Heart Aflutter
Escargot sat on the floor, thumping his forelegs nervously, alternating them as if walking on the spot. He cast quick glances to the tiara- its elemental gem was dark, but still glinted in the light.
“Calm down.” Gisa said, stretching out on the pillow. “You saved the town, that’s normally a good thing.”
“Good thing? Trust me, at the least I’m going to get thrown in the dungeons for stealing the Elements of Harmony.” Escargot said and sighed. “They’ll banish me to Tartar Sauce for sure.”
“Mmmm… Battered cod from the Griffin Sea in tartar sauce.” Gisa almost purred, rolling over on the pillow.
“This is serious, Gisa! What about dad? He hates magic, and now I’m representing it!” Escargot whimpered and went back to drumming his forelegs.
“Oh come on, Escargot’s the element- at worst, she gets kicked out.” Gisa huffed.
“I just don’t want to face him right now.” Escargot said, looking at the map again.
“You’ve been hiding in the castle for three days now. If it weren’t for the fact that Spike keeps the fridge well-stocked, and an overabundance of nachos, salsa dip, and cookies...” A tap at the door had Gisa bounding across the floor, “Oh, and don’t forget the gifts from the townsfolk. If not for that stuff you’d have starved.”
Escargot looked at his pink furred stomach and whimpered, “I don’t wanna starve.”
Opening the door Gisa cheerfully chirped, “What snacks are you bringing us to- Oh… umm.”
Gisa stepped aside and Spike to struggle inside with several suitcases piled high above him. Groaning, he looked out from under the stack, “Why was the door locked? The door’s never locked.”
“Oh, you know how it goes, save the town with magic, now hiding in here from the adoration of fans.” Gisa said, and pointed to the throne room.
“Hiding? Why would anyone want to hide? I’m the hero of The Crystal Empire- they adore me, and it’s great!” Spike set down the suitcases.
“Aren’t those a lot for Twilight?” Gisa asked, looking at the pile.
“Rarity insisted on coming straight here with Twilight. Applejack and the others stopped off to check on-” Spike jumped aside as Rarity ran in, Twilight just behind.
“Darling, are you alright?” Rarity asked as she ran past Spike, sending him spinning. She slid to a stop and picked Escargot up with her magic.
Twilight bounded in, grinning ear to ear, then started pogohopping in circles around the two, “My pupil has learned friendship magic!”
Glancing back at Spike, Gisa smiled, “Oh, and you’re out of nachos and salsa.” Then she scampered into the throne room and skid across the floor.
“Put me down please.” Escargot whined, as Rarity held the filly within her magical grasp, carrying out a thorough examination.
“You were not harmed, were you?” Rarity asked.
“Yesyesyesyesyesyesyesyes!” Twilight said as she bounded around Escargot her heart aflutter in excitement.
“I’m fine, Rarity. We all are. The shield spell Twilight taught me kept us safe.” Escargot nodded.
“You used my lesson too!” Twilight squeed and smiled brightly, lighting her horn and firing a blast at Escargot.
“EEEP!” Throwing up her shield, Escargot curled up in midair before being dropped by Rarity.
“Darling, do be careful, you could hurt somepony doing that.” Rarity looked sternly at Twilight as she rubbed her own horn. Its tip smoked from the backlash of Twilight’s blast breaking her telekinesis.
“So, why are you hiding inside this castle, rather than going home?” Rarity asked, “Sweetie Belle said you haven’t left in three days.”
“I can’t go home. I can’t… face him.” Escargot said, looking down.
“Because of the whole ‘Element of Magic’ thing?” Rarity asked softly as she moved to sit beside the foal.
With a slow nod, Escargot looked at the map, “Long Haul will kill me, or worse, kick me out of the house.”
“He will do no such thing, and you should not be in that house to begin with. You really should consider Celestia’s request to go to her school. But, I understand wanting to stay with your friends.” Twilight huffed, “Though I’m sure you could move here if you need, or we can look at getting you your very own place.”
Escargot looked up at Twilight, her lower lip quivering, as if she were about to cry.
“Twilight, there’s more going on than you think.” Rarity said firmly, before turning to face her friend. “It’s not fair to force an issue like this. And where is Applejack?”
“Applejack?” Escargot asked and blinked looking up at the adults.
“I asked her to join us.” Rarity responded with a huff and paced a bit. “I know she’s worried about Apple Bloom, but I do really need her.”
“I’m sorry, I can understand Snails living there, he has no magical aptitude or skill. I don’t think he could even learn magic, so his father’s fine with him.” Twilight said shaking her head, “But Escargot is somepony special. She deserves to be cared for and nurtured.”
Applejack trotted in, stopping at the door as Twilight finished her statement.
Escargot flinched visibly at the cutting words. Turning, the foal walked away from the two mares. Tears slowly fell to the ground as he went.
“Twilight!” Rarity said in a mix of shock and pity. She ran over and hugged Escargot tightly.
“What in tarnation?” Applejack did her best not to look totally confused, “Here I am, away from you two for 10 minutes to check on ma kin, and you get yourselves into a heap of trouble.”
“What did I do?” Twilight responded looking completely lost.
“I just don’t know what to do.” Escargot said tears falling slowly. “I don’t want to end up in Tartar Sauce or lose my home and family.”
Applejack walked over and sat beside Escargot, rubbing her cheek with the back of a foreleg. “I always find the truth helps with kin.”
“Applejack, Escargot’s father is… complicated.” Rarity said softly. “Sometime it can be very scary to tell the truth. Sometime you know ponies will be angry or react badly to the truth, even if there’s no reason they should.”
“But…” Applejack started, then stopped, seeing the look on Rarity’s face.
Twilight shook her head, “I think we should just remove Escargot and leave Snails with his father.”
“I am Snails.” Escargot said meekly.
Twilight blinked at Escargot, “Pardon?”
“Escargot is Snails. Some kind of chaos magic affected him in the Everfree.” Reaching out with her magic, Rarity grabbed a teapot, added a touch of cold water, then carefully poured the now-warm water on the foal.
Lifting a single eyebrow, Applejack looked down at Snails as he dripped on the floor, looking very much like a lost puppy. “And the girls know about this?”
“Even Apple Bloom.” Snails said softly, “and they promised to keep it a secret. I’m terrified that ponies might find out.”
“But- but- this is impossible!” Twilight said, looking in shock.
Rarity shook her head and sighed, looking at Applejack, “I don’t think Snails here needs to be exposed to the five stages.”
Shaking her head vigorously Twilight looked back to Rarity, “Five stages?”
Applejack stood up and chuckled, “Eyup, denial that there is something you didn’t know, anger that you couldn’t find it in your books, testing to see if you can figure it out on your own and write a book about it, depression when either you can’t figure it out or realize it’s unexplainable, and finally acceptance, when you give up and just go with it.”
“I think Tartar Sauce might be better than being a lab test subject.” Snails whimpered.
“But…” Twilight sat down hard, wing spread wide in shock and confusion.
“This is why I couldn’t tell. The girls found out because of an accident, and are kinda ok with it. If my father finds out though…” Snails turned his head away. “I understand if you don’t want to keep teaching a dumb, lying, little colt.”
Stomping her hoof, Rarity scowled, “Snails, I would NEVER allow you in my store if you were those things. You keep your secret for your safety, that does not make you a liar, nor are you dumb, you simply have not had the love and care someone of your needs deserves.”
Turning, Rarity looked squarely at Twilight, then sighed softly. Walking over, she sat beside Twilight and leaned against her. “Twilight, darling, you’ve told us about your childhood. You’ve sung us songs about it. How would your life have turned out had you not been given a chance by Celestia? What would you have become, had you not been nurtured by your parents?”
Twilight looked at Snails, then Rarity, “I…. I might have turned out like Snails. He comes from a powerful magical lineage, but his natural abilities have been ignored.”
Applejack walked up beside Snails, looking down at him, “And his talents need to be kept hidden for now- his father would never accept it, would even fight to stop his training. Earth ponies can be very stubborn at times.”
Looking at Applejack for a moment, Twilight stood up and walked around looking at the food left for Escargot. She looked down at the thank-you notes, the picture of Escargot and friends. “Snails, what do you want?”
“What do I want?” Snails blinked, looking confused.
Rarity smiled and picked up Escargot’s tiara, gently placing it on Snails’s head, “Yes darling, it is your life after all.”
“I…” Looking down, Snails sighed, “In some ways, I wish everything could go back to normal and I could just be a normal colt, but I know I can’t do that. I don’t want to leave my mom, and don’t want to lose my new friends. I kind of want to continue studying and practicing magic.”
“Then it’s settled- for now, you can continue your studies as Escargot to hide it from your father.” Twilight said with a nod. “We can carry on as if nothing happened.”
Snails nodded slowly and smiled. “This is such a load off my back.”
Walking in, Spike leaned to the side looking around a pile of nachos twice as high as he was. The nachos were stacked in layers between salsa, cheese, diced onions, peppers, sour cream, and lots of special spicy guacamole sauce. Smiling, he hid his head behind the nachos standing proudly. “One Spike Super Nacho Special, to celebrate.”
“We'll I'll be, that’s a whole heap of vittles.” Applejack exclaimed.
“Thanks, I had just enough hidden in my emergency snack supplies to….” Spike paused, then let out a fiery belch as the entire huge bowl of nachos vanishing in a magical mist, replaced by a single scroll, which fell into the dragon’s claws. “You’ve got mail.” Spike finished with a mournful sigh at the loss of the food.
Blinking Twilight grabbed the scroll with her magic and opened it starting to read aloud, “Dear Princess Twilight. Given the new development with the tree of harmony and these new form of the Elements of Harmony, I feel it is now required that your student spent at least one semester in the School for Gifted Unicorns. This is no longer a request. Yours truly, Princess Celestia.”
“Celestia gets dinner,” Snails said drooping, “And I’m so doomed."