating" was any indication. At the realization that one of the foals had apparently gone missing, each of the six mares and the young dragon were suddenly on high alert, looking all around the room in search of the white-maned filly. Even the remaining foals were glancing around, with the exception of Velvet. While everyone else tried looking for her half-sister, Velvet found herself being tormented by a fly that would not stop buzzing right next to her ear; even when she turned invisible and tried to sneak away, the fly would somehow find her and manage to buzz next to her ear again. And as she groaned in annoyance, she heard a small voice squeaking right next to her ear: "I'm winning, right? They haven't found me, Velly-Bell-" Before the hated nickname could be completed, Velvet swatted the "fly" away with her hoof, causing it to go flying into the wall. After smacking the wall, the insect fell to the ground, where it quickly morphed back into Butterscotch, accompanied by a slight popping sound. Almost immediately, Pinkie was at her daughter's side, and giving the filly a look that held a mix of questioning and concern."Where'd you hide?" the pink pony asked. The white-maned filly shot her dark-maned sister a quick glance before simply replying that she was "hanging around", jumping up and seeming to hold onto an invisible branch to emphasize the joke. Pinkie giggled at the joke and picked up her daughter in an embrace, praising her on both the joke and her excellent display of stealth. Meanwhile, Twilight made sure to catch Velvet's eye, silently letting her know that she was aware of the blue filly's role in her sister being discovered. Velvet groaned inwardly, dreading the talk with her mother that she knew was coming. It was at that moment that Twilight realized that she now had the perfect opportunity to talk to her friends about the run-in she'd had with Ocean Breeze, earlier that day. After instructing Velvet to go apologize to Butterscotch and ask the other filly to play, the purple unicorn addressed her friends. "We need to talk" she said, her tone making it clear that the conversation was potentially crucial. The other five mares came closer to their friend, each wearing an expression that held both curiosity and concern; what did she have to tell them about? Twilight took a moment to make sure that none of the foals were within earshot, before going on to describe what had happened with Velvet when she had met Shining Armor and Cadance earlier that day, as well as explaining her daughter's reaction to her aunt's attempts at affection. The expressions on the other pony's faces held mixtures of confusion and concern, but before any of them could actually voice those emotions, they were interrupted by a knocking on the door, followed closely by a kind voice. "Is everything alright? You've been up here for quite a bit," Mrs. Cake said, opening the door just enough to peak inside. To the surprise of every-pony in the room, it was actually Fluttershy who answered the older mare. "Oh, yes, everything's just fine" she said, smiling sweetly. "It's just getting a little late, and we wanted to put the little ones to bed for the night. They're…not very happy about that." She said this last bit as she noticed each of the foals giving her a look of indignation as soon as she explained that they would be going to bed soon. Mrs. Cake nodded. "Should I tell every-pony that the party is over, then?" she asked, addressing the question to Pinkie Pie. At first, the pink pony looked confused. "Why would the party be over? We'll be down lickity-split, just as soon as the babies are…Oh." Suddenly, realization crossed over her face, as she remembered what happened the last time the foals were left unattended during a party. The foals' faces lit up as they came to this realization as well; Pinkie hated having to cut a party short, so obviously this meant that in a few minutes, they would be going back down- "Oh, no, you don't have to end the party. I can stay up here and take care of the foals" Fluttershy said, addressing both her friend and the owner of Sugar Cube Corner. Seeing that her friends were going to protest her decision, Fluttershy insisted that she didn't mind at all. "I prefer smaller parties, anyway, where it's just very close friends" she said with a small smile, hoping that would convince them to rejoin the festivities. "Well…Okay…If you're sure you don't mind" Twilight said hesitantly as she and the others walked towards the door. Fluttershy stated again that she had no problem with minding the six young ponies. "You make sure you holler for us if our lil ones start givin' you any trouble, you hear?" Applejack ordered, giving Roxbury a quick glance as she passed him, as if to silently ask him to stay out of trouble. Not that the green colt needed to be asked; he remembered all too well what happened the night they snuck into that dark forest and discovered the snag-birds. The other young mothers echoed Applejack's statement, but Fluttershy promised that she wouldn't have any trouble, and simply requested that her friends have a good time for the remainder of the party. They assured her that they would as they left the loft and headed back downstairs to rejoin the festivities, Pinkie Pie briefly reentering to tell Fluttershy that she'd save the yellow pegasus some wild berry cupcakes. A short time later, the six foals were gathered in a corner of the room, talking among themselves in a language that sounded like gibberish to anyone who was listening in; but they could understand each other just fine. "We've got a problem" Velvet said, getting straight to the point. Her half-siblings all looked at her, each wearing an expression of curiosity at this statement. Not waiting for the others to ask what she was referring to, Velvet continued to speak, "We gotta get rid of that pink alicorn, and fast, before she does something really bad. I mean, I'm so scared – the only reason I can even sleep at night is because I know she's probably not gonna try anything while my Mom, Spike, and Uncle Shining Armor are there, but I don't know how long she's gonna wait for. So, we gotta get rid of her, tomorrow." After she finished her brief speech, most of the others looked somewhat uncertain. However, they were all silent for a moment, either not sure of what they wanted to say in response, or unable to say what was on their minds for one reason or another. Finally, Libby spoke up, seeming to speak for the entire group, sans Velvet. "But…you guys told me that when you guys met that Luna alicorn on Nightmare Night, she wasn't that bad" the white unicorn filly said, her tone making it clear exactly what she was trying to imply with that statement; if Princess Luna wasn't quite as bad as the hybrids has expected she would be, based on her species, maybe the same would be true for Velvet's aunt. Velvet understood what her sister was trying to say, and narrowed her eyes slightly, not only at Libby, but at all the others, who seemed to be thinking the same thing. "Well, yeah, she wasn't too bad" she admitted after a moment of glaring at the others. "But, she was in the moon for a long, long time – maybe being in the moon did something to change her so she wouldn't be as bad as the others. And that means this one's still really dangerous, and we gotta get rid of her." This time, she stressed the last part of the statement, trying to make it clear just how serious she was about this situation. The others still looked somewhat uncertain, but nodded in agreement, able to see the logic in Velvet's argument comparing Princess Luna and Princess Cadance. Now, the issue they had was trying to find a way to get the pink alicorn princess to leave Ponyville, and preferably never return. The first suggestion came from Butterscotch, who suggested that either they could drop something really heavy on her, or maybe find a way to bind her wings before getting her to fall into a really deep hole. Both of these suggestions were shot down almost instantly by Velvet. "My mom and Spike and Uncle Shining all like her a lot…even if I don't get why. If she actually died, I'm pretty sure they'd all be really sad about it. I don't want her dead – I just want her to leave, that's all." With that rule being added to their planning, the hybrid foals continued to brainstorm ways to get the pink princess of love to leave town as soon as physically possible. All the while, Fluttershy watched them, silently wondering what exactly they were talking about in that secret language that they had developed; but mostly just happy that they were all safe and seemed to all be fairly content with the current situation, despite their earlier complaints about having to stay upstairs. She considered interrupting them to ask what exactly they were discussing, but ultimately decided against it. It was unlikely that they would answer the question honestly, for one thing – if they were willing to let anyone outside of their group know what they were talking about, they wouldn't be using their secret language in the first place. And besides that, she figured that there probably wasn't any need to know what they were talking about; all that mattered at the moment was that things were fairly peaceful, everyone was safe, and it seemed like everything was going to be just fine.