Nightmares Yet to Come

by Detectivefish

Secrets and Lies

"Okay," Cheerilee said, carefully, "a foal?"

Trixie nodded, as she took another sip of her drink (strawberry soy milk, nothing added, much to her displeasure). Her magenta coloured friend blinked several times, then frowned.

It was somewhere after six, Trixie having gathered together the other Element Bearers, and met up in the library (if asked, Trixie would claim it was because of the space) to discuss the morning's events.

"No, I'm sorry, a foal?" Cheerilee began shaking her head. She turned towards Lyra, who was frowning, "have you ever heard of anything like that?"

The unicorn hummed for a few seconds. "Well," she began, "actual stories of ponies being born whole-cloth from nothing... or almost nothing, there are actually a few. Most of them related to Princess Cadenza, but... nothing like this."

"Never mind that. Who were these nutjobs, anyhow?" Raindrops asked, from the other side of the room.

"We don't know," Twilight Sparkle said, from where she was casually putting away some books, amidst murmuring to herself as she glanced at the stacks.

"Pretty sure they were sun cultists," Trixie stated. Raindrops's glower increased.

"Sun cultists?" she repeated. Trixie just shrugged.

"Well, they were going on about "the dawn"," she said, taking another swig, "so I'm going to go out on a limb and say they were sun cultists."

"Sorry, hold on," Carrot Top declared, "why were sun cultists trying to create an alicorn?"

"I don't think they were trying to," Trixie said, "that seems to have been a side-effect."

"Creating a foal is a side-effect?" Raindrops asked incredulously, as certain ponies in the room tried valiantly not to break down giggling.

"It is when the Princess interrupts whatever they were doing," Trixie retorted, before staring down at her mug as she thought about what had happened.

She felt a hoof on her shoulder, and turned to see Ditzy looking at her with concern. "Sorry," she murmured, "got distracted for a moment there."

"So what happened to this foal, anyhow?" Lyra asked.

Trixie momentarily looked over toward Twilight, trying not to wince. "Princess Luna felt it were better if she was left with somepony else."

For a moment, the only noise was a small grunt from Raindrops.

"Who?" Twilight asked.

"A pony," Trixie stated.

"And why'd she leave this foal with this specific pony?" Cheerilee spoke up. Trixie turned back to see a worrying look in the school teacher's eyes.

"She felt they would be the best choice," Trixie recited. She'd been spending the whole train journey back from Canterlot wondering about what she'd seen looking at, mixed with what Luna had told her. "And I trust that."

"Why do I sense a "but" coming?" Cheerilee asked.

"But I'm not sure I trust the pony she gave the job to."

It was dark in Canterlot, and as always at night the city underwent a change, not least with the street lights being lit up, or the sudden change in the sort of ponies witnessed. There were now a lot less tourists, for one. And a lot more serious looking ponies.

In the now dark, but still bustling city, the foal named Thesis walked alongside her newly appointed guardian, the taller mare no longer striding ahead of her, something Thesis was incredibly grateful for, as her hooves had been beginning to hurt.

They'd gone to a place called a "shop", wherein they, or more accurately Midnight, had bought two things: A strange tiny stick thing, which she called a toothbrush, and a thing she couldn't tell what it was, which she was informed was "a towel".

Then, they'd gone on a long winding journey around and around so many strange corners, past a dozen strange-looking things she'd wanted to look at, until they came to it...

It being a large, large, large building that stretched so high up some of it disappeared into the clouds, and managed to out-do every other building Thesis had seen so far.

It was the royal palace.

Two guards in armour were standing outside. Midnight said some things to them, and after a few seconds they let the two through, glancing briefly at Thesis as she trotted past.

That made her move faster, as she found herself thinking of what had happened earlier, when two of the creepy looking ponies appeared out of nowhere and had grabbed her. These two didn't seem interested in grabbing her, though, but all the way until they reached the actual doors into the castle she kept glancing back at them, just in case.

Inside the castle was unlike anything she'd seen in the whole day she'd been alive. Beautiful sculptures, and pieces of artwork, the strange stuff the floor and walls were made of that made odd noises when she stepped on them, huge doors leading off to rooms bigger than all of Miss Lulamoon or Miss Twilight's houses put together. More than once she tried peeking through the doors, only to be gently yet firmly nudged away by Midnight's hoof.

"This is a very large castle," the mare stated, "and very busy. I would not recommend wandering off."

So, resigned to not seeing any more of the interesting rooms, Thesis trotted along after the mare. Soon enough they ran out of amazing and expensive looking things, soon entering into slightly less impressive and smaller corridors lined with doors.

"This is the servant's wing," Midnight declared on entering them, "usually reserved for most of the minor functionaries of her highnesses's Night Court who do not have their own residence either within the castle grounds or somewhere in the city."

Thesis looked around at the suspiciously brown carpeting, and the odd green glowing signs in the ceiling. "So, you live here?"

"Yes," the mare stated. Soon enough they came to one specific, but unremarkable door. For a moment, she seemed like she was about to say something else, before a set of keys appeared in a flash of light, which she used to open the door.

If somepony had asked Thesis to describe the residence of the majordomo of Princess Luna before that moment, she might have had to pause and think about her answer.

Going by what she could guess of the castle, she'd have thought the room of one of the more important ponies in Canterlot would've been grand, and big, or at least really, really expensive looking and decorated with all sorts of things.

To say that what she saw instead, which was a small, narrow room, with grey-ish white walls, and a worn, faded looking carpet, and a small arrangement of cupboards at the very far end, with one door on the left leading to another, just as narrow room with a bed, a sofa and a desk in it, was a letdown was an understatement.

"It's... nice?" she tried to say. Midnight just gave her a look. Actually, she wasn't really sure she was giving her a look. Going by the last several hours, that just seemed to be her only real expression.

"It is cheap, and cheaply built," the mare stated, "designed for a single task. It is what it is, and no more."

She moved into the darkened room on the left for a moment then returned.

"So," Thesis said, "what now?"

The dark mare paused. "We find something to do. It is too late in the year to enrol you in a school, given it is now more than halfway through November."

"Oh," Thesis looked toward the window. Even from where she was, there were still signs of snow outside. "What about that snow? There were other ponies my size playing in it. We could try that?"

"Perhaps," the mare said carefully, "though there may not be any snowfall tomorrow."

"Oh," Thesis said.

"In the immediate sense, it might be an idea for you to try a bath."

The filly stared blankly. "A what now?"

The mare motioned to the darkened side room, where a strange thing with large pipes leading up into the ceiling lay.

"Bath," the mare repeated, as her horn lit, turning one of the handles of the thing, causing rushing water to appear, "in which one bathes. It is considered very relaxing."

After a moment's consideration, she felt the need to point to the handles. "One of these will make warm water, the other cold. I will leave the determining of which is which to you."

With that, she carefully hoisted Thesis into the air, and set her down in the slowly rising water.

After the water had filled up a certain amount (not very far, but enough that Thesis could float about slightly), Midnight walked off, leaving her to enjoy herself.

And it was soothing, and relaxing. Bits of her she hadn't realised she had felt much better the minute they touched the water. Then she realised she was floating in the liquid. Experimenting, she tried moving up and down from one end of the tub to the other, back and forth. After a while of that she experimented with being under the water, or rolling over.

She looked about the small room. Aside from the toilet nearby, there were a small basin, where the toothbrushes seemed to live. Above the basin was a small mirror, which probably would have been more useful if it wasn't broken.

Eventually, she began to notice the warm water had started getting less warm, and decided to get out. Before she could reach the threshold of the bathroom, Midnight appeared. Her horn glowed, and suddenly all Thesis knew was the sensation of being attacked by something fuzzy, which was being held in Midnight's magic.

After several moments of frenzied assault, this stopped, and the towel withdrew, leaving behind a slightly dizzy but definitely dry filly.

"Couldn't you have just told me you were going to do that?" she asked, as Midnight restored the fuzzy thing onto the rack it'd been hanging from.

"Perhaps," the mare stated, "though I did feel it essential to act before you got any water onto the carpet. Princess Luna's head maid already possesses a severe animus towards myself."

Thesis stared blankly again.

"She doesn't like me," Midnight explained.

Thesis nodded, then looked down at her hooves, "so I am allowed on the carpet now?"

The dark blue mare nodded, and Thesis trotted across the carpet, and through to the other side room, the one containing the bed. Next to the bed was a small table, with a book on it, labelled "A History of Equestrian Myths and Legends".

It looked like it was old. Old, and if she had to guess (which was really all she could do) well-read.

"Hey," she called out, "is this book yours?"

"It was a gift," Midnight stated from the doorway, her tone sounding different for a moment, "from Captain Armor."

Thesis scratched her head. "That's the big, tall grumpy looking one, right? Why'd he give you a gift?"

"It was..." the mare paused, "partially to make up for the mutual embarrassment of our first meeting, and in part a repayment for assisting him with an important matter."

"Why were you embarrassed?" Thesis asked.

"Because Captain Armor momentarily mistook me for his younger sister. His attempts to -"

"I can see that," Thesis declared, earning her a blank stare for her troubles.

"I beg your pardon?"

"You do kind of look like Miss Twilight," the mare continued staring at her, and Thesis's eyes darted away, "sort of. Kinda."

"In that I am possessed of four legs, two eyes, a mane, tail and horn, perhaps. But nothing more. Now, where was I? Yes, his attempts to extricate himself from that blunder were..." the mare paused again, "for a pony whose talent requires being an authoritative presence, Captain Armor is, to put it bluntly, completely terrible with mares."

For a moment, a brief moment, she looked like she was about to say something different. "He purchased the book as an attempted apology."

"Did it work?" Thesis asked.

Midnight paused thoughtfully. "In a manner of speaking, yes."

She looked back to the book, "so, if it's a book of myths and legends, does it explain why everypony stays indoors at midday?"

"In a sense," Midnight stated, "it explains the reason behind why ponies are afraid of the sun, and why there is one Princess of Equestria, not two."

"Which is...?"

The mare's horn glowed, and the book floated over to her. "It all began over a thousand years ago..."

In the long-distant past, Equestria was ruled by two Princesses, alicorns graced with powers beyond those of ordinary ponies. One ruled over daylight, and the sun, and she was called Celestia. The other ruled over night, and the moon, and was called Luna.
Together, the two sisters protected Equestria from threats. But over time, this changed.
Princess Luna began to notice that while ponies worked and played in the day, they slept through her nights. Feeling spurned and neglected, she withdrew from others, and began pursuing ever more elaborate ways to make ponies notice her night, treading ever closer to darker powers.
Meanwhile, Celestia began to fall under the ever-increasing burden of ruling a country. The mare once renowned for her beauty and serene grace became increasingly aggressive, both in behaviour and approach.
And soon the unthinkable happened, for Celestia fell into madness, and became known by her fearful subjects as "Corona", the Tyrant Sun.
A handful of ponies sought out Princess Luna, their desperate pleas for help drawing the mare away from her destructive path.
However, Luna was the younger sibling, and could not fight her sister, even insane as she was, and win. So acting desperately, she made a bargain with the demonic monster Tirek, only to betray him, stealing his power and taking it for herself.
With this power, Luna used her magic to fight her sister, buying time until she could access the Elements of Harmony. Using these ancient artefacts, she sealed Celestia away inside the very sun she once guided. Overwhelmed by her grief at her failures, Luna took off to wander what was left of Equestria. It was twelve years before she returned to the throne, and attempted to rebuild the shattered country back to what it was meant to be.
Since that day, Equestria has limped onward, hampered by paranoia and inadequacy, claiming it is harmony all the while.

Wait... are you even listening?

It only took a moment's notice to realise Thesis was not, and that she was in fact asleep. Soundly asleep, in fact.

After a few seconds, Midnight gently wrapped the filly in her magic, and put her under the covers, before taking one of the pillows for herself, setting it down on the floor.

Then, she made her way over to the desk, and lifted a quill and a piece of paper.

From the desk of: Midnight M.
To: Her Royal Highness, Princess L. Equestris

Preliminary Observation Report
Day 1 (date 23.11.1000 AC)

Subject nomen "Thesis" (addendum: find more suitable name?) appears to be an alicorn filly, of average height, build and weight. Mane colour , dark blue. Fur colour evidently royal blue. Eye colour purple. Cutie Mark not yet evident.
Subject displays innate curiosity and interest in goings on around her, but also severe shyness and social awkwardness. Displays mild trait of stubbornness common to members of House Starlight (inherited from Sparkle somehow? Unclear, possible coincidence).
Displays similar eating preferences to that of Lulamoon.
Despite alicorn status being evident, subject appears to possess no command of magic. Possibly simple condition of youth, combined with circumstances of birth.
No evident capability of flight, also likely due to youth.
Will continue to observe and record.

"Alright," Cheerilee said, "sorry everypony, but I've got work tomorrow, so I'm gonna have to book it, now."

"Yeah," Carrot Top nodded, "I probably should go home too."

Ditzy nodded, as she valiantly fought a yawn, "me too." The bearer of kindness looked over toward Trixie. "Are you going to be okay?"

"I'm fine," Trixie lied. Ditzy just looked at her. "Okay, I'm not fine, I just don't want you worrying."

"Too late," Ditzy stated, smiling warmly as she did. Trixie smiled back, though it was ruined when she yawned too.

"Need sleep," she murmured. "Really don't wanna have to get up for work tomorrow..."

She looked over to Raindrops, who was staring at her, if only for an instant.

"Anyway," Trixie said to Ditzy, "g'night, Ditzy."

"Night, Trixie," the mailmare said as she headed towards the door. Trixie walked over to Raindrops, the weather-mare still hanging around by the door.

"Are you alright?" Trixie asked. There was a brief flash of annoyance on Raindrop's face, before she shook it away. "It's just you've been slightly grouchier than usual."

"Sorry," Raindrops said, "not your fault. Work was hectic today... and yesterday, and the day before. Rainbow Dash and Cloud Kicker have been arguing."

"Arguing?" Trixie repeated, "I thought Cloud Kicker was... well..."

She tried to imagine the contentious leader of Ponyville's weather team, multicoloured mane and all, arguing with her almost perpetually nervous yellow-maned executive. Somehow, the image just refused to stick.

"She is," Raindrops said, "which is why it's so weird. At least today she had the excuse of not getting much sleep."

"I feel her pain," Trixie said dryly. Then Raindrops gave her another look.

"No, Trixie, Cloud Kicker never sleeps in. She's always there. And Rainbow Dash..." a pained looked appeared on Raindrops' muzzle, like she would rather have been pulling her own teeth out, "has been getting better lately. Not much, but she has."

She sighed heavily. "I don't know what's gotten into Cloud Kicker. But every time she argues with Rainbow, Rainbow argues right back, and... one day one of them's going to do something stupid, or say something stupid and it’s all going to go to the sun. I just know it."

She scowled briefly, "and now you and Sparkle are getting kidnapped by some bozos in the middle of the night, because we needed even more to worry about."

"Eh," Trixie shrugged, "they've got the Princess on their tails. Whoever these ponies are, if they're smart, they'll know enough not to bother us again."

Raindrops just stared flatly at her.

"Yeah, okay," Trixie muttered, "they'll probably be back at some point."

The night passed, as quietly as it could manage, and soon day broke over Equestria. Across the city, with the Princess retiring for the morning, a great deal of the city's populace began to go to sleep as well.

Though this did not apply to all of them.

For example, a pair of unicorns making their way across the city, one with white fur, the other dark blue.

"Someone's looking distracted this morning," Fleur de Lis chortled, "what's the matter, trouble sleeping?"

"It's not that," her associate replied, "though admittedly sleeping on the floor proved less... than ideal."

"Then a quick run will do you good," Fleur smiled back, "fresh morning air, healthy exercise, just watch out for any ice and snow and you're good."

"Are we not doing that now?" came the reply.

"Well, I'm certainly running, Nighty, but you aren't. Your head's somewhere else." She raised an eyebrow, "let me guess: Mom issues."

"I am not-!" Midnight began, before stopping, "I am not her parent."

"No need to be coy," Fleur said, "oh, hey, careful with that washing line. Where was I? Oh, yeah, no shame in it. I've seen plenty of ponies having to deal with this sort of thing."

"You have?" the mare asked, "you wouldn't have any advice?"

Fleur scoffed. "Me? Foals?" she laughed, for a second, before staring off into the distance, "Not that Fancy and I haven't... I mean, we've discussed it sometimes, but... what with Corona, and his job, and my job..."

Recovering quickly, she looked back to the dark mare, "you must be pretty rattled if you're actually asking somepony for help though."

"The prospect is proving more daunting that I initially realised," came the retort, "I would not say I am "rattled" yet, and certainly I have enough funds to comfortably provide for her long enough to-"

"Watch the ledge," Fleur cautioned.

"Yes, thank you. It is just... she's a foal."

"Let's take five, shall we?" Fleur suggested, the two stopping for a moment, leaning against a nearby wall. "Wish I could be more help, but unfortunately, I didn't have any siblings (that I know of), and Allure wasn't the sort of parent who hoofed out advice."

Her ears twitched, "at least not the kind I can say in public. Or, admittedly, that is any use in this situation."

The two stood there, listening to the bustle of the city around them. "Do you wanna keep going?" Fleur asked, "we've barely even gotten a quarter of a way through the course. Or do you want to get back to your little sister?"

"She should be fine, for the moment," Midnight stated. "Though if you feel you cannot manage, we could just attempt to try half the usual route."

"Alright," Fleur nodded, "challenge accepted. Lose and I take you shopping."

And with that gauntlet thrown down, the two resumed their morning run across the rooftops of Canterlot.

It was slowly occurring to Thesis that she was awake. Awake, and lying on something strange and fluffy.

Also, it wasn't dark outside. Instead, it was incredibly light and bright, which made her eyes hurt a lot.

Fortunately a large shadow got in the way of the sun. And then it spoke.

"You're awake," it said. It sounded like Midnight, which she supposed meant it probably was Midnight. Unless there was some other pony who sounded exactly like her.

"What time is it?" she asked, looking about.

"Almost a quarter to nine, in the morning."

"Is that early?" she groaned, as she moved about under the sheets.

"That depends on your point of view," the mare responded, "but at the moment, for you specifically, no. Now it is time for breakfast."

Thesis considered those words. Ms. Sparkle had said stuff about breakfast yesterday. And there had been that toast she'd given her.

And as she thought of yesterday, another thought came to her.

"What about the snow?" she asked. Midnight glanced towards the window.

"That may be difficult," she stated. Curious, Thesis tried clambering onto the sofa so she could look out of the window.

In the daylight, the view was almost as impressive as it had been the night before. The only problem was the complete and utter absence of any snow whatsoever.

"What happened to the snow?" she asked quietly.

"It melted," came the reply, "either from the sunlight, or from the salt used to melt it before it became a public hazard, or from ponies cleaning it up."

"Oh." She looked back to the mare. "Will it snow again?"

"That is likely. Canterlot frequently gets snow in winter, and this winter is scheduled to be colder than most, as a response to what happened when Celestia was freed from the sun."

"So..." Thesis began, "if it snows again, can I play in it then?"

"If that is what you wish," came Midnight's response, "now come along. We'll brush your teeth before going to look for breakfast."

Daylight was pouring in through the windows. Cruel, horrible, nasty blinding daylight.

A just awoken Trixie groaned, and tried pulling her bed sheets over her head, as a shield against the assailing day. She wasn't ready to leave the comfy... comfort of her bed, not for another five minutes. Or possibly fifteen. Half an hour, at the most.

A quick glance at the clock on her bedside stand revealed it was nine o'clock. Sighing, Trixie pulled herself free from the morass of her bedsheets, and began making her way towards the door, then towards the bathroom.

Once she had sufficiently showered enough to feel awake, she made her way downstairs.

As always, the worst part of her morning was the horrible yawning sensation she had as she did so, knowing deep in her heart of hearts there would be at least some paperwork waiting for her, and that was if she was lucky. If she wasn't, it was a large pile of yesterday's unfinished business, waiting to be filled in.

And winter, as it turned out, was not a good season for paperwork. Not that paperwork was enjoyable at any other time of year.

She reached the bottom of the stairs, turned around the corner and found... a relatively small pile of paperwork, along with what turned out to be a post-it from Pokey.

It did not say anything along the lines of "sorry".

For a moment, a vanishingly brief moment, Trixie idly considered burning it all and hoping nopony would catch on. Then her common sense kicked in, coldly pointing out this would only generate more paperwork, assuming things didn't go out of control and wind up with the entire residency burnt to the ground. Which, knowing her luck, was a near-certainty.

Sighing, she turned around and headed towards the kitchen, to make herself some coffee.

Breakfast hadn't been what Thesis had expected. Though, really, she'd only been alive for a day, so her knowledge of breakfasts was pretty limited.

But instead of any sort of toast, Midnight had brought her some strange sort of thing. Something about how ponies in the castle had a wide variety of tastes and "requirements". It had ended up with her eating some strange, sweet tasting crunchy things, which had been a lot better than any slightly burnt bread.

Once that had finished, they'd left the large room they'd been in, and started going someplace else.

Something Thesis had learned quickly was that going anywhere in Canterlot involved lots and lot and lots of walking. Also, lots of stairs.

She decided she did not like walking, or stairs. As soon as she figured out how her wings could work, she was definitely going to use them all the time.

"Where are we going?" she asked, as they made their way up yet another flight of stairs.

"There are things I have to attend to," came the reply, "but once those have been dealt with, we may do whatever you so desire."

Soon enough the two exited the stairway, coming out onto a hallway, which they proceeded along until coming to one particular door, which they went in through.

Inside was a room that by the castle's standards wasn't much to write home about. A desk, a potted plant here and there, a small map of Equestria, and a yellow earth pony mare behind the desk.

"Morning, boss," the mare said, before stopping, "wait, I thought you weren't coming in, today... or, uh, ever again..."

"I am on leave, Melody," Midnight declared, "I have not been fired yet."

"Right," the mare nodded, "so you're back because...?"

There was a noise, and a flash of light, and a small pile of papers appeared from nowhere.

"These papers need to be seen to, with all possible speed." The papers landed on the desk with a small thump.

"Okay," Melody said, "sure thing."

"Very good," Midnight said. Melody tried flipping through the pile, and glanced at the filly.

"Oh, by the way," she said, "Ardent came by earlier. I think he was worried about you, because... you know, you didn't show up for work last night."

What exactly that meant, Thesis didn't know, but there was an odd sort of change to Midnight's expression, if only for a second.

"I told him to buzz off," she added, after a moment.

"Very good," came Midnight's response, before she turned back to Thesis, "come along, little one."

"Uh, boss?" Pokey's voice came to Trixie's ears, "are you alright?"

Trixie decided not to answer that one.

"I mean, obviously, you're lying face-first on your desk, and, y'know, groaning a little, but I figure it can't hurt to check."

Trixie just groaned in response, "the paperwork has drained the life out of me."

There was a pause, as Pokey looked at the nearest clock. "It's only half past eleven," he said.

Trixie looked up, and brushed a few strands of hair out of her face. "Feels like longer," she remarked, before looking over to the pile of papers.

There was admittedly less of it than before. Not enough to make her feel better, though.

"Where were we?" she asked.

"Well, you were doing some paperwork, and you hadn't even suggested setting it on fire once, or even making a break for freedom... so now I'm kind of suspicious. Does it have something to do with yesterday morning?"

Trixie blinked. "What do you mean?"

Pokey took a long drink from the cup he was holding. "The guards on your house yesterday. That's kind of a big honking clue that something happened."

"No," Trixie said, rubbing a hoof against her head, "pretty sure it doesn't have anything to do with yesterday."

"Well, I just work here," Pokey shrugged, "you don't have to tell me jack."

"No, I don't," Trixie said.

"I know," Pokey stated.

"Glad we understand each other," she replied, firmly. Pokey nodded. Then Trixie looked down at the pile.

"... er, Pokey, where was I, again?"

His horn glowed, and a sheet floated over towards her.

"Have I mentioned how grateful I am to have you as my assistant?"

"Which answer can I give that won't get me fired?" he smirked.

"So, where're we going?" Thesis asked. The two had now left the castle, and all the fancy rooms therein, and were now walking down one of the streets of Canterlot itself, which had almost as many ponies as it had the day before. A lot of them, Thesis noticed, kept staring up at the sky like it was going to fall on them.

"We are heading to the Canterlot Public Library," Midnight stated. "There are suitably few ponies there, and it will allow you to gain a working knowledge of Equestria."

"'kay," Thesis nodded. "That's gonna involve reading, right?"

She looked about at the shops. She'd already asked to go inside some (or more accurately, all) of the ones they'd passed so far, but to no avail.

"Miss Twilight tried to make me read stuff yesterday," she said. "Well, not "make", but she did ask me if I wanted to read something... and then left a bunch of books by me, just in case."

After a few seconds of no response from the larger pony. "Is it just me, or is Miss Twilight kinda weird? I mean, I only know you and Miss Trixie... that's it, but she's still weird. All nervous and talk-y. Not that she wasn't nice," she added after another pause, "just... weird, I guess."

"Twilight Sparkle is..." the mare paused, "known for her lack of social graces. That combined with a disposition towards nervousness may be the result of her odd behaviour."

As they continued walking along, the crowds were beginning to thin out. More and more ponies were disappearing indoors, some occasionally stopping to look at the foal and mare casually walking along in the daylight.

"Should we...?"

"No," Midnight stated.

"Are you alright?" Thesis found herself asking. "You're being all quiet and... kinda grumpy."

"I... apologies, little one," she said, "that is likely because my eyes, which are particularly sensitive, are having to adjust to daylight. It is incredibly frustrating trying to walk when one has difficulty seeing at all."

"Oh." She wasn't entirely sure how to respond to that.

"But why is everyone inside? I mean, you told me that story last night, even if I did kind of fall asleep halfway through it, but... why do they do it?"

"They believe," Midnight said, "that if they remain outside after midday, Celestia herself will descend and do something unspeakable to them."

Thesis looked up in the sky. "... has she?"

"In the last one thousand years, there is only one recorded instance of Celestia descending from the sun and making off with whoever transpired to be outside. And that falls heavily into the category of extenuating circumstances " After a moment, the mare's horn glowed, and a small apple appeared from out of nowhere. She then began eating it.

"Lunch," she explained when Thesis looked at her, "you aren't hungry, too, are you?"

"Not really," Thesis murmured.

Soon, they arrived at the library, which was something Thesis was secretly glad for, since the abandoned streets and squares and parks of Canterlot at high noon were making her feel really uncomfortable.

After her stay in Twilight's library, Thesis had been expecting the Canterlot one to look much the same, with books arranged in odd stacks and piles across the room, and wooden floors and the slightly odd scents (and the weird noises from the ceiling).

So she was surprised at the vast size of the larger building, with its stone floors and multiple levels, which stretched on forever (or as near enough as made no difference to a foal).

"Whoa," Thesis murmured, as she took the sight in, before turning to look at the mare.

"So... I can choose any book and then... read it?"

"Within reason," Midnight stated, "it might be best to start with books intended for foals, first."

"Let's go, then," the filly declared, as she began rushing across the floor.

Observation Report
Day 2 (24.11.1000AC)

Subject still appears for all intents and purposes to be a foal.
No change in command of magic since previous report.
Initial exposure to literature has yielded little so far. Subject still enquires into any and all subjects available with same enthusiasm on each occasion.
Initial exposure to other ponies has yielded satisfying lack of inquiries into subject’s apparent alicorn status (likely assumption, they believe subject is a hybrid).
Will continue to observe.

Thesis was confused. She'd been reading the books she'd picked out, as far as she could manage (not easy when she either had to use her hooves or get Midnight to do it for her), and what they were saying was... different from what she'd told her. She didn't understand that. How could the book have been saying something different? And of course sometimes the older pony would come see what she was doing, and look at something in the book and say it was wrong. That made even less sense. Why would somepony have put something in there that wasn't true?

Eventually, however, she'd gotten too hungry to keep reading, even after some of those sandwiches Miss Midnight had sneaked in with her magic.

So, with the sun already going down, they'd set off in search of somewhere to eat, with some of the books from the library with them.

She considered asking Midnight about it, but hesitated. She was a weird pony. Not the slightly sad looking weird of Miss Twilight, or the funny weird of Miss Trixie, but... something about her just didn't seem right.

"Long day?" Berry Punch asked. Trixie just looked at her.

"I dunno," she said, "what time is it?"

Berry chortled, "not late enough that you should be asking that." She glanced cautiously at Trixie's drink.

"It's soda," Trixie stated before the barmare could say anything. "Time just loses all meaning when you're sitting behind a desk all day."

"What about Pokey's puns?" Berry inquired.

"Well, for that I usually just throw bits of paper at his head," Trixie replied, "barely got halfway through the pile."

Eventually, the two valiant warriors had been forced to quit their battle against the mighty flood of bureaucracy, with the sworn promise they'd try and have another go at it tomorrow.

Then Trixie had, realising she had but one slightly empty bottle of bourbon to her name, made her way to Berry's bar for succour.

She wasn't the only one there. Raindrops was sitting at her usual table, a drink sitting in front of her looking like it had hardly been touched, while Raindrops just looked vaguely annoyed about something.

"Evening," Trixie said, as she approached with her drink, which received a nod from Raindrops.

"Hey," she grunted. "How's things?"

"Oh, you know," Trixie said, as she sat down, "long life, long day. Lots of work to be done."

"You should try working the Weather Patrol," Raindrops said, "see how you feel after that."

"We could swap," Trixie smirked, "you try and deal with my workload, I try and deal with Rainbow Dash for a day."

Raindrops snorted dismissively, "you'd end up fired or imprisoned within a few hours. Either that or you and Dash would try to kill each other."

"I think I could manage," Trixie retorted. "Look at all the things we've faced since last year. Pretty sure I can handle working with Rainbow Dash for six hours."

Raindrops just took another drink. "If you say so..." she murmured.

"Besides, I'd like to see you try and endure all the horrible, pointless forms I have to deal with every day."

Raindrops just snorted. "Maybe I'll take you up on that, sometime," she said.

Seconds passed, as the two looked about the room.

"Are you doing alright?" Raindrops asked. Trixie looked away from what she'd been looking at.

"Me?" she asked, "yeah, I'm fine. Though I could do without the constant chaos happening in this town."

"You'd miss it if it stopped happening," Raindrops shot back. Trixie opened her mouth as she began to object, only for the mare to stare at her.

"You would," Raindrops cut in, "don't lie."

"Yeah, okay," Trixie sighed, "I probably would get bored."

She looked at Raindrops again, "anyway, why do you ask?"

Raindrops shrugged. "Because you looked kind of worried about something. Is it about this foal?"

"No, not really," Trixie said, "maybe... I don't know..."

She rubbed a hoof against her head. "Yeah. I do keep thinking about the foal. Or what I didn't do. I keep thinking I should've told Princess Luna to let me take her in. It couldn't be that hard, could it?"

Raindrops looked hesitant.

"What?" Trixie asked, "you don't think I could do it?"

Raindrops remained entirely still. "Do you want me to be honest with you?"

"Uh, yeah?" Trixie replied. "Of course I do."

"Then I don't know whether you could have or not. Most of the kids in town love you, yeah, but being good with kids and being good with a kid are different. Just look at my parents. Snails is a great kid, but even he runs my parents ragged most of the time. And that's with me trying to help."

"Okay," Trixie said, "good point-"

Raindrops help up a hoof. "Wasn't done yet," she stated, "'cuz there's you. On your own, and let's be honest, Trixie, you can be pretty lazy. And reckless. And stubborn and proud and..."

She paused to take a drink, "Plus, look at all the craziness that keeps happening around us. What if one day someone we've pissed off comes after after us?"

"You think I've not thought about that?" Trixie replied, "like when those thugs tried kidnapping Dinky?" She looked down at her drink. The first ponies to try and get at the bearers through their families, but sadly not the last. "You think Princess Luna didn't say pretty much the same thing?"

She sighed. "I still think I should've been allowed to try, rather than let Princess Luna just hoof her over to somepony else..."

"So, um," Thesis asked, over breakfast, "what're we doing today?"

Midnight looked over at the filly. "The same as we were doing yesterday."

"Oh," Thesis said. She looked about the largely deserted breakfast hall. "Isn't there a library in the castle?"

"There is," Midnight stated, "however, the head archivist has... views on foals being present. She seems convinced they will spread disorder." The mare took a large bite out of a second helping of toast, "somehow having failed to notice that disorder is already present."

She ate another slice, then looked back at Thesis. "Do you not wish to return to the library?"

Thesis shuffled. "I dunno. I mean, I liked the reading, even if I didn't understand all of it. It's just..."

"Yes?" the mare asked. There was something about her gaze that made Thesis feel incredibly small. The things she'd been meaning to say vanished in an instant.

"Nothing," she said.

Trixie let out a small groan, and allowed herself to collapse (though taking effort not to land on the pile of papers that had already been finished).

"C'mon, boss," she heard Pokey chuckle, "up and at 'em. These things aren't going to sign themselves."

Trixie pointedly refused to move her head from her desk. "Maybe if I wait ten minutes, some disaster will occur, and I-"

"Will have to do even more work?" Pokey smirked. Admittedly, Trixie couldn't see his face, but she knew he was smirking anyway.

"It doesn't necessarily have to be a Ponyville disaster," she murmured.

"I don't think you're going to luck your way into two Windigo attacks in the space of a month," Pokey chortled. "Not even your luck is that bad."

"That's not really comforting me," Trixie said. Rearing herself back up, she stared down at the stack of papers.

"Alright," she declared, "fine. Let's try and get through this."

It was slightly before noon when Midnight had suggested the two ponies leave the library to look for something to eat, again, much to Thesis' upset (she'd been engrossed in a book about all sorts of nasty creatures. The eating of ponies seemed to be a running thing with them).

As they walked along the streets, she kept looking to the mare, trying to work up the courage to ask the question she'd been thinking of, only for the words to vanish whenever she looked up at the mare.

As they made their way across town, passing numerous closed-looking shops, she finally felt a stab of annoyance, and decided to ask it anyway.

"Mi... Midnight?" she said, or more accurately squeaked. Fortunately (or unfortunately) the street was not too full, and the larger mare turned to look at her.

"Yes?"

"I," Thesis began, hesitantly, "I was wondering... shouldn't I spend time with other foals?"

An odd look she couldn't recognise passed across Midnight's face, and she knelt down to look at her.

"Little one, there is something you must understand: Ponies can be particularly slow to trust that which is new, especially in these untrusting times. And foals can be incredibly untrusting of those they've never seen before, particularly those in Canterlot. With your horn and wings, and your present difficulties with magic, they would likely cause you some form of harm."

Thesis felt her wings flutter.

"Not physical harm," Midnight stated quickly, "but harm of a subtler, more insidious kind. This is part of the reason I wished to keep you out of school here."

"Okay," Thesis said, even if she didn't really understand. "But if I learned how to cast magic, would that help?"

"It..." the dark blue mare paused, "it might just. We shall simply have to see what happens after."

Observation Report
Day 3 (25.11.1000 AC)

Subject has expressed desire to interact with foals of own apparent age.
Strongly object to this in no uncertain terms, until the truth of subject's nature can be determined, both to prevent harm (psychological or otherwise) to subject and others.

"Uh," Pokey was frowning slightly, "what are you writing there?"

Trixie looked up from what she was doing, "this?" she asked. "It's a letter. To Princess Luna. Asking her about some stuff."

Pokey nodded, "Important stuff?"

"Something like that," Trixie said. She'd been trying to walk the line between respectful and yet demanding, basically trying to find a way to say she thought Princess Luna's decision was completely wrong and she should change it, without saying it and winding up with her getting sent on a “diplomatic mission” to the Griffon Kingdoms (she was pretty sure Luna wouldn’t do that, but she also really didn’t want to find out either way).

Suffice to say, it hadn't been proving easy.

"Need any help?" Pokey asked. Trixie gave him a level stare.

"Pokey, have you ever had to ask Princess Luna anything?"

He pretended to think about that for a moment. "No," he finally said, "I think I would've remembered if I had."

Trixie just stared levelly at him. "Although, you are my assistant. And I probably could use the help..."

"Well," Pokey said, "If it's anything like talking to a parent, when you're trying to ask them for something, avoiding tiptoeing around the issue, trying not to upset them. It'll just annoy them anyway."

At that, Trixie gave Pokey a long, level look. "You sound like you're speaking from experience," she mused, before a realisation dawned, "I don't think I've ever heard you speak about your parents. Or your family in general."

"No," Pokey replied, neutrally, "you haven't."

"Weird," Trixie declared. A long, awkward silence asserted itself, as the two looked about the room.

"So, uh," Trixie managed to get out, "how is your family, by the way?"

"Fine, fine," Pokey said, "we don't talk very often, though."

"Oh," Trixie found herself saying, followed by, "I'm sorry."

At that, Pokey gave her an odd look. "For what?"

"I just assumed..."

"What?" Pokey asked, "that I had some sort of hideous argument with them?" he smirked, "not really. We just don't talk much is all."

"Oh," Trixie said again.

"Sorry, boss," Pokey was still smirking, "not everypony in Equestria has your terminal drama addiction."

"My what?" Trixie asked, as icily as she could manage.

"Just saying, boss... I don't have enemies or arch-rivals or ponies swearing to ruin my life because I made them look bad, or got a family member arrested or used the last of the toilet paper or something. Most ponies don't."

"Look," she stated, "let's just get on with this damn letter. Then you get the rest of the day off."

Pokey looked out of the window at the downpour. "Yay," he intoned lifelessly.

"Either that or I go shopping for a new assistant."

Pokey just gave her the calm look of a pony who knew he had job security. "You'd never find anypony else and you know it."

"Um..." Thesis said. Or, more accurately, mumbled. It still got Midnight's attention.

"Yes, little one?"

"I was wondering, tomorrow... can we do something different?" she blurted, hurriedly. Something about Midnight's gaze made her feel like her skin was all itchy. She didn't like it.

"Different?" the mare repeated.

"Yeah. Not meeting other foals, if you think it's a bad idea, but... I dunno, can we not to the library again?"

The mare stared at Thesis for an uncomfortably long time. "We shall see," she finally declared.

"Which, actually, turned out to be inaccurate... uh, Trixie? Are you even paying attention?"

Trixie looked up, to see Twilight Sparkle's bemused expression. "Yes, yes I was," she said hurriedly.

She moved her hat back from where it had been, positioned over her eyes. "No, wait, sorry, I might have been falling asleep."

Twilight frowned at her.

"Hey," Trixie retorted, "don't blame me, I only asked how you were doing, you went into this whole lecture about something-or-rather."

"I was talking about Equestrian history," Twilight shot back, her horn glowing as she moved several books about, either returning them to the shelves or adjusting their positions. "You were the one who stopped by."

Trixie's glance turned toward the nearest window, and the small gale that was going on outside. "Yes," she stated, "yes, I did."

Technically, she had been planning to meet up with Carrot Top, but the downpour had forced her into a detour. Only she hadn't been able to see too well where she had been going, and wound up inside Twilight's library.

Twilight was frowning at her. "Though I suppose I did get distracted slightly." Trixie decided not to pay any attention to the emphasis she'd put on that last word.

Twilight's frowned changed to a more generally puzzled look, "but to answer your question... I'm doing alright."

Trixie looked at Twilight, and her hesitant smile. "M-mostly, I mean. I do sort of keep..."

"Yes?"

"Well," Twilight took a deep breath, "ever since the other night, I keep finding myself thinking back to my worst memories. And every time I try not to think about them, it just seems to make them stand out more. Do you know what I'm talking about?"

Trixie was no stranger to that sensation. In response she just nodded solemnly. "Yeah," she said, "I know what that feels like."

Seconds ticked past before Twilight spoke again, "I, uh, I did consider maybe... mailing my parents, telling them about what happened, but..."

"Yes?" Trixie asked, not liking the way the conversation was going.

"I'm worried that if I do... if I do they'll..." Twilight blinked, and gulped, and Trixie would've sworn she sounded like she was trying not to speak, "they'll try and have me removed from Ponyville."

Trixie pointedly did not say anything. She wanted to, but the words were refusing to muster.

"I don't want that," Twilight continued, "I l-like it here. I mean," she flashed a small, sad smile, "not the house-arrest, and the owls upstairs keep hooting a lot, and some ponies still don't understand the way books are supposed to be kept..." A look of brief, but profoundly deep personal offense flashed across the librarian's face for a moment, "And, uh... some of the ponies here are a little..." she coughed a polite cough, "but otherwise, I do like it here. It's nice."

"Sorry," Trixie said, eventually. Twilight looked at her.

"For what?"

"I'm pretty sure they were after me. Probably figured it was an idea to grab you as well while they were at it..."

Twilight just stared away. "Who were they, anyway? Do you know? I mean, I've looked through every reference book I could find, and I've not seen anything about anypony who uses dawn imagery. Even sun cultists tend to stay with the sun."

"No," Trixie shook her head, "I don't. Honestly? I don't know. Most of the ponies who've gone after me and the other Element bearers have at least had the courtesy to say who they are, or make some sort of "do as we say or we'll make your life miserable" speech."

There as a bitter chuckle from Twilight. "And don't get me started on that filly, on Thesis. If somepony had said anything like that would ever have happened, much less to me, I'd probably have just laughed my Cutie Mark off." She paused for a moment, "actually, I never really thought about... you know... foals... did you ever think about this sort of thing?"

Trixie met Twilight's gaze, and spent several seconds considering the appropriate response. Then she decided the hay with it.

"I am entirely too sober to continue discussing this matter. C'mon, let's go to Berry's."

"Lis..."

Fleur quirked an eyebrow at the unusual level of emotional intonation coming from her running partner.

"What's the matter, Nighty?" she smirked, "don't tell me you want to call the run off. Three days looking after your sister can't have made you that sedentary. Or is it just draining the life out of you?"

"I have a request I would like to make."

That was news enough to make Fleur De Lis stop, leaning against a chimney, as easily as she could manage with the prevailing wind.

"A request? Wow," she murmured, "I, uh... I don't really remember the last time you actually made a request of me."

Fleur liked to think she had a pretty fantastic memory, all things considered (it was a requisite for basic Canterlot socialising, never mind her other "arrangements". One had to know who was to be invited to what, who had antagonised what Duchess and who'd accidentally made that remark which had gotten into the papers, who'd slept with whoever's sister, just to make sure a tea party didn't end in lawsuits galore. And that was without having to maintain the pretence of being dumber than a bag of rocks.) "What is it?"

Midnight was looking toward the castle. "I may suffer a disagreement with Princess Luna in the following days. Greater than any before. And the events of the last year have destroyed whatever standing I already had with her."

"You think you'll be fired?" Fleur ventured. That was an optimistic vision if ever there was one. Ponies who tended to upset Princess Luna, who'd really stepped their foot in it, tended to end up very far away from Canterlot. If they were extremely lucky, they'd still be able to get a job afterwards.

"I cannot say for certain, but if what I suspect may happen should come to pass, there is something I would ask of you."

Fleur smiled. "Sure, Nighty. You can count on me."

Something was wrong. Thesis could tell.

On awakening, she'd noticed there was no sign of her supposed "big sister". In fact, she'd noticed pretty much immediately, since normally it had been Midnight who'd woken her up. A quick examination revealed not only was there no sign of her, there wasn't even a note of some kind explaining where she'd gone.

Standing alone, in the tiny, cramped little apartment, Thesis had begun feeling a lot like she had the night she'd been born. Afraid, and alone.

She was very sure she didn’t like being alone.

So, after a few tense moments of thinking she hit upon the idea of going to look for her sister, who almost assuredly wouldn't have gone far.

A though quickly occurred to her, that she was now apparently taking the strange, slightly unnerving pony's statement of being her sister as a fact. She wasn't sure how she felt about that.

As to the door, it was just slightly out of reach of her hooves (apparently whoever had built the door hadn't been thinking about any foal needing to use it ever). So, bracing herself, she leapt. She managed to grab hold and pull the lever down, then thrust backwards to open it.

On seeing her spur-of-the-moment idea had worked she cheered, before seeing the door was sliding shut again.

before it could, she darted through to her freedom. Once there, she set off, feeling mighty with her victory over the door.

It took about five minutes before some of the problems with her plan began to sink in. Like the fact she didn't know where she was going. Or where Midnight possibly could have been.

It was beginning to occur to her that this was in fact not a very good plan.

Soon enough, in her random walking, she came upon another pony walking through the corridor, looking at a piece of paper. Who promptly walked right past her as she tried saying hello.

The next two ponies along were some of those strange looking guards. They at least noticed her.

"Hey, there," one of them said, "what are you doing wandering around the castle on your own?"

"Must've gotten separated from a tour-group or something," the second one said. This made the other one look at him funny.

"A tour group? It's half-past eight in the morning. What school do you know that starts that early?"

"Well, I don't know then," the first one said, "why don't we just ask her?"

"Um," the second one began, looking down at her like she was something scary, "hello there, kiddo." There was an odd noise from the first one at that, which the second apparently didn't notice. "Why are you wandering around the castle on your own? Were you with someone?"

Thesis nodded. "I'm looking for my sister."

"What does she look like, then?" the second pony smiled. Thesis stopped for a minute.

"She's kind of..." she tried holding a hoof up to show how tall she was, only to find it didn't exactly work, "she's pretty tall. And, uh, dark blue, like me. She's got orange eyes and a moon on her butt and she looks kind of like this," the "this" in question involved Thesis making the grumpiest face she could.

"I'm gonna go out on a limb," the second guard said, "and guess your sister's called Midnight?"

Thesis nodded. For some reason neither of them looked happy. The first one smiled oddly at her.

"Could you excuse us for a second? Ardent, a word in private?"

The two turned and walked a few steps away, and began furiously whispering at one another.

Of course, Thesis could naturally not help but be curious about what they were saying, and tried sneaking in.

"Ardent, what are you thinking?"

The second one, or Ardent as he was apparently called, just stared down at his coworker. "I'm thinking maybe we should help the kid find her big sis. Or were you gonna just leave her here?"

"What? No," the first one snapped, "I'm not saying that. But we don't know where Miss Creepy-As-All-Get-Out is."

"Granted..." Ardent said. As he did, his partner just groaned.

"Look, I know you're sweet on her, but whatever you're thinking is gonna happen, it isn't gonna work. We're guards, not childminders. The best we can do is get this kid to someone who might know where she is, 'kay?"

Ardent frowned, then sighed. "Yeah, I su-"

"Is something the matter?"

The two guards practically jumped out of their armour at the sound of the voice, turning and saluting toward its owner, which was none other than Princess Luna herself, followed by a small trail of attending secretarial staff (including, Thesis noticed, that yellow earth pony from the other day), along with a few flunkies, attendants, and hangers-on.

"No, Your Highness," Ardent stated, "but we found this filly wandering the castle, and..."

"Ah," Princess Luna declared, on seeing Thesis, "no need to explain." She turned to look at the attendants, "one moment please..."

The Princess closed her eyes. In an instant, her body began to ripple. Part of her seemed to split off, forming another entirely identical Princess Luna, who began walking off. After a pause, the various hangers-on began following after that one, while the other Princess Luna remained, smiling at Thesis like this was the most ordinary thing in the world.

"I do apologise," she said, "unfortunately I had a pressing need to talk with your current guardian about certain matters. I hadn't realised it would take as long as it did. In all likelihood, she and I are still talking. Lieutenant, would you and your partner could kindly escort Thesis here to the Waiting Room?"

The two guards saluted, the second one trying his best not to look annoyed, and the two turned around. Thesis took a cautionary glance at the Princess, waiting to see if she'd split in two again, then scampered after the two guards.

Several silent minutes passed, as they marched down stairs and along corridors, through increasingly over-designed looking corridors, filled with banners and paintings and statues and what Thesis could only call "things", all of which looked extremely expensive.

Then they came to a set of doors, and walked in. Inside was a surprisingly small looking room, of varying shades of dark blue and purple, with a deep blue carpet leading across the room to an even larger set of doors, an impressive mixture of blue, black and silver, emblazoned with a dark blue moon holding back a baleful orange sun.

As Thesis entered the room, she could've sworn she heard a voice coming from the other side of the room. Whoever it was, they didn't sound happy about something.

The first guard, Ardent, looked down at Thesis. "Best wait over there," he suggested, motioning to some sofas scattered to the side of the carpet, as he glanced cautiously towards the larger doors.

Thesis did so, watching as the two guards walked over to the door, and knocked on it in a very careful fashion.

The voice from inside the room stopped. Then the door creaked open slightly, and the second guard whispered something to someone. Then the door slammed shut again.

The two guards looked at one another, said something Thesis couldn't hear, and then walked out of the room.

Minutes passed, before the great door opened up, and Midnight trotted out. There was an unpleasant look on her face Thesis couldn't make out, but it vanished when she saw the filly sitting there.

Thesis couldn't help thinking it probably would have been better if it had been replaced with a more upbeat expression.

"Hi, sis," she declared, as the dark blue mare approached her, "I woke up and you weren't there. Then I went looking for you and got lost."

"I was summoned by Princess Luna," the mare stated, looking back toward the doors, "she wished to talk at me about certain matters."

"What was it?" Thesis asked.

"Irrelevant," the mare said angrily, before rubbing a hoof against the said of her head. "It need not concern you, little one."

Thesis looked at the mare for a moment. "Are you alright?" she ventured, "because you sound kinda angry."

"Do not take any appearance of ill disposition as cause for consternation,” the mare said. “My animus is not directed towards yourself.I have been suffering from a headache these last few days, but today it has chosen to graduate to the level of "screaming”. As to you, I believe you asked that today we do something other than study books?"

Thesis nodded, trying not to look too excited about not having to go to the library.

"Then let us see what Canterlot has to offer."

"Yup," Pokey nodded sagely, "it's still raining, boss. Somehow, this still has not changed from when you last asked me."

Trixie groaned irritably.

She knew it was raining. It had been raining all morning, and was going to continue on through to the evening, just as it had during the night, just as it said on the weather forecast (or would have, if she hadn't taken it down in a fit of annoyance). Normally she wouldn't have cared quite so much, save for the fact that it was meant to be her spa day. Once a week, every week, she and Carrot Top had decided, they would head down to the town spa for a good several hours of pampering.

But with the rain as severe as it was, she wasn't about to risk going outside like she had yesterday. All the more annoying, since the day after would be Carrot Top's birthday, and Trixie had been planning on some generous friend-related splurging (obviously for both of them. She felt she deserved some pampering after the week she'd had).

And just to make things worse, her head still hurt from last night. She didn't think it was fair, she'd barely drank anything.

"On the plus side," Pokey said, as he nosed through the Equestria Nightly, "there won't be any rain tomorrow."

"Yay." Trixie intoned, lifelessly.

Pokey hummed, as he continued onward. "Hey," he said, "some general's taken a leave of absence to look for his missing daughter."

As he read on, Pokey's eyebrows shot up. "You should see what they're saying about this guy. Pretty harsh to say about someone looking for his kid."

Trixie looked at Pokey. Her opinion of Equestria's most popular newspaper had dramatically plummeted after it had, thanks to some nudging from a certain noble, printed some blatantly fraudulent claims about her just after an unfortunate incident with a curse and the town's alcohol supply.

Still, it wasn't like there was much else to do. Nopony was going to file any complaints or demands with the weather as bad as it was, so her in-tray was pretty empty.

"What's it say?"

"Oh, y'know," Pokey said nonchalantly, "nothing nice. It's claiming he's abandoning Equestria in it's "hour of need" when we need "everypony to stand together" to keep us safe from Corona lest she tries burning us all." He punctuated that with a scoff.

"You don't think that's true?" Trixie asked.

Pokey turned to look at her. "I don't think Equestria is going to fall just because one brigadier-general wants to go looking for his missing kid. Grown mare or not, that's gotta be a parent's worst nightmare, not knowing where your kid is, what's happened to them or if they're even still alive."

Trixie's already sour mood turned even worse at that, as Pokey rolled the newspaper up and set it aside. "Actually kind of surprising he lasted as long as he did."

"Yeah," Trixie murmured, "surprising."

If it was a choice between staying in the library all day, or seeing the bizarre sights of Canterlot all day, Thesis was pretty sure she enjoyed seeing the sights more.

Not that she didn't like reading, but it got kind of boring and same-y. Seeing all the cool stuff, ship models and giant creatures and armour and things-that-she-couldn't-pronounce in the museum, going into the shops and just looking at stuff (and occasionally poking, though Midnight seemed kind of annoyed by that) was much more fun.

But there had been a few odd moments, like when they'd been sitting down for lunch, and she'd asked Midnight about what the funny guards had said, about what being "sweet" on somepony.

"Where did you hear that expression?" her big sister had asked.

"That guard with the funny name," she said, "Ardy... something?"

"Ardent?"

"Yeah," she grinned, "him. Apparently he's sweet on you. What does that mean?"

Midnight had gone very, very, very quiet at that.

"I couldn't possibly hazard a guess," the mare said quickly.

However, overall, the day had been pretty enjoyable.

But by the time the two eventually returned to the tiny little room, Thesis found that her hooves were hurting. And her legs hurt, and her sides hurt.

A quick bath took care of most of that, and by the time she got to the bed, she was already mostly asleep anyway.

"Hey, sis?" she'd asked as she clambered onto the bed.

"Yes?"

"Tomorrow..." she hesitated, "tomorrow can you show me how to do magic?"

For several seconds, the older mare stared at her, and Thesis wondered if she was going to say "no".

"We shall see." She eventually said. Thesis grinned, and dived under the covers. Now she was desperate to fall asleep, just so tomorrow would come quicker.

"So," Fleur ventured, on seeing Midnight show up for their run, "guessing it didn't go too well."

Midnight paused, as close as she'd probably come to screaming.

"No. It did not."

"You fired yet, or...?" she trailed off. The dark blue mare shook her head.

"No, but in all likelihood the Princess is strongly considering it. And doubtless there will be additional punitive measures."

"And so close to Hearthwarming," Fleur frowned, half-seriously.

The two looked up at the sky, as several weather patrol ponies shoved large purple clouds into position. The weather schedule had been calling for heavy rain that day.

"Well," the taller mare smiled, "what are you going to do?"

"What I have always done. I will not bend to her demands, simply because she is angry. I have never done so before, and I shall not do so now."

Fleur made a noncommittal noise of agreement. Not because she necessarily agreed (which she didn’t), but more because she knew there was no point arguing. "So you're going to try and keep Thesis?"

There was quiet for a moment, save for the wind blowing with increasing fierceness.

"By whatever means are available to me, yes."

"Good luck with that," Fleur said.

Thesis had been feeling pretty good on waking up. Even more when she remembered Midnight had promised to teach her magic.

That good feeling lasted right up until she saw Midnight staring out of the window at the rain.

"My apologies, little one," she'd said. "I had said I would teach you magic today, however the weather has put that plan on hold."

Not only was the good mood gone, now Thesis was feeling something worse, a sort of burning feeling.

She really didn't like it.

"Why?" she asked.

"It is not only far too wet, and too cold, but also quite windy. Not at all a good environment for teaching magic."

"So why don't we do it inside?"

"While I have no doubt Princess Luna might be amenable to such a thing, I do not think that would be the best."

The burning feeling was getting worse. Now her eyes were stinging for some reason, and she was finding it hard to see.

"You said we would!"

"And we will," the mare said. But Thesis didn't care. Right now she didn't want to even look at the mare. All she could focus on was the fact that she hurt.

"When?" she asked, more loudly than she'd been meaning to.

"As soon as we can."

Thesis didn't believe her on that one. "You're lying," she yelled. "You said today!"

Now Midnight wasn't even looking at her, but at one of the lights. This lasted only a moment, but it didn't do anything for Thesis' already bad mood.

"I made a mistake," she said. At least she sounded like she felt terrible about that, a part of Thesis thought. Actually, the way she said it sounded like it was about the worst possible thing she could've done. "I was so preoccupied by other matters I forgot that it would be raining today."

Thesis just tried not looking at her. There wasn't really anything else to do. She couldn't easily go into another room, unless she shut herself in the little bathroom, and she couldn't walk out the door because she couldn't open it.

Her anger seemed to have vanished, replaced by a weird empty feeling, which felt worse than the anger to her.

"I'm sorry," she murmured, as Midnight walked over towards her, and sat down next to her.

"There's no need to apologise simply for being upset, little one."

Thesis couldn't even bring herself to look up. "I really wanted to learn how to do magic," she murmured.

"I could tell," Midnight said.

A moment passed, the only sound being the wind battering the rain against the window. There was a faint fluttering sound, and Thesis found a piece of chocolate floating near her muzzle.

"It will make you feel better," Midnight said. She sniffed cautiously at it, then took a bite. True to the mare's words, she did start to feel a little better afterwards, though she couldn't help but think the chocolate Miss Trixie had given her was better.

Midnight shifted slightly next to her. "I felt it would be better for you to learn magic outside, rather than spending another day inside again."

"Oh," Thesis said. She looked back toward the window again, "couldn't we try going outside anyway?"

"That would not be a very good idea. The current conditions would make it difficult for you to focus enough on the task."

"I could try," she said hopefully.

"On that, I have no doubt."

The two sat there for a moment longer. "So..." Thesis began, "if we can't learn magic indoors..." she wasn't sure why they couldn't, now that she thought about it, but there was probably a reason, "what are we going to do?"

"Reading," Thesis said, looking at the various shelves filled with books. She followed this up with a tiny, and not-really-happy-at-all "yay."

"If I cannot at least show you magic," Midnight said, "then for the moment I shall resolve myself to teach you about magic."

"I thought I already did that," Thesis said. She wasn't really paying attention, but eyeing the books carefully.

They were presently in the palace library. It looked different from Miss Twilight's library, and the Canterlot library at the same time. It didn't seem nearly as large as either, for one thing, and there were a lot less ponies. And something about it seemed a lot less… cosy.

There was an odd look in Midnight's eyes when she looked back at her. "There is always more to learn," the mare said, "but specifically the aim is to teach you about the mechanics, so that you know what you are doing when you have a chance to perform magic."

Thesis thought about that as the two walked along the aisles of books. "Shouldn't I have know that already?"

The mare stopped and looked down at her. "That is a very Lulamoon thing to say," she declared. "But yes. Though it would only have been a problem if you were to be learning the problematic areas of magic."

She turned back to the shelves, her horn glowing as she removed one book from them.

"You know what?" Trixie declared, to nopony in particular.

"What?" Carrot Top responded, not looking at her.

"I had no idea how much I needed this."

There was a vague noise of agreement from Lyra.

Presently, there were four of the six Element Bearers gathered inside Ponyville's one and only spa. Cheerilee and Ditzy Doo were both absent due to the unfortunate fact of their jobs... well, sort of. Ditzy's boss had tried "giving" Ditzy the day off, but Ditzy had been stubbornly insistent on not taking it, and that had been that.

They were there celebrating Carrot Top's birthday... again, sort of. The actual celebrations weren't scheduled to begin until their fellow knights turned up. At the moment, they were simply enjoying Trixie's gift of extreme pampering, presently taking the foam of a good soak.

And quite frankly, Trixie's statement was striking a shared sentiment with all of them. In one way or another, they all felt they needed a good time to kick up their hooves and just relax, without any worry of some disaster or another coming to their front doorstep. Even Lyra, usually the one of them most averse to sitting still (at least once she was up and about), which might have had something to do with the candy that made up a large portion of her diet, was looking completely relaxed.

"Hey?" Lyra said, "can we just spend the rest of today here? Like, if we ask Aloe and Lotus nicely, do you think we could just have somepony bring food and drink to us?"

Carrot Top just chortled. "I think we'd have more luck convincing Corona to become a school teacher."

Trixie held up a hoof. "Non, non, non, no mentioning that name. We're supposed to be relaxing, Dame Carrot Top. There is nothing outside this spa."

"I am relaxing," Carrot Top smiled. "I am relaxed. There is no pony more relaxed than I."

"Dunno," Lyra grinned, sliding down further into the water as she did, "I think I got you beat."

"It's not a competition," Trixie said. "Besides, I'm even more relaxed."

"Hey, Drops," Lyra casually waved a hoof at the pegasus, "can you hit Trixie, please?"

The pegasus remained nigh-motionless, and with her eyes closed looked for all the world like she was asleep. "Why me?" she asked.

"You're closer than I am," Lyra replied. Raindrops paused.

"No, I think I've got a good calm going. Trixie complaining will ruin it."

"I don-" Trixie began to yell, then stopped when she realised what she'd been about to say. For an instant she could've sworn the edges of Raindrop's mouth curled.

"Sorry, Lyra." The weathermare said. The musician shrugged.

Trixie just closed her eyes, and tried to get back to relaxing. As she did, however, the doors leading through to the changing room opened, and Ditzy came in.

As Trixie opened her eyes, she saw the mailmare was still in her uniform, and still carrying her bag.

"Letter for Dame Trixie Lulamoon," Ditzy declared. "Hey, Carrot Top."

"Hey," Carrot Top casually waved a hoof, as Trixie (with no small amount of reluctance, it had to be said) hoisted herself out of the water, grabbed a towel and wrapped it around herself, taking the letter in her magic.

"How's the day going?" Ditzy smiled at Carrot Top.

"Pretty great, so far," her friend said. "It'd be better if you and Cheerilee were here, though."

"I know," Ditzy said, "sorry."

"Don't b-"

Before Carrot Top could finish, there was a noise from Trixie. It was probably supposed to be a "what", but somewhere along the way it turned into a noise of sheer outrage. Before anypony could ask, Trixie crushed the letter in her magic, tossed the towel aside and stormed out of the room, cursing hideously in Prench.

"Should..." Lyra began, "should somepony go after her? What was in that letter?"

Ditzy made her over to it, and tried smoothing it out as best she could, before reading it.

"Oh..." she declared. It wasn't particularly loudly, but there was something about it that seemed to make the entire room tense up. "Oh, my..." she added.

A curious Lyra, now carefully wrapped in a towel, made her way over to where Ditzy was standing, and taking every effort to not spill water on the letter, examined it.

"Ah," she found herself saying.

Thesis was beginning to get more than a little bored of reading. Okay, the books did talk about all kinds of cool sounding magic a pony could perform, but that wasn't the same thing. She wanted to do magic herself. And she wanted to do it now.

Problem was none of the books had actually said anything about that (that she could tell, anyway).

She still wasn't absolutely sure why Midnight wouldn't let them practice indoors. She knew practicing in the library probably wasn't a good idea, even if only because of the cranky librarian who'd shown up and looked at her like she was somepony who needed to be watched, but she still didn't quite get why they couldn't just practice somewhere else.

Midnight probably had some reason why not. She couldn't think of any, but she was only a few days old.

Fortunately, reading had only taken so long. And then at lunch Midnight had introduced her to a thing called "ice cream", which had included more chocolate. Thesis had decided she liked that a lot, even if it tasted weird and cold to her (and made her head really hurt when she tried eating too much).

Then, after eating they'd just sat in one room of the castle nopony seemed to be using and watched the rain falling on the city.

"Thesis?" Midnight had eventually said (she wasn't sure how long it had been. The rain had made her start thinking about lots of stuff).

"Yes?"

"Tomorrow..." the mare paused again. For a moment, Thesis felt a brief surge of hope that she'd say they'd learn magic, "tomorrow I am going to be away."

"Doing what?" she asked.

"Something important, but I shall make sure you will be looked after, and have something to do. Something that does not involve reading."

Thesis grinned at that one.

"There is... another matter, as well. And this one concerns both of us."

Thesis blinked in confusion.

"What?" she asked. Midnight stared out at the rain for a long time.

"Soon, in the next few days, Princess Luna, or somepony who works for her, is likely going to ask whether you would wish to remain with me, or go with somepony else."

There was a tense silence. "Is that bad?"

"It... no," Midnight stared off into the distance, "it is what it is. However, over the last year she and I have... we have had disagreements. Vociferous disagreements, and she may not be entirely honest towards you because you are young, and she does not trust me."

"She'll lie to me?" Thesis asked. That didn't sound good. In one of those many, many books she'd looked over, it had said Princesses were supposed to be fair, and honest.

"She would frame it as something else, but in essence, yes."

Thesis couldn't believe it. She simply couldn't believe it. Yes, the Princess had looked a little scary back when she'd first seen her, but in fairness to her everyone and everything had looked scary back then (including those guards who'd found her). And Miss Trixie seemed to trust her, and she hadn't really done anything to Thesis, so she just assumed... But she lied. Thesis couldn't understand it. It was like... well, she didn't know what it was like, really, because she couldn't think of anything worse.

But she did know that if Princess Luna was going to lie, she didn't like her at all.

It had been unanimously decided, after everypony read the unfortunate letter, to find Trixie and talk to her.

By the time everypony had dried off, gotten their stuff together and gone to apologise to Aloe and Lotus for cutting their session short, Trixie had returned, looking unpleasantly resigned. It was Ditzy, still dressed in her mailmare's outfit who acted first, hugging Trixie firmly.

"Thanks," Trixie had said, before looking at the rest of them. "Sorry I stormed out, but..."

"Yeah," Raindrops said, "we kind of read the letter."

Trixie winced, "I was planning to go write an angry letter to Princess Luna, but then I figured I'd come and explain what I was doing to you first, and then tell you not to stop what you’re doing just because of me."

"We want to help you," Carrot Top said, firmly.

"I know," Trixie smiled. It should have been reassuring, and any other day would have been. "And I'm telling you not to. Go have fun, don't worry about me. I'm just going to write and letter and then I'll be right back." Trixie shifted her position, in a way that suggested she was about to rear onto her hind legs. Fireworks would probably follow.

"And then, I, Dame Trixie Lulamoon, shall-"

"Trixie?" Raindrops cut in.

"Yeah?"

"I think Aloe and Lotus don't want you letting off fireworks inside." She motioned toward the two ponies, who were staring at Trixie with a mix of mild bemusement and concern.

"They're not real fireworks," Trixie said, carefully. Somehow, this didn't seem to mollify either pony. "Anyway, you, Carrot Top, birthday party. Fun will be had."

Observation Report
Day 5 (27.11.1000 AC)

Subject has become insistent on learning magic.

Would advise that if magic is to be taught, it is in a remote locale, outside in order to ensure minimum harm both to subject and any present.

Suspect subject's initial attempts at magic may be unstable, overcasting a serious possibility.

Related: Incident involving subject demonstrates severe dislike of falsehoods, even in innocence. Untrained magic may also lead to uncontrolled bursts (light fixtures in room began shaking violently during subject's emotional outburst, ceased when subject abated.)

Previous objection to subject being placed with other foals renewed.

"So, um..." Thesis began, as the two ponies worked their way through dinner (she couldn't pronounce the name of what she was eating, but it was really hot), "who am I staying with tomorrow?"

Midnight didn't answer, as she was presently taking a very long drink after what she'd eaten (Thesis wasn't sure what it was, but just sniffing at it had made her eyes water and her throat burn).

"Is it your parents? Do you have parents?"

At that, Midnight went very, very still, and Thesis had an inescapable feeling she'd just done something very wrong.

"What are they like?" Thesis found herself asking before she could stop herself. "And if they're your parents, and I'm your sister, doesn't that make them my parents a-"

"Little one," the mare said, carefully, "please stop asking."

Thesis blinked, and looked down at her meal.

"I know you meant no harm with your questions but, and this is important, little one, sometimes there are questions you shouldn't ask of ponies."

"Why?"

"Sometimes," the mare said, "sometimes the answers can be painful. So painful that it hurts to think of it."

Thesis didn't really get how a memory could be painful, but she nodded anyway.

"Often times," Midnight continued, "ponies may not react well to questions like this. They may become angry, or worse."

"Oh," Thesis murmured. "Sorry," she added.

"That is quite alright," came the response, "you were not to know."

She looked back down to her meal.

"The answer is "yes", she heard Midnight say, "I do have parents. Or rather, did. And a... a sibling. But to answer your other question, no. It is not them."

"Who is it?"

"Fleur De Lis. You encountered her on your first day here."

Thesis paused as she thought back to that day, and all the ponies she'd seen. "Um..." she said.

"The tall one, who ran into Lulamoon on the stairs."

Thesis blinked again. Then she remembered the tall, talky and slightly scary pony with the purple eyes.

"Oh," she murmured. "Do I have to?"

"Yes," came Midnight's instant response.

Trixie awoke, and almost immediately regretted it. She was besieged by light, and sound, and taste and texture. All the symptoms of what she would have described as a "raging hangover".

Trying desperately to ignore the harsh light, the grinding sounds, the pounding in her skull, and the horrible cold around her hooves, she tried thinking back to the night before. What had she been doing? What had she been doing?

Everything was a strange, pleasant blur. There had been a party, with friends. And she'd been annoyed about something. What was it? It must've been something pretty impressive, going by the headache.

As she dragged herself out of her bed, she tried going over the events of the day before. She'd been at the spa, and then something had annoyed her (that was going to bug her until it kicked in, she knew it), and then there'd been... ah, yes, she told herself as she reached the bathroom, Carrot Top's birthday party. That was what it had been. They'd really thrown out all the stops. But someone had been insistent, hadn't they? After everything that'd happened in the last year. Who was that pony? Had it been her? It sounded like her, she’d always loved a party. Or it might have been all of them.

Now marching down the stairs, Trixie tried recalling much of the night. What she could recall was astoundingly blurry, but at least she'd been having a good time. Hadn't she?

Making her way into her office, Trixie at least felt grateful that her hangover hadn't removed her memories of where she kept Carrot Top's hangover cures (not that she always needed them, but it was always best to be prepared).

Halfway across the room she stopped, and turned (carefully, her neck was incredibly sore) to look at the bottle sitting right in the middle of her desk, in plain view. It was one bottle of Carrot Top's hangover cures, with a little note leaning against it.

She examined the bottle, then the note, which read in the careful writing that could only have been Carrot Top's.

"For Trixie," it read, "since I figure we're all going to have hangovers by the time you see this."

Trixie grinned at that. She wondered why neither she or Carrot Top had left any by her bedside table. Then, and only then, did she notice the writing further down. Her writing, to be precise.

"I did leave some on your bedside table, but just in case you didn't notice it..."

Trixie's smile changed. Well played, Trixie, she thought to herself. With that, she opened the bottle and merrily drunk the potion down.

Almost instantly, she could feel the hangover wearing off, and with that came the memory that it was, regrettably, a work day.

With all the fun of being hungover, she hadn't noticed whether there was anything to be done that day. With trepidation, she looked over at the little three-tiered tray sitting on her desk, and saw only a moderate sized pile lying in the “in” tray, nothing more than a few hours of work.

"Yay," she said quietly. Mercifully, the headache she was still sporting did not choose to make her head implode for trying even that.

"Pokey," she declared, with slightly more force. There was no response from him, not even some kind of sarcastic retort.

"Ah," Trixie said, as she recalled something important: It was not a work-day. It was, as a matter of fact, the weekend. And the reason the paperwork of yesterday was still there was because she'd given him the day off the day before Carrot’s birthday, since there wasn’t any point him being there without her. Meaning there was now extra paperwork for Monday, unless she was mad enough to try and do it on a weekend. Which she most definitely wasn’t.

And now with her good mood ruined, she found herself wondering about whatever it had been that was annoying her. For some reason, she was pretty sure Princess Luna had something to do with it...

Thesis wasn't sure she understood the pony called Fleur De Lis. She seemed nice, but at the same time, she was very odd.

Her idea of looking after Thesis had not been to take her to a library, or a museum, but to take her to places filled with clothing.

Thesis wasn't entirely sure that was actually better than another day at the library.

And she talked a lot. Just talking and talking and talking, about all sorts of things. And then occasionally she'd say something in Prench (which Thesis was surprised to realise she understood, somehow).

And she smiled even more, though there was something about it that, to Thesis at least, just didn't seem at all right. Like it wasn't real.

"You know," she'd smiled when they'd entered the first store, and the smartly-dressed ponies there had recognised her, "I used to do this with your big sister. Well, I say "do", usually I had to drag her here, and oh she'd make such a huge song and dance about it, goodness me, it’s amazing she never went into show-business."

"Why did you take her here?" Thesis asked, looking about the room. Fleur had just blinked, and then laughed.

"Oh, it was a little pet project of mine," the mare had said, as she examined one incredibly large and frilly dress, "to bring her out of her shell, open her eyes to new ideas, make her more genteel. And, of course, buy lots of clothes."

"Did it work?" Thesis asked.

"Oh, I bought lots of clothes, alright," she grinned, "sadly, your big sister remained distinctly uneducated." The mare's expression darkened as she continued, "And no matter how much money I spent on her, she always found some excuse to never wear them! "I'm claustrophobic", she'd say, "I accidentally ripped the seams", "there was a flood". Honestly, a flood! This city's on top of a mountain. How, I ask, does a mare find a flood on a mountain?"

The mare had scowled for a moment, then her expression brightened again as she saw something behind Thesis, cooed merrily, and rushed over towards.

This had continued for the first three hours or so of the day, up until she'd noticed Thesis was bored.

"Whatever is the matter?" Fleur had asked, sounding genuinely confused, if only for a moment. Then she had winced. "Ah."

There had been a long pause as she'd glanced about awkwardly. "I'm sorry, I completely forgot. I'm just not used to dealing with foals. Fancy's the one who..." She trailed off for a moment, then coughed. "How about lunch?"

At the thought of food, Thesis had perked up. They'd made their way to one of the museums, which contained something called a "tea-room". It was filled with lots of old ponies, sitting around talking. She wasn't sure, but Thesis thought she saw some of them looking very angry at Mrs. De Lis as she walked past. Mrs. De Lis just seemed to keep smiling that very weird smile of hers.

They'd had tea, which Thesis hadn't been entirely sure about (it had tasted bland to her) along with strange crunchy things Mrs. De Lis had called biscuits, and then the much more interesting thing called cake.

After that she'd asked Thesis what she wanted to do. Thesis had considered that one. She'd wanted to ask about other foals, but Mrs. De Lis didn't look like she knew much about that (Thesis wasn't entirely sure if she knew anything outside of shopping and tea). She'd asked about magic, and Mrs. De Lis had made an odd face.

"That... I'm sorry," she'd said, "I kind of promised your sister I wouldn't. I don't think she trusts me to teach you anything safe... and she's very scary when she's upset."

That had made Thesis stop wanting to eat any more food for the moment. "What's it like?" she'd asked.

"Learning magic?" Mrs. De Lis had blinked. "It's... it's not easy. Even ponies who are natural talents can have difficulty with it, I know that much. It doesn't come instantly, but when it does..." she smiled warmly, "it's indescribable."

"I see," Thesis murmured, absently prodding at her slice of cake.

"How about some entertainment?" Mrs. De Lis had smiled, as if the previous discussion just hadn't happened at all, "I'll bet your sister hasn't shown you all the fun that could be had in the city."

Thesis had to admit she hadn't. So, once she'd make an effort at finishing the cake, they'd trotted across the city, to a large pile of rubble, surrounded by several unhappy looking ponies carrying signs.

"Ah," Mrs. De Lis had said on arrival. "Yes. I forgot this place had burnt down." Apparently several of the ponies nearby had heard that, and shoot her several filthy looks. Mrs. De Lis had looked about nervously, muttering something under her breath.

"The Commedia Della Luna, maybe?" she frowned. "No, too early and far too casual... and too expensive..." she muttered something again, "why couldn't they have burnt down something else? Not yet pantomime season, so we can't go there..."

After longs moments of muttering, she finally seemed to arrive at some decision.

That decision, as it turned out, was a building that looked bigger than the library, but smaller than the palace. There didn't seem to be many ponies about as they had entered. Mrs. De Lis had said something about how ponies didn't often go to wherever they were during the day, and then led her to a large, dark room filled with lots and lots of chairs pointing to a large stage.

According to Mrs. De Lis, it was called "opera". From what Thesis could tell, it involved lots of ponies leaping about on the stage wearing funny hats and wigs singing at one another (singing about what, she didn't know, but they were definitely singing it seriously). Occasionally, some of them would stop singing and talk very fast about... well, she couldn't tell, given they spoke even faster than Mrs. De Lis.

But even if she didn't really understand all of what was going on (there was a princess, and some pirates, and one pony in a really fancy hat, and the princess had been kidnapped), the songs they kept singing were catchy.

Eventually the play ended with the pirates being forgiven by the Princess for kidnapping her, then marrying the ponies who'd been trying to catch them, which Thesis wasn't entirely sure made sense, but Mrs. De Lis had simply said that was the point.

"Did you enjoy that?" she'd asked, as they left the theatre. Thesis had nodded.

"I didn't get it though. I-it was fun, but I didn't get all of it."

She'd smiled an odd smile, "well, that's incentive to come back. Of course," she had leaned in towards her, "if you like, I have a book of the play I could give you."

So they had set off through the city, with the light beginning to dim and the city beginning to bustle with life (and, Thesis noticed, an awful lot of coffee), so much so that Mrs. De Lis felt the need to carry her on her back, which all things considered was nowhere near as comfortable as with Mrs. Trixie, since the mare was thinner and bumpier. She did like the extra view.

The problem with the weekends, Trixie noted, was that they went by too fast. She had considered trying to find something to do, but most of her fellow Knights tended to spend much of the weekend relaxing in one way or another (well, except Lyra, as Trixie knew from harsh experience), and in the beginning of winter very few of them were likely to be tempted forth from their nice, warm, cosy homes to hang out.

So, donning her hat and cape she made her way forth into the chill of early evening (well, late afternoon, really) to Berry's.

Even at that time of day, the establishment had several customers present already. Berry still noticed Trixie entering, and smiled the malicious smile of a pony who was owed money.

"Evening, Representative," she said. Trixie felt an odd chill. She had already paid for the drinks Berry had provided for Carrot Top's birthday (well, everypony had chipped in, save Carrot, and Ditzy).

"Berry," Trixie said, trying to sound calm. The earth pony just casually leaned across the bar.

"Had a good party last night, huh?"

"I think it went well," Trixie said, carefully. Berry's smile didn't diminish.

"Glad to hear it. Now, about the money you owe me..."

"I already paid you," Trixie insisted.

"Oh, yes," Berry nodded, "you paid for the stuff at Carrot Top's party, yeah, but you didn't pay for the drinks you took afterward."

Trixie blinked. "What?"

"Yup," the mare said, "after you and Cherry and Lyra were done making a mess in Twilight's library you decided to come in here and have some more fun. Now," she said, reassuringly, "don't worry, I've already gone over the costs, and worked out who drank what. You only owe me... two hundred and twenty-eight bits."

In an instant, Trixie felt like she'd been thrown out of her own body, like she was watching everything unfold from a distance, as Berry stared stone-faced at her.

Then she heard the noise that sounded amazingly like somepony trying not to laugh. She turned, swivelling on her chair to see Lyra, and Cheerilee sitting there, trying and spectacularly failing to look innocent.

"W's'r'idea," Lyra snorted, pointing at Cheerilee before breaking out in laughter.

"Very funny, I think not," Trixie deadpanned, before turning back to Berry, "a soda. Unless that costs enough to buy half of Ponyville as well."

Berry stared at her for a moment, before nodding. Once she had her drink, Trixie made her way over to the table her friends were sitting at.

"How's things?" she asked.

"Good," Cheerilee nodded.

"Fine," Lyra said, "though Bonnie wasn't very sympathetic to me and my hangover this morning. But apart from that, nice and drama free." She paused, "well, in Ponyville, at least."

"I'll drink to that," Trixie said, holding her glass up. The two bumped their glasses against hers, then drank.

Then there was a loud noise from the direction of the doorway. All three leaned out to see who was making it.

It was a bright red pony, with a dark brown mane, grinning triumphantly as he sat down. It was Lotso Lots, Ponyville's one and only listing agent "Berry, pour a pony a drink, if you would."

Berry looked bemused. It wasn't often Lotso came into her establishment (in fact, Trixie couldn't recall a time she'd ever seen him in there). Going by his jubilant mood, Trixie was going to guess he'd made a sale. Probably to the Riches or the Spoons, who were about the only ponies in town who really dealt in real estate of any kind (though given the last year, there had been an increase of ponies looking to do business in the town).

"Good day?" Cheerilee's sister said, as she motioned to one of the other ponies at the bar.

"Pretty good, pretty good," said the pony, "I made one heck of a sale today."

He took his drink, and managed to down it in one go. "Some pony from Canterlot looking for a house, managed to make a sale on the first try."

"Canterlot?" Berry said, impressed, "seriously?"

"Well," Lotso's smile changed slightly, "they weren't a noble or anything, least I don't think they were. I think they were just some mid-management paper pusher or something."

With the words "Canterlot", Trixie's memory found itself being jolted, and she found herself recalling the news that she had been profoundly upset by the day before.

"Hey, Fizzy," she called out to one of the bar ponies, "gonna need the usual over here."

Despite the weirdness of Mrs. De Lis (or Fleur, as she'd asked Thesis to call her), Thesis had to admit her house was pretty nice. She'd mostly just sat in one of the rooms (Fleur had called it a "drawing room" despite there being no paintings around), reading the book she'd been given, with Mrs. Fleur flitting in and out every few minutes, until there was a clanging noise from somewhere.

She heard Mrs. Fleur talking with somepony, and then hoofsteps. Then her big sister appeared, looking... well, looking about the same as usual, really. Still, she was pretty happy to see her.

"I assume Lis has been looking after you," the mare had said.

"Of course I have," Fleur responded instantly, sounding almost offended at the suggestion. "And we had a great time, didn't we?"

Thesis nodded at that, then remembered her book and rushed over to get it, to show her sister. Midnight stared at the book, then at Fleur.

"Taking in a little culture, I see."

"Well," Fleur smiled, "no harm ever came from a little opera."

"I liked it. It was fun. There was a princess and pirates and lots of silly hats and singing..."

"Indeed," was all Midnight had been able to say to that. "But I think it's time to go, little one."

"Okay," she said. For some reason she felt sad about that. "Can I keep the book?" she asked.

"Certainly," Fleur smiled.

On the walk back to the castle, Thesis had a spring in her step as she went, not noticing the odd look on Midnight's face, the mare glancing about occasionally.

"So what were you doing?" Thesis asked.

"Attending to a small matter of business," Midnight said, "which was dealt with satisfactorily."

"So, what are we doing tomorrow?" Thesis asked, carefully. "Are we going to be learning magic?"

The older mare just remained very quiet. They were walking through a bustling street, so Thesis presumed she just hadn't heard her properly.

"Hey, sis," she said, "what are we doing tomorrow?"

"That remains to be seen," the mare said, her voice distant. "But in all likelihood, little one, it... it may not be very pleasant."

"Couldn't we do something fun instead?" Thesis suggested. For a moment, it looked like Midnight was going to say something in response to that, but she remained silent.

Thesis awoke, not recalling when she'd fallen asleep. She was startled to find Midnight was already awake, sitting on the couch a short distance away from the bed, outlined by the early light of dawn as she remained motionless.

"Wh't tm is it?" Thesis groaned, as she looked about.

"Early morning," came the reply. She couldn't tell what it was, but something was off with her sister's reply.

There was an odd feeling to the room, and an unpleasant one at that. Like the whole world was holding its breath. Slowly, Thesis got out of the bed and made her way to the bathroom. As she was halfway through combing the tangled mess that was her mane, there was a loud knocking noise.

"Miss Midnight?" A pony on the other side of the door could be heard asking, "are you in there?"

"One moment," came the reply, as Midnight walked up to the door. On the other side were two ponies of Luna's guard, neither of whom looked especially happy.

"You have an appointment with the Princess," one guard said. Midnight looked over to Thesis.

"Come along, little one," she said.

Thesis paused. There was something about this she didn't like. Not just the guards, but Midnight's entire attitude. Like she was getting ready for something. It made her want to run over to her bed and bury herself beneath the covers.

"Miss," one guard said, only for Midnight to whirl around to look at them. The guard actually flinched, before Midnight turned back again.

"Thesis, this likely concerns you as well."

Slowly, she got down off the stool and trotted over towards the door, glancing at her big sister.

In the eerie quiet, the door closing sounded so much louder than usual. Together, the four ponies marched through the corridors in an unpleasant silence. Thesis didn't like it. It reminded her too much of the forest.

Eventually, they reached the large chamber she'd been in days before, the room that led to somewhere she didn't know where. That giant pony in the armour was there, looking at Midnight with... sadness? Disappointment? Thesis wasn't really sure. He didn't look happy all the same. He nodded to the guards, and they turned and left, but his gaze remained on Midnight.

"What did you do?" he asked, sounding... worried, no, more than worried, terrified even. Midnight just looked towards Thesis, and then there was another look on his face.

"Oh." He uttered.

There was an almighty sound as the great doors in front of them opened. From behind Midnight, Thesis couldn't really see anything, until the mare started moving forward.

"Good luck," the pony said to her, as she entered. Almost immediately after she was past the doors, they slammed shut with a thunderous sound.

The captain of Princess Luna's guard let out a tremendous sigh. He seemed different from how he'd been several days ago. Now he looked more like another pony, less grim and serious, and more like someone who'd been working too long and too hard.

"What's going on in there?" Thesis asked, just barely. Apparently he heard her all the same.

"Well," he began, "the gist of it is that Midnight's gone and done something... pretty bad."

"What?" she felt moved to ask. Shining Armor just shrugged.

"I don't know. I didn't feel brave enough to ask. Normally, something like this the Princess would be angry, just give the pony a chewing out, maybe have their pay docked or demote them, but..." he sighed again.

"But what?"

"It's been a tough year for her, for all of us, but her more than most." he said. "There's Corona, and then the business at the Gala, Corona again, the Sun Cultists we've been hearing about... what happened with the opera house, and then Dame Trixie and my sister... and all the usual problems of running a country. She's feeling the strain, even if she'd never admit it, and now something like this..."

"Oh," Thesis said. She wasn't really sure what else there was to say.

From the other side of the door there was a great noise, louder than any voice she'd heard before, as Princess Luna's shouting could be heard through them.

Thesis, startled by the sudden and loud noise, squeaked in terror and ran toward one of the nearby couches, trying to crawl under it, for lack of any bedsheets to hide under. She didn't know all of what was going on, but she did know she didn't want to be there, listening to an angry princess yelling at ponies.

After a few seconds she saw a large white hoof, followed by the large white face of Shining Armor looking at her.

"Hey," he said, gently, "it's alright. She's not mad at you."

Thesis just stared at him.

"I know it's scary," he continued, "I've been there. There was this one time, about a year ago now, I saw Corona herself. It was the second most terrifying day of my life."

"What was the first?" Thesis asked.

"Learning my little sister had gone on the run for misuse of magic," he said. "It was a nightmare. I didn't know what had happened to her, or where she'd gone."

He blinked for a moment. "Where was I? Oh, right. I'm just saying, I know what it's like to be dealing with an angry alicorn. But Princess Luna would never be angry at a foal. Never."

Thesis just squeaked. There had been quiet from the large doors. Whatever the Princess was yelling about, it had stopped.

Maybe the two had made up after whatever they were arguing about. Feeling slightly more cheerful, she removed herself from under the sofa.

As if on cue, the large doors cracked open again. From inside, the Princess's voice carried through.

"Captain, if you could bring Thesis in."

She squeaked, and looked back toward the sofa. Then the captain put a hoof in front of her vision.

Not feeling at all safe, she slowly trotted into the other chamber.

Inside was a vast area, filled with large blue and purple windows. Normally, during the nighttime, they would let magically filtered moonlight in, but as it was early morning there was a different, pale and eerie light to them instead. There were two rows of steps, running up to a large chair, of a dark colour inlaid with shining silver metal.

It was known as the Selenic Cathedra. It was the center of Equestria's power, it was where Luna's throne rested, and where the great and the good (or the great and the powerful, at any rate) convened.

For a filly barely a week old, it was incredibly spooky, even without the angry looking Princess standing there. A few feet away was Midnight, and despite her relative height among ponies, she still looked so much less compared to an alicorn.

Neither of them looked at all happy.

"Hi," Thesis squeaked. Despite her obvious bad mood, Luna smiled an odd smile.

"Typically it is customary to refer to me as "Princess", or "Your Highness", but I think I can make an exception in this case. Hello, again."

Thesis just made a noise so nigh imperceptible it might as well not have been made. Luna frowned.

“I’m sorry for dragging you here at so early an hour, but… Midnight and I have been talking-”

“And shouting,” Thesis murmured. Luna paused.

“That too,” she admitted, “and while we have been disagreeing on a great many subjects lately, she insisted you be allowed the right to choose for yourself what happens, and I do agree with her on that part.”

Luna paused again. “You see, Thesis, originally the plan had been for Midnight to observe you for a week or so, to see how you would get on, and then after that, assuming all had gone well, you would be adopted by a suitable somepony.”

The words passed over Thesis, and she looked at Midnight, who was glowering at the Princess behind her back. Then they sunk it. Give her up for adoption? Observe her? She couldn’t…she wouldn’t have…

Then Midnight’s words from before came to mind. How Princess Luna would lie to her.

“She would frame it as something else”.

“Of course,” the Princess was saying, “as Midnight… reminded me, in her own way, it’s unfair not to ask you your opinion on the subject. Do you wish to stay with her, or would you rather live with somepony else? But before you choose, just consider the choice carefully for what seems best for you.”

Thesis looked up at the mare (which was difficult, because of just how tall she was). She didn’t look like she was lying, but… she’d had Midnight observe her? Was that why they’d been shouting? Was that why she was in trouble? She didn’t like any of what was going on. Something about it, and the room, and the way the whole day had been going made her want to run and hide. She’d even have taken going back to a library over staying.

And then what did she know of the mare she called sister? As far as she knew, Midnight had been spying on her. And she was kind of weird, maybe even a little creepy, but… she’d given her food, and a place to stay. She’d taught her things, even if she wasn’t sure about all of them.

“I…” Thesis began, and then stopped. Everypony in the room, all three of them, was looking at her and she had no idea what to say or to choose. It felt like her brains were starting to boil.

“I wanna stay with Midnight, i-if that’s okay.”

For a second, she could’ve sworn Princess Luna had scowled.

“Very well, then,” was all she said. Then she turned to look at Midnight. “If that is your wish.”

There was a length pause, as the mare looked at Thesis’ big sister. “As for you…”

“I’m fired?” The mare asked. She didn’t sound surprised by it, which seemed to annoy Princess Luna even further.

“Well, what would you do in this situation, if it was one of your ponies who had done this?”

Midnight rubbed a hoof against her chin. “I think… I think I would fire them, with prejudice. I have always preferred an immediate termination to a sincere and heartfelt apology.”

"Very well,” the Princess said. “Thesis can stay with you, for the time being, but I expect you and your belongings to be out of this castle by noon.”

Midnight bowed, and there seemed to be something about it that didn’t seem sincere to Thesis. Then, she straightened her posture and walked past the mare, looking to Thesis.

“Come along, little one.”

Though she had only been alive about a week, and had now know the mare for much the same amount of time, Thesis could’ve sworn there was something very off about Midnight, as she walked through the castle’s corridors.

“Um…” Thesis began, trying to catch the mare’s attention, “M-… Midnight?”

The mare stopped in her tracks, and turned to look at Thesis. “Yes?”

“What was it the Princess fired you over?”

There was a long silence that seemed to stretch out and engulf everything.

“Was it something to do with me?” she asked.

“It…” Midnight began, and then stopped, “In one way, yes. But it was not because of you directly.”

Thesis blinked as she tried making sense of that.“Then what was it?”

Midnight just shook her head. “It is of no concern,” she said, then began walking again, Thesis quickly trotting after her. Their path through the castle soon began to feel familiar to Thesis, and soon enough they came to a pair of nondescript doors. Inside was the room with that yellow earth pony mare from several days ago.

“Hey,” she declared warmly as Midnight entered. The smile on her face vanished pretty quickly as the mare walked past her.

“Oh,” she announced. “Did you, uh…?”

Without a word, Midnight walked across the room to another door, where someone had placed a crude sign with her name on it. Thesis followed her.

“This is… was my office,” the mare declared, as the filly entered.

If someone had asked her to describe the office of the majordomo of Princess Luna, Thesis would have had to think about it. Going by the rest of the castle (or at least the bits which weren’t designed for servants), she’d have said it was something impressive.

There would have been nice carpets, a fancy desk, a window with a good view of something. It would have looked like a place where serious work was done.

Instead, much like Midnight’s room, it was actually kind of unimpressive. It was barely any bigger than her bathroom, with a faded carpet of a unpleasant brown colour. The desk looked old, and barely used, and had almost nothing on it, save an odd tray thing with some papers on it, and an odd greyish-looking thing sitting on top of some papers. She looked about to see a map of Equestria and the surrounding countries (which someone had apparently been drawing on at some point), hanging from a wall with the paint coming off in several places. Nearby was a shelf with a few books. There was a box in the corner, and nearby a sad looking plant which looked like it was probably dead. There was a window, but the view wasn’t really of anything in particular.

Midnight, meanwhile, had taken the greyish thing from the desk. Now that it had moved, Thesis could see it clearer. It was an odd shape, curving to a point. The other end, meanwhile, was an odd greenish colour. For some reason it looked like it had been broken off from something.

“What is that?” she asked.

“A memento, of sorts,” the older mare said. There was a flash of light and a noise, and it was gone. Apparently satisfied, the mare walked around from the desk and out the door.

A very confused Thesis followed her back out, as the mare walked over to a now concerned looking Melody.

“But…” the mare said, “what are we going to do?”

“You’ll manage,” Midnight said. “You are more than capable.”

“But,” the mare asked, “what about the nobles? They’ll pick us to pieces. We’ll be right back to where we were before.” She gulped, staring ahead into space as she turned increasingly pale, “It’ll be the days of Cinch all over again.”

“It will not. Even Luna is not foolish enough to let that happen.” This seemed to calm the mare, and she nodded.

“Right…” she didn’t sound entirely convinced. “And what about you?”

Midnight stopped to consider that. “I am not certain.”

After another pause she nodded towards Melody. “This is goodbye. Thank you, Merry Melody. Your assistance has been invaluable.”

The mare smiled at that, as if there was something funny. “You smooth-talker, you.”

At that, there was a pop and a flash, and a small bag of what Thesis was going to guess was money appeared on the desk.

“For the inevitable party celebrating my departure,” Midnight said, “be sure to make sure they have something worth celebrating with.”

With that, Midnight walked out of the room, Thesis following after her, now feeling thoroughly confused by what was going on, and not certain whether asking would actually get any answers. Their route took them along familiar paths back to the lodging, and the room. Without a word, Midnight began going around making more objects vanish, this time including the toothbrushes and towels, and… well, not much else, actually, until she came to the pair of books on the little bedside table.

“Eight years,” she declared. “Eight years I have worked and lived in this castle.”

Thesis looked about. “Are we going somewhere?” she asked, nervously.

“I have been fired,” Midnight declared, “and since this room is property of the crown I no longer can stay here.”

“So, we’re going somewhere,” Thesis said.

“Yes.”

“Are we going to stay with your family?” Midnight turned to look at her.

“That would be difficult to manage,” she said, eventually. “No, little one. Arrangements have been made.”

Trixie was taking the time to enjoy something she so rarely got to experience: A nice, quiet, Sunday morning. While everypony in Equestria was nervous about the sun, that constant reminder of Corona, dawn was another matter.

Especially when it was quiet, Trixie thought to herself. She wished there were somepony around so she could stress just how lovely and quiet it was. Quiet mornings in Ponyville were rare and solemn events to be treasured (well, for her at least. By her own admission, Trixie was anything but a morning pony. This just happened to be one of those times where she’d awoken and despite some very spirited efforts had not been able to get back to sleep. Since she had nothing better to do, she’d decided to watch the princess at work).

Of course, as she sipped her morning hot chocolate from the comfort of her own living room, a small, annoyingly accurate part of her grimly noted that the quiet probably meant something was going to happen at some point today, almost certainly to her.

Then, as if on cue somepony knocked on the door. Trixie winced.

“You heard me think that, didn’t you?” she thought to herself, “whoever you are, you heard me think that. Well, you’d better be a horde of Corona’s minions, or a crazed golem in the grip of town-levelling fever, or something pretty damn spectacular to ruin my calm like this.”

She marched to the door, and perhaps with a bit more force than was necessary opened it. There was nopony there.

“Hi!” said a very familiar voice. Trixie looked down to see Thesis sitting on her doorstep, smiling at her.

As Trixie was not a morning pony at the best of times, her responses were usually sluggish, but she had just had the metaphorical equivalent of a piano dropped on her calm, and was now seeing a foal sitting on her doorstep.

“Hi?” she managed to get out. This was followed quickly by an incredibly confused “er”, which was joined by a “come on in?”

Thesis did so, happily trotting into the residency.

“Sorry if this sounds rude,” Trixie said, “but… what are you doing here?”

“Living here!” Thesis grinned. Trixie blinked.

And then it all made perfect sense. Of course she was. Princess Luna must have managed to pull some strings for her, cut through or around the bureaucracy so she could adopt Thesis, just like she’d asked. Trixie grinned, to think she’d actually believed that letter she’d got. It had probably been written by some over analytic flunky who hadn’t realised what they were responding to. Or perhaps Luna had managed to find a way around it.

“That’s great,” she smiled. “That’s really… really great!”

“I know,” Thesis smiled, “I could visit you or Miss Twilight whenever I want!”

The metaphorical piano had been replaced by a small falling palace. It took Trixie several long seconds to process that one. As she did, she smiled a small, glassy smile.

“Come again?”

Finding the mare responsible had been easy enough, thanks to the filly’s helpful directions to their house.

Their. Theirs, indeed. The thought of it made Trixie’s blood boil. Only the fact that it was a Sunday morning was preventing her from swearing out a blue streak, or worse.

She had eyes on the house, one of the many pleasant little thatched cottages of Ponyville, a two-floored thing hardly any bigger than her own residency.

She stood in front of the door, squaring herself, seething with anger. And then she hammered her hoof upon it.

There was a moment where the only sound she could heard was her own heartbeat pounding in her ears. Then the door opened.

Almost immediately on seeing the pony present themselves, Trixie struck, lashing out with one hoof. She barely noticed the pain.

“YOU COMPLETE-” she roared, only barely managing to stop herself saying anything worse, as she advanced, “I’m going to-”

“Parley.”

Trixie stopped, not entirely intentionally, as the word hit her. She blinked. “Pardon? Did you just-”

“Yes,” Midnight said, in that level tone that just made Trixie want to hit her even more. “I did call for parley. A truce. Cessation of hostilities.”

Trixie uttered out a long string of nonsense, before finally managing to shore herself on familiar territory. “What.”

“You are incensed at my adoption of Thesis, yes?” Trixie let her glowering speak for itself, “well, rather than risk pain and potential humiliation, perhaps we could discuss the matter like civilised ponies.”

“Civilised?” Trixie practically spat, “After what you pulled? And also, pain and humiliation? Go buck yourself.”

“As I recall, our last altercation-” Midnight began.

“Altercation? You threw a table at me.”

“You attempted to blackmail me,” the mare responded, sharply. Trixie paused, as her memory confirmed that yes, that part was definitely true.

“And that justifies throwing tables?”

Midnight just stared at her for a moment. “As I said, parley. No violence, no fighting, just discussion.”

Trixie glowered at her, hoping furiously that in defiance of all logic the mare’s head would burst into flames. Nothing of the sort happened.

The anger that had been burning through her, searing white-hot anger, was now beginning to dampen slightly. She was still furious beyond words, but it was no longer the only thing on her mind.

“What are you even doing in Ponyville?” she asked.

A short time later, the two were sitting in Trixie’s residency, after having determined it was the better place to conduct their little “discussion” (helped by Trixie’s kitchen actually having food and drink in it).

Midnight had agreed to explain what exactly had been going on, and now the mare was sitting, in her office, staring down at the floor.

Trixie had been pacing, still very furiously angry.

“Have you…” Midnight began, “have you ever had this… overwhelming feeling, this drive to do something, even if you’ve no idea why?”

Trixie stopped and turned to look at the mare. “What?”

“I cannot explain it adequately,” the dark blue mare said, “but… that day in Canterlot, I found myself thinking that I had to, needed to protect her. I do not know why.”

Trixie frowned, for the umpteenth time in as many minutes. “So, the adoption thing, what was with that?”

“That, at least, I can explain. If you had adopted Thesis, Lulamoon,” Trixie tried not to let her irritation rise even further at that, “then… your disgust at physical intimacy and occupation as a knight of the realm aside, the sudden presence of a foal at your side would have drawn attention. Less scrupulous ponies would have attempted to gain access to you through her.”

“You mean like the Night Court?” Trixie said, “Because I don’t know if you paid attention, but Princess Luna said that crap was over.”

“They are not the only ones, Lulamoon. And they are not even the most dangerous.” She paused, momentarily. “As you well know, Equestria has a great many enemies, many far more willing to do worse than any corrupt politician could to gain access to an alicorn foal. The reason I did as I did was because you are too high-profile a personage to successfully raise her safely. However, an utter unknown, a pony nopony would think to look at even twice could.”

Trixie paused, mid-pace, staring out of the window. There was a certain logic to the mare’s words. She didn’t like it, she didn’t agree with it, but it was there.

Midnight took a sip from her drink, “so I did. I may not understand the all of my reasoning, but I knew it had to be done, and done quickly.”

Trixie said nothing, not trusting herself to not swear.

“And as a result of that I lost my career. Near eight years of work, thrown to the wind for a foal I have known for barely a week.”

“So…” Trixie said, trying to sound as calm as she could manage, “you take her in because you think I cannot protect her, and then you just happen to move to Ponyville. What makes you so different?”

“Ponyville is safer than Canterlot.”

Trixie snorted derisively. “So all of a sudden, because you’re the one looking after her, that makes it okay?”

“As I already stated, there is less likelihood of somepony coming after her if she is with somepony of no importance. If she is with you, so long as you are a knight, and a bearer of one of the Elements, she will always be a potential target. What I did, however illegal it was, was to protect her, and before anypony became aware of her.”

By now the mare had stood up, and was standing right in front of Trixie. Given she was slightly taller, the effect was not helping Trixie’s already sour mood. Nor was the annoying little voice in her head saying she probably would have done something similar, had been thinking of something similar.

“I…” the mare paused, “Lulamoon, I know my actions harmed you, but that was not my intent.”

“And yet you succeeded brilliantly,” Trixie said, scathingly.

There was a long silence, the only sound from some birds twittering away to one another outside.

“Perhaps it would be best if I leave,” the mare said. Trixie didn’t bother moving.

“Yeah, perhaps it would.”

She turned to leave, the look of confusion still set on her features. At the door, she stopped to look at Trixie.

“She thinks the world of you, Lulamoon. Adores you, even.”

Trixie remained standing still as she heard Midnight call to Thesis, as she heard the filly scamper past, and say goodbye to her. Once the door was closed, and she was certain they were far enough not to hear anything through the many sound-proofing spells her residency contained did she let out a long, loud, shuddering breath, and allowed her knees to give out.

It had been a long and very bizarre day for Thesis, what with meeting the Princess again, and having to choose, and going to Ponyville and getting to see Miss Trixie again (who’d given her a book to read while she and Midnight had said angry things to one another. Ponies being angry seemed to be a theme that day), and once that was done Midnight had gone somewhere and come back with several ponies carrying or moving pieces of furniture for their new house.

She liked the new house. It was bigger than that room back in the castle, and the floor and walls were nicer, even if the view wasn’t better.

Then Midnight had actually cooked food, rather than taking them out to eat something. It had been… different from what she was used to.

But throughout the day she couldn’t help but feel something had gone wrong. Midnight seemed distracted by something. She had a suspicion it had to do with her. Problem was, she also looked kind of angry about something, so it wasn’t until evening, when she was supposed to be going to bed, that she decided to ask her.

She knocked on the door to the mare’s bedroom. It creaked open, and Midnight looked down at her.

“Hey,” Thesis said, smiling as best she could, “can I ask you something?”

“Of course,” Midnight said.

“I… uh… I’m sorry you lost your job because of me.”

The mare blinked. “You were not the reason for my departure. Princess Luna has always had something of a temper. What happened was just the culmination of months of disagreement between us. It was her response to a decision of mine that prompted this, and nothing you caused.”

“Oh.” Thesis murmured. “But if I hadn’t been born, this wouldn’t have happened, would it?”

Midnight paused before she answered. “In all likelihood, even if you had not been born, and I had not done what I did, I would not have retained my position past the end of the coming summer.”

“So it is my fault?” Thesis asked, now confused.

“No,” Midnight said instantly, “it… no. It is not your fault, and I do not begrudge your presence, little one.”

After a few seconds, she leaned down toward Thesis. “Now go to bed. And tomorrow, perhaps we might be able to start teaching you some magic at last.”

Thesis grinned, and smiled. “You mean it?” she squeaked.

“Naturally,” came the response. She cheered, and hugged the mare. Or her leg, at any rate.

“You’re the best big sister ever,” she exclaimed.

“Indeed, now go to bed,” Midnight said firmly. Still grinning, Thesis trotted across the landing to her room, and once the door was closed hopped onto her bed. She felt so abuzz she was certain she’d never be able to get to sleep.

Within twenty minutes she was out like a light.

Midnight waited until she stopped hearing the ruffling of an over-eager filly rummaging around her bed, and gently closed the door.

Long minutes passed as the mare cast several spells in rapid order. Once that was done, she made her way to the center of the room and sat down, her horn still alight, as she reached out into the night with her magic, closing her eyes as she focused.

“It’s me,” she declared to no-one.

“Thank goodness,” came a reply, unheard by anyone but herself, “it’s been days. We were worried something had happened to you.”

“I was busy,” the mare said.

“What of the foal?”

“The foal is safe,” she said. There was a brief pause.

“What of you?”

“Princess Luna probably has me under surveillance, if she hasn’t already contacted Trixie, she will soon. As to Trixie herself, I am not certain. She’s definitely angry, though I’m not sure she’ll do anything further at present. I may try reparations as we go on, at least try to butter her up. Trixie doesn’t forgive easily, and she is no fool, but I think the presence of the foal will mollify her anger.”

There was an ethereal hum. “And what of the other Element bearers?”

“Uncertain. And frankly, irrelevant at the moment. At the moment the priority should be the foal. We have secured her.”

"At great cost," came the interjection. Midnight nodded.

"But necessary, I think. For the time being, I shall monitor her, guide her. Solidify our hold on her. I estimate it will be six months before the Equestrian civil service can untangle all the red tape and take custody of the foal. Maybe less if Luna decides to take a more direct approach. We should use that time wisely."

There was a lengthy pause.

“Agreed,” came the eventual response, followed by a light chuckle. “For the dawn?”

In the darkened room, Midnight smiled, her now open eyes, shaped like that of a dragon’s, glowing with an unnatural orange light.

“Yes. For the dawn.”