//------------------------------// // Chapter 30: Secret of The Heart's Desire // Story: Pearlwort, Unintentional Villain // by Halira //------------------------------// Mera and I were relaxing in sitting in the kitchen, giving help to Tibia as the changeling prepared breakfast. We weren't really needed, but it was the considerate thing to do. Halfway through finishing Diamond wandered into the kitchen. He did a quick survey of us, and Tibia seemed to tense up. Diamond just wordlessly walked over to her and gave her a kiss. "Morning love," he told her. "You are looking lovely this morning." Tibia smiled back at him as she released her tension. "Thank you dear," Tibia said back to him lovingly. "You look wonderful as ever to. We are going to have a big breakfast this morning. Can you do me a favor and rouse your youngest daughter. I have a feeling she is going to attempt to sleep in. I know she was in and out of the bathroom all night. Serves her right for having a refill of that cider. She isn't getting out of school though, and she is going to have breakfast with the rest of us." "No problem," Diamond said with a suppressed chuckle. "If she intends on being a soldier someday I can give her a taste of a drill sergeant's wake up call." "Don't overdo it dear," Tibia cautioned. "She is still just a filly." "A filly with a hangover," I muttered with mirth. Mera suppressed a chuckle beside me. "Hopefully she will listen to her mother next time she is told not to do something then," Tibia sighed. "Don't worry, I won't intensify her headache too much," Diamond replied back. Then he walked back out of the kitchen to go terrorize Peridot to a wakeful state. A few minutes later a clearly grumpy and half awake Peridot wandered into the kitchen. She gave Mera and I a tired wave of her hoof in greeting before noticing her mother. Peridot's eyes popped open wide as she noticed her mother wasn't in her Crystal Pony form. Tibia noticed her daughter's reaction and I could notice that tenderness return to her movements again. "Mommy, you are in your changeling form!" Peridot shouted in shock. "Yes dear, I think I might be aware of that already," Tibia replied back in an even tone. "Does it bother you seeing me in my true form?" "No," Peridot said, with a voice that indicated she realized she might have just offended her mother. "I am just suprised. You almost never do that. Its fine though." "I felt it might be nice to change things up a bit," Tibia said simply. "You don't need me standing around watching over you any more, and I can't keep worrying about whether foals will make fun of you for having a bug for a mother. You are a big girl, and I trust you to be able to deal with such things." "You aren't a bug! You're a changeling, and any filly or colt that calls you a bug I will give a black eye!" Peridot said menacingly. She then hurried over and gave her mother a hug to show her commitment to her. "I appreciate the sentiment Peridot, but do please try to find a better way of dealing with them if that comes up, okay?" Tibia said as she stroked her daughter's mane. "I know you have a heart of a fighter, and I am proud of you for that, but please don't get into fights that are going to have me worry about you. I would hate to have you mess up your future because you can't restrain your temper." "I will do my best Mommy. I love you, and I want you to be proud of me," Peridot said to her mother. "That's a good young mare," Tibia said with a final nuzzle to her daughter. "Now go take a seat at the dining room table, and I will bring you some coffee to drink. I think you are old enough to start drinking some in the morning to help wake you up, and it will help a little with the headache I know you have. I heard you telling Mera and Pearl about it last night." "You did?" Peridot said, blushing with worry as she realized that Tibia was aware of the fact Mera was going to get her a piece of underage contraband. "I did," Tibia confirmed as she looked down on her daughter with a serious look. "If you agree not to get into any fights, I will agree I don't know anything about things you might end up having hidden in your room. Agreed?" "Yes Mommy, no fights," Peridot said with relief. Mera let out a sigh of relief beside me as well. Peridot hurried to the dining table in the other room while Tibia prepared some coffee. She brought a hot steaming cup over to the filly, and quickly went and brought in sugar and milk as well. The filly gazed at the grownup drink steaming in front of her apprehensively. After looking at it for a minute it for a moment she lifted it up the cup in her hooves and took a tentative sip of the drink. Her face scrunched up at the bitter taste. "It tastes weird," Peridot observed, trying not to sound like she was complaining. "You can add some sugar in milk to it a little at a time," Tibia told her. "Just do a little bit of each, don't overdo it. I promise you that eventually you will get to where you can happily drink it without them in the morning." Diamond took his own cup and sat down next to Peridot and began to sip at his own coffee, not adding anything to it. Peridot watched her father as he drank the bitter drink and looked at her own again. She took a final glance at the sugar and milk and then back to her cup again. She again tentively took a sip from it, not adding anything to it. "Are you sure you don't want any milk or sugar?" Mera asked her sister. "Daddy isn't having any," Peridot said with a shake of her head. She took another small sip and managed not to recoil this time at the taste. "I just have to get used to it." She took another slightly longer sip after that, determined to prove that she could drink coffee just like the grownups. After Tibia was done preparing food she sat out plates for each of us, and we all sat down to eat together. There was nothing meat based among the dishes, but that was okay. I wouldn't expect they would have anything, except maybe some eggs that would even begin to fit that description. Nor would I expect Tibia to be comfortable preparing anything like that. "I was thinking," Tibia said to Mera, "ponies saw Biblo come into the city yesterday. While not ever pony knew Biblo there definitely had to be ponies that recognized her. I also noticed that your cutie mark didn't change with that transformation. I am worried ponies are going to put two and two together and blow your secrecy." "I was worried about that last night when Pearl and I went out shopping," Mera confessed. "I knew that particular clerk, and was terrified she was going to figure out Biblo and I are one in the same. She even pointed out the cutie mark being the same." "I was thinking that I could help you out with ponies thinking that," Tibia continued. "What if you and Biblo were seen at together at a few public places and by a few of the bigger gossips? I can easily impersonate Biblo for a few hours. I think it would be actually be fun fooling every pony for a day. I could even make up some story about how I was leaving town again to go off to somewhere on the other side of the realm." "That actually sounds like a good idea," Mera said. "And easy enough to do." "You can make yourself look like Biblo?" Peridot asked her mother with a disbelieving voice. Tibia smiled at her youngest, and with a flash of changeling fire Peridot was suddenly looking at a pony that was a perfect reflection of herself. "Mommy can change to look like any pony," Tibia responded to her daughter using her daughter's voice. She then went to s a series of rapid changeling flame changes to each of the ponies around the table, before ending looking exactly like Mera looked as a Crystal Pony. "It is easy," Tibia said with Mera's voice. "The hard part is behaving like them in a believable way. But I am pretty sure I knew what Biblo was like before she went on her adventure well enough to fool any pony I am her." Tibia did her change one last time, returning to her true form. "Mommy, that's so cool!" Peridot exclaimed with wonder. Then she looked around the table at the rest of us with a thoughtful expression, before her gaze settled on her father. "Daddy, do you have super powers too? Mommy does, Pearl does, and Mera does, what do you do?" The filly looked at her father expectantly. "I'm just a regular Crystal Pony, so I drew the story straw in this family," Diamond said with a laugh. "Even you can do more cool things than I can." "What? I can't do anything special, I am just a regular Crystal Pony too," Peridot said with confusion. "You are half changeling, like me," Mera said to her sister. "That makes you a strong empath." "What's an empath?" Peridot asked with more confusion. "It means you can tell what other ponies are feeling when you touch them," Mera explained. "Sometimes detailed information about what they are feeling. Can't you tell what Tibia is feeling when you hug her?" "Yeah, I guess so," Peridot said dismissively. "But I can't do that with you, or Daddy, or any pony else." "It doesn't work on Crystal Ponies for some reason," Mera explained. "Come over here and touch Pearl, she isn't a Crystal Pony." Mera looked at me. "Pearl, can you try thinking of some things as I mention them without showing any outward emotion?" "I can do that I am pretty sure," I said with a nod back to my wife. Peridot looked at me with an uncertain look and hopped down from her chair. She walked over to me and glanced up at me, before putting a hoof up on my leg. "Pearl, think about eating sardines and bananas," Mera instructed. Peridot kept her hoof in place and went wide eyed for a moment, before doing the same head turn Mera did when she was listening to emotions. "Pearl, think about how you felt when you saw me in my wedding dress," Mera said. Peridot kept up on listening. A smile of wonder started to form on her face. "Pearl, think about Fig Leaf," Mera said to finish off the demonstration. Peridot took on a confused expression, which quickly changed to one of horror as she pulled her hoof away. "You hate him," Peridot said breathlessly as she looked up at me with frightened eyes. "What did he do to you?" "That's private information," Mera told her sister, saving me from having to explain. "He is a pony that hurt Pearl a lot, that's all I will tell you. You were able to tell it was a him without even being told. Do you understand what it is to be an empath now?" "I guess so," Peridot responded, and she gave me one last look. "I am not sure if I like it or not. It was nice when Pearl was thinking about things that made her happy, but it was scary when she thought about something bad. How do you deal with that?" "For me it is worse," Mera said sadly. "Because of my absorbing talent I actually take all those feelings into myself and make them part of me. It is part of why I moved back here, so I wouldn't be surrounded by lots of ponies that I could absorb who knows what emotions and traits from. I need time to learn how to control it better in a place like this. I was so relieved when I found out you didn't have a talent like mine. I didn't want you to have to deal with the same thing." "I thought it was odd you looked so relieved when we told you Peridot got her cutie mark in something that made us think she would end up as a guard pony," Tibia said with realization. "It didn't occur to me that you would have been worrying about that." "So that's why you felt you needed to be a Thestral too?" Peridot said as she tried to figure out the implications herself. "You keep absorbing from Pearl and because Pearl feels like a Thestral you feel like a Thestral too?" Mera nodded in confirmation. Peridot looked back to me again with an uncertain expression. I looked back down at her, worried about what she might be thinking about me. "Can I hug you?" Peridot finally asked me. I nodded to her that it was alright. The filly reached up with both forelegs and wrapped them around me as best she could. I decided to go ahead and bend down and wrapped my own foreleg around her as well. So we stayed for a long moment, as I knew that she was feeling out who I was. She finally broke from the embrace and sat back. She tilted her head and listened to the various thoughts and feelings that she had felt. It was amazing how like her sister she was in her gestures and body language. She finally looked back up to me. "You are worried I won't like you, and worried about the Mommy and Daddy liking you," she said. "You are scared that we won't and that we are mad at you because of how much Mera has changed because of you. You really want us to love you though, and you love Mera very much." I looked down with tears starting to form in my eyes, and nodded to the little empath. She looked up at me as she kept her head tilted in listening. "You are a good pony," Peridot said with a smile. "And you give good hugs. I am glad my sister found you." "Pearl, does give the best hugs," Mera said with a smile. "That's the first thing I ever told her, did you know that, Peridot? I woke from a dreamless sleep, and found this wonderful mare giving me the most wonderful hug I had ever felt. It filled me with so much joy and happiness. Between that, and the magic I absorbed from her, I lit up brightly. Bright like we do during the fair, or a crystaling. I knew I loved you right then and there, Pearl." Peridot got another confused look on her face. I worried for a moment that she was going to add some sort of but to what she had just said about me. "Mera, why can't we let ponies know who you are?" Peridot asked, coming to the question seemingly out of nowhere. "I am not entirely sure, it was one one of Sunset's conditions for changing me," Mera explained. "I know with the Lesser Alicorns and other immortals that are out there they have to completely change their identities from time to time so ponies don't realize what they are." "But, that doesn't really make sense with your situation dear," Tibia joined in. "You haven't lived so long that ponies would realize you are not growing old like normal ponies. Yes, it is definitely unusual that you were turned into a Thestral. I had not known that a pony could have such a thing done. I don't actually turn into any of the ponies I transform into, it is just a shape, if I turned into a unicorn I wouldn't be able to use my horn, and if I turned into one of you I wouldn't be able to use any of your abilities. I take the form of a Crystal Pony most of the time and I can't store any magic at all like a Crystal Pony can from the Heart of the City." "I can only use Thestral abilities because I absorb Pearl's magic," Mera explained. "I don't have any Thestral magic of my own. So I am not really that different than what you do. I can't even change shape at will like you can, so I am less in that regard than you are. I really don't have an answer other than Sunset said so. I can ask her about why, but I trust she has a good reason." "Please do," Tibia pleaded. "It feels like such an unfair condition. We are doing well enough following our instructions, but I dearly want to be a mother to my daughter." "You are a mother to your daughter no matter what," Mera reminded her. "Yeah, but having to pretend I am not still hurts," Tibia pouted. "Maybe I am just being selfish, but I know I want an explanation about why we have to pretend to be only friends." "I will make sure to ask Sunset next time I see her," Mera assured her mother. It occurred to me that I didn't really understand the order either. There was definitely something we were missing. Sunset wouldn't tell Mera to do that for no reason. "Mera and I probably need to get to bed," I said. "And I know Peridot likely is supposed to be getting ready for school. We will talk to Sunset tonight about all of this, we need to see her about some other things as well." "I am getting a little sleepy," Mera confessed. "I am not quite used to when we should be going to bed and when we should be getting up yet. Just that we should definitely be asleep most of the day and up all night. I am still learning about being a proper Thestral." "I don't think bed time is well defined by instinct, just that after the sun is up means it is getting late," I confessed to my wife. "We will figure out our own schedule soon enough." "We should probably get to bed right after sunrise," Mera said. "That gives us more time awake in the late afternoon when most businesses are open still. That at least would seem to make sense." "Sounds like a good plan," I confirmed. "Which just reconfirms we need to get to bed now." "Um, good day, you two. Sleep tight," Diamond said, trying to figure out the appreciate thing to say. Peridot giggled at her father's clumsy wording. "Good day to you all too," Mera said to the family with a giggle. We waved our goodbyes and made our way back to the bedroom. *** Mera, Tibia, and I made our way back to The Heart's Desire that afternoon. Tibia took up the earlier discussed disguise, and even made a point of waving to and greeting ponies she knew would be familiar with Biblo in the street. This actually started right away out of the front door of the house as she immediately went to greeting the next door neighbor and taking time to introduce both Mera and I to them. Her constant need to greet ponies certainly slowed our progress towards going to hotel, but it definitely served its purpose of making sure every pony was seeing both Mera and Biblo at the same time. Ultimately it took us nearly two hours to actually make it to the hotel due to the frequent stops. When we did get there we were met with the same pony who had greeted us last time. "Welcome back to The Heart's Desire Hotel!" We were greeted by the pony. "Miss Tibia, that is a very fetching look for you. Your Graces are looking as well as ever too. We shall inform her Holiness if your arrival immediately, and have you escorted to her right away." "That won't be needed, we can find our own way after last time," I told her with a smile. The reaction to me saying that was very odd though. "I am sorry," the pony said, with an uncomfortablely large toothy grin. Even though I couldn't tell how or why, there was suddenly a sense of menace in the air. "But all guests must be escorted through the hotel, no exceptions. It is one of the rules, and we never break the rules here." "Um, okay, we will wait to be escorted then," I replied back. Immediately the sense of menace lessened, but didn't go away. "Thank you for your cooperation your Grace," the pony said back happily, though she didn't drop her smile. That smile just made me feel extremely uncomfortable. The same bellhop as before came and escorted us happily to our destination. The same elevator operator took us up to the next floor. We were taken to a different door than last time, one that I was fairly certain hadn't been there previously. When we went into the room Sunset was on a large bed and seemed to be listening to something carefully. She didn't greet us as we entered and we didn't interupt her. She finally shook her head with a sigh and looked at us. "I think today is a good day for both me and Hot Sticks to check out of the hotel," Sunset said sadly. She then looked at us with concern. "You didn't do anything to upset the staff did you?" "We had said we could find our own way here, and we were told that was against the rules, so we waited to be escorted instead," I told her. She shook her head again with another sigh. "Well, that explains it I guess," she said sadly. "I suppose it could have been worse, you could have ended up breaking one of their rules. Still a good idea to for me to check out though. Once you agitate them it just starts slowly gets worse from there and it takes years for them to calm down completely again. It is my mistake for not warning you, just let the staff do their jobs or things start going bad here." "I am sorry, I didn't realize that they even had any rules to break," I said gmfeeling guilty. "They have all kinds of rules, and they don't have them listed anywhere. One of the rules that I know of is actually you do not ask what the rules are. Learning the rules is kind of a trial and error thing, and considering this place takes years to settle down after you break one, only immortals ever get to where they can actually start to learn them. Don't feel guilty, this always ends up happening in the end." "What exactly ends up happening in the end?" Mera asked with concern. "I'll tell you later," Sunset said quickly. She then rang a bell that was sitting nearby with her magic. The bellhop quickly entered through the door with a happy smile. "What service can I provide you your Holiness?" The pony asked happily. "Inform Hot Sticks that I will be checking out now, and I would appreciate him coming with me," Sunset told the bellhop with a pleasant smile. "The service has been excellent as always, but it is time for us to get going." "We are sad to see you go your Holiness, but we shall do as you ask," the pony replied quickly. "I will return to help you to the front door in just a moment after I have completed my task." The bellhop quickly exited the room. Sunset got up from the bed and quickly did a transformation spell on herself in preparation for her departure. Her new form was a creame colored Crystal Pony with a red mane, this time of average mare size, which actually seemed to look just different enough from her Alicorn or Thestral form that I wouldn't have realized it was her if I met her on the street until I got a look at her cutie mark. Sunset was capable of going inconspicuous after all it seemed. Sunset looked herself over in a nearby mirror and then quickly fixed her mane into a complicated bit of curls. She then applied some eyeshadow, lipstick, and a few other bits of makeup to her face. Gave herself another look over and smiled. "I think I will call this identity, Shimmering Sunset," she said with a slightly haughty tone. "Not the most original name I know, but very few ponies even know who Sunset Shimmer happens to be. Playing a rich Crystal Pony snob for a while could be a nice change of pace. I want to be less notable while I am still in the city." "It definitely seems different," Mera said as she looked at Sunset's current form. "We came by to ask to just talk about some things, do you have a few minutes before you check out?" "Of course, I am not in a rush. This place isn't in danger of going full Shinning on us right now," Sunset said. "Um, what's full Shinning?" Mera asked with confusion. "Old reference to something from elsewhere, nothing you need to worry about right now," Sunset said quickly. "What did you need to talk to me about?" Mera and I looked to one another, and took a quick glance at Tibia who didn't have any clue about our original reason for wanting to talk to Sunset. "We checked in on that Pegasus we had discussed last night," I finally said to Sunset. "He skipped town right after Mera left, no word to any pony, and so far seems no pony knows where he went." "Well, that screams guilty," Sunset said with a sigh. "Did you get any information at all about him?" "His name is Fig Leaf, and he started working in Crystal Heart about the same time I started living in Starlight's Folly," I replied. Sunset narrowed her eyes, but then shook her head. "The name Fig Leaf makes me think that is not his real name," Sunset said. "Fig Leaf is an old slang term for disguise. More worrying, it is an old slang term from a place that should not have transmitted any of it's slang terms to here under any circumstances. Only certain Alicorns would even be aware of the term, every one of them is a Greater, except for me, which narrows down the list. Well, the Greaters, me, and probably Discord anyway would know it. I can think of no other Lessers that would, and no other immortals." "So you are saying Fig Leaf is a Greater Alicorn in disguise?" Mera asked. "So we are looking at a male Greater Alicorn then?" "Um, you two should be well aware gender is easily switchable when changing forms," Sunset reminded us. "It is just as easily a female as a male Greater. But it could also be just a close servant of one of them under an assigned name, though the reference makes me think it is one of them." I was sitting in shock at the news. That was as big a shock as finding out that I was immortal. The idea that I could have an Alicorn as a father, if this was an Alicorn in disguise, and it was the same pony that had gotten my mother pregnant with me. Only two of the Greater Alicorns were male, so it was a little odd that one of the others could be considered my father, but considering my own circumstances that wasn't nearly as weird for me as some other ponies might have felt about it. The fact that it was possibly an Alicorn at all was more than enough to have an existential crisis. It wasn't confirmed to be true yet, but Sunset seemed to feel certain. "Unfortunately it doesn't give much more lead than that," Sunset said. "If you found out no more information than that we are at a dead end unless Water Shadow uncovers some information in Harmony. I will contact her with the new information soon and see if it helps her with her search, but we will have to wait on her for any further developments. Was there anything else you wanted to discuss with me?" "Why does my daughter have to hide who she actually is?" Tibia spoke up. The changeling didn't know anything about our first matter of business, but she wasn't going to let that deter her from asking about what was important to her. Sunset looked at her with sympathy. "This might be hard for a changeling to understand," Sunset began. "But ponies don't change tribes. I know that seems obvious, but there is more to it than that. When ponies start thinking they can change tribes, ponies start thinking about whether they can become Alicorns. That is a dangerous line of thought." "I thought you all made it so there would be no more Alicorns," I said, not understanding the concern. "We sealed off the most common ways of becoming an Alicorn, it isn't a guarantee we overlooked some other method," Sunset replied. "And if ponies at large are trying to figure out methods to become an Alicorn, sooner or later some pony will find one. We are not going to go down the road that led us to having an army of insane Alicorns terrorizing the world again." "It seems like a major overreaction to me," Tibia complained. "She is half changeling surely that can be used to explain it away." "I will discuss it with Twilight," Sunset said with a sigh. "But I can't promise you that there will be any change in decision, and expect the decision to stand. This might seem extreme to you, but there are good reasons for this kind of action. It is to protect ponies. Perhaps another arrangement can be made to make this easier for you." "Like what?" Tibia asked with frustration, crossing her hooves in front of her and pouting. It was a perfect imitation of what Mera's body language when she was frustrated. Actually considering Tibia was her mother it might not be an imitation, it might just be where Mera picked it up. "You could formally adopt Mera as a daughter, it isn't a completely uncommon practice to adopt a full grown pony into a family," Sunset replied, offering up the suggestion. "It isn't extremely common, but it does happen from time to time. I realize it might seem redundant to adopt your own daughter as a daughter, but other ponies wouldn't be realizing she was already your daughter. You would still be denying she is Bibulous Bottom, but you would be able to acknowledge her as family. Would that make you feel better?" "I suppose that could work," Tibia grumbled. "It seems strange, and unnecessary, but if it will allow me and Diamond to at least be able to call her my daughter in public, and Peridot be able to call her a sister, I could live with it. I'll talk to Diamond about it. I assume there are all kinds of regulations we have to meet, just like there is with adopting a foal." "Not really," Sunset replied back. "With adults it is different, as we aren't concerned about the welfare of a foal. All that needs to be confirmed is Mera renounces any previous inheritances she may have been in line for from other family with a signed form, and you both sign some forms consenting to the arrangement. A notice is posted about it in the local papers after that, and you are done." Just then the bellhop let Hot Sticks into the room. He was wearing his life pack, and he looked around at us all, doing a slight double take at Mera and Tibia, and then another double take a Sunset, before looking at her cutie mark. "I am ready to check out, I assume there is a reason we are leaving on such short notice?" Hot Sticks asked, looking again at Mera and Tibia with confusion, no doubt wondering about the why Mera had a doppelganger. "I'll explain after we leave," Sunset said to him as she grabbed up her life pack. "We are ready to go," she said to the bellhop. We were escorted back down to the lobby. The pony at the front desk was still just sitting there saying nothing with that same disconcerting smile on her face. Something about that smile made me feel extremely the need to just start running, not to even mention the fact she was just sitting there motionless staring at us. The others gave her a nervous look, except for Sunset, Sunset just waved goodbye pleasantly. After we got out of the hotel I realized that a sense of dread that I had been feeling suddenly lifted. "So what did you mean by what you said about the hotel shinning or whatever?" I asked Sunset. "The hotel is haunted," Sunset said with little concern. "It is fine most of the time, but when you start upsetting it things start going downhill. You really don't want to know what happens when you actually end up breaking the rules. Once it gets unhappy it is best that no pony be in it. It takes it years to calm down once it gets itself worked up." "So are all the staff in the hotel going to end up having to leave it?" Mera asked with concern looking back at the building. "Mera, there is no staff at that hotel," Sunset told her in a serious tone. "Every pony that works there has been dead for centuries. If you come back in a hundred years the exact same staff would greet you, not aged a day, because they are spirits." "How did it end up that way?" she asked with lowered ears. "I am not clear on the details, you would have to ask Flurry Heart about it," Sunset replied. "Some sort of tragedy that happened, but I was elsewhere at the time when it occurred. After Flurry Heart started giving me the details I told her to stop, it was particularly unpleasant. Make sure you haven't eaten anything first if you ever ask. Personally I wouldn't recommend even asking." "Isn't there anything that can be done for them?" I asked looking back at the hotel. "No," Sunset said, finally looking back herself with lowered ears. "We wish there was, believe me. We have tried demolishing the place in the past. It puts itself back up soon after. If you try to demolish it and build something else over it, whatever you end up building tends to have something bad happen to it, and to any ponies that might be inside that new structure. We have learned just to try to work with it. That is why only immortals and Alicorns are typically guests of the hotel, though. The hotel can't really hurt us as easily if things get bad, and they live long enough to actually start getting a feel for what is and isn't alright to say or do with the hotel." "Wait, so the Alicorns have no idea how to fix this place so the spirits and the hotel go away?" Mera said with shock. "Aren't you all supposed to be do pretty much anything you want?" "We have a lot of power, but it isn't just doing whatever we want," Sunset explained levelly. "We don't understand this place well enough to actually do anything about it, and to date no pony has made any real progress on figuring it out. The hotel isn't really doing anything bad being here, so we just leave it be, and take advantage of the amenities when it is in an amicable mood. Actually, going without guests at all for extended periods of time seems to be one of the things that makes it unhappy." "It feels unsettling that there is something like this here in Crystal Heart," Tibia said with a shiver. "You would be surprised at the number of unsettling things that you can find in any of the older cities that ponies don't realize are there," Sunset said with a shrug. "This isn't even the only unsettling thing in Crystal Heart. I really need to introduce you two to the twins here, they give most ponies the shivers when they realize that what they are dealing with." "The twins?" I asked. "I think Patina mentioned them to you when she first saw you two," Sunset said back with a smile. "The vampires, they aren't really all that bad, they are actually kind of nice. They creep out some ponies, like Patina, but I don't really feel nervous around them." "Um, anything else in Crystal Heart we should be aware of?" I asked. Sunset gave me a mirth filled look. "Do you really want a full list? Or maybe you would just prefer to enjoy your day instead. Whether it is Harmony, Crystal Heart, Hatten, Klugestown, Ourton, Canterlot, Yazyakistan, even your old home back in Hallow Shades there are things most ponies would prefer not to know about. You'll learn about many of these things over time, but if ponies live happy lives within a short walking distance of many horrors without ever knowing. There are plenty of towns and villages that have much more overtly threatening things near them. Starlight's Folly you could go out run into undead, we just recently walked through a region where the villages live in fear of monsters coming for their foals in the night. I wouldn't worry too much over what is here in Crystal Heart, it is fairly tame in comparison. "For now I need to go find different lodging because you managed to upset the spirits of the dead at the place I was staying comfortably, and I don't particularly feel like waking up at night to find some spirit of a screaming dismembered pony in my room or find the walls of my room bleeding. It just ruins the entire stay."