//------------------------------//
// Chapter 2 
// Story: Yes, My Lady 
// by Tatsurou 
//------------------------------//

	The griffon Scootaloo called Sebastian smiled disarmingly.  "Have I upset you, My Lady?" he asked dutifully.

"I told you I wanted to keep things separate!" she snapped out angrily.  "I made that plain, didn't I?"

"But it is your afternoon tea," Sebastian pointed out genteelly.  "It is a failure of a butler who does not provide his lady with her afternoon tea on time, wherever she is.  Is that not so?"  His words were pure polite confusion, but the way his eyes opened slyly on the last sentence indicated a hidden barb there.

Scootaloo plainly didn't miss it, if her wrathful expression were anything to go by.  However, her rage soon passed, to be replaced by a beatific smile that looked all the more dangerous.  "You're right, Sebastian.  And since you have been so punctual in all your duties, I feel you deserve a reward."

Sebastian's playful smile suddenly became strained.  "T-that isn't necessary, My Lady," he hastened to say.  "I am merely your humble servant-"

"Oh no, I insist!" Scootaloo interrupted.  "After all, happy servants are loyal servants.  And you have seemed so fascinated by Calicoes when we see them..."  She lowered her gaze, as though looking pointedly at Sebastian over non-existent glasses.

Sebastian seemed to shiver with barely suppressed fear.  "O-of course, My Lady.  I shall stop by Miss Fluttershy's on the way home to collect one for the manor.  You are too kind."  Though his voice and manner showed hesitance and worry, his eyes sparked with an odd excitement.

"Uh...Scoot?" Apple Bloom asked nervously.  "What's goin' on?  Who is this?"

"And what was that talk about servants?" Sweetie Belle asked curiously.  "That sounds like something Diamond Tiara would say...well, if she were a nice pony, anyway."

Scootaloo winced.  "Right...well..."  She rubbed the back of her head.  "Girls...this is Sebastian...my butler."

Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle stared at their friend as if she'd grown a second head...which, given this was Ponyville, would have been easier to believe.  Sweetie Belle finally expressed what they were both feeling.  "What?"

"Perhaps the discussion would be more pleasant over tea?" Sebastian suggested.  "I have prepared a delicate broccoli quiche topped with tomato roses with spinach leaves, carefully seasoned to be sophisticated enough for high tea and yet simple enough for a less stuffy dining experience, served with chamomile tea.  There is plenty to go around."  Two very loud growling stomachs weighed in on that discussion.  "Would you care to clean up before you dined?"

Scootaloo looked like she was about to insist on eating dirty just to spite Sebastian, but Sweetie Belle's fidgeting put a stop to that.  "Rarity would never let me hear the end of it if I messed up anything this fancy," she pointed out, looking from the silverware to the china to the tablecloth nervously.

"Sounds like ya put a lot of work into this," Apple Bloom observed.  "Be a shame if it got ruined cause ah couldn't taste it over a dollop of tree sap that dropped on my fork."

Sighing, Scootaloo gave Sebastian a nod, and he whisked the trio out of the Clubhouse.  Less than a minute later, he whisked them back in and to their seats.  All three were so clean they almost sparkled, their manes and tails were expertly brushed and styled, and Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle looked a bit shell-shocked.  Apple Bloom was the first to find her voice.  "Are ya a butler, or an Indianappleoosa 500 pit crew?"

Sebastian chuckled indulgently.  "A Wingshadow butler who can't do this much isn't worth his salt," he observed calmly, making Scootaloo wince again.

"Wingshadow?" Sweetie Belle asked in surprise and shock.  "Isn't that the family behind the big toy company?"

"Among other things?" Apple Bloom added curiously.  "Granny used ta tell stories about th' Wingshadow 'concealin the fate o' the truly vile', whatever that meant."

Scootaloo sighed irritably.  "Go ahead, Sebastian," she grumbled.  "Introduce me."

Sebastian smiled softly.  "It is my honor to present the Countess Sunrise Wingshadow, Head of the House of Wingshadow, the Royal Watchdogs."

Scootaloo braced herself for her friends going off on her about not telling them about her being nobility, really not looking forward to that discussion if they were angry about it.  Instead, she heard Apple Bloom struggling to stifle snickers.

"No...no wonder ya go by Scootaloo!" she gasped out, managing to quiet her amusement with a mouthful of quiche.

"Wait..." Sweetie Belle suddenly spoke up.  "Head of House?  But what about..."  Her voice trailed off at the sharp look from Apple Bloom and Scootaloo's lowered eyes.  "Oh...Scoot..."

"Do...do you wanna talk about it?" Apple Bloom offered comfortingly.

"Not really," Scootaloo responded.  "I...it's bigger than it sounds...and bound up in that 'family responsibility' I have to take on now.  And...I don't want to drag you two into it.  ...heck, I didn't want to be dragged into it..."

Awkward silence fell over the table as the trio continued to eat, Sebastian tending to each of them as he made sure cups remained full.  Finally, Sweetie Belle spoke up.  "Fair enough.  We won't press about any of that...on one condition!"

"Name it," Scootaloo responded quickly.

Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom glanced at each other with a smirk.  "We're havin' a sleepover here tonight," Apple Bloom explained.  "Ya can stay for that, right?"

"Absolutely!" Scootaloo assured them eagerly.  "Is that the condition?"

"Nope!" Sweetie Belle countered.  "The condition is...tomorrow, you take us up to spend the day at your place, and while we're there you tell us why you didn't tell us any of this before!"

"We'll get permission ta go in the morning," Apple Bloom added.

Scootaloo managed a smile.  "...yeah, I can do that," Scootaloo confirmed.  "It'll be good to be able to tell the whole story, and not have to hide so much from you both."

With smiles all around, the trio fell to the food with a will.  They hardly noticed Sebastian stepping out for a few moments only to return with Scootaloo's sleeping bag and other sleepover gear.





Long after the sun had set and the moon had risen, Scootaloo lay awake, staring at the roof of the clubhouse.  She could hear Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle were both snoring away, exhausted from a day of playing together and a tinge of hysterical relief.  Scootaloo briefly glanced over at her friends, two ponies she valued almost above all others.  If...if anything happened to them because she opened them up to the other world she had to live in...no.  She wouldn't let that happen.

Reaching up, she shifted her eyepatch aside and opened her right eye.  Instead of a pupil, the iris was filled with a glowing runic circle, a Symbol of Contract.  "Sebastian," she spoke firmly.

Sebastian was instantly at her side in a low bow.  "You called, Master?" he asked politely, his voice distinctly different than before as he pulled off his right glove.

"This is an order," Scootaloo stated clearly.  "Should Apple Bloom or Sweetie Belle become exposed to our world, you will protect them as you do me."

Sebastian smiled softly.  "Yes, My Lady."

"You can handle it?" Scootaloo demanded insistently.

"But of course," Sebastain confirmed as he lifted his uncovered talon, showing the Symbol of Contract marked on his flesh there that matched the one in Scootaloo's right eye.  It, too, glowed with an eldritch light.  "After all, I am one hell of a butler."

Smiling softly, Scootaloo slipped the eyepatch back on and started to snuggle up for sleep.  Slipping his glove back on, Sebastian tucked the covers up under Scootaloo's chin.  "Sleep well, My Lady," he whispered softly.