She's laying on the bed, Mimic on one side, Dragonfly on the other, just like they used to do when they were kids, trading comics and stories. Mimi's mandibles twitch as she lets out a sigh, resting her head on Astral's shoulders despondently. "That could of have gone better" is all she says, which, considering Mimi, is pretty bad.
Astral half expects Dragonfly to speak up, his inner politician assuring them that it 'wasn't so bad' in that oddly smooth tone he uses for strangers, but his voice stays rough and all he says is "no shit."
She lets out a little laugh. "Am I the only one who doesn't want to leave the room or?"
"No, I think we all want to stay here and die."
"And to think" Mimic said mournfully "it started so well."
Earlier that day
Okay, you got this, just like we practiced.
After recovering from a severe hangover, Astral decided that it was time for her to return to the Dragonlands, this time actually prepared. She had asked her mother to hold a sort of party to celebrate the 'togetherness' of the two species or something like that.
Whatever. At least she gets to try this again.
And this time she was going to get it right. Aside from Dragonfly, Uncle Spike, Uncle Thorax and Mimic being there, so would Dragon Lord Ember, her personal guard Smoulder and that ass Garble.
Now was the time to flex her social skills, which had grown considerably since the last time this happened.
New dress too. It was last minute, but nice, and functional, you know, she would be able to run away screaming when she fucked this up.
Astral frowned at the thought, rolling her shoulders and letting out a deep breath. She hadn't been taking her medication, and it was starting to show. She still wasn't a hundred percent sure that she hallucinated her mother bleeding from the eyes that one time.
She didn't hallucinate Mimi's voice though, or the body that ploughed into her from behind. She goes with it, because to be honest, she's not actually sure she could take her niece in a fight. She once saw her mandibles cut through solid diamond.
Mimi almost breaks her ribs with the hug she gives; lifting Astral up in the air and spinning her around for good measure. When she finally puts her down, Astral sees Dragonfly poke his head through the door with a scowl. "Mimi! There you are! Stop running off!"
"Hey Fly."
"Hey Astral" he greeted with a small smile and a nod. A small smile and a nod was giddy for Dragonfly. "Heard you were the one asking for this party?"
"Oh, well, you know" she shrugged. "I guess I just missed my favorite cousins?"
Mimi beamed at that, while Dragonfly just raised an eyebrow. "We're your only cousins" he reminded her.
"Point still stands."
The three walk down into one of the castle's many empty rooms, except this time it's not so empty. It was clear when the castle was created that this was supposed to be a ballroom of sorts, and for a second even Astral is struck dumb by the new curtains, long table and decorations.
"Wow, Pinkie works fast, huh?" Dragonfly murmured, and Astral nods.
"Where do we even go?" Mimi asked, craning her neck to look around. It seems like every dragon has come, while Astral can only see a couple of ponies, probably ones her mom trusts not to completely freak out.
Dinner hasn't started yet, but Astral hadn't eaten at all today, so she pulls the other two in the direction of the kitchen, which is significantly less crowded, since ponies or dragons aren't allowed in. Since this is her house, she thinks she gets a pass.
There are silver platters, some with chocolate strawberries, others with emeralds, and Astral wonders how Rarity managed to find so much in such short notice, before Dragonfly reaches over and takes a huge bite of one. Mimi, showing a little more restraint, just sniffs it, until Astral gives her a little nod, where she swallows one whole.
She would judge, but she's currently on her fifth strawberry.
The sound of a voice has them all scrambling. Astral may be allowed in here, but that's a may.
As one, the three leaped behind a counter and crouch down as someone else entered the kitchen. Whoever it was, it was not a pony, going by the sounds of two feet hitting the ground. The dragon made the same strange slicing-gulping noise Uncle Spike makes when he's eating gems, so the three relaxed.
Dragonfly even went as far as to peek his head over the counter, only to immediately bring it down again, eyes wide.
Mimic nudged him. "What? What is it?"
"Garble" he hissed, and the other two stifled groans.
Oh, that makes sense. Not every dragon was happy with the idea of a half dragon being their ambassador or the idea of a half dragon training a different species to fight. From what she had gathered, some of them gave Mimi and Fly hard times.
Of course Garble would be one of them. This night may of have just gotten harder.
"Okay so some of our detractors are here" Dragonfly said, completely still as he considered their next move.
"We don't have to stay here, right?" Mimi asked, quiet for once. "We can always find ourselves an empty room and just talk for a couple of hours."
Fly snorted. "Yeah, right. Until our parents drag us down to 'mingle'."
Astral, meanwhile, was deep in thought. A lot of dragons here either didn't like ponies or didn't like her niece and nephew. The safe thing to do, of course, was just avoid them. But she had asked for this night to see if she could actually do this, and she didn't want to back out now.
"We should seek them out" she said, grinning at their shocked looks. "Just a simple hello" she weedled "don't act like you're afraid of them!"
"What if you are afraid of them?"
"Then you suck it up and pretend you aren't!"
Astral thought her pep talk kind of worked.
Kind of.
She had it the luckiest, of course. The dragons didn't like her, but, as they had only met her a couple of times, they didn't hate her either.
All of her conversations were terse and biting, but that was nothing compared to Mimi and Fly's.
They were treated with suspicious looks the second they started talking to someone that wasn't Smoulder, Ember or a handful of other dragons. Mimi actually seemed to be getting along semi-well with Garble, which was a horrifying thought hat made Astral want to run away screaming.
"Are you Princess Astral Plane?"
The title made her blink, as does the use of her full name, but she turned around nonetheless, to see one of Garble's friends, Cinder? Probably Cinder.
"Yes, I am. And you are?" Dragons seem to value rudeness for some weird reason, though the smile Cinder(?) gives her is not a happy one.
"Char."
Ah, close enough.
"Cool" she said, casually.
"I'm keeping an eye on you" he said "I don't know why you insisted on having a ball for no reason, and I sure as hell don't know why you invited those half breeds."
Astral bristled, but kept her voice steady when she said "you mean my niece and nephew?"
His lip curled even more, showing off some very impressive canines. "Yeah. Them."
It suddenly hit Astral as to why there's so many dragons in the room. It wasn't just a show of power, these dragons volunteered, knowing they would get a free pass to a certain extent on rude behavoir while ponies didn't.
Shit that's clever.
So Astral can't do anything when they talk shit about her friends. Well, shouldn't.
She leaned in and growled "bite me" at the dragon, before stomping off in the direction of her friends.
After that, Astral grabs Fly and Mimi and they stick close to their parents. Is it childish? Yeah. Is it calming? Fuck yes.
Watching her mother and brother work is actually really cool. Twilight allowed all insults to fly over head, where Spike hovered, narrowing his eyes threateningly if they took things too far, a clear sign to back the hell up.
But, all good things must come to an end and all that, so eventually Thorax nudged his son and said "come on! Be social for once!"
Desperately the three looked to the other two adults, but Twilight and Spike seemed to be in agreement, never a good thing.
And so, the three were forced back into the crowd, looking very annoyed at that all the while. Eventually, they all peel off and go their separate ways once more, and it is around then that Astral is sought out by Lord Ember.
"Hello, Astral Plane." No title this time, but she can't tell if that's a good or bad thing.
"Hello, Lord Ember" she turned, to do the bow, but almost immediately started screaming.
There were- Gods- bugs. Crawling out of Ember's mouth and nose and eyes.
In all her life, Astral had never screamed like that before. She screamed like a Pegasus who forgot how to fly whilst in a hurricane. Her limbs went akimbo as she tried to skitter away, only succeeding in falling over in her panic. She summoned Aegis without another word, only to be roughly grabbed by the scruff on her neck and pulled away.
She blinked, and found herself face to face with Smoulder. "What the hell was that about?" She demanded, and oh man, Astral really didn't want to look at Ember again, but she sneaked a peak, only for her brain to screech to a stop.
Ember was fine. A little confused, but otherwise fine.
But- but she had- but-
Hallucination.
The word dropped like a stone into Astral's stomach. Oh Gods, she had pulled a weapon on the Dragon Lord, in front of everyone.
They all stared at her, some in confusion, some in hostility, most, she realized, a mixture of both.
She could see her family shoving their way through as she was dropped unceremoniously on the floor. She didn't try to catch herself, just lay there and waited for her mom's purple hooves to appear.
"What is happening?" She raised her head slightly- it was Dragonfly, he had reached her first, with her mom and Spike and Mimic and Thorax close behind.
"What happened" Smolder said, and yeah, she was seriously pissed "is that your daughter pulled a weapon on our leader."
She can see their blank looks, see how Astral+Weapon doesn't add up in their heads. After a couple of beats of silence, Twilight shook her head with a laugh. "That's ridiculous" she said "Astral doesn't have a weapon, she doesn't even know how to use one!"
In response, Astral summoned Aegis, which clattered beside her, causing Twilight to jerk back. "Astral?" She whispered, holding out a hood tentavely.
"I'm sorry!" She said, desperaely. "I thought she was something she wasn't! I- I thought I saw something!"
The dragons in the crowd snorted, but some of the ponies looked at her curiously, sensing she was being honest. Twilight rubbed her face with her hoof. "Mimic, Dragonfly, take her to her bedroom please."
At this there were several objections, which Twilight broke down with a single, icy glare. "She is my daughter" she bit out "this is my kingdom. She will go to her room while we discuss things here. Mimic, Dragonfly, go."
The crowd parted for the three of them, and they made their way in silence up to Astral's room. It was a silent walk, but not an uncomfortable one, for Mimi had one wing rested over her back while Dragonfly let her lean on him the entire way.