Letters From a Little Princess Monster
Goodbye Summer, Hello New Friends - Part Two
Monster had not seen very many dragons, but the research she had been doing on Sweetie Belle’s dragon egg over the last few weeks had given her an insight into the terrifying monsters far greater than just about anypony in Ponyville. Unlike ponies, each true dragon was far different than any other, even those within the same clutch of eggs. They were universally regarded — by the authors of the books, at least — as fierce and deadly creatures, unwilling to show any sign of civilized behavior and consumed by greed. Even newly hatched dragonettes fought among themselves, frequently killing the weaker siblings until only one or two remained out of a nest of a dozen or more.
The golden dragon who had stuck her head through the door of the Ponyville Golden Oak library was about average sized for an adult dragon, probably weighing as much as a hundred or more ponies, only with long, sharp teeth and a piercing amber gaze that fairly burned with the greed of her kind. She looked vaguely canine, with a longer muzzle compared to Spike, and much like a dog, also had a furry mane of long green hair all around her face. Despite the resulting beard, Monster was fairly sure she was a female. The antler-like horns coming out of the back of her head and splitting into matching curves looked vaguely feminine, and her glistening gold scales showed attention to her polishing and buffing routine that even Rarity would find sufficient.
The dragon licked her lips, the long red tongue passing from one side of her face to the other in a slow, languorous motion, but the rest of her did not move, even when Monster stepped forward in front of Trixie, who had frozen up in fear.
“H-hello, patron of the G-golden Oak Library,” started Monster. “P-please feel free to look around, and if you would like to check out a book, I will b-be happy to take care of that for you. In t-the event you do not have a library card,” she continued, picking up speed on her memorized speech now that the topic was more to her liking, “it will only take a few minutes to fill out the form. With our new card printing machine, you can have your card in just minutes and be ready to enjoy the fun of reading all summer. And fall,” she added, thinking of the Summer Wrap-Up celebration scheduled for next week. “Cards expire in four years, or in the event you have a book overdue by more than a year. Books can be checked out for three weeks, with a two bit fine if it’s overdue, and four bits a week until the book is returned after that, unless the book has become lost or stolen, in which case you should contact the librarian for payment terms.”
“Hey!” There was a thumping noise outside the library door, which was mostly filled by the dragon’s long, flexible neck. It sounded like somepony using a heavy object on a thick pillow, and continued while the female voice called out, “Your Dragonlord orders you to move! You’re blocking the door.”
The dragon did not look nearly as intimidating when trying to extract her head out of the narrow doorway. She turned her head to get her smooth antlers under the doorframe and lowered her head until the fuzzy green beard on her chin was almost flat against the library floor, but she was stuck fast.
“Hey!” called out the voice from outside again.
“I’m sorry, Dragonlord,” rumbled the dragon in a low voice that sounded to Monster’s ears like the slow flow of syrup over a stack of steaming hot pancakes. Her breath even smelled sweet, all papery and ink with a hint of dust instead of Spike’s mineral overtones and burnt sugar. The huge dragon thumped her antler-covered head against the doorframe again, more gently than something her size would be expected to move, then gave out a deep, paper-flavored sigh. “I’m stuck.”
“She’s about a ponylength longer, too.” Spike’s voice from outside of the library was easy to pick out, and casual enough that it did not sound as if he was worried about anything more than the size of the hole that was going to be made in the front door. It made Monster take a look at Trixie, who appeared resigned to having a huge dragon stuck in the entrance to the library for the immediate future, and Lyra, who had frozen up in terror so rigidly that she could have been mistaken for a statue.
“I’ve got this, Menace.” Trixie straightened up and stuck a pose. “Trixie has been practicing.”
There was a whirl of magic with a quiet popping noise, and Trixie vanished. It was a different teleportation spell than any of the several Monster knew, and quite effective. It also was unneeded, because at almost the exact moment, one of the upper-story skylights popped open and a second, much smaller dragon flew in.
Well, technically two dragons, since Spike was sitting comfortably on her back.
The other dragon — most likely the Dragonlord that the bigger dragon had been talking to — was a bright teal color, much like a polished statue of turquoise with a dark blue crest and very pretty eyes. She alighted in the center of the library, looked around, and asked in a puzzled tone, “So, where’s Trixie?”
“Probably outside.” Spike walked up to Lyra and waved a clawed hand in front of her face to no effect. “She’s been using that spell everywhere since she learned it.”
“Spiiiike!” called out a plaintive voice from outside. “Where did you go?”
“We’re inside!” he called back. “Let me see if we can get Vorel’aurix-levethuix Maekrix-book-rasvim out of the door and—”
There was a sharp pop, and Trixie reappeared, only facing away from Monster and the rest of the visitors. “Spiiiike!” she called out again. You’re not in here either.”
Spike cleared his throat.
Trixie turned around. “Oh. Well. Um… Dragonlord Ember, this is—” Trixie looked around until she spotted where Monster had backed up behind the cover of the bookshelf again. “There you are. This is Twilight Sparkle, and my friend from school, Lyra.”
Monster bobbed her head and managed a quiet, “Hi.” Lyra said nothing, but she did finally blink once, and possibly took her first breath in several minutes.
“Twilight, this is Dragonlord Ember,” said Trixie with a wave of one dirty hoof at the teal-colored dragon standing by Spike. “And I believe you’ve already met Vorel’aurix-levethuix Maekrix-book-rasvim.”
“Beautiful Golden Magic Bender, Ruler of the Book Treasure,” said Monster reflexively.
“Her name means—” Trixie stopped, rolled her eyes, and continued. “Anyway, I told Dragonlord Ember about your dragon egg problem—”
“I told Ember,” insisted Spike. “You were hiding behind a bush with Rarity.”
“Maintaining a strategic position under cover,” countered Trixie. “And she told Vorel, and she promised to bring some of her books on dragon history for you to read.”
“To read,” huffed the huge dragon with a puff of her pleasant dusty-smelling breath. “They are my Heart’s Treasure. I would not allow any to touch them if it were not the command of the Dragonlord.” Huge golden eyes flickered sideways to the books crammed into the shelves of the Golden Oak Library, and Vorel licked her lips.
“No,” said Ember sharply. “These belong to the ponies of the village. They are not for you to carry away to your hoard.”
Monster shuffled awkwardly forward a step. It was not the size of the gargantuan dragon that disturbed her, because even Spike was taller than Monster was, but the way the pony-sized dragon commanded Vorel’aurix-levethuix Maekrix-book-rasvim in such a curt fashion. Not even the Equestrian princesses had that kind of direct presence and forceful personality. “I could ask Princess Luna about the books,” Monster offered. “She may trade.”
~ ~ ✶ ~ ~
Ponyville seemed able to adjust to just about anything. After all, in the last few months, it had even adjusted to Trixie, along with the dramatic remodeling around the town that she was irresponsible for. And to Trixie’s constant bafflement, Ponyville adjusted to her just as well.
As an example, she was currently staring at the back door out of the library kitchen while Twilight and the dragons were discussing things in the main room. The only thing was, Trixie had been fairly certain that the big oak library did not have a back door out of the kitchen, along with an oak back porch and an oak rocking chair. Still, it made a good place to poke her nose out and reassure panicked patrons that the library was undergoing a minor renovation, and that the gigantic shoulder-to-tail section of Vorel’aurix-levethuix Maekrix-book-rasvim that was still sticking out of the library oak was perfectly harmless, provided nopony got too close and wound up getting stepped on.
Although she was still stinking and sweaty from her trip to the Dragonlands, Trixie decided to step out onto the porch and rest for a few minutes in the rocking chair. She needed time to think, to stay ahead of the problems that life was throwing at her since she moved to Ponyville, where life threw problems hard. At least escorting Spike to the Dragonlands to answer the call of the Dragonlord had gone… as well as could be expected. Nopony got eaten, Spike had collected a new friend, and… there was a dragon stuck in the front door of the library.
One disaster at a time.
As if the thought had triggered it, there was a cascade of small ponies galloping down the street, around the corner, past the dragon and up the library back porch like a tiny tidal wave of cuteness. “We got our cutie marks! We got our cutie marks!” they squealed, stopping only momentarily to show their marked rumps to Trixie before stampeding inside to greet Twilight Sparkle. Trying to make sense of the rapid-fire babble was impossible, so Trixie spotted Peep Sprout in his earth pony disguise out of the passing throng and pulled him to the back of the porch for interrogation.
“Before we get started,” started Trixie, addressing the young changeling with unusual sincerity, “is there anything on fire, exploding, anypony wounded, falling down a cliff, or any kind of otherwise time-critical problem that I should know about involving the Cutie Mark Crusaders getting their cutie marks?”
“No!” said Peep with a grin so broad it was in danger of meeting behind his head. “They got their cutie marks helping Diamond Tiara find out what her cutie mark is all about. We even fixed up the school playground in the process and sang!”
It was too bad that free child labor had been unavailable to fix up the library, but Trixie put that behind her. “Did it hatch Sweetie Belle’s dragon egg?”
“No,” said Peep, calming down a little and taking a peek inside the library where the rest of his classmates were gathered. “At least I don’t think so. I’m still not picking up any emotions from the egg.”
“And Pinkie Pie is having a cute-ceañera party over at Sugarcube Corner, so that’s taken care of,” mused Trixie. It was not a very large leap of intuition, because the balloons could be seen from where she was sitting, with all three of the new cutie marks on the respective balloon color. “I’ve heard of two cutie marks appearing at once, but never three.”
“Tada!” Peep Sprout’s earth pony disguise flared green for a moment and he displayed his rump, which now had a sun, moon, and a heart on it. “Easy-peasy.”
“You know what I mean.” Trixie took another quick peek into the library common room. “It’s a shame that all of the kids’ parents are going to be at the party and Menace’s adoptive father is still stuck on the edge of town with the rest of those old zebras.”
~ ~ ✶ ~ ~
For two bits, Tallgrass would have been willing to convince one of the other changelings in town to trade places with him so he could visit his wife. All of this zebra ‘herd’ concept for the Imetabiriwa was a grand royal pain in the flank, but since he had only realized his ability to talk with the spirits for the last few moons, the learning curve had included several completely zebra traditions that had seemed highly irrational on the surface, only to make enormous sense when looked at with the proper perspective. Zecora had been a very good teacher⁽*⁾ of his newly discovered gift, which he suspected was mostly driven by her being alone in the woods for twelve years with only Twilight Sparkle and her special issues for company.
(*) Zecora had also been a very good teacher in other ways for similar reasons, which he missed something fierce.
Far worse, he could actually see his wife’s graceful striped form in the distance when she walked through Ponyville over the last few weeks, and even if he had not written her a letter every day since their arrival, she had to know about the zebra Imetabiriwa out on the hill. Small town gossip traveled at the speed of flight, after all. Some of it even traveled at the speed of Pinkie, which was much faster, and came with party invitations.
You are all invited to the cute-ceañera for Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo. Hurry up! It starts now!
“The pink pony there
great parties she throws for all
with joy and sadness.”
Tallgrass nodded in agreement. Mshairi had slipped up beside him while Tallgrass was looking out across the town, and the rolling cadence of her powerful voice was a comfort. There was really no reason to respond either, although he could feel a familiar dance to the spirits in his vicinity. It felt almost like—
“Look there, young—” Keiko hesitated with one hoof pointing down the hill and her eyes skewed sideways, trying her best to look and not look at the young stallion to her side, which did not rhyme the way she was expecting.
“The young mare of blinding hue, is what you wanted to bring my attention to?” asked Tallgrass. A few weeks of sunshine and time had damped Trixie’s accidental (or so he hoped) orange dye job into something that he could look at for more than a few seconds, and it looked a little like she had been rolling in the dirt, but there was no mistaking the object of Keiko’s observation.
Or the young purple alicorn hesitantly trotting along at her side.
“The Imetabiriwa na Anga comes, I see.” Old Kavu prodded Tallgrass in the ribs until he moved out of the way, despite the fact she could have just stepped to one side in order to get a better look at their visitors. “It appears our wait is over, and we shall all be returning to our homeland.”
“Once your hip feels better, Respected Elder,” said Tallgrass almost reflexively.
“It feels fine now. Let me get packed.” Kavu stuck the tip of one hoof under her walking stick, gave it a flip, and settled it down over her shoulder blades once it landed on her back. “I’m ready.”
Tallgrass gave a quick look around the campsite where the two ibex and the burro servant were scurrying around, gathering the meager possessions of his fellow Imetabiriwa and the additional cushions and bedrolls they had been gifted over the last few weeks by the generous ponies of the town. There was something wrong about the situation that irked him, but he did not really connect the dots until Trixie and Twilight Sparkle stopped at the outskirts of the camp.
That’s not Twilight.
“Hello, respected zebra… whatever you all are,” started Trixie, displaying her usual tact⁽¹⁾. “My friend has something to say to you. Go ahead, Twilight.”
(1) Trixie had tact. She just preferred to keep it well-rested.
The little alicorn stepped forward, looking so heart-stopping timid and adorable that Tallgrass could almost believe she was really Twilight Sparkle. “I w-want you to go back to Zebrica,” she said. “I’m not ready to leave my f-friends yet. In a few years, I’ll be stronger, but not now. You can come back then and ask again, but until that time, I must decline.”
‘Twilight’ blinked in surprise at what she had said, but took a step backwards when the lanky form of Mshairi stepped forward, almost at the end of her nose.
“Small insect, small mind.
Why do you think you can fool
the minds of the wise?”
“Changeling,” snarled Tafadhali, who moved right up next to her fellow Imetabiriwa. “Do you know what we do to your kind?”
“Nothing,” said Old Kavu. She jabbed her younger colleagues in the rump with her stick until they moved back from the frightened young ‘Twilight’ and gave the elderly zebra space to move up. “Do not fear, little one. It has been many, many years since changelings have been seen in Zebrica. And you—” Kavu used her walking stick to tap the disguised changeling on the top of her pointed head “—frighten them.”
Both of the other zebra bristled at the implication, but Trixie spoke up before any of them could get a word in edgewise. “Twilight Sparkle fixed that. They’re not scary at all any more. Go ahead and change, Peep.”
“Really?” Peep Sprout eyed the circle of zebra around him, then gave a quick glance at Tallgrass, who nodded slightly. “Well, if you say so.” There was a small blaze of green fire and the alicorn disguise he had been wearing burned away, revealing a small black form of a changeling colt with iridescent highlights along his chitinous hide and glittering wings that sparkled and flashed in the noon sun.
“Whoa,” said Trixie, mirroring what Tallgrass almost said out loud. “Did you break into Pinkie’s glitter supply, twerp?”
Extending one sparkly translucent wing, then the other, Peep Sprout shrugged his shoulders. “It just started happening. The doctor says it’s nothing serious. Mom’s turning pink,” he added. “With these little green spots around her middle.”
“Huh. Leave town for two weeks, and everything gets weird. Weirder.” Trixie turned back to the zebra Imetabiriwa. “Anyway, Twilight doesn’t want to go to Zebrica with you yet. So goodbye, so long, have a safe trip, and don’t forget to write. Come on, Tallgrass. Menace is over at Sugarcube Corner, having a butt-mark party with all of her friends, three of whom just got cutie marks. We need to hurry if we’re going to get ice cream.”
Instinctively, Tallgrass surveyed the town for drifting trails of smoke.
“He will not,” said Old Kavu. “We will all wait here for the real Imetabiriwa na Anga.” As if to signify her intransigence, she sat down in the flattened grass, along with the rest of the Imetabiriwa. After a moment of wavering, Tallgrass sat down too. He did not want to, but something felt right about it, despite his best wishes.
“Really?” Trixie’s expression firmed, and Tallgrass could feel the stirrings of restrained anger wafting off her like the waves of summer heat coming off the sun-warmed grass all around them. “Peep. Go down to Sugarcube Corner and tell them I’m bringing Menace’s father in a few minutes.”
Peep Sprout must have felt it too, because he launched into the air and darted away, switching to the form of a pegasus colt during flight. The little changeling had barely gotten to the bottom of the hill before Tafadhali spoke in a clear and quite unequivocal fashion.
“We are not going.
Here we all shall wait for her.
Bluff all you wish, fool.”
“Fool?” asked Trixie, turning her head toward Tafadhali with the hint of a wry smile creeping around the edges of her tense lips. “Tallgrass. Do they know about you?”
Instead of answering, Tallgrass allowed the zebra disguise he had been maintaining for the last few weeks vanish in a blaze of green changeling magic. All of the zebra Imetabiriwa except Old Kavu gasped, taking a step backwards with a brief stumble as they tried to stand up and move in all directions. Had Tallgrass been on one side or another, their herd instinct most likely would have propelled all of the mares in a straight line, but since they had surrounded him, it only resulted in a larger space before they all stopped their flight with various degrees of consternation.
“Thought so,” said Old Kavu, who had not moved a single muscle during Tallgrass’ transformation. “That still does not change anything. The spirits have called, and he is one of us, even with what he is. We move as one, or we do not move at all. We will remain here until the Imetabiriwa na Anga agrees to return with us.”
Ever so slowly, the rest of the Imetabiriwa gathered back around the revealed changeling, not quite as close as before, but seemingly just as stubborn and determined. Trixie stood in place for a considerable amount of time, then paced a path around the gathered zebra three times while the wafting flow of anger she was emitting slowly changed to exhilaration, then a sense of anticipation that Tallgrass had last felt…
Oh, no.
“If that’s your final answer,” said Trixie while lighting up her horn in a blinding glare of pink magic, “there’s only one thing I can say.”
~ ~ ✶ ~ ~
Monster was enjoying the party.
She did not think she was going to. Pinkie Pie had even brought a spare cardboard box for her just in case, so she had not been sure either, but her friends’ enthusiasm and joy over their new cutie marks was proving to be infexious. Monster had not even had time to write down notes about the experience, or check her spelling in the thesaurasaurasus, but she was having an extra-ordinary, fantastic, joyous time. After all, Monster had never received a party when she got her cutie mark, for obvious reasons. In this way, she could substitute the joy of this occasion for some of the pain and terror of her own experience. Maybe that was the magic of parties. They blunted the bad memories and enhanced the good experiences, like Featherweight’s pictures.
The only pony at the party who was not having a good time… was Diamond Tiara.
Oh, she looked like she was having fun, but every time Diamond thought nopony was watching, her smile lost some of its gloss and she would look out the window. Not even Zecora noticed her hidden misery from where she was chatting happily with Cranky Doodle, so it was up to Monster.
It took a few minutes to work her way through the crowd, but once Monster got up next to Diamond, she used one of the privacy spells on her permitted list that Lyra had taught her and surrounded the two of them with an invisible bubble that cut off the crowd noise abruptly.
“What?” Diamond Tiara looked around the room at what appeared to be silent ponies, still wordlessly chatting with each other, then looked down at Monster. “Oh. It’s you.” The polite but false smile reappeared and Diamond Tiara gave an abbreviated bob of her head. “So, Twilight. It must be really… You must be really happy… Isn’t it good that…”
In the awkward silence that followed, Monster asked, “Saw you were unhappy. Can I help?”
“Help?” A flicker of anger flashed over Diamond’s polite smile. “I don’t need any help. Everything is just fine.”
Everything was most certainly not fine, and Monster could not figure out what words she needed to get to the bottom of the problem, but she followed Trixie’s teaching and just remained both silent and attentive. It took remarkably little time.
“I’m fine, my Daddy is fine,” started Diamond. “I’m g-getting a new Mommy, so that’s fine.”
There was another long silence, which Monster reluctantly filled. “A mother is good.”
“I used to think so,” said Diamond briskly with a quick glance to the other side of the room where Spoiled Milk was talking to Cheerilee. “Miss Milk has always been there for our family. She helped Daddy get on the city council. She taught me how to behave in public. How to walk. Get good grades. I just….” Diamond took a quick breath and finished off the cup of punch she was carrying. “I don’t want to be like her anymore.”
“I don’t think… Shouldn’t use the mind swapping spell again,” said Monster.
“Not that way,” chided Diamond Tiara. “I mean the way she treats other ponies. Watch Cheerilee.”
It took a few minutes, but eventually Spoiled Milk set out across the floor in the direction of another pony to talk to. Behind her, Cheerilee’s polite smile twisted into a bitter frown for just a moment, then returned to the same happy expression she always wore.
“See,” said Diamond Tiara. “She does that to everypony. Nopony dares to say it, but she’s horrible. And if she marries Daddy, I’m afraid…”
“You’ll turn horrible again too,” said Monster. She reached up to the larger earth pony and gave her an awkward hug. Even that was easier, either from the growing that Monster had done in the last few months, or just from repetition. “You’re a friend. Friends keep friends from becoming monsters. You. Me. All our friends.”
“You don’t understand.” Diamond Tiara pulled out a crumpled piece of paper and flattened it against a nearby table. It was a wedding invitation, dated for next week right after Summer Wrap-Up, and showed a sketch of Filthy Rich and Spoiled Milk exchanging vows in the Rich family garden.
“He’s doing this to make me happy. I think. And as much as I want a Mommy, I don’t want to lose my Daddy.” She sniffled a little despite her best efforts. “I wish I had a real Mommy who loved Daddy for who he is, not just his money.”
Monster held very still, thinking about the time she had spend with Scootaloo and Filthy Rich out in the huge garden. Mister Rich had never told Diamond Tiara about her mother for fear of hurting both of them, but Monster could feel that thread stretching out into the distance, a thin and frayed gossamer line of fate. It would be wrong to put her hoof down in the middle of that, just the same as Princess Celestia dared not interfere with many of the things she most probably wanted to ‘fix.’ Ponies deserved to be able to make their own decisions.
But they did not need to make those decisions in ignorance.
She picked up the wedding invitation in her magic, reaching out to cast the spell she had used instinctively once before. It was on her approved list since Lyra had helped her refine it, tidy up the loose ends and make it much more effective. Even if it had been forbidden, she would have cast it anyway. After all, there was only one pony in Equestria who needed to hear these words, and only one pony who could say them.
“Diamond Tiara,” started Monster very slowly, holding the glowing wedding announcement in front of her. “If you could talk to your mother, your real mother, what would you say?”