//------------------------------// // Chapter 7 // Story: Midday in the Heart of Equestria // by Wheller //------------------------------// Chapter 7 The royal unicorn slept poorly that night after assaulting Emerald Sparkle. Her mind raced back and forth with thoughts from her mother’s condition, to the condition of Emerald Sparkle. She continued to lie awake for hours and hours, sleep, never coming to her. However, it was not to say, that nothing did. A knock came at the door, Celestia sat up in bed as the door pushed open to reveal Princess Luna. ‘T... Tia?’ she asked. Celestia rose from bed and trotted over to Luna, only to discover that her sister was crying. ‘Luna?’ Celestia asked. ‘What’s wrong?’ ‘Oberlander Cromwell just came to see me... It’s mother...’ Luna said. ‘She’s dead...’ The shock hit Celestia as if a pony had hit her sack of bricks. She fell to the floor, tears streaming from her eyes, and she began to sob. Luna dropped down to her and pulled her sister close in a tight embrace. The sisters royale spent the next hour on the floor of Celestia’s room embracing each other. ... Oberlander Cromwell hated bearing bad news. This was the worst kind. He was outside the room of King Aether, and he had tasked himself to telling the king that his wife was dead. It wasn’t a task he was looking forward to. He raised a hoof and knocked on the door several times. ‘Enter’. Oberlander Cromwell opened the door and trotted inside. ‘Your Majesty... I have word of the queen’. King Aether was up and out of bed, looking at the black earth pony and hoping for good news. ‘The queen... she has passed away, she succumbed to her sickness... and we can take comfort in the fact that she is no longer suffering’, Oberlander Cromwell said. Aether’s mouth dropped open, and he fell to the floor in shock. The Alicorn’s head turned the sky and he let out a scream. Oberlander Cromwell couldn’t exactly blame him. This was terrible news. That was when Cromwell noticed something was wrong. The King didn’t stop screaming. That was when Cromwell noticed that he was beginning to change. One of his forelegs had grown into an eagle’s talons, the other a lion’s paw. The king’s body grew longer, not unlike a serpent's. His head took the shape of a goat, Cromwell watched in horror as two mismatching antlers sprouted from his head. What had once been the king... was now something else entirely. ‘King Aether...?’ Cromwell asked. The once had been king reached out with his taloned arm and grabbed Cromwell by the neck. ‘Not quite...’ the creature said, with an insane, sadistic smile forming on his face. ‘King Aether died with his wife... you can call me... Discord’. Cromwell had not the chance to respond, for Discord, with all his might threw the earth pony into the window. Oberlander Cromwell fell in the early morning hours through the Canterlot sky; he continued to fall off the mountain. At first, he fought the fall, but, try as he might; there was nothing that could be done. Cromwell closed his eyes and waited for the inevitable embrace of death that awaited him when he hit the ground. Discord climbed out the broken window and onto the castle rooftop as he observed the sun rising in the east. ‘Today’s forecast? Sunny with a chance of chaos!’ He said as he cackled madly in the open air. If the ponies of Canterlot had thought that the last few weeks had been chaotic... well they hadn’t seen anything yet. ... ‘Is this a bad time?’ Pinkie Pie asked as she looked at Princess Celestia. ‘Oh not at all!’ Princess Celestia said with a warm smile. ‘Hello Pinkie Pie, it is quite good to see you again’. ‘Oh... um, thank you your highness!’ Pinkie Pie said with a slightly nervous smile, and gingerly rolled the stick of dynamite that she had brought to show Twilight underneath the sofa closest to the door with a gentle tap of her hoof and closed the door behind her. ‘You are quite welcome, now what was it that you were saying when you came in?’ Princess Celestia said with a smile. ‘Oh... uh... I was just telling Twilight... that I finished... making the dynamic duo! It’s this new two layer cake recipe that I’ve been experimenting with’, Pinkie Pie said. ‘Yeah... that’s it...’ ‘Oh, that sounds quite lovely!’ Princess Celestia exclaimed. ‘I would certainly love to try it if there is any left’. ‘Uh yeah! Okie dokie lokie! I will be right back!’ Pinkie Pie said with a smile, and then opened the door and quickly shut it behind her. Pinkie Pie took off towards Sugarcube Corner at high speed. ‘Get out of the way! I have to bake a cake or we are all going to die!’ she cried out, nearly knocking Lyra and Bon Bon over in the process and not stopping to apologise. ‘What was that all about?’ Lyra asked as she watched the pink party pony speed down the street. ‘It’s Pinkie Pie’, Bon Bon reasoned. ‘Who knows?’ ... About an hour of small talk later, Princess Celestia looked back up at the front door; and noted Pinkie Pie had still yet to return. ‘She is... not coming back, is she?’ ‘Not looking like it, nope’, Vinyl Scratch said with a disappointed look on her face. ‘I don’t know about anypony else, but I was really looking forward to that cake’. ‘Yeah...’ Rainbow Dash said. Everypony in the room practically jumped when they heard Rainbow Dash’s stomach begin to make noises. ‘It sounds to me...’ Princess Celestia said with a smile. ‘That everypony is hungry? What say we get lunch, on me?’ ‘Well, okay!’ Twilight said. The lavender unicorn had calmed herself down since Princess Celestia had arrived, and was now acting a bit more normal. ‘It’s settled then!’ Celestia said with a smile as they all rose from their seats and walked out of the Library into the open air of Ponyville. Monty Ulan looked down the road, his eyes widened in panic. ‘Crap!’ he cried out and immediately ducked back into the library. Everypony looked around in confusion. Vinyl Scratch glanced down the road and immediately saw what Monty had freaked out about. Octavia and Applejack were walking up the road towards them, chatting pleasantly with each other. ‘You all go on ahead, I’ve got something I need to take care of real quick’, and without another word, Vinyl walked away from the larger group towards Octavia and Applejack. ‘Hi Applejack’, Vinyl Scratch said, greeting the farm pony. ‘Hi Octavia’. ‘Vinyl Scratch’, Octavia said coldly. ‘Howdy Vinyl, somethin’ on yer mind?’ Applejack asked. ‘Yeah, Applejack? Could you give me an Octavia a minute? There’s something I need to talk to her about, in private’, Vinyl said. Applejack nodded her head in understanding and trotted off, leaving the two mares alone. ‘This ought to be good’, Octavia said, rolling her eyes in annoyance. ‘What do you want, Vinyl?’ Vinyl frowned, she took a deep breath and pulled the goggles off her eyes and down around her neck. ‘I’ve been thinking a lot about things the last couple of days Octavia... and I wanted to say I’m sorry’. ‘Well that’s just too bad... wait, what?’ Octavia did a double take, unsure if what she had just heard had actually come out of Vinyl’s mouth. ‘You were right. I had no right to freak out like I did. Not after everything I’ve done to you, for the longest time, I was the worst friend anypony could have, I kept things from you, and I hurt you a lot... and so you’re a copper, so what? A detective inspector no less, that’s something. What were you when we first met?’ Vinyl asked. ‘I was just a DC then’, Octavia said. ‘And now you’re a DI five years later, that’s something to be proud of. I imagine that my behaviour probably didn’t help when it came time for the Greater Manehattan Police to promote you’, Vinyl Scratch said. Octavia nodded in agreement. ‘I’ve exchanged a lot of words about you over these last five years, Vinyl, and in the process pretty much guaranteed that I’ll never make Detective Chief Inspector’, a small smile formed on Octavia’s face. ‘I think I’m okay, I pretty much decided that you were worth it, and besides, if I was promoted to DCI, I’d have to quit the symphony orchestra’. Vinyl Scratch could only grin. ‘Good to see you’ve got your priorities straight’. ‘Well come now, everypony knows that my true passion is music, if it wasn’t for that I probably couldn’t stand to be around you’, Octavia said with a smug grin. ‘Oh really? And here I thought you liked me for my devilishly good looks!’ Vinyl said with a bright grin. ‘You? Please, you’re hardly anything spectacular, Vinyl Scratch’, Octavia said with a forced straight face. ‘That’s not what you were saying the other night... in bed!’ Vinyl said grinning like the madmare she was. ‘Vinyl Scratch... let me make something abundantly clear. I am not above smacking you in the face’, Octavia said with a look of annoyance on her face, which quickly turned to a smile. Vinyl could only grin in reply. The two mares reached out and wrapped their forelegs around each other in a tight embrace. It was good to have each other back.